Journal

The posts from the original MichaelDorausch.com, kept at their original addresses so old links still work.

2013-06-19Do-It-Yourself 80 Watt Solar Panel BuildI built an 80 watt solar panel for less than $50. About 5 months ago I began researching and experimenting with solar energy. That led to watching about a dozen videos on how to ma…
2013-04-29LED Camping Lights from Ikea Rotera LanternsThe last few times I've been camping I've been wanting to come up with a different solution for lighting my campsites. Most of the time I'm camping in remote regions using my Jeep …
2012-12-10Pinkham Canyon Thermal Canyon RoadsThere's a few terrific opportunities for 4x4 adventures inside Joshua Tree National Park, and a day trip drive along Pinkham Canyon-Thermal Canyon Road is one of my favorites. The …
2012-12-05Historical Tampa Medical Hero Frank AdamoThere's a lot of historical sites to be seen when walking downtown Tampa, Florida. One such site along a tree lined street is a historical marker dedicated to Lieutenant Colonel Fr…
2012-10-092012 Pubcon Las Vegas Party GuideWhat to do at Pubcon Las Vegas when not attending the conference sessions or getting your photo taken? Here's a list of the week's activities, along with tips from a Pubcon veteran…
2012-09-18Best Las Vegas Convention Center HotelsPlease note that this is not a guide to Las Vegas hotels, there are many that will be left out of this post, I've chosen to focus on hotels that are best for attendees at conferenc…
2012-09-13PubCon 2012 Las Vegas Photo OpportunitiesIf you know me you know it's no surprise that I'll have my camera while at this year's 2012 PubCon Las Vegas. Since last year's event, I've gotten a new camera and a few new lenses…
2012-09-12Las Vegas Hotels Google Results Dissection: A Case StudyIn October of 2011 I posted a three-part series on the subject of using Google for local search of hotels in Las Vegas. Local search results have continued to evolve since late 201…
2012-06-30Deep Granular Hyper Local ContentThis post is based on a presentation I did for a June 2012 SMX Advanced in Seattle, Washington titled Deep Granular Hyper Local Content DGHLC. If you're seeking ideas to create loc…
2012-04-26BlueGlassLA Photography and HeadshotsAnother BlueGlass conference has come to Los Angeles. BlueGlassLA was held on April 23 and April 24 at The Standard Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. I had anticipated taking many pho…
2012-03-253rd Annual SEO BBQ and BlueGlassLA 2012I can't begin to tell you how excited I am that BlueGlass is coming back to Los Angeles on April 23rd and 24th at the Standard Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. BlueGlass does events …
2012-03-192012 Los Angeles Marathon Winner PhotosThe 2012 Honda Los Angeles Marathon was run on Sunday, March 18, 2012. This year's women's race was won by Fatuma Sado of Ethiopia, and the men's race was won by Simon Njoroge of K…
2012-03-04Costco Closed on the Following HolidaysCostco is closed for seven major holidays in the United States. Those holidays are New Year's Day, Easter, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christma…
2012-03-02A Kink in Google’s New SafeSearch Filtering?I think there's a kink in Google's new SafeSearch filtering. I blogged the other day about new image related search quality highlights being rolled out by Google. One of those chan…
2012-02-285 Image Related Google Search Quality HighlightsGoogle announced on their blog today that 40 Search Quality Highlights had been made for the month of February 2012. While I am very much interested in the improvements to ranking …
2012-02-23PubCon Paradise After DarkAfter two days of Search, Social Media and Sunshine in Honolulu, PubCon Paradise wrapped up with an after party at Jimmy Buffett's Waikiki in Honolulu, HI. I almost decided not to …
2012-02-22Birds Spotted in Honolulu HawaiiI am finding birds make good subjects when it comes to taking photographs, and there was no shortage of colorful birds to take pictures of while in Honolulu. On day one I discovere…
2012-02-20Online Review Social AwkwardnessWriting online reviews has not yet become part of our regular culture (in the USA). Ask any local small business owner (or manager) and you'll discover that very few people write o…
2012-02-19Best Cheeseburgers in HonoluluI love cheeseburgers. That's a pretty well-known fact in my family. But even though I love them, I can't say I'd be willing to travel a long distance to find a cheeseburger I can e…
2012-02-09Roses Not Always RedWith Valentine's Day coming, I was reminded of roses and found these in a photo set from a trip to Canada. Roses are not always red, but red roses are by far the most popular. I ph…
2012-01-30Las Vegas Hotel Local Search SEO Battle ContinuesIn October 2011, I blogged a 3-part series I titled The Centroid Battle for Las Vegas. The first part of the series highlighted the 7 pack and Google place pages for Las Vegas Hote…
2011-11-19Faces of PubCon Las Vegas 2011As has become tradition for me, I walked the halls and session rooms of PubCon Las Vegas 2011 with my camera, seeking to capture faces of the SEO/Search industry. Here's a selectio…
2011-10-271873 Los Angeles City Saloon AdvertisementRecently while doing business listing research on the city of Los Angeles, I got the opportunity to view and photograph a rare advertisement from the 1873 Los Angeles City and Coun…
2011-10-14Blue Cut Fault Pushawalla LoopOne of 51 earthquake fault lines in Southern California, the Blue Cut fault extends for about 50 miles through the Little San Bernardino Mountains, under Pleasant Valley, and into …
2011-10-12Hotels Lose against Google Local: Centroid Battle for Las VegasThis is part 3 of my three-part series on Local Search in Google (The Centroid Battle for Las Vegas). In part one we dissected a Google 7 Pack page for hotels in Las Vegas, Nevada.…
2011-10-06Battle Las Vegas: Disappearing Hotels in Local SearchThis is the second of a three-part series on Local Search in Google (The Centroid Battle for Las Vegas). In the first post of this series (read it again), we dissected the '7 pack'…
2011-10-04Las Vegas Hotels: 7 Pack Place Page ReviewThis is the first of a three-part series on Local Search in Google (The Centroid Battle for Las Vegas). In this post we're going to look at the '7 pack' of results that appear when…
2011-10-02Drunken Batman Spotted on Las Vegas StripTaking photos in Las Vegas: is that a drunken batman in the background? While walking along the Las Vegas Strip I spotted this local wearing a not so welcoming t-shirt and enjoying…
2011-09-23Black Eagle Mine RoadBlack Eagle Mine Road heads east off of Pinto Basin Road in Joshua Tree National Park (JTNP). The left fork in the road is Old Dale Road and it leads to the Dale Mining District, l…
2011-08-30Bally's Casino Las Vegas at NightI like the location of the Bally's Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. It's pretty much centered on the strip and has close access to the monorail, transportation I use quite frequently…
2011-08-18QR Code Fail Along Bart LineNo doubt you've noticed an increase in QR Codes appearing in advertising this past year, like the QR Codes appearing in airline magazines, a perfect place for these codes (imo). Bu…
2011-07-21Los Angeles Brewing Company Bottled BeerI discovered this bottled beer advertisement in a 1916 Los Angeles City Directory (similar to the 1915 Los Angeles City Directory I recently acquired) and thought it was too cool n…
2011-07-19Trailheads, Closed Roads, and Muddy JeepsIf you're hiking and/or camping in the San Bernardino National Forest it's not unlikely you'll come across 4x4 trails and other dirt roads that have been gated off, like the one sh…
2011-07-14Bing Maps Beats Google Maps Off RoadWhen it comes to mapping of US state forest roads (which are typically open to the public), there is a clear distinction as to which service is doing it best. According to my lates…
2011-07-07Ancestor of Local Search or Mere Coincidence?I'm quite a fan of local search, so much so that when I recently acquired a 1915 directory for the city of Los Angeles, I read it for hours like it was a mystery novel. The entire …
2011-07-05July 4th Muscle Beach Swimsuit CompetitionIt's a tradition in Venice Beach California to have bodybuilding, fitness, and swimsuit competitions on the 4th of July. The event takes place at Muscle Beach in Venice California,…
2011-07-03Jeep Rubicon Unlimited Custom Mattress ProjectIt's been nearly one year since I purchased a 2010 Jeep Rubicon Unlimited 4x4 off a Jeep dealers lot in Huntington Beach California. While I wish the engine had better horsepower, …
2011-06-30The Most Beautiful Beach in Southern CaliforniaEver wonder what your community was like 100 years ago or more? Was it the same as it is today? An article from a 1906 publication called the Pacific Monthly "a magazine of educati…
2011-06-16QR Codes in June SWA Spirit MagazineI was on a flight home from a chiropractic conference in Reno this past weekend and I met a nutrition supplements marketer on the flight. During our conversation I mentioned QR Cod…
2011-04-06Orocopia Mountains Wilderness WildflowersThe Orocopia Mountains Wilderness is in full bloom. The weather this past Saturday provided the perfect excuse to trek the near 200 miles from Los Angeles to the Orocopia Mountains…
2011-03-26Hiking Grouse Grind Vancouver British ColumbiaI love hiking and I've taken tons of photographs over the past few years from hikes have done throughout North America. I'm just beginning to create some hiking related posts, most…
2011-03-17How to Disable Google Local SearchI love local search. When Google showed their commitment to local in October of 2010 by launching Place Search I got very excited (but I also had to update a lot of slides for loca…
2011-03-13PubCon South Top Tweets from AustinWhat was the best SEO/Social Media tip overheard at PubCon? If you set up a pubcon hash tag for last week's conference in Austin, you may had noticed that at times the search strea…
2011-03-09Who Else Wants CBS to Spinoff Two and a Half Men Without Sheen?It's official, on Monday TMZ reported that Charlie Sheen was fired by Warner Bros. Television. A source at Warner Bros. says no decision has been made on whether Two and a Half Men…
2011-03-05Walking from the Las Vegas Airport to the Las Vegas StripFor those that have stood for nearly an hour in line waiting for a taxi at Las Vegas airport, surely you have wondered what it would be like to walk to the strip from the LAS airpo…
2011-03-05Interior Las Vegas Airport PhotosI took a few Las Vegas airport interior photos after arriving on a Southwest Airlines flight from Los Angeles over the weekend. I didn't stay in the terminal for a long, since I wa…
2011-02-24What Social Media Gurus Do Not Want You To KnowIf you don't have a Facebook page your local small business will surely go under. If you're not buying PPC AdWords, you're bound to fail online. If your website doesn't rank number…
2011-02-21Dr Mikes PubCon SEO Conference GuideImagine this... you've spent weeks planning and organizing to attend and speak at the PubCon search/social media marketing conference. Moments before Brett Tabke is about to introd…
2011-02-03Make Money Writing Short ParagraphsIn case you thought content farms and work at home writing jobs were something new, here's an ad clipping from a 1965 women's magazine... Make Money Writing ..short paragraphs! The…
2010-12-19Beer Drinking iPhone Photo Review 2010Earlier today I began browsing through 2010 photos taken with my iPhone, thinking I would account, and maybe create a blog post or two. I didn't realize, until I checked the direct…
2010-11-142010 PubCon Las Vegas PhotosThey did it again! From personal experience, and all the chatter I've been hearing online, PubCon Las Vegas 2010 was a rousing success. The 2010 Las Vegas Internet Conference had i…
2010-06-05Los Angeles Google Maps CentroidIf you've ever done a city-based search for a local business anywhere in the United States, you may or may not have noticed that results are often located near the center of town, …
2010-06-03ADIO Chiropractic Los Angeles iPhone PhotosA couple of weeks ago I took a photo of a hand xray using my iPhone. Normally, I'd use a digital camera but I have to always remind myself to turn the flash off, since taking photo…
2010-05-05Do I HaveSuggested search results for Do I Have... LOL, these are too funny, or sad, depending on how you look at it.
