Confessions of a Blogger – Episode II

Welcome to the second episode in the Confessions of a Blogger series. In case you haven’t read the first part yet, follow this link.

 

As I’d mentioned in the Part I, I did spend a considerable amount of time in researching the tools that I could use for my “the Fundoo Geek!” blog. The first thing I wanted to do was select the blogging service. I’d blogged on several free services including WordPress, TypePad and Blogger. I settled for Google Blogger for no particular reason. I think WordPress and TypePad are equally good. Blogger provides an easy way for you to register and use your custom domain.

 

“Do I need to have a custom domain?”, you ask. The answer is “No!”. But, in order for you to establish an identity and carry it forward regardless of the underlying services I’d recommend to register a custom domain name. This will be your identity in the internet world. Besides, regardless of where you are in the world or any career change etc you can still continue with your internet profile … its your online business card for life. There are several organizations who provide domain name registration services. Some of them, in no particular order, are: Register, Go-Daddy, 1-to-1?, ….. Google Blogger has partnered with Go-Daddy and eNom for seamless registration, in case you decide to use Blogger. Spend some time to pick a good domain name as this can be your online identity for life. You can use it in your email signatures and business cards. For personal domain names you can use your first name and/or last name or a combination of the two in a way that could uniquely identify you. (eg: myfirstname.com or firstnamelastname.com or lastname.net or lastnamefirstname.me or lastnameworld.org etc). In case it is for a business you have or intend to start then use of your business name as your domain is logical. (eg: myownbusiness.com or mybusiness.us).

 

In case you have a custom domain name and plan to use your domain for more than just blogging then you may want to consider apps for your domain. There are several free apps available. You surely have figured by now that I’m going to talk about only free stuff or open source resources that can be used freely.

Google has a rich set of applications that you can use and embed in your custom domain. You can use Google Standard application that is free and includes Google Sites. Gmail, Google Docs etc. It allows you xxGB of free space and creation of up to 50 users. If you need more you can opt for their enterprise edition for a nominal charge.

 

Bottom line – I registered the domain FundooGeek.com via Blogger and set up shop with Google for the Standard applications.

 

Assuming you are a good writer, let’s not spend time on how to write good articles. Just a couple of pointers: author something that is original and interesting if you expect it to be read and appreciated. Needless to say, you should pen your original thoughts in your own way and in your own style so visitors keep returning. Put yourself in the place of your expected audience. If you like what you read you will bookmark the site and keep returning as long as it interests you, correct? The same holds true when you author a blog … you need to be expressive, original and unique in some way to get repeat and steady stream of visitors.

 

After I penned “the Fundoo Geek!” and had couple of postings, I wanted to know who reads it. There are many free counters that collect and give you statistics on your visitors for instance “www.HiStats.com”, “www.SiteMeter.com”, “www.StatCounter.com”. I’ve used them all in past. For the Fundoo Geek! we decided to use HiStats. Next I wanted to learn more about my visitors’ demographics such as geographic location, time spent @ FundooGeek.com etc. So I signed up for FeedJIT {http://feedjit.com} They have 2 products – one that tells you where your visitors are landing from meaning how they get directed to your web (via search engine for instance). The second product is a spectacular graphical representation a global map with countries you get visitors from. Both these widgets are really cool! I also use FlagCounter {www.FlagCounter.com} for the purpose. We like FlagCounter as it displays flags of countries your visitors arrive from. The widget is highly customizable. For additional analytics I signed up for Google Analytics. Both, Google Analytics and FlagCounter provide exhaustive analytics and the ability to slice and dice the visitor data.

 

Alright then, we covered several important points today – blogger service provider, custom domain name registration, Google standard application for your web site, creative original writing style and lastly hit counters and visitor analytics. In the next part we will cover some more free tools and widgets that will enhance your visitors’ experience and stay on your site. Lastly I will cover templates for your blog. This is probably the most important as it deals with the user interface and interaction. So long, until next posting …

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Confessions of a Blogger – Episode I

These are the memoirs of the Fundoo Geek’s blogging adventures. I, the Fundoo Geek, first wet my feet in the blogosphere quite by accident in 2003. It so happened one evening while waiting for an assignment at work, I decided to check out the latest at one of my favorite sites – the LifeHacker. I liked an article I was reading and immediately went to the comments section to put my 2 cents. The next day I returned back to see that quite a few tech geeks had responded to my comments. That’s when I thought of writing a white paper on the subject (I think it was regarding Freeware and open source software). I decided to blog!!

