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	<title>Drovers Run &#187; Web Stuff</title>
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		<title>Advise me oh, thou great re-readers</title>
		<link>http://www.droversrun.net/2010/06/advise-me-oh-thou-great-re-readers/</link>
		<comments>http://www.droversrun.net/2010/06/advise-me-oh-thou-great-re-readers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:44:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ness</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Activities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Random Blatherings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Stuff]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.droversrun.net/?p=2046</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I need help! Advice! Feedback! I have something called &#8216;Multiple Blogging Personality Disorder&#8217;. It means I have too much to say, and no idea where to put it all. Maybe I have too many interests etc. So here&#8217;s the thang&#8230; I am someone that likes to blog, for various reasons, the social aspect, the ability [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I need help! Advice! Feedback!</p>
<p>I have something called &#8216;Multiple Blogging Personality Disorder&#8217;. It means I have too much to say, and no idea where to put it all.</p>
<p>Maybe I have too many interests etc.</p>
<p>So here&#8217;s the <em>thang</em>&#8230;</p>
<p>I am someone that likes to blog, for various reasons, the social aspect, the ability to vent, making money, graphic design, photography etc.</p>
<p>BUT&#8230;I can&#8217;t put all these things together without wondering if I will lose those of you who are only interested in say 1 or 2 of those things.</p>
<p>Search engines being what they are and Google doing what it does, dictates that I should have separate blogs for each of my interests (&#8220;niches&#8221;) in order to rank better for search engines. This totally makes sense too, because I am far more likely to hold your attention on my photography stuff if I keep the blog in question mostly on photography  related topics. The same for my graphic design.</p>
<p>Also, this blog, generates a heck of a lot of traffic simply because of the name (coming from a TV Show) but most of the traffic leaves once they realize that it&#8217;s got nothing to do with the TV show, so I&#8217;m feeling like I could better monetize this site with actual McLeods Daugther related content, i.e. fan articles, DVD sales etc. But part of me is loathe to let this go, because it means I lose my venting space, meaning I will have to think up *another* alter ego on which I can unleash the whoopass as and when I need to.</p>
<p>The only person who I&#8217;ve ever seen who really rocks different niches all in one space is The Pioneer Woman, who has separate sections for her regular blog, photography, homeschooling, home and garden and cooking. They are effectively 5 different blogs all contained within one, bigger portal, so you can tune in, to whatever interests you, and each one has it&#8217;s own feed, so if you choose to only subscribe to &#8216;photography&#8217; and &#8216;cooking&#8217; then you only receive updates on those two topics. But then she doesn&#8217;t ever really vent on her blog, and how can she, with hundreds of thousands of readers? It&#8217;s not like she can moan about her husbands smelly socks or anything without half of the midwest worrying that they&#8217;re splitting up and calling dibs on Marlborough Man.</p>
<p>SO, I&#8217;m putting it to you readers&#8230;please if you will, answer the following questions for me, in the comments if you have a moment.</p>
<p>1.  Should I create one mega-portal containing everything, with separate sections and feeds so that you can just dip into what you are interested in? If so, then WHAT do I call myself? It can&#8217;t be drovers run, because of what I will have to do with the domain name&#8230;</p>
<p>2. Do I keep my different web-egos  for different purposes and just develop them separately? At this stage I have THIS domain along with:</p>
<ul>
<li> <a href="http://macnessa.com">macnessa.com</a> a sort of decor/design/office space/tech/money/property/yadda blog</li>
<li><a href="http://photosuperhero.com">photosuperhero.com</a> (currently rebuilding that one) &#8211; which is a how-to/tutorials/gear reviews/showcase blog</li>
<li><a href="http://vanessamacleod.com/blog">vanessamacleod.com</a> (currently my official work related website/blog which I&#8217;m desperate to redevelop, but can&#8217;t find the time!</li>
<li><a href="http://nessworld.com">nessworld.com</a> which is my &#8216;magazine&#8217; site dedicated to wahm&#8217;s and wahm resources, and other chick related subjects etc.</li>
<li><a href="http://arthistorywizard.com ">arthistorywizard.com</a> (something new I&#8217;m developing) &#8211; not live yet</li>
</ul>
<p>My problem is this&#8230;I have so many graphic design ideas that I want to implement (digital files for sale, free downloads, graphic design resources for photographers etc) and I just don&#8217;t know where to put them, but it has to be somewhere where folks who are looking for digital files will find them, in other words a site that targets the keywords that folks will be typing into google in order to find them. So do I register another site and just keep it for that? Something like pixelprincess designs? Or something else? HELP me people, I&#8217;m so freakin&#8217; indecisive about this. Do I put the photography related design stuff  on Photo Super Hero?</p>
<p>All the guru type bloggers who are raking it in say that if you are too general, then you&#8217;re unsearchable and that you need a niche, the smaller the better, and aside from the pioneer woman I can see that this is totally true.</p>
<p>So&#8230;what Do..I..DO!?</p>

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<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/06/please-stop-with-the-ex-pat-bashing/">Please Stop with the Ex-Pat Bashing</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/06/the-soccer-that-almost-wasnt/">The Soccer that Almost Wasn&#8217;t</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/06/all-about-the-moods/">All About The Moods</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/06/the-days-have-gone-down-in-the-west/">The Days have Gone Down in the West</a></li>
</ul><br />
]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>I need Your Opinions</title>
		<link>http://www.droversrun.net/2010/06/i-need-your-opinions/</link>
		<comments>http://www.droversrun.net/2010/06/i-need-your-opinions/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 01 Jun 2010 13:21:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ness</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Big Dreams]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Random Blatherings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Stuff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Your Opinion]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.droversrun.net/?p=1956</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Those of you who know me, know that I work from home as a freelance graphic designer, and that I work under my own name. But lately this feeling has been gnawing at me that I need to be creating a brand, beyond that which is just me.  Am I making sense here? Something that [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Those of you who know me, know that I work from home as a freelance graphic designer, and that I work under my own name.</p>
<p>But lately this feeling has been gnawing at me that I need to be creating a brand, beyond that which is just me.  Am I making sense here? Something that I could build up into a viable entity, and would ultimately after a number of years become a sell-able commodity, without affecting the brand of me. C&#8217;est moi. Yanno?</p>
