Cassie's Blog

Prosser Wa Home Close To Miller Park

Cassie Marie (Virtual Assistant) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:42:02 -0500

A very adorable Prosser home close to Miller Park, downtown, and everything great about Prosser Washington. This home is ideal for a startup, small family, and/or retired persons(s), and everybody in between! This immaculately maintained home features a large double sized lot, plenty of storage, and comfortable living. Check it out...

For more details, please visit Prosser Homes For Sale

I'm Cassie and I work for The Lane Real Estate Team (my Mom and Dad) as their virtual assistant. A rather nice arrangement, I might add. I work for them, and they pay my college tuition! Not bad! If you need a great real estate team, or property manager, consider Team Lane for all Southeast Washington real estate needs. :)

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Beautifully Staged West Richland Home For Sale by Enterprise Middle School

Cassie Marie (Virtual Assistant) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 09:17:48 -0600

Featured Property Specifics: 5700 Kilawea Drive, West Richland Wa
This 2007 home looks and feels brand new, ready to move into and call home. Plenty of windows letting in ample home lighting. Room above the garage ready to finish off to the new owner's liking. Possibilities are endless. Workout room, play room, craft center, sewing room, just to name a few, and more...

2,450 sq feet
3 Bedroom 2.5 Bath
3 car garage
2 story
Fireplace
Garden area
Large corner lot
Close to schools, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Target
Neighborhood parks
Beautiful view of mountains

A featured listing at West Richland Homes For Sale!

Enterprise Middle School's Vision
Enterprise Middle School prepares students academically, socially, and emotionally to meet the challenges of the future. Through a variety of opportunities, students experience significant learning in a safe and stable environment where diversity is valued and individuals are respected.

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Dad's Tip: Incredibly Wacky Time Management Trick ~ It Works!

Cassie Marie (Virtual Assistant) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 01:14:07 -0600

My Dad's best man in my parent's wedding was an old-school nutritionist. When my Dad first met Isaac my Dad was a full time college student working a 40 hour per week job. He needed extra hours in the day! Isaac told my Dad to get up the same time every day and you'll gain extra hours in the day. Isaac explained to my Dad that if the body's internal clock knows what time sleep ends, the internal clock of our body will know how much time is allotted to get in and out of R.E.M.

Briefly, Rapid Eye Movement is the period in our sleep when our system shuts down and replenishes the nervous system. Usually, done in minutes. The remainder of sleep is used to rest the muscles, etc., of our body. Well, for 25 years my father wakes at 4:00am without an alarm clock fully rested. No lie! I cannot do the 4am thing, however, 6:00am works for me. Before you consider this wacky time management tip, consider these points:

You'll need to do this every day of the year! No breaks.
Drugs, alcohol, medications, etc., that effect sleep will not work for this tip, as the body needs to go into REM to adequately rest the nervous system.
Staying up late will also prohibit this tip from working for the same reason cited above.

If you plan on trying this tip, I might suggest you give it a couple weeks to work. And, try a reasonable hour to wake every day, but make it all the days of the week (no sleeping in on the weekend). Good luck!

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About Walla Walla County

Cassie Marie (Virtual Assistant) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:49:15 -0600

Walla Walla is the county of many waters. It is the most western of the southeastern counties of the state, and is bounded north and west by the Snake and Columbia rivers. It has 1,296 square miles and a population of about 30,000. The elevation varies from 350 feet at the Columbia river to 2,500 feet along its eastern border. It is a succession of plains and rolling hills, covered with bunch-grass, with some trees along the streams. Its soil varies from quite sandy volcanic ash in the low lands near the Columbia to a heavier clay loam in the eastern parts. In common with much of eastern Washington, these lands increase in fertility with successive cultivations. The climate is mild, healthful and vigorous.

RESOURCES.

Walla Walla county is essentially agricultural. Its chief resource is its soil fertility. This is such that few farmers can be found who have not bank accounts.

PRODUCTS.

The annual production of wheat in Walla Walla county is about 5,000,000 bushels. Barley is also a profitable crop. Oats and some corn are also raised. Large crops of alfalfa hay are annually marketed, chiefly from irrigated lands. Fruit of all kinds is abundant. There are 2,500 acres devoted to orchards. Market gardening is an important and growing industry.

