Ways to Keep In Touch With Family and Friends

I am a Pinay expat in Europe for almost 8 years now. Imagine the distance between my home country, Philippines and Germany? That is thousands of miles away. Thanks to the different mediums in internet like video calling, chat, blogs, emails, video conferencing and social networks where I can have contacts to all important persons in my life especially my family, friends, relatives and former classmates.

Whether you find yourself away from friends and family just for a brief vacation or because you'll be studying abroad or going away for a longer period of time, it's important to keep in touch with the people that are close to you. In the past this could be a challenge, but with the internet and today's technology there are many good ways to stay in touch with others.

1) Social Networking

There are several social media in the internet today where we can take hold and have contacts anywhere around the world. Social networking websites like MySpace and Facebook allow you to stay in contact with many of the people that you know. You can just give them a brief update about what you're up to, say a quick hello, or put up pictures to view. This way you'll feel like you're still in contact with lots of your friends and family at once.

I am very glad that I joined these social networking sites like Facebook and Friendster. I am always updated with current news about my family and friends. Not only that, I can also see their pictures.

2) Webcam/Video Calling

With a number of video conference calling options available, such as Skype, video calling sites like Conference Genie, and a host of other live streaming sites, the potential is huge. If you have an iPhone, you can also use Wi-Fi to access your FaceTime setting within the phone. Having interaction via video link is one of the best ways to keep in touch, as you can utilise both sight and sound which is crucial to good communication. You can also use video calling to show off where you are such as landmarks and monuments, and even capture live parades, art exhibitions and other experiences.

3) Email

The easiest way to stay in touch with one specific individual is by sending them an email. This is the same as what you might do if you were to write a letter or send a postcard, but the person will receive it instantly. It's easy, doesn't take too long to send a quick email, and it also doesn't cost a thing. You can also attach images when sending mails.

Since there is a time difference between Philippines and Germany, I cannot always catch my family online. I send them emails instead. Thanks to Yahoo for the free email services. I am a very contented yahoo user for a decade now.

4) Photo hosting websites

One of the best ways to make people from home feel like they are traveling with you is by showing them pictures of the places you've been. There are several websites that let you upload your pictures and put them into an online album view. Then you can send the album to others and they can look at all of the pictures you've taken and all the places you've been on your journey.

You can also share any pictures for whatever activities you are doing. Whether attending a friend's birthday party, graduation, wedding or simply snapshots of your garden,

5) Start a blog

I am very happy being a part of the blogosphere. As a blogger, I can share my ideas, thoughts, opinions and personal experiences to the world. Whether I go for a trip, cook something, do gardening, shopping, visit a doctor, I can share everything in my blogs.

If you travel a lot or might be gone for a long period of time, you can start a blog to keep others informed about what you're up to. You can post as often as you like and write about what you've been doing and things that you've seen. You can also put pictures on your blog. Then anyone you give the address to will be able to read it and comment on it.

You can also earn money through blogging. If you want to promote your site, you can hire experts to grow your business online.

Submitting Your Blog in Blogcatalog

So far, Blogcatalog is one of my favorite blog directories in the net. Most of my blogs are listed in this blog directory and I am quite satisfied about it. If you are a blogger, it is an advantage if you will submit your blogs in any social medias or blog directories like blogcatalog.

When I submitted another blog today, I found out that they have already new features before they will approve your blog. It is up to you if you want your blog to avail some of its features. Here they are;

"Express Blog Approval Cost: $4.95 USD Jump to the front of the line. (currently: 1925 blogs in our queue)
Expose Your Blog Cost: $5.95 USD Immediately place a direct link to your blog on our homepage!
Become a plus member! Cost: $9.95 USD monthly (cancel anytime) Plus members enjoy the best of BC. Customize your blog image and background. Enjoy new features and discounts.

Have us tweet your new blog. Cost: $59.95 We will tweet a description and a direct link to your blog to all the @blogcatalog followers.

Feature your blog on our main directory page. Cost: $49.95 Have a direct link to your blog on on of our most visited pages blogcatalog.com/directory."

Reminder to Fellow Bloggers Who Want to Make Money Online

Good evening folks! Another weekend is almost coming. I am just sharing this entry as a reminder to fellow bloggers out there who want to make money online. There are a lot of ways on how to make money online. Some of these include writing reviews about a certain products or services, visiting a site or they call it payperclick, Google adsense, as affiliate and some other more. As I was cleaning my inbox last night, I found this mail from last year. Mr. Bryan is inviting me to join their site as a blogger. I was trying to Google this company or site named Blog Distributor with URL https://www.blogdistributor.com. last night. I still need to browse online if this Paid to Blog site is a legitimate one. There are a lot of paid to blog sites nowadays that are scam and they never pay their bloggers. Anyway, I will share it soon. Here is the letter forwarded to me last August 2009. Is this site a good one? I need to research this as soon as I can.

