Cat On My Head: blogging

Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

How Many Pennies?

I have suddenly been inspired to get up, get dressed, and take my jug of pennies over to the coin counting machine at the supermarket, and let it count them, so I can trade them in for paper money. I am guessing, from looking at the penny pile, that there is between ten and twelve dollars there. But I could easily be way off in either direction. Take a look for yourself:

So tell me, how much money in pennies do YOU think there is? Whoever comes in closest to the actual amount wins the smug satisfaction of being right. You can leave your guess as a comment to this post. I'll announce the correct amount in a few days!

UPDATE: A winner is Announced!! Congratulations to Russ! I already knew he was remarkable fellow, as he won over the heart of my dear friend MaLu. Now I know he is an excellent penny guesser as well, and he has won this contest, with the closest guess. So... how many pennies were there? There were 1,364 pennies in the jar. Thanks for playing, everyone!

Friday, November 2, 2007

Got Paid by PayPerPost!

Yahoo. I just got $20 deposited into my PayPal account by PayPerPost, for my initial post for them. So, that's exactly a one month turn around time from the time I wrote that post till the time of payment, just as PayPerPost promised. I love it when things work out the way they are supposed to. That money can buy several nice catnip toys! And catnip toys make Gracie VERY happy!!

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Jaya Joins PayPerPost

Recently I signed up to be a member of PayPerPost, and they accepted my blog. This is very cool. For those of you not familiar with PayPerPost, let me explain. They offer a variety of subjects for bloggers to post about. Then the blogger chooses ones that interest them and writes about them on their blog. If they write good posts, following the guidelines set by PayPerPost, then they get PAID for them. PAID!! Yahoooo!

I first learned about PayPerPost by reading posts like this on other people's blogs, and I also saw it being talked about on some of the blogging discussion boards. So I checked it out, and saw it was a good thing! If you're a blogger, and you'd like to earn some money on your blog, you can sign up too.

What you are now reading is my very first post for PayPerPost. Yes, they're going to pay me to spread the word about PayPerPost, and let you know that I'm now a member. For this little post, PPP is going to pay me $20. Easy money! Getting paid for what I love doing! That's great. Thanks, Pay Per Post.

You see, even Shmitty and Punkin are impressed with the PayPerPost opportunity. Could it be because they know that the money I earn may be spent on catnip toys, or tasty cat food? Maybe so. And of course, there will be more money in the future, as there are already other opportunities waiting for me at PayPerPost. No doubt my cats have plans for how that future income will be spent... winter is approaching, it might be time for some new soft, fuzzy, warm cat beds.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Blogging Star Award

Thanks, Lady Banana!

I'd like to thank Lady Banana for honoring me with the Blogging Star award. You can visit her interesting Lady Banana blog by clicking here. This award originated from Skittles' Place and here is what it's all about:

This award is for bloggers who shine their light throughout the Blogosphere. Some do it with humor, others with creativity, and others with their kind and thoughtful natures. We all know more than a few of them so why not give them some recognition?

Now I'm supposed to nominate 5 others...
As usual, I'm flaking out on this part.

Friday, August 24, 2007

From China With Love

In an earlier post, I posted a collage of stamps off of old letters sent to me from Japan by my friend Jilla. A reader of that post, Terence Chang, left a comment asking if I had any mail from China. I said no, but that if I ever did get any, I'd post it for him. Well, just yesterday I got a postcard mailed from China by Carol, the 'mother' of Sylvester the cat. So Terence, as promised, here it is:

click on either image to see larger view

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

I Feel Schmoozey, Oh So Schmoozey!

Yes indeed, today I am feeling the schmooze, because I've been given the schmooze award, not once, but TWICE, in the past few days. I'd like to extend my gratitude to both Sindhu, over at Under The Sun, and Awannabe over at Awannabe's Hangout, who chose to bestow this award upon me here at Cat On My Head.

Here's what Mike, one of the originators of this award, and the human behind the wonderful Gummy The Lovesick Alien, had to say about it: "Schmoozing as defined by Dictonary.com is the ability “to converse casually, especially in order to gain an advantage or make a social connection.” When it comes to blogging, schmoozing is your ticket to making new friends, getting yourself noticed and building a reputation. Some bloggers are gifted with the ability to effectively schmooze and others not so much."

