Just Gotta Share This

ebay!

2009-07-01T16:39:00.003-05:00

The battery on my laptop has been quite dead for a while now. It's so dead that the computer shuts down immediately when it's unplugged. I figured I'd have to live with that because a new battery from Dell costs at least $150, and I just couldn't justify that. Then yesterday one of my friends on Facebook mentioned that she had just ordered a new battery for her laptop. We got to talking about it, and she said she had found one on ebay for $35 with free shipping. Ebay! Why hadn't I thought of that?

I've bought things from ebay before, but it's still not my first thought when I need something. I don't know why. You're probably way ahead of me on this and always check ebay first when you need something, but just in case you don't I thought I'd mention it. Check ebay first!

Because when I checked, I found batteries for my laptop starting at $30 with the free shipping. That's a huge savings over the cost at Dell. I wish I had thought of looking on ebay back when the battery started dying. I would have ordered one sooner. I ended up spending a little more than the $30 to get a better quality battery, but still saved significantly. I could never justify the $150 price tag, when I could just plug the computer in to use it, but $40? That I can justify.

Just had to share!

Now it's your turn - what kinds of things do you look for/buy on ebay? Is it the first place you look? What kinds of great deals have you gotten?

Looking for Online Storage

2009-06-29T21:11:00.000-05:00

My favorite online storage and backup service, MyBloop, has disappeared recently. I did a little bit of searching to see if I could figure out what happened to it, but no one seems to know. If you do know something, please let me know.

Luckily, I saved this link to the Ultimate Review of Free Online Storage and Backup - so if I need to choose another site, this will be a great place to start. I think the best course of action is to choose at least two different sites and upload everything to both. It seems sort of redundant, but that way if one or the other server goes down, for any reason, there's always a backup. A backup of a backup, if you will.

Free eBooks

2009-06-13T23:19:00.003-05:00

Image by brungrrl via Flickr

So many books, so little time! I say that all the time, because there are so many books I would like to read, but I just have a hard time getting to them. I have books of my own, and I'm always bringing books home from the library. I don't really need any more books, but that doesn't stop me from getting excited about another book source. This one is Manybooks.net, and it's a site full of free eBooks. They're for PDA, iPhone, ebook reader, or you can just read them on your computer. There are plenty of formats to choose from.

There are 23,963 eBooks available, and they're all free. You can browse by title or author, or look at most popular titles and reccommendations from readers.

Like I said - so many books, so little time!

beethov9.wma Is All Kinds of Problem

2009-06-12T09:53:00.004-05:00

Earlier this week I was helping a friend of mine upgrade Windows XP to SP3. It shouldn't have been a big deal, but for some reason these Service Pack upgrades always seem to have their issues. I put off installing it on my own computer for a long time, and then when I finally did it - BSOD! - which led to having to reformat my hard drive and reinstall Windows completely.

This time things seemed to be going well. We backed up all the documents on the computer and began the install, which of course takes forever because Windows has to back everything up, just in case you need to go back to SP2. So, all the files are backed up, the install of SP3 begins, and partway through there's an error copying beethov9.wma - do we want to continue the install without copying it? Click yes and the install continues, until we get another error message telling us the same exact file cannot be copied. After multiple retries we hit cancel, which does not just cancel copying that file - it cancels the entire upgrade. That means everything that had been installed is uninstalled and all the backups are restored. And we went through this multiple times - first deleting the file because we thought it was a random file that was already on the computer. That didn't work so I tried downloading SP3 from Microsoft again, thinking maybe there was a problem with the file I had previously downloaded - except that one had worked just fine when I installed it on my computer - the 2nd time, after I had reformatted and re-installed.

Midway through the 3rd attempt, this storm rolled through, and I held my breath hoping the power wouldn't go out. It did flicker a few times, but thankfully we had the computer plugged into a battery backup. I still got the beethov9.wma error, but at least the install wasn't interrupted, and I didn't lose everything. That's when Mary Googled "beethov9.wma" to see if there was any info. Sure enough, we weren't the only ones having this problem. Basically, Windows was trying to copy this file into the Shared Documents folder - except that on this particular computer that folder had never been shared. It was just called Documents, and every time we tried to open it, we got an error message saying we didn't have permission to access that folder.