<p>Kind of like being a seamstress and building a brand name like say, &#8220;Gucci&#8221; which when you&#8217;re tired of it, you sell it and you&#8217;ve still got all your skill to fall back on. Or, if you really like it that much, you leave it to your kids. Or something. If I keep everything in my name, what happens one day when I do want to move onto another project or something &#8211; can you see why I want to keep these things separate?</p>
<p>I&#8217;m kind of just thinking aloud here.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve come up with like a gagillion thoughts and options, but nothing has really gone WOW in my brain, and made me think THIS IS IT. I mean ultimately I am not in the business of  selling a product like <a href="http://www.jointsupplements.org/">joint pain supplements</a>, so the playing field is really wide open on this one.  I do find that I&#8217;m drawn to fruity, foody type of names. Like <a title="Pinkberry Frozen Yoghurt" href="http://www.pinkberry.com">PinkBerry</a> (love their logo!) but on the other hand I have to consider that being in the business of marketing and graphic design is not necessarily like food.  I mean, I clearly get the same buzz out of great design, that I get out of great food, which is why I think I&#8217;m drawn to the names which make me savour the image that they conjure up.</p>
<p>So, rather than sprain a neuron over this, I thought, &#8220;<em>WHY NOT ask the blogger peeps what THEY THINK??</em>&#8221; and then leave it up to you?</p>
<p>Here are things that blow my hair back&#8230;</p>
<ul>
<li>Fruity names that evoke a taste in your mouth&#8230;pink berry, pearl jam, blue sugar, etc</li>
<li>Norse and Greek Mythology. Freya, Valkyrie, Apollo, Mt Olympus, Atlantis.</li>
<li>Anything to do with horses, because even though I haven&#8217;t been around them much since Skip was born, they are/were a huge part of my life and psyche up till then.</li>
<li>Anything that evokes historical feel, that might require the use of a seal, heraldry, royalty, shields etc.</li>
<li>Anything to do with technology, space, the earth, planets, universe etc</li>
<li>I like the marriage of two abstract concepts, even cutesy names are cool, like Doodle-Bug, Snap-Dragon, etc</li>
<li>Surprise me!</li>
</ul>

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<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/06/advise-me-oh-thou-great-re-readers/">Advise me oh, thou great re-readers</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/05/lets-talk-about-marital-discord/">Let&#8217;s talk about Marital Discord!</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/05/raining/">Raining</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/04/bullets/">Bullets&#8230;because I am flarking knackered</a></li>
</ul><br />
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		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>I am Loving Kindle for Mac!</title>
		<link>http://www.droversrun.net/2010/04/i-am-loving-kindle-for-mac/</link>
		<comments>http://www.droversrun.net/2010/04/i-am-loving-kindle-for-mac/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 14 Apr 2010 10:11:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ness</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Graphic Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twilight]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Stuff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kindle for Mac]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.droversrun.net/?p=1832</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So you guys know that I am an affiliate for Amazon right? That means that Amazon purchases made by someone, who viewed a particular product on my site earns me a tiny small commission. It&#8217;s really a hit and miss thing, because the purchase has to be made within 24 hours etc etc, anyhoo, it&#8217;s been [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>So you guys know that I am an affiliate for <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&amp;location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2F&amp;tag=rainbowfudge-20&amp;linkCode=ur2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957">Amazon</a><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" src="https://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=rainbowfudge-20&amp;l=ur2&amp;o=1" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" /> right?</p>
<p>That means that <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&amp;location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2F&amp;tag=rainbowfudge-20&amp;linkCode=ur2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957">Amazon</a><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" src="https://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=rainbowfudge-20&amp;l=ur2&amp;o=1" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" /> purchases made by someone, who viewed a particular product on my site earns me a <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">tiny</span> small commission. It&#8217;s really a hit and miss thing, because the purchase has to be made within 24 hours etc etc, anyhoo, it&#8217;s been working nicely the last few months, and I&#8217;ve been getting a little Amazon gift card every month for the last few months. (FYI you can choose to get a cheque sent to you, or gift cards etc). I chose the gift card route, because the threshold to get paid out is much lower. Plus, it&#8217;s not huge amounts of money, so the little I make has thusfar netted me a couple of books for myself and Skippy, and just this morning I made my first <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&amp;location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FKindle-Books%2Fb%3Fie%3DUTF8%26node%3D1286228011%26ref_%3Dsv%5Fkinc%5F1&amp;tag=rainbowfudge-20&amp;linkCode=ur2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957">Kindle</a><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" src="https://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=rainbowfudge-20&amp;l=ur2&amp;o=1" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" /> purchase! (a book not the device)</p>
<p>First of all, I opened up Kindle for Mac, also available for PC, and various iPods/iPads/iPhones (worldwide) and even Blackberry (only in the USA so far), and they allowed me to download a free sample of the book I was interested in. I was really surprised when it gave me the first whole chapter of the Kindle version of Twilight.</p>
<p>Well <em><strong>of course</strong></em> I picked something that I know I&#8217;m going to like, and considering that I have only seen the movies of the first two, I&#8217;m really interested in reading the book versions.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Screen-shot-2010-04-14-at-12.09.31-PM.png"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1833" style="margin: 10px;" title="Screen shot 2010-04-14 at 12.09.31 PM" src="http://www.droversrun.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Screen-shot-2010-04-14-at-12.09.31-PM.png" alt="" width="106" height="144" /></a>How could I resist when the whole book only costs $8 (ZAR 60!!!) and gets delivered *instantly* to my &#8216;kindle for mac&#8217; program!? I mean hello! Plus if you consider that it was basically free, because I had an Amazon Gift card to use, then it becomes a no brainer.</p>
