It took me a couple of weeks but I have finally updated my goals for the 2008 calender year. You can view the 2008 goal page here, or just click on 'Goals' in the top navigation bar.

In a nutshell, here are the goals I have set for 2008:

1. Develop Swollen Pickles into a website that can generate $350 per month.
2. Develop Swollen Pickles to the point where it receives 30,000 unique visits per month.
3. Develop Digital Burn into a website that can generate $150 per month.
4. Develop Digital Burn to the point where it receives 15,000 unique visits per month.
5. Develop Motor Dude into a website that can generate $50 per month.
6. Develop Motor Dude to the point where it receives 7,500 unique visits per month.
7. Achieve my goal weight of 85kgs.

You'll noticed that I kept this years set of goals focused primarily on web stuff. I may have been a little optimistic in terms of the financial goals for a couple of these sites, but if I don't try, I'll never get there. If you're wondering how I arrived at the dollar figures, it was largely based on what I thought was achieveable given the growth in the past 12 months. Also if I averaged those figures over a year, then it would go close to paying my rent, and having a roof over your head is a good thing!

There's also a new, highly classified, uber top secret, project I'm working on at the moment, however I haven't included that in the list as yet. Perhaps I will once it launches.

In other news, I recently forked out the cash for the Pro version of the phpBay plugin. It cost me $49.95 US, but based on the performance of the Lite version, I'll have made my money back on it within a couple of weeks.

Happy Australia Day people! Hope you're having a good one, whether you're cooking a barbie with beer in hand, perched on an esky watching the cricket, or walking along the beach wondering why your thongs are making that squeeking noise.

A couple of aussie things to cross off my aussie 'to do' list today.

Firstly, I need to give a plug to the Aussie Bloggers Forum. Why? Cos it's aussie!

Secondly, I need to give a plug to the Aussie Bloggers Blog. Why? Cos it's aussie!

Thirdly, I need to give a plug to lamb. Why? Cos it's Aussie, and Sam Kekovich is doing his best to make sure lamb isn't forgotten on this most Aussiest of days.

Here's some of slammin' Sam's fine work in the promotion of lamb. This first one is Sam's 2007 address to the nation.

Here's Sam campaigned for the introduction of Australian Week to replace Australian Day. 

The recent Sydney Test Match between Australia and India has proven that cricket is not necessarily a "gentlemen's" sport. The 5 day match managed to stir up a lot of controversy in a very short period. It started with some dodgy umpiring decisions and ended with allegations of racism, with Harbhajan Singh allegedly calling Australia's Andrew Symonds a "monkey", for which Singh has copped a three match ban (which India is now appealing). India then threatened to pick up their bat and ball and go home, but have since decided to continue their tour. All very complicated and confusing for what is only a game!

One of the more curious umpiring decisions given in the game was Andrew Symonds being given not out after he appeared to get a thick edge. Symonds was heavily criticised by India for not 'walking', when even by Symonds own admission, he was out. "Walking" or the act of the batsmen walking from the ground even before the umpire has given the decision (usually happens when it's obviously out), has always been a contentious issue. Personally I can see both sides of the argument.

On the one hand, why should a batsmen walk if he/she is given not out by the umpire. As a batsmen there are days when the decisions will go against you. You'll be given out even though you know you should not have been. Getting a decision to go your way just balances everything out doesn't it? The umpires are there to do a job, why should the batsman do it for them.

On the other hand, if you know you are out, isn't "walking" the only the right, and sportsman like thing to do?

Personally, I'd say I'd be a "walker", I'm not sure I could stand there knowing that I should have been given out, but then that might all change if I were a professional cricketer who had been on the receiving end of some poor decisions.

In cricket, there is no more obvious mode of dismissal than being clean bowling. When the ball hits the stumps and the bails come off, you really don't need to wait for the umpire to raise his/her finger. Which is why I'm not sure that the Indian cricket team should feel all that comfortable for criticising their opposition for not walking.

Here's a nice clip highlighted by the Brisbane Times and posted on YouTube, featuring tough talking Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh demonstrating how not to walk. His decision not to leave the ground and wait for the umpires decision seems to confuse everyone, including the commentary team, and his English opposition. The Brisbane Times describes the action:

The move befuddles commentator Ian Botham and moves Pietersen to ask Singh: "Do you not walk when you're bowled?". Harbhajan fires back with, ahem, a phrase starting with a word that rhymes with "truck" and ends with "you".

Watch the clip for yourself, it's a bit of a laugh, but supports the old saying that "those in glass houses shouldn't throw stones". Warning: Contains some coarse language.

