Daily Search Coverage:

Google experimental is messing with SEO's minds. Welcome ACAP! Download your AdSense reports soon. Is Google Media Bot messing breaking your URLs? Tune up your Yahoo campaigns. Dell's lawsuit may impact Google. Google released a mobile phone locator. Smart priced and wondering why? December conference coverage schedules are live. Google added a malware report form. Danny & Rand chat. Google Reader adds features. Search in Pictures is out.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Google Experimental Offers Vote Up Search Listing: End of SEO?
2. Will Webmasters Adopt The New Robots.txt Proposal (Automated Content Access Protocol)?
3. Download Your AdSense for Search Top Query Data Before Google Deletes It
4. Google AdSense's MediaBot Crawler Breaking URLs?
5. Tune Up Your Yahoo Search Marketing Campagn
6. Lost? Google Mobile Phone Locator Will Find You
7. Will Google AdSense be Impacted by the Dell Lawsuit?
8. Tips to Tell if You've Been Smart Priced with Google AdSense

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. SES Chicago & PubCon Vegas Next Week: Can't Make It?
2. Google Adds Report Malicious Software Form
3. Danny Sullivan & Rand Fishkin Talk About Search Ads Vs. Facebook Ads
4. Google Reader Adds Recommendations And Drag & Drop
5. Search in Pictures: Matchbox20 At Yahoo, Ask Tattoo & Yahoo Paintball

Daily Link Finds:

This is the November 30th issue of a daily post that will contain links to commentary of the posts over at the Search Engine Roundtable. All links I find throughout the day that ad some commentary to the posts written over at the Search Engine Roundtable, will be in the Daily Link Finds. The purpose is two fold: (1) To help people find discussion around our articles and (2) To thank people for linking to us. How do I find these links? Only one way, via a Google Blog Search link command, so make sure that (1) you are in Google Blog Search and (2) link to us.

Daily Link Finds for November 30th, 2007:

• Google Busted Laundering Links?, WebProNews
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 29, 2007, Search Engine Land
• Google Adds Form for Reporting Malware in Results, Search Engine Journal
• Cuida tus datos estadisticos de Google AdSense, www.maxglaser.net
• Апдейт Google Sitelinks, thisishot.org
• Friday Roundup, www.rightreading.com
• Google Busted Laundering Links?, Revenue Source
• Google продает ссылки со своего домена с PR7, thisishot.org
• Hacker & Malware Attack Recap, piloseo.com
• I Hate Writing, so Why Do I Have a Blog?, www.brianlafrance.com
• PR 7 Links from Google.com Only $1,995??? What, DigitalPoint Forums
• SES Chicago , Search Engine Land
• Vers une rvision du format robots.txt ?, Search Engine Feng Shui

Posted at 2:35 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

Question: How can one make their phone bill cheaper without actually switching to a VOIP solution?
Answer: Threaten to switch to a VOIP solution!

We use a PBX box from Fonality at RustyBrick. It allows us to use a hybrid of VOIP and analog lines for our phone calls. By default, almost all calls go out over the VOIP lines to save costs while incoming calls go over the analog lines.

My VOIP bills are dollars per month (we pay maybe pennies per minute). My analog bills are over a hundred per month.

I was thinking of swapping out the remaining lines to VOIP lines from a new provider. So I decided to call my phone carrier and tell them the story. I did and then I was convinced I should switch. The next day, I get a call from a manager at the phone carrier telling me they will match the prices of the new VOIP lines I would get.

So I was planning on getting four lines at $25 per month, each line. They matched it. I got my first bill and I am now paying a lot less!

Good deal!!!

Posted at 2:15 PM | Permalink | Category: RustyBrick | Comments (1) (0)

Just a quick update on SMX Israel.

The planning is going well. I hope to have a page up somewhere at SMX with a registration form, agenda, location and times shortly.

Give me a couple more business days and we should be set!

Posted at 2:11 PM | Permalink | Category: SEO Tips | Comments (0) (0)

I basically have two ad positions on the Search Engine Roundtable site. The ad units look like what you see in the top right picture here.

Ever since day one, I set up each ad to run in the same position. So on every page refresh, ad box 1 would have the same banner in it, every time. It wasn't really fair to my advertisers. One would have a top right ad, while another would have an ad in the bottom left (possibly under the fold). So finally, I set it up to rotate the ads randomly.

Using OpenAds, it is easy to configure.

(1) Set one on single zone.
(2) Link all the banners you want to see in that zone, to the zone you set up above.
(3) On the "Invocation code" section of that zone, select "Yes" for both "Don't show the banner again on the same page" and "Don't show a banner from the same campaign again on the same page."
(4) Select the JavaScript code from that page.
(5) Copy and paste that JavaScript code for each ad spot on that page. In my case above, I inserted the same ad code six times.

Now all my advertisers get a fair shot and the premium - premium spot. Plus, I never have to rebuild the site for those premium ads.

And a big welcome to Compete, who has launched a new analytics package named Compete Search Analytics!

Posted at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Category: Blogging | Comments (2) (0)

Shawn Hogan at DigitalPoint Forums explained some of the trouble server people have to go through with servers and hardware breaking. Oh, how I can relate.

I am exhausted...

Sequence of events...

The cluster lost one of the blades today for the first time ever (this blade is the 2nd master DB server). The primary master writes everything to the 2nd master, then the 2nd master replicates out to all the slaves (read only access). Something happened with mysqld before, but this time it was a hardware issue.

I screw with it remotely as best I can. Once I figure out it's a hardware problem, I go to data center.

The blade is on, but not able to be pinged. Okay.... let's just power cycle it.

Weird, the power button doesn't work on the blade.

Check the full post... Sorry Shawn!

Posted at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Category: Web Development | Comments (0) (0)

At first I thought this video was created by Ask.com, but then I looked deeper.

The video is to promote the launch of FTheBigTheThree.com, which takes place December 1st.

But if you look at the title tag, it says, "Social Media Marketing, Social Network Optimization." So now it appears that a Social Media Marketing and Social Network Optimization company owns the name.

The whois information is private, so no hints there.

So anyone know what this site is about?

Here is the video:

Posted at 5:07 PM | Permalink | Category: SEO Tips | Comments (1) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

Google received rights to a spam patent application. Is Google selling PageRank? Google malware problem is solved, for now but search spam is a serious issue. Google fixed AdWords diagnostic tool bug. Should you place ampersands in the title tag? PDFs get contextual ads. Gore's site gets spammed. PubCon and SES coverage schedules are up. Google Sitelinks were updated. Google Experimental offers digg voting style. Yahoo Search Marketing ads a campaign bid tune up feature.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Google Spam Patent Explorer: "Identifying Manipulated Articles"
2. Google Selling PageRank 7 Links on Google.com Domain
3. Fake .CN Google Spam "A Huge" Malware Problem
4. Google Says AdWords Diagnostic Tool Bug Now Fixed
5. What is the Best Format for an Ampersand in the Title Tag?
6. Make Money From Your PDFs: Yahoo Teams up with Adobe
7. Al Gore's Website Hacked by Spammers
8. Are You a Blogger Going to Pubcon? Show Tickets Available!
9. Pubcon's Wednesday Night Activity: Werewolves
10. Search Engine Roundtable Conference Coverage: December 2007 Package (SES Chicago and Las Vegas Pubcon)
11. Google Sitelinks Update on November 29, 2007

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Search Spam Is Getting More Dangerous Every Day
2. Directly Influence Your Google Search Results At Google Experimental
3. Yahoo Contextual Ads To Power "Ads For Adobe PDF"
4. Yahoo Search Marketing Adds Campaign Bid Tune-Up & More

Daily Link Finds:

This is the November 29th issue of a daily post that will contain links to commentary of the posts over at the Search Engine Roundtable. All links I find throughout the day that ad some commentary to the posts written over at the Search Engine Roundtable, will be in the Daily Link Finds. The purpose is two fold: (1) To help people find discussion around our articles and (2) To thank people for linking to us. How do I find these links? Only one way, via a Google Blog Search link command, so make sure that (1) you are in Google Blog Search and (2) link to us.

Daily Link Finds for November 29th, 2007:

• SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 28, 2007, Search Engine Land
• Adobe and Yahoo! Unveil Beta Of New Advertising Service For PDF Publishers (Adobe), Techmeme
• Adsense NONSENSE 0 penny clicks! - Page 2, Talk Arcades
• Barry Schwartz achieves ultimate goal!, Andrew R H Girdwood
• Congratulations To Barry Schwartz, Cre8asite Forums
• Do As I Say, Not As I Do, Butterfly Media Romania Blog
• Родные или свои 404 страницы, thisishot.org
• Google expunges malware sites from search results (Gregg Keizer/Computerworld), Techmeme
• Search Spam Is Getting More Dangerous Every Day, Search Engine Land
• Why Sphinn Matters So Much to Me, AIM Clear Blog

Posted at 4:19 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (1) (0) | Speak

Remember I wanted to cell my Treo 700p? I blogged about CellForCash a place to sell your cell phone with ease? Well, I finally got my check for $48 from them.

Here is the timeline:

October 11th - Submitted Request
October 12th - Box Mailed to Me
October 22nd - They Received My Phone
November 29th - I Got My Check

Here is the check:

Posted at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Category: Computers | Comments (2) (0)

SEOmoz announced a new game they are releasing at PubCon Vegas next week named "Search Spam."

Basically, they have adapted the card game Werewolf for the Search Marketing industry. I am privileged to be one of the characters, see the left card, that is me.

There are 24 cards and you have to register for the event to be invited in. I won't be there, but SEOmoz promised to send me a deck this Monday - so I am looking forward to getting it.

If you will be there, the event is at Wednesday, December 5 from 8-10pm in the South Hall. Don't forget to register. It sounds like a blast!

In short, this game is a way for Googlers, SEOs, Black Hats & industry mavens to kill each other without actually hurting anyone. Nice concept. :)

ALSO: PubCon goers... If you want free tickets to shows in Vegas, check out Joe's blog now!

Posted at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Funny | Comments (4) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

Social news site moderators make mistakes. Google tests campaign template tool. Google is to launch storage service. Make money with revenue sharing forums. Should you use custom or default 404 pages? How long does it take to approve Google image ads. Are hyphens a bad thing in your domain name? Google Maps has street views in the balloons. Matt Cutts speaks up on bad cloaking. Google's malware warning isn't working too well. Google Gadgets will work on Apple's Dashboard. I wrote my 5,000th article at the Search Engine Roundtable.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. 7 Mistakes from a Social News Moderator's Perspective
2. Google Launches Campaign Templates for AdWords My Client Center Accounts
3. Google to Release Online Storage Service
4. Can You Earn Money in AdSense Revenue Sharing Forums?
5. Do Search Engines Prefer Default or Custom 404 Error Pages?
6. Reviewal Time Frame for Google Image Ads
7. Can Multiple Hyphens in the Domain Name Raise a Red Flag with Search Engines?
8. My 5,000th Post at the Search Engine Roundtable

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Google Maps Balloon Now Contains Street View Image
2. Google's Matt Cutts On Cloaking & Search Snippets
3. Google AdWords Tests Campaign Template Feature For My Client Center Users
4. Google's Malware Warnings Not Working?
5. Google Gadgets Meets Apple's Dashboard Widgets

Daily Link Finds:

This is the November 28th issue of a daily post that will contain links to commentary of the posts over at the Search Engine Roundtable. All links I find throughout the day that ad some commentary to the posts written over at the Search Engine Roundtable, will be in the Daily Link Finds. The purpose is two fold: (1) To help people find discussion around our articles and (2) To thank people for linking to us. How do I find these links? Only one way, via a Google Blog Search link command, so make sure that (1) you are in Google Blog Search and (2) link to us.

Daily Link Finds for November 28th, 2007:

• Search Headlines & Links: November 26, 2007, Search Engine Watch Blog
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 27, 2007, Search Engine Land
• Solucionado el problema de la latencia en los grupos de google, Daniel Gimenez
• Werewolves, Search Spam & Custom Cards - If You Are Going to Pubcon, Do Not Miss This, SEOmoz
• AdWords Editor, JabJab
• Guide to Creating a Google AdWords Campaign Template (Kevin Gibbons/PPC , Techmeme
• Heading to Chicago for SES , Justin Davy
• Make Sure Your Search Engine Marketer Knows About These Items!, SmallBusinessNewz
• Rustybrick's 5,000th Post at the Search Engine Roundtable, Sphinn
• SiteMost's Blog Recap 28/11/07, SiteMost

Posted at 4:22 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

It has been a day and a half since I got my new car and I am still adjusting to it.

