June 17, 2008

Tuesday Teaser for June17, 2008

Can you identify the item depicted above? Take your best guess and post it in the comments below. If your guess wins, you’ll get a nifty prize. Here’s how it works:

1. Write a comment giving your guess as to what the item is. Be as specific as you can. A table is too vague - a clamp on a card table leg is specific.
2. First person to identify the item wins. If more than one person provides the correct answer, time and date stamp will determine who was first.
3. The author of this blog will be the sole judge as to what constitutes a correct answer. Sorry - no hints will be given. I will attempt to respond to your answers at least every few hours, but I am not continuously at the keyboard so please be patient.
4. The contest will end in forty-eight hours, whether or not a correct guess has been submitted.
5. Skeet’s Stuff is a do-follow blog, so you get some link value just for commenting.

What will you win?

1. The author of this blog will write a LINKY LOVE POST (review) about the winner’s blog (commercial sites ineligible.) The LLP will contain the url for your blog plus at least two deep links and will be posted here on Skeet’s Stuff, a PR4 PR2 PR0 (bah google!) Ha! PR3 blog. Skeet writes good reviews.
2. The weekly winners will be entered into a monthly drawing for a $10.00 gift card from Starbucks or Amazon or a ten dollar payment through PayPal.
3. Drawing for the monthly prize will be held on or about July1, 2008, and will include all weekly winners for the month. There are four Tuesdays in June thus the maximum number of people who will be eligble is four.

Comments submitted with commercial links will be deleted. If you would like to market your product, service or website through skeet’s stuff I’ll be happy to discuss your needs and my prices. Please submit your request via email.

Technorati Tags: contests, photos, photo contest, ohoto puzzle

June 16, 2008

Discovery! A Seek and Find Adventure - new hidden object game

The latest exclusive hidden object game release from Big Fish Games is pure hidden object game fun. Discovery! A Seek and Find Adventure is modeled on a game show, complete with all of the fanfare, hoopla and audeince noise. Players begin the game by spinning a wheel to determine the value of prizes in the upcoming round and the type of mini-games that will be available.

Different locales provide the playing field for each round. A list of objects is given and the player’s task is to find each item hidden within the scene. I found the objects to be clearly and fairly defined, but had some trouble seeing some transparent objects. The challenge level is high, but all objects can be found. The game creators have made no attempt to achieve the photo-realism we’ve seen in some recent games. The graphics for each round of play are fun and colorful, with some having a decidedly cartoonish appearance. Each background is cluttered and busy, distracting the eye and incresing the level of difficulty. Hints and a zoom feature will help you out if you get in a tight spot.

The two types of mini-games I played are a fun segue between segments of the real action but won’t strain your brain. Flipping tags and matching the pictures on them came up several times on the wheel for me, so I didn’t get to sample all of the mini-games. Blizzard Bucks - grabbing falling dollar bills - is fun but mindless. The U.S. Roadtrip Jackpot Round requires the player to find a single hidden object in each of ten scenes, presented in rapid succession with a short time limit for completion of the round.

You can download a demo version of Discovery! A Seek and Find Adventure for a free hour of play before you decide whether or not to buy the full version. Purchase price is $19.99, but you’ll pay as little as $6.99 to own any game from Big Fish if you decide to join the Game Club.

You can see all of my hidden object game reviews in the games category for skeet’s stuff. Each review gives my observations on the game and will provide you with a link for a free download. Have fun!

Technorati Tags: Big Fish Games, Discovery! A Seek and Find Adventure, games, hidden object games

June 12, 2008

I signed up for SocialSpark!

