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I’m currently sitting at the picnic table that’s in our backyard. It has to be at least 55° today, as I’m sitting here in a t-shirt and hoodie. As nice as it is today, the last thing I would be interested in is Branson tickets, or tickets to another cold place in the US. It’s almost too warm for the hoodie, especially because of the bright sunshine, but the breeze that’s blowing around makes it just cool enough. Man, I am so eager for spring. Normally I despise spring, as it gets annoyingly warm during the daytime and chilly in the evening, but these days with being chilly all of the time, I’m very happy that warmer weather is just around the corner.
I need to find a better way to use my laptop outside. The battery life is fine, but the ability to view the screen in the bright sunshine? Not so much. I tried moving to the other side of the picnic table, but that didn’t help much. If I take my sunglasses off I can see the screen a little better, but then I myself am getting blinded from the sun. Do they sell special screens or anything that can be placed across a laptop display? Or am I just screwed?
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So last weekend I sold my T-Mobile G1 and used the money I made off of it to purchase the myTouch 3G. My reasons for upgrading were practical — I needed a new phone, as the call button on the G1 doesn’t work consistently. I would have purchased another G1, but the myTouch 3G was almost $75 cheaper. So, the myTouch it was.
Now, the big difference between the G1 and the myTouch is that the myTouch does not have a physical keyboard. It’s ALL touch screen, which I love… but was rather apprehensive about at first. Fortunately, the touch keyboard on the myTouch is drastically better than the one on the G1. Better still, the myTouch has Swype, which is an intuitive interface that allows you to drag your fingers across the keys to spell out words. It’s kind of like connecting the dots. And YES, it WORKS. I sent Dan four text messages in a one minute period using Swype.
So what does this mean? It means I won’t have to give up on blogging from my cell phone! Whether I want to write something exciting about Outer Banks beach rentals, or bitch about the snotty moms at the playground and the dog walkers who think it’s okay to walk their dogs THROUGH the playground equipments (newsflash: it’s not), or just give a quick update on how my day is going, I’ll be able to do so without spending too much time painstakingly hitting key after key on the touch screen. Just swipe, swipe, swipe, and I’m done! The program even adds spaces, so you don’t have to pause between words to do that. :D
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Right now I have set up shop in bed. I normally don’t stay in bed once I’m up for the morning, but I’m cramping like there’s no tomorrow, so piling up under the covers with a heated corn sack was just too resisting. I’m on my laptop, of course, which is comfortably positioned and angled on a spiffy laptop lap tray that I picked up from Walmart a few years ago. I have a glass of water, my cell phone, one of our home phones (we have one of those sets where there’s the base and then two additional phones) and a protein shake conveniently situated next to me. What’s missing? A porta-potty. Or hell, a catheter. When I’m this warm and cozy, and in this much discomfort, the last thing I want to do is get UP, you know?
You know you’re jealous. Imagine how awesome it’d be to take the lsat prep from the comfort of your own bed! Speaking of which, my fourteen year old brother is now in ninth grade, so it won’t be long before he’s facing all of the pre-college prep tests, and the various courses that our school district offers to help prepare for them. Since my brother is autistic and has some other developmental issues, my mom and I have already discussed the best way to handle the big tests he’ll need to take in high school. We’re thinking that online courses would be best for him, because he could take his time to read everything, and re-read it if necessary. We could be there with him to coach him through areas he’s not sure about, and of course help him study. I’m telling you, online lsat prep and other pre-college tests prepping is the way to go these days!
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As much as I use iTunes, I might as well add it to my startup folder. I love blogging and generally working to music. Of course, I sometimes get off on a tangent when I like a song and look up what it is, then wind up looking up lyrics, other songs from the album, related music.
So yeah: I’m a music hound. How about you?
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I’m enjoying a rare treat today: a 100% kid-free household. I get that during the week on Mondays and Wednesday, but it’s only for two and a half hours, and let me tell you, those two and a half hours just fly by, and before I know it it’s time to pick up the sproglets from preschool, herd them home and into the house, and get them set up with lunch and an afternoon activity before it’s time for quiet time in their bedrooms.
I’m not sure how long this is going to last, since my son is with my mom, and I’m pretty sure that she’ll be handing him back over to me sometime this afternoon or evening, but I’m trying to make the most of it. Right now I’m making the rounds to all of my blogs. I’m saving jenn.nu for last, since it’s my personal blog and thus will have the most “personal” type of entry, but for those of you who subscribe to it or watch for my new blog notifications on Twitter, don’t worry — it’s coming!