The main thing that throws me off is the SmartAccess feature. In short, this car doesn't have a real key. You have this key but you don't put it in the ignition, you just press a start button where the ignition would be. Here is the description from Lexus's site:

With a unique secure code, the SmartAccess key automatically enables you to unlock and open all four of the vehicle’s doors and its trunk without removing the key fob from your purse, pocket or briefcase. There’s no visible key cylinder. As soon as the sensors detect the presence of your SmartAccess key, the door unlocks when you touch the handle. SmartAccess even activates the lighting entry system to illuminate your points of entry from the exterior puddle lights to the ignition button. It just takes one push to start the engine.

(1) When I open the car, I need to remember, no need to take the key out. Just wrap my hand around the door handle and pull. It automatically disarms the alarm and unlocks the car when it senses my hand. Yes, you need the key to be somewhere on your body.

(2) When I leave and park the car, I no longer need to press the lock button on the key. I just close the door and press a button on the door handle. The car is armed and locked. Yes, you need the key to be somewhere on your body.

(3) When I get in the car, I press a "Engine Start" button to start the engine. Yes, you need the key to be somewhere on your body.

(4) When I shut the car off, I press "Engine Stop" button. Yes, you need the key to be somewhere on your body.

There are other things the key can do that I haven't even learned yet. Trust me, I will be reading the manual over the weekend.

This SmartAccess feature will probably save me a few seconds each time I use the car. I like that. :)

Posted at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Category: Motor Vehicle | Comments (1) (0)

Orthodox Jewish men typically put on a Tallit every morning for morning services. So typically, the Tallit goes in a Tallit Bag.

The above picture is a typical tallit bag. At the top, typically, you see one's initials or Hebrew name. If you know Hebrew, this one may make you laugh. Why? Well, it reads "שמאק" which in English sounds like "schmuck."

The definition of a "schmuck":

When used as a pejorative, schmuck is a noun meaning a detestable person, or a jerk. The word also means a stupid or idiotic person. In these senses, schmuck entered English as a borrowed word from Yiddish, where it is an obscene term and an insult.

I received three different emails about this picture this morning. So I guess it is new.

Posted at 11:55 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Funny | Comments (2) (0)

I just hit a major milestone today at the Search Engine Roundtable. I posted my 5,000th article over the course of just under 4 years.

So of the 6,570, I wrote 5,000 - over 75% of the articles there. I average just about 5 articles per workday since starting writing at the site back on December 2, 2003.

5,000!

I have a longer write up on it at My 5,000th Post at the Search Engine Roundtable.

Posted at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Category: Blogging | Comments (0) (0)

Just a few hours ago, I made the final decision for our company to switch from GHI to Oxford for our health insurance benefits. Why did we switch, well - this time Oxford had better prices and since Oxford has a larger network than GHI in this area, it was a no brainer.

But this time, we decided to offer our employees two options for health benefits. It gives more flexibility, and can save them money. We no longer cover 100% for our employees, effective December 1.

What was very interesting to me was that all the single males selected the cheapest possible insurance product available to them. Their rational? "I never see doctors" and different flavors of that. While all families selected the most expensive plan available.

If I wasn't married, I also would likely choose the cheapest plan. But now, I clearly don't make all the decisions. But when you start having to worry about others and not just yourself, clearly you want to have the best available coverage for those who depend on you - no matter cost. So that is what most selected.

Every year I go through this process and every year I learn a thing or two.

Posted at 6:18 PM | Permalink | Category: RustyBrick | Comments (2) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

Viral up those YouTube videos. Google snippet is now explained. PubCon's event list is live. AdWords has two bugs. Got beef with AdSense? Want to get educational links? Yahoo Stores were down on Cyber Monday. Google Groups had email latency issues. Google may be offering online storage soon. Google Israel had to hand over Blogger's IP information. Structured search is on it's way to Yahoo. Google Maps added a terrain view.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Effective Viral Videos: What Are Your Criteria?
2. What is the Google Snippet?
3. Going to Pubcon? Unofficial Events Guide Posted
4. Google AdWords Redirect Bug within Console
5. Google AdSense Suggestion Box: Send Complaints Here
6. AdWords Editor Not Downloading CPC Placement Campaigns?
7. Need Help Getting Links from Education (.EDU) Sites?
8. Yahoo! Stores Go Down on Cyber Monday
9. Google Reports Google Groups Email Latency, Now Fixed

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Google Online Storage Coming Within Months? Real Google Platypus Screen Shot
2. Google Israel Forced To Hand Over Blogger's IP Address To Court
3. Structure Search Coming To Yahoo
4. Google Maps Adds Terrain View, Replaces Hybrid View

Daily Link Finds:

This is the November 27th issue of a daily post that will contain links to commentary of the posts over at the Search Engine Roundtable. All links I find throughout the day that ad some commentary to the posts written over at the Search Engine Roundtable, will be in the Daily Link Finds. The purpose is two fold: (1) To help people find discussion around our articles and (2) To thank people for linking to us. How do I find these links? Only one way, via a Google Blog Search link command, so make sure that (1) you are in Google Blog Search and (2) link to us.

Daily Link Finds for November 27th, 2007:

• Things I missed the week of 11-19-07, BruceClay.com
• 20 Things You Need to Know Before Optimizing a Web Site, SiteProNews
• IP dedicada en nuestro servidor?, google.dirson.com
• New content - how much is too much too fast?, WebmasterWorld
• Online Forums (pt. 1) Webmaster related (building and earning from a website), Digital Battlegrounds
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 26, 2007, Search Engine Land
• [Myth Buster] Virtual Host vs. Dedicated IPs, www.ginside.com

Posted at 3:51 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

I was thinking up the best present for my wife this Chanukah and then I saw these puppies.

Silver post PowerBook earrings reported by Tuaw. You can buy them at 925Works.com and they come in earrings, as shown above or bracelets, or Cuff Links.

Now that is style!

Pretty sweet.

Posted at 9:57 AM | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs , Just Weird | Comments (3) (0)

Giant Israeli Flag Breaks World Record from the AP reports Israel now has the world's largest flag.

The Israeli flag measures 2,165 feet long and 330 feet wide and weighs 5.7 tons has broken the world's record. The flag is now in Masada, a Jewish desert and was created by a Filipino evangelical Christian named Grace Galindez-Gupana.

She explained she created it "as a testament to her love for Israel and the Jewish people and as a celebration of 50 years of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Israel."

"This flag expresses the friendship between the Philippines and the state of Israel, and also the friendship between Jewish and Christian communities," said Shaul Zemach, director of the Israeli Ministry of Tourism.

Posted at 9:50 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (2) (0)

This morning I said Farewell to my Lexus SC 430 2005. The car will be missed, that is for sure. But it is time I move on and think about things that are more important.

Why did I go for the Lexus IS 250 AWD?

• There is an awesome deal on this car this month through a a national program.
• It is all-wheel drive and can actually work in the snow.
• Much better fuel efficiency than my old car.
• Much less expensive than my old car.
• Fits three more people (5 people in total) when compared to my old car.
• Much smoother car, it is made for normal roads.

Looking forward to driving it in health every day, except Saturdays. ;-)

Posted at 5:12 PM | Permalink | Category: Motor Vehicle | Comments (8) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

The US exchange rate is also impacting quality scores for some. Google helped a wife catch her husband cheat. Publishers aren't happy with AdSense video. Banned in Live Search? The "I'm Feeling Lucky" button is a costly Google feature. Give Ask blog search a try. Importing 3rd party campaigns into Yahoo Search Marketing is fun. Jotspot coming to Google Apps soon? Google loses their seasoned ad guy.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Canadian Google AdWords Advertisers Change to US Dollar But Take Hit Anyway
2. Google Helps Wife Discover that Husband Hid Lottery Winnings
3. Publishers Complain that Google AdSense Video Units Aren't Targeted
4. How Do You Complain if Your Site is Banned from MSN Search?
5. $110 Million Annually is Wasted by Google With the "I'm Feeling Lucky" Button
6. Sick of Blog Search? Time To Give Ask.com a Try
7. How to Import Campaigns from a 3rd Party to Yahoo Search Marketing

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. New Signs Of JotSpot & Google Wiki?
2. Google Loses Local Ad Guy, Preuss, To MeetUp

Daily Link Finds:

This is the November 26th issue of a daily post that will contain links to commentary of the posts over at the Search Engine Roundtable. All links I find throughout the day that ad some commentary to the posts written over at the Search Engine Roundtable, will be in the Daily Link Finds. The purpose is two fold: (1) To help people find discussion around our articles and (2) To thank people for linking to us. How do I find these links? Only one way, via a Google Blog Search link command, so make sure that (1) you are in Google Blog Search and (2) link to us.

Daily Link Finds for November 26th, 2007:

• Google Wants YOU to Report Paid Links!, SEOpittfall
• Live Search's link command work again and they're awesome!, Joost de Valk
• Tips on increasing your alexa , Gizmodise
• How to Attract Links and Increase Web Traffic, Pro Blogger Guide
• PubCon in Vegas, Irish Webmaster Forum
• Search Headlines & Links: November 21, 2007, Search Engine Watch Blog
• Sites Banidos da Busca do MSN, Caixa de Pandora
• Smile! You're on Google's camera, News.com

Posted at 4:48 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

Yesterday, I had a bunch of house chores to do. So when I got home from work in the late morning, I got to it.

First I cleaned out my car so I can easily turn it in today. Then I swept out the garage, the first time since buying the house. Then I tried to rake the leaves...

I decided to start with the driveway area. About a half an hour later, and half the driveway later, I noticed I wasn't getting too far. Looking at what remained, about 6/10ths of an acre, I decided to call it quits. It would take me days to finish the whole yard. So I finished most of the drive way and put the rake down.

I then turned off the water to the outside hoses, so it doesn't freeze.

That was about it for my chores. I may hire someone to do the leaves or I might just leave it as is. Still need to decide on that.

Posted at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Category: Homey , Weather | Comments (5) (0)

Within 6 hours, I will be returning my car for a new car. Yes, I am the type that leases cars. And it is time for my current car, the Lexus SC 430 2005 to go back to the company and for me to get a new car. What am I getting next? That will be a different post. Let me first write my tribute to my SC430.

My car isn't the most practical car out there. It doesn't fit boxes too well, It often gets stuck in the snow and the tires are expensive and break often.

I enjoyed driving with the top down on many occasions. Yea, it is a pretty car.

So pretty, it once got broken into and often people would flash me, because of those High-Intensity headlights. Heck, I even found nice little surprises on my dashboard after snow storms.

But what I really liked was the Lexus customer service, in fact, they have surprised me once or twice with that.

So, now, it is time to say goodbye. Just in time for the winter season. I hopefully won't be blogging about not being able to get to work or being stuck in the snow. I will miss you SC430. Your speed and comfort was very enjoyable, but it is time I get more practical with my cars and more economical as well.

For more of my car stories, check out the motor vehicles archive section on this site.

Thanks for all the memories!

