Oh goody! Another widget! Pretty soon, we won't have to worry about publishing meaningful content on our blogs. There won't be any room!

Rich - Oh Goody is Right! :-)  What good is "publishing meaningful" content if you don't provide your visitors a way to find it?   Some Widgets are cool, others are useful.  I just put this stuff out there for others to pick and choose!  Did you try it?  It works swell.  :-)

BTW - I noticed your weather widget on your Blog.  I think you have plenty of room to add something like this to your blog.  Here's a classic example of how this could work for you.  Back in May this year, I tried to bring your very first post back to life by commenting on 5/23/07.  The last comment before that was on 2/14/07. 

With this widget on your Blog, if anyone ever typed and searched for "Real Estate Commissions", "licensed, trained professional", "experienced professional realtor"....  they would find your post.

Just a thought to prove I really am trying to look out for your best interests!!  :-) 

Elaine - if you have my whole Blog bookmarked, then you'll need this widget as much as I do! LOL!

Feel free to search my "How-To's" anytime.  :-)

This is an awesome post Brad. And one that should be featured. OK, I know we are NOT to suggest that but I will err on the side that this is just a wonderful and empowering post that will help all of us,not some but everyone. It is a great solution for the type of searches we and the consumers need. Awesome!

PS, Brad, this is also the content I used in the " explanation" box for flagging your post recommending that it be featured.

William - I hope those that do get to read see this really see the value as you do. Thanks so much for the endorsement! :-)

Rich - I know my Blog is loaded (not from being at the Blog Bar) LOL, and I hope your wait while it loaded was worth while.  I try to rotate and move around widgets, but it's been a while since I've cleaned up my act here.  Sorry! :-)

Let me see which widget children I can let go of.  :-(  You're not the first to let me know how dreaded slow my page is.  Thanks for keeping me on my toes and for looking out for my best interests as well. 

I'm a long time member of the "Rich Jacobson Fan Club" so it looks like you're the one who's stuck with me!!

Can you deal with that? :-) 

Happy Holidays my friend.....I'm also sending you a gift box full of WIDGETS!! ROFL!!   

And Rich - I love those old posts of yours, I just sent it out to everyone in my database...36,000 people!!    :-)

(just kidding)  I love you man!!  

Ryan - I bet if you google a Blog Bar, you'll come up with one....you know....the kind you can order a Martini at.

You and I should open one!  Brad and Ryans Blog Bar.  We could start a chain across the US.  People could come in and Blog and Drink and......well....it was a nice thought!  LOL!      ya never know....     :-)

Brad - from now on I am going to put myself on Brad Andersohn restriction until the END of my work day because I find myself compelled to drop everything and try out the cool new toy!

Wendy - not sure how this one got posted, I was saving it for Saturday! LOL!  I think the kids must be at home playing on Dad's computer.  :-)  This one is pretty cool.....so I guess I won't ground them! :-)

Brad, another cool tool. If I need to know where to find something, I just look here. So, since you work at a title company, you must have plenty of time on your hands to find all of this stuff. I just closed on a contract at FATCO here in Mesa, and things have been slowwwww. My escrow lady was glad to see me, that's for sure. :-)

AND, it takes about 30+ seconds to load your blog up and comment and save..........

Hi Teri - I wish my company paid me to sit around and find this stuff, I am actually very busy at work right now, just the sales are a bit slow.  We have a lot of listings and inventory, but the buyers are a little slow on the uptake.  I think it has something to do with the media! LOL!  I have a few tools I use to research this kinda stuff while I'm away at work during the day.  I only post 2-3 times a week, so it really doesn't take much time at all.

Thanks for supporting my Company over in Mesa, we are happy to have you as a customer in ANY branch across the country.  If you ever need anything at all, please feel free to call me, I'm happy to help you out any way I can.  Thanks again Teri, and Happy Holidays to you and your family!  :-) 

BTW - I don't know if 30+ seconds is a good or a bad thing for a guy, I am always trying to improve it.
(Man, that sounds really bad doesn't it!?!)  I'll keep working on it! 

Bonnie - I actually do beta test this stuff for weeks sometimes before I'll post about it.  There have been many other tools that I've researched that just didn't pass the BetaBrad Smell test! LOL!

