Blogging, Computing & Internet

Web Design Ideas

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This morning, I was introduced to a blog that is choke-ful with web design ideas. The name of the blog is none other than “Web Design Ideas: My collection of web design ideas”.

Firstly, as someone who gets lost even in simple WordPress codes, I have to hand it to him to write all those codes and EXPLAIN how they work. Of course, I am not going to pretend that I understand them because I don’t but what further impresses me is that this blog was only started in September this year and it already has 63 posts. The author, Valik Rudd, updates the blog with web design ideas at least two times up to nine times a day. He really is enthusiastic about his blog and web designing, I must commend!

Valik Rudd also takes the trouble to explain why the designs and layout of certain websites have caught his eye, why they stand out from the crowd and what makes the special. An analysis from an independent point of view is always appreciated.

I have a new domain name that I thought that I would set up a personal website but I did not have any idea where to start. I think I am going to grab some web design nuggets from this blog and ask my web designer to implement them on my site. I hope Valik Rudd does not mind!

Blogging, Computing & Internet

Too Lazy To Write?

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Recently, I came across something that makes me very angry. Apparently, there are people setting up niche blogs or websites and taking our posts and publishing an excerpt on their site with a link back to our post “to read more”. Normally, I would think nothing of it if this was done once or twice. The thing is, they are cheating to the point of changing the author’s name.

Previously, I would discover that someone actually took my post and put it on his blog with an introduction like “The Artist wrote a very compelling post titled Too Lazy To Write where she said the following: …..

These past couple of days, though, I noticed that these people are not only stealing our content but also images and have the nerve to change the author’s name into something like, Ellen wrote … Guest wrote …

When someone uses an ID as “Guest” there must be something wrong. Stealing content without the writer’s prior permission is not fine but now they want to change our names too. Isn’t it frustrating that we cannot do anything about this?!?

Travel

Vienna or Berlin?

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You may remember that I am planning an overseas trip at the end of the year. I have had enough of domestic travel and yearn for a trip away from the country. I was planning to go to Vienna, Austria initially, but my German friend, Markus, came to visit over the summer and has extended an invitation for me to visit him in Berlin. OK, so now, Vienna or Berlin?

I went online to check for travel information on Berlin and Vienna. Make no mistake, even if I were to take up the invitation, I would still have to put up at one of the hotels in Berlin because I just don’t feel comfortable putting up at his place. Besides, he is sharing a place with another friend.

Hotels in Berlin are not that cheap because they are charging in Euro but they are still cheaper than the hotels in Vienna. No matter if I were to go to Vienna or Berlin, I will be looking forward to be immersed in the arts and old architecture. Berlin has many old castles and Vienna too has its fair share of preserved heritage buildings.

Actually, weather wise and culturally, I am not sure if there is a vast difference between the two countries due to their close proximity. It is just that in Berlin, I would have my personal tour guide but in Vienna, I would be alone, unless I can find someone who would like to accompany me. Perhaps I could invite Markus to a ski trip to Vienna too. That would be fun.

I can’t decide. Vienna or Berlin? I think I better book both hotels in Vienna and Berlin. After all, I could always take a road trip south from Munich and cross over to Austria or take a direct flight from Berlin to Vienna and enjoy the cultures and traditions of both cities!

Computing & Internet

Group Hug Us

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I got to know of GroupHug.Us from Patrick Burt, who left me a comment recently at my post One Million Love Messages. I hopped over to Patrick’s blog and he is running a blog for web people. I think I qualify as a web person since I spend the better part of the day and night online 😀

So I went to GroupHug.Us to see what it’s all about. At first, just looking at the name “Group Hug”, I thought that this is another lovey dovey site. In fact, it is an avenue for people to make confessions anonymously. Since this site allows anonymous submissions, I tend to think that half the entries here were made up.

Even so, it’s not easy to tear myself from that site, I tell you. It’s kinda interesting to read people’s private thoughts openly, the love, the hate, the jealousy and other emotions, even though they may not be true.

After reading a few pages, I wonder why the name “Group Hug” was used. It’s like, “Hey, I’ve got this ugly thought about someone!”

AAwww it is ok, nevermind, don’t worry, we still love you. *group hug*

Computing & Internet

Wild Apricot’s Membership Database Management Software

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I am in-charged of the employees’ union of my company and I have always wondered if there is a way for me to better manage the membership database. Today, I came across a Member Database Software by Wild Apricot which could be my solution.

According to the website of Wild Apricot, this software allows us to transfer our existing database to this program easily without manual input. What I like about it is that we can specify specific database fields and only have what are relevant to our group activities. The previous one that I tried did not allow me to customize my layout and I ended up with a lot of blank fields which I could not edit or delete.

Another feature that I like is that I can easily search for members because the search results keep narrowing down as I type. This feature helps me a lot since we have a few hundred members and I used to search through my records one by one and it was very tedious.

With Wild Apricot, not only can I search through my records seamlessly, I could also sort them according to membership levels of involvement, groups and branches and send out email to these specific groups or personalized messages to individual members. Also, I can keep the list private and only allow certain key people access it.

Overall, I can see how it could improve the way I have been managing my ever growing list of members and I hope that once I have shown this to my superiors, they will agree that this is what we need to keep track of our members. At least, there’s no more excuse of not being able to track down who hasn’t paid up his membership renewal fee!

Blogging

It’s Kinda Weird!! GGGrrrr

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You know, when I was blogging and posting sponsored post as and when I like without caring if there was an organic post between every single sponsored post, I was getting my bids accepted like nobody’s business from a marketplace that requires us to place our bids on jobs.

This month, I started to make a conscious effort in slipping an organic post between all my sponsored posts and guess what? My bids were not accepted at all. Not even one! GGGrrrr It is so disappointing. Perhaps sponsors like to read my sponsored work upfront so that they know what to expect. Perhaps they don’t want to waste time guess which is sponsored and which isn’t. Just because a post has a link in it does not mean that it is sponsored, right?

So, how now? I am trying to shift my balance a little and see if there is any improvement! I certainly cannot let a single company dictate how I should have my posts published, right?

Finances

Stringent Checks Should Be Implemented

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I am sure that most of us are bogged down with debts. How can we not be when it is just so easy to get a loan? When we need to buy a car or a home, we need to get a loan because most of us can’t afford to pay cash. Taking out a home loan is a great burden to us but then when we want to buy a house that is what we have to go through. That is why it is always important to check out cheap mortgages and see what fits our requirements the most. Perhaps we could save a considerable amount of money!

Do you know, many of my friends have taken out personal loans just because they CAN? They think nothing of spending first and then repaying at the end of the month and most of them CAN’T repay on time because they have mismanaged their finances. It’s hard to feel pity for them, right?

There was once when my dad wanted to apply for a secured loan to get a sum of cash to expand his business. He wanted to use our house as collateral. We objected because if he failed to repay the money to the financial institution, we would be without a home. That is a scary thought!

I think that it is way to easy for people to apply for loans. Whether they are using it for something frivolous like a holiday or in an medical emergency, financial institutions should apply stringent checks so as not to cause further hardships to borrowers. What do you think?

Random Thoughts Off My Mind