Archive for March 2011

Two ways you can easily help others and make a big impact: Donate blood and join the bone marrow registry. Donating blood takes little time and helps many. You have a few options for donating blood and some depends on your physical attributes. My tall husband can donate double red, I can’t.

Another great option is donating platelets, which you can do every three days. With platelets, you have very little — if any — physical reaction. Some people say that donating whole blood makes them lightheaded or too tired. Platelets don’t do that since the machine returns some of the blood properties back to you. I used to donate platelets, but I had a lot of problems with it. Because I couldn’t always hear the the beeping sound that lets you know when it’s downloading or uploading blood, the alarm kept going off due to low pressure. I tried watching the monitor, but it didn’t work either.

So I donate whole blood. I do it quickly and with no side effects. The blood center is grateful for anything you can do. Whole blood requires waiting 56 days between donations. Double red requires 112 days between donations. If you can do double red, it’s an amazing way to contribute and it’s only a few times a year.

Brain food…

• 7 Don’t-Miss Sites for Online Marketing: Focuses on authors.
• Finding Case Studies for Your Articles: Facebook is also great.
• 50 Rhetorical Devices for Rational Writing: I just learned the word “tricolon” before reading this. Oh, I’ve used tricolon. I just didn’t know it had a name. “A series of three parallel words, phrases, clauses, or statements: “I came, I saw, I conquered.” “Veni, Vidi, Vici.”  [Link: Elizabeth S Craig]
• Why Selling Similar Work to Multiple Clients is Risky Business: And don’t do it when you do a guest post. At least, be honest about it and post a second version months later.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Demotivational Posters for Freelancers: Demotivational posters aren’t new, but this is a great collection.
• Paper vs. Rock: Yeah, paper magically wraps itself around rock. If it could do that, it’d attack us when we write all over it.
• Scrabble a la Typography: Love this! [Link: Esther Schindler]
• Admiral Grammar letter to Colonel Burn: I salute you, Admiral!

We used to call it a chart. Now it’s “information visualization.” 1 syllable to 10. George Carlin would have a field day. – @markhurst (Yikes! I’d never thought I’d be guilty of such a thing!)

The March Super Sweepstakes: Our hero Felix is giving away hundreds of super prizes every week in March. Buy any 1 Collector’s Edition game or 2 standard version games in a given week, and you’ll be automatically entered in the drawing for that week’s prizes. (U.S. residents only.) Buy more pairs of games for more chances to win!

Called into a small city from the capitol, you have been put in charge of solving a string of mysterious murders! Around the same time as the murders, a wolf has been appearing around town and spooking the townsfolk. With rumors of a werewolf swirling, it’s up to you to get to the bottom of the mystery and set the record straight in Shadow Wolf Mysteries: Curse of the Full Moon!

Bring hope to the people of Egypt in The Timebuilders: Pyramid Rising, an exciting time management game! Assistant to the Royal architect Senmut, you have been appointed the daunting task of reconstructing villages and bringing hope to the people of Egypt. Only you can save them from banishment to eternal darkness by the mighty god, Amen-Ra. Hire workers, manage resources, build structures and gather stone all while fending off alligator attacks and more!

The Timebuilders: Pyramid Rising is available for Mac.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans

I don’t update my blog as often as I’d like. So I happily accept guest posts when people offer, right? Eh.

Photo from sxc.hu user gwozdek

Almost daily, I receive an email asking if someone can write a guest post for this here blog. 95 percent of the time, I don’t bother responding to these messages just like they don’t bother reading the blog before emailing me.

Signs of an iffy guest post request email

1. Knows nothing about my blog other than the name “meryl.net” or “meryl’s notes blog.” One tries to fake it by saying, “I’ve been reading your blog and just love it.” A closer look at the email proved otherwise. Buttering up can have the opposite effect unless you’re genuine.
2. Mentions their keyword-oriented URL. Obviously, they’re trying to rack up links to improve search engine results. When I check out their websites, I discover a template-oriented site overflowing with keywords and no uniqueness. They also rarely show anyone behind the site. A guest post from these sites reflects poorly on mine.
3. Writes a generic email message.
4. Offers no article suggestions or a spammy one.
5. Fails to know what topic to cover. All you need to do is read the blog and website. Besides, why contact me without knowing this for your sake? You want to choose blogs that fit the audience you want. For example, if your website sells widgets, contact blogs that talk about widgets instead of blogs that talk about thingamajigs.
6. Asks for a topic.
7. Lists links to previous articles. All are spammy, keywordy sites. The article are also generic.

Yes, I’ve made the mistake of publishing a couple of these. I’m sorry for doing that to you. I’ve learned my lesson and have tightened the guest posting guidelines.

Once, a guest published a very similar post the SAME day I published the guest post. I’m still in shock that I found out about it. How? A Twitter tweet! What are the chances of my catching a tweet on the day of the post? This situation further turned me off to guest posts and added another requirement to the guidelines.

A guest post should be no different from entering a person’s home as a guest. Treat it with respect and leave the place better than when you entered it. Oh, it doesn’t mean you should clean it up. A simple sharing of a laugh will do it.

Not all guest posts stink. I’ve had some amazing guest postings here. Most were from folks I knew long before they wrote their guest posts. People like them are always welcome to “Be our guest.” You are, too.

What do you think of guest posts?

I guess that wouldn’t be Sleeping Beauty’s castle unless the magic forced her not to dream. But then not dreaming and reaching REM sleep can cause all sorts of problems. Just ask Star Trek.

