Editor's Picks (Photos) for the Month of October 2012

October 2012 an Incredibly Busy Month

The Character

Ryukyu Inu: Okinawa's Pedigree Dog

These photos were the only ones entered in Better Photo's contest this month.

It's nice to hear the judges liked them enough to award Editor's Picks.

That means they may go on to the winner's circle, someday.

Sometimes it seems like a photographer in Okinawa, Japan never gets a day off.

Years ago, I would submit a photo, a day, into a contest.  This month, I was just way-too-busy.

Work Hard and Reap the Benefits

 

There isn't a gold mine in this blogging business.  If there is, I haven't found it, yet.

If some crazy billionaire came along and wanted to buy this blog, I'd sell it at half price.

Shucks, I'd keep on working, for free, as long as I got a driver and secretary, to boot.

 The benefits, I see, are not financial but, they are rewarding.

Knowing a million people came here means something, to me.

They come to see my photos or, read what I write.  I'm not sure but, it's nice having them over.

The Ryukyu Inu dog photo above was sent off to a zoologist, in Italy, this month.

The file I sent was high resolution suitable for printing.

When I emailed it, I apologized for taking so long, as I am eternally busy.

Today, I'd like to share some of the words from my new friend, Alberto, with you:

"Dear Mike,

Don’t worry, you’ve not to apologize, I know what means to be very busy: I’m studying about eighty rare dog breeds of all the world, I’m alone to work on this project and I’ve to take care of all the aspects of the work with my means only, sometimes I nearly lose hope.

Your kind words and your interest for my research are encouraging and touch me very much!

The photo is perfect: the dogs are perfectly represented also they are beautiful, exactly what I need."

Alberto initially found the photo on this blog during an internet search. 

His reply encourages me.  I think, we both love what we do, even if there's no money in it.

He gets to eat lasagna, more than I do.  That's Italian, right ?

So, I envy him, somewhat.

Another rewarding surprise came along during the month of October.

Mike's Ryukyu Gallery was included in Travel Bloggers Worth Following.

That tells me, for sure, at least someone comes by here to look at pictures.

It is nice to know that other folks in the travel blog-writing-world recognize your work.

Sometimes Travel Writing Pays

 

It's the law. Before I send you over there, I have to disclose something.

The good people over at Yahoo pay me for this so, it has to be professional.

Here's my latest international travel article:

5 Things to Know About UNESCO Zakimi-Jo Castle 

 Suppose you and a few million of your friends went over to see me at Yahoo !

Wouldn't that be neat ?

They'd pay me, even more, I bet.

See Okinawa on YAHOO! Voices

Travelers Shouldn't Miss These Events

The Ryukyu Dynasty Parade and Coronation Ceremony take place in late October

through the first week of November.

The good people over at YAHOO! Voices pay me to write travel articles.

So, if you can't come here, you could just go see Okinawa as a virtual traveler.

Get some popcorn and a bunch of beers.  Then invite some friends to go along with you.

Take a look at my recently published article:

Enjoy a Coronation Festival the Ryukyu Island Way

Those lucky enough to already be on the island of Okinawa can do this.

Join the quarter million crowd at the Great Naha Tug-O-War this weekend !

A story about this Guinness World Record event was published at Yahoo, too.

It was a test, to see if I could be a Featured Contributor for international travel.

My assignment was to teach a traveler how to get here from a major international airport.

They would be making a one day trip to some event.

Where to go, what to wear, what to eat and any other 1st hand advice were important.

So, I recommended FamilyMart for food and drinks.  Hah !

There ain't exactly time for five star hotels and steak dinners during these one day affairs.

It got me the Featured Contributor gig because I told it like it is, in my own voice.

That's what yer s'posed ta do for Yahoo! Voices, 'cept I ain't allowed to misspell, or cuss.

So, I don't.