To fix this I right-clicked on the folder and chose 'Sharing and Security' (you can also choose Properties and go to the Sharing tab) - then I checked the boxes to share the folder on a network and allow users to change my files.

Reading the box, it looks like the Shared Documents folder was already supposed to be there and be shared with all users on the computer, but for some reason it wasn't. I ended up having to run the Network Setup Wizard first so that I could check those boxes, but the end result was that, after sharing the folder, the file did indeed copy, and the installation of SP3 was successful. Finally!

My question for Microsoft is - why does an update to my operating system that contains 'security updates, hotfixes, and select out-of-band releases' also need a music file? I'm pretty sure the computer would have operated just fine without it - and saved me a lot of frustration. A job that should have taken a couple hours ended up taking ALL DAY.

Free Images that You're Free to Use

2009-06-05T15:09:00.006-05:00

Recently I've been using Flickr for the images I need, for websites and blogs. I use the Advanced Search and then, scrolling down to the bottom, choose 'Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content' and, under that, 'Find content to modify, adapt, or build upon.' That way, when I find an image I like, I know that the owner of that image has agreed to let me use it and modify it if I need to to meet my needs. Giving credit to the owner, with a link or a mention, of course. (the image at the left is linked to the original photo page on Flickr)

After reading the article below, I think I will start using Yahoo image search to find the photos I'm looking for on Flickr. It sounds like it will make the whole process just a bit easier.

The main idea is to find images that are free and legal to use, with no copyright infringements. Just because an image is out there on the Internet does not mean that you are free to do with it what you would like, and with so many available under the Creative Commons license, there is no need to. I personally make my photos on Flickr available under CC licensing, and I thank all of you photographers and artists who do the same.

PayPerPost v4 is Now Live

2009-05-29T16:07:00.005-05:00

--This post sponsored by PayPerPost--

This is the first sponsored post I have ever done on this blog, but I've been working with PayPerPost for a while now, on my other blogs. Basically, PPP gives advertisers an avenue to start bloggers talking about their products, sites, and services. Bloggers get paid to research and write about an advertiser's product, and the advertisers get exposure on the Internet. It's been nice being able to write blog posts and get paid to do it, too, and I've found all kinds of sites, products, and services that I am genuinely interested in. I've even mentioned some of them on this site - for free.

Anyway, I'm very excited that a new version of PPP has just been released. In the old version, the one I've been using, Opportunities are released into the Marketplace, and bloggers take them on a first-come, first serve basis. What that means is that the bloggers who grab the opps fastest are the ones who write the posts. The advertisers can specify certain criteria for the blogs that can take their opps, but they don't have much control over it beyond that. With the new version of PPP, advertisers specify criteria such as location, price, ratings, and categories when they create an Opp. The advertiser is then matched with a list of blogs that meet that criteria, and the advertiser chooses which of these matched blogs get the opp. They can even add blogs to their list of favorites so they can use them in the future.

For bloggers, the new PPP means we no longer have to haunt the Marketplace hoping to get an Opp we want to write about, and being frustrated when all the good ones are gone. We can concentrate on doing a good job with our blogs, and when an advertisers wants us to take an opportunity, we get an email. No more fighting over Opps, an offer comes directly to our inbox. We then have 3 days to write the post. We set our asking price, categories, and even whether we want links that are 'follow' or 'no follow' so the opps that come our way should be something we'd want to take. If it isn't, we are free to turn it down. I, obviously, was happy to write about PayPerPost and agreed to write this post! (Note to Google: I'm only taking opps with no follow links on this blog, so don't get your panties in a bunch.)

PayPerPost v4.0 was first opened to just a few advertisers and bloggers so we could test it out, but now it is live and open to everyone. So far I am liking what I am seeing, though this is only my 4th opp taken through the new system. It would be nice to have more opportunities come through, and with it now open to everyone, I'm sure that's going to happen. Also, as we take more opps and give the advertisers what they want with quality posts, our ratings will improve, and we'll get more opps. At the same time, bloggers who don't do quality work will get fewer and fewer opps, leaving even more open for quality bloggers. I feel a lot more in control with this version of PPP, and I think the advertisers are going to be getting more of what they want.

Whether you're an advertiser looking for some exposure for your product or a blogger looking to make a little extra money, I would encourage you to check out PayPerPost v4.0. Read the FAQs if you'd like to learn more about how it can work for you.

