Kamis, 28 Juli 2011

Blog Tips: Kumpulan Tips nge-Blog Buka-Rahasia.Blogspot.Com




Ini dia semua posting dalam kategori Tips Blog yang memuat opini, pengalaman (blogging insights), tips trik, serta wacana dalam nge-blog dan dunia Blogging (Blogosphere) yang sudah saya tulis sejauh ini. All posts have been collected for you to make enhancements on your blog and, hopefully, will give great positive effects onto your blog and bring the blog to the next level. Silakan disimak &

Best of the Barns Awards 2011 are about to begin!

It’s that time of the year again. Summer is coming to a close, schools are about to re-open, some relief from the heat is in sight, and most importantly show season is about to be in full swing!! With that said, it is time once again for the Best of the Barns voting to take place. As many of you can remember from last year, Best of the Barns highlights... Well… the best of the barns! With categories like ‘Best Junior Livestock Magazine’ and 'Best Cattle Blog’, industry leaders were given exposure and recognition for all of their hard work.

This year marks the Second Annual Best of the Barns, and the categories have gotten even better! With the edition of over 30 new nomination areas, voters can really pick their favorite for everything! Some of our new categories include ‘Best Sheep Judge’, ‘Best State Fair’, ‘Best Livestock Judging Program’, and even ‘Best Purebred Cattle Marketing Firm’. Also, this year we have added an open nomination area. If you think we missed a major category or topic, tell us! Create a category and cast a nomination!

Nominations will be opening Monday, August 1st and will last until October 15th. After we have collected all the nomination forms, we will post the final list for voting. From November 1st until December 1st, you will be able to cast your vote on the categories’ favorites. The winners of each category will be featured in the January edition of the Showbox.

To view some of the categories before nominations can be cast, visit www.bestofthebarns.com and remember to ‘like’ Best of the Barns on facebook!

.CO Domains

28Over the weekend I read a twitter post about how Google had recently purchased g.co and the importance of short links to web site URLs. I'd been seeing the .co domain names pop up here and there but after reading the article I went ahead and purchased ranchhouse.co (rhd.co was $4900) and a few others to have access to.

Then after working with the Ideal Video team, I noticed they are also using a short url of idealvideo.co - compared to their full URL of idealvideoproductions.com.

I'd be interested to hear Jeff's (Cattle.com)'s take on the .co domain names too.

So, anyway, clearly shortening your URLs is an item that is going to be necessary for the future. If you would like us to check into registering some shortened versions of your URL, just let us know.

Cara Membuat Efek Transparan Pada Gambar Blog (CSS Image Opacity)

Efek transparan pada gambar (image transparency/opacity) sering digunakan di Blog/web sebagai efek hover (mouse over) yaitu tampilan transparansi gambar (atau sebaliknya) ketika mouse diarahkan di atas gambar. Transparansi gambar merupakan salah satu efek yang dapat dibuat dengan CSS dan dimodifikasi sedemikian rupa, sama halnya dengan efek-efek yang lain, misalnya efek bayangan gambar (CSS 3 Box

Rabu, 27 Juli 2011

Successful Summer for RHD clients!

The Junior Nationals session has officially come to an end. This year, Ranch House Designs’ clients SHINED! We are so excited for our juniors and congratulate them on their successes. With that said, we will be featuring some of our clients and their genetics that really rose to the top this summer.

The first two juniors we will be highlighting come from the Junior National Hereford Expo and the Shorthorn Junior National Show.

Middleswarth Hereford Ranch from Torrington, Wyoming, has been a leader in the Hereford ring for decades. The family prides themselves in breeding durable, quality cattle with genetics that are progressive and performance driven. When the youngest daughter, Jessica, stepped into the ring this year at the JNHE, that quality shined.

First, Jessica stuck her steer, sired by Purple MB Womanizer 14U, to backdrop in being awarded grand champion steer. But then, during the owned heifer show Jessica and Middleswarth’s DelHawk PURPLE Bliss 1027 was honored with Reserve Champion Horned heifer. This was a February 15 2010 heifer sired by NLC 146 Pistol Pete 717et.

It truly was a family earned win and older sister Ashley could not have described the excitement better. “What an incredible surprise, we are still having the reality of it set in.” Ashley also happens to be one of our RHD Reps.

The Middleswarth family has been raising banner winners for years. This is partially because of the family’s love of the showring, but more importantly because of their operation’s philosophy. They are dedicated to the betterment of the Hereford breed and the cattle industry as a whole. With this in mind, there is no more deserving family then the Middleswarths. To learn more about this crew and their operation visit www.middleswarthherefords.com



The Shorthorn Junior National Show is an event that is very near to my – and Rachel’s – heart. We both exhibited cattle there back in our show-days. Naturally, when I heard of our clients’ success, I was very excited. But ironically, I did not expect one of the champions to be shown by one of my childhood show pals!

Ben Weikert, of Gettysburg, PA (my homestate!), knew he purchased something special when he and his twin brother, Owen, bought CYT Dream Lady Solution ET at Cyclone Trace’s ‘CYT Shorthorns Upfront Sale’.

“CYT always has such a deep and competitive set of show heifers and they put on such a wonderful event. When Owen and I saw Dream Lady, we knew that she was the heifer we wanted to end our junior show career with.”