I’ve been providing sponsored posts on my blog for over a year and a half. It’s always been a positive thing for me and, I think, a positive experience for my readers. I like being one of the first to know about new products and services. I like having the opportunity to review or announce new or established websites, products and services that I think will be of interest to my readers. I love, love, love being the first to tell you all about a new movie or TV show and announcing new websites, contests and promotions. You’ve responded with some great feedback. You’ve found a few new things you wanted to check out and some innovative ideas you wanted to explore. It’s been a win/win situation for all of us. The only somewhat negative feedback has concerned disclosure, and I’ve only gotten one negative comment about that. While I haven’t necessarily provided in-post disclosure with each sponsored post, I’ve always maintained a Disclosure Policy (you can find it in the menu at the top of my right sidebar) and made sure my readers are aware that some material on skeet’s stuff is sponsored. Now the same folks who created PayPerPost and pioneered the whole concept of sponsored posting have upped their game and elelvated sponsored posting to a higher level. Izea, the undisputed leader in social media marketing has created SocialSpark, an innovative and sophisticated marketplace for bloggers and advertisers. Some of the high points of SocialSpark include:

The transparency does not stop with in-post disclosure and it’s not limited to what you can see on my blog. The behind-the-scenes workings of my blog are provided to our advertisers, allowing them to make informed choices about the blogs that can best serve their needs. Have you ever wondered who reads skeet’s stuff? The question has always been high-priority to me, because knowing my audience allows me to provide interesting a relevant material that will keep you coming back. My advertisers have a vested interest in my reading audience, too. They need to target their marketing budgets for maximum ROI. SocialSpark provides them with the tools they need.

What you see here is just the tip of the iceberg. SocialSpark also provides statistics on average daily number of visitors, average pageviews, length of visit, RealRank®, Alexa Rank and more. Want to know my average number of daily posts or the ratio of sponsored posts to non-sponsored? You do if you’re an advertiser! The comprehensive data provided by SocialSpark is helping advertisers spend their money wisely and allowing bloggers to reach out to the advertisers they’re most interested in (yes - the information goes both ways!)

If you’ve thought about adding sponsored post to the features you provide for your readers, now is the time to do it. SocialSpark is the platform that allows you to monetize your blog by adding quality content that you want to write about and your readers want to see. Advertisers, are you marketing through blogs? If you’re not, you’re missing thousands of opportunites daily for the kind of exposure you want. It’s affordable, it’s targeted and now it’s customizable to all of your needs. What are you waiting for? Isn’t it time to put SocialSpark to work for you?

Technorati Tags: blogging, in-blog advertising, marketing, social media marketing, SocialSpark

May 16, 2008

The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes - new hidden object game

Rejoice, hidden object game fans! The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes has just been released exclusively by Big Fish Games and it’s a winner. Each level of the game presents a mystery for you to solve with Holmes and his sidekick, Dr. Watson.

Each level of the games allows for two types of hidden object search. Conventional play provides you with a list of items to search for within the scene of the crime.

The second search requires the player to find the differences in two views of the same scene. The items identified are then presented as clues to solving the mystery. The minigames wherein you’ll find out who committed the offenses are pretty lame, with the solution handed to you instead of requiring your deductive powers. Ah, well - how hard would you expect to have to work at it with Holmes and Watson as partners?

A magnifier is always available to help you locate hidden objects. You’ll need it. Some of the items on your search lists are very small and well-disguised. Make sure you find Sherlock Holmes’ deerstalker cap and pipe in each scene. Finding them will keep you well-supplied with hints and other bonuses.

A variety of minigames will give you a break from hidden object searches. None of them will strain your brain, but they’re a fun diversion. I liked the game enough that I’ll be buying it so I can play more. You can download a free demo at Big Fish and play for an hour before you make your decision. The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes can be purchased for $19.99, or for a discounted price as low as $6.99 for Game Club members.

All of my hidden object game reviews can be found in the games category for skeet’s stuff

Technorati Tags: Big Fish Games, games, hidden object games, The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes

May 9, 2008

Four Foods on Friday #28

Val is focusing on chicken this week for her Four Foods on Friday questions. I eat a lot of chicken, so this one is right up my alley. If you’d like to join us, just copy the questions below and answer them in a post on your blog. Leave a link to your post at Val’s place. She’ll have comments about all of our answers later, and will give us all some good link-lovin, too. Here are this week’s questions:

#1. How do you make chicken salad?

I don’t.

