Stumbling Through Life

Musings on The Fool

2008-10-09T06:39:00.002-05:00

I've recently rediscovered my Tarot deck and I've decided to reacquaint myself with it as I should have done in the first place. I started, of course, with the Fool. Remember, the first card is always the Fool.

Now, my deck is "Guilded Tarot". It's a little bit different from other decks, though each is obviously unique. Most decks resemble the Mystic Tarot in most ways. This one takes on a style of its own, and the symbolism, I think, brings out more specific meanings than most standard cards do. So, here's the Fool:

The Fool. The First Card. The Beginning. That's the message here. The Fool represents the beginning of all things: of life, of action, of an event, of time itself, and perhaps most important, the beginning of change. The Fool is the in-drawn breath before the plunge. This card represents that perfectly.

Here you see a young man at the apex of a leap. What lies below him is unknown. His destination and his origin are equally mysterious. He represents perfectly the balance that is life itself: from mystery to mystery. The future always cloudy, the past ever fading.

The ring and scepter around his foot represent the physical bindings that trip us up when we try to reach for the unknown (the alchemical symbols he seems to be juggling).

The moon in the background mirrors this symbolism. It may be rising or setting. Remember, the deck represents the cycle of life. The Fool is both the beginning and the end. They say that Death represents change, yet it is found in the middle of the deck. Death, I think, represents a more mundane change. The Fool is a fundamental change of being. An alteration of who, what, and why you are. Death is the Fool's shadow.

I hope you enjoy my interpretation. I'll try and post some of the other cards as I look at them. I'll go through the whole of the major arcana, at least. If you have a different interpretation, please feel free to comment. Now, I should preobably get to bed!

Return of the Blogger

2008-06-26T03:02:00.004-05:00

Hello, all,

I know it's been a long time. My electricity has been out for the last couple months and I just recently got it back. I've fallen way behind in everything, but I'm back in the driver's seat and my foot's on the gas, so let's get going.

I'm going to make this a quick one, since it's already late and I'm starting to wind down for the night. I've got several projects I'm working on right now that are really starting to shape up. I'm working on some Camtasia videos for VAVideos.com. A great site a business partner of mine is putting up for virtual assistants. More on that as the project progresses.

I've got a friend doing the Thirty Day Challenge, which is awesome, I must say. It's in preseason right now, but there are already some great tips out there. I really encourage anyone starting out in marketing or online business to check it out. You can look him up as Aedan Flynn on the forum. Anyone joining shoot him a PM, and tell Josh sent you. I believe he's trying to build up a team right now.

I'm looking into some newish concepts in marketing, business, and life in general. I've got a new perspective, a fresh drive, and a running start. I'm optimistic for the first time in a while, and I'm really looking forward to keeping the ball rolling. I know I've been vague and nondescript in this post, but I'm tired and a little high on life right now. I promise I'll take the time to fill you all in on what's new in more detail later, but for now, I'm going to wrap this up.

Night, All,
Josh

In a Dark Place

2008-04-21T03:45:00.002-05:00

Hello, all,

I'm supposed to be asleep right now, but I just can't seem to get my mind to stop racing. I don't know why. I'm in a fairly dark mood right now and for some reason that makes me want to blog, so I thought I'd go ahead and write a little something here to hopefully get my mind to slow down a little. Tonight's subject is somewhat philosophical. It's also rather linguistic.

I've been reading about language. Not any particular one, but languages in general. This started as research for another installment of the "World Building" series, but I don't really feel organized enough to put that together tonight. Instead, I wanted to comment on a trend I've noticed with English as I analyze the language. We are a dark, violent, death-obsessed society. How can I tell? Aside from the obvious(I'm sure you can speculate my reference), I simply looked at the number of words we have for death, dying, and killing. There are three right there. Let's take a look at these words, shall we?

First, there's the verb "to die". This has a relatively simple meaning: to cease to live. There is some argument as to the specifics, but we can all pretty well agree on that definition. There are the different tenses of that, of course, and the related noun: death. Ok, so far we have descriptors for a biological process, pretty much necessary, so no judgment there.

Then we have the words for killing. To kill, to murder, to assassinate, to execute, etc, etc. These are all various types of death. While dying is implicitly unpleasant, being killed(a passive tense) is explicitly so. Murder refers to a more planned, decisive act. You kill a bug, you murder your neighbor. Assassination is just murder of a celebrity. Execution is murder of a criminal. So we have words for not only the mode of death, but the object.

Next, there's the "legal jargon". Homicide, patricide, matricide, regicide, etc, etc. Yet more refinement of the brutality. These all tend to involve the object more that the means, but there are a multitude of them. Oh, speaking of the means, there are those, too.

We have words like electrocution, strangulation, mutilation, etc, etc, etc. All of these are not necessarily lethal(oh, an adjective!) acts, but they are almost always intended to be. Right, so then there's intent. That has its own set of words: "involuntary manslaughter" anyone?

Ok, so it could be argued that these are just borrowed for the languages that English evolved from and just because we maintain them in are vernacular does not imply anything about our present society. Ah, if only that were the case. The fact is, though, that these words are not merely our linguistic appendix, they are common, everyday words. They say the average reading level of an American citizen is around 7th grade(though, writing to a 5th grad level is usually a safer bet). However, anyone who is remotely literate(say around 2nd or 3rd grade) would know the majority of these words.

There are languages that have multiple words for fruits, trees, wind, anything you can think of. We have only a handful(one word for each "species" of tree, usually). We also have words like "run" that has too many separate definitions to get into(dictionary.com returns 94 results). Our languages is a supposedly advanced, civilized one, so why do we need so many different words for this simple, biological process? That, my dear reader, is a philosophical question for you.

To apply this to world building(my attempt to actually make a point), note that the diction and vocabulary of a people tells an immense amount about the society of said people. Are your people violent and warlike? If so, you'll want words to match at least all the English words that involve that behavior. If not, you may only want one word "death" or the like. Then, when someone say "he died", the could say something like "he received death". Killed could be "was given death". You see? The same depth of description, but it is considerable more awkward to say "John gave Bob death by touching him forcefully with a blade," than it is to just say "John stabbed Bob to death," or "John killed Bob with a knife."

If a subject is clumsy or difficult to communicate with a language, it generally means that, over the evolution of that language, the subject was not encountered often enough to merit more sophisticated verbiage. So, if you're creating a language, start with basic, simple, broad, and descriptive words, then think about what topics would be discussed the most by the people speaking your language and try to think what words would have evolved to fit the given situation.

