My February Stockpile

Random things to post but that don’t deserve their own post.

1) Before our last trip I picked up a Macbook Air from Apple and it is just superb. It’s amazing that a fully working computer can be so thin and work so well.

2) When you purchase a new car from a dealer, they’ll give you one of those temporary permits that gives you one month to register your car. The deadline for registration is printed in big numbers for all to read. I’m surprised at how often the date on the permit is only a few days away. I don’t think I could allow myself to do that. It may as well read, “Hi, I procrastinate.”

3) It seems more and more people are starting blogs. I think that is great. Often, when someone starts a blog, I’ll get an email or a chat asking for any advice. Here are the five things I tell them.

• Don’t write anything that you wouldn’t say over a dinner table with friends and acquaintances. Blogs are public. They are crawled by Google. Once it’s on the internet, it’s always there. To remove it would be like trying to take a drop of dye out of a swimming pool.
• One of the basic rules of good website design is the site shouldn’t force anything on the viewer. Music, movies, flash cartoons, etc shouldn’t start on their own but rather let the reader push “play” or “go.” You never know if they have their speakers turned up loud, or they are at work, or they are on a slow connection and don’t want the movie to take up the speed.
• It’s always fun to get a comment on your blog. Now that you know this, be more giving of your own comments on other blogs. What goes around comes around.
• Don’t feel obligated to post. Just do it when you have something to say. Take breaks when you lose a little interest. Jump back in whenever you’re ready.
• Learn to hyperlink. A hyperlink is when a word or a phrase is clickable and links to another site.

  Why do this? Put plainly, the more a website is linked to, the higher it will be in Google searches. We can be pro-active in making sure good sites reach the top. For instance, anytime you write about Gordon B Hinckley or mormon doctrine be sure to link to sites that teach truth and are positive. (That way, the sites that are negative or deceitful will be dropped lower in the Google rankings.)

4) Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone from Cole.