You Must Play Geoguessr (and Challenge My High Score)

Geoguessr, if you haven't heard of it, is a brand new Google Maps game where you're given a random location in the world and you have to use the clues in the Google Street View photography to figure it out and take a guess. Each game gives you five locations, and you only have one guess for each location. However, you can take as much time as you need and can click around as long as you need to take your guess. It sounds simple, but it's not easy. Even if you know what to look for, it can still be difficult if you get thrown into a rural location where there aren't any roadsides.

I Started Off Well...

The first time I played, I got 11000 and some points. That's about 2100 points per rounds, which is guessing within 1500 kilometers of the actual location each time. That's a really good score. It also helped that three of them were in North America, so it was pretty easy to guess. However, I've played it a few more times and haven't been able to come close since. I suppose I used up all my deduction and geography skills the first time around. I also received harder locations after the first time around. I actually gone one that was just ocean! My clues were the coral, the fish, the three swimmers/tourists/scuba divers looking at the fish, and the bright blue water. How am I supposed to guess my location with clues like that? It didn't help that I started to stress out because I felt like I was underwater and that a shark could get me at any minute.

Hint: Google Street View has only been around the Cape of Good Hope, and that's about it. So, if you get one that looks like Africa, or has something that says, "Africa" you're best bet is to guess somewhere in South Africa or western Botswana.

This through me off the first couple of times, because rural Africa doesn't have any road signs, you all you have to guess your location with the shrubbery and the vehicles (which may, or may not help, depending on where you are. License plates are blurred so you can't look at numbers, or colors, or anything). It also throws you off because the signs are in English, so your instinct is to go to Western Australia, but that is not correct.

I Want to Challenge People!

I know I can do better (I can do better tomorrow. I will start again tomorrow. I am in pain with all the clicking and guessing and all the wrong guessing)! Therefore, I will issue a challenge! I'm going to say that my highest score was 11,000 so far, since I know it wasn't bigger than 12,000 but I don't remember the rest. If you can beat that, then let me know! It's harder than you think, even if you've been around the world. It's only after you've played a few times that you learn what to look for, and what indicates what about your location.

Hint 2: When you guess, guess near a road. Obviously, this is Google Street View, so your starting point is always on a road. Whether it's a country road or a city road is a completely different story. Although, my first location for this last round wasn't exactly a road. Fortunately, I followed the stone steps to receive a big clue about my location.

Hint 3: Obviously, if you are in a city, then you want to guess in a city. It's one thing if you know you're in France (of which you might not be, because French Canada is always a possibility). But, if you know you are in a big city in France, then you want to make sure that you don't guess in the middle of nowhere.

I should stop giving away hints! This is supposed to be a challenge where I beat you! From here on out, you'll have to learn the rest on your own!

But, give Geoguessr a whirl. As hard as it can be, it's surprisingly addictive.

Inferno of Productivity: How I Turned My Task List into a Game

One of the biggest lessons I've learned from my business coach is to be specific, but to keep things simple also. My coach noted that I had a tendency to overwhelm myself by making things too complicated, by not focusing on the little steps that need to be taken to achieve the bigger picture. It's very smart advice, and why my business coach is so awesome (and why she should be your business coach too).

As part of this sage advice, one thing that needed simplification was my to-do list. One weekend, I had a very long to-do list and I hardly got any of it done because I'd look at it and feel overwhelmed. I wanted a way to be able to focus on one thing at a time and to pick one thing to do while also being able to visualize the entire day or an entire week's worth of work (it helps for scheduling purposes, and for organizing when to do what). It then occurred to me that index cards would be a good idea. I could write one task per card but have a pile of cards to represent the day, and many piles to represent the other days of the week. A pile of cards is also much less daunting than a long to-do list. It also makes it easy to transfer things to the next day in case I didn't finish everything.

But...

I didn't like the idea of using index cards just once. I didn't like creating so much waste and using up so many index cards just for a single purpose. So, I thought about how I could reuse these index cards and save them for a second or third purpose. One thing led to another and I came up with my awesome game:

Inferno of Productivity!