I recommend everyone try creating at least a rudimentary language at some point. It give some amazing insight into not only how languages work, but how societies evolved and what things are important to people. If there are 50 words to describe a single situation(or very slight variations on the situation), it generally means that that situation is encountered quite often and is something that the people speaking are either obsessed with or at least very mindful of.

Well, I think think this helped. I may just be able to get some sleep now. I do hope you enjoyed my little rant. At the very least I hope it made you think. I probably won't be able to write again until next week(my father will be in town), so for now, I bid you good night or good morning, as the case may be.

Live and Learn,
Josh

A Newbie's Manifesto

2008-04-10T23:46:00.004-05:00

Another one quit today, it's all over the forums. "Single Mom Quit Her Job and Needs Help Getting Started Online", "Help! How Do You Monetize a Site?"...
Damn newbies. They're all alike.

But did you, in your infinite wisdom and guru status, ever take a look behind the eyes of real newbie? Did you ever wonder what drove him, who or what guided him, what got him to the point he's at now?
I am a newbie, enter my world...
Mine is a world that begins with the internet. I'm smarter than most of the other surfers, even if I don't know it, and the usual tourist traps of the net just bore me...
Damn whiner. They're all alike.

I'm in high school or college, maybe I've even graduated. I've read all the gurus talking about the research that I have to do over and over again. "No, Mike, I didn't write it all out. I just took a few notes."
Damn slacker. Probably stopped at the first page. They're all alike.

I made a discovery today. I found a niche I could really get into or a way of getting my message out that works for me better than anything else. Wait a second, this rocks. It works every time. If it doesn't work, it's because I went to fast or made a small mistake - easy to fix. It's not because they won't listen to me...
Or think I'm not good enough...
Or write me off as a newbie...
Or look down their nose at anyone with less experience and have no business calling themselves "gurus"...
Damn newb. All he does is waste our time with useless questions. They're all alike.

And then it happened... a door opened to a world... rushing into my brain like caffeine on an IV first thing in the morning, a bright new idea that I've never tried before, an answer to all the questions I've been asking... that answer is found.
"This is it... this is what I should be doing..."
I know everything about this. Anything I don't know can be discovered easily. Any answers I don't have at least have well-defined questions... it all makes sense...
Damn newb. Cluttering up the forums again. They're all alike...

You bet your ass we're all alike... we've been tossed scraps from the tables of established marketers when we wanted the full course... the little tastes we got in ebooks and blogs were all but useless and left us drooling for more when there was none. We've been flamed by forum users, or given busy work by so-called "coaches". The few that were willing to teach found us eager students, but those few were quickly overwhelmed and sank back into the shadows.

This is our world, though... the world of social media and Web 2.0 technology, the wonder of video. We make use of services that you're just beginning to hear of, and you say we're wasting our time. We probe into new technologies that are often frowned upon because they're not understood, and you call us "black hat". We think way, way, outside the box, even yours, and you say it'll never work. We work together without bickering, without worrying about our ideas being stolen, without judging each other for our short-comings... and you say we're making a big mistake. You sell cookie-cutter websites on ebay for pennies, you make posts on forums and blogs that give useless information all for the sake of toting someone else's product, you lie, cheat, and steal from each other and us and try to make us think you're trying to help, but we're the ones that get flamed for asking "stupid questions".

Yes, I am a newbie. My only crime is curiosity. My only fault is making my own decisions based on the information I have and the things I see with my own eye, rather than blindly following the word of some "marketing genius". You hate me for thinking of something you didn't and finding an opportunity you overlooked and for that you'll never forgive me.

I am a newbie, and this is my manifesto. We are the next generation that will take over the net. You might crush one of us and stamp out that one spirit. You might overwhelm one of our sites with killer PPC, but we will win in the end because we're all already using the tactics you're just starting to talk about... after all, we are all alike.

Hacking and Torque: The Real Key to Success

2008-04-10T02:49:00.005-05:00

Hello, all,

Tonight I'd like to revisit a subject I talked about a few nights ago. That is, what it takes to start a business online(or any venture, really). More specifically, though, I want to address the thing that most people seem to be missing - the real key to success. There are many things that may stop a person from getting started, but this is the one thing that will hold you back more than anything else.

I'm not going to tell you what it is just yet, though. First, I'd like to discuss once more the common excuses people give for not starting their business. The top three are all "lack of" situations, meaning that the excuses involves not having something that seems vitally important. The three things people complain about missing the most when starting a business are inspiration, money, and time. However, as we've discussed before, these are all false obstacles.

Inspiration is a matter or perspective that can be easily overcome with a change of pace or environment. Money is non-issue as getting started online doesn't have to cost a cent(30 Day Challenge), and at most it shouldn't cost more than about $50.00 if you take that route(we'll discuss this more in another post). Finally, we have the issue of time, which is really just an excuse. There are a million things one could cut out of one's daily life to free up time(in the short run, at least). So, there really isn't an issue here, is there?

We also discussed the thing that really might hold someone back - namely, fear. I know I mentioned brainwashing and lack of drive, but both of those are really just evolutionary bi-products of our fear of failure. Honestly, most people have enough drive to win the Indy 500, but just can't seem to get going. The brainwashing and fear are things that have to be overcome on an individual basis, usually by facing the fear and going out on the limb, scary though it may be.

Ok, so by now you're dying to know what the realy problem is, right? If you've got time, inspiration, motivation, enough money($0?), and all that drive, what's keeping your tires from spinning? Torque. Let's use the analogy of a car, shall we? Namely a black 1969 Dodge Charger 500 Hemi with an OHV V8(don't worry, you don't need to understand all that).

Now, this car has 425 horsepower at 5000 RPM. This could be equated to your drive. Add that much power to an all-steel body(your determination) and you can take out solid 4x4 fence-posts without denting your fender(I know, trust me). You could go from 0 to 60mph in 5.7 seconds and run the quarter mile in about 13.48 seconds, hitting a top speed of 109mph in that time. For some reason, though, you're still sitting at the starting line. That's because we've left out one very important spec: the torque. Now, the Charger has 490 torque at 4000 RPM. Can you say the same for yourself?

"Wait, wait, wait! What exactly is torque anyway?" You might be asking. Well, torque a measurement of how well a car transfers power from the engine to the wheels. From a Physics perspective, it's also the translation of linear force into rotational force, but that's a bit more complicated than we need to get right now. Let's get back to our analogy.

What you are right now, it basically a 1960's muscle car stuck in neutral. What we need to do is put you in gear. We need to find the thing that will take your drive and determination and turn it into action. The best way to do that is to find your passion, and the best way to that is to read this post.

