Jessica Lee .ca

Happy Chinese New Year 新年快樂

祝大家福虎生風，虎年行大運！

 

Calgary Small Dog Meetup via iVideo (iPhone 3G)

Harry & Stella went to a small dog meetup today.  They mingled with their furry friends and they are so tired now.  :-)

This video clip was recorded using iVideo Camera on my iPhone 3G. iVideo Camera allows you to record a short video on any iPhone (3G or even 2G with iPhone OS 3.1) just like you could do on iPhone 3GS.

Pros: 

• You can save your videos directly to your camera roll or "Photos" and share it via Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo or Twitter. 
•  It's only $0.99!

Cons: 

• You can only shoot a video of up to about 1 minute in length.
• It captures about 3 frames per second at a 160×213 resolution which is pretty low by today's standards.

Happy New Year!

Merry X'mas & Happy New Year!
Originally uploaded by malteserus

Wishing everyone a great year filled with happiness and good health!

新年快樂!!! Happy New Year!!!

Cheers!

6 Ways To Keep Your Project on Track

As a manager, you know that a team project takes a lot more work than meets the eye.  Keeping everything running smoothly requires ongoing effort from everyone involved. 

Focus on these “behind the scenes” areas to improve your project execution: 

1. Support a Team Spirit 

At the outset of your project, match team members up in pairs so everyone has someone to turn to when they face an obstacle.  Ideally, when any issue comes up, they will work as a team to come up with proposed solutions instead of just bringing all their problems to you to solve.  This will give them a greater sense of accomplishment and build team cohesion. 

2. Work Step By Step 

Create checklists that include small action items that may otherwise be overlooked.  The checklists can be used as a template and updated for the next similar project.  They help the team accurately perform routine project tasks  - pilots and surgeons use checklists to reduce mistakes!

3. Crosscheck All the Way 

Assign team members to review each other’s output (using established metrics whenever possible) to ensure that each task is executed properly.  That way, you can perform spot checks but won’t have to spend all your time doing quality control. 

4. Keep Your Eye on the Prize 

Start each group meeting with a recap of your overall project goals.  Then, you can more readily see if a suggested course of action will bring you closer to these objectives or take you off on a tangent. 

5. Have a Backup Plan 

Identify the most likely project disruptions in advance and plan for how to deal with these.  Also, remain flexible enough to handle the unforeseen.  Add contingency resources (e.g. time and expenses for re-work) to your estimate of how long and how much a project will take to complete. 

6. Don’t Become Overwhelmed 

Task saturation occurs when your team members don’t have the time or the resources to get their jobs done.  Combat this by frequent communication.  That way, you can identify people who are overwhelmed before they simply start shutting down.  Use project management or time tracking tools to evaluate performance and identify areas where you need to get more involved.

This post was inspired by an AfterBurner Flawless Execution workshop I attended.  Fighter pilots who had served in the Royal Canadian Air Force and U.S. Marine Corps taught me how to use their techniques in my business!

Thoughts on Social Networking - Leverage Employee Participation To Brand Your Business

The term ‘social networking’ brings to mind sites like FaceBook where people engage in casual chatter about their everyday lives. However, there are also a number of hugely popular Web 2.0 platforms you can use to bridge the gap between professional and personal interaction. This process (done right) helps you build a powerful brand that your employees can connect with. Once your workforce is on board with your company’s vision, there is no limit to the number of people they can reach with your message.

Focus on What’s Important

Before you set up your first network, you need to understand what these tools can and can’t do for you. Companies that approach social networking with a traditional advertising mindset are often disappointed with the results. If your goal is to develop a motivated employee base that will create a buzz about your company, you are much more likely to achieve your objectives. Social networking is a powerful way to:

·         Increase employee engagement and morale

·         Improve real two-way communication with your workforce

·         Express your core vision with every interaction

·         Differentiate yourself from other employers/companies (branding!)

·         Explore new ways to improve your business model

·         Attract top talent to fill open positions

Clarify Your Expectations

Implementing a social networking program without a clear policy for how it should be used is a disastrous mistake. However, filling 5 or 6 pages with fine print about every type of unacceptable behavior (and the resulting disciplinary action) will ensure that no employees have any interest in participating.

