Many of our Posties spend much of their time online, which is just fine!  There are plenty of things to do...update your blog, check your finances, watch TV online, check the weather, play games, and look up people you went to high school with...Obviously, the most fun is playing games!

NCSoft was awesome enough to share their latest online game, Tabula Rasa, with you through SocialSpark!  First, it's free- very cool.  Second, it's free AND available for you to explore and write about- double cool.  The Operation Immortality website is a portal where humans can leave their mark on the universe- by submitting a personal motto, adding to humanity's greatest achievement lists, and uploading your own Tabula Rasa character to the site.

Right now there are 3 different Operation Immortality opps out, for your posting!

1. Operation Immortality - Why Should Your DNA Represent Mankind?
This is a video opp, which means you have to submit your own video, as well as an accompanying text portion, talking about why you believe you are an excellent specimen of a human. 

I think it would be funny if space aliens stumbled on a video of say...Robin Williams.   Can you imagine what they'd think 'humans' were like?  Or what about American Gladiator "The Beast," who is what, 7 feet tall!?  If they cloned him, they'd think we were a planet of giant muscle-y, loin-cloth wearing people.  This is a cool Opp if you have done something amazing like scaled Mt. Everest, or if you want to show-off a neat talent.

2. I Can't Live Without It! What Would You Bring with You if the World Ended?
Here's the scenario: The world is coming under the inevitable attack of a giant meteor, surely much life will end.  Fortunately, there is a rocket ship able to carry people to a new inhabitable planet and you've been chosen!!!  You only have time to grab one thing- what is it?  Include an image of the item in your post!

I'm pretty sure I'd be torn between a photo album, a board game, or a meal from Tijuana Flats...That way, I could start a Tijuana Flats in space or wherever we land.  Oh wait, scratch that...I think I'd bring a blanket; I'm always cold.  Plus, I could make a curtain out of it...or roll it into a pillow... Yeah, a blanket.

3. What's Your Mankind Motto?  What Would You Leave as Your Legacy?
Ok this one is pretty neat, and a little tricky.  First, you'll need to set up an account, which shouldn't be an issue.  Then, click on the Send Your Own Message box and write your message.  After it's done, you will have a message ID, that you can give to friends so that they can see yours, and write their own.

I've been doing some random searches with different numbers, and you should definitely read #666 (pictured above), 127, 123, 99, and 121.  So what would you leave for your children's children's children's children?  I think I would leave "If it's not yours, don't touch it," because isn't it annoying when people break your stuff?  :(

As you know, we at IZEA try to support our community as much as we can.  We really look for ways to both give back to the community, and enhance it.  From supporting 3 Day Moms (Breast Cancer Awareness), to the Alzheimer's Association, and more recently, a wall-painting adventure.

Additionally, PayPerPost still allows you to donate the payout of a post to either Habitat for Humanity or the American Red Cross, by choosing one of the organizations from the drop down during post submission.

Anyway, this post is about a dear friend of ours, Brittany, who plays on our amazing flag football team (we won a game, once!).  She is a fervent supporter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, which is dedicated to researching a cure for various blood cancers.  Leukemia remains the number 1 child-killing disease in America.  Brittany is joining hundreds of other participants who will be running a 26.2 marathon in San Francisco, this October.  Specifically, the NIKE Women's Marathon- and she's committed to raising over $4100 for the Society.  Of course, she needs your help to reach her goal!   You can help by donating online, via this link, right here! Research is working for these patients- stand up and help.

For more worthy causes, be sure to check back and read Ashley's recently created 'Blogger With a Cause' posts.  Past entries have included:
July Blogger With a Cause: HoundsGood.com
June Blogger With a Cause: Biscuit's Blog

And, if this post has inspired you to take some action, check out a current SocialSpark Opp for charity:
Alzheimer's Walk

Or, read back to Skeet's highlighted 'Posties Doing Good' posts, and find your own causes to support:
Posties Doing Good- Downs Syndrome Post
Posties Doing Good- Avon Walk for Breast Cancer

Like most people, I love to travel.  That's one of the things that I love about my job, because I get to fly to various cities, see new places, and meet new people.  I have actually traveled 12 out of the past 18 weeks.

In my personal life, I have been fortunate enough to have traveled quite extensively.  Experiencing around 40 countries, everything from Egypt to Colombia.  I actually just got back from a Costa Rica Trip last night!

One thing is for certain, flying today was nothing like the old days.   Now you have to pay to check your luggage, ear phones, and even blankets.  The blanket thing is always a problem since airplanes are always freezing.

I recently launched a campaign for Cabin Cuddler on SocialSpark.  They were kind enough to send over 26 samples, 25 for bloggers and one for the IZEA team.

This has REALLY come in handy lately with all my travels. When I am in the office I often have to share it with Veronique, as our new space feels like a meat locker.