Vintage Talking Cricket Doll Playmates 1985 EUC

7 Bids

US $25.13

19m

2002 CRICKET TOPPS ACB GOLD SET of 125 CARDS

US $8.07

24m

With the year fast drawing to a close, I thought it might be time to sit back and reflect on what a year it has been. In other words, I'm about to run through the top 10 most popular posts on Swollen Pickles for 2007. By popular, I'm talking about the most visited posts as recorded by Google Analytics for 2007. So, here is the countdown, from 10 to 1.

Number 10: Deadpool is the forgotten superhero

Way back in March of this year I developed quite the "graphic novel" addiction. Deadpool was, and still is a personal favorite. This post was a tribute to Deadpool: The Forgotten Superhero. Personally, I'm suprised that so many people continue to visit this one.

Number 9: Turning up the heat on the bandwidth thief

August/September of 2007 saw me engaged in a running battle with a dodgy bandwidth thief. I was irritated so I took so anti-theft measures. I'm guessing the image of the massive set of bulls balls is what still appeals to most people.

Number 8:  The original 300 script

Not sure why this one has proven so popular. For the most part, 300 was a fairly crap movie. Maybe people are searching for some answers? Maybe they are thinking the "original" script had to have been better? Like the movie, this post was just one big bad joke.

Number 7: Old school advertising full of innuendo

It's no secret that I have a bit of a fascination with ye olde advertising. When you look at it now, it seems so chock full of smutty innuendo. Perhaps that says more about me?

Number 6: Hot picture of Paris Hilton's tuna taco

Speaking of innuendo, I'm guessing that's why this Paris Hilton post continues to get a constant stream of traffic. I'd hazard a guess and suggest that a majority of people that visit this post via a search result do so because they are not taking the title literally. Gee, they must be disappointed!

Number 5: How I stopped a bandwidth thief

This post could be considered my "community service" post. Probably one of the more useful things I've contributed to the web. A diamond in amongst a barrow full of gravel.

Number 4: Lindsay Lohan with massive camel toe

Another post with a title that should be read quite literally to prevent disappointment. This one features the starlet also dubbed "fire crotch" man handling an uber camel toe.

Number 3: Paris Hilton's camel toe

Proving that Swollen Pickles has corned the lucrative camel toe market, the third most popular post of 2007 features Ms Hilton and toe. This post has been a hit within the pervert community, but once again, the title should be taken literally.
Number 2:  Top 5 most inappropriate logo designs

Proving that the world lives a "top 5" list, the second most popular post of the year is just over a month old. This one has surged toward the top.

Number 1: Rollin' with Saget

There should be no underestimating of Bob Saget. Rollin' with Saget was the most popular post on Swollen Pickles for 2007 by a considerable margin. It's a catchy tune, and it's funny. Win-win.

So there you have it, the most popular SwollenPickles.com posts of 2007.  I wouldn't consider this a "best of Swollen Pickles", but I guess not everything need be exceptional quality in order to be popular! 

Dear World,

Merry Christmas and/or Merry whatever else it is you choose to celebrate at this time of year.

Right now I'm on holiday, so, thanks to the marvels of modern science and technology, this post was written five days ago. Trippy stuff kids! It is now lunch time, so I'm probably stuffing my face full of an assortment of holiday foods.

What ever you are doing, have fun, stay safe and play nice!

Best wishes for A Very Brady Christmas,

Swollen Pickles

p.s. Here's a picture of a Christmas pug.

Now I'm going to bring it down a notch, and get somewhat serious. A friend of mine asked me the other day how did I go about selecting a web host. In the very early days, before I knew what wordpress was, I hosted SwollenPickles.com with a local hosting company. My first host was found via "word of mouth", and, not knowing anything about hosting at the time, that is all I went on. No research, no shopping around, and clearly I exercised no common sense! I got locked into a 12 month contract and it didn't take me long to figure out I could get a similar, if not better, service and still pay far less.

I finally settled on HostGator, after looking into a few of the higher profile hosting companies. Since I've been with them I've had no problems whatsoever, and there support has been excellent. The shopping around was a bit of a pain in the a$$, and it was a little difficult to compare plans as it was often a case of not being able to compare apples with apples. Since then, I've found out that there are sites, like http://www.webhostingchoice.com that can make the research phase a lot easier. If I'd known that three years ago, I might have saved myself quite a bit of money!

My advice, if you are looking to move from blogger to your own hosted blog, shop around. Don't just take the first hosting deal that comes along, ask questions, and get the opinions of a wide range of people. Hope that helps.

This has been a sponsored post.

Today's pet hate is tossers that walk around with their Bluetooth headset in place, talking on their mobile phones for all the world to hear. Like I really want to hear what someone elses lunch plans are, or how the painter was supposed to turn up at 11am but didn't get there until 4pm.

There should be a new law put into place so that anyone that is talking using a bluetooth headset in public is sentenced to jail time, or being publically stoned with tomatoes.

That's it. Rant over. Resume normal programming.