Thoughts From My Life

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Add A Recent Articles Section To A Blog
2007-11-30 17:19:00
I added another component to my side menu bar. A Recent Articles section just under my RSS feed icon. It shows the most recent 5 postings. Why Did I Add Recent Articles? It is a bit of an experiment really. I enjoy going to other blogs via link to a specific page that I am interested in. It bypasses their homepage however and a recent articles section on every page lets me get a quick overview of what they are writing about right now. Most of my traffic is coming from search engine results so the first page a visitor comes to is not my home page. I thought this would be another way to expose them to my current articles and maybe get them to stick around longer. I will keep an eye out for my page views per visit to see what happens. What Else Can You Do To Encourage Longer Visit Times? I have only really done two things in the past to encourage surfers to stick around. Use Internal Links And use a lot of them. I have been bad at this, but any article where I have used them...
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New York City Using Aeroplan Points
2007-11-29 18:30:00
My wife and I have just booked our first trip every to New York City using Aeroplan points. We leave in March of 2008 and are staying there for a few nights. I am quite happy with our deal as well. We used our Aeroplan points and received a very good return on them. I am really picky when I use my travel rewards like Aeroplan and Air Miles because I want to get the most money out of them as possible. I have already written articles about the value of an air mile and the value of an Aeroplan point. Anyhow, I normally value an Aeroplan point around 1.6 cents each. Our flights to New York are giving me 1.96 cents each. That seems like a small difference, but it is 22% more value than I usually expect. How Do I Calculate the Value Aeroplan Points ? It is a simple formula. Take the raw dollar amount of money you save by using Aeroplan points and divide it by the number of points you used. Make sure to take into account the taxes you will pay using Aeroplan and if you have an ...
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Morning Coffee - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-29 17:42:00
This fellow was sipping his morning coffee at Tie Lake one morning.Published on Thu, 29 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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Wakesurfing At The Lake - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-28 17:42:00
The boat had plenty of people for a day on the water. Everyone was standing on one side to tip the boat a bit. It helps build up a rolling wave behind the boat for someone to surf in. I had to break out my 10-20mm wide angle Sigma lens to try and capture most of the scene.Published on Wed, 28 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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Thoughts From My Life Turned One Year Old
2007-11-28 17:05:00
I forgot to write an article about it, but on November 19th, Thoughts From My Life turned 1! That's right, a year has gone by with me blathering about whatever on this site. It all started with my article on Insurance Policies and then I just kept rolling after that. What turned out to be my most popular articles (and largest Adsense earners) have been these four articles. Collecting Air Miles and Their Value Collecting Aeroplan Points and Their Value Aeroplan Versus Air Miles - Comparing Them Best Nintendo DS Homebrew Overall, I feel it has been a success. My original intent was to use this site as a tool to learn more web programming, have a diary for whatever I was working on or just thinking about at the time, and have it make enough money to pay for itself. The blog now earns over $40/month in passive income and an extra $50/month in sponsored posts that I write. Not bad, considering my costs are $15/year for the domain and $5/month for the web hosting. What Articles...
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NHL Hockey Rinks
2007-11-27 18:39:00
This is kind of neat. A Google map of all the NHL hockey rinks. They are all flagged on the map and then the site has included links below for information about attending a game there. Check out Rinktour.com. It is interesting to see the distribution of them. Definitely a large concentration in the east. I recently attended a game in Anaheim, California. It was the first time I had ever seen a game outside of my home province of Alberta. It was interesting to watch two different teams play and see the atmosphere. I definitely recommend it if you are on holidays to add it into your plans. Published on Tue, 27 Nov 2007 10:39:17 MST. - 0 Comments
More About: Hockey

