La Bene Vita

Sunday

Well, I chose to let my premium membership lapse. I did the math, and when you pay for 12 months at a time, premium costs $12/month versus upgraded at $4/month. My portfolio is down to 238 items (max Upgraded:250, Premium:1000), and I frankly think that I could clean it up more. I only have three books (U:10, P:25). I can still host groups and forums (i.e., October Prep), but I'll have to host the tracking web page offsite. No biggie, since I own several domains. I can't host a shop (damn - hello, I own a brick-and-mortar retain store? and several domains) or use the submission tracking tool (I don't even write these days, let alone submit). I thought the custom links tool was cool and novel, and I set it up, but I have not clicked on it once ever since. I use Google bookmarks for that. I'm thinking the biggest things I'm going to miss are the favorites bar and my rock band costumicon. Are those features worth three times the price?

As a businesswoman, I pay extra close attention to my own reactions to other people's products. Bottom line: Can I afford $12/month? Sure. Could I come up with $140 now for the 12-month price? Yes. Do I want to, when the upgrade is only $50? Well, that depends on what I'm getting for my money and how badly I want it. Apparently, I didn't want it badly enough, which is interesting, because there was a time when I paid hundreds of dollars on gift points, which I mostly gave away to other people. The idea of an online store was very interesting to me, and I dabbled in c-notes like half of the WDC community. The businesswoman in me notices all of that, too.

By the way, speaking as one who has give "angel" upgrades in the past, I can tell you why people do it anonymously. Well, I can tell you why *I* do it anonymously. Because once you pay for somebody's upgrade, what do you do 1, 3, 6, or 12 months down the road when the upgrade lapses again? The person is now counting on you. I've created a few monsters that way. It's better for me when the person doesn't know on whom they're counting. That may sound cold, except for the fact that I did something nice in the first place, and I - like everyone (even Robert Waltz ) - have a limit to my resources, and as much as I would like to help every youth, college kid, single mother, and elderly person living on social security, I simply can't.

Reach 300 students at MTMS   by 12/31/11:
I have three teacher interviews today, and another teacher who was working three days just opened up two more. I love that our teachers love their jobs as much as Chris and I.

Compile book inventory:
No activity.

Pick scheduling database by 7/31/11:
No activity.

Reading: One book per week.
I read in the car on the way home, and then the book actually started to get interesting! For the curious, it happened at 44% of the way through the book. So I read at home before bed a little, too.

Writing:
(1) Blog at WDC daily: Up to date, and I've been consistent, so that's a good start.
(2) Blog at MT.com   by the end of Wednesday: No. See #1.
(3) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: No. See #1.

Count points: I lost track because I was temporarily locked out of my blog. After my premium lapsed, I found myself at 900 of 750 entries. I archived entries from 2007-2009, and now I just need to find a home for the archive and point to it. Add that to my to-do list.]