have been so busy, i haven't even had time to blog on Minti lately :s

Here is a quick update...

1. In the coming weeks Minti will get a face lift for it's homepage.
2. I have still be exercising every day, must be up to 30-40 days by now :)
3. still havent had any diet coke for about 30 days now, i see them and dont feel anything which is awesome
4. baby is going well
5. rach is going well, althouhg she was a little sick last week
6. i have a major sore back today... ouch!
7. baby sleeps for up to 8 hrs after a shower (with me or rach) at night... wish i had time to write an article on it.
8. codi is now sleeping in his own room, albeit with me in a bed next to him. we started off supurbly but now is rolling into my bed about 6-8 times a night... driving me insane.

If you have been following my blog lately.

I just posted the final version of the letter to be mailed out (with title) here.

I just announced it here ;)

Does anyone know any good parenting papers that are available in Perth?

OK - now I need a title for that winning post.

Remember that this is going to appear in a church newsletter, so it needs to be to the point and entice the reader to pay it attention.

1. Add you suggestion in the comments below.
2. will draw the winner THURSDAY afternoon [note: just amended] my time (perth time). ie: just over 24 hrs from now.
3. winner will get m$3000

So far I have come up with...

1. MySpace for Parents
2. Facebook for Parents
3. Parenting Online
4. Social Network for Parents
5. Minti, the Parenting Social Network

you get the idea......

We have decided, and the winner (of the contest I mention last week) is DarkenedAngel (DA) !!! Well done DA.

There were many amazing entries, however DA's entry was especially emotional to read.

I have decided to also give a runner up prize of m$5000 to alishas-mummy for her entry.

Note: I am aware of DA's comment that she didn't want the moolah is she were to win, however I made a promise and will fulfill it by awarding the m$20,000. From there DA can work out what she wishes to do with it. Remember moolah can be cashed in and used in real like (ie: spending it or giving it to charity)

Below is a copy of DA's winning entry...

Dear Reader,  

Today, in my home over a cup of coffee, I was talking to a community social worker who runs a local parenting group. She was telling me all about the benefits of such groups, emphasising the support from other parents and the valuable and practical experience and advice that can be learned from them, as opposed to a text book or supposed expert. I laughed, and turned on my computer.  

I went to the internet and typed in www.minti.com, such an easy URL to remember. I stepped away and said, “Like this?” and let her sit down and have a look. She was astounded that such a site existed, was completely free to join and use, and even more astounded that the site had almost 25,000 members from all over the planet; who had written over 6000 parenting advice articles from their own personal experiences and research, with dozens more being added by parents every week. She then flooded me with questions.  

 “What about personal support for parents?” I showed her a blog written from someone having a bad day and all the supportive comments that it had received. She noted the time stamps and was amazed at how quickly the responses of support and advice had been. She was almost in tears as she read the beauty and feelings of real caring within some of the comments.  

“What if someone has a specific question they want to ask?” I showed her the Questions and Answers section. Lots of specific questions, with advice articles linked to them by other members, as well as many valuable and intelligent, heart-felt answers that had been given so quickly.  

“How safe is it? I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about internet sites.” I explained how the Administration keep a close eye on things, and usually at least one of them can be found online at any given time of day or night. Even when the Administration members aren’t around, the other members look after each other. Just about everything can be reported, and when that happens, whatever is reported vanishes instantly and gets reviewed, and if it is deemed appropriate and suitable it comes back, otherwise it stays off the site. Any member can report anything they find offensive or unsuitable. The members have to behave themselves or they can be removed from the site as well. I suffer from severe anxiety, and this is the only internet site that I have found that I feel completely comfortable and safe to be a part of.  

“Yes, that’s all fine and well, but it’s not like the members can meet for coffee and let their children interact and play together and learn social skills…” she saw the expression on my face and said, “Or are you going to tell me that happens over this internet site as well?” She quickly changed her tone of cynicism as I opened up the Virtual to Reality group on the site and showed her photo after photo, and story after story, of members meeting up for coffee and playtimes. Her jaw dropped. Predicting what her next question would be, I then showed her advice articles about staying safe on the site, meeting with other members in real life, and how to go about such social interaction both on the site and off without getting into trouble or dangerous situations. Her jaw dropped.  