You should check out TechKnowBabble and Widget World.  Those are two of my fav and fun Blogs.  The Blog Builder and Agent Assist are my working Blogs after hours.  I am proud and honored to be your Beta Tester! 

(Big Smile) :-)

Brad - I have no doubts that some of these widgets are helpful, both to readers and the blogger. I appreciate very much you bringing them to our attention. Have you noticed though how slow many of the blog pages here on AR are to load? Your is one. It seems the more widgets you have, the longer it takes to access your page. In today's drive-through, microwave-ready mentality, readers don't hang around very long. I guess there just needs to be a trade-off. And I know that there's a difference between our blog here and our 'outside' blogs. Just an observation on my part. But really, you make some awesome and valued contributions to our network. Plus, you're stuck with me for all eternity. So deal with it!

Rich - I swear to you, if you tried Mozilla's Firefox, you'd never go back to IE on Active Rain again.  I'm not sure if AR uses Apple and Mac as the OS platform and server opps, but I have never gone back to IE once a few other members said to try Firefox.  Do me a BIG BIG BIG favor?!?  Just download Firefox (it's free) and try it.  Here's the link.  If you don't see an INTENSE difference, then you can just delete it.  I do have a screaming HP computer, but even on mine, IE loads AR very very slow!  Let me know, I'd be happy to Blog about the difference between the two, and use the results you come up with to share with others. Thanks Rich!  :-)

Brad~ Man on man, this is cool! Thanks for sharing, and yes, I'm all over it. We still need to hook -up here in Cali. Maybe after the holidays..? I'm supposed to be planning a NorCal AR Gathering...:)

Dear Laura - we do need to hook up!!  After the Holidays would be perfect for me too!  Let me know when you setup your AR Nor Cal gathering, I'd love to be a part of that.  Let me know if you need any help with it, I love the real networking that comes from the rain.  We have a group now called "Real Rain" that meets every month in person in Walnut Creek, CA.  It's the best!! 

I'll look forward to hearing from you after the Holidays.   Have a safe and Blessed Christmas and New Year!  :-) 

David - I'm honored to be a regular Bookmark Blog for you.  Thanks for always taking the time to read, comment, and bookmark my post.  With this new BlogBar tool, you might not need to bookmark me as often.  Just come back and search my Blog for anything you know you've read about here in the past. It really is a great tool that way!  :-)

Also, let me know if you're interested in that other stuff we talked about...thanks David. 

Hey Brad - cool new tech toy!  You mentioned that this would be good to use with all those thousands of bookmarked posts - how does that help with those?  By the way, have you been back looking at my bookmarks again???  ;-)

Ann - I was hoping someone would ask that, you are so good!  My comment in the post was, "Have you ever read a post by another member, book-marked it, then tried to find it in that list of the other 3000 posts you've book-marked?"

This tool will not allow you to search through all your bookmarks, but rather than having 3000 of them from members all over AR, if that member has Blogbar, you just have to remember their name.  Then you could search their Blog for any post you are looking for. 

It's not a replacement for bookmarking, just an additional tool for readers to find stuff they're interested in that's contained in your Blog.  I find it quicker to search with Blogbar if it were on your site, than to go through my 3000 bookmarks looking for the post you did on "Life Expectancy".  All I'd have to do is type in those words, and I'm at your post.  Otherwise it's scrollsville till I find it in my bookmarks, and chances are, I forgot the title of your post, I just remember that you wrote it!  :-)

So add the Blogbar so I can find what I need and want on your Blog!!  Just do it, or I'll go in and mess with your bookmarks again! LOL! :-)))

Excellent features, I think it's time to incorporate a new feature into my blogs!  As a side note, what do you think about huge keyword lists?  I do the same, but I worry about my blog being too cumbersome, what do you think?

Jonathan - I'm not a fan of HUGE keyword lists, I think the keywords that are relevant to each post are all you need.  I don't know that it makes your posts or Blog more cumbersome, I just don't see the point in adding every keyword you can think of to try and be found.  There's better ways to get SEO, not that keywords aren't important.  I also think it depends on if your keywords are tags or meta tags on a website.  There are some great members here that are experts on Websites, SEO, tags and scripts etc.  Let me know if you need some help, I'd be happy to introduce you if you don't know them already!  :-)

Brad, the Blogbar is GREAT!

