I get it: The "Tonik" for what ails you. Is that it? Did I get it?

Tonik Health Insurance makes getting health insurance simple, understandable... and just a little bit fun. They offer health insurance plans in six different states, through Blue Cross, and they make it easy to choose and sign up. Just click the state you live in, and they'll offer you some real-world information to help make your choice. Are you a risk taker? They'll get you a health insurance plan with a high deductible but low monthly rate. Want to be a little more safe? Or are you risk-averse? They'll match your personality with a health insurance plan to make sure that you not only get your body taken care of, but your mind, too.

Everyone needs health insurance: Tonik makes it easy to get and easy to understand.

Vacation rentals you really want.

VRWD.com -- that's all you need to remember if you're in the mood to take a vacation but don't want to get a crummy, tiny hotel or a run-down shack that someone decided to rent out.

VRWD.com, which also goes by VacationRental.org, is the number one vacation rental site to keep in mind when you're planning a trip. This company holds owners to superhigh quality standards in keeping up their rentals, and they offer the greatest rentals out there -- villas on the beach. Cozy little cottages. Spectacular mountain views. You name it, they probably have it, and if they have it, it's high quality and affordable price, combined into one.

Want to check out your location before you rent? They have Google maps of the region you'll be renting in.

So forget time shares. Forget tiny hotel rooms. Give up on anonymous rental sites. Bookmark any of the Vacation Rental sites (including DirectVacationRentals.com) and stay in style on your next vacation.

Maybe you need the money to buy a bunch of my books. Who am I to judge?

Are you a little short on money but you need it now? Maybe you have a car repair, maybe the electric bill is due today but your paycheck doesn't come until Friday, maybe you've got to get your textbooks for college because classes are starting. Whatever the need for short-term cash, payday loans may be the help you need.

Online lenders like GetEcash can even speed the process along by letting you submit your application via faxinstead of driving around town to fill out paperwork, making things simpler and faster. They even have the schedule of fees on the website so you know upfront how much the loan will cost you.

With a payday loan, you can borrow money for a short time and bridge that gap between the stuff you need today and your ability to pay tomorrow. You don't want to ever borrow money unless you absolutely have to, and you don't want to borrow money unless you can pay it back and understand the terms of the deal -- but if you know what you're doing and are sure you can pay it back, a payday lender might mean the difference between fixing your car to get to work and losing your job because you had no way to get around.

Cross-Pollinization.

It's important to keep you aware of the things I'm aware of. It helps promote blogodiversity.

What I'm Writing:

Ninety-Four: In part 17, I explore why my meeting with a Supreme Court Justice turns out ultimately to be nothing but a walk-on part. (Thinking The Lions)

What'd you used to do in college? I used to have fun, and I still should be...(The Best of Everything)

First some magic tricks. Then the end of the world. Joe's first show went off without a hitch, thanks to a little help from ancient Mayan secrets, and Conan O'Brien. (AfterDark.)


Sue someone, and have them pay your attorney? It can be done. (Family And Consumer Law: The Blog)

These tables are tiny: At an awkward dinner with Ivy, Bumpy remembers their first "real" date... (5 pages)

I thought I was that interesting: I like The Intern's tips on writing memoirs. (Aaaaughh!)

Why is Brigitte shooting at Rachel? Talk about awkward: When Rachel's pregnant lover shows up again in a flying saucer, the first thing she does is start shooting. (Lesbian Zombies Are Taking Over The World!)

Facebook Me! Or whatever the verb is.

What I'm Reading And Listening To:

She says she doesn't make sense but she does... Angela's blog I Speak seems to be talking about my family. (I Speak.)

Socialized medicine is one thing, but socialized grape growing? Lisa's got some insight into champagne. The kind of insight that can only come from drinking a lot of it, I assume. (Lost In Provence)

I heard of them first: this music blog has free downloads (hopefully legal...) and a crush on Florence and the Machine. (Selective Service)

I make sure to diversify my investments: Some scratch-off, some pull-tab, and a few Megabucks.

I got my allowance on Friday-- payday is always sweet, and I had enough allowance left over this week to be able to put a little into my retirement fund investments -- and by that I mean "Buy a couple of lottery tickets when I stopped for gas." Laugh if you want, but I'll be the one raking in $300 million and retiring, and what'll YOU be doing, then?

As I was filling my tank, I noticed that gas went up again and then I saw that stuff in the convenience store was more expensive, too, and I thought that I, at least, was lucky - -I had enough money to buy the gas I needed, and pick up some investments/scratch offs, but what, I wondered, about people who were heading home on Friday without enough money to get through the weekend, who had a flat tire or a pipe burst or just had run short of money for a day or two? What could THEY do?

What would I do? I could, I suppose, always borrow a little from Dad; he's got some extra money and may be able to spare a couple hundred to help fix my car, if I needed it. What else could I do, I wondered? Sell some stuff? Did I have enough stuff to sell? Maybe all those old DVDs we have laying around?

Or would I be able to get an online cash advance? That, I decided, would have to be at least considered. I know that nobody should borrow money unless they absolutely have to, and nobody should borrow unless they can repay the loan, but if I had an emergency and couldn't get money from somewhere else, I'd at least have to consider going online and borrowing it, wouldn't I? I would.