Posted at 9:43 AM | Permalink | Category: Motor Vehicle | Comments (2) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

Check out some of the Thanksgiving logos. Google added more AdSense reps and showed of the webmaster central reps. Google sent out a tax update. Shared IPs are good like dedicated IPs. AdSense slumps during Thanksgiving. Google updated webmaster guidelines. The products link replaced the video link on Google. You can add multiple email address to your Google account. Design your site with SEO in mind first. Search in pictures is out. I got some YouTube tips for you. Ask.com is to expand in China. A wife sues her husband for cheating financially on her.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Thanksgiving 2007 from Google, Yahoo, Ask.com, Dogpile & The Search Industry
2. Google Adds More AdSense Support Reps to Google Groups
3. Google Accidently Send Out AdSense Tax Updates Via Email?
4. Google Confirms Again that Shared IPs Are Just as Good as Dedicated IPs
5. Google AdSense Publishers React to Thanksgiving Day Slump
6. Google Updates Webmaster Guidelines: Selling Links is Evil
7. Google Replaces "Video" Link with "Products" Link on Main Page
8. How to Add Email Addresses to Your Google Accounts
9. Design Your Website with SEO in Mind, Not After

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Search in Pictures: Yahoo Ping Pong, Google Ski Mask & Thanksgiving
2. YouTube Tips: How To Market Via YouTube
3. Google Webmaster Help & AdSense Help Support Staff
4. Google Adds "Selling Links" For PageRank To Link Schemes Page
5. Ask.com Plans On China Expansion
6. Google Drops Videos For Products In Top Navigation
7. Wife Googles Husband, Discovers He Kept Lottery Win A Secret

Daily Link Finds:

This is the November 23rd issue of a daily post that will contain links to commentary of the posts over at the Search Engine Roundtable. All links I find throughout the day that ad some commentary to the posts written over at the Search Engine Roundtable, will be in the Daily Link Finds. The purpose is two fold: (1) To help people find discussion around our articles and (2) To thank people for linking to us. How do I find these links? Only one way, via a Google Blog Search link command, so make sure that (1) you are in Google Blog Search and (2) link to us.

Daily Link Finds for November 23rd, 2007:

• Power of Twitter - Companies Respond, Daver's Blog
• PPC News Round Up -11/21/2007, PPC Hero
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 21, 2007, Search Engine Land
• Stupid post about lots of things, www.mikesquarter.com
• Google PageRank: Nedjustering pÃ¥virker ikke placeringer, www.webfighter.dk
• Google Promotional Outreach: Promo Blog, blog.epromos.com
• Happy Thanksgiving, aTypical Joe
• Happy Thanksgiving, InsideGoogle
• Happy Thanksgiving 2007 , David Dalka
• Matt Cutts Confirms that Paid Links Killed Your PageRank, WebProWorld
• Microsoft Live Search Webmaster Portal beta, LiveSino
• Page Rank Panic: trust your eyes, www.fatalic.com
• Special Thanksgiving Logos from Ask, Dogpile, Google, and Yahoo, ResourceShelf
• Techmeme: Thanksgiving 2007 from Google, Yahoo, Ask.com, Dogpile , Techmeme
• Thanksgiving Search Engine Logos , Search Engine Land
• Thanksgiving Search Engine Logos, Web Based Marketing Blog
• Top SEO and Social Networking Sites That Everyone Ought To Visit, www.manishpandey.com
• SMX Stuff, www.seoblog.co.il
• Google Maps allows online users to edit locations, 901am
• Happy Thanksgiving From Us and The Search Engines!, Unofficial SEO Blog

Posted at 2:55 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (1) (0) | Speak

Today is the day called "Black Friday."

It is the day after Thanksgiving. It is typically the busiest shopping day of the year. Where stores have great deals and people buy presents for the upcoming holidays.

I never went shopping on Black Friday. I don't think I ever will?

Why?

(1) I hate shopping, hate it!
(2) I work on Black Friday.
(3) Wake up at 3am to get to stores by 4am? Kidding me?
(4) Crazy lines, crazy customers, crazy traffic.
(5) Do they really have great deals? Deals you can't find at deal sites throughout the year? No tax? No shipping? Crazy coupons? Buy as an affiliate? etc.

So I don't shop on Black Friday. Do you? Am I wrong on the deals?

Posted at 10:41 AM | Permalink | Category: Shopping | Comments (3) (0)

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and I was all excited to go at the turkey.

I was prepping myself all day... I came into the game with high expectations. But since I was sick on Monday with some sort of stomach bug, I was a bit worried about my performance. I tried to have positive thoughts throughout the day.

But when it came down to stepping up to the turkey... I was very disappointed in myself. I estimate that I ate only about 4 or 5 slices of white meat from the Turkey. 4 or 5 slices! That is a serious joke. I would have been happy with 8 - 12 slices, but 4 or 5!

My stomach simply did not hold up.

I hang my head in shame on the day after Thanksgiving.

Posted at 10:22 AM | Permalink | Category: Food | Comments (1) (0)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Now, how did I get in there?

Image warped from this site.

Posted at 9:07 AM | Permalink | Category: Family | Comments (1) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

You want the gOS? Click through statistics seem level after the AdSense change. Google is messing with how they handle certain commands on your robots.txt file. The difference between domains and subdomains. PageRank did not impact Google rankings yet. Use CSS to help your Google listings. You can move that Google Maps marker, if you like. Want to go to a conference? tell your boss. Privacy groups attach Facebook on their social ads. Google Base redesigned their bulk upload dashboard.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. The "Google OS": Will You Install It?
2. Google AdSense Clickable Area Change 'Not So Bad'
3. Double Check Your Robots.txt: Google Testing New Crawler Directives
4. What's the Difference Between a Subdomain and Domain?
5. PageRank Goes Down but Google Rankings Aren't Affected
6. How to Remove Menu Bar Navigation from Google's Search Results
7. Move the Map Marker on Google Maps: A Screenshot Tour
8. So, How Do You Justify Going to Search Conferences?

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Privacy Group To Attack Facebook's Beacon Ads
2. New Clean Look For The Google Base Bulk Upload Dashboard

Daily Link Finds:

This is the November 21st issue of a daily post that will contain links to commentary of the posts over at the Search Engine Roundtable. All links I find throughout the day that ad some commentary to the posts written over at the Search Engine Roundtable, will be in the Daily Link Finds. The purpose is two fold: (1) To help people find discussion around our articles and (2) To thank people for linking to us. How do I find these links? Only one way, via a Google Blog Search link command, so make sure that (1) you are in Google Blog Search and (2) link to us.

Daily Link Finds for November 21st, 2007:

• SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 20, 2007, Search Engine Land
• After Blogging Success: 5 New Frontiers, SEO 2.0
• Check Wikipedia Links to Our Sites, SEO Hong Kong
• Google AdSense Creator Leaves Google, www.ginside.com
• Newbie Guide to SEO - Where Do I Start?, eVisibility
• Pay-Per-Post sites in Google Slap!, affiliates4u.com
• Schwitzen fur Pagerank, seoFM
• Shopzilla on the block? And PageRank PayPerPost penalties, Comparison Shopping Engine Strategies
• The Web Robots Pages, www.robotstxt.org
• Top 50 Marketing Blogs To Watch In 2008, evancarmichael.com

Posted at 3:53 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

Mr American brother-in-law sent me an article named Children's Day: 30% of Israel's Jewish Population are Children. It basically explains that 30% of the Israeli Jewish population are kids. Looking at other countries, Israel is not too far off. 25% of the US population are kids also.

But then I read deeper and the kid to adult ratio is unusually high in the city my brother lives in. My brother lives in one of the most Jewish orthodox cities in the world, it is named Beitar Illit (ביתר עילית‎). Beitar has tons of children, actually 63% of the population there are kids.

I've been to Beitar to visit my brother, my sister-in-law and their two kids a few times. I didn't particularly notice an overwhelming number of kids. But when I go in February, I will make sure to be looking for it.

Wikipedia has some stats but I can't confirm it is 100% accurate:

According to Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), in 2001, the ethnic makeup of the city was 100.0% Jewish, consisting of 8,900 males and 8,400 females. The predominantly Haredi population of the city was spread out with 62.9% 19 years of age or younger, 18.1% between 20 and 29, 14.6% between 30 and 44, 3.4% from 45 to 59, 0.4% from 60 to 64, and 0.7% 65 years of age or older. The population growth rate in 2001 was 9.6%. According to the statistics from the Ministry of Interior, the population figures for January 2007 there are 34,427 members listed on their computers and 29,404 citizens that are listed as active.

For more on Beitar, I guess check out this web site.

Oh, one more tidbit from the article that Tamar may enjoy....

As in the past eight years, Noa was the most popular girls' name, and has become even more so. It was given to 3.4% of the baby girls born in 2006, compared to 3% the year before. The next-most popular names were Shira, Maya, Yael, Tamar, Sarah, Roni, Agam, Michal, Adi and Talya.

On the SMX Israel front, I should have more good news on that shortly.

Posted at 1:18 PM | Permalink | Category: Family | Comments (0) (0)

Many of my SEM friends have seen the pictures and stories with messages on Church signs that read "Some questions Google can't answer..." or flavors of that message. It has been spreading through the country actually, just look at the dozens of photos on Flickr of such signs.

I have been in a new Synagogue for about a month now. And although the Rabbi has never mentioned Google in any of his speeches, the president often does during his announcements. He would say, to learn more about Y or to contribute to X, Google [organization name]. Makes me smirk to hear that. In fact, the president I believe is well into his 50s, maybe even young 60s (I hope he doesn't read this - he has no reason to). So the age and, what would be, perceived nature of this man surprised me to mention "Google It." But he does and it works.

Maybe one day I will become president and I will tell people to "Ask.com It."

Oh, not Jewish, not Christian and looking for something to believe in? Try the Church of Google. :)

Posted at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Category: Religion | Comments (0) (0)

Well, I have finally taken the plunge to upgrade my Parallels Desktop for Mac from 2.x to 3.x yesterday. I have been using Parallels 2.x since August 22nd of this year. It worked wonderfully and that is why I did not upgrade.

But since upgrading to leopard, Parallels 2.0 had an issue. The "pause" feature stopped working, but luckily the stop and start worked, so I continued to use that. I figured, let me give 3.x a try, it might speed up Parallels and fix the pause issue. So I backed up 2.x and the files that went with it (about 8GB) on my network drive and then upgraded using the free copy I got with a new Mac Pro we ordered here.

Now I can pause, but honestly, it does not seem all that much faster.

Will I switch back to using Remote Desktop and switch to using a cheap Dell to run the few Windows applications I need? I may. But I'll give this a bit longer, since I do like being able to run Windows on my Mac when necessary.

Posted at 9:48 AM | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs | Comments (0) (0)

Well, if you put this helmet on, you can't see through the guys head. But the guy wearing the helmet might be able to see through yours!

New jet fighter helmet 'sees' through floors from News.com reports on a new helmet being tested by F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. The "Helmet Mounted Display System will superimpose a binocular-wide field-of-view, infrared image of the world below."

The helmet was designed by Vision Systems International and Helmet Integrated Systems Limited. It is being tested by MOD’s DE&S Joint Combat Aircraft Integrated Project Team along with the RAF’s Centre for Aviation Medicine.

Scary looking helmet, isn't it?

Posted at 9:29 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (2) (0)

I was just about to call a doctor for being congested since October 3rd, but it has cleared up finally.

I believe it was this past Thursday, the 15th, about 1.5 months after I first became congested. I have been mostly clear via my nose since then.

I was afraid to say anything, in fear of bringing the congestion back. But it seems to have subsided.

My stomach is still a bit weak from something that hit me Sunday night, but I am 95% back to normal with that. I hope to play ball tonight, but we will see. I ate something I shouldn't of last night, so I have yet to eat this morning and I have been awake since 5:40am... Maybe Ill eat a few snakes.

Posted at 8:33 AM | Permalink | Category: Daily Grind | Comments (2) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

Google dropping omitted results for country specific filter? Flash and SEO just don't mix well. Do you love or hate adCenter? Google updated their link tool again this month. Hitwise data shows data is the god of search. Video AdSense comes to Canada, UK and Ireland. Matt Cutts fights Aaron Wall. Google Search Boxes for SEO? Senators urge details in DoubleClick and Google deal.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Google Country Specific Results No Longer Showing Supplemental Pages?
2. Flash Intro Pages: Big SEO "No No"
3. Search Marketers Love - Hate Relationship with Microsoft adCenter
4. Google Webmaster Link Tool Mid-November 2007 Update
5. Hitwise: Google Dominated Search in October
6. Google AdSense Video Units Available to Canada, UK, and Ireland
7. Matt Cutts Vs. Aaron Wall: The Google vs. SEO Debate?
8. "Google Boxes" Promote Rankings, But is it Worth It?

