Affiliate Marketing blog by James Little

Fantastic news – the upgraded GP32 is soon to be out! Named the GP2X it has some fantastic features and an SDK so that people can start developing straight away – It’s less than �150 as well.

I remember buying the original GP32 about 4/5 years ago – it was way ahead of anything else at the time, meaning you could use emulators on a handheld – I was admired around the town with my little handheld playing the original Sensible Soccer!

If I had some spare cash I would be buying one of these – I hope it’s as good as the original (doesn’t seem like it’s got built-in wireless though, which is bad).

Almost forgot the link!

I hate being on the wrong side of someone, I really do, however it seems to of happened yet again.

Someone I considered a friend was asking if anyone was able to put something on ebay for her. I responded (as a jest) that I would put it on for half the profit received. This person accepted and thanked me, but in reality I was just going to give her the full money minus the ebay/paypal/postage fees.

The auction finished last week, and I spent all of my lunch hour last Wednesday in the post office queuing to send the parcel off. I was busy all day on Thursday but first thing in Friday morning I logged into the even reliable paypal and requested that the money in my paypal account be sent to my normal bank account, allowing me to give the money to my friend.

Anyhow – not long after I had submitted the request to paypal I was asked by her if I had the money yet – she knew I had sent the parcel and I can only assume thought that these things are a lot quicker than they are. I informed her at the time that the money was being sent from paypal to my account and I would be able to give her the cash next week. I told her it could take up to a week but is generally about 3 working days.

Yesterday, first thing in the morning I was asked again if I had the money yet. I explained (again) that I was still waiting for it to hit my account but on the day it comes though she would be paid the money she is owed from the sale. This friend then starts to tell me how pissed off she is and to be honest it was all quite upsetting. I’m an emotional person anyhow, so after being told how much I’ve pissed someone off (when it still seems to me I’ve done nothing wrong) and how this friend will never ask me for a favour again, I had to take a walk round the block, nearly in tears, just to sort out my head.

I offered an alternative – I told her how to setup a paypal account (which would only take 5 minutes tops), and said I could send her across the money via that method. I was told that she had no time for this. I even printed off a sheet of paper with the transaction confirmation which said how long it can take, but without reading it she threw it in the bin and shouted that she didn’t “need printouts” like this as she “didn’t have the time”.

It’s now a day later – I’m surprised that I haven’t yet again been asked if the money has arrived yet, but I’m still feeling shit over it. I don’t think I’ll bother offering favours to people again when they can be so ungrateful. The only thing I could have done is said at the time that I was only joking with the half the profits thing (which is £11 incidentally), but even after I told this friend that I would be giving her the full money she was still in an arse of a mood with me.

Answers on a postcard if you can work out how to resolve this!

Last week I attended another affiliate conference due to the lure of a free BBQ & drink at Kensington Roof Gardens.

The day itself was very good � I managed to network with a number of people, but due to the turnout I didn�t see everyone that I wanted to. Strangely someone there mentioned that they read my blog � so if you are reading this Lee � I�m glad you enjoy my ramblings! Feel free to link here!

Anyhow, apart from the conference, last week was a bit of a disaster!

On the Saturday before last we experienced Flash Floods by our house � luckily they stopped just as the water got to the door line (about one and a half foot). After the floods had cleared, we realised we had quite a big problem. Our back garden was full of crap, literally. The sewage had blocked somewhere and we were left with an atrocious smell after the waste from the sewers came up though the garden and managed to get though the air bricks at the bottom of the house into the space under the floor boards, as well as all over the garden.

So Sunday morning I phoned up the council, who advised it was a Thames Water problem and got me to call them. I spoke to Thames water about 11am and I was advised I�d have a call back within two hours � these came and went with no call. So I phoned again; was told I�d definitely get a call back within two hours this time and eventually got it an hour and a half later. Someone was going to come and unblock the drain, but he would not be there for another 2 hours (this was about 2.30 now). We went out for lunch, got back and no sign of him. I phone Thames water again; another promise of a call back within two hours. When the call came though I was told he�d be there about 8 o clock. He got here at 9pm � found the problem down the road from us but was unable to block it and needed to call for a tanker to do it. The tanker came the next day; so now the drain is unblocked, but the stench in my garden is unbearable.