Ok, so we've got that covered, just wanted to throw that analogy out there and maybe get you thinking in a bit of a different way. Now, there was one other thing I promised I talk about tonight before I wrap things up, and that was the group of people I think turn out the best marketers and entrepreneurs. Who are they? Hackers.(*gaspshockhorror*) I know, I know, but let me explain.

First, let me teach you the difference between a "hacker" and a "cracker." A hacker finds inventive ways of making a something perform a task it should be capable of doing in the first place. If that means turning your Powerwheels into a Mars Rover, then that's what it means. A "cracker"(try not to be juvenile - if you don't know what I mean, all the better), on the other hand, make a point of trying to exploit a bug of a given system in order to gain access or privileges that they normally wouldn't have. In other words, hacking is about functionality, cracking is about cheating.

Ok, so why do hackers make great marketers and businessmen? Well, that's easy, they have a unique way of looking at things. We(yes, I are one) have a fascination with figuring out how and why things work. We test everything to the point of absurdity, and we're obsessed with covering our own asses. Now do you see why we make good for good business?

All right, I promised some reading material, so I'm going to give it to you, then wrap this up. The one thing I would have you read is the Hacker's Manifesto(Or The Conscience of a Hacker). I've provided it here for easy access.

==Phrack Inc.==

Volume One, Issue 7, Phile 3 of 10

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The following was written shortly after my arrest...

\/\The Conscience of a Hacker/\/

by

+++The Mentor+++

Written on January 8, 1986
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Another one got caught today, it's all over the papers. "Teenager
Arrested in Computer Crime Scandal", "Hacker Arrested after Bank Tampering"...
Damn kids. They're all alike.

But did you, in your three-piece psychology and 1950's technobrain,
ever take a look behind the eyes of the hacker? Did you ever wonder what
made him tick, what forces shaped him, what may have molded him?
I am a hacker, enter my world...
Mine is a world that begins with school... I'm smarter than most of
the other kids, this crap they teach us bores me...
Damn underachiever. They're all alike.

I'm in junior high or high school. I've listened to teachers explain
for the fifteenth time how to reduce a fraction. I understand it. "No, Ms.
Smith, I didn't show my work. I did it in my head..."
Damn kid. Probably copied it. They're all alike.

I made a discovery today. I found a computer. Wait a second, this is
cool. It does what I want it to. If it makes a mistake, it's because I
screwed it up. Not because it doesn't like me...
Or feels threatened by me...
Or thinks I'm a smart ass...
Or doesn't like teaching and shouldn't be here...
Damn kid. All he does is play games. They're all alike.

And then it happened... a door opened to a world... rushing through
the phone line like heroin through an addict's veins, an electronic pulse is
sent out, a refuge from the day-to-day incompetencies is sought... a board is
found.
"This is it... this is where I belong..."
I know everyone here... even if I've never met them, never talked to
them, may never hear from them again... I know you all...
Damn kid. Tying up the phone line again. They're all alike...

You bet your ass we're all alike... we've been spoon-fed baby food at
school when we hungered for steak... the bits of meat that you did let slip
through were pre-chewed and tasteless. We've been dominated by sadists, or
ignored by the apathetic. The few that had something to teach found us will-
ing pupils, but those few are like drops of water in the desert.

This is our world now... the world of the electron and the switch, the
beauty of the baud. We make use of a service already existing without paying
for what could be dirt-cheap if it wasn't run by profiteering gluttons, and
you call us criminals. We explore... and you call us criminals. We seek
after knowledge... and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color,
without nationality, without religious bias... and you call us criminals.
You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us
and try to make us believe it's for our own good, yet we're the criminals.

Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. My crime is
that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like.
My crime is that of outsmarting you, something that you will never forgive me
for.

I am a hacker, and this is my manifesto. You may stop this individual,
but you can't stop us all... after all, we're all alike.

+++The Mentor+++
_______________________________________________________________________________

So there you have it, folks. Read up. Take this to heart. I may take the time to explain it in another post, but I think you should be able to understand what's being said.

"I am a hacker, and this is my manifesto."

Live and Learn,
Josh

Getting Your Foot in the Door... So to Speak

2008-04-09T01:36:00.003-05:00

Hello, all,

Sorry I skipped posting last night. I was tired. Anyway, tonight I'd like to go ahead and discuss something inspired by the great Gary Bencivenga: opening the sale. Most people tend to focus on closing the sale, which is really the point in sales copy, but you can have the best sales copy in the world without ever making a single sale if you don't know how to get your copy read. So, that's what we're going to talk about tonight.

Now, Bencivenga is a direct response marketer, which is great, but he tends to focus on physical distribution(snail mail). There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, but it's not really what I'm into. I am definitely more of an online guy, and that means that I have a bit of a different scenario than the one Bencivenga works with. What I'd like to try and do is take the concepts that Bencivenga puts forth and reinterpret them for the web.

To begin with, let's take a look at the physical aspects. What do we have to do to get our offer noticed in a physical distribution system? Simple, we have to make it stand out from the other offers. That generally means making it look like anything but an advertisement. With real mail that's pretty easy, really. You just make the envelope look different. A handwritten letter will be opened almost every time. A FedEx package will be opened every time. This things are really pretty basic. The internet presents a bit more of a problem, though.

What most people tend not to realize is that the internet is actually a very limited medium. The vast majority of the communication that takes place online is done through text. Oh sure, that text can be stylized to make it stand out a bit, but the fact is that text can only communicate the words. The written portion of a language is really a very small portion of a language. Any language, especially English, is at its best when it's spoken. The infection and tone of voice that fluctuates ever so slightly from word to word conveys so much more than the word itself. Sarcasm, for instance, is almost impossible to convey in text. (?) What's the work-around? Audio, my friend, audio.

The wonders of the new internet(web 2.0, anyone?) are endless, but with all these wonders come a slew of problems that you have to be on the lookout for. In fact, the very thing that makes audio such a wonderful tool is also the thing that makes it so dangerous. You have to be careful what you say. It is much, much easier to slip when you're speaking and there is no convenient delete button for audio. If you mess up on the recording, you almost have to go back and redo it. This problem is compounded even more with video.

Video is the wave of the future. Video is also a bane to many marketers. The fact is that video is the hottest new thing on the web today, and if you haven't caught the wave yet, you're behind the curve(join the club). I'm still experimenting with video myself, but I've found that I much prefer doing screen captures. Regular video tends to be difficult for many reasons. Granted, it's about as close to door-to-door marketing as we get nowadays. Speaking of door-to-door marketing...