Create a one page guideline that encourages positive interaction and accountability without squelching creativity. Let your workers know that you trust them to be professional and take responsibility for the way they represent themselves and your company. Set the example you expect others to follow. Have a protocol in place for addressing any negative behavior on the part of the occasional “problem employee”.

Pick the Right Platform

Here are 4 popular Web 2.0 tools along with ideas for how to use them and ways to encourage employee participation:

Blogging

A company blog can replace many traditional communication mediums. Use your company blog to:

·       Address current issues

·       Answer questions

·       Cover policy updates

·       Talk about new ideas/innovations

·       Share business tips

·       Recognize areas that need improvement

·       Brainstorm creative solutions

Giving employees an immediate voice in these discussions increases engagement. One person can be responsible for moderating comments on the blog, but every department should contribute content. 

Add tags to categorize the entries so employees can easily find data on any topic. Eventually, your blog should become a comprehensive repository of information. Then, you can direct workers to the appropriate entry whenever they have a question.

Your corporate blog should also have an external component where you post information for customers. Invite one employee per week to write a guest post or answer customer questions. This is an opportunity for them to showcase their knowledge about a specific topic that is relevant to your company.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a professional network for connecting with potential job candidates. Demonstrating a cohesive presence via a corporate LinkedIn group sets you apart from other employers. When you create your own group, use the summary and description sections to express your brand - not just to give a bland description of what your company sells.

Encourage your existing employees to participate by holding a free 20-30 minute workshop. The focus of this workshop should be to assist them in updating their online profiles. Help them highlight their skills, experience, and expertise. This improves their career potential and your company image at the same time. When employees join your group, your logo is displayed in their profiles. This increases your brand visibility in every interaction they have with other professionals.

YouTube

If you have the budget to create short, simple videos, a YouTube channel is the way to go. This is the perfect medium for distributing messages that improve morale and engagement. Provide creative, entertaining clips about workplace safety, health & wellness, training tutorials, company events, and new products/services.

Everyone loves to be a star, so ask workers to participate in script writing and acting. Use YouTube to distribute a personal message from the CEO once a month. This helps each employee feel personally connected with top management - especially if the CEO drops by to add a comment now and then.

Twitter

The key to successful tweeting is variety, relevance and giving as much as you get. Understand your employee and client demographics and what catches their interest. Tweet about topics that mesh with your larger corporate vision. This can include eco-friendly tips, work/life balance resources, money saving advice, and more.

Position yourself consistently as a source of free, helpful information. This will get your employees in the habit of passing on pertinent tweets to others. Then, it will be a natural progression for them to re-tweet info about your latest product release or job openings as simply another benefit you offer to their extended network.

What's your experience in social media marketing?  Let me know what worked or didn't work for you in the comments!

Jag Goes to Rainbow Bridge

Jag passed over the Rainbow Bridge this morning at 3:30am MT.       :'-(

Happy Thanksgiving Long Weekend

Technical Support:

Friday night, Chris was not in the house when I came home from a facial appointment.  Our dogs were loose in the living room and the front door was not locked.  It was very strange.  It turned out that he got summoned to be tech support for the old Chinese ladies next door - setting up their laptop on the Internet.  Our neighbour was on the phone with tech support, but she didn't know enough about computers to understand what he was telling her to do... so she told the tech support guy that she'd get her neighbour to help... and came over.  She had a sense of urgency, so he went straight over.  Once Chris was on the phone with tech support, the guy said he was looking at Google Street View to see how far away this neighbour was while he waited.  :-) 

Our neighbour came over again this afternoon asking for help with her computer/Internet.  She said "You have time now? Come." It was kind of funny - because I was still in my pj's.  She didn't remember how to log in to her new laptop - she typed in the user name and password but didn't know what to do next.  I pretty much just pressed the "Enter" key for her and I was a hero!  Then, she thought since I was there, I could show her how to log into her Gmail account and how to reply to e-mail messages.  Her home page was Google and she'd enter Gmail.com in the search box, but she didn't know how to click the link.  I changed her home page to Gmail.  After 30 minutes or so, I think she got it.  She was taking notes, so I hope her notes will help later.  She's also taking a class.