The Fridge

2009-05-16T22:32:00.000-05:00

I don't know about you, but I really love magnetic poetry - you know, those little words for your fridge. I'm not sure any of my creations qualify as poetry, but I'm addicted to moving those little words around to form interesting phrases. The other day I found The Fridge, so now I can play with those little word magnets online.

There are several wordsets you can choose from, or you can even add a bookmarklet to your browser so you can highlight words from any web page to use. Once you've composed the poem of the century, discard all the extra words, add a title and your preferred nom de plume , and save your poem. You'll be able to save the link or even embed it in your own web page or blog, like I did here.

I would suggest, if you're planning to embed it and have limited width like I do here, build your poem on the left-hand side instead of right in the middle of the space so it can be read without scrolling, but at least you get the idea. (I limited the width to fit my space. By default I think it comes in full size when you embed it, so feel free to place your words any where you want them)

This could definitely be addictive!

Free Sounds

2009-05-09T21:35:00.004-05:00

I was reading my dad's blog today, and he posted a link to a whip-poor-will call. He was talking about the difference between the whip-poor-will's call and the call of another bird, and it was very nice to be able to hear what he was talking about. While I was listening to the bird sound, I noticed that it was hosted on a site I hadn't seen before, so I had to check it out.

It's called soundboard, and there are all kinds of free sounds and sound effects - tens of thousands, they say. You can browse the site to find sounds you like, or that fit a particular blog post. Sound boards are organized by category, or you can search for the sound you need. You can download the sounds you want. Sign up for a free account and upload your own sounds, you get 125MB storage, or just add the sounds you like from other members' sound boards. You can even choose a specific sound and embed that into a blog post or website, like this:

(I'm watching a Star Trek special on the History Channel, so I thought this was appropriate)

I suppose my dad could have done the same thing with his whip-poor-will call, but then I wouldn't have had to visit soundboard! I just signed up for my free account because I think this site is going to come in handy.

BloggerStyles Free Blog Templates

2009-04-28T22:37:00.004-05:00

Here's another source for blog templates.

BloggerStyles converts Wordpress themes into Blogger templates. There are some really nice looking templates here. All templates have been tested and rated, using criteria such as browser compatibility, proper display of images, links, comments, and more. There are 27 pages (as of now) of great-looking templates to browse, preview and download. Is your new template there?

Another Template Source

2009-04-28T17:47:00.003-05:00

Falcon Hive - Wordpress themes Bloggerized. There are some really nice templates here. There is one that I especially love, and I'm tempted to start using it. Still thinking about it, but I definitely want to be able to find this site again. Check it out and see if you don't agree.

Free PhotoShop Brushes

2009-04-27T22:09:00.005-05:00

Image by Counteract.
via Flickr

This is a great site to get free Photoshop brushes. Filter by category or Photoshop version to find brushes you can use. I downloaded a bunch of them today, because they all look so neat. Then I found this tutorial in some of the comments, so I had to try it. I'm not completely happy with how it turned out on the first try, but I can see some potential here.

Now, if I can just remember that I have these tools to use.

Gone, Forever

2009-04-24T22:42:00.004-05:00

Image via CrunchBase

Just a word of advice - if you haven't upgraded to a Pro account on Flickr, do not whatever you do mark an old photo that is no longer part of your photostream as 'private' or you will never see it again.

And since that was a really long sentence, let me explain. I don't upload enough photos to Flickr to justify a Pro account, so I've never upgraded. Instead, I just put the thumbnails on a webpage or in a blog post and link them to the photo page. Flickr makes it easy by providing the code. Then, should I ever want to use those photos for anything, I can still find them.

Yesterday Cory asked me to remove a picture in one of my blog posts. I thought I could just mark that photo as private, and I could still see it because it's my picture, but no one else could see it. Wrong. As soon as I marked it private, I was redirected to a page that said I didn't have permission to view that photo. I hit the back button on my browser and tried to change it back, but that didn't work. As far as I can tell, that photo is gone, forever.

Yes, I have it here on a DVD, but I can't find it on Flickr any more.

Another tip for people like me who haven't upgraded to the Pro account on Flickr: tag all of your photos with your username or something unique to you. Then, you can always search Flickr for photos with that tag, and your photos will be the ones that come up - all there, whether they're still part of your photostream or not. Unless, of course, they've been made private. :P

The End of YouTube as we Know it?