I did try it on my blog but keep getting a stack overrun error. I'll hit the blogbar website tomorrow and try again.

Thanks for telling us about this!

Dane - you let me know if you're still having a problem with Blogbar.  I'll fly over tomorrow, or find a way to get it working for ya!  (PROBABLY A PHONE CALL) airline tickets are kinda pricey during the Holiday Season!  Seriously, let me know, I'll try to help if I can.  I have never  seen that error before.  Maybe it's because of all the AR members who read this post are running over there to grab a widget! LOL!  LMK! ~

John - it doesn't seem to have slowed mine down, but mine, according to many is slow already! LOL!

Let me know what ya think when you get it loaded on your Blog!  :-)

Brad - Homework Assignment Complete!!  Thanks a Gazillion!

It works!!! But I am getting a silly error when I go to my blog that says stack overflow 460.  Any ideas?

Christine - not sure why the error, try starting again, hopefully it was just a little glitch or bug.  Let me know if it's not working and I'll try and help you get it installed properly.   It may just be that there are a ton of people pulling them from the ste right now. :-)  LMK~

Very helpful.  How you find the time to track all these cool goddies down is beyond me, but that is why I subscribe.  Keep bringing the good stuff!

I do it for you! :-)

Brad - this is a great widget!  I am going to put this on my to do list this weekend.   Thanks not only for the tip, but on the instructions on how to add it to the blog or web site.

Joan - you might want to wait a day or so, I think they are getting a ton of hits right now.  I see a couple members here are getting some errors, not sure why.  I have never had a problem with it on any of my Blogs or websites.  Over the weekend should be fine, let me know if it works ok for you. Thanks!  :-) 

Ann - if you add  <br>  or <p> after  "Search My Blog" it should give you the space you need!  Try it and let me know if that works.  I'd try <br> first, that's what i used.  I also use the <center> before and after to keep it centered in the column.  Start with <center> and end with </center> 

<center> = centers object
</center> = ends center object
<br> = create a break
<p> = create a space
<b><i><u> = Bold, Italic, Underline

Maybe I'll do a help post on HTML !  LOL!  :-)

Let me know if this helps or if you need me to fly over there in the morning!....oh shoot, it is morning! :-) 

Well, I've installed it -- but now every time my page loads I get a Windows error pop-up that says something like "Stack overflow at line: 460" -- does this have anything to do with what I just installed?  Everything else works fine.  Figures.  I broke it.

Jeannie - figures, you broke it! LOL!  I think there might be changes that are being made to AR that might not be related to the Blogbar or any other widgets on your Blog.  I'll look into this. I have tried it on 4 Blogs, one website, and here at AR, and checked it with both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.  It's working fine on 100% of these Blogs and Browsers.  I noticed by the comments here that some folks are getting the same error and for others it's working just fine. errrrr!!  Wish I had a simple solution, but you know me, I'll find one if I can.  Wish it would do this to me so I could figure out why?!?    :-)  

Brad, my gosh guy, do you sleep? Can't believe that you have time to work, join all the stuff out there on the Internet, find new gadgets, blog several places and have a family.

By the way...do you like the new social site that you are on? I noticed quite a few of the AR members over there but really don't quite get what makes it different. Maybe, you could blog about it and share your thoughts.

Love all the new stuff you keep coming up with. Thanks

Happy Holidays...spend some time with your family, ok?

Hi Gena - always love your visits and comments!  Yes I sleep! LOL! (at least 1 hour) haha!

There are a few social sites out there, but the "rain" is my main! If you mean the "Buzz" I do see some benefits and think there might be some opportunities there.  We can talk more off-line about it.  They are starting up and have a Big Vision, but still at ground level in product and R&D.  Happy Holidays to you and your family too!! 

I hope Santa brings you tons of BUYERS and SELLERS for Christmas!!  :-) 

To those who may be getting the stack overflow at line 460 error:

I have tried to create the same error that a few of you are getting, and I am unable to do so. I removed the widget, and then replaced it with a Brand New one.  Still unable to get an error with it!

