A Blog for My Mushy Musings

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Just in case you’re wondering what happened to my chick lit book reviews here, no they didn’t get hit with the booster hose, and no, I didn’t quit reading em. I simply transferred my reviews to another place.

I simply realized that I have a blog for almost everything, but I don’t have a place for those things that I do whenever I feel like relaxing or have the urge to do something lame and mushy. I’m talking about my penchant for indulging in reading chick lit and romance books as well as occasional Asian drama watching.

And so I made a blog catered to those mushy stuff. Yes, there are times one absolutely needs to do and enjoy some lightweight stuff and I’m not about to deny myself that. I like reading chick lit and romance books coz its uncomplicated, nothing too dramatic or nerve wracking and it relaxes me & allows me to sleep well. Asian dramas are also one of my sources of fun. I enjoy them immensely, even if they do have out of this world, insane plots.

Simply Reveries

And I get to blurb all about them at Simply Reveries. Do visit me there, for sure you’d enjoy it if you are like me who indulges in mushy stuff every once in a while.

Chic Picks: 3 Pretty Tops

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Wow! I just realized I had been blabbing about mostly tech, gadgetry and innovation for the last few posts. Hmm, lest one forgets I’m just geek and not chic enough, I headed over to some online shops to do some serious window surf shopping.

And I hunted for some cool casual tops. I’m never the one for cheap custom t-shirts, but I do like simple, easy to wear tops.

I think I want to have these or something similar to these three..

Pretty Tops

Kendley Tunic Blouse available at Shopbop

Pretty Ladies Tops

Textured Bib Shirt – Striped available at LastCall

Pretty ladies Tops

Charlotte Ronson Floral Halter Blouse – available at Shopbop. Although if I should wear this I need to do something about the flabby arms. Lol.

On Static IP’s and SSL Certificates

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Here’s what I’ve been seriously mulling about for several weeks now. I’m taking time to think about it coz this thing involves some expense and its not as easy as buying switch plate covers. I’m talking about getting Dedicated or Static IP’s for my web blogs.

Why am I contemplating doing this for my blogs? I have several blocks of websites which earn from text link selling. And dedicated IP’s command higher prices and more opportunities compared to blogs on shared IP’s. In short, the blog would have increased value if its on a dedicated IP. Also, dedicated IP’s are great for security as well as to avoid being in a bad neighborhood. If you’re sharing an IP with another website deemed to be ‘bad’ then you may be tagged too as being in a bad neighborhood and having a static IP is a great way to avoid this.

However, getting a dedicated IP is a costly business. My webhost charges $50 per year for a dedicated IP. Which I think is expensive but reasonable coz to get a dedicated IP you need to have an SSL certificate which also costs a lot.

Anyway, after several weeks of studying my options, I have learned a few things.

  • As I’ve mentioned, if you want a dedicated IP, you need to have an SSL certificate. This is the only valid justification to request for a dedicated IP for most webhosts.
  • Domain validated SSL certificate which includes a Dedicated IP address usually costs $50 per year up.
  • Company validated SSL costs $150 up but for a simple blog this isn’t really needed. More for those who need a really secure site like online shops.
  • If you find the $50 per year expensive, you can also purchase a third party SSL certificate for more option when it comes to prices and available certificates. The lowest I’ve seen online for positive domain validated SSL is about $9/yr.  Read this for more info about Cheap SSL Certificates.
  • If you choose to purchase a third party SSL certificate, you can then request to have the dedicated IP address and certificate installed in your webhost. Third party SSL certificate installation fee usually is about $10. Then you also have to pay for the dedicated IP monthy charge of about $2 per month or $24 per year. The average total cost for a third party SSL cert + server installation + IP address would be like $43/year.  Cheaper by a few dollars than going direct but this requires a little bit of work on your part, but I think its worth it specially if you have a lot of blogs you want to place on a dedicated IP.
  • Lastly, its a very good choice to upgrade to a Reseller Hosting account if you are managing a lot of blogs and want it with a dedicated IP each. Personal and business hosting accounts usually just allow 1 dedicated IP for each account and you have to share these among your multiple blogs, which is not bad. But if you want 1 IP per 1 Blog, then it makes sense to get a Reseller Hosting and create 1 Cpanel for each blog, so each can also request for a dedicated IP.
All that said, right now, I’m saving up and will be upgrading my current business hosting plan to a reseller account soon and will be migrating all my blogs to a dedicated IP each soon.
If you’re looking for a webhost, I highly recommend this:

EverGreen Home Concept

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I love it when green concepts get meshed with technology. It has that refreshing and cool factor. I was actually looking for some planter designs when I came across this E Home Project by designers Jeiyong Chun & Hyunjune Yang on YankoDesign.

E Home Design Concept

Let’s face it, were now living in the world where space is getting more and more limited. So homes are usually crowded and cramped spaces. But it doesn’t have to be drab and gray right? This E Home concept is actually pretty simple, its a concept  which aims to maintain a well balanced home environment with sufficient greenery to keep the atmosphere cheery and fresh.

 

 

EverGreen Home Concept EverGreen Home Concept EverGreen Home Concept EverGreen Home Concept

 

The concept consists of 5 modular units - two green towers, one green wall, one green floor and one green stand. All of them are  sustained by a Smart Digital Plant Care System nurtures the plants with the help of a digitally empowered environment.

Note that this is still just a design concept, but if I may say so, a cool pretty one.