But, I don’t think the two quite dreamed it would end with such a bang. At their final junior nationals, Dream Lady was named reserve grand champion owned female. The two know that this was a moment they will forever remember, but say it could not have been possible without their new encouragement team.

“We would like to thank John Haige and our new family at CYT for their generosity and support in campaigning Dream Lady and helping Owen and I reach our dreams in the show cattle world.”

For more information on the CYT Shorthorn Upfront Sale or to view some of the Cyclone Trace genetics, please visit www.cyclonetrace.com and remember to “like” Weikert Show Cattle on facebook.



In the history of our business, we’ve had the honor of working with the top beef cattle ranches in the United States. Because of our backgrounds in the cattle business we are so excited to share in the success of our clients. We really feel like we are a part of each and every operation we work with. We are the clients, we try and cater to their needs and get to know them on both on a professional and personal level. Congrats to the Middleswarth Family and the Weikert brothers!

Look for more junior national champs to come!


Selasa, 26 Juli 2011

6 Benefits of concentration.

With so much going on in today's environment, many of us have frequent exposure to noise and distractions most of the time. It's not surprising then, that we're not able to concentrate

Concentration is a great skill you can acquire, that will help you in numerous ways throughout your life.
This trained skill can be maintained and used very effectively in many different circumstances.

1. Productivity 

Concentration can help improve our personal productivity and the time you take to do things. If you solely concentrate on the task you're doing, not giving in to any interferences, you'll find that you'll do more of a thorough job.

Because of your ability to focus, you won't have chance to think about what you dislike or find boring about the task, as you'll be concentrating 100%.
You'll be able to see the improvement in the tasks you do, when you fully focus.

2. Self-discipline 

When you improve your focus, your self-discipline will naturally get better as-well. When you concentrate on something, you are forcing all of your energy and thoughts onto one thing for a period of time. 

By continuing with concentration even when you're not feeling in the mood, impresses self-discipline to become rooted, increasing with practice and persistence.
Both concentration and self-discipline are great qualities to have, giving you the edge in many different aspects of life.

3. Better at listening 

Listening is definitely something that we need to do. Having the facility to be able concentrate, will help with our listening skills. We will be able to listen for long periods of time, and be able to absorb what is being said. You'll be surprised how much you can learn from just listening, without having to say anything. Try it out.

4. Patience 

If we're able to concentrate for long periods of time, and have an improvement in self-discipline, then of course patience will see benefits also.

Patience is a brilliant trait to have, which goes in harmony with listening. You'll be able to reason and put forward ideas to a higher degree of effectiveness and understanding. 

If you take the time to listen and observe, you'll be shocked to see how many people are impatient, which is something we need to avoid.

5. Counters boredom 

If you are able to hold your focus and get into what you're doing, boredom won't be a factor you'll be too concerned about. This will help when studying in a class (or on your own on a particular topic), that you don't find it enjoyable or interesting. If you have this skill of concentration, boredom will be reduced hugely and in many cases - prevented!

6. Improves memory 

I'm not sure if concentration increases your overall memory power, however, your ability to remember things will improve. 

When concentrating on any given topic, your mind will be fully immersed in the subject, aiding in the ability to remember key points and other pieces of information.

For example: This can help if you have trouble in remembering people's names, or if you have to really work at remembering directions.

Carlos Lee's Grand Slam

The team at RHD has had the honor of working with Brahman breeder and Astros baseball player Carlos Lee for the past 7 years on his marketing and advertising campaign for his ranch. Ganadera Karla Mary is one of the best Brahman ranches in the world and we are extremely honored to handle their print advertising, web site, sale catalogs, sire & donor catalog, and more.

Last night, Carlos hit a grand slam at the ball game, which made him tie for the record of # of career grand slams with Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth!!! Amazing! We are so happy for you Carlos on that great news and huge accomplishment!

The coolest thing about working with Carlos is that yeah, he is a pro baseball player, but he's and his wife and family are just normal and down to earth people. When I went to visit his ranch in Panama a few years back, he was out there every day working on the ranch and calving out cows....just like all of us do. And, here's a picture of him showing one of his prize-winning Brahman cattle.

We just wanted to say congratulations to our friend on this great career accomplishment!




How to Pronouce "Cutrer" - Ideal Video Blog

Yesterday we had a very fun filled day at RHD as we were shooting a video with fellow Aggies Blaine and Wade Fischer of Ideal Video Productions.

We'll post more when we have the final official video, but let's just say it was a very fun day where everyone here at RHD got some camera time and got interviewed. Personally, I don't think I have worn that much makeup since my wedding. I almost didn't recognize my own self ha ha.

After we wrapped up the regular filming I had the honor of being one of the guests on the Ideal Video Blog.

When Blaine emailed me this morning with the link, Brandon and I watched it at home real quick, and before we could start watching it he said "Let's see how many times you do that stupid little giggle like you did in the Denver videos."

Well I am PROUD to say that I did not do the stupid giggle NOT ONE SINGLE TIME in this video lol.

Thanks to Blaine and Wade for having me on their blog, and watch for our new video coming soon!


Senin, 25 Juli 2011

Concentration techniques.

