I personally like small support groups for a number of reasons:

- I grow with them and its members
- I know the leaders and can communicate with them
- I can participate, be heard and be noticed
- I like the personal approach

Like any other relationships, memberships in support groups are two-way streets: they support you and vice versa.

Actively participating in your support groups make these groups bigger, more active and more influential. In turn, these changes make you proud, make you part of a community, give you more experience and more exposure. Consequently, you grow more as a person you intend to be.

I have plenty of support groups in my whole life: my family, my girlfriend, and a couple of organizations during my education. I will not, however, mention how I support them as it will sound like I am tooting my own horn.

Since we are in the blogging world, I have listed below a select few of my “online” support groups. (If you are a non-blogger reader of mine, don’t worry, the technical terms are minimal). Some of these you might be able to relate to. After reading, if you are interested in learning more about them, I encourage you to click on their links:

SUPPORT GROUP#1 – Readers, Lurkers, and Visitors

Let us differentiate the three first. Visitors are people coming from various sites. They can be from search engines like google looking for something and somehow ended up here. These people probably will visit once then leave. 7% of this site’s traffic are coming from search engines.

Lurkers, on the other hand, are people who visited and decided to come back. However, they prefer to just read and comment only once or twice (sometimes they don’t). There is nothing wrong with that. Some of these people, I know personally.

Readers are people who are regulars of the site. They read, go through the archives, and sometimes comment when appropriate. Most of the readers are fellow bloggers who know the ethics of blogging.

How do I support them?

One of the reasons this site continues to exist is because of them. So I will continue to write useful information to feed their hungry minds. I read my readers’ blogs and comment when I have something genuine to say. I make sure I link to the post I think others will find interesting.

The top commentators are rewarded by displaying their links on the right sidebar. On a similar note, last month, I had moved the “latest comments” high on the sidebar to easily keep track of any responses.

The following 5 readers commented regularly here: Vic the CaribooPonderer, Jeni of Down River Drivel, Marcus Langford, Frank C of OpTempo – Internet Review Magazine, and Cris.

SUPPORT GROUP#2 – BloggingZoom

If you are a blogger who wants your articles and posts get promoted, BloggingZoom.com is the place for you. In other similar social sites, self-promotion is considered a mortal sin. But the creators of BloggingZoom (Vic Franqui of Make Money Online and Court Tuttle of Internet Marketing) made it known that publishing your own posts is what the site wants you to do, and members will “zoom” your submission as a vote of approval if they found your articles worthy.

What I also like about BZ is that making friends is a lot easier and they comment on your submissions. It means one thing: you get a readership that generates quality traffic and might subscribe to your blog.

A BZ power user, Jason Clark of Inner88 – Review of Internet wrote a very good explanation of BloggingZoom. You’ll find it extremely useful if you intend to be a member of BZ.

How do I support BloggingZoom?

I like the community in BZ; the leaders are approachable even though few sensitive people might find Vic a little bit harsh. My way of supporting them is following the rules especially in post submission. Vic and Court don’t like members copy-pasting their posts for one good reason: duplicate contents. Google penalizes sites that copy others’ information. Vic also explained the benefit is mutual. I do not see any harm writing 4 sentences (approximately 350 characters) to describe your submission.

Also, they encourage you to zoom others’ submissions and visit their blogs so they get traffic as well; I have been doing that already since my first day as a member.

SUPPORT GROUP#3 – BlogHology

A blogging friend of mine – Mert Erkal of searchforblogging.com – has a vision, a vision where selected bloggers are grouped together and their best posts are promoted. I am part of that group. He calls it BlogHology. Below is a blurb of what it is:

… Similar to an anthology, a bloghology is a collection of bloggers, their profiles, photos, and links to their best posts. It is a PDF e-book which can be easily circulated throughout the blogosphere for personal branding and marketing of selected good quality bloggers…

How do I support BlogHology?

Mert is a hard-working person who is dedicated in achieving his goals, and at the same time in helping others. As a result, he inspires others using the “lead by example” technique. Seeing these characteristics in him, it is easy to follow suit. He only wants one thing from the participants: to promote BlogHology to their own readers by putting up a download link on their blogs.

I encourage you to download (by clicking on the BlogHology image above) the BlogHology E-Book, where I was also featured. Find out which of my posts were included in the first edition.

