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Interesting Posts Around the Web - June 7th
2008-06-08 00:33:00
Simplified Niche Research - I should have read this post before diving into domain buying frenzy I went through some time back. Steven talks about ways to use Commission Junction for finding profitable niches How to Make an Affiliate Store with Affilistore and Datafeeds Because of Simonne’s step by step instructions on how to set up affiliate stores and niche sites, I ended up buying a few domains and honestly it has given much needed motivation to continue The Amazing Power of Encouragement Laura Spencer’s article holds so true for me that I had to share it with you all. I am able to come back to blogging because of all the encouragement I have received from you all over the last few months. So, thank you. Five Tips to Turn Setbacks into Success over at Alex’s blog is an article everyone should read. In Shilpan’s words: “Even the best among us have seen their share of setbacks. Unfortunately, we seldom find their failures in the pages of history...
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How I Manage Multiple Blogs - Part 1
2008-06-05 12:48:00
This is a guest post that Matt had written for me in early May but I was not in the right state of mind to post.  At the time Matt was running a project to help bloggers and had asked what he could do for them.  Hi, my name is "Lord" Matt - some of you might know me from the oddly named "The Fantastic Site of Lord Matt" or any number of other blogs that I maintain. Pearl has challenged me to write about time and productivity and how I manage all those blogs. The fact that I am doing so will give my wife quite a good chuckle when I tell her. While I do manage to keep a lot of blogs afloat some of my other work can occasionally suffer a little - even I could be more efficient. What I am going to do, then, is break down my practices and comment on how strong or weak I think they are with examples. My back story My first blogs where experiments on blogspot that I long ago abandoned but they proved to be a great learning tool but useless blogs. For example...
More About: Blogs , Part , Manage

Britain’s Got Talent - Michael Jackson
2008-06-04 05:30:00
For a change, I was sent this video by someone today and it sure changed my mood so thought of sharing it with you guys for smiles.   Also look for a guest post in a couple of days here.  Enjoy! ©2008 Interesting Observations. All Rights Reserved..
More About: Michael Jackson , Michael , Jackson , Talent

little things that give us hope
2008-05-28 08:08:00
It’s been over two months since I’ve updated this blog and even though I browse through the web and meet/talk and socialize with many of you on various networking sites, I have to be honest that something inside me is not the same as before. The months after my father’s passing haven’t been easy on any of us in the family but it’s been even tougher on our mother who is often hears him calling her name out for something. His presence in every room is still felt and even though we are comforted in the thoughts that he is around us and amidst us, the helplessness and not being able to see his physical self is just beyond any words could explain. For me, there have been sudden and unannounced crying bouts at odd times and odd places, more so in my car while going home after work, which automatically disappear after some time. They are like spasms that come fast and make you feel like nothing in the world matters any more. All kinds of emotions, anger,...
More About: Hope , Things , Give

In Loving Memory of My Father
2008-04-05 03:56:00
  My dad passed away on March 17th. I was not able to say anything at the funeral because of the disbelief and shock. When I saw a lot of my family men in suits walking around at the funeral, it was so unbelievable and for a few seconds, my eyes were looking around the room to find my father. How could it be that he was not amongst us? He was right there, but not walking, resting with a smile on his face. In the new suit that he had just bought and gotten custom tailored, as if he knew. It felt like he would wake up any second. I cannot believe it’s already been over two weeks without him. I am not able to express in words the intensity of my sadness but if you were here dad, I would like you to know that you truly are my hero. I love you dad and I really miss you. ©2008 Interesting Observations. All Rights Reserved..
More About: Memory , Loving , Father

Does Prayer Really Work?
2008-03-04 01:33:00
I haven’t been able to update this blog for a couple of weeks and I thought I owed you all some explanation.   Some of my blogging friends know by now that my dad has been in ICU for the last couple of weeks.  At times, his health seems to be improving but at other times we get terrified.   This is how it all started.   One day out of the blue he started having severe headache that wouldn’t go away for a few days.  He’s never had headaches all his life so that was alarming but he is of the type who never asks anyone for any help.  He wouldn’t let our mom tell any of us siblings saying he didn’t want to bother any of us.   But then one day, he had a vomit and was taken to emergency.   You would think the doctors would have done the cat-scan of the head right away but they took two full days to review his symptoms - which included lower back pain, intense weakness and pain in the thighs.  T...
More About: Work , Prayer