What I like most about it is that the blanket covers your feet and wraps around your body in such a way they you can still be productive at typing and using your hands.

I can tell you from experience that it is perfect for the frequent traveler and the freezing office. 

We've released several more bug fixes in this week's release.  One of the ones we were receiving lots of feedback on was incorrect message counts, including some people with negative message counts.  That issue has been resolved.  There have also been several issues cleared up with opportunity creation where entering very long strings of text in several places could produce some visual problems.  The blog rolls list page for advertisers has also been completely redone, and is far more user friendly. 

The page now allows advertisers to search for blogs of certain categories within their blog rolls.  Country codes and flags have also been added on the right-hand side, so advertisers can easily see the location of bloggers on their blog rolls.

We'll continue to address issues, and make improvements with every release.  There's also some really big things in the works, so check back here on the blog and the site itself often!

I went to Chicago once!  Well, twice if you count the 3 minutes I just spent daydreaming over this awesome postcard we just got from Postie Lisa.  Navy Pier, Millennium Park, the Sears Tower, Wrigley Field and deep dish pizza....what's NOT to love!?

Oh, and let's not forget this Chicagoan, can you guess who it is!?  (He's the tallest blur...) If you can guess, we'll send YOU a postcard!

Haven't sent us a PostieCard from your hometown?  What are you waiting for?  We have enough now to start displaying them in our office, but Ted challenged us to fill an entire wall.  So we need your help.  All you have to do is grab a postcard from a local store, and mail it to:

Did I ever tell you about the time I almost got expelled from high school?  No?  Well, maybe one day I'll tell you.  I remember the SRO Officer who yelled at me in the principal's office had my grades in front of him and said, 'Well, book smarts don't equal street smarts!'  At the time, I wondered what that meant, because I'm pretty smart- but apparently, also dumb.  Hm.

I'm also pretty smart about things like picking up languages in different countries, but not about paying for the trips themselves.  Yep, I'll confess that I applied for a credit card just so I could pay for a trip- and now I'm paying it off, every month.  Don't worry, I'm not being chased by the company...yet; but I bet if I were a little smarter, financially, I wouldn't have done that to begin with!

So, how good is my financial IQ?  Well, it's a 'B,' barely.  While browsing through SocialSpark I came across the BillsIQ link, and I took the little quiz.  I scored an 80, not bad, right?!  I'm not ashamed!  Here is my score:

I read some of the posts for the Opps, what did you guys think about it?  I think the fact that each section of the quiz was broken down and able to point me in the right direction, to articles aimed at improving my weaker areas is pretty neat.  Eighty percent is good, right?  Did anybody get higher than that?  Prove it!  Show me your screenshot, or leave me a comment with a link to your post.  With the economy the way it is, if anybody has any cool money-saving tips, share them!  I, for example, ride a scooter or bike to work- and on nice (non 100+ degree) days, I walk!  Yay!

So, I don't get on here often and write about my own blog, but like many of my IZEA co-workers, I actually do have one!  It's a very specific blog, about travel, so I update it when I can, but usually, behind the curtain are lists of unpublished half-posts in draft.  :)  I'm getting better, though!  Heck, sometimes I learn about products in SocialSpark that even I have to write about (and I don't get paid to do it!).  :)

Anyway, as a blogger, I'm personally looking forward to mingling with other travel bloggers and attending the special sessions.  My blog is nothing fancy to look at, so I'm looking forward to the Blog Design and also the Tools & Plug-ins session.  What sessions are you looking forward to? 

Are there any travel bloggers coming down to Orlando?  Leave a comment!  Actually, not so much about travel, but central Florida in general, Ashely's blog, Pulse of Central Florida, is pretty awesome, too!  We're looking for some travel bloggers to meet up with and maybe share a drink or two (or 8).

If you haven't already, check out the IZEAFest event on Facebook!  Sign up and come see us!  I'll see you there!

In this release, we've addressed a few bugs that were causing problems for users, and made a number of behind the scenes improvements.  We've fixed an issue with post resubmits, and now all posts should be able to be resubmitted within five days of their review for both initial and final post review.  In conjunction with that, the separate Edit and Resubmit buttons on the Taken Opps page were unnecessarily creating an extra step in the process, so after successfully editing a post that needs to be resubmitted, it is automatically resubmitted now instead of having to also actually hit 'Resubmit'

The Benched Bloggers page within the Manage Advertiser Account page was messy, and has been cleaned up visually.  On the blogs, opportunities, and users lists there were situations that could throw off the comment count that was displayed.  Those issues have now also been resolved. Finally, advertisers were occasionally running into an error that would prevent them from making it beyond page five in Sponsored Post creation.  This was being caused by a bug that could happen with the creation of the disclosure badge for their opportunity, and this has also been fixed.