Virginia Breeze

Yesterday I decided to visit the Richmond Metro Zoo.   I believe this zoo was built by an individual although I couldn’t find anything on the net about it.  I remember it being a lot smaller the last time we went about five years ago.  And according to some info I did find they did have a 250K expansion “this year”.

There are more than 1400 animals at this zoo and that does not include the squirrels and the birds who are just passing through.

It doesn’t include me either or any of the other paying guests.  But I must admit I didn’t see all that many animals.  Maybe some of them were hiding in the shade.  A few ran away when they saw me coming.

I can’t say I really blame them.  I need a haircut and look pretty scary when it gets long.  Also I have this large object in my hand that captures photos of animals.   You can’t be too careful about all these inventions man likes to tote around with him.

After all how did they get here in the first place?  There was no doubt some sort of mechanical intervention.  Especially when you are talking about the bigger animals.  This guy for instance is not going anywhere just because you ask him nicely.

This is such an amazing “face”.  It’s right out of the dinosaur age.  Or somewhere far away in time and space.  He didn’t run away when I came around.  He didn’t seem to notice anything except his food.

I was really impressed by the beauty of this duck.  Or maybe I should say he is very handsome.  In any case he was standing there posing.  He didn’t move at all for quite some time.  And it wasn’t like he was trying to catch something for lunch.  Could he be posing?

Maybe he’s jus conserving energy.  I don’t know.

I love ducks.  It all started years ago with Donald Duck and it has continued down through the decades.   They know how to stay cool and be cool.

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Tags: conserving energy, dinosaur age, donald duck, metro zoo, photos of animals, richmond metro

I tried using Windows Movie Maker to put together a slide show with music today. It’s rough but I was surprised that it came out this well actually.  I just threw some things at the program and it didn’t have a seizure or send me a postcard of the blue screen of death.

Update/  I’m sorry Robin!  I had to take the video down.  And you wrote a really nice comment about it.  But I just had to redo it.  So here is the new and improved (I hope) beach video.  These things are kind of addictive you know?

Tags: long break, music today, Virginia Beach, Virginia Breeze, windows movie maker

Hi everybody.  Well here we are on a  Sunday afternoon.  Beth and I went out for a long walk around the University of Richmond today. We did two circuits around the lake and dripped enough sweat to fill a small puddle.  But that’s good.  And we always have good discussions while we are doing our walks.  Our only problem has been that we didn’t do them consistently but now that walking has become a part of my life that may change.  But who knows?

It has always been a case of her getting motivated or me getting motivated and sometimes we were motivated together.  She swam every day last summer and fall.  And I was busy trying to put a dent in the couch.

So hopefully we are coming together now and all will be well. Beth has a lot of pressure on her right now and I am just hoping she will decide to walk with me as a way of dealing with it.

And then there is the blogging stuff.  I am using the Google Webmaster Tools and it is helping me to understand why my blog crashed and burned last June 25. It was actually a crash and burn that took a couple of weeks and I didn’t really see it happening until sometime after the 4th of July.  But I understand now why it happened and will pass along that information.  As well as a suggestion that you tune into Google Webmaster Tools if you operate your own domain.

Because (let’s face it) we have to play with Google.  How many people every day click on Goog and look for something?

SO I have been looking into Google Webmaster Tools and here is what I have discovered (so far).  If you have a bunch of categories and you decide you would like to slim down BE CAREFUL.  Because every time you eliminate a category or a Tag for that matter you can create broken links in that golden brick road that runs between your blog and Kansas.  Or Google.  Wherever.

I eliminated a lot of categories when i went from categories to tags and it caused Google to penalize my blog. I thought maybe it was because I said something someone didn’t like very much. But lets be real.  Google is getting ready to run the world.  Why would anyone have the time to focus on something I said?

All of this became clear to me during our walk today. I am sure there are some very smart folks over at the University of Richmond.  But most of them are on vacation this time of year.  So it was just two middle class and middle aged shmoes walking around the lake trying to make sense of the 21st century.

And what we came up with is this. . .UNDERSTAND  your Google Webmaster Tools.  If you are going to have a secure place in the new social order you will need to do this.

But watch out!  Because there are people lining up at the door and on YouTube who will say “Here’s What You Need TO Know about Google Webmaster Tools”  and it’s just a come on to get your money. They explain maybe one or two things and the rest will cost you a thousand dollars.

So watch out.  And here is my promise.  If/when I figure it out you will get it laid out here (for free) just like we did with the NextGen plugin.   And that’s a promise to all the 200 readers who can still find this place after Google deposited it in the deep blue sea.

Have a nice afternoon.

Tags: crash and burn, golden brick road, google webmaster tools, small pond, sunday afternoon, university of richmond