 

I went on a mission to search for a medium to express my thoughts onto the web for the web community. Not able to decide the best option to go about, I just created a web page using one of the free services (Geo Cities). I put down my thoughts on a set of HTML documents and hosted it as my web site. The site became a collection of static pages with some fancy JavaScripts and DHTML. Well, I didn’t exactly like my artwork but it was the best I could do with the available Web 1.0 resources. I wasn’t even sure at the time if anyone would read. However, the visitor counter that I had on my site indicated that I did get some hits once in a while … so that was encouraging. Nothing is more motivating for an author or a blogger than to know that his work is being read – appreciated or not is an entirely different story. smile_regular I maintained that web site for a while until it became a chore to edit the static HTML pages. At the time I used what I considered as one of the best free HTML editors – 1st Page. Yeah, I know, I have always been a great advocate of free software. My friends & colleagues knew that they could always come to me when they needed freeware alternative to any of the standard software. I would always oblige.

 

So anyway, I decided to take the next step and get onto a real blogventure and with a real blogging service. I tried my hand at several in the next couple of years – TypePad, WordPress, Blogger etc. My subjects, as you’d have guessed by now have been varied and cover the entire spectrum of topics one could think of. As you would also have learnt from my blog that I have blogged in the past using different identities … just for the fun of it. Smile I am never shy of any topic and that kind of gives me a virtually limitless range of topics I can express and give my perspective on. That has also, however, been the reason some of my close friends (who know my blogging history) call me “Jack of all topics, Master of none!”. Never mind the cynicism I still enjoy the freedom of choosing my own topics and covering the events that interest me. I don’t want to be bogged down by focusing on a particular subject and blog on just that. That, I think, is detrimental and defeats the purpose of blogging. I know many of you will disagree and raise arms against me. But my friends, you don’t have to do as I do, you don’t have to be as I am, just be yourself and you will know what gives you the most satisfaction in blogging. The only injustice you can do to yourself (as I realized later) is by not taking that first step in blogging. So, be brave and venture into this magical world of blogging. There are countless articles and blogs on the internet on how you should get started and which blogging service you should use. Drop me a line if you need help from me. Otherwise, stay tuned for the next part in this series where I will reveal how I went about selecting the tools for the Fundoo Geek!

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Pakistan have won the ICC T20 World Cup

Pakistan accomplished what seemed to be an impossible task for them at the start of the Cricket T20 WC tournament. They kept their nerves when it mattered and have lifted the T20 world cup. They managed to beat the only team that was unbeaten in the entire tournament – Sri Lanka. Oh! what an amazing world cup this has been.

Click here to get detailed coverage of the final.

Click here to know what transpired during the 2009 edition.

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Happy Father’s Day!!!

All of us Fundoo Geeks @ FundooGeek.com wish all the Fathers a very Happy, Pleasant and Fun-filled Father’s Day.

Enjoy your day and have tons of fun!

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ICC Twenty20 2009 World Cup update

Wow!! The second edition of the ICC T20 Cricket World Cup has been full of surprises. Pleasant for some and distasteful for others at the receiving end. I’m sure most of us have wondered what went wrong with our favorite teams. Some cricket fans I met recently were so upset that their team lost they started cooking up conspiracy theories while some blamed the recently concluded IPL for the debacle of some of the favorites such as India and Australia. Whatever the reason, one thing is for sure … this T20 World cup has given rise to a lot of emotional debate in online forums around the globe.

So, we have the finalists – Pakistan and Sri Lanka. In case you didn’t know, the finals will be played at Lords on Sunday (6/21/09). Watch the space in our blog from earlier today for the latest cricket scores and news. Both the teams have done exceptionally well to defeat some of the best T20 teams to reach the finals. Considering that Pakistan was almost eliminated at the beginning of the tournament, their achievement has been, shall we say, outstanding!

Enjoy Cricket with the Fundoo Geek!

© 2009 - http://www.FundooGeek.com

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Cricket News and live Scores by CrinInfo

The above widgets are courtesy CricInfo.com



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Hosting partner issue

We are experiencing intermittent issues with Blogger and our hosting partner. At times the site content appears garbled and blogs are unreadable.

We sincerely apologize for this inconvenience and request your patience while we work out the issues with our partners.

Thank you much.

Update: The issues have been resolved and we are back in the game. smile_nerd  {updated: 6/19/2009 | 14:17 EST}

 

© 2009 - http://www.FundooGeek.com

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Welcome to the newly renovated FundooGeek!

We did a complete renovation of FundooGeek.com. As you can see, we gave a face lift to the user interface as well as have revamped the content.

The new look was made possible by using the FalknerPress blogger template created by Kranthi @ BloggerTricks.com. Point your browser here to get the FalknerPress and other awesome goodies. The Fundoo Geek! wants to acknowledge and give credit to Kranthi for his selfless service to the bloggers around the world.

