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Buzz #11: Obblogatory dot com

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I do have a confession to make… I’ve been working on another blog… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it to happen. I tried to resist the temptation… but I enjoy that blog, too. Am I too timing you? Am I? No, please don’t look at me that way! You always knew I had other blogs, we never agreed that it was to be an exclusive arrangement, did we? Look, I’m sorry…

In 2007, I started doing a few BlogBuzzes for people, and in 2008 I am continuing my BlogBuzz. You’ll see it is a great way to advertise your blog around the net, and I get my blog seen on your blog… If you’re still interested, drop me a line in the contact form. Do complete the opp first. The buzzes can be short or long, but at least a minimum of 50 words, please!

Yes, it’s time for a BlogBuzz. This time I’m doing it for one of my own blogs:

obblogatory

Actually, most of the content at Obblogatory was originally found at this blog, but I moved it over in 2006 when I decided to refound the whole InvestorBlogger thing. Of course, little did I know what a PR5 meant at that time, and how moving the blog would blow the entire thing up in my face! Oh, well. Such are regrets.

Well, Obblogatory is a general blog with categories as wide ranging as Taiwan, Entertainment, Blogging, Shopping and much more… it’s fun to write and I have no expectations it will ever be high profile like this one. But I enjoy writing it. Despite that, I know that there are a lot of improvements I could make:

  • 1. Change that header image: I have no way for people to know what the blog’s name is!
  • 2. The side bar is a real mess: I have reorganized it several times, and it’s still a mess. Worse: it leaves out important stuff!
  • 3. I use almost no SEO stuff at all apart from the friendly URLs… I really have to use tags, summaries and much more. One day, I’ll get around to fixing that.

They say your worst critic is in the mirror, and that’s true! Oh, well. Anyway, if you fancy a more general blog on other stuff, that’s the one! Check it out!

And that’s it for Blog Buzz #11! Drop me a line if you want one! I’ve got two more in the pipeline right now!

Drive in Taiwan – if you DARE!

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Would you dare… if you saw this on the road?

I was just chatting to some new friends who live in the same building as we do. They just came to Taiwan a few months ago, and we were comparing how we did the driving tests (esp. the written paper!). In Taiwan, if you don’t bring an international driving license with you, if you are not from a small group of countries, to drive here you need to resit your test.

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Check out more posts about blogging, tech and money from a blogger who DARES to live and drive in Taiwan… subscribe to the RSS feed or email newsletter. There’s a lot more in the Random Walk to Wealth on InvestorBlogger dot com.
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It’s quite fine to do this and not much of a problem if you already drive, and it’s available in a number of languages online! This is a great convenience to the hundreds of thousands of visitors and foreigners living here who need to take the test but can’t wait long enough to learn to read Chinese. Try it yourself!

The motorcycle test is similar but today I was watching the news when I saw this fascinating video taken on a small phone camera: watch then comment! It’s amazing. You have to watch the entire video of this woman driving her motorcycle at night… it’s freaking awesome… She did end up in hospital though!

This is just one example of the craziness on the roads of Taiwan! I just wish I had one of those new Flip Camera’s that John is blogging about:

The main reason the Flip is so popular is because it’s so inexpensive. The 2GB unit, which can record an hour of video at 640×480x30fps, can be had for less than $150. That makes the Flip pretty much an impulse purchase.

I’m sure I could get some excellent videos of drivers in Taiwan with it! Or at least my co-pilot could! My hands are superglued to the steering wheel most of the time!

Now, of course, if the rider had a Flip, she could make a blog of her own to highlihght some of her techniques and tips!