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Top Senators Warn FTC To Review DoubleClick Google Deal Carefully

Daily Link Finds:

This is the November 20th issue of a daily post that will contain links to commentary of the posts over at the Search Engine Roundtable. All links I find throughout the day that ad some commentary to the posts written over at the Search Engine Roundtable, will be in the Daily Link Finds. The purpose is two fold: (1) To help people find discussion around our articles and (2) To thank people for linking to us. How do I find these links? Only one way, via a Google Blog Search link command, so make sure that (1) you are in Google Blog Search and (2) link to us.

Daily Link Finds for November 20th, 2007:

• SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 16, 2007, Search Engine Land
• SMX Event in Isarel - to be or not to be, SEOSOS
• Clickable Areas on AdSense Redefined, Techno Sider
• Pandia Weekend Wrap-up Nov 18 (the one about the search engine news feed), Pandia
• PR0's - Yet Another Google Update?, Metamend.com
• Yahoo! Publisher Network vs. Google AdSense, www.prometeo.de
• Microsoft Live.com Referer-Spam, www.internetmarketing-news.de
• Ask the SEO Guru - hidden text soon to be the next big thing!, Bob Massa
• Could Selling Links Affect Google Page Rank |, martynb.co.uk
• Google Hiding Content Behind an Image on their SERPs, Natural Search Blog
• Live Search Webmaster Central Out in Public Beta, Finally, Seo Alchemist
• Live Search Webmaster Portal, LiveSino
• Search Headlines & Links: November 16, 2007, Search Engine Watch Blog
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 19, 2007, Search Engine Land
• Wrong Techcrunch Reaction On Paid Links?, WebProNews
• 10 Reasons Why Social Media Marketing SucksâĦ | Collective Thoughts, collective-thoughts.com
• "User Generated Content" - More Thoughts, Virtueality

Posted at 4:12 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

My lease expires this March. What I want next is a four-wheel drive car that is small and fast. I love my current car, but there are certain things I hate about it....

- Won't drive in snow
- Is very bumpy

I want a smooth car that handles snow well.

I also want the car to not be a large car. I want it to be smallish and quick.

Judah at Excel Diamonds sent me information on speculation over the Ferrari FS 599 Fuoristrada SUV. Wouldn't that be a sweet ride?

No way am I getting this puppy...

Posted at 2:48 PM | Permalink | Category: Motor Vehicle | Comments (4) (0)

As promised, I told you I would show you the Lava Lamp Google sent me, in action. Here is a short video of it working... Takes 45 minutes or so to get going, after you turn on the light...

Posted at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Category: | Comments (1) (0)

Like clothing or buying stuff? Not me. But if you do...

Here is 30% off Ralph Lauren and Rugby Stores and RalphLauren.com between Tuesday, November 20 - Monday, December 10. Just enter promotional code HOL2007 at checkout when shopping online, or present this e-mail to receive your discount in stores.

Posted at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Category: Shopping | Comments (1) (0)

Yesterday I was sick. I actually tried to come into the office yesterday morning. I drove in at about 6:30am, did a file upload and then drove back home.

I spent the morning in bed on the computer going through forum threads to have Tamar write about at the Search Engine Roundtable and my RSS feeds for Greg and Danny to write about at Search Engine Land.

I took a nap in the middle of the day, a much needed one. But throughout the day I spent time watching the GamePlay HD channel and the Kong Fu HD channel.

GamePlay is pretty cool. You watch professional gamers go at it on your TV. It is like watching sports but only watching virtual people play against each other. So I guess it is virtually being at a virtual game, kind of nuts. It was interesting to watch, to say the least. The Kong Fu HD channel, well - it is Kong Fu, which guy doesn't like Kong Fu?

Today, I am feeling a lot better. I am being careful with what I eat...

Also, the comments may not work. We have 67.19.244.2 trying to spam the hell out of it.

Posted at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Category: Homey | Comments (2) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

Getting fewer AdSense clicks? Google hands out PR zeros. Top AdWords spots cannot be guaranteed. AdSense's father finds new work. Bloggers are being paid to remove links. Gmail has some issues. You can check your Wikipedia links. Are forums the same as blogs. Live Search launched a webmaster blog. Yahoo China appealed a verdict. Google goes to court in June 2008. Google checkout gives badges to non-profits. Search in pictures is out and so is the SMX London recap.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Early Feedback on Google AdSense Click Area Change
2. Google Hits Some Sites with PageRank 0s
3. Google Warns of Companies that Guarantee Top Placement in AdWords
4. Google AdSense Creator Moves On
5. Shopzilla Pays Bloggers $100 After 'PR' Issue
6. Gmail Problems Plague Users, Google Acknowledges Issues
7. Check if Wikipedia Links To Your Site
8. Forums are Web 1.0, Blogs are Web 2.0

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Live Search Webmaster Center Blog Now Open For Business
2. Yahoo China Appeals Ruling To Remove Links To Unlicensed Music
3. Google To Defend Against "Selling Top Spot" In June 2008
4. Google Checkout For Non-Profits Customers Get AdWords Checkout Badges
5. Search in Pictures: Barack Obama, Google Schwag & Life Size Google Toolbar
6. SMX London Recap

Daily Link Finds:

This is the November 16th issue of a daily post that will contain links to commentary of the posts over at the Search Engine Roundtable. All links I find throughout the day that ad some commentary to the posts written over at the Search Engine Roundtable, will be in the Daily Link Finds. The purpose is two fold: (1) To help people find discussion around our articles and (2) To thank people for linking to us. How do I find these links? Only one way, via a Google Blog Search link command, so make sure that (1) you are in Google Blog Search and (2) link to us.

Daily Link Finds for November 16th, 2007:

• SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 15, 2007, Search Engine Land
• Clickable Areas on AdSense Redefined, Search Engine Watch Blog
• Live Search Webmaster Central Out in Public Beta, Finally, Search Engine Journal
• More PageRank Carnage, WebProNews
• MSN's Live Search Webmaster Center goes... live, News.com
• Search Engine News As It Happens, Search Brains
• ZeroRank - More PageRank Carnage (Round 5), Andy Beard

Posted at 3:03 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

I have tons of schwag, tons. Not the type of stuff you get from exhibit halls, but the stuff search engines give out.

Today, Google sent me a Google Lava Lamp, Google Coffee Mug, Google Frisbee, Google Hat, Google Shirt & Google Notepad because I helped out on a usability thing.

Ronnie is going to set up the lava lamp in the office, ill take a picture of that when it is up and running.

Thanks Google.

You want free Google Schwag? Sign up at http://www.google.com/usability/ and enter referral code MV1.

Posted at 1:35 PM | Permalink | Category: Blogging | Comments (3) (0)

If last night wasn't late enough due to the event and the fried phone lines, we were adding in a new database server last night, into our cluster.

The addition was scheduled for midnight. I was supposed to be sleeping while it happened. Instead, I was up between 12:15 and 1:30 or later testing to make sure all our sites and applications worked.

There were some small glitches here and there, but now most of our sites and applications are now running off a new database server in our cluster. Failovers should work well also, but who knows.

I honestly hate dealing with hosting, hate it.

Posted at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Category: RustyBrick | Comments (0) (0)

My wife called me when I was at the IM NY thing last night on her cell phone to tell me the phone lines are out.

I tried to walk her through rebooting the thing but I failed. So when I got home at about 11, I rebooted it myself. I did the standard run down...

(1) Make sure phone line is plugged in securely on both ends
(2) Make sure RJ-45 is plugged in securely on both ends
(3) Reboot router
(4) Reboot Vonage box

I still got dead air, no dial tone.

So I plugged a phone directly into the Vonage box and it worked. There I learned my phone lines were fried.

How? I have no idea... It has been like that for a month. I did not change anything for a month. Then all of a sudden, last night, they stopped working.

So in the meantime, I hooked up the vonage box to a phone station which has three wireless hand sets. It will work fine for now.

I am just really bummed about wasting time on it last night and the lines being fried.

Posted at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Category: Homey | Comments (1) (0)

It has been a while since I attended the IM NY events, but last night I was able to make it.

It was held at Le Marais Steakhouse in Little Italy. A bunch of SEOs were there, including Tamar, Greg, Frank, Todd, Tedster, Kevin Heisler, Chris and two girls. One girl was, I think, Frank's friend and the other I just don't know her name.

Anyway, I ordered some chicken dish, it was excellent. Tamar got this duck Moroccan thing, looked weird to me. Frank's girl was a veggin - yea, seriously. It was the first time I met Kevin - nice to meet you, too bad you sat on the other side of the table... An SEW vs. SEL thing?;-) Anyway...

I am pretty sure Frank is to thank for the bill. Thank you Frank - see image above. It rocked and I sure want to come again!

That was the start of the night. I left first, b/c I wake up way too early...

Posted at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies , Travels | Comments (3) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

Yahoo's Site Explorer tool on the fritz again? Are database errors messing up your pretty Google titles? Live Search has a form of Page Rank? Did Yahoo change how they handle 301s? Yahoo got props for being good. DoubleClick deal is on hold. Go Daddy loves Google. Hiding content in Google may be cool. Can you make those 301s faster? Get our daily recaps. HD video is coming to YouTube. Yahoo rolled out discounted pricing in the UK. Webmasters love Google, go figure!

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Yahoo Site Explorer Showing Fewer Pages & Links?
2. Cannot Connect to Database Coming Up in Google.com Search Results
3. Live Search Introduces Domain Rank & Page Rank Green Bars
4. Did Yahoo Search Change How They Handle 301 Redirects?
5. The Good: Yahoo Search Marketing
6. Google's DoubleClick Acquisition On Hold Pending Review
7. Go Daddy Partners with Google for Webmaster Tools
8. Google May Allow Hiding Content Under a Z-Layer?
9. Making a 301 Redirect Work Faster with Search Engines
10. New Daily Search Forum Recap Emails & Feeds

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Microsoft Launches Live Search Webmaster Tools Beta While Developing Version Two
2. HD Video Coming To YouTube & More Changes At YouTube
3. Yahoo Rolls Out Quality-Based Pricing In UK
4. Robots.txt Study Shows Webmasters Favor Google

Daily Link Finds:

This is the November 15th issue of a daily post that will contain links to commentary of the posts over at the Search Engine Roundtable. All links I find throughout the day that ad some commentary to the posts written over at the Search Engine Roundtable, will be in the Daily Link Finds. The purpose is two fold: (1) To help people find discussion around our articles and (2) To thank people for linking to us. How do I find these links? Only one way, via a Google Blog Search link command, so make sure that (1) you are in Google Blog Search and (2) link to us.

Daily Link Finds for November 15th, 2007:

• Indian Man Marries His Dog (True Story), Diamond Vues
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 14, 2007, Search Engine Land
• SEM Test: Can You Pass The Exam?, WebProWorld
• 8 Things the Search Industry Can Teach Small Businesses, Small Business SEM
• An Interview with Live.com's Eytan Seidman, SEOmoz
• Is Google Going to Expand its Punishments of Paid Links, www.searchnewz.com
• Is Google Going to Expand its Punishments of Paid Links?, Stone Temple
• Live Search Webmaster Tools SUPER Beta, SE-Ogre Swamplog
• Microsoft Launches Live Search Webmaster Tools Beta While Developing Version Two, Search Engine Land
• otto volte meglio di AdSense, blog.tagliaerbe.com
• SEO Favs, Personal Branding & BC Housekeeping, BruceClay.com
• Yell if Microsoft's Live.com Spammed You Too - Updated, ekstreme.com

Posted at 4:19 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

I play basketball a few times a week. One of the three times, I play in this small league. This year, I got a new shirt for the season. I have a new but yet unique number.

Now, I think that looks like a backwards 6. The guy who imprinted the number actually did it backwards - if that is possible. Personally, I think it is great. It confuses the referees.

Posted at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Funny , Sports | Comments (3) (0)

As you can see from the icon at the top right (removed icon) of this post, the "Israel" was snuck into an SMX logo by myself. Yes, it is not official just yet. But I would love to make it official. To do that, I need to see real interest from the SEM industry in Israel. Do you guys really want an SMX event?

If so, please vote to have our first SMX Israel this February. If this SMX Israel "Mini" event works out, then we may be able to have larger, full day (or two) conferences in Israel. And who knows, maybe we can convince Danny and Chris to come out.