Luckily for me, I didn't have to do that on Friday -- and those scratch-off tickets may just pay off.

I ALWAYS need the extra $1,000.

It's about time my kids started paying for me, rather than the other way around. I've found, this morning, a brand-new way to make some money off my blogging and my kids. (Which means no more stealing content from Slate Magazine and fending off lawsuits, and no more run-ins with pesky "child labor law" enforcers...)

The new way to make some money off kids and blogging is courtesy of ParentsConnect.com, and they lured me in with this question:

Need an extra $1000?

Well, of course I do. (Frankly, I need a first $1,000, and then I'd like an extra $1,000 on top of that.)

ParentsConnect.com is a site that helps track and provide information on kids' events and activities, and daycare, and summer camps, and what they do is provide a "widget" that lets parents find out about fun stuff to do near their location.

I liked that idea so much that I installed it on this blog -- it's off to the left, there -- and a big reason why I liked it was because not only can you, my loyal readers-with-kids find fun stuff to do with your kids by using my blog, but I can win a cool $1,000 if you use that widget a lot.

All you have to do is type your zip code in and you'll get updated on what there is to do-- and ParentsConnect.com will note that you've done that on my blog and I'll be in the running to get that extra $1,000.

If you have a blog, or a social network page, or other website, you can install it, too, by going to their site and clicking a few links. It's super-easy to do, so why not help out your own readers, and try to win $1,000, too?

Glasses are the new black. (Or something smart-and-fashiony like that.)

If you wear glasses, then: Congratulations! You're smart. (That's the test, you know: smart people wear glasses.)(I used to wear glasses. Then I stopped. Then I got a new pair and wore those for a week. Then Mr Bunches broke them. So I was smart and then I wasn't and then I was and then my smartness broke.)

Anyway, if you're so smart, then you probably know that the best way to get your eyeglasses and prescription sunglasses is through Glasses Shop -- glassesshop.com -- because they not only have every pair of sunglasses you could want, but they're cool ones, like this:

And you can get them, like I said, prescription, and they're priced better than anything you're going to find at some strip mall. How much better? Try way better, like $39.95 for these:


Those will not only make you look smart, they'll make you feel smart, because you saved a ton of money buying them at Glasses Shop.

What's really nice, though, is that Glasses Shop lets you customize your lenses. Their prescription sunglasses section lets you pick the color tint of your lenses, lets you get those neat "Transition" lenses so that you're not carrying around two sets of glasses with you all the time, and even lets you get anti-reflective coating, so that your prescription sunglasses are everything you want.

I might just have to go buy a pair myself -- once Mr Bunches is a little older. And a little less breaky.

Cash advances can fill the gap in your funding.

Everyone needs money -- and from time to time, we all need more money than we currently have. If you're one of the lucky ones who have great credit and a friendly bank (or a rich, nice uncle), getting that extra cash can be easy. But if you've got poor credit or no credit, it's tough to find a way to get through a financial crunch.

NowGetLoan understands that, and that's why they offer payday loans for bad credit -- emergency cash for those who might need it the most and have access to it the least.

NowGetLoan will make a payday loan without considering your credit history: You need a job, and income to repay it, and a bank account to get the money into. That's it. They'll lend up to $1500 on the same day they receive the application, and they have some of the lowest interest rates in the business. Plus, no driving to a bad part of town -- they'll take your application without paperwork (and usually without even a fax) and direct deposit the money right into your account. And, because they know that you might have some financial concerns, they offer flexible repayment plans.

Entering into any credit arrangement is a big deal: make sure you understand what you're doing and don't borrow money you don't need to borrow. But if you do need a loan to help bridge the gap between today and tomorrow, try NowGetLoan.

You make the cheese; just let Venaltech.com put it online for you.

You need to do two things to be successful in business. First, you've got to have a unique product, or service, or something, of value. It could be something totally new, or it could be something totally good -- but it's got to be something.

And you've got to have an excellent online presentation of that product. Because people don't use billboards and yellow pages and radio ads anymore. They go online. They search for you and check out website referrals and google you and see your website and compare prices and more... all online.

So you've got the first one -- you've got your service, your goods, your product, your selling point. But can you do the second one? Probably not. You may be a great writer, lawyer, cheesemaker, or presidential candidate, but you don't know beans about the Internet.

Think you do? Then how do you design a website? Do an SEO? Accept credit cards or paypal through your site? Use social networks to market yourself? Manage your search reputation?

You don't know how to do ANY of those things. But VenalTech.com does, and that's why you need them.

Venaltech.com will take your business idea and turn it into an internet reality. They handle the technical challenges of creating your website, the SEO, the advertising, the social networks, and more. Business bogged down by searches that have nothing to do with your company, or, worse, make your company look bad? They'll fix it. Need to set up a pay-per-click ad program? They'll do that, too -- and they'll do it right.

They say that Brian Holt, the president of Venaltech.com, was the creator of a site called "MovieForumz." While that was running, it was one of the 500 most visited sites in the world. Holt became a millionaire at 20 and owns at least a dozen successful sites. If he can do that for himself, Venaltech.com can do it for you, too.