dwilson

Lyrics to Amazing Grace

Although I haven’t posted here in some time, I have been actively writing and publishing material on the internet.  I thought that I should let you know about last week’s project which was a post on HubPages called “Lyrics to Amazing Grace“.

“Lyrics to Amazing Grace” is designed as a commercial website, but I’ve added a good summary of the history of the song.  The story behind the song is really interesting, and I had a great time researching it.

I’ve always liked the song “Amazing Grace” and decided to use it as a topic for a web project.  The project was to undertake the challenge of creating a website that would reach the top in a Google search.  I selected the topic because of my interest in the song, and a desire to learn about its origin.

I began by deciding on a keyphrase that I would target.  That keyphrase was “Lyrics to Amazing Grace”.  I selected this keyphrase because my research determined that if I reach the #1 position in a Google search, I would receive 180 visitors to my site on a daily basis.  Also, the competition is a very low 2,000 sites competing for that keyphrase.

As it turns out, I published the site on 2/10 and by 2/12 the google search for the phrase match “Lyrics to Amazing Grace” was in the #7 position.  Not only that, but there are 2 other websites in the top 20 positions of the Google search that point directly to my website.  Now, of course, that can quickly change, but I’m working on some techniques that should improve the ranking.  In addition, I’m working on creating more high ranking links to that site.  this blog post is one of them.  Take notice that the title to this blog post is “Lyrics to Amazing Grace” and there is a heavy use of that phrase throughout this post.  That is done purposely so that the search engine spiders that crawl around the web seeking appropriate content will easily recognize the topic of this post.

All that probably sounds pretty Geekie to most, but I find it pretty fascinating and I don’t really consider myself a Geek.

English is a Crazy Language

I ran across a funny little display of some of the idiosyncrasies of the English language. I immediately thought of Uncle Stan. I know Stan will enjoy this and I’m sure there are others. Read on….

Let’s face it – English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren’t invented in England or French fries in France … Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat. We take English for granted, but if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn’t the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, two geese. So one moose, two meese? One index, two indices? Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out, and in which an alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

P.S. – Why doesn’t “Buick” rhyme with “quick”?

Update

It’s been almost forever since I’ve posted. I haven’t found 2 seconds to sit down a my computer in ages.

There’s been so much happening, I’ll have to summarize.

Top story: We’ve finally moved into our new house. It snowed and rained the whole time we were moving our things in. But it was beautiful weather before and beautiful after. My family has been staying their, now, for about a week, but I haven’t slept their once yet.

I haven’t slept in my new home because I’ve been staying at Dad and Mom’s house while they have been in Seattle. Their week with Opal became 2 weeks when Dad got sick and ended up spending one of those weeks in the hospital. They are coming home tomorrow. Ken is driving them to Cle Elum and my brother-in-law, Dave, is driving with me to meet them there and drive them the rest of the way home.

Ashley just got a new puppy that lives with us. It’s a beautiful little Siberian Husky. We call her “Kaiyah” which is the name of a mountain range in Alaska.

A couple weeks ago, I went to the Apple Cup at Husky Stadium with my wife and my two younger children. One of the clients of a beautician at my wife’s salon gave the tickets to us. What an amazing game. Whether a Husky fan or a Cougar fan, you’ve got to admit that it was a very exciting game.

My job has become quite challenging in recent months. In September, one of the managers that works for me retired, and in November, one of my two mailroom clerks left for a higher paying job. I was asked to absorb those positions within my group rather than to replace the positions. So, I did some restructuring of my department and re-aligned the duties within my staff. I have a great group of people working with me who have really stepped up to the challenge, but as a group we have been really taxed. Once we’ve completed all the cross training, we’ll be fine, but in the meantime there’s lots of overtime for those of us who aren’t eligible for overtime pay.

Always remember, ‘It is, what it is. Never let the things that you have no control over, get under your skin. That’s just life. When you do have a problem, remember these steps. Recognize it, address it, learn from it, get over it, and move on.

And The Answer Is…

On my last blog post…..that was a long time ago……have I mentioned that it has been a very busy time for me?……..ok…….on my last blog post, I asked if anyone recognized the car in the picture. I’ve had a few responses, and they were all very close, but nobody guessed right

I’ll let my father-in-law answer the question.

Don, Here are some pics of my new “1955” Desoto station wagon. It’s a real nice car, one that is quite rare today. It’s had an amature restoration on it with a paint job upholstery, and some new parts on it. The previous owner replaced the 291 Desoto Hemi with a ’55 331 Chrysler Hemi.

I drove it hom from Prineville, only 20 miles, last week and havn’t driven it anymore. I have to put some seals around the tail gate where I am getting some carbon monoxide fumes coming in, which caused me two days of headaches until I found the problem. I will have to do some TLC on it as it hasn’t been driven much the last couple of years.

It seems that I bought it out from under a club member who wanted it, but lacked the interest to go after it. I got a call from him, asking me if I bought Georgia’s Desoto Wagon. I said I did, and he said that it was his car and he really wanted to get it, and asked me what I was going to do with it. I told him I was going to work on it and make it a better driving and looking car. He told me a little bit of history about the car, which I didn’t know, and said he drove it a couple of years ago when the owner was alive. He was going to call me back later, but didn’t do it. I guess he’s a little upset that I got the car and he missed out. So be it.

Anyway, here are the pics.

Later, Kent

Here’s some more pictures of the car. We’ll see how these load as I am trying out a new method of delivering photos over my blog. Click on the photo and your browser should take you to an album with several more photos. Please comment on how this works for you. I appreciate the feedback.

Kent’s new car

Guess What This Is

Kents New CarMy father-in-law just bought this car and sent me some pictures of it. If there are any nostalgia or old car buffs reading this, then it’s probably a familiar vehicle. Just for fun, instead of telling about this car right now, why don’t I have you post your guess into the comments. In a few days/weeks/years, or whatever it takes to get a few comments, I’ll come back to this and give the answer. Have fun.

Our House is Starting to go Up

Foundation Base LayerI stopped by our property today with my camera to photograph the progress. Here’s what I found.

The foundation is being poured. The base layer of the foundation is done. They are in the process of building the forms for the foundation walls, now. I’m told that the foundation should be completed by Friday and the building will begin the following week.

Trying to Rescue Kittens

Last Sunday, I went out to the carport and heard a squeaking sound. I went over to the area where my folks feed their cats, only to find a very small, recently birthed kitten lying on the ground by itself.

We watched the area for awhile to see if the mother cat would come around, but no signs of her. We tried to get it to take some water, but didn’t have the proper tools to do so. We were hoping that the mother would come back to care for it’s baby because I wouldn’t be able to purchase the proper formula and feeder until Monday afternoon.

TwoKittensUnfortunately, the kitten only survived until late morning on Monday. When I called Austin from work, he told me the bad news, but he also let me know that there were now two more kittens.

So, on my way home from work, I went ahead and purchased some formula and a little feeder bottle to try to nurse the kittens through their infancy. Leslie named the gray one “Smokie” and the black one “Bandit.”

FeedingTimeFrom the beginning, Smokie was very healthy and would eat very well. Bandit was smaller and frail and it was difficult to get him to eat. They require lots of attention, feeding about every 3-4 hours (even through the night).

Things went very well until yesterday. We fed them about 4:30 in the afternoon, and both ate sufficiently well. When I went back at about 8:00, Smokie didn’t want to wake up. He acted very sluggish and wouldn’t eat anymore. By this morning, she had died.

Bandit is still small and frail, so we aren’t sure he will make it, but the whole experience has been fascinating for all of us.