Where To Get Last Minute Tickets

A friend plans to go to USA for a holiday but his company just approved his leave. He told me that he is very agitated that he only has such a short time to plan his holiday. He told me to help him with making reservations and buying theme park tickets and sports tickets so I said OK. I hope that he would help me in turn should I need help. That’s what friends are for, right?

He told me that he must watch his favorite NBA team during his trip there and is looking for a couple of Miami Heat Tickets.

I do know where he could buy last minute tickets but I think I should at least have his itinerary first before I could purchase those tickets on his behalf, right? I hope that all the hassle that he is feeling now, it would be worth it once he lands on American soil. He better get me a souvenir for the trouble he puts me through as well!

100,000 Bloggers

It was recently announced that Triple-P-ville now has more than a hundred thousand bloggers. That is a phenomenal growth within one and a half years. Of the hundred thousand bloggers, there are of course some who are inactive but there are also people with multiple blogs.

You know, it is not easy to cari makan anymore and some people predicted that this business will not survive. Well, perhaps it will because there will always be fresh bloggers joining the marketplace with fresh blogs. The old ones will die off with their tainted blogs, unfortunately.

A blogger even wanted to continue building blogs to beat he system but what god would it do? I don’t see how people could spare that much time building up blogs only to have them thwarted at the next instance.

For me, I believe I have better things to do! Most of my blog friends have channeled their energy to to something else. Blogging has taken a back seat but that does not mean that we have lost the passion for it.

Blogging as and when we like is so refreshing!!

I Dreamt Of Alexa!!!

Goodness! I think I am going crazy with all blogging. I mean, I love blogging but I hate the competitive edge that comes with keeping up with other bloggers like how high we rank in page rank, how well we rank in Technorati, Alexa score and other measurements. Oh yea, how could I forget the real ranking?

This afternoon, while taking a nap, I dreamt of my Alexa score and I would say that it was a nightmare because the reading was way higher than what I actually have for my blog.

The weird thing was that I really “saw” the Alexa widget in my dream like the one that I currently have on my blog. And it also has a blue text with white background too. It was so vivid and I was startled from my sleep. Like I mentioned, the score was way higher than my already high score now. Tell me that is not my worst dream! I think I need a break or I would start dreaming of some other blog related matters!

Cutting Down On Phone Bills

My friend, Lawrence, told me that his company has just discovered the convenience of VoIP Call Center Phone Systems and they have installed it in his office.

I have used this for a couple of years now and have even introduced it to friends whom I know have contacts with international companies. International phone calls are very expensive and would easily run up the bill but with VOIP, we can talk without having to rush our conversation and bring our point across precisely.

If you use international telephony heavily, then I am sure that you have heard your fair share of “Make it quick” as soon as you pick up the phone. Well, with VOIP, that would be history already. No longer do you have to sound rude to the receiving end by making it quick.

One thing that surprised me when I first used VOIP is the voice clarity. I had thought that if the voice quality is lousy, I would willingly pay regular call rates but that did not happen, luckily!

Is Link Exchange Still Relevant?

The other day, I read a blog post asking this question and the author says that it is STILL relevant. In fact, it is more relevant than ever. This question arose after Goo-gle dinged thousands, perhaps millions of websites and blogs in their page rank one round after another since early October this year, for violating some sort of terms of use.

Well, we have to know that link exchange has happened since the first two websites were launched and it is the nature of webmasters to indulge in link building to create exposure for their sites or blogs. Sure, Goo-gle may scorn on sites that build backlinks in hopes of getting up in the search engines results page (SERP) but when a competition is set up like that, it is human nature to be competitive and everyone wants to get as high up as possible in searches.

Also, I was told that Goo-gle does not want us to sell or buy text links BUT remember, Goo-gle is ONLY relevant TODAY. The internet is so promising that there will always be another service that will surpass its supremacy. There are still so many different search engines that we have to climb.

My blogs, like most that have been victimized by Goo-gle, have also been dinged, and friends have asked if I will abandon them. Why should I? Losing page rank does not make my blogs less valuable IN MY EYES. Like I said, Goo-gle is only relevant TODAY but my blogs will be live as long as I am able to maintain them. Therefore, I will continue to build my blogs not only in terms of traffic and readership but also in backlinks. I was told that one way backlinks are more valuable than reciprocal backlinks and links from higher ranked websites and blogs will carry more weight.

For webmasters who are not able to spare time to build links naturally, there are companies that offer link exchange services for a small fee. What do you think of paying $24.95 per month for more than seven hundred links pointing to your site? If search engine placement was important to me, I would willingly pay the price. Not only will I be receiving all those backlinks, but it also saves me time from begging webmasters to link to my sites and to ensure that the links stay live monthly.

Free Phone Chatting!

If you have been young before, I am sure you know how it is like to be a teenager, chatting on the phone for hours. We call that “boiling phone porridge” but the problem is that we could unwittingly run up the telephone bill much to our parents’ horror!

Although I am no longer a teenager, I still chat on the phone for hours on end almost every night with friends who are out of state and even out of the country! it is just that now I am supporting myself and paying the phone bills myself. The fun is still there, though!

If you are an American teenager, there is good news for you! This morning, I was told of a free teen chat site where teenagers can chat with other teen members on the phone for free. There is a dedicated number to call in to and there is no compromise of our personal contact numbers until and unless we are comfortable with the opposite party and would like to take the friendship further!

I did not know that chat lines like these are very popular until my sister, who lives in the United States, told me about it. Her colleagues who have teenage children said that they find free chat services like this safer for them since their identity is undisclosed.

The good thing is that members can select to chat with members in their locality or out of state. What I personally like is that this is like an answering machine service as well. We do not have to be online or on the phone the whole time to chat. Interested parties could leave us a voice message which we could pick up later. This is so fun I wish I were a teenager again!

Share Your Gmail Stories

This morning, I logged on to my Gmail [YES, I am still using G-oogle products BAH!!!] and came across this page about sharing our Gmail stories. Frankly, it never crossed my mind that Gmail would have stories different from the stories that we have using Windows Live or Yahoo! Mail. By the way, I have accounts with all three and I do not think that one is superior over the other.

Apparently, though, there are people with good stories to share about using Gmail. Isn’t that weird or made up or whatever, I don’t know.

However, Gmail has invited users to submit their Gmail stories via video by uploading it to YouTube [yerrrr another G. product *sigh*] but they never say if it’s a contest or if there are prizes to be won. Err…. need to show face ah? But can email also. Don’t want lah… not as if I have any good stories to share also!!

Random Thoughts Off My Mind