How We Celebrate Our Thanksgiving Dinner

Instead of just wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving this year, we thought that we would do something different and tell you about how we celebrate the holiday in our household.

Most of our family lives in Pennsylvania which means that someone has to travel. But having a family with children, we believe that it is important to enjoy at least one holiday at home. For us, it is Thanksgiving. There is nothing better than to start the holiday season by entertaining our family and treating them to a home cooked traditional turkey meal.

The day begins around 6 AM when we awake and prepare a fresh pot of coffee. After drinking our first cup, we begin the preparation. First on our agenda is to prepare the turkey. This is quite simple. We take the turkey out of the refrigerator, remove the packing inside of it, and wash it thoroughly in lukewarm water. Then, we pat it down and dry it with paper towels. While the oven is preheating, we melt some butter and place the turkey inside a large roasting pan with the breast side up. We baste it with butter and add a few pats under the wings and thighs. It is salted and peppered, then loosely covered with aluminum foil. By 7 AM it is in the oven.

Next, we peel a bag of white potatoes, sweet potatoes, and rutabagas which are boiled separately on the stove.

Onions and celery are diced and mixed into a stuffing mix along with butter and eggs. The stuffing is formed into individual serving sized round balls and placed in its own baking dish. This too is covered with foil.

We will then fry some bacon until it is very crisp. We remove the grease and let it cool on paper towels. Later, it is mixed in with Brussels sprouts and cooked on the stove.

Now, we perform our first round of clean up. All the pots, pans, dishes, and knives are washed, dried, and put away.

When all the potatoes and rutabagas are done, they are mashed and placed into 3 heat resistant serving bowls. These set aside in the refrigerator until an hour before serving.

A fresh garden salad it tossed and placed in a bowl. Just before serving we add the dressing (usually oil and vinegar).

By now, it is 10 AM or so, and most of the meal is ready. We once again clean up the dishes and then tend to ourselves. Each of us takes a shower and get dressed for our company. While we are waiting, we will set the dining room table.

At 11 AM our family will arrive from their 2 hour journey. My Mother and Father in Law, my wife's sister and brother will be there. Altogether, we will host 7 more adults, bringing the dinner total to 10 hungry people. Along with them will be desert, a home baked pumpkin pie and an apple pie.

The turkey will be cooked by 1:30 PM, so we will have time to relax and visit.  Since the house will be consumed with the aroma of a fresh baking turkey, everyone will be in a festive mood.We will drink a round of Bloody Mary's, and then some wine and beer. 

When the turkey is done cooking, the ladies will heat the potatoes, stuffing, and vegetables; and I will carve the turkey.

Champagne will be served as we sit at the table. We start the meal by saying a prayer and by remembering all those who have passed away. A toast will be given and we will begin to eat our salad. By 2:30, all the dishes will be heated and placed on the table. The main feast will begin.

Since everyone will be staying overnight, we will be in no hurry. We will take our time and some will eat seconds. We will be at the table for at least two hours.  When we are finished, the men will go downstairs and watch football (or take a nap). The women will clean up.

Sometime after 6 PM, we will meet at the table again to eat our desert. We'll have some coffee and tea, and perhaps a little Sambuca.

After that, we'll just sit around until we fall asleep for the night! We'll all be too full to eat anymore. 

So, from our house to yours, 

we hope that your Thanksgiving Day 

is as enjoyable as ours

and

We Wish You All

A Very Happy Thanksgiving!

Changing (or Fixing) Publish Date of Blogger Posts to put posts in right order in both Blogger and Feedburner

Are your blog posts out of order because you edited an old post? If so, this article explains how to reset the publish time so that your posts will be displayed in the correct chronological order.

Background
I often edit previous Blogger posts in order to add more information or fix spelling and grammatical errors.  Usually, this is not a problem. I simply select the blog post that I wish to alter, make the changes and then press the orange "Update" button at the top of the page. The post is immediately updated in both Blogger and Feedburner.