Enjoy and do let us know about your visit @ FundooGeek.com and your perspective of our new look. Thank you for your time smile_regular

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Aha; what a lovely day!

I woke up to a gorgeous morning today. Its nice and bright now promising to be a beautiful day in beautiful Princeton, NJ, USA. Makes one wonder if Summer is finally here. You ask why I say so in mid June? Oh we've had a crazy first half of the 2009 so far, as far as climate is concerned. A mild winter (yeah, couple of snow storms), looked like an early Spring but then no signs of Summer. Its been raining in patches with the hot and cold weather alternating. It rained so heavy on Friday and Saturday that it messed up the Lawrenceville Little League Baseball and Softball schedules much to the disappointment of kids. Well, honestly, I think the parents were more upset

But today is beautiful my friends, so I'm going to take it easy, sit in my backyard and enjoy mother Nature!

Talk to you soon.


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Whazup in the ICC Twenty20 2009 World Cup?

I can't figure out what's happening at the T20 Cricket World Cup?!? Can you?

Two of the best teams, Australia and India, have been eliminated. The defending champions India and the next most fancied team Australia are no more in the reckoning ... maybe they are not that good anymore ... or maybe the players are exhausted after the gruelling 2009 IPL. Whatever the reason, one thing is for sure ... this isn't their World cup!!

Enjoy Cricket with the Fundoo Geek!


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Roller Coaster Stock Market Madness

Raise your hand if you are, or have ever been, involved with trading stocks. I for one have paddled the stormy waters several times since I started earning. Well, almost drowned on multiple occassions trying to navigate. Does that discourage me? No, ofcourse not! Every time the market goes up I buy stocks (when they are almost at their peak) and then, contrary to the market pundits sermons, sell when they are at their bottom.
No, I'm not kidding and No! again, I don't do it for fun ... at least its not funny to me. But yes, someone always makes money at my expense. For some unknown reason (I think Divine intervention) I usually wait too long before I buy stocks. I want to make sure they are on their way up with a good historical track record. And I also waste a lot of time and don't sell until its too late. The net result is I have lost a lot of money (& peace) trading stocks online. If only it was not as easy to trade stocks online I would have paid off my mortgage long back and maybe invested in real estate. Wait a minute, isn't the real estate market down as well? Oh well, that's a topic for some other time ... maybe when I'm gulping Vodka.
Anyhow, not everything is as gloomy. I have made money in stock market with every investment almost always to lose it on another investment. Does this sound familiar? You and I are not alone in this world, my friend. We are infact part of a huge collective on whom the so called Stock market gurus & investment bankers feed. So how come although we outnumber these suckers 10000 to 1 (I just made up that ratio) we never protest and let them run over us time and again?? Let me know when you have the answer. I'll check back later in some time.

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ICC World Twenty20 2009 - Australia is out!

The unbelievable has just happened ... Australia is out of the ICC T20 World Cup cricket competition. Just a couple of minutes ago Sri Lanka sent them packing with an awesome display of T20 cricket. This is the second edition of the ICC T20 Cricket World Cup. India won the coveted inaugural last year.

Aw! What a shame ... one of the best cricket teams is out so early in the tournament. Will last year's runner up, Pakistan, follow suit? Let's hope not as it will deprive cricket lovers around the world from watching India & Pakistan face off.

Well, Australia's untimely & shocking elimination presents a golden opportunity for other upcoming teams. Netherlands & Ireland will probably be the unexpected entrants in the Play off stage. Good luck to all the teams.

Enjoy Cricket with the Fundoo Geek!

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the Fundoo-Geek!


Hello my dear fellow Netizens: Welcome to the Fundoo-Geek! space.

I have been toying with the idea of having my own presence in the blogosphere. I have, ofcourse, made previous attempts at blogging under different identities until now. Now, because I have decided to re-incarnate my blogging avatar as "the Fundoo Geek!" and stay with it.
Why "the Fundoo Geek!" you ask? Well, I guess its kind of in-fashion in cyber space these days to use "Geek" Secondly, after spending hours to decide on a web avatar, today, it came like a bolt of flash - Fundoo! The word has fun, excitement, nonsence & slang in it. Yes, it is kind of slang - meaning "awesome!" or "cool!" or something similar

So, the next thing I do is do a quick search on Register.com for the domain "FundooGeek". VooHoo! its available. Also did a quick search on Google & Bing ... nope, nothing there either.
No more waiting my friends, the Fundoo Geek! has arrived ... born on the 3rd of June 2009.










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