I always wanna know what is it that I'm doing

blog

Pronunciation: \ˈblȯg, ˈbläg\

Function: noun

Etymology: short for Weblog

Date: 1999

:a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often

-blog·ger noun

-blog·ging noun

Origin

The term "weblog" was coined by Jorn Barger on 17 December 1997. The short form, "blog," was coined by Peter Merholz, who jokingly broke the word weblog into the phrase we blog in the sidebar of his blog Peterme.com in April or May 1999. Shortly thereafter, Evan Williams at Pyra Labs used "blog" as both a noun and verb ("to blog," meaning "to edit one's weblog or to post to one's weblog") and devised the term "blogger" in connection with Pyra Labs' Blogger product, leading to the popularization of the terms.

Personal blog

A personal blog which is the most common type of pblog is an ongoing journal or commentary by an individual. A type of personal blog which is extremely detailed, consists of blogs with very short posts and seeks to capture a moment in time is called “microblogging.

Corporate blog

A blog can also be made for business purposes. Corporate blogs are either used internally to enhance the communication and culture in a corporation or externally for marketing, branding or public relations purposes.

Question blogging

Question blog or Qlog is a type of blog that answers questions. Questions are sublitted in the form of a submittal form, or through email or other means such as telephone or VOIP. Qlogs can be used to display shownotes from podcasts or the means of conveying information through the internet. Many question logs use syndication such as RSS as a means of conveying answers to questions.

By media type

Blogs composed of videos is called vblog, one comprising links is called a linklog, a site containing a portfolio of sketches is called a sketchblog a blog dedicated to music is an MP3 blog, or one comprising photos is called a photoblog. Tumbleblogs are blogs with shorter posts and mixed media types. Blogs that are written on typewriters and then scanned are called typecast or typecast blogs.

A rare type of blog hosted on the Gopher Protocol is known as a Phlog.

By device

The type of device used to compose a blog can also be used as an identifying factor. A moblog is a blog written by a mobile device like a mobile phone or PDA. One early blog was Wearable Wireless Webcam, an online shared journal of a person's personal life combining text, video, and pictures transmitted live from a wearable computer and EyeTap device to a web site. This practice of semi-automated blogging with combined live video together and text was known as sousveillance. Such journals have been used as evidence in legal matters.

By genre / genre blogs

There are blogs that focus on a particular subject, such as political blogs, travel blogs, house blogs, fashion blogs, project blogs, education blogs, niche blogs, classical music blogs, quizzing blogs and legal blogs (often referred to as a blawgs) or dreamlogs. Art blogs and music blogs are the two most common types of genre blogs.

Splog is a type of blog used for the sole purpose of spamming. This is not a legitimate type of blog.

Therapeutic benefits

Scientists have long known the therapeutic benefits of writing about personal experiences. Blogs provide another convenient avenue for writing about personal experiences. Research shows that blogging improves memory and sleep, boosts immune cell activity and reduces viral load in AIDS patients and even speeds healing after surgery

What they say about SEO

Its kinda funny that I am writing about stuff like this when a few years ago I made a vow that I will forever refuse to have my life taken over by computers, that even if the whole world are pushing buttons to kill or give life to each other, I will somehow find a way to retain my manual ways (maybe my stone-age ancestors have a great influence in me..talk about ancestor worship!).

I'm writing this article for Ebdarr, whom I promised to be the star of my next post (happy now?)

for Rod, whom I buddied up, who explained things to me in a very understandable way (very few people has this gift)

for Lutz, who took time out to explain to me what link building is all about,

for myniki...you're one of the major reasons why I'm learning as much as I can about technology....so that I may fully appreciate your world and share your passion (I hope I can learn as much as to build a robot that will do the dishes for us...peach scented hand softeners are becoming really expensive nowaday)

Customer base expansion

Active searchers who actively seek information on your products and services are more likely to buy. 78% of people who go online begin with a search engine; when your website is invisible to the search engines your competitors get their business.(total bummer)

To be seen or Not to be seen

Your website must be found within the first three results. The faster and easier your products and services can be found, the more likely you will increase your sales. Search engine optimization means being placed in front of your customer online when they are looking for you. When people searching online do not find what they're looking for they quickly hit the back button to search anew. Through search engine optimization you can avoid this, by being properly situated for the exact service searchers are looking for.Love the spotlight!!!