When I thought about saving the index cards, I thought about saving them to redeem for something, which led me to the point system. Obviously, if you're redeeming something, you are redeeming it either for points or prizes, or maybe both. So, what I've done is I count each task/index card as a point. At the end of each day, I count my points and put them in a plastic food container I bought for $5 at the dollar store across the street. On Sunday, I count up all my points and give myself the chance to redeem them for something. I took the time to come up with a whole bunch of rewards for me to work toward, and I assigned them point values based on dollar value and on how big I considered the reward (i.e. I think clothes shopping is a bigger reward than a new pair of shoes because you get more things with clothes shopping. So, clothes shopping is over three times as many points as a new pair of shoes).

I just had to double the number of points each prize is worth because I want them to take a lot of work to obtain. I've done this for a week already, and after one week, I had enough points for half the list. This meant that my list was too easy. Right now, each task is only worth one point, but I might end up changing that in the future depending on the difficulty or the length of time/number of steps needed to complete the task i.e. laundry could be multiple points depending on the number of loads I have to do.

FYI - "Need of the Week" includes things that I would only buy once, or things that I would buy so irregularly that they don't really merit their own points. For example, a spice rack is one of my "needs of the week" because I really do need a spice rack, but I only need to buy one. Haircuts are also in this category because I don't need a haircut every month, but I also consider haircuts somewhat of a luxury and a reward, so they can be something to work for.

Am I More Productive?

I've only been doing this for a week, so the game and my levels of productivity may still change, but I do think it has made me more productive in four ways. First, since I need to complete the task to count it as a point, I do force myself to finish tasks if I start them. This was a problem I had with my old method, as I would check them off if I started the task or even if I planned to do the task. This meant that I didn't always finish tasks and it would my planner and my lists into a big mess. This wasn't good for productivity, and now it's going away.

Second, I don't forget things that I need to do because I can just put it on an index card and place it with the appropriate day. It also means that I don't have to keep things to do in my head because my to-do list was already written and I didn't have room for it. Things are a little less stressful for me as I don't have to worry about forgetting, and it was always the personal things that got forgotten, since I typically filled my to-do list with work and business tasks. Plus, if I do forget, or need a reminder of what needs to be done, I can just go through the pile and see what's left. It's also great that, in case I don't finish everything, I can take what's left and just add it to the next day's pile. No crossing out, or arrows, or any other mess that clogs up my calendar.

Third, with the index cards, I can put notes with any or all of the tasks. For example, if I need to call someone, I can write that I need to call this person as well as what I need to ask about or talk about. This saves time, hence improving productivity, because I then don't have to call the person back or send an extra email because I forgot to ask that question or to bring up something important. This also helps with just keeping everything in one place. If I need to write an article for someone, then I write how many words it needs to be and anything else I need to do to write the article.

Fourth, I'm motivated to do my work and to get something as a reward. Currently, I'm working toward my top prize, an actual home furnishing, because I'd like to get a dresser (I seriously don't have a dresser and am using those plastic drawers for my clothes), or a file cabinet, and/or a bookshelf. It'll take about five weeks of work to have enough points to get that, but I do think that's a fair trade off. In that time, I would have saved the money while having earned enough money as well. Plus, I like looking forward to having more nice things in my apartment. What's also great is that I didn't choose to redeem any of my points from last week because I really need the file cabinet and the dresser, so I'm starting this week with 60 points in container. Yay!

What's Next for the Inferno of Productivity?

Well, I'm going to pilot it for as long as it takes to get that dresser/file cabinet. Once I get to that point, I'll evaluate the point system, or how many points certain tasks are worth, or even if this game is still fun and worth playing. If it just ends up complicating everything, or if the novelty fades away and it doesn't help anymore, then I'll stop doing it. My fiance suggested that I add breaks to the point system, where for five or 10 points I can take the time to watch a movie or to play video games or something. I like this idea because it means that taking a long break isn't just distracting me from the work that I need to do, but that it will also take away from the overall goal and the big picture of productivity. However, these breaks need to happen from time to time, so it's cool to classify them as a reward.

So far today, I have nine points. Now that this blog post is complete, I have 10 points!

I'm Going to Be a Blogger and Write about My Cat

When I interviewed technology evangelist Ramon Ray, he said that the did not identify himself as a blogger. Ray said that bloggers are people who sit in their pajamas and write about their cat. Well, that's exactly what I'm doing tonight. I'm going to be a "blogger", as I will spend this post in my pajamas writing about my kitty (and bother my mother at the same time. She doesn't like cats).

