Tangible Tidbits 2010 #41: I Probably Should Post Tomorrow, But...

Hi, everyone! I'm really annoyed at the moment because I just got a notice from someone who calls himself "Mystery Moderator" at a new coaching program group on Ning that I joined this week. I was told not to promote my products or services, or I would be suspended for spam. First of all, I think the moderator should have the guts to use his real name and show his picture. Everyone knew who I was when I moderated Michael's Retreat, and they respected me for being fair, as well as being upfront and open about what would and would not be tolerated on the board. Secondly, I do not recall "promoting" myself aside from telling people who specifically asked me what I do. I did post photos of my pieces and events on My Page, but it is MY PAGE. What should it reflect if not who I am and what I do? I did not invite anyone to the events...I just put them on My Page. I did not send anyone the photos...again, I just put them on MY PAGE. I replied to Mystery Moderator that I would be happy to leave the group if My Page offends him, once he refunds my money. I also asked what I did to deserve the "warning." Anyone who knows me knows that I am basically a rule-follower. I admitted I was not aware that promoting your business was against the rules -- generally, it is the point of groups such as this one. However, I also do not recall doing that beyond setting up my My Page. We'll see what happens next, but I'm thinking I may not want to be there after all. :(

But I digress...so, back to business (we allow that here)! My first critique at school is tomorrow night. I currently have five pieces to show the teacher, and two more wax models I finished up this week at home to cast after the critique. I had to clean up my newer pieces yesterday, so I wouldn't be embarrassed showing them to Dr. Browning. Did I ever mention he is the head of the Metalwork & Jewelry Department? :o One or two are not quite what I wanted them to be, but we'll have to see how nitpicky he is. My guess is very nitpicky. Wish me luck! ;)

I missed this month's Bead Society of New Jersey meeting on Thursday due to a migraine headache. My sister gets them on occasion, but I never have. When I was on Topomax -- the psychiatrist suggested we hold off going back on it when I saw her this week, BTW -- I did have bad headaches, but Topomax is supposed to help migraines. I often wondered how bad those headaches would be if I wasn't on Topomax. Now, I know! I was miserable from about 2:30 p.m. until 7:15 a.m. the next day! Slept a lot, thankfully. I'm not looking forward to getting one again, so hopefully I won't! >:

It looks like the Mother/Daughter workshop at Blue Life Karate and Fitness will be on Saturday, November 13. Time TBD. I will keep you posted on how that goes. My after care coworker is interested, and so is the owner's fiancee. Those are two good signs, IMHO! :)

I had a dry run teaching experience today, working with my nieces to make pearl and crystal rings from kits we got at Michael's. Given that working with two of them took maybe 45 minutes, I'm wondering if making a double-strand bracelet with my younger niece's 13-child Brownie Troop is a bit ambitious. I may have to rethink that one and switch to rings! :o

I'm getting ready for the back-to-back craft shows the first weekend in November. I bought a bunch of supplies from Staples and Walgreens, so I think I'm pretty close to set. I had a checklist I found online, so it helped me a lot in knowing what to bring...items I would not have thought about such as a mirror, first-aid and jewelry first-aid kits, etc. The only thing I don't have is back-up, unfortunately. My sister's family is away that weekend, and Mom has plans with her sisters. Hopefully, the days won't be too long. I'm used flying solo most of the time, but every once in a while, I really wish I had a wingman! ;)

Given that I was otherwise occupied most of the weekend, I'm still working on the photos for this week's Virtual Garage Sale, so I had better get back to it. Have a great week! Catch you on Halloween! :D

Tangible Tidbits 2010 #40: From Factoidz to Facebook

Hey, everyone! I've been very productive this week...published a new article on Factoidz, signed up for a second holiday craft show, finished up my second class project, and invested three more last Monday night to cast tomorrow night! I'm also still auctioning off my TV fandom stuff, so that takes up most of my weekends these days between grouping items into packages and deciding what to sell each week, finding the items, photographing them, and then posting them on the message board. :p If I calculated the hours spent vs. the funds brought in, I think I would probably be in the red. :\

As I mentioned last week, I thought I would get more mileage out of the instructions I wrote for my November workshops by reworking them for Factoidz and YouTube. The Factoidz article was not too time-consuming, so that's here: How To Make A Twisted Wire and Bead Necklace -- No Tools Required! I've slipped to the #2 jewelry-making expert on Factoidz again, so I have to keep publishing to recoup and maintain the lead. ;)

As for YouTube, I started playing with a tutorial, but Windows Movie Maker projected it would be something like six hours long, so I may have to kill that idea. LOL If I get a Kodak Flip camera for my birthday or Christmas, as I don't foresee myself splurging on one between now and then, I will start making videos for YouTube and my blog in the new year. ;) "They" -- those in the know about internet marketing -- say videos are the way to go in order to reach your audience more effectively because it gives them a clear image of who you are...lets them get to know you and become comfortable dealing with you. The same "they" are also touting Facebook as "the next Google" in terms of network traffic and becoming the next pay-per-click goldmine. That might explain why there are ads ALL OVER my pages lately...and you can't even click them off! I don't mind them on the sides, but keep them out of the middle of my profile page, please! :( Ironically, I posted about the benefits of Facebook advertising in one of my early blog posts back in mid-January. My father always liked us to be "in the vanguard" as he called it. He'd be so proud of me! LOL

