Adsense Earnings and What I Plan on Doing with My First Check

I have had an adsense account for about 2 years now. At first I only had ads on my software site, which I later removed because I needed the space for another purpose, plus I didn't really have the traffic at that time to make anything from them. (I may put the ads back on there in the future, after I redesign the site, slightly)

I didn't get 'serious' into adsense till around September 2007, so most of my sites didn't have any ads on them at all, till that time.

So over the last 2 years, I didn't earn as much as I could have on some of my sites.

Here is the total earnings, as of today:

The SourceCode: $5.71
YouTube Video Units (I have them on 3 sites): $6.31
App's Apps: $0.93
Cranial Soup (this site): $3.98
Free Programming Ebooks: $81.54
omgplzstfukthx: $3.26
Read My Email: $2.69
RussoGraffix: $3.61
Snailware: $0.20
Voicemail Hall of Fame: $2.61

Total: $110.84

So I have finally hit the $100 mark, which means Google will be sending me my first check, very soon.

I had originally wanted to use a chunk of that first check to buy the domain name for the ebook site, in order to remove the .tk advertising and frame, and making it behave like a normal domain name. I had planned on paying for around 9 years of use so I wouldn't have to worry about coming up with the money for renewal for a long time. Since that site made the bulk of the money, I figured it would be the nicest way to give something back to my visitors.

I have to ask myself seriously though, if it is possible for me to come up with the money to renew all my other domains, which start expiring between October and December of this year. My first priority is to keep everything running smoothly and not to end up in some sort of financial jam that could put any of my sites at risk. I guess it would make more sense to wait for the second check to buy the .tk domain and stay on the free plan a bit longer. So I probably will be using this first check to cover the cost of renewals, rather than buying another domain name.

Then there is the issue of me not having an acceptable computer to use. $110.84 doesn't buy a computer any better than the piece of junk I am using right this minute, so I guess I will have to wait awhile or find another source of cash to fund that. (maybe I should start selling my unwashed socks on ebay, to guys with a foot fetish)

How I feel right now

The good pc has been down for about 10 days and it doesn't look like it will be coming back. I don't have the money or the skills or the luck needed to fix it, nor can I afford to replace it.

It feels just like 2003 all over again, only this time I won't allow myself to be stuck using an old P1 with WinME for 2-3 years, watching the world pass me by, feeling hopeless, powerless, pathetic...while people make jokes and laugh at me.

No, this time I will shut it down and walk away.

I can't go through that again. I just can't.

I am sorry.

Now if you will excuse me, I need to go mourn the death of one of my best friends, the loss of much that I considered precious, and the destruction of all my hopes, plans, & dreams.