The Occasional Editorialist

laptops that you can't sit on your lap

2009-01-18T10:47:00.000-06:00

Why do they call laptops - "laptops"? I have been having some trouble with my laptop lately. It's been getting hot and the fan is getting LOUD, and I was reading on the manufacturer's website that they recommend that you don't place it on your lap, as your pants do not promote ventilation. Which begs the question - what good is a laptop if it cannot be placed on your lap? Oh, and before you offer the bit of advice that, "there are colling trays that you can buy to sit your laptop on your lap", ask yourself why they didn't just include this into the laptop design in the first place. What a joke. I guess they should have just called them skinny desktops.

google's new browser

2009-01-05T08:01:00.000-06:00

I finally downloaded Google's new web browser, called "Chrome". It's pretty slick. I dig it. It is quick and so far has only locked up / crashed on me once. I expect that with Google's popularity, it is going to eventually going to join the ranks of Mozilla Firefox and Internet Exploder as one of the top browsers. Its probably already surpassed Netscape users. Which, as a web designer probably means that we're going to have to check all of our documents for compatibility in yet another browser. Fun. As long as it doesn't give me the same headaches as IE, I'll be happy.

the uncreative industry

2008-12-21T17:32:00.003-06:00

In my last post, I spoke a little about email spam. One other thing that I have noticed about email marketers is that, on the whole, they are the least creative people I think I have seen in my life. Rather than come up with any ideas of their own, they simply regurgitate whatever they've seen from their competitors. The sales copy always looks the same. The same catch phrases that are used to sell get-rich-quick moneymaking schemes and bogus college degrees are also used to sell a diet pill. What gives?

I understand the concept behind "shotgun" marketing - that if you spray your message in a wide enough pattern, you're bound to hit something (or somebody). But even if you could get someone to actually read that spammy message, or god forbid actually open their crummy virus-infected attachment, do these marketers actually think that they're misspelled cookie-cutter copy is actually going to lead to conversions?

fighting the losing battle with spam

2008-12-21T15:43:00.004-06:00

So I created a new email address for myself recently and my inbox was totally free from spam for a few weeks. Then, poof! - one client adds me to their "mailing list" and I suddenly start receiving sales pithes for Rolexes, Viagra and Fentraphen again. Now I could easily spend my days trying to create and tweak filters that scan my email for spam, but I find that this is a losing battle. It either becomes a weekly chore to add additional keywords and misspellings to the filter, or you end up going too vague and filtering out valid emails from customers. I could also depend on my ISP to do the filtering for me, but I have yet to discover an ISP that can successfully filter the bad from the good. The new year is a great time to switch emails. It's almost expected. I actually like to include the year in my email address. That way, if any of my contacts miss the message about my email address getting changed, they may guess the new one when they see that the year no longer matches the current year. Some might say that spammers would make the same assumption, but that would assume that email harvesters and spammers are physically viewing their email lists, which I seriously doubt.

In the end, I'm thinking that the best thing to do is to provide a specially filtered and forwarded email address for each client. It sounds like a lot of work, but it isn't really. You create a new address for each client when you first meet, and that's it. This would also make email filtering into folders a little easier.

the search for reclaimed material

2008-12-21T14:41:00.005-06:00

It's official. We're going to be building our new house using as much reclaimed material as possible. We've been watching Craiglist and eBay like hawks, and I also keep my eye on local newspaper and forum classifieds, too. I've already picked up some old solid wood doors which should look fabulous once refinished. There are some great deals to be found, if you have the time to wait for the right things to surface (which we do). I also ran across a great site called HouseParter.com, which conveniently searches for reclaimed materials on both Craigslist and eBay at the same time. Although that may not sound like a big deal, what makes this site especially useful is the fact that it filters the results for you. If you've ever tried to search eBay for secondhand construction materials, you quickly find yourself sifting through hundreds if not thousands of search results, most of which are not applicable. This site somehow filters most out most of the bad matches. It also lets you designate that you only want matches near your zip code, which is especially helpful for items that can't be economically shipped. Check it out if you're ever in the market for reclaimed materials, secondhand doors and windows. Just don't bet against me on eBay!

surviving on $2.65 an hour?

2008-12-17T14:20:00.000-06:00

I was recently perusing the local newspaper when I noticed a help wanted advertisement offering a "competitive" $7 an hour starting wage. Is that really competitive? With what? Illegal employment perhaps? "Perhaps it is competitive with the minimum wage," I found myself wondering. But are minimum wage rates still that low? I seem to remember them being somewhere in the $5 when I was a kid. Could they have only gone up a dollar or so over the last couple of decades?

I went ahead and did some quick searching, and came across this site from the US Department of Labor that details the minimum wage for each state. My assumption that the minimum is about $1 less than the advertised "competitive" wage was correct, as the minimum wage in Arkansas is about $6.25. I can't imagine trying to make a living off of such a ridiculously low amount of money these days. But when you look at the larger picture, Arkansas actually doesn't have it so bad.

If I lived in Kansas, I could be earning a whopping $2.65 an hour under their current minimum wage law. WOW! You're probably wondering if I typed that right. Well, let me assure you that I did. They actually expect laborers to survive by earning less than $3 an hour. Pretty sad, and it maybe one of the reasons why Kansas is best known for being one of those states with hundreds of miles of nothingness.

Some may also point at Louisiana, where they don't even have a minimum wage law. But in reality, this probably works out well in some cases, as the market would set the acceptable rate. At least the state didn't give its seal of approval on a wage rate that won't even buy you a lunch at Taco Bell.

gifts that you give for yourself

2008-12-10T00:57:00.002-06:00

Everyone has heard the cheesy shopping line that talks about "the gift that keeps on giving." I generally equate this to a magazine subscription, but it's been used time and again for a number of products over the years.

I've also recently picked up on a new angle being pushed by marketers - gifts that you give someone else which are really gifts for yourself. While this gifting concept isn't new, marketers typically left it untouched over the years, aside from perhaps the granola bar marketing that states that "chewy stops the chatter". Some typical examples when it comes to Christmas shopping would be when you buy your wife a new piece of lingerie, or a nice set of cookware for the kitchen. Sure, it's a gift for her, but she'll be (hopefully) wearing that sexy new teddy for you, and if she can cook, you're bound to reap some benefits for gifting a new set of designer pots and pans. Granted, you could easily take the concept too far. For example, if you buy a housewife a new vacuum cleaner, you're probably asking for trouble.

Other uses of this gifting tactic include gifts from parents to their children that relieve the parents of child-induced noise and aggravation. We've already touched on the granola bar approach. iPods also come to mind, particularly for long roadtrips. My parents used this one with us, and it worked very well for our frequent trips to the beaches of Florida. You just need to make sure to stock up on batteries before you leave. It's not exactly a novel idea, but I would hope that by now American consumers would be past the whole "selfish" phase that got us into this economic mess, and that they might be reassessing what types of gifts are truly necessary and worthy of being called a "gift" for someone else. In fact, one might think that giving gifts during a recession is a rather ridiculous idea. Instead, wouldn't it make more sense to give the gift of time, especially when we're likely to be working more of it to pay our bills?

affiliate marketing 2008 review

2008-12-10T00:49:00.006-06:00

When it comes to my affiliate marketing experiences in 2008, I have had much more success with high dollar items than I have had with low dollar items. Campaigns that push discount furniture, for example, don't result in too many sales, but the sales that do go through make me more in commission. I've heard of lots of affiliate marketers selecting a particular inexpensive product, building a search campaign for it, throwing $1000 at it, and walking away with several months income. That's a great story, but does it really work? And...if it doesn't work, you're out $1000.

I know that they say that you need to spend money to make money, but I never got into affiliate marketing because it was a high risk venture. There are ways to throw median amounts of cash into it, and to walk away with solid performing campaigns. In the last year that I have been running my campaigns, I have only made less than what I spent on my monthly advertising once. Every other month, I have come out ahead. I guess that's a good track record. Now if I could just get that revenue to stabilize a bit more...

giving thanks for a good month

2008-12-09T11:44:00.001-06:00

Last month, business was good. Exceptionally good, in fact. Almost good enough to make up for the crappy performance I am seeing this month.

Internet revenue is like that. One month it will exceed your expectations, and the next you'll hit a dry spell - for no apparent reason. While this is all well and good for campaigns generating passive income, it becomes particularly disparaging when your active projects result in very little income.

At this point, my interest in taking on more web design work is waning. I am tired of dealing with people who do not know what they want. Perhaps it is my own fault for not getting concrete instruction from them in the first place. But as a recent client told me, "We just don't know what we want our new website to look like. But we know what we DON'T want." It drives me nuts to hear this.

I guess I have a funny way of giving thanks, eh? Some would say it sounds a little like complaining. ;)

recycling house character

2008-12-07T14:57:00.004-06:00

I am so psyched. We recently picked up a vintage Victorian entry door from a secondhand store that was removed from an old 1885 property that was going through an extensive remodel. It has gorgeous woodwork details on the outside and although it is missing the glass, seems to be in good restorable shape. We plan on using it for our new home in the woods, if we can ever get our current house sold. The market isn't looking so great right now, and it has been several weeks since we had a showing. Of course, the real estate market tends to be slow this time of the year anyways, even without our current national economy in the toilet.

The door set me back $100, plus the cost of gas to drive 2 hours to pick it up, but according to the general contractor that we had working on our house, these types of doors routinely sell for much more. So I think we got a great deal on it. We'll probably have to replace the door hardware, or at the least have it re-keyed. I can't tell if the rust on the knob is only surface deep or if it warrants replacement. I'll know more when I have some time to start stripping the old finish off.

It just goes to show you, though. I could easily spend a few thousand dollars on a solid hardwood door if I were to purchase it brand new. Instead, I'm estimating that it will run me less than $200 to refinish it and equip it with new hardware. Plus, this will add a nice amount of historic character to the house!

the great art gestapo

2008-12-02T14:49:00.000-06:00

Recently, the local historic district commission has started to place feelers in the community to see how the public would feel if they were to expand their reach to cover art in the community. Predictably, the art community is up-in-arms at the idea of having to channel public art through a governmental commission before it can be displayed. And rightfully so. Doesn't art fall under the realm of "freedom of speech" (which some might argue we have already lost so much of, anyways)?

While I doubt that this little idea will go anywhere, there's always the possibility that they are grooming the community to eventually accept the idea. After all, isn't a historic district doing virtually the same thing? Sure, they protect property values by enforcing a grand scheme across an entire neighborhood, but aren't they essentially stifling the creativity of architecture? It's definitely one of those "slippery slope" arguments, but one that needs to be addressed wherever it rears its ugly head, regardless of the possibility of it being passed into ordinance.

the housing market and the depression

2008-11-25T21:34:00.005-06:00

I'm pretty bummed out right now. Our house has been on the market for about six months, and we're seeing very little activity. We had a flurry of interest when we first listed it, and we even had an offer in the first week (although it was a crappy offer for less than what we had paid for the house). But ever since the summer ended, our prospects seems to have also headed south for the winter.

Our agent suggested that we consider owner financing it. Although I'm sure it would make the house more attractive to prospective buyers who can't get a loan, it isn't going to help us at all with building our next house. We need that equity. I also don't like the possibility of someone defaulting on their payment and trashing the house, thereby making it even more difficult to sell. So I guess we'll have to just sit on it for now.

It's either that, or we try and come up with some sort of gimmick to try and entice buyers. I have heard of people offering a new car with the sale, and I've heard of special two week sales that lower the price by 15% or more (in the hopes of saving money on future mortgage payments should the house not sell for some time), but I'm not sure that I want to sink any more money into the house, nor lose any more money than we're already guaranteed to lose by signing with an agent. We've already spent so much time and effort making the house look good. We've touched up and replaced nearly everything except for the carpet and the furnace, and we're ready to grant a carpet allowance if it would help. But you never know what people are looking for in a house. I've heard of people spending tons of cash on new flooring or appliances, only to have the new owners come in and replace it to match their furniture. Most people want to make a house "their own". But I've also heard of buyers who have asked that furniture and decor be included in a sale. We even had an offer on our last house that asked to include the homemade curtains in my son's room that my wife had sewn to match his baby bedding. So you just never know.

If we believe all of the presidential hype, I guess we should sit it out and wait until next year for when the economy is supposed to somehow turn around. But I fear that house values could go down if we wait that long, and then we'll be out our initial 20% down payment, plus all of the money we spent on upgrades and mortgage payments while it was for sale.

Selling a house is definitely one of those crystal ball moments. You wish you could look into the future to see what the eventual sale price is going to be, so that you can know whether to accept low offers right now, or hold out. It's almost like gambling. You got to know when to hold 'em.

blacker than black friday

2008-11-25T21:29:00.003-06:00

I'm not exactly sure why they call Black Friday "black" to begin with, but this week before Thanksgiving has been horrible when it comes to my affiliate marketing sites. Sales have been lower this week than they have been all year. Perhaps everyone is saving their money for official Black Friday sales, but I had hoped that internet sales wouldn't be as affected. What's strange is that my search ads are still getting as many clicks as before - they're just not converting this week. I'll have to try and remember this next year, and simply turn off my search marketing campaigns for the week prior to Thanksgiving.

I still can't help but wonder if the affiliate marketing networks aren't screwing us over. There are times when it seems too strange that we would be getting the usual click-through and yet the conversion rate drops so miserably. Or maybe it is the advertiser, hiding sales from the affiliate network. Either way, I hate the idea of my income depending on the honesty of someone who technically owes me commissions.

the sponsored body

2008-11-21T14:51:00.003-06:00

"Wardrobe by Ralph Lauren. Body by Phentermine."

Who Cares?

Am I the only one who is getting sick of these pretentious advertisements that feel the need to tell us what clothes some Hollywood debutante is wearing, or what miracle drug she took to squeeze into them?

Why does America care so much? Haven't we been around marketing spin long enough to realize that buying the same products as the rich and famous isn't going to transform us to their level? Who are these morons that prefer to live vicariously through some airbrushed model on the sun-tempered coast?

I'd like to say that I have hope for the future; that our own children will evolve from this state of self-loathing and try to live up to their full potential, unshackling themselves from the ridiculous chains of high fashion and "taste". But I'd be lying. When I look around, I see children who are nothing more than clones of their confused parents. Their mommy wants designer clothes, so they must have them too. Daddy buys the latest techno-crap, and will eventually pass it down to his son. A true (micro) chip off th old block.

Sorry, I guess I'm in a mood today, but occasionally I see an advertisement that just sets me off. Somebody pass the soma. I promise to behave...

killing for fun or food

2008-11-21T14:31:00.003-06:00

A good friend of mine recently informed me that he is picking up a hunting license so that he can go sport hunting for coyotes. I know that hunting is a very popular "sport" here in America, and I am aware of the proposed "ethics" behind it, but I have to say that I was totally shocked that my good friend would be interested in killing any kind of creature for fun. I could easily argue that we don't really need to hunt anymore now that we have domesticated livestock, and that the technology and equipment available to hunters gives them an unfair advantage over simple woodland creatures. But I didn't even go there. Honestly, if someone wants to hunt for food, and they are not hunting endangered species, I won't make a peep. I might even research it myself if things continue to look so bad with the global economy. It would be a good trade to master (in addition to gardening). But I had to argue a little with my friend, as I don't really see any use in hunting coyotes.

He was quick to defend the hunt, stating that coyotes are a natural predator that require population control, and that farmers and ranchers have trouble with them every year. My response was that he wasn't a rancher or a farmer, so it wasn't really a matter of protecting his own livestock. He was only doing it for fun. He then said that it would be good practice for when he starts hunting deer and elk (which he will kill for food). However, from what I understand, different game requires different equipment, and the only way he's going to get practice hunting deer is to go out and hunt deer.

None-the-less, we went round and round in circles. He is convinced that what he is doing is ethical and good. I am not. I guess it doesn't really matter, as it is his life. My disappointment in his ethical stance on the matter is only fueled by the fact that he was a die-hard vegan only a few years ago. I guess the coming apocalypse is affecting us all in strange ways...

when I grow up...