Last time I wrote about the kitty, he didn't have a name and we had just gotten him from Animal House Fund, the really cool no-kill cat shelter in St. Louis. It took us a few days, but we finally came up with a great poker-related name for him: Flop-a-Set Bluffy Cat BigStacks. Or, just Flop-a-Set for short. Cats need to have long names with multiple syllables, and this name suits him perfectly because he flops around a lot and he's a really big kitty.

He Tricked Us at the Shelter

He really did! We thought he was mellow, friendly cat. We thought he had taken his chill pills and wasn't too energetic. Boy, we were wrong! Flop-a-Set makes lots and lots of noise, especially around dinner time and particularly after I get up in the morning and open the bedroom door (and sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night and open the door. He loves me greatly.) He's mellow if my fiance and I are mellow, just working on our computers or watching a movie or something. But, we spend any significant amount of time doing something, say walking back and forth between the kitchen, or cleaning up, or getting ready in the morning, then he gets ramped up and runs back and forth throughout the apartment. He loves to play (especially with ANYTHING that dangles. This includes belts, drawstrings, and iPod ear buds).

We probably should have suspected something at the shelter, anyway. He caught our attention because I put my purse down to get to know the cats, and he came over and started playing with my purse. Then, four other cats came over and had to see what was up, and had to play with the purse too. After that, Flop-a-Set (named Murray at the shelter. It's a stupid name, so we changed it.) wasn't interested in the purse anymore and walked away. We also thought he was softer than his brother, and that he would need a little less grooming attention than his brother also (his brother was full of tangles. We weren't sure if he easily tangled, or if he hadn't been brushed recently since the shelter has over 200 cats and can't brush each of them every single day).

We Love Our Kitty!

Here's curled up behind me to take a nap. I really don't like when he does that because I'm always afraid I'm going to forget he's there and run over him with my chair. He would sleep in one of the camping chairs, but I had to put those  away to make room for my new desk and to move out the old desk. So, now he has nowhere to sleep except the floor, although he still did that from time to time when the camping chairs were up. He's never been one for the couch, the bed, or the love seat. Because he makes a lot of noise, one thing that I like to do, when he's sleeping, is see how close I can get to him before he makes noise. It's kind of mean since he wakes up with my face right in his face, and no one appreciates that, but I do it out of love and affection.

This is Who I Am

I came across a really cool Tumblr called, ... And That's Who I Am. It's essentially a microblog of pictures with fun phrases and sentences to describe who you are. Well, most of them are fun, but some of them are not positive or awesome at all, so I don't know why anyone would want to pin those or download them or use them to proclaim who they are. Unfortunately, I can't find anything about who runs this blog, or why s/he started it, because some of these "that's who I ams" aren't things you should be proud of at all and that you should hope or try to change, such as this one:

See, this is not awesome (and for the record, I do not have a people comparison problem). This is not something anyone should be saying as if it's "who they are" and that it's unchangeable. There shouldn't be any pride in a habit or statement like this. It's a practice that should be stopped and changed because it can stop. I don't know if the person who runs this blog wants to use the proclamation as the first step toward changing it, like finally admitting it's a problem and a part of you. I wonder this also because there are a few that could go either way, such as this one:

This one can be seen as either a positive or a negative, as it would depend on who you are today and who you thought you would be today 10 years ago (for me it's positive because I certainly didn't see myself in St. Louis, or engaged, or as a business owner, or even all that involved in human rights and activism. I thought I would be writing poetry and fiction all day.) It's statements like these among the first two that really make me wonder how this popular blog got started, why was it started, and what the founder wanted to achieve. However, some of the statements on here are just plain silly and fun:

I am TOTALLY a unicorn. As the saying goes, "You should always be yourself. Unless you can be a unicorn. Then, be a unicorn." I mean, who wouldn't want to be a unicorn? Unicorns are very powerful creatures with blood that can give you life.

Of course, there are also those statements that are factual, but are very much a part of who you are and how you perceive the world, like these two:

There's no denying that I am really short, and that I am an Aquarius (well, maybe you could because there was the whole thing several years ago, where all the star alignments were wrong and that your astrological sign wasn't really what you thought it was. However, I am definitely an Aquarius). Sometimes, it's the things that you can't change about yourself that you learn to embrace the most. I can't change when I was born or my height (well, to some extent. There's always heels!)

