Second Featured Charity

I came across this really cool site called Idealist. The site reminds me a little of facebook because you can add people as friends there BUT it's all about charity, volunteering, and people helping other people!

They started off in 1995 and used to be called the Contact Center Network. They are a project of the non profit organization called Action Without Boarders.

Their interactive website is a great place where people and organizations can sign up and set up an account to exchange resources and ideas as well as locate opportunities and supporters.

They have many awards and recognition, which shows me that they are very reputable and worth the time of signing up for a free account, which I have already done. This site is a wonderful concept for someone like me, someone with a little extra time but not much money. There is so much going on at Idealist, you really should just check them out for yourself, click on the link below.
http://www.idealist.org/

My Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3D!

So I seen my first 3D movie tonight. It made me flinch a few times and close my eyes while things came hurling towards me from the screen, lol. All in all, it was a fun experience and I would rate the movie a 7 out of 10. If Journey to the Center of the Earth was not in 3D I think I may have been a little disappointed with it.

The 3D glasses were all black with large frames, very dorky looking. I wore them for a little bit after the movie as well, until my fiance told me to take them off because I looked ridiculous, but that was the whole point!

Well I'm off to bed now, to dream in 3D, hopefully!

Virtually dreaming,

Mary-Ann

First Featured Charity

The first reputable charity I have chosen to discuss is called Unite For Sight and was founded by Jennifer Staple. They are a global nonprofit organization that has provided eye care to 600,000 people in North America, Africa and Asia. Their goal is to reduce the number of people living with unnecessary blindness. No administration costs are funded by your donations, so 100% goes towards their international eye care programs, which I think is absolutely wonderful! All charities should operate this way.

Here are some interesting facts that you may not have known:

• 80% of all blindness is preventable. (I had no idea this was the case)
  

• 36 million people worldwide are needlessly blind. Patients go from being completely blind to having their sight entirely restored by a 15 minute operation.
  

• 60-80% of children who become blind die within 1-2 years.
  

• Blindness in the developing world has a significant effect on families, employment, income, and on the education of children within the family.
  

• Instead of attending school, children within a family are frequently assigned to the role of the caregiver of blind adults.
  

• Those who are blind in Africa have a 4X higher mortality rate.
  

You can help this organization by donating money, donating eye equipment, donating eyeglasses, volunteering your time or starting a chapter. Please visit their website at www.uniteforsight.org. They seem to be doing a great job at helping people in need. I commend them.

Just A Note.

Yes I know, I've been slackin' with the posts, partly because I don't think anyone is reading my blog and partly because I just got lazy. (And the fact that I am not able to post at work now because blogger.com is blocked is not very motivational!)

Low and behold, I came to the realization that I need to do a lot more posting before I will get readers...yes I am just that smart.

I still have not seen "Pineapple Express", it's still on my list of things to do though. I am going to the movie tonight, but I will be seeing "Journey to the Center of the Earth", because it's 3D and I have NEVER EVER seen a movie in 3D before! I'm actually very excited, yes, I am a sad little earthling. I've heard it's more of a kids movie but aren't we all just BIG kids deep down? I can't wait to look like a huge dork in those 3D glasses! I will even wear them after the movie is over, haha. You can be sure I will let you know my take of the movie after I view it. If anyone else has seen it, lemme know what you thought, k?

I found out I do have some traffic to my blog, so thanks to all those people who took the time to read here! I will try to get my arse in gear and post more often.

Virtually Yours,

Mary-Ann

My Donation Research Mission Begins Here

Ever since I was very young I have always wanted to sponser a child in a 3rd world country. Those commercials on television always found their way into my heart. The thing is I am pretty much living pay cheque to pay cheque so it's a lot harder to do than I thought it would be, hense, I haven't signed up with any organization to do so yet.

Also I have come to realize, I need to do some background research, to make sure my hard earned money is actually getting to the children and not just going in the pocket of some big company who only claims to be helping the less fortunate. In my opinion if the 80 percent or more of the donation money goes directly to helping the cause it's worth it, because obviously it does take money to run a charitable organization.

So I have come up with an idea, because I don't really have the money to donate or sponsor on a regular basis, I am going to do my part this way, by researching charitable and non profit organizations and then posting the reputable ones here on my blog to make my readers aware of them. I will be researching all different types of charities, such as for children in need, adults in need and even animals in need and so on. I may not post a new one every day because I will still have other topics I want to post about, but I will add new organizations as much as possible. In a small way this makes me feel like I am doing my part to help out others in need.