2008-11-20T12:15:00.003-06:00

One of the things that I seem to struggle with daily is the fact that I still haven't figured out what I wan to do when I "grow up". If you've been reading this blog for any small length of time, you have probably noticed that this is a recurring theme. This may sound silly coming from a grown man in his thirties, but I'm dead serious about it. I like being self-employed, and web design is a fun and challenging field at times, but overall it doesn't really excite me as much as I had hoped it would. I find that the projects that I enjoy the most are the ones in which I am designing or programming something for myself. I have found over the years that I don't like altering good design work at someone else's lay request, and I don't enjoy trying to impress people or brown-nose. Of course, it beats the typical corporate employment hands down, but that doesn't means that it is perfect by any means.

One of the challenges that I am facing is this budding interest in becoming more of a luddite; someone who avoids unnecessary technological development. I find the lives of the Amish and Mennonite truly fascinating and, short of ditching my favorite CDs, could almost see myself living and working among them. Of course, the transition from white collar tech existence to blue collar farm hand might be difficult. I suspect that I am looking for more of a balance between my current form of existence and one that is more simplified. Of course, one can dream all he likes, but he never knows whether he will thrive in a particular lifestyle until he immerses himself in it.

the web designers curse

2008-11-17T12:08:00.001-06:00

As a self-employed web designer, one of my greatest headaches is when I get a picky client who has no idea what they want in a website. It doesn't seem to matter how often I meet with them and we discuss design ideas. They invariably wait until I have cooked something up to determine what their "vision" of the site is going to be. I guess I can't really blame them. After all, they came to me to help create that vision. But it sucks when you waste time working on something that you may or may not get paid for. Granted, I could charge them on a per-hour accrual basis, but it seems like that generally scares away new web clients. Everybody wants a firm price quote. I'm the same way with just about any other service, so why should I expect my clients to be any different. I guess as web designers, part of our job is to assess what our clients are going to be like during the design process. If we suspect that they are going to be difficult to please or extremely high maintenance, we had better pad our estimates accordingly.

death of the heirloom

2008-11-11T16:46:00.004-06:00

A long time ago, it was commonplace for family members to pass down pieces of furniture to younger generations. These days, it is largely unheard-of. Instead, most consumers are only interested in changing their furniture every few years. Few spend money on the solid hardwood pieces that our forefathers once valued. Rather, most people are intent on picking up modern furniture. In some cases, I can understand the concept behind wanting to own furniture that is lightweight and easy to move around - much of it modern in design. My own family has relocated nearly a dozen times in the last decade, and there were a number of furniture items that didn't make it through every move. Some weren't built to last. Others were just too heavy. Perhaps this explains the relative death of heirloom furniture. We are a much more transient society than our predecessors ever were.

the 'microsoft genuine advantage' disadvantage

2008-11-11T16:36:00.004-06:00

Am I the only one who is sick and tired of having to endure countless Windows updates for their "Microsoft Genuine Advantage" tool? Talk about a joke. I could understand running this thing once, but this "update" pops up all the time. If my copy of Windows was authentic when I installed it, why wouldn't it still be authentic? Best of all, I love how they make the statement that the Genuine Advantage tool is to "help" the user by making sure that our copy of Windows is genuine. Yeah, sure.

This is one of those situations where a company is punishing everyone due to few bad nuts. I understand that there are fraudulent copies of software being sold in this world (usually on the streets of Japan, Thailand, and China, from what I have heard), but forcing everyone who runs windows to download a bogus "update" so often seems like overkill. It wastes my time and my bandwidth. I get particularly annoyed if it forces me to do a shut down, too.

outsourcing for success

2008-11-10T20:09:00.003-06:00

My wife read that 4-Hour Work Week book some time ago, and said that the basic principle revolves around the concept of outsourcing, and the fact that you can nearly always find someone else to do your work for cheaper than you could do it for yourself. I understand the concept, but I'm not sure if I can relinquish enough control to apply it to my own business. But I'm determined to try, as I know that it is a legitimate concept that has worked for many others before me - perhaps for thousands of years...

Case in point: There's a company called Cydcor that specializes in outsourcing sales teams. And we're not just talking about telemarketing sales people who have no clue of the product that they are trying to sell. (I once had a telemarketer try to sell me a newspaper and they couldn't even tell me the city that the paper was based out of. I had never heard of it. For all I knew, she could be trying to sell me the morning news of Tibet!) Rather, this company deals in face-to-face sales outsourcing. Considering how much I hate playing the part of salesman, I guess I should take note. Here's the full press release for those who are interested:

"Cydcor Rewards Top Performers at Rising Star Event
Leading global provider of outsourced, face-to-face sales teams
hosts selected office owners at weekend retreat in Los Angeles
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. (October 20, 2008) – This fall, Cydcor, the leading provider of outsourced, face-to-face sales teams, hosted 19 owners of the most promising independent sales offices at the company’s 6th annual Rising Star weekend. The threeday event, a mix of business and pleasure, recognized up and coming office owners who have demonstrated superb sales performance. The weekend provided attendees, handpicked by Cydcor’s field executives, the chance to learn new business tactics and network with other owners and top level executives in an intimate setting.

“We’re thrilled to meet with and recognize these hard working office owners with a little down time, while also providing a venue for them to participate in training sessions to support their continued success,” said Gary Polson, chief executive officer of Cydcor. This year’s event, themed Healthy, Wealthy and Wise, was held near Cydcor’s headquarters at the Four Seasons Westlake Village. Attendees, from throughout the U.S. and Canada, arrived on a Thursday and met one-on-one with Cydcor President Jim Majeski, Chief Executive Officer Gary Polson and Senior National Consultant Brad Park. These exclusive meetings provided a unique opportunity for the group to engage in private conversations with Cydcor’s top leadership. On Friday, the group spent breakfast with team members at Cydcor’s headquarters and
then got to hear from Cydcor department heads. These presentations provided Rising Star owners with information about how Cydcor supports their efforts as entrepreneurial business owners. On the last full-day, the group enjoyed a renowned Ken Blanchard Situational Leadership II course. On Saturday evening, attendees boarded a “fun bus” into Hollywood for sightseeing and dinner in a private room at the House of Blues.

About Cydcor, Inc.
Cydcor, Inc., is the leading provider of outsourced, face-to-face sales teams to a diverse client base of companies in a range of industries, including telecommunications, office products, retail energy and financial services. Cydcor works with a network of independently owned corporate licensee (ICL) sales offices providing clients with access to more than 2,700 sales professionals and 200+ offices in North America. The privately held company is based in Westlake Village, California. For more information about Cydcor, log on to www.cydcor.com."

hide your guns from obama

2008-11-04T20:01:00.000-06:00

Lately, I've been hearing a rumor that gun sales are skyrocketing. Some say that it has to do with the recession, and that gun sales typically go up in times of economic depression. Other people are saying that Obama is planning on tightening the gun control laws, so people are grabbing additional firearms while they can. Personally, I'm not sure what to believe, but I don't think it makes that much difference.

When it comes down to it, you'd have to invest a boatload of cash to pick up enough firepower to ward off all of the boogie men in a sudden case of anarchy. And even then, who has time to learn enough about their weapons, and to practice with them enough that they will be of any use? I have heard that the best self-defense weapon to pick up is a double barrel shotgun, because the "point and spray" method will work for nearly anyone in a close range situation. But I can't even imagine half the people I know being able to shoot a shotgun, much less load one properly.

I just hate to think that we'll ever get to a point where our personal safety and entitlement revolves around the number of guns and ammo we can carry. If we ever find ourselves in that position, I suspect that there will be much more to worry about.

to paint or not to paint?

2008-10-29T13:50:00.003-05:00

Over the last month or so, we've been giving our house some major facelifts. Some of it was due to storm damage, and some of it was just routine maintenance. Our restoration work is nearing completion. The contractors have installed most of the siding, soffits, and fascia. Our new kitchen window above the sink is in. They've got a few sheets of siding left to hang, and then some trim. Then, we're going to have to decide whether we want to pay them to paint the house or if we should try and do it ourselves. I'm leaning towards just paying them for it. I've been falling behind on my web work lately. Since I feel I need to be available to answer any questions the contractors may have, it has been difficult to concentrate on programming. You know how it goes...you don't feel like getting too deep into it when you're expecting regular interruptions.

So I don't think I really have the time to take a few days out of my schedule to paint. As it is, we saved ourselves a chunk of change by putting the kitchen back together and painting all the interior walls ourselves. We also opted to just cover the existing siding, rather than have it all pulled down. This will save us a bunch of material handling, haul-away, and tear-down labor. I was leery about it at first, and hope that it doesn't come back to bite me in an inspection. Technically, there's nothing really wrong with covering the old siding with the new stuff. Most of it wasn't damaged; we only decided to replace the entire rear of the house so that it would all match. It just might look funny if someone got behind the trim and saw the two layers (extra R-value?).

Unfortunately, the way that the original builder nailed the windows on top of the siding would have presented some potential problems if we tried to remove it all. We'd basically have to take out all the windows, remove the old siding, install the new siding, muscle the windows back in and pray that everything opens and closes like it did before. No thanks. I can see that becoming a big expensive adventure. I'm also a little scared at what we may find behind the old siding. Every project that I tackle with this house ends up being one of those "tip of the iceberg" / "rust in a fender" experiences where we end up doing three or four times as much work as we had planned.

struggling but fun

2008-10-25T12:37:00.006-05:00

Lately, I've been reconsidering my latest career move. Working for myself is great, but juggling all of these web-based revenue streams isn't as much fun as I thought it would be, particularly during the months when I'm struggling to pay the bills. There seem to be soooooo many opportunities to make a buck by cheating someone, but I have this silly little thing called a conscience that prevents me from participating. And sometimes I say to myself, "hey, if I'm going to be struggling, why not do something more fun, like be a struggling musician or artist?"

Of course, the web is full of people who are more than happy to share the secrets of their wealth with you...for a small fee. Maybe they're selling an ebook, or promise the "secret" to ultimate wealth and power for free...just for signing up to their email list. Yeah, sure. In most cases, they're simply projecting an image of success, and are earning their living by promising to show others how to do the same. It's MLM at its finest.

There were a number of more traditional businesses that I would have been interested in a long time ago, but many of them have become obsolete (like record stores). Being in a small town limits my opportunities to investigate franchise opportunities, since the town either doesn't have the numbers to support the business, or they would prefer to patronize the local mom-and-pop's. And I can't blame them - I'm the same way. I'd much rather shop at the local family-owned grocery store than the Wal-Mart up the street...even if it costs me a little more.

Admittedly, I do like the few things that I am doing that are more-or-less passive sources of income. Who wouldn't? Maybe I just need to spend more of my time developing more web ventures in that vein.

newer adsense problems - "webpage cannot be found"

2008-10-25T12:30:00.004-05:00

Has anyone else noticed the dreaded "webpage cannot be found" error when trying to display the newer Adsense code? I was trying to implement it this morning, and couldn't get the ads to show up. Of course, I checked out all the usual suspects. I double-checked the CMS software, and made sure that it wasn't caching an old version of the page. But, I figured that wasn't the problem since I was seeing a blank box in Firefox and the error message in IE7. So I hit the web, and found lots of reports of this problem. Most were located at various Google support forums, and every person who posted it was receiving the same canned response that "Google doesn't allow more than 3 ad units per page". So what about when you're only trying to display on ad unit? Hmmm...

I even loaded another Adsense ad unit using the old code (the one that details the colors, etc.) and that one showed up just fine. So what's the deal? Well, rather than waste my time trying to contact Google about it, I simply rewrote the new ad unit using the old code format, and it showed up just fine. Kooky.

Speaking of Adsense, would you believe that I am finally about to receive my first payout...after over two years! I'm not sure how people supposedly make a living off of Adsense, as I have several websites running ads and it took me this long just to earn $100.

internet in moderation

2008-10-23T21:41:00.004-05:00

So you may be wondering what brought on the idea that I mentioned in my last post - to not have internet access at home. Well, to be honest I sometimes suspect that I am becoming addicted to the net. And I don't see this as a good thing. Like anything in life, I believe that these things are best enjoyed in moderation. And while many of our day-to-day activities can now be performed online, I don't necessarily want to sit in front of a computer screen all day and night. It's bad enough that I spend so much time working online for my job, but I also have a tendency to spend me free time in the virtual world, as well.

As I detailed i my last post, I am unsure of whether I will be able to still make a living by essentially "borrowing" internet access from the library (or less savvy neighbors). I am just in the process of simplifying my life as much as possible, and if I don't need internet access, I won't need a landline either. This will save me about $80 a month, not including the cost of any required future software and hardware upgrades. Of course, I already have a wireless modem and a separate wireless router so I'm not sure what kind of hardware I would need if I did get high-speed internet at our next home. In most cases, setting up a new high-speed internet account comes with a new modem. That's how I ended up with the items I already have, to which I am unsure if I will ever use them again.

I guess I am seeing this move as a chance to minimize some of the distractions in my life. When you work from home on the internet, it is very easy to get sidetracked. I have tried to be better about disciplining myself. I try to limit the time I spend, and to stay on task better. Unfortunately, when much of your social life also revolves around friends that you only keep in touch with over the internet, you cannot help but spend your free time behind a laptop. I see the removal of home internet access as a way to force myself to be more productive when I am working online, and to spend more of my free time outside.

is public internet dependable enough?

2008-10-23T21:01:00.003-05:00

When we sell our house, I am not planning on getting internet service at our new home. Instead, I would like to go to the library when I need to be online. It's something of an experiment, and I'm not really sure if it will work since (as a web designer) I depend on the internet for my income. The way I see it, there are several challenges to this idea...

First, I need to be able to commute to the library when I want to work. We only have one vehicle, so there will be times when I will walk or ride my bike. It's only about a mile, so this shouldn't be a problem.

Second, the library will theoretically serve as my office away from home. This may not work so well. The library doesn't allow cellphone conversations, so I may have to step outside to carry on a discussion with a client. Also, there's always a chance that there won't be an open desk available for me to sit at. In that case, I could always work outside while sitting on a bench, but then I'll be working off the laptop battery. The screen is difficult to see in the sun, and it's even worse when it is on power-save mode (which makes the screen dimmer).

Third, I will be using a public internet connection, which means there is always the possibility of my information being compromised while it is riding their network. I suppose that this could also open me up to viruses via their network.

And finally, I will be dependent on their connection. If it goes down, my productivity for the day will be shot. Granted, this is no different than if the connection goes down on my home line. I don't know if the library would have more or less pull at getting their internet service restored than I would.

Looking at these possible problems, I'm going to have to seriously consider if working at the library will be a viable idea or not. It will easily save me $75 a month to not have my own internet connection, but it may cost me business in the long run. Maybe I'll get lucky and find an unencrypted wireless connection that I can hop on, courtesy of our new neighbors.

the diarrhea diet

2008-10-23T17:03:00.004-05:00

I was recently reading about a new "miracle" diet pill that basically forces the body to have diarrhea all the time. I don't know about you, but I what I ant to know is what is the point of losing weight, if you're stuck in a bathroom stall and nobody can see it? Honestly, I think this stuff is ridiculous, and a perfect example of what is wrong with our image-obsessed society. Rather than trying to lose weight via miracle diet pills or whatever is being hailed this week as the quickest fat burner, why the heck can't people just take a walk? Why can't people try and eat a little healthier?

I've heard all the excuses..."I don't know how to cook something healthy. I don't have any time to exercise. I drink diet soda." When all it really takes is some moderation and light exercise. Now I understand that some individuals may be predisposed to retaining weight, due to genetics or even environmental factors. But that doesn't mean that they have to totally give up on the idea of eating healthy. And there's no reason why anyone should have to opt for some mega-vitamin dietary supplement to get their intake of popular "super-foods".

I'm a guy. I'm not supposed to be the one who cooks in my family, if you believe in traditional gender stereotypes. But I do. I cook more than my wife, and (for the most part) I think I do pretty good at it. So I see it as my responsibility to provide something healthy for my family to eat. It beats depending on a bunch of flavor-of-the-week dietary supplements to take care of potential weight problems.

the new script-writers

2008-10-23T14:32:00.000-05:00

Over the years, movies have been written based on novels, true stories, short stories, historical events...even poetry and music. Today, it would appear that comic book writers are taking the lead. Although the Batman and Superman films of the 80s and early 90s were popular, nothing could have prepared us for the rash of comic book inspired films we are seeing lately. Comic books have been around since the late 19th century. Talk about an endless supply of source material!

