I need help with this one.  I have a friend who is close to getting married.  He’s a physician, so I’m trying to think what a good wedding present is for him.  I heard him mention the other day how he would love one of these new men’s lab coats he saw the other day or a tungsten carbide wedding ring so it will stand out in a crowd. My question: are both of these appropriate for one guy to give another guy or should I just stick with tickets to the next ball game?

If you’re looking to hook readers with something interestin, try blogging during a live event.  Some people blog the Super Bowl ads, others blog award ceremonies, some people even blog competitive eating contests.

If you want readers, pick a live event and blog about what you notice.  Blog about the Academy Awards and mention how great Jack Nicholson looks in his men’s sunglasses. If you like sports, blog during the ESPY awards in the summer.  Sharing your thoughts on a large event like this will capture someone’s attention.

Continuing my post from yesterday, I was shopping for my niece and having no luck.  All I had to show for my efforts was a funny story about the grandmother’s belly-flopping grandson.  I went home and did a little searching online and found these Playmobil Toys which are perfect for her. I ordered a couple of playsets and they’re one their way.

This idea comes from the heart today.  As a former teacher, my greatest joy is to help someone understand a difficult concept.  I ran into a problem in the public schools in that the kids did not share my passion.  It’s hard to teach someone who doesn’t want to learn.  That’s why I started blogging.  I wanted to share information with people who are willing to find the information and apply it to their own situation.

Since I’ve been blogging, however, I’ve noticed the need to lighten up.  Not every post needs to have earth-shattering information.  You try to do that every day, and you burn yourself out.  Have some fun.  Go off on a tangent every once in a while.

I’ll give you an example.  I was shopping for baby gifts for my niece when a lady nearby doubled over and started convulsing.  I got freaked since I don’t see that very often, but I went over to see if she was okay.  She looked at we with the biggest smile and handed me her cell phone.  On it was a picture of her grandson in mid-dive, two seconds away from belly flopping into a pool.  This lady had taken one look and started laughing so hard she doubled over.

See, go off on a tangent, tell a story, a joke, share a fond memory.  Give your readers a chance to connect with you personally.

Talking about adding new readers as a resolution yesterday got me to thinking. What is the most practical, meaning attainable, resolution?  A lot of people usually resolve to lose weight, which is admirable, but the work required to do so is longer than what most people are willing to wait for. 

While I do want to lose weight, I’m thinking of trying something else.  I found this company online, called HCG, that offers weight loss in a different method.  I think I’m going to buy HCG online and see what it does for my weight loss.  I’ll keep you posted.

As we begin the new year, resolutions are flying around heavily. If you’re a blogger, one resolutions might be to increase the number of readers and commentors. There’s an article written by Jakob Nielsen that talks about the trends of web surfers. The statistics he gives are not very encouraging, but towards the end of the article, he does offer some advice in how to encourage and promote more active participation. You can read the whole article here.