Damien at the Speed of Life

My New Fan Page on Facebook

Damien Riley — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:22:35 +0000

Facebook is a great way to network with friends, but I wanted needed something more promotional for my blog work. Last week, I discovered and created just the right thing at Facebook for that: a fan page. I’m excited now to have my own “fan page” on Facebook showcasing all my online publishing. I invite you to become a fan and enjoy the ride with me.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Damien-at-the-Speed-of-Life/171920694763

By becoming a fan, you’ll get special updates of what I am up to on my 3 main blogs, my podcast, and other exciting web projects.

It’s been crazy lately with so much work. I remember in the early days all I wanted to do was write consistently. Now, there is so much opportunity to write, these blogs have become like a second career. Beyond writing these blogs, I’m also getting many opportunities to mentor and be a webmaster again, which I love doing.

I have the distinct honor to now be the webmaster at “The Official Eric Stefani Blog.” Our initial focus will be search engine optimization and podcasting. I’m very pleased Eric found the courage to let me work with him on this. Many thanks to him. I’m going to do my best to make it the best platform for his content. I’ve served as webmaster/blog mentor for an array of companies and individuals. Things have never been more exciting for creating and innovating blogs.

Cutting Mobile Costs

Damien Riley — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:10:25 +0000

My LG VU phone is a lot of fun and it’s a big help to my professional world as well. Honestly, I only recently “got it” how cell phones are revolutionizing our culture. As of this past year I am texting and using mobile email with the best of them.

I did discover a few months back that my cell photo accessed things in my pocket. I am not exactly sure how this happens but I was skeptical and am still so about the phones uncanny way of coming out the locked position and logging on to the wireless internet. I didn’t argue with the extra $40 charge, I simply upgraded to $15 more a month to have unlimited access. That way, even if I leave it on accidentally, I won’t be charged more than that. I recommend this. After a couple months using it, I am quite happy. I can get directions, check movie times, get restaurant info and the like. I don’t know how I ever lived without this stuff!

Cutting mobile costs is something the consumer must do. The companies rarely help you there. I suppose that is a good business model according to them. Knowing that, I am always on the lookout for “workarounds.” I discovered one today about mobile email and sms (text messaging). My provider AT&T has an option called “mobile email.” If you are texting too much to your sweetheart or other people, you should consider using it in lieu of text messaging. If nothing else you will reduce the number of texts you use. I have a plan where I get 200 free a month. After that it is .20 a text. My wife and I made free email accounts on yahoo and we use those through mobile email to communicate at various times in the day. I think it will cut out number of texts way down.

On Living Toward the Dream – and those who refuse to

Damien Riley — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:25:42 +0000

This week I chose to talk about the attitude of enlightenment out there among so many people. With our country in such a financial hole, how can we continue to give handouts to so many people who don’t even really benefit by it? I’m frustrated about this but don’t have many answers. This podcast is sort of a rant and sort of analyzing my own thoughts on what is occurring in this country. Just to further exemplify: a family was recently given a home by a charitable corporation and the parents didn’t want it because it had no walk in bath. Does this boggle your mind as much as it does mine? Part of the reason people these days do not utilize what the government gives them is because they have been given so much for free for so long. You may listen to this week’s podcast by clicking the player below.

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Post tags: do what you love, entitlement, living your dream, poverty

A Teachers Brain – A Podcast of Tips for Teachers

Damien Riley — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:00:04 +0000

A Teachers Brain has been a well kept secret since it started podcasting it’s episodes in September. With 15 episodes under its belt and close to 600 subcribers, it has definitely struck a chord with teachers on the internet. The following is an excerpt from the About page:

A dynamite lesson plan is a direction. It simply inspires a plan. After that, the effective teacher must get creative and use a method. I use EDI as my lesson template but there are other good ones. This blog has become a place where I explore ways to create dynamite lesson plans. I appreciate the input I have in the comments and I hope to get more teachers and students involved in what I do here. My hope is it will inspire teachers and empower students to be great and score high.

This podcast is meant to be a professional learning community and I invite you to be part of it. I share my ideas in each episode and invite yours in the comments.

I also put some of my best ideas in written format at my blog “Dynamite Lesson Plan.” You are invited to head over there and give them a read.

If you are a teacher or someone interested in teaching, head over and give it a listen.

Job Hunting Abounds Online

Damien Riley — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:34:56 +0000

In this recession, many people are out pounding the pavement look and applying for work. Other people are searching for job opps online via job search websites. Yahoo! Hotjobs is one such site. Whether one is looking for a clerk position or upper management on a healthcare job search, online job engines are getting people jobs they would have never otherwise known about had it not been for the internet. Though the times are dire, it’s a good thing people of the world have access to companies and job offers through online means.