What amuses me about being given this particular award, is that I am so UNschmoozey in my offline life! When I'm not at work, I really do live a hermit's life, and happily so. My socializing is done with cats, not with humans. But, online, I've discovered that I really do enjoy being a part of the blogging community, and participating in social networking sites like Blog Catalog.

Now, as it often goes with these blog awards, and memes, I am supposed to pass this on to 5 other schmoozey bloggers. And this is where I fall down in my responsibilities. BUT... If YOU, dear reader, are a blogger, and you're feeling the schmooze, just leave a comment saying that (include the specific words "I feel the schmooze"), and I will nominate the first 5 of you for the schmooze award. So tell me, are ya feelin' it??

Saturday, August 11, 2007

I Won Rising Blogger's 'Post of the Day'

I am pleased as punch to announce that my post from the other day about my Grandma Julia has been awarded the 'Post of the Day' by Judd Corizan over at The Rising Blogger, as seen HERE. Thanks, Judd! Each day Rising Blogger features one post to have the honor of that day's spotlight. It's a great idea, and it's worth visiting Rising Blogger to see what Judd has chosen each day.

Judd asks winners of the Post of the Day award to nominate a favorite post by another blogger. I thought long and hard, and I have made my nomination. "Which post? Which post?" I hear you wondering. Well, I'm not saying! Hah! All I will say is that I talked it over with 8 out of 9 of my cats, over tuna & cream, and we came to a unanimous decision. Judd, over at Rising Blogger, has been notified of our most excellent choice. Why did only 8 of the 9 cats participate in the decision? Well, because Boo was outside hunting bats, and could not be lured in for our important blog post nomination meeting. Any other questions?

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Content Theft

Well folks, they say imitation is the best form of flattery... BUT... I am not feeling flattered, or at all amused, by the CONTENT THEFT that I've just been alerted to by a reader named Jason. (Thanks, Jason!) A website put out by someone who is apparently unable, or simply unwilling, to come up with their OWN posts has been wildly stealing content from this blog.

Now, while it IS acceptable practice to quote from another site, with proper attribution, this person has gone WAY beyond that. They are posting my photos, my drawings, my dead relatives images, for heaven's sakes!! I counted 30 of my posts, with the ENTIRE posts reproduced over there, before I stopped counting. Now, this content thief does say the posts were originally mine, and link back here, which is nice, but that does not negate the fact that this person never asked permission to use any of my posts on their site. They appear to be using content without permission from several other sites as well. Below are a few examples, with the link to the post here on my blog first, followed by the link to the SAME post on the thief's site:

Links have been deleted by Jaya, as my content has now been removed from the offending site. (See my 'update' below.) But I WILL be checking for content theft in the future. Two easy ways to do this are, first, to copy unique text from your blog into Google, and see if it turns up anywhere else, and second, to use copyscape to check for plagiarism.

Well... just as there are bad eggs in the 'real' world, and people without ethics, there are those same types here in the blogging world. Unfortunately one of them has found his way to my blog and decided to loot it. I can only hope that this person will read this notice and will honor my request that they CEASE AND DESIST from using any of my content on their website, and REMOVE all content of mine that they already have displayed on their site.

UPDATE: Good news! They have taken down the three copied posts of mine I refer to above. Yay!! Now I will go see if they are removing all the REST of my posts... YES!! It seems this post has had the impact I hoped it would.

numly esn 37767-070809-294808-80

© 2007 All Rights Reserved.

Saturday, June 30, 2007

7 Random Things (Tag - I'm It!)

The other day I was 'tagged' by The Translator, over at his excellent Rosetta Rants blog, to post 7 Random Things about myself. Then I'm supposed to tag 5 other people to do the same. I'm going to flake out on tagging others, as it seems to cross some internal boundary I have (tagging phobia, perhaps?).

