Reckons of Crass Construction

I have a new button and I'm taking it for a test drive. If it shows up in this article that means it's good to go.

Like what you see? Grab this baby from my sidebar.

And thanks. Good bloggers need to stick together.

I won the Sunshine Award!!

Had to delay Today's Linky to tend to some personal matters. A quick stop at Tarjay (that's Target to all the non-culturally elite) for more undergarments (one can never have enough knee-length slips and jockey shorts), a pity pit stop at the corner BP (still the cheapest gas in town and getting cheaper due to ongoing impromptu boycotts), a drop off at my favorite dry cleaners (three garments for the price of two and so conscientious about stain removal), then on to a hastily scheduled appointment at a local institution of higher learning (a possible job prospect ... still working out the fine details).

Sometimes I even amaze myself with all the balls I keep up in the air. In 100 plus degree weather, no less (that's Farenheit, in case you're interested). You'd think with all that snow we had this past winter, Mother Nature might try to make it up to us with tolerable summer temperatures, but no, the old bat had to whack us with an unbearable heat wave causing relatively healthy people to drop like flies.

I'm happy to report that the first edition of a Carnival of Rants is finally up and running. Yay.

I wasn't expecting so many submissions. Seriously, it was a little overwhelming. Thankfully, the blog carnival site is offering something new called "Insta-Carnival" where they basically do all the leg work for you and all you have to do is copy and paste the HTML into your own site.

Some of the submissions didn't fit the description of the Carnival and/or did not link back to this site, unfortunately. Yup. Only two requirements. I guess that was too much for some people to handle.

Of course, I'm hoping they'll submit again and that we get even more submissions from people who like to moan and complain. The more the merrier as far as I'm concerned.

The Carnival of Rants


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Oooo, there is a new template design feature at Blogger. Fancy. I was just getting used to the old dashboard when they pulled out the new bells and whistles. But it all looks very nice. If you are bloggoing on a boring template, you may want to check out this new feature.

Blogger Buzz: Blogger Template Designer Now Available To Everyone

As for me, I'm sticking with the old design. It's part of my branding. Too late to become new-fangled.

If you've subscribed to this blog -- and not too many people have -- you may have noticed the Tuesday and Wednesday lineups sorely lacking in the content department. No "Today's Linky," no "Random Internet Crapola," not even a new blog post until very late Wednesday afternoon.

Well, Tuesday was quite busy around here. Totally threw off my schedule.

I'm all pooped out and very much in need of a good night's sleep. Much as I hate to resort to shallow-pretending-to-be-trendy follow-me gimmicks, my schedule has left me little alternative. Tomorrow is my only free day to take care of errands, including shopping for Father's Day and visiting an acquaintance who recently lost her 20-something son. Very sad.

I'm noticing that a lot of other mothers who might go out of their freakin minds if they didn't blog Mommy bloggers like to start off their week by writing a recap of their weekend activities -- what they did, who they saw, where they changed their kid's diaper, how much alcohol they consumed to get past a random in-law visit, that sort of thing.

All fine and good if you like looking at pictures of people you'll never meet, watching videos of places you don't want to visit, and reading mundane stories that go on ad nauseum divulging intimate details you couldn't give a flying fig about. I don't mean to be cruel, but honestly, how many readers are actually interested in little Johnny's trip to the barbershop or baby Megan's temper tantrum in the middle of a shopping mall?

Just a minute, Megan, while Mommy takes out her flip camera to record you outside of Chick-fil-A kicking on the floor and screaming at the top of your lungs. This baby is going right up on YouTube. A little louder now, brat, like you really mean it.

Who has time to wade through this blather?

I'm beginning to warm to the idea of showcasing a new blog every Wednesday. Straight from the How to Win Friends and Influence People Guide of Blogging Nuggets, nothing says love'n like link'n and plug'n.

I know, I know, the whole idea of sending hard earned precious traffic to somebody else's bandwith is counter-intuitive, but trust me on this one. I know from whence I speak.

I'm not joking.

Somewhere, somehow, some way, I know Technorati is a useful blogging tool, bringing people from all walks of life together in a brilliant burst of the best and brightest the blogosphere has to offer. Gazillions of new articles appear there every day, vying for ranking and recognition. Someone should publish a cheat.

In case you haven't noticed, I've been taking advantage of the long weekend to add communities, bots, and buttons to this blog in an effort to publicize my new endeavor. How else am I ever going to get anyone to comment? And don't get me started about the Reckons of Crass Construction Google Community. Sadly, it remains unpopulated, a constant reminder of the need to jump start grassroots publicity.

Yes, I like to write, get silly, and post on a number of topics, but I'm afraid that's not enough. I need to reach out and touch people. Hope I won't accidentally violate anyone's personal space.

I recently signed up for an account on BlogLovin because it will allow me to organize appealing blogs and hopefully help others find me. Follow my blog with bloglovin and I will be sure to check out yours and get connected.

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Offering prize money in exchange for link love and subs is a great way to increase a blog's search engine rankings. This site pretty much exploded simply by asking readers to do the following:

1.Rub your stomach while patting your head and jumping up and down on one foot NAKED!!
2. Sign Up for RSS
3. Tweet, Stumble, Shout from the Rooftops
4. Mention the post on your blog
5. Leave a comment

Great. So now that I've done all five, isn't it clear that I am the one most deserving of the C Note? Better yet, if you're reading this post, why not subscribe to MY blog to show how utterly pathetic you think I am for entering such a solicitous contest in the first place.

Win an EASY $100 - National I can't come up with a blog post day! my eye.

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Midweek and I've barely accomplished anything. Starting a new blog should be like falling off a log for an old hat like me. Still, I'm finding the endeavor slightly time consuming, and I'll admit, annoyingly baffling. Use of other share sites has connected me to people I wouldn't otherwise encounter, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get them to become followers of this blog without contacting each one personally and shamelessly self-promoting.

Is it time to go back to square one?

Everything on the Internet changes so quickly. I acknowledge being below the curve. Figured I should invest a little time to wrap my head around Blogger Buzz: Share Blogger posts to Buzz, an article I happened upon in a enviably connected blog. It may help me learn some tricks of the trade and, hopefully, hook up with my peeps.

Not in the literally sense, of course. Believe it or not, back in my day, a hook up was an innocuous way of saying "connect."

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