"From: Bryan bryanebs@hotmail.com
To: euroangel08@yahoo.de
Sent: Friday, August 7, 2009 9:04:53 PM
Subject: Saw your blog

Hey Blogger - My name is Bryan,

I have been searching the Internet for the most well-written blogs and was impressed by yours. I wanted to invite you to become a paid blogger at Blog Distributor. (please understand that I do not send this invitation to every blogger I come across.) And if you have more than one blog, you are more than welcome to sign those up as well.

In short, we are a middle man between an advertiser and yourself. They will pay us - you'll write a blog posting about their service, product, etc - and then we pay you to do that. It's really quick and simple!

Here is a link that describes how it all works in a little more detail:

https://www.blogdistributor.com/bloggers.php

Our system is set up so that bloggers can make more money with us than with any other blog-for-pay firm.

To submit your blog, go to https://www.blogdistributor.com/bloggers_signup.php

And be assured this is no bot or spam - I am a real person so if you have any questions what so ever, please do contact me and I'll be more than happy to answer them for you!

I should also mention, we are contacting you from a hotmail.com address because our company e-mails (like most) only get through to approved e-mail addresses.

Thanks,

Bryan
bryanebs@hotmail.com"

I Need To Clean my Blogroll

Hey peeps! what's up! I hope you are all doing great! I don't quite have a good day today after a disappointing experience with a bank employee in our place. I am writing this experience in my other blog.

You know what, I really need to clean my blogroll. Last night, I found out that some of the original owners of the blogs are no longer the owners of their domain right now. Worst thing that happened was one of my blogroll list was reported to be a so-called "Reported Attack Page". I made a screen shot of that blog and below are the words that appeared when you open it. That particular blog's URL is http://remixmax.net. I can even remember the name of the blog owner, it was Arya. Well, I don't know if this is really his true name. He was even very friendly everytime he left messages and comments in my blog. As I also visited other blogs in my blogroll, I found out that some domains where already for sale. Some are on porno and gambling sites. Some have a lot of pop-ups. That is the reason why I really need to clean my blogroll asap. Hopefully tomorrow, I will start with the general cleaning.

Lastly, I would like to share this so-called "Reported Attack Page" if you can't read it so clearly in my screen shot below. Here are the words that explain a bit about Reported Attack Page;

Reported Attack Page!
------------------------
This web page remixmax.net has been reported as an attack page and has been blocked based on your security preferences.

Attack Pages try to install programs that steal private information, use your computer to attack others, or damage your system.

Some attack pages intentionally distribute harmful software, but many are compromised without the knowledge or permission of their owners.

I believed we need to be careful whom we are adding to our blogroll. Sorry to also say that I cannot accept blog exchange links when this matter will not be resolved. I need to clean first my blogroll. Sorry guys, if I cannot see my blog/links to your site, I will automatically delete you in my blogroll. Happy blogging!

Blogging Platforms

We are just done eating our dinner! I am striking online again! I am trying to count how many years I have been blogging already. Four, five or six years? But I take it seriously since I was jobless. In short, that is around four years now. I know that there are a lot of platforms where you can create your blog for free. One of those are blogspot, xanga, typepad, wordpress platform and many more to mention. I am happy to know that I just started with Wordpress for my other blog. I heard a lot of stories that it is a very good platform. I am trying to update my blogs there from time to time. Sometimes I can't upload it because I have problems with uploading pictures. Just last month, I found out that I can already upload images direct from my picture folder without doing a lot of steps like before. I just found out from Article Input that there is already a latest version of Wordpress 2.6.

I am not really a computer geek but I am trying all the basic stuffs for me to learn. I believed that wordpress is getting great since I updated one of my blogs there. I already found it easy to use. In a few days, I might also try WP 2.6. I hope I can do it. The information posted at Article Input on setting up blogs on Wordpress is also easy to understand. If you want to create your blog, feel free to visit this site. For sure, you will enjoy blogging like I do! Special thanks to Article Input for all the helpful and informative tips for blogging.

It's Blogging Time About Top 10 UK Sites

I read some not so good comments from a friend's facebook account. He said that his domain got expired and somebody already renewed it. The worst thing, the new owner post everything about viagra. I tell you guys, I am not really an expert about web hosting and domains. I blog in my own websites with its own domain names but I still don't have enough knowledge on it. My friend also said that he was not informed of the expiry of his domain. I guess that is quite unusual. As far as I know, a web hosting company will inform you through email or telephone 30 days in advance for the renewal of your domain. I don't exactly know what happened to my friend's domain name.

