Well, I just missed the 100$ threshold this month, and the clicks that put me over showed up on the 1st of January instead.  That said, in the February cycle, Google should acknowledge that they owe me money and the AdSense site assures me that by late March, I will have a cheque.

If I opted for electronic funds transfer, it would be early March.  Yup, even using electronic means, Google is going to take over a whole month to issue payment.  Obviously Google has no problem handling information, so it can only be one thing.  INTEREST.  Google takes money from advertizers and sends some of it to AdSense sites - the longer they can hold on to it in their accounts, the longer they can make interest off it.

It's a shame Google's "do not evil" pledge doesn't extend to slightly sleazy business practices as well.  Ah well.  Once the cheque shows up, I'll scan 'r in and post a copy (with personal information suitably obfuscated, of course) before I rush it to the bank to cash in on my part of the Google Goldrush.

 If you've managed to not hear yet, Zune 30s the world over have died horrible flaming deaths today.  Why?  Because today is, mathamatically, the extra day in a leap year and apparently it was just too confusing for the clock driver to figure out.  Apparently, its to hard for Microsoft to figure out as well, as this excerpt from one of their forum posts will attest:

Q:  What is Zune doing to fix this issue? 
The issue should resolve itself.

Ya, ok, sure.  Tommorow all will be well, but unless Microsoft actually -DOES- something, the issue will magically unresolve itself in 4 years time.  Perhaps MS's official policy is that no Zune 30s will still be functional in 4 years, but that would be a hell of a thing to admit, don't you think?

Seriously, the last device I had that couldn't cope with a leap year was a 10$ wristwatch, and you could fix that in 10 seconds.

So close to that magically 100$ adsense cheque limit, and this month is one of my best so far!  I almost dare to dream that I might finally pass it, and next month Google might actually cut me a cheque.

It has been an interesting experiement over the years.  Clearly, if you have a sight that draws large volumes of traffic, Adsense has the potential to provide a reasonable revenue.  If you have a site that draws very little traffic, I would have expected the counter to start at zero and stay there.  The climb towards 100$ has been VERY slow (you can see my progress logged to the right hand side), but it has been steady and measurable.

I wonder what next year will bring?  I'm pretty sure it will bring a revamp of the site - I am already planning it out in my head, so here's hoping!

Dec 30th 12 noon Update : Getting mighty darn close!  99.27 (Google's adsense site calculates it a little differently as 99.30 - go figure, good at search, slightly odd at math!)

 Well, it's official.  The solstice rolled by this morning at 5:04 am (mst) - it is officially now winter.

Which is only right considering the weather for the past week (-30, windchills below -40 -> And at that point, it doesn't even matter celcius or farenhite)

The good news is that we can all thank the Gods that the days will now start growing longer again.  Ok, so those that know me know I prefer the dark, but its still nice to have the option. (who am I kidding?  If I could get high speed broadband north of 60 in the middle of the tundra, I would probably move there!)

 Great, I've killed yet ANOTHER left mouse button.  The worst part is that it is nearly impossible to find a replacement for my mouse (Logitech Trackman Wheel) - sure they still make it, but finding anyone that sells it without doubling the price with shipping is near impossible.

I don't mind paying a fair price for a mouse, but if I have to pay 60$ for a mouse, I would rather it had some of the more modern features like side scroll, and have some where local to return it to if the thing is a lemon (it happens even to the best devices).

Oh well, time to dig out and old mouse and the soldering iron and replace yet ANOTHER switch.

Hey, Logitech - how about updating this mouse with some of the recent scroll wheel innovations that appear on the rest of your mice?  And while yer up, could you explain what the point of a wireless trackball is, because frankly I don't get it.

Rumours about Screamers 2 surfaced in 2007, but with projects getting created and cancelled like virtual particals in the quantum foam, you always worry that Heisenberg is going to have his way with your viewing preferences.

I'm not sure if this is good for Schrödinger's cat or not, but it looks like the Screamers are coming! We have a preview!!!

We just need a release date now.

 Turns out it is a XMas album that mutated into a "winter theme".  Makes me wonder if Enya has listened to many XMas albums - they tend to have winder themes.  Reversing 65% Xmas/35% winter mix ratio doesn't really make it not an XMAS album in my mind.

Frankly, I would rather start an ingrown toenail farm on all 10 of my toes than have more insipid XMAS tunes foisted upon me, even if they are in Gaelic.

Record industry:  Is this the new plan - eliminate downloading by making music so awful no one wants it even for free? 

If you live in Canada and haven't been following the developments in politics lately, you have missed one of the most bizarre plays you are ever likely to see.

The opposition plotting to steal power from the dually elected government, the NDP and Bloq caught with their hand in the cookie jar plotting this much longer than they want to admit, the conservatives taping NDP conference calls, the Liberals deluded enough to think they can actually hold a 3 way coalition together with a party whose sole goal is to tear Canada apart and signs of an election likely to be no later than late January.

Wow.  Not bad!

OK, a few points I need to address :

I have removed the YP-P2 pages. It appears rather than continue to develop the YP-P2 or at least provide a public SDK, Samsung is going to let the P2 languish on the heap of promising products, as yet un-finished.

Sadly, I feel that news of the P3 has only driven the stake through the P2's heart. Without support for formats like Divx or XVid, and the mess that is the the PC software (riddled with copy protection software) it is hard to see a future for this device.

Ah well. Now to decide if I am going to keep mine or sell it and move on to something better.

If you are a Canadian, get out there and bloody vote!!!

With very few exceptions, there is nothing you will do today that is more important. 

I don't care if you follow politics religiously and know who you'll vote for, follow it and still have no clue or don't even know who is running and have to throw darts to decide. GO VOTE!!!!! 

Even an uninformed random vote tells the politicians that we are watching them and makes them less likely to screw around.  When you don't vote, you tell them you don't care what they do at all - can you afford to send that message?

If you have never voted before and have no clue who is running and can't choose then toss a freaking coin.  Getting involved in the first step.  Chances are next time you'll know a little more and the time after that even more.