The Blogger - Debt Free Hispanic lives in Dallas, Texas with his wife. Following methods taught by Dave Ramsey, he has become debt free except for his mortgage.

A Post We Luv - Being a huge Dave Ramsey fan myself, I just have to shine the spotlight on Another One Bites the Debt. I hope you’ll be just as inspired as I am by listening to Tredessa from Waco, Texas announce that she is debt free!

Julie is an all around fun kind of friend to have. I can count her for a good Skype chat when she’s online, and we can talk about all sorts of things from the latest internet craze to how she rocks the house playing Rock Band with her hubby and teenage sons.

Her latest adventures include her son’s cute new chihuahua puppy, attending the Zappo’s vendor party, and cleaning out her huge book stash and selling them on Amazon.com. Looking for a book? Julie might just have it in her mountain of books for sale this month.

Julie’s Journal is what a I love in a personal blog, it’s fun, up beat, and realistic. There’s no over the top insanity, and there’s no fluff or padding, just a real gal living in the real world in Las Vegas. Enjoy hanging out at Julie’s, and BYOB.

1. Describe your blog in five sentences or less.
The easy answer is “a southern belle turns beach bum.” After a tough year last year, a death and a separation, this life-long-land-locked-lady moved to the coast of Florida, a place I had never been before in my life. So my posts and photography are about my exploration of the area, the little “hidden gems” outside the tourists’ radars, the beauty of nature around me, the people I meet, and the basic lifestyle of coastal living. Sometimes I’ll just post a photo, or sometimes my posts are semi-personal, but it all usually relates to the bigger theme of my new life living on the Cape.

2. Link us to one post from your blog that best defines who you are.
That’s tough to say because I think they just about all define who I am, but it would probably be these two that are related through my love of nature.

• Like Mother, Like Son - Because I have an almost insane love of thunderstorms.
• Show Some Respect for Nature - Because I get irritated by the laziness and irresponsibility of people who take nature and their fellow human beings for granted.

3. What sets you apart from other bloggers?
What sets me apart from other bloggers is observation. Through simple observation, I (hopefully) open people’s eyes to both our differences and similarities, and the dozens of people and things we see everyday yet dont really see.

4. When and how did you first discover blogging?
I first discovered journaling online back in the early 2000’s. I had been a member of several writing workshops when a group of online friends and I discovered a small site called Journalscape. It is exactly how it sounds, a place to journal. It was (and still is) a site mostly for writers and artists, a place for us to share thoughts and accomplishments about our work, and even write about our personal lives. There are no ads, no monetizing, no spamming, no marketing. In fact, it’s strictly forbidden…it’s just a nice place to commune with other like-minded people. I tried blogger a few years ago, but at that time there was no way to pull people in (like with blogcatalog, my bloglog or Entrecard) to read your blogs and it didn’t “feel” like a community. A few months ago, a friend and I were slaving away over our computers writing seo/marketing copy for a woman, getting paid next to nothing. We decided to do our own sites, with better quality content, and have since been in the process of setting them up. After moving to Florida, I decided I wanted to start my own blog about living on the coast and…well now, here I am.

5. What is your biggest pet peeve related to blogging or the internet?
My biggest pet peeve about blogging in particular would be these people who don’t keep up with their blogs. Personally, I write at least one post a day, if not more. I get frustrated to (while dropping ecards) visit the same blog over and over and see it hasn’t had a new post in almost two weeks. And these are people who have tens, sometimes hundreds of readers (per their feedburner chicklet.) Oh, they’ll still drop a card in your widget, but yet they don’t update their blogs. I also don’t like these sites (like the woman I used to work for) who cram 50 or more crappy, keyword-filled articles on their site to raise themselves up in the search engines just so they can sell a book they probably didn’t write themselves.

6. Name one plugin, blogging widget, or service that you can’t live without.
I love the Adsense Plugin for WordPress. I don’t know a thing about css or php, and the Adsense Plugin (which isn’t just for Adsense) allows me to place any java or html widget (including the Entrecard widget) or chicklet on my sidebars through the dashboard, without having to manually go in and edit the template code itself. It’s like “Blogging for Dummies”

7. If you could choose anyone, living or dead, to write a guest post for your blog, who would it be and why?
Wow, that’s a tough one. I’m not real big on guest posters either. I might be if I ran a blog on Internet Marketing or SEO Optimization, but I don’t. I would do it as an interview. Since I’m a lover of history, Katherine the Great, or maybe the author of one of my favorite books, ”A Confederacy of Dunces,” John Kennedy Toole. However, even the interview would be within the theme of my blog, “So is this your first visit to Cape Canaveral?” “Do you think you’ll take surfing lessons at Ron Jon’s?”