Technology and the Internet bring people closer for sure - we had hardly ever talked to them in the past 10 years or so.  We usually just wave hi/bye when we see each other as we leave/enter the garage.  Now, we are sure that we are their favourite neighbours on this block!  ;-) 

Turkey Dinner:

We had a big Thanksgiving dinner last night!  Chris spent Saturday night and Sunday cooking - he cooked a juicy 16 lb. turkey, garlic mashed potatoes, Brussels sprouts, fresh cranberry sauce, and crème brûlée with vanilla beans!  6 of us couldn't finish the food.  Where was I when Chris was cooking?  I was watching Vampire Diaries on the PVR. I still prefer Twilight. :-)

After sparkling wine and Bailey's Irish Cream (mint chocolate flavour Bailey's on the rocks with chocolate shavings on top), somehow, we ended up looking up addresses on Google Street View (hooked my laptop to the big screen TV).  Hahaha... strange, eh?  ;-)  It guess it was because Calgary just went on Street View in the middle of last week.  When we looked at our guests' house, it looked like there was somebody in their front window!  We were trying to figure out who it was.  Too bad we don't have CSI-type photo enhancement capabilities.  The party ended past 1 a.m. today.

Photo Shoot:

We had some fun this afternoon.  The Traveling Woofburys - Stella (American/vocal) & Harry (British/guitarist/vocal) - totally rocked the house!

 

Happy Halloween!

Photoshop.com Mobile Review

Adobe’s Photoshop app for the iPhone (Photoshop.com Mobile) launched today and I downloaded it right away!

Quick Review:

• It has very intuitive basic photo editing abilities
• I can edit photos from my iphone or stored in the Photoshop.com account.  
• Editing is reversible and non-destructive, with the output saving to your iPhone Photos collection and optionally to your online account.  
• It would be nicer if it has more sharing functionalities like posting to FB or Twitter.

It's very easy to use.

Collection of editing tools and effects:

• Crop
• Rotate
• Flip
• Exposure
• Saturation
• Tint adjustments
• Easy to apply filters including black and white, sketch, soft focus, pop, border, vignette blur, warm vintage, rainbow, soft black and white and white glow.  
• Options to cancel, undo or redo an edit, and save the image. 
• Save and Exit: Simply saves the new pic to your iPhone Photos collection
• Save and Upload: it will also send a copy to your online storage. If you don’t already have a Photoshop.com account, the app will prompt you to create one the first time you try to upload an image. The account is free and offers up to 2 GB of storage, expandable of course with an annual paid storage plan.

This is definately one of my new favorites. Have you had a chance to play with PS Mobile yet? What are your thoughts? Are there other worthwhile or better alternatives out there for iPhone image editing?

Saying Good Bye to Grandma

婆婆的告別式是十月二日。那天也剛好是媽咪的農曆生日。媽咪說，她決定從今不會再過生日了。我不明白。

我認為…「生、老、病、死」是人生的必經過程。對於婆婆的尊敬和懷念又不是只有那一天。為什麼要好像永遠難過的要命？ 婆婆生前喜歡打麻將，喜歡熱鬧。我無法想像她會想看著媽咪一直哭，且像一下老了十幾歲。

每個人對死亡有不同的反應。我想我如果可以在自己的告別式上發言，我會希望說什麼話？ 我想…重要的是我這一生是否過得有意義，是否努力認真的做自己，而在走到人生終點時，我是否能毫無遺憾，留下精彩的人生，而非混混噩噩的過一輩子。

我希望大家會慶祝我的成就而不是光是難過我不在世間了。我希望大家記得我對生命的熱情及我生活的目的是快樂！

Cute Maltese Puppies

We were out in the backyard, enjoying the last bit of nice weather on Sunday. Harry & Stella had a lot of fun chasing each other.

My New Snaptote

One side features Harry's happy face and the other side shows my pretty puppies sitting nicely side by side. I love this bag!

Harry & Stella

Harry & Stella
Originally uploaded by malteserus

They are best buddies!

My Cute Maltese Dogs - Stella & Harry

Stella & Harry
Originally uploaded by malteserus

My Maltese puppies were practicing dog obedience - "Down" - they are so cute and well behaved! :-)


Notes:
Stella @ 4.5 months old
Harry @ 2 years and 3 months old

A Day At Lake Minnewanka & Lake Louise

We spent the day at Lake Minnewanka and Lake Louise.  The weather was nice - about 25C/77F.  The traffic on Hwy1 was busier than usual because of the long weekend.  It was a good thing that we had a park pass so we didn't have to wait in line to enter the park.  We didn't see many wild animals this time - maybe it's a good thing... since it's Harry and Stella's first visit to Lake Minnewanka and Lake Louise.  