<p>So now the hubby and kiddos will be happily tuning to ESPN to watch something testosteron-ey like <a href="http://www.atvsport.com/">atv racing</a>, I can be happily ensconced in my study, blissfully alternating between the happy reality of graphic design work and waist deep in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001EUIWAA?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=rainbowfudge-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B001EUIWAA">Photoshop</a><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=rainbowfudge-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B001EUIWAA" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" /> or in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001EUFKAK?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=rainbowfudge-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B001EUFKAK">Illustrator</a><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=rainbowfudge-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B001EUFKAK" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" />, depending on what I&#8217;m doing, and then disappearing into Forks, WA when I need a little escapism.</p>
<p>Have I mentioned before how much I love technology!?</p>
<p>Incidentally on a semi-unrelated note, Adobe have just launched the CS5 version of their Creative Suite, so if you have been wanting to upgrade to CS4 and haven&#8217;t done it yet, keep an eye on the prices, since they always seem to drop right after a newer version has been released! I&#8217;m running CS4 myself, and I&#8217;ll probably wait until CS6 to upgrade, unless I win the lottery before that.</p>

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<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/07/photos-of-me/">Photos of Me</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/07/vampires-suck/">Vampires Suck</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/07/the-midnight-update/">The Midnight Update</a></li>
</ul><br />
]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Kindle</title>
		<link>http://www.droversrun.net/2010/04/kindle/</link>
		<comments>http://www.droversrun.net/2010/04/kindle/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Apr 2010 08:32:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ness</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Shopping]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Stuff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[children]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online shopping]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iPad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kindle]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kindle for Mac]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kindle for PC]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.droversrun.net/?p=1828</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So. Amazon just released &#8216;Kindle&#8217; for Mac. For those of you who wonder what I&#8217;m talking about this is a kindle, and you can order them from Amazon, and yes, they ship worldwide, including to South Africa. But, did you know that you don&#8217;t have to have a Kindle to access the Kindle store? So [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>So. Amazon just released &#8216;Kindle&#8217; for Mac.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/kindle.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1830" style="margin: 10px;" title="kindle" src="http://www.droversrun.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/kindle-230x300.jpg" alt="" width="138" height="180" /></a>For those of you who wonder what I&#8217;m talking about <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0015T963C?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=rainbowfudge-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B0015T963C">this is a kindle</a><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=rainbowfudge-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B0015T963C" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" />, and you can order them from Amazon, and yes, they ship worldwide, including to South Africa.</p>
<p>But, did you know that you don&#8217;t have to have a Kindle to access the Kindle store? So if you don&#8217;t want to pony up the dough to the tune of $259 (for the international kindle), you can simply visit <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&amp;location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fkindle-store-ebooks-newspapers-blogs%2Fb%3Fie%3DUTF8%26node%3D133141011%26ref_%3Dtopnav%5Fstoretab%5Fkinc&amp;tag=rainbowfudge-20&amp;linkCode=ur2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957">The Kindle Store</a><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" src="https://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=rainbowfudge-20&amp;l=ur2&amp;o=1" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" /> and download the software to begin buying books and reading them on your pc or mac. It&#8217;s completely free, and gives you access to all the great latest best sellers, magazines and newspapers in the kindle store, at much lower prices than you would pay for these items in &#8216;physical&#8217; format.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s basically a piece of software (kindle for Mac and PC) that when opened runs like an application on your computer that connects directly to the Kindle Store using whatever internet connection your computer uses, and allows you to instantly download any of the content offered there. The prices are well worth checking out.</p>
<p>I truly believe that devices such as these are exciting, and will change the way our children are learning. Do you remember all those massive text books you used to have to carry around high school? Then you get to maths class, you&#8217;ve lost your text book and the teacher gives you extra homework as punishment? Not.With.This. Plus, think of the advantage of just having to carry one lightweight item around and it has all the learning (and extra curricular reading) available to you at the click of a few buttons? Totally worth it.</p>
<p>Sure we all love the feel of a good book, but then let&#8217;s think about how many trees we&#8217;re saving here at the same time?!</p>
<p>Some bestsellers are as low as $7.50 (that&#8217;s under R50) when you&#8217;d definitely pay in the region of R100-140 here! Surely this price difference is enough to make you want to forgo the bookstore experience occasionally, the waiting in line while other people ask stupid questions to tired employees who wearily answer while swiping the <a href="http://www.posmicro.com/">barcode scanner</a> over the purchase, in favour of the instant gratification of deciding that you&#8217;ve read about a good book, and click click ka-ching and it&#8217;s downloaded to your computer? Kindle will also keep a history of your purchase so if your computer is ever lost or stolen, you can simply download it again at no charge. Hello sweet bargain.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/ipad.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1829" style="margin: 10px;" title="ipad" src="http://www.droversrun.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/ipad.jpg" alt="" width="180" height="180" /></a>So many people are asking why one should get the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002C7481G?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=rainbowfudge-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B002C7481G">Apple iPad</a><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=rainbowfudge-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B002C7481G" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" /> and this is just another reason &#8211; as it has been touted as a great eBook reader.</p>
<p>This is the kind of device you could give to your granny to do her reading on, view her photos and videos on and keep in touch with her grandkids via email on.</p>
