http://www.homewithandrew.com Working at home, making money, doing it my way. Sat, 04 Oct 2008 02:31:58 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Image via : Papa Razzi1My family and I decided to carry out and experiment over August and September. We did this because every year without fail, our customer base dips beginning September. I don't know why - maybe it's the weather, maybe people just don't like eating in September, maybe ... http://www.homewithandrew.com/index.php/our-little-eat-at-home-experiment/ Here's an interesting article on the New Straits Times for all gentlemen out there. Seems that if your critical body part down there finds it difficult to stand at attention, then you are at risk of vascular problems! Image from Sausagewars.com WHAT'S good for your penis is also good for your heart. ... http://www.homewithandrew.com/index.php/well-naughty-me-look-whats-up/ Image from : Le Silly The Chinese Hungry Ghost Month usually falls in the month of August. As a Christian, this is not supposed to be of any significance to me, but let me share my experience with you. On the eve of Merdeka seven years ago in 2001, while we were ... http://www.homewithandrew.com/index.php/phew-i-made-it-through-the-seventh-month/ Every August, my kids will come home singing Merdeka songs that they learnt in school. Sara came home one day and asked if I could find the lyrics to the song "Warisan" written by Sudirman Hj. Arshad who in my opinion is the greatest Malaysian lyricist. Anyway, after downloading the song ... http://www.homewithandrew.com/index.php/we-are-warisan-malaysia/ Well, well, well, looks like the folks in Permatang Pauh have set us on a journey into the unknown. By electing Anwar Ibrahim back into Parliament, we should at the very least expect the opposition (with any luck they will be the ruling party soon) to be a much stronger ... http://www.homewithandrew.com/index.php/2-ugly-durians-and-the-permatang-pauh-by-election/ Well, time seems to be slipping through my fingers lately. Been so busy with our home based catering business and backend work on my other sites that I missed a really big piece of news. It would seem that Clickbank now accepts Malaysian accounts. I was browsing some local sites ... http://www.homewithandrew.com/index.php/clickbank-accepts-malaysian-accounts-better-late-than-never/ Go ahead and take a mini break from work! Exabytes - a world class web hosting company is organizing a contest in conjunction with Malaysia's 51st Anniversary of its independence. It's a really simple contest - all you have to do it count the number of flags and logos in the ... http://www.homewithandrew.com/index.php/win-a-sony-mp3-walkman-simple/ Kontera was a really good income stream up to December 2007. That's because something happened in January 2008 that turned Kontera into a wussy of a money trickle. Here's what happeneed. I ALWAYS experiment with Adsense ad placements and formats. This is to counter ad blindness as much as it is ... http://www.homewithandrew.com/index.php/saying-adios-to-kontera/ The fuel price hike took me by surprise. I expected a 30 sen increase, not a whopping 78 sen! However, sitting down to take a look at my budget, I thank God that we are still able to swim, although I hope I'm not talking too soon. How the fuel ... http://www.homewithandrew.com/index.php/biting-the-fuel-hike-bullet-time-to-ikat-perut/ You know... having a blog and not updating it kinda leaves you with a 24 hour guilt trip that just doesn't go away. Anyone who knows me knows that I am always on the run. It always seems like there are not enough hours in a day. I run a ... http://www.homewithandrew.com/index.php/my-plate-runneth-over-and-im-piling-on-more/ The Chinese New Year month is terrible for my home catering biz. With most of my customers taking a month or 2 week long break, income from catering during the Chinese New Year is always pathetic. The first year we were in business - when we didn't really have a lot ... http://www.homewithandrew.com/index.php/google-money-puts-the-happy-in-chinese-new-year/ Just got an email notification from Paypal informing that there is a glitch in the processing of funds withdrawal : Dear Andrew Shim, Due to a technical issue we have experienced starting on January 20, 2008 we have been unable to successfully withdraw funds to your credit card. As we work ... http://www.homewithandrew.com/index.php/delay-in-withdrawal-of-paypal-funds/ Here's a quick tip. While checking my stats to see if the FunWebProducts bot was still being blocked, I noticed that there were a huge number of hits for one of my images. I had previously noticed that a website was hot-linking to another small image months ago. At that ... http://www.homewithandrew.com/index.php/stop-sites-from-hot-linking-to-your-images/ If you're serious about your websites - and you should be if they're making you money - then you must monitor your server logs. This is especially important if you see a sudden spike in traffic in your stats. Here's something you might not be aware of - not all bots ... http://www.homewithandrew.com/index.php/blocking-the-funwebproducts-bot/ It's not my kids saying they wish it was the school holidays... it's ME! I tell myself, "It's the 8th of January already for goodness sakes... snap out ot it Andrew!" I can't help it. It takes me a long time to get over the school holidays. The hols mean crazy ... http://www.homewithandrew.com/index.php/i-wish-it-was-still-the-school-holidays/ "Say what?" "Aren't I like almost 5 days too late?" "Yo! Andrew! Are you chronologically challenged or what?" Heh... No... I'm wishing you a Merry Christmas on the 29th of December because to me, everyday is Christmas! We were driving to our regular hangout - One Utama - for last minute shopping when ... http://www.homewithandrew.com/index.php/merry-christmas/ Our little trip to Genting Highlands was a great was to get away from business and just have fun. But it was also an eye opener. Up there, we saw so many ways people were making money - from vending food to novelties. Since returning from the hilltop, I've been extremely ... http://www.homewithandrew.com/index.php/planning-to-diversify-and-change-course/ 3 years ago on 15th December 2004, I began my life as a full time work at home Dad, running a home based catering business with my wife and managing my websites (and this blog). It hasn't been a bed of roses I can tell you. Being my own boss calls ... http://www.homewithandrew.com/index.php/3rd-anniversary-as-a-full-time-work-at-home-dad/ A member on Webmasterworld noticed a new Adsense format being tested on some sites. A number of members confirmed seeing this new format as well. Here's a sample image : I think that there are a number of advantages to this format : It adds interactivity to the ads; I believe ... http://www.homewithandrew.com/index.php/adsense-testing-new-scrolling-ad-format/ We'll be going for a short family holiday this weekend to Genting Highlands. Genting Highlands is a massive hilltop resort that's a really fun place so it's also almost always packed with people. Food also costs double up there than it does anywhere else in Malaysia. But the kids love ... http://www.homewithandrew.com/index.php/going-on-a-getaway-to-genting-highlands/