blog

Merry Xmas & All That Good Stuff

Leave a comment

Dear all,

If you’re reading this, by now I’m already dea…ling out gifts to my family back in Kharkov, Ukraine. A neat “schedule” feature allows me to post completed stuff at a later date, which is exactly the phenomenon you’re currently observing.

Christmas and the brand new 2012 year are upon us, so it’s time for some of that well deserved family time! While I enjoy some days with my family and unhealthy amounts of food and alcohol, there’ll be a silent period on my blog. But fear not, for I am back with a vengeance in early January 2012.

Many exciting things have happened since I’ve started this blog in September: guest blogging, feature posts, growing readership and death threats from people who find my stuff offensive  (I’m looking at you, “NestHater4501”). OK, so I don’t actually have any dedicated haters yet, but I promise to try really hard next year and get at least a few of them. Every self-respecting blogger knows that’s the key to success.

I may even add a “thumbs down smiley” at the end of every post to encourage this hatred…

Here’s what I hope to bring to you next year:

  • More fun guest posts from fellow bloggers
  • More blogger collaborations and featured articles
  • Continuation and eventual completion of The Vietnam Diaries 2011
  • More fiction
  • More stuff that makes you laugh

I also have an ambition to get an article (or more) featured on one of my favourite humour sites – Cracked.com. Keep those fingers crossed for me!

If you like my stuff, please share and invite your friends! It’s a Christmas gift to me that will only cost you a few mouse clicks and a piece of your soul (I have this pact with the Devil…don’t ask).

Thanks for a fun ride this year, I really appreciate your comments, shares and participation. Enjoy the time with your family and loved ones and try to stay sober enough to remember where you’ve spent the holidays.

Have an awesome Christmas and a kick-ass New Year!

Freezingly Yours (I’m in Ukraine, remember?),

Daniel Nest

Lies, damned lies and…polls?

2 Comments

In a desperate cry for attention and to encourage more interaction I’ve finally integrated polls and ratings on the blog. This means I’m at your mercy from this day on. You now can give any of my posts 1-star ratings with a click of a button and make me sob hysterically while in foetal position. To help you hurt me in the way I have just described I give you a brief intro to the “rating” system.

At the bottom of every blog post, but above the “share this” buttons (which you should use at all times) you will now see five empty stars, followed by the words “Rate This”. While it may sound like an order, it only partially is. When hovering your mouse pointer over these stars you will notice you’re able to give it any rating from:

Improper use of the rating system

 

All the way to:

Proper use of the rating system

When you provide a below average rating your IP address is immediately logged and via advanced triangulation techniques and other mumbo jumbo that sounds sophisticated I pinpoint your exact address. A small group of trained monkey assassins in cute yet disturbing ninja-clown costumes is dispatched to your residence, where they hold you and your family hostage. The only way to get rid of their presence is to a) change the rating to something more positive or b) give them bananas. You’ve been duly warned!

Positive ratings, on the other hand, will not dispatch any murderous animals to your house. In fact, for every above average rating given I will postpone unleashing my monkey army on the world by exactly one day. So there you have it, the fate of planet Earth is now in your blog-rating hands. Go out there and give your most favourite and less favourite of the existing posts some ratings.

The second added feature is polls. From now on I will occasionally ask you about stuff that has something to do with the blog, but more often than not I’ll just throw up random thoughts that pop into my whimsical brain and watch you struggle to figure out what it is I want to know. As an experimental test launch of this polling feature, I now bring you the more sane type of a poll you will ever see here:


So there you have it. Vote, comment and rate away, but remember: trained monkeys never sleep and they never surrender. Unless you have bananas, that is.

Nest Expressed celebrates 1 month anniversary!

3 Comments

No, I’m not one of those soppy types that throws a huge party on a one month anniversary . However, I do want to mark the fact that Nest Expressed has gone public just one short month ago. The blog is my pet project and I’m staying committed to keeping it freshly updated, entertaining and even occasionally informative (although don’t get your hopes up – I’m better at rambling than educating).

Nest Expressed is still at “infant-blog” stage and is cautiously learning to survive in the hectic online world. However, it’s gotten much love from the people who visited. In the past month Nest Expressed achieved these mind-boggling numbers:

  • Just over 6,000 page views
  • 12 dedicated followers on its Facebook page
  • 18 Twitter stalkers
  • 8 subscribers via RSS
  • A few dozen comments on the various posts

I want to thank everyone who has been reading my posts for your support and feedback! I’m in this for the long run and hope you’re with me for the journey. I always stay open for any topic suggestions and other recommendations from the crowd, so make yourselves heard if you want to see some specific content.

I’ll begin releasing “The Vietnam Diaries” very shortly, so stay tuned. In the meantime go ahead and browse the current entries and spread the word. I appreciate all of your support and involvement.