However, when I edited a 4 day old post yesterday, it was published with the current time and became the first (most recent) entry in my blog. This was quite a surprise for me because the post title contained the date 11/03/12 and it appeared in the blog before 11/07/12. For me, having posts displayed in a chronological order is important.

Usually when a post is edited, the original post date is maintained but the edit date is updated. Since this information is contained in the Feedburner XML Source, I looked to see what dates were included. For the post in question, I noticed that the published, updated and edited times were all changed to yesterday's date, thus making it the most recently published.

I did not know if this was a Blogger or Feedburner bug because my action began in Blogger and was visible in Feedburner.

After doing a few Google searches, I found that others experienced this same problem as far back as 2009.  This surprised me because I had never experienced it.

Luckily, I discovered a thread in the Google Product Forums for Blogger which described how to fix this problem.

The Solution
The remedy for changing a post's publish date is relatively easy. Simply:

• edit the post which is out of order,
• click the "Published on" link in the Post settings toolbar on the right of the Blogger screen (#1)
• make sure the "Set date and time" toggle is checked
• click on the calendar day that you wish to be set
• enter the time that you want the post published
• press the "Done" button (#2)
• press the "Update" button next to the post's title. (#3)

Once this is completed, the post will be republished with the date you want and the post will be automatically positioned in the correct chronological order in both Blogger and Feedburner!

Why I chose nRelate instead of Outbrain or LinkWithin

Providing internal links to you blog's other postings helps to engage readership by directing visitors to related content within your blog. This articles explains why I chose nRelate to increase page views and visitor duration time on my blogs.

Background
Early last month (October), I was reading Dave Lucas's blog article EntreCard Effect and noticed that he had mentioned that his traffic tripled since EntreCard closed. Dave attributed this growth to LinkWithin and Outbrain. As I was not familiar with either of these, I performed a Google search and found another post by Dave (Righthaven DMCA LinkWithin) where he welcomed LinkWithin back on his blog.

At this point, I visited both the Outbrain and LinkWithin websites and learned that these were 3rd party widgets that can be added to your blog and will display the pretty "You might also like" references the bottom of each post.  I then remembered reading about this topic a while ago on Sharkbytes's My Quality Day. So I checked her blog and Dickster's Random Thoughts and found that both of these were displaying the related articles as well.

So, in my haste, I registered with Outbrain and added the widget to my 4 blogs. Within a short time, these were displaying my own related links. However, many of my early blog posts did not contain pictures, so Outbrain often presented this content simply as a list of links.

When I compared this to the blogs above, I saw that the also had nice little pictures along with the title of the blog post.  Then, I realized that everyone else was using LinkWithin and not Outbrain.

Outbrain & LinkWithin
Unsure which was better, I decided to remove Outbrain from 2 blogs and replace it with LinkWithin. At first, I was happy with the results, but I wanted to display 4 links on one blog rather than 3. In order to do this, I had to re-install the widget again. However, after I did this, I found that both blogs now had 4 related article links. This meant that all would have either 3 or 4 articles. I settled on the four of them.

I waited 1 month and then checked my Webmaster and Analytics statistics. Neither of these showed an increase in traffic. While the actual visitor traffic remained constant, the appearance in Google Search results decreased substantially.

Further, I found that Outbrain had less images than LinkWithin, so I liked LinkWithin better. But, LinkWithin was redirecting my traffic back to their site, which I did not like.

nRelate
Thus, I decided to see if there was an alternative to these two, and found the blog article: Switch from LinkWithin to nRelate which described the pros and cons of LinkWithin and nRelate.

Figuring that I was still experimenting, I decided to remove the Outbrain and LinkWithin widgets and replace them with nRelate.

Almost immediately, I found that nRelate was a better solution for my 4 blogs.

