Sunday Video: Sunday by Tree63

We all know Tree63 as the band that sings "Blessed Be Your Name" but I'm bringing you another song done by them titled "Sunday."  I had debated with myself on whether to post this on Easter or not and as you can see I chose the week before.  After making this decision I found a tweet about Tree63's Kickstarter campaign.  They're independent now so they needed some help getting their next album off the ground.  I donated because I like Tree63 and I saw this as a sign.  They haven't put out any music in seven years and right when I decide to share a video of their music on my blog this happens?

This is not their official music video.  I don't think they have one.  It's just a quirky one I found on Youtube that I happen to like.

Sunday Video: We Believe by Newsboys

In honor of the premiere of the movie Do You Believe? today's video is the wonderfully awesome song by the Newsboys "We Believe."

I love the Newsboys.  I loved them with Peter Furler and now with Michael Tate, former member of dc Talk.  They were great with Furler as lead singer, but they're something else with Tate.  Right now, they're on fire.

RSV and Daycare

Two weeks ago my three month old niece was in the hospital suffering from RSV.

RSV is short for Respiratory Syncytial Virus.  It affects the lungs and breathing passages.  My niece was struggling to breathe so she had to be taken to the hospital.  Little did anyone know she would be there until the end of the week.  Just think about a little three month old with an IV in her arm and a tube up her nose.  A board was put on her arm to keep the IV in place.  She'd raise her arm and it would just irritate her.  She finally learned how to grab the tube and pull it out of her nose.

Anyway, this post isn't about sympathy for my niece (but you can feel sympathetic if you want, totally allowed).  My niece got sick at daycare.  Daycare is a good place to get sick.  Yeah, you're going to get the common cold, blah, blah, blah.  You expect that.  Whatever.  You don't want it, but being with other children every day it's going to happen.  What you don't expect is this.

There is only one person to blame in the entire daycare for this.  The daycare workers informed parents a case of RSV was going through the daycare and one woman was flippant about it saying her son already went through that a few weeks ago.

Her son already went through it a few weeks ago.

She still took him to daycare.

He went to daycare while he was sick.  With RSV.

He's the one who gave it to not just my niece but other babies.  I don't know anything about the other babies, but my niece had to go to the hospital.  The next week my mom babysat her instead of sending her to daycare so she could get better.

Asthma runs in my family (or should I say doesn't run, haha, roll eyes).  My mom has it and my brother, the baby's father, has it.  Could my niece have it?  Possibly.  Could it have been exacerbated by RSV?  Possibly. I don't know.  I'm not a doctor.  I have a degree in English.  We don't study how those things work.

This lady put my niece in danger and not just my niece but other babies as well.  It was for her selfish gain so she could keep her child in daycare while she went to work.  It affects her baby as well.  The baby should be at home where he can get the proper attention and rest to get better.  It hurts him, too, but I'm guessing she doesn't realize that.

I get the argument that maybe she can't miss work or whatever, but this isn't just the common cold.  This is RSV.  How to prevent RSV?  Aside from washing hands and such, keep children who are suffering from it away from other children.  Do not socialize when you are sick!  Common sense, people!

The ones getting sick this time were babies.  Babies have weaker immune systems.  They don't handle illnesses the way older people do.  They need more care and attention.

If your child is sick DO NOT TAKE THEM TO DAYCARE!  Stay home with him or her.  Get a baby-sitter.  Ask a relative or a neighbor to watch the child.  Don't put other people at risk because you won't miss a day of work.  Don't put your child at risk by not keeping him or her at home to get better.  Yes, one of the best recipes for treating an illness is to stay home and rest.  Why don't people get that?

Sunday Video: Best Kept Secret by Skillet

An awesome band that I got to see in concert in I think it was 2001 (not a big concert goer so this is a big thing).  This song is from 2000 and it's one of their best songs.

Ten Sites to Make Money Doing Online Tasks

1.    Swagbucks: 

Earn virtual currency for Paypal money or gift cards by performing tasks, watching video, shopping, searching, and playing games.  Periodically Swagbucks will release a code which can be redeemed for a small amount of Swagbucks.  Every few months they run contests where teams work together to win extra Swagbucks.  The user will receive a bonus for reaching certain goals each day.  More bonuses are rewarded for reaching goals in 7 consecutive days, 14 consecutive days, 21 consecutive days, and the entire month.  This is my favorite site to use.  They have apps to watch videos to earn money passively.  The videos will run on their own and you can do other things like visiting the actual website to do the surveys and such.

2.       Gifthulk: 

Taking surveys, watching video, and performing tasks can earn virtual coins called Hulk Coins.  Hulk Coins can be used for cash in the form of Paypal transfers or bitcoin and gift cards.  The site awards users for their activity in the form of discounts on the rewards and more tokens for "Guess the Card", a game in which one can win coins by correctly guessing the number and/or suite of a card.  If the user reaches a specified amount every day they receive a bonus and if they do this five to seven times in one week they receive extra bonuses.

3.       Google Opinion Rewards: 

For Android users only.  This one's not going to help you pay the bills, but by answering surveys sent periodically to your Android device you can make money to spend at the Google Play Store.  There you can buy digital items like books, music, movies, TV shows, and apps.  I've been able to purchase movies and apps.  Overall I'm pleased with it.  I do wish the surveys would come more often, but hey, it's free, so I'm not complaining.  I'm also not complaining because even though you might only get 10 cents the surveys are not very long or labor intensive.

