Attitude of Gratitude

I found a great lesson on gratitude I would like to share. Especially at this holiday season -- and seeing how much materialism is happening. I much prefer to remember the reason for the Christmas season, rather than running around trying to buy, buy, buy!

Anyway, this little article reminds us how blessed we are and about having an attitude of gratitude. Enjoy!

I have come to feel that one of the most important ingredients for a happy life—a life of joy, contentment, hope, and peace—is gratitude. Surely gratitude—being thankful, being aware, and expressing appreciation—is one of the most important of all heavenly virtues.

(Mary Ellen Edmunds, You Can Never Get Enough of What You Don't Need, [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2005], p. 138.)

When we focus on blessings, expressing gratitude along the way, we will become increasingly aware of all that has been so generously shared with us. We notice what we're thinking about, don't we?

My friend Sharon told about a friend who did this exercise with her school class (Try it with your family): She would tell them, "Look around the room and find all the things you can that are purple." After they had a few minutes to do so, she had them close their eyes. Then she said, "Okay, now tell me all the things you saw that were yellow."And they couldn't do it. That's because they had focused so intently on the purple that they didn't even notice the yellow things."
You can see the application to contentment and gratitude. When we focus on what we don't have, pretty soon that's all we can see, so we become discontented, and whiny, and unsatisfied. But when we focus on our many amazing blessings, we become more and more aware of them, and thus more and more content and humble and grateful. And I might add, happier. And more peaceful.

Mary Ellen Edmunds, You Can Never Get Enough of What You Don't Need, [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2005], p. 153.)

Search Engine Stats

The latest stats are in by ComScore about which search engine is the most used. Over 90% of all Internet users are using search engines. Usage has jumped from 31% (June 2005) to 41% (Sept 2005) for daily searching. Over 59 million users per day were reported in Sept 2005.

Top search engines:

1. Google - 89.9 million unique visitors
2. Yahoo! - 68 million unique visitors
3. MSN - 49.7 million unique visitors
4. Ask Jeeves - 43.7 million unique visitors
5. AOL Search - 36.1 million unqiue visitors

As you can see, Google is the most widely used search engine and the gap between Google and Yahoo is growing. What this means to online business owners is that it is vital to get listed in the top 5 search engines in order to get the most traffic. If you focus on getting high rankings in Google, your traffic will exponentially grow.

FBI Warns of Fake E-Mails

The FBI issued an alert today about a new scam. Apparently people are receiving fake emails claiming they are coming from the FBI saying they are being monitored and have visited illegal web sites. They are told to open an email attachment to answer questions.

These are fake emails and contain computer viruses. Please do not open them.

If you receive one of these emails the FBI has asked that you go to their Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov and report it.

Holiday Shopping at Target

It's the time of year I absolutely hate being in any store. I don't like the crowds. I don't like all of the merchandising -- things I'm living fine without, but once I see them, I want them. So, I prefer to do my shopping online if at all possible.

I did see that Target is having a huge sale online plus they offer free shipping. Here's a link you can follow to see what it's all about. Happy shopping. :-)

There Are Worse Things...

I thought this was a funny story and I'd pass it along...

A Parents worst nightmare...well almost!

A mother passing by her son's bedroom was astonished to see the bed was nicely made and everything was picked up.

Then she saw an envelope propped up prominently on the center of the bed. It was addressed: "Mom".

With the worst premonition, she opened the envelope and read the letter with trembling hands:

Dear Mom,

It is with great regret and sorrow that I'm writing you. I had to elope with my new girlfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with Dad and you. I've been finding real passion with Joan and she is so nice.....even with all her piercings, tattoos, and her tight motorcycle clothes. But it's not only the passion Mom, she's pregnant and Joan said that we will be very happy.

Even though you don't care for her as she is so much older than I, she already owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter.

She wants to have many more children with me and that's now one of my dreams too. Joan taught me that marijuana doesn't really hurt anyone and we'll be growing it for us and trading it with her friends for all the cocaine and ecstasy we want!

In the meantime, we'll pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so Joan can get better, she sure deserves it!!

Don't worry Mom, I'm 15 years old now and I know how to take care of myself. Someday I'm sure we'll be back to visit so you can get to know your grandchildren.

Your Son,
John

P.S. Mom, NONE of the above is true. I'm over at the neighbor's house. I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than my report card that's in my desk center drawer.

I LOVE YOU!

Call when it is safe for me to come home.

BYU Students and Alumni Blogs

Here is a great directory of blogs and web sites run by BYU students and alumni. It's a great resource and one where we can support each other.

BYU Student Blogs and Sites

Great Web Hosting

People ask me all the time if I know of any great web hosting companies. I've used quite a few, several I would never use again (ex: Maxipoint.net, Maxipointservers.com, etc.) But I heard from my brother about a great web hosting comapany called BlueHost.com. Apparently they offer a very good product, cheap hosting and reliablity. I'm going to switch one or two of my sites over and try them out. If you've used them, let me know what you think.

Google Offers Free Web Analytics

Google now offers free web analytics tools for online publishers and marketers. Clients will be able to get a better idea of web site traffic patterns which will help in advertising and marketing campaigns. Online web analytics tools generally show which pages are viewed and which links are clicked most often -- leading to more effective use of advertising dollars. Currently a very low number of website owners actually evalutate their website for performance -- I've heard numbers as low as 10%.

Google Analytics is free, which means their market share will be huge. I'm anxious to try out the service and see how it works. If you use it, let me know what you think.

Blackberry Future Unknown

If you are an owner of a Blackberry device you should be aware that there is a current lawsuit pending which may deem the manufacturers are infringing upon existing patents. It might not mean your Blackberry will not be able to be used, but it may mean costs will rise if the manufacturers have to pay fines and penalties for the infringement. It does mean that the future of the Blackberry is unknown at this point. The judge in the case has indicated he wants to get the case settled quickly, so probably by the end of November we should know more.

Yahoo Working with TiVo

Yahoo announced today that it will team up with TiVo to offer blended services. Yahoo Internet-based services will allow a user of their Yahoo TV page, to click on a "record-to-TiVo" button and schedule a remote recording of the program on their TiVo device.

In the future, TiVo users will be able to view Yahoo's traffic and weather information from their televisions.

Google Desktop -- New Features

Google Desktop has some new features. The free tool combines the ability to search your own desktop as well as get personalized news and other information based on your search/user habits. The side-bar feature allows you to see your gmail as soon as it arrives. You can read RSS feeds, track stocks, see weather reports, and keep your favorite websites handy. Lots of third-party options are also available including the iTunes features, dictionaries, and maps. Download the new Google Desktop and see for yourself the new features.

Amazon.com to Compete with Google

Only one day after Google Print is up and running, Amazon.com has announced it's own plan to offer digital books online. Their "Amazone Pages" program will be launched sometime next year. Random House, Microsoft and Yahoo are all in the competition to produce large online digital book services. This can only be good for the consumer -- hopefully to provide massive amounts of information online for free.