TRANSPORTATION.

There are 310 miles of railroads in this county, both the Northern Pacific and Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company railroads competing for the traffic. In addition to the railroads, steamboats are plying the rivers around the edge of the county, giving additional facilities for transportation.

PRINCIPAL CITIES AND TOWNS.

Walla Walla, the county seat, has a population of about 22,000 and is the commercial center for the southeastern part of the state. Its streets are paved. The city owns its own system of water, at a cost of $600,000. It is lighted with electricity and gas, has large banks and business houses, U. S. land office, U. S. courts, U. S. cavalry post, an Odd Fellows' home, and a Home for Widows and Orphans. There are manufacturing industries employing 400 men, turning out $2,000,000 of productions annually. An electric system of street cars traverses the streets and is projected into several other near-by towns.

Waitsburg is an important agricultural town of about 1,600 people, in the western part of the county, having both railroad systems, and ships great quantities of grain. It has large flouring mills, warehouses, fine schools and churches, and is a prosperous, thriving town.

A large number of shipping points on both systems of railroads are growing commercial centers.

Information Source

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Remove BlogRush Code Now | BlogRush Is History!

Cassie Marie (Virtual Assistant) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:40:18 -0500

This morning I received notification that BlogRush is no more. R.I.P. Funny, I just signed up and thought it a good idea, but apparently, they've pulled the plug. You'll want to remove the code as who knows what will populate your site if the site is sold. Here's the email as it came from BlogRush this morning:

After careful consideration, we have decided to shutdown the BlogRush service. If you have the widget code on your blog you will need to remove it.

When BlogRush launched in late-2007 it spread like wildfire all over the Web. Thousands of bloggers were talking about it and the service exploded to become one of the fastest growing free services in the history of the Web. During the first year of the service it successfully served 3.4 Billion blog post headlines and the BlogRush widget could be found on blogs all over the world; even up until the moment we closed down the service.

BlogRush didn’t grow without its fair share of problems — from security issues to abusive users trying to ‘game’ the system to much lower click-rates than expected. We also had some problems with trying to fairly control the quality of the network, and in the process made many mistakes in deciding what blogs should stay or go. All of these issues, ultimately, limited the service’s full potential.

Our team worked very hard to try and build a service that would truly help bloggers of all sizes get free traffic to their blogs. This was our primary focus. Not once did we ever try to monetize the service with ads or anything else. BlogRush never made a single penny in revenue. We wanted to be able to help our users FIRST and then worry about monetizing the service later. Unfortunately, the service didn’t work out like we had hoped. (It happens.)

I want to say “Thank You” to all of the great bloggers that at least gave BlogRush a test to see if it would work for them. We sincerely appreciate you giving the service a try.

We have received several offers & inquiries about acquiring BlogRush, but we are choosing not to go that route. While many might think this is crazy, we truly feel it’s the ‘right’ thing to do for our users. Believe it or not, it’s not always about the money. In fact, BlogRush will have lost a small fortune when it’s all said and done, and it was by choice. There were many things we could have done to monetize the service but we wanted to make sure it was going to benefit our users first.

Last but not least I want to say that I hope the failure of this service doesn’t in any way discourage other entrepreneurs from coming up with crazy ideas at 4AM (like I did with this one) and from “going for it” to just try and see if something will work. Without trying there can be no success. And as we all know, ideas are worthless without action. The Web wouldn’t be what it is today without entrepreneurs trying all sorts of crazy ideas.

On behalf of the entire BlogRush team, we wish the best of luck to everyone with their own blogs, ideas, and crazy ventures.

Sincerely,
John Reese

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WAS I WRONG FOR CLICKING THE, "This is not my content but I have permission to repost it" BUTTON?

Cassie Marie (Virtual Assistant) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 08:19:54 -0600

I'm a bit disappointed. I just noticed a post of mine that has close to 50 comments has 0 (ZERO) points! I'm a newbie blogging under my parents tutelage, and I've been informed I did not receive any points because I clicked (or checked) the, "This is not my content but I have permission to repost it" button when I published my blog entry. Some of the content, although properly attributed, was not my content. However, a lot of the blog entry is my own content, plus, the design, html, layout, compilation of sources, etc., is "my content." I want to discuss, the "If I check this box I will get zero points" button!