Anyway, if you are new to blogging and want to have your own domain name be sure to select the best host who can give you the maximum features. These features might include unlimited email accounts, unlimited SQL databases, unlimited disk space, unlimited bandwidth, cheap and reliable and some other important features. At The Best 10 Web Hosting, you can find reviews of the top web hosting companies in the UK such as JustHost, Godaddy, iPage, Hostpapa, Hostclear and a lot more. You can also find some articles and information with regards to web hosting and how to select the best web hosting company in the net.

Just a reminder if you already have your own domain, be sure to renew it annually for your ease and security. Happy blogging! I am signing-off temporarily to prepare for dinner. See you later guys in my other blogs.

Label Limit in Blogger

This message appeared last time as I was trying to put labels in one of my blogs. I don't remember now which blog of mine was that. If you are using blogger platform, please be sure that you can only use 10 labels per post and a maximum of 2000 labels per blog. Just letting you know and hope that you are having a great day today. Outside is getting very cold now. Autumn is here! take care guys!

Below are the messages that appeared last time.

"Label limit exceeded

Blogger currently allows a maximum of 10 labels per post, and 2000 labels per blog. To get rid of this message, you will have to correct the appropriate label counts.

When reporting this error to Blogger Support or on the Blogger Help Group, please:

* Describe what you were doing when you got this error.
* Provide the following error code and additional information.

bX-q8mnbv
Additional information
blogID: xxxxxxx
host: www.blogger.com
postID:xxxxxxx
uri: /post-edit.do

This information will help us to track down your specific problem and fix it! We apologize for the inconvenience.
Find help

See if anyone else is having the same problem: Search the Blogger Help Group for bX-q8mnbv
If you don't get any results for that search, you can start a new topic. Please make sure to mention bX-q8mnbv in your message."

Can't Post in Blogger Due To Error

Good morning everyone! Another week in August is here again! I hope that you will have a good start of the week especially for those people who are going to work. It seems that I am always busy too. There are a lot of things to do but sometimes 24 hours a day is not enough. There are a lot of things that I want to share in the blogosphere but due to limited time I just can't write everything.

I should be writing this post a week ago but as what I just mentioned above, there is just no enough time. This error in blogger happened the other Sunday night as I was posting in one of my sites. I guess I tried it around ten times but the same error always came out. I also google error code bX-aiksoi but it seems that there is no information about it. Since I am already very sleepy that time, I decided to turn-off my computer. I was also thinking that maybe blogger is having a maintenance that time. The next day, Monday as I tried to post in blogger, it went through already. If you experience the same problem, I guess you don't have to worry about it. For me, it's not a big deal. You can probably try it again after some hours or maybe a day and blogger works again. I know that blogger is doing a good job! Have a great day to all! That's all for now.

"We're sorry, but we were unable to complete your request.

When reporting this error to Blogger Support or on the Blogger Help Group, please:

* Describe what you were doing when you got this error.
* Provide the following error code and additional information.

bX-aiksoi
Additional information
blogID: 8367208902735994008
host: www.blogger.com
postID:
uri: /post-create.do

This information will help us to track down your specific problem and fix it! We apologize for the inconvenience.
Find help

See if anyone else is having the same problem: Search the Blogger Help Group for bX-aiksoi
If you don't get any results for that search, you can start a new topic. Please make sure to mention bX-aiksoi in your message."

What Happeded To Google Friend Connect?

Big G is great but what happened to Google Friend Connect? Anyway guys, It's TGIF again! I hope you will have a wonderful weekend. We are planing for sightseeing again this weekend. I hope that I will be feeling perfectly healthy this weekend. We always try to enjoy the summer here in Europe by going out every weekend and see some places. I love it!

Back to my main topic guys.. I found out last Wednesday that I can't find my friend's list or Google Friend Connect in some of my blogs. I don't exactly know what's wrong with it. I am not an expert and I'm sorry for that. Yesterday, I was also adding some friends in my google friend connect but it seems that there are some errors that always occurred. I forgot to copy that error codes.

I have a good news for you guys...Sometimes you just don't have to worry about this small things. Just today, I found again my friends listed on the sidebars of my blogs. I also bookmarked yesterday the blogs that I want to follow and be added to my google friend connect...Bingo! it's working this morning!@ so don't worry, we just have to be happy all the time when we can! Happy TGIF!

