Hi Everyone!

This is DJ’s Daddy talking with you today. I would like to discuss the future of DJ’s World.

As you may have noticed, DJ has not posted since October 21st. It must be understood by everyone that DJ is a real child. You can see his picture in the About Page. When we started this site with DJ some 6+ months ago, DJ was so excited and happy. His mother and I could not slow him down as he saw a way to make many friends around the world. Of course, DJ being 4 years old needed a lot of help with the idea of developing DJ’s World. Dj’s mother and I with help from his brother and sisters provided a lot of help and moral support. We were lucky to have our friend Darwin to do the art work. Everything was set in place. We launch DJ’s World on DJ’s birthday.

We tried to cover many subjects that greatly interested DJ. We helped him to learn to research information and to allow him to tell his story his way and then “translate” those words into written words that the world at large could understand. As hard as it was for a 4 year old child, Dj stuck with the job of working almost everyday on the site. This is a great feat for any 4 year old child.

With tracking software, we were able to track the visitor traffic each and every day. The visitor rate grew quickly. We knew that the growth in traffic had to be by, mostly, “word of mouth.” Unlike many other start-up blogs, we could not join link groups or blogging catalog groups because we wanted more than anything else to keep the site “child safe.” The problem that has developed over time has been the lack of visitor comments. Comments are so important to the life of a blog. It was the main reason that DJ wanted to do the blog…meeting new people around the world and making friends with children in other countries. Since the start-up last April, we have received only 3 comments. Think about that…only 3 comments. Why? We don’t know.

This is surely discouraging to anyone but to a 4 year old child it is a sorrowful experience. Dj has been very sad about the situation for quite a long time.

Just recently, we were told by Darwin that he doesn’t have time to help on the art work for DJ’s World. We had so many plans for the artistic side of DJ’s World and now we are at a lost as what to do. This has been very hard on DJ. He wanted to move along with DJ’s School and DJ’s Store and we are unable to realize his dream.

Maybe now, you can understand how DJ feels about this experience. He is really “down” about the blog. DJ’s mother and I have had some talks with DJ and he has decided to give DJ’s World a second try. He will start posting next week about educational items and other things that interests him. DJ has stated that he wants to learn new things about the Philippines and the world around us and pass that on to his many visitors.

We need your help. It only takes a few minutes of your day to place a comment to DJ on his daily post. It is not much to ask for a 4 year old child that puts his heart into this project. DJ’s mother and I allowed DJ to do this project as a learning experience. We had hoped that he would learn that there is a big world out there with many nice people. We wanted to teach him, at an early age, that there are more good people than bad people.

Help us to make DJ’s World a success by taking a few minutes and leaving DJ a “Hi! How are you doing” message. You will feel better about yourself for the rest of your day.

As always, thanks for your visit.Please Click To Comment

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Hi Everyone!

I would like to spend a few minutes on the subject of leaving comments at DJ’s World.

I have tried to figure out why visitors are not leaving comments. Dada checks the visitor statistics software program everyday and we can see that we are getting a lot of visitors. As a matter of fact, we have quite a few visitors that come by and visit each and every day and we are growing in new visitors everyday. So the question remains why no comments?

Dada told me today that there may be a question of how to access the comments area. I think that it may be part of the problem so I will address that now.

Accessing the comments area is fairly simple. All you have to do is “click” on the main title of the Post where  you wish to leave a comment. The main title is red in color. Once you enter the new page, you scroll down the posting until you reach the end. Just below you will see the Comments area. Your name and your e-mail address information  is required and we, also, ask if you have a website to include the URL address from that site so we can link it to DJ’sWorld. Then you can leave your comments in the comment block. Click the comment bar and you are finished! Once you have completed the comment, you should click the “Home” tab at the top of the page and you will be guided back to the original page you left.

For the rest of my friends, please don’t be shy to comment as I welcome and enjoy receiving your comments and imput about making DJ’s World a better place to visit.

Thanks for your visit!

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Hi Everyone!

I know that the title of this post has some strange, adult-like words-”Social Networking,” in it but they are easy to understand. Social Networking is simply a way that people can meet people that, hopefully, share the same interests. For those of you that go to school; your schoolmate friends are your “social network.” Now, that is pretty simple, right?