I just wonder if people will eventually tire of the novelty behind these films. After all, who could have thought that there would be yet another approach at making the Batman films, after we saw Michelle Pfeiffer, Danny Devito, et. al. play their roles so superbly?

I have to admit that I have been very impressed with the Spiderman movies thus far. They do a very good job at evoking the essence of the original comics and even after the third sequel seem to not have lost much steam. I wish I could say the same for the Superman movies starring Christopher Reeves. Did you know that there was a Superman IV? I had no idea, until I picked up at the local library a few days ago. Now I wish I hadn't. It was absolutely horrible - perhaps THE worst comic book inspired film I have ever seen. It had most of the same actors from Superman I, and yet the script, effects, action, and plot were pathetic. It was as if they were milking the character to death, but had no funding or concept to drive the movie. I can only hope that the new Spiderman and Batman movies don't suffer a similar fate, or it could turn off the American public from comic book movies altogether. Then again, the American movie-going public on the whole seems to be quite forgiving.

power properties

2008-10-23T13:03:00.007-05:00

I was recently reading about a company in Dallas that has purchased over 600 dilapidated properties and renovated them for resale. That's a pretty impressive feat and a respectable move for a real estate organization. While some might scream "gentrification", it is much better than builders that come in and bulldoze historic properties to create strip-malls and faux-historic condos in "New Urbanist" style.

The company is called Power Properties, and you should check them out if you happen to live in the Dallas area, would like to live closer to downtown, but can't fathom the idea of restoring a historic home on your own. Personally, I've been having enough trouble restoring our home from the early 1990s, so I cannot even imagine the tasks involved in restoring something that is forty, sixty, or even a hundred years old! Kudos to Power Properties for preserving these homes and reviving the community.

unincorporated but restricted

2008-10-23T12:55:00.004-05:00

A good fried of mine was recently lamenting that he feels restricted by the home-owner's association because they won't let him build a chicken coop in his yard. I laughed. As if the home-owner's association was his only roadblock! I explained that even if he wasn't in a covenant-controlled neighborhood, he'd still have zoning laws to contend with, and that many counties can act like fascists when it comes to livestock and poultry regulations. He explained that he thought that he was exempt from most of these laws because he was in an "unincorporated" part of the county. Unfortunately, just because an area is called "unincorporated" doesn't mean that you have cart blanche to do whatever you like with your property.

It's a shame, but he should have known better, or at least should have read the neighborhood covenants and restrictions before he bought his home. To make matters worse, he bought it with the assistance of Fannie Mae, so he has to stay in the home for at least two years. Relocating because you can't have a chicken coop seems sort-of silly to me, anyways. Even if he could put his house up for sale, the real estate market isn't exactly doing very well right now in most areas.

weighing one's options

2008-10-23T12:26:00.007-05:00

We've been living without a bathroom scale for some time now. And honestly, we don't really miss it. The only times we do is when I'm looking to ship a big package in the mail, and my small postal scale can't handle it. I used to use our bathroom scale to weigh heavier packages by weighing myself with the box, then without, and computing the difference.

One of the reasons that we got rid of our bathroom scale in the first place was that we were tired of assessing our self-image based on a number. My wife has struggled in the past with fluctuating weight gain and loss, and a scale would only intensify her anguish. Instead, we do our best to exercise as regularly as possible, and determine weight changes based on the fit of our clothing.

The other reason why we ditched our scale was because we didn't have room for it, and didn't really like the way that it looked. That may seem petty, but when you strive for a certain decor, the last thing you want is a bug ugly scale sitting in the corner of the bathroom that looks like it fell out of a time machine from the late eighties. The only "nice" looking bathroom scales at the time were expensive, and we couldn't see ourselves spending more than $20 for one. These days, you can find them in nearly any color, shape, and style from specialty shops like Scales Etc. but you're still going to pay more than $20 for it. Of course, the technology has changed quite a bit and many scales now provide more than just weight information. Some can even equate body fat and water percentages. And they do look better.

Knowing one's weight can be useful as long as you don't get obsessed about it. I just don't like the idea of living by a number on a scale.

voting for someone younger than me

2008-10-21T12:16:00.000-05:00

This year, I placed two votes for candidates that were actually younger than me. This is the first time that this has ever happened. Granted, both candidates were part of the green party and are running against long-time political veterans, so the chances of them actually making it into office are pretty slim. None-the-less, I like what they stood for, and I feel that we need some new blood for our state representatives. It was strange imagining someone who is my younger brother's age representing us in Washington. I know that shouldn't matter, and that it is technically a form of age discrimination, but I can't help but compare these individuals to other people their age who tend to be less mature. They don't have much experience, either. In fact, when they say "green" party, they really mean "green". But I voted for them because I think we need new ideas and more out-of-the-box ideas. Anyone with a long political history is going to vote with the status quo, regardless of whether it is the best decision for us.

I also decided to vote with my heart this year for the presidential candidate, even if it means that I am theoretically tossing my vote away. I'm tired of the stigma behind voting for third parties. If we continue to only vote for the top two choices presented (even when neither of them is appealing to us), we'll never see any real change implemented in this country, and we'll never have someone whom we feel is adequately representing our interests. I was actually leaning towards Obama until he showed support for the Bush bailout plan, which I believe was (and probably still is) against the will of the majority of Americans. Passing that plan was a slap in the face, and you can see what good it has done. My candidate probably won't make it into office, but at least I have taken a stand for what I believe in. And perhaps he can step up to the plate when the next loser gets impeached.

McCopycat

2008-10-15T17:17:00.009-05:00

What is the deal with McDonald's lately? Are they having an identity crisis or what? First they go and create a smaller and greasy copy of the Chick-Fil-A chicken sandwich, even going so far as to include those "two crucial pickles"...at least when they make the sandwich correctly. I doubt that Chick-Fil-A has been affected, as it is a poor copy at best. It tastes okay, but the original comes with greater service and doesn't really cost that much more.

Next on the agenda was to try and tap the Starbucks market with their new McCafe products. If you've eaten inside McDonald's recently, you may even notice a similarity in their interior design to Starbucks. I'm sure it is no accident. I haven't tried their McCafe products, and don't really plan on it. Even if it's cheaper than Starbucks, I never really bought into the whole overpriced coffee experience. If I wanted that, I'd head down to some hip bohemian coffee shop downtown, where I get more than just plastic yuppie ambiance.

And today, I happened to pass McDonald's, only to find that they are selling pumpkin pies for the fall season. I was tempted to try one, and even considered picking up four of them (one for each member of the family), but I fortunately came to my senses and realized that I would much rather bake one of my own. So, I've been surfing the net for the tastiest recipe I can find for pumpkin pie.

It's funny. I guess I'm not the typical "guy", since I actually enjoy cooking meals for my family. In fact, we've almost gotten to the point where I cook more often than my wife. Part of it probably stems from watching my mother slave away in the kitchen as a child, with her efforts often resulting in very little appreciation. Holidays, in particular, usually required more than a day of culinary preparation. And in many cases, we'd all end up fighting at the dinner table over something menial and ridiculous, all the while taking the food for granted. This year, my wife and I plan on sharing the brunt of the kitchen work for our holiday dinners. And because we will cook and bake as a family, I'm actually looking forward to it.

blame it on the economy

2008-10-15T17:08:00.005-05:00

The recent Wall Street bailout has prompted hundreds (if not thousands) of businesses across the country to hitch a ride on the lame excuse bandwagon. Not a day has gone by since the bailout was passed that I haven't seen some company use the "impending recession" as an excuse to serve their customers poorly, charge their customers more, or quit doing business at all. Granted, I understand that the market is in sad shape right now, but I find it quite pathetic that business leaders are suddenly feeling the need to use the economy as their scape goat. If they are only now realizing what trouble they are in, then they must not be great leaders. If they're only admitting to the poor performance and/or management of the companies they are in charge of, simply because it is a "popular" thing to do at this time (or in hopes of picking up some "rescue funding" from the great bush bailout debacle), that's even worse.

Several small businesses in my area have been resorting to similarly pathetic tactics to try and drum up business and make excuses for shoddy service. One changes the name of their business about every two years. Another announced to the world that it would be shutting down, and proceeded to have a "clearance sale", only to remain in business. And now a third shut down with tears in their eyes and lumps in their throats, only to have a "grand reopening" nearly a month later. Lame, lame, lame.

a mad max future

2008-10-07T22:34:00.004-05:00

Lately we've been seeing a rise in motorcycle traffic. While I am accustomed to seeing lots of bikes on certain weekends, we are now seeing lots of them all the time. I don't really know what the explanation might be, but I have a few guesses. Perhaps it is the gas crisis (although gas prices have been coming down lately). Or perhaps it has something to do with the motorcycle rallies and events that are planned in this part of the state. I know that many bikers like to hit the winding mountain roads around town, too. There have also been a number of retail shops and businesses that have opened recently that cater specifically to biker. From leather shops to bike-only motels, to accessories dealers carrying the latest aftermarket Harley parts, it is becoming a "biker's world" out there.

With the impending recession, it makes me wonder if we're going to experience a landscape similar to the Aussie one from the movie Mad Max, where large troupes or rogue bikers scurry across the land in search of fuel and villages to plunder. Perhaps that is a bit extreme, but there are lots of doomsday theories being thrown around right now, and the current economic crisis is only fueling that fire. Although I have to admit to having a certain morbid attraction to the idea of our messed up society starting all over again, I fear for what that would mean for our children. My wife and I can live with a certain amount of unpredictability and a somewhat rustic lifestyle, but my children would not be prepared for anything of the sort.

the copper thief

2008-10-01T19:23:00.004-05:00

A friend and I were recently discussing the economic recession that our country is in, and he mentioned that he had heard that there has been a rise in stolen copper with foreclosures. It's pretty sad when people find themselves so desperate that they're willing to rip the copper plumbing out of their foreclosed home for some extra cash. When I used to work for a large telecommunications firm, we had similar problems with the theft of copper cabling. But these were common thieves who also didn't think twice about stealing old relay racks and used cisco equipment from the back of a company truck. Whereas the people stealing copper from their own homes today are your typical run-of-the-mill homeowners that have apparently been pushed to edge of financial ruin. Personally, I can't see myself ever being so underhanded, but it's hard to speculate what kind of frame of mind we would find ourselves if we were in that much financial strain.

We've also noticed while driving past the parking lot of the local food bank that it is much busier than it used to be. Storeowners downtown state that business is down. I believe it. My online affiliate sales have decreased, as well. People are spending less money because they are making less money. The possibility of an economic collapse makes me feel like saving my cash, and I know I'm not alone. Plus, I seriously doubt that this bailout idea that the president is pushing is going to help any of us. The average American citizen is already living lean and may be getting desperate. Anyone who leaves their money invested in the stock market at this point, bailout or not, had better be prepared for some longterm recovery, if at all.

digging the net10 phone

2008-10-01T19:18:00.002-05:00

We've had one of those "disposable" pay-as-you-go cellphones from Net10 for about six months now, and I must admit that I am a satisfied customer. As much as I like to gripe about telephone company practices, these guys actually deliver what they promise. It's pay as you go with no hidden fees. And since I rarely use the phone, I get to carry over my leftover minutes each time I refill it. Currently, it is costing me about $16.50 every month, which isn't bad at all. Granted, it isn't glued to my ear like most people, so my minutes don't disappear that quickly. We plan on using this as our primary phone once we sell our house and move, so I suspect that we may have to add more minutes each month at that time. But for now we're quite happy with it.

I think I better find some wood to knock on...

trickle down professionalism

2008-10-01T17:16:00.006-05:00

Living in a small town, there are certain types of services that have not yet joined the world of modern professionalism. I guess word hasn't trickled down just yet. Whether I'm working with a home construction contractor, an arborist, or even an auto mechanic, I find that many of them don't have the customer service tools that I came to expect when living in larger metro areas. Few of them use computers, and some don't even want to give you an estimate in writing. In many cases, the "good ol' boy" system is alive and well, and you're supposed to just trust someone's word. Heck, I've been in situations where I wouldn't have been surprised if the guy spit into his palm and wanted to shake on it. Locals are always quick to plug their friends and relatives, so you never know if someone is going to do a good job or not based on recommendations. And the last thing you need is to get involved in a business dispute with a friend or a neighbor. You know what they say about mixing your business and personal lives...don't do it!

Fortunately, even the phone book exists in the "boonies" and most professions are still required to register with local government. There isn't a local Better Business Bureau for my town, so I often turn to the internet for details. Sometimes I can find business ratings and reviews online, and at other times I cannot. There are specialized sites that are cropping up all over the net to try and maintain some sort of service history for many industries, but few have listings in my area just yet. Some get on my nerves by trying to redirect me to some national company that would be happy to put me on a big waiting list until they can get out to my area for an estimate. Then they'll inflate their price to cover travel fees to my area. It's similar to when you're searching the phonebook for local businesses, and they list paid advertisements for non-local firms first.

Luckily, not all sites are this underhanded or spammy. I recently ran across one for finding an auto body shop. I searched by my zip code, and they didn't have any listings in my area. Rather than try to redirect me to a listing from another city that might be able to do the work, they simply admitted that they couldn't help me yet. They even used a fancy video of a woman in the lower right-hand corner to apologize. This was a very user-friendly, honest and personal way to respond, and I appreciate that. I also like that I didn't have to enter any contact information in before I could search. I once tried using another site to find a gutter installer in my area, and they sold my contact information to a bunch of spam lists. Not only did I not receive a response from a qualified gutter contractor, but I had to cancel the email address that I had provided them so as to avoid the relentless spam.

names of irony

2008-10-01T17:10:00.002-05:00

Today, we had some contractors working on our house. They got gobs of white drywall mud all over the place. The messed up the trim around our windows, and one of the guys stepped in the ball of white mud and tracked it all over the home. It was stuck deep in the carpet, and smeared on several walls, too. I understand that drywalling is a messy job, and I know that replacing a wall in an existing home is more likely to cause damage than new construction. But I'm absolutely disgusted that they would just leave it this way. If I can get on my hands and knees with some wet paper towels and a rag to clean up this mess, so can they. And they should have. Fortunately, this stuff comes up pretty easy with water. If it caused permanent staining or crusting, they'd be buying me some new carpet.

To make matters worse, this particular company uses the word "precision" in their company name. Talk about irony.

leaving all the furniture behind

2008-09-30T21:53:00.005-05:00

Do you ever get tired of your belongings? I sure do. It's not that I want new versions of everything that I own - some of it I simply want gone. I don't want to clean it, and I don't want to pack it or move it when we relocate again. We routinely go through all of the boxes that we have in storage, and try to clean out anything that we no longer need and that has no sentimental value. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to just abandon all of our furniture when we sell the house. There are lots of old Victorians in town that are sold fully furnished. Primarily, this is because the streets downtown are extremely steep, and trying to get moving trucks in there is difficult and dangerous.

I've been thinking of doing lots of built-in furniture in our next home. This will allow us to get rid of lots of what we have now, and it will allow me to creatively use built-in furnishings in the overall house plan, to be strategically placed as dividing kneewalls and visual points of interest throughout the home. We have already come up with a plan to build a full wall of drawers and closet-like armoirs between the two kids' loft areas. The built-in will actually be the dividing wall between their space.

I've been toying with the idea of building some of these items out of rustic logs. We lost about a half dozen trees in the recent hurricane aftermath, and the trunks and branches are just begging to be cut-up, debarked, and reborn as something new. I've never been much of a carpenter in the past, but I never had the right tools, either. At least if I leave it with a rustic finish, I don't have to worry about making it look pristine and perfect. I can allow the character of the wood to dictate the design and final finish.

the problem with insurance is...

2008-09-27T16:29:00.003-05:00

Hmmm...where to start? Or even better, where to end...if ever?

We're currently dealing with our homeowner's insurance company over a storm-related damage claim. As a result, I am a little annoyed at some of the service I am receiving. It took forever for the adjuster to call us, and then it took a week for him to inspect the damage and write up an estimate. All I want is for my home to look and function the same as it did before the storm. I'm not trying to rip anybody off, commit fraud, or make money off of the claim. The adjuster had no doubts that our claim is legitimate, but he's giving me enough pushback on exactly where their coverage ends.

