Internet

Tabetai

Posted on May 15, 2013 in Internet | 0 comments

I renewed “Tabetai”, “Kaitai” & “Ikitai” @ HK Mama Benricho (「香港ママの便利帳」) that I helped to create the website and managing!

If you live in Hong Kong or Visiting Hong Kong, please check these sites! *Sorry they are only in Japanese.

My Bilingual Blog!

Posted on May 4, 2013 in Internet | 0 comments

I started blogging in English and now you can read my last 44 entries in English!
The switching button is on the right side bar.

It takes double the time, but it’s good for me to get more used to writing in English, and my husband can read my stuff and then I’m making more possibilities for my non-Japanese speaking friends and families (it’s only the possibility. Whether they read them or not is another story… The door on this side is open for you!). At this point, my basic purpose is fulfilled. But as I imagined at the beginning, I only get a few hits on my English version. Too bad.

But at least I like doing it. There are not many people out there who are doing their blogging in more than 2 languages. So it’s an amazing thing! Nobody else but my hubby and some lovely friends are supporting me for my English blogging, so I’ll try not to forget that and do my best for myself.

Skype took my money too quickly!

Posted on Apr 19, 2013 in Internet | 0 comments

If you are using a free trial Skype Premium service and are going to cancel before the free period finishes, cancel one day before you are supposed to cancel, especially if  you live in North America. Otherwise they will take your money.
In my case, they told me that if I decided not to continue the Premium and cancel it before 17th, they wouldn’t charge me, but on the 16th, they charged me already! Why? I checked the receipt and it said they proceed with charges on the 17th, GMT/UTC, which is London time? In their invoice, they didn’t say anything about GMT/UTC. As I was going to cancel it from the beginning, I wrote it down in my calendar to make sure I canceled it. And then, on the day when I was going to cancel, the fee was already taken and I got surprised and upset. I had no idea that they were setting the due date from another country. They can tell that I live in Canada from my profile and IP address.
I wrote a claim and asked for the refund. I wonder if they would offer a refund!?

….

After 30 hours, they emailed me and told me that a refunding procedure is being processed! Yay!! Skype wasn’t as bad as I thought!
I’m not a heavy user of Skype, even though my mobile sucks when we live in a basement. Very bad signal… Usually I use HK$20-30 (CAN$4) worth per month. And this Premium thing costs HK$74 (CAN$10) per month. So I really didn’t want to pay. Thanks!!

My Works in 2012

Posted on Mar 12, 2013 in Internet, Restaurants | 0 comments

I wanted to review this at the end of 2012, but I haven’t yet. It’s already March!
Here is a list of my works done in 2012 (brand-new websites and renewed websites.).
Thank you, my clients!

Brand-new websites:

Renewed websites:

I was pregnant at the beginning of 2012, so I didn’t take any brand-new customers at that time. So I couldn’t do as much.
You can see my other works and samples before 2012 from this page.

* Some are updated by me and some are updated by clients. So it’s not that everything was made/designed/laid-out by me.

I’m pregnant again, so I decided not take any new projects for now, but I do updates/renewing/adding some functions etc. So please consult with me, if you are already my clients.

After giving birth and settling a bit of my chaotic time, I’m planning to start taking orders of new websites again.
The cost starts from HK$5500 (about CAN$730). Shop sites, multilingual sites, etc…
Normally after signing a contract, I schedule to complete it within 2 months. It sometimes take longer, but I’d like to ask clients to co-operate with me to complete making a website within 6 months at longest. Co-operation means providing materials for the website and deciding on the layout style, etc. I make the best effort of that time, but when the time passes, it won’t be the best anymore as the system, the style and the contents could become old, and I have to upgrade and edit everywhere again. Thank you for understanding.

 

By the way, Cafe Kokage is owned and managed by my friend with her sister. She’s been my close friend since junior high school.
It’s been a year already since it opened. Congrats!
Because I’m in Canada, I haven’t made it there yet. But I would like to introduce the shop a bit here.

In autumn, the shop was introduced and visited by a TV program “The Ekimae TV” in Nagano. In that program, Jo Hisaishi’s daughter, Mai, was introducing the sites of Nakano, my hometown . Jo Hisaishi is from Nakano, Nagano, where I was raised also. She and the program personalities visited the cafe. My father videotaped it on a DVD and sent it to me.
I’ve had a conversation with Mai before. When I helped as a translator at Jo Hisaishi’s concert in Hong Kong, I met her. She was really an easy person to talk to and a very charming lady.

These are screen shots from the program.
They were explaining this cafe as a hidden-away comfortable place, and they liked the coffees and cakes a lot.

They are looking so good! The plates and cups are also very beautiful.
If you live near here, or passing by Nakano, please drop by.

Cafe Kokage
Tel: 0269-38-0011
Address: 935-2 Shinbo, Nakano, Nagano (長野県中野市新保 935-2)
Business hour: 8:00-18:00
Closed: Thursday

Google AdSense

Posted on Mar 5, 2013 in Internet | 0 comments

I heard the top (5%) Google AdSense earners are getting about $300/month or more.

I also have its ad on the bottom-right of this blog, and I only earn about $100/year… hahaha so little. But it’s still nice to get some allowance in my pocket once a year.

To earn that much you not only need to write many high-quality articles but also do so with the theme of your specific blog.  But that’s not what I want to do. More variety of topics are better to include in my life. So no specific themes. My blog wasn’t made to earn cash from Google AdSense. (Too bad…)

The keywords that bring visitors to my blog those are Tim Hortons, Vitamix, Aska, travels (specific destinations), music (specific artists), and recently words related to pregnancy. I can write more on these topics (I just don’t have enough time), so I will try!
Originally I just wanted to write my life down for my record and to show it to my family, and to say what I want to say. So it’s my easy-going journal.

If you tell visitors to click the ads, or click the ads yourself, it sounds like you’ll get a big penalty from Google, so be careful if you are thinking of starting this service.