Having the ability to concentrate and focus, being able to shut noises and other distractions out, is a vital skill that can set you apart from others.

Concentration is a skill, which can be trained to a high level and then maintained. At some point, we all have to concentrate, so possessing the competence to do so, is an excellent way to promote personal productivity.

What is concentration?


Concentration as a whole, could be described as: A working state of mind in which exclusive attention to one object or line of thought is given, applying close mental application.
Concentration is closely related to self-discipline, having to have the mental will power and stamina to keep at it. In fact concentration relies on a few different factors:
  • Commitment (self-discipline). - We need to put in some level of commitment to carry out any task. If we want to carry out the assignment to a lofty standard, a high volume of dedication is needed. This is likewise with concentration.
  • Enthusiasm for the task. - If you really hate what you're doing and are bored stiff, your concentration levels aren't going to be great. When you really dislike something, your sub-conscience mind will convince you that it is worse than it really is. On the flip side however, if you truly enjoy what you're doing, then concentration and commitment will come naturally.
  • Ability to do the task. - Having the confidence to do something puts our mind at ease, helping in our focus on the job in hand.
  • Emotional state. - If our emotions are a bit wild and we are overwhelmed with stress, concentrating will become nearly impossible.
  • Health. - If we feel ill or under the weather, chances are, we won't want to concentrate on anything...except getting better.
  • Our environment. - If our surroundings are full of noises and disturbances, our concentration levels are going to plummet, and if we have nice quiet surrounding, our concentration levels are going to sky-rocket!

Concentration techniques to use.

Having regular intervals away from your task is a brilliant simple technique you can use. Although quantity is good, quality is better. You'll be much more likely to produce quality work with a higher level of concentration, when having frequent breaks to allow your mind to recharge and think clearly about what you're doing. 

If you are finding that you're able to focus for hours, or once you start you get on a role, then feel free to continue, taking breaks when you notice concentration levels dipping.

Einstein's method of concentrating, requires patience and work, but is well worth it. First, get yourself a timer and set it for two minutes. Decide what you're going to concentrate on (this could be anything from writing to reading etc.), when starting the chosen project, start the timer. 

Every time you're distracted, stop the timer and mark down on some paper a line. Once you've done that, continue with the task, starting the timer from where you had stopped it before. Each time you're distracted, repeat the process of marking it down on paper and stopping the timer. 

When your time is up, count how many times you'd allowed yourself to be disturbed. Repeat the whole procedure again and again, until you have not been sidetracked at all. 

On achievement of this, you can set a larger amount of time...say, five minutes. Take a long break each time you manage not to get distracted, regardless of the set amount of time.

This is a hard technique to master, but is certainly the most effective. It is said that Einstein could focus on anything 100%, whatever his environment because of use of this technique!

Regular practice. With anything you learn, effort on your behalf is needed. This rule is no exception with concentration either. The more you practice, the better you will become.

This can utilised as part of regular practice. Whatever job you do (including mundane tasks), try to remain completely focused throughout. This is a great way of practising, not having to set aside special time periods out of your schedule, to practice.   

Remember to remain positive. Going into something with a positive mindset rather than a negative one, has a much greater affect on the outcome of the job! Normally when having a positive outlook, you finish jobs to a superior standard, than that when thinking negatively.
Conclusion


When using any of these methods to improve concentration, commitment and positiveness is needed, as-well as correct performance. If you are serious about  building focus, then approaching half-heatedly isn't going to work. 
Stick with it, even if improvements aren't noticeable at first. 
I wish you all the best for the future.

Minggu, 24 Juli 2011

Gunakan dan Optimalkan Anchor Text Untuk Pengunjung & SEO

Apakah Anchor Text itu?Anchor text adalah text yang yang mengandung link menuju sebuah halaman web/blog lain, baik internal maupun eksternal.
Dalam link building, kita mengenal adanya internal linking dan eksternal linking. Bagi SEO, link building merupakan salah satu dasar dalam menciptakan optimalisasi ranking sebuah halaman web/blog di search engine. Tentu saja, anchor text memiliki peranan

Sabtu, 23 Juli 2011

Cara Mengubah/Mengganti Jenis Font di Blog Blogger (CSS Styling)

Terkadang, jenis font (font-family) bawaan template blog dirasa kurang sesuai dengan keinginan, sehingga kita harus mengubahnya dengan jenis-jenis font lain agar tampilan blog lebih bagus atau setidaknya sesuai dengan konteks/tema blog.
Pada kesempatan ini, saya terlebih dahulu akan membahas tentang mengganti jenis Font dengan CSS Fonts dan bukan dengan Custom Font, yang menggunakan javascript

Jumat, 22 Juli 2011

10 Benefits of reading.

Firstly, I would just like to say that I love reading, but only when it's material that interests me. Fortunately there's quite a lot of books that I find fascinating enough to read. 

Growing up, reading was a natural thing to spend time doing. However as I went through school and college, I found that many people didn't and don't read! 

It seems for a majority, books are old;boring and are a waste of time. This is a false view to take, reading is definitely one of the best didactic hobbies you can have. 