<p>Just yesterday I saw a video of how a dad handed his two year old daughter an iPad as soon as he got home with it. She was accustomed to playing with daddy&#8217;s iPhone, and honestly, watching this kid was like watching a duckling take to water. One-two-three and she was off and functioning brilliantly, swiping, pinching and viewing all her favourite content in seconds.</p>
<p>I *love* technology!</p>

<p><strong>Possibly Related Posts:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/07/you-are-the-sunshine-of-my-life/">You Are the Sunshine of My Life</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/07/my-throat-it-burns-us/">My Throat, It Burns Us!</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/06/advise-me-oh-thou-great-re-readers/">Advise me oh, thou great re-readers</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/06/anger-management/">Anger Management</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/06/i-need-your-opinions/">I need Your Opinions</a></li>
</ul><br />
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		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>What Have You Done?</title>
		<link>http://www.droversrun.net/2010/04/what-have-you-done/</link>
		<comments>http://www.droversrun.net/2010/04/what-have-you-done/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 12 Apr 2010 06:42:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ness</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Activities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Stuff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[100 Things]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.droversrun.net/?p=1826</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I picked this up this morning from Angels Blog, and I really liked the list, so I thought I&#8217;d repost it here. The idea is that you bold the ones you have done, and leave the ones you haven&#8217;t. So here goes! 1. Started your own blog 2. Slept under the stars 3. Played in [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I picked this up this morning from <a href="http://www.angelsmind.co.za">Angels</a> Blog, and I really liked the list, so I thought I&#8217;d repost it here. The idea is that you bold the ones you have done, and leave the ones you haven&#8217;t.</p>
<p>So here goes!</p>
<p><strong>1. Started  your own blog</strong></p>
<p>2. <strong>Slept under the stars</strong></p>
<p><strong>3. Played in a  band</strong></p>
<p>4. Visited  Hawaii</p>
<p>5. Watched a  meteor shower</p>
<p><strong>6. Given more  than you can afford to charity</strong></p>
<p><strong>7. Been to  DisneyWorld</strong></p>
<p><strong>8. Climbed a  mountain</strong></p>
<p>9. <strong>Held a praying mantis</strong></p>
<p>10. <strong>Sang a solo</strong></p>
<p>11. Bunjee  jumped</p>
<p>12. Visited  Paris</p>
<p>13. <strong>Watched a lightning storm</strong></p>
<p>14. <strong>Taught yourself an art from scratch</strong></p>
<p>15. Adopted a  child</p>
<p><strong>16. Had food  poisoning</strong></p>
<p><strong>17. Walked to  the top of the Statue of Liberty</strong></p>
<p>18. Grown your  own veggies</p>
<p>19. Seen the  Mona Lisa at the Louvre</p>
<p>20. <strong>Slept on an overnight train</strong></p>
<p>21. <strong>Had a pillowfight</strong></p>
<p>22. Hitch hiked</p>
<p>23. <strong>Taken a sick day when you’re not sick</strong></p>
<p>24. Made a snow  fort</p>
<p><strong>25. Held a lamb</strong></p>
<p>26. Ran a  marathon</p>
<p>27. <strong>Went skinny dipping</strong></p>
<p>28. Rode in a  gondola in Venice</p>
<p>29. <strong>Witnessed total eclipse</strong></p>
<p>30. <strong>Seen a sunrise or sunset</strong></p>
<p>31. Hit a home  run</p>
<p><strong>32. Been on a  cruise</strong></p>
<p><strong>33. Seen Niagara  Falls in person</strong></p>
<p>34. <strong>Visited the birthplace/ home of your ancestors</strong></p>
<p><strong>35. Seen an  Amish country</strong></p>
<p><strong>36. Taught  yourself a new language (sort of, I started learning Spanish, but didn&#8217;t take it any further)<br />
</strong></p>
<p>37. Had enough  money to be truly satisfied</p>
<p>38. Seen the  Leaning Tower of Pisa in person</p>
<p><strong>39. Gone rock  climbing</strong></p>
<p>40. Seen  Michelangelo’s David in person</p>
<p>41. <strong>Sung karaoke</strong></p>
<p><strong>42. Seen Old  Faithful erupt</strong></p>
<p>43. Bought a  stranger a meal at a restaurant</p>
<p>44. <strong>Visited Africa</strong></p>
<p><strong>45. Walked on a  beach by moonlight</strong></p>
<p>46. Taken a ride  in an ambulance</p>
<p><strong>47. Had your  portrait painted (Does art class in Std 8 count?)<br />
</strong></p>
<p>48. Gone deep  sea fishing</p>
<p>49. Been to the  top of the Eiffel Tower</p>
<p>50. <strong>Gone scuba diving or snorkeling</strong></p>
<p>51. <strong>Kissed in the rain</strong></p>
<p>52. <strong>Played in the mud</strong></p>
<p>53. <strong>Gone to a drive-in theater</strong></p>
<p>54. <strong>Been in a movie (this one is a stretch I was in a TV advert).<br />
</strong></p>
<p>55. Visited the  Great Wall of China</p>
<p><strong>56. Started a  business</strong></p>
<p>57. Taken a  martial arts class</p>
<p>58. Visited  Russia</p>
<p>59. Worked at a  soup kitchen</p>
<p>60. Sold Girl  Scout cookies</p>
<p><strong>61. Gone whale  watching</strong></p>
<p>62. Gotten flowers for no reason</p>
<p>63. Donated  blood, platelets, or plasma</p>
<p>64. Gone sky  diving</p>
<p>65. Visited Nazi  concentration camp</p>
<p>66. Bounced a check</p>
<p><strong>67. Flown in a  helicopter</strong></p>
<p>68. <strong>Saved a childhood toy</strong></p>
<p><strong>69. Visited the  Lincoln Memorial</strong></p>
<p>70. Eaten caviar</p>
<p>71. Pieced a  quilt</p>
<p><strong>72. Stood in  Times Square</strong></p>
<p><strong>73. Toured the  Everglades</strong></p>
<p>74. Been fired  from a job</p>
<p><strong>75. Seen the  changing of the guards in London</strong></p>
<p>76. Broken a bone</p>
<p><strong>77. Been a passenger on a motorcycle</strong></p>
<p>78. Seen the  Grand Canyon in person</p>
<p>79. Published a  book (not yet, watch this space)</p>
<p>80. Visited the  Vatican</p>
<p>81. <strong>Bought a brand new car</strong></p>
<p>82. Visited  Jerusalem</p>
<p>83. <strong>Had your picture in the paper</strong></p>
<p>84. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve</p>
<p><strong>85. Visited the  White House</strong></p>
<p>86. Killed and  prepared an animal for eating</p>
<p>87. <strong>Had chickenpox</strong></p>
<p>88. Saved  someone’s life</p>
<p>89. Sat on a  jury</p>
<p>90. <strong>Met someone famous</strong></p>
<p>91. Joined a  book club</p>
<p>92. Got a tattoo</p>
<p>93. <strong>Had a baby</strong></p>
<p>94. Seen the  Alamo in person</p>
<p>95. Swam in the  Great Salt Lake</p>
<p>96. Been  involved in a law suit</p>
<p>97. <strong>Owned a cell phone</strong></p>
<p>98. <strong>Been stung by a bee</strong></p>
<p>99. Swam in the  Black Sea</p>
<p>100.  Sold <a href="http://www.lifeinsuranceagency.com">term life insurance</a></p>
<p>Go on copy and paste, you know you want to! Anyone can participate!</p>

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<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/06/please-stop-with-the-ex-pat-bashing/">Please Stop with the Ex-Pat Bashing</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/06/the-soccer-that-almost-wasnt/">The Soccer that Almost Wasn&#8217;t</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/06/all-about-the-moods/">All About The Moods</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/06/the-days-have-gone-down-in-the-west/">The Days have Gone Down in the West</a></li>
</ul><br />
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		<title>Finding Visitors for Your Site</title>
		<link>http://www.droversrun.net/2010/03/finding-visitors-for-your-site/</link>
