“Deck the halls with bought of holly, Fa la la la la la, la la la la. Tis the season to be jolly, Fa la la la la la, la la la la.” Ahem! Well, I don’t sing very well I guess, but that’s not the point. It’s Christmas and it’s about enjoying and spending time with family and friends. I am not sure why you are on the computer ’cause you should be with your friends and family, enjoying the holiday spirit (I am getting off right after this post, just in case you are wondering ).

My last post I had asked readers to share their Christmas posts they had written on their blogs. So here is a list of links that will direct you to some Christmas Posts that you might enjoy, just in case you are on the computer. After you are done looking through the links, be sure to check out the link to the You Tube video, it might boost your Christmas spirit up even more

What Christmas Means to Me

It’s Called Christmas with a Capital “C”

Holiday Gifting

My Christmas Wish

My Favorite Part Of Christmas

Hold-to-Light Christmas Card

Veliki Petak (Great Friday)

Love Christmas Songs? Here’s a You Tube Video for you to enjoy

Note: For the 200 Entrecard credits the readers had to leave a comment saying why Christmas is special for them. Since most of the comments were already linked to a post the 200 Entrecard gift is still waiting to be claimed . So if you got a Christmas story to share, quick share it with us through comments and go ahead and have a great time with family and friends. I will transfer 200 entrecard credits to one commentator. [Read more →]

Tags: Ramblings by Ritu - 3 Comments »

The year 2008 is almost here and it’s time to set some goals. Goals that are achievable and realistic. I have been blogging for a couple months and honestly, until now I haven’t had any goals besides increasing reader numbers ( it’s still one of the goals for 2008 ). I have come to realize that goal setting is a major part of any project, for being a 25 year old I guess I am realizing it a little too late. Anyways, I have some goals set as a blogger for 2008 and blogging in general.

Here are some of my goals that I would like to achieve as a blogger in 2008. These goals are in no order, each of them is a goal I want to attain sometimes during the year 2008 and each holds equal importance.

Read More Blogs

The best way to become a good blogger is by reading other blogs. I read quite a few blogs now but I would like to increase that number. The reason for this is simple - to learn and become better at what I am trying to do and that is blogging.

Also, the goal of reading more blogs doesn’t mean just the popular blogs. There are hundreds of new blogs that have such good content and we seem to ignore them for one reason - they are new. I am going to set aside some time each day to find new blogs and read what new bloggers have to write. One of the way to find new blogs is by simply visting the comment section on most blogs. A lot of commentators on popular blogs are new bloggers ( most of the time ) who are there in the hopes of getting traffic. So one of my goals is to read more blogs including new ones.

Comment On Other Blogs

I have to admit, although I like to see comments on my own blog it’s one thing I pass most of the time after I read a post on other blogs. I am in fault here. If I enjoy something I should make an effort to thank the blogger and share something that I might have to add. Afterall the blogger wrote it for us, the readers. So giving back a few words isn’t certainly going to take anything off of my time.

Network At Home

What I mean by “Network At Home” is, I want to network with my readers. I want to build a relationship between me and my readers as a person, as a social being. I network enough on social networking sites, don’t get me wrong, it still is important but sometimes you need to cater to your own family. In 2008 I want to build a relationship between us - me and you readers.

If you are a new blogger and need help with anything that you think I can help you with, feel free to contact me using the contact form on this blog. I will answer and do what I can to help you. [Read more →]

Tags: Blogging, Ramblings by Ritu - 18 Comments »

We all need some time to be alone. Especially if you are a blogger stuck in front of the computer for hours, a hideout away from it is much needed. As for me, I hide in the basement. Call me crazy but this is how I get out of the daily stress of blogging. I know it sounds a bit ridiculous and may be a little creepy as well. As bloggers, we all have times when we just want to get away from the DAMN computer and find a place where there is nothing to bother or stress us out. To me it’s my unfinished basement.

A blogger’s life isn’t as easy and relaxed as most people imagine. The stress of having to update a blog regularly alone can cause a person heart attack ( ok, thats an exaggeration ), and besides blogging we all do have other committments like family, job,social life and a little TV time ofcourse. This post reflects as to where my private sanctuary is, where is my heaven or where I find the peace of mind to just not worry about a thing. You guessed it right - My basement.

Lately, I find myself sneaking downstairs to my basement a lot. After I have been stressed out on the computer for hours dealing with the fact that I am not getting where I would like to be and working on different projects, I certainly need some deserved alone time. Not to mention the stress after you have stumbled and dugg couple articles, talked on MySpace for a while, tinkered with Facebook for hours, participated on couple forums and ofcourse checked out ebay’s most wanted items, I need the time to relax and this is where the creepy basement comes in handy. [Read more →]

Tags: Blogging, Ramblings by Ritu - 7 Comments »

Updated Post:- After sending the letter to rojo, I received an email from them. The message is at the very end of this article.

