Thank You Kindle Blog Report!

I just wanted to give a thank you to Marguerite Zelle from The Kindle Blog Report for reviewing and recomending :Dandilyon Fluff.  We appreciate all your kind words.                                                                  You can read the review yourself here.  I've been away for the last few days but look forward to coming back tomorrow and filling you in on all my afk adventures.

:Dandilyon Fluff Available Now for Kindle Subscription

Amazingly enough, I just found out that you can actually subscribe to some blogs from your Kindle, and now this blog is available.  There is a 14 day free trial to check it out.

Incidentally, the Kindle is turning out to be one of the best gifts I've ever recieved.  Last night I downloaded 25 books for free, and subscribed to my own blog.

The free books are all classics - Dickens, Tolstoy, Brother's Grimm & the like - and there were hundereds if not thousands to choose from.

If you don't have a Kindle you can still take advantage of all their free books.  Kindle software is available for free download for Mac, PC, iPad, iPhone and just about any other application you can think of.

The books I do purchase are usually half of the cost of the paper additions, besides the whole environmental plus of no fuel used in delivery and no trees chopped for manufacturing.  I can also carry around my entire library in my purse.  I'll go into more detail when I have time.  Today I'm off to get my Visa Physical.  Fun.

I just wanted to announce this blog now on Kindle, and talk about all the free books I found.  Wish me luck at the hospital.  Cheers!  ^.^

Check Kindles out for yourself here: Kindle Wireless Reading Device, Wi-Fi, Graphite, 6" Display with New E Ink Pearl Technology

Our First Clothes Review... And A Second Life Overview

Yesterday we got our first ever review on our virtual clothes, and I couldn't have been more excited if I'd gotten a book review or an Oscar.

I know a lot of you from this blog haven't tried Second Life, but it's turning out to be such a positive experience for me that I'd like to share some of what I've learned with you.

Second Life is a virtual world.  Practically anything you can do in the real world, you can do there with some extras thrown in.

This virtual world allows you to hold a job, start a business, hang out with friends from all over the world, find romance, get married, have a baby, own a horse, raise chickens, go dancing.... *pauses for breath* .. and more.

You can also drive a flying car, ride a dragon, be a dragon (or a fairy, vampire, lycan, cat person or anything else you can think of), visit the Shire, be a Jedi, go into space, watch a sunset... *more breath* ...and even more!

The economy there pays you in Lindens, a virtual currency, that you can exchange for real US currency.  I believe there are ways to exchange for other currencies, but I've only worked with US dollars.  I have the money sent to my PayPal account.  From there I can spend it with my PayPal card anywhere, pull the cash from the atm or have it transferred to my regular bank account. 

This makes Second Life an opportune place to moonlight, have a second job and work from home.  I have several friends that are musicians and they perform live concerts regularly (and get paid!).  I know artists, club owners, furniture designers, other clothes designers, jewelers, land owners...all making extra money.  I've stopped thinking of this as a Second Life when I cashed in over $600 recently.  Now I think of it as an extension of my first life.

Personally, at the moment I am just there to design clothes and build up our business, House of SilverJinx.  While I wait for my visa I'm a bit stuck for activity.  If I hadn't had our little design business to focus on, I'd probably have gone loopy by now, and you all would have stopped reading after my tenth blog post on how to make rugs from recycled newspaper.

The experience has turned out to be such a rewarding one, I'm thinking about offering a Second Life tour if enough people are interested.  Send me a message privately, or leave a comment here.  I can teach you the basics of making your avatar look presentable, creating 101 and show you how to navigate.  I can even put together a free package of everything you need from your own flying car to wardrobe and hair.

And please go to The Clothing Asylum to see two of our recent outfits being reviewed.  Who knows, I may get to be 'virtually famous' yet!

Dandilyon Fluff... Now A .com

So much has been happening lately that I'll try to cover over the next week.  The important thing I wanted to let you know today is that Dandilyon Fluff has hit puberty and has grown into a .com web address. *sniff*

From now on, instead of following a bookmark or trying to type in the long Blogger web address, all you'll have to type is dandilyonfluff.com, and you're here.

I've also finally enabled comments so you all can tell me what you think here, and get to know other readers, as opposed to sending me emails.  You can still send emails though, I love everything I get, I just don't have time to answer sometimes.

That's about all I have time for now, but I look forward to catching you up on all the exciting news over the next few days.

Cheers!

Now Officially 'Fluffing' in Ten Countries

Looking over the blog stats today I was thrilled to find out that this blog has now been read in 10 different countries. 