It's about time and money

Being listed within the search engines are free however, millions of websites are competing for the top spot. The good news is when search engine optimization is used properly search engines will promote your products and services. Actively seeking customers wish to better understand your services; your website communicates this message without you having to be present. The powerful combination of saving time and money, allows you the ability to focus on providing an even better product, which grows your business even more.

Legal trafficking

Having people visit your website, referred to as ‘traffic’, is an important aspect in building your business online. Gaining traffic does multiple things for you, but first and foremost it helps increase your number of sales. As the number of people who visit your site grows the more likely someone is to buy from you. Secondary benefits include helping you better understand how your site is being used. By tracking what users do once they are on your website, you can adapt your website to better capture the audience that was previously leaving. Through search engine optimization you are able to capture high volumes of traffic and reap the benefits. (do this, or buy a very strong glue and glue the searchers to your website)

Zzzzz ZzzzzzZZzzzzzz

S L e E P i n G
I know everyone lacks sleep, so I'm writing this article

Half of our life we spend sleeping and we really don’t bother to even think on it. Sleep is nothing but the way to rest our body, during which we are relieved from tension and the consciousness of world is suspended. It is a natural process and occurs after specific interval by default. While in sleep we have lessened movement of the skeletal muscles and slowed-down metabolism.

Sleeping is it waste of time?
No actually is just like an investment one makes in buying property. It will pay off definitely. Good sleep is necessary since it gives good health, mental and emotional functioning and safety. So we must find time from our daily busy schedule give our workaholic brain some rest. Brain also requires rest, it starts to give up after long working hours. People who don’t get proper sleep and feel it as waste of time, most of them get on with chronic insomnia and walk atound looking like zombies. They are more likely than others to develop several kinds of psychiatric problems, and health problems.

Amount of sleep:
The amount of sleep each person needs depends on many factors, including age. If we don’t feel sleepy through out the day means we got enough sleep. Scientifically small babies require more sleep around 15-16 hours. The young people sleep for 8-9 hours and the adults require 7-8 hours sleep. However it’s much dependent on the individual’s body requirement also. While some feel comfortable with say 8 hrs of sleep others may require 9hrs.

Factors affecting sleep at night:

1) Environment: A distracting sleep environment such as a room that's too hot or cold, too noisy or too brightly lit can be a barrier to sound sleep. And interruptions from children or other family members can also disrupt sleep. Other influences to pay attention to are the comfort and size of your bed and the habits of your sleep partner. If you have to lie beside someone who has different sleep preferences, snores, can't fall or stay asleep, or has other sleep difficulties, it often becomes your problem too. Kick him out of your bed (kidding), so you can be sure that the there are no such disturbances.

2) Illness: A number of physical problems can interfere with your ability to fall or stay asleep. The pain of backache, stomachache can cause problems. So consult doctor for medicines in such case.

3) Mental Condition:If we have stress in our mind before going to bed it will cause hurdle in sleep. So forget your burden by reading some books(preferably boring books) or watching a light comedy show. This will help to reduce tension.

How to get a good sleep
According to leading sleep researchers, there are techniques to combat common sleep problems:
Keep a regular sleep/wake schedule
Don’t drink or eat caffeine four to six hours before bed and minimize daytime use (Too bad for the coffee manufacturers)
Don’t smoke, especially near bedtime or if you awake in the night
Avoid alcohol and heavy meals before sleep
Get regular exercise
Minimize noise, light and excessive hot and cold temperatures where you sleep
Develop a regular bed time and go to bed at the same time each night
Try and wake up without an alarm clock (This is actually a saving tip. Alarm clock batteries are getting expensive)
Attempt to go to bed earlier every night for certain period; this will ensure that you’re getting enough sleep...ZzzzzzZzz zzZzzzzzzZZzz

Makeover

I'm so happy! I saw Jan Reinze's computer 1 day and I noticed that everything was in pretty shades of brown. I asked him about it and he said that, he customized it. I wasnt really surprised because I know that Jan is good with computers. Aside from Nung Rene, he's the one I usually run to for help when my compter is talking alien. “Greetings Earthlings...Take me to your leader”

I said to myself that one day, I'll be able to tame my alien Ubuntu and dress him up like an Earthling. I didnt know that today is the start of my reighn over the not-so alien-anymore Ubuntu.

Wha-ha-ha-ha-ha...(cough) (cough) (cough)...And again...(Took a deep breath and...)Wha-ha-ha!!!