First to those who don’t know what Rojo is,
” Rojo means “RSS with mojo” and in this spirit our company is dedicated to providing the best feed reader around so that busy people can discover and read content as efficiently as possible. Rojo was selected “best of the Web” for blog reading by the editors of BusinessWeek. To try Rojo for yourself, visit www.rojo.com and create your account (it’s free!). Rojo is entirely web-based, you won’t need to download any software. ”
( source:-rojo.com/corporate/services/)

I am little scared to link to it since I don’t want to expose anybody to anything that I deem inappropriate.

Here is my letter to Rojo which explains why I am disgusted

“ Dear Rojo admin,
I was disgusted to see some of the content on your site today after I was pointed out by one of my readers that you had adult content. I have been using your services for a while and thought these kind of things weren’t allowed ( I was almost certain until now ).

Just to make it clear for your unwatchful eyes the date was “11/23/07” when I witnessed an image of sexual conduct on your frontpage. Here is a excerpt from what was shown on the frontpage under the image

I brought home with hottie from the clubs. Girl was smoking hot, dark black skin and a banging body. the next morning i set up the camera to capture our morning ******* fest. Click here to see more videos of black hotties

I went and looked into your TOS and certainly you had clearly indicated the site isn’t for anyone under 18. Fine! As I scrolled further down I found this

As a condition to your use of this web site and the Service, you agree not to:

upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any information, materials or other content that is illegal, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, offensive, invades another’s privacy, or promotes bigotry, racism, hatred or harm against any individual or group; ( The post was obscene, racist, insulting, offensive, defamatory and pornographic to point out some )

Also I realize that it might be hard to track everything down for you guys but I bet there has to be a system setup to filter these things out.

I don’t know what you regard as obscene or pornographic but the content and image that was displayed on the date mentioned above was truly uncalled for and something that should be looked into ( And if you defer from the fact that the image wasn’t pornographic, you should probably get feedbacks from other users as well ). I am ashamed that Business Week awarded you “ best of the web “ for blog reading ( imagine my horror after reading such praise about you through such a reputable publication ).

I had listed your site on my blog for more readers to find out if they didn’t know about it since I thought it was a good service, but I was definitely wrong. If you will be serving these kind of images on your frontpage for whatever reason please make sure to change your TOS.

I am just glad I didn’t have my family with me while I was checking your site out cause that would certainly have made me look like somebody I am not. So next time you decide to let contents like that pass by please make sure to filter them and if not how about change your TOS so everyone knows what to expect.

Sincerely,
Nevermind

[Read more →]

Tags: News, Ramblings by Ritu - 6 Comments »

I would like to wish everybody a very Happy Thanksgiving. Go easy on the turkey and whatever you drink with it.

By the way, if you don’t feel like cooking or carving the turkey, you are more than welcome to stop by at my place. Here is the address

Have A Great Thanksgiving and Thank You For Stopping By!

Tags: Ramblings by Ritu - No Comments »

I am ready to let it all out. It’s time for me to share with other bloggers and for other bloggers to share it with me. What am I talking about? The burning question that I come across everytime I read a blog is what does the blogger do beside blogging? I am pretty sure you have the same questions arising in your mind as well. Most popular bloggers like Darren, John are pro bloggers and they make enough money to survive off of their blogs but what about us ? We are the “underdogs” and we do have to do something else besides blogging to keep our means rolling.

My life as a blogger isn’t easy for one. I have to constantly think about when I am going to have enough time to dedicate myself for a good post ( and if you haven’t found any good post on this blog, that’s why ). I wish I could say I blog fulltime and make enough to make a living but then again you know it, I don’t. My other job besides blogging ( I consider this blog my passion as well as a job ) - a labor worker at a printing company in the production department. That’s right. I don’t have a job where I could say I am a computer anlayst or consultant but I hope you still find my blog and my content good enough for your elite types.

A lot of times when we read a blog we automatically think the person must be a developer or a consultant and what not, but this certainly is not true in my case. I work four days a week, 12 hours and a typical day at work starts at 6 AM ( Yawwwwn ) and ends at 6 PM. So I am in there testing my physical abilities to its core trying to get the job done, 12 hours for four days every week. During that time I constantly have something in my mind, what am I going to write today? How am I going to turn visitors into subscribers, what can I do to make my blog more appealing? These are the questions that hits me for 12 hours at work. [Read more →]

Tags: Blogging, Ramblings by Ritu - 19 Comments »