Networking - Necessary Investment for Small Businesses
2008-02-19 23:13:00
You know that the success of your online business is based on how much volume of targeted traffic you attract to your website, blog or online e-commerce store. One of the easier ways to do that is to master a few of the social media sites available, since social Media sites have exploded all across the web over the last year or so. With literally millions of websites and thousands of them probably selling almost similar products and services as yours, it’s difficult to use traditional means to promote your products and even your website. Attracting customers to your home based business by using social media sites sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? It is easy once you learn the how these networks work but many people running home based small businesses are still completely unaware of this method of reaching out to the world. Social Media Marketing is the fastest growing phenomenon on the internet today, for its unique advantage of being able to tap into the latest and ...
More About: Investment , Networking , Small , Small Businesses , Businesses

Awards, Accolades III
2008-02-18 05:58:00
I’m happy to say that Awards , Accolades has become a series in itself..  Check out Awards I and Awards II to see what I mean.  I can’t begin to thank all the wonderful people I have met ever since I started blogging.  These fellow bloggers who have become good friends make my life better each and every day.   So, once again, I thank these shining stars, who have become part of my life, from the bottom of my heart. You have heard me talk about the most generous soul,  Mig, who not only comes up with the original posts (like 10 reasons why she loves pearl), but also continues to bestow me with numerous beautiful awards and accolades.    And what can I say?   Sue from Sueblimely and Kuanyin from Blog Pond and Colin from Free PC Security made me blush by calling me their Blogging Mentor, the award created by Sue.    How can I thank these beautiful people making my world ever so exciting?  Kim the beautifu...

On Writing and Getting Un-Stuck
2008-02-16 06:51:00
Today when I was logged in this blog, I noticed that I have written 186 posts which generated 2676 comments. I was surprised at how much I had written especially when at the time I started this blog, I had no intention of keeping it up. It was fun to write and it was fun to see comments on what I had written. It still is fun to see comments. But now I am much more self-conscious for some reason. This is also becoming one the reasons for the decline in my posting frequency. Oh, writing that word, self-conscious reminds me of a brief conversation I had with Liz Strauss once and I had said I couldn’t write anything (apparently, this has been the case for some time now) and do you want to know what she said? Her answer was “Pearl, There’s no pressure. Doc Searls says “A blog is just an email to the world.” ” And that gave me a much needed push and I was fine for some time. Isn’t that so profound? Liz always writes such beautiful and inspira...
More About: Writing , On Writing

Spread Love with Your Comments
2008-02-14 06:22:00
Wishing all my readers, fellow bloggers and friends on all of the networking sites, a very Happy Valentine’s Day!   If you have befriended me on one of the social media networks and we haven’t had a chance to exchange a hello, please feel free to say a hi in the comments and I’ll definitely visit and comment your blog.     Remember,  Valentine’s Day is for spreading love.  You comment here and get a link with CommentLuv ©2008 Interesting Observations. All Rights Reserved..
More About: Love , Comments , Spread

Did you think English was an easy language?
2008-02-12 15:13:00
Can you read these right the first time? The bandage was wound around the wound. The farm was used to produce produce. The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse. We must polish the Polish furniture. He could lead if he would get the lead out. The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert. Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present. A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum. When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes. I did not object to the object. The insurance was invalid for the invalid. There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row. They were too close to the door to close it. The buck does funny things when the does are present. A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line. To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow. The wind was too strong to wind the sail. Upon seeing the tear in the painting, I shed a tear. I had to subject the subject to a series of tests. How can I intimat...
More About: English , Language , Easy