SUMMARY

I believe in the old adage “No man is an island.“. No one should be. Whether we like it or not, we need others to be successful.

In choosing the right support groups for me, I see to it they have the following characteristics:

-They should have a vision-mission
-The leaders support their members
-The members voluntarily reach out to others

How about you? Do you have support groups that you would like to share?

I’ve seen that one before. The first time in my own video. I got worried, thinking if I violated YouTube’s Terms of Service (TOS). Was the video taken down due to copyright infringement or copyright claim by other parties? I didn’t think so. Fortunately, the (only) video in my account was not deleted. So how did I fix the error?

I didn’t. It was on YouTube side. My instinct told me to press F5 to reload the page before I make a drastic move in my blog. Luckily, the trick worked.

So I emailed Janie back saying that it is normal when the page with embedded YouTube video is open for a long time. The clip is not gone, removed or deleted. All she has to do is refresh the page and the video will re-appear.

She thanked me for letting her know because she didn’t “realize that You Tube timed out like that.” to quote her.

I want to thank Janie for pointing this out. She inspired me to write a post because it seems to me that this issue looks like a big deal to a concerned viewer. I hope that this post somehow reaches YouTube so they can fix the annoying “Video is no longer available” error that makes their members and users worry.

Below is a plan I have developed to accomplish my goal for the remaining days of the year:

1. Spend Quality Time With Family – Christmas, like what Jeni has commented in my previous post, is a time for togetherness. It is meant for family traditions. While my family is back in the Philippines celebrating a normal Filipino Christmas, my father and I plan to attend the midnight mass on Christmas Eve and then watch NBA games on the 25th here in our apartment in Jersey City.

2. Open Gifts Right Away – It may sound unreal, but I discovered that some of the presents I received from last year remained unopened for 365 days. It’s funny, but at the same time, I felt upset for being too lazy sorting them out. Some of the items could have been useful to me the past year. The gifts include: candies and chocolates, neckties, shirt, and other things. Therefore, my advice for you is to not procrastinate: open the boxes and bags on Christmas Day and sort them out right away. Don’t let the chocolates grow some hair!

3. Learn New Things – I am a directionally-challenged person: it would take me several trips to a destination before I can master the roads. That is why I appreciated receiving a Global Positioning System (GPS) device. It is a gadget that guides drivers in directions via satellite. This is the first time I’m using one so I’m more than willing to spend time learning and testing it by driving around the community using my old Honda.

4. Rest and Relax – Are you going out with some friends to watch AVP (Alien Vs Predator)? Do you prefer to sleep or read a book? Perhaps listen to iPod and download music from iTunes? Whatever it is that you plan to do for relaxing, then just do it. The essence of vacation is to rest, recharge, and then….

5. Prepare for the Days Ahead – Chance favors a prepared mind. My preparation before school reopens on January 2nd, includes: tidying up my room, doing the laundry, and doing some work that I brought home. I want to come back looking fresh without any vacation hangover. I want to stand tall so others will see me ready to work, ready for the new year.

I hope you find these tips useful. If you have other tips and recommendations, feel free to leave a comment below.

In this post, I will discuss what viral linking is, why it is tempting, and how it taught me to be patient.

What is Viral Linking?

Viral linking is a tempting activity among bloggers because it is so easy to accomplish. All you have to do is answer some questions from the originator and list the sites/blogs in your post and “tag” other people to do the same. As a result, the list grows (or spreads) like a virus.

Viral Linking comes in various names. Meme (rhymes with “cream”), Chain Blog Links, Tagging Game are some of the names associated with it. Basically, viral linking is similar to chain linking.

Why Do Bloggers Do It?

Exchanging of links (or backlinking) is hard to come by. As much as possible, we want our site linked to others in an ethical fashion. And it’s a tough mission if your site is still new or unpopular. You might get ignored.

But since viral linking is well accepted in the blogging world, it quenches our thirst for backlinks. Below you’ll read some of the common benefits of viral linking:

• Receive Inbound Links
An inbound link means a website or another blog is linking to you. For a blog, particularly the new and low-traffic ones, receiving an inbound link is like a manna in the desert. The feeling is good when you found out that someone out there knows your site exists. So just imagine if you’re a part of a successful viral linking: the inbound links will be tremendous.