Please visit the Everything Charitable Forum and feel free to discuss and share anything of a Charitable nature there....

I want to see "Pineapple Express"

I really think this movie is going to be a good laugh. I hope I'm not disappointed because lately a lot of movies have been what I would classify as garbage. I want to see it either tonight or tomorrow night. (hint, hint for the fiance, tee hee) So far the general consensus for this movie at Rotten Tomatoes is 68%, which is actually a decent rating because I find most of the critics there are very particular. Seth Rogen was awesome in "Knocked Up", "The 40 Year Old Virgin", "Superbad", and "You, Me and Dupree". The fact that he is Canadian is just an extra bonus. I've never been a big fan of James Franco, I keep thinking about Spiderman whenever I see him, which is not a good thing unless I'm watching Spiderman lol. Apparently Rosie Perez plays a Cop in this movie, that should be interesting to say the least, as Peter Griffin once said, "Don't be stupid, she speak good and everything". lol!

I will give my own full review of "Pineapple Express" right after I see it, well maybe not right after but you get my drift. If anyone else has seen it, pls leave me a comment on how you liked or disliked it! Just don't ruin it for me. haha!

My Little Baby Boy

Hey everyone I just thought I would share some pictures of my 8 month old cocker spaniel. His name is Milo and he is the sweetest little devil you will ever meet! lol I don't have any real children yet so he is my little baby. Feel free to comment on how adorable he is, and tell me all about your little babies, hehe, I know you want to.

My List of Free Blog Directories

I have composed a list of 10 blog directories where you can sign up and list the URL to your blog for free. These are great if you are trying to promote your blog and make it popular, and everyone wants to be popular! These are not in any specific order and you can click on any of the titles and a new page will open up for you.

Blog Top List

Bloggernity

Blogarama

Blog Search

Blog Scholar

Blogs By Category

Blogger Now

Bloggapedia

5 Star Blogs

Answers

I've listed my blog with these sites, a few of them take about a week or so to get your URL listed, but it's free so I can't complain.

My review of the movie "Step Brothers"

Yesterday evening my fiance and I went to the movie "Step Brothers" starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly. It wasn't a movie that I was gung-ho on seeing but I figured, 'ah what the hell', I have enjoyed Will Ferrell's movies in the past and I really liked him on SNL. To tell you the truth it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, I laughed quite a few times thoughout it. Will and John make a funny team and I also enjoyed them in "Talladega Nights". There were some parts that I thought fell a little short when they were bickering back and forth, but overall it wasn't bad. I also really enjoy the acting of Mary Steenburgen, she always adds warmth to a movie for me. All in all I would give this movie a 7 out of 10 rating. As of right now this movie has a 50% rating on the Rotten Tomatoes Website

One thing I really hate is when they show most of the best parts of the movie in the trailer/screener. (But that is another discussion in itself that I will leave for another day.)

Pay Per Click Sites

I don't have much experience with pay per click sites. I signed up for a few of them last week just to see how they work and what they pay out, or more like IF they pay out. I have a fair amount of free time at work so I tend to do all my clicking then. It's kind of time consuming and sometimes each click is only worth .001 of a cent. I'm starting to think I could pick up more change on the road or collect cans/bottles and earn more. lol! Right now I think each account I have signed up for only has about $0.35 cents in it, and most of them don't pay out until you get at least $5.00 dollars. Sad eh?

I'd like to hear if anyone out there has any experience with these sites and if they got paid.

Here is a list of the ones I am currently using, try em out for yourself.. if you have spare time to waste on clicking.

1. ThinkBux- pays $0.01 per ad you click on and you can click the same ads after a 24 hr period.

2. DonkeyMails - has a no minimum payout, with pay per click ads and pay to read emails as well as paid sign ups and more.

3. BuxKingdom - pays for clicks as well as signups and chat apparently.

4. MatrixMails - has a $2.00 payout and you can earn cash by clicking, reading, signing up, and writing.

5. myLot - is not a pay per click site but they do pay you to post and discuss topics. It's a great way to earn extra cash and make new friends while doing so. They have a $10.00 minimum payout.

Happy Clicking Everyone!!