So we're battling it out, pushing for a better resolution of our problems. I have been told that this is all part of the game that they play, and that it is very common. But if we don't get that resolution, what should we do? Switch insurance companies when this whole debacle is over? Doesn't the insurance company understand that by making us want to jump ship they are never going to get enough insurance premiums from us to pay for these repairs? Isn't it in their best interest to treat us well and retain us as customers?

Homeowner's insurance is tricky. You don't know what kind of support you're going to get until something bad happens. And unlike shopping for other types of insurance, it seems that there isn't as much variance in the premiums when you compare prices. If I'm trying to insure my car, I can do a quick auto insurance comparison and the differences between each insurance company are plain to see - quite black and white. Homeowners policies aren't as transparent, though, and I would suspect that agents will promise the world to get you to sign up. What I really dislike is when something happens to a car or home that you have coverage on, and your agent tries to convince you that filing a claim isn't in your best interest. They might suggest that your premium may go up, or that the insurance company "doesn't like it" when you take advantage of a certain type of coverage, such as auto glass. Personally, I think that is a load of crap. You pay for insurance so that you have coverage in the event of a loss. If you're not going to use it, why pay for it?

evan unmighty

2008-09-27T15:46:00.003-05:00

After much prodding, I finally caved and picked up a copy of Evan Almighty from the local library. My mother was recently at our house for a visit and insisted that we simply must see it. In the movie, God asks Steve Carel (Evan) to build an ark, and starts to assemble animals from around the globe in Evan's suburban mcmansion neighborhood. When I heard the movie name, and that it starred Steve Carel, I told her that it must be a spin-off of the movie Bruce Almighty. She argued that it certainly wasn't. She was adamant - almost defensive. I don't know what the big deal was, but after seeing it, I don't understand how she could think that it wasn't a spin-off. We have the same character playing God (Morgan Freeman), and the main character Evan has just left his job as a news anchor (the same job he had in Bruce Almighty) to be a congressman. Even his co-anchor is the same actress. Geez.

Regardless, the movie stunk. Sure, it is "okay" for a family flick, but I found the humor to be trite, the plot too predictable, and overall Steve Carel wasn't that funny. It's also worth mentioning that the movie is over-the-top in its flagrant use of digital imaging and computer animation. I understand that a movie production crew isn't going to build a massive ark and fill it with a pair of each species of animal on earth, but certain scenes (like when the dam breaks) looked ridiculously contrived. I can understand why they're starting to make pseudo-realistic movies that are fully computer animated (think Beowulf). After all, real movies are filled with this stuff. But why stop there? Why not get rid of the real actors altogether and just use their voices? Oh, wait...that's already been done, too. Ever see The Mummy Returns with its CG-rendered Rock? Wasn't that Angelina Jolie in Beowulf?

the bearded coverup

2008-09-24T22:38:00.002-05:00

When I was about 19, I got a job at an insurance company. It was the first job that I ever had that allowed me to grow facial hair. My previous places of employment expected me to clean shaven as can be. So I took advantage of it. I started by growing a goatee. Then I added sideburns, a beard, and eventually a mustache. It's been more than ten years and I still wear my beard and mustache. One of the things that I really like about having facial hair is that it actually can be used a cover-up. I had a scar on my lower jar from where a mole was removed when I was a kid. That scar now hides beneath my beard. When I first grew facial hair, I was still dealing with the plague of teenage acne, and the beard and mustache went a long way at helping me to conceal my problems. Granted, there are all kinds of new lotions and potions, pills and treatments for acne. But when I was a kid all we had was stuff that burned your skin, like this gooey stuff called retinae and some painful dry ice treatments. Yikes!

kids clothing - the ultimate expensive disposable

2008-09-20T09:53:00.002-05:00

Our kids seem to burn through clothes in a few months, if we're lucky. You would think that the small amount of fabric would mean that clothes are proportionally cheaper than their adult sized counterparts. Unfortunately, that isn't the case. My kids haven't gotten old enough to start demanding name brands yet, but I am dreading the day. I hope that my kids instead get bit by the thrift store bug, and pick up the funky fabrics of yesterday to invent their own wardrobe. That's what I started doing by the age of 16, since my mother had no clue how I wanted to dress.

For our kids, I am fortunate that my wife knows how to sew. She has savhttp://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=33669414
Blogger: The Occasional Editorialist - Create Posted us tons of money over the years by custom sewing clothing and bedding that would have cost us much more if we had purchased it in a retail store. When we my children were infants, she sewed all of their crib bedding and even some matching curtains for the nursery room. She even made the little crib "bumper" to go around the bed.

When I was a kid, my grandmother was our source for custom sewed garments - she would make shorts, pants, and dresses for the grandkids. Heck, she even made me some of those long shorts called "jams". (It was the 80s, after all!) My wife now carries that torch, and she will likely save us tons of cash over the years on children's clothing. That beats paying full price for clothing that is only going to be worn for a month or two before being outgrown.

the effects of reverse pyschology on karma

2008-09-16T06:01:00.003-05:00

Karma is a funny thing. Some people believe that doing good for others results in good things happening for you. Others think it is all coincidence. I'm not really sure what to think, but I have noticed something strange recently. Have you ever noticed that certain things in your life don't happen the way that you want them to until you quit pushing so hard?

Take my marriage, for example. I dated lots of girls before meeting my wife, and with every one of them I was so hung up on finding the "right girl" for me and having a "serious" relationship. As a result, every one failed miserably. I met my wife on the rebound, wasn't really looking for "the one". I even tried to ignore the fact that she seemed so perfect and that there was a special feeling there that I had never felt before. I didn't want to get "serious" this time. After our third or fourth date, she told me that she felt it, too. We've been married very happily for twelve years now. So much for the "rebound".

Fast forward to today. As a self-employed web designer, I have been struggling the last two years. I was putting forth a lot of effort, and was really determined to impress new clients. Business trickled in, and I kept having to find other generic jobs in business to pay the bills. While I like the idea of having several streams of income, I'm tired of wearing so many hats. I was getting ready to give up on the web design thing altogether when I suddenly picked up a promising client. His project turned out to only be a 4 hour job, and I almost dismissed him altogether. When I did the work, I wasn't very enthusiastic about it because I didn't think it would result to much later on. I know that I should treat every client the same regardless of how much they are spending, and I usually do, but I sometimes get tired of dealing with people who want the cheapest solution that money can buy. How did I get to be that discount guy?

Strangely enough, this client has started to refer tons of work to me. While his own project was meager at best, the work he has been sending my way is four to five times as profitable. So I guess the theory of "reverse psychology" can sometimes work on more than just three-year-old.

why wear white?

2008-09-07T11:23:00.000-05:00

One of the things that I have been having trouble keeping clean is all of the white trim around our home. We were lucky enough to have oak cabinets, but the painted white trim around all the windows and doors gets filthy, and is difficult to clean. We have the six-panel white doors, too. Outside, we have white trim around the house and at the soffits, etc. It's a little bit like wearing white clothes - they look great at first, but as soon as you wear them outside you irreparably damage them in some way. Either you get a stain, or you sit on something, and your crisp white appearance is never the same. Sure, you could bleach the heck out of them, but then you damage the integrity of the cloth little by little. Houses are the same way. I can keep power washing over and over again, until eventually the paint starts to peel and it is ready for another coat - a coat of paint that it wouldn't have needed if I wasn't power-washing it so often. What a pain!

unexpected elance side-effect

2008-09-01T10:46:00.000-05:00

I was ready to completely give up on Elance. Every time I bid on a job, I was underbid by some company in India willing to do web design for $7 an hour. It was getting really frustrating. I finally picked up a small job amounting to very little work, but it was a start. Luckily for me, this one little job has since been referring other work to me like crazy! And best of all, the referrals don't have to go through the Elance system, so I don't have to worry about them taking their "cut" out of the money I make. Pretty cool and definitely unexpected.

So while this blessing has more to do with the generosity of that first customer, and my good impression on him, I guess I have to admit that it would never have happened if I hadn't signed up with Elance. In that respect, I suppose one could say that Elance works as a good springboard for finding long-term work and referrals.

coddled kids

2008-08-27T10:28:00.006-05:00

We attended the elementary school open house for our daughter yesterday evening. As usual the "booster club" was there to try and get us excited about the concept of our children becoming door-to-door salesmen. But what struck as most odd were the suggestions that the teachers made to make things "easier" for our children, and the incentives being offered for doing their work.

I just don't understand it. Why do we now feel the need to offer contests and incentives to get our children to do their work? Although I sometimes was rewarded with a fancy dinner for a good report card, I never felt like I was doing my homework so that I could win some sort of plastic toy, or be involved in an end-of-the-year performer's pizza party. I did it because I understood that good grades would make my parents proud of me, and that it would help me later in life, should I decide to pursue higher education. I guess parents aren't communicating this message effectively anymore.

Our kids just seem so coddled these days. I know that part of it stems from technological advancements, but most of it feels downright ridiculous. It must be some sort of inherent American belief - that our children must have things easier than we did. But what if those very challenges that we faced as children helped to shape us as adults? What if our kids are too coddled? I can understand not wanting our children to suffer through situations that are beyond their control - problems related to physical health, for example. I, for one, will be happy to pick up the latest acne products for my child when they are dealing with the pain and embarrassment of acne in their teenage years. But I still plan on holding back when it comes to getting them their own cellphones. They can get a job when they want to start driving, so that they can pay for their own gas and car insurance. I don't plan on offering rewards for when they finish their homework, either. As school children, that's just part of their job. Call me old-fashioned...

am i crazy, or just dreaming?

2008-08-23T12:13:00.004-05:00

I've decided that I am going to design and build my own home. Everyone thinks that I must be crazy...but all of the books that I am reading say that IT CAN BE DONE! Perhaps it is just marketing spin, to get us to buy more books on home construction and spend lots of money on do-it-yourself tools and materials at the local hardware stores. It does have a good solid history to back it up, though.

People have been building their own homes for thousands of years. As far as I can tell, it was only within the last couple hundred years or so that we started to outsource all our homebuilding work to specialized "contractors". Don't get me wrong - I understand the advantage of hiring contractors. For one thing, you don't have to get your hands dirty. On top of that, a contractor who specializes in one certain trade will obviously have more experience than the first-time home builder. He's likely to have the right tools, and get the work done quicker. But can you depend on that contractor doing quality work? Work that is as high quality as if he were buildig it for his own family? This is hard to find.

If you're within city limits, there's a good chance that you don't even have a choice but to hire a contractor who is licensed and insured. In that case, the only buildings you're going to be constructing are doghouses, birdhouses, and perhaps dollhouses (if you have a daughter and lots of patience). And if you live within a historic district, there's even a chance that you'll have to run your doghouse designs past a design committee.

So we made sure to pick up a piece of land that is big on potential, but little on code, licensing, approvals and inspections. Yep, you guessed it. We're planning on building our own place out in the country. My confidence seems to fluctuate based on my location. When I am at home reading books on green building and alternative building methods, I am ready to take on the world. When I trudging across our rough piece of land, searching for the perfect building spot while picking up a collection of tick and chigger bites, I have my doubts. On the bright side, the world is full of bizarre homes built by crazy people, so at the least I'm in good company.

the politicals are dancing...on our graves

2008-08-19T12:07:00.000-05:00

Why is it that nobody in politics can take a single step forward unless it is self-serving in some way? From local municipal government to the white house, everyone is in it for themselves. I suppose that we could blame it on unchecked capitalism, but that may be just a cop-out. It's our won fault, really - for allowing it to get this bad. Perhaps the concept of "baby-steps" has bitten us. By allowing things to gradually get worse little-by-little, nobody raised concern.

I once heard that you can't cook a frog by dropping him directly into boiling water, because he will hop out as soon as he feels the heat. However, if you place him in cool water, and gradually increase the heat to boiling, he will stay in and get cooked.

That's us now - the United Frogs of America.
We're cooked.

my latest conspiracy theory

2008-08-16T12:41:00.003-05:00

A few weeks back, we had a pretty extreme lightning storm which resulted in one fo my hard drives going bad. Fortunately, the drive was still under warranty and I had enough time to back everything up before it quit working altogether. From what my neighbors have been saying, lightning storms (and fried electronics) are a common occurrence in this area, so we are going to try and make a regular habit of unplugging our computers when they are not in use.

Unfortunately, protecting our PCs from random acts of God doesn't seem to be enough to keep them running efficiently. My wife's laptop is already acting very sluggish, and it is less than a year old. It has become our primary internet PC, which I suspect is the reason for it being so slow. I have already tried a memory upgrade, and I have installed the latest software and driver updates available. I removed unnecessary start-up programs and tweaked the performance and page file settings. I've got a good firewall, virus protection and anti-spyware software running, too. But nothing seems to help. So I have a new theory...

I am starting to believe that computer manufacturers use the internet to slowly make our computers obsolete. It sounds silly, but there is a reason why I think this is possible. I have another laptop that is about six years old now. Strangely enough, it functions flawlessly. All of the programs work, and it doesn't ever crash on me. It is as fast as the day that I bought it, too. What's my secret? It has never been connected to the internet. It isn't exposed to viruses and malware, and it doesn't get any of the "recommended" software updates that we see from Microsoft and the hardware manufacturers. So if these updates are so important, and they fix major problems with the OS, how can a laptop continue to run so well without them?

The major difference between my two laptops is that one is connected to the internet and the other is not. When I worked for a large telecom firm, I also noticed that the computers that didn't have access to the internet (or those that were restricted to intranet only) also ran better and lasted longer. Could it be that some of these software updates that claim to better protect our PCs from internet bad guys are actually bloated updates to make our computes run slower, to convince us that our systems are now obsolete, and therefore in need of replacement?

xmas with the relatives...in our neck of the woods!

2008-08-08T12:44:00.003-05:00

Traveling home for Christmas has always been bittersweet. On the one hand, you get to see relatives and exchange gifts and stories. We see people that we only see once a year, and everyone is (for the most part) in a good mood. But on the other hand, it is stressful and expensive to travel during the holidays, requires that we take time off of work (that we often would prefer to take for an *actual* vacation), and the kids only come home with more useless toys to take up space back home.

We had already made up our minds not to visit for Christmas this year. We visited during the summer instead, and hoped that would be adequate. As the end of the summer nears, our relatives have been dropping the usual guilt bombs about us not coming home for the holidays. I think we're doing pretty good at deflecting their probing, though, since we can honestly say that we just can't afford it at this time.

Fortunately, my parents have taken their lemons and made lemonade. My father called me yesterday to inform me that he had traded one of his timeshares for a week in a condo near us. They'll be here during the week between Christmas and New Year's. So while they won't be here on Christmas Day, we'll get to see them during the holidays after all. Although I was a bit against the idea at first, I have begun to appreciate the fact that my father bought his timeshare in Vegas. With my parents' overall fascination with gambling, taking several Vegas vacations each year didn't seem like such a good idea. But I can't argue with the trades that he has gotten out of it. Last summer, he traded some of it for our trip to Disney World, and now he has swapped another week so that we can spend the holidays together.

So this holiday season should be much less stressful than the usual, thanks to the fact that my parents were willing to come to us. Now if I could just get my mother-in-law to do the same...

ride it out or take the loss

2008-08-04T12:38:00.000-05:00

Our house is for sale right now. We have a dream of building our own home, and we even own our own piece of land to do so. But we need to wait to sell this one first before we can sink any cash into new construction.

We're anxious to sell, and obviously anxious to build. So far, we've had many showings on our home but only one low-ball offer. We're thinking of lowering the price again, but that will only invite further low-ball offers, right? The house is more than we need, and most of our payment goes towards interest. Therefore it feels like we are wasting cash on it each month. But is it better to waste the cash and wait for the right offer, or is it better to lower the price now to try and attract a quick offer? It's a difficult decision to make.