		<comments>http://www.droversrun.net/2010/03/finding-visitors-for-your-site/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 21 Mar 2010 12:21:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ness</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Stuff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blogging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SEO]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.droversrun.net/?p=1765</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you are a blogger who is looking for more visitors to your site, there are several ways to accomplish this, some of which are so downright easy, you&#8217;ll wonder why you didn&#8217;t think of this before. But hey, I&#8217;m here to help! Here are a couple of ideas to get you going: Choose a [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If you are a blogger who is looking for more visitors to your site, there are several ways to accomplish this, some of which are so downright easy, you&#8217;ll wonder why you didn&#8217;t think of this before.</p>
<p>But hey, I&#8217;m here to help! Here are a couple of ideas to get you going:</p>
<ul>
<li>Choose a name for your blog that is going to get googled.</li>
<li>Be a blog reader yourself, and leave kind, helpful comments. Chances are you will get a reciprocal visit.</li>
<li>Consider submitting your blog to a <a href="http://www.freewebdirectories.org/">web directory</a> and choose the correct category for your blog.</li>
<li>Promotion using social media, if your blog is not a direct verbal assault on your own family and friends, then you could easily promote it to your family and friends through facebook, twitter etc.</li>
<li>One that many people forget about, are forums! If you are a scrapbooking genius, join a scrapbooking forum and contribute to the conversation. Forums are far from dead, and can bring you many, many visitors, over and over agin, depending on how helpful you are.</li>
</ul>
<p>You&#8217;re probably sick of me saying the word &#8216;helpful&#8217; but at the end of the day, if your blog brings you an income, then the number of visitors to your site is directly proportional to the amount of traffic you are getting whether this is through contextual advertising, or simply direct ad sales, or if you&#8217;re promoting your own products, so it really does pay to be as helpful as you can, so that people book mark your site and come back for more.</p>

<p><strong>Possibly Related Posts:</strong></p>
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<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/06/i-need-your-opinions/">I need Your Opinions</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/05/wordpress-for-blackberry-and-p-dub/">WordPress for Blackberry and P-Dub</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/04/i-am-loving-kindle-for-mac/">I am Loving Kindle for Mac!</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/04/kindle/">Kindle</a></li>
</ul><br />
]]></content:encoded>
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		<item>
		<title>I love Packages in the Mail</title>
		<link>http://www.droversrun.net/2010/02/i-love-packages-in-the-mail/</link>
		<comments>http://www.droversrun.net/2010/02/i-love-packages-in-the-mail/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 02 Feb 2010 09:36:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ness</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Pioneer Woman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Stuff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blogging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ree Drummond]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Pioneer Womans Cookbook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Where can I buy the Pioneer Womans cook book?]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.droversrun.net/?p=1643</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Aren&#8217;t packages in the mail like *totally* exciting!! Even if you know what they are, they&#8217;re still super exciting to receive. Even my 4 year old spied the package and asked me all wide-eyed, &#8220;Is that for ME mommy?&#8221; to which I responded by throwing back my head, cackling like an old hag, hugging it [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Aren&#8217;t packages in the mail like *totally* exciting!!</p>
<p>Even if you know <em>what</em> they are, they&#8217;re still super exciting to receive.</p>
<p>Even my 4 year old spied the package and asked me all wide-eyed, &#8220;Is that for ME mommy?&#8221; to which I responded by throwing back my head, cackling like an old hag, hugging it closer to my chest and said, &#8220;NO, it&#8217;s MINE, ALL MINE.&#8221;</p>
<p>Then I did a Jim Carrey (as Ace Ventura) type run to the bedroom with it so I could open it without the kids getting their hands on it.</p>
<p>Want to see what I got?</p>
<p><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/1.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1644" title="1" src="http://www.droversrun.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/1.jpg" alt="amazonpackage" width="550" height="367" /></a></p>
<p>So you can see where it was ordered from, and made it&#8217;s way all the way here to sunny SA (not so sunny yesterday I might add).</p>
<p>Trust the Yanks to have a super easy way to open a package. My bread knife that I&#8217;d taken with me for the purpose of hacking open the box was rendered totally useless&#8230;sometimes I&#8217;m so third world, I annoy myself.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/2.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1645" title="2" src="http://www.droversrun.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/2.jpg" alt="easy tab" width="550" height="367" /></a></p>
<p>The 4 year old, was all like, &#8220;<em>Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! What is it Mommy? Let me help you Mommy!!?? Is it from Farmer Crimsus?!?</em>&#8221; (Note to self, do not be tempted to dispel the Father Christmas myth just yet, no matter how much the continuing talk about Christmas is annoying you right now).</p>
<p><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/3.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1646" title="3" src="http://www.droversrun.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/3.jpg" alt="packagebeingopened" width="550" height="367" /></a>My mother, who had brought over the mail (we share a PO Box), walked into the room at this point, and said, &#8220;Honestly! Why are you taking photos of opening a box?&#8221;</p>
<p>So I said, &#8220;For my blog.&#8221; (She is vaguely aware of the fact that I have a website, but let&#8217;s just say she takes the word &#8216;technophobe&#8217; to the extreme, she nearly had a full blown panic attack when I banned her from using Internet Explorer and installed Firefox instead. Of course the next time she opened the browser she didn&#8217;t even realise it wasn&#8217;t the same&#8230;)</p>
<p>So she gives a sort of dismissive snort, as if *anyone* would be interested in reading about my little parcel in the mail.  Feel free to assure me that you&#8217;re on the edge of your seats right about now okay?</p>
<p>I won&#8217;t keep you in suspense for ever&#8230; buwhahahahaha.</p>
<p>&#8230;</p>
<p>&#8230;</p>
<p>&#8230;</p>
<p>Sorry, the childishness, it&#8217;s a disease.  <strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong>I can see the head!</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/4.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1647" title="4" src="http://www.droversrun.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/4.jpg" alt="i can see the head" width="550" height="367" /></a>Yes, I&#8217;m drawing parallels between childbirth and opening Ree Drummonds cook book from it&#8217;s packaging.</p>
<p>But in all the good ways!</p>
