I wonder if there are advertising setups where the advertising is a bit more discreet. Don't know to what extent I reflect the usual reaction, but what I hate most about advertising is:

1) Some advertisers server being slow means it takes forever to load the page, or prevents content from loading entirely.

2)Some ad that I can't get rid of blocks me from reading site content.

3) Ads so clutter the site, and take up so much real estate that it makes the site harder to read.

Not all sites with ads have this happen, so some advertising programs must be more discreet about how they interact with sites than others. Maybe you could look into some of the less annoying companies you could sign up with? If you go this route, I'll bet there are Buffistas who could make recs.

Not to be obvious, but I'm pretty sure there's not a professional blogger out there who doesn't have paid advertising on their site. I mean, that's how you get to do it full-time.

I know, I know. But it would involve a site redesign, and my last webdev is kind of out of the business, and and and ...

I think when you're marketing a brand, one you not just put your face to, but *you*, then you have to be really picky about advertising. You can't just slap on a google adsense snippet of javascript and be done with it.

This, exactly. But I know that Scrangie, Phyrria, and, oh, Haute Macabre all do targeted advertising. But again, site redesign, and this time I'd definitely want to pay someone to do it, instead of depending on favors from friends. And when I start thinking about all of this, I start to feel overwhelmed and I run away and read fic instead. This is why I aspire to have a business manager and PA.

Bless this doctor. I told him my dose should be 4mg, not the three he was writing for, and he said that meant no third dose. But when he came by just now he enquired about my pain level and breathing and I think he's going to wore for the third. Which is great, because the second had no palpable effect. He clearly didn't like the idea, but was deferring to my pain and my specialist.

It never fails to astound me that the patient and the patient's specialist are not the ones in control of deciding how much pain you are in and how to make it go the fuck away.

But, really, you should get impregnated by the tech. It'll be a belated birthday gift for your mom. (I am so glad that my sister stressed my parents out enough with kids that they don't pester me for them now.)

Tell me the writersweren't making a cocaine joke.

Totally a coke joke.

Made coffee and didn't put the coffee mugunder the drip, and I think that we all can agree that a receptacle is an important part of the coffee-making process.

I had a Jilli for a few days of coffee making. It was awesome. Either tonight or tomorrow, I have to do it myself. Before coffee, it's hard to make coffee.

But I worry that if I go down that path, the credibility of what I'm doing will take a hit.

Which, honestly? I judge some sites and pretty critically. There's a huge chasm between I do this to keep the site paid for and continuing and I am looking to grab whatever shred of advertising monies that I can. If it is all ads, I just see the content as ads too.

For reference, Scrangie doesn't go so far as to make me not want to go to her site, but I am still really aware of her ads and that most of the stuff she's talking about was sent free for review and she's a marketing tool. Still, she does awesome polish reviews. I skip the other stuff.

Oh no. Lonesome George has died.

That is quite sad. All of those millennia of evolution and it's gone. It's like stories that will never be told exactly the same way again. They are just gone.

Oh, coffee! I am out of iced and should make some now.

There's a huge chasm between I do this to keep the site paid for and continuing and I am looking to grab whatever shred of advertising monies that I can

Aren't the people who want to make a living blogging more like the latter than the former, almost by definition?

Part of me airily opines that stories either never should or cannot be told exactly the same way twice, but I guess I look at the extinction as the end of a particular story, and because of the way things work, we don't really know/notice when the stories are being started, so it feels like all loss.

Met my new neighbor tonight. He's SO excited about the place. Funny thing is, he's friends with Mary Washington, our newest statehouse rep, who lives around the corner (and had come over to see the place, not having realized it was Ben's until she saw it.) And in turn, she is also friends with Ben (former occupant) from working on the Obama campaign together back when. And she knew the other Sarah on the street from the same, and another of new neighbor's friends' kids are friends with Sarah and Mark's kids down the block. Smalltimore it is!

Before coffee, it's hard to make coffee.

Can you tell that to my husband so he appreciates me more?

Aren't the people who want to make a living blogging more like the latter than the former, almost by definition?

They are. And, hey, if you can make a living doing that, I think that's great. I just am not always going to be the person going to that site and giving you the clicks unless I am getting a benefit from it as well. It's like how I only shop at places I like. Or something like that. When I am the thing being advertised to, I only feel compelled to go places that are worth it. Like Gmail. I am clearly not paying for that. But they give me something awesome and, in return, they can shove ads at me. It's the deal I accepted.

Part of me airily opines that stories either never should or cannot be told exactly the same way twice, but I guess I look at the extinction as the end of a particular story, and because of the way things work, we don't really know/notice when the stories are being started, so it feels like all loss.

I'm not as saddened by past extinctions but ones that hinge on what humans have done? I do think they are a loss. Evolution is so fascinating. It's sad to me when the only reason a species doesn't exist is us. And not even on purpose, we just blunder like toddlers that break a vase that was in the family for generations. It was on accident but it can't ever be fixed.

Um, I have feels.

It's sad to me when the only reason a species doesn't exist is us. And not even on purpose, we just blunder like toddlers that break a vase that was in the family for generations. It was on accident but it can't ever be fixed.

I have those same feels.

Two blogs I know of that do not do advertising(they rely on donations/subscriptions) are Shakespeare's Sister and The Flick Filosopher.