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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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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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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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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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 Community Calendar Resources

Cassie Marie (Virtual Assistant) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:44:38 -0600

Looking for something to do this season in and around Walla Walla, Washington? Consider these resource links for lists of things to do.

Walla Walla's Tourism Website ~ Calendar of Events
Walla Walla Chamber of Commerce ~ Local Events Calendar
Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance ~ Wine Events Calendar
Walla Walla Union Bulletin ~ Calendar Events
Walla Walla Local Musicians ~ Music Calendar
Walla Walla Wine Country Inn ~ Upcoming Area Events
Walla Walla Catholic Schools ~ All District Calendar
Walla Walla City ~ Municipal Meeting Dates
Walla Walla Tasting Room ~ Calendar
Walla Walla 4H ~ Calendar of Events
Walla Walla Wineries ~ Event Calendar

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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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"Me And My Virtual Assistant"

Cassie Marie (Virtual Assistant) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:06:57 -0600

Hallelujah! Check this out, a service dedicated to offering virtual assistance! Watch this Today Show video on the service Asksunday.com....

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Where Are The Blogging & Real Estate Website Links?

Cassie Marie (Virtual Assistant) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:40:22 -0600

I wrote a blog entry today titled, "Directory Linking Is Dead | Blogging & Website SEO," and Eau Claire responded with "There are still plenty of other places to post your website though."

I thought this would make for a nice thread. Anyone want to share where their good quality inbound links are coming from? I can start by emphatically promoting Squidoo. For instance, our lensmaster page is a PR5 and many of our lenses have decent pagerank (authority) as well. Plus, one can earn some money to boot! However, my parents have donated everything thus far to charity. You can sign up here (our referral link)!

What say you? Do you have a link or two, or a great resource to share?

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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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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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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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Walla Walla Zonta Club To Hold 40s Fashion Show

Cassie Marie (Virtual Assistant) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 08:55:10 -0600

Zonta Club, Walla Walla chapter, to hold a "Rosie The Riveter" fashion show in Walla Walla on November 8 to raise money for the YWCA Women’s Shelter and local scholarships. This year the group also plans to honor veterans by including military uniforms in the show, and will even include one uniform from World War I.

The fashion show will take place at First Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall, 325 S. First Ave., Walla Walla, 2-4 p.m. Tickets are $10. For more information or to lend a women’s uniform, call 520-9366.

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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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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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The Original Haunted House In America

Cassie Marie (Virtual Assistant) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 09:43:44 -0500

The About.com story begins,

"Formerly known as the Most Haunted House in America, the home of carpetbagger Charles Wright Congelier, his Mexican wife Lyda, and a young servant girl, Essie, was located at 1129 Ridge Avenue, in the Manchester, North Side, neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The story of its life as a haunted house* begins in the winter of 1871, with Lyda's discovery of Charles having an affair with the maid. Lyda was so enraged, that she fatally stabbed Charles and chopped off Essie's head..."

Read on to see how this fascinating story unfolds. Whatever happened to the Most Haunted House In America?

Image Source

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Barack Obama, The most radical pro-abortion candidate in history...

Cassie Marie (Virtual Assistant) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:51:41 -0500

Barack Obama, The most radical pro-abortion candidate in history...

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 presidential candidate in history. Not only does Barack Obama oppose protecting infants who survive a failed or botched abortion, he has pledged to sign the Freedom of Choice Act as his first item of business if elected president of the United State. Obama opposes the ban on partial-birth abortion and during the Saddleback forum debate had said the issue of when life begins was too difficult for him to answer – “above my pay grade.”**

Abortion-survivor Gianna Jessen in this Citizenlink video appeals to presidential hopeful Barack Obama to support protection for babies who are born in the course of an abortion. If you would like to support this effort, please donate here.

