So I’m up at 2:00 am with the compulsion to note that I’ve already broken one of my blogging goals this year: to blog daily. Unfortunately, I was struck down today with a fierce migraine which, until now, kept me in bed hiding from noise and light. My dedication has not wavered, but I know had I not flushed away the migraine it would be worse tomorrow, taking me out of the count for work for two days instead of one.

So quickly I’ll pose a question for my fellow workaholics out there - how do you deal with the guilt associated with being sick?  You WANT to work, but just can’t.  Are there techniques you employ or a mantra you tell yourself?  How do you avoid the guilt associated with taking a day off to take care of yourself when you’re a workaholic?

Share… let the healing begin!

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So it’s a new year, and time for people to start fresh.  I’ve read many things in the last three days about professional goals for 2009.  I know that I have but one personal goal, and that most the goals I set for myself this year are at lease semi-professional.  I typically refer to my blog here as “blogging semi-pro” since this doesn’t pay the bills and isn’t my full time job.  So whether you’re looking to be the best entrepreneur or best employee you can be, hopefully some of these resources will help your business achieve success in these trying times.

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Happy New Year!  As I mentioned last Friday, I’ve spent this week with family in Oregon, so I have been semi-off the grid.  So this week’s edition of Cribbed Content is as much for me to catch up on things as it is for some of you!

On a personal note, 2008 treated me okay…but I’m hoping that 2009 knocks me off my feet!  I hope your lives are treating you right and leading you in the direction you want to go!

• The movie industry doesn’t get to have all the fun with an awards season: on the heels of ShareASale announcing their awards last week, the finalists for the Pinnacle Awards Finalists at Affiliate Summit West 2009 were announced this week.  Congrats to the finalists, and we’ll see who the winners are at the awards dinner in Las Vegas.
• Google’s Matt Cutts confirmed via Twitter that PageRank was updated.  I heard about it before then and I’m glad to report that this blog has gone from a PR0 to PR2, thus reassuring me that I hadn’t landed on some mysterious Google blacklist.  As exciting as this was, it was also proven how little PR means anymore when I checked my twitter page out of curiosity to find it was a PR9!
• It’s Official: The Performance Marketing Alliance is now an official, non-profit trade association.  Charter membership will be available sometime this month, I imagine starting at Affiliate Summit.
• I wrote another guest post at Marketing Pilgrim, this time on how Digg’s Lack of Ad Targeting is Hurting Revenue.

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There seems to be a rule in blogging that on January 1st, any self-respecting blogger will take a few minutes to wax poetic on one of two topics - a recap of their year previous, or an outlook on their goals of the new year ahead.  All the cool kids are doing it, so I’ve decided to jump into the mix.  I’m not doing anything better today, so why not? :p

I’m going to opt for the latter, and set forth some goals for my 2009.  Some more important than others, but listed in no particular order.

1. Work out the technical kinks on my blog.  I’ve got some issues with the CSS on this theme regarding spacing in lists, so Id like to either learn enough about CSS to fix this or find a new theme that I like as much as this one.  I also had a problem upgrading to Wordpress 2.7 and had to revert back, so I’ll figure out what the heck was causing that & upgrade.
2. Post every day.  Even if it’s just a quick note about how work is going or something interesting I saw online that day.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to post crap, but just a bit more current things than necessarily waiting until the end of the week to mention some things in my Cribbed Content post.
3. Get back to doing the Free Toolsday and Saturday Shopper features.  I enjoy doing them, I’ve just been slacking.
4. Write more guest posts & accept more guest posts.  I’ve been given the opportunity, so I should collaborate with fellow bloggers more than I do.

That’s really it.  If I set a lot of lofty goals, I’ll never finish them all.  So these few are here.  Keep me honest on this and we’ll friends.  Check back here in a year to see if I suceeded!

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Right about now I’m on the road driving from the SF Bay Area to Eugene, Oregon to visit my in-laws.  Next week is my vacation, full of cold & rain while doing the yearly holiday visit with the extended family.  This week has been great with all the last minute holiday preparations.  I had a great Christmas, and I hope everyone out there had a terrific holiday.

Most people who didn’t take any extra vacation days are probably back to work today, so check out what you might have missed while making your last minute treks to Walmart for more bows and stocking stuffers.

• It’s not just awards season for the movies; ShareASale Performance Awards were announced on Monday.  Congrats go out to Scott Jangro, CSN Stores, Nicole Beidler, Checks Unlimited, GreenPlanetSearch, Missy Ward, and Melanie Seery for taking home top honors.
• The acclaimed BlueShirtNation, BestBuy’s internal employee social network, is radically changing according to co-founder Steve Bendt.  I’m interested to see where they take it.
• The Performance Marketing Alliance has finally settled on a Mission Statement.
• AffiliateTrust.org has been mentioned this week on Scott Jangro’s blog and the Affiliate Thing podcast.  From what I can discern from reading their About Us page, they’ve basically formed to help combat black hat or shady affiliate practices.  Which is definitely a good thing.  Take some time (as will I) to educate yourself by reading more.
• Are you making resolutions this year?  Missy Ward isn’t.  More power to her!

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