Christmas Poll Widget

I've added a cute new widget today! YAY! Thanks to MicroPoll.com. I was so excited with the outcome, I placed it on my page even if it's still November. =) Christmas is already in the air in the Philippines. The weather's starting to get colder and colder (at least where I live; as for the other cities, I'm not sure), and some people are actually starting to shop for gifts. Yup, as early as today! :) Coca-Cola has started to air their Christmas Ad on TV... I'm listening to Christmas songs aired over the radio at this very moment... Lots of Christmas Decors and Christmas trees are on display everywhere... Well, you get the picture. :)

Anyway, back to the widget... It's a poll widget, really, but after a few minor tweaks, now it reminds me of Superpoke in Facebook, except simpler. It's amazing to know it's customizable. You can set the color for the Title text, the Title background, Poll Border, Poll Background, Question and Answers Text, Chart/Bar graph, etc. You may even display an image for each answer option, thereby, adding appeal to your polls. Not bad, if you want to, let's say, get your reader's opinion on what dress to wear on Saturday, or whom should you go out with... Add a picture of every girl/guy you like in each of the choices, and find out what others think by gathering votes! Hehe Just my imagination... :) Read more about the poll's features here. Oh, and it's free! You do have an option to upgrade to MicroPoll Advantage and pay $15/Month (or more) to get advanced features, but I guess the free account's already cool by itself.

The only slightly-negative thing that I've found so far is, if a user chooses the Multiple-answer type of Poll (just like the one on my page). When someone votes, the counter counts the number of answers chosen, not the number of voters. So, if for example, I'm the first voter in my poll, and I'll choose "Smile at Wen" and "List as Naughty", the results would show there were 2 votes, not 1 voter. So it would give the site owner the impression that two of his/her readers have voted, but in reality, there was only 1 voter who clicked on two answers.

The poll provided by Blogger counts the number of voters, not the answers chosen. But this is just a minor thing, I guess... Unless you're doing a research, then you need accurate data for Statistics. Important thing is, the poll serves it's purpose, and that's to count the number of votes on each answer. My poll's not for the count, by the way. It's just for fun and interaction. :) I hope you'll click on it, it's not adsense... =) And voters remain anonymous (your identities are all safe with Santa, don't worry), so you can throw snowballs at me all you want, and I won't get back at you.. =P hehe This widget will be up and running til Christmas.

If you want to create your own poll, here's the link: http://www.micropoll.com/. Have fun and be imaginative! =)


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Thank You, Subscribers!

Wow, I can't help but notice the increase in the number of SCRIBBLE & SCRIBBLE Subscribers these past few days. From 0, to 6, to 10, to 13, to 19, and it did went down to 16 for a while, and now at 21! It's a new record! ^_^ It's not many, because I've seen sites with tens and hundreds of subscribers, but I consider myself lucky enough to have some anyways. :) I started this blog last October 15, and I am very grateful for the seriously kind-hearted people who noticed it. hehe It's barely 23 days old... I've seen blogs with only 1 or 2 subscribers, or none at all, and they've been in the blogosphere for a while. =( I always find myself signing up for email subscriptions to those sites, because I know how it feels to see a "0 readers" text on the tiny feedburner button. That's where it all starts, a perfect zero...

I would like to take this time to say THANKS to each and every one of you guys, for your support. My top blog friends, so far, are: xgenesis007, gerimox, and ronald. I appreciate your comments and visits guys. Thank you very much! You never fail to lighten up my day. I invite all my readers to go visit xgenesis' blog, gerimox's blog, and ronald's blog, too! They'll do the same for you, I can guarantee that. Raj, Bhavin, Zelmarqs and the rest of the visitors from BlogCatalog, MyBlogLog, and all the other sites, THANK YOU! I hope you'll visit again soon! :)

And if anybody could tell me, please help me on this one... I'd like to know if there's any way for me to find out who the other subscribers are, e.g. email subscribers, and those who clicked on the RSS feed icons? Feedburner doesn't seem to supply me with the list of email addresses... or maybe I should look harder...? =) I'd like to return the favor somehow. I would subscribe to my subscribers' site content, too. (If I haven't yet) ;-)

I also have one concern... With the frequency of my posts, my emails might end up in your Spam folder. Please let me know if this is happening... So I can find a way to make the email delivery right. :)

Once again, thank you very much! :) My readers' count may go down, or go up from time to time... I'll understand that... But I sure hope it will steadily rise. hehe Thank you!!!

P.S. If you're new to this site, and would like to subscribe to my feeds, please do so. And please let me know, so I could do the same. Thanks!

The Pains of Blogging

The title could be misleading, but I prefer to keep it. Hehe I haven't felt pain in my shoulder - not until I've spent long hours in front of the laptop - blogging. Yup, I'm talking about physical pain, not the agony of waiting for the google check to arrive, site visits to rise, site PR to increase, layout beautification, not-to-mention having to compose entries, review each line for errors, and polish them so they would come out with enough sense to be made available to the public. Now those are really important things and could be painfully time-consuming, but I'd like to talk about physical pain.

Normally, during the day, I merely create ideas in my mind while I'm in the office. When I get home, that's where the execution starts. I spend long hours in front of the laptop before and after dinner - to check mails, visit my social networking sites, and work on my blog. A large amount of time is attributed to blogging.

According to safecomputingtips.com, poor posture is the main cause of shoulder pain. Some of the principle causes are:

* Poor arm support
* Working by keeping your hands away from your body
* Pain in the neck muscles
* Forward leaning
* Sitting too low
* Improper chair height
* Desk or keyboard tray too high
* Poor typing techniques
* No elbow supports

I may have all of the above. haha The workplace that I have in my room needs a heavy dose of some ergonomics make-over... and I need to check my posture. Good thing I read the article, now I can do something about it.

If you're experiencing the same pain, here are the suggested tips to make your blogging (or office) life less painful:

• If your armrests are too high you will be raising your shoulders up and creating pain. Thus, check to see if your armrests are at the proper level. Adjust your armrest so that your shoulders are completely relaxed and elbow rest comfortably on armrests. Don't set it too low, or you'll create pain in the elbows and lunar nerves.
• Moving and clicking your mouse frequently when it is too far away can create shoulder pain. So keep your elbows close to the sides of your body. This will reduce the strain on the muscles and relieves you from pain.
• Sitting too low can cause continuous contraction of the shoulder lifting muscles. This causes disturbance in the flow of blood which in turn leads to more contraction, and the muscles spam and cause pain. So adjust your chair height.
• Position the keyboard lower than elbow and some distance away from the computer user, tilting the head downward at the monitor and supporting the weight of the arms can lower the risk of shoulder symptoms and disorders.

I am now aware of the real causes of my shoulder pain. I could blame blogging, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to have proper posture in the first place. It also helps if I change my position from time to time. Dr. Shelley L. Jones (PhD, RN, COHN-S [Certified Occupational Health Nurse Specialist]) said it best in these lines:

Many people experience some discomforts as they work. This is usually because they stay too long in one position. It is important to vary your work tasks so that your muscles have an opportunity to recover periodically. Holding a muscle in one position too long allows waste products to build in muscle tissue. This is called static load. Static load is what happens when you carry a sack of groceries out to your car. The farther you have to walk, the heavier the sack begins to get. So it is with any kind of work that you do. The longer you stay in one position, the longer more static load you have. This leads to the aches and pains that you may be experiencing in your office work.

I just hope my shoulder pain will go away now. I'm heading to the gym tonight for some workout. But that's another story. Happy blogging! =)