**During the "Saddleback Debate Forum" on August. 16, Senators. Barack Obama and John McCain fielded questions from the Saddleback Church pastor and leader Rick Warren. Senator John McCain gave very solid, precise, and encouraging answers to questions about the sanctity of life and the institution of marriage, whereas Senator Barack Obama came down at the other end of the argument.

You will recall the following interchange during the forum:
Pastor Rick Warren: "At what point does a baby get human rights, in your view?"
Senator Obama: "... Answering that question with specificity, you know, is, uh, is, above my pay grade."*

With all due respect, Senator Obama, if this question is above your pay grade, then so is the job attached to it.

*[See CNN Debate Transcript]

Here is a brief summation of Barack Obama's voting record as relating to abortion:

Opposed born-alive treatment law. (October 2008)
Supports Roe v. Wade. (July 1998)
Voted NO on defining unborn child as eligible for SCHIP. (March 2008)
Voted NO on prohibiting minors crossing state lines for abortion. (March 2008)
Voted YES on expanding research to more embryonic stem cell lines. (April 2007)
Voted NO on notifying parents of minors who get out-of-state abortions. (July 2006)
Voted YES on $100M to reduce teen pregnancy by education & contraceptives. (March 2005)
Sponsored bill providing contraceptives for low-income women. (May 2006)
Rated 0% by the NRLC, indicating a pro-choice stance. (December 2006)
Ensure access to and funding for contraception. (February 2007)

Source

Related Resources:

Video: Election Night Pro-Family Coverage

Video: What Would An Obama Presidency Look Like

Video Urges Values Voters To Get To The Polls

Power Mini No-Vote Valet

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Walla Walla Washington Restaurants | Five Inexpensive Eateries

Cassie Marie (Virtual Assistant) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:05:01 -0500

Looking for 5 of places to eat on a limited dining budget? Well go no further! The unknown student recommends;

Aloha Sushi ~ Contact: 7 1/2 S. 1st St., (509) 527-8744
Fast Eddy’s ~ Contact: 600 N. Main St., (509) 527-2757
La Monarcha II ~ Contact: In front of 1828 E. Issacs Ave.
Thai City ~ Contact: 311 S. 9th Ave., (509) 525-2566
Sweet Basil ~ Contact: 5 S. 1st Ave., (509) 529-1950

For information and a critique on these fine establishments, go here and the unknown student will serve you up! Or, perhaps, more restaurants!

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Great Things To Do In Walla Walla Washington

Cassie Marie (Virtual Assistant) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:34:07 -0500

Farmers’ Market
The Walla Walla Valley Farmers’ Market always has lots of locally grown fruits and vegetables, as well as breads, cheeses, arts and crafts. Open most weekends, but closed during the winter months. Located at 4th and Main.

Bright’s
This candy shop is straight out of the movies and features fudge, ice cream, and other tasty goodies. Located at 11 E. Main Street, between 1st and 2nd Avenues.

Walla Walla Parks, & esp. Pioneer Park
Take a walk to one of Walla Walla’s best, and largest (58 acres) parks. Be sure to visit the Pioneer Park Aviary, which is home to approximately 200 exotic birds. Directions: from Reid Campus Center, head south on Park St., turn left onto Alder, the park is on the right side, at Alder and Division.

Bike to Bennington Lake
Borrow a few of your friends’ bikes, and bike to Bennington Lake. Follow Boyer Ave. East until it veers left. Turn Right onto University Dr., following it until you hit the Mill Creek trail. A sign will show you when to turn off to the lake.

History and Cultural Attractions, esp. Black Door Gallery & Museum of Unnatural History
Created and run by artist Gerry Matthews, this wacky and subversive museum takes jabs at your expectations with zany, three-dimensional assemblage art. Located at 4 1/2 W. Main, upstairs. Admission is free.

Main Street
Take a walk down the 2001 winner of the “Great American Main Street” Award. Be sure to check out the Sweet Onion sculptures on display.

