Keep Track of Your Book Collection

I love books, Hi-ace loves books and now I think our daughter has been infected too. Her favorite place to shop now is the bookstore. Not that I would want to stop her.

But because of this, we got piles of books and the bookshelves are simply bursting. When we were in the Philippines, I lost a lot of books because I couldn’t really keep track of it specially when someone borrows and it just slips my mind.

We both decided to at least organize our stuff. I’ve been doing some net research on software available to keep track of our books. Something like a personal library. I found some freewares and I’ve listed those in my other blog -  Free Book Collection Organizing Softwares. You can take a peek at it if you want to have a software to organize your book collections.

Some of them use the book’s ISBN as the book ID or reference tag and they recommend having a barcode scanner like the Symbol LS2208 for faster encoding if you really have gazillions of books. But if you’re collection is still manageable then good old manual typing will still be okay.

Others also have the feature of being able to manage your ebook collection together with your book collections. Do check it out.

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Multiply’s Latest Theme Design Contest

Multiply has recently announced the opening of it Official Theme Design Contest. Definitely a good news for aspiring designers to showcase their skills and also get a chance to win great prizes.

• Grand Prize Winner (1): Lifetime subscription to Multiply Premium, theme will be featured at the top of the Official Multiply Theme Page and 1 year Premium subscription for 5 family members.
• Second Prize (3): 1 year free Multiply Premium, theme will be featured on the Official Multiply Theme page, and 1 year free Multiply Premium for 3 family members.
• Third Price (4): 1 year free Multiply Premium.

Multiply members are invited to submit a custom theme, then 8 finalists will be selected, then all these will be shared on the Multiply community and winners will be based on community voting.

How to Join:

1. Create a unique Multiply theme.
2. Share your theme in the Multiply Customized Themes group.
3. Send a personal message from your own user ID to themecontest and include a link to your theme posting from the customized themes group.

TimeLines:

Entries must be submitted by July 13, 2009.
Announcement of finalists will be no later than July 17, 2009.
Voting for winners will end July 24, 2009
Announcement of winners will be on July 28, 2009.

Others:
One theme submission per personn only. You should have rights to all graphic elements of the design. Must work in at least IE 6,7and 8, Firefox 3 or higher, an Safari. No altering of main header navigation is allowed.
Read more of the rules here.

Sounds like a good contest. Though the time is a bit limited. I have a multiply account though I rarely use it unless some family members bug me to take a look at some photos. Hmmm, wish I could join, but I don’t have that much time.. Anyway, for those with Über cool graphic and CSS styling skills, check out this contest.

DemonBaby’s MySpace Stupid Haircut Awards

I came across DemonBaby’s blog and I find it absolutely interesting. Too bad the site is currently on a hiatus but well there are still posts you can read. Two really interesting finds there is the The First and Second Annual MySpace Stupid Haircut Awards.

Here’s some of the awardees..Just some proof that on the net, you can see the weirdest!

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Micro-Office for the Blogging Addict

A good friend found this photo and promptly forwarded it to me. She says if I ever get to an extreme blog addiction level I should consider getting one of this or make this a prototype of the office I should have. She knows I’m into fixing up my house and home decors so I thought “she probably sent me an office plan, or the latest furnitures to come out..

But when I opened the file, what I got is this.. Lol! I know I’d never get to the stage. My daughter is still the dictator of my schedule. For bloggers who’d like to be online 24/7 check this out..

It’s nice if you could add a shower and add up a wardrobe cabinet on the side plus I think a microwave would nicely fit this “office”.

Be Thankful for the Things You Have..

WARNING: This a long post! But I hope you read it..

There are times I deliberately avoid watching TV and news. Why? I get so annoyed with people complaining about this and that but in reality they are not doing much to help themselves. You could see people blaming the goverment for their life’s misfortunes. I am not saying the government is exemplary, in fact I think they should be doing more to serve the people. What I am thinking is that some people are so quick to blame others for their situation but they themselves are not doing much to change.

Waiting for alms, for aids, is that really enough? Or should we rather take control of our lives and start making changes? When you look at a situation as a whole, it can be daunting, but how about if we start small, with ourselves. Big things comes from small changes.. We complain about Metro Manila being so dirty, but hey who put the dirt there in the first place?

I started to seriously think about this when my husband asked why there are a lot of Filipinos bemoaning about their life situations. You see my husband grew up in the era of Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. They lost everything that they had.  Not only material things but family and friends were lost to them. All adults had to work in fields. They had only porridge to eat everyday and it was rationed. You cannot have more even if you are starving and you are not allowed to cook at home. He never owned a toy, he used to play with mud and sticks. When they started school they were already teenagers.

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5 Social Networking Sites for Kids

Is the internet safe for kids? All of us regular surfers would know that there is a whole lot of “for adult only” stuff on the internet and this kinda scares me when the time comes for my child to surf the net and who knows what she could find. A couple of months ago I made a post listing some kid-friendly sites. I was supposed to follow it up with a listing on kid-friendly search engines but it somehow slipped my mind..

Social networking sites are all the rage now but if you ask me if I have a kid below 15 I wouldn’t want him/her to have a MySpace account. But no matter how much we parents are protective of them, kids are still getting online and thankfully there are social networking sites now catering to kids and tweens.

Here’s the some of social networking sites catering to kids and tween crowds.

The Allie Finkle Community is based on the main character in the Scholastic book, Allie Finkle’s Rules for Girls. The site is geared for 6-12 year olds and the site allows them to create profiles, complete with avatars and can share their thoughts with other fans of the Meg Cabot bestseller. Each user also has the ability to post their own set of rules. Allie Finkle Community is all about “all about making rules, earning points, and having fun.”  The community also offers Games and Gizmos section, featured books etc. Overall, the site is fun and would encourage kids to be more interested in books.

