Archive for 2010

The Self Conscious Smile

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

In middle school and high school, I thought I had “dodged a bullet” by not having to deal with braces. Well, the thing was, I was presented the idea as an option by the orthodontist that I visited at 13, maybe 14. The truth was, my teeth were pretty straight. However, I had a cross-bite. Whenever you have any kind of issue like that, let me tell you right now. . . it’s going to get worse. As soon as your wisdom teeth start coming in, it will get worse.

Not many people turn 25 and get braces. I did. I have no idea why, but I let a dentist (that I really didn’t like) convince me that I had to get braces. (I was clenching my teeth as I slept and hurting my jaw.) When it’s over, I will probably be very grateful. So, here I am, 26, and next month I’ll be 27.  I think I may have them for 2 more months, and seriously I have had these braces for so long it feels like I haven’t really been able to smile with confidence in almost 2 years. I wasn’t nearly as self conscious with crooked teeth. ;) I can’t wait to spend my 27th year without metal constantly cutting into the sides of my cheeks and spending forever and a day flossing. If I had gotten them when I was younger, then my teeth wouldn’t have needed them again. Not even after my wisdom teeth. Just maybe a retainer? I dunno.

The moral of the story:

If your kids have a need for braces. . . don’t let them avoid it. Make them get braces when they are younger, and their teeth aren’t already set in their ways! Besides, everyone looks goofy in during adolescence right? LOL! My daughter who is 7 1/2 already has her braces. And she LOVES them. Of course, it might just be because, mom has them so they must be cool right? ;)

Invite Me Too! (once.)

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

Whoever wrote this post about what they think of fan pages reminded me of an issue with

  • fan pages
  • webinars
  • friending and adding requests
  • and other fun social media activism campaigns.

The issue?

Forgetting who you’ve already invited, suggested, mentioned, or proposed to!

I am sad to say that I am guilty of this. As I was first setting up fan pages and started social media activism, I wasn’t documenting who I had already  “hit up” to join! This is BAD. Learn from my mistake, which luckily didn’t cost me any friends or anything, but I am sure I invited or suggested to my site to my friends more than once . :{ Sorry guys, I love you all for being so wonderfully patient!

Anyways, I deemed this inspiration worthy of a post and a mention and a warning.

Your friends and partners are all great people, and I am sure they are very supportive of you. However, when it comes to business:

“You can and should ask for their support once. If they are interested in joining, they will. When you ask repeatedly, that’s called nagging. “

To prevent myself from being a nag, I now keep lists of people I invite to any new event now. I make sure that whenever I send an auto invite, the invite once is checked. Now that I have more business associates online, I try to keep my friends out of it. (Except when I think it’s REALLY cool!)

Social Media’s Real Power

Monday, January 4th, 2010

I was browsing some websites during lunch today, and I happened across Chris Brogan‘s newest blog post called: Soul of a New Business. Of course, Chris had some great incite on building new business. He has become quite the success story because of tools like social media and then writing an inspiring book about it called “Trust Agents” along with his partner in crime, Julien Smith.

It never ceases to amaze me how social networking really can make or break a business! These days, it’s all about reputation. So, if you are a new business, how do you compete? I found Chris’s business soul is a set of questions to ask yourself important to share. And I will at the bottom of this post. However, before that, I want to share a simple, yet most profound statement, from one of his commenters, Natalie of Stark Media. She said,

Social media has done a great job of revealing which businesses prove helpful.

Simple right? Well, sometimes you “know” something without every really communicating it effectively. And you know what? I can’t think of a better way to say this. In a nutshell, this is what makes social media really powerful. Even if you are a brand new business with no reputation, social media will give you the opportunity to actually be helpful. It’s the best way of advertisement there is!

Anyone can buy air time or ads in the yellow pages and say: “Hey! I can make your life better!” Right? Social media, when used correctly, will PROVE you are awesome.

Now, for Chris’s List of Business Soul Set of Questions to Ask Yourself:

  • Would I want my mother or spouse to be marketed to the way I am marketing my business?
  • Are the products I am selling something I’d give to my family?
  • Are better/easier/more helpful ways of doing what I’m doing?
  • Am I approaching my business relationships in a balanced way, or am I just sitting here chomping at the bit to sell ? (People can tell the difference.)
  • At what price are my products and services worth?
  • Am I giving real value? or am I  just selling?

I changed this list into first person and put it in a bullet list, but you will find them and thousands of helpful tips for social networking and “how this human business” at ChrisBrogan.com.