<p>Because soon the inconvenience of ripping it from the box will be forgotten and soon I will be gazing into it&#8217;s many colourful pages and just enjoying it.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/5.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1648 aligncenter" title="5" src="http://www.droversrun.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/5.jpg" alt="bookcover of the pioneer woman cooks" width="550" height="367" /></a></p>
<p>Aaaah, there is she is!</p>
<p>Now I just have to hide the book until I&#8217;m ready to unleash it&#8217;s culinary magnificence, because other wise the husband is going to expect some kind of fancy dinner tonight.</p>
<p>First I need to hit up the shops for some supplies, and butter.</p>
<p>Yes definitely more butter.</p>
<p>As a seasoned PW cooks recipe reader, I know that I am going to need that.</p>
<p>Thanks to her I already have about 6 different kinds of vinegar in my store cupboard. Basic necessities like bread and milk are like hens teeth around here, but Rice Vinegar, I have you covered!</p>
<p>Maybe I&#8217;ll just take a quick peek&#8230;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/6.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1649" title="6" src="http://www.droversrun.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/6.jpg" alt="marlboro man" width="550" height="367" /></a></p>
<p>Ree wasn&#8217;t kidding when she said that this was more than a cook book. I can actually sit down with this and see a whole lot more stuff about her life and on their ranch.</p>
<p>Stuff that we don&#8217;t see on her website.</p>
<p>This is a cook book that I will put on the nightstand and read when I get into bed tonight, and enjoy the photographs, drool over the dishes and if I&#8217;m feeling at all inspired (which I know I will be) I&#8217;ll be planning some menus for the coming week.</p>
<p>Now I just need to find some cattle to wrangle, to work off all that butter.</p>
<p>Hey, if you want a copy, they&#8217;re still priced really well, and these photos are proof that they can make it through the SA Postal service unharmed! Go and get <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061658197?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ness-world-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0061658197">your copy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks</a><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=ness-world-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=0061658197" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" /> here.</p>

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<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/06/advise-me-oh-thou-great-re-readers/">Advise me oh, thou great re-readers</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/06/the-soccer-that-almost-wasnt/">The Soccer that Almost Wasn&#8217;t</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/06/roast-chicken/">Roast Chicken, Shallots, Roast Potatoes and Spinach</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/06/i-need-your-opinions/">I need Your Opinions</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/05/wordpress-for-blackberry-and-p-dub/">WordPress for Blackberry and P-Dub</a></li>
</ul><br />
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		<item>
		<title>Online Education</title>
		<link>http://www.droversrun.net/2010/01/online-education/</link>
		<comments>http://www.droversrun.net/2010/01/online-education/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 21 Jan 2010 12:03:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ness</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Stuff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NorthWestern College]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online education]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.droversrun.net/?p=1613</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Since we&#8217;re on the subject of education in general, and more particularly obtaining an education online, I thought I would tell you about another online discovery. Did you know that you can do criminal justice degrees online through NorthWestern College? Before I saw this website, I had no idea that this type of degree even [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Since we&#8217;re on the subject of education in general, and more particularly obtaining an education online, I thought I would tell you about another online discovery.</p>
<p>Did you know that you can do <a href="http://www.nwbcollegeonline.com/programs/criminal-justice-online.asp">criminal justice degrees</a> online through <a title="NorthWestern" href="http://www.nwbcollegeonline.com/">NorthWestern College</a>? Before I saw this website, I had no idea that this type of degree even existed, and frankly, I find it absolutely fascinating. To think that there is a degree that you can do (online mind you!) about criminal justice, the system, how it works, and that it leads into careers in law enforcement, did you know you could study to be a parole officer?</p>
<p>They offer more than just criminal justice degrees though too, offering Associates Degrees in Business Administration, and Health Information Technology as well.</p>
<p>They are also accredited and their associates degrees are taught by very qualified instructors, and naturally the online format gives working students (hello! That is me!) the flexibility to arrange their work and study time around their lifestyle and schedules.</p>
<p>The field of Health Information Technology is particularly fascinating too, dealing with all manner of record keeping in a medical environment.</p>
<p>Are you considering studying online? Have you studied online? I&#8217;d be interested to hear your opinions on online education.</p>

<p><strong>Possibly Related Posts:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/06/advise-me-oh-thou-great-re-readers/">Advise me oh, thou great re-readers</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/06/i-need-your-opinions/">I need Your Opinions</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/04/homework-at-age-4/">Homework, at age 4</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/04/i-am-loving-kindle-for-mac/">I am Loving Kindle for Mac!</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/04/kindle/">Kindle</a></li>
</ul><br />
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Does this template make my butt look big?</title>
		<link>http://www.droversrun.net/2010/01/does-this-template-make-my-butt-look-big/</link>
		<comments>http://www.droversrun.net/2010/01/does-this-template-make-my-butt-look-big/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Jan 2010 08:11:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ness</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Graphic Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[McLeods Daughters]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Stuff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wordpress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New Templates]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Men of McLeods Daughters]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.droversrun.net/?p=1542</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Becareful how you answer, because it&#8217;s a totally loaded question&#8230; No, seriously, I need to know from you guys if you can see it clearly, without broken images/stuff hanging off the edge of your screen etc etc. Here&#8217;s the part now where you need to listen closely&#8230;if you *do* have a problem would you do [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Becareful how you answer, because it&#8217;s a totally loaded question&#8230;</p>
<p>No, seriously, I need to know from you guys if you can see it clearly, without broken images/stuff hanging off the edge of your screen etc etc.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s the part now where you need to listen closely&#8230;if you *do* have a problem would you do me a a teensy favour?</p>