Traveling with My Blog Earnings

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I managed to amaze my husband. He knows my daughter, my sister and I will be traveling to the Philippines in June and this also includes a side trip to Kuala Lumpur for a few days of rest and relaxation. Chos! Hahaha. Last week he asked me if I had already booked our flights and hotels. I said yes. And he was astonished coz he doesn’t remember me withdrawing from our bank account, nor did I use the card to book the flight and accommodations. He asked me if I already paid for it, and he was surprised when I said yes, all paid.

Up to now, he still gets surprised that I could gallivant around, do a lot of shopping without making any dent to our savings. Of course, everything comes from my blogging earnings. I’m pretty much an independent and a thrifty wife. Lol.

For one, all our flights were booked in advance. I subscribed to airline promo alerts and booked our flights when it was still very cheap. I just used my debit card to book this, all funded from my Paypal and my blogging earnings from the last week of March to early April. I have also booked our hotels via Agoda.com and you can easily score early bird discounts there and pay by Paypal.

Travel Stamps

For flights I spent about $540 (2 pax). For hotels about $160. All total: $700. All of these from just about 3 weeks of blogging earnings from direct advertisers, and paid post writing. And I still had an excess to purchase a new air conditioner from March earnings.

March and April has been a really good months for me and to think that April is just halfway through. At the rate its going, I could still save more than enough for pocket money and shopping. Maybe, I’ll buy myself Bigsby Vibratos just to celebrate, noh?

The thing with earning with blogs is that, the earnings can be not uniform, there are months where you can really have a lot. Some are just lean. But the trick is to keep working on it and after awhile you’ll achieve some consistent earnings. As for me, I’m very very happy with what I am doing. I look like I bum around but I earn some, plus some more. I also like the freedom and not having anyone breathing down my neck and screaming about deadlines. Ah, the good life!

Image: africa / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Blogging Tips: Tagging You Images

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Here’s something I have learned from all those years of blogging: Tagging images is worth it!  ALT for images are simply alternate text for your images. It’s a very basic thing, but we often overlook it.

When I first started blogging, I have zero idea what image tagging is.Once you blog, and start adding images to your blog, you’ll see that when you upload an image on your blogging dashboard, you’ll be asked to add in a title, ALTernate text, caption, description etc.

Here’s a screenshot of basic image uploading on WordPress and Blogger. I’ve highlighted the portion where you can input the ALT text.

Image Uploading & Tagging on WordPress

Image Upload on WordPress

Image Uploading & Tagging on Blogger

Image Upload on Blogger

Tagging an Image Upload on Blogger

Tagging an Image Upload on Blogger

If you have forgotten to add in the ALT and Title tags while uploading the image you can still do so by clicking the image or you can also edit on HTML and this is how a basic image upload looks like.

Image ALT Tagging on HTML

You’ll ask why do we need to add ALT tags to our images? What can it do?

I’ll list down reasons why you should tag your images:

  • Search engines cannot read images. So if your images has ALT tags the it has more chances of being indexed much faster. For example, you upload a photo of plastic card printer but the search crawler cannot see your photo so in order for them to ‘read’ it you have to add in your ALT tag, ie. plastic card printing. A lot of people discount the importance of image search. But when I checked the site statistics of several of my sites where I have religiously tagged my images, well, I was really surprised that majority of my search engine traffic came from those searching for images.
  • Some people disable images on their browsers, and this is where ALT tags on your images comes into full play. If images are disabled then the brower will just show an empty icon, but if you have ALT tags, the empty icon will be displayed coupled with your ALT tag. Which will of course provide more information about your image and you have a better chance to get the interest of the viewer to view your image.

Some people also ask if they need to fill out ALT tag as well as the TITLE tag. There is a difference between the two. Both provide additional information about your image. Title tags however should be short, catchy and displays (in some browsers) when you hover your pointer on the image.

In case you haven’t been tagging your images yet, start now. It’ll your site much good. Read more about image tags on W3Schools.

Chic Picks: Orla Kiely Strip Stem Totes

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I did my fair share of blabbing about something mildly geeky the past few posts so I fancy inserting something girly and chic. No, its not some baby jogger city select reviews, but I found some pretty bags with very pretty vintage-y retro prints that I’m seriously salivating after.

Orla Kiely Stem Print Tote

The Orla Kiely Strip Stem Totes. They are just perfect for everyday, shopping use.  Would also be fab as a beach bag.

Orla Kiely Stem Tote

Orla Kiely Stem Tote

These ones I saw at Magnums and I’m at a loss which one I actually prefer. They retail at around $140.

Angry Birds Space Gets A Wow! Number of Downloads

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I’m seriously way behind my Angry Bird playing. After completing the Seasons & Rio version, I purposely stayed away from playing Angry Birds because I just CAN’T work! Lol. It’s so addictive, I could just sit all day in the sunrooms and play this. Never mind having lunch or taking a bath. And it was not good on my productivity.

And now I feel like laughing like a hyena coz at least a whole lot of people are in the Angry Bird frenzy particularly since the launch of Angry Birds Space, the little game from Rovio has garnered at least 10 Million downloads in less than 3 days! What a feat.

My kiddo has already joined the ranks and have downloaded the game. She says its super cool! And I’ll just take her word for it. I don’t want to tempt my already tight schedule. Lol.

Here’s a video preview of the game:

 


Via AngryBirds on Twitter | Rovio