• First, I was able to custom tailor the layout of each widget according to the space available on my blogs (3 blogs display 4 results, and 1 blog displays 5).
• Second, I was able to change the size of the graphic images being displayed. 
• Third, nRelate displays "stock" icons on those posts that do not contain their own graphics (so there is always an image).
• Fourth, I have the ability to display paid ads to generate income payable to Paypal (however, Outbrain also lets you display paid ads). 
• And fifth, the "related posts" being displayed were relevant to the current post. This means that if someone is reading an Entrecard post, they will see other related Entrecard articles of mine as well.  However, the drawback here is that the initial indexing of the blog can take up to 2 hours before the "You may also like -" results appear.

It is still too early for me to see if the nRelate widget is actually boosting my traffic, but I can already see an increase in page views and visitor duration time now that I am using nRelate.

Lastly, I like the fact that I can choose to display paid ads in these widgets. This provides an opportunity to increase income without having to do any more work.

A Cure for Entrecard Withdrawl

Who said: "There ain't no cure for the Entrecard Blues"?

Two days ago, I was visiting a few of my favorite blogs and catching up with the authors. As I read Some Assembly Required's Day 1015 post, I was surprised to learn that Entrecard has decided to call it quits. The site is gone. 

Wanting to learn more, I did a quick Google seach and found 4 posts confirming this:

• Farewell Entrecard, RIP
• The Spirit of Entrecard
• Life After Entrecard
• Entrecard Blues

I was surprised that there were not more posts.

My Entrecard Experience
Like other neophyte bloggers, I was trying to attract traffic. I discovered Entrecard and joined the network around the summer of 2008. For nearly two years, I tried to remain active. I dropped on many blogs, trying to hit the 300 a day level. I posted articles about my top droppers and worte posts about Entrecard. I participated in the Entrecard Market and sold "Blog Roll entries" for EC credits.

However, my tenure with Entrecard was shortlived. When I learned that Entrecard began promoting EC currency Online Blackjack, I realized that remaining part of the network could jeopordize my struggling blogging career. Fearing that Google would remove my Blogger blogs and ban me from Adsense, I quickly removed all Entrecard widgets and ceased being a member. That was in March 2010.

At the time, I was lucky because other networks were available. I quickly became more involved in Adgitize and CMF Ads and enjoyed the interaction with the site owners and many of the fellow blogging members there.

Unfortunately, both of those networks closed by the end of 2011.

Growing My Blogs
Since I was not going back to Entrecard, I decided to devote my efforts to the growth of my website and my blogs. Now after 9 months, I believe that I have acheived some modest success.

Site	Daily Visitors (last month)	Highest Daily Visitor Count	Repeat Visitors
Ask the Blogster	7-16	209	10.2%
Lottery Power Picks News	23-728	728	7.78%
John Lottery's Bimonthly	22-47	2,470	12.37%
The Traveling Fundraiser	0-62	62	25.75%
Lottery Power Picks Website	1,601-2,101	8,137	93.0%

What I learned is that timely content drives the visitors. For example,

• although my lottery blogs and website do not generate large numbers of daily visitors, when the Mega Millions jackpot reached the $600 million level, everyone was interested in searching for information about Mega Millions. Having previously written a variety of blog posts and creating analytic tools, my sites provided the people with the information they were looking for.
• The Traveling Fundraiser provides a summary of President Obama's weekly schedule. Since this information is available on most of the large blogs, few people visit my site. But, when I wrote about the Jay-Z champagne tower last week, I was only one of the few with pictures of this. My traffic shot up to 209 visitors in one day.
• Similarily, certain Ask the Blogster posts increased bursts of short term traffic (Steve Jobs, the Government shutdown for two).

While much of my visitor count is relatively low, I am thrilled with their performances because all traffic is organic, and none of it is derived from paid search or clicking networks.

My Advice - Stay Focused and Timely
Regardless of the type of blog you write, my advice for maintaining and growing your visitor base is to write posts that deal with current topics. For example, popular posts on Dave Lucas blog include: Kate Middleton Topless, Beyonce, Wang Jiayun, etc.  These receive a large number of pageviews. 

Many of you write personal diary type blogs. On the surface, these may not attract a broad range of visitors. However, if you can tie in current topics (sports, spring flowers, politics) that are in top searchs, you will occasionally receive a boost in traffic. When that happens, your exposure will be broadened and your visitor base will expand.