“And being the internet and worldwide, this is accessible and active 24 hours a day?” That’s right. Just then my phone rang. It was another member of Minti asking me if I could get some advice from the site for her situation because she didn’t have internet access at the time. That was too easy to do, I found what she needed to know within seconds. When the call was finished, the social worker asked me where the girl that phoned was from – over 1000 kilometres away. We met up with each other when I was on holiday in her city.  

Minti (www.minti.com) is the most amazing site for parents I have ever come across. It breaks down the walls of social isolation that many parents face. The members are real people with real problems, and real solutions. Whether you are a parent of your first newborn baby, your teenage grandchildren are becoming difficult to understand, or you are planning a child and want to get a better idea what you can expect, Minti has the answers… or we will quickly find them for you!

Before taking off on the adventure some black Swans paid us a visit, and then a seal came swimming through and scared them away...

oops - I have to rush - I will add some more photos to this later :)

I am stretched for time and totally drawing a blank so I need your help, and will reward the winner with m$20,000. What better way than to ask a real Minti mum/mom to help me out ?:)

What I need is a draft of an email that is to be sent out to a group mailing list announcing and explaining what Minti is and the benefits to mothers/families.

I will draw the winner at the end of the weekend.

Just post your draft in the comments below.

Here are some details to help you out...

== Key Points ==

1. t is an email that will then be either sent to the group by itself or part of a niewsletter
2. who to? sent to a church group
3. Needs to show strong SOCIAL BENEFIT to FAMILIES keep in mind CHURCH
4. RAISING FAMILIES
5. HELPING MUMS

point out - the new way to help mums

social networking for the church group?

==== DRAFT ====

What is Minti?

Launched March 2006, Minti is the only English speaking global parenting reference site and social network that allows parents to publish and rank parenting advice. Minti’s mission is to provide a platform for parents to voice their own experiences, warnings, pass on advice, and provide the support that only a peer going through the same issues can provide.

Why? (benefits)

Who uses Minti?

Subscribers: 23,000 (vast majority: moms)

Advice Articles: 6,051

Questions Answered: 6,493

Member Blog Posts: 50,000+

Photos: 18,000

Comments & Votes: 250,000+

Traffic Breakdown

43% USA

25% Australia

12% UK

20% Rest of world (Canada, NZ, etc)

Who is behind Minti?

Maybe add a real life story from Minti... ie: helped a mom this way, saved a child's life etc.

==== From Minti About Us ====

About Minti

Minti is a virtual place where parents can visit anytime to share and gain valuable advice on parenting. The content is created by members in the form of articles. The articles are tagged, rated and commented on by the community to encourage the integrity and relevancy of the information created. Topics range from pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, babies, early childhood, schooling, tweens, teenage years and beyond. Consider Minti as your global parent support group and expect lots of new features to be constantly added to the site so we can all be better at the most important job in the world: parenting.

Mission

Our mission is to create a "the world's largest parent to parent advice-opedia".

Who is behind Minti?

• Minti.com Pty Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Vibe Capital Pty Ltd which is a privately held Australian company.
• The management team includes: Clay Cook - CEO & Co-Founder
• Matthew Macfarlane - CFO & Co-Founder

History of Minti

• Idea and initial research by Rachel Cook early in 2005 Saw a need for a "parent to parent advice-opedia"
• Saw benefits of Wikipedia
• Wrote the first business plan

Clay Cook appointed as CEO and Matthew Macfarlane joined to further develop the business plan for Angel and Round 1 fund-raising

Completed Round 1 capital raising. Capital raising including Angel round total AUD$1.6M (USD$1.19M) as of February 2006

For a sneak peek inside the company see the Minti Blog.

Press

Minti, the Parenting Advice Website that MSN described as MySpace for Parents is Now All Grown Up.
Minti.com Launch press release.

Frequently Asked questions about the company Why did you choose the name Minti?

After considerable searching and looking at over 40 potential names we chose Minti because it had a fresh clean feel and positive feedback was received from our surveyed users. Minti does not stand for anything, although some may suggest it could stand for "Mothers In Need Try Internet" ,this is actually something we never considered and only made up for this FAQ ;). Minti is for mom's, dad's, and anyone else involved in making the lives of children better from anywhere in the world.

What prompted the creation of Minti?