We hiked around the lake.  We met a lot of friendly people and dogs.  Many kids patted them.  Stella kissed a few ladies.  Some tourists even took photos of them.

My Favourite Memories of Grandma Fang

I got a text message before noon, from my brother Sam in Taiwan, that our favourite grandma just passed away in the hospital - at 1:35 AM on Aug. 25, 2009, Taiwan time.  

I talked to grandma over the phone on Saturday around 6 PM.  She understood it was me.  She called my name.  The last time I saw her was in November 2007.  She was sick in bed but in good spirits.  She was a fighter!

Her health went downhill about 6 years ago.  She underwent a few tough surgeries.  My parents and uncles asked for a lot of favours to get the best doctors in town to help my grandma.  Even one of those doctors said (exact quote) "I have to treat this dead horse as a live horse and see what happens..."  I was so angry at that doctor when I was standing there listening to this cruel comment.  I thought he was an arrogant jerk!

My grandma was a culinary genius!  Her everyday cooking was better than my special occasion cooking.  The best memories of her were either in the kitchen, in the traditional market or in the dining room.  Well... and maybe in the salon, getting a manicure and pedicure too.  She always had perfect nails and hair.  She said to me "女孩子要入得廚房，出得廳堂!"

She was fearless and had a strong personality.  She was born in a rich family and they owned a lot of land.  She saw her dad and uncle get beaten to death by a communist-incited mob during the war.  She escaped and later she married my grandpa, who was in the Nationalist army.  My grandpa had to move to Taiwan with the army and left her and their kids behind.  She single-handedly brought my mom and her siblings to rejoin him in Taiwan from China via Hong Kong.  Many people told her to get rid of the female child (my mom) since it would cost too much for transport and bribes, and it was more dangerous for her to travel with too many children.  Sons were considered more valuable, as they wouldn't "leave the family" when they got married.  She argued and fought to keep my mom with her.  She taught me, "Never give in!"

I remember going to the traditional market with her - picking the freshest ingredients.  I recall that she bought live frogs and skinned them in the kitchen.  She would stretch the frog skin on a steel cup to make a little drum for me to play.  Yeah... that helped me a lot in high school biology class - I was the only girl not afraid of killing a frog for a lab experiment.  

She made delicious house wine... it was sweet.  She would let me try a little bit of it for Chinese New Year dinner and then I'd pretend I was too sleepy to go home so I got to stay at grandma's after the big dinner.

She was super good at mahjong, too.  Even though I never learned how to play mahjong (because my dad disapproved of gambling), I hung around the mahjong table when they played.  She gave me tips when I helped serve tea and snacks while they played.  Mahjong was her favourite thing to do.  She played "mental mahjong" to keep herself mentally alert and sharp.

 

I miss her!

  

Grandma, Mom & Me

掃描0033
Originally uploaded by malteserus

I was searching for a photo of my grandma and then I found this scan of an old photo.

Rod Stewart Concert

Tiffany gave us floor tickets to see Rod Stewart.  We went after work.  He put on a good show! People were standing up for most of the show!  We got home around 11:30pm.  :-)  

Puppies

Puppies got a few visitors on Sunday:

Busy August Long Weekend

We were at the dog show on Saturday and Sunday. It was a pretty big show - pretty noisy and lots of happening. It was hot (32c+) too.  So, there were many stressed people and dogs.  Harry and I were nervous on Saturday and we couldn't stay "focused" to get a qualifying score.  But, after a good night of sleep and playful practice, we are better today (Sunday, Aug. 2, 2009).  Harry earned a qualifying score of 85 in the morning and earned his Rally Novice title.  Bob took some photos for us:

We finally met Shelley & Bob in person today after about 10+ years of friendship over internet! They visited Harry at the show and then came to our house to meet Stella.  We had a good time! :-)  I totally forgot to take photos!!!  

Web Cam Capture: Stella Drinking

Web Cam Capture: Stella Drinking
Originally uploaded by malteserus

Flying Home with New Puppy, Stella

We picked up Stella on Monday morning and then went for a quick lunch before Ellen dropped us off at ONT.