Interesting Posts Around the Web - Feb 11
2008-02-11 07:54:00
I have a couple of things to ask you today.   1) Am I the only one writing link posts on a Monday? 2) Do you always link to articles that were written in the preceding week? Here are a few articles that I am sure you’ll enjoy reading and feel inspired as you start your Mondays.    Go read them and let these guys know where you heard about them.   Clone and Migrate WordPress Blog to New Server @ Make Tech Easier I Assure you, Your Interest was Not Peaked @ The Article Writer The Small Fish Eats the Big Fish Paradox @ Ewriting Pamil Visions Alternative Search Engines to Google @ Sueblimely Are Audio Ads the Next Big Thing? @ SuperBloggingTips Caroline Middlebrook and I Just Disagree @ Making Sales Making Money How to Get More Bookmarks and Better Links @ Chris Garrett’s Blog What to Post? When to Post? @ Datmoney I’ve really loved reading this 3 Part Crash Course on Organizing your Home Office Paper Series @...
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Text Links With a Difference - TNX.net
2008-02-10 00:52:00
Have you been seeing this pretty image around the web lately? I noticed it on many many blogs and was thinking what this new thing was. Then one day last month when Vladimir contacted me to ask if I could review this site, I was really excited. My posting frequency in the last few months has really slowed down but Vladimir has been really patient with me, so my thanks go out to him. I am still new to the system but what I read from the site it looks quite interesting. TNX.net is a newer system of buying and selling links for both publishers and advertisers and a way to promote their sites. From the website itself: “With the help of TNX System you are able to get large amounts of non-reciprocal links from thousands of relevant websites: In just few minutes you can order thousands of links from high quality Internet resources. Links can be placed on main pages as well as on individual, deep pages of websites that either have few other outbound links or no links at all. &r...
More About: Text , Difference

New Blogs, New Opportunities
2008-02-08 07:29:00
In the past couple of weeks, I missed my ‘most interesting posts around the web’ feature although I came across many interesting posts that I wanted to share with you. I hope to continue with it soon but today I want to share with you some very interesting and useful blogs that some of my dear friends have started. These are experienced bloggers who have accumulated wealth of knowledge in one or more areas of blogging and are nice enough to share their expertise with us. I recommend checking these out, because I am sure you are going to love these blogs. Steven Snell of Vandelay Design, who, in addition to maintaining a superb blog, also writes regularly at Blogtrepreneur, Daily Blog Tips, Daily Bits and Pure Blogging, has started a blog called traffikd. This blog is all about Internet Marketing and social media. Steven already has a huge list of over 400 categorized Social Media and Social Networking Sites that you definitely want to check out. My talented friend ...
More About: Blogs , Opportunities

Measure your productivity to keep up with goals
2008-02-07 06:49:00
The picture above depicts exactly what happens at my job almost every day.  The big meetings are scheduled, by the time the last person enters the conference room, it’s already 5 minutes over the start time.  By the time we are finished, it’s already half hour into the lunch hour.   Just like many others, I also set my 2008 goals at the outset of the New Year. I have to confess though that I have been awfully busy at my work these days and after getting home in the evenings, I hardly feel like writing anything, let alone write something good and interesting.  That doesn’t mean I haven’t spent hours on StumbleUpon and Digg and Mixx and chatting to people online.   Although, all along, I am aware that I could be writing a post, but for some reason,  I am not able to.   It is just too easy to spend aimless time on the web when you could really be resting and getting ready for your next blog post. During this t...
More About: Productivity , Goals

How the movie Groundhog Day can lead to a happier and more productive life
2008-02-04 00:18:00
February 2nd was Groundhog Day in North America. And as Punxsutawney Phil, the one and the only official Weather Forcasting Groundhog declared that there will be six more weeks of winter, I had started to lose hope to get back in the swing of writing. But then, came this guest post by Paul Hannam, the author of The Magic of Groundhog Day, the book that is based on the movie Groundhog Day. Author Paul Hannam believes that watching the movie, Groundhog Day, will teach you more about life and work than anything else you can do in less than two hours! He has taught thousands of people on personal development, and taught management and organizational psychology at Oxford University and in his new book, The Magic of Groundhog Day, he explains why the movie is so inspirational and life-changing. I have found the movie so invaluable because it helps me see each day as a unique opportunity to improve the way I think, feel and act. We all feel stuck at times in our life. The differen...
More About: Movie , Life , The Movie , Lead , Happier

