Windows Vista is making things very difficult but I’m not giving up yet. I have CDs for an old version but the latest, 7.04 seems to do a better job of working alongside Windows. Not that I really am fond of Windows, especially Vista, but some things will not run on a Linux (Ubuntu) operating system. Some day they will all get it right, all work together so that your computer doesn’t seem to be at war with itself. At least it would be nice. I’m not holding my breath. Though, from a money making view, who wouldn’t be interested and likely buy into an OS that could work with everything.

I am thinking of tossing Windows Vista for my old Windows ME. For one thing it did not nag at me constantly. Vista is like having a dog humping your leg, no matter how many times you swat at it the damned thing just keeps coming back. I don’t know why they did this. How does this seem useful to the PC user? It’s just hugely annoying. Took me years to stop getting annoyed each time old Windows asked me if I really wanted to delete that file. Now the new one is paranoid and asks me if I even want to open that file. Too much!

Question of the week… Why is Windows Vista a LOT slower than Windows ME was when ME was running on a much older PC and Vista is on a brand new PC just out of the store one week? It’s a mystery. It’s the main reason I am thinking ME could be making a comeback for me.

I'm watching On the Lot, the reality show about film makers trying to win an opportunity with the big shots. There is one Canadian guy on the show and of course I'm wishing him luck. He seems to be doing well and his films so far are holding up well. So, good luck to Zack Lipovsky. I don't think Canadians can vote for a US show but we are voting in spirit.

A blog should be published at least once a week, if not daily, with fresh, original content. If you can’t do that you are using the wrong media and selling yourself short. Ezines need to make a comeback in a big way. Although an ezine can use content management systems (blog software) it is the format and style which make them different. An ezine is an online magazine. They don’t need to be published daily, they don’t need to be the work of just one person and they can have various sections geared to offering information, services and promotion of the business. If you can’t write your own blog post each day, consider an ezine. Hire or find people to create the graphics, articles and power up your ezine. It is a great alternative in the SEO sense too as blogs are clogging up their categories in web directories while ezines have dwindled. If you want to stand out try the ezine format, be different from the flock.

A blog should not expect reader feedback or rely on it. People read, lurk and leave. That’s how it goes. If you want interaction with your readers/ sales prospects look at message boards. You only need to make a short post, maybe just a quick question, then let the readers post their opinions, ideas and questions. It is interactive and relies less on your own input than on the people you want to inform about your skills, services and/ or products. It is a good idea to make sure you have recent posts so be prepared to make at least one each week, more when your message board is just starting up. Have family and friends help out until your readership has grown enough to support the board with real traffic. Always go in to moderate your boards for spam, discussions that get out of hand or someone who has asked a question about your business. Message boards are a great way to inform the public. Instead of a blog which cycles posts a board has all it’s content sorted and displayed on the front page. Readers hit the section they want and follow the thread, like a train of thought. It is a great format for site owners who don’t really want to spend time learning how to write and publish.

Another option is the email list. A blog is static, it does not move from where you put it on the web. An email list goes right to the people who subscribe. They will see it in their inbox and read it at their convenience. You don’t rely on bringing them to your site. Though, have a site with more information for them to come to once the email has drawn them in. Post a list monthly, weekly or some other time period that suits you. It does not have to be stuffed with articles. There is a lot you can do, depending on what you are selling. Use it just to notify them about a contest you are running, a sale, something new that has just come in. Or give them tips and advice and keep all them all in an archive on your site which they can refer to. Add a link to your site and the archive at the end of each email. It is important to have unsubscribe instructions too, make them clear and visible.

Wink looks neat but will not work well enough for me. It will be SO nice to have the new computer. Yet it really does annoy and aggravate me that people expect everyone to have the latest, newest hardware and software. It's a very arrogant attitude.

Snobbery really bugs me! But it's hugely common and socially acceptable cause it makes people feel good to have someone underfoot. Everyone wants some kind of underlings to look down on so they can look up at themselves. Maybe that's why I never get anywhere with my life. I tend to think I'm nobody special. Though even I think less of street people. Fear them a little too but don't think of them as being on my same playing field. Yet, I also worry about ending up there myself. In my family I was voted most likely to end up a bag lady. More than once.

Anyway, I will save my link to myself at Wink for later. I do have the money for the new computer now. It's just a matter of when and where. I really don't think I can wait all the way till August. I want it now, I'm so excited to really start computer shopping. I've been looking online. Seems Staples is the best place cause they have a one year warrantee and sometimes have a bundle/ package which includes the new flat monitors. That is a Must this time around. Last time I was getting a new computer they were the latest new thing and way over my price range. Not this time!

I don't blog to make friends or cause I really have something to say that the world must know or cause it's trendy and I'm ultra fashionable. I blog cause I want someone to hear me. I want to believe someone is listening to me. What I say or what anyone hears isn't all that important, just that the transaction is taking place.

I think this is something true for a lot of women. If men ever figured this out they would be dangerous. Luckily, very few of them actually listen to us enough to figure out how much we want them to listen to us.

I've joined yet another of those track your blog readers things, like MyBlogLog, Blog Catalog and Blog Woods. The new one is BumpZee. It's not that I want to build traffic, I'm not selling anything. I just want to see that real people have been here, different real people too not just the same few over and over again. Or myself. It's nice that blog counters can be set to ignore your own visits to your site. Though, in the early days I spent enough time hitting the refresh button just to turn over a few numbers.

I don't like to think I'm lonely. That's not the person I want to be. Yet I guess I am. Not totally cause I like being alone, not having to be pleasant and interesting on demand. It's nice having the place to yourself. Being able to do things you'd never want someone to catch you doing. But, I miss having someone to talk to about nothing. That's where the blog comes in. I type about nothing instead of talking. Maybe it saves air, do you breathe less if you talk less?

Anyway, I will keep blogging just to know I'm being heard. I will keep adding reader tracker junk and checking my blog counters. Cause that's what keeps me coming back to type some more.