To try and persuade people that reading is a great tool to use (and because its intriguing to know), I've put together a list of benefits that you will experience through being a book worm:


1. Mentally challenging. 

When I say challenging, I don't mean that its hard to understand (although some books can be). What I mean is, your brain has to concentrate on the information its taking in, trying to digest it as best as possible, creating thoughts and ideas relating to what you're reading. This will help in increasing your intelligence, which is something t.v can't do....yet.

2. Improves vocabulary. 

Books (especially challenging ones) throw unyielding words our way sometimes, and without understanding of them, we can miss much information the book is trying to convey. So researching these words, is needed to be done. After you have distinguished what this new word means, you have added a new word to your vocabulary.  

If you do have trouble learning a new word, I suggest, once the meaning has been acquired, to try and use it in sentences. This technique helps massively. 

3. Heightens your concentration levels. 

As mentioned earlier, reading needs concentration to achieve a full level of understanding. Because reading and concentration goes hand-in-hand, naturally your focus will improve with time. 

Keeping your attention for longer periods of time is also something that comes with reading, as its not normally a quick five minute read.

4. Information inherited. 

Books help clarify difficult subjects, they go into depth analysis on a given topic and give much information concerning it.

5. Builds self-esteem.  

As you read and become more knowledgeable, your confidence will start to increase when discussing certain issues. 

Having a good understanding of something will make you more self-assured than others, creating a knock on effect, with people wanting to know more about what you think on a subject. 

6. Sharpen your memory. 

If you're not working your mind regularly, it will not have its potential IQ as when it is being worked. When working your mind, memory can be enhanced, so by reading, you're helping build your memory muscles.

Reading can help reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease, which is something we would want to avoid. 

Plot lines, characters, locations, facts and figures, have to be remembered when reading fictional and non-fictional books. (Disclaimer: not all of these are included in every book.)

7. Self-discipline. 

Self-discipline is another thing that can come about through reading. Having the will power to make time for reading and then having a long stretch of reading, is an achievement and is very easy to put off. 

Self-discipline is combined with concentration and is definitely a valuable life skill. 
If you have a daily schedule, try adding reading to it. A good time to read for many people, is just before bed

8. Overcome boredom. 

When feeling bored, something I tend to do is pick up a book and read. Its surprising how long you can read for, without realising how much time can fly by. Its also a relaxing activity to do.

9. Entertainment.  

You can spend many hours or more, reading books. Some are as much as a cinema ticket and can provide more entertainment over a longer period of time than watching a film can.

10. Creativity. 

When you're reading, you're exposing your brain to new information and thoughts. These help with your creativeness, providing a newer scheme of observing and processing ideas.

A tribute to my friend, Jeff Schroeder

Tonight while washing baby bottles I pulled up cattle.com on my iPad and read Jeff's blog talking about how exactly 10 years ago tonight he registered simsteer.com, the online cattle game that essentially served as the springboard for many of Jeff''s excellent online ventures.

I then started thinking back to 2001, and got sentimental. I bet you didn't know this, but Jeff and I have been friends since 1996. We were both elected as Area FFA officers and met at the Texas FFA Camp at Trinidad, Texas. I'd estimate that there were probably about 100 high school students there, which at the time, were considered the cream of the crop from Texas FFA. Of all of the people at that camp, maybe like 3 or 4 actually stood out to me as people I remember today. Jeff was one of those. Funny how fate puts those people in your life and at the time, you have no idea how they'll become your friends later down the road.

We continued to cross paths occassionally while we were both students at A&M. I remember Jeff e-mailing me when I had just started doing web sites and talking to me about working together on web design and graphic design. This was when he had just started SimSteer.

Over the past 10 years, I've been able to work with Jeff on so many projects for lots of different clients like R.A. Brown, The Showbox, our Denver videos, and many more.

I just wanted to say a big congratulations to my friend, for his vision to create sites like Simsteer.com, cattle.com, and for all of the success he's found. Jeff, you're one of the best supporters of the cattle business and I'm proud to call you my colleague and friend.

Kamis, 21 Juli 2011

Attention All Bloggers!



Are you a blogger? These days you ain't nothin' unless you have your very own blog! Well, if you're gonna blog, you need an good looking blog don't you? In the past month it seems like we have been working on tons of blog designs. So if you're a blogger, maybe we can help you.

We can do a couple of different options. The easiest and most versatile for our customers is if we design your blog graphics, then send them to you for your use. You can choose whatever template you want, customize your colors, etc.

Are you a Crystal Cattle fan? Who isn't! Check out this popular blog, in which we designed the graphic at the top for Crystal.








Black seems to be a popular color for blog templates, so most of our blog graphic designs have a black background. Here is another recent blog headline design....








We've also done graphics for these popular blogs:


And lots more!

So if you're a blogger, and want to spruce up the look of your blog, let us help! 979-532-9141 or tricia@ranchhousedesigns.com

Welcome, Brianna Bathery to the RHD Rep team!

