Oh, I'm a blogger and I'm okay...

The number of times that I actually click on a banner ad on any given day while I'm hopping around the Web can usually be counted on fewer than one hand. Like almost never. While that's not good for the advertisers that support some worthwhile sites, it's good for me because though I am often easily distracted while trying to do tasks, I find I can focus on what I'm doing online, ignore the ads and not go off on (too many) tangents.

So the fact that my link for the day is from, you guessed it, a banner ad is surprising. This one didn't really play fair, though, because it was so big and in such an appealing and familiar shade of purple (my favorite color) that I couldn't help but be drawn to it. The pointer on the screen drifted upward almost against my will and an irrevocable click occurred before it had even registered in my brain.

And, voila, I stood at the brink of fame. While the phrase "15 minutes of fame" has, in my opinion, become hackneyed, it still holds that allure of "What if...?" The My Engine series of ads from Yahoo! is pretty eye-catching and I've enjoyed those that I've seen, but I just can't feature myself in any of them. Who the hell would they put on the other side of the screen?

"I'm Maura and I'm a blogger."

"I'm Mike and I'm a logger."

"I live in the heart of Silicon Valley and work for a big corporation, using lots of paper each day."

"I live in the heart of Maple Valley and work for a big corporation, cutting down lots of trees for paper each day."

"I'm single, no kids, and I have the luxury of spending my discretionary income on myself."

"I'm single, no kids, and I have no discretionary income."

"I spend a lot of my time groovin' online looking for just the right link to post."

"I spend a lot of my time on a line looking for just the right groove to cut."

"When I'm searching for something life-affirming to post about, I turn to Yahoo!"

"When I make it through a week without life-threatening injury, I say Yahoo!"

You know, actually, I have seen worse commercials. Where's that link again?