What ever happened to the door-to-door salesmen?(they died?) I get that it takes more effort than regular marketing, but nothing beats a face-to-face meeting for getting the message across. People will delete email, throw regular mail away, or disregard a link, but it's really, really hard to ignore a knock on the door. The trick to marketing today as to get noticed. You have to make your ads stand out from all the others.

So let's take a look at the places that you might bring in traffic to your website from. The first and most obsessed-over is search engine traffic. This means any traffic you get from Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc. The best, most reliable traffic is from organic listing reached through SEO. I really don't put much stock in PPC advertising because I know a lot of people don't even notice that little sidebar of ads Google puts on their listings. I find the sweet spot for organic listings, though, is not the #1 spot. The best ranking is between #2 and #5. This puts you squarely in the top half of the first page, but not in the #1 position(am I the only one that find the first listing incredibly irrelevant?).

So, aside from search engines, where does our traffic come from? Well, there are social bookmarking and social media sites. These sites are easy to get listed on and have your link posted. It's easy to build traffic this way, but the links won't generally help much with your search engine rankings. That's not the point, though, they will bring in traffic. Remember, we're just trying to get the message out there. Try to make sure you bookmark other sites, though, not just your own. Bookmarking only your own site makes people a bit wary.

So, what links will help our rankings? Real, organic links. These can be purchased from many sites, but if your content is good enough, you won't have to. Link exchanges are a great way to not only beef up your PageRank, but also to build relationships with other site and business owners. I personally love networking with other marketers and getting feedback, and this is a great way to do it.

That's really about it. You're not going to find many other places to get traffic from. Any traffic you get is pretty much going to be through a link, but there is always word-of-mouth. It's always a great feeling when you can look at your traffic stats and see that people are actually typing your URL into their address bar. One way to build this kind of traffic is through audio and video(YouTube, maybe?). After all, it's hard to add an actual link to a video, but adding a URL is easy. "And for more information visit stumblinglife.blogspot.com." It's a wonderful thing.

Well, folks, I think that's about all I've got to give you tonight. Tomorrow, I want to revisit a topic we've discussed before, but hit it at a different angle. I've got a few suggestions for things to read, and I'm going to point out a group of people that make excellent marketers. They're identity just might surprise you, so come on back and we'll keep on truckin'.

Live and Learn,
Josh

The Easiest Way to Make Money Online

2008-04-07T01:05:00.003-05:00

Hello, all,

Don't get too excited. I'm not going to tell you anything in this post that you don't already know. You just might not realize you know it yet. I want to start by joining the countless others who have voiced this opinion: I am sick and tired of hearing this question. It reeks of immaturity. The question itself isn't the problem(we all seek to answer it at some point). The problem is that it's not the right question to be asking. You don't want the easiest way to make money online because that implies that making money online is easy in the first place. No, what you're looking for is an easier way to make money online.

Another question that is equally flawed is "what is the best way to make money online?" This is highly immature as well and screams that you're an amateur. The fact is that there is no such thing as the easiest or best way to make money online. These questions don't have answers, so in this post, we're going to explore how to ask the right questions and get answers.

The question you need to be asking is "what is the best way that I can make money online?" and the person you need to be asking is yourself. You can read all the ebooks you want. You can read every blog and forum post on a subject until you're blue in the face, but you're never going to find the answer because no one can give it to you. No one can tell you what the best strategy is for you to make money online. Not even me(I am great, I know, but even I hav my limits).

What I want to do is help you find the answer for yourself. I want to tell you how to find the one tactic that will make you money online. I want to guide you down the path that will get you where you're going with the least hassle and the most enjoyment, and that starts with picking a destination.

Finding Your Why

This is a concept that has been discussed since the dawn of time and will continue to be discussed because it is probably the single most important thing a person can do with their life: set a goal. Figure out why you're doing what you're doing. Figure out what makes you want to make money online. Money for money's sake isn't the answer. You have to dig deeper than that.

This is the first and most important step because it will define the rest of your career and the rest of your life at the same time. As I said before, set a goal. Decide on a dream. Dare to imagine something that you never thought possible. Reach for that one "unattainable" ideal that makes you weep for its beauty. For most people that dream consists of two things: wealth and freedom.

Wealth is a concept. It has nothing to do with the number of gray-green cotton-paper bills you can lay claim to. It has nothing to do with the size of the diamond on your ring. It has nothing to do with the cost of your car, your house, or anything else you own. Wealth in its simplest, most basic form, is a measure of contentment with the station of your life, and thus it is the prime requisite for any suitable goal. The goal is not money. It is the one things money can't buy: happiness.

The next criterion is freedom. I don't mean the kind of freedom that has anything to do with Iraq. I mean the kind of freedom that dreams are made of. The freedom to wake up in the morning of your own volition(no alarms, no phone calls), climb out of bed, stretch, and greet the day without fear or worry of any kind. The freedom to sit on the beach with your toes in the sand, smell the cool air flowing in off the water, and just breathe - absorb the moment for all it's worth. Freedom means the ability to, at any given time, do absolutely nothing if that's what you choose. Freedom is choice.

So, we have our two criteria for the perfect goal. Now it's up to you to put those together into your perfect goal. What will you do once you are wealthy enough to be free enough to choose? This is a decision that needs to be made. It doesn't have to be permanent, but it does need to be set for the moment because everything else hinges on it.

That's Great, but Still No Answer

So what should you do? Well, it's simple, and Alexis Dawes will hate me for saying this*, but you have to do what you love. You have to find your passion and use it to fuel the fire that gets you going. What do you do online that gets you excited? And yes, before you go snickering, porn does count if that's what you want to do. The key is to be passionate and motivated.

You have to either do what you love or love what you do because if you can't do one then you won't be doing anything very long. We tend to tolerate less than pleasant tasks for the bare minimum amount of time necessary, and that means we search for ways to get out of doing them. If you're not careful and you end up doing something online that you don't enjoy, you may just find yourself thinking that that day job you quit a couple months back wasn't really so bad after all.

It's like when you were in high school and your English teacher made you read some horrid tome(mine was The Scarlet Letter). Sure, you might have been one of the few that forced your way through the book chapter by chapter, but most of your classmates just went online and grabbed the spark notes for it. Even having read the book, though, you didn't absorb it as well as you should have and so you probably still didn't get the best grades on the tests or quizzes about it.

On the other hand, when the book was something you liked, when it had a good story that you could connect with, you read ahead of the class because you couldn't wait to find out what happened next. You aced the tests and gave presentations on the book, and you probably still remember that book and the characters in it.