2009-04-16T21:16:00.004-05:00

My son Cory has been complaining the last few days about the 'hulufication' of YouTube. I hadn't heard anything about it, because I guess I don't hang out on YouTube enough, but apparently there was a lot of discussion going on among YouTube users because YouTube plans to feature movies and television shows, like hulu. Most of these users are afraid that the focus will be on these featured movies, and user-generated content will be pushed to the side. My first inclination is that, since YouTube was built on that user-generated content and that's what it's known for, the user-generated content will continue to be very important.

This article I just read seems to say the same thing:

The launch of the premium content section of YouTube will come with a site redesign to highlight the changes while keeping YouTube's main focus on user-generated clips.

Or maybe I was just looking for that? The article also explains why YouTube has decided to go this direction - money! If providing premium content will help generate the ad revenue needed to keep YouTube running, and FREE, then it just may be the best choice in the long run. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

In the meantime, a video!

Personalize Your Twitter

2009-04-03T08:30:00.005-05:00

There are about a dozen themes you can choose from on Twitter. They're not bad, but if those are the only backgrounds you have to choose from, that means that 1 in 12 twitter users will have the same twitter theme, minimum. Kind of like going to the big ball only to find out that a whole bunch of other people are wearing the same dress. So what do you do if you want your twitter page to stand out from the rest? Luckily you can upload your own background image.

I think the best advice is to personalize your twitter profile as explained on BenSpark.com. He did mention something about making a template available, but I don't know where things stand on that. Even without the template, I'm pretty sure I can create my own personal Twitter background, if I can only figure out what I want and then take the time to do it. Drew's is really cool - be sure to check it out.

Since I haven't yet created my very own background, I tried Flickr my background which uses your latest Flickr photo as your Twitter background. That's pretty neat, because it changes every time you upload new photos to Flickr. The downside is that it changes every time you upload new photos to Flickr - so your Twitter page won't be easily recognizable and something that people will associate with you. I think it's best to create or choose something and then stick with it a while.

This weekend, since I still haven't created my own, I tried a nice Twitter background from Twitterimage.com. They have some nice free images. They also offer professionally designed custom backgrounds.

And here's another source for Twitter backgrounds - U Stand Out. You can simply grab the image file and upload that to twitter, or grab the Photoshop file and customize it. Add your own pictures, text, etc.

follow me on Twitter - and please don't criticize my Twitter background, because for some reason Twitter keeps eating it.

Delightful Templates

2009-03-14T22:32:00.002-05:00

I found another site for free Blogger templates tonight. It's called Delightful Dots, and there are a bunch of really nice looking templates available. Each one comes with html and instructions for installing it on your blog. Some of the templates come with matching headers. They're just all really cute, and I'm having a hard time picking a favorite.

Free Credit Report

2009-03-10T21:44:00.004-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

If you're like me, you've been hearing that it's now free to get your credit report every year. Before you had to be turned down when you applied for credit, or you had to pay for it. However, no matter how many times I heard that I could get my credit report free, every time I checked a site that offered me that 'free' credit report, it always came with strings attached. Sure, I could get my credit report, if I signed up for a trial of some service or other. I don't know about you, but I don't really consider that free. I mean, it doesn't actually have to cost me anything, but I do have to agree to try something and then remember to cancel before the trial period is up. I just hate getting into things like that.

Today on the local news they mentioned the free credit report again. This time I paid closer attention, and they gave a link to the site where the credit report really is free. No strings. Just free. Just in case you've been distracted, like me, by the seemingly free credit reports with the catchy songs, this is the one you were looking for: AnnualCreditReport.com

The site is sponsored by the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, and once every 12 months you can request a free credit report from each of them through the site. All three reports do not have to be requested at the same time, so you can request your report from Equifax now, wait 4 months and request your report from Experian, wait 4 months and request from TransUnion, and then repeat the cycle. That way you can keep an eye on your credit reports throughout the year and hopefully catch any discrepancies right away.

Organize Your Desktop

2009-03-04T21:31:00.003-06:00

Is your desktop cluttered with icons? Mine isn't too bad, yet - because I recently had to reinstall Windows, and I'm gradually reinstalling programs as I need them, but I know it can quickly get out of control. That's why I was particularly interested in Fences when I read about it on Lady Banana.

