May's Quick Tip: If you think that something small cannot make a difference, try going to sleep with a mosquito in the room.

May's Quick Tip: If you think that something small cannot make a difference, try going to sleep with a mosquito in the room.
Anonymous

April's Quick Tip Writing quote
"You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club." Jack London

Update: My husband is coming down May 5 and we will be leaving May 15. The condo is on the market. My mom will stay with us until she's settled in her assisted living apartment. I'm actually looking forward to having her close by. Seriously!

March's Quick Tip

Join the community. You'll have so much fun. Join the forum; add pictures; add some facts. It's great to get to know people!

February's Quick Tip

Check out the home page for items that are being searched for. Not only will you get a lot of reads it will give you ideas if you've possibly run out of them. I know sometimes I feel as if I'm drowning in products:)

January's Quick Tip

Please use Word or Viewpoints spell check. I'm reading some great reviews. We all make typos and use wrong grammar and mispell words. It is hard though to have a consumer read its for it's or ive for I've. I'll be glad to help anyone (I'm not an expert by any means but just sometimes another set of eyes helps.) by proofreading your review. My e-mail me is jobythebay@yahoo.com.

We love to travel as you may have discovered. Our current adventure was 4 days in San Francisco to see my stepson and his serious (yeah) girlfriend. She and I are did a "girly" thing Monday. We're going to a spa. Yes, I'll review it...someday! I'm drowning in reviews.

From there we flew to L.A. where our daughter lives. We're here for 9 days waiting for her to have time to see us. For those following she flew by helicoptor and then a Leer Jet to San Francisco last night to harvest a heart!

Then we went on a 2-week cruise Panama Canal cruise that stopped in Aruba, Costa Rica, Curacao, Alcapulco, Panama Canal, Huatulco (that's Mexico too), and Caba San Lucas. Came via San Juan.

DECEMBER'S QUICK TIP

Building 3 pounds of muscles gets you a 6 to 7% increase in your resting metabolic rate.

NOVEMBER'S QUICK TIP

I just learned that we can add more than 3 pictures to our reviews. There are two ways this can be done. After you write you place your piece on the site leave the title blank. Hit save as draft and scroll to the bottom. You'll see that even though you've added 3 pictures it will now say you can add another one. Keep doing that! The other way is to put in a title and save it as a draft and then click edit. Scroll down and you'll be able to add more pictures. Have fun.

OCTOBER Quick Tip We have a forum. Come join in! We need to hear from everyone. Feel free to ask questions. You'll learn what's up at Viewpoints http://groups.msn.com/ViewpointsCommunityChat Have fun!

September Quick Tip

Have fun writing. If it becomes a chore you will burn out quickly. Write about what you like and write because you enjoy the process and enjoy sharing your experiences with others.

August Tip

Don't be intimidated by the option of adding pictures. Not everyone owns a digital camera and not everyone even has the product they are reviewing anymore. There are some items - like a hospital - that you probably wouldn't have a picture of. My point is go ahead and write and if you don't have a picture or don't want to add one that's ok.

July's Quick Tip

At Viewpoints scads of information isn't necessary. I know as a consumer I want the essentials but I don't have to know how high the grass is at Central Park. Having said that I also know that as a consumer I need more than one sentence to "get" what the product is like. I want to know if you like a product or not but I also want to know why you did or didn't like it. To make a review helpful to consumers just a sentence or two makes a difference.

Please scroll down to more of my monthly quick tips.

Who am I?

I am a wanderer. My husband and I travel a lot. Summer of 2007 we spent 15 weeks traveling the country pulling a travel trailer. We try not to go to the same place twice. Our most exotic trip was to the Galapagos Islands. The most relaxing was sailing in the British Virgin Islands. We went on our 3rd cruise January 5 (Celebrity Summit if you'd like to read the review) through the Panama Canal and England in March.

My best hikes include the 4 Peaks in Acadia National Park and Nevada Falls in Yosemite National Park. We got lost in Grand Teton National Park (no joke).

My roles include mom to 2 terrific adult kids, 27 and 30; mother in law and and stepmom to a talented 33- yr. old. He started his own company 2 years ago- www.laundrylocker.com.

Our youngest daughter (My husband adopted my girls as adults) is a medical doctor in her 2nd year of surgical residency. My oldest daughter is in a Ph.D. program in Sociology at NYU. She and Rob bought a condo and are enjoying life out of busy NYC.

I am a sahm (stay at home mom) to the cutest Pomeranian in the world:) Hey I think that's a great line. I will always be the mom to two lovable dogs (Buffy died March, 2001, Popcorn died August, 2003). I'm a wife; daughter; "retired" social worker, "retired" substitute teacher and personal trainer.
I met my husband through a personal ad and if you don't believe in love at first site you should! I'm a liberal Democrat, a babyboomer and I was at the real Woodstock in 1969. I'm pro-choice, against spanking, a proponent of public schools and feel a woman has the right to breastfeed or not. I think every birth is natural and that children don't spoil only fruit does.

I do have my views and they are usually strong views and not subject to negotiation. Did I mention the death penalty? I'm against it. I support the troops even if I don't support a war. On to Viewpoints:

Quick Tips for June

As a consumer I like to read an easy to read review. What that means to me is putting paragraphs in the review. Even if you only have 100 words it is much more helpful on the eyes to break it up.

I'd also suggest that you sum up your experience in just a sentence or two at the beginning so the reader can skim the rest if he or she wants. Happy writing! jo

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Welcome to viewpoints. You'll find this site fun, safe to write at and welcoming. I have my Quick Tips for April and May below. I wanted to make a note first.

I have a blog at

http://josspaceontheweb.blogspot.com/

Quick Tips for May

1. Please read my April quick tip.
2. Please read what you'll find if you click the help link on the top of the page on the right.
3. Since you can write about anything and everything (almost!) what I have started is a notebook to write down everything. As I write I cross it off the list.
3. I'm about to buy a camera based on a review HERE. I have never bought a camera in all my years online based on a review. Why here? Because I could understand it; the person liked it and told me the pictures were great. Think about that as you write. What does the consumer really want and need to know?
4. And finally - this is your view. You are entitled to have one so don't be afraid to write it down.

Quick Tip for April:

One way to get people to read what you write is to get them to know you. That involves the reader trusting that the person they are reading is the person behind the screen.

One of the most effective ways to get this to happen is through viewpoints' page. Sure we all know that someone can make things up. We probably know people who have. I think it is more likely that a person who has put considerable time into sharing their life on this page is real. A blank page screams that no one is home!

That doesn't mean you have to share your social security number or your children's names and birth dates! However sharing some favorite pictures; some scribbles; a few facts about you and your own picture all help to make you real in the readers' eyes.

I think you will come to love your own page because it is a reflection of you.

Sat Nam, (Truth is my essence) Jo

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If you are new here and I can answer any questions please feel to leave me a comment.

I am a Yoga practitioner. At Kripalu and at the end of many styles of Yoga we end our practice with this:

Om Shanti ( Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world, Peace for all beings)

Peace in your lives; peace in your heart; peace in the world.

Namaste (The Spirit within me salutes the Spirit in you- Peace),

According to Buddhism, the key to ending suffering and achieving nirvana is to follow the 8-fold path: right views, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.