SeeMySpots - The Home Spot

Okay, so I am not much of a basketball fan but I do understand the basics of the game and I did spend a couple of good years in junior high and grade school becoming more familiar with the intricacies of a full court, two nets and a basketball. (I might add, by the way, that I have pictorial evidence that I can palm two men’s basketballs with both hands -[Yes, that is one basketball in each hand with no other support] simultaneously - A feat that I am proud of) However, when a few of my coworkers pitched an office pool to “challenge” each other on our bracket picks, I must admit I was not for this.  Then I started to see the fun in it.  We ended up with 14 participants and I am proud to say that I was one of five women who signed up.  In fact, it was a combo of two coworkers who “sold” me on the pleasures of this.  I am very proud to say that I clearly have illustrated some NCAA selection skills because I am currently leading the way and I LOVE it.  It is kind of nice to hear my name whispered in pure wonderment as they try to figure out how I successfully determined my pics and have taken a clear lead from the beginning.  By no means and I gloating because the intensity ratchets up as more teams are eliminated and I am not one to talk smack for fear that I would have to back it up. I love the camaraderie that this has brought and the feeling that my coworkers are scratching their heads to my selection skills……

The strangest thing happened today…… I checked my site today using a Windows machine with the Google toolbar installed and I noticed that Google had granted me the highly-coveted Page Rank 10 score. Now for those of you that are unfamiliar to the SEO world or even Search Engine Marketing, Google’s Page Rank (or PR) is a score from 0 to 10 that encompasses many factors.   Google typically reserves the “holy grail” of PR 10 scores for its own sites or Highly-authoritative website (and I do stress highly-authoritative).  So, imagine my surprise today when I stumbled upon my own site bearing a PR10.     Thank you Google.  I really do appreciate the love. 

Well, after a very long time, I am back on the Internet.  You see, we recently moved and have been without the Internet at home since November.  And since I don’t post from work, this is my first time back on my Mac and my website.I’m also pleased to announce that I have renewed my hosting account for SeeMySpots for another year and I am excited about posting over the next year.  I think I will also return to my dabbling into website design because I have two other domains that would be fun to launch.  I also have a post on Earth Day that I began last year.  I am looking forward to finishing it in time for Earth Day 2009.  Oh well, better late than never.  :)Well, that is all for now.  I have a lot to talk about in future posts and I need to start working on my taxes! 

Well, being the type that is always “upgrading” my site, I wanted to add Google Webmaster tools so I can track a host of things - keep in mind that I work within the web industry in a marketing capacity - which required me to upload a snippet of code to “verify” to Google that I am indeed the owner of SeeMySpots. 

Many people of less challenging mental aptitude may just go to their Wordpress Admin blog and upload it there.  But, since I have a passion for hard coding and making some of my changes through HTML Kit (a free downloadable FTP program that is VERY user friendly), I thought I could just do this on my own.  I tend to gravitate towards the more difficult process because I am in continuous quest of the mental challenge.  It is kind of my own personal search for the holy grail.  Well, not only did I not complete this task correctly but when Google tried to verify the site as being mine, the site went Kerplewey (which is the technical term for what happened to my site).

 So, after two days of frustration, a couple hours spent on Dreamweaver to recreate the site, I decided to try a different tact.  I checked out my site once again via HTML Kit and realized that my problem was in line 4 of my homepage code.  When I promptly removed this Google verification code, and saved the updates of course, my site worked beautifully once again. 

Now, I just need to put the ladybug template back and everything will be beautiful once more.

With the thought in mind of reducing my consumption of plastic trash bags, I have purchased two reusable bags.  Despite all the “green” benefits of these bags, I’ve found that they are much stronger, cut less into my fingers from carrying them from my car to my house and cut down on the speed of which my trash can fills up.  Some bags, especially the quality ones from Target (Did I mention how much I love Target?) get reused in my household for diaper pale liners.  I’m not a big fan of the diaper pales that wrap the disposable diaper in layers of plastic.  I just think this method is costly, wasteful and totally a redundant process. In addition to filling up my trash faster, these inferior plastic bags will hold less stuff or fewer groceries before they tear, wrip or just give up on the task at hand all together.So, rather than adding to my trash can with trashy plastic bags, I am training myself to place the favorite grocery bags in my car so they can be used again for all my trips to the grocery store.So, why all this rambling about bags? Opting to use the “favorite bags” actually reduces my personal workload or effort put forth. My trash takes longer to fill up - so, I’m not taking as many trips to the dumpster as before.  They hold more groceries and stuff so I don’t have to make as many trips to my car as before and they give me a monetary kick back every time I use them at the grocery store.More money + less effort and energy spent = My favorite grocery bags rock! March 8, 2009 update -  I wanted to give some “link love” to one of my coworkers and his site that features these easy-to-use reusable shopping bags.  One advantage of using his bags over the kind featured in the stores, is that his bags don’t have any advertising or branding on them so you are not offering free advertising to any big box brands. 

A few months back, a coworker had me try some Airborne because I was not feeling my best.  I had the stuffy head, runny nose and just general &^*%#%)^ going on with my achy body.  Now, I’ve heard about this stuff before and had never thought twice about trying it but my coworker was very good at persuasion. I tried it and a little while later I felt better.  Now, I’m not talking about the kind of feeling better where someone goes from their death bed to running around like Mary Poppins singing “Shim, Shim Sharee” as she jumps from rooftop to rooftop with soot on her face but I felt the kind of better that one feels when the head is not quite as stuffy and the nose is not quite as plugged.

I do realize that maybe a placebo effect (or is it affect? I never can remember) was taking place here and the effervescent bubbles were playing tricks on my mind like a nice glass of spumanti but the point is this- I FELT BETTER!!!! So, I continued to take it, not as the miracle drug but as a nice little boost to my immune system and to take the edge off my kickin’ cold.

 About a week or two ago I came across an article on the Internet about a class-action lawsuit mentioning anyone who wanted to take part in this, could get their money back.  I’m not an attorney and I’m not going to criticize anyone who takes part in this but I am going to adamantly  support Airborne because I think it truly does help.  Airborne offers the kind of help without the long list of side effects that can be more harm than the original problem.

In fact, on my way home tonight, I stopped at my local Target (yes, I absolutely, positively love this store and, I’m NOT on their payroll in any shape or form) and I was glad to see that their shelves were still stocked with Airborne in the usual flavors and colored boxes.  I selected “Zesty Orange” to bring to work with me tomorrow. 

I will continue to support Airborne so that my immune system will be boosted without other over-the-counter options.  May my immune system be boosted ever more with the tiny effervescent bubbles of this germ fighting elixir.  Carpe Diem Airborne. Carpe Diem 

what the world would be without the Internet?  People may actually participate in the lost art of face-to-face communication, send a (gasp!) hand written letter or engage in an old fashioned game of checkers - not virtual checkers but actual, red and black pieces moving strategically around a board.

 Now, don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the Internet immensely and even use this handy tool to create a descent livelihood for myself and family but I do enjoy my time spent outdoors with friends and loved ones.

 SeeMySpots is dedicated to my hobbies - hiking, photography, travel, knitting and whatever else catches my eye at the time.  SeeMySpots may even occassionally hold a tip for enjoying life and the Internet.  Enjoy the journey!