Fortunately, there is a lot of awareness on climate change and increasing efforts to do something about it. Technology plays a big part in reversing the effects human kind has on the climate, and even the small things count, when they can be shared by many of us.

Greener web advocate Online Leaf tries to provide solutions for automating power saving features by covering the browser window in black. The idea is that by hiding resource-consuming animations on the website, a little energy is saved every time the visitor is idle. Of course, if everyone used power-saving features when their computer is idle, it would improve energy savings even more, but this is a good initiative to compensate for those who don’t.

If you use Wordpress, install the Online Leaf plugin for your own site to help the climate.

photo credit: Pink Sherbet Photography

Not that blogging is the cause of this illness, but theoretically stress could be a contributing factor. I had not gotten far with the renewed effort on this blog, but I am still determined to get it rolling again.

Despite my illness, I am working hard to deliver SEO projects and Reputation Management work, and when I have recovered enough to continue with this blog, I will post about some interesting findings there.

Thank you all who are so supportive – I appreciate it more than I can tell you!

1. Sign up for Thumbshots.org.
2. Log in to your WP admin area.
3. In WP 2.5+, click Design>Theme Editor, then click on the Comments (comments.php) file.
4. Locate the line that says <?php comment_author_link() ?> or similar. Mine is located within a <strong> tag, like <strong><?php comment_author_link() ?></strong>.
5. Add the following image tag from thumbshots.org to the left of the author link: <img src=”http://open.thumbshots.org/image.aspx?url=<?php comment_author_url() ?>” border=”1″ style=”float:left;clear:left;” />
6. Save the file.
7. That’s it. You’re done. Happy blogging.

photo credit: 顔なし

Notably, Darren mentions that he was diagnosed with high blood pressure in the same post.

If you are a social media professional (blogger, marketer or otherwise), get your own blood pressure monitor, or consider updating your own lifestyle.

I think you need to take articles like the one in the NY Times with a grain of salt – unless you know you are in the danger zone yourself. There is no substitute for a balanced lifestyle, even though you don’t have to overdo it.

There are numerous lifehacking sites out there, helping you balance your health with working effectively and efficiently. Check out Zen Habits for great tips on keeping healthy.

In the wake of the NY Times article, there will probably pop up at least a dozen blogger posts with 25 ways to be a healthy blogger. Sure, you can list lots of tips, but I think when it comes down to it, balancing your life is individual, and there is not a single recipe for all. However, there are two important aspects to balance in your life; food and exercise. It’s that simple.

• Eat smart. You don’t have to be perfect and eat only vegetables or follow some strict diet. But do stay away from large quantities of sugar-packed products – they will increase your stress level and lower your stamina.
• Exercise. You don’t have to go to the gym every day, but do try to stay active in a way that fits your lifestyle. If you are a problogger working from home, get out running or on a bicycle three times a week – and stick to it. I play volleyball (and beach volleyball in the summer) and I love it. Find your own way, and stick to it.

Whether you’re a professional blogger or not, you need to balance your health with work, same as you need to make space for your personal life. Trust me, you’ll be a lot happier if you balance your life, and don’t overdo it on work, blogging or other activities.

How do you balance your life? Do you make time for yourself and your health?

Professional bloggers like Problogger and marketers like Seth Godin all let you get up close and personal with the author, showing the face of the authors in pictures and videos.

Not to be outblogged, here’s a picture of yours truly, in case you haven’t seen me elsewhere. I won’t add my picture to every post yet, but that day will come, along with some better illustrations in my posts.   

This picture is on a lot of social networks, and not to just show you what I look like, here’s my activity in social media online.

14 ways to connect to an Internet Marketing Addict

Here are the social media I am most active in.

• Internet Marketing Addict blog – this blog is where I post most of my findings in Internet Marketing. You can also subscribe to the feed for this blog.
• FriendFeed – aggregation of my social media activity, including this blog, shared bookmarks and microblogging posts.
• Linkedin – I am selective in who I connect to on Linkedin. It has to be someone I know, or a relevant business contact that we both benefit from (Internet Marketing professionals, business contacts in Europe, clients, and so on).
• Twitter – despite my previous statements, I have continued using Twitter a little, since I have connected with a few more people. Still, it is not very useful, and I use it for small announcements, like what social media I’m interacting on, promoting my blog, and some other information, like that I support the WWF.
• del.icio.us – my most active social bookmarking tool, where I add most links I find.
• StumbleUpon – in addition to del.icio.us, I use StumbleUpon to quickly ‘thumbs up’ a page I’m reading, without adding any comment or tags.
• Facebook – I’m rarely on Facebook. Perhaps once a week, when I get new invitations. I am sorely tired of the applications that get sent to me, and have blocked just about all but five or so, that don’t interrupt me too much.
• Technorati – I have used Technorati a bit lately, adding some favorites and subscribing to some blogs. However, del.icio.us and StumbleUpon along with BlogCatalog serve me a lot better in keeping track of blogs I’m following. FriendFeed helps a lot as well.
• BlogCatalog – a great collection of blogs, with a lot of activity from bloggers and useful features.
• MyBlogLog – I have just signed up for MyBlogLog, and I like what I have seen so far, but I don’t know if it can compete with BlogCatalog yet. Please join my community on MyBlogLog if you’re interested in Internet Marketing (especially if you have interest in a European perspective)
• Bebo – also just signed up. I’m not active on Bebo, but some day I might be.
• Google Reader – you can follow my shared items on my Google Reader page or through the feed.

I am on several other social media networks and activities, but these are the primary ones. If you are interested in Internet Marketing, like or dislike what I’m writing, please let me know. Add your comments to this post or connect to me through any of the above social media.