So, how are you spending your Saturday?
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When it comes to online article writing, there are generally two types of articles, articles for human consumption, and articles for SEO (that’s Search Engine Optimization for you n00bs) purposes.
Articles for human consumption are fairly straightforward: they should be 300 to 500 words in length (get any wordier than that and you’ll probably bore a large percentage of your audience), and those words should be broken down into at least two paragraphs. Use a title or headline to describe your article. Most importantly, take the time to write your article so that it flows well, and that information is presented in a concise and chronological (if applicable) manner. Most importantly: revise, revise, revise.
SEO articles are for search engine consumption. Typically they are designed to use keyword(s) and link(s) that point to a specific URL. SEO articles are used to help Google and other major search engines recognize and improve the ranking and page rank of websites. SEO articles must be written logically, but they can be on the tedious and boring side, if that makes sense. They must make sense, but they don’t have to be overly pleasant to read. Keep in mind that search engines are looking for logical content, but they’re not going to add or detract points based on how well you write. Most importantly, make sure your SEO article contains 400 to 500 words. Use at least one headline (use an h1 or h2 tag for it), and include any relevant keywords (no more than two for best results!) in both the headline and in the paragraph. My personal rule of thumb is to use the keyword 2-3 times per paragraph, for a 400 word article.
Both regular articles and SEO articles are useful for drawing traffic to your website, so if you don’t have any yet, now’s the time to get typing!
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Last week I downloaded Microsoft Office 2010. It’s still in beta, which is why it’s free for download. I really love the re-designed look of Outlook 2010 in particular, but I’ve been having a lot of issues with mail not sending and receiving. After spending a few days messing with it and getting increasingly frustrated, I decided to just uninstall the whole thing and give it another go. Only this time, I’m downloading Office 2010 Professional, which is the full program, whereas the home version of Office 2010 is installed using a streaming download method. Maybe something got whacked out there…
Gah, hurry up and download! I’m going nuts without my email! Productivity, where are you?!
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Every blogger has a line that they won’t cross. The line being, of course, the breach into areas or topics that they just won’t discuss on their blog. For some it’s money, for others the names of their children, for others their own names, and so on and so forth. I admit that money is a touchy subject for me, simply because what I make, what my husband makes, and how and where we choose to spend it is nobody’s business but our own; but I think that’s a common viewpoint of most people. As far as names go, I’m free with our first names, but not our last names (I also don’t give out our location or any geographical-specific details, such as school names, local restaurants, landmarks, etc.). And of course you all know my name — Jenn!
Besides the standard things — identifying personal information and finances — I’m not sure where I draw the line. I don’t talk about family drama, whether it be my family or my in-laws. I talk about my marriage, and our sex life… somewhat. On a related note, I’m obviously not afraid to talk about sex and even masturbation, since I just took on a full time job with Eden Fantasys.
Where is your line? What subject do you just refuse to get into, whatever the reason?
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If there’s one thing the paid blogging industry has taught me, it’s that you do not want to anger the Google gods. Or any other search engine god for that matter. But the focus is primarily on Google, ’cause Google is where it’s at. Seriously, have you seen the stats lately? I haven’t, but as of three and a half years ago, Google was clearly in the lead, with 49% of internet users sending all their search queries through it.
So what happens when you piss off the Google gods? At best, you lose your page rank (PR). At worst, you lose any place in search engine results. In the middle, you lose your PR and your search engine result ranking. You may drop from #4 to #49, or worse.
Duplicate content is a big no-no with the Google gods. What is duplicate content? In a nutshell, duplicate content is content that is available elsewhere on the internet. This means that you can not only NOT duplicate content on your own website (re-posting an article several months or years later, for example), but you can’t duplicate content from one blog to another. You can’t take those free articles and just slap them up on your blog either. Google is smart, by the way, so changing a few words or order of paragraphs here and there isn’t enough. If you want to re-post something and stay on the Google gods’ good side, it’s important that you re-write it.
Learn more about duplicate content and what to look out for here.
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Last night I flew out the door right after my husband got home from work, because I couldn’t wait to get to Panera Bread for some quiet, kid-free time, as I had a lot of blogging to catch up on (the good news: I did catch up on most of it!). I was maybe four miles away from the house when I realized I forgot my cell phone. Whoopsies. I refused to turn back for it, because I didn’t really need it since I had my laptop. But wouldn’t you know that once I got to Panera Bread, I suddenly had like ten different calls to make? Yeah, it never fails.
