Use Google to Replace Your Favorite Site’s Lacking Searches

By: Myk OLeary

Category: Opinion > Other

Read the article on Judy’s Book.

A lot of folks (myself included) lament over the lack of a good question search for Judysbook. The search searches businesses, products, and sites, but not reviews and questions.

If you want to do a search, you’re limited to the point of uselessness.

Enter Google and their “insite” search. A while back I posted about the best dentist in Seattle. Try searching for “best dentist” under JB Seattle and see what you get back. Go ahead, I’ll wait…

You’re back? Good. Didn’t find my review did you? Tsk tsk tsk JB! Now, you want to know the trick? You want to know how to search JB for the content you want?

Use the “site:” tag for Google. The following Google search pops my review as link number two! “site:http://www.judysbook.com best dentist seattle” The link if you’d like to try it out for yourself ( http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=site%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.judysbook.com+best+dentist+seattle&btnG=Search )

MAKE SURE to add your city name, as google won’t let you do an insite search for judysbook.com/seattle – only judysbook.com. This could be a limiting factor for reviews that don’t have a city mentioned in the text, but the sidebars and other surrounding content of the page as well as seattle being in the URL should be enough to even compensate for those cases. Just keep that in mind.

The Penultimate Seattle Wifi Location Guide

Review of: Caffeinated and Unstrung

By: Myk OLeary

Rating: 5

Read review on Judy’s Book.

By far, the ONLY place you need to go to get wifi location information in Seattle is Caffienated and Unstrung ( http://seattle.wifimug.org/ )

Given that, my choices for Queen Anne (having lived in Lower Queen Anne for years) are:

Lower – Caffe Zingaro ( http://seattle.wifimug.org/index.cgi?CaffeZingaro ). Not as interesting as my Upper choice, but good solid drinks. The pastrys are excellent. Try the berry mazurka or the everything bagle. They have outlets and good strong wifi. The rotated showcased artists are always some of the best I’ve seen.

Upper – El Diablo ( http://seattle.wifimug.org/index.cgi?ElDiabloCoffeeCompany ) by far. They have excellent drinks, great food, and a flavor that is unmatched. They have local artists perform in the evenings, and the outdoor patio is refreshing and a bit isolated.

Close by in Interbay is the best choice for wifi paranoids. QCafe ( http://seattle.wifimug.org/index.cgi?QCafe ) is one of the few wifi access points I know of in the city that uses encryption (used to be WEP, but I think they switched to WPA the last time I was there.) They are a branch of a local church, but don’t let that scare you. They have couches galore, reading materials, a kids play area, and a computer station for laptop less travelers and vagabonds. The food is decent.

Some tips that helped me when I quit smoking

By: Myk OLeary

Category: Opinion > Other

Read the article on Judy’s Book.

1) Let folks know you’ll be grumpy – it’s expected. I was still semi grumpy for months after the fact.
2) Drink LOTS of water. It helped me keep hydrated which made me feel a bit more even keeled. It also gave me something to get over the oral fixation hump (which goes away pretty fast)
3) Take B Vitamins and Calcium. Smoking depletes your body of both, and adding them back makes a huge difference. B Vitamins help our bodies deal with stress. Your body will be majorly stressed by the change and could use the help. Besides, stress is a major contributor to smoking in the first place. If you have enough B Vitamins to deal with stress, the urge to smoke can be curbed.
4) Whatever you do, don’t wear the patch overnight – can you say psychadelic dreams?
5) Change your habits. If you used to eat breakfast in a diner and smoke, eat breakfast at home. Breaking your mind away from the associations to situations where you crave smoking the most is critical to making things easier.
6) If you used to smoke in your car or house and you do go on a break and grab a puff or two, ban yourself from doing so in the car or house. That way once you get back off the break you have more safe havens – and the ones where you’re most likely to be.

Good luck and remember, quitting takes practice…

Hidden Wading Pool And MASSIVE Slide

By: Myk OLeary

Category: Opinion > Other

Read the article on Judy’s Book.

