A special mention by LTAM...

Thank you to the nice people at Lawn Tennis Association Malaysia (LTAM) for the special mention of this humble blog on their website.

Hopefully my little contribution will help in some way to put Malaysia on the tennis world map.

The name HCFoo is no stranger to the local blog scene. HCFoo dedicates her blog solely on tennis, featuring the gossips and tournaments that surrounds it.

HCFoo will also be covering the Malaysian Open (ATP 250) rather extensively. Such work done by our fellow Malaysians are much appreciated in a bid to further promote and create interest in the game.

Welcome to the club HCFoo!

HCFoo's Tennis Blog can be viewed at http://www.hcfoo.com/

Hcfoo's page rank

Finally there's a slight change to my page rank (PR). After changing to my custom domain, my PR dropped to zero (0) and has been stagnant for months.

At least now it has increased to PR1 and hopefully will increase more by early next year. In the meanwhile, I'll just continue writing, less paid posts and more good posts.

My paid posts earning

Since last month, I've been so-called actively writing paid posts again. I must admit that paid posts are not easy to earn as you need to be discipline and 'full of writing ideas' all the time.

Last month, I targeted RM500 from paid posts and I surpassed that amount.

These are the break down of my humble paid posts earning (too little to mention in US$):

• PayPerPost (RM320.40)
• Smorty (RM113.40)
• Sponsored Review (RM177.84)

On average I write less than 30 paid posts per month which means a paid post per day and using between 2-5 minutes to do so.

I guess writing paid posts makes me more discipline as I continuously finding topics to talk about as well as to commit to the deadlines set by the blog advertisers. It is even more easier to keep the momentum going when you set a targeted amount of paid posts you want to write that particular month.

Popular words used as blog titles

When I changed my blog title from 'hcfoo's blog' to 'Rambling thoughts of a 30 something' recently, my intention was simple. I don't want to sound too narcissistic by mentioning my name all the time. A lot of bloggers like to use the word 'ramblings', 'rants', 'thoughts', 'diary', etc as their titles.

So I'm pretty curious of what are the popular words used as blog titles. So, this blogger, Elliot C. Back actually did a research and came up with top 100 words most widely used as blog titles.

1. blog
2. life
3. weblog
4. world
5. from
6. journal
7. news
8. thoughts
9. with
10. daily
11. girl
12. mind
13. what
14. this
15. diary
16. musings
17. online
18. about
19. just
20. ramblings
21. random
22. your
23. adult
24. love
25. content
26. little
27. that
28. home
29. blue
30. time
31. marketing
32. blogs
33. right
34. digital
35. things
36. city
37. rants
38. internet
39. like
40. free
41. journey
42. words
43. business
44. more
45. notes
46. place
47. real
48. house
49. american
50. view
51. stuff
52. music
53. black
54. chronicles
55. tales
56. times
57. diario
58. dreams
59. another
60. adventures
61. inside
62. corner
63. other
64. photoblog
65. confessions
66. book
67. living
68. soul
69. head
70. heart
71. search
72. truth
73. live
74. reality
75. good
76. brain
77. here
78. vida
79. geek
80. through
81. eyes
82. thought
83. blogging
84. politics
85. personal
86. page
87. site
88. days
89. dream
90. john
91. thinking
92. have
93. left
94. road
95. something
96. lost
97. project
98. into
99. media
100. where
101. design
102. conservative
103. star
104. mundo

So, is your blog title using some of the words listed here?

Good Blogging Tips

Che-Cheh tagged me with this meme. Read my blogging tip at #19.

-Start Copy-
It’s very simple. When this is passed on to you, copy the whole thing, skim the list and put a * star beside those that you like. (Check out especially the * starred ones.)

Write your own blogging tip for other bloggers.Try to make your tip general.

