Some of you may be wondering, "Why, after 5 years, am I starting to ask for donations?" Simple fact is that I had a scary experience back in January of 2002 where I thought I wouldn't have a dollar to my name. Purposely, I haven't used the expression "a penny to my name" because I would still have a cash flow. I came very close to not being able to pay my bills for the next 3 months. Fortunately I did avoid that calamity, but I'm still on a slim budget 6 months later. While the specifics of my financial situation is none of anybody's business, I will give out this one detail: I was well within my means making $30,000 a year at GAC but now I'm in way over my head making $13,000 a year at a convenience store while looking for another web position.

Over time, the debt that comes with moving out on my own and getting married has caught up with me. By no means am I heading towards poverty. However, all it took was one unfortunate mishap (my arm being fractured in May) and this site fell victim to budget cuts as my life teetered on the verge financial chaos. In perspective, the cost of running this site is not much at all. It's only $9 a year for the domain name and $5 a month to get rid of the ads. While $70 a year may not seem that bad at all, keep in mind that I do run 2 other web site with similar costs. That total comes to over $210. Now we're digging into my pockets.

Now that you know what goes into this web site, I hope you appreciate what you get here even more. I don't mind paying for this web site because it lets me do what I love. On the other hand, though, I can't justify spending $70 a year on a web site when I have as much debt as I do. If everyone on my mailing list alone contributed $3 a year, this site would be paid for. (Of course, donation solicitation never has that high a turnout.) All I ask is that you give a little if you really loved what you see here.

To see the ledger that tracks how funds are spent, click here.

If you'd rather purchase merchandise to show your support, check out the CafeStore. Keep in mind, though, that there is only a 30% profit margin on these items. Half goes to Kim and half goes to support this web site.