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Lazy Bloggers Post Generator

Lazy? Haven’t updated your blog in  while? Here’s one site to get you started again. The Lazy Blogger Post Generator will help you create a blog post in just a few steps. Just fill in the blanks and click the create blog post button and  voila! you’ll have your blog post ready. But hey you can’t use it for all  your posts.. the choices of  words to fill in the blanks is limited. You’ll have to write your own sooner or later..

Here’s one sample post I made using this generator.

Far Out I just had a cup of tea and realised I have not updated this since petrol was cheaper than a bottle of Grange!… You would not believe how hard it is being waited on hand and foot and generally lounging around. Seriously!.

I am overwhelmed with discovering time doesn’t stand still, selling my soul to Google, just generally being Snow White to anyone unfortunate to cross my path, my day seems to be a litany of stuff and giggles from sun-up to whenever. I am not complaining though. life is good.

I will try to remember I promised you I will make more of an effort to blog more often until the nice men in the white coats come back. You have my word! Don’t hold your breath though, you’re likely to turn blue..

Advertisers, Get More Exposure with SocialSpark

When I first got into blogging I just thought this would be a hobby, some place where I could place my thoughts, where I could connect with friends and family and network with other mom bloggers. I didn’t realize the opportunities and the influence blogging could have on me and society as a whole.

I’ve been a blogger for a couple of months now and it has been providing me with a steady income for sometime now and for a work-at-home mom like me that is a great bonus. I get to write and feature things that interest me and earn from it.

Aside from the income opportunities, blogging is now becoming increasingly popular and influential. It is a medium for us to be heard, for young and old people to share experiences, for skilled persons to share their expertise, and for mom bloggers like me, to cultivate interests and explore opportunities. There are endless possibilities with blogs and since more and more people are getting online, the influence of blogs is really noteworthy.

I’ve even taken note of the increasing numbers of blog advertisers and this is hardly surprising. With blog advertising you can easily target ads, advertisers don’t have to spend zillions (reviews are reasonably priced!), once the post is made it has longer exposure and will stay on the blog archives and easily searched for. So advertisers, do take advantage of this new advertising medium and check out SocialSpark.com

As a mom blogger, it would really be great if I can get opportunities to review household and homemaking products. I love doing reviews for furnitures and household appliances. Chances to review food and consumable products would be a treat as well.

Trying my hands on digi-scrapbooking

Envious of those who are into digital scrapbooking, I decided to try my hand at it. Found Scrapblog which allows users to create multimedia scrapbooks by mixing your photos, videos and other creative elements you can find on their site.

I tried exploring the site first for scrapbooks made by members and almost all were awesome, so I got pretty intimidated. I didn’t know to start or what media to use so I browsed my computer for some photos and found some of my daughter. Since its my first time, I decided to use their pre-made template and just added a few elements to make it more personalized.

Here’s my first two layouts.. Tell me what you think?

I thoroughly enjoyed making this so I want to make more.. will post some more soon.

Yahoo to launch SHINE, a site for women aged 25-54

Women are considered the key decision maker when it comes to household needs. Yahoo probably realized this since they are launching Shine, a new site for women aged 25-54. This market is currently under-served and yet advertisers in consumer goods, retail and pharmaceuticals have been looking for more ways to target this consumer bracket.

Although this new site already have an existing competition like iVillage and Glam Media Inc., Yahoo has hired a team of editors to produce original material and to seek out items of interest from elsewhere in Yahoo. With Shine, Yahoo plans to expand its offerings in parenting, sex and love, healthy living, food, career and money, entertainment, fashion, beauty, home life, and astrology.

Yahoo is partnering with media companies like Hearst Communications Inc. and Rodale Inc. for content exclusive to Shine. Hearst Communications publishes Redbook, Goodhousekeeping, and Cosmopolitan and other women-oriented magazines. Rodale Inc, publishes various magazines on sports and recreation and also Women’s Health.

This new site will be presented in a blog form a fresh deviation from other Yahoo sites.

Let’s watch and see how this new site will differ from iVillage. Personally though, the more women-oriented sites, the better! Glad to have lots of resources for us..

12 Favorite Firefox Add-Ons

I’ve been using Firefox browser for a while now and I am very satisfied with it. It’s can be easily navigated and another great thing about it is that it can be enhanced in a lot of ways, mainly using Add-Ons.

Initially I didn’t know what are these add-ons, and just recently I discovered that these are really little things you can include in your browser to make your internet life a whole lot easier and less messier! Add-ons are small pieces of software that can add new features on your Firefox. This browser have a wide array of add-ons you can choose from to suit your needs.

Here’s my list of neat add-ons:

• LINKY – i love this! If you’re into entrecard or you like surfing a lot then grab this add on. It helps you manage the links you want to visit. It doesn’t stop at text links, it even includes photo links and you can open then in tabs or windows with just a click!

• THEME ADD-ONS – if you like aesthetics and would like to customize the look of your browser, then personalize it using Firefox themes. You can actually choose from a lot of categories like sports, modern, compact, retro etc.

• ADBLOCK PLUS – hate pop-ups, banners? I get seriously annoyed with these things because it takes sometime for a page to load. Ad-Block Plus allows you to do away with advertisements..

• CUSTOMIZE GOOGLE – using Google Search a lot? this is a great add-on , it enhances Google search results by adding extra information and removing unwanted information (like spa, ads etc.) (more…)