READ THIS COMMENT FROM DIANE AURIT!

"Regarding Mike's "stack overflow" I just got this as well when I came to AR and I don't have the widget so it must be unrelated.  Thanks!"

Thanks Diane, I had a feeling that it might have something to do with the changes and upgrades AR is doing to the network, but I wasn't certain. :-) 

Nick - thanks for the email. I am posting your comment here so others can see it is working outside AR as well. Hope you don't mind! Call it a bit of Link Love in the comments!   :-)

It works great on ALL my blogs and sites. Not sure why some are getting errors:

Thanks again!

added the blogbar to.. www.JustCallNick.com and  www.LightRailAZ.com
Still trying to get the hang of blogging but you have been a great help.

Nick

Brad- I still want to speak to you about video cameras.  But, since I am on the East coast- what is the best time to call you?

Thank you for sharing all of the technology you know and learn!  However, I am starting to feel overwhelmed!!  I feel I need to spend 8 hours a day learning and implementing this stuff rather than being face to face networking.

I need to hire you!!  :)

Rick - Call me anytime that works for you.  With the time difference between us, I'll work around what ever time works best for you.  If you wake me up, I'll have to charge you time and a half! LOL!  9:00pm your time makes it 6:00pm here (i think) that should be a good time during the week, or weekends, I'm pretty open.  Look forward to talking to you soon my friend.

I'm at band practice today from 12:00pm - 2:00pm West Coast time. :-) 

BTW - never sacrifice your face to face networking and doing business, blogging should create more of those opportunities, not take away from them.  (another Bradism LOL) 

I saw the post that Bob put up regarding some errors and issues with editing posts. I experienced this first hand with this post! Maybe some of the errors that some are getting are due in part to these changes.

Read his post:

http://activerain.com/blogsview/299394/Alerts-and-Notifications 

I installed the BlogBar on my sidebar per instructions.  It worked fine, except that every time I clicked on my Blog from my homepage, this error dialog box showed.  If I clicked OK, everything seemed to be fine, and my Blog showed up.  (I have nothing else in my sidebar.)

I uninstalled the blogbar widget until I can find out why the error occurs.  Can you help?  I didn't see anything in the other comments.

Mike - here is the response I got from Diane Aurit:
Regarding Mike's "stack overflow" I just got this as well when I came to AR and I don't have the widget so it must be unrelated.  Thanks!

So Mike, I'm not sure why it's working for most and not others, also not sure why members are getting this error with or without the blogbar widget!  Darn technology, it's a love hate relationship! LOL!  :-) 

Brad, since RSS Pieces does my blog I have always deferred to them as to what should be on my home page.  I am going to ask them about this.  Regarding Mike's "stack overflow" I just got this as well when I came to AR and I don't have the widget so it must be unrelated.  Thanks!

Diane - thanks! I love the Reeses Pieces, they may have another tool that works the same or better, please let us know what they say.  Also, if they do, is it something other rainers could use on their Blogs here?

Thanks for letting me know about the error you got too.  I'm not sure what's causing it, but I didn't think it was the Blogbar widget.  Thanks for confirming that!  :-) 

Just love the new widgit!  Your instructions were awesome and easy to follow.  Got one on my active rain and one on my website!   Deb

Deb - WOOHOO and YIPEE!  So it does work ok for some but not for others.  Santa must think you were nice and not naughty this year! LOL!  Glad it's working for you and I know you and your visitors will enjoy using it! :-) 

Ann Cummings - I haven't a clue what to do with you.  I think a new computer for Christmas is in order!
After reviewing many of the comments here, I can't figure why this would work for some and not for others.  This is the one time I wish it didn't wok for me so I could figure it out.  I have never seen this happen with ANY widget or tool before.  I guess it is what it is, and for some it just isn't meant to be.

