Spoken Gently's Blog: All Categories

Matt Cutts was the keynote speaker for the Web 2.0 Expo held in San Francisco on April 22-25, 2008. This video is Matt's keynote address about Google's spam policy and is a great introduction to search engine spam for beginners, as well as a relevant reminder for seo veterans. I hope you find this 10 minute video useful! You can find other 2008 Web 2.0 Expo videos of keynote presentations here.

Mayhill Fowler went form obscurity to the national stage and possibly changed the course of the presidential election. Fowler, a 61 year old self proclaimed journalistic blogger, recorded Obama's now famous Bittergate speech, blogged about it, and the rest is history. To everyone's surprise, Fowler received more attention for her piece than possibly imagined. You can read about Mayhill Fowler and her Bittergate blogging here.

Goes to show what blogging can accomplish when posting information everyone wants to read! 

The Tri-Cities Washington Salvation Army’s Annual Civic Dinner will have as its theme, “Joining Forces.” In appreciation of the outstanding volunteer service to local organization and the community, The Salvation Army wishes to give recognition to selected groups that have partnered with them in service this past year.  They include: the Kiwanis Clubs of the Tri-Cities, Columbia Center Mall,  Dean Dental, Bank of the West, Les Schwab Tire Centers, Liberty Christian School, and KNDU-TV.  Recognition will also be given for Employee, Volunteer, and Advisory Board Members of the Year.

The guest speaker for the civic gathering will Major John Chamness, Inland Northwest Regional Coordinator for The Salvation Army.   The Major is currently giving leadership to…

Here's a cool free tool for your blogging toolbox. The pixel ruler! When needing to know the width of your content area, simply paste the following code in your blog entry then post to your blog, Squidoo page, HubPage, etc:

<p align="left"><img src="http://www.joelane.com/images/pixel-ruler.jpg" alt="Pixel Ruler" width="653" height="21" /></p>

You'll end up with a ruler like this:

I'll use the pixel ruler to determine the width of my content area to let me know how wide an image can be inserted. Once you have figured out your dimensions, simply delete the code and you are ready to insert your image. You'll notice the ruler suggests this REW blog is 655 pixels wide. It's not! The REW blogs are about 575 pixels wide, however, images larger than 575…

Washington Realtors® are printing first time homebuyers brochures and making them available to all Washington Realtor® members free of charge. Stop by your local association and get a few before they run out, as the promotion is limited to the supply that is available. Washington Realtor® will be running radio commercials the entire month of April encouraging first time homebuyers to get the facts about buying their first home and to contact a Realtor® for a free brochure. Be that real estate agent!

The brochure outlines seven steps to home ownership. The first step is to contact a Realtor® (that's you!). Then, step by step Washington Realtor® takes the reader through the process of determining how much home they can afford, how to shop for a loan and…

Our local newspaper reports, "Tri-City educators are working hard to ensure students are meeting and exceeding learning standards and are prepared for life beyond high school. That's what the Kennewick, Pasco and Richland school superintendents said Wednesday during the annual Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce State of Education address in Richland." Kudos for the education system in place for Tri Cities Washington students. Certainly the reason why our community stands above the rest.

However, apparently spelling is not high on the list for some. A local school announcing a WASL celebrtaion, er, celebration:

Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index shows a 11.4 percent decline...

In today's real estate section, the Associated Press reports, "Home prices in many cities continued to plunge by record levels in January as sellers cut their asking bids and rising foreclosures took their toll, new data showed Tuesday. While the spring selling season usually gives the market a bounce, some analysts say any notable improvement may not come until well into the summer. U.S. home prices fell 10.7 percent in January, and the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index of 20 cities saw the steepest decline in the index’s two-decade history."

Too soon to look for housing market bottom.

Falling prices, gloomy consumers point to more trouble ahead...

It's not over…

The process of buying your first home can be overwhelming. Consider this "top 10" list to keep yourself focused on your new home purchase: