Someone inquired if the Beach Drive Neighbors is going to be password protected.   This IS something that I can do.  A lot of this information is public (or easily found) although I completely support having the neighborhood list private.  Beach Drive Blog will remain public.

What I’ll need from you, Dear Reader, is a suggestion for an easy password for us to use that we can all remember and…here’s the tricky part, one that is not easily guessed.   Email me with your suggestions.

Update:  February 16, 2007.   We now have the Neighborhood List password protected.  The password is (oh come, on…you didn’t think I would actually spell it out here, did you?  I’ll provide it to you when you email me your information).

A reader of Beach Drive Blog (or do I dare say…BDB) told me that he thought he had subscribed to receive updates from the blog via email, but he was not sure that it was working.    Here are some easy steps for how to receive any new posts made to this blog to be emailed to  you. 

Step 1) Enter your email address in the box to the right and push the button that says Get email updates.

Step 2) You will be redirected to a website that will ask you to enter a code (this is to prevent spammers and spam-bots).

Step 3) You will receive an email from "feedblitz@mail.feedblitz.com.  This is the service that BDB utilizes for delivering updates via email.  You will need to click on the link that instructs you to confirm you want the subscription to Beach Drive Blog.

Step 4) You will be directed to a web site that will confirm that you will receive updates from BDB.  You may want to add "feedblitez@mail.feedblitz.com" as an approved sender to your address book to avoid having the updates wind up in your junk file.

• You will never be spammed
• It’s FREE
• No update, no email
• Update = email
• You can unsubscribe at anytime…but why would you do a silly thing like that?

A few weeks ago (I think we had just our first post), I asked to be linked on West Seattle Blog’s site.  Understandably, the response was that they would like to wait a little while to see how our blog does.   Many start with great intentions and fizzle out fast.   The West Seattle Blog is THE Granddaddy of blogs in our neighborhood, if not the fine city of Seattle… so to receive this nod today really means more than I can say!   Thank you, thank you very much!

Sandi suggested that we have our neighborhood contact info on Beach Drive Blog so that we can reach each other in the event of an emergency or for neighborly events.

We have Beach Drive Neighbors on the blog (left column) which allows me to input the following information (this is the "back side" of the blog that is not seen by the public):

If you would like to have your information listed, send me an email with your name, website, email, phone number and/or "one-line bio".   (I may eventually make this a separate link if we have enough neighbors listed).

Thanks, Sandi!

Update (2/6/07 10:15 a.m.):  After tinkering around with Typepad, I see that I need to build a different format for a neighborhood directory.    Unless you have a website, the template I’m currently using will not show your information.  I also would prefer to have a link that takes us to the neighbor instead of listing everyone down the side of the page.    Please do send me your information and I’ll work on the new format. 

Update (2/6/07 10:49 a.m.)  I have created a new page for our neighbor directory.  If you would like to be listed please contact me.  I’m not sure how much information you would like to have on the world wide web (most everything is all ready public)?  If you have a blog or would like to promote your business AND you are a Beach Drive resident, we can do that too!

Beach Drive Blog, in it’s infancy, is doing great!  We all ready have many of subscribers (see the email box on the left) who have signed up to receive updates automatically in their email when a new post is created.

I’ve been receiving very positive feed back from neighbors and some ideas on how else this blog can be used.  I thought I should share a few ideas with you!   

Here is a short list of possible subjects for Beach Drive Blog.

• Garage Sales
• Beach Drive Pets
• Gardening Tips (I think this winter killed almost all of my potted plants)
• Homes for sale in the neighborhood
• Announcements (ex. birth, wedding, etc.)
• Block watch information
• Neighborhood stories (we live in an older home with a lot of interesting tales)
• Other blogs to link to from Beach Drive

Are you a Beach Drive neighbor who would like to create a post for this blog?  We welcome your participation and ideas!   The more people who dig in and get involved with this blog, the more interesting it will be…you’ll tire of my ramblings!

Also, if you’re a neighbor who would like to be listed with a link to you or your profession on this blog–speak up and send me an email.