• Increase in Technorati Ranking
Technorati is a service that ranks blogs according to “reactions” or links it received. The ranking is called Authority. If your blog has been mentioned in a post of another blog, it is counted as a reaction. In the past 3 months, my blog has received 50 reactions, which is equivalent to almost 17 a month. Close to a half of those coming from viral linking.

• Receive Untargeted Traffic
Untargeted Traffic means hits from sites outside your niche or interest. If you’re a part of a tagging game, bloggers who participate might click on your site to learn more about you. How do I know? Because that’s what I sometimes do.

• Increase of Potential Readership
Readership means the number of people who read your site on a regular basis. It is manifested in the comments you receive. If those who are part of viral linking enjoy your post, there’s a strong likelihood that they come back and might subscribe in a reader or by email.

• Build a Community
One thing I noticed about Viral Linking is that bloggers involved seem to know each other. If you want to establish a community, a simple tagging game can be a good start.

Viral Linking Taught Me Patience

Knowing its benefits, it’s so easy to fall into its trap. Viral Linking is a double-edged sword. It is good if done properly, otherwise, overdoing it might cost you some readers. Just ask yourself: would like to read a blog with half of its content are viral links? As a blogger, I want to share insightful experiences and useful information. As a reader, I want to learn more about the author.

I have seen how viral links works, because I’ve been a beneficiary. But I purposely didn’t maximize its full potential. Being included in numerous linking before, I was tempted to spread the love, too. However, I had to wait for a viral linking that fits my blog, and I was glad Jeni tagged me for a simple tagging game (see below). Patience is truly a virtue.

Why Don’t Some Bloggers Do It?

Some bloggers are not really fond of viral linking, and here are my theories:

• Out of niche – Some bloggers are too protective of their niche, and they feel they will lose some readers if they participate in viral linking especially if the questions are not within their subjects.

• PageRank Concerns and Paid Links – Some bloggers have what Frank best describes as “Googlenoia“, or being paranoid of Google’s evil acts. Big name bloggers seldom (or never) do viral links because they prefer paid links. They will not link to you unless you are willing to pay for a tiny space in their sites. There’s nothing wrong with what they are doing since their priority is monetization.

• Laziness – Formatting links and post can sometimes be pain in the neck and time-consuming, especially if the blogging editor is not really user-friendly.

How Do You Play The Tag Game?

As I said above, the originator of the tag game will set some rules and you simply follow them. Most of the time, it contains questions to be answered.

In order to make the viral linking successful, you have to copy the links from the previous tag. It’s really that simple.

I was tagged by Jeni and I’m going to use that viral linking as an example:

Below are the links included in the tag, feel free to click on the sites that look interesting to you:

Limadang.com
RamblingMoo.com
blogginginmypyjamas
StylewithPassion
Chinneeq

Dora-zooropazoo
Babyshern
HiPnCooLMoMMa
Rachel’s Soulful Thoughts
When Silence Speaks

Dancing in Midlife Tune
Underneath it All
I am Dzoi
Hobbies and Such
moms…..check nyo

Choc Mint Girl
Amel’s Realm
My Thoughts
Rusin Roundup – Mel
MondayMorningPower
Comedy Plus
Mother’s Home!

Down River Drivel -> last tagger

PlanetSaedel -> my site

1st Rule: If you are tagged, copy the links above and insert your site at the bottom of the list (right under the last tagger) to make sure you’re included in the succeeding tags (see example above).

2nd Rule: Tag 5 bloggers from your list. (My tags below)

My Tags

• Vic Grace at CaribooPonderer
• Cris at KillTimeDoBlog
• Marcus at MarcusLangford
• Frank at OpTempo
• Mert at Search For Blogging

Tagging game, by its technical definition, should have a question. So for optional 3rd rule, here’s a simple question for you to answer: Briefly, what’s the story behind your site name?

Because I am the originator of the question, I’ll answer it first:

PlanetSaedel means “my world” or “my planet”. Here, I share personal experiences, tips, insights, and advices for others to use.

Since the question was a modification of the original rule, you may or may not choose to answer the question. It’s really up to you.

CONCLUSION

Viral Linking is one of the smartest methods of natural link exchange among us bloggers that will increase our inbound links. However, overdoing it might lose you some readers or turn off first time visitors. Learn to be patient, wait for the right “tag” tailored for your blog. If you’ve been tagged, it’s your choice if you want to continue the viral linking or not. And if I have tagged you, I hope you do spread the links.