Okay, part of the reason why I did this is because I am super tired today taking an hour-long road trip to way-out-yonder Missouri to pick up a desk I bought. It's a great desk, but that's two hours in the car and all the time it took to move everything else around in the apartment, get the desk where I want it, and then put everything back on top of my new desk. It's been an exhausting day. I didn't want to write anything, but I didn't want to skip a day of blogging either. Besides, this works out because for this post, it's about the pictures, not the words. Here's the rest of who I am:

There's No Lenovo Support Center in St. Louis

At least, I couldn't find one when I needed it. About two weeks ago, when I broke my laptop by spilling water on it, I contacted a computer repair service that came up on Google. They suggested that I find a Lenovo Support Center to help me, and that I find it by typing "Lenovo Support Center St. Louis" into Google and going with one of the top results. A support center would already have the part and could do the job right away, while they would have to order the part first in order to do the job.

I thought this was an excellent idea. I didn't know these "support centers" existed, and the possibility of fixing my computer was an incredible one. I could get back to work right away and not have to use my fiance's computer. I wouldn't have to buy a wireless keyboard. But, I was wrong. Below is the summary of the listings on the first Google result for "Lenovo Support Center St. Louis" and my experience:

CompuCom Systems, Inc. 9849 Manchester Rd Saint Louis, MO, 63119-1200 Tel: 888-737-6333 Distanza: 9 Miles

I HATE 888 numbers. I hate automated menus and dial by names and what not. It stems from my short stint of cold calling back in 2010. I once had a dial by name directory tell me I sucked at dial by name directories and it hung up on me. I tried the number, punched in a few buttons to try to get somewhere, but then I gave up. I just want my laptop keyboard repaired. It shouldn't be this difficult.

I do think I should have seen the word, "distanza", as a red flag for this page. I should have also been more curious about the nine miles. Nine miles from what?

CompuCom Systems, Inc. 4227 Earth City Expy Earth City, MO, 63045-1308 Tel: 314-344-3332 Distanza: 17 Miles

This number was a bad number. I don't recommend calling it.

Anders, Minkler & Diehl, LLP 705 Olive, 10th Floor St. Louis, MO, 63101 Tel: 314 655 5500 Distanza: 0 Miles

This listing is actually an accounting firm, so I have no idea why they're on this list. I know this because I've actually been to their offices before, and they helped me with my taxes. I called them anyway, and the person who answered had no idea what I was talking about. She offered to forward me to someone who might know what I'm talking about. She did that, and I got a voicemail. I didn't leave a message. I don't really need some guy calling me back only to tell me he doesn't know what I'm talking about either, or to tell me that they weren't one at all. If the secretary had no idea about being a Lenovo Support Center, and whether they were one and what that means, then they probably aren't one.

Lazerware Inc. 2929 Gravois Ave St. Louis, MO, 63118 Distanza: 3 Miles

Fortunately, someone answered the phone and knew what I was talking about when I asked if they were a Lenovo Support Center. Unfortunately, they weren't taking new clients at this time. Really? I just want my laptop keyboard replaced. It should take an hour. It's an easy $100. What do you mean you can't take me in?

Hawk iSolutions Group, Inc.6349 Plymouth Ave St. Louis, MO, 63133 Tel: 6362567534

First of all, the number listed on the Lenovo Support Center website (the one listed here) and the number the company lists for itself on its website, are two different numbers. They don't even have the same area code. Second, the only number listed on the company's website that has the same area code is their fax number. I decided not to call any number and just fill out the form and see what happens. I didn't get any response. Why don't you respond? I want to give you money! I am a lead! You should want leads and follow-up with them diligently!

When double checking this, I also realized that the business has two different addresses listed too.

Talk to Mike

My ultimate conclusion is that if you need your Lenovo laptop repaired, talk about Mike about his computer repair services. You might have to order a part or two first, but he has been the most helpful throughout this whole thing. It was his idea to check out a Lenovo Support Center in the first place, which was great because he didn't automatically take the business for himself. He knew of a faster, perhaps cheaper, way to help me with my problem and offered that first. It's kind of worked out since he was so helpful, since it looks like he's now the best thing ought there.

As of now, I dub him and his company the Lenovo Support Center of St. Louis.

My Empowering Beliefs About Money

"You say it long enough and it starts to be a part of you." - Rita Pierson It's not that I thought this idea was "a bunch of hooey", it's just that I've never seen it in action. I've never seen it, or heard about it taking place, or experienced it taking place. I just wasn't sure about the viability of simply saying something out loud Until now.