Meet our Wisconsin Rep: Brianna Bathery
Brianna is the 22 year old from Salem, Wisconsin. She describes herself as personable, outgoing, and motivated. Brianna has spent a majority of her life with livestock and has grown a passion for all aspects of the industry. Some of her past involvements include the AJSA, APHA, and 4-H. When not at a stock show, Brianna enjoys spending time with her family, working on her jewelry-making business, sports and helping out around the farm. This fall, she will be entering college as an Ag Marketing Communications major, which is something she is very excited for!  We are so excited to have Brianna as a member of the RHD team! Look for this talented rep at Calgary Stampede, the Wisconsin State Fair, Minnesota Beef Expo, NAILE, National Western Stock Show and the World Beef Expo

21 ways to boost productivity.

Productivity. We all run at different levels of productivity, from a non-stop workaholic, to a normal family man.

Productivity essentially is value for time. How much value are you getting out of the time you spend? There are many various ways in which you can describe productivity, but I think this is the best.

Your efficiency in getting a task finished, can be a good indication to how productive you really are.

For example: someone who takes a couple of hours to complete a task, but is influenced by distractions and overcome by boredom, is not as productive as someone who gets straight on with the task, not stopping until it's finished, and doing it in half of the time. 

1. Going for gold! 

The best and most effective way to do something, is to just force yourself to get on with it.

2. Timeboxing. 

Timeboxing is a great tool to use for enhancing personal productivity. To read what it is, I will refer you to another one of my articles: What is timeboxing?

3. Terminator! 

Eliminate (I should say terminate) all distractions. This includes phones, computers, t.v etc.. You just need to make sure that they're not going to distract you while doing a task. I should say, I don't advise you to eliminate (did it again) your pet, if you have one. You just need to move it to a different room, or do your very best to be overcome by their charms.

4. Peak times. 

Take a note of when your most productive times of the day are and how long they last for. Place crucial jobs to be done in these times, and minor jobs in your non-peak times.

5. Schedule. 

This is a really great tool for productivity, and can help tremendously. To read more about schedules, click here: Benefits of a schedule.

6. Lists. 

Making lists can be real time savers. They're sort of sub-categories to the schedule. You could make one for the shopping, knowing exactly what you need, you will save time.

7. Exercise. 

Studies show that midday exercise can help combat lunchtime fatigue, it also can help in boosting productivity, clearing your head and helping you to think logically.

8. First, do the worst! 

Destroying your worst, most dreaded task first, will help pave the way, for good productivity during the rest of the day. 
If you don't do it first thing, and you leave it until later on, you'll be more likely to put it off even more.

9. Organisation. 

Having an organised, tidy work space, where everything has an allocated place, will definitely help with your personal productivity. Your overall morale will be healthier as well.

Having a relaxing workplace is also a great thing to have along organisation, both working in harmony. If you want to know how to create a relaxing workplace, click the link.

10. Mini-targets. 

For this, set yourself an achievable goal, which doesn't have to necessarily be easy. Once you start this miniature target, you can't stop until you  have to finished this, no matter what.

Depending on the outcome of the task (completed or not), will have either a positive or negative effect on the rest of your day.

11. Bulking. 

Decide, out of all the tasks you have to do, which ones can be done at the same time, or simultaneously, and bulk them together. 

For example: checking your e-mail and printing something off. Knocking two or more jobs off the list in a single blow!

12. Prioritise. 

Make sure your 'top' jobs are at the top of your list, and your secondary jobs...well, second.

13. Early riser.  

The early bird catches the worm. Getting up early can give you hundreds of extra hours a year. To read more about early rising, read: The benefits of being an early riser.

14. Prestissimo!  

Pick up your pace, taking your tempo to the next level!

15. 80-20 Rule.  

20% effort, 80% value. Enough said.

16. Deadlines. 

Set yourself inflexible deadlines, where the task in question must be completed by.

17. Accountability. 

Tell others about the things you are going to get done, this will help with your motivation, not wanting to be a liar.

18. Timed decisions. 

Once you have all of the necessities to make a decision, give yourself 30 seconds to make a choice. Make sure you stick to it.

19. Gap time. 

When you have unusual sessions of doing nothing, fill them in with something like reading, making phone calls etc. These gap time periods could be: Waiting in a queue; travelling on public transport; waiting for the kettle to boil.

20. Sequencing. 

At the end of the day, write down what needs to be done tomorrow.


21. Taking candy from a baby! 

Despite what the title implies, it does not include taking candy from a baby (sigh). Instead it means, when you have a large, complex task, split it up into smaller more manageable tasks. 

By doing this, you will find completing these morbidly horrendous tasks, becomes like...taking candy from a baby! (Hooray).

Rabu, 20 Juli 2011

Welcome, Rebecca Hamilton to the RHD Rep Team!

Our rep program has been doing so well, but we still had two major regions that needed to be represented. That was until this morning.... Are you in Texas? We've got a rep for that! Are you in the northeast? Well, we've got a rep for that too!!! Meet Rebecca Hamilton!!
Rebecca will be representing RHD in both the northeast and the Texas region. She is currently a senior Animal Science and Agricultural Communications double major at Texas A&M University. Rebecca was born and raised in Woodbine, Maryland but came to school in Texas to broaden her knowledge about agriculture, and to learn how production practices differ from region to region. She grew up showing Shorthorn cattle. At Texas A&M, Rebecca was a part of the livestock judging team and COALS. Look for Rebecca at fall shows in Texas, the Maryland State Fair, Louisville, the Pennsylvania Farm Show as well as other spring shows and jackpots in the northeast.