When becoming a mother for the first time, Co-Founder, Rachel Cook discovered motherhood was actually about trial and error. She sought ways of finding information to alleviate the downsides of this method. She discovered how little concise, detailed information was available to be passed down from experienced mothers and fathers, particularly on what methods worked and what didn't, in bringing up children. Gaining this tried and proven advice was a constant challenge. The really good advice appeared to be spread via word of mouth or on an ad-hoc basis. There was not enough advice and experience captured to choose alternatives from and it was tough to get the 'good advice' spread around the world to other parents.

Rachel researched the space for over more than a year and discovered that a single place where concise, clear advice and experiences from parents and targeted at the modern parent was lacking. The industry 'appeared' to be fragmented and she found mounting evidence of an influx of parents requiring more depth and understanding to the advice. Magazine articles and books were great sources of information but they could not be thoroughly discussed and expanded on. In many situations where serious help was required only those families with high disposable incomes could gain access to expert 'hands on' advice implemented in the home.

If this was the situation in Perth, Western Australia, then what was it like in the world's biggest economy, the U.S. Rachel searched for a site that offered parenting advice "first hand" from parents but could not find one that solved the problem without excessive advertising, "experts" rather than real parents and difficult to search information.

The desire to create a place for parents to share advice on a global footing fuelled the vision to pull a team together to make Minti happen.

How does Minti make money?

Minti presents context relevant text based advertising when readers are reviewing articles. We avoid pop-ups, flashy banners and other intrusive advertising to make your experience as pleasant as possible. Managing and maintaining a website like Minti costs money so we really have to try to generate some income as gently as possible.

I absolutely normally hate forwarded viral emails.

HOWEVER this one is worth bringing to people's attention (if it is in fact true that is)...

> TIPS ON PUMPING GAS
>
> I don't know what you guys are paying for gasoline.... but here in
> California we are also paying higher, up to $4.00+ per gallon. My line
> of work is in petroleum for about 31 years now, so here are some tricks
> to get more of your money's worth for every gallon...
>
> Here at the Kinder Morgan Pipeline where I work in San Jose, CA we
> deliver about 4 million gallons in a 24-hour period thru the pipeline.
> One day is diesel the next day is jet fuel, and gasoline, regular and
> premium grades. We have 34-storage tanks here with a total capacity of
> 16,800,000 gallons.
>
> Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the
> ground temperature is still co ld. Remember that all service stations
> have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the
> more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying
> in the afternoon or in the evening....your gallon is not exactly a
> gallon . In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the
> temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other
> petroleum products plays an important role. A 1-degree rise in
> temperature is a big deal for this business. However, the service
> stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.
>
> When you're filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a
> fast mode. If you look you will see that the trigger has three
> (3)stages: low, middle, and high. In slow mode you should be pumping on
> low speed, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are
> pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping
> on the fast rate, some other liquid that goes to your tank becomes
> vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground
> storage tank so you're getting less worth for your money.
>
> One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is HALF
> FULL or HALF EMPTY. The reason for this is, the more gas you have in
> your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates
> faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal
> floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and
> the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation. Unlike service
> stations, here where I work, every truck that we load is temperature
> compensated so that every gallon is actually the exact amount.
>
> Another reminder, if there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage
> tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up--most likely the gasoline
> is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and you might pick up
> some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom.
>
> Hope this will help you get the most value for your money.
>
> DO SHARE THESE TIPS W ITH OTHERS!
>
> WHERE TO BUY USA GAS, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO KNOW. READ ON
>
> Gas rationing in the 80's worked even though we grumbled about it. It
> might even be good for us! The Saudis are boycotting American goods. We
> should return the favor. An interesting thought is to boycott their
> GAS. Every time you fill up the car, you can avoid putting more money
> into the coffers of Saudi Arabia. Just buy from gas companies that don't
> import their oil from the Saudis.
>
> Nothing is more frustrating than the feeling that every time I fill-up
> the tank, I am sending my money to people who are trying to kill me, my
> family, and my friends. I thought it might be interesting for you to
> know which oil companies are the best to buy gas from and which major
> companies import Middle Eastern oil.
>
> These companies import Middle Eastern oil:
>
> Shell........................... 205,742,000 barrels
> Chevron/Texaco......... 144,332,000 barrels Exxon/Mobil...............
> 130,082,000 barrels Marathon/Speedway... 11 7,740,000 barrels
>
> Amoco............................62,231,000 barrels CITGO gas is from
> South America, from a Dictator who hates Americans. If you do the math
> at $30/barrel, these imports amount to over $18 BILLION! (oil is now $90
> - $100 a barrel)
>
> Here are some large companies that do not import Middle Eastern oil:
> Sunoco..................0 barrels
> Conoco................. 0 barrels
> Sinclair..................0 barrels
> BP/Phillips.............0 barrels
> Hess......................0 barrels
> ARC0.....................0 barrels
> If you go to Sunoco.com, you will get a list of the station locations
> near you.
> All of this information is available from the Department of Energy and
> each is required to state where they get their oil and how much they are
> importing.
>
> But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of gas
> buyers. It's really simple to do. Now, don't wimp out at this
> point.... keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach
> millions of people!! I'm sending this note to about thirty people. If
> each of you send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300)...and those 300
> send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) and so on, by the time
> the message reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached
> over THREE MILLION consumers !!!!!!! If those three million get excited
> and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have
> been contacted! If it goes one level further, you guessed it .....
> THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!! Again, all you have to do is send this
> to 10 people. How long would all that take?
>
>
>
>
> This electronic message transmission contains information which may be
> confidential or privileged. The information is intended to be for the
> use of the individual or entity named above. If you are not the
> intended recipient, be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution
> or use of the contents of this information is prohibited. If you have
> received this electronic transmission in error, please leave a message
> via telephone at (206) 288-6266, notify me by electronic reply, and
> delete this message. Opinions and ideas in this message that do not
> relate to official business are understood as neither given nor
> endorsed by the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. To view our complete
> Notice of Privacy Practices, visit our web site at www.seattlecca.org.