The housing market is definitely in a slump, although it hasn't hit our area as hard as in other areas of the country. Admittedly, our impatience and frustration with house showings has a string influence on our decision-making, but like most situations, I suspect that it makes sense to be patient.

recessions, depressions, and investing

2008-08-02T10:51:00.003-05:00

Analysts are predicting a depression. Democratic hopefuls are predicting change, and everyone else is just trying to survive. One of the questions that rarely surfaces when we find ourselves on the alleged cusp of collapse is how our current investment strategies may be affected.

For example, the typical American worker feeds a 401k with x amount of dollars per year, and hopes to supplement it with his/her pension and social security benefits. The assume that they will have to work 65 years (more like 75) before they can retire. Hopefully, by that time, they will have paid off their mortgage and credit card debt, and can spend what is left of their lives trying to rest and relax. But what happens when the market collapses? What happens when their 401k disappears, and the government finally admits to running out of social security?

Everyone is reliant on their current "sound investments" because they have worked well in the past for the majority of the population. But what kind of changes do we need to make when faced with a potential depression? Who has the experience to guide Americans through these decisions? What kind of planning existed for those who were hit so hard by the depression of the late 20s and 30s? Can we rely on the advice of our futures broker and investment advisers to steer us clear of an impending wave of bankruptcy and foreclosures?

Some would say this is unfounded paranoia. Some would say not to worry about it, or to trust that our government would prevent a depression from happening again. Others say to take all that paper money and buy gold. Personally, I've sunk much of my future into land. It may not be a very accessible source of funds in an emergency, but at least I know that I have somewhere to live (rent and mortgage free) in a bind.

the elusive all-in-one digital camera

2008-08-02T10:37:00.003-05:00

I've owned several digital cameras over the years. I've been fairly satisfied with most of them, each for varying reasons, but I haven't been fully happy with any single one of them yet. My first digital was an HP - horrible quality pix, but it was a very early model, so the resolution was lacking. My second was also an HP. The resolution was greater, and I had some terrific customer service experiences with HP. It really made feel like a loyal customer. I was going to keep buying HP, until I saw the affordable features of my current camera, and Olympus SP-320. It's got tons of features, and the price was right, but I've had many problems with it, and have already had it replaced once. The software is also a nightmare, and you are best off just plugging it in as a USB mass storage device.

Lately, I've been looking at digitals once again, not because my Olympus has quit functioning again, but because there are certain types of shots that it just doesn't capture to my satisfaction. While the close-ups that it captures are awesome, and the skin-tone is usually phenomenal, landscape photos leave much to be desired. I've tried many of the different settings and presets and none seem to fix it. Also, tripod photos at night look gorgeous when I leave the flash off and the shutter open.

There seem to be lots of options these days, and prices are continually spiraling downwards for the amount of technology that you get. But is there any digital camera that truly functions as an all-in-one solution for any photo situation that I may run across?

I've looked at digital SLRs and those may be the answer, but some of the non-SLR cameras have been getting great reviews and are much cheaper. I don't think I would touch another Olympus, but HP still sounds good. The Canon Powershot series has good reviews and seems to offer a lot of bang for the buck. Plus, they have the name of Canon to back themselves up. I just don't know whether I trust camera companies who have moved into digital, or digital companies (like HP or Sony) who have moved into cameras. I once had a little Olympus 35mm that I used for years and years and it always gave me great photos. In fact, that is the only reason why tried the Olympus digital in the first place. But their digital cameras fall short of the reputation they had earned with their 35mm models.

Perhaps the answer lies in the habits of 35mm photographers. Instead of carrying around different lenses to capture the right shot, perhaps the answer lies in carrying around multiple digital cameras. I'll keep my Olympus for close-up portraits and candids, as well as night-time shots. I'll need another to capture landscapes. The only problem is that this idea defeats one of the main purposes of digital cameras - to have something "at the ready" whenever you need it. No film to load. No lenses to swap. Just point and shoot. But how d you point and shoot when you're juggling two or three different cameras?

everyone's mail but mine

2008-07-26T18:13:00.005-05:00

I just mailed out some books the other day, and I couldn't believe how much postage is costing me these days. I used to think that people who charged anything more than $3 for shipping a book were ripping me off, but now I know better. Even at the media mail rate, you can barely ship a book out for less than than $3, unless you are somehow getting your mailing envelops for free.

I guess this is a sign of the times, what with the decline of written personal correspondence due to the popularity of email. Unfortunately, it seems to me that the overall service of the mail has also gone down in recent years. Maybe it is just the town that I live in, but I have a post office box, and they can't seem to get anything right. I have had several clients who sent me checks that I never received in my box. And it seems that every time I check my box, there is someone else's mail in it. So who is getting all of my mail?

Based on the amount of mail that I get addressed to someone else, you would think that I had a community mailbox. The funny thing is that even though I only use the box for business, I get all kinds of misdirected correspondence. I get credit card offers, insurance bills, paychecks and tax returns, forwarded mail from other post office boxes, birthday cards, and even lingerie catalogs - all addressed to other people. What's next? Quinceanera invitations? Bar-Mitzvah announcements? Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes notices? Some well-concealed cash would be nice.

It's fairly obvious that the raise in the price of postage hasn't done anything to improve the service in my area. I guess they're just trying to keep up with inflation and the rising cost of gas. Every monopoly has its day...but what business owner in his right mind would want to take on this one?

intermittent car problems are the worst

2008-07-26T18:02:00.002-05:00

We recently took a long roadtrip to visit our relatives. Before we left, I had noticed a strange clicking noise coming from the passenger side of our car. So I took it in to the mechanic, and they suggested that we replace the axle. That seemed to work - for a few days. Then the ticking noise returned. So I took the car back in, and when they checked it, the noise was gone. I was standing right there, and I couldn't hear it anymore, either. What a pain.

How can I expect the mechanic to diagnose the noise problem if the noise disappears? I'm sure you can guess what I heard coming from the underside of the vehicle the next day, can't you? Yep, the ticking returned promptly. Unfortunately, I wasn't in a position to take it back to the mechanic. So I waited another couple of days until my schedule permitted a visit back to his shop. Fast forward a few days, and I finally made it to his shop. I left the car running, and asked him to come out and have a listen. By the time he got to the parking lot, the ticking had almost completely subsided. What gives? He said that we could bring it back in a few days and he could try and lube a few things to see if that would help. Unfortunately, our vacation was coming too soon to leave the car in the shop, so we delayed taking it in until we got back.

Now we're back home, and the sound keeps coming and going. I don't know whether to bother taking the car in or not. Obviously, I can live with the noise - I was just worried that it may be a sign of some other problem. Since the car was able to drive about 2,000 miles with no problem, I may just live with the noise. That's what loud car stereos are for, right? Now if it was something more pressing, like a potential safety issue, or if the a/c compressor had crapped out on me (summertime humidity here is rough), you know I'd be the first in line at the automotive shop. But a little ticking here and there?

I guess I can live with it for now...

taking the coddle from my kids

2008-07-20T17:54:00.001-05:00

We took our kids swimming in a nearby lake last week. It was the first time that they had tried swimming in anything but a swimming pool. At first, my daughter totally freaked out. She was climbing down the ladder from the dock, and her feet were slipping on algae. I had to explain to her that algae is nothing to be afraid of. You'd think she would have already known this, seeing as she has a fish tank at home that has had algae in it. But I guess stepping foot into dark green lake waters for the first time can be a little intimidating. Admittedly, I didn't exactly dive in head first, either. It had been about twenty years since I had gone swimming in a lake. But once we are all in, it was difficult to get them to leave, as expected.

I think it is good for our kids to get their dose of raw nature now and then. Otherwise, we run the risk of overprotecting them, and having them mature into scaredy-cats. Plus, one of the primary reasons we moved to the Ozarks in the first place was the fact that it doesn't resemble the perfectly manicured lawns of suburbia in any way. And I don't regret it (except when we get tick bites - I hate it when that happens.)

Next up on our list of places to swim is an area near Eureka Springs called Hogscald. It is a magical place, and there are a great many waterfalls and other natural water features that are in rare form right now, thanks to all of the rain that we have been seeing.

the sign of a dying forum

2008-07-16T15:51:00.002-05:00

It's sad but it seems like these days we cannot help but run across spam. Even if you manage to thwart it off in your own personal inbox, you're bound to still see it in forums, on websites and chat groups, and of course in your messaging boxes on the various social networking sites that are out there.

Lately, I've been noticing a flood of spam on several of the online forums that I visit. I don't know if the spammers have suddenly figured out how to get past the built-in anti-spam features of BB software, or if spammers are actually hiring live people to do their work for them instead of robots. But either way, it is a shame, and it is a sign that a forum may be on its way out.

When the moderator of a forum can't filter out the Viagra, Rolex and Anoretix weight-loss messages from the legitimate ones, it turns off subscribers to the forum. For example, if I am reading threads on a music forum, the last thing I need to see between a post about my favorite band being on tour and the latest albums being released are off-topic plugs for affiliate marketing sites, bogus college degrees, and get-rich-quick schemes.

I must admit that I do feel bad for moderators, as they certainly have their hands full. Aside from the incoming spam, they have to deal with the trolls and the vulgar members of our online communities, and apply swift justice to those looking to break the rules of netiquette. It's certainly a job I wouldn't take on without a lot of thought.

a new source for one-off cd duplication

2008-07-16T15:41:00.004-05:00

In the world of indie musicians, it is fairly common to have several boxes of backstock CDs that you cannot sell. They may be sitting in your basement or in a closet, or a garage. Either way, they take up space and most musicians will do just about anything to move them. I've given CDs away, brought boxes of them to record stores to try and pawn them off there, included them as "freebies" with other sales.

Unfortunately, if you want a professional product, you need to press a minimum of 500 discs at a time. (There are a few companies that advertise 300, but the price per disc is very inflated). Then there are companies that do professional looking CDR duplications. Most offer a product somewhere in the $3-$4 range. Along comes Kunaki.com, a company that says it is merely a "machine". There is no customer service, no live person to talk to. You simply upload your product, "it" databases your music and art, and spits out copies when you need them. They'll even send you a free copy to see how it will look like. Sounds promising enough.

At $1.75 per disc, their price makes it even more attractive. Unfortunately, they quickly make up for that with $5 shipping for one disc. If you want to save, you need to order in bulk. If you order about 10 copies, you can get it down to $3 per disc (shipping included). The artwork looks a little fuzzy on the disc face, and their software couldn't preview my 16bit art for some reason. Aside from the three hours it took to upload my product to them online, it was pretty painless.

Best of all, you're not left sitting on hundreds of copies of CDs that you cannot sell. I'll have to report on my experience with them in the future, as I just uploaded my first album to them. But so far, so good.

the time of the month...for cellular therapy?

2008-07-09T12:48:00.005-05:00

There's a controversial new article making the rounds, courtesy of large sites like CNNMoney, regarding a new technology that centers around future stem research potential. Similar to the idea of having your body cryogenically frozen so that it may be "healed" of its ills in the future (when medical technology is much more advanced). Rumor has it that Walt Disney believed it enough to have his own body frozen. However, many have dismissed this rumor as just that - a rumor.

Whether you believe it or not, there are corporations out there who take the concept of "stalling for a cure" very seriously. From cord blood and stem cell research to this latest article on stem cells via menstrual blood, as a society we have always been fascinated with death and how our future technologies might affect it. Some find these suggestions offensive. Others believe that they are sacrilegious, or simply ridiculous. Personally, I don't know where I stand on these issues, but the cost is too prohibitive for me at this time.

Regardless of the ethical stance one might take, we cannot argue that the idea of curing fatal diseases and eradicating genetic flaws is appealing. Anything that reduces human suffering is a noble pursuit.

Here's the press release:

Taking Control: Future Therapies for a Host of Serious Diseases May Be Found in Women's Menstrual Blood

July 07, 2008: 01:28 PM EST

OLDSMAR, Fla., July 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- With today’s hectic lifestyle, where most women are juggling careers, family, relationships, and a host of activities, the idea of possibly facing a serious illness in the future is not something that readily comes to mind -- especially when a woman is in the prime of her life. But what most women don’t know, is that the key to treating a number of possibly life-threatening diseases that she, a parent, a sibling or even her children may face in later years, such as osteoporosis, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, may be found within her own body -- in vital stem cells, which can now be harvested from her own menstrual blood.

Now, thanks to the revolutionary research and technology of C’elle, a service dedicated to providing women with a safe and easy method of collecting and preserving stem cells found in her menstrual fluid each month, even the busiest woman can take control of her future, right in the privacy of her own home. With C’elle’s non-invasive collection process, menstrual cells are processed and cryo-preserved (stored at a very low temperature) for potential cellular therapies that may be used in the future. These self-renewing cells one day may even be used for sports medicine or cosmeceutical treatments, such as anti-aging therapies.

"C’elle enables and empowers a woman to take control of her future health, and possibly of those genetically closest to her, in a fast, painless and stress free way," said Michelle Kay, Marketing and Sales Manager for C’elle. "We live in exciting times, as science and technology are discovering how extremely valuable menstrual blood stem cells really are, and the enormous treatment potential they represent for future therapies. C’elle’s ongoing research is supporting these promising findings."

For more information about C’elle, please call 1-877-892-3553 or visit www.celle.com.

the elusive online price

2008-07-09T12:37:00.003-05:00

In this global economy of immediate gratification and online shopping, I am finding it hard to believe that certain items still cannot be priced over the internet. Particularly in the construction industry, I am having a very difficult time finding online prices of standard items such as windows. What gives?

I don't feel like contacting some strange company halfway across the country just so that I can get an idea of what the windows in my new home will cost. The last thing that I need is a bunch of sales calls from someone at a window company.

It's actually pretty pathetic. While some aspects of online shopping have become easier and more streamlined, others have only gotten worse. In many cases, if you search for an item, you will get results for fake "articles" written by self-prescribed "professionals" with links to an affiliate site. Many want you to plug your personal info into a form so that they can sell your email address. Other "articles" direct you to a site that promises the exact info you are looking for, only to deliver a handful of paid advertising links.

I thought Google was supposed to be filtering the internet for relevancy. Could it be that for many of these searches, there are *no* relevant sites that aren't centered around affiliate links and paid advertising? Pretty sad...

social media for pet owners

2008-07-04T12:18:00.003-05:00

The latest in the string of social networking offerings is a site for owners of pets called zootoo.com. Like most social media sites, it is driven by user content, and includes a pet services directory, journals, videos, targeted pet groups, pet radio with famed Pet Talk host Harrison Forbes, and a collection of useful forum-style questions and answers.

What makes this site a little different is the fact that they help pet shelters and rescue groups around the country in the form of shelter makeovers. So while other sites' profits fall entirely into the pockets of some large media mogul, in this case you can feel a little better about some of those profits going towards a cause that you believe in.

The site automatically finds your locale based on your IP, and you then have the option to find fellow pet owners by your pet type and breed. The website also has some fun photo comparison contests and an interesting section called "Pet Wars". Now before you go rushing off to PETA, this isn't a "battle" between pets in any way. Rather, it is, as they state on their site, the "first cuteness contest for ALL pets in America." Sounds like a real challenge...dogs versus cats...birds versus reptiles.

living vicariously through your online identity

2008-07-04T12:12:00.002-05:00

It is common knowledge that people act differently online than in their everyday physical lives. From the comfort of a somewhat anonymous computer screen, the ugly duckling is a swan, the shy boy is a ladies man, relatively unknowns are infamous, and some men are women (?). Social networking sites have only contributed more to this phenomena. Is this healthy?

Are we living vicariously through these online profiles? Are we "trying out" who we *could* be with our lives, while not affecting those in our actual lives? Or will these online masks, these pretend lives, eventually catch up with our real lives?

a digital family heirloom?

2008-07-04T11:53:00.003-05:00

When my children grow up, what type of family heirlooms will they receive from me? I have an old rocking chair that was passed down from my grandmother, and I have some old family photos, but when it comes to the photos that we have taken, many of them only exist in digital form.

At first, once we started using our digital camera in lieu of our 35mm, we would wait a month or two to get prints. That span eventually became six months, and then a year. Then we tried printing them ourselves, which we found to be costly and lacking in consistency. So we quit printing them altogether. It was too easy to just keep the photos on the PC, digital frame, or a disc that we can insert into our DVD player and view as a family. When I have time, I sit down and put together a slideshow, syncing the photos to music. Is this what I am supposed to hand over to our children when they have families of their own? One of the options that I have been considering are the print-on-demand services that allow you to upload photos which they will print into a nice hard-bound book for you. It's a little pricey, though.

