Wow. Sorry guys. It has been way too long. I could break into an explanation about how busy I've been, but I've done that too many times to count. Lets just say that my regular job and the freelance work I'm doing always seem to ramp up around the same time.

Hope you had a happy holiday and are on the way to a great new year. I’ve got some things brewing myself.

First things first.

The book drive is still going strong. You may have noticed that I've even got a graphic for it. Yes, I know its fairly generic and you can probably find the template I took it from with a few clicks on the internet. What can I say? Its a start. I'll try and design something original when I get some other things settled. The design will have to wait though.

Right now, I am working on the internal stuff. There has been a change in guard at the shelter. Amy has moved on and I am now building a relationship with her replacement. I'm trying to make sure that the donations are tax deductible for those of you who might be curious about that.

So far, the donations through the wish list are tax deductible. For those of you who shipped your donations directly to the shelter I am kind of at a loss. I know- or I hope you get all the reward you need just from sending books to kids who need them. On the other hand, I know that getting a kick back tends to get people in the mood to give. So, I'm researching and will get back to you.

I do want to take this opportunity to thank a few people in the meantime.

• TheMom: She was the person to bring the shelter to my attention. This whole thing started as a birthday gift to her.
• Doppelganger: Her willingness to help promote this cause has been instrumental in getting it off the ground.
• Pamie: She gave me pointers on shipping that helped me make the process a lot smoother.
• Dr. John: He has proven that swag can draw attention to any cause.
• And finally, Everyone who has made a donation: Because of the way the wishlist works, I don't know who has sent what. If I did, I would thank each of you by name. I also have no idea who has shipped directly to the shelter. If you want to leave a comment telling me what you shipped, I will be glad to mention you by name. Otherwise, I will just have to say a generic THANK YOU to everyone who has helped get us to this point.

In my mind, this book drive is only just getting started. Its in the early stages where I still don't know what I am doing. I'm just bumbling along trying to get the books to a shelter that is more than 800 miles away from me. Maybe I should have started closer to home. There is definitely an argument to made there. But, I have to think that a commitment to one starting place is just as good as another when all you want to do is help.

That was actually a perfect lead in to my next paragraph. In case you didn't realize it, tomorrow is the MLK holiday. In honor of that, there is a movement here in town. Instead of taking a day off, how about taking a day on? The idea behind this is that you do something active rather than passive on the holiday. Instead of going to a lecture or viewing a film, how about volunteering that same amount of time to help others?

Check out the Official Page to find out more. Sometimes its not about the holiday. Its more about what you do to make the world a tiny bit better. So, maybe I don't feel so guilty about backing a charity so far away after all.

With that out of the way, I can talk about some other things I am working on. The freelance thing is going well. It makes me question whether or not I have what it takes to do it full time. I keep telling myself that its only because I have a full time job. But, I wonder if I have what it takes to make deadline after deadline. Sometimes I think if that were the only work I had to do then I would be one happy camper. Other times, I am so glad that I can pick and choose projects because I make enough in my full time job. It’s a crapshoot.

I’m also working on yet another redesign. This one is for my professional site. Its going to be much more textual than it currently is. I’ve got the majority of the layout and design working, I just need to add a little polish and bug control.

There is one other thing. You may have noticed (maybe not because it took me a while to notice) that the google ads no longer appear on my site. It turns out that the spam I’ve been fighting lately has taken a bigger toll than just my time. The only thing I can figure is I was the victim of a click attack, which caused google to shut down my account.

Now I am trying to decide whether it will be worth it to go through the appeals process. Since I’ve been a member of the program for more than a year and never received a single payment, it may be just as easy to go another route. Nothing against google, but I can just as easily make no money from any other blog advertiser out there. I just don’t know what this will cost me in terms of hits from google searches. They say the two aren’t related but you never really know for sure, do you?

Anyway, that’s all for now. Look for updates very soon.