Guess what! I changed my wall paper!!!

I have this pretty green picture of a blurry flower that I wanted to use as a wall paper. I don't know how to do it, so I asked Zaza if she knows how to. She came and generously helped me out, but since she's not good friends with Ubuntu, she ended up advising me to consult our other friend Google.

Google asked some of his acquaintances, and one of them gave me the tip on how to dress up Ubuntu. I guess Ubuntu liked it, because we ended up shopping for a few more clothes, he's even willing to share some of his clothes to my new friend will626@blogspot.com. I'm just so glad that Ubuntu and I are getting along well now. If there's anyone of you who wants to see my Ubuntu, please don't hesitate to come and visit him in my workstation. He's now wearing a flowered outfit in a striking shade of green.

Accounting, Quickbooks and Me

When I was in high school, my first cousin from Antique came to live us. He was a Commerce student at the University of San Agustine, but he was too busy with his social life to even attend his classes, much more do his reports and assignments. I'm sure you can imagine what usually happens during exam time. Yes, you're righ, cramming, paper scattered all over his room, energy drinks on the table. Worse, he was not the type who can easily grasp what he's reading, and he had poor vocabulary too. Wow! I'm sure he'll kill me if he finds out that I'm writing about him. I'm soooo mean! So what he would usually do is, ask “ Ne, in your opinion, what does this paragraph imply??” “ If you don't mind, read the whole page and explain it to me..” “ Oops, sorry gotta go, I'm meeting my girlfriend, she'll go ballistic if I stood her up..you know how girls are...just read the entire chapter and explain everything to me when I get back...” Guess what, he was making a high school student read and interpret his Accounting lessons for him. And that's how I started to be intrigued with Accounting.

When I found out that I'll be learning about accounting and bookkeeping, I was excited. This is my chance to learn more without enrolling at CPU's and paying the ever expensive tuition. I don't have anything against CPU, I intended to transfer there but to my dismay, I couldn't afford the the tuition fees. Rest in a jar!

Going back to my learning about accounting and bookkeeping, I've been viewing the Quickbooks tutorials for several days now, but I felt like I wasn't going anywhere (farther than the CR or the dreamscape). I had been taking down notes so I wont have to view the tutorials again if I'll have task that will require me to use Quickbooks, and early today, Miss Van and Miss Hyzent gave me the opportunity to share my notes to the future trainees. Yehey! I didn't know that my tool to fight sleepiness can be used for a good cause.

Today also, Miss Van and Miss Hyzent also gave me the chance to manipulate a “dummy” Quickbook, (“dummy”, like a dummy phone). Today is full of exciting events (including Tita Barb's chicken curry). I got to have a more thorough idea of what Quickbooks is really like. I was overwhelmed with how much information you can store in it and how nuch you can do with it. I'm so proud of the people who developed Quickbooks. Instead of using their intelligence to produce something harmful like weapons of mass destruction, they dedicated their time and energy into making something that is very beneficial. Kudos!!!

Buddy Up With EugeneBu

For an hour and 5 minutes, I buddied up with Eugene to somehow get an idea of the possible general task I'll be doing for a client. Eugene is a multi-tasker, who believes that he is more like a jack of all trade person whose task is not solely focused on 1 area. He does some general tasks and some SEO tasks as well.

Despite his busy schedule and my being an alien to his world, he welcomed me with eagerness and patiently explained to me what SEO is all about. He even got a chair where I can sit so I can be comfortable while he's showing me what his tasks are like. Eugene receives emails and listings of prospect clients from our US correspondent Dan, sorts them out and evaluates the possibilities of these prospects becoming clients of Virtual Assistant technologies Inc. To be honest, I'm not confident that I have a strong grasp of everything that we tackled because I was very distracted by the computer jargons that I do not understand.

He is indeed right when he said that the very essence of an SEO professional can be summed up with colloquial terms and jargons. I feel sorry for him because, he would launch into this exciting description of SEO, then he had to stop suddenly to define some term for me. I didnt know that being not computer savvy can be this embarrassing and frustrating.

I find it amazing that I was buddied up with some VAT agents to have an idea on the different task of a virtual assistant, but I ended up not only learning about their tasks, but also their positive outlook and aspirations. Today, I learned about the value of patience and persistence in learning and the importance of computer literacy in this fast paced world.