We waited for an hour or so at ONT.  Stella was great for her first flight.  We had to wait for a few hours in LAS and she was very well behaved too.  No barking at all and she used a wee-wee pad at a private corner of the terminal. She slept through the flying part. We got home around 1:30am on Tuesday.

South Coast Plaza

Ellen took us to South Coast Plaza - Orange County's largest shopping mall.  It's a good mall to visit.  :-)

We saw lots of rich kids and good looking people on the road with their fancy cars. 

Puppies and Babies

Ellen and Justyn took us to visit puppies this morning. This is the first time we met Stella and her siblings.

In the afternoon, we had a mini high school reunion at Ellen's with Melody, Rebecca, Amy and her three kids. Everyone looks the same - even prettier! We think Amy is slimmer than before she has kids! Rebecca's hubby CAN COOK! Yummy food! Amy's kids had so much fun that they decided to sleep over at Ellen's tonight.

Hot, Hot, HOT!

Today is way too hot to be outside!  It feels like 45c or so outside.  The wind is like coming from a giant blow dryer!  I don't know how people sun tan by the pool in this kind of temperature!  I felt like I was melting when we crossed the street from Paris to Bellagio.  So, we had risotto & mojito at at Trevi and spent most of the day in the Bellagio's conservatory & botanical garden and visiting the forum shops at Caesars.

We went to see The Beatles LOVE after dinner. Cirque du Soleil's performed with the music recorded by The Beatles. It's a good show but O is still my favourite Cirque du Soleil show!

Viva Las Vegas

We arrived in Vegas late in the evening (July 15, 2009). After we checked in, we had dinner at Le Provençal in Paris Las Vegas. I love Bouillabaisse and the creamy Lobster Bisque at Le Provençal.

Some pictures of the view from our room and the dinner:

A Great Rally-O Weekend!

Rally-O people are so nice and supportive.  With all the encouragement, Harry and I gave Rally-O another try this weekend.  This is our second time in the ring.  We were on at 8:30am on both Saturday and Sunday at the Evelyn Kenny Kennel and Obedience Club's show in Springbank Park for All Seasons. 

To qualify in Rally-O, a dog and handler team must receive a minimum score of 70 points out of a possible perfect score of 100.  We got qualifying score for both days!  One more time with a different judge then Harry will get his RN title.  He's the smallest dog in the ring by quite a bit!  :-)   

I need to get better at this... I got more points deducted than Harry did on both days.  It's like a driving test, I need to know all the signs by heart.  It's so much fun!  I think more dogs, especially small dogs should give it a try! 

Saturday: Rally-O Novice First Leg

Sunday: Rally-O Novice Second Leg

Calgary Stampede 2009

Tiffany, Roy, Chris and I went down to the stampede ground this afternoon. We saw rodeo, Super Dogs and we had chicken fingers, corn dogs, pizza on a stick, deep fried jelly beans and kettle corn - of course! :-)

Some snapshots from Roy's camera:

Puppy-sitting Jag

Jag and I had a relaxing day today. :-)

Got My Facebook Username

I am JessicaLee on Facebook.  

It's easier to find me on Facebook now: http://www.facebook.com/JessicaLee

Cheers!

Cheesecake

Cheesecake
Originally uploaded by malteserus

It's easy to make and everyone loved it!

Recipe:

2 - 250g cream cheese
4 - eggs
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp lemon juice (optional)
12 Oreo cookies

Line muffin tins with paper baking cups. Place an Oreo cookie in each cup.

Soften cream cheese in microwave as per package instructions. Beat
cream cheese. Add eggs one at a time. Beat well in between. Add
sugar, milk and lemon juice. Beat well.

Pour over cookies. Bake at 350F for 15-20 minutes. Put in fridge
when cooled for 3 hours or overnight.

Garnish with a slice of kiwi, strawberries/raspberries/blueberries.

Calgary Weather - June 6, 2009

This morning, we woke up to see snow covered the trees and deck - of course, it's because we had an appointment to change the snow tires to all-season ones.

The photos I took throughout the day is like a "H2O" show: snow, sleet, hail, rain and steam.  :-)
At the end of the day, it got sunny and you couldn't tell if it ever snowed.

