Finally Upgraded
I have finally taken the leap into the unknown ... not really. I have been messing around with WordPress 2.0.x for a little bit now and I just thought that I should finally upgrade to the latest and greatest out there. Now having done this, I have no reason to put off any longer updating my plugins to be completely funtional in WP 2.0! 
Site Moved
I just got done moving servers. My previous hosting fell through and I had to find quickly new hosting and restore my site. I was just able to complete the restore of the database for this blog, so now everything should be back and working just like before! Sorry about the downtime ... 
New Possibilities …
This morning I'll be going in for an interview for a Jr. Network Admin position! Yesterday morning around 9:30am EST, I received a phone call on my cell/work from the manager that was interested it me for this position. We talked for a few minutes and then she asked what my schedule was like so that I could come in to meet. As of right now I have clearly no set schedule so it was all open, so she said that she'd have to check her manager's schedule and get back to me.
At this point I was freaking! 
I couldn't believe that I just received a call back, let alone an interview request! I have been looking for a full time position for over 2 years 
now and now I finally there is some interest in me.
Well 10 minutes later ... after freaking out the whole time ... she calls back with the news that at 11am today I have an interview for the position. All yesterday I was a little out of it after that ... and this morning I couldn't sleep, I was up at 6am ... let's see what happens today! It's time to review everything that needs polishing and to get ready ... 
Site Changes …
If you haven't already noticed, I've changed my blog's address! I've moved from http://aboutme.lmbbox.com to http://blog.lmbbox.com 
I think that it looks better ...
I'm going to be working on updating my WP install to the latest version and my theme & plugins to work! That's good news to who ever has been waiting for me to make an update and release for some of my plugins (LMB^Box Smileys and FilePress). I'm also going to be getting my main site www.lmbbox.com back online. Soon that will be the main place to find my works/plugins/code and this blog will become completely personal. 
I'm hoping to complete all this within the next couple of weeks ... can't wait for that day so I can ... 
No More Google Ads!
If you haven't already noticed the Google Ads that were to the left have now been replaced with the "No More Google Ads!" image! Last night I received an email from Google telling me that my account has been disabled because of invalid clicks on my site. 
Here is the email's body:
Hello Thomas Montague,
It has come to our attention that invalid clicks have been generated on
the Google ads on your site(s). We have therefore disabled your Google
AdSense account. Please understand that this step was taken in an
effort to protect the interest of the AdWords advertisers.A publisher's site may not have invalid clicks on any ad(s), including
but not limited to clicks generated by:- a publisher on his own web pages
- a publisher encouraging others to click on his ads
- automated clicking programs or any other deceptive software
- a publisher altering any portion of the ad code or changing the
layout, behavior, targeting, or delivery of ads for any reasonPractices such as these are in violation of the Google AdSense Terms
and Conditions and program polices, which can be viewed at:https://www.google.com/adsense/localized-terms?hl=en_US
https://www.google.com/adsense/policies?hl=en_US
Publishers disabled for invalid click activity are not allowed further
participation in AdSense and do not receive any further payment. The
earnings on your account will be properly returned to the affected
advertisers.Sincerely,
The Google AdSense Team
Now I don't know where they are coming from, but I never made an fake clicks on any of the ads! I first opened my AdSense account in March of 2004 and since then I have not received any payment from them! In fact this month I finally hit the $100 mark so that I would receive a check/deposit next month! Are they just ripping me off? 
The first month that I hit that $100 mark and about 10 days later ... my account is disabled! It's not like I'm $100 every month (like alot of people do), this would have been my first payout from google since I opened and started using Google AdSence over 2 years ago! 
Since I started this blog, my AdSence page impressions when from almost nill to about 50-100 page impressions and 5-20 clicks a day if I was lucky. By the way, these stats are from resent months ... it's been like that since the like Oct/Nov of 2005. I did receive an email from Google about my donation page and my ad listing on the left of the pages. I'm not allowed to ask for visters to click on the ads to support the site or have a label like "Sponsors: Please Click To Help Support Site!" ... I removed the violating material as soon as I received the email from them! I've sent a reply to the email sent asking for details as to why but from what I've read elsewhere, I'll most likely never receive any responce! Not sure what else to do ... I'll most likely just either not worry about any ads or look for other options. I remember reading some good posts about different ad placement programs and I guess I'm going to look into them now. This just sucks! 
A side note ... even if I do get my account reinstated, I wonder if I would get my 2 years plus of profit! 
[UPDATE]
So it's been a few days since this happened ... I had sent a reply email to AdSence and got an answer stating that I can file an appeal by senting an email to the appeal email address with all the info that was requested. 
So I did do this ... waited a day ... and I received a reply back ... they still find invalid clicks! 
So my Google AdSence account is disabled and will never be reactivated 
... I've lost the small amount of profit from a 2+ years mistake. Just george! 
[/UPDATE]