Read: Guinness World Record Tug of War in Okinawa, Japan

RELATED POSTS AND LINKS TO THESE EVENTS:

Okinawa's Guinness Tug-O-War: The Rope (Photos)

 Photography Tips: How to Shoot the Guinness Tug-O-War

 The Naha Tug-of-War 那覇の大綱引き

Recently Published Photos and a Little RyukyuMike Secret

My favorite, of five photos published this week at YAHOO.COM is this one.

That's just because, ahem-ahum, I sneaked one of my favorite granddaughters in there. Hah !

Then, a few hours ago, this Coconut Crab grabbed some exposure over at

ENVIRONMENTAL GRAFFITI

I opened up my Adobe Elements and flipped the photos over so they face the other way.

And, what I'll do next is put them on Flickr.

Then make links back to the nice folks who published them for me.

That's one of the little secrets a Blogger can use to reach a million views.

There are a bunch more ways to get there. 

But, they have to stay secret awhile longer.

Infographic: Maybe It's Time for A Tick in the Bellybutton Dot Com

Every day I like to check and see what Google Stats are trying to tell me.

Today I was seeing all these things people are using to find stuff on my blog and decided I'd make an infographic out of it. 

So, I took a screenshot to prove, I DON'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP.

People use Bing, Yahoo and Google to search.

They are looking for stuff like birds, flowers, dogs, fish, festivals and funerals.

But, most people coming to Mike's Ryukyu Gallery, today were searching for

ticks on the bellybutton !

Do you think I should grab the domain name

TICK IN THE BELLYBUTTON DOT COM

Before somebody else gets the idea ?




POSTS ABOUT TICKS AND BELLYBUTTONS:


SWISS ARMY KNIFE PRODUCT REVIEW

SWISS ARMY KNIFE, TICK (PHOTOS) NO BELLYBUTTON THIS TIME

TICK IN A BELLYBUTTON (PHOTO) JUST WHAT I NEEDED ! 

VISIT MY HOMEPAGE FOR THE PHOTO OF THE DAY

Okinawa, Japan Huh? A Typhoon in June? Gimmie a Break !

Almost forgot there's one of those tropical storms that get recognized as typhoons blowing around somewhere in Southeast Asia and I told the Mrs that I'd better post something about it here.

As you can see, I'm high and dry.  The wind is blowing and some rain but, I don't think the typhoon is really gonna whack us like that last one did.  It's just a baby typhoon and doesn't look like it's coming close enough to Okinawa to do any harm.

Here are a few links for those who would like weather maps and forecasts that seem fairly decent:

This one is all in english and was provided by TIME 2 PCS a pretty cool site I just found.

Another, I hope works for folks around the globe, comes from YAHOO WEATHER I like this site because they somehow, know Nago City is the closest weather station to me.  They even call the place Nago-shi, like maybe they speak Japanese, or something cuz that's the way folks talk around here.  But, the site is in english and even says the strongest winds will be around 40 MPH.  Gimmie a break!
That's not bad at all.  Last typhoon we had winds over 100 MPH and my house is still standing.

It's Friday night here.  Beer drinking time.  So, I gotta go.  I'll update if there's any drastic changes in the weather, later.  Have a great weekend, wherever you are and don't worry about Okinawa and our l'il typhoon, OK ?


UPDATE:  SATURDAY MORNING AS THE TYPHOON MOVES AWAY FROM OKINAWA.   GROAN. 

THESE WEATHER PREDICTOR-PEOPLE ARE NUTS !!!

FIRST, LET ME POST ANOTHER LINK FOR YOU.

THE US EBMASSY has a fairly decent TIPS FOR TYPHOONS list and a few good links that are updated frequently so, it's worth checking into.  Just poke around all the buttons and eventually you get to see up to date weather maps.  Some sites, you may have to wait a few seconds for your Google Translator thingy to kick-in but, it's worth the wait, I think.

Now, I don't have any kinda fancy wind-speed-meter so, I have to give you my update from the seat of my pants.  Here's the real-deal coming to you live from on the ground in Kin Cho Kin Okinawa, Japan.