8. How has blogging made you a better person?
Well, I know online journaling has made me a better person because as a closet introvert it helped me to open up. My newest blog has just taught me to be myself. I also enjoy meeting other bloggers and anytime you can meet other bloggers that makes you a better blogger.

9. What are your tips for becoming a better blogger?
See answer #8. No seriously, just be yourself. If writing about yourself, make it relatable to others, find the universal truth. Also, there’s a writer’s rule, “to become a good writer, a writer must read” so I’d say, read other blogs, leave thoughtful, relevant comments and those bloggers will generally come back and not only read, but comment on your posts as well.

10. Name one great blog that you read on a regular basis. What makes it unique?
The one great blog I read is on Journalscape, and so as not to “out” her often personal journal, I’ll just have to keep that one to myself. However, I really enjoy reading Caledonian Comment, The Thinking Blog. Not only does he cover stories, mostly political, around the world, but Americans don’t always know about the inner nuances of the British government. I mean, the whole world saw President Bush do his best Elaine Benitz dance in Africa, but we didn’t see PM Brown lull to sleep a group of Israeli school children during a speech to the Israeli Parliament. So for me, it’s very educational, and I enjoy his use of photos and subtle wit. Plus, I like that he has the CNN latest news widget on his sidebar, so I can easily check out some of their newer feeds right off his page.

This is the blog of Rae Hoffman, affectionately known in the blogging and SEO world as SugarRae. Or maybe you know her better as the queen of SEO. She has proven herself in a mostly male industry and she kicked all their a$$es at what she does.

I first met Rae way back in 2001 when I started working from home. Yes, we met at WAHM.com ~ crazy, right? We used to hang out in the chat room with a few other work at home regulars and we would all bounce ideas off of each other every Wednesday night. I miss those Wednesday night chats, but we’ve all come so far since then and I think we all manage to stay pretty busy. Rae has definitely gone far, and learned a lot and most of it self taught. She’s my internet success hero!

So, what are you going to find at SugarRae? Well you’ll hear tidbits about SEO and on the very same blog you’ll hear endless rants about things like the online poker ban and Rae’s extreme dislike, okay hatred and loathing, for Bob Saget.

And that’s just the tip of the blog-berg. (Coined a new blogosphere phrase there maybe? -lol-) Anyhow, if you’re interested in what goes on inside a serious SEO expert’s mind then check out SugarRae. I am convinced she is one of the few sane SEO experts out there, and I know she is not going to try to sell you a ton of useless crap. I’d trust her with my very tiny marketing budget any day.

10 Questions with The Vegas Art Guy of The Desert Glows Green

1. Describe your blog in five sentences or less.
My blog covers just about everything, including religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin. During the school year it’s mostly about education and my adventures in the classroom. When school is not in session, it’s open season.

2. Link us to one post from your blog that best defines who you are.
There were several, but this one is a good one: Good News for a Change

3. What sets you apart from other bloggers?
Why, me of course. :) That and I don’t stick to just one subject, and I’ll admit my faults and successes.

4. When and how did you first discover blogging?
I kept hearing about blogs and how cool they were. I poked around and started to read a few that I liked and decided to give it a try.

5. What is your biggest pet peeve related to blogging or the internet?
All the cursing, and working really hard on a post and not getting any response, then mailing one in and you get huge discussions, go figure.

6. Name one plugin, blogging widget, or service that you can’t live without.
I love Haloscan, it makes managing my comments way easy. It’s way better than the comment system Blogger uses.

7. If you could choose anyone, living or dead, to write a guest post for your blog, who would it be and why?
Ronald Reagan. I’m a big fan of his and he wrote and spoke so plainly and yet so eloquently.

8. How has blogging made you a better person?
It’s made me write more clearly and has made me a better communicator. It’s also forced me to think more critically than I used to in the past.

9. What are your tips for becoming a better blogger?
Be honest, especially if you screw up. Return comments and visits from other blogs. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and make sure if you do politics to do some research before you just spout off your opinion. In addition you should put up an entry every couple of days or so, that way your readers will keep coming back and please have fun!

10. Name one great blog that you read on a regular basis. What makes it unique?
Just one? That’s not fair! :( OK I read American Power every day. Dr. Douglass’ posts on the political scene are always interesting and I always learn something new when I visit his site. OK I’m addicted to his blog… lol

Welcome to week number five of The Friday Five! As usual we bring you five links to blogs we hope you’ll enjoy.

If you know of a great blog you think should be featured here, please feel free to drop a line and let us know about it!

