Well here we are and it’s the weekend again. The weeks are going by quickly now that the warm weather is here. Why is that? Maybe the heat warms up all the molecules in the air and that makes time go by more quickly.

Doubtful Einstein. And we can’t say time has been going by quickly because we have been having so much fun. Well, maybe you have been having a great time.

But it was not a fun week for your aged blogging buddy. It rained a lot for starters.  And then I found Lorelle’s reply to a comment I made about a month ago when I was experiencing blogger’s remorse and spent time wondering if anyone cared.

Lorelle suggested I not blog for awhile. Find something else to do. Don’t they have group recreation projects in the Happy Hotel where you and the other psycho’s live?

She didn’t say that but I can read between the lines. And she really is a nice person but somebody shoot me before I ever respond to one of her post’s again.

And then there was the surfing forum where I started posting some of my surfing guy photos. I have been trying to do the forum thing because you are supposed to do it.

So I posted some photos and this is what happened. My first mistake was misspelling Rudee’s inlet.

HIM: you would think if you have a house there you would actually know the name of the inlet…

ME: I do know the name of it. I just didn’t spell it right. Did you ever misspell a word?

Probably not in your state of near perfection. Could you please let the sun shine for a few days.

We are tired of the rain.

HIM: I think I have misspelled a word or two in the past.

Sure. I will make it foggy again tomorrow morning but tomorrow afternoon I will allow you to have have some sun. I will keep it rather sunny for Friday and Saturday too. Happy?

Things were going pretty good at this point. I had arranged for some nice weather and my new friend seemed fairly content since I appeared to understand his grandness in the scheme of things. But things started to go south shortly thereafter as I posted some of the surfing photos you see around here.

HIM: I guess I am not the only one worried about our newest poster who can not spell the name of the place he lives and has a true fondness for VB, young boys and fat chicks. Great pictures of some ****ty waves though.

HIM’S FRIEND: got any killer photos of you david—barrels–airs–floaters–video?????????

ME: Sure. Just send me a SASE and I will send you an autographed copy. And thanks for asking. I knew you would come around.

ONE OF THEM: your photos are awful

ME: Appreciate your honesty there Gas

And things went on for awhile in this vein until one of the guys suggested that the FBI might be interested in some of my photos. Apparently he feels people should be dressed up at the beach like they were back in 1910 or thereabouts.

But enough of that. And then there was the guy over at LinkReferral who came out of the blue and gave my photoblog four 2’s when it had been getting 5’s and had an average of about 4.9 (no more). He also left a comment. It read:

Nothing great in this. Put up something new and useful.

Thanks guy! What did I ever do to you? Do you know some guys who post at a surfing forum?

Oh well. The nice things people say from time to time MORE THAN make up for these folks who walk around spreading negativity. And I guess this is the price you pay for trying to stir up some traffic.

But, thankfully, it is the weekend. And it’s not raining outside! It looks like it wants to but clearly someone is keeping their crooked finger in the dam.

Thanks guy! You are a Prince! But you really should start to wear a hat when you are out in this wonderful sun.

*

And Jordin if you run into anybody who is spreading negativity around just let it slide off your beautiful self. They are out there but you need not be afraid.

*

***

Our Reviews “Very nice site - I love the pic! As for making the blog interesting, I think as long as you are writing about what you love and are passionate about, others will be attracted to that. Hope that helps a bit :)” Evita blog.evolvingbeings.com “The blog is worth $64K+. It may very well go way more than that price. The layout and postings are professionally done. The pictures are great. I think these are the reasons why it’s rank high by pagerank and alexa. This is definitely one of my favorite. Kudos to the author.” Rhea smarterthanagrade5.blogspot.com/ Get your own reviews, free traffic at

Recently I got involved in something called LinkReferral. I noticed that some traffic was coming from there and so I followed it back and investigated the source.

In the past week it has brought in about fifty visits per day. And a lot of that is probably due to the fact that I bought an ad there. But there are also free ways to bring your blog to the front of the line and it doesn’t take a lot of work. The formula involves looking at the other blogs there and also writing reviews.

The reviews are graded by the staff. So meaningful reviews are rewarded. And I have found them to be very encouraging. Here are two of them (above).

There is also a little thing you can put in your sidebar and it is recorded when readers click on it and go to LinkReferral. Mine is at the bottom on the further sidebar. If someone goes there and joins they become part of your group. It’s a MLM arrangement and it theoretically can lead to large cash rewards.

I am not sure how realistic that part is but I have found the whole concept to be useful. I have found some very cool blogs while surfing there. And I have brushed up my reviewing skills while doing a few reviews.

So I recommend this program. And thanks to all the folks at LinkReferral who contributed the encouraging reviews about my blog. I appreciate them and you all very much. Blogging can be a lonely road sometimes and it is very helpful to fill up your tank on a few words of praise once in awhile.

***

VIRGINIA BREEZE:  “David’s blog has some of the most beautiful and cherished poetry I’ve read in a long time. It has moved me to tears on more than one occasion. If you enjoy heartfelt honest sentiments that speak of the core issues of our lives then grab a cup of tea, slow down and read some of David’s poems. They are written by someone who feels deeply and has an open heart. You will go away feeling like you know him. They are easy to understand and are mated with beautiful photos. My post this month was inspired by David’s poetry. His writing sets me free and encourages me to be authentic. He also writes about a variety of topics I find interesting, warm, real (and sometimes funny).”

“A Nice Camera Can Change Your Life”

–David

Or, at least, a very nice camera can change your life. It changed mine. I won’t say it was a religious conversion or anything as dramatic as that. But taking photos has made my daily life much more interesting. I am never bored now and I used to find time to be bored. When you watch television a couple of hours every day it could be a sign that you are bored!

And I wasn’t that interested in going out either. Being in an interesting place like Virginia Beach or DC or even Disney World was not that fantastic an experience. I would become involved in watching people and seeing all the stuff that’s not so attractive about them. And then my feet and back would start to hurt too.

I was ready to go back to our home or the hotel and have a drink in short order. But taking photos changed that. Because I started looking for things that are beautiful instead of things that are ugly. I became enthusiastic about the search for the interesting and the artistic in nature or in the things man has created. I became very happy when I found it and ignored my physical discomfort. And I am sure my wife appreciated the new more happy, outgoing and energetic me!

I share this with you because I believe there are a lot of folks out there who could benefit from taking up photography. When we went up to DC recently I was standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial and watching everyone taking photos of Abe. Ninety nine percent of them were using those little digital cameras that take about five seconds to capture a photo. Five seconds is an eternity to try and take a photo. People were moving in front of the photo taker. And I am sure the results were uniformly generic. Do you see what I mean? Did you ever want to take a photo that is unusual or original? Did you ever want to express the artistic side of your personality this way?

Try taking this photo with a small digital camera.

And then try taking it with a Nikon D70. You are standing on the beach just after sunrise. You have your camera in hand and your finger is on the button. As you watch the waves coming in a bird takes off behind you as you whirl, focus and shoot in less than a second. Because that is all the time you have and the camera is up to the job.

Here are a few photos I took when we were up in DC. Having a nice camera and a telephoto lens really makes things much nicer. Sure it can be expensive but not any more expensive than a new computer or a flat screen HDTV.

And it’s not just the taking of the photo. In these days its the editing with one of the many fine software programs that are available. You almost become a painter when you start working with the raw material of a new photo. But you need to start out with a great camera and probably a powerful lens or two in order to get that photo . Then you can capture what most are too busy to see with their own eyes and edit it until it is very clear. Finally you can share it with the world. And believe me people will thank you for it. Everyone wants to know that the world they live in still has beauty left in it.

Photography is an art form and you can become an artist. You don’t have to be an intellectual to be an artist. That was something that always put me off. Because I am not that smart. But I can practice taking photos by the hundreds and the thousands. And you know what? Some of them are going to turn out very well.

People have lots of nice things to say about them. And you can see them in my blogs and on Flickr and Picasa Web. But more importantly you can begin to see how someone with no experience or training like yourself perhaps can become a photographer and an artist.

You can create something that is beautiful and meaningful to thousands of people. You can share it in a blog just like this one. And you can become an artist and change your life.

My Photos here in Virginia Breeze

My Photoblog

My Photos on Flickr

My Photos on Picasa Web

I started taking photos in earnest about nine months ago. They have made my blogs much more entertaining according to my readers. And because I was learning to be creative I also started writing poetry. So one thing can lead to another and soon you will feel like you have done something that will be remembered twenty years down the road. You will be able to look back and see something about your life that was pretty nice. It will be much better than an old, musty diary. (There’s a reason people grab just average photos when their house is burning down).