Below is the speech where the line came from, in case you were curious. It's actually a great speech that's worth watching.

[ted id=1728]

The Challenge

During one of our sessions, my business coach asked me about the energy of money. I still don't quite understand the "energy of money", but what she wanted me to do was to examined what I believed about money and where I stood with money. She wanted me to create a value system for money, something that outlined what it meant to me personally, what value money had in my life, and why I want money.

My ultimate homework was to come up with my empowering beliefs about money and to say them daily. I took the time to create that value system. I wrote them down and repeated them daily, although instead of saying it out loud I wrote them down. I learn better through reading and writing. I really wasn't sure if this would work, or how, but my business coach said to do it so I did it. I knew she was going to ask about it in our next session, and I didn't want to lie to her. I also figured that this couldn't possibly hurt or ruin my life, so there wasn't any harm in trying it.

My Empowering Beliefs about Money

This is what I've been writing down and repeating for almost three months now (new research shows that it takes 66 days to form a new habit, more than twice as long as the 21 days in conventional thinking). The smiley faces are the most crucial part of the whole thing.

• I, hereby, delete these negative beliefs from my system at the source. Now, I can replace them with empowering beliefs about money. :)
• As long as I am in a positive state of mind and am grateful for what I have, there will always be enough money and there will always be sources of money.
• I buy things that I enjoy and I am confident in the things that I purchase.
• I respect and value my money and I spend and invest it wisely! :)
• My money, and how I earn it, will merit respect. It will be used to accomplish good things, to tell the truth, and to inspire others to tell the truth.
• I like money. Money can’t buy happiness, but it can make me very happy.

Empowering Beliefs about Myself

My empowering beliefs about money are very much a part of me. Those thoughts go me through the past few months when money was tight, when my business wasn't making as much and I needed to make some changes. Even though my coach doesn't ask about them anymore, I still do them because I think they are important to do and to reinforce. Now, I think the next step is to come up with some empowering beliefs about myself. I remember the process for coming up for the money beliefs, so doing these beliefs shouldn't be much of a problem.

I suppose the only hiccup is that nearly everyone else has come up with these "empowering beliefs", or those "victory declarations" or those inspirational sayings about what to think when others are being haters and stuff. I suppose the big difference is cementing your own empowering beliefs about yourself and doing more than just applying someone else's to yourself or borrowing someone else's. It's certainly much easier to agree or to find something that supports your own beliefs. But, what makes this exercise really cool is that you're starting from scratch with yourself.

I Passed My Inbound Marketing Certification Test!

Even though I'm moving away from the inbound marketing/content marketing business, I started my inbound marketing certification from HubSpot way back in April. It's a program where you watch a series of nine webinars, or classes, on the various topics. Once you finish the classes, you can then take the test for the certification. I've finally completed the classes and took the test today. I'm excited to say that I passed, and part of my reward is that cool little badge to the right there. It's one of my several successes of the week.

Other Success Stories of the Week

Opportunity International

Last night, I attended a neat little networking event with Opportunity International and the Young Ambassadors for Opportunity St. Louis chapter. The chapter is new, and the organization is about economic empowerment and providing micro-loans, both of which I am all about. I do like that the organization also works on building savings and providing insurance, instead of just funding loans and getting people to start businesses. Sometimes, getting the loan and having the successful business isn't enough because factors outside of the control of the owner can cause the business to fail.

Since the chapter was new, part of the point of the event was to have some sort of a meet-and-greet and to do something to build awareness for the chapter and the organization. When we think of micro-lending organizations, we think of Kiva.org and the Grameen Bank. However, Opportunity International was one of the first organizations to work on this issue, and it's great to encounter an organization that's actually working on some of the issues featured in Half the Sky. Up until now, it seems like these groups existed by were located somewhere other than St. Louis.

Speaking of the which, what's also great is that this chapter and this organization are going to partner with me on showing a screening of the Half of Sky documentary (of course, it would be a screening of the economic empowerment section). It turns out that Opportunity International is a partner organization of the Half the Sky movement, so this upcoming screening should be a huge hit.

Although, part of the success of last night was the peppermint patty cocktail, which was absolutely delicious. It had brownie batter vodka, peppermint schnapps, something else, and the glass was lined with chocolate sauce. The drink was absolutely amazing. Since the event was at Cafe Napoli, I recommend asking for the peppermint patty cocktail the next time you visit.