25 people voted yes for such an event, so what I need now is for you to go to Sphinn and confirm that you have strong interest in attending the event.

Go over here and confirm your interest. If you are not registered with Sphinn yet, then this is a great opportunity to join the Sphinn community. It takes a few minutes, register and then go over here and click "attend."

Don't live in Israel? Love SEO? This is a great opportunity to see some of the most historic and holy sites in the world. Plus, you can write it off! :)

OK, OK, so go ahead and attend.

I am told you cannot submit a preference for day or location. So do so in the comments here. If your comment do not get published, let me know.

We are live: Register for SphinnCon Israel today!

Posted at 5:59 PM | Permalink | Category: SEO Tips | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (1) (1)

Daily Search Coverage:

Most SEOs are still buying links these days. Live Search Webmaster Tools is now a public beta. Hot linking images can possibly get you filtered. Ranking well is only half the battle. How do you strategize your SEO plans? Why do you love SEO? SMX Travel recap is out. Every wonder how we do the Search Cap? The European Union gave Google a set back on their DoubleClick deal. Google Transit is now available in Europe. SEO might be a requirement for the feds. Flickr's one billionth image has been uploaded.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Are SEOs Still Buying Links?
2. Microsoft Launches Live Search Webmaster Tools as Public Beta
3. Can Hotlinking Get You Filtered in Google Image Search?
4. Help! I Rank #1 But Have No Customers!
5. Seeking "High-Level" SEO Strategies
6. What's Your Favorite Part of SEO?

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. SMX Travel @ PhoCusWright Live Coverage Recap
2. An Inside Look At Our Daily SearchCap
3. European Commission Holds Up Google's Acquisition Of DoubleClick
4. Google Transit Comes To Europe
5. Will SEO Become The Law For Federal Agencies
6. Flickr's Two Billionth Picture

Daily Link Finds:

This is the November 14th issue of a daily post that will contain links to commentary of the posts over at the Search Engine Roundtable. All links I find throughout the day that ad some commentary to the posts written over at the Search Engine Roundtable, will be in the Daily Link Finds. The purpose is two fold: (1) To help people find discussion around our articles and (2) To thank people for linking to us. How do I find these links? Only one way, via a Google Blog Search link command, so make sure that (1) you are in Google Blog Search and (2) link to us.

Daily Link Finds for November 14th, 2007:

• How Should An AdSense "Click" Be Defined?, www.profy.com
• Microsoft Live Search Webmaster Portal Beta Launched, www.ditii.com
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 13, 2007, Search Engine Land
• Techmeme: Google is Changing the Definition of a "Click" on AdSense Ads (Rustybrick/Search Engine Roundtable), Techmeme
• Where Do Forums Fit on a Social Network Driven Internet?, Cre8PC
• Do Reciprocal Links Get More Weight Than Paid Links? | Ask Enquiro, ask.enquiro.com
• 搜索引擎优化SEO每天一贴, www.chinamyhosting.com
• AdSense Publisher Will See Drop in Earnings: Click Behavior Change Coming, Sphinn
• アドセンスユーザーに痛ーいお知らせ…（涙, be-emotion.com
• Bier wird teurer -> macht mehr SEO!, seoFM
• ContentBlogger: Headlines for 13 November 2007, Shore
• new definition of a click, DigitalPoint Forums
• Search Headlines & Links: November 13, 2007, Search Engine Watch Blog
• Survival Guide to Being an SEO - 10 Tips to Making it in the SEO Community, Search Engine Journal
• הצצה על ה- Webmaster Portal של מיקרוסופט, news.k.co.il

Posted at 4:54 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

Some of you know how much I hate press releases, so I prefer you don't send them.

But if you must... Please include a link to the release. I hate having to search the web for brand new news that is yet to hit the PR wires.

If I can't quickly find a release that I can link to on the web... Then what do you get from me? Nothing. I won't link to it in the SearchCap...

Posted at 2:29 PM | Permalink | Category: Blogging | Comments (0) (0)

It has been two and a half weeks since I did a backup on my computer. Why? Well, I upgraded to Leopard on October 26 and my backup utility, which clones my hard drive on an external hard drive, is not yet Leopard compatible.

The tool is named SuperDuper and I have been religiously using it since August 22, 2006. It simply rocks.

Every day, a few times a day, I check the SuperDuper page to see if a new version came out that supports Leopard. Every day I see the same thing:

SuperDuper! 2.1.4 is not yet fully Leopard compatible.

But it won't be long.

I know these things take time, and I know this is a freelance project for the developer. I shouldn't complain.

There are actually a few threads in the forums over there about the release date. Here is the most active and recent one: When will SD be ready for Leopard?

The answer is the same, respectful but yet lacking response:

We're working on it -- testing and tweaking. We want it to be right, so we can't rush it out the door...

I just hope it comes out soon.

Why don't I use Time Machine? Well, it currently doesn't support my NAS device in the office. People feel it will in time. Is it worth buying a new hard drive to run Time Machine? I already have a hard drive I use for cloning my mac with SuperDuper - just waiting on it to work with Leopard. I also have an NAS in my office with plenty of space, waiting to work with Time Machine. So I am in wait mode.

I think about it so much that I dreamt SuperDuper was out for Leopard last night. I got issues, seriously.

Posted at 9:09 AM | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs | Comments (0) (0)

Orthodox Jews do not turn on or off lights on Sabbath (Friday night through Saturday night). That is why you never see me blog or online Friday night through Saturday nights.

Due to that law, many prefer to set timers for certain things like lights. I just installed Intermatic Wall Timers in the family room and kitchen eating area. My brother stopped by to drop something off, so I did one of the timers with him, to confirm I was doing it right. This wall timer is actually awesome.

Besides for it being flush against the wall and not sticking out, it has tons of features. The most useful part is the push button to turn on and off the light during normal usage. It has seven on and off settings, which are programmable by day and time. It has a "random feature," which can be set to give your house a lived in feel. It also has a sunrise and sunset feature.

I set it to turn on and off for Shabbos usage times. This way I do not have to leave all the lights on in those rooms for 25 hours or so.

Yes, gas and electric are not cheap.

Posted at 8:55 AM | Permalink | Category: Homey , Religion | Comments (2) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

Is your PPC company holding your keywords hostage? Google has changed the AdSense click behavior requirements. How long does a geo target change in webmaster tools take to be seen in Google? Google handing out $10 million to developers of Android. Google was sued by Northeastern. How long do you take to prepare a PPC campaign? We gave some tips on targeting multiple countries. Live's link command is back. Larry Page is getting married. Yahoo settled the Chinese dissident case.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Who Owns Your Keyword List: You or Your PPC Manager?
2. Google is Changing the Definition of a "Click" on AdSense Ads
3. How Long Does it Take for Google to use Geographic Target Data?
4. Google Offers $10 Million for Android Developers
5. Google Sued by Northeastern University over Patent Infringement
6. How Long Does it Take to Prepare a Google AdWords Campaign?
7. Targeting Multiple Countries with Google

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Live Search's Link Command Now Working
2. Google's Larry Page To Marry Lucy Southworth On December 8th
3. Google AdSense: When A Click No Longer Counts As A Click
4. Yahoo Settles Lawsuit With Chinese Dissidents

Daily Link Finds:

This is the November 13th issue of a daily post that will contain links to commentary of the posts over at the Search Engine Roundtable. All links I find throughout the day that ad some commentary to the posts written over at the Search Engine Roundtable, will be in the Daily Link Finds. The purpose is two fold: (1) To help people find discussion around our articles and (2) To thank people for linking to us. How do I find these links? Only one way, via a Google Blog Search link command, so make sure that (1) you are in Google Blog Search and (2) link to us.

Daily Link Finds for November 13th, 2007:

• SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 12, 2007, Search Engine Land
• Google Adsense checks bouncing?, Noheat
• Google AdSense: When A Click No Longer Counts As A Click, Search Engine Land
• Google Finally Remembers Our Veterans, InsideGoogle
• Link hunting via live returns after 8 months.., SEO Home
• Microsoft launches Live Search Webmaster Portal beta - Try it now, LiveSide
• New Microsoft Linkdomain Command Available, SEO Hong Kong
• Page Rank Checker Tools Sabotaged by Google?, eShop Forums
• Past Time For MSN To Pony Up To The Real Truth About Referrer Spam | SEO News - All The SEO Scoop, The SEO Scoop
• Search Engine Land's Blogroll, Sliced, Diced , Search Engine Land

Posted at 4:23 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (1) (0) | Speak

I was scanning my RSS feeds and saw a headline that read Man in India Marries Dog As Atonement.

At first, I just clicked away. Then I thought for a second and said, what did that say?

So I searched my Google Reader feed for "Man in India" (outstanding feature in Google Reader, btw) and yea, it said Man in India Marries Dog As Atonement.

Man in India Marries Dog As Atonement!!!!

A man in southern India married a female dog in a traditional Hindu ceremony as an attempt to atone for stoning two other dogs to death — an act he believes cursed him — a newspaper reported Tuesday.

P. Selvakumar married the sari-draped former stray named Selvi, chosen by family members and then bathed and clothed for the ceremony Sunday at a Hindu temple in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, the Hindustan Times newspaper said.

A religious ceremony? If so, then cool with me. Just seems a tad off. But so do some things in my religion. :)

Posted at 2:26 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Weird | Comments (2) (0)

When I have a problem working something or doing something, I often do what I can to figure it out myself. Google and search is often a major help. I often laugh when I hear someone struggle through something.

The conversation may go like this. How do you do X? I am trying to get it to do X. Why isn't it working! Stupid thing! Work already!!!!! Ah, there it goes. :)

Here is some one's convo via an IRC room, won't disclose the name of the person, which I found funny.

IM: anybody know how excel uses time
IM: this is so confusing
IM: I know that it uses 1 for day so 1 am is 1/24
IM: when I format it to time I get 1:00:00 AM
IM: never mind I got it

I would have done a search at Google to find this page from Microsoft on How to use dates and times in Excel.

Posted at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (4) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

We wrote about flash & SEO. AdSense checks do expire after six months. Google updated PageRank again. Google is testing a new AdWords feature. Veterans day was yesterday. Got StumbleUpon in your Google results? Give users access to Analytics. We compared CPC to CPM. Microsoft on the future of paid ads. How do you charge for PPC? Live's link command is back Diller was interviewed. Northeastern is suing Google. Is Firefox Google's secret weapon? Google won't hand over competitive keyword lists. Google releases Android SDK.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Flash is Required: How to SEO Flash?
2. Do Google AdSense Checks Expire?
3. Google Updates Toolbar PageRank Scores Again
4. Google AdWords Testing "Products from this Advertiser" in Search Ads?
5. Veterans Day Logo from Google & Dogpile
6. How To Disable StumbleUpon on Google's Search Results
7. Google Recommends AdSense Publishers use Electronic Funds Transfer
8. How to Give Access to Google AdWords Stats to Users
9. CPC vs. CPM on Google's Ad Network
10. Microsoft to Read Minds: Is this the Future of Paid Advertising?
11. How Much Do Your Charge for PPC Services?
12. Microsoft Link Command Comes Back to Life After 8 Months

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Diller On Ask's Growth, Facebook & Buying AOL
2. Northeastern University Sues Google Over Index Database Design
3. Firefox: Google's Secret Weapon Against Microsoft?
4. Google Won't Hand Over Competitive Data If Hit With Subpoena
5. Google Releases Android SDK & Offers $10 Million Mobile Development Challenge

Daily Link Finds:

This is the November 12th issue of a daily post that will contain links to commentary of the posts over at the Search Engine Roundtable. All links I find throughout the day that ad some commentary to the posts written over at the Search Engine Roundtable, will be in the Daily Link Finds. The purpose is two fold: (1) To help people find discussion around our articles and (2) To thank people for linking to us. How do I find these links? Only one way, via a Google Blog Search link command, so make sure that (1) you are in Google Blog Search and (2) link to us.