Cupcake - Maltese Puppy

Cupcake - Maltese Puppy
Originally uploaded by malteserus

I made this (vanilla) cupcake using Betty Crocker's (canned) Creamy Deluxe French Vanilla icing for fur. Licorice and Twizzler for nose, eyes, tongue and bow. Marshmallow for muzzle base.

Note: Betty Crocker's (canned) Whipped Vanilla icing is whiter but softer (harder to make fur).

Basic Astrophotography

Tonight's Calgary Photographic Society meeting had a speaker from the Calgary Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.  The topic was "Basic Astrophotography" - pretty interesting. 

Basic Equiptment: 

• a camera that: 

has removable/interchangeable lenses (most any SLR will meet this requirement)

allows the shutter to be operated in all modes (time exposure mode especially) even with the battery removed!

has the ability to do long time exposures (usually the "B" setting)

has the ability to accept a remote shutter release cable

has a tripod mount threaded hole on the bottom  

• A tripod -should be able to hold the camera steady 
• A remote release - e.g. Canon TC-80N3 Programmable Remote ReleaseThe TC-80N3 comes with an 80cm / 2.6 foot cord. It is a self timer, interval timer and long-exposure timer. The timer can be set from anywhere between 1 second and 99 hours, 59 minutes 59 seconds. You can take up to 99 frames, with any time interval between frames, all completely unattended. It also has a light for the LCD control panel so you can see it in the dark.

Different ways to take astrophotos:

1. Afocal - through the eyepiece with adapter
2. Piggyback – camera, with telephoto lens, piggyback on a motorized telescope 
3. Prime focus- camera looking through telescope - focus is very tough - tip: use live view or PC to see the image live
4. Eyepiece projection - easily blur but gets most zoom -  it may be the only way to shoot Saturn or Jupiter

Some sites the speaker mentioned:

http://www.calgary.rasc.ca

http://www.astronomycalgary.com/ -list of events

http://www.heavens-above.com

Harry Rocks Times Square!

Harry Rocks Time Square
Originally uploaded by malteserus

Just having fun with PhotoFunia. It's an online photo editing tool.

Stars On Ice 2009 @ Pengrowth Saddledome

Tiffany, Roy, Chris and I went to see Stars On Ice on Friday night.

We had east side floor seats (centre ice)!  They allowed compact camera without flash, so Roy and I took some photos with his Canon G10.

The whole show was awesome!  All skaters were great!  Shawn Sawyer did back flip a few times!

My favourite skaters are still Jamie Salé & David Pelletier!  Jamie was hanging on to David only by her ankles around his neck while they were spinning - no hands!!!

Happy Mother's Day! 母親節快樂！

母親節是一個感謝母親的節日! 媽媽最偉大了! 非常感謝媽媽,對我及家庭的照顧與付出, 謝謝妳! 

媽媽,我愛你! :-) 

祝母親節快樂, 天天都快樂! 

Happy 12th Birthday, Jag!

Jaguar turned 12 on May 5, 2009.  He is still active and looks like a puppy!

For his birthday, Roy and Tiff took him to Petsmart.  Tiff also baked Jag a beefy puppy birthday cake.

Run, Harry, Run!

HarryMay3_2009 019
Originally uploaded by malteserus

The weather is pretty nice today, so Harry and I went to the park this morning. No one else was there.

He runs very fast - I had a point-and-shoot camera in one hand and the leash in the other hand while running with him. He was so happy running around. We also did some "heel" and "stay". He did well. :-)

Dragon Fruit

DragonFruit.jpg
Originally uploaded by malteserus

We bought a couple of dragon fruit at "More than Mangos" - they have a booth at Calgary Farmer's Market.

It's sooooo sweet!  It's good on its own or add it to your salad.

Social Media for Online Marketing Use

I start to meet more photographers in the social media communities.  But, there are still people asking me why and how.  Here's my collection of the Social Media FAQ:

Q: "Why should I bother to have social media profiles?"

Social media is more popular and more used than email according to Nielsen Media Research International.  My experience with social media conversation is that it happens more frequent than email conversation.  If you already have an email and participate in discussion forums or mailing lists, you should have social media profiles too.  You'd build a stronger relationship faster with the higher frequency of conversation. 

Q: "We are not celebrities, no one would care to follow what we are doing."