4-5.   Sendearnings & Inboxdollars:

I find these two sites to be clones of each other.  Many of the emails I get from one site I get the same from the other.  Like other sites you can take surveys,   watch videos, and perform tasks.  You also can get credit for opening emails.  You will get sent         emails to your inbox.  Open the email, click on the link, and you get two cents.  While that’s not          a lot, it’s more than you get for opening other emails.  You can play games here but I think to              actually get credit you have to deposit money.  I’m not willing to do that nor am I allowed by              state to participate in gambling websites like that so it won’t even let me do that. 

  

6.       Toluna:

An interactive site where one can take surveys, answer user generated questions, or polls for points.  Points can be redeemed for gift cards.  It’s like the other sites but more interactive.  You don’t just qualify for surveys.  You can take polls and such to earn small amounts of points. They are small amounts, but that’s better than zero when you don’t qualify for a survey.

7.       Opinionsquare:

Take surveys for rewards.  Every failed survey results in a token to play either a scratch-off game or a slot game with the lowest prize being 25 coins.  Coins are redeemed for gift cards or prizes like books, games, and music.

8.       Mpoints: 

Play games on your smart phone or tablet for gift cards.  Many apps are connected to mPoints.  These are fun games like Family Feud & Friends, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Hangman, and Word Search.  Some of the non-game apps connected are the Crackle app, get mPoints for watching TV   and movies, and dictionary.com, get mPoints for looking up words.  One is most likely going to play games on their portable device.  Why not get rewarded for it?

9.       Mechanical Turk: 

Do tasks for money.  This is real money one can transfer to their Amazon account and either spend it on Amazon or transfer to their bank account.  These are small tasks like taking surveys, data entry, audio translation, search, and other simple tasks people will post on the site as a turk.

10.   Perk:

They call themselves the most popular mobile reward earning site.  Download apps to earn Perk Points and Perk Tokens.  Perk Points are used to purchase gift cards and Perk Tokens are used to enter sweepstakes.  Among the apps one can download are TV, Trivia, Mahjong, and Search.  One can also go to their website to take surveys and perform online tasks.

On average one cannot make a living off these sites but can earn cash and gift cards to supplement and provide spending money.  If you find at the end of the month you've just barely paid your bills but you have nothing left over for luxuries or you want to save for a vacation, I recommend using sites like these.  If you're a kid over the age of 13 and your parents won't pay for a Netflix account you can make average of about $9 a month doing surveys and other minimal tasks and voila, you have Netflix (don't do this if your parents do not want you to have an account).  It can work for other subscription based internet sites like oyster.com or Amazon Prime.  A lot of the users like to save their money for Christmas.  Maybe you're in college and don't have time for a part-time job but desperately need party money.  These aren't places where you can get $10 to spend tonight, but if you do your time everyday you can have money waiting for you.  Your best friend's birthday is next month and you have no money to get her a gift.  Spend some time at one, a few, or all of these sites and earn gift cards you can use to purchase her a gift or if you're lazy enough (or she's too picky) give her the gift card.  Maybe you're like me and addicted to books.  I use some of the money I make on these sites to feed my addiction.

Sunday Video: "More of You" by Colton Dixon

I don't really watch American Idol anymore, but I did use to watch it regularly.  I think the last great contestant I really enjoyed was Colton Dixon.  He was an amazing rocker.  It killed me when he did "Everything" by Lifehouse (which is one of my favorite Lifehouse songs).  But, that song got him eliminated!  When he sang his swan song, he turned the lyrics to God (I do believe that the song already has Christian undertones).  My mom and I shared a look, like wow.  It's one thing to be Christian, but on a national stage like American Idol it's another to come out and sing Christian.  He did that.  He didn't win the show, but he proved himself.  Now, he has a career in Christian rock and I'm loving it.

And since I can I present you Colton Dixon's "Everything" performance on AI and his final performance after being eliminated.


(BTW, he has nothing to apologize for.  That was a beautiful rendition of the song).

Writing Update

I got a job last week writing posts for Postboredom Productions.  According to the contract I will write 1-2 posts per week.  So far I have written two posts.  It's a very small job but it's a start.  Everyone has to start at the bottom.  I'm currently watching Freaks and Geeks on Netflix and look at the actors who started at the bottom there.  I mean, this is a show that lasted only one season, 18 episodes.  But, it was a beginning (maybe not THE beginning) for James Franco, Jason Segel, and Seth Rogen (according to IMDB it was Seth's very first on screen role).  We all need beginnings.  Everyone has to start somewhere.  No one gets to start in the middle or at the end.

Other writing news: Thanks to my Harry Potter fanfic, Aftermath, I got an invitation to a fanfic site called Inkitt.  Apparently, it's a site you can only join via invitation, so that's cool.  I have joined under my name blue4t and am in the process of adding my fanfiction.net stories if you want to check them out there.

Sunday Video: "Lighthouse" by Audio Adrenaline

I chose this song because it is one of my top favorites.  This week in my devotional one of the prayers was to be the light for others.  Anytime when someone mentions the light (or lighthouse) when it comes to Christianity, this song automatically pops in my head.  I don't think the song actually pertains to the prayer as the lighthouse the singer is referring to is God and the light the prayer refers to is us.  However, this is a very powerful song I think everyone should hear.

The song is from their album Some Kind of Zombie released in 1997 making it almost 18 years old!