So think about the kinds of books you read. Think about the kind of sites you look at. Think about the movies you watch, the games you play, and the music you listen to. Then think about the things and people you love. If, after all that, you still don't know what excites you and gets you going, you need to take a step back and reevaluate your life.

What was your best subject in school? You didn't have one? Ok, well which one did you enjoy the most? Not sure? Alright, who was your favorite teacher? Good. Why? The last question is the most important: why? If math was your best subject, did you enjoy it? What was enjoyable about it? If you loved history more than anything, what excited you about the subject? If Mr. Smith was your best, favorite teacher, what made him stand out from the others? Answer these questions and you'll find out a lot about yourself that you may not be aware of. Take a walk down memory lane and find the bright spots because those are the ones you want to recreate.

That's All Great, but I Still Don't Know What to Do!

Well now you know what you're passionate about. Now you know what makes you happy, excited, and ready to go. How can you translate that to the internet? For me, my passion is for coding and development. I love writing code and building websites, so that's what I do. I also love writing(hence I'm here), and I do that too. What gets me excited is the thought of having something that I created myself do something exactly the way I intended. Perhaps it's something of a god complex(cock it and pull it). I like to have control.

For you it might be dancing(make a series of videos to sell) or fashion(find a drop shipper and reseller) or maybe you love politics but don't want to run for office yourself(political commentary blogs are HawTT*!). The point is that it doesn't matter what gets you fired up because anything can be sold. I can't stress that enough. If you have a skill, passion, hobby, or obsession, bank on it. Whatever it is that you do, I guarantee there is a way to monetize it. Just try and be creative.

If that's not enough, try looking at what you spend money on and go from there. What are you passionate enough about to give up your hard-earned cash? If you can figure that out, try turning the situation around and get others like you to give you the money. That's always fun. If you're still stumped, then I'm really not sure what I(or anyone for that matter) can do for you. If you have any specific questions, though, as usual, you're welcome to comment or drop me a line.

Live and Learn,
Josh

Teach Yourself to Sell: An Exercise

2008-04-06T02:22:00.004-05:00

Hello, all,

I wrote yesterday about the keys to good sales copy. You can click here to refresh your memory if need be. I really enjoyed writing that post because I truly feel it gave some great value. As I read through it again, though, I realized that, while I did provide you with the essential building blocks, it is very difficult to learn to put them all together fluently when you don't have any real guide. So tonight, I thought I'd show you a simple little exercise that would help you practice your copy writing skills without having to rack your brain too hard for product ideas just yet.

Selling the Cup

This story is actually stolen from a friend of mine, but I thought it was absolutely wonderful. I had to post it. I hope she doesn't mind, but I promise I'll have some original content further on in the post. For now, though, here's the story:

The old man set the cup down on the table and said, with a casual air, "Sell me the cup." She was dumbfounded. She stared blankly at the ridged plastic party cup that sat lifeless on the table before her. It was a shiny red on the outside, making an abrupt transition to a dull off-white along the inside rim. I would hold about two cups, sixteen ounces. There was nothing unusual about this cup in the slightest.

"What?" She said, hoping she'd misheard him.

"Sell me the cup." He said again, more pointedly this time. She stared at the cup for a few more minutes before admitting that she had no idea how to do such an absurd thing. It was just too hard. The old man sighed and rolled his eyes toward the ceiling. "You think that's hard?" He reached under the table and pulled out a jar of paper clips, dumping them across the table, "Try and sell me a paper clip." She stared at him, shocked.

"But, but..." She stammered and searched frantically for a response.

The old man sighed again and picked up a single, small metallic clip. "What does a paper clip do?" He asked gently.

"Holds things together." She replied.

"Good, good, now that's a start. Holding things together is a feature. What is the benefit of that? Why do we want to hold things together?"

"So they won't get lost." She answered, starting to understand.

"Precisely, but this is a bit advanced. Let's go back to the cup. What do you notice about the cup?" He asked, gesturing toward the vessel, now surrounded by a sea of paper clips.

"It has ridges?" She started, somewhat unsure.

"Yes, but that's a feature. What do the ridges do?"

"They make the cup easier to hold on to... so you won't spill..." She hesitated, "Never spill another drop!" She yelled out, excitedly.

"Very good, my dear, I like that." The old man sat back and crossed his arms with a smug smile on his face. The girl was starting to get it. His job was almost done.

Ok, so that story is a little dramatized, but it serves to prove a point. What is that point? That you can sell anything. There is an old proverb about two men that continually sell a pebble back and forth between them. I would try and quote it, but I can't for the life of me remember where it comes from and I really don't want to slaughter it. If anyone knows the one I'm talking about, a comment would be lovely.

Anyway, the point is that anything you ever see can be sold. The cup had obvious benefits: no spills, convenient drinking, a shiny plastic coating(shiny=good). The paper clips make life easier by organizing your paperwork, keeping it all together, and making sure you don't lose anything. Each and every thing in your life has its benefits. You need to learn to recognize them and point them out to others.

So, my task for you is to pick a random, everyday object from around your house and write a sales letter about it. Before you start saying this is a waste of time, think how hard it would be to write a sales letter for a completely original product. Take something familiar and write about it. Outline the benefits. Describe the features. Push your product.

Stumped? Let me tell you a bit about my strategy when it comes to this exercise. Let's take the paper clip for an example(I'm ambitious). Think about all the places that you see, use, and are affected by paper clips on any given day. Now, imagine if they weren't there. There is no such thing as a paper clip. No one has ever heard of or used anything like them before. What happens? How is the world different because of this change?

Well, for one, people have found other ways to organize their papers. Some use filing cabinets(takes up space and is inefficient). Some use binders(same problem, plus hard to get things out of if needed). Others have elaborate systems of boxes and folders arranged carefully around their office. The world of paperwork is a highly inconvenient place. No one notices this, though, because it's the way it's always been.

Suddenly, while you were fiddling with a piece of wire you had left over from one of your kid's arts-and-crafts projects, you start to see a new and amazing shape form in your head. You bend and mold the wire until it looks something like this. You start analyzing all the various uses this great new thing could have. You pull out a handful of papers from your "unsorted" box and start putting them together in the order you want. Sliding the piece of wire over the corner of the papers so that part rests against the back and part against the front, you clip the papers together in a neat little bundle and slide them into a drawer of your desk.