At least you can use it to search "My Blog" if you ever need to find this post again in the future!!  LOL! sorry, just trying to make some humor out of a disappointing circumstance for you.  Wish I knew how to resolve this for you.  Maybe just try back in a few days and see if it's a Blogbar. a Browser, or an AR issue.   :-)  

Lisa and Robert  - I am no more amazing than every other member here, you are ALL a fabulous bunch!!  I am just a messenger and another member in the rain.  I hope I will always be remembered as "The Escrow Guy"  who made a difference in the lives of those he touched!

People may forget your name, they may even forget what you've said, but they will never forget how you made them feel!!  :-)

Thanks to you both for your friendship!  Musically Yours, Brad

Thanks Brad, I'll wait a bit before trying again. I did test with and without the blogbar and did not get get an error when I would remove the widget. I'm fairly certain the widget is a big part of the error.

I also notice you have an error on your page 'widgetbox_jsproxy_1001 is undefined' on line 1, character 120.

One of your widgets is not allowing your blog to load properly.

Dane - That's an error that is showing up in Microsoft Internet Explorer.  I don't even have a  "widgetbox_jsproxy_1001" on my page or in my HTML.  It is screwy and just started showing up I guess.

Funny thing is, I have removed stuff from my side bar, and not added anything new at all.  My Blogbar has been on my AR Blog now for the past 3-4 weeks. This is another reason why I use Firefox as my browser.  I have no issues or errors at all ever!  Sorry you're getting that message.  I'll head over to Explorer and see what I can figure out.  Also, line 1 is that of Active Rain, I don't even have access to line 1 in my HTML coding!  Isn't that strange? Hmmm....   :-)

Brad,

You are the master! Hey I did it with calling my child.  Thanks for all you do.  You Rock!

Sharon

Sharon - guess you are one of the lucky ones, some can't get it to work with or without their child!  Are you using Explorer or Firefox as your browser?  This might help answer some questions here.  LMK.  Thanks Sharon  :-)

Ok Brad, It was great seeing you in the office last night.  We took tons of pictures with children of all ages on Santa's lap!  Don't you have one? ??? I am still far behind on all the techno stuff but really appreciate all of it you post and pick out what I want!!  Just like the candy store, you give alot for us to choose from!

Melanie - it was great seeing you last night as well.  Couldn't believe when I walked up to your desk, you were working on an AR post!  That was just too cool!  Sorry we couldn't stay longer, my family was starved!

I did get my photo sitting on Todds  Santa's lap, and he promised I'd get what I deserved for Christmas (not sure what that meant LOL!). 

You just help yourself to my candy store any time you like, that's why it's here.  Thanks for taking the time to leave me a comment. Happy Holidays to you and your family, I hope you have a safe and blessed season! :-)  

Brad I can't keep up with all of the new gadgets and widgets you keep finding for us to get in on.  Thank you.  My to do list is getting away from me thanks to you.  Another great tool.  Thank you!

Linda - just add me to your list (the good one that is) and get to my stuff when you have free time.  Family and Holidays first!!  Thanks for stopping by, missed ya at the Tree Lighting last night in town.  Got to sit on Santa's lap and I picked up my autographed copy of Jeff's Book.  A Great evening on First Street!  Happy Holidays!  :-) 

Nice one Mr. Widget...   By the way I did download Firefox and Activerain pages load much quicker.  Just have an issue with spell check booting me off the internet but now that I'm getting in the habit of correcting as they are underlined instead of hitting the AR spell check it appears fine.

Dan - do me a favor and let Rich Jacobson know about Firefox, I'm not sure he believes me about the speed, load times, and overall performance.  I too had to sacrifice the spell check, but I just click on the words with the red line under them and make my corrections as I go, just like you.  

I rarely use explorer on AR anymore except to see how my final posts will look.  I like to test both platforms for layouts and visual accuracy!  Two different browsers with two entirely different looks and feels!  Thanks Dan, I'm always happy to see your comments here.  

BTW - I've always wanted to ask you, what's the relation between you, Sandra and Ann?  I know you're connected but how?  This is a family place Dan, so let's keep it clean! :-) 

< Ann Cummings - I haven't a clue what to do with you. >

Well that line certainly made me laugh out loud!    Yeah, I'll try it again in a few days and see if that stack error message happens again.

I was bummed about that, as this is the first widget I decided to add to my profile.  Another day!