#2. Fast food chicken. What fast food restaurant makes the best chicken?

Fast food is another thing I don’t do much of, but if you count our local drive-ins (almost-fast foods) then I’ll say chicken katsu!

#3. What’s your favorite way to eat chicken?

Tough question. Remember Bubba listing all of the ways to do shrimp in Forrest Gump? The list for chicken would be even longer, and I have a lot of favorites. What I want varies on any given day, but Chicken Alfredo, chicken and dumplings and barbecued chicken are probably the ones I cook most often. Or maybe a saute’ with herbs and mushrooms and a white wine reduction. Or huli-huli chicken. Or teryaki. Of fried - fried is good! Maybe I don’t have a favrorite. Maybe it’s all good (except for chicken salad.)

#4. Share a recipe using chicken or take a picture of a chicken dish.

I was thinking about FFoF when supper time rolled around tonight. I always have boneless, skinless chicken in the freezer, so I thawed a piece and prowled around in the pantry for inspiration.

I cut a piece of thigh meat into bite-sized pieces, then tossed it in a little olive oil. I added dehydrated minced onions, paprika, black pepper and garlic and cooked for just a few minutes until it was done. Meanwhile I heated up some canned chili (no-bean variety,) since I didn’t have any taco or enchalada sauce on hand. I spooned chili and chicken onto a whole wheat tortilla, then topped it with grated colby cheese. I used up the sour cream last night in some mushroom stroganoff, so I had to improvise on that, too. Aha! Cottage cheese! That’ll work! I rolled it all up and it was so fat I had to eat it with a fork instead of just holding it. It came out messy but very tasty!

I didn’t check the photos until after I ate, so it was too late to take another by the time I found out that the second one was dark and fuzzy. Still, you get the idea. I think I’ll call it the “I don’t want to go to the store so I’ll cook with what I have handy” chicken recipe.

Technorati Tags: chicken, chicken recipe, food, meme

April 25, 2008

Four Foods on Friday #26

Val over at Fun, Crafts and Recipes has once again invited us to share our opinions and good taste on the subject of food. It’s a bit late, but you can join in by copying the questions below, answering them in a post on your blog, then posting a link to your post as a comment to Four Foods on Friday #26. Here’s my answers:

#1. When going out to dinner what items do your order? Appetizers, soup, salad, dinner, dessert.

Usually just a dinner, and I usually have lots of leftovers to take home. I love good food, but can only eat small amounts at a time. If the place has a fabulous dessert menu, I’ll somtimes order an appetizer, then dessert.

#2. How predictable are you when eating out? Do you usually order a meal that you’ve had before or do you like to try new things?

I’m somewhat adventuresome. I have a lot of dietary restrictions, so at some places there are only a few things I can order, but if they have plenty of stuff I can eat I’ll try different things.

#3. When eating at a restaurant, what beverage do you like to order with your meal?

Iced tea. Always. It’s a Southern thing.

#4. Name a meal that you ate at a restaurant that you liked so much you tried to recreate it, as well as the name of the restaurant and the recipe.

Kalbi Ribs (that’s the meat on top in the photo above.) They’re available at all of the local drive-ins and Korean restaurants, but I like them best from Barbeque Kai right here on the Coast. They’re easy to make. Mix sesame oil with shoyu (soy sauce - I prefer low-salt.) Add fresh grated ginger, garlic and some sesame seeds. Marinate the ribs in it for a couple of hours, then grill. Yummy!

Hmmmmmm! Val wants suggestions on how to improve, add to or enhance Fun, Crafts and Recipes. It’s perty perfect as is. Maybe more recipes with pictures? I dunno - it really doesn’t need anything at all!