2010-05-03Chiropractors Twitter Background and AvatarI got volunteered over the weekend to do some development on the chiropractors twitter profile, and before I began looking around the net for a place to get page profiles done, I f…
2010-04-25PubCon Dallas South 2010 PhotosApril 13-15: Webmasters, Social Media Experts, SEOs, Online Marketing Managers (and just plain great people) descended on the Richardson Civic Convention Center in Dallas Texas for…
2010-04-08Venice Parrot Local Photo TestTesting iPhone photo uploads to the blog. The above text was posted via mobile (along with the photo below). The remaining content are notes on what's going on and what I am workin…
2010-03-11SearchFest 2010 PhotosSearchFest 2010 took place on Tuesday, March 9th, at the Governor Hotel in downtown Portland Oregon. The event was put on by the Search Engine Marketing Professionals of Portland (…
2010-02-11Super Bowl XLIV South Florida PhotosWhat a great time in South Florida for Super Bowl XLIV. I didn't bring along my Canon Rebel DSLR because I didn't think it would get past security (but of course, I saw loads of pe…
2010-01-142010 AVN Awards Red Carpet PhotosDisclaimer: There are links in this post that are potentially not safe for work (nsfw). I want to give credit where credit is due and I believe providing links to source material (…
2009-11-172009 PubCon Las Vegas PhotosWebmasterWorld's Search & Internet Marketing Conference (PubCon Vegas) was held November 10-13 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada. PubCon Vegas 2009 featured …
2009-11-15Local Search and Mobile 2009 PubCon PresentationLast week I presented at the 2009 PubCon Las Vegas conference. I was on the Local Search panel, which had more people in attendance than I've seen in a long time for a local search…
2009-10-275 PubCon Badge EssentialsIf you've never heard of it, PubCon is a four-day search marketing conference that features leading-edge education and networking in over 90 sessions and some 200 expert speakers o…
2009-09-29Going Granular Local Search PresentationI've been meaning to post this presentation since I spoke at PubCon Austin earlier this year. I was on the local search panel and my topic was Going Granular with local search. On …
2009-03-06Following on TwitterIt's Follow Friday on Twitter. Here's a selection of around 925 humans, bots, and other machines or lifeforms I follow... Sorry all, I had to kill this one since the 1000+ images l…
2009-01-10Wordpress SEO Basics WordcampLVThanks to everyone who attended my talk on basic WordPress SEO while at Wordcamp Las Vegas this past Saturday. I've uploaded the PowerPoint presentation to Slideshare and you shoul…
2008-08-26Asus Eee Box PC desktop setup testingYesterday was the first full day of testing out my recently purchased Asus Eee box PC. I used it for about an hour on Friday when first unpacking it from the box, and was pleasantl…
2008-08-19WordCamp 2008 Weekend SummaryThis past weekend's WordCamp in San Francisco renewed my spirit for WordPress and the ginormous community that supports it. I've attended WordCamp events in the past, and they've b…
2008-08-17Top 9 Wordpress PluginsTop 9 Wordpress plugins according to Ma.tt (list created yesterday while at Wordcamp SF 2008) I'll update details and links later. For now getting this posted as a reminder to get …
2008-08-08Calling on Some Local Search GurusI've been holding off on posting a lot of tech related content on my chiropractic web sites because most of its just not suitable for the audience. I currently work out ideas on a …
2008-07-06Bear AlertI was in Yosemite national Park about a week and a half ago. Signs like this were all over the property of the hotel I stayed at (Ahwahnee Hotel). I saw two bears on different days…
2008-07-06Plugins to AddThis is pretty much a raw install of WordPress. Activated three plug-ins after setting this up but I plan to add a number more. This site is a place where I can share more personal…
2008-07-06Time to update the blogIt's time to update this site and begin adding info here, mostly so I can keep track of various social things I'm doing. Check my blogroll if you are looking for a particular MD. B…