Justin Germino Ramblings

Our Gronkle like Boston Terrier named Porky is really in the dog house this week after chewing on some Christmas presents left under the tree and almost destroying a Nintendo DS game that my son left out.  Even with teeth marks scoring the cartridge it fortunately still worked.

Porky was always a chewer and pulverized my outdoor drip systems repeatedly by ripping out and chewing up the rubber tubes or plastic drip heads.  I lost many plants due to not being able to water them, and few solutions worked effectively for long.

He also has been known to carry off a kids action figure and chew a limb off here or there, but lately his grab and chew fixations have reached an all time high and we are at the point where he will need to be crated or chained up in the yard when we all leave the house.

I can’t seem to get through to him, and considered just leaving dog toys all over but he wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a dog toy and a kids toy and it probably would just encourage him.

The fact that this dog managed to carry a glass covered candle (not in a box) out the doggie door and chew off all the wrapping paper was nuts.  He also has been known to carry folders with papers out back and chew them up, literally he would be the dog that ate your homework if he had a chance.

He primarily does the bad chewing things when we leave the house and he is home alone, he doesn’t do it at night or while we are home for the most part.  Even with his companion Donut with him, he can’t stop himself from being a BAD DOG this week.  Santa going to bring him COAL!

-Justin Germino

For myself I am thrilled that my Amazon Affiliate earnings have broken all previous records over the past three years this past 45 days.  Ever since I started using the EasyAZON plugin for WordPress.  I have been seeing an increase in earnings, but the holiday shopping of 2011 really turned my Amazon Associates into an income generator for my personal blog and technology blog this year.

Between November 1st and December 18th, I was able to bring in $406.84 in earnings on a total of 142 products sold through my affiliate links.  I sold 13 Kindle Fire devices through my Amazon Affiliate link which made up almost 1/5 of all sales.

Ironically I have seen a drop off of sponsored links, reviews on my blog but between AdSense and the increased Amazon Affiliate sales my blog earnings continue to hold up well in the winter months.

All in all, I made more from Amazon affiliate in the last two months of the year than I did for the entire previous 10 months combined.  I eagerly await the payments to come deposited into my account after Christmas and end of January where I will use the earnings to help pay down some bills.

I did find the image feature of EasyAzon a little too subtle, I assigned separate tracking cookies to the images but few would know that the image leads to an Amazon poster or item, so the info boxes work best as do the text links as far as bringing in a better CPC and CPA rate for using the plugin.

If you want to learn more about EasyAzon, head on over to Dragon Blogger where I review EasyAzon and compare it against other Amazon Affiliate WordPress plugins.  Note others work very well as well, but EasyAzon has some more features than most.

http://www.dragonblogger.com/comparing-easyazon-wordpress-plugin/

-Justin Germino

By the way, the Kindle Fire Rocks and if you don’t have one yet and can’t afford an iPad, this is a great device to have for those who don’t have the $500 for an iPad.

I really like using Rafflecopter as a means to enter contests and win with random draw, I like entering other contests as well as hosting my own contests with Rafflecopter.  There are several ways that I use to find specifically giveaways that use Rafflecopter and I am going to share my tips with readers who want to find the best way to discover Rafflecopter contests so they may enter and win some prizes.

Rafflecopter Contest Linky and Directory

First, there is a great blog called Blog Giveaway Directory, this site lists tons of giveaways and has a dedicated Rafflecopter Giveaway Section.  More specifically they run a weekly Rafflecopter Giveaway Linky which shows you all the Rafflecopter contests found that week so you can quickly find and enter them all from one place.

Google Blog Search Rafflecopter Contests

The second method I use to find Rafflecopter Contests is to use Google Blog Search and various filters. 

Go to http://www.google.com/blogsearch

Type in “Rafflecopter <keyword>”

Keyword can be a specific prize you are looking for, or you could enter Rafflecopter and leave the keyword blank instead for general contests.

Select “Past Week, or Past 24 hours”

If you don’t filter based on recent results you will get contests that have ended a long time ago and waste your time.

I use this method to search for xbox games, pc games, iPads, Kindle Fire, Sony, Samsung or specific brand keywords and find contests related to those keywords. 

This works very well and remember the more entries you put into a contest, the greater your odds of winning.

-Justin Germino

It is amazing how fast endurance and strength decrease when you break the regimen of working out for a few weeks.  I found that last time I was at the gym I was only able to run for 1/2 as long without being winded and probably had to drop 20 pounds off of my normal weight lifting to where it wasn’t too much exertion.

It is especially hard to find time during the busy holidays to stay on target with any sort of fitness goal it would seem, the foods come too freely, the time too limited to carve out gym time and the hustle and bustle make it feel like any sort of goals are just unattainable.