Happy Tagging!

As of writing, this blog is graded 72%, still low if you base it on the “academic” grading standards; but allow me to brag a bit — that is a major improvement, considering that my previous grade was only 41%. My goal is to reach a grade of around 80%-85% before the year ends.

The rest of the post contains technical terms and blogging-related jargons, so if you are one of my non-technical and/or non-blogger readers, feel free to skip to the conclusion below.

What is Website Grader?

This is according to their website….

Website Grader is a free seo tool that measures the marketing effectiveness of a website. It provides a score that incorporates things like website traffic, SEO, social popularity and other technical factors. It also provides some basic advice on how the website can be improved from a marketing perspective.

If you are a new blogger, this is a good start to learn about SEO, internet marketing, and traffic.

A snapshot of my grade. Click for more details.

What I Noticed

There are a few things I noticed. It’s normal to get a low score if your site is new. Your grade will gradually increase if you regularly update your blog. I learned this by checking my site a few hours after I post an entry. In simple words: More Content = Higher Score.

I also noticed that my Google PageRank (PR) went up to 3 from 0. I was kind of expecting it. New blogs/sites start with a 0 PR. If your site hits 3 months and Google updated the PR, you may be given a ranking, like what happened to this planet.

I also found out that the Delicious Saved Count remains at 0 even though I saved some of my pages in my account. The Subscriber Count is also reading 0, mainly because they are using the WordPress built-in feeder as the basis, not the FeedBurner, which is what I am using. It is minor, though, since I have access to that number.

Checking Out Popular Social Sites

Out of curiosity, I checked out some of the most popular social sites among bloggers. You will find below their scores as of this writing: (click on their names for full report)

• BloggingZoom.com – 95
• Digg.com – 99
• StumbleUpon.com – 96
• Reddit.com – 86

CONCLUSIONS

My score is increasing simply because I am updating my blog on a regular basis. The more content I post, the better grade I get. But is that what I really want?

If you are a blogger, this grading system is a good motivational tool to improve your technical blogging skills and social strategies as it also reports your traffic ranking and the number of sites that are linking to your blog. If you want to be in the thick of serious bloggers around the blogosphere, then use this tool to find errors in your site and try to correct them if you can.

However, this is not the only tool available for learning. Broaden your perspective and read a lot. If you are serious about SEO and related topics, there are other good websites and blogs that offer excellent tips to increase your scores and traffic. Also, getting a high grade doesn’t mean you have to be complacent. Don’t jack up your blog with meaningless posts for the sake of increasing your score. Remember, quality content is still the champion in the hearts of your readers.

If you’ve been reading PlanetSaedel for quite sometime now, you will notice that I’ve changed the posting layout of my page. Each single page now consists of 5 posts in FULL read, unlike before where you have to click “Continue Reading…” to read the rest of the topic. I know this will sound a little selfish but the reason for this is because I want my blog to be accepted by PayPerPost. One of their requirements is to have the post displayed on the page completely. If I get accepted, I only plan to write reviews related to my interests or niche. PayPerPost (PPP), in simple words, is a company that pays bloggers to write reviews. If you want to learn more about PPP, you can read my previous post here.

Traffic

In relation to to that, If you are a subscriber – either by RSS Reader or Email – my post will be delivered to you in Full Read as well. A lot of bloggers utilize RSS because it is extremely useful and time-saving. And that’s exactly the reason why I turned off the “Continue Reading…” feature. Most bloggers are busy but they want to keep updated to other blogs, so they subscribe to a lot of sites that offer RSS. I’ve read that the only time they visit the site to read the entire post is when the title and the first few paragraphs are interesting. So I figured, why not give them a chance to read the complete post via their reader before they completely skip my post?

Enabling FULL READ is a risk, as far as my traffic is concerned. As much as possible, I want readers to go to my relatively new site and give me a “hit”. But then I thought, one way to do it is to write insightful, useful, and interesting posts. So that’s what I’m going to do.

So how am I going to send traffic to my 9-week old site?

Enter the Feedburner.