Let's look at my post for a moment. I clicked the "This is not my content but I have permission to repost it" button because some of the content is not my content. Perhaps there needs to be another option like, "Some of the content is not my content, but I have properly attributed the sources of my blog content, however, the layout, design, and much of the content is my wording and content!" Gee whiz! For instance, if you do an "exact phrase" search, you find this, this, and this for the first sentence of my first three paragraphs. You'll get the these three messages respectively from the Google search return that shows my blog (at least in part) is unique content,

No results found for "Whether Pro-Life or Pro-Choice, Obama's position on live birth abortions must bother you. Barack Obama would make for the most radical pro-abortion".

No results found for "Abortion-survivor Gianna Jessen in this Citizenlink video appeals to presidential hopeful Barack Obama to support protection for babies who are born in".

Your search - "**During the "Saddleback Debate Forum" on August. 16, Senators. Barack Obama and John McCain fielded questions from the Saddleback Church pastor" - did not match any documents.

I'm a college student and I understand that copy needs to be in my own writing, and/or properly attributed. I did both. Folks should receive the points generated from this type of post.

Anyway, I'm just sayin' there needs to be another option for folks to click that allows for point accumulation for those who spend a ton of time on their blog entry and some of the content, although properly attributed, is not their own content!

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A Chance To Shine Contest | Happy Halloween ~ Free Images & Image Resources For Blogs

Cassie Marie (Virtual Assistant) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:56:10 -0500

An early Happy Halloween to ya! These two Halloween images below are free, but before you right-click your mouse and swipe them, let me tell ya where you can get them for free. Plus, we certainly do not want to get in trouble with this scary dude (already dressed for Halloween) over here, do we?

Essentially, here are the three resources we use for images:

iStockPhoto ~ We use these folks when we want a relatively high quality image that is competitively priced. Plus, if you sign up before the end of the week, you can grab the two images posted below for free! You see, every week iStockPhoto offers a free image or two, so sign up today and start collecting those free images (and download your free Halloween pics). Normally, you can expect to pay $1.50 for a small image.
Clipart.com ~ This is where we go for cheap stuff. The quality is acceptable, however, the price is right. For $159.00 per year, you can download as many images your heart desires. Clipart.com has more than 10,000,000 clip art images, photos, illustrations, animations, fonts and sounds!
Lastly, public domain & free stuff* ~ Sometimes you'll spend too much times looking for the image you want on these sites, but when your budget is tight, then consider searching using these resources: 123rf | Creative Commons | Free Animations | Public Domain

*To the best of my knowledge (last time I checked) these are free, but here's the disclaimer, Check The Individual Site's Usage Policies First. Enough said on that! :o)

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Directory Linking Is Dead | Blogging & Website SEO

Cassie Marie (Virtual Assistant) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 12:47:50 -0600

One of the jobs I have done in the past as my parent's virtual assistant is submit our real estate website to directories for the purpose of generating inbound links as well as deep linking. I'm here to tell ya directory linking for SEO purposes is pretty much dead, unless you want to pay for featured spots. Looking at probably the most credible directory out there, DMOZ, you can see our www.joelane.com website link (see "Joe & Colleen Lane - River Realty") on this page is 'grey-barred' using Google's toolbar (foolbar). If DMOZ is a dead link, then all the directories that fall in line behind DMOZ's quality, are certainly worthless as well, IMHO!

Anyway, just thought I would pass this along as advice to not do it. "Friends don't let friends do directory linking!"

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A Chance To Shine Contest | Well, Did Obama Buy Your Vote Tonight? What Side Is The Media On?

Cassie Marie (Virtual Assistant) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 23:48:55 -0500

Tonight I watched the half hour Barack Obama special and I thought the show was well done. I am certain the purchase of a half hour of prime time television, coupled with Hollywood quality production elements, bought a lot of votes. I was able to see through the rhetoric and see that Barack Obama told America what they wanted to hear, however, for the most part, I saw no real plan on how Barack would implement his agenda, nor where the money would come from to fund the plans. Our country has a national budget where 85% is spent on debt. We have limited resources left to draw from!