I told Thames Water that I had a three month old baby, and asked if the fumes coming off could be harmful, and I was told they could not guarantee the safety of our child. Will you give me a hotel room till it�s cleared up? I ask. No. Luckily, we were able to stay at my parents on Sunday night, and then Lindsey visited her sister until it was all cleared up.

On the Tuesday night I managed to get the mobile number of the contractors MD. I asked why it was taking so long, and he phoned back to let me know that there had been a �balls up� and that I was now a priority. Someone eventually came round at about 9pm on the Tuesday night, looked at the place and then said they couldn�t do anything as it had gone too dark. They promised that someone would come first thing on Wednesday.

Wednesday came along and as promised the contractors turned up at around 8am to clear up the mess; I had to go to work, but they promised to clear it all up for me. I kept my fingers crossed and when I returned home at 7pm and I was hoping for a nice clear back garden. It didn�t happen though � it was a lot better, however there was still raw sewage in the garden and it certainly wasn�t safe for the children to go anywhere near.

On Thursday I was told that it was not Thames Waters responsibility to fix the problem, and that when the water system were privatised the law was very much in favour of the new Water Companies � whilst they had to clear blockages they were not legally obliged to clear the mess caused by them. A day of phoning the contractors, the environmental health department and Thames Water had been useless � it looked more and more likely that I�d need to either do it myself (which I really objected to) or hire someone in to come and sort it out.

Friday was a much better day � someone from Thames Water phoned up and said that he wanted to inspect the house and see what kind of a job the contractors had done. I�m not sure what caused the change of mind but mentioning the local newspaper doing a story on it may have helped. The guy turned up at around the same time as the Environmental Health Department and both agreed that the job done by the contractors had not been done correctly. Another cleaning team was organised and turned up within an hour. Everything was so much better then � we stayed at my parents another night and Lindsey and my mum went to clean the house up and blast it with air-freshener and we finally moved back in a week after the floods.

Eventually my landlord called (he�d been out of the country) and offered to come to an agreement over the price of the rent for this month, although that�s still to be agreed. It�s a shame he was away as I imagine that the insurance company may have also helped the cause or cleaned the place up but I didn�t have their details.

I just hope we don�t have anymore flooding for a while now!

Sorry about the lack of updates over the past few weeks, it�s been a bit of a busy time and over the past few days I�ve had a chest infection that�s been hard to get rid of, but I�m now feeling much better.

Over Bank Holiday weekend I went to Reading Festival � at the ripe age of 23 it was my first festival experience and I wasn�t particularly sure what to expect. I went with a Richard, someone I used to work with at Onetel before we both moved on to better jobs; the last time I saw him was at the Onetel Christmas party when I was still living in Manchester.

Thursday
After picking up Richard from Earls Court station about 9pm on the Thursday evening we continued on to the Festival, arriving at the overflow car park around 10pm.

The organisation at the Festival was very good � a boat service took us from the overflow car park at the side of the river to the festival itself (the walk was only about 30 minutes, but with heavy bags it was much easier not to be doing that in the dark) and there were �Roads�, all of which numbered so it was easy to find the field that Richard�s friends were staying at.

We managed to put up the tent successfully in the dark (not an easy task) and had a few drinks before retiring for the night.

Friday
Waking up around 9am the first task of the day was to open a fresh can of beer, so you can imagine already that the day turned into quite a heavy drinking session.

We walked down to the music arena around 11am � exchanging our camping ticket for a wristband before finding a place to sit down and chill out before the better acts came onto the main stage. Friday for me involved Goldie Lookin� Chain, The Coral, Queens of the Stone Age, The Killers and Pixies.