Amazing Pizza!

A brand new, very tasty pizza place opened up down the street from me the other day. It's called Papa Murphy's, and they make the pizza in front of you and then you take it home and put it in the oven. We tried it today and it's absolutely fantastic pizza! I ate the gourmet vegetarian, which included neat toppings like zucchini and artichoke hearts, and the entire thing was yummy. Fortunately, I have a whole bunch of coupons, so next time I can get their Hawaiian pizza, or their smores pizza for dessert, or their normal vegetarian pizza (the gourmet one has creamy garlic sauce instead of normal tomato sauce, and has a different combination of vegetables on it). I'm excited about it, and especially like the idea that you can buy it and you don't have to eat it right away.

It's Friday

It's always a success if you can make it until the end of the week without dying, or having a total meltdown, or losing everything you have. Cheers to that! I'm going to spend my night playing a little bit of Wii, reading a little bit of book, playing with the kitty, and perhaps getting some work done. There's always fun work to be done.

I'm a Night Owl. I Said It.

Ever since I've changed direction with my business and have needed to salvage what I can from the content-marketing-agency wreckage, I've turned into a night owl. I feel so accomplished if I'm awake by 10 a.m. The stereotype is that night owls are lazy, unprofessional, undisciplined, and don't spend much time doing anything when we are awake. In fact, there are successful night owls who just happened to be productive and accomplished when everyone else is sleeping.

My mother would probably say that when I wake up so late that "half the fricken day is gone." Half of her day maybe gone, sure. I am sleeping when she is working hard, yes. But she's in bed by 9 p.m. At 9 p.m., I'm ready to put in another four to five hours of work, maybe more if I get on a roll and stumble upon something big, like I did last night. Besides, night owls aren't as bad off as some may think. New research from the University of Madrid found that night owls are better at inductive reasoning and problem solving, abilities associated with more prestigious occupations and higher incomes.

Society Isn't Kind to Night Owls

It's really not. Most workplaces that offer a night shift aren't awesome jobs (you know, they're not necessarily professional jobs that require a degree or special training). Most businesses aren't open late at night, although that is changing somewhat (I could walk across the street to the grocery store at 11 p.m. if I wanted to. But, I live in the inner city, so I'm not going to do that). Even the "disease" associated with being a night owl, delayed sleep phase disorder, is defined as, "a circadian rhythm sleep disorder affecting the timing of sleep, peak period of alertness, the core body temperature rhythm, hormonal and other daily rhythms, compared to the general population and relative to societal requirements."  Being a night owl is a disorder because it's different from what everyone else does and what society wants. Yay.

It doesn't help that both of my parents are morning larks and proud of it. They've never been fond of the idea of staying up late and sleeping during the day. They see these activities as all those stereotypes previously mentioned. Although, I admit, there were times where my brothers and I stayed up late to go out and to play video games and such. But, alas, we were teenagers when we did all that stuff. Well, maybe the stay up late to go out kind of stuff. My brother works the night shift in Las Vegas. My parents still complain that he sleeps til noon and that the kids do too. I grant, the whole family will have some trouble when the kids start going to school. But when my brother gets home at 1 a.m. it's not all that realistic to expect him to wake up at 6 or 8 a.m.

I Enjoy the Privacy of the Night

My fiance is in bed by nine or 10 because he starts work at 6:30 a.m. (he has less than two weeks on this job though, so this schedule is ending soon). I like that after he goes to bed, I feel like I have the apartment to myself and that my time and space is unrestrained. There are fewer distraction at this hour, and I don't feel worn out or dragging. I feel ready to work and able to pursue new ideas and to come up with new ways to think about things. It's a great time for creative pursuits, and in my line of work, it's all about the creativity.

Fortunately, Lab1500 is going to have 24-hour access soon. I'm excited.

I Have My Computer Back!

After a day and a half with no laptop, I finally have something operational! The only problem I have is that the laptop keyboard doesn't work, but I am still able to use a wireless keyboard with my computer to get things done! I am so happy! I didn't lose any files or information. I don't have to buy a new laptop. I don't have to spend an exorbitant amount of money to get my computer back. My only costs are the wireless keyboard and the repairs to the laptop keyboard, so at most I'll spend about $150 on the whole thing.

I Even Have a New Setup!