Technorati Tags: food, Kalbi Ribs, meme, recipe

January 11, 2008

Heavenly Couture

My wardrobe is in terrible shape. I have a couple of dresses, a couple of jackets, a few tops and one pair of jeans that I wear routinely. My closet is still a cluttered mess, mind you, but everything except those few pieces either doesn’t fit anymore or falls into a “What was I thinking?” classification. You know what I mean, right? I’m talking about the clothes that looked great in the changing room at the store but that you can’t bring yourself to actually wear because they’re just not quite right. I put those items out for the charity truck when it comes around, then go out and buy more, thus perpetuating my clutter problem. I need to clean out the closet again soon, assess what I’ve got left and then add a few more basic pieces so I’ll have a workable wardrobe of contemporary clothing to choose from for those few non-work occasions that I need to dress for. Heavenly Couture has several pieces that would suit me well. One thing I want that I’ve never had is the quintessential “little black dress.” I really like the one shown here. The strappy style and jersey fabric are perfect for our island weather and the design is very figure-flattering. I could see me wearing that the next time I go to the theatre or meet up with my book pals.

Heavenly Couture has a good selection of basic wardrobe essentials in addition to some fanciful and frilly choices. At five foot three I’m a bit on the short side, so I have to dress myself in junior clothing, which is proportioned for my figure. I’ve just recently started wearing jeans again for the first time in twenty years. Stacy and Clinton, my favorite fashion gurus, convinced me that it was it was not only, okay, it’s practically madatory that a woman my age have a few good pairs of jeans. They were right - I look good in mine. That’s at least in part because the gurus also taught me how to pick flattering tops to wear with them. You’ll notice that the clothes I’ve illustrated this post with all have one thing in common: they all gather under the bust, a good way to disguise that I’m a little thicker through the middle these days. It must be flattering to a lot of figure types, because I notice that Heavenly Couture has a lot of dresses and tops in that syle.

I’m on a tight budget for almost everything these days, so I like the prices at Heavenly Couture. Everything is $17.95, which represents up to 85% off of the retail price on most items. Shipping is free on orders over $75.00, so that’s an excellent deal for someone who wants to dress well without breaking the bank. I’m seriously considering ordering the black dress, the vee-neck top and this cute dress with the wide black belt. I’m pretty sure none of them will make me wonder what I was thinking. Don’t you agree?

Technorati Tags: clothing, fashion, junior clothing, women’s clothing

November 15, 2007

Worried about Google PR drop? Don’t be!

So the Big G shafted everyone yet again. Last night blogs that carry any advertising other than their own AdSense took a major PR hit. Big name blogs with many thousands of readers as well as us everyday people who make a few bucks from our blogs from time to time. (EDIT: Blogs that have NEVER carried ANY advertising got slapped, too. Traffic, stats and SERPS are meaningless to Big G.) I’m here to tell you folks, it doesn’t matter. At least not to me, and probably not to you if you see which way the wind is blowing. By using their new criteria for ranking blogs (whatever that might be) the Big G has shafted, not the bloggers, but themselves. PR used to the the sterling yardstick that measured a site’s worth. That obviously is not true anymore. Page Rank is now for sale, and you can only get it by using the Big G to buy your way into the rankings. It’s page rank (PR) that has lost value, not the sites they’re ranking. As an example, my PR went from a 4 to a 2 a few weeks ago. Yet the true measures of my blog’s popularity indicate that I have more readers and more links, am getting more page views and am attracting more search engine traffic. This is a measureable trend that is seen across the blogosphere. The only conclusion is that PR has become an artificial meaurement that is without value.

Those of us who have chosen to monetize our blogs need a way to show that our blogs have value. PR was the most reliable measure in the past. So what are we going to do now? Find another way. A way that shows the actual value of our blogs so that advertisers can know whether or not we offer them the right vehicle for promoting their product. The geniuses at IZEA (the new umbrella corporation that includes PayPerPost) already had something along those lines in the works. They’ve sped up their timetable and will have IZEA RealRank™ available to posties (those of us who post for PPP) within days. That’s not all, though. Recognizing that the need is not limited just to posties and PPP advertisers, they’ll be releasing it to the public at large. CEO Ted Murphy has explained the significance of this move in a post on the IZEA blog:

I we (sic) believe we have a solution and that solution is RealRank. RealRank data is gathered from the IZEA Toolkit “ITK” (formerly PPP Tools). It is a piece of javascript that many of you already have and those outside of PPP will be able to get from a separate site without joining PPP or SocialSpark. ITK gathers REAL traffic information, much like your analytics platform and ranks users based on their standing within the network. The formula is relatively simple.
70% weighted towards visitors per day
20% weighted towards amount of ACTIVE inbound links per day
10% weighted towards pageviews per day

Read Ted’s post.