I understand how much easier it is to just make copies of digital media for everyone, but it just doesn't seem very personal to me.

is it wrong to rely on government health care?

2008-07-04T11:36:00.003-05:00

One of the big debates looming on the horizon is the government health care issue. Numerous presidential candidates spoke of a national health care plan, while some avoided the subject altogether, as if to believe that our system works just fine. Some say it is a nod towards socialism, as if there were no socialist ideas already implemented here in the United States (think public schools, social security, etc).

Most Americans fully expect to receive social security when they qualify for it. Those that don't, suspect that it will be gone by the time they qualify (and I can't say that I blame them for that belief). However, it is also understood that social security alone will not be adequate for the rising cost of health care and our increased need for it as we age. So we take our hard-earned money and invest in supplement plans like medigap to cover costs that aren't picked up by programs like Medicare.

Regardless of whether you believe in the benefits of a little socialism here and there, you can't deny that social security and Medicare (as they exist today) are not adequate, and that it is a shame that anyone in this country (particularly the elderly) should have to live without sufficient medical care. It is also a very disturbing thought when we see how much financial assistance is being poured into countries in the middle east.

luring with fuel

2008-06-28T12:43:00.002-05:00

One of the interesting side-effects of our current oil crisis is the unique approach that some businesses are taking by luring their customers in with the promise of cheap gas. At first, the ideas were pretty basic - spend a night at our hotel and we'll give you a $10 gas card. Then, cities like Branson went one step further and actually offered a limited time $1.99 unleaded gas promotion for visitors. A number of car manufacturers are now offering gas "guarantees" that state that they will cover the cost of any gallon that rises over $2.99 for the first year. What remains to be seen is if any of these tactics are actually working. According to all major sources, we continue to fall into a recession as each day passes, so my guess is that these "band-aid" ideas are seen as little more than gimmicks to the common consumer.

But you have to admit that it is a sad state of affairs when tourists are making their travel plans based on what kind of gas discounts they can get instead of what kind of hotel deals they can find. What is also sad is the negative effect that this is having on *all* industries - not just tourism.

divorcing from money

2008-06-27T15:16:00.004-05:00

I suspect that our current national crisis has more to do with our relationship with money than any other factors. Everyone claims to live their life in the pursuit of happiness, but we have lost sight of what will give us true happiness. We work more to spend more, instead of spending less so that we have more time off. Why work until you are seventy years old so that you can spend your retirement in an old folks home, and saddled with debilitating diseases brought on by years of office stress?

A friend recently argued with me, stating that we all need money to survive. I am not denying that, but I do disagree with *how much* money most people believe that they need to survive. Everything is relative, and it is interesting that in some areas of the country folks can live comfortably on less than $20k a year. Why the difference? Is it simply the housing market and cost of living, or does it have more to do with the decisions that they have made and the objects that they purchase? I suspect that it has more to do with the latter, which would mean that location isn't the only thing holding us back.

Granted, it is difficult to change your lifestyle when you are surrounded by a community who lives differently. Imagine an Amishman trying to live in Los Angeles. It is also difficult when certain money-hungry cultural and regional traditions or beliefs have been embedded into our lives. Look at our current approach to nearly any holiday, and you'll understand what I mean. It's easy to say that you're not going to buy into yet another holiday that is being used as an excuse to give gifts and expensive throwaway greeting cards, but what kind of guilt do you experience when your friends and families haven't made the same decision, and they send you a gift or card for which they will not receive one in return?

The marketing industry has crept into every nook and cranny of our personal lives, and will not be happy until they've raised the expenditures for every holiday to the point of taking on more debt. Colored eggs and candy were once adequate to put a smile on any child's face for Easter. Now we've got $300 inflatable vinyl rabbits for the front lawn. For Halloween, we now have greeting cards and plastic tombstones to purchase. Next year, it may be faux cadavers and an inflatable hearse.

Weddings have already passed into the realm of deep debt. It's fairly common for parents of brides to take on a second mortgage to pay for a wedding. Does anyone really need a Hummer limo and an $8000 wedding dress? Even if you aren't a parent or a bride-to-be, as a member of the wedding party, you'll have expensive attire to rent, shower and wedding gifts, time that you'll need to take off of work, and bachelor and bachelorette parties (with bottomless booze and strippers) to fund. Maybe if you're lucky, in addition to that dress that you'll wear maybe one more time before you can't fit into it anymore, you'll get some nice bridesmaid gifts out of it. And with our society's relaxed attitude towards divorce, there's no guarantee that this wedding will be a unique event. Give it a few years, and the idea of reciprocal gifts for all who attend the wedding ceremony will be commonplace.

There's nothing wrong with a gift here and there for a special occasion, but let's not get carried away. We just need to simplify things and quit making the special events of our lives revolve around how much we have spent. In a nutshell, we need to quit spending money as if it were going out of style. Then again, maybe that is exactly what is happening...we just haven't (as a nation) caught that sort of "fashion bug" yet.

the new depression?

2008-06-25T15:07:00.000-05:00

So everyone is talking about the end of America as we know it. With gas prices at an all-time high (with no apparent end in sight), America's flooded heartland in Iowa, and the poor performance of the stock market as of late, people are worried. And I don't really blame them. The real estate industry is seeing a total slump in most areas. I can attend firsthand that some areas of e-commerce are seeing less sales, even if the cost of gas is making online purchases more desirable. So what do we do now?

Our presidential hopefuls seem to think that they can stimulate our economy in some way and prevent another depression, but I suspect that (like so many former presidents) they are only blowing smoke.

Personally, I am trying to position myself and prepare for the worst. Even if a depression doesn't occur, there is nothing wrong with simplifying your lifestyle, spending less, and trying to live a more self-sustained existence. Of course, the media and the government would prefer that we spend more cash on *things* to try and bolster the economy, but if we spend all of our savings and the economy totally tanks anyway, we will be in much worse shape than if we had some cash saved up.

old school wheels

2008-06-22T19:27:00.004-05:00

Speaking of skateboards, did you know that you can build your own old school board online? Check out the Warehouse Skateboards site for an easy to use custom board builder. You can pick old school styles that are up to 10" in width. All of the old favorite brands are there - from Alva, to Santa Cruz and Powell Peralta. It's slick. Personally, I've got my eye on a Creature deck that reminds me a little of the old Vision styled skateboards from the 80's (complete with black and yellow striped griptape!). They do free shipping on orders over $150, too.

And of course, for those of you with less imagination (and time), they have completes for some really reasonable prices. If I can't get the local library to install some bike racks soon, I think I'm going to have to just build a new board and take to the streets again. And who knows? Maybe people will see this as a sign of the economy and rising price of gas, instead of seeing me as a troublemaker like they used to.

How are you dealing with the gas crisis?

2008-06-22T19:11:00.003-05:00

Let's be honest here - it is a *crisis*. How can we call it anything else? Inflation? Pfaw! This is something that the majority of Americans cannot do without. One cannot simply stop driving to work. If you're lucky, you might be able to setup a carpool, but that doesn't always work out.

Personally, I had already made great strides towards minimizing my dependence on gas. We manage to survive with only one vehicle, and since we moved to a small town we don't drive much. Unfortunately, we still have to fill up now and then. Yesterday, I spent nearly $75 at the pump. Not only was my car running on empty, but I had to fill a portable container so that I could also gas up my lawnmower. And even though we only fill up about once a month now, it still stung. We tried riding the bus for a while, but found that it never runs when/where we need it to, and they recently raised the cost of a monthly pass so much that I could buy a new bike every month for the cost of passes for my family. So what is the next step?

While the recent announcement of a hydrogen-powered vehicle is exciting, it isn't going to be available to most Americans for quite some time (if ever). And those hybrids are great but still overpriced. I have noticed more motorcycles and scooters on the road lately, but I don't see those as viable family transportation without additional sidecars. Our home is for sale right now, and our new location will be closer to town, so we plan on biking more often at that point. Unfortunately, I still have to buy myself a bike, so that is going to set me back at least a hundred dollars (and that would be for a Wal-Mart special). Another thing that bothers me is the fact that our town doesn't have any bike racks. While it may seem silly to want to lock-up a bike that only costs me $100, that would still be $100 lost if it were stolen.

Now don't get me wrong - I trust the locals in this town. I'm just not so sure about some of the residents of neighboring towns, or some of the rowdier tourist-types who might have their hearts set on some mischief. So what are my options? For one, I'm going to talk to some of the establishments downtown about setting up bikeracks. I'd bet that I could get some donations to cover the cost. We've got a ton of "green-minded" individuals in town as it is. Another option might be to pick up one of those razor scooters that folds up in your backpack. Or I could even try skateboarding, although the steep grades of some of the roads is a bit intimidating.

I guess I could walk, too...

you took the class, but what did you learn?

2008-06-22T18:57:00.003-05:00

I was so bummed out while we were visiting Denver last week, as I didn't get to hang out with a good friend of mine because he had to work overtime at the last minute. He is a supervisor over some cable installation techs and there shouldn't have been a problem, but when one of his techs apparently didn't know what he was doing, my friend had to clean up the mess. It's a shame really. My friend said that he doesn't know why the tech screwed up the installation so bad, as he had been fully trained. Unfortunately, it appears that my friend has fallen prey to the same dilemma that many companies face. They pay their employees to attend a training seminar, but they have no way of knowing whether the employee walks away with the knowledge that he needs to do the job correctly.

The way I see it, my friend (as their boss) has two options to avoid this problem in the future. Either test all of his techs for proficiency after training (which can be expensive and time-consuming), or pick up some sort of training management software to streamline everything. I think he's going to opt for the latter choice, so as to not find himself working late nights every now and then to cover his techs' mistakes. Conductor is great software because they let you try it out for free for 30 days. In my friend's case, they do so many jobs that he should be able to see results within a week or two...basically as soon as he has managed to design his training program and have his techs complete it. As a bonus, the software allows integration of many of the extensive requirements of groups like OSHA, ISO, and the JCAHO. It also allows you to setup filters so that you can better organize who you are training, and what modules they can (or need to) access.

I can't see any reason why more businesses wouldn't opt to use a piece of software like this, short of not knowing that it exists.

karma

2008-06-19T10:41:00.003-05:00

Several days ago, while on "vacation" with my family, I ranted a little bit about my mother-in-law's place smelling bad. Well, wouldn't you know that when we got home our own house smelled horrible? It must be the kitchen sink, as the trash can was empty. Even worse, we had several home showings while we were gone, and some of the potential buyers noticed the smell enough to mention it to our agent.

So there you have it - karma at its finest. I complain about my mother-in-law's stinky abode, and my own gets in a funk while we're away. Just wonderful.

how small can we live?

2008-06-19T10:25:00.003-05:00

That's the question that is foremost on my mind right now. I'm planning on downsizing as soon as we can sell our house, and I've been reading lots of books about the efficient use of space in home design. From what I have read thus far, it seems as though we will only be limited by zoning, local codes, and whatever others say about us that we allow to bother us. Fortunately, we will be building our new home in an area that is outside of city limits and building inspections, so that should help.

We are also redefining what we think about houses, including the idea of traditional rooms (living room, dining room, kitchen, etc). Although I do still see the benefit of private versus public space, the concept of having formal rooms for each activity gets negated pretty fast when trying to cut down floor plan space. You quickly realize that many rooms can serve double-duty, either via convertible walls and built-ins or simply by re-arranging the furniture.

My parents think we are crazy. They can't imagine a family of four living in anything less than 2000 square feet. We're hoping to live in something half of that size...or less! But that has more to do with their experience than anything else. Just because someone has lived in a cramped space doesn't mean that all small spaces are bad. They just need to be well designed. I told my father how much I was estimating for basic construction and he couldn't believe it. He said that he has spent more on appliances than we are going to try and spend on our whole house. Of course, he is a custom home builder so when he thinks of appliances, he's talking about top-of-the-line stainless appliances, six-burner stoves, front load washer and dryer, and the obligatory wine refrigerator. We're actually leaning towards apartment sized appliances and weekly visits to the laundromat.

glad to be home

2008-06-19T10:14:00.003-05:00

Well, I must admit that our little jaunt to Denver has completely reaffirmed our decision to move to a smaller town. Although we initially were drawn here by the lack of traffic congestion, lower cost of living, and numerous types of creative small business opportunity, living here has also granted us the chance to start over again with a new style of living. Granted, we could still be living simply in Colorado, but it wouldn't be as easy on us or our children. After only one week in Denver, my children were getting accustomed to the television, fast food, and manicured lawns of the burbs. It's hard to avoid when it is *everywhere*.

Not that there is anything wrong with manicured lawns or suburbia, provided that you have the energy, inspiration, and expense required to maintain it. Personally, I couldn't stand it. Outward appearance doesn't always equate to inner enjoyment, as my weekly lawn-cutting outings proved. I also found it ridiculous to try and re-climatize what is essentially a desert or grassy plain with water-thirsty lawns. If the city of Denver quit watering their lawns for a week or two, they would go dormant or dead. Talk about trying to fit a square peg into a round hole...

So yes, it is good to be home - back in small town America, where things move slower and we adjust to the seasons, instead of trying to adjust the seasons themselves.

family visits are not vacations!

2008-06-14T11:45:00.004-05:00

I'm writing this little post from the spare bedroom of my mother-in-law's place, which always smells like mothballs and farts. It also has tiny toilets that are not "man-friendly", if you know what I mean. She bought the place more than ten years ago, replaced the carpet and painted all the walls, and it still smells horrible. Maybe she needs her ducts cleaned. Maybe it is her.

I think this is the last trip to visit family that we will be making in a long time. The 900+ mile roadtrip across Kansas is anything but enjoyable, particularly with the children in tow. It takes twice as long to drive as it should, since the kids have to use the bathroom every half-hour. (When they are home, they poop once a day. While traveling, they go four or five times a day. I'm starting to think that they enjoy touring public restrooms or something.) Gas is now ridiculously expensive, and I'm tired of using up my free hotel nights (earned throughout the year with credit card purchases) on these hellish journeys. When we arrive here in Denver, the wind and dryness is absolute murder on my sinus cavities, and every time I blow my nose it looks like a kleenex full of blended raspberries. Yuck!

The kids also act horrible when we come here - a result of being overstimulated, exhausted, and spoiled rotten by their grandparents. Our family members fight over our time, and always feel cheated even if we plan outings specifically with each one of them. Regardless of how well we coordinate the visit, they are never satisfied. On top of all of that, my wife and I get zero time alone and the guest bedroom doesn't even have a lock. So no nookie! Honestly, this is it. No more traveling to visit family. If they want to see us, they can come visit us from now on.

packing light gets harder as you multiply

2008-06-07T01:45:00.003-05:00

My wife and I used to think we were hip, light travelers - we even hoped to book ourselves a backpacking trip for Southern France at one point. We could survive on a few pairs of underwear and socks, a bar of soap, and some light, layered clothing. Traveling light makes for such an easier trip. There's less baggage to carry, less to pack and unpack, and you can usually skip the baggage claim altogether if your bags are small enough to be carried on a plane. We took many of these "light-footed" trips when we were younger and saw no reason to change our travel style.

Then we had kids and reality hit. At first, there was the baby furniture that we had to bring along - the playpen, the stroller, the carseat, etc. Sure, you can get a playpen at most hotels nowadays (with some other kid's vomit and urine stains all over it), but stroller and carseat rental is ridiculously expensive. Carseats can easily add an extra $5 or $10 per day to your auto rental, and there have been numerous reports about family vacation destinations like Disney World charging more for stroller rentals than one would pay for a car rental. Although kids clothes are smaller and don't take up much room in a suitcase, they tend to get dirtier more often so we find that we sometimes have to bring several changes of clothing for each day.

So it looks like we won't be traveling quite as light as we would have hoped this summer. And it probably means that we'll be waiting at the baggage claim like everyone else. Honestly, I can't stand waiting for my luggage. Somehow, our suitcases are always the last to come down the ramp, and there's always some moron who mistakes one of our bags for his own. Sometimes, I find that security left one of our suitcases partially unzipped. That's always fun! I can imagine my stray bikini briefs tangled up somewhere in the conveyor belt system...