GLC were very funny, a lot better than I expected.
The Coral are a cool band; I knew a few of their songs so had a sing-along while smoking a joint and drinking a pint of Carling.
Queens of the Stone Age were ace � a band that I�ve been hoping to see live for ages and it was a good set.
The Killers are my favourite band at the moment. Hot Fuss is constantly played in the car and they really are very good. They were good live but the only disappointment would be the fact that they lack substance at the moment � another album will give them a lot more to pick for the play list.
The Pixies gave me my first experience in a Mosh Pit � after the initial worry of falling over with all the pushing and jumping left it was an energetic high pulsating experience; I managed to get to the front row so you may of seen my on the ITV2 highlights!
After all the bands had finished for the day we went back to the tent to continue the smoking/drinking � we joined up with some people we didn�t know at a tent behind ours and Richard picked up one of their guitars and a sing song session was started, lasting about 2 hours!

Two girls whom we had met in the Mosh pit then came round to our tent for a beer and Richard unsuccessfully tried to pull one of them who looked like a young version of Sienna Miller (she had the same first name as well). One of the guys from the other tent took her friend back to his tent for half an hour so the young Sienna was left taking about how she liked to be licked on her arsehole during sex; although two people offered to do this to her she didn�t take them up on it! Everyone then decided to go to bed and were going to leave Sienna on her own while waiting for her friend to get back, but me being the gent that I am decided to wait with her, and when her friend didn�t come back I offered to walk her back to her campsite, even though it was now about 5am.

I got back and eventually got to sleep just before 6am.

Saturday
I was awoken by some giggling teenage girls in a tent near to us that made more noise than a jumbo jet, so managed to get a whole 3 hour sleep � the new morning ritual continued with a fresh can of beer and a joint to start the day. We then decided to take a trip into town where we got some nice cooked lunch in a nearby pub and watched England dominate in the Test Match Cricket against Australia before getting back intime to watch Roots Manuva on the main stage; I�d not heard much of their material before but they were pretty good and I imagine that I�ll get hold of one of their album for a listen.

As for the music, Dinosaur Jr and The Charlatans were pretty ordinary and nothing to get too excited over.
Razorlight were pretty good onstage but I expected more of them.
Kings of Leon were good.
Foo Fighters were fantastic � the act of the weekend; Dave Grohl had an immense stage presence and I was blown away by them. The whole set was fantastic � again I managed to get into the Mosh Pit and rock away in style. I think I broke a few people�s toes, but no-one complained, so I don�t feel so bad about it. I want to see more of them & hope that one day I will get the chance to see them again.

After the acts finished I went back to the tent and didn�t stay away too long before getting in the sleeping bag and catching up on some much deserved sleep.

Sunday
We decided that we would go back home on Sunday night rather than staying the extra day to try and avoid the traffic (and Lindsey wasn�t happy about me going, so one less day meant a lot to her). I got up about 10ish, had a joint (stayed off the drink on Sunday as I was driving) and then packed away the tent. We then walked back to the car and put all our stuff in the boot so we didn�t have to worry about carrying it back after Iron Maiden. Then went for a Fry up, read the paper and had a chill out before heading back in for �Rock Day� at Reading.

It was a hot day, so I sat out in the Sun and got burnt for the majority of the day and managed to get around some of the other tents to see some of the smaller acts. The only act that really stood out for the day was Iron Maiden, for entertainment value more than the music (I�m not really a metal fan). We stayed for a few of their songs then decided to head back, and after dropping Richard back to his house in Wimbledon I got back home about 1am.

All in all a good time � I enjoyed my first festival experience and one of the only disappointing things was only finding out on the final walk back to the car that there were free hot showers near to where we were camping! Then again, having a shower would probably be considered cheating, and I suspect that the queues for them would have been horrendous!

I don�t think I�ll have the money to return to Reading next year, but we are planning on a family trip to Glastonbury in 2007.