<p>Let me know what the problem is i.e. &#8220;hey, your content disappears  behind the sidebar, or the sidebar is off the side of my screen on the right&#8221; etc</p>
<p>Then let me know what size your monitor is, your screen resolution i.e. 1280 x 900 etc whatever (if you know). It&#8217;s just so that I can make it look nice for everyone mmkay?</p>
<p>Cool thanks!</p>
<p>Until I hear back from y&#8217;alls with comments, curses or kudos (I didn&#8217;t design this myself btw) I&#8217;m going to leave it as it is, so please if you see plumbers crack, workmens botty, my bewbs through my shirt, or I have parsley in my teeth, then YOU guys need to let me know okay?</p>
<p>And dewds (technically, dewdettes)! Go answer the poll on the right please!</p>
<p>Post on Aaron Jeffrey coming up next!</p>

<p><strong>Possibly Related Posts:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/06/advise-me-oh-thou-great-re-readers/">Advise me oh, thou great re-readers</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/06/just-a-quick-one-4/">Just a Quick One</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/06/i-need-your-opinions/">I need Your Opinions</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/05/playing-catch-up/">Playing catch-up</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/05/wordpress-for-blackberry-and-p-dub/">WordPress for Blackberry and P-Dub</a></li>
</ul><br />
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		<title>Fried Chicken, No Follow and Photos</title>
		<link>http://www.droversrun.net/2010/01/fried-chicken-no-follow-photos/</link>
		<comments>http://www.droversrun.net/2010/01/fried-chicken-no-follow-photos/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 10 Jan 2010 21:22:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ness</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Alexa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Flipper]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google Page Rank]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hubby]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Photography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SEO Consulting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Skippy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Pioneer Woman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Stuff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alexa Ranking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Link Juice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SEO]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SMM]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[What is 'No Follow'?]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.droversrun.net/?p=1531</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Well there&#8217;s a varied headline for you. Okay, first things first. Fried Chicken. I once made the Pioneer Womans Fried chicken strips. All three of the males living in my household were over the moon with it. (It kicks KFC&#8217;s ass royally and is really worth trying) Since that first time I made it, it [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Well there&#8217;s a varied headline for you.</p>
<p>Okay, first things first. Fried Chicken.</p>
<p>I once made the <a href="http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/05/quickie-homemade-chicken-strips/">Pioneer Womans Fried chicken strips</a>. All three of the males living in my household were over the moon with it. (It kicks KFC&#8217;s ass royally and is really worth trying)</p>
<p>Since that first time I made it, it has been requested nearly every weekend since.</p>
<p>Yeah, my jeans are really pissed about *that* but moving on.</p>
<p>I have played around with the recipe somewhat, and added my own concoction of spices to the buttermilk and the flour that you use, and the last batch I made, my husband pronounced as &#8216;<em>ohmuhgoshzisispuhfect</em>&#8216; whilst burning himself in his eagerness to eat one right out of the pan.</p>
<p>Since I have this dodgy thyroid, I&#8217;m really *very* careful with how I prepare foods and most nights it&#8217;s strictly low fat grilling that goes on, but I make the exception with the chicken, well, because it *is* delicious and it&#8217;s the only food that I &#8216;fry&#8217; as such.</p>
<p>So yesterday being Saturday, the request for fried chicken was yet again made, and I set about making the buttermilk and soaking the chicken in it.  I pottered on, letting Skip stir the flour while I added salt and cayenne pepper and cumin etc and then as I started dipping (in fact yesterday&#8217;s version involved <em>double</em> dipping) I suddenly realised that I didn&#8217;t have enough cooking oil to be able to be able to finish the dish.</p>
<p>I had barely uttered the words &#8220;Honey, I need more cooking oil&#8221; when there was a vague tinkle of car keys, shortly followed by the screeching of car tyres in the driveway. About 5.6 seconds later I had two brand new bottles in front of me courtesy of our corner shop.</p>
<p>My mouth literally fell open.</p>
<p>Had I say, needed, I dunno, lettuce, or tomato, or even butter at this stage, it would have been met with a &#8216;oh well, do without&#8217; comment or something like that. (I must admit, when the PMS is strong with me, the hubby has the same reaction about fetching me chocolate. After 10 years together he&#8217;s learned to pick his battles I suppose).</p>
<p>Now I&#8217;m just trying to figure out what I can leverage as a bargaining chip *next* time. Honey, if I make you fried chicken will you rub my back for an hour?</p>
<p>Okay, onto some internet stuff.</p>
<p>Remember a long long time ago, I talked about <a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2008/10/google-page-rank-and-alexa-rankings/">Google Page Rank and Alexa</a>? You can read it again at that link. Anyway, after I wrote that, google did this huge swoop on blogs and cut the page rankings of any blogs that appeared to be doing sponsored posting. One of the side effects of this swoop, was that blogging platforms built into their commenting sections, a little tag called &#8216;no-follow&#8217;. What this meant is that when google &#8216;crawls&#8217; a site to check for new content that it&#8217;s little spider bots completely ignored any links with the no-follow tag, grossly reducing the &#8216;respect&#8217; of the website.</p>
<p>What this meant is that when you left a comment on a popular blog it no longer gave your website a boost.  Remember, when a site with a higher page rank than yours links to you, it counts in your favour with google, bringing you bigger traffic and in blogworld traffic=money. So here is me, Ness page rank 2 on my graphic design blog, going to say, a page rank 6 blog and leaving a comment, and baddabing, google looks at me with a bit more respect. (It&#8217;s a bit more complicated than that, but then they went and changed things).</p>
<p>So as a result a lot of people stopped commenting on blogs. A lot of blogs that had been popular lost google ranking, and with it, a lot of opportunities to produce content for remuneration disappeared, and I still can&#8217;t believe that they axed things the way that they did, but there is some good news!</p>
<p>An enterprising group of people have written some plugins which removes the &#8216;no-follow&#8217; tag from the comments boxes on websites.</p>
<p>You may have noticed this little graphic now in my sidebar:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/"><img src="http://nessworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/blue.jpg" alt="" /></a></p>