Green Snake - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-27 17:42:00
This was a vibrant green snake sitting behind glass at the Vancouver Aquarium. The lighting was pretty dim so I had to put on my 50mm 1.8 lens and jack up the ISO on my camera.Published on Tue, 27 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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Red Jellyfish - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-26 17:42:00
These red jellyfish looked awesome. Each tank had a nice blue backlight which really let you see the detail on them. This was taken at the Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park.Published on Mon, 26 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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Getting Music Off An Ipod
2007-11-26 13:54:00
If you have ever had your hard drive crash or purchased a new computer, you realize that your new installation of iTunes will want to erase your iPod. This is because it is already associated with another iTunes installation on another computer (or old hard drive, etc). Apple needs to try their best to prevent piracy of music so I can understand why it works like that. Everyone would be pulling music off each other's iPods and sharing music all over the place. This didn't work for me the other day though. My hard drive crashed and I needed to recover all of my music. Otherwise I would have been an unhappy camper. I found a useful tool that does the trick nicely called EphPod. It is a handy little utility that can do a number of things, but more importantly, it will take the music off your iPod and save them as mp3 files. For a full tutorial on how to use it to get music off your iPod, check out the tutorial on Engadget. It provides screenshots and a step by step guide o...
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Sea Lion At Vancouver Aquarium - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-25 17:42:00
This massive beast was just hanging out on a cold, rainy day at Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park.Published on Sun, 25 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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Isabella - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-24 17:42:00
You gotta love that hair. With the hair and the nice lighting I really liked this photo.Published on Sat, 24 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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Canadian Capitalist Anniversary
2007-11-23 19:00:00
I read a blog frequently called the Canadian Capitalist. Good articles that contain a national flavour to them. Anyhow, he has just posted an entry for a contest celebrating his 3rd anniversary of starting this blog. He is giving away an iPod and some gift certifications. You can read the article on about the Canadian Capitalist Anniversary to see the details. I would recommend subscribing to his blog and reading some of the articles if you have interest in finance or other topics. Here are a few of my favourite articles thus far. For those of you who have come to my site for the Aeroplan and Air Miles articles, Canadian Capitalist has also posted some articles around this topic long before I started doing it. Comparing Loyalty Programs Are Credit Cards Worth The Annual Fee Changes To Aeroplan Loyalaty Program Reinstating Aeroplan Miles (this was his first article) American Express Costco Cash Rebate Card Citi Drivers Edge Mastercard Published on Fri, 23 Nov 2007 11:00:...
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New Puppy - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-23 17:42:00
My wife is holding a new puppy that some friends of ours have recently got. The little furball is pretty cute.Published on Fri, 23 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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Beluga Whale - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-22 17:42:00
The trainer was working with a beluga whale at the Vancouver Aquarium. I managed to catch a 15 minute show on an rainy October afternoon.Published on Thu, 22 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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Air Miles for Everyone
2007-11-22 17:40:00
I was recently emailed from someone concerning the Air Miles for Everyone event currently going on. It is for their 15th anniversary event. I thought Air Miles were around longer than that, but maybe I'm just getting too old. There are a set of anniversary coupons you can receive. You have to enter your collector number to get them and then you get bonus air miles depending on how many you use. The second part to the event is a story submission section. Basically, individuals submit their heart warming stories about how they have used their Air Miles and people vote on them. The best story will receive 15,000 Air Miles. That is enough for a return trip from Calgary to Victoria or a number of other destinations depending on where you live. Definitely check it out for interest's sake and if you want some more coupons to help collect. Remember my math on how much an Air Mile is worth. If the coupons aren't giving you enough of a deal it might not be worth it.Published on T...

Dragonfly - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-21 17:42:00
This dragon fly was resting on my wife's sandal while we were relaxing at Stanley Park in Calgary one afternoon. He was still just long enough to get this photo before flying away.Published on Wed, 21 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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iStockphoto Rejected My First Application
2007-11-21 08:23:00
If you read my article yesterday on iStockphoto called Earning Money As A Hobby Photographer then you know I spoke about microstock sites. Sites where you can upload your photos and they are available for downloading for a fee. You then get a cut of this. Anyhow, I applied to iStockphoto and went through a fairly involved application process on-line. At the very end, you upload 3 sample photographs. I uploaded a few of my favourites and I just found out today that I was rejected. That's right! My photos were not of a high enough quality for their site. When you sign up, there is a mini tutorial that you go through explaining quality and other copyright issues when submitting photos to your site. I thought that most of the photographs I have take on my Nikon D70s would be good enough no question. I thought it would be more on composition, but I am wrong obviously. I am still able to go ahead with my application though. I just have to upload new samples after a 3 day waiti...
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Outside the Sugar Bowl Cafe - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-20 17:42:00
I was in the Sugar Bowl cafe in October of 2007 and stepped outside to go home. A nice autumn scene in Edmonton, Alberta I thought.Published on Tue, 20 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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Earning Money As A Hobby Photographer
2007-11-20 08:11:00
I have always wondered if I could earn a little bit of money in photography. I am a software developer at heart and that is my job, but I do like photography as well. Sometimes if you can earn a few bucks it can help justify that new lens you want or actually spending the time to go shoot something one afternoon. In regards to earning money as a hobby photographer, there was a recent article that hit some of the social media sites called How To Keep Your Job And Be A Part Time Photographer . A lot of interesting tips and suggestions. One of the interesting ones is supplying microstock. These are general purpose photos that could be used by anyone wanting to publish them for something. Perhaps a picture of a sewage drain that an environmental article might want. That is just an example, but you get the idea. Where To Go I have done a bit of searching and a site with only a couple articles is Earn Microstock. It is basic, but gets the point across. The author discusses taki...
More About: Money , Hobby , Earning

Wake Surfing - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-19 17:42:00
A beautiful day on Tie Lake in British Columbia. I laid down on the back of the boat and caught a picture of some wake surfing. While one guy is wake surfing, there is always a spotter that is ready to catch or toss back the tow rope.Published on Mon, 19 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
More About: Photo , Surfing , Wake