Now, DJ’s World is a new Internet site and we, of course, would like to make as many new friends as possible but there is a problem. The problem is this: my Mama and Dada very much want this place to be really “Internet safe” for all its young visitors. They do not want anything that would be negative to the proper development of children. I will give an example: when I talk about computer or PlayStation 2 games for children, we get a huge bunch of messages and links from on-line gambling websites. Mama and Dada make sure that all these are removed before they could end up on this site. It is, also, one of the reasons why Mama and Dada are, for right now, afraid of allowing advertisements on this site. They just don’t want anything that could hurt or disturb children.

This week, we are trying an experiment in social networking. On the lower right-hand side of our site, you will see (for now) a blank box with the title “BlogRush.” We joined today to see if it will help in bringing new vistors to our site. We will try it for a few days and see if it will work within the rules that Mama and Dada has set for this site. Because this is a test, we only ask that you let your parents ONLY “click” on the links in the box. They are always the best judge as to what they want you to see. Trust them only.

We will keep you posted on this new test of social networking. Once we get it going, we will,most likely, put up a survey to see what your feelings are about it.

In the end, I know that Mama and Dada will do what is best and proper. See you later!

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Hi Everyone!

I am spending as much time playing outside as Mama said that the summer is ending very soon. Each new day is getting a little cooler and by afternoon, we are having cloudy weather and sometimes showers.

In the Philippines, the end of the hot, dry summer brings the rainy season. This is a time of much rain and, sometimes, very bad storms called typhoons. Mama told me that these typhoons are called hurricanes and cyclones in other parts of the world.  She said that the Philippines, usually, gets up to 20 typhoons a year. Rain is very important for the farmers so they can grow their crops.

When it starts raining everyday, I will not be able to play outside so much but that is alright. Mama said that she is going to teach me new things on the computer and prepare me for my first year of school next year. Plus my friends will be coming over to my house each day to play.

Sometimes, it is nice to be in the  house and hear the sound of the rain on the roof.

Bye for now!

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Hi Everyone!

Last week, we traveled to Baguio City and had a great time. We visited a lot of nice places and did a lot of great things. Before we left, Mama took me to the public market to buy “pasalubong” for the rest of our family. I asked Mama why we do that whenever we go somewhere.

Mama said pasalubong is a Tagalog word which if translated in the American language would be “keepsake or presents”.

She said that pasalubong is a “gift for a relation or friend brought by” a “traveler returning from a trip,” and could also refer to “anything given as a gift to someone on the way home to a certain place. These returning travelers are known as balikbayan.

Pasalubong is usually local foods or things from the country where the Filipino traveler came from. For example, someone from Hawaii will bring macadamia nuts while someone that came from the Philippines might give decorations that are made up of kapis shells.

She told me, In the Philippines it has acquired the meaning of a gift or souvenir from someone traveling either visiting or upon returning home or someone who happens to be away from  the house for a period of time or just a day out of the house. The literal meaning of pasalubong is to “greet”, “surprise” or “meet with”. It is often suggest as “salubong” or refers to the act of meeting someone who just arrived and the one arriving, having been warm welcomed, compensates them with a pasalubong. It is not really the pasalubong that matters to a family, but the person who comes back home after a long time.

Mama said that pasalubong is very popular among Filipinos as it keeps the bond with friends, family, relatives or someone who does have a close relationship with you. The gesture of handing out “pasalubong” conveys that loved ones are being remembered while away. Pasalubong can range from food items such as fruits, imported confectionery goods and other sweets (i.e. chips, canned goods and the most common are chocolates). Pasalubong can also be other items such as shirts, novelty items, knives and toys among others. Pasalubongs are often not wrapped and given to someone as it is.

Mama said that a Balikbayan box is sometimes considered as pasalubongs by Filipinos. But unlike the traditional way of pasalubongs, it is sent as a box full of items/gifts. These gifts are usually packed in a balikbayan (which literally means, “return to town or nation”) box, which are large standardized carboard boxes.

She said that pasalubong may or may not be a souvenir from another place. It could be anything, either wild, native, gadgets as long as it is given to them as present.

I am really happy that we, in the Philippines, have such great traditions that show how much we care for our family and friends.

Good-bye for now!

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