Don’t Let Someone Else Claim Your Blog
2008-01-28 20:59:00
Photo stealing, content theft, RSS scrapers, people hacking into your blog - we have heard about it all, but have you ever thought your entire blog could even be claimed by someone else? But that is exactly what had happened to Ramkarthic some time ago at MyBlog Log. Someone else had claimed Ramkarthik’s blog back in August of last year and I remember freaking out about it! Talk about dishonesty on the net.  Ramkarthik was able to get the blog ownership back but I can imagine how he might have felt at the time. So if you have an account with MyBlogLog but hardly ever log in the service, at least now you should go there and claim your blog, just like I am doing right now. There are a couple of methods to claim your blog, either by Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification by writing a post about it or by adding a Meta Tag to your website. And God forbid, if you are the one whose blog has been claimed by someone else, go here to find out how you can get it back. ©2008 Inte...

Delete or Edit Comments?
2008-01-25 16:15:00
When I first started blogging, I remember not getting even a single comment and it hurt real bad. I kept writing and slowly people started reading and commenting and then some also started linking to my posts and the blog which brought more people to read and give feedback and I felt part of this wonderful community. I LOVE getting comments and hearing different takes on what I write and I LOVE discussions taking place here on the blog. I have gotten to know so many people by their first names and remember their blogs that now when I see them on some social media site, I can immediately tell who this person is and remember to go to their blog and leave a comment on their post of the day or just say a hi via comment form etc. But what do I do when some inanimate object like Sofa, Dining Tables, Swimming Pools, Stock Trading Software, Printed Circuit Boards or Ghillie Suits leave a comment and I have no way of knowing who this person is? Clicking on the links they leave gets y...
More About: Comments , Edit , Delete

Mixx, Propeller or Squidoo? Social Media Mega Project
2008-01-21 06:50:00
Are you a fan of any particular social media site for networking or bookmarking? If yes, then this is the project you want to pay close attention to for the next month. Vivien of InspirationBit has organized a Mega Social Media Project that is being hosted by multiple bloggers for multiple social media sites. As you can tell from the post title, I will be hosting this project for Mixx, Propeller (formerly Netscape) AND Squidoo . Here are the rules to participate in this project: Write a post on your blog and share with us how do you integrate this social media site (Mixx or Propeller or Squidoo) into your blogging or work and tell us about your good or bad experience(s), how would you compare this social networking site with others, what do you like or don’t like about it, how did you benefit from becoming a frequent user of this site, what secrets have you learned about it, what tips or warnings would you like to inform others about? Contact me with your name, email and a perma...

Interesting Posts Around the Web - Jan 19
2008-01-19 03:52:00
the easiest way to make your community happy @ muhammad.saleem Top 10 Tips for Briteny Spears and anyone who is feeling lost in life @ LifeLearningToday Test your web design in different browsers @ Browser Shots 20 Reasons to go to SobCon08 @ Confident Writing More Stumble Upon Articles @ Robdogg Push Beyond Fear and Bust Down the Door to a Successful Life @ My Tropical Escape 5 Simple Ways to Get More Blog Traffic in 2008 @ Shoemoney Send email to a person in the future @ Sizlopedia Justice Regins: Stumble Troll BANNED by SU @ Collective Thoughts - a must read for anyone who loves SU Digg’s Top 100 Users @ chrisfinke Remember Randy Pausch and his Last Lecture?  Check out this post which talks about Randy being offered a role in the upcoming Star Trek movie. And if you are short on time and cannot read all the great articles yet, check out this contest for an easy 100 bucks. ©2008 Interesting Observations. All Rights Reserved..
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Keeping You Posted
2008-01-18 08:21:00
I won a free ad place A few days ago I participated in a blogging tips game called ‘use a letter, share a tip‘ at Worknplay where Ritu asked readers to provide a tip from A to Z. At the time I didn’t even know that Ritu had offered perks to participate as I didn’t read all of the instructions, one of which was 125 x 125 banner ad space toa randomly picked winner. Well, to my pleasant surprise, I won the ad space and the banner is on display at Ritu’s blog. The banner was developed by Mayank Gupta of ReviewSaurus. You might remember Mayank from his guest post here Should we drop the Paid Text Links or not. Here is the banner that Mayank put together. What dyu say?   CLIQ to discontinue I received an email from CLIQ today that they will be discontinuing their service as of Jan 31st. CLIQ was originally created by Offermatica, Inc. as a way to research and explore the role of content merchandising in Social Media. As of last month, Of...