We are so excited to have this aggie on the team! Welcome Rebecca!!!

Selasa, 19 Juli 2011

The Showtimes Magazine

While I was skimming through Facebook in the McDonalds drive thru line today, I noticed Brian Reid updating his status that the summer issue of The Showtimes Magazine was now online. So as soon as I got back to the office I sat with my delicious grilled snack wrap and browsed the magazine. (You can check it out at http://theshowtimesmagazine.com/view-online


















All I can say is W-O-W! I've always been a fan of Brian & Lisa's venture, but I loved this issue in particular. This magazine was started a few years back, and as anyone can imagine, starting a new livestock magazine is a big risk. There's a lot of time involved, a lot of resources required, and at the time, people felt like the show cattle publication market was pretty well established. Then here comes Showtimes, and it's totally different! Then there is Lot One, which I also love, and the new Drive magazine, which is also great. Here are 3 new publications for the show cattle industry that are really changing up what we used to typically think as a show cattle publications (i.e. only full of advertising).

I love The Showtimes articles (especially the one about Marti Habeger Show Mom), the Hall of Fame, the Faces & Places, the Christian motivational article, and the show results in color! I also really enjoyed their State Fair Preview section where it talks about what are fun things to do at the different state fairs, like concerts and stuff.

Hats off to the Reids! Y'all are doing a great job with the magazine. Count RHD in for another ad this fall :)

Meet our newest RHD Rep from Canada: Michelle Allison!

Michelle Allison will represent Ranch House Designs in Canada and is from Brandon, Manitoba. She is part of Leveldale Polled Herefords, a purebred operation, with her husband and in-laws. Michelle graduated from Assiniboine Community College in 2009 with a Business Administration diploma, and is currently attending college again for an Agribusiness Diploma.  She’s studied photography for a few years and does the cattle pictures for the farm and on the side for friends and family. She works at various bull and female sales across Manitoba and Saskatchewan, as well as helping with the sales that LPH is part of. Michelle attends various Ag events, such as Manitoba Livestock Expo, Manitoba Bull Congress/AG Days, Royal Manitoba Winter Fair, Canadian Western Agribition and will be at the 2012 World Hereford Congress! She also enjoys summer jackpots and breed field days that happen throughout Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Michelle looks forward to talking with you about what RHD can do for you!

Business Blogging: Antara Blog, Web, & Landing Page


Blogging For Business Series (1): Introduction

Poin penting dalam membuat blog sebagai sarana bisnis secara online adalah pemahaman terhadap blog dan dunia web. Dengan memahami fungsi-fungsi dasarnya, penggunaan blog sebagai lahan bisnis dapat menjadi optimal dan berdampak signifikan. Berbagai macam alasan dan latar belakang digunakan untuk menguatkan penggunaan blog sebagai sarana ber-bisnis,

Senin, 18 Juli 2011

Meet our newest RHD Reps!

Our RHD Rep program has been hitting some grand slams! Let’s meet some of our newest team members….















Joshua and Katie Ramsey

Joshua, Katie and Caleb Ramsey live in Alamogordo, NM. They run a Shorthorn and Club Calf cow herd in Oklahoma and New Mexico. They have since become a part of Essential Show Feeds team by selling premier livestock feeds. They spend countless hours helping youth with their projects and getting ready for the show ring. Katie grew up in a farm in South Dakota and attended South Dakota State University with a degree in Animal Science and a Master’s Degree in Agriculture Extension and Education from New Mexico State University, Joshua graduated from New Mexico State University with a Bachelor’s degree in Ag. Economics and Ag. Business. He also is the Operational Supervisor for his family’s business, IGT Enterprises. “We are very excited to be a part of the RHD team as a representative because of the customer service RHD provides. From website design to business branding, RHD has played an integral part of J3 Cattle Company”


 













Cody Tebbenkamp



Cody was raised on a diversified grain and livestock farm near Corder, MO. He attended the University of Missouri in Columbia, where he resides today. While in school, Cody was on the livestock judging team in 2003 and also worked for then Governor Matt Blunt while in his final semesters. He has shown Maine- Anjou cattle and steers his whole life throughout the Midwest and at Jr. Nationals. Currently, Cody works for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources as a Distract Coordinator for the Soil and Water Program in Jefferson City. However, he still finds time to raise Maine-Anjou, club calves and farm back in Corder, while also helping fit cattle for customers that purchase calves from him throughout the year.














Christina Wernicke
Christina has been active in the 4-H program her whole life and currently serves as a 4-H leader. She has always enjoyed sharing her creative ideas to help businesses and individuals achieve success.



















Cassie Link
Cassie Link grew up on a grain farm in Abingdon, Illinois and could not imagine growing up anywhere else. Upon high school graduation, Cassie attended Joliet Junior College and then transferred to Western Illinois University, where she graduated in May with an Ag Business Degree. Her fondest memories growing up were spent at shows and said she is happy to remain actively involved in the beef industry. In March, Cassie participated in a Study Abroad trip through the school of agriculture at WIU, where she had the experience of visiting an Angus ranch. She loves promoting agriculture in a positive manner and educating the public about the truth that surrounds an industry that everyone relies on.