A few years ago, I started my blog for updating my family and friends only.  I didn't publicize it at all.  I even tried to hide it from search engines because I only want the people who care about me to see my posts.  You should not be thinking that no one would care to follow what you are up to.  You may not get as many followers as Ashton Kutcher or CNN on Twitter, but if you have something interesting to say, people will pay attention to you.  The point is that you want to build a relationship with the right people, not everyone.

Q: "What if people say bad things about me?"

If you worry about that, someone probably already said bad things about you.  :-)  We can't control what others think about us.  This should not be a concern at all.  You should just focus on building long lasting relationship with the right people.

Q: "I don't want publicize my information on the Internet."

If you are reading this post, your information is probably out there already. 

Q: "Where should I start?"

• Facebook
• MySpace
• Twitter
• Digg
• Reddit
• StumbleUpon
• FriendFeed
• Google Profile

The above list is just a suggestion.  There are other sites too. 

Q: "What's next?"

1. Publish the basics such as: your name, URLs and description

2. Connect with others, so your profile can be found

 

Q: "It sounds like too much work to keep it up."

At least, you should grab the profile before your competitors or cyber squatters take your name.  Just like there are domain squatters, there are also social media squatters.  It'll take more time and effort to get your name back if you don't secure it first. 

Please feel free to add your questions or answers in the comments.

Snowing In Calgary

Snow is coming down in Calgary. What happened to our +22C sunny weather?

Downtown:

NW:

Earth Day

It's Earth Day!  In addition to recycling and saving energy, let's enjoy nature in honour of Earth Day! 

Plant some flowers, go for a walk in the park, fly a kite, take some photos and maybe paint some scenery!  Enjoy the outdoors!

Passion Fruit

I grew up eating the purple kind of passion fruit. I didn't know there were so many different kinds of passion fruit until yesterday. 

I bought these three different kinds of passion fruit at the farmer's market yesterday. 

I googled them.  The yellow one is also known as Golden Passionfruit. The orange one is also called sweet granadilla - it is the sweetest among these three types.  I think the purple one is the most fragrant.  Chris prefers the sweet-tart taste of the yellow passion fruit.

Chocolate

I saw an article about chocolate could be a health food - with antioxidant and vitamins.  I got excited.  I'm chocoholic and it's not a secret! There's always chocolate at my desk (work or home).  I do share my chocolate with others though! :-) 

I believe chocolate could fit into a healthy diet because of its antioxidant property from the cocoa bean.  However, I also know that the more chocolate is processed, the less antioxidant abilities and its potential health benefits remains.  "Dark chocolate has the most flavonoids (the compound that gives the antioxidant property), almost four times as many as milk chocolate, while white chocolate has none." (Sources: http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/health/chocolate.html)  The added sugar and fat cannot be good for anyone. 

Chocolate is still just an indulgence, not a health food - even I, a chocoholic, know that! 

Donating Blood

I donated blood today.  It's my second time.  I'm so proud of myself!  I'm a little needle-phobic so it isn't easy for me.  I kept reminding myself that it's for a great cause.  But, still... I had to get Michelle to go with me for the spirit support.  :-)  Tiffany said she'll go with me the next time.  She said she used to donate every two months when she was in Taiwan.  She wants to start doing that again. 

The whole experience was not bad at all.  If you don't have needle-phobia then the experience may even be great because the people there (Red Cross Society at 737 13th Ave. SW, Calgary) were so friendly!  They also offer good juice, Starbucks coffee, milk, yummy cookies, muffins and even Crave cupcakes!  I had a huge Crave chocolate cupcake with peppermint icing & apple juice. 

Donating blood could potentially save someone's life and I also found sources indicating that the side benefit is that my body will generate fresh blood and it's a form of detox.  Blood-letting was originally done via leeches or a doctor will bleed you.  Now, you can just go to any local Red Cross and donate your blood - it accomplishes the same purpose.

Happy Easter!

Harry Easter Basket 2009
Originally uploaded by malteserus

Easter reminds us that each day brings with it the opportunity for renewal.

Happy Easter everyone!

Fundraising Photo Shoot for the Cochrane & Area Humane Society

I was busy this weekend! I took pet photos for the Calgary Small & Toy Breed Play Group on Sat - it's for the Cochrane & Area Humane Society fundraising. We raised $423 with photo shoot and raffle! I'm so happy that we can contribute some help to those pets at the crowded shelter.