On the other hand, the media continues it's love affair with Obama. I opened up MSNBC to this page and found the page below. The "unbiased" reporting highlighted Obama's strengths while drawing attention to a criticism of McCain. In the reporting, I've noted two inconsistencies. Here are direct quotes and my accompanying comments (in bold):

"Barack Obama took to the airwaves with a 30-minute ad that mocked John McCain for his self-described lack of economic prowess and his choice of Sarah Palin as a running mate. NBC’s Lee Cowan reports." ~ Really? I do not remember anything said about McCain or Palin in the 30-minute special.
"The Nation’s Chris Hayes talks about John McCain’s secret national security round table followed by public remarks in which he tried to employ fear as a campaign tactic." ~ I imagine siding with Obama wasn't enough. The media found it necessary to introduce some titillating negative publicity for the McCain campaign.

What say you about the 30 minute special? What say you about the media's coverage of the election thus far? Does the screenshot (below) of this news page look like unbiased reporting to you?

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I have just been honored by a true hero

Cassie Marie (Virtual Assistant) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 12:00:40 -0600

I was surfing the blogs this morning and stumbled onto this blog and thought it worthy of a re-blog. This post features one of the ActiveRain member here and a very heroic Marine. My Dad's a former Marine, so I especially appreciate this one... ~ Cassie :o)

Via Simon Conway:

Pictured over on the right here is Master Sergeant of Marines William "Spanky" Gibson, saluting the Stars and Stripes on Board (he's a Marine folks) Camp Fallujah in Iraq. The picture was taken on October 20 of this year.

Before I get to the rest of this, it is important you know who my friend Spanky is.

You can read all about him by clicking here, but suffice to say he is the first serving member of any branch of the United States military to return to a combat zone having had an above the knee amputation. You can see Spanky's prosthetic leg in the picture.

For those who don't know, the then Gunnery Sergeant lost a leg to a sniper while on foot patrol in Ramadi. He was a guest on my radio show. He and I have never met. We have only spoken two times - both on the air - and we have exchanged some e-mail.

After his recovery, he swam in the "Escape from Alcatraz" race in San Francisco Bay. When he got out, the Marine Commander at Central Command asked Spanky what he wanted to do and without hesitation, he said "send me back to Iraq".

Since then he has been promoted to Master Sergeant of Marines and is still on deployment.

A couple of e-mails ago Spanky said in passing "can I have your address - I want to send you something". Without hesitation I of course gave him my address. And yesterday a box arrived through the mail. I opened it and to say I was floored would be an understatement. You see Spanky had sent me the flag you see him saluting in this picture. And along with the flag came a certificate. I simply cannot believe this national hero chose to honor me in this way. Every single day he risks his life for OUR FREEDOM and the freedom of the Iraqi people. Every day. And he chose to honor me. All I have done is run my mouth.

Spanky understands his mission way better than any of his detractors. Just read these words.

"Its a sincere honor to serve each of you and our great country. I joined the Marine Corps 19 years ago with no other desire than to serve. I always accept the responsibilities of the job so, my injury does not cause me regret or hatred. I still have a life as a Marine and a long life to enjoy and I will live it to the fullest. I have the support of so many of you and my beautiful family. Please know that all we sacrifice here is for a higher good and we do not regret the multiple deployments to get the job done. Most of us realize when we join that life in the Corps could be a long battle. We swear on an oath to support and defend. We protect all those who can not protect themselves and provide them opportunities that might otherwise be impossible. And we do it for a thank you! We do not care of the books and journals which might hold our name. We only care of the Marine Corps tradition and not failing it or you in anyway. As you honor me and my fellow service members we also honor you. So, I say "Thank You" and "Its my honor", because this is the life I chose to live. I love each and everyday of it. I often allow my injury to guide me closer to the media to voice some opinion of what truly happens here in Iraq. Its interesting how falsehoods can outway truth so easily in the public eye and I vow to do my part in getting the truth up front. Semper Fidelis"

SPANKY - FROM ME TO YOU. You chose to honor me and I am incredibly proud of the gift you sent me. You and your brothers and sisters are in my thoughts every single day. What you are doing for the people of Iraq is something that they will never forget. Although we have never met I am extremely proud to be able to call you my friend and I look forward to shaking your hand and thanking you for your service face to face in the not too distant future. Stay safe.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

(Copyright © 2008 By Simon L Conway All Rights Reserved.)