Guess this is why there is always that big New Years Resolution after the holidays and most resolutions are to get in some sort of better shape.

-Justin Germino

Holiday Party

Brave the ambitious holiday fighting

where the excitable share eggnog

with the bright wise rooster

Spirits shoot forth like a Howitzer shot

The luckiest will remember the party

the rest met with Yuletide hangover

-Poem by Justin Germino

I can’t believe what an awesome FALALALA giveaway that is going on right now at Sparking Reviews.  I would kill to be able to have one of these to giveaway to my readers.

This contest ends in 3 days, so hurry up and enter the Panasonic 31 Toughbook Giveaway and you could win this incredible laptop worth around $3,000 dollars.

Join the contest here > http://www.sparklingreviews.com/2011/12/falalala-giveaway-panasonic-31.html

Note, if I did win this laptop I would probably give it to my son who needs a newer laptop that can play DirectX 11 games.  I don’t know the specs of this one but it has to be infinitely better than the laptop he has now.

The durability of the X11 is a great touch, he is a kid and carries his laptop when we travel sometimes so having the extra tough case is a great bonus if have a kid using the laptop.

Here’s to hoping I win!

Again, the contest ends in 3 days, join it now!

-Justin Germino

Today I have to carve out some time to take my kids to get some Christmas gifts for their mom.  This weekend will be the last of all the Christmas shopping in my household where we have to split up our kids so they can get one gift for each other as the final part of the shopping.

Honestly we did about 80% of the shopping online this year and most of it on my part was done through Amazon.com or JTV Network.  With my prime membership which was worth every penny it really made the arrivals of all items a breeze.

Some of the gifts for the boys we could have gotten online but my wife wanted to see how the toys looked, felt in person so wound up going down to Toys R Us in the valley a few weeks ago and picking up some items there.  Then of course the really good deals you get from Big Lots, and other stores you can’t pass up sometimes.

We couldn’t believe when one toy we had bought turned up at Marshall’s a few weeks later at more than 50% off the price we paid for it.  So there are still deals to be had where you can find them.  I didn’t even know Marshall’s sold toys honestly until accidentally stumbling across them.

-Justin Germino

Given the country’s fascination for big trucks, speed, and action, it is no wonder that the genre of truck movies has been well received over the past decades. From the early gangsters of the 1940’s to the renegades of the 70’s to the cool animation of the 21st century, truck movies have evolved with time.

Narrowing down the coolest truck movies of all time can be quite difficult. To do so, we have selected a set of parameters to round up only the best. Our criteria in choosing our top four include the film’s box office success, unique story plot, lasting appeal and the overall positive effect they have had over their audiences across different generations.

1.    Big Trouble in Little China (1986)

[easyazon-image-link asin=”B000QUCQX8″ alt=”Big Trouble in Little China” src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41ZPEituVbL.jpg” align=”center” width=”400″ height=”400″]

Perhaps one of director John Carpenter’s most acclaimed and popular films of all time, Big Trouble in Little China is a certified box office hit that helped place Kurt Russell on the Hollywood radar. Big Trouble in Little China is a fast paced, action packed film that is imaginatively and brilliantly created. In the movie, Kurt Russell takes on the role of Jack Burton, a truck driver who gets involved in a series of conflicting events in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Trouble begins when a Chinese crime lord kidnaps the fiancée of Jack’s best friend and all hell breaks loose as Jack attempts to save the day. Filled with the mysticism of the Chinese culture and the thirst for high powered action scenes of American films, Big Trouble in Little China is one of the most unforgettable truck movies of all time.

2.    Smokey and the Bandit (1977)

[easyazon-image-link asin=”B000EQHXOG” alt=”Smokey and the Bandit – Special Edition” src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51XMGNVZ19L.jpg” align=”center” width=”356″ height=”500″]

No list of cool truck movies could ever be complete without Smokey and the Bandit. By successfully combining the elements of high octane action and irreverent comedy, Smokey and the Bandit has inspired a rabid following as well as spurred a number of wanna-be’s including The Dukes of Hazzard and Cannonball Run. Smokey and the Bandit is regarded as one of the most successful truck movies in Hollywood as proven by the fact that the film alone helped General Motors increase awareness of their Firebird model with the film’s release and popularity.

The story centers on a truck driver named Bandit played by Burt Reynolds who, on a bet, agrees to transport a truckload of beer in 28 hours but ends up on the run from the law, in the form of the sheriff, Smoky, who attempts to thwart him.