Here are the cute dogs' photos:

Skype for iPhone was launched, but not in Canada!

"Chaim Haas, a public relations representative acting on behalf of Skype, said the application is available in every country in which the iPhone is on sale and in which Apple has an iTunes Store — with the exception of Canada.  Haas said this is because of patent-licence restrictions but would not elaborate except to specify that it is a patent issue related to Skype, not Apple."

This is frustrating!  Canada seems to be always at least 1-3 years behind in technologies and gadgets!

Many people on the net says "Just create an account on the iTunes US store and then you can download Skype."  It'd still work with our iPhones in Canada.  But, I just don't want to have a US iTune account! 

iPhone is not as popular in Japan, but they got their Skype for iPhone in Japan too!  It's just not fair!

SEO Tips for Promoting Your Photography Business

Besides taking photos, I manage a team of Internet Marketing professionals.  I normally do not publish any tips, nor advise on my blog; but, I was browsing some great photographers' websites and realize that most of them are unaware that simply publishing photos to portfolio website is hardly a part of strong online business strategy.   

I'd like to share some basic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tips that would increase your chances of increasing the visibility of your website on the popular search engines:  

• Use a unique, keyword focused Title tag on every page of your site.
  Put your company name at the end if you want to include it in the page title. It offers little or no search value unless you are a major brand name.
• Select good meta tag keywords that describe the site, more specifically your specialties.  The keyword ‘photography’ is extremely broad – more than 376 million references on Google alone. Think about your strengths, try to be more specific to your niche.  For instance, "abstract photography" search results in 170,000 references, "abstract tree photography" only has 7 results. The more specific you are, the better. For more keyword help, you may try the free tools at KeyWordDiscovery or SEOBook.
• Avoid ‘click to enter’ or ‘splash pages’ as the top level site page.  Also, avoid the website designs depending on HTML frames.   Splash pages are the main entry page with large graphic image or link that instructs visitors to enter the online site or flash animation with links to skip animation, and also a redirect to the new web page after the completion of the animation. You would really like the top level page to act as table of contents for remaining site. Splash pages lack anchor text and keyword rich text apart that search engines use to index your page.
• Never publish a website which says that site is under construction.  You don't want search engines to index your under construction site and lead people there.
• Several photographers have either no copy or little copy on their pages. Always design your site with the help of words that target audience types into the search queries.  You may want to keep the gallery and photo sections away from top level pages.  Search engine robots cannot tell what type of a photographer you are based on the images.  They need text.  Use captions with your images - place keyword rich captions with your images.  
• Use the words “image” or “picture” in your photo ALT descriptions and captions. A lot of searches are for a keyword plus one of those words.  Images are, after all, the product. You have to pay attention to the text associated with the images to ensure that they too get indexed properly.  
• Always avoid Flash for the above mentioned reasons. Though you may have typed loads about yourself in the Flash based site, search engines would hardly be able to observe a single word of it. If it is a movie, the search engines cannot even retrieve the words from movies also.  I know this is a trade off for some people who use Flash instead of image files to try to protect their images from being copied. 
• Always have a check on the linked referrals – a link from the other page to your own website - it's best to have keywords which are in line with the anchor text of link. Google search engine always weights the Search Engine results pages towards anchor text of links to the page. For example, if your target is “blue bird photo” then link to “blue bird photo” instead of a “Click here” link.  
• Submit your URL to search engines – you could either do this manually or with the help of a free submitter service such as Submit Express or even seek help from a paid service firm.
• High page rank indicates high trust. Links (especially deep links) from a high PageRank site would carry more weight.  Improve page rank by exchanging links with other reputable websites, directories and bloggers in your specialty photography area.  Search engine giants like Google favor relevant and meaningful anchor text while indexing on websites. In general, the more websites on which the URL appears, the better.  However, quality matters - one good, authoritative link can do a lot more for you than a dozen poor quality links!
• Focus on search phrases, not single keywords, and put your location in your text (“our Calgary store” not “our store”) to help you get found in local searches.

Just remember this formula:

Strong SEO = Text + Links + Popularity + Reputation

Robotic Big Dog

Check out this cool dog! This is not Aibo from Sony.  The movement control and the balancing ability of this big "dog" is very well done!  Watching that video clip is like watching a sci-fi movie trailer!