Orthodontics Unappreciated

Damien Riley — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:17:18 +0000

I have my son in braces and he compains a lot how the appliance hurts his mouth. I remember my braces at age 12. They hurt of course because they were separating back my jaw to the most healthy and attractive position. Kids lack the knowledge of “no pain no gain.” I see this lacking in my son as well as in the 106 kids I teach throughout the day. I can live with that because kids are kids. The thing I can’t handle is when he get irresponsible and doesn’t out the appliance in!

Kids think money grows on trees and the only reasons they have “hassles” in life is because their parents bug them. Even though we pay for expensive braces, they want something better like Orange NJ invisalign. What are parents to do in this situation? I think being a parent is most hard due to the fact that your kids will not thank you for a think you do like this. In fact, they often complain all their childhood about having to wear braces. I guess it’s just important to keep the hope alive that they will grow up and appreciate the work you did to put them through braces.

Teaching Our Son to Respect Women and Girls

Damien Riley — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:12:00 +0000

Is there something wrong with old fashioned politeness to women?

My son, 11, shared with me a story of an event that happened to him today. In the situation, he had the chance to get out of the way and offer his space to a female student at his school but he didn’t elect to do so. My wife and I explained that we would like to instill the value of giving women your place and being polite to all girls and women. He understood and said next time he would.

While modern over-the-top equality nazis might diasgree with us. We are proud of our son when he practices politeness to women. What do you think?

Seinfeld Forever

Damien Riley — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:39:12 +0000

Whether the wacky show was about the humor of mattresses one week or coffee table books about coffee tables the next, I always greatly enjoyed Seinfeld when it was running. Now, many years after its syndication, I get the same happy feeling from watching it. I never thought I could enjoy reruns so much.

It’s rare that a tv comedy show has such staying power. I mean, we can all remember watching shows at some point in our lives that we don’t enjoy watching reruns of. Seinfeld is a hit in my house with my wife and I no matter whether we have seen the episodes or not.

My favorite episode is the one where George acts like a big shot and gives the security guard in a store a chair to rest in. While George is so proud of his good deed, the show ends with the credits rolling as the guard is snoring away in his gifted chair.

Are you a fan? If so … what’s your favorite Seinfeld moment?

If You See Me on Facebook, Don’t Get All Excited

Damien Riley — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 04:16:51 +0000

To my Facebook friends:

I don’t play Farmtown, I don’t post pictures there, I don’t do Apps, I market links and post statuses. For that reason, Facebook is not really suited for me.

“But wait! We see you posting on Facebook sometimes!”

True. I post statuses and links through a service called Ping.fm but I am rarely logged on to Facebook. When I post to Facebook it is done outside of Facebook and I post to about 25 other social media sites with one click through Ping.fm. Click on the image to see a larger view.

Blog Stats October 2009

Damien Riley — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:59:39 +0000

Table of contents for Blog Stats and Earnings 2009

I use the acronym “ARC” when analyzing blog stats each month. It stands for: Analytics, Relevancy, and Conversion.

Analytics:

DATSOL – 411 visits
PFTFF – 5010 visits
DLP – 1855 visits

Relevancy: How many sites linked back to me?

DATSOL – 3
PFTFF – 4
DLP – 0

Conversion: October net income for all blogs?

Adsense – $134
Other Sources – $209.35
Total – $343.35

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“Postcards” once again led the pack. This site enjoys a wide niche as well as lots of old links from my beginning days. This site actually used to be RileyCentral.net/wordpress, my first blog url. Since then it has been my friend gathering and learning tool. It shows in the analytics. Now, it is beginning to assume it’s own niche: health, psychology, and inspiration. Many of the links to this blog are from other sites in the same niche. It is a joy to write an article for Postcards each day. Recently, I learned that Google removed its visible PageRank from Postcards due to the fact that I sell links. This is true, I do this. An advertiser gives me a word related to their site and I write a related post. I make $5 a word on these and I have no shame about it. I am glad to know why my PR shows as zero. I still take prisoners with SERP so it doesn’t bother me at all. Hopefully Google will one day remove this penalty.

Damien at the Speed of life has become my place to review products and build a little social empire. Last month I scaled back from Facebook and started really using Twitter a lot more. I integrated weekly summaries of my Twitter blogging into my personal blog. The podcast is going strong. I record it each Friday and it is posted in the Podcast category of my personal blog. I also do a short tip each week for my teaching podcast called “A Teacher’s Brain.”

Dynamite Lesson Plan has assumed the throne for earnings. It is a specific niche and therefore I think it gets the valuable backlinks and Adsense clicks. I write 2-3 times a week in this blog and I am always looking for ways to make it better. My favorite part of this blog is getting comments from new teachers. When I read they got something from a post or a podcast that really means a lot to me. Going to Vegas with my Adsense earnings is also nice.

My goals for November are to focus more on “reader experience.” I want the content to be better and more accessible. Open question – How can I get the content to my readers in the most efficient way? If you have any feedback it is very welcome here.

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