How To Add Friends Links or Blogroll in Blogger

Good evening guys! I am sharing tonight some blogger tutorials. I am not really an expert to this topic but I am just imparting what I had learned as I go through blogging. I guess this is a good thing to share to fellow bloggers who are new in the blogosphere especially if they use blogger platform. This is all about adding links of your friends to your blog.This is also called blogroll. Some bloggers name it as they want like "must visit site", fave blogs, bloglinks, cool sites, great blogs, friends links, etcetera.

It is very easy to add sites or blogs of your friends. There are a lot of ways to do it in blogger. Simply follow this step below;

1. Go to blogger dashboard
2. Click lay-out
3. Click add a gadget
4. Now it's time for you to choose which gadget you want to add your friend's blog. By adding a gadget like "Blog List and "Link List".
Be sure to input the correct website URL.
If you already have an idea about HTML codes, you can also add links by using it. You can also visit blogger tutorials for more information.

That's all for tonight. happy blogging!

Too many Widgets make your Blogs/Sites Load Very Slow

Anything good for today? I guess for me yes! because I am feeling very better now..I'm striking again online and sharing some blogging tips especially for my fellow bloggers. Do you notice that when you visit a site that has a lot of widgets in it, it loads very slow? I know I have some blogs/ sites that also loads slow but maybe it don't reach around 5 to minutes till it loads. The past days, I was visiting some blogs. I just noticed that their blogs loads very slowly because they have a lot of widgets in it. I also notice that a lot of pictures, music, videos or slide shows that you put in your side bars or irrelevant widgets always take your blogs or sites to load very slow. Sometime your or our visitors are getting out of patience waiting for our sites to load. Honestly I also felt the same as I visited one site last time that loads for around 10-15 minutes. I was reloading it but it is still the same.

I guess it is time for us to take away those irrelevant widgets in our sites...I promise to slowly check all my sites and get rid of those widgets that are not really important. This is all for our convenience...but please be patience..have a wonderful day to all!

Problem About Uploading Pictures in Blogger

Last week, a friend of mine told me that she have problems regarding uploading photos in blogger. I told her that sometimes it also happened to me. I also told he that maybe that time is a down time in uploading photos. It did happened to me last night. I tried to upload pictures in some of my sites but it also won't go through. I finally found the reason why I can't upload pictures. As you know we can open now a lot of windows in our computer at the same time. Whatever window you want to view, you can just click it to your screen. As I turned off my computer, I found out that another window was already opened which was hiding at the back everytime I open another window...sounds confusing guys? What you can do is maybe try to minimize the main window that you are currently using so that you can see if there is/are another window(s) open at that time. That is the reason why everytime I click upload photos in blogger it won't go through. This is only a reminder if you have the same problem. Check it out first unless blogger says there is a down time in uploading pictures in which there is always a message that is appearing in the screen. I already experienced it last time. Last night's experience is not a blogger's problem. That's just my info for today! hope it helps a bit! see yah later again!

How to Enable Comment in Blogger

I am back guys! I feel very sleepy now. Before I bid goodbye in the blogoshere, let me share first this post on how to enable comment in blogger. I always wanted to leave some comments everytime I visit a blog. When comment is disabled in a blog, I let the owner know if it is really disabled or just forgot to enable it. I already encountered some bloggers who forgot to enable it and for those who don't have any idea on how to enable it especially in blogger, here is just a quick tip. I am not really an expert in blogging but I know a little and I wish to share it now..below is the comment of a blogger friend in one of my sites. Hey Prince, hope I give you a little tip on how to enable a comment in blogger. His comments are below;

5 Mar 09, 19:33 prince: hi rub.. i think ur in tension..it is not the fact that i don need ur cooment..actually i don kno to enable it.. heeee...i hav already done wats neede..still its not comin. anyway hav my smile 4 2day 1 Mar 09, 13:55 prince: hi ruby..u said u wanna comment..fel free...just enabled 4 u.. :) :)

This is the instruction;

1.) Go to your dashboard
2.) Go to Setting as seen below

3.) From here you can see the comment moderation. It is up to you now what do you want with your comment whether you want to moderate it or not. You can also show the word verification to verify if the one who comment is a human or not ...
4.) There are also a lot of things there to do about your comment like;
- Who can comment in your blog
-Comment Form Placement
-Comment Default for Post
-Comment Time stamp...etc..etc..

lastly you can also visit blogger tips or FAQ for more infos..

Hope I give you a bit info on how to enable comment in blogger!! Have fun blogging!! time for signing out!!Enjoy your Sunday!