I haven’t updated my online income in a long time. In fact, it’s sat on my sidebar for ages showing just under US$12,000. Well, last night I decided to do a conservative estimate of the income since September: it’s now a tad under US$16,000. And the pace of income is now picking up somewhat in the past 12 months, even despite the recent hiccups on the stock market when my dividends got nearly wiped out. It’s been a triple whammy, though.

• Interest rates are now diving: good for loans (I’ll be saving US$30~US$60 per month, soon); bad for savings.
• Dividends: some divs are down, others are suspended. Fortunately some still trickle in.
• Advertising: It’s difficult to get advertisers, and deals tend to be smaller than before. Other advertiser dependent streams are still suffering.
• Profits from Business: These could be down, too.

But on the positive side for 2009: I’ve now developed an overall plan for income, I know have some idea how to increase each of these to make up for the shortfalls, and I’m quietly optimistic for 2009. Though it will be a difficult year, there are going to be good opportunities even now!

So it’s pretty much on all fronts these days. Income streams are shrivelling. But at least they are still present. So be careful out there! These are mean days!

Watch this video about Wordpress 2.7. I did upgrade one blog, but discovered a couple of problems with the new version.

1. the DashBoard link at the top just doesn’t always link back to the homepage. There is a solution, but it’s a bit geeky.
2. And the Dashboard sidebar just disappeared. Some plugins are doing this. Lighter Menus v.2.7.1 and up are currently doing this.

So when you upgrade (and it’s a beautiful upgrade), remember, turn off your plugins, back up your database (and know how to restore it), back up your file structure, too: Then upgrade. Common sense, it’s true. But if you did it like I did (on a hosting plan with auto-update), you’ll find all sorts of surprises instore!

Kenneth