We are so excited to have all of these individuals on our team! Look for them at upcoming shows and events!

Wedding Photography - Landreneau Family — Alexandria, Louisiana

Amongst her busy schedule of travelling across the country for livestock shows this summer, RHD's lead family photographer Stacey Shanks of Stacey Shanks Photography headed over to Alexandria, Louisiana for to capture the wedding images for the Landreneau Family. Here are a few of our favorites from the special day...







Here at Ranch House Designs we are proud to offer a wide variety of photography services. We have two professional photographers on staff who are ready to help you with your family photography, wedding photography, or event photography needs. Give us a call at 979-532-9141 to learn more about what we can do. We also have great packages for weddings including handling the photography, invitations, and flowers through our partnership with Rooms to Blooms

Does Chess boost IQ?

Chess is a game where you try to trap your opponents King (checkmate), using  and positioning other pieces, implementing: strategy, anticipation and a working memory.

Chess is a great game in developing your intelligence and exercising your mind, although it is uncertain if chess actually boosts your IQ, or if it just helps your mind in reaching its very near full potential. 

1. Concentration and Patience.

If you're going to learn to play chess, or if you already do, you will know, or come to know, that a monstrous amount of concentration is needed. You will need to be concentrating on every move you and your opponent makes, needing to think of benefits and consequences of each move made. Patience is also better established in this procedure.

As you progress to a higher level of chess, it is made clear early on that one wrong move, can cost you the game. To avoid such a catastrophic mistake then, concentration must be applied and used effectively. 

For example: I was playing a friend at chess, and I had a lapse in concentration. He was then able to take my queen and gain control over the board. 
From that point on, it just went downhill. However I then struck lucky, as he had a lapse in his concentration, allowing me to take his queen and regain control of the game. - I went on to win the match. This illustrates what a lack of concentration can do.


2.  Analysis.

Chess helps to develop analysis and how you go about in doing it. In fact some results taken show that teenagers who started to play chess, strengthened their numerical and verbal skills. It also suggested that increased memory could be a by-product of this depth analysis. 

3. Spatial Intelligence.

The need to foresee moves and strategical possibilities, is essential in the game of chess. This has the ability to build up knowledge and memories of previously played games, using strategical comprehension from those games and executing them into new games.

You will also need to develop the technique of looking at moves further on in the game. Some players are able to look 10-15 moves into the game and then use their understanding of the game, to decide if its for the best or worst.


Lists of Benefits you can expect from chess, young or old.
  • Independence,
  • Logical thinking and understanding,
  • Concentration,
  • Working memory,
  • Fluid reasoning,
  • Knowledge.
If you want a full list of the benefits, then check out this post: 10 Reasons why you should Play Chess.

Minggu, 17 Juli 2011

Cara Membuat Screensaver (Energy Saving Mode) Blog/Website


Energy saving mode/screensaver di blog/web adalah kondisi standby dimana seluruh process dihentikan sementara. Proses-proses yang berjalan misalnya adalah gambar grafik bergerak (misalnya: .gif), flash video, auto scrolling widget, dan masih banyak lagi. Dengan adanya plugin screensaver tersebut, proses-proses dalam suatu halaman web dihentikan (paused) dan muncul sebuah tampilan baru sederhana

Launching: Buka(n) Rahasia Lagi! Forum & Community


Tips-tricks Blogger  & SEO Blogspot Original | Buka(n) Rahasia Lagi! kini memiliki forum yang siap digunakan oleh rekan Blogger semua untuk berkomunikasi dan berbagi.
Forum ini dibuat untuk menjadi sarana alternatif bagi semua teman Blogger secara umum dan bagi pembaca Buka(n) Rahasia Lagi!. Banyaknya komentar di blog karena adanya permasalahan dan pertanyaan-pertanyaan seputar posting

Sabtu, 16 Juli 2011

How to prevent motion sickness.

Motion sickness is the nausea, disorientation and tiredness that can be induced by head motion and other types of motion where the brain is unsure of its position.

Motion sickness is not uncommon and can be triggered in almost anyone, if the right things are done. Although this is not always the case, for people with no vestibular system, motion sickness cannot be triggered.

Causes of Motion Sickness

The cause of motion sickness, is normally formed from your brain getting mixed messages of where you are. Your brain uses visual information; sound information; touch information, to monitor where it is at all times of the day. So if you have one or more of these information pathways in disagreement with each other, motion sickness can be brought about.

For example: When feeling motion, but not seeing it ( reading a book for example), your inner ear tells your brain that you're moving. Your eyes however will be telling your brain that you are still, as it is focused on the stationary page.

These mixed messages will prompt the brain to presume that one of them is wrong, and further more will lead it to believe that it is from poison ingestion, creating vomiting to flush out the presumed toxins.

People who are vulnerable to migraines, are more at risk to motion sickness. Females and children are also more likely to get it than men, but of course both genders, young and old can get it.
Motion sickness can be divided into smaller sub-categories:
  • Motion sickness caused from felt, but not seen motion.
  • Motion sickness caused from seen, but not felt motion.
  • Motion sickness caused from motion that is detected, but not properly understood.