I'm beginning to see the world as a battle field of the minds with computers as weapons. It made me realyze how much I have missed out by not taking interest in computers and techological advances before. I regret every single time I said, “Im not into friendster, I dont even want a computer.” If I had acknowledge the growing importance of computers before, I would already have met HTML a long time ago. Maybe, Linux and I have been friends already or I'll be talking JAVA by now.

But now that I've been re-introduced to computer and its many facets, I'll work twice as hard to get to know them, before you know it, we'll be best friends. That's where Patience and persistence come in.

An Hour with Jan

First of all, I would like to thank Miss Van for giving me the opportunity to have this buddy up session, to Jan Reinze for his patience and encouragement, to Edbarr for letting me borrow the chair beside him and to myself for my hair and pimples.

The buddy up session with Jan Reinze was very rewarding. His client owns a business that "makes every event a memory" and believes that "success can be earned at home". They personalise stuff, from candy bars, bottled water, mint books to announcements and invitations.

Jan has 2 easy, but arduous tasks which requires him to exercise extreme care in the consideration and treatment of details. His first task is to update the IP addresses of his client's over 800 clients. He had to manually change the old IP addresses to the new IP address. His other task is to find and merge duplicate accounts of prospects and distributors, check if the information listed are consistent and updated. What I appreciate so much about the buddy up session is that Jan let me try doing both of his tasks..with his supervision of course. At first, I was adamant. I was worried that I would mess up and he would be in trouble, but he was very encouraging. If there's one thing that I learned from this buddy up session, its to trust yourself. "If you're sure that you're doing it right, don't be afraid to click OK," that's what Jan told me. So, "OK," this is my reflection.

From Stefan and Loubelle

If life is duty dare it, if life is a burden, bear it. If life is a thorn crown, wear it. Though it breaks thy heart and body in pain, though the burden bears the down, close thy lips and stand the pain, first the cross and then the crown.

At around 2 AM today, my buddy up session with Stefan started. Stefan is one of the general task virtual assistants. Like me, he is also a trainee, and is currently in his 17^th day in the company. Even though he was waiting for a call from his client, he still took time out to show me the day to day tasks he does for his client who owns a company that processes peoples' insurance benefits/claims. Stefan had to make weekly/ monthly reports, sort out emails, discard solicitations/ advertisements, and forward necessary emails to his clients's other employees. He would sometimes make invitations, or do some transcription. His client would send him files that look like minutes of meetings scanned straight out of a notebook. He had to make sense of it and write it in a more understandable format. Sometimes he gets files containing instructions on how to do a complicated-looking spreadsheet file or, a list of jumbled and /or missing information such as email addresses, which he had to sort out and fill up. These tasks could be so tedious that it would sometimes take him several days to complete it. Stefan emphasised that tasks vary depending on the client so I just have to wait and see what my client would be like.

By 4 AM I sat in between Loubelle and Tita Presci and listened as they described their respective clients. Loubelle's tasks with her clientare mostly email related. She manages the client's campaigns, sorts out and forward email messages, answers Skype messages and downloads and uploads videos of the client's campaign. Her tasks are not that complicated but they are pretty tedious. There were times when she had to manage the email accounts of Norbert's associates too. Loubelle has to be always alert and meticulous in doing her tasks.

Judging from what I've observed, virtual assistants have to be well-rounded, capable of multi-tasking, have strong desire for continued excellence and must have genuine the desire to help. I've noticed that virtual assistants are pretty much exposed to delicate and secured information and trade secrets of their clients. Its indeed very important that they are able to observe and maintain confidentiality. Looking at Stefan's and Loubelle's tasks, I can say that I still got a lot to learn in order for me to become an efficient virtual assistant. I have to strive to be one...first the cross and then the crown

5 Positive Thoughts

1. If you're feeling tired and you think you you've had enough, think again! Enjoy being alive, there's plenty of time to be dead.

2. Never bring your problems at home when you go to work. Don't let it affect your work and your relationship with your colleagues. Sometimes, nobody cares if you are miserable, so you might as well be happy

3. If you can't solve it, it's not a problem - its reality

4. Happiness in helping your client and your colleagues is like perfume, you cant spray it on others without getting a few drops yourself

5.If you're client is turning into a big #$%@*(&^%...and you feel like its the end of all the happiness in the world, don't, fret...If all good things must come to an end, don't worry, because all bad things will eventually end too.