We have just increased a couple key Minti Moolah rewards...

1. Refer a friend - now at least m$1500 (was m$500)
2. Write a "good" article - now at least m$350 (was m$250)

Looks like the Good Article Minti Moolah bug has reared it's ugly head again.

We reward m$350 (we just increased it) for writing good articles/advice.

We will fix the bug and your articles will be rewarded for the last couple weeks, so don't fret ;)

Amazed by myself.

1. 23 days in a row riding exercise bike for 30 mins every morning. Now it is just routine :)
2. 15 days without Diet Coke (or soft drink), and feel HEAPS better :)

You may have noticed we uploaded a few fixes & small features yesterday? They include...

1. On your member homepage it now shows your latest 5 gifts.
2. You can now receive multiple gifts of the same one. Previously if someone had sent you a "Minti Seabreeze" then no one else could send you one.... now they can! :)
3. When you receive a gift it prompts you whether you want to send a gift back in return.
4. Your friends list on your homepage has moved down the page and made way for some advertising, sorry about this ;)
5. The "send gift" left hand navigation link is now visible without having to visit the members gift case.
6. We have dropped the price of gifts by 50%!!!
7. Minti's latest press release has been added to the press release page.
8. Fixed the bug that wasn't sending an email when members reach admin level explaining the reporting links.
9. A couple member's moolah statements weren't appearing, this are now fixed.
10. After sending a Minti mail you are now returned to your inbox, or the members homepage depending on where you started.
11. You are now unable to report blog posts or comments in private groups.
12. The tag cloud links on the "read advice" page now link to "advice search results", rather than the "all search results".
13. Now that we no longer allow votes on comments, we have also removed the stars in your member activity list.
14. Fixed a couple bugs that were not allowing auto reported articles to display after being cleared by admin votes.
15. Amended the Code of Conduct slightly.

So as you can see, lots of little changes. Any questions? Let me know in the comments below...

we are running a competition. see izzy's blog for details.

Some of our members had Minti Moolah pending for a while.

This bug has now been fixed.

Sorry about that.

just so everyone knows...

1. the bug has been fixed
2. if you write a good article, you will be rewarded with at least m250 (ie: 250 Minti Moolah)

So make sure you start writing some new articles ;)

Joshua (or "Little G'Baby Joshy" to Codi) is always got people hanging around him!

We have just (2 days) ago bought the Tike for Codi, and he hasn't got off it yet (except to go to bed! ) ;)

Excellent for learning how to balance on 2 wheels without training wheels.

Note: no pedals (but he has these on his tricycle anyway)

isnt this photo just amazing?

note: not one of my children... but couldn't help showing it to others...

Image from here.