Taking care of your computer is a lot like taking care of yourself. Human Version: Do you exercise regularly, avoiding unhealthy activities? Computer Version: Do you surf regularly, avoiding naughty websites? Human Version: Do you have a healthy diet to give your body fuel and energy? Computer Version: Do you have enough RAM for your operating system and all of the programs you run everyday? Human Version: Do you visit the doctor on a regular basis for a physical? Computer Version: Do you check your system for spyware and use an anti virus program? Human...

I’m sitting in my second day of sessions at IzeaFest, listening to Merlin Mann speak. I hadn’t heard of him prior to coming to the conference, but…wow. He’s amazing. Not only has he completely captivated the audience, but he’s got great advice, including: Have an obsession. Share it daily with one person. Don’t be a dick. Don’t sweat SEO, traffic, or ads. (I think he’s channeling Jim Rome – “Have a take, and don’t suck.”) Merlin also won my heart when he used the word “testicles”...

A few months ago, I replaced my aging IBM laptop with a brand new Toshiba model. Having done a fair share of complaining about Vista after using it on another PC, I actually attempted to buy a laptop without Vista – I thought it was THAT bad! After realizing that a custom build laptop would cost me twice as many clams, I gave it up and gave into Vista. I have to admit, I’ve been pleasantly surprised. I haven’t had any of the compatibility issues that I’ve heard others reporting, and if anything, Vista and the way it works to organize...

I’m sitting in a room with Jeremy Shoemaker (”Shoemoney”) and John Chow right now. Thank you, IzeaFest, for giving us the opportunity to learn from bloggers of this money making caliber! I’m happy to report that John doesn’t come across as pompous and full of himself as he does online. Jeremy has shorts on, which is a bit weird since I expect a business casual dress in a conference like this. Stephanie Agresta is sitting next to him and she has the most amazing shoes on – I want them.

Tell me about your web host… If you asked 100 people about web hosting, would your host’s name be mentioned? If they were rated on a scale of 1 to 100, where would your host fall in that web hosting rating? Does your host offer you extra services for free, like shopping cards, message boards, and fun PHP installs? Are they available for support 24/7, or does it take days to get help? Has the company that you’re hosting your blogs and websites with won any web hosting awards? Years ago, when I first got online and bought a domain, I hosted...

Remember my mini-rant about my Adobe Professional 9 not playing nice with my Word doc forms? The folks over at Adobe must be using Google alerts to keep tabs on their customers, because I got 2 comments from Adobe employees on that post and several emails. The team took the time to investigate my issue and even fixed one of the forms I couldn’t get to work. It turns out, the issue was unrelated to Adobe and probably caused by a hidden field in the Word doc I was converting. Two observations: Blogging can get you attention, good and bad. In this...