This is amazing! You've just found a whole new way of organizing your office. You've freed up space on your desk for pictures of your family. You've cut down on the number of documents lost by nearly 98%. Most importantly, though, you've created a new product you can sell. It's cheap and easy to reproduce, a breeze to distribute, and will give you the edge over the competition in your industry because your files will be more efficient and organized than any other.

Now do you see the importance of the paper clip? Now do you understand how you might sell this "miracle filing system" to someone? Take this idea and run with it. Write up some copy and send it to people, asking them to respond if they'd like more information on your product. Be careful not to give it away, though. See how many responses you get. If you send your letter to 100 people, record how many respond. Then try again with another item and try to improve that number.

Keep in mind that this isn't going to get you on the fast track to making money online. That's not what I'm about. There's an old cliche that goes, "You can have any combination of two: good, cheap, and fast, but never all three at once." The same principal applies to internet marketing.

You can dive into it fast, with no capital, and fail miserably. You can spend gobs of money right at the beginning and start brining in money just as quickly. Or you can take it slow, read this and other blogs, and start building up steady, reliable income over the long term. I don't know about you, but I'd rather wait a bit longer for a more substantial reward than face the upfront costs most people are afraid of when starting out in the internet marketing game.

So, to recap, pick an item, find its benefits, and write a sales letter. Send that sales letter to some people(email, snail mail, whatever), and see how many respond. Rinse and repeat, aiming for a higher number each time. The more you do this, the easier it will get. If you think you've got something good, feel free to post it here for all of us to read. Who knows, you might even get a sale.

Live and Learn,
Josh

Selling in the New World: Getting the Money OUT of the List

2008-04-05T03:32:00.005-05:00

Hello, all,

You know, I read a lot of internet marketing blogs and forums and such, and I find that the biggest thing that baffles people is the sales copy. I don't mean the hook or the ads or any of that. I mean the long pages of sales copy that marks the faces of many landing pages. This aspect of marketing is at once the most important and most confusing. It takes a delicate balance, and I thought I'd try and shed some light on the subject from my perspective.

If you listen to a lot of older marketers, you'll hear stories of the "good old days." Back when people were ecstatic just to receive an email and feel like someone was actually talking to them. It really used to be that easy. Making money from a list was as easy as sending out an email with some product suggestions. Unfortunately for us marketers, it's not that easy anymore.

People today don't like to be sold to. Or rather, they do, but they don't want to know they're being sold to. The trick isn't convincing people to buy(that decision is usually made long before the email is ever opened or the Google search is ever done). The trick anymore is to convince people to buy your product or from you.

What does that mean? It means that the standard issue sales copy doesn't cut it anymore. It takes a little more than a flashy bulleted list of features and a few testimonials(well, you can get away with that in some cases, but we'll get to that in a moment). You have to make the customer feel loved. You can call me a dirty hippie for that all you want, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm right.

If you've read anything about internet marketing, you've heard the phrase "the money's in the list" or something very similar. The idea here is to build a list of subscribers(double opt-in if you want the high response) that you can sell to over and over again. The advantage, of course, is that you don't have to worry about them clicking through to your site. All you have to do is get them to open they're email and they see your sales letter.

That's great because it is probably the easiest way to get the word out about your product. This type of marketing is called a "direct response" strategy. What's the problem? Well, people aren't as enthusiastic about getting email anymore. I personally have around 1500 unread email in my inbox at the moment(No, I'm not exaggerating). Even if they do read your carefully constructed sales copy, though, they'll see it for what it is and move on to the next piece of what they'll unfairly call "spam."

So what can you do to get them to buy? Well, try telling them a story. You have to make it personal. Don't talk about how much things cost, talk about how much they're worth(I'm sure you can figure out the distinction there).

Let's say you have a site about cooking and food. You post recipes and how-to's and various other items on your site, but you also have a newsletter that you send out weekly to your users. In that sales letter, you want to market a new cookbook that pays a 75% commission for every sale(what can I say, I'm an affiliate whore). You're standard sales letter might have a message that goes something like this:

Hey there, this is new Cook Book from Chef BOY-R-E is really great. It's great because it has tons of recipes like chicken catchatori and creme brulee. It would make a wonderful addition to your library by giving you access to literally hundreds of completely original recipes, right at your figertips! You should definitely click the link below to check out this awesome book!

(Chef Boy-R-D was was not available for comment, but his cousin was more than happy to allow us to use his cook book as an example.)

Well, that used to be just fine. People were content to just here a good description of a product and then click through to buy. Today, they expect something more. They want you to really work to get them to buy. Add some heart and soul to your sales copy. Write like you're talking to a friend and they'll respond in a more friendly manner. Try something more like this:

Hey, John, I was flipping through my recipes the other day trying to find a decent chicken catchatori recipe. I thought I'd spice things up a little for the kids, you know? Well, the thing is I just couldn't find one in my recipe file. Oh, sure, there were a few that seemed OK, but I was looking for something special. So I went online and started looking around. I've been wanting a new cook book for a while now, so I thought I'd see what was new. Well, I came across this amazing new cook book from Chef BOY-R-E, you know, Chef BOY-R-D's cousin? It had this great chicken catchatori recipe that took a whole new perspective on the dish. That wasn't the only thing, though. It's got hundreds of original, off-beat recipes that were just perfect, including a delicious creme brulee that you absolutely have to try. Check it out!

You see what I did there? I completely turned it around, but still gave the same information. Let's go ahead and take a better look at our second example.

First, I opened with the customer's name(easily accomplished with Aweber). Then I told a quick little story(I was looking for a recipe for my kids). I made sure to point out the fact that I have kids(this tends to trigger a sympathetic response). Next, I made a bit of a selfish statement, revealing a slight character flaw(I want a new cook book, therefore, I'm not perfect, thus I'm human just like you). After that I gave a bit of a description of book, pointing out the relationship to a more famous persona(this helps because people like celebrities and if your product isn't a very well-known brand, you might try comparing it to something that is). I then noted that that content was original, which tells the customer that they won't find it anywhere else(this hints at a missed opportunity if they don't make the purchase now). Finally, I end with an imperative: you have to try the creme brulee(this gives the reader that extra little shove in the right direction).

Is that perfect? Absolutely not, but it does demonstrate the key things that make up a good sales letter. I hook the reader with a story, trigger an emotional response, create empathy by revealing a character flaw, hint at fame and fortune, hint at the promise of opportunity(I might have mentioned that there were only so many copies being sold to heighten the sense of urgency, but that's not entirely necessary), and then I close with an imperative to buy. Marketing is a lot like catch-and-release fishing. You have to hook them, reel them in, and then toss them back out in the direction you choose.

