Common Cents

learning new things

I confess, I never knew that NECC held classes IN Methuen. I just never ran across that piece of information.   The lovely NECC Adult Community Education flyer that comes in the mail, only gets a cursory glance because it only makes me WANT to take classes in things I have never tried before.
I immediately created an entire page devoted to the NECC Adult Comm Ed program. Please take a moment to check it out and try something new.

good intentions

So many people have joined us via facebook I am kinda shocked. It is very flattering to hand out the Methuen Common card and have people say, yep I heard of that. There are enough events in Methuen to keep me quite busy during these long dark New England days; I shudder to think of how busy I will be when the GOOD weather comes. Yard sales, rummage sale, benefits, sports, all kinds of outdoor events will keep me even MORE so. As much as I dread it, I may have to monetize Methuen Common (meaning put advertising space on the sidebar) It was not my intentional originally but this is taking a lot out of my all ready non-profit ridden day. In order to accommodate tasteful and rotating ad boxes, I will have to adjust the website template . . . again.

And I still have no idea what I will be charging as the view count keeps going up and site keeps growing in popularity. Any advice would be truly helpful. Thank you

where’s waldo

Methuen Common has a lot of new fans and readers and I want to thank them all. The number of Facebook readers has increased dramatically in the last few days.

Today someone asked why I posted one thing and not another. If it’s not on Methuen Common I don’t know about it. I don’t have anything left over every day. If you know of something I haven’t posted, SEND IT IN info@methuencommon.com. I have very good luck getting information from some organizations and venues and NO luck at all with others. Even when I have made contact with someplace they may forget to send something in, as Methuen Common is very new and easy to skip if one is very busy. So, don’t be afraid to suggest something to Methuen Common or event better suggest someone send their announcement to Methuen Common.com. When I miss something very nice like a contest or a concert it bothers me, and I could use some help covering a town of forty five thousand people.

ice scream

I am really sick of black ice. Here at the Common, black ice is the predominant color of winter – even on the sunniest of days the shadow of the house keeps the parking lot from melting.

But it looks like for the new year, we will have more folks sending in submissions without having to be asked. The folks over at the Irish Cottage, the Community relations desk at Holy Family, the Merrimack Valley Golf Course and Boxwood Grill all send their love and their listings which I actually prefer. Looks like both the Irish Cottage (the boys from the Claddagh are doing gangbuster business) and the Boxwood Grill  will be booking live music to accompany their menus. I will get the performer info up as soon as I get it.  Looks like Methuen will be very musical in the coming year.

face to face

Thanks ya’ll for sticking around. The Common’s popularity seems to be growing, but  it DOES help when I am out and about getting information or taking pictures. It’s taking less time to explain what I am doing,  as many folks are saying ‘yeah, I’ve seen that site.’    That kind makes my day – not as much as it does when MANY people visit the site but one can’t have everything.

One of the Common’s readers was having trouble keeping up with the simultaneous facebook postings…there are new selections on Facebook now that allow you to filter what you see. the Live News Feed will be full of Methuen Common posts, as well as all those notices about who has become a fan of what etc… you can just change to News Feed or Status Updates to cut down on the clutter; or even select Hide the Common if you are not in the area and have no need for so much hypernews.

The live photos of the first storm went over very well. Even The Tribune posted one during their live blogging that morning.  So if you see me out there waving my camera around in a snow storm, say hi.

glad tithings

I confess I tried to lure a corporate sponsor yesterday. I did a mockup front page and everything. The internet is filled with sidebars ads, pop up ads and adwords just about everywhere and I am kinda sick of them. I will let the site go without box ads if i have to, but it is taking about 3 hours each and everyday to find material and post it. So I unashamedly tossed a donation box on the sidebar; just in case anyone wanted to tithe a dollar or two. In the meantime I have to go out and get find a straight job, apparently folks are serious about the non-profit part of Non-Profit organizations, and most of my recently jobs have left me karma rich and pocket poor. So if you like the site, toss a few coppers my way. Thank you. J-

make work

Another case where I am too smart for my own good.  I skipped over all the  simple bells and whistles available for WordPress in order to get the site up and running.  But now that I am doubling back,  I found I have made more work for myself.

Added ‘permalinks’  to the URLs….and now the original links in the dynamic event calendar feature all have to be updated.  I am sorry that they are kinda of broken at the moment.  There are about 400 plus event occurrences in the  database, which have at least a few hundred links to be hand corrected  I will try to get them fixed as soon as possible.

Until then all I can say is mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. Please use the search feature to find event information until I have it fixed.

Joyce

a little bird told me

The Common got its first unsolicited posting, that doesn’t sound like much, but it is. I spend a lot of time pestering people for event notices. Most of the time I get the data off flyers on bulletin boards or from another posting somewhere. To have someone send it out of the blue without asking for it, tells me that the ripples have reached a shoreline. I actually had two people tell me that there was BUZZ about the Common out there in the universe, that is very exciting. Perhaps in a year or so, it will settle down to the reverse, with most of the information coming in unrequested.

sun spots

I have been working very hard to get folks to send in their events, but it’s an uphill battle. People will do it the first few times and then forget about it. I don’t mind, as long as folks don’t mind me tagging after them like a trench-coated Columbo…”just one more thing, if you don’t mind.” I made a nuisance of myself on election day by shoving my card in people’s hands and pockets and any other orifices….most folks ignored it thinking it was something bad or at least commercial. But hey, if i get one more reader that’s enough..perhaps that will be the reader with the nice fat rolodex they want to share.

I finally added the Animal Rescue Merrimack Valley blog to the sidebar…now I have to remember to keep that updated.  Another case of chasing people down for updated information.  But I didn’t have a choice…we raised $5,000 at an event last month and with managed to spend it all on only three veterinary emergencies.  ARMV is the silent meow of Merrimack Valley – we aren’t as big or vocal or well known as the MSPCA, we are the ones  who quietly go around collecting up cats left in empty apartments and trapping litters of kittens under porches.  Nevermind the lack of foster homes and adoptive parents, it’s the food and veterinary bills that consume all the money we can get our hands on.  So at a certain point one becomes absolutely shameless about begging.

That’s Chelsea…she’s from a managed colony over on Palmer St off Merrimack Street in the Valley.  She should be ready for adoption in about 14 days.  www.armv.org/donate

monday monday

Monday and Tuesday are the slowest days for eventing….usually nearly nothing new to post either..I am going to try to start putting up image galleries..i have some collections i have been working on, plus i can toss up some event images.

For the most part I think my photography of people has gotten worse, for so many years i have concentrated on artistic shots of nature or architecture that shooting humans is completely new experience. I suppose once i get less self conscious I will get the hang of it.

I was also secretly hoping that event coordinators will start sending me images to pair with their event announcements….hey a girl can dream.

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