Are you an introvert or just shy?
2008-01-17 00:33:00
This is the ongoing survey question over at The Mighty Introvert authored by Mark Dykeman.  At the time I saw the survey,  57 out of 67 people had already answered that they were Introverts!  That is 85% - a huge majority.    I am assuming that most of the people visiting Mark’s blog and answering this question might also be bloggers.  I used to think the term Introvert was more applicable to the offline, face-to-face interactions but recently,  I’ve found myself struggling to participate in discussions on twitter and another network I am a member of.  I felt the same feeling that you get when you first start blogging with no readers.  Except, on twitter you already have people ‘following’ you.  That I think contributes to an already shy person’s nervousness even more.   Its almost like you are on a stage and people are watching you and waiting to hear the words coming out of your mouth....

Blogapalooza - What I Learned from 2007
2008-01-14 14:57:00
Okay, that was the first for me too… I mean, I had never heard the word Blogapalooza before either… but this has been a very popular term in the past few weeks at MiddleZoneMusings where Robert held another Group Writing Project called What I Learned from 2007 and you had to pick the posts that taught you something. I am glad I was able to make the deadline as the project ended last night.  Today all the entries are up at Robert’s Blog - Middle Zone Musings. There are some fantastic entries if you are looking for some inspiration. PS:  you are welcome to check out the most commented list to see the included posts as one of the links is messing up and Robert will be fixing it later tonite. ©2008 Interesting Observations. All Rights Reserved..

Interesting Posts Around the Web - Jan 11th
2008-01-11 23:00:00
This week’s posts range from having fun while blogging to social media as well as some technology tweaks. Enjoy. 1. Use a letter Share a Blogging Tip @ Worknplay 2. Ten Thousand Tweets @ Main-Vision 3. Metaphors to Live By @Coachingwizardry 4. Most Unknown Person of the Year 2007 @ Hari’s Corner 5. Sweetest Fight Ever: Hot Chocolate vs White Sugar @ SEO 2.0 6. The One Word That Helped My Blog Grow To 800+ Subscribers in 17 Weeks @ Self Made Chick 7. Bill Gates’ Last Day at Microsoft @ entrepreMusings 8. How to Make FireFox Run Faster @ Digital Inspiration 9. Filter My RSS @ ShakarGanesh 10. Why FeedDemon is Better Than Google Reader and Bloglines @ Digital Inspiration 11. Classic Corporate Subterfuge: Writing the Email Blog @ Bloggingtips ©2008 Interesting Observations. All Rights Reserved..
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The Bucket List - Live, Love, Laugh
2008-01-11 06:13:00
Now that I have found my niche, it should really be a piece of cake for me to churn out some wonderful posts, right? Well, as it turns out, I am still feeling overwhelming sadness and no matter how hard I try, I can’t get it out of my mind. What I am feeling these days is, I am sure, a very common feeling and many of you might be able to relate to. Losing someone can do this to anyone. Sure I have laughed and even been to a couple of movies since my friend passed away just before Christmas, but I have felt bouts of sadness and depression in the last few weeks, off and on and as I struggled to come out of it, I felt a strange uneasiness and realized there was no need to try to come OUT of a feeling of sadness when someone is taken away from your life suddenly. Rather I was going to try and take this as an opportunity to reflect upon what my life is all about and truly try to enjoy it as if I had only a short time to live. And as I traveled the web in the past fe...
More About: Love , List , Live , Laugh , The Bucket List