On the very same day The Translator tagged me, I was also nominated by both Gerri, over at Absolutely True, AND Adria, over at the In Cinq Project, for the Rockin' Girl Bloggers award. Both of them are themselves Rockin' Girl Bloggers, and I appreciate them tossing this title my way. I'm now supposed to nominate others, who will nominate others, who will nominate others... but I'm going to flake out on this as well (see tagging phobia comment above). I've also taken the liberty of taking the 'girl' out of my nomination, since I haven't felt like a 'girl' for around 30 years! Check out my blog roll, though, of sites I've enjoyed, as there are numerous Rockin' Bloggers of all ages and sexes on there, both human and feline!

Now, let's get on with the 7 Random Things About Me:

#1 - My first spoken word was CAT. (Yes, even at a very young age I knew what was important in life.)

#2 - I have come close to dying four times so far in this life:

- First, when I was 6 months old and ate almost an entire bottle of Vicks Vapo Rub. I was rushed to the hospital in a coma and my stomach was pumped.

Baby Me

- Second, when I was 3, and fell into the Bosporus and almost drowned.

- Third, and most unhappily, when I was 16, and took an large overdose of sleeping pills & alcohol in attempted suicide. I was once again rushed to the hospital where my stomach was pumped.

At Sixteen (tough grrrl)

- And fourth, about 6 years ago, when my appendix went kaplooie, and I had to have an emergency appendectomy.

#3 - I've had my name legally changed 3 times so far. The first time I had it changed was when I was 28, and since then I seem to have gotten the itch for change every 10 -11 years. I've officially been 'Jaya' for about 3 years so far.

#4 - I've had, in my younger, friskier days, an equal number of male and female lovers... and probably a few too many of each.

#5 - I am now entertaining all offers of marriage from any wealthy humans who would like a plump, aging, antisocial wife (with 9 cats). The cats and I will require our own house, with swimming pool, on a quiet section of your estate. Age, sex, and appearance not important, but you must like cats, be intelligent, and have a great sense of humor. If you prefer not to marry me, but would still like to bestow your financial favors upon me, that is also most agreeable.

#6 - I'm not involved in any organized religion, even though I have a sister who is a Catholic nun, and spirituality is a very important part of my life. The only religious organization I ever DID join was the Unitarian Universalist Church, back in 1987, when I lived in Provincetown, Massachusetts. That was in large part due to the intelligent and moving sermons being given by the wonderful Rev. Kim Crawford Harvie, who is now the Senior Minister at the Arlington Street Church in Boston.

Rev. Kim

#7 - I wrote these 7 Random Things down while driving my car to Santa Fe, finishing just as I drove past the Ohkay Casino, north of Española. I do NOT advise any of you to copy this behavior. Not only did it hinder my focus on my driving, but it was also a bit difficult to read what I'd written when I got home again.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Riding the BloggerWave Wave

Have you heard of Bloggerwave yet? I've just joined, and this is my first post for them. If BloggerWave likes this post (and what's not to like?), they will pay $10 into my PayPal account. Easy money! Maybe you'd like to check out Bloggerwave for yourself? They are looking for more bloggers NOW. Here's a partial screen shot of what I was seeing when I accepted this assignment:

This seems like a simple way for even beginning bloggers (like me) to earn some money. I'll give an update to let you know if they find this post an acceptable submission. Meanwhile, the cats are calculating just how many cans of catfood I can buy with the $10 payment. I wonder how much I could get if I go to the shelter and adopt another kitty and name it 'BW' for BloggerWave, and then feature it here on the blog? Hmmmm... stay tuned!

Sunday, June 10, 2007

ViralTags Blog Rank Boosting Experiment

I'm In - What About YOU??

First, thanks to Jimmy Huen, over at Founders Cafe, from whom most of this is copied. This is Jimmy's Improvement on the ViraLinks experiment begun by Andy Coates. I'm joining in on this experiment to see how it affects my rankings on things like Google Page Rank and Technorati.

Apologies to non-blogging readers who are not interested in this stuff. We bloggers sometimes obsess about our rankings and ratings. But, for me, the MOST important thing is YOU, my readers! The more the better. If you are a blogger, I hope you'll join in on this experiment, by following the instructions below. If this stuff has no interest for you, just ignore it, because I'll be posting another new post later today that should interest you more!