1. Look, read, and learn. http://www.neonscent.com/***

2. Be, EXCELLENT to each other. http://www.bushmackel.com****

3. Don’t let money change ya! *****

4. Always reply to your comments. http://chattiekat.com/****

5. Blog about what you know & love. http://sugar-queens-dream.blogspot.com****

6. Don’t use filthy language-buy a dictionary. http://shinade.blogspot.com***

7. Blog about something educational http://climateofourfuture.org**

8. Be yourself; others will follow http://sfgirl-thealiennextdoor.blogspot.com

9. Don’t have too many blogs that will become a chore to maintain http://cubicledenizen.blogspot.com*

10. Keep it simple, user-friendly, interesting and organised! http://erishaling.blogspot.com***

11. Keep the blog simple and sweet!! http://www.leslieho.com **

12. Share with others your thoughts and don’t be shy! http://groovy-olives.com/blog

13. Never ask for link exchange. Blog hop to increase traffic. http://www.jessieling.com*

14. Blog about something uniquely you. Or post some unique pictures http://bernardchan.net

15. Avoid too lengthy posts e.g. less than 200 words if you can help it. http://www.mylongkang.com*

16. Avoid Doing Tags.. clementwongpy.blogspot.com

17. Remember to go to the toilet when nature calls, don’t just sit glued to the computer or you’ll shit in your pant! http://wuching.blogspot.com

18. Blog hoping is fun. You’ll never know what gem you’ll find in the blogsphere. che-cheh.com/

19. Top 5 blog turn-ons: personal stories, parenting, tech, food and politics. Top 5 blog turn-offs: sponsored posts, meme, money-making blogs, porns, religious fanatics. http://hcfoo.com/

–End Copy-

I’m tagging… anyone in my blog links who wants to share his/her blogging tips.

back for good & updates on Wimbledon 2007

OK, I'm away quite long enough from the blogosphere and I guess this time I'm back for real again. There's a lot of blogs reading and comments posting to be done today. So, I'm going to keep this post short.

There's nothing more important to blog about than a post on the Wimbledon, right? Yes, another battle between Nadal and Federer tonight. Fedex might be playing on his best surface and the favourite to win but I'm putting my bet on Nadal. Hope Nadal will break Fedex dominance!

missing in action

First of all, let me apologize for the lack of posts last week. In fact, totally no post since Sunday.

I've been very busy compiling data and preparing for a seminar for my research project since the new semester will reopen in July. Also, I've been very busy meeting new friends online and offline, playing pool and partying lately, which I normally wouldn't do.

My apology if I have not been able to check out your blog but I'll definitely spend more time this weekend to catch up with what I've been missing for the last week.

I have a lot of posts to be published here and share with you. See you guys later on Friday!

the face behind the blog - hcfoo

I've been tagged by Anthraxxxx again! But thank you because I finally have a chance to show my cute (when I was a kid) and ugly (now) photos here. I don't have much choices of photos as most of them are in my hometown. So I'll try to use whatever is available.
I'm HCFoo and it's my real name, my initial. I was born in Kuantan and spent all my young and teenage years inside the shell. I'm the eldest in my family but I'm also the naughtiest. I grew up among kaki mahjong because my so-called god grandmother (who was also my mum's boss until she took over the hair salon business) organized daily gatherings and games behind the shop. Despite all the distraction and helping my mum washing clients' hair (all women) at the salon, I did find time to study.

So, I managed to get through Form 6 with flying colours and got into a local university of my choice. However, I did not enjoy studying because I regretted choosing the course. I chose the course based on my result and its popularity and not my interest. I spent most of my time partying in KL and PJ and discovering the magic of the cyberspace. I would say that the best moment I had in the university was getting to know my housemates. Perakians are really nice and friendly.

I've been in the educational publishing line for many years now. Although I've tried other industry (including chemical and logistic), education and publishing remain dear to my heart. I hope to further pursue my studies so that I can serve the country one day. It's always my ambition and passion to lecture in a local university. But hey, I'm not a nerd or a bookworm.

I don't have much interest. I enjoy non-fiction books, blogging, tennis, history, jazz, concerts and live music, reality shows and documentaries.

Well, as for other personal stuff, it's better remain unsaid. Now, I'm going to tag anyone in my blogroll who are interested to reveal themselves. Anyone?

writer's block & other updates

10 reasons why I have nothing to blog these days

1. Working long hours.
2. Seldom yam char with friends because on diet. No gathering means no topics to discuss about.
3. Don't really watch television. So don't really know what's going on television.
4. Not much outing because no free passes, concerts or events going on recently.
5. Only tennis is on my mind. Can't blog too much tennis though or else I will bored everyone to death.
6. Don't really read The Star these days. So nothing to discuss about.
7. Spending too much time on writing manuscripts after work. So I'm exhausted by the end of the day to blog.
8. I enjoy reading blogs and writing comments more than updating mine.
9. I'm having writer's block.
10. I have no life?