Corn Maze
Open Thursdays and Fridays from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., Saturdays from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m., and Sundays from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Directions: Head East on Isaacs until it becomes Mill Creek. Take a Right at 5 Mile Road, then follow signs. Admission is $6.00.

Frolf
Take your parents for a round on Whitman’s renowned Frisbee Golf course. If you don’t know the course, bring along a knowledgeable friend.

Ice Skating
For a change of pace, go ice skating at the local YWCA. Admission is $4.50, Skate rentals are $1.50. Open Friday 6-8 p.m., Saturday 2-4 and 7-9 p.m., and Sunday 2-4 p.m. Located at 211 E. Birch.

Carnegie Art Center
Located at 109 S. Palouse St. Open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission is Free.

Currently at Carnegie Art Center (at the date of this blog posting):

Art of the Home September 30 through October 31, 2008
Join CAC for a show of functional as well as beautiful artwork for the home. Featured work includes rugs, fine wood and metal furniture, lamps and lighting, floor cloths, paintings, wall hangings, soft furnishings, quilts and wall decor’. Featured Artists: Dana Boer, Lori Boer, David Emigh, Kirk Fortner, Doulas Gisi, Carol Hassen, Margaret Jaminson, Nancy Kessler, Donna Maiden, M’Lisse Moerk, Colleen Sargen, Sue Scott
Holiday Art Market November 7 through December 20, 2008
Carnegie Art Center hosts a wide array of gift items featuring the work of local and regional artists including small watercolors, oils, pastels and pen and ink drawings, jewelry, decorative wood items, ornaments, purses, cards sets, gourd art, felted items and fine toys. Opening reception, Friday, November 7, 5-7 pm Featured Wineries - Walla Walla Vinters, Tamarack Cellars and Saviah Cellars
Spend holiday time in the Pottery Studio
Thinking about that perfect gift? Plan to visit the Carnegie Art Center Pottery Painting Studio for holiday fun. For guaranteed Christmas delivery, please schedule before December 13.

Information Sources: Chamber of Commerce | City of Walla Walla | Whitman Pioneer | Wikipedia

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WordPress & Blogger Tutorials, plus others...

Cassie Marie (Virtual Assistant) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:11:53 -0500

I have great tutorials on WordPress, Blogger, and other tutorials to recommend. We've used Lynda.com for over a year now and cannot say enough good things about the service. We pay $25.00 per month and have unlimited use of their tutorials. In addition to their great WordPress tutorial, their topics include tutorials on Photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, Office, digital photography, Web design, digital video, and many others. Lydia has over 32,500 tutorials covering over 500 topics, all for $25.00 per month!

The WordPress tutorials are 4.25 hours in length, while the Blogger tutorials are 3.5 hours in length:

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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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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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The New (not really) Virtual Assistant

Cassie Marie (Virtual Assistant) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 07:20:19 -0500

Wikipedia writes,

"Virtual Assistants are entrepreneurs who provide professional administrative, technical, or creative (social) assistance to clients from a home office. They usually work for other small businesses and consultancy groups."

I work for my parent's real estate business and they tell me I'm their virtual assistant. Well, according to Wikipedia it appears they are correct. And it appears I've been a virtual assistant ever since I learned to read and write, as you see, my parents have been self-employed for ever and a day and all of kids have assisted in one way or another with the family business pursuits. Plus, I'm in my third year of college and since my parents are paying the bill, I am whoever and whatever they say I be! :o)

Anyway, this is officially my first blog entry (...or at least it was - didn't notice 'draft' vs. 'public' visibility options, so it's a few days late!) for whoever cares to read it. Apparently, the only folks who will care to read it are those who need the coveted 25 ActiveRain comment points. Maybe some day I'll be writing to an audience who cares to read what I write. But until then, I'll take a comment or two even if its to earn someone's points for the day. I know all to well how to grovel for something too! Seriously, thanks for stopping by, for whatever the reason may be. :) ~ Cassie

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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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