I was pretty stoked to be read in just two countries, so finding out that I've 'Fluffed' in places as varied as Russia, Japan and Slovenia was a pleasant shock. 

It made me realize how little I actually know about my planet as a global community and it inspires me to learn more.  If you're going to take the time to read me, I'll definitely take the time to learn about you.

What interested me the most, as I sat mulling over statistics, was who are all of you?  Some of you I know (waves at Kyra and Stefanie), but most of you are mystery wrapped in data.  Every piece of the puzzle I'm given allows me a bigger picture, which leads to more questions.  

For instance, if everyone apparently hates Internet Explorer, then why are 67% of us still using it?  And I constantly hear people rave about Google Chrome, and all I can assume is that the small percentage of you (7%) are very outspoken and impassioned about your web browsers.  I've never even heard of Opera, Safari and Jakarta Commons - I feel like such a noob!  Last but not least, yes FireFox, you were Explorer's runner up at a whopping 13%. 

Another amazing thing I can study about my readers is what you're using to log on to read me.  Most of us are run of the mill Windows users, and no, I can't see what version.  Interestingly enough, more readers log in from their iPhones then their Macs (8% vs 3%). 

What really got me tho was people reading from their iPod.  I feel so low tech now to admit mine just plays music and video.  And then there is the one person that pops in on their iPad.  I can just picture you sitting at some polished cafe, peering at your glossy screen over a cappuccino. 

Yes, I am jealous of you.  I shouldn't admit this, but the thought of having my very own iPad gives me a bit of a hot tickle in the back of my throat.  I'm not entirely sure why I want one, or what I can do with it....I just admit to being iBrainwashed.

So now I know a little bit more about all of you, and it's only made me more curious.  Statistics are like having a lick of ice cream for lunch on a hot day... definitely tasty but hardly a meal.  Today, however, I'll have to be satisfied with my numerical nibbles, as that's all I'm being offered at the moment. 

I've had writers tell me that they write for themselves, not an audience.  If that ever becomes true for me I'll just cut out the middle man and talk to myself.  Until then, I want to thank all of you for taking the time to read me.  Each of you is, in a word, AWESOME!

Countries I've Fluffed

1. Australia
2. America
3. Canada
4. United Kingdom
5. Malaysia
6. Japan
7. Slovenia
8. Russia
9. India
10. Netherlands

Catching Up...

Wow, time passes quickly for the easily distracted!  So many things have been going on over the last few days, and so many fun things are coming up that I've been lucky to keep up with the :Daily Fluffs, let alone write up any of the posts I've been thinking about. 

Just a quick overview of what's been going on, and what's coming up before I get busy working on today's Fluff (which will be tomorrow's Fluff if I don't get on it asap).

Some of the things that have been going on...

• My book that I've been working on for ages is very close to being actually & really done...FINALLY!  My assistant Starr editor will be interested to know that I made a few changes, the most notable being that I finally banished Bea (sorry, she had to go.  I actually hated her...)

• All the :Daily Fluffs are available for anyone to use in emails or on their Facebook/MySpace/Twitter with my blessings, and now I've opened up a CafePress shop so that all my images are available for purchase on mugs, shirts, notecards, etc.  Eventually all images will be available on all products, but for now if there's an image you want on something I don't have available, just ask me.  I've got to do something while I wait for my visa approval/permission to work, and I'm having fun with it.  I hope you are too.

• My Dandelion Fluff necklace from Beth Cyr finally arrived after three excited weeks of obsessive mail checking.  I will of course let you all know what I think of it, and show it off asap, but until I get a chance to do it justice let me just say I'm very happy :D and we'll talk.

• I also owe the techno band tenek the finished review that I've had sitting half finished on my desktop for the last few weeks.  They are an awesome new band that has been taking over the European airwaves and are fast spilling over the rest of the world.  I've enjoyed listening & learning about them and will be posting my prelim review in the next few days as well (I promise guys!)

• Finally, big news for me... I'm going to the Adelaide Zoo in the next week, and am so excited to tell you all about it.  My big goal?  Feel what is inside a kangaroo's pouch, as long as they don't find it offensive.

Which leads me to a question for you all: What do you think the inside of a kangaroo's pouch feels like?  Post your hypothesis in the comment box or leave a vote in my new poll on the sidebar.  I'm curious to see what the general consensus is.  Polls close on December 12th, day of the Zoo visit, when I will diligently 'roo-t out the truth.

And with that, I'm off to finish some of my many projects.  Cheers!  XOX