Getting up the courage to start a blog, write something down and post it can be challenging. You are left with a million questions and a million more worries. Will anyone read this? What are they going to think? Are they going to like it? I can tell you right now what to do… Stop driving yourself crazy over something you have no direct control over and you cannot immediately do something about.
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Tips on How to Write Your First Blog Post
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Unboxing Apple’s New MacBook Pro
It only took six months of research, 20 or so visits to Best Buy, and 3 visits to the Apple Store to finally make a decision. And in all honesty, I have to say it was well worth it and definitely the best decision I could have made.
Now, just a little background on why it took me so long to figure out what to do. When I started my initial research, I did what most people do, I hit up google, read the reviews and made a list. Eventually, my very long list became a short one, which was widdled down to the Sony Vaio. I had taken a look at what Apple had to offer back in January, but the cost immediately eliminated a Mac from the list. I was like, “WTF, man! I can get the “same” thing for half the price.”
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Creating a Plan for Your Website – Organize then Design
Now you may ask why do I need a website design plan? Well, would you hire a builder for your vacation home before seeing the blue prints? Would you take a trip to Brazil without setting up a travel itinerary? A web site is a similar investment to which you will devote significant time and other resources. Any investment, if it is to succeed, requires detailed planning.
The steps you take before you actually start the design or coding will save you a lot of wasted time, energy and money in the long run. You will be able to determine the major objectives for your web site as a result of defining its purpose and identifying the audience. Stating objectives for a website is similar to setting up goals for a business, in that doing so gives structure and direction. The document you create serves as a reference point throughout your project and keeps the planning and creating phases on target. Continue reading
Dual Monitors: How to Have a Different Wallpaper on Each Desktop
I would consider myself somewhat of a technofile, so in the tradition of all things nerdy I made sure that both my wife and I had dual monitors. For the longest time we have been stuck in a bleak and boring world where our dual screens displayed the same wallpaper, but that world has come to a glorious end. Continue reading
Tagged desktop, display fusion, dual monitors, wallpaper
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Highlight, Display, Create On-Hover or On-Mouseover Text-Captions Over an Image Using CSS
Hah! Do you like the title? It’s a bit long, but this was an attempt to save you some time. I am hoping I captured enough keywords from all of the searches I did that you managed to find this page. Soh Tanaka is a talented web designer and developer and thankfully he took the time out to write CSS On-Hover Image Captions.
Excellent CSS Books Worth Checking Out from SitePoint.com
101 Essential CSS Tips, Tricks & Hacks | The Art And Science of CSS
Everything You Know About CSS is Wrong
101 Essential CSS Tips, Tricks & Hacks | The Art And Science of CSS
Everything You Know About CSS is Wrong
I used his code to successfully implement captions over images using only CSS for EduBasics: Home of Multiplication Hip Hop product page. In all it took about 15 minutes to update the stylesheet, html and upload it to the server. At the end of the day I hope this saved you some time and provided the code you needed. Continue reading
How Do I Convert Seconds to Minutes in Excel?
I run across this problem all of the time when I am exporting data out of Google Analytics. I thought it would be a great idea if I finally documented it somewhere I would remember and in the process help you out along the way.
For those of you that don’t know, whenever you export data out of Google Analytics that contains for example, the average time a user is on the site, Google only provides you with the seconds.
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Tips for Coding HTML Email Newsletters for Multiple Browsers
If you are reading this than you know the joys of trying to code your email for all of the various email applications out there. Outllook, AOL, Gmail, Hotmail each have their own quirks and rendering methodologies and getting your email to display in all of its splendor and glory in each is well…a pain in the ass.
So now that you are reading this article hopefully you’ve stopped banging your head against your desk and I have you attention for a minute or two. Here are the resources I have used and found helpful to aid you in your process. Continue reading
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Setting Meeting Objectives
I just finished up a post about Understanding Effective Meeting Agendas and thought it was important to expand on the importance of clearly setting the meeting objectives before you create your meeting agenda. Setting meeting objectives is the first and most important step during the meeting management process. It answers the question of “What do I hope to accomplish when my meeting is done?”.
Before planning the agenda, write down a phrase or several phrases to complete the sentence: By the end of the meeting, I want the group to… Depending on the focus of your meeting, your ending to the sentence might include phrases such as: …be able to list the top three features of our newest product, …have generated three ideas for increasing our sales, …understand the way we do business with customers, …leave with an action plan, …decide on a new widget supplier, or …solve the design problem. Continue reading
Understanding Effective Meeting Agendas
I have been looking at my meeting calendar recently and realized something. I have no idea what half of the meetings are about. I just know I am supposed to show up and that is about it. When I do get there someone just starts talking about stuff. Do I know who this person is? Do I know why I am there? Do I even know what this mysterious stuff is? Hmmm… I think it’s time for my handy dandy sheet of scratch paper and the para-trooping bunnies.
I think sometimes we miss a step and assume that just by calling a meeting a naming it “Meeting to Talk About Stuff”, that it will be enough information to conduct a productive and effective meeting. We need to take a step back and address one of the most important elements, the meeting agenda. Continue reading
The Lucky Charms Scenario: How Did My Meeting Get Off Track?
I thought we were talking about …”Fill in the Blank”. How did we wind up talking about pink hearts, green clovers, and purple horseshoes? It is inevitable. We sit in meetings and as they progress somehow they get further and further from the original topic. Your discussion has gone completely off topic and it is definitely no longer related to decisions that need to be made in the meeting.
So what do you do? You are the facilitator of the meeting and you don’t want to offend anyone or stifle creativity. Here is your life saver, the Parking Lot. That’s right, you did not misread anything. My recommendation is to take that person out to the Parking Lot and well… be creative. No, seriously the Parking Lot and meetings go hand in hand. The Parking Lot ultimately increases meeting productivity and generates a launch pad for future decisions. Continue reading