========= Copy and Paste below this line ==========

Instructions:

Important Update - Please read here!

1.) Copy and paste the matrix of “ViralTags” below courtesy of Founders Cafe .

2.) Substitute the Host Tag and one of the “Viral Tags” in the matrix with your anchor text of choice with your blog’s URL. Please keep anchor text to a max of 3 words (or 4 short words) to keep the matrix size manageable.

3.) When you get a ping back from someone that has your link in one of their “Viral Tags”, practice good karma by copying his/her Host Tag’s anchor text (automatically the associated link will also be copied) and paste it over one of your “Viral Tags” below.

4.) Encourage and invite your readers to do the same and soon this can grow virally.

Host Tag: Cat On My Head

Important: Once I get a ping back from you (I promise to do the best I can), I will add your anchor text and the associated link you designate as “Host Tag” here, replacing one of the “ViralTags” from the matrix above. As more and more bloggers copy and paste this matrix, the more backlinks you will have with your anchor text. If everybody who copies & pastes from your blog does the same, this will spread and soon go viral. So, the sooner you participate, the more links with anchor text you will receive.

****** Important Update (06/10/2007): Hello all, during the past 3 days I have been noticing that some bloggers did not update the “Host Tag” after they copy and paste the Viraltags matrix. If you are one of them, please update the “Host Tag” with the anchor text you want for your blog and its URL.

The main idea of this tagging program is to allow others that got pinged by you to easily go to your site, and copy your updated “Host Tag” anchor text and URL and paste them into their ViralTags matrix. Not everyone will bother to try to let you know to change your Host Tag like I do. I’ve spent some time to notify those that didn’t update, but it can be a hassle. If you follow the instructions listed below exactly, it’ll make everything easier and clearer for everyone. Thanks for your participation! *********

======== Copy and Paste from Above this line ========

So that's it. Let's hope this improves ranks for all who use it- blessings be upon us from the Cyber Gods! Please leave comments here if you have copied from this matrix so that I can add you just in case your ping back didn’t reach me.

Just so we can see how well this experiment works for ME, here are my rather sad rankings as of right now, and I'll update them later to show if the hoped for improvements occur. As I'm posting this, on June 10th, my Google ranking is a whopping 0, and my Technorati ranking is 592,405 with an authority of 9. (For those not familiar with Technorati, you want a lower rank number, and a higher authority. I was at a rank of almost one million and an authority of 6 when I first started paying attention to it a little over a week ago.)

UPDATES:

Aha! Less than 3 hours after I posted this, my Technorati authority has gone up 4 points to 13, and my rank has (FINALLY) gone down under the half million mark, to 419,196.

Hmmmm... a half hour later, my Technorati authority has gone up another point, to 13, but my rank (arggghhh!) has gone in the WRONG direction, worse than when I began this, up to 593,039. Does Technorati disapprove of my using ViralTags to improve rank? Am I being too neurotic about all these numbers?? (That's a hypothetical question, folks, no need for you to answer it!)

And here is how the numbers continued to change over time (remember
you want to see your 'authority' go UP, and your 'rank' go DOWN:

1 day after posting: Technorati authority 31, and Technorati rank 170,318.
2 days after posting: Technorati authority 52, and Technorati rank 137,795.
3 days after posting: Technorati authority 69, and Technorati rank 74,069.
4 days after posting: Technorati authority 82, and Technorati rank 60,055.
6 days after posting: Technorati authority 131, and Technorati rank 42,195.
9 days after posting: Technorati authority 175 , and Technorati rank 26,735.
2 weeks after posting: Technorati authority 206 , and Technorati rank 21,182.
On July 13, 2007: Technorati authority 302 , and Technorati rank 13,633.

Friday, May 4, 2007

Is Google Googling My Thoughts??

A couple of days ago I added a small Google Ads display to this blog, as a way to generate some income. It has interested me to see what they have been displaying. They are supposed to match the products being advertised to the content of my blog. While the ads do switch around, I've noticed that most of the time they are advertising various drug rehab and drug detox programs- 'get over your heroin addiction while going on a wilderness retreat & rafting down the Rio Grande'- that sort of thing.