Daily Link Finds for November 12th, 2007:

• SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 9, 2007, Search Engine Land
• SEO Weekly Digest - Issue 2, Raven SEO Tools
• Targeting UK Subscribers, Reviewed by a US AdSense Rep: Dangerous?, theGoogleBay.org
• Google PageRank大变动, www.88.com.my
• This and That, www.internetmarketing-news.de
• Microsoft live search prpare ses outils pour webmasters, VDP-Digital
• Microsoft Webmaster Portal is Live in Beta, SEOpittfall
• Posibles explicaciones a las penalizaciones del PageRank, Stasieniuk
• seo services 100 SEO , www.yessblog.com
• Will Google Offer Amnesty To SocialSpark , andybeard.eu
• December's Battle Of The Search Conferences, Search Engine Land
• Google AdWords Testing "Products from this Advertiser" in Ads?, Darby Works
• Microsoft Webmaster Portal Live in Beta, WebProNews
• Raven SEO Tools: You Know You're An SEO Nerd If..., raven-seo-tools.com
• Re-Ranking the SEO Blogosphere (and My Updated Firefox Sidebar), SEOmoz

Posted at 4:32 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

Should I be following you on Twitter? If so, please let me know by adding a comment below with your Twitter name...

I have been using and watching Twitter much more these days. I suspect it is because Twitterific finally updated the piece of software that lets me watch Twits as they happen.

So if you are Twittering, please let me know by commenting below!

I am at http://twitter.com/rustybrick and the Search Engine Roundtable twits at http://twitter.com/seroundtable.

Follow us!

Posted at 2:26 PM | Permalink | Category: Blogging | Comments (4) (0)

Friday night, it snowed for the first time here.

It was a very light snow, in fact, most of the grass was clear by late morning.

Also, Saturday night, I saw several deer in a neighbors front lawn. Nuts.

And finally, it is freezing in my office and I am way swamped (not sure how much I can blog here today).

You see, I have an exciting life. I blog about snow and deer.

But isn't that a really nice picture? Check it out via Flickr for more details...

Posted at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Category: Weather | Comments (4) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

Why are third party PageRank checkers failing? AdWords may be adding a domain ad exclusion tool. AdSense earnings per impression is down since the channel bug. We uncovered a little more on how Google Sitelinks work. Plus we have some more details on CPC placement targeting. LookSmart reported bad earnings. YouTube released a video upload client. Microsoft might be trying a search and win game again. Google Earth added a millennium development layer. And I pushed this week's Search in Pictures column.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Third Party Google PageRank Tools Failing?
2. Google AdWords Adding Category & Domain Ads Exclusion Feature?
3. Google AdSense Publishers Earning Per Impression Down Since Channel Bug
4. How The Google Sitelinks Block Feature Works
5. Google AdWordsAdvisor Answers Questions About CPC Site Targeting for Contextual Ads

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. LookSmart Reports Poor Earnings & Sells FindArticles To CNET
2. Coming Soon: Block Domaining Ads From Google?
3. YouTube Releases Desktop Multi-Video Upload PC Client
4. Microsoft Tries Search & Win Again?
5. Google Earth Adds Millennium Development Goals Layer
6. Search in Pictures: Ron Paul, Googleville, & Bonfire Night

Daily Link Finds:

This is the November 9th issue of a daily post that will contain links to commentary of the posts over at the Search Engine Roundtable. All links I find throughout the day that ad some commentary to the posts written over at the Search Engine Roundtable, will be in the Daily Link Finds. The purpose is two fold: (1) To help people find discussion around our articles and (2) To thank people for linking to us. How do I find these links? Only one way, via a Google Blog Search link command, so make sure that (1) you are in Google Blog Search and (2) link to us.

Daily Link Finds for November 9th, 2007:

• Alert: Google is Shrinking, Small Business SEM
• Search Engine Optimization News, Blogs and RSS Feed Aggregators, Online Marketing Blog
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 8, 2007, Search Engine Land
• Google AdWords Domain Ads Exclusion : But Think Before You Block, Search Engine Journal
• Is "Opt Out" Option Coming To Goolge's "Adsense For Domains" Program?, Conceptualist.com
• Is Google broke? The Truth Behind Why Google Checks Bounce, business.reddit.com
• Les premieres copies d'ecran de l'outil pour webmasters de Live Search, Le blog d'Abondance
• Microsoft's Live Search Webmaster Portal revealed!, denialdesign.blogspot.com
• My Girlfriend Jackie is Officially Out of Beta, Karl Ribas
• SiteMost's Weekly Blog Recap 9/11/07, blog.sitemost.com.au

Posted at 3:03 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

Most people, from what I hear, use the snooze button on their alarm clock. Not me.

If I don't wake up minutes before the alarm then when it goes off, I get up.

When I was a kid, I always kept my alarm clock on the other side of the room. It forced me to get up and turn it off. Once I was up, I did not go back to sleep. Now, even though my alarm clock is right next to my bed, I still get up on the first sign of an alarm.

If I snoozed, I would be incredibly late for everything, so snoozing doesn't work with my Out The Door In 10 Minutes routine...

Posted at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Category: Daily Grind | Comments (4) (0)

Here are two pictures Judah sent me. I really don't have much to say about them.

Why paint your car, wallpaper it with computer chips:

Got enough screens there pal?

Posted at 9:39 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Weird | Comments (2) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

Google is cutting some search results short. Google's checks don't bounce, you do. Matt to keynote at PubCon. AdSense publishers are old. If your server gets hacked, you need to know how to handle Google. AdSense's new code feature updates in 10 minutes or less. An ASP 2.0 bug can hurt your Google rankings. Be negative with your paid keywords. Google AdWords launches placement targeting. Live Search adds more vertical tabs. Google Earth gets cloudy.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Google Listing Lest Search Results: No More 1,000 Results?
2. The Truth Behind Why Google Checks Bounce
3. Google's Matt Cutts to Keynote at WebmasterWorld's PubCon: Got Questions?
4. 51% of Google AdSense Publishers are Older Than 30 Years Old
5. Server Hacked? How To Notify Google to Restore Google Search Rankings
6. AdSense Code Free Changes Take Less Than 10 Minutes to Update
7. Got ASP 2.0? GoogleBot Can Trip a Bug in the Code
8. Be Aggressive With Negative Keywords on Your Paid Search Campaigns

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Google AdWords Replaces Site Targeting With Placement Targeting & Offers Bidding Options
2. Live Search Adds "More" Tab To Home Page, Exposes More Vertical Search Tools
3. Send In The Clouds: Google Earth Adds Weather Layer

Daily Link Finds:

This is the November 8th issue of a daily post that will contain links to commentary of the posts over at the Search Engine Roundtable. All links I find throughout the day that ad some commentary to the posts written over at the Search Engine Roundtable, will be in the Daily Link Finds. The purpose is two fold: (1) To help people find discussion around our articles and (2) To thank people for linking to us. How do I find these links? Only one way, via a Google Blog Search link command, so make sure that (1) you are in Google Blog Search and (2) link to us.

Daily Link Finds for November 8th, 2007:

• An SMX/Sphinn event in Israel?, www.multilingual-search.com
• My Top 10 SEO Blogs, www.groovecommerce.com
• נושא: SMX או sphinn בישראל?, forums.k.co.il
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 7, 2007, Search Engine Land
• Sphinn - First Screen Shots of Microsoft's Live Search Webmaster Portal, Sphinn
• A tip for McBull, drakenation.com
• Cambiar de servidor?, The Stromboli Project Blog
• Google Webmaster Tools: eh ich meine Live.com Webmaster Tools, Netape
• Live Search Webmaster Portal, El rincon de Raquel
• Primeros screen shots de Microsoft live search webmaster Portal, meneame.net
• Screenshots Of Microsoft s Live Search Webmaster Portal, www.searchnewz.com
• Spotted: Screenshots Of Microsoft's Live Search Webmaster Portal!, Unofficial SEO Blog

Posted at 2:13 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

There is almost a profession for anything. Now, there are Professional Line Waiters, and they are utilized for just that.

Remember the iPhone craze? Well, it is now going on in the UK as the lines begin to fill up for the release of the iPhone in the UK. You pay these guys to stand in line for you and buy the item you want.

How much do they make? Reports say they make about $250 per day.

Yes, it is a hard job:

So how much can that turn into for a year? Let's say you work 300 of the 365 days per year, all of it, waiting in line. That is $75,000 per year for waiting in line.

Posted at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Weird , iPhone | Comments (5) (0)

ESPN or ESPN2 supposedly showcased portions of the 2007 WSSA Championship, WSSA you say? Yes, World Speed Stacking Association.

Watch this video to see what they do:

That is a kid named David Wolf, an 11 year old German kid, playing the game.

So this is real.

Posted at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Funny | Comments (3) (0)

The other day, I had a few meetings. Let me describe two of them.

(1) The Interview:

We interviewed a new PHP candidate to work at our company. He was extremely prepared. I was very impressed when I asked, "Do you have any questions for us?" And he responded, "I prepared a list of them." That is impressive.

(2) The Prospect:

I had a prospect that wanted to run some ideas by me. Not only did he come 30 minutes late to the meeting... He came in, asked me how do I protect myself from you or someone else stealing my ideas. I said, have me sign an NDA. He then told me his ideas without giving me an NDA to sign. At the end of the meeting, I did a quick Google search for his main idea and found dozens of other companies doing the same thing. Dozens of people stole his idea. ;-)

Hmmm.....

Posted at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Category: RustyBrick | Comments (2) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

Yahoo responds to advertisers' criticism. Google has a bug in their API and ad diagnostic tool. Want Google to speak at your conference? Moving sites? Use AdWords to promote your charity. Can competiors drive up your bounce rates and hurt your rankings? I posted screen caps of the Live Search Webmaster Portal. Google Reader gets an iPhone update. Google adds more audio ad inventory. YouTube improves their flag system. Google offers some SEO advice. Bloglines launches a top 1000 list. And the Search Pulse is up.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Search Pulse 41: Search Halloween, SERP Updates at Google & Yahoo, & More SEO Topics
2. Yahoo Responds to Criticism Over Lack of Partner Screening
3. Google AdWords Diagnostic Tool Bug
4. Want Google to Speak at Your Event?
5. Google AdWords API Reporting Delays Linger On
6. Moving Site to a New IP: How to Prepare
7. Raising Charity with Google
8. US Rebukes Yahoo over Chinese Reporter's Imprisonment
9. Can the Competition Create High Bounce Rates?
10. First Screen Shots of Microsoft's Live Search Webmaster Portal

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Google Reader Improves iPhone Interface & Adds Blogroll Feature
2. Clear Channel's Radio Ad Inventory Now Available On Google Audio Ads
3. YouTube Enhances Video Flagging System
4. Google Offers SEO Advice On Ajax Coding
5. Ask.com Introduces Bloglines Top 1000 List

Daily Link Finds:

This is the November 7th issue of a daily post that will contain links to commentary of the posts over at the Search Engine Roundtable. All links I find throughout the day that ad some commentary to the posts written over at the Search Engine Roundtable, will be in the Daily Link Finds. The purpose is two fold: (1) To help people find discussion around our articles and (2) To thank people for linking to us. How do I find these links? Only one way, via a Google Blog Search link command, so make sure that (1) you are in Google Blog Search and (2) link to us.

Daily Link Finds for November 7th, 2007:

• AdSense nderungen ohne nderungen am Code, internetmarketing-news.de
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 6, 2007, Search Engine Land
• Google PageRank Update Octoberfest 2007, seopinoy.com
• Microsoft открывает сайт для веб-мастеров, searchengines.ru
• The Dreaded Google Page Rank Saga Continues - Now With Updated Goodness, Dan Richard

Posted at 3:25 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

I am planning on visiting Israel in early February, a quasi vacation, business trip (meet two clients), catch up with family and friends and nephew's bar mitzvah. So I figured, heck, why not tack on another thing --- an SEO networking event...

Last time I went to Israel, I received dozens of emails from Israeli SEOs and SEMs to meet up. It was my honeymoon, so it just didn't seem right to do that to my wife. But I do want to say hello to all the SEOs and SEMs out in Israel - so this time, I don't want to miss that opportunity.

I can probably arrange a half day event in Jerusalem while I am in Israel. In fact, I can probably get a sponsor with the help of Third Door Media coordinating the event under an SMX or Sphinn thing. It is very early on, just a concept right now, so no guarantees on that. I am just fishing the idea around.

