chrissie

Well even though summer is over, it is never too late to start planning that next vacation, particularly when you add a brew of children to the mix. If you have ever wondered how to plan that perfect family vacation, you may want to check out the Vacationing with Kids blog. Here you will meet Joanne, the author of this blog, who loves to travel with her family but notes that traveling with children presents its own set of challenges. The blog discusses affordable family vacation spots, how to deal with it when one of the brew gets ill, vacation safety, and much more. The blog also has a very personal tone to it so you will get to know Joanne and her family a little bit more, even when they are not in vacation mode. To get some new vacation ideas, check out any of Joanne’s recent bloggeries: Pot Luck, School, Wild Girls, Slumber Party Time, Busy Times, Summer’s Almost Over Bash, My Feet!, Our Pool, Fun Inexpenseive Outings, Almost School Time, and Going to School.

The blog is very easy to navigate, bloggeries are right marginalized and there is a very handy left navigation system. Posts are black text on grayish blue background and links are highlighted in orange. In the left navigation system you will find the about page, family blog link, subscription links, archives going back to November 2006, links menu, business links menu, recommended reading and an extensive categories menu. The categories menu contains all sorts of great vacation ideas such as Affordable Vacations, Disney Planning, Family Vacation Ideas, Food for Vacation, Horseback Riding Fun, MUST HAVE TIPS, Sick Kids on Vacation, Ski Vacation Fun, and Vacation Safety. I don’t see any pictures associated with the bloggeries, and it would be my first recommendation. Otherwise however you will find navigation extremely simple with this blog.

I will go with a 3/5 for this blog. I think the blog needs some ‘oomph’ when it comes to appearance issues. For a vacation blog I think pictures would really appeal to the readership and give more voice to the places Joanne writes about. I also think the AdSense should be incorporated a little differently as seeing it in the middle of some posts is extremely distracting. The blog scores well on content however, the true personal voice to the writing style is definitely appealing in this kind of blog. I also think the niche is unique enough to appeal to a wide demographic – parents! Activity scores are a little low with posts coming in every few days to a week in between, and this blog may fare a little better if it had some new content on a regular basis.

-Chrissie

If you are looking for a personal blog that offers a little tongue in cheek on a whole lot of everything, you may find the Pressing the Flesh Blog a breath of fresh air. This blog offers a running commentary on politics, punditry, pop culture, and propaganada – all sprinkled with a touch of Flesh, which apparently, is suitable for pressing. Not sure exactly what this means, but you will find this blog is definitely of the personal variety, with a very rich personal voice. The blogger, or flesh presser, is a 251 ‘year’ old Pisces male working in the theater industry. You can get a flavor of his most recently pressed flesh through the following bloggeries: Wise words from Molly Ivins, A list of movies I’ll be watching for free, Now I’ll NEVER leave my computer, Hillary can’t win, Obama’s response, Heir to the Hair, Are you experienced? PTF Hearts Russ Feingold, Back from my Retreat, and a Christian Embarrassment. If you can not guess yet, the blog is a political blog with a fresh opinion, and offers the definition of “pressing the flesh” as the shaking of hands and mingling with many people, especially when campaigning for political office, a place for progressives, politics, punditry, propaganda, pop culture, and a palace for those with appoint of view. The author offers a place here where even in the most unsatisfactory exchange, something is exchanged. Now do you get it? You really have to see it for yourself to get the full feel.

Navigation on this blog is fairly straightforward though not the easiest on the eyes. BLoggeries are white text on black background which offers a nice backdrop for the many relevant pictures and videos to stand out. Bloggeries are left marginalized with a right navigation system. In the right navigation bar you will find the About page; ads; Recent Posts menu noted as “Previously Pressed”; and assorted menus for fellow bloggers, ‘ptfners’, muckrakers, and etc. You will also find here the archives menu noted as “Remember When”, search menu for the blog, video clips menu, sponsors menu, and amazons ads. Almost every post contains a relevant picture or video that adds spice to the blog as well. I am not seeing any categories menu at this point, which may help organize the blog a little bit more given its eclectic nature.

I am going to offer this a 2.3/5 for now, as the blog is currently losing marks for all criteria. The appearance really needs some work, I would suggest changing the black background. This makes the pictures stand out and almost take over the blog. With the pictures standing out, the ads are screaming as well.For some blogs I have seen this work, but for this particular one I find it very distracting from the actual content of the blog which is very well written. Because the content is well done, I would suggest more frequent posting as to date, the bloggeries are ranging from every few days to a couple of weeks in between. This is an interesting and fun blog and I think the readers AND the author would benefit from seeing the results of more frequent posting. Navigation marks are straightforward but again I would suggest changing the colors just to make the ads blend in more and navigation within the menus a little easier. Otherwise overall I think this could be a very fun and popular blog if the author spent a little more time with it and made some appearance changes.

-Chrissie

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Bloggeries is going to now review a personal blog that is called Blogging Away in Sosualand (FANTASYLand). The author of this blog is known as Escott, and you can find his blog at . Blogger Escott is retired from the real estate business in the United States and is currently enjoying his retirement by the beach on the North Coast of the Dominican Republic in Sosua. His blog discusses real estate, investing, culture, adjusting to it, travel, and women. In his spare time during his retirement, he opened a restaurant and bar. The description of his blog is that of “wild times of an American living, investing, and playing a third world country where the electric sometimes works, the women are hot, and there is money to be made!”. You can get to know Escott and the Dominican a little bit better through any of his recent bloggeries: Herbert and my favorite sister in Cabrera, My favorite Sister, Cleaning up my computer, Where the River meets the Ocean,  Dominican Style Sunday at the River with the sisters and family, and My New Digs and My New Neighbors.

You will find navigation on Escott’s blog very simple. Bloggeries are right marginalized with posts being blue text on a gray background on one of the blogspot themes. There is a left navigation system that contains some AdSense, an “Areas of the DR that I Love” menu, archives menu with recent posts containing direct links, and links to other aread that Escott is involved with. Each post also contains a myriad of relevant pictures that add to the element of the personal voice in the blog. The blog is very obviously a personal one, and the blogger connects with his readers by adding pictoral representations of every aspect of his life. The reader also has the opportunity to get to know the blogger well through the diverse topic range included in the blog. I don’t see a categories menu in the blog, and given the wide range of topics it includes, it may benefit from one.

I will go with a 3.3/5 on this blog. The blog scores average marks on just about every count. There is nothing wrong with the blog per se, but a few tweaks here and there may make the difference between an average and a great personal blog. The first suggestion would be that the AdSense at the top of the left navigation system be moved a little farther down as the advertising tends to distract from the meat of the blog. Appearance scores are average and the blog does well in the uniqueness category. Activity could use some work as currently the blogging is not very frequent and right now ranges from every couple of days to a week or two in between postings. I also think the content is well done and offers and excellent personal voice to the blog, but there seems to be an excessive use of exclamation points. Overall however, I think this is a fun personal blog that if nothing else, made me want to take a vacation!

– Chrissie