Acer Aspire One
I have finally purchased myself a netbook. In the end I decided to go with the Acer Aspire One. Everywhere I went was telling me it was the best value for money and the fact that it runs on Windows XP was also a big factor for me (not being a big fan of Vista).
It looks something like this:
Yes, it’s blue. I know you can get them in pink but the pink ones have white keys and in my opinion, look strange. I did see a pink full-size laptop that I liked so that’s next on my “wishlist”.
This one will probably get passed down to our son in 12 months or so which was another reason not to get a pink one!
Anyway, so far I am EXTREMELY happy with it. The keyboard is large enough that I can touch-type comfortably. The resolution is beautiful and clear and it’s speed is great (the one thing I was concerned about). It does make my regular lap-top screen look like an absolute giant when I switch between the 2 though.
I also purchased a compact retractable mouse.
The kids are particularly fascinated with my “little computer and mouse”. With the way things at school are going, I can see them all having their own in the not too distant future.
I can’t wait to try it out “on the road”. It’s so easy to use and light and sits on your lap with ease.
And the best bit? I paid for it with money I’ve made blogging. I don’t make a lot of money but it’s really nice to have something tangible that I can say “I paid for that with my blogging”. Given it’s main purpose it to enable me to blog while we’re “on the road”, it seems appropriate that my blogging has earnt enough to pay for it. 
Vote For Your Favourite To Become a Top Paid Blogger
Image by GluehweinEffects via Flickr
Remember that Island Reef Job I mentioned a while back. Where a person gets paid good money to blog their adventures on Hamilton Island?
The top 50 short-list has now been announced and you can vote for your favourite.
1o candidates will be chosen by Tourism Queensland for an extensive interview and selection process and 1 wild-card position has been left open for the person with the most votes.
The winning candidate is due to be announced on May 6th.
If you have time, it’s worth watching some of the videos applicants have come up with. There are some amazingly talented and interesting people out there. There seems to be a great pool of people to choose from and I can see any one of many of them doing an amazing job of promoting this area of Australia.
The problem is - how do you choose just one????
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=f54c1b0b-375b-475f-82b2-17e4f00c5a0c)
Seasonal Google Traffic
Recently on my personal blog, I noticed an increase in traffic despite a decline in comments.Why?
My search engine traffic had increased considerably.
Wondering why all of a sudden this had happened, I did some investigating into my statistics.
Turns out the phrase generating the extra hits was:
“things I love about you”
That phrase, along with a couple of other variations on the theme have generated over 250 hits in the past week or so.
Not highly significant in terms of what some blogs get from search engines.
But high for me for any particular keyword.
My guess is that there has been an increase in searches for these types of phrases due to Valentine’s Day coming up.
Last year on our wedding anniversary, I wrote the post “12 Things I Love About You“. This is the first Valentine’s Day since I wrote the post and I never imagined it would get so much interest.
This is the first time I’ve noticed a spike in search engine traffic that appears to be seasonally related. I’ll have to pay more attention to my stats around other seasons and see if it has happened before.
Has anyone else noticed a surge in search engine traffic around a particular holiday time?
Blogging The Bushfires
If you read many Australian blogs, you’ll be reading a lot of posts right now about the horrific bushfires that are taking place in the state of Victoria right now. It’s a tragedy of mammoth proportions which is likely to personally touch nearly every Australian family in one way or another.
This is one of those times when blogging really comes into it’s own. People need a voice. They need to be heard. How do we work our way through our shock, horror and grief if we don’t have an outlet in which to express ourselves? Blogging makes the disaster so much more real. So much more personal. As shock waves real through the nation, the raw emotion is expressed through the numerous blog posts that are being posted all over.
Messages of sympathy. Prayers for the victims. Appeals for people to give. Personal stories of how the fires have hurt people they love.
In time there may well be personal accounts of the fire being blogged.
With so many people affected, how can their not be at least 1 or 2 who normally blog about their day to day lives?
Blogging gives people an outlet. A way to move forward. A way to reach out and hopefully make a difference.
Many don’t feel like blogging anything else. To do so almost seems irreverent and disrespectful. Some just can’t write as the shock waves reverberate through their system.
I had to take a break from writing about the bushfires today. I published a post I’d written before the fires. I too am finding it hard to write of anything else. But I NEEDED a break. A symbol of life. The celebration of life.
Because no matter how great the tragedy. Life must go on. We have to find a way to move forward. Not to forget. But to celebrate and appreciate the life we have. This day that we have. For who knows how our days are numbered?
We WILL go on. We MUST go on. But we won’t forget.
In times like this, I am so thankful for my blogs. The opportunity to have my say. Express my grief and outrage. And the opportunity to escape the nightmare by focusing on another topic.
For those of you who are wondering how you can help, here is one practical way that will benefit you as well as the bushfire victims. Head over to Sitepoint and take them up on their offer of 5 ebooks for the price of 1. For $29.95 (I believe that is US dollars) you can choose 5 books and 100% of the profits are going to the bushfire victims.
2009 Bloggies
I have to admit that I’ve never paid that much attention to blogging awards. I guess it’s like anything really. You start blogging and have NO IDEA what a meme is or those little awards that get passed from blog to blog. After a while, you learn a bit about them and perhaps even get awarded one. Then all of a sudden they become more significant. Your interest is piqued because YOU have one. Then you discover the “top 100″ lists. For a while it’s all “meh, I’ll NEVER get onto one of those”. Then you do and you’re interest is once again piqued.
Perhaps it is the same for me with the larger scale blogging awards like the “bloggies”. I’ve never paid much attention to them before. They’re something I see as being for “A-Class” bloggers. A league I never expect to be a part of.
They’ve come to my attention this time around because a few of the blogs I read have been nominated in the “Best Australian and New Zealand Weblog” category. I had actually planned to write this post with a view to getting you to vote for them but I’ve been caught up in “life” and it’s been a bit slow coming. Voting has now closed this time around.
So, I’m interesting in what you think:
Do you think awards like this have any value in the blogging world?
Are there benefits to those blogs who get nominated and those that win?
Have you ever nominated a blog for an award like this and do you bother to vote?
I’d love to hear others opinions on the value of these kinds of awards within the blogging realm.
Loading ...