<p>What this means is that I have removed the no-follow tags from my comments page, and that if you leave a comment on my blog, it <em>will count towards improving your rank</em> in google. I have done the same for my <a href="http://macnessa.com">graphic design blog</a>, my <a href="http://photosuperhero.com">photography blog</a>, and for my <a href="http://nessworld.com">magazine blog</a>. So leaving comments on any of those three blogs will count in your favour.  I&#8217;m just sayin&#8217;. If you would like some help removing your own (wordpress) no follow tags, I can help you out with that, it&#8217;s the simple installation of a plugin, and then activating it.</p>
<p>A word on linking.</p>
<p>Linking in the blog world is a polite thing to do. It&#8217;s proper netiquette, if you talk about someone, say I want to mention something about <a href="http://bathtubjunkie.net">bathtubjunkie</a>, or <a href="http://lisannesblog.net">Lisanne</a>, or <a href="http://interruptedwanderlust.blogspot.com">Kristi</a>, or <a href="http://simply-melb.blogspot.com">Mel</a> or other <a href="http://supermom.wordpress.com">Mel</a>, then the correct thing to do, is to pass on the link juice by linking to those blogs. Otherwise it&#8217;s like gossiping about someone behind their back. Trust me, it&#8217;s appreciated. That goes for re-tweeting things too! You don&#8217;t have to retweet everything verbatim, just the things that you like.</p>
<p>In the same vein, if you read something you like, and the blog offers a &#8216;share this&#8217; button, with links to things like stumbleupon, digg, facebook etc, then if you feel like you enjoyed the post, then share it. Remember, some of us make a living from blogging and any extra traffic is appreciated whole-heartedly! (Feel free to share anything on any of my OTHER blogs, just don&#8217;t mention *this* one on facebook please!).</p>
<p>If you&#8217;re interested in more stuff about <span class="technoratitag">Technorati Tags: <a title="Technorati tag: SEO" rel="tag" href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/SEO" target="_top">SEO</a> </span> (search engine optimisation) or <span class="technoratitag">Technorati Tags: <a title="Technorati tag: SMM" rel="tag" href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/SMM" target="_top">SMM</a> </span> (Social Media Marketing) then you might want to subscribe to <a href="http://nessworld.com">nessworld</a>, because I&#8217;ll be talking about that a lot there in the coming weeks.</p>
<p>Okay, now onto the photos.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/IMG_6326.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1533" title="IMG_6326" src="http://www.droversrun.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/IMG_6326.jpg" alt="skippy" width="550" height="467" /></a></p>
<p>We drove a bit to find a nice quiet spot today where Skip could practice riding his new bicycle, and we could push Flip (who is currently awake at 11pm and refusing to go back to sleep I might add&#8230;) in his new tricycle.  We ended up going to a local cricket clubs sports fields, it was quiet (but not too quiet..that&#8217;s never a good sign) but we spotted another dad pushing his son along on his bicycle too, and another guy hitting golf balls, plus the ever faithful ADT security guys patrolling so we felt safe enough to let the kids run wild for a bit.</p>
<p>We made sure that the boys stayed outside the cricket oval ropes, so no grounds keepers would be annoyed by the bike tracks (not that we saw any).</p>
<p><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/IMG_6328.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1534" title="IMG_6328" src="http://www.droversrun.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/IMG_6328.jpg" alt="flilpper" width="550" height="467" /></a></p>
<p>Many of you overseas folks probably think I&#8217;m nuts talking about security like that, but in order to survive here (mentally and physically!), you need to be realistic, and alert, and not do anything stupid. So I&#8217;d rather be cautious and be aware of who or what is in my surroundings rather than just throwing caution to the wind and saying c&#8217;est la vie.</p>
<p>It turns out the local cricket field had a bit of a play area too.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/IMG_6310.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1535" title="IMG_6310" src="http://www.droversrun.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/IMG_6310.jpg" alt="slide" width="550" height="467" /></a></p>
<p>It was such a glorious day, and we even had some running races. I was actually surprised by the sensation of running again. The weather was just right, the temperature perfect, and we were running anti-clockwise around the pitch (the same direction as an <span class="technoratitag">Technorati Tags: <a title="Technorati tag: athletics" rel="tag" href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/athletics" target="_top">athletics</a> </span> track) and I had the most vivid flashbacks of training, and competing (gosh is it really 13 years ago already?).</p>
<p><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/IMG_6317.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1536" title="IMG_6317" src="http://www.droversrun.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/IMG_6317.jpg" alt="cricket pitch" width="550" height="467" /></a></p>
<p>Now before you all think I&#8217;m a slow poke and this far behind, I kept running back and forth like a complete nicompoop taking photos and then jogging to catch up again.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/IMG_6319.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1537" title="IMG_6319" src="http://www.droversrun.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/IMG_6319.jpg" alt="bike" width="550" height="925" /></a></p>
<p>&#8230;and lastly&#8230;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/IMG_6320.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1538" title="IMG_6320" src="http://www.droversrun.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/IMG_6320.jpg" alt="little dude" width="550" height="467" /></a></p>
<p>This little dude.</p>
<p>Boy, oh boy. He melts my heart daily.  My older boy, is at an age now, where he melts my heart, periodically, and has me tearing out clumps of my own hair inbetween. Right now, the little dude is at an all time high in terms of cuteness factor. He is talking, a LOT. But only about 20 percent of it makes any sense.  Physically he is very big for 20mths, so people sometimes wonder why he isn&#8217;t more vocal, but he&#8217;s really still technically a very little dude.  So today when I said to the husband, &#8220;I wonder if he wants a yoghurt.&#8221; Through all the baby talk I heard, &#8220;Yah, I wanna yah-yah.&#8221; Then he went to the fridge and pointed at the yoghurt, followed by going to the cutlery drawer and helping himself to a teaspoon.  We were *so* impressed! Of course, I&#8217;m sure your kids were all doing higher mathematics at this age, but my boy? Gosh I couldn&#8217;t be prouder!</p>
<p>Hey, <a href="http://www.sarcasticmom.com">Lotus</a> just announced the prizes for her Weekly Winners of 2009!</p>

<p><strong>Possibly Related Posts:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/07/you-are-the-sunshine-of-my-life/">You Are the Sunshine of My Life</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/07/say-hello-to-my-little-friend/">Say Hello To My Little Friend</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/07/catch-up/">Catch Up</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/07/my-throat-it-burns-us/">My Throat, It Burns Us!</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.droversrun.net/2010/06/advise-me-oh-thou-great-re-readers/">Advise me oh, thou great re-readers</a></li>
</ul><br />
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