Fences is a free program designed to organize your desktop. You create shaded areas on your desktop and place your icons into them. You can have as many as you want, start with one of the included layouts or just start creating your own. Label them, move them, resize them, and organize your icons by dragging them into the boxes.

The part I really like about Fences is that, when you don't need to see your icons, you just double-click somewhere on the desktop, and all the icons disappear! You can see your wallpaper again! When you need an icon, simply double-click again, and they all appear. It's really fun. Yes, I'm easily amused, what of it? You can exclude individual Fences so that they're always visible even when you hide the others.

If you want to see it in action, there's a decent video on the Fences website showing how it works. I think it's a really neat program that's really easy to use, and I love the idea of getting my desktop organized and hopefully keeping it that way.

So What Does it Mean?

2009-02-20T19:31:00.001-06:00

Interesting...

PageRank and Backlinks

2009-02-19T15:57:00.006-06:00

I put two of my urls into this PageRank predictor and these are the results:

( www.alwaysbcmom.com )
Present PR : ( 0 ) || Future PR : ( 4.1 ) ~ 4
The PageRank Live-PR and PR-history below...

Yahoo back links: ( 15132 )

Altavista back links: ( 11600 )
Now wait for history records:

www.alwaysbcmom.com PR & BackLink History:
Any new or change will be saved and listed here while checking the PR.

Report	G.	Google	Google	Google	DC	DC	DC	DC	DC	DC	SE	SE	SE	SE	SE	SE	SE	SE	SE
Date	PR	BLs	Index	Term	1	2	3	4	5	6	Yahoo	Yahoo	Yahoo	MSN	MSN	MSN	Altavista	Altavista	Altavista
Today	0	266	372	859	0	0	0	0	0	0	BLs	Index	Term	BLs	Index	Term	BLs	Index	Term
2/19/2009	0	266	372	859	0	0	0	0	0	0	15132	2989	3370		2370	105	11600	3020	3370

( www.justgottasharethis.info )
Present PR : ( 1 ) || Future PR : ( 3 ) ~ 3
The PageRank Live-PR and PR-history below...

Yahoo back links: ( 1462 )

Altavista back links: ( 1470 )
Now wait for history records:

www.justgottasharethis.info PR & BackLink History:
Any new or change will be saved and listed here while checking the PR.

Report	G.	Google	Google	Google	DC	DC	DC	DC	DC	DC	SE	SE	SE	SE	SE	SE	SE	SE	SE
Date	PR	BLs	Index	Term	1	2	3	4	5	6	Yahoo	Yahoo	Yahoo	MSN	MSN	MSN	Altavista	Altavista	Altavista
Today	1	6	217	282	1	1	1	1	1	1	BLs	Index	Term	BLs	Index	Term	BLs	Index	Term
2/19/2009	1	6	217	282	1	1	1	1	1	1	1462	120	186		42	6	1470	111	183

Yes I know that all prediction = guessing, but still, see anything a little weird there?

Make Your Pictures Look Old

2009-02-18T08:24:00.001-06:00

I have photo editing software, but I don't always know what I'm doing with it. Sometimes I get a great effect by playing with the filters and effects in the program. Sometimes I don't. Of course, even if my image turns out great, I don't always know how to do it again.

I will be able to make my photos look old any time I want. Not because I figured out all the steps, but because I found this site that does it for me. First, select "English" at the top of the page, unless you read Japanese, that is. Then, all you have to do is select a photo from your computer or the web and click the convert button - and you've got a picture that looks 100 to 150 years old.

Like this:

It really does look old, doesn't it? It even makes the car look old!

No, not really - here's the original:

I think I'm going to have some fun with this site and my Old World Wisconsin photos.

Make your pictures look old. It's fun. It's easy, and it's free.

Online Brainstorming

2009-02-13T08:15:00.006-06:00

I just started playing at bubbl.us. It looks like it could be fun and probably useful. It lets you create, save and share mind maps - for FREE.

I captured a screenshot, but then saw that I could embed the sheet in my blog, so I'm trying that: (just drag it around in the window to see or zoom out to see it all)

When I was in college, I knew a few people who took notes in this fashion. I always thought it looked really neat, but never learned to take notes or plan things this way. With this simple web app, I think I might have to give it a try. I'm already thinking it could be a good way to plan and organize a web site. You can even share and collaborate with friends so you can work together on a project.