Since I have to use the wireless keyboard, I actually have a new work arrangement on my desk, and I wish I would have thought of this sooner (it would have actually prevented this whole mess in the first place). With my laptop on the top shelf, and the keyboard on the desk area, I actually have room to write and to eat! That has been one of my biggest complaints with my previous setup, as I would have had to write on the laptop or move it entirely. Eating was also a little troublesome, as who knows how many crumbs have gotten in there. It was also a little uncomfortable as the food was on the side of the computer, so I had to sit at an angle in order to eat and it wasn't quite the same as sitting in front of a television to eat. That's not the case anymore! I do wish my screen were larger, but that should get fixed eventually as I do have a new pair of prescription glasses waiting for me. I still need to do some rearranging, like figure out where my drinks should go and where my lamp should point (it's kind of pointing at the corner of my eye right now). But, I don't think there's a way this could have come out any better.

I Can Do Work Again!

I don't need to use my fiance's laptop anymore, which was kind of awful to use because it didn't have any of my bookmarks. It didn't have any of my passwords. He shuts off all the scripts so none of the pages load properly unless you turn them on, and then you do turn them on and each page comes full of ads and pop ups. Google Reader doesn't quite work. Plus, it's all set up for someone who is 6'2", and I am nowhere near 6'2". I am just so glad to be back with my computer, where everything is already a few clicks away and I don't need to waste time finding my links and my passwords just so I can do my client work. I already had to delay some client work because I didn't have a permanent workstation, and I didn't want to take something on while figuring out a new permanent, functional, work environment. But, now that everything is 98% back to normal, I can get work done! I can make progress toward my upcoming online publications! I can get my Business Breakthrough homework together! I can write about something other than a broken laptop and feeling tied down as I wait for the thing to dry and for everything to recover!

That's enough rambling. I need to create more viral blog posts and get articles up for the coffee publication and the maternal health initiative. I also need to work on my other website, do keyword research again and redo the About Us page, and all that other good stuff. You know you love your job when you are actually relieved and excited to get back to work.

What Do You Do When Your Blog Post Goes Viral?

That is the question I have been asking all day, ever since my article trashing the reviews that were trashing The Business of Baby (which I finished and still find fantastic. Those people complaining about the potty training and vaccine chapters were making a mountain out of a molehill. I mean, you have to admit, the disposable diaper industry did a darn good job of creating a demand and a market for their product. It's no conspiracy. The bottled water industry did it, and their competitor is free. I can believe that another industry was able to accomplish the same thing.)

Anyway...

My post went viral. I've already tripled my traffic for yesterday, and yesterday's traffic was 10 times the previous day's traffic. I have no idea how to handle this situation. I've enjoyed watching the numbers go up all day and replying to people who tweet my article and comment on it, but I feel I need to be a little more proactive than that. I've tried looking up online what my best course of action is here, what others have done when their blogs and blog posts went viral. All I pretty much got was tips and tricks on how to create content and how to make content go viral. I think I've already cracked the code on that one.

So, what does one do in this situation? Do you write more posts on this topic? Do you continue doing what you are doing, since you did something that worked and resonated with people? Do you create a whole new site or blog on this topic, and tell everyone to go there? Obviously, the one thing you aren't supposed to do is nothing, because after a while all those people are going to go away. You don't want the people to go away. You want to make this an all-the-time thing, not a one-time or sometimes thing. I don't know what the right course of action is here. My business coach had challenged me on Friday to create a maternal health site, to get it going for one month, and then to come back with the feedback and with the results. I feel like I've gotten results and feedback, and I haven't even built the site yet (my plan was to do that tomorrow, and get at least one post up this week).

On a minor note here, blogging is fun.

Thank You Very Much, By the Way

Before I forget, I want to thank everyone who's contributed to this really cool event. I thank the hundreds of people who read my post and visited my blog. I thank the people who've taken the time to share the post and to get more people to read it. I thank my friends and family who've read my blog before this whole thing, and have been just as excited and amazed by the buzz. None of this wouldn't have happened without all of you. Thank you so much! Hopefully, I can continue delivering great content that keeps you engaged and entertained.

As you can probably tell, much of my time today has been consumed by this. It's been incredible to watch the numbers, hoping I'll figure out the best next step for me and this blog and this topic. I do still have work to do and a business to build. Perhaps this is a huge sign telling me where I need to go next and what needs to be done here. Maternal health in this country strikes a nerve with people and gets them going.