So if you are an SEO, live in the Israel area and will be around in early February (the first week in February), would you want a half day event in Israel? Have all your Israeli SEO friends come and vote at the poll below. I may post this poll later at Search Engine Land and Search Engine Roundtable to get a wider response, but for now, I want to see who may be interested, if any, via this venue.

Thank you in advance.

Posted at 2:29 PM | Permalink | Category: SEO Tips , Travels | Comments (7) (0)

Last night at 7:49 PM (EST), we logged our 15,000th task in our task management system.

Our first task, ever logged in our custom built, RustyBrick® Task Manager, was on June 23, 2002 at about the same time of the day. Back then, Ronnie and I created all the tasks. Actually for a year or so after, we created all the tasks. Let me step back a bit. A task in our Task Manager, is a piece of a project that must get done for a whole project to get done. So if a client wants us to build out a web application, we will break down the web application into specific tasks, could be a handful or could be hundreds. Then programmers work on these tasks until they complete all of them.

So in the early days, Ronnie and I created each of these tasks. But we ultimately wanted our clients to take control and create their own tasks. In addition, we wanted our developers to do that as well. Over the course of the years, clients and our developers began creating tasks on their own. In fact, today, I personally rarely ever create a task. These days, we create tasks by the dozen each day. We probably create several hundred tasks per month. So if I had to chart the number of tasks we create month by month, you would probably see a huge steep line going up.

What is special about task number 15,000 is not only that it is number 15,000, but that a client created the task. We love when clients take the steering wheel and make their own detailed tasks.

We live and die by our RustyBrick Task Manager. It not only keeps our clients apprised of where we are with their projects, it also runs our daily business actives. We bill from it, we project manage front it, we project into the future with it, we interact with clients through it, we give bonuses from it, we power ambient orbs from it and much much more. It is our life line.

Congrats to the RustyBrick team and clients for reaching this awesome milestone!

Posted at 1:12 PM | Permalink | Category: RustyBrick | Comments (4) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

Code free AdSense solution is rolling out now. Microsoft fixed the Live Search URL submission form. Google AdSense payment history reports are buggy. Google does mobile, well, kind of. Google Analytics gets familiar with site searches. IAC splits up. 301 your domains. Yahoo fixes Site Explorer issue. Google Webmaster Tools updates link figures. iGoogle gets new hidden themes. Google moves more Google Drive domains to name server. PageRank statistics comes out. There is a new SEO tool out. Yahoo testifies in front of Congress.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Google Begins Roll Out of New AdSense Management Features
2. Live Search URL Submission Form Fixed After One Month
3. Google AdSense Payment History Reports Broken?
4. Google Takes a Stab at Microsoft with Mobile OS
5. Does Google Analytics Use Site Search and Custom Search for Reporting?
6. Ask.com Can Better Stand on its Own: IAC Splits Companies
7. Got Several Domains? 301 Redirect them to Your Main Domain
8. Yahoo! Fixes Site Explorer Counts Issue
9. Google Webmaster Link Tool November 2007 Update

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. iGoogle Gets New Themes; Google China Gets New Home Page
2. The Google Drive Domains Find New Home: GDrive Coming Soon?
3. Survey Says: No Sites Gained & Many Lost PageRank
4. Website SEO Health Check Tool
5. Jerry Yang, Yahoo's CEO, Testifies In Front Of Congress

Daily Link Finds:

This is the November 6th issue of a daily post that will contain links to commentary of the posts over at the Search Engine Roundtable. All links I find throughout the day that ad some commentary to the posts written over at the Search Engine Roundtable, will be in the Daily Link Finds. The purpose is two fold: (1) To help people find discussion around our articles and (2) To thank people for linking to us. How do I find these links? Only one way, via a Google Blog Search link command, so make sure that (1) you are in Google Blog Search and (2) link to us.

Daily Link Finds for November 6th, 2007:

• Google cracking down on Page Rank?, www.pro-networks.org
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 5, 2007, Search Engine Land
• Social Graphを巡る戦い。NYに来ています, Ad Innovator
• Google permet de definir la geolocalisation dun site, Web Rank Info
• Google Ranking & Results Update Underway, Search Engine Journal
• Is Google Racist?, Sphinn
• Microsoft Live Search Site Submission Working Again, Search Engine Journal

Posted at 4:22 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

Man, such a small world. Years ago, when I first started going to the search conferences, I felt like I was the only orthodox Jew to be found at them. Soon after, my old high school buddy, Eli Feldblum began going to the conferences. I think I first saw him at SES San Jose back in 2005? Maybe? It was nice to see a familiar face at the conferences, which he continues to go to until today.

Anyway, today, him and his business partner at Rank Above (the picture at the top is Eli with his two business partners, aka couldnt find a picture of them) stopped by to say hello. Well, technically, they flew in from Israel. Eli founded Rank Above about a year ago, after moving to Israel from New York. He is one of the many Jewish people to "make aliyah" or move to Israel after living outside of Israel. He was able to successfully start a company, an SEO company, that employees 13 people now. Very impressive, after only one year.

You might remember Eli as being the one who helped orchestrate the synchronized swimming event at PubCon a year or so ago. A picture might remind you:

Still doesn't ring a bell? Eli also worked at Did-It before that. A picture for that also:

Anyway, now he is running a successful SEO company in Israel. He supports 13 families, including his wife and his newish, cute baby girl.

Thanks for lunch Eli and RankAbove! My treat when I go to Israel in February.

Posted at 3:26 PM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (1) (0)

The folks at Oddcast slipped me, well, the cartoon version of me, into their Flash demo on their home page.

Here is a screen cap, about 30 seconds in the video:

This is way cool. Why? Because they created the technology for me to make Cartoon Barry speak in the Daily Search Coverage recaps, that I do daily.

Posted at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Funny | Comments (0) (0)

I have been noticing when I start up my Apple in my office, that my Apple Cinema Display is starting to burn out in certain areas.

I always put my hard drive icon, which is a RustyBrick logo, in the top right corner of my screen. So when I move the icon, it shows a faint imprint, even though it is not there.

Here is a picture, look at the top right of the picture.

You see, I just moved my icon slightly down and to the left, so you can see the outline it formed in my screen.

How crazy!

This screen is not cheap. Does it bother me? Not at all, I think it is cool.

Temporarily disabling comments, sorry...

Posted at 9:38 AM | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs | Comments (7) (0)

Last week, I noticed my text messages were going to go over the alloted minutes I signed up for. So I called AT&T, and asked for more text messages.

I described to the customer service agent that I am about to go over on my minutes. He asked if I had an iPhone, I said yes. I said, I need a plan that gives me more text messages, the next tier up. He said no problem and updated my plan.

I look at my wireless usage over the weekend and notice my "Internet" usage was in the red. I thought to myself, I better call AT&T and find out why. So just about an hour ago, I called, while prepping the SearchCap.

Here is part of that convo:

Barry: It appears that I am over my Internet usage, but I should have unlimited. I think it might be due to me having you guys upgrade my text messages last week. Can you look at my account and tell me what is wrong?
AT&T: Let me have a look.
AT&T: You are on an non-iPhone plan. Why?
Barry: I don't know why. I called last week and said I need more text messages and he upgraded me.
AT&T: You should of added more text messages when you activated your phone.
Barry: But I didn't know I would need more text messages then. So now, I know I want more text messages and I asked to upgrade my plan.
AT&T: Why didn't you do it on iTunes when you activated?
Barry: I activated months ago, I can upgrade my plan on iTunes also? Cool!
AT&T: No, you can't upgrade your plan on iTunes. I understand now, let me look.
Barry: Thanks!
AT&T: Wow, you eat up a ton of data. iPhones do that. I better back date your plan and fix this.
Barry: Thanks!
AT&T: Um, it seems like you went over last month due to this issue. In the 6 hours between the time you changed the plan and the time your cycle ended, you accrued over $60 in data fees! In just 6 hours.
Barry: Cool!
AT&T: I'll credit you for that and back date the other plan.
Barry: Thank you.
AT&T You are all set now, sorry for any confusion.
Barry: Not a problem, thank you so much for your help!

I enjoyed that call. I was able to do blogging stuff while having the customer rep deal with the issue the right way.

I am still amazed I used $60 of data in about 6 hours. I wonder what would of happened if I did not call AT&T and waited until I got my bill at the end of this billing cycle. 6 hours = $60. I use my phone 12 hours a day, 6 days a week.

$60 * 2 (for 12 hours per day) = $120 per day
$120 * 6 days per week = $720 per week
$720 * 4 weeks per month = $2,880 per bill.

Not bad.

Posted at 4:58 PM | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs , iPhone | Comments (4) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

How does one measure the importance of a page anymore? Did Google take the Western Union payment option away from Morocco? Google is doing some update. How does setting the geographic target in Google impact your search results? Is Google racist? AOL will acquire Quigo. Tamar posted on an AdSense issue. Google launched g.cn. Does social traffic increase your bounce rates? Yahoo launched KickStart. MySpace is to launch their ad system. IAC splits up and grabs ad deal with Google.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Is Google's Old Supplemental Index a Good Way to Measure Page Importance?
2. Is Google Expanding Western Union Payments to Egypt and Morocco or Not?
3. Google.com Search Results Update? Google Ranking Update?
4. Setting the Geographic Target in Google May Not Limit You to that Target Area
5. Is Google Racist?
6. AOL to Acquire Quigo for $300 Million
7. Targeting UK Subscribers, Reviewed by a US AdSense Rep: Dangerous?
8. Google Buys g.cn, Shortest Domain Name in China
9. Does Social Search Convert or are Bounce Rates Higher?

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Google Releases G.cn For Chinese Users
2. Check Out My Yahoo Kickstart Profile & Get Yours
3. SelfServe HyperTargeting Ads From MySpace Launching Today
4. IAC To Split Up, Extends Google Ad Deal Worth $3.5+ Billion

Daily Link Finds:

This is the November 5th issue of a daily post that will contain links to commentary of the posts over at the Search Engine Roundtable. All links I find throughout the day that ad some commentary to the posts written over at the Search Engine Roundtable, will be in the Daily Link Finds. The purpose is two fold: (1) To help people find discussion around our articles and (2) To thank people for linking to us. How do I find these links? Only one way, via a Google Blog Search link command, so make sure that (1) you are in Google Blog Search and (2) link to us.

Daily Link Finds for November 5th, 2007:

• Bruceclay.com - Friday Recap, BruceClay.com
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 2, 2007, Search Engine Land
• Google Docs, ya esta en 38 idiomas entre ellos el Catalain y el Portugus, Blogtecnia
• Yahoo Search Update Underway : Ranking Changes Reported, superwebpro.net
• Digg Spamming Friends, Loving IT Guys, Search Halloween Costumes and More!, ShoeMoney
• Los filtros y penalizaciones de Google, Emezeta blog
• Sphinn is faster than Search Engine Land and SERoundtable, Andrew R H Girdwood
• Google PageRank Penalties, Tilak's Online Marketing Blog
• Internal AdWords Tool Raises Rumors About Rankings, WebProNews
• Search Headlines & Links: November 2, 2007, Search Engine Watch Blog
• Top 50 Marketing Blogs To Watch In 2008, www.evancarmichael.com

Posted at 4:30 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (1) (0) | Speak

Every now and then an office supplies guy stops by the office trying to solicit business from my company.

Since we are a very digitized company, we don't have the need for much office supplies. I stock up maybe once or twice a year and that is more than enough.

One came in the office today and one of my guys sent him away. I said, hmm. Next time one comes in, I want you to tell him that we want to buy a "No Soliciting" sign for the front door.

All office supplies stores sell them, so they must be able to be able to sell us one. Why rub it in the face of the sales guy? Because there is a no soliciting sign right by the elevators.

Posted at 3:00 PM | Permalink | Category: RustyBrick | Comments (3) (0)

I was chatting with Gary Price when he told me he updated his post named Early Web Search Engine Announcements. In that post is a link to an old USENET post by Sergey Brin, the founder of Google.

The post can be found here and reads:

I need to travel round-trip from SFO to BWI in about 10 days and stay for about 2 weeks. In the light of the recent air fare wars, I suspect my just taking United as usual is not the smart way to go. Anyone have any suggestions. Continental seems to have pretty low fares.