Now I'm wondering just how that fits in with anything I've been blogging about. Does it? Not as far as I can tell. Why aren't they advertising cat related products, or maybe some good zombie repellent? That would make more sense to me, and heck, everyone should have a can of zombie repellent handy these days.

But no, they're stuck on drug recovery. And at my place of employment, a secret facility buried deep beneath the sands of an undisclosed location in New Mexico, where wayward youth are sent to keep them safe from zombies, drugs DO come up from time to time. Why, just the other day we discovered that one kid has been abusing over the counter cold to get high. Ick. And other kids were caught storing bottles of pee by their beds, presumably to help someone else pass their urine analysis tests ('UA' tests, given to detect drug use). Double ick.

So, certainly I have had recent thoughts of drugs, drug abuse, and recovery (or lack thereof) from drug addiction. But how does Google know this??? Does putting their ads onto my blog also put some sort of Google Thought Monitor into my mind??? I confess I did not read all the fine print in the agreement between Google Ads and myself. Now I feel a little nervous. What other things which I thought were private does Google Ads know about me???? You can be darn sure I'll be watching those little ads VERY closely, to see what they are selling! Am I being paranoid?? Maybe, and maybe not... time will tell.

Update: While Google did begin displaying more relevant ads soon after this post was written, not long afterwards I decided I just didn't like the look of those ads on my blog, regardless of what they were about, and I removed them.

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Some Recent Blogging Trends...

I came across some nifty graphs, which show recent trends in the blogosphere. For instance, this one below, which shows numbers of mentions of cat people, dog people and horse people over the last 6 months:

It looks as if the cat people are a bit more unstable, with greater ups & downs than the dog people. The cat people had a great day around February 9th, but overall we need to pull ourselves up a bit, as it is obvious (to me and my 9 cats) that CAT people should have the highest levels. Of course, just by posting this, and mentioning cat people, I am boosting our ratings. So I feel I've done my bit, and now I'm encouraging the rest of you cat people to get blogging about your love of felines! As for the low rating of horse people, I think that is just because they are out in the stables and fields with the horses, and not inside blogging about it!

Switching topics, here is another graph, showing how the 'Seven Deadly Sins' are doing in blog mentions. But first, before you look, can you name the seven deadly sins???:

It's easy to see that anger and pride are the front runners by a wide margin. Why are we blogging about those two so much more than the others? I would have thought lust would put in a better showing. And, in my own personal life, I'm certainly pulling for gluttony and sloth.

And, just to show balance between the dark side and the light side, lets take a look at the 'Seven Roman Virtues', and see how they are fairing in the blogosphere:

Clearly, hope is by far the most popular virtue to blog about. Fortitude and temperance, on the other hand, seem to have fallen by the wayside. Or at least we don't have much to say about them these days. I sat here a moment trying to think of something to say about them, but I also am at a loss. But hey, how about all that hope, huh?? It makes me smile. It makes me feel, well, rather hopeful... How about you?

OK, and I couldn't resist this one final graph, comparing blog mentions of ghosts, demons, and zombies. Now this one surprised me. Frankly, I thought the zombies would put in a much better showing. But that might just be my own personal prejudices showing though- I admit I'm kinda into zombies. And what was with that huge spike in people blogging about ghosts around February 9th?? Curious... (insert spooky ghost music here)

These graphs are just some of the cool features available at: http://www.blogpulse.com/

Friday, April 27, 2007

Hungry Entities Be Gone!

Well... stranger and stranger... I have just gotten off the phone from talking with one of my more, uhm, unique friends, who goes by the code name of mrose. I asked her if she had been to visit my blog. She said she had, but that she could not stay long, because she sensed the strong presence of many 'hungry entities'. Bugger!

I have not, I repeat, NOT authorized any hungry entities to hang out on my blog. I hereby command ALL unauthorized entities to LEAVE right now. (This does not apply to you, Dear and Most Welcome Reader!) I am on my way to bed, for much needed rest. But, to monitor the hungry entity exodus, I leave the nose of Artus the Large. He will sniff out any hungry entities that try to linger here on my blog. And now I feel a sense of peace surrounding me, and I know that all is well.