Nah, this weekend was rather amazing. I have life indeed. I attended an amazing party on Friday and it was my first party in two years. But no details about the party I attended because not so appropriate as some of my students read my blog. What would they think of their tutor later.

And I managed to catch Miss Universe 2007 on Star World channel 70. Miss Philippines (not Miss Kangkang, mind you) whom I blogged about recently won herself Miss Photogenic. Congrats! Miss Japan is not bad but I think Miss Korea is more beautiful. But I guess saying that you love children and enjoy teaching will win you the crown. However, for me the most outstanding contestant should be given to Miss USA. Despite a slip while doing the evening gown session and being booed by the Mexicans (for political reasons), she remained calm and graceful.

While watching Miss Universe, I saw the promo of The Ellen Degeneres Show. Finally we get to see the talk show on local television network. It will be shown on Star World channel 70 on Monday at 8 p.m. starting this week.

Blog Apocalypes - My Last Post!

PapaJoneh, thanks for remembering me. And thanks for tagging me too.

I know this might not be the end of the blogosphere or hcfoo.com because I'm planning to write more posts tonight.

But seriously, if this is my last post, I'm going to make full use of it by writing my last sponsored post! Haha... just kidding. Of course no way, man.

Ok, here it goes my last post:

Firstly, I want to say I love all my friends, bloggers and strangers who dropped by my blog everyday. Thank you guys for taking your precious time to read and comment in my humble and yet narcissistic blog.

I can't believe the blogosphere is coming to an end now. It's pretty devastating because I'm not going to be able to share my opinion and experience with you anymore. The worst thing is I'm not going to be able to drop by and see how you blogger friends are doing anymore. You know what? I enjoy reading your blogs more than writing mine.

Well, I think that's it. Sad things shouldn't be bragged. It's better to be nice and short.

So, until then, see you guys again, whether in real life or after life.

custom domain name with a Blogger account

Currently I'm using a custom domain (hcfoo.com) but my blog is still hosted by Blogger. After purchased the domain name at GoDaddy, I tried to configure the settings but failed many times because both Blogger help site and GoDaddy support team gave me different information.

How do I use a custom domain name on my blog?
How do I create a CNAME record for my custom domain?

In the end Blogger help site is correct but what I did wrong was I typed hcfoo.com instead of www.hcfoo.com in my Blogger setting (under Publishing).

By the way, GoDaddy provides FREE host and email (I set mine as blogger@hcfoo.com) but I decided to just keep the free host since I'm using Blogger as my host.

Updates: After a couple of hours my blog failed again. I reported the matter and received an instruction from GoDaddy support teamto rectify the problem.

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for contacting Online Support. You can forward your domain directly to an IP address by modifying the A record for your domain. Please follow the directions below to accomplish this:

First, log into your customer account:

. Go to the Go Daddy Account Login Page
. Log in using your account username (which may be the same as your customer number) and password

If you have trouble logging in, our password reset form may help you. You can find this form through the following link:
Account Retrieval Page

Once logged in, follow these steps:

. Select 'Manage Domains' from the 'Domain Names' menu at the top of the page
. Click on the domain you wish to Forward (Setup an A-Record) for
. Click the '+' next to "Total DNS Control" from the menu. (This option will only be available for domains Parked or Hosted on our servers)
. Click the 'Total DNS Control And MX Records' link
. Enter the IP address for the '@' Zone Record Value and click 'Save'

Please allow 1 hour for the Zone File to be updated with this new information. Your domain will then physically point to the IP address entered.

Sincerely,
Online Support
Technician

It worked. Hence it shows that the instruction in Blogger is incomplete and user needs to enter and divert to Google's IP address which is 72.14.207.121 in the A(Host) in Total DNS Control.

blogs are not just for criticizing the government

When I first started blogging, I would sometimes blogged about the government whether in a positive or negative way. I would also read blogs written by the opposition parties not because I'm interest in their propaganda but mainly because I wanted to know what's not debated in the local newspapers and tv news.

At first I enjoyed reading their blogs. However, after some time I told myself not to read anymore because I was getting sicked of their criticisms. When one of the opposition party leader criticized the banners in UM (I'm sure you know what I'm talking about), I was pissed off by their negativity and told myself not to read their blogs again.