 How to reduce/prevent travel sickness?
  1. Sit in the front seat of the car.
  2. When on board a ship, stay towards the middle, looking towards the horizon mostly.
  3. Don't read while inside transportation.
  4. Rest your head against something, to keep it still.
  5. Don't smoke.
  6. Keep hydrated, water preferably. 
  7. Don't eat big greasy, spicy or fatty meals the day before air travel.
  8. Try to eat healthy, more fruit and vegetables.
  9. Sit towards the side or front of the plane, when aboard one.
  10. In a car, turn the air ventilation towards your face. (With air coming out of it. He he.)
  11. Take deep, slow breaths. In a test of doing this, it reduced motion sickness quite considerably.
  12. A study showed that people who have more active occupations are less likely to get motion sickness, or there active job has helped in reducing motion sickness.
If none of these tips are working, and you are prone to motion sickness, I would suggest that you see your local doctor. 

Jumat, 15 Juli 2011

Engagement Photography - Liz & Matt — East Bernard, Texas

Summer is definitely keeping us busy with lots of projects including many photo sessions. We have been working with several local couples with upcoming weddings including our very own Liz Tovar. RHD is able to create a great package for couples in which we offer engagement photography, wedding photography, wedding save-the-dates and wedding invitations, and more. We also are happy to recommend Rachel's aunt Jan Powell, owner of Rooms to Blooms, for great wedding flowers.

This month Stacey took an evening to shoot Liz and Matt's engagement session, which will be used on the save-the-dates we are designing for the couple. They travelled to a relative's awesome little barn where we got these great eclectic backgrounds!

Here are a few of our favorites!





Be sure to give us a call at 979-532-9141 or email tricia@ranchhousedesigns.com if we can assist you with your wedding needs!

Search engine optimization workshop

About a month ago, all of us ladies here at RHD got super dorky high tech and attended a special workshop on search engine optimization. We were SO super dorky high tech, that we actually hired a SEO specialist to come down to our office for the day and give us in depth hands on training.

I had to laugh to myself, because when I first started doing web sites in 1999, it was so easy to submit sites to search engines. Basically there was this little button at the bottom of Yahoo's page that said "suggest a site" and bam, there you go, that's all you did. I remember spending a few nights a month just "suggesting a site" to Yahoo to help get all of our then Two Girls Web Design clients high up in the rankigs.

Well, as we learned in the search engine training....a lot has changed since then! All of us here at RHD were just mesmerized by how much we learned about search engine optimization. The best news for us is that the special consultant we hired complimented us on our great designs (duh) and let us know that our sites are being designed very efficiently for favorable placement in search engines.

But what we learned was so much more! The SEO specialist gave us tons of in depth information that totally helped train us in how to "optimize" sites for search engines. He also gave us a great resource for submitting sites to directories and gave us some very suprising information on what search engines favor and what they dislike. Some of this was actually shocking regarding purchasing links and stuff like that.

Now I'll be the first to admit, though we certainly learned quite a bit at the workshop, I still consider Jeff at cattle.com to be the livestock SEO guru! :) So we're not making that claim at all. But we definitely did learn a great deal of skills at this special workshop that can be of benefit to our clients.

With every site we do, we design the sites to be search engine friendly, and this is avilable at no charge to our clients. However we now are offering a premium search engine optimization service based on keyword analysis. It's an in depth process where we work with the clients one-on-one to optimize the site to an even higher level. If this is something you'd be interested in, let us know.

We should also disclaim that even though we are probably the second most knowledgable people about SEO in the livestock business (behind Jeff of course), that even this can't guarantee any certain ranking in a search engine. However if anyone has an aunt who works at Google, we'd like to talk to her, ha ha.

Kamis, 14 Juli 2011

Meet Joelynn!

We are very excited to introduce you to our newest staff member here at RHD....Joelynn Donough.

Joelynn Donough joined the RHD staff last week as a project manager specializing in agricultural accounts. She is also a creative assistant for advertising and editorial direction of The American Brahman Review publication.


This Pennsylvania native has been active in the livestock industry since day one. Her family raises club lambs, but her heart has always been with cattle. She was a member of the national junior Shorthorn and Maine Anjou associations and hopes to one day move her small herd of cows to Texas. Joelynn is a graduate of Texas A&M University, where she was a member of the nationally accredited 2009 livestock judging team. She received her bachelor’s in agricultural journalism and communications in 2010. Joelynn also attended Butler Community College in Kansas on a livestock judging scholarship before transferring to Texas A&M University.

After graduation, Joelynn worked for ShowChampions USA, Inc., the world's most well known livestock photography company (and personal favorite of Ranch House Designs!). While with ShowChampions, Joelynn traveled across the country, picturing major stock shows and on farm sessions.

So how can Joelynn help you? Well, she's a great photographer. Don't be suprised if she stops by your stalls at the major stock shows and takes a few snapshots that we could put on your web site. She can also help our clients who need sale photos and who need candid farm snapshots or scenic photos for their web site.  She's also a great writer. She'll be working with lots of our cattle clients to help come up with great advertising ideas for your print materials.

She'll also be representing RHD at all the major livestock shows and beef industry events. So feel free to email her if she can help you in any way....joelynn@ranchhousedesigns.com . Welcome and we are so happy to have you!