I was doing some online browsing the other day, looking for specific things for my new car. I was especially interested in vehicle graphic kits. The car that I just bought is exactly the same as another kid from school and I was looking at ways to make it unique and distinct. I figured that by accessorizing, I would also be adding character to my car.

I found a site that had some of the things that I was looking for at very good prices. I was browsing through the online catalog and I found many personalized car decals that I knew would be perfect for my little car. I could picture what it would look like already and I was excited to place an order.

I decided, as well, to purchase some custom vinyl lettering. I had to decide what I wanted my car to say, though, and this was a huge decision for me. What I would end up on going with would have a lot to say about me and the car and I wanted it to be great. I decided to go with an excerpt from my favorite poet and it is going to be so cool when it gets here and I can put them on.

I have never had a car before, so I was super excited to be buying my first one. It is not brand new, but it is nice and it still has reasonably low miles on it. It is the perfect starter car for me and I absolutely love it. One of the things my dad said I needed to do before he would help me get the car was to get a car insurance quote.

I decided that I would go a step further than that and get several auto insurance quotes. I figured that I may as well pay as little as I have to. It was already going to be quite a drain on my budget just owning the car and I figured I would go with the lowest possible rate for insurance that I could.

I talked to this one guy who was totally confused. He could barely speak English and kept trying to give me a home insurance quote. I gave up on that company really fast. I took the list of quotes to my dad and we made a decision together. We did not decide to go with the lowest quote, as there were a few that had better coverage than that one. I did get a good deal though.

With a little bit of extra money in my pocket this month, I thought that I could maybe splurge a bit and promote some of my sites.  But, I just didn’t want to go overboard and spend all my money.

So, what I was looking for was some paid link directories that were affordable and that would get me the biggest bang for my buck.   They all look the same (visually), but they are all worth submitting to (based on my early results).  Here are some that I found:

• One Web Directory is a web directory that gives you a backlink for life for less than two bucks.  They are cheap and quick to approve your links (less than 24 hours for me).
• Web Directory One sure sounds similar to the one above.  Looks and sounds aside, it was another good two dollar investment.
• Lastly, I would suggest that you submit your site to the Best Web Directory.  With a name like that, you can expect the site to do very well.

Most of the time when I am promoting my sites, I like to promote them on older, established sites.  Search engines tend to weigh domain age when calculating the link value from a site.

Age aside, I also look for sites that have some good backlinks to them.  Check out the four sites that I submitted some of mine to today:

• Directory Dave was the first site that I found.  It does have some decent backlinks and a cheap price, so I thought that it would be a good place to start.
• I was drawn to the template at Directory of Sites.  It was simple and one of my favorite colors: orange!  That aside, it looked like a good inexpensive place to list my sites.
• The Iron Trace Web Directory seemed to have some solid backlinks to it.  Though it was similar looking to one of the above ones, looks have nothing to do with search engine ranking.  I really have no complaints about the price either.
• The Mitefind Paid Link Directory is the oldest of the bunch here - at just over 7 years.  Price wise, it is still cheap, and a different design to look at.  I bet the links submitted here will get picked up first.

I am getting really fed up with the policies at work.  Previously, we were able to visit MySpace and Facebook on our breaks at work with no problems.  Lately though, they have changed that policy and we are not allowed to anymore.

But, I think I might have found a way around it.  You see, I found some new Myspace proxy websites that allow you to visit those sites you want without leaving a trace.  Sure, I would expect using a tool like this would allow some abuse, but so can driving a car - we just have to act responsibly.

For those of you in school, you can bypass school filter with a proxy website as well.