Yes, I'm a pro government but I'm also a rational citizen and voter. So when recently the Tourism Ministry labelled women bloggers as liars I condemned his remark too. If you have been reading the papers in these couple of days, you would not appreciate the comments (perhaps I should use the word 'attacks') by the Johor Bahru MP and Hulu Langat MP too.

Instead of making enemy with Malaysian bloggers, I suggest the government to start learning about the blogosphere and find ways to seek opportunity and gain support from bloggers instead. Many of us are more interested in learning how to make money online and discussing about the latest happenings and personal lives rather than criticizing the government. At least I am. And most of the bloggers in my community too.

what should I consider before shifting to new custom domain

I'm actually planning to get a custom domain for my blog. However there are a few things I must consider before I do that.

Instead of paying extra money for a hosting plan, I'll continue to use Blogger's service to host all my contents but displaying my own custom domain. However, I'm not sure if this will affect my current Page Rank (PR). My PR is already very low and I don't want to start from 0 again.

I'm also not sure if the changes will affect my links especially in Technorati. I've just started using Technorati recently, so I think I'll be okay to rebuild my links again.

It's about time for me to use my own domain. My current blogspot url disallowed me from writing certain sponsored post. Besides I don't think there's a better way to spend my PayPerPost earning than a custom domain.

flickr slideshow html script

As per Sam' request, I'm sharing the links to the sites where you can generate Flickr slide show as you can see in my previous post.

First of all, you need to have an account with Flickr to do this. After uploading all your files, remember to tag your photos. For example, in this slide show of mine, I tagged all the photos as "booksale" and I grouped them into a set. (As long as you have the tags, it's okay if you don't group and organize them).

Then go to this website or this to generate your flickr slide show.

1. User NSID - Go to idgettr to get your user NSID by keying in your Flickr username. For example my user NSID is 78324041@N00.

2. With that user NSID, your set ID is the number on your user NSID. For example, mine is 78324041.

3. Lastly, key in the tags of the photos you want to show in your slide show. For example, mine is booksale. I have tagged all the book photos with the same tag.

4. Click 'generate' or submit' and there you go! Copy and paste the HTML code in your blog.

I think just like youtube, you will not be able to shrink the size of the frame. Any problem, please leave a comment here.

Let's share your photos with us in your blog!

it's been awhile...

Yes, it's been awhile since I last update my blog. Busy preparing for exams, doing assignments, presentations and proposal for my research for next semester as well as some publishing work.

I'm going to organise a workshop next month for PMR and UPSR students in UM. However, this workshop is not your typical exam workshop. I'm using an alternative approach, which is fun-learning based. The main tool I'm going to use in this workshop is crossword puzzle. More details will be posted in this blog and in my wowmedia blog soon (end of this month).

In this workshop, I'm going to take the opportunity to introduce a new series of books which is based on learning through classroom crossword.

Anyone interested in my workshop or my books can contact me via email or mobile no at 012-3720 858.

any MPs or MCA leaders with a blog?

I've been a regular reader of Kit Siang's blog ever since he started one in August. Although I'm a pro-government, I think his blog is very informative and sometimes rather controversial. In fact I do buy some of his ideas and comments based on his intelligent arguments. However there are also times when I felt his arguments are merely his own propaganda.

Whatever it is, there is no doubt that the blogosphere is a good place for politicians to buy votes and gain support from the public. How I wish local MPs or MCA leaders will start their own blogs too so that I can slam them back with complaints. Maybe they don't need a blog because there is nothing to mention about.

my first blogging experience

Finally a new blogger is born. Someone said that blogs will replace emails one day. I believe this will be a good way to share my thoughts with family, friends and strangers. Besides, I think this is a very good platform for me to sharpen my writing skill.

I've just finished my first semester in Master in Educational Management. I'm really looking forward for the coming semester in December. I'm not sure what's gonna be my choice of project but I'm really looking forward to learn more about the possibility of TQM (Total Quality Management) implementation in schools in Malaysia. Right now, I'm doing a lot of reading particularly on the current state of education system in Malaysia and of course the every single detail about the works by the Father of TQM, Edwards Deming.

There's a lot to share about my passion in education and publishing. Until next time ...