Moving WordPress

Saturday, January 2nd, 2010

Move WordPress from a subdirectory to website root

This example should work for any WordPress deployment, this article describes how to move WordPress on IIS 7 using ASP.Net

Benefits

  • Move WordPress
  • Preserve old links and permalinks
  • Preserve old images and uploads in posts and pages
  • Notify crawls of change with HTTP Response 301 Moved Permanently

This configuration will allow you to move WordPress to a different directory within your site and maintain you old links, permalinks, images, and uploads. All of the content will move with WordPress, this will just setup redirects to the new location. Each time an old link is used a HTTP Response 301 will be issued, this will help update search engines and backlinks. Custom HTTP Response 404 handling will be used to issue the HTTP Response 301.

Steps

  • Setup HTTP Response 301 Moved Permanently using ASP.Net (default.aspx)
  • Modify HTTP Response 404 Not Found handling using IIS 7 (web.config)
  • Modify rewrite rule to exclude old path using IIS 7 (web.config)
  • Update WordPress settings in database using MySQL
  • Update WordPress posts in database using MySQL

HTTP Response 301 Moved Permanently using ASP.Net
example default.aspx

<%@Page Language=”VB” %>
<%@Import Namespace=”System.Uri” %>
<%@Import Namespace=”System.Web” %>

<script runat=”server”>

Sub Page_Load(sender As Object, e As System.EventArgs)

Dim sUrl As System.String = HttpContext.Current.Request.RawUrl

Dim bChange As System.Boolean
bChange = False

If sUrl.IndexOf(“?404;”) > 0 Then
sUrl = sUrl.SubString(sUrl.IndexOf(“?404;”) + 5)
sUrl = sUrl.SubString(sUrl.IndexOf(“//”) + 2)
sUrl = sUrl.SubString(sUrl.IndexOf(“/”) + 1)
Else
sUrl = “”
End If

If sUrl.IndexOf(“blog/”) = 0 Then
sUrl = sUrl.SubString(5)
End If

Response.Status = “301 Moved Permanently”
Response.AddHeader(“Location”, “http://www.domain.com/” & sUrl)

End Sub

</script>

Web Server/IIS updates
example web.config


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?/>
<configuration>
<system.webServer>
<httpErrors>
...
<error statusCode="404" subStatusCode="-1" prefixLanguageFilePath="" path="/default.aspx" responseMode="ExecuteURL" />
...
</httpErrors>
<rewrite>
<rules>
<rule name="WordPress" stopProcessing="true">
<match url="/*" ignoreCase="true" />
<conditions>
<add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsFile" negate="true" />
<add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsDirectory" negate="true" />
<add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" pattern="blog/*" matchType="Pattern" negate="true" />
</conditions>
<action type="Rewrite" url="/index.php" />
</rule>
</rules>
</rewrite>
</system.webServer>
</configuration>

WordPress updates
example MySQL synax


/* Update WordPress siteurl attribute */
update database_name.wp_options set option_value='http://www.domain.com' where option_name='siteurl';

/* Update WordPress home attribute */
update database_name.wp_options set option_value=’http://www.domain.com’ where option_name=’home’;

/* Update WordPress upload_path atribute, this is a local path */
update database_name.wp_options set option_value=’C:\\Inetpub\\website\\wp-content\\uploads’ where option_name=’upload_path’;

Finding My Center

Friday, January 1st, 2010

Freeing Up Resources

I am finally consolidating all of my randomness and some of my test blogs to darkbluesun.com. This site needed an overhaul for New Years. Now that I work at Virtual IT Assistants, I can use darkbluesun for my “everything else” posts. It’s good to have my personal space back! In the process, I have freed up the following sites and simply added a few more categories to my blog.

Blogger

  • socialcomplex.blogspot.com
  • talkshowwisdom.blogspot.com
  • hayleegirl.blogspot.com

Google Sites

  • sites.google.com/site/businessparallel
  • sites.google.com/site/socialnetiquette
  • sites.google.com/site/workfamilyparallel

(Note * Google sites are difficult to find names that aren’t taken.)

Webnode

  • sybil.webnode.com

WordPress

  • backwardthinking.wordpress.com
  • hindsightblind.wordpress.com
  • xtremebaking.wordpress.com (I am keeping my mom’s blog at xtremebaking.blogspot.com)
  • socialcomplex.wordpress.com

Why did I have so many all over the place? Darkbluesun was the site I used for consulting. As you can guess I had to keep as much none business content off of it as possible. This year, my new year’s resolution: “To find my center, and stay focused!” LOL, it’s gonna be a good one!

I am so excited that this new format also allowed me to bring in all my girlie games!