Found money

Way back in May 2006, back when I was running Waveflux, I succumbed to overweening hubris and insatiable money lust and decided to ‘monetize’ my blog. Merely wanting cash for blogging isn’t a crime, of course; you probably want a little cheddar yourself for running a website. At the very least, you wouldn’t mind it much, would you? No, the problem here lay in the aforementioned hubris: the notion that a website with miniscule traffic would automatically yield a gusher of revenue as soon as I threw up an ad strip. Funny! Also, sadly untrue.

So I ran Google AdSense on the blog. The ad strips attracted a paltry number of clicks, and the prospect of ever reaching the payment threshold of $100 USD seemed remote. I joined a BlogAds group which yielded sweet bloody nothing in advertising. At length, I felt foolish enough to leave the BlogAds group and retire the ad strips. I eventually retired Waveflux itself, setting up as a replacement the website in which you’re now soaking.

Yesterday, I received an envelope with my address in the window and no return addy. Sure would be nice if this contained money, I thought. I always think that when I check the mail. Of course, mail being what it is, the odds were greater that the envelope contained a demand or request for cash.

As it turned out, the envelope contained a check. For $101.02. From Google.

The payment threshold had apparently been reached, all without my knowing.

I gave the check to M and told her to do whatever she wanted with it. Her gleeful response: “Party!”

No, there won’t be a party. It is nice, though, to find money where it was least expected.