Please give me a call if you have questions about the Central Florida real estate market. You can reach me on 407 876 8200. Also visit my web site at www.simonconway.net or www.move2orlando.net

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Tri Cities Washington Visitors and Convention Bureau Annual Meeting

Cassie Marie (Virtual Assistant) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 03:46:16 -0600

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Court Street Pasco Wa Columbia River Property For Sale

Cassie Marie (Virtual Assistant) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:09:36 -0600

This is our home for sale. Certainly worth a re-blog!

Via Colleen Lane •:*¨¨*:• SemperFidelis •:*¨¨*:• :

Well, it's about time! We have 5 children and have spent too much time commuting to North Richland for WSU and North Richland grade schools. We've decided to put our 3500 sq ft house on the market starting at $659,000. Many, many upgrades can be read here. Pictures of our home and river views can be seen here, and when clicked, a larger image opens in a new window:

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Walla Walla Washington Vintage Photos

Cassie Marie (Virtual Assistant) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 01:25:18 -0600

I've come across a few nice vintage Walla Walla Washington photos dating back to the 1940s and beyond. These photos are from the Library of Congress, The Project Gutenberg, and/or Public Domain Flickr. To the best of my knowledge, all photos are for the public's use. Most pictures are from the 1940s, however, when hovering over the image you'll receive a brief description. Enjoy!

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Writers, $3.00 - $10.00 per article. A secret professional writers do not want you to know!

Cassie Marie (Virtual Assistant) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 10:24:21 -0600

I'm the chick partly responsible for content for our real estate websites. I'll share a story and an ensuing secret we employ regarding finding cheap content.

One day I was discussing part-time employment with a fellow college student when I stumbled onto something. My compatriot was writing articles for $5.00 per article for a professional writer, who in turn was charging her clients $75.00 per article! On further investigation, I found the same professional writer was having articles written for as little as $2.00 per article from overseas folks. Here are a few tips on hiring inexpensive writers.

Most college students can write a grammatically correct 500 word article in 20 minutes providing you give them the topic and general direction in source material. A win-win situation. You get a cheap article, and the college student can make as much as $15.00 per hour.
Senior citizens are another source of inexpensive writers. Some seniors have the time available and simply love to write. On a limited budget, an extra $200. to $300. per month can make all the difference in the world for the senior's quality of living. Some seniors will write for $10.00 per article. The best place to find a senior citizen writer is by placing a help wanted ad in your local newspaper or Craigslist. Also, your local senior citizens organizations are a great place to post your help wanted ad.
The really cheap writers are found overseas. Writing can be acquired for as little as $2.00 per article from a foreigner whose average daily wage might be $20.00 per day. You'll need to exercise caution here, as you may not receive an article suitable for publishing. However, $2.00 per article might be ok if the article gets you through writer's block. A little editing and you are good to go. Places to find the cheap writers: Digital Point Content Forum | Elance Writers | Getafreelancer.com Proofreading. I must emphasize caution when using these services. We've found great writers through these resources, however, there are sharks in these recommendations that will eat you alive if given the opportunity. If there is a strong enough response to this blog entry, I might write another on the pro/cons of hiring writers from the three websites noted here.
Last but not least, hiring writers to blog for you does not work unless you are willing to edit the article and personalize the content. Enough said on that.

There ya have it. The cat's outta the bag and I now have all the professional writers out there mad at me! lol Good luck with this information, and again I urge caution when acquiring cheap writing. Oh, and btw, our writers are not for hire! :o)

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My Personal (Funny) Favorites In Real Estate Marketing

Cassie Marie (Virtual Assistant) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:02:53 -0600

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