RealRank is based, not on the whim of a mega-giant, self-promoting seller of advertising, but on … well … your real rank! You will not be required to join IZEA, Social Spark or PayPerPost in order to use it. You don’t have to monetize your blog in order to use the tools. Posties will not have artificially inflated rankings and non-posties will not be penalized. IZEA is even making it abvailable to their competitors, other pay-to-blog companies. The more data collected, the more valid the ranking, so this is a sound move by IZEA and will benefit everyone in the long run.

What kind of impact will the current actions by Big G have on their own system in the long run? You be the judge:

Investors are not stupid people. Big G stock has dropped dramatically in the last twenty-four hours. Why would you want to leave your money in the hands of people stupid enough to shoot themselves in the foot? They’ve devalued their own worth and they’re being devalued in turn by those whose money they were using. That persistent buzz you’ve been hearing today? That’s the sound of thousands of users un-installing the Big G tools and toolbars. Too bad, so sad.

If you like this post and want others to see it Add your Digg!

Technorati Tags: blogging tools, google, google page rank, IZEA, page rank, PayPerPost

November 12, 2007

Veterans Day

I’ve only had the news on briefly today. It disgusted me. The national observance of Veterans Day is not about promoting political agendas. Stow that stuff, just for today, please. If you’re speaking in public, speak instead about sacrifice, service and honor. Speak of the debt we all owe to thousands upon thousands of men and women who stepped to the front of the line and purchased our freedoms. Honor the memory of those who gave their all so that you could have the right to promote your political agenda. Salute a veteran and shake a hand, with a sincere “Mahalo!” bursting from your heart and through your lips. Find an American flag and spend a moment in silent contemplation about those who have kept her flying. Today is not about whether you support our current military operations. It’s not about whether Democrats or Republicans, conservatives or liberals should define our government. It’s about respect. Take a moment to show some.

Dad, circa 1944

Technorati Tags: Veterans Day

October 13, 2007

WTF CF?

Chuck Foxtrot is an angry man. He’s angry at injustice and has a zero-tolerance policy towards ineptitude. This is not to say he’s dangerous or to be avoided. Chuck channels his rage into blogging, thus avoid the necessity to maim the miscreants who so enrage him. Perhaps because of the deprivations and hardships he endured as a child, Chuck has chosen to shine a spotlight on some of the most outrageously egregious behavior of humankind. His recent post about four young children being ripped from a loving home will probably make you angry, too. Their mother had done the right thing by her kids by placing them in a stable home while she entered drug rehabilitation. It turns out that she, despite her addiction, has more sense than the State of Utah. The irony is not lost on CF. I found myself nodding in agreement with his assessment of the situation, as I did with most of his ranting and raging posts. He’s angry about politics and the military and mass media too, but he conveys a message that will ring out with familiarity to most of us. He’s just saying the same things we’re all thinking, but he says them so much better.

It’s not all doom and gloom, though. Chuck is a renaissance man of sorts. I’ve never figured out why anyone would want to ruin a perfectly good taco by making it with fish, but if you’re into that sort of thing check out this recipe for talapia tacos. More tasty recipes are promised somewhere down the road. Chuck doesn’t find that it compromises his masculinity to admit that he watches The View and Kid Nation either, though I suspect that he has a blogging agenda in mind each time he turns on the TV. I think he’s planning on making a career out of being enraged - not that that’s a bad thing. He’s not out to change the world … much. He mostly just wants to name names and kick some butt. Take a stroll though WTF CF? and see if you agree that he’s targeting all of the right things. Chuck Foxtrot is intelligent, erudite and angry. He makes the combination look good.

Technorati Tags: anger, blogs, righteous indignation