• Blogging Bits - Blogging Bits is a great site dedicated to helping bloggers write better, gain more subscribers and earn some extra money with their blogs.
• Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood - If you’re looking for the latest up to date news on Hollywood and all its happenings, look no further than Deadline Hollywood.
• View from the Cloud - If you like the funny (and who doesn’t like the funny?), you should check out the view from Jeff’s cloud. I guarantee you’ll find something to make you laugh.
• Destination Somewhere - If you’re someone who likes to travel, Destination Somewhere has you covered with travel tips, news and recommendations.
• Madhuram’s Eggless Cooking - Madhuram provides her readers with some seriously tasty looking recipes, all of which require no eggs whatsoever.

10 Questions with Corey of Diligent Design

1. Describe your blog in five sentences or less.
Diligent Design is not a blog about making money online or about beating out Digg and search engines. Diligent Design is a blog for newbies, professionals, and internet enthusiasts who started blogging for a reason: to have fun. While there are definitely professional “on-topic” posts at the blog, I also try to include posts that really bring back the human element to blogging, such as “why bloggers are like rugs” or “how to kick a habit by blogging.” It’s all about the fun and the community.

2. Link us to one post from your blog that best defines who you are.
Who Are You? or Designing Your Portfolio
I think this post shows a lot about my character just because it’s about making mistakes and getting frustrated with designer’s block and trying to overcome that. I feel like I constantly have these random attacks of “Murphy’s Law” (what can go wrong will go wrong!) and so this is just another example of my pushing through.

3. What sets you apart from other bloggers?
Aside from being super young (16) I also manage to find connections that other bloggers just don’t think about, and I try to write with the idea of really affecting someone in my readership. In essence, I “blog to move someone.” My favorite (and one of the blog’s most popular) post which got annihilated in the server crash was “Why Bloggers Are Like Pregnant Women.” It was fun to write and it really got people thinking.

4. When and how did you first discover blogging?
The word was being thrown around on television a lot about celebrity blogs and myspace blogs and so I setup a LiveJournal account and started talking about my 8th grade life. It really was quite fascinating, especially when me and my friends had a war over AIM. The community ate that up. After realizing that people actually enjoy the way I write, I figured, why not try self-hosting?

5. What is your biggest pet peeve related to blogging or the internet?
Everybody is into “niche blogging” and “making money online” and my personal favorite, “digg worthy posts.” I’m getting pretty sick of lists that don’t really innovate! Of posts that are nothing but ad fodder. What happened to blogging for fun and connection and the profit was just kind of on the side?

6. Name one plugin, blogging widget, or service that you can’t live without.
Feedburner, definitely. RSS and XML and other associated acronyms confuse the heck out of me, and it’s nice to just copy and paste and let people connect with Diligent Design.

7. If you could choose anyone, living or dead, to write a guest post for your blog, who would it be and why?
Douglas Adams (author of HitchHiker’s Guide to the Universe) because I absolutely love his writing style and how he subtly critiques the world around us. I’d really love to see what he thinks about blogging or what connections he might make.

8. How has blogging made you a better person?
It’s definitely taught me to be patient. I remember I would start internet projects and think that they would go off in a weekend. (I was like 12, but still) I learned that things take time, even something as simple as trying to put up a favicon.

Another thing I learned, which goes hand in hand with patience, is how to talk to and deal with people. Asking for interviews can be kind of scary, but at the same time, in real life I’ve got to meet new people and I’ve got to deal with people who will criticize me and handle it smoothly, because of the groups I belong to and the commitments I’ve made, as an honor student and a band officer and just a good kid.

9. What are your tips for becoming a better blogger?
When people review your blog, consider their opinions! I know way too many defensive webmasters.

Also, take the time to use Google, because aside from slowly taking over the world, they actually do give you search results. Lookup CSS references and grammar references and wikipedia and whatever else interests you. You wouldn’t believe how annoying it is to have a PM box full of requests to fix little problems with CSS on a free template.

Finally, remember that it doesn’t matter if you’re an expert or if you’re 13 or 53, it’s about how you write, and what you bring to the table. If you’ve got super awesome writing skills, use them. For example, I can define antidisestablishmentarianism. I don’t need to, but I can do it.

10. Name one great blog that you read on a regular basis. What makes it unique?
Atomic Robo definitely. It used to be a story blog, I think? Now it’s a comic. All I know is I woke up one day and checked it at random and there was a hilarious post about frogs, and I just kept coming back for more. I don’t actually read the comic, but the post themselves are really entertaining. I think it’s just one of those blogs where the writing style hooks you, even if you aren’t part of the group.

The Blogger - Flat Coke is a 29 year old radiology technician who enjoys sports, music, and the outdoors. She is happily involved with Mr. Wonderful, and she’s one of the most beautiful women I know - both inside and out!

A Post We Luv - There are lots of sexy photos of Flat Coke scattered about her blog. The one of her wearing nothing but a scarf is one of my favorites!