I feel stupid again

I consider myself to be reasonably knowledgeable about computers and the Internet, but everytime I let my head get to big I get reminded of how little I know. I’m having to relearn lotsa HTML and CSS, and staring cross-eyed at the PHP right at the moment…..

(note, this is completely by choice because I’m not satisfied with any of the options available to me for what I want to do so I’m trying to create my own…..)


Poor Fishy

A while back I picked up this fish shaped chew toy for Apollo.  Made out of clear rubber/plastic, with a purple “skeleton” inside.  It was getting pretty beat up, but he still loves it, and now with Arty in the house its getting even more abuse, so I decided to see if I could get another one.  Well the store where I got it still had them, along with two other sizes, the smallest was to small, Apollo coulda swollowed it whole, and the purple one I got before was the largest, but they also had a medium size, so I grabbed two large ones and a medium one.  Click the link to see what they look like (disclaimer, the links to go Amazon via my Affiliates link, if you buy something via that link I earn a couple pennies).  That was yesterday.

Here’s what the medium fish looks like today:

Don’t worry, they didn’t actually eat any of it, I’ve spent the day picking up pieces of plastic off my floor….


I need….

So, I’ve been using Google Reader to keep up with the blogs I read, the problem: I’d really like to ditch Google (not sure the email’s going to go, I’ll try, but I’ve been using it so long its EVERYWHERE, anyway….).  So as part of my switch off Blogger I need something else.  Either an equivilent software or site that’ll keep track of new posts for me, or a widget for the WordPress blog that’ll at least tell me how recently the blogs on my blogroll have been updated.  Not sure I care WHICH, but one or the other, or maybe all of the above…..

Anyway, any suggestions or recommendations?  Preferably something you’ve used, or at least have seen used….


New site started

For anyone who’s curious its here: http://www.scaryyankeechick.com/

Now, that LINK will remain active, but the look and feel and all else is not set in stone yet.  I will say that I like the WordPress.org options MUCH better than the WordPress.com options.  Nor am I officially changing over yet, this is just me playing around and wanting some feedback.

As for the host, its machighway.com, recommended to me by Hsoi, who uses it for his business site.  I’ve not had much time to poke around at what all I can do with their stuff yet, but I’ve so far had to contact them twice, mostly because I was feeling lazy and didn’t feel like digging.  Both times I was helped promptly and politely.  Infact the guy who answered the phone the first time even admitted that “I don’t know, but if you don’t mind me placing you on hold for a minute or two I can find out.”  Something that is few and far between in some companies (I like a person who admits they don’t know but is willing to find out, don’t BS at me).  I will also say that their Blog Package is very inexpensive ($29.50/yr if you pay for the year upfront, and for your first year that includes your Domain name, which is normally an additional $9.99), MUCH less so for the same coverage than several other hosting places I looked at.  And yes, you can use their site even if you don’t use a Mac, I don’t! 

(if you go to my link above on the left hand side of the page is a little button to them, if you decide to go with MacHighway, and it was my experience that got you to look at them, please consider purchasing your site via that button, it’ll earn me a bit of money to off-set what this is costing me since I don’t make anything off the blog.  As a general rule I don’t plan to do much in the way of advertising and the like, just this button, Amazon affiliates, and maybe some odds and ends)


Blogger email spam

So, probably because I’m a relatively small time blogger, I don’t get alot of email spam from folks trying to sell me things, or “guest post” or advertise or the like.  Like, less than 1 a month.

But the one I got last night tickled my funny bone

Hello,

My name is Grace and I recently stumbled across your blog pointsofcompass.blogspot.com. I work for a company, Blog Services Inc., that connects bloggers with advertising partners. I currently have clients that are interested in sponsoring a few posts. This helps them with brand awareness and is a great opportunity for you to make some money from your blog.

Check out BlogServicesInc.org for more information and testimonials. Please feel free to contact me directly if you are interested in a partnership or have any questions at xxxxx@xxxxx.org. There is no need to submit the form on our site, as contacting me directly will lead to a quicker response.

If you are interested, contact me at this email address to begin the process.

Best, Grace Campbell Project Manager – Blog Services, Inc.

 Now I deliberately undid all links except to the blog in question, and blocked out the email address.  But anyone else see a problem with that email?  Anyone?

Yah.  You know, if you’re going to try to sell me something for my blog, it would help if you could at least email me about the right blog……