RSS FeedBurner and its FeedFlare Feature

I use FeedBurner to burn my posts and deliver them to my readers. It has a feature called FeedFlare, which I found out allows interactivity to your site. If you have an RSS reader, you can check that I am able to show the following: How many Comments are there in my posts; Links to Technorati, Digg, StumbleUpon; and many more. For my non-technical readers, these simply mean a way to encourage the readers to click on my site to generate traffic, and to share my posts/articles to other social sites if they find them interesting and discussion-worthy.

How cool is that?

However, I am unsure if FeedFlare only works for WordPress or other blog software installed in bloggers’ OWN domain. Therefore, bloggers whose sites are hosted by blogspot.com and other similar free bloghosts, will have to verify on their own if they are able to avail of this service.

MORE

I’m thinking of a better site description to replace my current one. Right now, it reads: “Beginner’s guide to practical things and more“, but the more I write, the more the description becomes irrelevant. My girlfriend Andie, thought so, too. So if you have suggestions, kindly post them in the message box below; or if you are too shy, you can simply shoot me an email at: saedel@planetsaedel.com ( saedel[at]planetsaedel[dot]com ). All suggestions will be appreciated.

I stumbled upon a cool website where people, especially young kids, can enjoy making art using their mouse. Fun and addicting, you won’t even notice the time go by.

It is called Art.com ArtPad, a very simple, easy-to-use program. If you haven’t done any digital drawing before because you thought it’s complicated, this website will definitely change your mind.

The tools are easy to recognize because they are neatly arranged on the left side. The drawing pencil changes automatically to brush as you increase its size, and vice versa. The colors are not elaborate; very basic, yet, with the inclusion of opacity, you can make an outstanding effect of color combinations.

What I like about this is its useful file capabilities: For instance, you can PRINT your work right off the bat, which sends your design directly to the printer. It also has SAVE and SEND features — you can save your work and/or send it to others. You can also let art.com display your work. If you are running out of ideas, simply hit VIEW OTHER PAINTINGS to see other people’s work.

If you are like me who wants to explore every possibilities, then you are bound to make mistakes at some point. But don’t worry. ArtPad has an unlimited UNDO capability that rolls back your errors.

As a computer teacher, I will definitely use this tool with my classes to increase my students’ interest in technology and to help them discover their creative side without the pressure.

Screen shot of Art.com’s ArtPad

New PPP members get excited by the fact that they are already a member. However, new members don’t know that there’s one important step to accomplish before they can take advantage of the open opportunities: BLOG SUBMISSION. Don’t expect to earn profit right away, because your blog can still be rejected. As a matter of fact, prepare to get frustrated because PPP has 5 secrets you wished you knew beforehand:

1. Number of posts and Quality - Your blog should have at least 20 posts prior to submission. This is a piece of cake. 20 posts is nothing. But, if you are a beginner, it is an easy mistake to make because you are tempted to post anything outside your niche. I can post 5 irrelevant topics in one day with my eyes closed, but is it worth it? To me, quality is more important than quantity. So my tip is: write quality post from the get-go and make it a habit. Always check your post for technical errors (ie. grammar and punctuations) and substance (contents). Heads-up: PPP reviews your post submissions once your blog becomes legible.

Also, if you are planning to join other review companies, keep in mind that some of them might require you to have at least 10 posts a month. My posting frequency is 2 posts (3 max) per week. That way, I won’t run out of ideas and the quality remains consistent. So make sure you post in a regular interval so your site gets approved.

2. Age limit – PPP (and others) will not approve your blog if it is relatively new — it should be at least 90 days old. PPP verifies your blog’s age by getting the date of your first post, and subtracting it from your application date. In some instances, other companies check if you have archives link, so if you haven’t done that yet, set it up now.

3. Posts per Page – PPP will not approve your blog if your page shows only 2 posts at a time. For some reasons, you have to have at least 5 posts in a page. If you are serious about becoming a reviewer, it’s time to pad up the pages with more posts.

4. Post Layout – PPP and other companies require you to have your posts in FULL READ. Meaning, your post – no matter how short or long it is – should be completely displayed in the page. If you fancy the “MORE…” feature, then I suggest drop it now then re-submit your blog. (If you are into Search Engine Optimization or more commonly known as SEO, I’ve read that this is a growing concern, because FULL READ duplicates your site contents. However, I feel that it is a separate topic that needs another post so I won’t discuss it here.)

