My desk is my best friend

I have enjoyed dual careers in communications and education. As someone with some 20 years of experience under my belt, I've worked in a variety of work environments. I'm also used to working well over 40 hours a week. Since I spend so much time at work, and I'm pretty much inseparable from my computer and phone, I can be a bit picky when it comes to office desks.

Last year, while searching for a desk for my home office, I discovered CSN Stores. It was a great find. CSN has over 200 online stores where you can find just about anything, from office furniture to fitness equipment and cookware. Of course, I'm checking out the latter, too.

In the days ahead, I'll tell you about my latest find. Stay tuned!

(Click on image to zoom in)

Credit: Rob Cottingham

AOL to buy Huffington Post

AOL announced that it is acquiring The Huffington Post for a little over $300 million. According to AOL, the boards of directors of each company and shareholders of the Huffington Post have approved the transaction. However, it will take government approval to seal the deal.

The New York Times reported:

Arianna Huffington, the cable talk show pundit, author and doyenne of the political left, will take control of all of AOL’s editorial content as president and editor in chief of a newly created Huffington Post Media Group. The arrangement will give her oversight not only of AOL’s national, local and financial news operations, but also of the company’s other media enterprises like MapQuest and Moviefone.

Huffington also announced the merger on her site. The Huffington Post began as a liberal blog with a small staff in 2005 but now draws some 25 million visitors every month.

Blogging mistakes you don't want to make

Whether you're blogging for fun or business, you want to make a good impression. That means you have to make a strong effort to attract and maintain your readers. After all, your blog is an extension of you. First impressions are important.

Many bloggers ignore the importance of being user-friendly. If your writing style and web design are too complex, you'll make it hard for new readers to understand and trust your site.

For those writers who publish professional blogs, one piece of advice cannot be stressed enough. Make sure your content is Internet-friendly! Traditional print media and marketing techniques often don't work on the Web. Too many sites have interesting content, but you may miss it because the posts are too long and awkwardly written. They read like research papers or investigative reports.

Many business blogs are jargon-heavy, another no-no. You'll never go wrong if you keep it simple.

Engage your audience. It will keep your readers coming back.

Politics permeates the streets of Cairo

Tuesday was billed as a game-changer, the day of a "Million March" that would swell the crowd in Tahrir Square, along with its spirits, as protesters promised a decisive action that would deliver the message to Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, that no concession aside from his abdication would satisfy Egypt’s widespread unrest.

Final estimates of the size varied widely, but it was probably the largest demonstration modern Cairo has ever seen, and the message from Tahrir echoed clearly from the chants of the enormous crowd: "He's going, we're not going."

Throughout the morning, the Egyptian army fulfilled its promise to protect the civilian populace, providing an outer cordon of security and ushering demonstrators through barbed wire and concrete barriers with little or no resistance.

But it was often ordinary citizens - the protesters themselves - who performed the most stringent security checks, patting down young men, checking ID cards, and ushering away those who seemed to be a threat.

Read more at English Al-Jazeera