The best unknown wading pool we’ve ever found is on the eastern side of upper Queen Anne ( http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/parks/parkspaces/EQueenAnnePlayfield/wadingpool.htm ) The ones at volunteer park and greenlake are ncie, but too well known. The Queen Anne one ROCKS!

After you’re done, hit up Mayfair Park ( address at http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/parks/parkspaces/playgrou.htm ) and their 20ft slide! Purprtedly the longest in Seattle, this slide is built into the hillside and is SOOO much fun!!!

Redfin – A great new way to buy houses

Review of: Redfin

By: Myk OLeary

Rating: 5

Read review on Judy’s Book.

I originally posted a version of this as a comment to an answer on this original question. I thought about it after the fact and thought it had enough well crafted thoughts that it deserved to stand on its own as a comparable answer.

Realtors often focus only on one narrow description (from a local seller’s point of view).

For buyers (both in town AND out of town) this is a GREAT service. They can research a market in an interface that is only partially rivaled by John L Scott’s High Definition Home Search.

Redfin allows you to focus in on a very specific and definable geographic area using an advanced Google Maps interface without having to put in generic zip codes like most Realtor and MLS tools.

They offer you the ability to include past sales to see historic sales prices for the same area. I know of no consumer facing MLS searches that allow both to be combined into one search.

Their search interface is IMHO, best of breed.

For the tech thirsty and tech enabled, this is an excellent way to buy a house.

Despite what is implied by “real” Realtors, Redfin will handle negotiations and contracts for the buyer, meaning you are no less represented than if you had a “real” Realtor, because WA state requires all Realtors to be licensed, not just “real” ones.

Some dismiss the stated refund as half baked and near impossible to get due to “procuring cause”. One word – hogwash. They only make this refund available to those who make an offer to buy online. To be eligible, you must sign up for and be a registered Redfin Direct user. When you go through this process, you are securing Redfin as your buyer’s agent for the property in question. They present the offer to the seller. Once the seller mutually accepts the offer, the buyer’s agent status it is legally locked into place by that mutual acceptance – which is a legally binding contract.

I can and do see why this sucks for “real” Realtors, but the real estate industry is changing. “Real” Realtors need to change with times or risk being supplanted. (BTW, I don’t use quotes around the word real to slight those in the position, only to differentiate them from the discounted Realtors)

Instead of attacking sites like Redfin and their so called weaknesses, “real” Realtors should focus on the hand held value add service that they provide. Tout your good side and strengths. Building a business on “not being X” is a sure slide to failure as those around you progress.

My sister-in-law is an extremely successful travel agent and survives quite well in an industry that is in a much more advanced state of tech upheaval than yours. She provides value add services that are just not available from websites. She lets her clients know what her services are. They see the value in them and pay a premium.

Sport Restaurant – THE Kid Friendly Seattle Sports Bar

Review of: Sport Restaurant

By: Myk OLeary

Rating: 5

Read review on Judy’s Book.

Can you say 130″ HDTV Plasma? I’m a member of the Puget Sound PSU ALumni Group, and we watch ALL our games here. There is an area just by the TV which is family friendly, AND each table in the main portion of the dining room has its own LCD TV (great for dual matches…)

If the kids melt down, have a spouse stay while they get better in the lobby, where there are several LCD Plasma displays acting as backup. Or, before the game, wear them out at the Seattle Center, Children’s Museum, or Science Center – all within a 10 minute walk.

Also, any kids meal gets you a free golden ticket into their monthly memorabilia drawing.

If that wasn’t enough, they sponsor little leagues by allowing the league to give a number that when referenced by guests on their bill gets 2% refunded back to the league. How many places do that still?? Look at their site for more information.

Parking in the garage under it at Fisher Plaza is $5 for an ENTIRE weekend day.

Not only are they kid friendly in environment and food, they are also pro kid in the community.

Besides, can you say 130″ HDTV Plasma?? I know you can…