3.    Cars (2006)

[easyazon-image-link asin=”B00005JNS0″ alt=”Cars (Single-Disc Widescreen Edition)” src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51YP4C-LjhL.jpg” align=”center” width=”354″ height=”500″]

Don’t let the title fool you as this movie is about trucks just as much as it is about cars. In fact, this animated film showcases a whole variety of trucks, from tractors to tow trucks and tons in between. Cars is also one of the most successful animated films of the recent generation, prompting Pixar and Disney to make a sequel, Cars 2, which was also well received by audiences all over the globe. Cars narrates the story of Lightning McQueen and his journey towards self-discovery.

4.    Over the Top (1987)

[easyazon-image-link asin=”B002GHHHH4″ alt=”Over the Top” src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/513d75WqzaL.jpg” align=”center” width=”395″ height=”500″]

Anyone who has lived through the 80’s has to have watched Over the Top. Not just because it stars Sylvester Stallone, but because it combines two of men’s great fascinations: trucks and arm wrestling.

In the story, Stallone plays a father who will stop at nothing to win back his son. A truck driver by profession, Stallone ventures into the world of arm wrestling in order to gain enough money to rebuild his life.

Man we love these movies, but, of course, we are a little biased at TruckertoTrucker.com. If you love the open road and are looking for trucks for sale in Florida, then stop on by and say hello. We know the best Arrow Tampa trucker dealers, and can help you get a great deal.

Even as I enter the last day for the Kindle Fire Giveaway on DragonBlogger.com I know this was my most successful blog contest I have ever run.  It isn’t just that the prize was awesome, I mean giving away 2 Free Kindle Fire’s is a great prize but I was able to harness Rafflecopter to run the contest and keep track of the entries.

This made overhead and management of each entry so much easier, I didn’t have to track Twitter hashtags, or find out how many retweets from users.  This was all handled by Rafflecopter for me.

I also had some amazing success in bringing fans to my sponsors, even before the contest ended I brought over 300+ likes to one of my sponsors fanpages and over 300+ Twitter followers.  This is in addition to having their links displayed on more than a dozen blog post entries for the contest.

I have learned how others have leveraged Rafflecopter and giveaway contests to build massive follower numbers for their Fanpages and such too.  I am going to use this information to create more contests to build larger social networks for future contests and idea’s as well.  Did you know I saw one Rafflecopter contest that had over a quarter of a million entries!

I will be doing a more detailed analytics report of the contest on my tech blog, but I am SUPER HAPPY with the Kindle Fire Giveaway contest and think it went very well.

Here are the steps to a successful blog contest

• Awesome Prize (A given)
• Know your target audience for the prize
• Decided how contest will be (random draw / Rafflecopter)
• Make YouTube video’s for your contest (this is a big plus)
• Give entries for people who share/spread the word about the contest
• Give extra entries for people willing to write blog posts, do YouTube video’s and extra to spread the contest word.
• Market your contest on Facebook fanpages for the prize
• Market your contest on all Social Media you can
• Repeat the process for future contests and keep growing until they organically grow larger and larger.
• (Sometimes you may need to pay for a little advertising)

BTW, this is your last chance to enter the contest it ends tonight at 11:59pm EST.

-Justin Germino

I remember reading in a health magazine a few years ago that the one pill you could take everyday and have the most benefit from in life was an Omega 3 pill.  Normally these are fish oil pills or salmon oil which is higher quality and generally a little pricier too.

The benefits of Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids are touted as helping improve brain function, lower cholesterol, extend longevity and promote overall well being.  We give fish oils to pets to improve luster, shine and health of their coats too, so it isn’t just for humans.

I had heard about Krill Oil and just hadn’t had a chance to try it for myself, I mean krill the tiny little shrimp like critters that are consumed by the ton full by blue whales and the like are probably extremely healthy.  Krill Oil is made from pressed Krill.

In the results from a Journal of the American College of Nutrition study, it was reported that krill oil can significantly reduce heart-damaging inflammation.  In this study a control group was given 300mg Krill Oil pills for 7 days and saw benefit in reduced C-Reactive Protein levels in only 7 days of taking krill oil.

Everest Nutrition Krill oil (at krilloil.com) was found to be 54x more powerful in antioxidant activity than fish oil and contains 300mg Omega-3 & 165mg EPA, 95mg DHA.  Krill oil also is supposed to not have any of the fishy aftertaste that can come from salmon and general fish oil pills which causes that oily burpy aftertaste that is nasty.

I haven’t tried Krill Oil myself yet, but I have passed it and considered it.  I used to talk salmon oil pills and I have been meaning to try a regimen of Krill oil.

You can learn more about krill oil benefits and decide for yourself.

-Justin Germino