  Hello!
So, on the plus side, we have some new things on the site. I promised some videos and they have appeared. I've done just a few so far, but if you all find them helpful, I'll be happy to do more. I put one on the front page of the site, as well as on the Ordination page, the Seminary Program, Chaplaincy Program, Wedding Training, and Funeral Ceremony pages too. I just put them up a few days ago, so I haven't heard much if they are helpful or not.
SEARCH FUNCTION - Really cool thing that I came across with Google. It's a personalized site function. It's at the top of most of the pages in the right hand column, just above a section for answering links to the most commonly asked questions. What's cool about the search function is that you can put in what you're looking for and it'll give you anything related that's listed on the site. I'm going to be adding in our other sites as well, so it can search across all of our domains. There is some annoying advertising at the end of the search, but it's a small price to pay to get to use the search function.
 FACEBOOK - I am doing my best to get on board with the current internet trends, so I now have a 'like' button on the front page of the site, at the top, on the right. If you'd do me a favor and 'like' us, that'd be great. I'm still not sure how it helps, but everythng I've read says it does. Same for Twitter.  We are now all linked up and would appreciate it if you would follow us. I believe the link is embedded here, for those receiving this in HTML. If not, it's below. :) I have a different one on the seminary program page too, just to see if that makes any difference. My lack of understanding of this stuff makes me feel old. sigh.
http://twitter.com/ulcseminary
http://facebook.com/pages/Universal-Life-Church-Seminary/285690034668
SALE FOR MAY - We have more new stoles! I found some in a few other colors and they are really pretty. For those of you who want a stole with no particular religious symbolism, I found some in Red, Purple, and Green. Limited quantities for now. Just depends on interest. I still have the white wedding stoles too, so get 'em while they last!
You can find them here:
http://www.ulcseminary.org/store/product_info.php?products_id=216
LATEST LESSONS - More lessons. Always more lessons. Without an awareness of life's ongoing lessons, boredom is sure to strike. I've been looking at boundaries lately. My sister has a thing about boundaries where she supposedly teaches women how to set boundaries and such. I guess we teach what we most need to learn. I had a situation come up that I got hung up on. I sent an email to a male friend of mine. It was personal, but he and I are friends and there was nothing secretive or inappropriate about it. However, his fiance insisted on reading it, as well as his response to me. I could tell by his response, before he mentioned it, that it was not written as he usually would. Again, let me stress that he and I are friends - always have been and always will be. So the issue comes up about the difference between 'secretive' and 'private'. Her idea was that if there was nothing to hide, then why should he care? My response was that if I'd wanted her to read it, I would've copied her on it. It wasn't about her - it was about me and things I was dealing with. I would've been okay with him talking to her about it, but somehow insisting on reading my words felt like an extreme violation.
Some people feel that it's okay to read each other's mail, email, etc, but I believe in having privacy, even in a marriage. This is assuming, of course, that there has been no blatant trust broken and no reason to doubt. If there has been, then perhaps trust needs to be re-earned. I'm talking in general though. It's like a woman's purse; what man in his right mind would ever go into his wife's purse for anything? If she says it's in her purse, what she means is, "Bring my purse to me and I'll get it for you." Is this because she has secret things in her purse? Probably not. But they are private. A man's wallet is not quite the same, but close. Men can be like that with their tools in the garage. They don't want anyone messing around in there. I'm curious about where other people set boundaries of that sort.
Money is another one. My mom always said, "Happiness is separate checking accounts." That worked for me well when I was married. One thing I can say for my ex is that we never fought about money. It may have been the only thing we didn't fight about, but we never had a cause. He paid certain things, I paid others. He invested, I saved. It worked. Other people have one account between them. It seem then that it would be hard to buy a Christmas or birthday present without having to explain it all away. It would make surprises difficult. Plus, what if one person fails to mention the $20 or so that was pulled out of ATM so the other spouse does the same and doesn't mention it and both are surprised when the overdraft statement comes in the mail. And frankly, I don't want to have to justify every little penny I spend. I have a friend who has to keep receipts for literally every penny she spends. A trip to taco bell, $1 for parking, a cup of coffee -- everything. Zero leeway. But she says she's fine with that because he pays the bills. So where is the line?
If you're on FB, chime in. I'm curious about what you all think.
ARTICLE DIRECTORY - The article directory is now officially fabulous. :) I say this because, thanks to one thoughtful and clever minister, (Rev. Stephen Fofanoff), I have now the ability to make everything pending until checked by hand. What this means is that no longer will the site be filled with useless articles about ringtones and mortgage rates! Once I recognize that you are a real person, writing about relevant things, I'll change your standing to 'author' and you can have immediate posting rights, but everyone else is a 'contributor' and their articles will remain 'pending' until I check them out. If you'll notice now, the articles are all relevant and interesting. So please add yours.
http://www.ulcseminary.com
AFFILIATE PROGRAM - Please check out the affiliate program again. If you've downloaded the ULC Toolbar (http://ULCSeminary.OurToolbar.com/), you'll see there is now a direct link to go there. I've added some new pages to the affiliate program, so please sign up and look at the training videos that are available. Speaking of videos, I expect to have some videos up on the site soon. Hopefully, I'll be talking about it in next month's announcement. Keep checking the site in the coming weeks and you should be able to find them on a lot of different pages. If you can think of some areas specifically, that you'd like to see more info, let me know.
The link for the affiliate program is: http://www.ulcseminary.org/idevaffiliate/. It's brand new, so more things will be added as I go, and there may be a few bugs, but I think it's ready to rock and roll right now.
- It's free to join
- You get a $10 bonus just for signing up.
- You earn money with every sale that comes through your link.
- You can track the link 24/7 to check on sales and traffic.
- You will get paid monthly.
- If you send me the pages that you have the banner on, I will help promote them through the search engines, which will help increase your sales.
You can put any or all of the links/banners, etc. on your website. I currently have several banners and some text links available, as well as a couple of html pages that you can put on your site. You can choose which banner(s) you like, depending on what products you want to market. Each banner takes you to a separate category in the store that sells only those items. Several of the pages also include the option for people to become ordained through your site. It's all part of the page, so you should be able to add it easily.
SPAM - INCLUDE A SUBJECT LINE PLEASE - The latest spam thing going out is to get emails from familiar addresses, but with no subject line. What that means is that if an email doesn't have a subject line, it will be deleted without being read. I'm sure I'm missing a few real ones that way, but to open all of them is very time-consuming, so please include a descriptive subject. (Not 'hey' or 'amy' as the subject)
As a PS: I love all the responses I've been getting from the 'kind words' mailings. Even if I don't respond, I certainly get a smile, so Thank You.
If you're new to the Seminary, check out announcements from previous months at http://www.ulcseminary.org/announcements.php
Warmly, Rev. Amy Long
President of ULC Seminary
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