Airport security has become a real headache. I understand the reasons behind it, but I wish that everything didn't have to be so slow and difficult. Trying to get through security while holding our shoes in our hands with the kids at our sides is a real hassle. Why couldn't they just add x-ray machines under the floor? The security personnel are usually in a bad mood, too. I'd also like to know how they can avoid being responsible for damaging people's luggage and other personal belongings. My laptop bag once got ripped going through the x-ray, and as I've already mentioned, they've managed to break the zippers on our luggage several times in the past. Let's just say that I am glad that we haven't yet splurged on an expensive set of Briggs and Riley or Andiamo luggage. It stings enough just to see our little American Tourister set tumble down the conveyor belt with duct-tap wrapped around it!

of sex shops and privacy

2008-06-07T01:28:00.004-05:00

Of all the retail stores on the internet, stores that sell adult toys and lingerie should be sitting near the top of the list when it comes to protecting customer privacy. Unfortunately, I recently discovered just the opposite to be true. There is such a store from which I have purchased a few gifts for my wife. I won't mention the store name, but let's just say that it is named after two biblical characters - two very early biblical characters. ;)

I've made a few purchases over the years, and haven't really had any trouble with their service. Their shipping is sometimes slow, but they deliver items discreetly and their prices are competitive. We've had a couple of items that were mis-described in their store, but nothing earth-shattering (vinyl versus real leather!). Honestly, I only make purchases with them about once or twice a year, so I don't have too many experiences.

Like any other retail site, I provided a dedicated email address when I registered. I like to do this so that I can better track my email, and if I start seeing spam, I know exactly where it is coming from. A couple of weeks ago, I started seeing spam arrive in this mailbox. It was all of the typical stuff - the badly HTML-formatted messages trying to sell me Rolex watches, Viagra or Phentermine. You get the picture; certainly not store-related sale announcements (although I guess you could argue the relativity of Viagra to sex shops). None-the-less, I immediately contacted their customer service department, and after a day or so received a reply. It was a canned response apologizing for the inconvenience, with a promise to have my name removed from their future marketing lists. Gee, thanks but no thanks! Once you've sold my email address, you can't just take it back.

So, I deleted that dedicated email address and I won't order from them again. I hope it was worth whatever money they made selling their customers down river. Lame!

do my kids need to know their grandpa?

2008-06-07T01:02:00.004-05:00

So my father-in-law recently hooked up with a new girlfriend and decided to retire and relocate to Arizona. We haven't seen him in several years, but would like the kids to know their grandfather. Unfortunately, the only time that we have for vacations seems to be in the middle of the summer, and I certainly don't feel like traveling in that kind of desert heat. So what are we supposed to do?

First, there's the obvious choice - try and convince "Grandpa" to take a trip and visit us instead. Seeing as I have already mentioned that we haven't seen him in several years, you can probably guess how well that plan is working for us thus far. Apparently, his new girlfriend wants nothing to do with his old life - hence the relocation and the fact that he only calls us when she isn't around. She prefers to pretend that his former marriage never existed, although my wife and our children are the inconvenient proof of it. So at this point, we have to make a decision. Do we bite the bullet, and sweat like pigs driving across the desert for him? Is it worth the expense? The last time we took a roadtrip through a desert area was on a trip to California and we had to stop in Nevada. The Reno hotels were very expensive. It was as if they were taking advantage of the fact that they were the first "oasis" of a city that we ran into for several hundred miles. Maybe we just visited at the wrong time of the year. I guess we should have planned ahead and booked online. Will our stay at an Arizona hotel be the same way? Normally we would cut our expenses by staying with relatives, but I don't think we are welcome to do that in this case. Most of all, do I feel like using up our limited vacation time and spending tons of cash on gas (or even more on airfare) for a trip that will probably be miserable and uncomfortable?

There comes a time when you have to make a decision about unhealthy family relationships. I know the old saying says that "family is forever", but isn't family also a two-sided street? If Grandpa wants a relationship with his grandchildren, he is going to have to stand up to his new wife-to-be. If not, well I hope he has fun with his new life/wife in the desert.

a sucker for murals

2008-06-05T23:38:00.004-05:00

Ever since I was a kid, I've been a sucker for a good wall mural. Maybe it's because I am still a hopeless dreamer. Or maybe I just like to feel like I'm outside when I'm inside. I remember my Father taking me to the local hardware store, where I saw my first bedroom mural - one of those nifty moonwalk scenes that covers an entire wall. They also had one that made you feel like you were in the jungle. I always thought it would be neat to have one of those as a kid, so I plan on someday painting one for my kids in their bedrooms.

Fast forward twenty years or so, and some ingenious media specialist came up with the idea of televised fishtanks and fireplaces. Of course, there's been a bit of backlash from the fishtank elitists, but for the most part we can all understand the benefit of having an aquarium that you can turn on or off, and never have to clean. I have noticed that they are always stocked with the most expensive and exotic tropical species, too. (Sorry, I just can't see paying $50 for a fish.)

Today, I ran across a new form of mural - for hot tubs.

In addition to the fancy decking surrounds and other high-end hot tub accessories on the market, you now have the affordable option of adding a customized mural for the underside of your hot tub cover. Normally, the backside of a cover is a dull gray or brown, and it makes for a slight eyesore sitting next to the hot tub while in use. But with these new SpaScenes products, you can add a little bit of sunset, beach, or waterfall to your private spa getaway without having to actually maintain a surrounding landscape. It's another one of those maintenance-free alternatives that often makes us wonder, "why didn't I think of that?"

Best of all, it fits in perfectly with my little mural obsession.

the garage sale career

2008-06-05T14:47:00.003-05:00

Can you believe that there are people who make a living by running a year-long garage sale? Personally, I can barely make it through a weekend of running a garage sale, but I have been noticing that in many of the small Ozark towns there are folks who place permanent "yard sale" signs in front of their homes. Many of these homes have highway frontage, and bank on the fact that there are lots of out-of-town travelers passing by. But who in their right mind feels like manning a garage sale all year long? Certainly not me.

I can understand why someone might want to park used Harleys or classical cars that they have for sale in front of their homes, at least on weekends with high visibility, but I just don't have the patience to sit in my yard all day every day waiting for someone to buy my junk. I don't care how convenient it is - that form of "work from home" nickel and diming just has no appeal to me. Sometimes I think that these people are simply using their yard as a waste receptacle, and have no real intention of doing anything with it. If it sells, great. If not, they let it sit - in the rain, snow or shine.

my computer died!

2008-06-05T14:27:00.005-05:00

It finally happened. After years of problem-free computer ownership, I finally had a hard drive crash. It started out with occasional clicking noises, and then the system would hang when I went to reboot. Eventually, it turned off for good and wouldn't boot back up. I tried problem solving it - disconnected all peripherals, swapped out the ram, replaced the CMOS battery, and tried some new IDE cables. But nothing fixed the problem. Lucky for me, the drive is still under warranty for another three months, and I managed to back up everything from the drive to DVD-R before it crashed for good.

What is really strange is that a number of my neighbors have been reporting computer trouble in the last two weeks. I am wondering if there may be a connection. We have been seeing lots of inclement weather lately, including some dazzling lightning storms. I always try to disconnect my PCs during extreme weather, but I don't always get the chance. Now I'm just worried that if some lightning fried the system, there may be other issues with the motherboard that I won't see until I have mounted the replacement drive.

It is also a bit discouraging that this is the first PC that I would have a hard drive failure with, and it happens to be the fist PC that I built myself. :(

kids today have it easy

2008-06-05T14:10:00.003-05:00

Isn't this what every generation says about the next? I remember hearing my parents lament about how they would have to walk miles to school as a kid, through rain and snow...uphill. We were fortunate to get rides or take the bus. However, aren't are parents to blame for making life easier on us in the first place? Weren't they involved in the progress that has happened since their own youth? If our childhood isn't building the amount of character that theirs did, why did they allow our childhood to be so much more sheltered?

Perhaps they had no choice. Perhaps we are all at the hands of marketers, and any old fashioned values that we try to hang onto will inevitably be replaced by whatever is popular on television. Where my parents spent their Saturdays at the cinema, I spent mine playing Atari. My kids watch a lot of television on Saturdays, but I suspect that they would be playing the latest video game if I felt the need to provide it to them.

As parents, we have to decide just what creature comforts we are going to allow for our children. It is not good enough to let the television educate them on what they need and what they don't. If we expect to retain any of our traditional beliefs and cultural values, we are going to have to teach them to our children in spite of what the television might say. It is not going to be easy to compete with the likes of movie stars, but we have to try. We have to determine whether it is better to always try and make our children's lives easier or if it better to let them "suffer" a little through their adolescence (for example). Isn't that what makes us who we are?

Obviously, there are certain new developments that we all would want for our children because they caused us such discomfort when we were their age. For example, I had pretty bad acne and the only acne treatment available from dermatologists involved painful dry ice applications and toxic creams that would dry my face out. Seeing as acne was a physically painful experience for my teenage years, I would be happy if something allowed my children to avoid it. I don't think it would qualify as overt coddling. Will I buy them cellphones because all of their friends have them, though? Doubtful.

my stumbleupon heroes

2008-06-01T14:03:00.000-05:00

As I've mentioned before, I've become quite active on StumbleUpon. And while it is easy to find new sites via their Mozilla toolbar, it isn't as easy to find good ones. Affiliate marketers and web profiteers have been converging upon these social bookmarking sites in an order to "Stumble" their own sites. Fortunately, they are easy to recognize, and even easier to mark as invalid. All you need to do when you run across one of these sites is to check who submitted it. From there, you can go down the list and tag each site as "spam" or "scam" or "affiliate"...and hopefully it helps to weed these types of sites out for the next stumbler.

Now don't get me wrong - I'm not saying that affiliate marketing has no place in social bookmarking. I'd just like these sites to be filed in the appropriate category - shopping, for example. Historic watches on eBay, in my opinion,l don't belong in the "history" category. I also believe that affiliate marketers should be using the toolbar and stumbling/rating other people's sites, too - not just their own.

There are a group of stumblers (my heroes) who are taking it upon themselves to expose these scam artists for what the are. Thank goodness for that.

house on the market - rags to the ready

2008-05-27T14:59:00.003-05:00

Our house is for sale right now. We're planning on building as soon as we can sell it. Of course, right now we get to deal with showings and have to keep the house in order at all times, which is no easy task when you've got kids and pets. There's always toys to be put away, beds to be made, clothes to be picked up off of the floor, and floors to be swept or vacuumed. And that's not including the exterior of the house. Outside, there are weeds to be wacked, flowers to be planted, porch to be swept, and our patio furniture keeps collecting this thin layer of yellow tree pollen. I'm hoping that we won't be seeing as much of it now that the oak trees have fully leafed out.

Every agent says that our house shows really well, and we have already received an offer already, but it was a low one. So we continue to keep the house polished and primped, awaiting our eventual buyers. It sure isn't easy, though.

the true road to freedom

2008-05-27T14:42:00.003-05:00

It seems that every week or so, there is a new best selling book about freedom, wealth, and prosperity. Everybody wants to sell you their "secret" road to happiness and success. I'm actually no different, except that I'm going to sum it up in a quick blog post, and give it away for free.

Now you can spend your time trying to figure out how to make more money, and you can follow the advice of all of these get rich quick guys (whose real way of getting rich quick is telling others how to do it - at a cost). But the way that I see it, the best way to go about achieving financial independence (an therefore freedom) is to rid ourselves of our dependence on money. At least as much as possible.

Sure, there are certain things that we just can't seem to live without - food and shelter, for example. And then there are things like medical and life insurance, which are arguably necessary. (After all, if millions of people can live without them, are they truly necessary?) But how do we go about doing this?

The fist thing I would do is to get rid of your television. It's the quickest way that you can start to sever your ties with material obsessions. Radio can go, too. Next, put some money away, quit your big city job and move someplace with a low cost of living. Read some books and figure out how to build yourself a small home - something tiny and efficient, but perfect for your lifestyle. If you can figure out how to be off the grid, you can rid yourself of utility bills, too. Make sure that your new home is in an area where the climate isn't too extreme, so that you can grow your own vegetables. Or...spend some extra cash and build a decent sized greenhouse. When you do go to the grocery store, pick up the generic stuff. Tens years ago, it tasted bad, but most of it is just as good as the name brand stuff today. (In fact, I suspect that much of it is made in the same factories and simply shipped to different plants for packaging.)

Also, try and position yourself within walking distance to most of the places that you visit frequently - the grocery stores, the library, the post office, bank, etc. This way, you can rid yourself of much of your gas and automobile maintenance costs. If you can make most of these changes in your life, you'll be able to survive comfortably by only working a part time job. That's about as financially free as anyone can get in my book.

drawbacks to being a GIMP...user

2008-05-27T14:30:00.002-05:00

I have long been an advocate of the GIMP. It is a free alternative to elite photo editing software like Adobe Photoshop. It features many of the same features and a similar interface, but is available absolutely free. Unfortunately, there are some limitations to it, though. For one thing, you can't work in CMYK color mode, which is print-industry standard for many types of media. In addition, I recently discovered that it is also restricted to 8-bit color. This means that your color gradients aren't going to look quite a nice as they would in 16-bit. Of course, the novice probably wouldn't notice the difference any more than they would notice the difference in audio between a CD and a DVD. But it is there, and if you plan on being a graphics or digital photography professional, you have to take these limitations into account.

landing pages and social bookmarking

2008-05-23T12:11:00.003-05:00

The trend of having a "splash" or landing page before someone enters your website is slowly going away. But not soon enough. While previously considered a mild annoyance, splash pages are a major hindrance to social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon. After all, how can you successfully assess a site's contents without being able to see past the front page? If you go to review a subpage, it creates a new bookmark altogether.

So here's a tip to web designers across the globe. Please drop the flash splash pages. They are so nineties, and it makes things difficult for social bookmarkers.

an abundance of the same-old

2008-05-20T09:16:00.002-05:00

There is a very high turnover rate in my town. We get lots of people moving in, and lots moving out. Mainly, it has to do with the lack of job opportunities. Lots of people come here with dreams of starting their own business, but few have the business savvy required to survive long term. The tourist market poses enough of a challenge, what with the seasonal dry spells, but the going rate for many services is also half of what it would be in a large city. Granted, the cost of living is lower, so it is offset by a certain ratio. But even with rent as low as $400 a month, some people just can't make it.

Another problem is that people don't do their research prior to arriving. They know nothing of the market or the competition. Asa result, we end up with businesses with zero customer base, or we end up with the same types of businesses presented ad nauseum. We've got empty motels peppering the highway for miles, and yet every year somebody comes along with the great idea of offering additional lodging. So why do some businesses survive while others fold? How is it that we can have hippies in the park selling enough handcrafted jewelry and art to pay their bills, while the new guy with the college degree and the BMW can't turn a profit?

The answer lies in our style of living. Those who live simply enough don't need much to survive. They can survive by working odd jobs. Some only work part time and still have enough mad money for their bar-hopping habit. That's where I need to be. We've already eliminated most of our debt, but we need to do more. My next step is to eliminate the mortgage. When it comes to expenses, mortgage and rent are top dogs and getting rid of them is one step closer to true financial freedom. I am starting to believe that there a limited number of necessary evils when it comes to bills. You can't escape utility bills, for example, unless you are living off the grid. Health and medical insurance is important, although one could argue that living a stress-free life can lead to better health. Transportation can be a sticky problem, unless you position yourself within walking distance of where you need to go.

The cost of food continues to rise, but we can offset some of the costs by growing our own vegetables and reducing our meat intake. Of course, to grow your own produce requires a hospitable climate for your crops (or a good sized greenhouse).

Sure, you can read the latest bestseller advertising how to make a million bucks by working a four hour work week, or you can come back from la-la-land and realize that nobody needs a million bucks in the first place. We just need to live more humbly.

state of the nation

2008-05-20T09:06:00.003-05:00

Sometimes it takes a global interface to realize just how bad off we are. Everyone knows that the value of the dollar is pathetic right now, but just how bad is it? After all, does it really affect us if we're not trying to spend it elsewhere?

