Dipping into the Blogpond

Hello Trusting you had a safe and happy Easter.

I had a few relatively relaxed days, which was nice for a change. Got to the Easter Show which was good.

Classic quote of the day came from Miss 7 as we were exiting one of the pavilions & she caught sight of a display.

“Bricks? What’s so artistic about bricks?”.

I laughed & explained they were fruit cakes (while imagining the wrath of dozens of scorned cake makers, for whom I daresay the competition would be a highlight of the year).

The display looked something like this. Image courtesy of James O’Brien.

The relaxed long weekend also gave me the opportunity to update my sadly neglected Top 100 list.  I just realised yesterday was the 2nd anniversary of my first attempt at a top 100 list. So there you go.

You might notice a new little button in my sidebar. I’ve never been a fan of the whole donation, buy me a beer kinda thing, but Duncan suggested it & I figured “heh, why not?”. Maybe someone out there appreciates the time that goes into the list…

So without further ado:

Blogs Debuting on the Top 100 Easter Edition

gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine
mUmBRELLA
Laurel Papworth Social Network Strategy
WassupBlog
Sean Rasmussen
Limeshot Design
The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl
KidStyleFile
Personalize Media

Congratulations & thanks again for your suggestions of blogs that might be eligible.

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You know you’ve been out of the blogosphere for a while when….. you drop into Karen’s blog to see if she’s had any luck falling pregnant yet, only to find she’s not only been pregnant – but has actually had the baby! Congratulations

And on the downside….. you venture to read one of your favourite bloggers & a Most Awesome Chick only to find out she’s had a minor stroke. Hugs Kelley & glad to hear you’re on the mend.

Mr Craig Isherwood
Citizens Electoral Council
595 Sydney Road
Coburg VIC 3058

Dear Mr Isherwood

You know today I had a really crap day. I’m sure you couldn’t care less.

At the end of a long, frustrating day the last thing someone feels like is fending off spam emails like the ones you are sending. I just received the sixth copy of the emailed press release entitled “Storm Financial a case for an Australian Pecora Commission”, and all were addressed to customised condolence email addresses (which are intended to convey condolence messages to the families of deceased people). I have come to the conclusion that you are nothing but a two bit spammer amongst the ranks of sellers of pharmaceutical products I will never have the need for and replica watches I will never buy.

Furthermore these email address could only have been obtained via raking (scraping email addresses from websites). Which indicates to me one of two things. Either you are buying crap email lists from a disreputable source and couldn’t care less, or you are engaging someone to obtain these on your behalf. Frankly, I don’t particularly care which – the net effect is the same. SPAM.

I responded as such to the fifth email you sent, but I’m sure it will get lost amongst a sea of abuse. This is not the first incidence, but I certainly hope it’s the last. You honestly do nothing for your cause by flooding inboxes with your unsolicited messages – as important as you may feel they are. I happen to be one of the most apolitical people you will ever meet. And frankly I’m happy that way.

“We hope you found this message useful. As a registered political party‚ the CEC receives e-mail addresses from various sources”

No I didn’t find it useful – and irrespective of whether you are a registered political party or not, I’d seriously question the integrity of your “various sources”.

Dude – you got the wrong chick on the wrong day.

Yours sincerely

Meg

</rant>

I suppose it’s fitting to choose Australia Day to update my top Aussie Blogs list after a hiatus of nearly 3 months (but who’s counting right?)

Congrats to the blogs debuting this update:

Tim Blair Blog
WhipUp.net
Lilly’s Life
Digital Photo Gallery of Ted Szukalski
Kristarella.com
Not Quite Nigella
Des Walsh dot Com
babyology
Loobylu
Tech Wired Australia
Planning With Kids
The Food Pornographer

and the others returning.

In what would have to be my biggest run through of blogs in a long time, and since it’s Australia Day & all, please find below a list of 250 top Australian Blogs.

Oops – seems this list slows down the loading of my site incredibly, so I’ve moved it on to its own page at 250 Top Blogs.

I hope you are enjoying your Australia Day

Hi there! Thank you if you’ve dropped in after reading Helen Westerman’s article in the SMH entitled Our Best Business Bloggers.

This is a blog – if you’re not quite sure what a blog is, this might explain it for you. These days I’m not a particularly active blogger, as my business (dLook) keeps me very busy, but I try to make the time to update my list of Top 100 Aussie Bloggers (usually) monthly. There you’ll find a wealth of active and interesting blogs on a variety of topics. I also have an articles page which contains what I consider to be my most useful (well, useful to some!) posts.

If you’re an Australian blogger (or thinking about starting a blog), you’ll find a very helpful community forum at Aussie Bloggers.

And if you’re looking for a comprehensive course on internet marketing via the social web, a friend of mine, Alister Cameron, has recently released a programme called “Internet Marketing Masterminds“. I haven’t seen the course materials, but having known and worked with Alister over the last 3 years, he wouldn’t release anything less than excellent.

Thanks again for stopping by.

I’m so happy for my daughter who found out her School Certificate results today.

She got between 91% and 98% for all 6 subjects.

I’m so happy that her diligence has been rewarded!

Well done baby – you always make me proud