Improve Your Blog With Blogging Resources
2007-11-19 17:38:00
I have been doing some research lately for what other features might be nice for my blog. There are a lot of different sites out there and information to look at. Probably the best I have found so far is the Blog ging Resources page at Daily Blog Tips. This page is seriously awesome. There are over a hundred good quality links that the author has maintained into a collection of various categories. Here is the list from Daily Blog Tips Feed Directories Blog Directories Free Blog Hosts Blogging Platforms Traffic Generators Article Directories Social Bookmarking Sites Press Release Sites Blog Networks Money Makers Online Forums Web Hosting SEO Blogs Blogging Blogs Podcasts Wordpress Themes Web Analytics Wordpress Plugins Published on Mon, 19 Nov 2007 09:38:42 MST. - 0 Comments
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Bathroom - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-18 17:42:00
My wife and I recently helped redecorate my parents' main bathroom. It involved repainting and new everything basically. I thought this was a cool photo. Take from the corner it shows the new curtain hooks and looks down into the bathroom.Published on Sun, 18 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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Stanley Park - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-17 17:42:00
I was hanging out in Stanley Park in Vancouver, British Columbia back in October. A cold, rainy day. Pulling out of this harbor was a massive cruise ship on its way up to Alaska most likely.Published on Sat, 17 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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Notre Dame In Montreal - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-16 17:42:00
In May of 2007 I was in Mont real doing the tourist thing. Just before the Notre Dame was being closed for a service I was able to get in and take this photo. The lighting was dim so I set my camera on the floor since I did not have a tripod. Published on Fri, 16 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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Back From Anaheim
2007-11-16 09:08:00
In case you didn't know, I was gone for most of this week. That is why I was not posting consistently. I was attending the Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition put on by the Society of Petroleum Engineers. It was fairly interesting. It took place in Anaheim , California at the Anaheim Convention Center. Beautiful facility to have it in. Lots of space and amenities nearby (including Disneyland, which I did not have time to go see unfortunately). The conference consisted of a variety of presentations both technical and from a business standpoint. They all revolved around the oil & gas industry. On the first floor was the exhibition where there were many different companies with booths erected and lots of swag to give away. The weather was great and it was a great time, but it is back to the usual for me now.Published on Fri, 16 Nov 2007 01:08:03 MST. - 0 Comments
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Rabbit - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-15 17:42:00
This fellow comes almost every day around lunch and has a nap for the afternoon in a shrub outside my office window. His fur is almost completely white now, but this show was taken a few weeks ago. He was scratching his face or something, but it gave an excellent side profile. I was using my 18-200mm Nikon VR lens zoomed most of the way in. I was laying down on my office floor on the other side of the window, but he could not see me because of the reflection off the glass.Published on Thu, 15 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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Montreal Aiport - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-14 17:42:00
I have been into the "low to the ground" shots lately. Gives a different perspective for a lot of shots. Anyhow, this was in the Trudeau Airport in Mont real , Quebec as we waited for our flight. I set the camera on the ground and zoomed in as far down the hall as I could. I used the Nikon 18-200mm VR lens again.Published on Wed, 14 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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My Sidewalk In Fall - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-13 17:42:00
I wanted to try and capture a bit of the autumn look around my neighbourhood. This is the sidewalk on the south side of my house in Calgary. Leaves were scattered around. I used my 18-200mm Nikon VR lens and set it on the ground. The zoom was most of the way out and the aperture as wide open as it could be.Published on Tue, 13 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 1 Comments
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White Jellyfish - Photo Of The Day
2007-11-12 17:42:00
These jellyfish looked awesome against the blue background. The display at Vancouver Aquarium really brought out the detail of these creatures. They slowly moved up and down in their aquarium and you could see the thousands of tiny little filaments waving in the water as they pushed along.Published on Mon, 12 Nov 2007 09:42:26 MST. - 0 Comments
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Give Your Blog A Facelift
2007-11-12 12:47:00
I released my new look for the Thoughts From My Life the other day and I have to say I think it looks awesome. I am not done all the features that I want to put in, but I thought it would be best to just roll out the layout and fix what I came across later. It looks pretty good so far I must say. Some of the changes I have done are: New Colors I wanted to make it look a bit snappier. The color is more brownish, but it looks more professional and clean then the old one. New CSS Layout I found a design on Open Source Web Design. This design was by Arcsin. I modified it quite a bit, but the original one was by him. I used CSS as much as possible. It is supposed to improve your search engine optimization (SEO) by removing more of the display data to the CSS file and leaving the actual content in the html page. Menu Bar Moved to the Right Side Most blogs seem to do this anyways. The article headlines and content grab your eye a bit more when the menu options are on the other ...
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