Don't Give Up
Although not having consistant daily visitor counts, do not give up. Writing on a regular schedule without a large visitor base can be frustrating, but you will eventually succeed. It takes time to find the right formula that works for your blog, but when a post attracts a large number of readers, you will feel overjoyed and your enthusium will be envigorated.

Lastly
Keep visiting the blogs that you have enjoyed.  Although I do not visit on a daily basis, I love to read:

• John Sealander Some Assembly Required
• Dickster's Random Thoughts
• My Quality Day
• Dave Lucas
• Orient Lodge
• Ben Barden - Quick Blot Tips

Unfortunately, I rarely leave comments, so the authors do not know that I visit. And likewise, I do not know if those authors visit any of my sites. However, I visit because I enjoy their articles and not because I expect their return traffic.  As I become more comfortable in the blogging world, I realize that daily traffic is not as important as having valuable content.

Cheers,

JL .............

Aldon Hynes is running for the 114th Assembly District of the Connecticut General Assembly

I was thrilled to read that our friend and blogging associate, Aldon Hynes, has decided to seek public office and has accepted the Democratic nomination to run for the 114th District seat of the Connecticut General Assembly.

Most of us know Aldon through our blogging networks as the author of the Orient Lodge, a blog about politics, technology, social issues, and family.  During the past 3 or more years, I have enjoyed visiting his site and reading of his life experiences and beliefs.

While I do not always agree with his political viewpoint, I respect Aldon's thoughts and truthfulness. I know his opinions are honorable and well meaning. He is compassionate and is a dedicated family man. Plus, Aldon is a long time Connecticut resident who cares about his community.

Aldon is an intelligent individual with a broad range of skills and experiences. He has worked on Wall Street and is very analytical. He has also worked as a professional blogger covering important stories in Connecticut.  During the past year or two, he has been the Social Media Manager of the Community Health Center in Woodbridge CT.  He is one of the few people who possess both the literary and quantitative skills that would be important in performing the duties of a Connecticut Legislator.

For these reasons, I strongly endorse Aldon Hynes's candidacy and would recommend that he receives your vote.

Although Aldon is a Democrat, I would cross party lines and and cast my vote for him in this coming election.  Unfortunately, I do not live in his state or district, but I am wishing him well. If you watch the his nomination in the video below, you will understand why Aldon is running and why he would be perfect for the job.


Aldon believes that:

 "If you don’t like something,

don’t just try to block everyone else,

come up with better ideas".

Becoming a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives is not easy. The candidates must campaign endlessly throughout their district, meeting the voters and listening to their opinions.  Since I know that Aldon is sincere in representing his community and dedicated to the improvement of his State's government, he will campaign tirelessly.

Aldon Hynes is challenging a seven-term Republican incumbent. Since the State leans toward the Democratic side, and because the House is composed of 99 Democrats and 52 Republicans, Aldon may have a good chance of winning this November. But, he needs your vote.

Once elected, the members of the House of Representatives do not receive much compensation. However, they must work tirelessly, meeting amongst themselves and their constituency. They must give thought to proposed legislation and cast their votes in an unbiased manner.

I believe that Aldon would be a superb addition to the political landscape. He would make a terrific legislator and he will not let you down.

So, if you live in his Connecticut district, I would urge you to vote for Aldon Hynes and give him a chance. He will proudly represent you.

You can learn more about Aldon Hynes and the Connecticut Legislature by reading:

• Orient Lodge
• Hynes 2012 (the primary source for the above quote, video, and campaign image)
• Democrats Select Aldon Hynes For 114th Assembly District Run 
• THIS IS YOUR GENERAL ASSEMBLY    

Good Luck my Friend - I Hope You Win!
Note: This is not a political ad, just an endorsement of a friend.

JL ............

Google retires iGoogle on November 1, 2013 - here's an alternate suggestion.

As most are now aware, Google began posting a "iGoogle will not be available after November 1, 2103" message on our iGoogle homepages.

