Entries from July 2009 ↓

I’ve been blogging via the Guide to World Domination for about a year and a quarter now. Thanks to Google Analytics, I’ve realized that while I enjoy writing about the Life and Times of Leanne Heller, all of my popular posts contain useful, non-personal information.

When I learn about something that I think would be useful to others, like How to Add Images to Your Gmail Signature Using Firefox Add-Ons or AIM Coho, Salmon & Trout Bots, I’ll post about it. Google picks these up, and posts like this (thankfully) get higher traffic. But for the most part, I write personal posts that don’t make the Google Radar.

I like having a mostly personal blog. There are several personal blogs that I really enjoy reading, but mainly because I have some connection to the author. I think you have to be famous, or at least notorious, to have a really popular personal blog.

I’m okay with this. I first started getting more interested in blogging after hearing Chris Brogan speak at a North Shore Tech Council event. I don’t want to misquote him, so I’ll just say I’ve noticed his blog always contains content that is useful to his readers. That is why an alexa comparison of our sites looks like this:

Yeah, I’m the red line. The one parallel to (and on top of) the line that forms the bottom of the chart. Again, it’s okay. I figure if I work hard enough at it, I’ll be popular some day.

If you ever want to make yourself feel really good, by the way, use siteanalytics.compete.com. I plugged the old GTWD in there, and apparently, I’m a lot more popular than Google thinks. It’s sort of like viewing your site through one of those flattering skinny mirrors at the carnival.

Perhaps I will become famous for creating an alternative site comparison widget that congratulates you on your traffic regardless of your unique visitors. “Keep trying, people love you. I mean, they really love you. The internet would collapse without your support.” Although, perhaps I should have someone slightly less sarcastic write out the congratulatory comments.

The fun part:

I like to pretend I can garden. I have a lot of green leafy things in pots, and I occasionally water and feed them. I don’t grow complicated things like flowers, because they require too much maintenance and also because I can’t eat them.

Yesterday, I finally had time to do my spring gardening (having a baby puts you behind a season or two) and I had a great time pruning and potting and basically playing with a bunch of dirt. It’s like mud pies for grown-ups.

And, the not-so-fun part:

Unfortunately, I have this evil bag of peat moss that frequently causes my skin to flare up with disgusting itchy red marks. I have yet to actually throw the bag out, because I live on the third floor and the dumpster is far, far away. Also, my plants seem to like peat moss included in their soil mix.

It’s been awhile since I last gardened, so I forgot to wear gloves and long-sleeves. I even wore shorts, which was a stellar idea. As a result, today I have the most disgusting rash on my arms and legs, with all these teeny little white specks and huge poofy venom-filled patches skin. When you touch it (if you dare), it feels like a bee sting, or like you have wet baking soda packed under your skin. Mmm.

My Theories

1. The bag is infested with very small, stinging bugs. Since the rashes have gotten progressively worse, it stands to reason that they are lying in wait in the bag, breeding more and more monsters.
2. This batch of peat moss is very dusty. My skin, which already hates dust mites, had an allergic reaction and is waging war on itself.
3. My garden, spurred on by the fact that I regularly deny it food and water and sometimes even sunshine, has decided to kill me.

It’s a tough call. At least I know it’s happened before, and will go away. The first time I had just talked to a friend about their case of scabies, so I was certain that’s what I had. I woke up in the middle of the night itching like mad. Imagining tiny organisms crawling around inside your body is not a great way to relax.

Disgusting photos for the morbidly curious

Blech.

Why I Went There

I feel kind of arbitrary about birthday gifts. Some years I get people things, other years they’re lucky if they get a voice mail of me (and whoever I can coerce into joining me) singing happy birthday.

This year, I breezed over my sister’s birthday (sorry Kristy) in May but covered Father’s Day and 2 birthdays in June. I did get Kristy’s daughter Aoife a cool gift with the help of Cass, who used to work in a toy store and consequently knows what’s good.

Anyway, the gift I want to talk about was my brother’s. He is crazy about his puppy dogs and is rather fond of beer, so I thought a customized beer stein would be a good bet. After comparing a few sites, I found zazzle.com. (Top Google result for “customized beer stein.”

How it Works

After following the Google search link, I clicked on the image which took me to a “Customize Your Product” wizard. I clicked on “Add Image” and played around with “Adding Text” as well. After spending some time in Photoshop, I uploaded an image of the puppies and completed the online order process, which is pretty standard. (Think amazon.com.)

Important Step!

If you’re creating your product and the image shows the words “Add image or text” or similar, make sure you delete that text before submitting your order. If you don’t, those words will appear as part of the design. Classy, yes? They may have removed this, since I don’t see it on the site now, but watch out for it.

Customer Service

If you don’t delete the dummy text, you may receive an email from the Zazzle.com Quality Assurance team. I found my contact to be helpful and able to communicate well. Additionally, they spotted the issue and initiated contact via email, rather than waiting for me to get the product and feel like an idiot. I was given the option to cancel the order, and reorder it correctly, with a full refund on the botched order.

Savings

Retailmenot has coupon info (go to retailmenot.com and search for “zazzle.com”) and a hack involving making your product public so you qualify as a contributor and save an additional percent.

Finished Product

Here are two images of the finished product:

The photo quality was really amazing. The original image was pretty large, but even so, I was impressed how well it was translated to the stein.

Overall Review

Overall, this is a great site and a great service. The cost is reasonable (about $25 for this order including shipping), the final product is excellent, it’s easy to use and the customer service is above and beyond the usual online store service. Finally, the gift itself is both functional and personal, which is always appreciated. I recommend zazzle.com and I would use it again.