Speaking of Facebook, the Something Tangible application has disappeared completely. There's not even an error message anymore. And I can't find Gift Creator, which was the application I used to create it. I guess they got fed up with people complaining that their apps were going down all the time, so they pulled the plug. Nice of them to notify us, though. :\

As I said last week, I started some new Facebook pages for my workshops, since my phone hasn't been ringing off the hook with registrations. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the people responding "yes" are serious and not just being Facebook polite. LOL I also started running some Facebook ads to promote the Virtual Mall Fan Page. I think I came up with six for this campaign -- that option wasn't available last December, if I recall correctly. Anyway, one or two of them seem to be doing really well. I think I have something like 336 "people who like this" since the middle of the week. :)

Regarding the second craft show, it's the 2nd annual Jewels of New Jersey to benefit Monroe Township Library. Only New Jersey jewelry artists are invited, and I received the invite on the Bead Society's Yahoogroup. The terms aren't as good as the Round Valley United Methodist Church is offering, but it's the day after (Sunday, November 7), so I figured I may as well go while everything was still packed up. ;) I just realized that I will probably be exhausted on Monday and I will have class that night! I haven't gotten out of there before 10:00 p.m. (one week it was after midnight!) the past couple of weeks, but I think that week I'll call it a night early. :p

In addition, the owner of Blue Life Karate wants me to hold a one-hour Mother-daughter workshop there. He thinks it would be good to do it before the holidays to generate interest. Nothing's firm yet, so we'll see if it comes together. :)

I will be posting my first class project as the new Focal Piece of the Month -- I haven't written it yet, but I figured I may as show everyone what I'm doing this semester. :) The monthly website changes should be going up in the next two weeks, so keep an eye out for them. ;)

As for my personal life, my Virtual Garage Sale auctions have been a bit slow going, but I have enough stuff to raise a respectable amount for Fondation MIRA. No one's buying the "Moonlight" stuff so far, so we'll see what happens. I may just make a nominal donation to Donate Life America myself. ;)

Well, I think that's enough for now. Have a good week! :D

Tangible Tidbits 2010 #39: Blame It On the Cable Company & Calcium Oxalates

Hey, everyone! I'm really sorry to be so late this week, but we were without a land line phone and internet connection from Sunday morning until late yesterday afternoon. Lots of miscommunication with the cable company, so the services finally came back up just in time for me to leave for class last night. That's the trouble with having one provider for your phone, internet, and cable services -- if one service goes down, there's an increased likelihood another one will go down with it! :o Then, I didn't get home until approximately 1:00 a.m. from school! I went straight to bed, but I haven't slept well the past few nights because of an allergic reaction to calcium oxalates. If I have anything with calcium oxalates in it, my entire body itches 48 hours later. I mean, my ENTIRE body...inside my ears, inside my nose, my scalp. It's really irritating, and it sometimes keeps me up at night, too. :p I had vegetable soup on Friday night and a filet mignon prepared with some seasoning mix on Saturday night. Both contained black pepper, which is a no-no. Lesson learned...NO MORE BLACK PEPPER! I would say "I need my Mommy to take care of me so that I watch what I eat more closely," but she's the one who fed them to me! LOL :\ Anyway, I slept late because I was awake a lot last night, and I got up just in time to make an appointment. Now, I'm fitting this in before I go to the after care job. ;)

As a result of these delays, I will probably send out this week's Virtual Mall Discounts & Deals on Thursday or Friday. ;)

Quick rundown of what progress I made last week: I opened up a new Facebook Fan Page for the Virtual Mall, three Facebook Event pages for my November 2 and November 14 workshops and my Virtual Garage Sale, created a new necklace while typing up the instructions and taking step-by-step photos to use as a guide in my workshops, and spent the internet down time entering data into my database. I'm getting close to finishing that up! :D

I will probably post the instructions as a Factoidz article without photos at some point, and offer readers the opportunity to get the full version by email. I may also create a video from them, and post it to our YouTube account, making the same offer to viewers. :)

I also posted the back issues of the Virtual Mall Discounts & Deals emails on the new Fan Page, but the links don't show up in the Discussions section. I will have to suggest people receive them by email if they want the direct links, as it makes shopping easier than having to copy-and-paste the URLs or searching for the sites. :p

Oh! And a college friend is chairing her Church's Holiday Bazaar, so I will be taking a table there! My first live event will be on Saturday, November 6, at Round Valley United Methodist Church in Lebanon, NJ. Wish me luck! :D

Gotta run...have a good week! :D