Yesterday I signed up for an account at Elance.com, and I quickly discovered just how bad things can be. In the field of web design, the global market is flooded with people from India who are willing to do the same job that I do for half the price (or less). You might assume that these are fly-by-night guys who don't know what they are doing or that they can barely speak English, but their feedback would tell you otherwise. How can we compete on a global market?

The main problem isn't that they are undercutting us by 50%. Perhaps web design shouldn't pay more than $10/hour. The real problem lies in the fact that the average American cannot live off of less than $10 an hour. Also, let's not forget that we Americans lose another 30% or so due to taxes. So we're making even less. I have no idea what kind of taxes other countries impose on their citizens' income.

I guess I can understand why so many companies are outsourcing to other countries. Perhaps I should do the same thing, and just keep the overhead.

no definitive diet

2008-05-16T10:04:00.003-05:00

I've been reading Thoreau's Walden and it turns out that he is another supporter of the vegetarian movement. We tried vegetarianism for about a year, and eventually returned to eating meat. Although we're not the biggest steak eaters, I can't seem to live without seafood and chicken. Part of that is my Southern upbringing. I grew up on lots and lots of seafood, so you could say that it is part of my heritage.

Even if you don't believe in vegetarianism for ethical reasons, there are lots of arguments that have been presented on the case of meat being very unhealthy for us. Let's face it - it is probably the largest source of fat intake for us. What's strange is that most of the dietary information that has been presented is often debated. In this day and age, you would think that there would be scientific evidence by now that could inform us of the best diet possible for longevity and fitness.

Sure, there's always the four food groups, or what is now the food pyramid. But if these are the best cases of nutritional guidance, how do we explain the cases of old age in other countries? I have heard of numerous accounts of 100+ year-old women from Mongolia or China, for example, who claim that their secret is a cigar and a glass of vodka each day. How do we explain these seemingly contradictory examples? The Asian culture is not only known for their longevity, but also for their age-defying appearance. Marketers have been attempting to tap into these secrets of Oriental youth preservation for years. From green tea to anti wrinkle cream, the Western world is obsessed with looking their best, while we fill the insides of our bodies with fast food, junk food, and fat food.

So we do we continually try to invent and mass-market health band-aids, instead of pinpointing the best diet that will lead to both longevity and our best looks? My guess is that the answer to that riddle lies within natural moderated food intake, which doesn't jive with our American lifestyle and doesn't offer as much profit as the steroid-infused produce and supplements that form the bulk of our current diet.

having everything while owning nothing

2008-05-15T09:06:00.003-05:00

I've always been a media collector. Since I was a teen, I would spend a considerable amount of my income on cassettes, records and CDs. Between my car insurance, gas, and my music obsession, my paycheck was already spent each week. In fact, there was a time when I couldn't set foot in a record store without spending some cash.

As I grew older, my taste expanded to include movies and books. By the time I was thirty, I had enough items in my media collections to fill a small bedroom. For someone who likes to read, watch movies and listen to music, this seemed like a fair trade-off. Space for entertainment. But over the years, I've also relocated many times, and each time that collection of media has to be packed up and moved. And if our new home happens to be a bit smaller than the last, we have to find storage for that which will not fit, or pare down our collection.

I eventually managed to break my habit of spending too much on CDs and DVDs, with a little help from my wife and kids. Now I get my new media fix from the internet or the library. The library, in particular, has a wonderful collection of movies, and they consistently stock their catalog with the latest releases. The downsides? Not always getting the DVD that you want when you want it, and occasionally getting a DVD that won't play. Library patrons don't seem to understand the concept of holding a disc by its edges. But it certainly has saved us lots of cash (and space).

mobile work leads to a mobile mind

2008-05-15T08:50:00.007-05:00

My desktop PC had been giving me trouble over the last couple of months, and I did my best to troubleshoot, but I can't seem to figure it out. The computer seems to cycle on and off about ten times before it will boot, with no BIOS indication of the issue. I checked the cables and tried replacing the CMOS battery with no success. I've tried removing most of the peripherals and have narrowed it down to either the hard drive, motherboard, or the OS - all of which are a pain to replace. Seeing as I only paid about $300 for the PC in the first place (I built it myself), and that was three years ago, I decided to go ahead and migrate all of my work to my laptop. I'll keep the desktop as a backup for now, although I have to leave it on to avoid the boot problem. I may just have to cannibalize it and see what parts I can use elsewhere. If anyone has any recommendations for one of those USB hard drive enclosures, I'm all ears. I'd like to put it to good use as an external expansion drive for the laptop, assuming that the hard drive isn't the part of the desktop that is broken.

As a result of switching to the laptop, I find that I work less in the office and more in other parts of the house. Unfortunately, I also notice that with this enhanced mobility, I have a harder time concentrating. It seems as though my switch to the laptop has brought with it all kinds of distractions. So now I'm thinking that I need to try and discipline myself a little better so that I do most of my work in the office, even if the laptop affords more mobility. Just because I can "go mobile" doesn't mean that it is the best choice for productivity.

your stimulation plans?

2008-05-12T08:39:00.000-05:00

With the first round of recipients having received their economic stimulus checks, I can't help but wonder what this is supposed to achieve. I understand that we're supposed to spend this money, but with the economy and job markets in the toilet, doesn't it make more sense to put it into a savings account? Does it really make sense to take this unexpected bonus and blow it on *more things*? Isn't that what got us into this pickle in the first place - the spending of our cash (and credit) on bigger, better, and faster products that we didn't necessarily need in the first place?

For some, I'm sure that this check from the government will be a God-send. It will assist some Americans in paying their rent or utility bills. Or perhaps many will use it to offset the rising cost of gas for the next six months or so. These are noble appropriations of funds, I'm sure, but what ever happened to the old "teach a man to fish" proverb? Instead of throwing the American taxpayer a bone in the form of a "stimulus check", why not do something about the inflation that we are seeing, to better help with longterm expenses?

We wouldn't be so strapped for cash in the first place if we weren't paying so many taxes, or if our livelihood wasn't so dependent on oil.

furniture versus built-ins

2008-05-08T20:00:00.003-05:00

We've decided that we are going to build our own place soon. It will be a compact home with as little wasted space as possible, which means lots of built-ins. One of the things that we are being forced to re-evaluate is our furniture. Some of it will work with our new floorplan. Some will not. We made the decision several years ago to purchase an entire bedroom set for the master bedroom, and as a result we have always required a rather large space for all of it. We won't have this same space in our new home, so we'll probably have to sell much of our bedroom furniture. I'm a little reluctant to do so, because I know that we won't be able to sell it for much, and I hate the idea of practically giving it away (or losing so much of our investment). My wife says not to let it bother me, and that we've had several years of good usage of this furniture set, but I still can't help but cringe when I think of selling it for 20% of what we paid.

I was even considering the idea of moving it with us, disassembling it and reusing it as built-in furniture. But then I'd feel even worse if my less-than-perfect carpentry skills ruined the furniture altogether.

There are some really good books that detail ideas for built-in furnishings that can convert and serve double-duty. Many of them showcase homes in China and Japan, where metropolitan space is scarce. My only question is if built-in furniture can replace regular furniture completely. Can a murphy bed replace a standard bedframe and boxspring? Can a tv wall mount replace an armoire? Can a set of built-in wall drawers replace a dresser? Honestly, I don't see why not. Why continue to relocate furniture every time that we move? I suspect that one of the reasons has to do with our desire to change our furniture every so often. Conversely, one could argue that built-ins prevent one from giving their furnishings a facelift every so often. But if the furnishings match the style of the home, why change them?

For a while, I was examining several different lightweight furniture options. My thinking was that this would be the easiest way to relocate furniture. However, I am starting to believe that the easiest thing to do would be to not relocate it at all. Built-ins would serve this purpose very well. Now I just have to accept the fact that we're going to lose so much money if we sell our current set. But on the bright side, if all goes as planned, this will be the last time we will have to do that.

behold the elusive I.O.U.

2008-05-08T17:11:00.009-05:00

I occasionally have a new client ask if they can pay me for my web design work once their website starts making them money. I often respond that I will start accepting I.O.U.'s as soon as my utility and mortgage companies start accepting them from me. Until then, it's a pay-as-you-go arrangement. And I assume that this is how most companies operate these days. Aside from large retailers with financing and layaway options, I can't see anyone accepting an I.O.U. from a new customer. It's just too risky...isn't it?

Well, believe it or not, I recently ran across a web-based business that still believes in the I.O.U. and offers it to all of their customers. The company in question sells dog in yard signs and their website clearly states that they ship the sign first and expect payment later. I have to admit that I was bowled over by this idea. I remember thinking that these folks must either be very naive or that the signs must be very inexpensive to manufacture - at least enough to cover the occasional non-payment. Or maybe I'm just too jaded.

But let's put our negativity aside for a moment and see this for what it is - a company that actually *trusts* its customers to do the right thing; a company that still has faith in the human race and spends more time trying to please their customers than trying to get paid up front. This is more than a novel idea - this is a radical idea. Does it work? Only time will tell, but it appears that business is thriving.

As for the product? Well, surprisingly enough, these aren't cheap stamped or grainy screen-printed tinfoil signs. They are well made of powder coated steel. The printing is sharp and crisp, and they have several colors to choose from. They even include your choice of mounting hardware (depending on your fence) - brass screws or zip-ties. Our backyard is actually too sloped for a fence, so we let our dog go out front to "do her business", but we also have a large circular driveway in the front yard. Every so often a stranger, delivery van, or one of our neighbors will use our circular drive to turn their car around, and we're always worried that they might hit our dog. So we've been trying to come up with a solution.

At first, we considered roping off the driveway with those fancy horsehead chain-busts. This presented two problems. For one thing, the horseheads are expensive. For another, we'd have to get out and remove the chains each time we needed to use our own driveway. So we nixed that idea. We thought about fencing the rest of the front yard, but our neighborhood covenant wouldn't allow it. We tried making our own sign, but cardboard doesn't last in the rain and my wife didn't like the G.I.Joe appearance of my stenciled letters on a wooden sign. (I'm not very crafty, so a fancy sculpted wood sign was not an option.) So this "dog in yard" sign was perfect for us. We opted for the blue background, so that it didn't blend into the landscaping too much. I'll be mounting it to a tree in the yard in a highly visible location fro the drive. Highly recommended!

Uncle Sam to fix my eyes?

2008-05-08T16:58:00.002-05:00

I've been considering Lasik for some time now. I can't really say why, but for some reason I keep procrastinating. Sometimes, I use the budget excuse, but even when we've got money in the bank I shy away from any sort of eye surgery commitment. Every time I go in for new glasses, I casually ask the optometrist about eye surgery and upon every occasion they have told me that I would be a good candidate. But for some reason, I just can't seem to get any further with it.

Part of it has to do with the fact that I have a real problem with anything touching my eyeballs. Heck, even the rush of air from a glaucoma test tends to freak me out. This is the primary reason why I've never tried contact lenses, although I wasn't attracted to all of the cleansers and crap that accumulates in the bathroom, either.

And so once again, we are expecting a nice extra chunk of change, courtesy of our president, and I can't help but think about using it to have my eyes fixed. It would be nice to not have to wear glasses anymore, but I sometimes wonder if my glasses haven't become part of my persona. Don't get me wrong - they're not as intrinsic to my image as, say, the glasses worn by Bono or Elvis Costello, but I sometimes think that I look better with them.

If I do pursue the eye surgery option, I'm going to have to seek out the one that doesn't involve any cutting or scraping. I have heard that there is one technique that only involves a laser zapping your eyes, with no cutting involved. The other that I have heard of requires them to slice a thin "window" from your eyeball first. Yikes! I don't think I could handle that, short of being put to sleep first.

So I guess I'll have to make that decision once I am holding my economic stimulus check. Should I stimulate the optometry industry, or my savings account?

a newfound respect for the real

2008-05-07T09:01:00.005-05:00

I recently ran across a website that lists the real names of music artists, and was shocked. Although it is fairly obvious that certain artists (like Prince) have devised monikers, I was surprised to see many of the names on the list. It also makes me wonder why certain artists decided only to change their last name. There are artists like Lou Reed (whose real name is Louis Firbank?) who I am guessing changed their names to make it easier to remember or spell. If he played clarinet or sax, I could understand the "reed" reference. But then there are artists like Gene Simmons whose real name is supposedly Chaim Klein Witz. Talk about bizarre. But how do they come up with these alter ego's? Names that sound "hip" like Nikki Sixx are expected, but how does "Gene Simmons" sound any more hip than his real name? I guess it sounds more American, and perhaps that is what he was going for.

One surprise from the list was Taco - his first name actually is Taco. Check it out - it's fun for a laugh: Music Stars Real Names

my parents are getting old

2008-05-03T10:16:00.007-05:00

We have a roadtrip planned this summer to see my parents. It has been a while since we've visited, and I fear that they will have changed in appearance more than I am prepared to see. They've already started to exhibit signs of doing "old person" type things - like gambling at the casinos several times a week, and mixing up their childrens names on the phone. They both *seem* to still have their faculties about them (as much as they have had them up until now), although some of the stuff my mother says over the phone makes me wonder.

My father says that he is preparing for retirement, and that this time he will actually stay retired. I'll believe it when I see it. He's the type of guy who needs to feel useful, like everything that he is doing has a concrete, easily understood purpose. I'm the same way at times, so I guess that's who I get it from. I suspect that much of his "busy-bodiness" has to do with the fact that he and my mother are opposites and don't seem to get along very well. So they limit their time around each other by staying busy with other things, and when they do spend time together (going to the movies, gambling), they are still inattentive to each other to a certain degree.

I'll bet that my dad buys an RV when he retires. He seems to be about ten years behind whatever his neighbors are doing, so its only a matter of time before he picks up some of those polyester jogging outfits, a Cadillac, and his and hers adjustable beds. Why do people inevitably buy into these age-based product trends? Is it simply a matter of desiring more comfort in one's old age? There's *got* to be an alternative to those ugly jogging suits, though.

talking 'bout my generation...and my grandmother's

2008-04-29T15:13:00.005-05:00

Our latest big "life event" is the decision to sell our home and try to build a new one. I'm not exactly a crafty handyman, and I know that it is going to be difficult, but i also know that it isn't rocket science, and there are *tons* of useful resources available on the subject (not to mention the opportunity to do volunteer construction work for organizations like Habitat for Humanity, which may enhance some basic skills). So we're moving full steam ahead. Our current home is for sale, and we've already found a vacant lot that we like. Local contacts for survey, water and other utilities have been dragging their feet, but that's to be expected in any construction project - particularly in a small town.

The only real snag thus far has been the verbal backlash that we've been suffering from some of our relatives. My mother-in-law has been throwing every horror story at us that she can cook up. My parents seem to think that I won't be able to figure it out. That's irritating. Since I was a kid, I had been fed that line that "if you can dream it, you can do it" from our parents, but I guess the real impetus for their support was so that we did well in school. But who can blame us for taking it seriously?

My generation (somewhere between Generation X and Y) is a motley crew of vivid dreamers. Our parents don't get it, and neither do our younger siblings, but my grandmother seems to agree with us on most of our views. I guess that it skips a generation. Or it could have something to do with our upbringing - the boomer influence, the yuppie craze, the hair-do's, and those strange wooden diagonal panels that permeated most of the architecture. I could also try and blame it on the television shows that we grew up on. Rainbows were all the rage, and weren't a symbol for diversity just yet. We watched fictional creatures like the Smurfs and Fraggles. We had bizarre TV personalities like Mr. T, and that kooky "bodyman" with the airbrushed bodystockings made to look like human muscle and sinew. (The same effect was revived with slightly more gruesome details for the film Hellraisers.) It was all about ultra-creative post-hippie learning techniques, but with a duochromatic beige and mauve hue. And then there was Reaganomics, the Berlin Wall, the space shuttle explosion (and the jokes in bad taste that followed), and we had a strange fascination with the olympics and its stocky winning gymnasts.

As children, we weren't aware of most of the negative impacts of these times, such as the unbelievable mortgage interest rates. But with such a bizarre smattering of seemingly unrelated but equally lofty offerings, who can blame us for keeping our heads in the clouds - when we've got kids of our own?