I left the house about 9AM Japan Standard Time (JST) to come to my office. It was only sprinkling a bit of rain but windy.  I debated whether or not to carry an umbrella.  I have a collection of twisted umbrellas (sounds like a rock band huh?) from previous typhoons.  Just before leaving the house to walk here, I told the wife maybe I'd take one of my twisted umbrellas in case the wind died down and I'd need it to walk back home in the rain.

Halfway to the office, it started raining hard.  So, I opened the umbrella.  The rain was blowing every which way you can imagine and a few places you probably never would have guessed.

The dangbanged wind, that wasn't supposed to exceed about 35MPH, according to the knucklehead weather-persons, decided to exceed the speed limit.  It took my umbrella and twisted it some more, turned the contraption inside out and almost poked one of my eyes out before I wrestled it to the ground and stomped on it so I could hogtie the damn thing and get it under control.

That wind had to be doing 50MPH or better.  I can't show you any photos because I try to keep this site family friendly.  I made this windspeed estimate by the seat of my pants.  They are hanging from my REDNECK COOLING TOWER right now while I sit on top of a stack of old newspapers hoping they'll soak up all the water from my underwear before it gets to the felt upholstery covering my barstool.

Once the seat of my pants gets dry enough, I'll switch them and let the underwear dry.  Meanwhile, I hope no customers come by here looking to buy a drink. This typhoon won't harm anyone.  It's just a little stronger than expected with plenty of rain.  I really wish it would give me a break !


VISIT MY WEBSITE FOR THE PHOTO OF THE DAY

WEBSITES FOR DUMMIES

LOOK OUT WORLD !   THERE'S THIS BOOK I GOT THE OTHER DAY FOR DUMMIES

I TRIED DOING IT ON MY OWN, WITHOUT ANY BOOK HELPING ME.  EVEN HAD FIVE, MOSTLY USED COMPUTERS, STACKED-UP IN WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN A WORKABLE DESIGN BUT, SPARKS STARTED FLYING AND THE ELECTRIC BREAKERS KEPT GETTING REAL HOT AND TURNING THE POWER OFF ON THE WHOLE HOUSE.

ACCORDING TO SOME GUY NAMED DAVID A. CROWDER, I WILL LEARN TO:

1. PLAN AND DESIGN A GREAT-LOOKING WEB SITE

2. WORK WITH HTML, CSS AND NAVIGATION PLANS

3. COLLECT AND CREATE CONTENT THAT GETS ATTENTION

4. TAKE MY SITE ONLINE AND ATTRACT VISITORS WHO COME BACK


AS SOON AS I GET CAUGHT UP DEVELOPING MY PHOTOS HERE'S THE PLAN:

READ AND MEMORIZE #1 AND #3 BECAUSE THEY SOUND IMPORTANT, RIGHT ?

AS FAR AS #2 IS CONCERNED:

HTML, HECK, I'VE HAD HOTMAIL FOR OVER 10 YEARS. NO SENSE READING THAT.

AND ALL MEN ARE NATURAL NAVIGATORS. EVEN WOMEN KNOW THAT.

 SO, WHAT'S THE SENSE IN BEATING A DEAD HORSE TO DEATH, ALL OVER AGAIN ? 

AND #4  HAH, I ALREADY GOT THAT DONE, PARTLY, ANYWAY, I THINK.

MY WEBSITE'S ALREADY ONLINE, AIN'T IT ?


IF ANYBODY WANT'S THE CHAPTERS FROM "BUILDING A WEB SITE FOR DUMMIES" THAT COVER HTML AND GOING ONLINE (#2 and #4) I CAN RIP THOSE PAGES OUT OF THE BOOK AND MAIL THEM TO YOU.

JUST HIT CONTACT ME ON MY HOMEPAGE. MAKE SURE TO USE  GMAIL OR YAHOO MAIL, THOUGH.

IF YOU USE HOTMAIL THEY'LL THINK YOU'RE A REAL DUMMY !


MORE LATER.....