by Debbi | Oct 1, 2009 | Stories, Web/Tech
Do you have story ideas for us? Interested in writing a guest post? Want to submit a picture? Tell us what you want to read about. Is there something you are dying to know about the Sandbar?
We're looking for your ideas!
Many times the best stories about The Sandbar come from you- and your comments often lead to the best blog posts. Maybe you told one of us that you met your spouse here. Perhaps something funny happened while you were waiting in line. Or maybe you celebrated your birthday/bachelorette/engagement/graduation/whatever party here.
If you have a great idea for a story, email us at sandbar@thesandbar.com. You can even take it one step further and write up a guest post- be a published author on our blog. Of course, any submissions might be edited- we can't have stories that might be slanderous or illegal or otherwise inappropriate, but surely you wouldn't submit something like that anyway, right?
If you want to play but can't figure out how, here's a tip: find your favorite Sandbar picture, and just tell a story about why it was your favorite.
Looking forward to hearing your stories!
by Debbi | Sep 23, 2009 | Web/Tech
We'll admit it, we do.
MySpace was our first foray into the world of social networking sites back in 2006. Actually, it was because we wanted to start a blog, and this was back in the day when everyone was on MySpace, and someone suggested setting up a MySpace page because we could also blog there.
I didn't want the blog housed on a MySpace page, but I decided to go ahead and make a MySpace page for The Sandbar since everyone else had one. And it was fun, for awhile.
Of course, we moved on to the "next big thing" of Facebook, and then Twitter. But the MySpace page is still there, although admittedly we don't use it very much anymore.
I recently learned that MySpace added two-way syncing with Twitter, so now our "status" can be updated without actually doing anything on MySpace. There's also an RSS feed of our blog posts on the page, and a box with our latest Flickr pictures.
Even Homer, our puffer fish, still has a MySpace page. Check it out here.
Anyone else out there still on MySpace? Do you use it or just ignore it?
by Debbi | Aug 21, 2009 | Jukebox, Web/Tech
Music has been a hot topic around here lately, so I came up with a couple new ways for you to experience our jukebox when you can't actually be at The Sandbar.
1. Check out the new Sandbar Jukebox iMix at the iTunes store!
I used the suggestions made on our Facebook page and in the comments here and put together an iMix. It's published on iTunes, so you can open it up and purchase some or all of the songs to make your own playlist. (When you click on that link, you're going to be prompted to pick an application to open it with).
You might notice some obvious Sandbar songs missing from this list. My original list had about 25 songs on it. Unfortunately, if a song isn't available to be purchased on iTunes, it can't be included in the iMix. I was surprised by the number of songs I wanted that weren't available- or at least the version I had wasn't in iTunes. I wasn't interested in changing the data on my music files just to make it compatible with iTunes.
You can even rate this iMix- assign it some stars and let me know what you think.
2. Listen to the Sandbar Jukebox station on Pandora!
If you aren't familiar with Pandora, you should be. It's awesome. And the best way to get through a long boring day at the office.
I created a Sandbar Jukebox station for our fans. Now, it's likely that you'll hear songs on here that aren't actually on our jukebox. Pandora lets you select an artist, song, or genre that you like, and then it chooses music that has similar attributes to what you selected. It's a very analytical and detailed process that I don't fully understand so I'm not going to attempt to explain it.
But, I've created my own stations based on artists I like, and I haven't been disappointed yet. So if you love our jukebox, check out our Sandbar Jukebox station on Pandora.
I'm pretty excited about these two musical options, so check them out and let me know what you think.
by Debbi | Jul 25, 2009 | Birthday Party, Events, Web/Tech
Check out this page for real-time updates about the Sandbar’s 20th
Birthday Party on August 1, as they’re shared on Twitter! See posts from The
Sandbar, with all kinds of fun sneak peeks into what’s happening, along with things other people are saying about the party.
If you’re on Twitter, be sure to follow The Sandbar. Anytime you tweet about our birthday party, use the #sbar hashtag so your post will show up on our Tweetgrid! And if you’re not on Twitter, you can still see the updates by checking this page.
We hope to have lots of our followers talking about the party in the week leading up to it as well as during the party. And, we’ll have prizes! After the party (or maybe during the party, if I can make it work), several tweets featuring the #sbar hashtag will be chosen at random. Winners will get a special Sandbar prize!
by Debbi | Mar 26, 2009 | Web/Tech
We've had a webcam set up in The Sandbar for many years now, and it's an endless source of entertainment.
We purposely chose a camera that keeps the picture a little fuzzy and a little dark so we can protect the privacy of our patrons somewhat, but if you know who you're looking for you can usually find them. That's been a problem in the past for some of our bartenders with jealous girlfriends.
Every once in awhile, we get a strange phone call or email about the webcam. One day when I was off work, I spent the afternoon sitting at the bar while Dave worked. Some random guy from who knows where called, and tried to convince Dave that he had been in the bar a few minutes ago and needed to talk to the girl sitting at the bar. Right.
Another time, a different random left a comment right here on the blog informing us that we need to keep an eye on our "janitors" because he could see what they were doing as they cleaned in the morning. Right.
Today, though, we got an email from Stuart in Scotland:
Your Sandbar looks great fun.
I can access your camera in your bar – through this address – I veiw it only
occassionally. http://cam.thesandbar.com/view/index.shtml
You may wonder why – I have a bar in Falkirk, Central Scotland and I find it
interesting just to check whats happening in our bars around the world. I
like checking out other bars menu, drinks etc. Your web site is very good,
clear and informative.
He left us a link to his bar, The Orchard, which is located in a hotel and appears to have several webcams of its own. When Peach read the email, she decided we needed to have a Sandbar trip to Scotland to check out the place.
Have you checked out our webcam?
by Debbi | Feb 19, 2009 | Web/Tech
Do any of you use Twitter?
I've heard of it for awhile now but wasn't really sure what the point of it was. To be honest, I'm still not really sure, but I signed up anyway.
The best way I can explain it is that it's kind of like updating your Facebook status to tell the world what you're doing in 140 characters or less. And, Facebook and Twitter can be integrated with a couple of applications, so that the Facebook status updates and the Twitter "tweets" update each other.
It might be a completely useless tool for us and just another way for me to waste time on the internet, but I thought it would be something fun to try for awhile.
If you're on Twitter, you can follow The Sandbar here.