The sales copy is a bit different when you're talking about a landing page style rather than a mailing list, but the concept is the same. A list of features and benefits has a better chance of converting on a landing page, though, because the a smart consumer is already in the frame of mind to buy and is really looking for a good evaluation of the product. WE rarely write sales copy for the smart consumer, though. If you want a high conversion rate on your sales copy, you have to make the reader want your product. It's about control. If you don't have absolute control of your reader, then your conversion rate will be lower than necklines at the Oscars.

So take a look at some sales copy that is known to convert well and try to identify the features I listed above. The order might be switched around a bit, but all the key points will be there in some form. If you find the letter captivating, try to figure out why. What makes you want to keep reading? What is it that makes you want the product that being offered. Do you feel like the author is actually talking to you? Like a I said before, the key is to make it personal. Make your customer feel like you really care.

"I'm sending you this offer not because I'm going to get money out of it. Oh, I am going to get money out of it), but that's not why I'm sending it to you. I'm sending you this offer because I think it will generally make your life better. After all, what are friends for?"

Live and Learn,
Josh

Starting a Business: What it takes

2008-04-04T02:36:00.003-05:00

Hello, all,

I know I'm due for another installment of our bleak scenario series, and I'll try to get to that soon, but tonight I have a rather special topic to discus, and I wanted to make sure I got it out before it got shoved to the back of my mind with all the rest of my projects. I would like to discuss what it really takes to start a business.

Keep in mind that I'm not talking about detail, and I'm not talking about resources. I'm talking about the things that actually stop people from getting started with their business ideas. I want to discuss the personal aspects that make up the profile of a successful entrepreneur. The idea here is to identify the places that hold people back and then to overcome them.

The Usual Suspects

Let's begin with the things that people often complain about when starting out. First there's the issue of intelligence or creativity. I can't tell you how many times people have told me, "Oh, well, I just don't have any good ideas. I mean, I couldn't come up with anything original. I have no inspiration." Not everyone can be Albert Einstein(though I don't recall him having much business prowess), so not everyone can start a business. Am I the only one that sees a problem there?

Next is the idea that you don't have enough time. Well, there are only 24 hours in a day, right? If you work, have kinds, and want a social life, there's no way you could possibly start a business. There's just no way you could start a business when you only have a few minutes a night(hmm... maybe not, but it's an idea). If that's the case, though, how do all of these highly successful, family-oriented entrepreneurs do it?

Finally, there is money. The almighty dollar is a precious thing for many Americans, though it's value is dropping rapidly. Building a business takes capital, and for most Americans, that means siphoning that money away from another area. No risk, no reward, though, right?

Making Mountains into Mole Hills

To address the first issue, intelligence or creativity, I have only one thing to say: that is a load of high-quality buffalo dung. How do I know that? I was one of those people. The trick is to find your inspiration, find your passion, and set a goal. What is something you've dreamed about since you were a kid? Be unrealistic. Set supposedly unreachable goals. I hate to be so cliche, but "Shoot for the moon, if you miss, you'll land among the stars." The fact is that anyone can start a business if they put their mind to it. Then again, that seems to be the hard part for most people. Following the standard per hour philosophy is certainly the easier way to go.

The idea that you don't have time to start a business is slightly more of an issue, but still not enough to stop you if you're determined. How often do you go out to the club/bar/etc.? How much time do you spend watching TV? How many times do you just "zone out" in a day? Try staying home, turning off the TV, finding a quiet place to work(I head you, "BUT I HAVE KIDS!!!!" We'll get to that), and sitting down to hash out a business.

Ok, so what do you do when the kids won't leave you alone? The oldest trick in the book: bribery. Give them something else to focus on for a while. If you daughter wants to go play with Susie down the block, let her! If Tommy just wants your attention, give it to him, and then tell him to "go play," which every kid knows is code for "leave me alone right now, ok?" Take a few minutes to actually pay attention to your children rather than using them as excuses and you'll find that they're more content to leave you be when you need to get work done. No one said this would be easy, but it is far from impossible.

Then there's the money issue. This one is admittedly a bit harder to argue with. Especially after all the e-books and forum posts you're likely to have read have your brain screaming about how much money you don't have for outsourcing, freelancers, advertising, and all the rest. If you think it is absolutely essential to have loads of money before starting a business, I would have you read through the 30 Day Challenge Forums. The idea behind that is making money in your first 30 days online without spending a dime(or penny for that matter). Go ahead and try the challenge if you feel up to it(it's not that hard, really). I think it's a great experience for anyone.

The concept that you have to have money to make money is a fallacy. With the wealth of information on the Internet, there's no end to the possibilities out there for you to make money online. Just try thinking outside the box(or way, way inside of a very, very small box, if you're into niche marketing).

So Who is Keyser Söze? Or What's the Real Problem?

Keyser Söze (I know, I know, I linked to Wikipedia, *gasp*), the mastermind behind our failure to begin in business, is rooted in fear, brainwashing, and a fundamental lack of drive. The fear is mostly of failure and the consequences thereof. The brainwashing is the idea that we should protect the status quo at all costs, which means getting ajob and staying quiet. The lack of drive stems, I think, mostly from a lack of support, which is a product of the first two problems.

Our fear of failure is irrational. To quote Tim Ferris, "Everything is reversible." The fact is that nothing is permanent. If you lose your job, you'll find another one, or you could just start a business(*wink, wink, nudge, nuge*). If your business fails, figure out why, and don't make that mistake again. Start small and work your way up to bigger things. You learn to crawl before you learn to run, but if you stop trying at the first scraped knee, you'd never get anywhere.

Our social conditioning(a.k.a. brainwashing) is something that needs to be overcome. America used to be all about change and progress. That's the American way. You don't have to follow in your father's footsteps anymore. Take a good hard look at the direction your life is going and ask yourself if the road your on really goes where you want to be. Then give yourself a shock.

What does that mean: a shock? I mean go out and finance a new car. I mean quit that job you hate(this solves the time problem rather nicely, as well). I mean live outside your means. Do this now, while it's still your choice. If you don't, you'll end up waiting until something drastic happens and you don't have a choice anymore. It's much, much better to be in control of the problem, rather than being at its mercy. (By the way, the most important concept in the paragraph: DO IT NOW!)

But how to we get over our lack of drive? No one wants to support your business goals. No one believes you can do it. Some people would say "just suck it up." That's not my style, though. No, I much prefer to offer you actual solutions. Unfortunately, that's rather difficult with this particular project. You want my advice, though? Talk to people. Post on a forum about your idea. Let people know what's going on and how you feel. I think you'll be surprised by the response you get.