5. Traffic – This is the toughest especially for new sites. Fortunately, PPP, in my experience, does not check traffic ranking. However, bloggers with new sites who are anxious to become reviewers, are in a rude awakening when they learn that some companies reject blog submission due to low traffic ranking. Some companies won’t even bother contact you if your blog is disapproved.

To check your site’s traffic, go to alexa.com, and enter your site. If you feel you need more hits, here’s one effective tip to increase your site’s popularity: write quality posts/articles and submit them to reddit.com or digg.com and make sure you enter short, catchy title. For starters, reddit and digg are the two most popular social news sites where users can submit links, whether their own or not. If REDDITors and DIGGers like your submission, they will vote for it and share it with others. The more votes you get, the more chances your article makes the frontpage. Hence, the exposure and tons of hits.

If you think you’ve passed these requirements, then you should have no problem getting your blog accepted. Try submitting your blog again and wait if it gets approved or not. If PPP rejects your blog, take note of the reasons and feel free to post here.

If you want to help aspiring reviewers, please send them this link so they will know what to do before they submit their blogs to PPP and/or other companies and save them the frustrations.

Good luck!

** Disclaimer: This is based on my personal experience and some research, and may or may not be applicable to you. So use this at your own risk. I will not be liable for the use of information in this post. **

Those are the eternal questions newly-graduates ask themselves as they prepare to join the labor force, and most often they get confused. I was one of them nine years ago.

It took me several months before I landed a job after graduating from college. I was so concerned with the salary.

“I heard John is getting $$$ amount monthly.”

“Jane was also accepted at ABC company and is being sent to the States to work.”

I wanted to be the same. I wanted tell people how huge my salary is when they ask. I wanted a job that will pay me huge money and at the same time will give me even just a slight exposure in my field of expertise. In that specific order: money, then experience. That was how I measured success then. I wanted money right away.

My friend on the other hand, was already working as a programmer receiving a minimum to low salary. That time, I just declined a job from an IT software house that only offered daily allowance, enough to pay only the transportation. Give me a break, I deserved better than that. So I accepted a programming job from a small plastic manufacturing firm that gave me almost double of my friend’s base salary. My work as an in-house database programmer was to upgrade their DOS systems to Windows-based, not to mention technical support and computer troubleshooting.

Later, I learned that my hard-working friend was absorbed by the bank he was working for and his professional skills were honed as his company kept sending him to various seminars and workshops. Years after, he is promoted to a manager, has his own car, and is now living a life I’ve been dreaming of.

Me? I got stuck coding, and since the company I was working for was more concerned in developing their main products, I had to improve my skills on my own time.

Looking back, it was a huge mistake to prioritize salary when you are a starter. Give premium to skills and experience. In time, as your skills and experience broaden, you will be compensated properly. Forget what others say when they brag about their income but unhappy with their jobs because of lack of professional growth.

If you can get a job that will provide you experience and huge income, then take advantage and grab it. Good for you. Otherwise, go for the experience, you’ll be rewarded later. Or maybe sooner. Depends on how hard-working you are. As the saying goes, “No pain, no gain.”

I remember when I was already out of college looking for a job. I couldn’t hack it in to the corporate world. Several good companies kept rejecting me. Then, when some “so-so” companies called me for job interviews, I was pre-occupied with the “what-ifs” and “what-might-have-beens” of previous work applications, I couldn’t focus on the present time. And that meant another failure.

At home, I remember, I would follow-up applications only to hear an old technique: “We will call you back.” Or “We will keep your résumé on file.” After hanging up the phone, I would sigh and say, “That was a really good company. What a waste.” And I would think about it like it’s really my fault and it’s already the end of the world.

It’s not. Thanks to my father and his timely advice. He said that “if you keep thinking about it, then you would never be happy.” He’s right.

I was able to get past my failures and use it as motivation. After my programming career in the Philippines (which I’m also going to blog soon), I’m now a Computer and Math Teacher, Computer “Mechanic”, Web Designer, and a Blog Writer; and still motivated to do other related jobs.

It’s senseless to dwell in the past. It’s been done and there’s nothing more you can do about it. We have to move on, otherwise, we will remain unproductive. Instead of spending time worrying and obstructing the present, why don’t we use the time thinking on how we can improve ourselves and avoid the same mistakes?

The best course of action is do your best, stay motivated, and learn to love what you do. Otherwise, it’s regrets all over again.