PC and Mac Catch of the Week: Awakening: The Dreamless Castle: After Awakening in a mysterious castle it’s up to you to collect clues and valuable items needed to solve perplexing puzzles and escape! Listen to your fairy friend as she guides you towards the exit. Play fun minigames and solve clever locks to make it to the next room in the castle. Use your Hidden Object skills to search for the next hint and discover a young Princess’ destiny in Awakening: The Dreamless Castle.

Catch the deal for your PC! Use coupon code CATCH299

Catch the deal for your Mac! Use coupon code CATCH299.

This $2.99 Catch of the Week runs through Sunday, March 13, 2011 at 11:59pm.

Remember Big Fish Games has a Daily Deal offering a different game for $2.99 every day. (Look to the right.)

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans

“Mom, I had fun,” said my youngest. That alone made last week’s family night out to the Texas Tornado hockey game worth it. Oh, they lost to Topeka Roadrunners, but being there provided a memorable experience for my husband and our two sons. Our teen daughter had no interest in going.

And all that in spite of my older son refusing to eat the BBQ buffet meal and my husband standing in line for an entire period. One of my clients invited us to the hockey game as part of its partner appreciation. We didn’t sit in the normal seats in the crowd. We went to a reserved area on the ground level behind one of the goals. It had tables and chairs and a buffet along the back wall. Popcorn, baseball hats, signed hockey sticks, pennants and programs decorated the black and gold tables.

I had an it’s a small world encounter when I entered the area. It was one of the tennis coaches who taught several of my classes a few years ago. Her husband also works with the client.

NHL vs. NAHL Experience

I’ve attended a Dallas Stars hockey game. The NHL Stars have nothing on the NAHL Tornadoes. If you’ve been to a major league and minor league baseball game, you can tell the difference. It’s the same way with the NAHL hockey game. Smaller arena, more entertainment, closer to the action. Although I grew up a big sports gal, hockey didn’t make my top list of sports. The Dallas Stars didn’t come to Texas until I was a teen and hockey wasn’t popular in Texas.

Watching the game on the ground level is a whole different experience than watching it way high up in the stands like I did with at the Stars game. At one point, I jerked in response to the loud crashing of players into the window near me.

Intermission

During the intermission, the boys got into a Porsche and rode in it around the ice. That may not sound exciting to you, but my boys — especially the older one — LOVES sports cars. It was the first time he rode in a Porsche. The girl on the other side of the cheerleader in the photo is the client’s daughter.

After that, the fans threw hockey pucks to try to get them in a small bucket in the middle of the ice. It was wild watching hundreds of flying pucks and only two landing in the bucket.

And another small world thing happened during intermission when kids from an elementary school choir sang. That elementary school was my kids’! What are the chances of that? First, the arena is in Frisco. The school is in Plano. Second, the Tornadoes played 34 games at that point. About half of that would be home games. So out of roughly 17 games, they sang at the one we attended.

I also met Ike, the team’s mascot. I’ve got a thing (no, not a fetish) for Mascots since seeing the San Diego Chicken when I was a kid. The chicken came to a Texas Rangers game and I had a blast watching his antics.

Freelancer Feels Like a Part of the Team

As a freelancer, I don’t have opportunities to attend corporate events like I did when I worked in the corporate world. One event took place at the old Texas Stadium in Irving (pre-Super Bowl 45 stadium) and one at Las Colinas Studios where TV shows film. Imagine how it makes a freelancer feel when she’s invited to a client’s event. One thing’s for sure — it makes you want to work harder (I already do, but it gives you renewed energy) for the client knowing they appreciate you.

It’s a Teeny, Tiny World

Though a local company (my only local client — Hint: Look on the window of the Porsche), I met Frank online. He created Fib or Not and hired me to do the copy for the game. Later, we discovered we lived within a mile of each other. When we first met, the little guy and girl in the Porsche were babies. Fast forward a few years, they are one year apart in grade at the same elementary school and we run into each other at school events.

Brain food…

• Phlixie: It’s tedious to find captioned instant download movies on Netflix. Phlixie is doing what Netflix should’ve done. They hope to expand it to other services. Yeah!
• Reading Judiciously: When I read — especially nonfiction — I try to look at the author’s writing and learn from it. Tough to do because you want to absorb the material, too. Kind of like multi-tasking brain. [Link: Elizabeth S Craig]
• The Query Letter That Won Me an Agent and a Four Book Deal (And Why It Was So Successful): That says it all.
• HTML5 Cheat Sheet: I still rely on my old yet in great shape VisiBone HTML card. It has high quality lamination.
• Claim Your Oscar: Worried about giving away too many trade secrets? Need not to worry.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Parents Shouldn’t Text: That should be “SOME parents shouldn’t text.” I think I’m a decent texter. Training my son on texting etiquette. [Link: Bitrebels]
• Light Show: Sensational!
• 13 things worth knowing about Super Mario: I had the mini Donkey Kong arcade toy. Memories…
• A cartogram done in real 3D: The material used? Legos. My mom has an beautiful book of map art. This will need to be in the next edition.

Well, how about that? This description doesn’t say “Exciting” game.

Find the Tomb of Isis and finish the search that Robert’s Grandpa started! Travel the globe and find clues that will help on your search! After Professor Thomas Penroy is kidnapped, it’s up to you to take over the hunt for the legendry Tomb of Isis in this perplexing hidden object puzzle adventure game. Unravel ancient mysteries and solve incredible riddles in Serpent of Isis – Your Journey Continues!

If you haven’t played The Serpent of Isis, you might want to check that out, too.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans