Bob writes on his blog about how much he uses Google’s various services. I read through his list and commented that he left off another three I know he uses. I use so many Google account based services that I have a bookmark folder titled “G” that holds them all. I recently changed my bookmark “Picassa” to “Photo” because that’s how I think of it… where I put my Google photos.

Google check arrived. Third time I’ve reached $100 with Google Ads. I used Claire’s iPod Touch to photograph and deposit the check into our USAA account, so that is different. I had a problem getting the USAA App to work. Kept getting a message it couldn’t read the amount. So I covered up the asterisks before the number with a little piece of paper (see photo) and that worked. I’ve had problems with those asterisks before when doing a scan deposit.

June 2004: Started ads

Sep 2006: First check $100.05

Feb 2009: Second check $106.54

May 2011: Third check $100.83

7 Years. $307. Woo hoo!

This is just a test.

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I am surprised how high our church website ranks on a google search when there are many other SJN churches and even a wikipedia entry for St. John Neumann. I even logged out of Google so it would not bias the results. I’ll give credit to the activity we have on the site with updates and cross-links to and from Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.

I noticed the description for our site (the description meta tag on the home page) was not the default for the site, but instead one of the articles that appeared on the home page. (See yellow box in attached image.)

After a little digging, I found out that there was a bug in a plug-in I used to generate article meta description tags dynamically called autoMetaDescSEO. I started using this plug-in when we started using Facebook because a Facebook link will attempt to grab the page’s description, which at the time was just the default for the website.

So the plug-in helped grab some relevant text from the SJN website page links. What I did not realize is that a bug caused one of the articles on the front page to place a meta description tag there, above the site meta description.

Fortunately Dao by Design has repaired this problem with a newer and renamed version of the plug-in now called SimpleSEO (a much simpler name.) The new plug-in has an option to not have the front page meta description auto generated. Google’s robots should have our search result updated within 48 hours…

Mom published her first PDF version of the FOTA newsletter. I thought she might want to use Issuu to post it on the FOTA website. This is just a test….

I noticed that Google now puts a little blue triangle / arrow next to the first entry of a search list. I wondered what good that was. Was it indicating the “best” find? I thought that is what the first position meant.

So I googled on “blue triangle arrow google” and found out. You can use your up and down arrow on your keyboard to move the triangle to another choice. Then you can press the enter key to go to that choice. So it is a way to choose a result without having to point and click.

In the snapshot attached, you can see where I’ve moved the arrow down one choice with my down arrow.

Now that I use a trackpad both on my laptop and at my desk, I don’t mind pointing and clicking so much, because I just gesture and tap.

(But I like the flashlight Ted gave me!)

For years, whenever I have created a new account with a website or bought software that had a serial number, I would use notepad.yahoo.com to create a new note titled with the name of the software, company, or website and write hints to myself about account logins and passwords or any other information I might need. This is especially useful for infrequently visited sites or infrequently used information. (Ted uses his Palm Pilot iPod Touch this way.)

I routinely go to notepad.yahoo.com a few times a week and type a quick search to find the notes I need.

However, since I have not used Yahoo mail for a long time, I’ve always wanted to move all 156 notes over to either Google Docs or Google Contacts. Until today, I never was able to find an easy way to do it.

Today, a google search for “yahoo notepad export” listed at the top exactly what the doctor ordered. Greg Sadetsky created a page that will log into your Yahoo account, export the notes, and optionally create one Google Doc per note. Any labels for the notes are carried over to Google’s label/folder tag.

I had to think carefully about doing this. I was giving someone I don’t know access to both my Yahoo and Google accounts. And while I changed my logins to have temporary passwords, there is sensitive data behind those accounts. In some ways my Notepad notes were keys to everything else (although I only tend to store hints.)

Can I trust Greg?

I looked at his home page, his linked-in page, and how he wrote the FAQs for his utility. I concluded this was an honest guy who has written some clever code and has gone to the trouble to share it. He even offered a “safer” way to run the program myself by downloading the code.

I decided, sure, I can trust Greg. I ran the utility, and it worked! I had to actually run it 4 or 5 times to get all 156 notes to go over (deleting the incomplete, exported set each time.) The utility seemed to time out at random counts between 80 and 130 until it finally got to all 156. Not sure if it helped, but the last time, I kept bouncing between the utility, Google Docs, and Yahoo Notes to make sure none of the systems were timing out.

Not sure how many other Yahoo Notepad users are out there looking to migrate, but I can highly recommend Greg’s work. Thanks Greg!

Just changed the battery in my Timex Expedition which is now my “yard watch.” Kathy has given me two nice watches that I wear to work, but the Expedition is still a favorite because it has an analog look, but the features of a digital watch including alarm, stopwatch, countdown, and perpetual date and time. I use the countdown routinely when running a sprinkler or filling up the pond.

Reminder on how to get the back case open and closed:

1) Pry open back using notch marked with arrow in upper right corner using either a strong knife blade or small screwdriver. Loosen both tiny screws upper left and upper right to remove battery.

2) Position notch opposite side of analog knob. Seal with watch between two boards in a vice grip. Slowly close vice grip and watch for back to snap in place. (May not make a sound.)

I think this Timex has lasted longer than any other I’ve had. I remember Carol Popp liking it when I first moved from HBS to Marketing in 2002. Also I mentioned it here on Ted’s Timex post.