What kinds of things do you think it would be useful for?

Free Ringtones

2009-02-10T08:23:00.001-06:00

Since the kids got new phones, they've been busy learning all the neat things they can do with them. Now that they aren't limited to the ringtones that come with the phone, I know they'll be looking for some free ringtones to use, and I was reminded of this site I signed up for back when I first got my phone - phonezoo.

Phonezoo has free ringtones for your phone. You can register your phone and have them sent to your phone, or do like I do and download them to your computer and then put them on your phone. Now that I know how to transfer files between my phone and my computer that works really well! Also, with a phonezoo account, you can save ringtones you like to 'my zoo' and easily find them later - so you don't have to download them all at once.

Phonezoo also lets you create your own ringtones from sound files on your computer and share them with the rest of the phonezoo community. I haven't tried that yet, but it could be fun...

Here's a ringtone that would be especially perfect for one of my friends:

Create free ringtones at Phonezoo

Foxmarks

2009-02-04T09:31:00.002-06:00

If I had to choose my favorite Firefox extension, I would probably choose Foxmarks. If you use more than one computer, or if you just want a backup of your bookmarks, you'll probably love Foxmarks, too.

Once you install the add-on and register for a foxmarks account, it will automatically sync and backup your bookmarks. Install Foxmarks on every computer you want to use and register them with the same account. From then on, every time you add a new bookmark, Foxmarks adds it to your online bookmarks. It doesn't matter which computer you are using. The next time you open Firefox on your other computer, Foxmarks will automatically sync your bookmarks, and the new ones will be available on that computer, too.

I usually use my laptop, but sometimes I need to do things on the basement computer. It's nice to have my bookmarks available wherever I am. Foxmarks was also a lifesaver when I recently had to reinstall Windows and all my programs. When I reinstalled Firefox, the first thing I did was install Foxmarks, sign in with my foxmarks account, and get all my bookmarks back.

With Foxmarks you can also access all of your bookmarks online, so even if you're using someone else's computer or surfing the web at the library, your bookmarks are all available.

A Playlist

2009-01-28T19:14:00.004-06:00

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Sometimes I just want to listen to some music. MyBloop not only lets you store unlimited files, you can also upload your music files and listen to them from any Internet-connected computer. Or check out other people's playlists and listen to their music, which is where I found this playlist. It's all Pink, all the time, and I really like it.

To protect copyright, MyBloop doesn't allow downloading of music files.

Blogger Backup

2009-01-26T21:45:00.000-06:00

Quite a while ago I mentioned that I used the import feature at Wordpress.com to back up my blog. I haven't been doing it regularly, like I should be, but I thought that would be good enough for blog backup. Today, though, I was trying to back up my other blog, after not having done it for several months. Right in the middle of importing, it just stopped, and wouldn't go any further. When I attempted to view the blog in a new tab to see how many posts had actually transferred, I got an error message telling me the blog had been archived or suspended due to TOS violations. Since I wasn't even really using the blog as a blog, merely transferring posts as a backup, I'm not sure what I supposedly did. If they don't want me to use it as backup, they shouldn't provide the import feature.

Whatever - forget Wordpress. I went searching for a better way to back up my blogs and found this handy little tool - Blogger Backup. It makes it really easy to back up your blogs. Sign into Blogger, and it finds all your blogs. Then you just select the blog you want to backup from the list, decide how you want your files named, whether you want each post to be a file or just one file with all posts. You can get the lastest 10, 25, 50, 100 posts, or just download them all, or you can specify a date and time and only download new posts since that date. Since it was my first time using it, I backed up all my posts, and then I can just backup all the new ones in the future.

There's also an option to restore posts, which worked on my test blog, but I keep getting an error message when I try to restore a post here. I noticed in the discussion that some other people have had the same problem, so hopefully there's a fix in the works. I'm wondering if it has something to do with using Custom Domain instead of a blogspot url, but that's just a guess.

Then, as I'm writing this post, Zemanta suggested the following article, and I found out that Blogger now has the option to export and import your blog, so I could have just backed up straight from my Dashboard. I guess I should look at it more, and read Blogger Buzz to keep up with things, huh?

What I'm really saying here is - no matter how you do it, be sure and back your blog up. Hopefully you'll never need the backup, but if you ever do - you'll be glad you did it.