Ann - are you back again?!?!  OMG!!!  ROFL!!  :-)))))))))))

The odd thing to me is that it works on every outside Blog.  Blogger, Wordpress, Myspace, Cre8buzz, etc.  But why not on only certain AR Blogs?  Really makes me wonder what's going on with that?!?  Give it a couple days, try again, then come back and let me know Ann.  Thanks!  :-)  Maybe it really does have something to do with the changes they are making to the New Outside Blogs that will be available through AR shortly.

Thanks, 3 days ago, I couldn't even sppell bloagg, now I'm getting ready to put a picture in one. -Virginia

Brad - you still can't spell Blog, but that's totally ok! :-)  Glad to see you are pressing on toward the goal.  Keep learning, keep blogging or (bloagging) LOL, and you'll do just great!  There is a lot to learn, it takes some time, but the rewards are phenomenal! Keep up the good work and best of luck to you my friend! :-) 

Found this very interesting!  Looks like they have
some heavy hitters on their side or inside!  :-)

If you have any difficulty with Blogbar and want to be sure it's not their Blogbar product or widget,feel free to contact Eric or Samual at BlogBar, just click here for details. Thanks! :-) 

Kim - you are just too cute! LOL! 

I was scrolling through my comments and thought..."oh goody - there's Kim!"  :-)

Hope you'll like this one, it's worth having on your Blog!

The only reason I gave it two thumbs up, was because that's all I have! hehehe!

Missy - It Works great!  I ran a couple things to see if it would find them in your Blog and it worked perfect.
Here's a little tip for ya because we're buds. 

If you want a space between you Blogbar and your "Buzz" ranking, just go back to "my settings" and do this.

start your html code with <br> and then at the end of the html code, add <br> again.  This will create a space between your graphics. If you want them to be centered like your photo, and line up in the middle of the column, just add <center> and end with </center>.  So it should look something like this:

<br><center><script language="Javascript" type="text/javascript" src="http://www.blogbar.org/blogbar3_en.php?design=pink&amp;site=activerain.com/blogs/missycaulk">
</script><noscript ><a href="http://www.blogbar.org">Blogbar</a></noscript></center><br> 

You can just cut and paste the script above if you like, I used your page to get it, just unbold the text. 

I think you'll like the way it looks on your Blog if you add these tiny changes to the code.  Let me know what you think!

BTW - Love your Christmas Picture with the heart and the Xmas lights.  Let's make those lights shine now that you're out of your Holiday funk!   :-)

ATTENTION!!!   ALERT!!!   ATTENTION!!!   ALERT!!!     ATTENTION!!!  ALERT!!!     ATTENTION!!!    ALERT!!!

I am having some real issues with Internet Explorer and Active Rain.  When I try to type a comment using IE, I only get about every 3rd letter.  It's like my keyboard is not registering the keys I am typing.  This comment seems to be having no problems while I am using Firefox.  Is anyone besides me having issues with IE?  It seems to load pages slow, misses letters I type, Keep getting errors and sends me to the AR home page, and I can't seem to refresh the AR main page.  My post has been stuck in the same position as a feature now for 3 days!

Is everything ok at the rain?  Is anyone else having any type of issues with their Browser or using their Active Rain Blogs?!?  Please let us know if you are privia to this info!  :-)  My firefox browser seems to be working just fine except for the "Featured" thing at Activerain.com!   I love that my post was featured, but the board has not moved in literally 48 hours. Hope everything is ok in the server room!  :-O 

Diana - the text typing happens to me every time I try to use Internet Explorer as my Browser with Active Rain.  I have other issues with IE and Active rain too.  Some time ago, a member here begged me to try Firefox so I did. I use them both now, but I never use explorer while visiting or Blogging on AR. Too Slow, too many errors, the typing thing which makes us look un-educated with the inability to spell, and it takes forever to load multiple pages, not to mention if you ever have it crash, you'll lose everything.  

Firefox is fast, no errors, multiple tabs and pages, and if you accidentally hit the back button or it crashes, it will restore right back where you left off.  Too bad more members don't know about this. Let me know if and when you and Steve need any additional help, I'm here for ya.  I can swing by your office anytime.  :-)