So, obviously, this blog has no direction so far. I’m definitely disappointed with myself, b/c I get all excited about something (like having my own website!) and then I totally don’t follow through with it past Phase 1 or 2 of the project. It drives me nuts.

I guess the first thing I need to do is decide on my site theme and concept. I want this to be an online portfolio of my accomplishments of course, but what should my actual BLOG focus on? That’s the question…I want it to be something I’m interested in, something OTHERS are interested in, and something that I could eventually monetize b/c, let’s face it, I WOULD like to generate some kind of income with this site eventually.

Once I know the theme/direction the blog is going in, I can sit down, make sure this WP theme is right for me and really start learning all about Wordpress. I’m thinking I need to invest in a Wordpress for dummies and what not - I want to understand all the programming language, the CSS, everything that goes in to Wordpress. (Tall order much?) But if other people can do it, I KNOW I can. I’m a sharp girl and a fast learner - to the point where I sometimes surprise myself at how capable I am of learning things.

By the end of the summer my goals are to:

• Be proficient in wordpress, from user interface to actual css and programing.
• Have a theme for my site
• Have a portfolio of my work up on the site.

These are the things I’m interested in blogging about (at some point, I’ll probably have multiple blogs)

1. SEO, Internet Marketing, PPC - but my company ProspectMX, already focuses on that…so I really should just blog about that stuff on our blog
2. Going Green - I’m really in to the “going green” phenomena, how we can be more eco-friendly, etc, and that is a BIG thing right now.
3. Copywriting and Content Development - I love to write, and I’ve done a lot of writing for the web and some for print, so I think I could definitely have a professional writing type blog.
4. Dogs/Animals - I’m a big animal lover, dogs and wolves especially, and I would love to come up with a blog all about dogs, pets, tips, home remedies, etc.
5. Book, Movie & Music Reviews - I’m a HUGE fiction bookworm, as in, multiple books per week (I wish I could read non-fiction, self-educating books that fast) as well as a movie and music buff. I just don’t know how good I am at “reviewing”.
6. God, Jesus & My Spiritual Path - (Last on the list but first in my heart ALWAYS)I was saved in Jan ‘07, so my growing relationship with God and Jesus Christ is VERY important to me. I am FAR from a good Christian at this point, but I’m working on it and praying daily for Him to change me into what I’m meant to be. I have a lot of “aha” moments that I’d love to share in a blog - for others AND for myself to be able to revisit it.

Ok, so I lied in my last post. I am actually telling you the day AFTER tomorrow. My bad. A girl gets busy, ya know?

So anyway, my experiment was actually a nice success. I actually did not think it would make a difference, doing 65 on the highway, just b/c of all the city driving I have to do.

But instead of the average of about 335 miles per tank of gas I usually get, I made is to right around 400 miles on that tank.

That’s over a 50 mile difference! I believe 50 miles in my cute little hyundai takes about 2 gallons or a little less of gas. I was able to go an extra 50 miles, which equals 2 gallons, which equals about $8 (I like nice round numbers, thank).

That’s basically the equivalent of saving $8 everytime I fill ‘er up. So, let’s say I fill ‘er up 4 times a month (that’s about accurate, sometimes it’s closer to 3 times) and I spend about $50 like I said, I like round #s). I spend easily around $200 a month on gas - if I save $8 each time, that’s 4 x 8 = $32 a month. 32×12 = a number too big for me to do in my head. Hold up, calculator check - well shit, I could save $384 a year!!

Ok, that’s it. I need to permanently get the lead out of my damn foot, that’s for sure. So there you have it, a real life experiment. If you don’t believe what you hear, then believe me since I actually did it. You can get way better gas mileage and wind up saving a couple hundred bucks a year just my slowing down a bit ont he highways.

Don’t get it twisted, that shit was hard to do b/c I’m an impatient person…but I also like saving money. I think the penny pincher in me will win over the impatience in me.

Shout out to PennsylvaniaGasPrices.com, since I used their site to help find me the cheapest gas in Lancaster. I believe they have one of those for every state, you just swap out Pennsylvania with your state of choice.

Happy traveling!

So my co-worker just told me an interesting tidbit: When GW first got into office way back in the beginning of 2001, gas prices were only around $1.42 (I believe that’s either a national average, or in PA alone, not sure which one.)

So now multiply that by 3, and that is most likely what gas prices will be when he’s out the end of 2008. Shoot, HOPEFULLY they’ll be that low. To listen to everyone else tell it, they’ll be much closer to $5. Ouch.

It’s just wrong when an 07 Hyundai Elantra costs over $50 to fill up. WRONG I TELL YOU!

I did, however, conduct an experiment. Those far more versed in automobiles then I have told me that you get optimal fuel efficiency on the highway going about 55-65mph. The quick research I did online verifies that info as well.

Me, being the lead foot that I am, drives an average of about 90mph on the highway and 50-55mph in the city (where speed limits are 25-35). So um, yeah, I like to go fast. What can I say, I’ve got road rage, I’m working on it.

So about 2 weeks ago I had decided that I’d run my car till it was on E, fill ‘er up and then do EVERYTHING IN MY POWER to never go above 70mph on that tank of gas. You have no idea how hard it was.

Usually, I’ll get between 325-350 miles per tank of gas. I wanted to see if I could beat that when I was driving my car at “optimal fuel efficiency speeds”.

So I did it. I ACTUALLY controlled my lead foot enough to conduct the experiment.

Maybe you’re wondering how it went? Well…I’ll tell you…tomorrow.

K thanks bye!