Since I added a new blog design (which has garnered mixed reviews), I thought it would be appropriate to update the About Me page. It’s a little bit longer and includes more information about how I got to where I am today and some of my goals for the future.

You will also notice I updated the picture. I used to have some 2 year old blurry picture, but now I have one thats just a couple of months old. It’s a picture of me chilling on the boat. Notice the Florida Gators hat I’m wearing.

In addition to updating the About Me page, I also updated the Blog Title. Instead of the old “David Lithman’s Web Development Blog”, it is now simply “Blogging With David Lithman”. The main reason I did this is because I don’t post many web development tips on here anymore so having a title about web development is misleading. I don’t want my readers thinking that I’ve gone astray. So now that the title is just “Blogging With David Lithman” I feel like I can write about other topics in addition to my web ventures.

I also updated my Advertising page. It had been awhile since I updated it. The page was still stating I had a PR of 5. So if you’re interesting in cheap advertising, check it out.

Over the course of the next day or so, I’ll probably be doing a few more minor updates on this site, trying to get it ready for the new year!

As you can tell (unless you’re reading this via RSS), I have a new theme design on my blog. This is like the 5th design change I’ve done since launching the blog. I guess I get bored of my themes after a few months. My previous theme was cool and all, I just didn’t like having the content column so narrow. It was only like 400px wide or so. While this one isn’t much wider, it is still over 500px, which gives me more room to add a 200×200 or 250×250 ad in the blog posts (if I so choose).

This theme is also brighter. No more dark colors. I tend to like white themes because they don’t produce huge glare if your computer is by a window. It’s also just easier on the eyes. Other changes include room for a 728×90 ad spot in the header and room for several 125×125 ad squares in the sidebar.

This design isn’t custom made for me. It was a free download, and you will see the link in the footer if you want to use it too. What’s weird though, is the footer.php file was encrypted, so you can’t make easy edits. They did this so you can’t remove their back links. However, anyone with moderate html knowledge can get around this by viewing the page source and replacing the encrypted code with the actual footer source codes. I tested it last night and it worked. I just haven’t played with it too much.

One of the new features I like with this design is if you view a post in single page view, it will give you forward and backwards arrows with the previous and next posts titles. It’s pretty cool for new visitors to be able to cycle through posts and see their titles instead of just a ‘next’ link.

That’s pretty much it. Be sure to let me know if you like this one better. Is there anything I should change about it? Or new features I should ad?

Finding a reliable, free host is very difficult. Conflicting reviews across the internet and on the web hosting forums always confuse the seeking customer. Today, I just wanted to tell you about a great, new Free Web Hosting site called InsaneGB. You know they provide excellent free web hosting because it’s owned by my good friend Nomar from 9MB.

What do you get?

If you sign up (for free) at InsaneGB.com, you will get:

• 5GB Web Space
• 20GB Data Transfer
• UNLIMITED MySQL Databases
• UNLIMITED Addon Domain Names
• UNLIMITED FTP Accounts
• UNLIMITED E-Mail Accounts
• cPanel

Did you notice it says free cpanel? It’s hard to find free cpanel these days… I pay like $20/mo on my dedicated server just to get it. This size hosting package is perfect for someone running a couple of blogs. You get unlimited databases and addon domains, so the number of sites you put in your account is endless. You can either sign up with your own existing domain, or you can create a free subdomain (such as mydomain.insanegb.com). This is great for those of you on a strict budget and want to create sites without purchasing a ton of $10 domains.

No Ads!

Finding a free webhost that doesn’t litter your site with advertisements is pretty rare. Well, InsaneGB is completely ad free! Another solid reason why you should go sign up.

Sign Up Process

The signup process at InsaneGb is quick and easy. You go through a couple of steps on the form and then your account is created automatically. No waiting around for someone to flip the switch. You can have your website up in 10 minutes.

Support

With InsaneGB, you get 24/7 support. They also have a support forum where members can interact with other to get live help and hosting tips.

All in all, InsaneGB is a great free hosting company. They give you a solid starter package with 5GB disk space absolutely free, and best of all there are no crazy ads or pop ups. If you’re in the market for free hosting, you have to check them out. Even if you have current hosting, why not sign up for an account and use it for test sites and backups?

Months ago, back in June, I posted that I had been looking for a new car. I just wanted to fill everyone in on an update.

I have really narrowed my search down to a 2005 Infiniti G35 Coupe. I originally posted that I was interested in the Sedan, but that quickly changed. The more I looked at the G35 Coupe, the more I fell in love with it.

Why the 2005 model? Well, one… I’m not rich enough to buy a brand new car. And two, I don’t really believe in buynig new cars. After reading The Millionaire Next Door, I realized how much money is instantly lost when you buy a brand new car. Nothing depreciates faster then a new car the minute you drive it off the lot. Buying a brand new car is really only for people that have a lot of disposable income. There is just no need for someone in my position to buy a new car, when a used one will work just fine.

The reason why I haven’t purchased a car yet is mostly because of the wedding I’m planning and paying for. Katie and I have to pay for a lot of the wedding ourselves so money is tight, and will be tight until after the honeymoon. Another reason why I’ve been putting it off, is that my current Acura TL is still running fine. I don’t have a car payment right now, so it will be very tough to trade in a perfectly fine car for a new one that comes with a $300-400/mo payment.

Things always change though. Maybe I’ll hit it big on the internet next week and be able to buy the car sooner. If any of these plans change, I’ll be sure to keep you posted!

I love reading Digital Point. Sometimes I go there just for a good laugh. This member ‘egoldzone’ posted a thread in the Google Adsense Forum asking if he’s getting a good return on the number of clicks on his website. You can view the thread here.

Basically he’s asking if getting $4.41 from 12 clicks is good. WHAT?!

Like someone in the thread said, if that’s not good enough then you may as well click. So many webmasters, including myself, would do anything to make .37 per click. This guy needs to wake up. I’m making like 3-4 cents per click on some of my sites. If they got .37, I’d be millionaire… well, not really, but you get the idea.

If I were this guy, I’d sell my forex trading site to some one before I get smart-priced. And trust me, it’s only a matter of time before he gets smart priced. Then he’ll be back on DP asking what the hell happened.

I’m venturing into unchartered waters! I’m actually working and posting on a Saturday, something very, very rare for me. Now before you go and say I’m lazy and blah blah because you work on Saturdays all the time, please remember that I hold a 40 hr/wk corporate job AND work on my website network during the week. So really, when the weekends come I’m spent and ready to just chill out.

Usually I’ll spend a Saturday with my fiance Katie or hanging out with my friends watching football. However, today Katie is at a wedding shower with her friends and there is no football on! The Heisman Award ceremony is on tonight and I will be at a party cheering on my favorite gator Tim Tebow. But for now, I’m just listening to Red Hot Chili Peppers and chilling at home waiting.

It is a very nice day out today and an unusually warm like 80 degrees. I could go play golf or something, but I really wanted to sit down and get some uninterupted work done…something I haven’t done in a long time.

I’ve already posted once on Forum Business Blog, and I plan to tmestamp about 3 more posts. I’ll probably post 1-2 more times on this blog as well with timestamps for Monday and Tuesday. I have about 3 or 4 other sites/blogs that need posting on too. And depending on how my time goes, I might start up a new blog that I’ve been wanting to for a week or so. We’ll see though.

So all to my friends out there who are also on the net, I hope you have a great weekend. Don’t work too hard! Weekends are supposed to be fun!