Getting Stuck in the Moderation Queue
2008-01-08 21:58:00
photo by mysza831 So I finally upgraded to WordPress 2.3.2 this weekend but now all of my comments are going to the moderation queue. I have checked the Discussion Options and do not have the option “an administrator must always approve the comment” box checked! What could be going on? ©2008 Interesting Observations. All Rights Reserved..
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Whether you know it or not, You already have a niche!
2008-01-07 04:19:00
Yes, you may not have realized it but if you have a blog, you may even have a niche already. I am pretty sure you are surprised. I certainly was surprised when this is exactly what I was told by a dear friend Karen Zara of abaminds the other day. I had mentioned to Karen that I was a bit in a dilemma as to what topics I should be writing about since I had no particular niche. But Karen came back with a surprising answer. Karen’s email was filled with some great advice but here is the gist of what she thought my niche was: “Dear Pearl, I spent some time studying Interesting Observations. I noticed your posts tend to vary among “personal development,” “meta-blogging” and “social media,” with some exceptions. In my opinion, you already have a niche. You just don’t see it as such. ;-)” That one statement made me take a re-look at my blog a bit more closely. And sometime ago, I read mention of this blog in a post by anoth...
More About: Niche

Interesting Posts Around the Web - Jan 4
2008-01-04 21:33:00
I want to open my weekly Interesting Posts Around the Web with a link to Blogtrepreneur that I am very fond of but was very sad when Adnan declared that the site was for sale. Well, things change and Adnan has decided that for the time being he will continue to build the site up and posted his Best of 2007 posts. Check out his blog, I am sure you will like it. Top 10 Obscure Google Search Tricks @ Lifehacker Now we all know Lifehacker is filled with cool tips and tricks, but this one is a must if you are still using Google for your searches; don’t forget to read through the comments. Starting the New Year with Death @ pickthebrain Questions to get closer to you @Successful-blog was started in May of 2007 and the yesterday’s questions was: What three words describe your quest this year? How to get Ideas from 66 Lists @ Abaminds (I have to say this is a comprehensive list leading to more lists, leading to further lists) Steven presented 20 Websites with Unique Layo...
More About: Eres

Reality is NOT Stranger than Fiction Anymore
2008-01-04 03:41:00
WOW! Here is a real cool article I want to share with you tonite. I first thought it cannot be true but reading the following lines in the article amazed me! Click on the link to read the article: ‘Kryptonite’ discovered in mine Kryptonite is no longer just the stuff of fiction feared by caped superheroes. A new mineral matching its unique chemistry - as described in the film Superman Returns - has been identified in a mine in Serbia. “Finding out that the chemical composition of a material was an exact match to an invented formula for the fictitious kryptonite “was the coincidence of a lifetime,” he added. ©2008 Interesting Observations. All Rights Reserved..
More About: Reality , Fiction , Ranger

Spreading the Love via Compassion
2008-01-03 06:47:00
I always say that Group Writing Projects are an easy way to blog. Someone else has already done the thinking and picked a topic for you to write your experience or opinions on. And “Spread the Love NOW” couldn’t have come at a better time for me. There are a lots of the things in this project that resonate with me now. One, that the project is to write something about Compassion , a character trait that I saw a lot of recently when my very close friend passed away. Second, because compassion is a trait that I am very passionate about and I feel we can’t have enough of. Third, the project is organized by the three monks, Albert of Urban Monk, Kenton of Zen Inspired Self Development and Wade of The Middle Way, who so passionately write on all of the subjects that are very dear to me such as meditation, Buddhism, consciousness, spirituality, philosophy and self improvement. As I understand compassion, it is what we feel when we see someone else in pain an...