To many of us, this was quite a shock because we believe that having a customizable browser home page is one important feature that allows all of us to express our own individuality. iGoogle gave us the ability to change the background images based on our own criteria, whether it be the seasons, our mood, our interests, or whims.

iGoogle also gave us the ability to add little "Gadgets" to our home page. Thus, when we start our browsing session, we can immediately get a quick summary of those items that interest us most, such as: the weather, our horoscope, various news feeds, sporting results, lottery results, calculators, etc. The layout of our page was up to us and it could be as simple or complex as we wished.

iGoogle was a wonderful tool that provided all this information without having to click on anything. If we wanted to learn more, we could follow our links of interest with one simple keystroke.  Google hosted our layout information, bringing everything together as if by magic.

In it's "What's happening to iGoogle" explanation, Google tells us that "the need for something like iGoogle has eroded over time", and thus they will be retiring this important asset.  But, where ever I look in my office, I always see iGoogle homepages on co-workers computers.

So, my thinking is that there is more behind Google's decision to retire iGoogle.

Currently, iGoogle works on all available browsers: Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, Sea Monkey, Chrome, etc. 

But, Chrome is Google's proprietary browser, and they are aggressively pushing it presence. 

Now, as a replacement for the iGoogle functionality, Google suggests that we utilize Chrome. Within that framework, we can add "productivity tools" which are available in it's "Chrome Web Store".

This solution has two drawbacks:

• First, applications added to Chrome from the Chrome Web Store simply add "short-cut" icons on the new Tab page. If one one wishes to see the contents of that application, they must then click on the icon. Thus, the "at a glance" and "one-click" functionality is gone.
• Second, most iGoogle gadgets are not yet readily available in the Chrome Web Store. Gadget developers must now repackage their gadgets before adding them to the Store. But before they can do this, they must pay a one time fee to Google.

My thought is that Google is trying to be more like Apple. Since most Apple products only work on Apple hardware, Google appears to be trying to monopolize its own products. By retiring iGoogle and forcing users to utilize replacement applications that are only available on Chrome, Google is casting a tightly knit net around it's products.

I do not have a problem with this intention. But, I disagree with the proposed solution.

I believe that if Google's goal is to provide a self contained environment, then a better option for the iGoogle users of the world would be to announce that "iGoogle would only be available on Chrome beginning November 1, 2013". By doing this, all of us users could continue to have and enjoy the same iGoogle functionality, meaning immediate access to a broad range of information as we currently enjoy.

Further, Google could request that all Gadget developers pay the one time fee for providing the distribution service. I, for one, would do this. Those who do not pay the fee would lose the distribution of its gadgets.

Certainly, stating that iGoogle would only be available on Chrome would be a blatant statement to the marketplace. However, having the choice to either switch browsers or lose functionality would be in the hands of the end-user population, not Google's. People do not get mad at themselves. So, by having this choice, everyone would be happy. Users could continue to access iGoogle and their favorite gadgets, and Google would have a self-contained environment and a captured audience.

Don't be afraid of a colonoscopy. Maybe my experience can put your mind at ease.

Two weeks ago, I had my first Colonoscopy. I should have had this performed years earlier, but I was too afraid of the procedure. Truthfully, I imagined great pain and was worried about the anesthesia. And what if they found something? I was sure that this was going to be the worst experience of my life.

But I was wrong. There was absolutely no pain and I was asleep during the entire procedure. Plus, the examination found nothing. No polyps or anything else.

I was afraid for no reason - except for fear itself.

The doctor recommended that I return in another 5 years. Since that is quite a while away, I know deep down that I will try to scare myself once again. So, I am documenting my colonoscopy experience for my future reference and to remind myself that there is nothing to be afraid of.

And perhaps that by reading about my experience, you will feel more comfortable with scheduling your own procedure.

Background
My wife has been urging me to have a colonoscopy for several years. A good friend of ours died because he had colon cancer that was undetected until it was too late. He never had an examination and refused to believe that anything like that would happen to him. After his death, most of his closest friends took action and underwent this procedure. The only holdout was me. I was too afraid.