ADVthanxANCE
--sergey

If you review the post, you can even find some old school spam or link drops, without the link drops. A guy named Pat Michaels from AirTravel.com wanted to book the tickets for Sergey and listed all the details of the flight. It was relevant, just funny to see.

But why did he need to leave to Baltimore in ten days for a two week period? Can we related this post to a more recent post by Sergey, where he complained of the "terrible dryness" in his house?

Nah, Gary figured it was to visit his parents house for the Jewish New Year which feel out on September 5th of that year. Fun looking at old posts.

I doubt he has to worry about cheap flights anymore, since he owns his own 747.

Posted at 2:03 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0) (0)

Yesterday afternoon, I ran into a problem. I was hungry when I got back from work, my wife was out and I wanted to eat something. I opened the fridge and found a box of pizza bagels, yum yum.

So I took it out and I wanted to heat it up using our Convection Microwave Oven, I think it is this model. We were told to obtain this one, because it cooks like an oven, if you do not want to use your oven for small quick cooking.

So the pizza bagel was meant for this microwave. I would pop it in the microwave, and it would come out crispy and not soggy like most microwaves.

But I had an issue. It is a microwave. Do I use paper or tinfoil? If it is an oven and cooks like an oven, using paper can cause a fire. If it is a microwave and cooks like an oven, then using tinfoil would spark things and cause an electrical fire. What to do...

I decided to go with paper and watch it. If the paper starts to burn or get black, I would stop the thing and take it out. Guess what? I was right, the paper worked fine and the pizza bagels came out crisp and yummy.

Did I do the right thing? I still don't know, but it worked.

Posted at 1:33 PM | Permalink | Category: Food | Comments (6) (0)

The other day I asked Do Light Bulb Changers Work?

Well, they do. I went to Home Depot Sunday and picked up the Bayco Light Bulb Changer Kit, which was on sale for $19.

I attached the piece you see on the left of the image to the pole. I inserted an energy efficient light bulb in the gripper and lifted it to the base. I then pushed it in, screwed the bulb and noticed it turned on. I did not want to get electrocuted, so I tried to reach the switch to turn it off while holding the pole.

It did not work, so I tried letting the pole hang from the bulb while I run to the switch and turn it off. I tried that and the pole fell, but I caught the pole before it hit the floor. I then switched off the light, which I thought was off originally, and tighten the bulb.

It worked well.

What was the difference? It came with a smaller gripper that held the bulb in place. I did not have to use the suction piece, which simply did not work.

We now have light!

Posted at 9:56 AM | Permalink | Category: Homey | Comments (4) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

Is Yahoo putting all the work on the advertiser? Google is expanding their Western Union payments. Google AdSense added a resources section. Google fixed the AdSense report issues completely now. Google Docs now supports 38 languages. MySpace and friends join Google's OpenSocial. What is the down-low on Google's changes for November? Google is fast, why? AdWords has a Manger Defined Spend feature. New York Times competes with Techmeme. Yahoo says I'm Sorry to Chinese dissident. Google adds blog searches to web history. Search in Pictures is out.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Yahoo Search Marketing's Block Domain Feature Encouraging Laziness at Yahoo?
2. Google Expanding AdSense Western Union Payments to Egypt & Morocco?
3. Google AdSense Adds Resources Tab
4. Seriously, Google Fixes AdSense Channel Reporting Issue Again
5. Google Docs Expands to Support 38 Languages
6. MySpace Joins Forces with Google's OpenSocial Network
7. Webmasters Report November 2007 Google SERP Changes
8. What is Behind the Speed of Google's Search Engine?

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Google AdWords Manager Defined Spend (MDS)
2. New York Times Adds BlogRunner To Technology Section
3. Yahoo's Executive Apologizes Over Imprisonment Of Chinese Dissident
4. Blog Searches Now Included In Google Web History
5. Search in Pictures: Halloween, Yahoo Bouncing Stools & Googlebox

Daily Link Finds:

This is the November 2nd issue of a daily post that will contain links to commentary of the posts over at the Search Engine Roundtable. All links I find throughout the day that ad some commentary to the posts written over at the Search Engine Roundtable, will be in the Daily Link Finds. The purpose is two fold: (1) To help people find discussion around our articles and (2) To thank people for linking to us. How do I find these links? Only one way, via a Google Blog Search link command, so make sure that (1) you are in Google Blog Search and (2) link to us.

Daily Link Finds for November 2nd, 2007:

• Page Rank Vs Webmaster, sin-dominio.blogspot.com
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 1, 2007, Search Engine Land
• Andy Beard's recent page rank stats, Forward Thinking
• Did Google PR Just Take a Dive in the Shitter?! P2L a PR 4!, Blog of Dan Richard
• Google and the Page Rank, Mr Roth
• Google PageRank Crash, aLtaf saYani
• one more for the page rank drop, WebProWorld
• Yahoo Site Explorer's Discrepancy In Counts, ViralWebs
• You have to see this!, www.davidcastle.org

Posted at 1:58 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

I have one line for Tamar's continuation of a meme: Hi, My Name is Tamar, and I am a Media Snacker.

Here it is:

Media Snacks on Media

Errr.

Posted at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Category: Blogging | Comments (0) (0)

The worst bulb in the house went out the other day. It is the bulb in the entry way, which requires a really long ladder or a really long pole to change the bulb (maybe about 20 feet high, maybe much more (I really don't know).

In any event, I saw this Microfiber Hi-Reach Cleaning Kit from Bed Bath was on sale, it included a light bulb changer. So I picked it up last night and gave it a try.

I put the thing together and tried out a few of the pieces it came with. I then went with the suction cup end to change the bulb. I extended the pole as far as it goes and then had to walk up most of the stairs to reach. As I began trying to unscrew the bulb, I had this fear that it would not stick.

I had my wife grab a box, one of the hundred we used to move, and place it under the bulb. Soon after, I was able to get the bulb out, but as I lowered the poll, the light bulb came loose of the suction cup and fell to the floor.

CRASH!!!

It landed in the box, the light bulb actually did not shatter. It would have, if the box was not there.

Next, I tried putting up the new bulb. I got the new bulb to suction to the pole, but ever few seconds it would fall off. So I tried using some of the other pices, those did not work out too well. So I came back to the suction, got it to stick for a while. As I started lifting the bulb to the fixture, I got nervous again. So my wife put the box back.

I got the bulb to reach the hole to screw it in. As I turned, I lost the suction on the bulb. I waited, tried to reposition, but I knew I had no chance. The bulb would fall. I tried to push the bulb in and continue turning, but I failed.

The bulb came crashing down to the floor. Bingo! It hit the box again, and the bulb survived.

I then decided to give up and put it away. Who knew changing a light bulb can take up so much time!

My question, is this worth trying again? Do I need a different tool?

Update: See my new post, Light Bulb Changers Do Work: We Have Light!

Posted at 9:39 AM | Permalink | Category: Homey | Comments (8) (0)

Seriously, my iPhone is my light source when it is dark.

In the early AM, when I leave the house and there is no light, I use it to show me my way. It is just so dark outside and no light at all is in the house. I can turn on some lights, but I don't want to disturb my sleeping wife (I am so nice).

So instead of turning on a light when I need to walk down the stairs, I use my iPhone to light my path.

I can't tell you how I am looking forward to switching the clocks tomorrow night. It is wayyyy toooo dark in the mornings.

Posted at 9:31 AM | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs , Daily Grind , iPhone | Comments (1) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

Google's link command is a bit awkward at the moment. Is Live Search's Webmaster Portal coming soon? Google AdWords has this funky tool for their reps. Google AdSense publishers did not get their secured express checks yet. Matt Cutts dressed down for Halloween. Gmail gets an update. GOOG blasts past 700 smackers. FeedBurner pushes AdSense on your site, not your feeds. Ask.com goes green with their Dell servers.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Google Back Link Update? Google Blog Search Link Command Slow?
2. Live Search Webmaster Portal Beta Coming Soon?
3. Google Offers AdWords Reps Tool That Assigns Dollars to Search Results
4. Google AdSense Publisher Not Receiving Secured Express Delivery Payment
5. Matt Cutts Goes Catty for Halloween
6. Gmail Comes Out with New Version
7. Google Stock (GOOG) Exceeds $700, Stockholders Rejoice

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. FeedBurner Integrates Google AdSense Into Monetize Console
2. Ask.com Teams With Dell To Create Custom Servers That Save Energy

Daily Link Finds:

This is the November 1st issue of a daily post that will contain links to commentary of the posts over at the Search Engine Roundtable. All links I find throughout the day that ad some commentary to the posts written over at the Search Engine Roundtable, will be in the Daily Link Finds. The purpose is two fold: (1) To help people find discussion around our articles and (2) To thank people for linking to us. How do I find these links? Only one way, via a Google Blog Search link command, so make sure that (1) you are in Google Blog Search and (2) link to us.

Daily Link Finds for November 1st, 2007:

• Happy Halloween from Bruce Clay!, BruceClay.com
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 31, 2007, Search Engine Land
• SEO Newsletter | Volume 41 | October 31, 2007, BruceClay.com
• SEO Halloween Headline News, suntzuseo.com
• Google Demolishes PageRank, Fenetre
• Google Pagerank Gncelleme, ufoscreAm Bilgi Merkezi
• Hi, My Name is Tamar, and I am a Media Snacker, Techipedia
• Yahoo Search : mise a jour de lalgo, de l'index et du crawl, Web Rank Info
• Yahoo Search Updates "Algorithm, Index & Crawling", www.ditii.com

Posted at 3:51 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

Tell me this... Why, why, why do all sales prospects come in the same week? I must of had 10 plus serious sales calls in the past week. Four new clients have signed up this week and I suspect another two will also, by weeks end.

Honestly, I can go weeks without signing up a new client, sometimes even months. But then, when we sign up a new client, bam! A slew of new clients also end up signing up.

This is very common, probably also very common for you guys. Business is sometimes not expected. Some business is seasonal, not mine - so we never know when it is going to hit.

Don't get me wrong, we have the resources, maybe we should add two more coders. Anyone interested? But it provides a happy stress.

I know I am not the reason we get new clients. Why? Because I Am A Horrible Sales Man. And when the client signs up, I am like, "sounds good, let's get started." I don't smile, I don't jump for joy, I don't get all excited.

Anyway, back on topic. Anyone know why new business typically comes in this avenue? All at one time...

Posted at 1:26 PM | Permalink | Category: RustyBrick | Comments (4) (0)

Figure I give a public health update.

• I am still congested after almost a month, but I feel like it is getting better...
• My wrist feels somewhat better, but it hurt again last night after sawing some wood and then running to play basketball. It is hard shooting a ball, when you have that pain.
• My right foot has been hurting after playing ball, but I feel like that will go away soon.
• My left big toe kind of hurts also
• I still see a floater

I think that is about it. That is my current health update. Other than that, I am tired - but who isn't?

Posted at 9:01 AM | Permalink | Category: Daily Grind | Comments (3) (0)

I grew up in a very Jewish area, I have lived here my whole life.

On Christmas, we don't see many lights or ornaments on the homes. During Halloween, we don't see many pumpkins, and such. My whole life, I cannot recall ever having someone walk up to my parents house or my previous house, ring the door bell and say, "Trick or Treat" while being dressed up in a costume. Sounds crazy, but it is true. The area I live in, at least the immediate area, is 99% Jewish. And Halloween is just one of those holidays, we typically do not celebrate.

In any event. As you know, I moved to a new house a few weeks ago, it is basically on the outskirts of the original community I lived in. Last night, I heard the door bell ring and it was two girls that said, "Trick or Treat."

I was like, um, what do I do. I then think back to TV, my main source of education, and say, "hold on." I yell up to my wife and ask if we have any candy. She says, "um, no..." I look at them, and they say, "Don't worry about it," and then giggle and walk away. I say, "I am sorry."

So my first "Trick or Treat" experience was pretty poor. I feel really bad not having anything for those kids. Maybe, just maybe, we should stock up now on candy... You never know when you will need it.

Posted at 8:51 AM | Permalink | Category: Religion | Comments (4) (0)