But NOW in the present you will find out things about yourself and your world.

You will grow.

And you will discover the creative and energetic soul that is in there somewhere and hoping to come out and play!

Virginia Breeze is here to help you along this path. I’m not here to give you much technical knowledge about photography. But I can help you to see that you can do this too. You can take the photos and you can present them in a blog so that many readers will enjoy what you have done.

You can share your life in a way that is interesting and useful to your readers while it is fulfilling to you.

*

*

*

*

*

*

Bahamas Photos

http://davidnotes.com/2007/08/29/bimini/

*

*

Beach Photos

http://davidnotes.com/2007/10/22/sunrise-photo-virginia-beach/

*

*

Bird Photos

http://davidnotes.com/2007/08/10/picture-of-big-old-owl/

*

*

Blogger Photos

http://davidlind.blogspot.com/

*

*

Butterfly Photos

http://davidnotes.com/2007/08/16/picture-of-butterfly/

*

*

City of Richmond Photos

http://davidnotes.com/2007/10/18/something-new-richmond-building/

*

*

Fall Foliage Photos

http://davidnotes.com/2007/11/24/finding-a-way-home/

*

*

Family Photos

http://davidnotes.com/2007/12/11/i-bet-charlie-would-like-a-candy-cane/

*

*

Flower Photos

http://davidnotes.com/2007/08/07/botanical-flower-photo-ginter-botanical-gardens-richmond/

*

*

James River Photos

http://davidnotes.com/2007/12/01/river-breeze/

*

*

Martha’s Vineyard Photos

http://davidnotes.com/2007/08/23/signs-of-marthas-vineyard/

*

*

Mountains of Virginia

http://davidnotes.com/2007/11/13/this-is-why-they-are-the-blue-ridge-mountains/

*

*

Park Photos

http://davidnotes.com/2008/01/06/waiting-for-someone-in-the-park/

*

*

Sailboat Photos

http://davidnotes.com/2007/08/10/more-sailboats-at-marthas-vineyard-2/

*

*

Snow Photos

http://davidnotes.com/2008/01/09/my-imaginary-winter/

*

*

Surfing Photos

http://davidnotes.com/2007/09/30/well-balanced-surfer/

*

*

University of Richmond

http://davidnotes.com/2007/09/08/the-university-of-richmond/

*

*

Wildlife in Virginia

http://davidnotes.com/2007/09/23/my-favorite-commercial/

*

*

***

I recently started using statistics in an attempt to find out how many actual regular readers I have. I have a few courageous regular readers who actually comment here. So I am not talking about them. I am talking about the hypothetical regular readers who are here for the duration but can think of nothing to say.

And I can understand that. I go places and read too. I would like to comment but my mind is not up to it. It’s in surfing mode and you don’t use your rational mind when you surf. You use your relaxed mind. Your bag of tricks is up there and he’s awake. But he’s not working. He’s sitting in one of those chairs you can find at The Sharper Image store. It has ten different vibrators in it plus stereo speakers on each side.

So how does the young blogger who may be 94 years old but has only been blogging for six months deal with this situation without becoming discouraged? Well he or she could hire readers. I do that and presently I am worried because they want to form a union. Clearly they need to use their relaxed minds more and stay away from their rational minds. Or my blogging sisters and brothers could go to Google Analytics and start tracking their visitors and discerning their longterm intentions. In a statistical example from my photoblog PhotoLinkLove.com we will see shortly how this may be working.

I spend very little time on this blog and mainly just post a few of my best photos here every day. And in response maybe ten or fifteen readers come by to look at them. At least that is what I thought was happening. But Google presents a slightly different picture.

And I am not disturbed by this situation or the apparent lack of growth. I don’t have much invested here and am just happy that a few folks are enjoying these photos.

But I am a curious person and so would like to know what is happening here. Is any growth happening? It has only been around for about ten weeks. Can Google tell me something about it? I had a garden as a young boy and would come out every day to see if something had happened. It was like watching grass grow only a little more interesting.

And that is what we will discuss next time since we are just about out of time boys and girls. Didn’t you used to hate it when the guy or girl on the tube used to say that! Captain Kangaroo used to say that and look what happened to him!

Until next time Buckaroos!