Finally last spring, I promised that I would get examined. But, I kept putting calling a doctor. Then one day in early June, I called a specialist and scheduled an appointment - three weeks later.  I still had time to chicken out.

However, I kept the appointment. First I was screened by a nurse. After taking my blood pressure, she told me that it was high (150+). Great I thought, now I have this to worry about. A little later, I met with the Doctor who asked about my medical history and explained the procedure. Then he lead me to a "scheduler". She checked my insurance and said that I would have to go to the hospital because it was my approved facility. She asked if I would like to have this preformed within the next week? "No I thought to myself". So, we agreed on a date 5 weeks away. At least I was safe for a while.

The Preparation
The next 4 weeks passed quickly and I tried to ignore my upcoming procedure. But, I had to pick up a prescription for a cocktail mixture that would clean out my system. The Saturday before, I visited the pharmacy and they gave me a huge plastic container partially filled with powder. Since my procedure was scheduled for Friday, the pharmacist instructed me to fill the container with water and pour one of the flavor packs into the mixture. He suggested lemon/lime and that is what I used.

So on Wednesday night, I followed his instructions. I placed the container in the refrigerator and went to bed. At 2:00 PM on Thursday afternoon, I had to begin drinking a glass of the solution. One glass every half hour until it was all gone. With 64 ounces of liquid, I wasn't finished until 9:30 at night. In between, I kept running to the bathroom.  The solution was not as bad as friends had said. It was a bit salty but it had a lemon taste (I chugged it).

The Procedure.
The colonoscopy was scheduled at 1:00 PM on Friday. My wife took me to the hospital at 11:30 AM. After filling out paperwork, I was escorted to a holding area. I was told to undress, put a gown on, and lay down on a stretcher type bed. Then, a nurse took an EKG.

Ever since I entered the hospital, I could feel my heart racing. I wanted to run out and forget the whole thing. But, I didn't.

I imagined that the results of the EKG would indicate I was having a heart attack. Then what I wondered? Shortly thereafter, I found out. Another patient next to me was informed that he was being rushed to Intensive Care rather than have a colonoscopy. He had a problem with his heart.

Through this, the nurses said that my EKG was normal and not to worry. They then hooked up an IV that entered a vein on my hand. As I laid there, other patients were rolled out of the room for their procedure.

Now it was my turn. They rolled my bed down the hall into a dreary and cluttered room. Two nurses followed me in. They immediately hooked me up to monitors. Then, one asked: "Is that his blood pressure?"  I looked at the monitor and I saw 180 over something. God, how was I going to survive this?

The Doctor and an Anesthesiologist entered. They placed a needle into the IV and said I would be going to sleep soon. I remember putting down my head.

It's Over
The next thing I knew they were waking me up. I don't remember how, but I remember opening my eyes. Only the 2 nurses were there. They said that everything was fine and that no polyps were found.  I asked about my blood pressure. They laughed and said it was normal. During the entire procedure it was 120 over something. They told me that it was normal to experience high readings before the procedure but that my health was entirely fine.

I was rolled back to the original holding room and was told to relieve any air I felt. Don't worry they said, "It doesn't smell". I laid there for a half hour and listened to myself and others serenade the nurses with a variety of farty toots! It was kinda funny.

Next the doctor stopped by and re-iterated that my procedure went well and that I had no polyps or other complications. He said to schedule another in 5 more years and he was off to the next patient.

The nurses then gave me a buttered roll and a Coke. When I was finished eating, I got dressed and they led me out of the hospital to my waiting wife.

Summary
I couldn't believe it. After all that worry I learned that it was only my imagination that caused that fear. I didn't feel a thing and there was no pain afterward.

So, if you are like me and have been putting off having a colonoscopy because of fear, I can only say "Ignore the Fear". Sure, you may be anxious, but when you wake up afterward, you will be asking yourself: "What was I afraid of anyway?".