I've been in your position. I've felt like there's no one there to support my ideas. Just remember, I believe in you, and so do your friends and family. Just try to talking to us. Yes, that means you can email me. I don't really give out my phone number(sorry), but I'm more than happy to answer questions. Everyone needs someone. I'm not as good as someone who can actually be there for you, but I am online most of the time.

So just take the time(make the time) to sit down and find your passion. Find something that inspires you and makes you want something more. Find something that makes you dream again. Then turn off the TV, send the kids outside, and shut the world out for a while. Use the quiet space to put your idea to paper(I recommend writing it out by hand the first time. Something about the tactile sensation of actually writing tends to help the brain process things better).

Than go talk to someone. Tell your friends, family, or neighbors about what you want to do. Don't be drastic and don't go overboard. Approach the idea calmly and rationally. The more complete your idea is, the less they'll have to argue with. Most importantly, believe in yourself, your ability, and your idea. If you don't, no one will.

Once all of that is done and you're feeling good about what you have planned, do it. Go out and get started because the world is a big place and there's plenty of room for all of us. Don't be afraid to go climb that mountain(just try not to start with Everest) and don't worry about what happens if you fall. Even broken bones heal, and they generally end up stronger in the end.

Well, all, I hope this post has helped you as much as it's helped me. I've been thinking about all of this a lot lately and it really feels good to get it off my chest. Do take my advice to heart, though. I mean everything I say. I truly do.

Live and Learn,
Josh

A Bleak Scenario - Day One

2008-04-01T15:27:00.005-05:00

Hello, all,

Today I have a story to share with you all. It is largely fictional, though the events are inspired by talk of things to come in the near future. It is my take on what may happen if the truckers do go on strike or "shutdown" as many are talking of doing. The main character is a man names Jake. I pretty much made him up. I just needed a point of view to tell the story from. I'll post day one today and update some more in the days to come.

So, without further ado, let's begin.

Day 1 - It Begins

The sun rose early on that day in early April, 2008. The sky was clear and the birds were chirping just like every other day before. Jake rolled over in bed and switched off his alarm. It was going to be another long day stocking shelves at the local grocery store.

He swung his feet to the floor and stood up from the bed, stretching and groaning like a bear emerging after its winter hibernation. Jake scratched his head and wandered into the bathroom to take a quick shower before breakfast, and then it was off to work.

Dressed and clean, Jake poured himself a bowl of cereal and sat down to watch the news while he ate. The gray light of early dawn filtered in through the blinds on the windows of his apartment as the newscaster prattled on about some human interest story involving a small child and her lost puppy - the same old crap.

He finished his cereal and rinsed the bowl, leaving it in the sink to be washed later. He picked up his keys, wallet, and spiffy blue vest (standard issue at the store) on his way out to his car. The clock on his radio said the time was just past 7:30, which meant he head about fifteen minutes to get to work in time for the opening rush.

He turned the key in the ignition and backed out of the cramped parking space before driving out onto the street. His apartment complex was situated just outside of "downtown," where all the heavy traffic and dangerous driving happened. That meant that this time of morning was hell to get anywhere unless you were heading out of the city. Thankfully, the store was located near the edge of the city, for the convenience of the neighboring towns.

Jake fought his way out onto the highway and made good time getting to work. He had recently been promoted to manager of his department, which meant he basically got to stand around and watch people unload trucks all morning long. Then he had take inventory of everything that came in and make sure it all went out to the right places. I just love my job! He thought with a cynical laugh as he pulled into the parking lot of the store.

The first truck hadn't arrived yet, but that didn't really mean much. They wouldn't start unloading until 8:00. Those were the rules. Jake hated those rules. All they did was inconvenience the driver and slow down the whole operation. He sighed loudly as he made his way to the receiving area of the store.

"Hey, Jake. How's it going?" Janet asked as he walked into the break room to punch in for the day. Janet was a pretty woman that worked as a cashier up front. She didn't usually work mornings, but she seemed eager enough to get started.

"Hey. I'm good. How're you?" He asked with the casual ease of two co-worker passing idle chatter.

"I'm alright," She replied, refilling the Styrofoam coffee cup in her hand, "You hear about the strike?"

Puzzled, Jake turned and leaned against the wall, realizing there may be an actual conversation here. "No," He answered, "What strike?"

"Just some rumor I heard. Apparently the truckers are all pissed off about gas prices and are gonna go on strike to get it fixed. I think they're just blowing smoke. I mean, it's not the first time they've made this kind of threat, right?"

"Yeah, I suppose so. Still... It would really suck if they went ahead and did it." He shook his head and wished Janet a good day as he walked back out onto the receiving floor. Most of his team was already there, getting things ready for the first truck, which still hadn't shown up.

Janet's talk of the strike was starting to make him nervous now. What if the trucks really did stop? What if no shipments came in? He shook his head again, more forcefully this time. No, it was probably just some rookie that got lost on his way to the store. They'd be getting a call in a few minutes from the guy asking for directions.

"Alright, people, we've got a long day ahead of us, look sharp." Jake announced to the gathering crowd of workers. The all chuckled at his attempt to "rally the troops." He had worked with most of the for over a year now and was just starting to get used to being "boss man."

He smiled at them and walked over to look out the window. Where the hell is that truck anyway? He wondered, scowling at the empty asphalt outside the bay door.

"What's up, boss man?" A voice behind him asked, sounding concerned. Jake turned to see Tim standing there with a smirk on his face.

"Nothing, just a rumor I heard." Jake answered, matching the young man's smirk.

"Oh, you mean about the strike?"

"You heard about that, huh?"

"Yeah, my dad's a trucker. It's all he's been talking about for the last week or so. They seem pretty fed up."

"I know what you mean. Let's hope it's just talk, though, eh?" He laid a hand on Tim's shoulder and they both walked over to talk with the rest of the crew. The group was buzzing with talk of the strike. It was now 8:15 and the truck still wasn't there - no truck, no driver, no call. Jake was starting to get worried.

Then a voice crackled over the intercom, "Attention all Department Managers, please meet in the Managers' Office, ASAP." The intercom clicked and went silent. Jake sighed and looked around, hoping for some excuse to delay the meeting. He found none.

"Alright, damnit. Bobby, you're in charge while I'm gone." He growled, sighing again.

"Yessir, boss man." Bobby chirped with a mock salute. Jake gave him a blank stare and then made his way to the Managers' Office to sit through what he was sure would be some long, boring meeting about sales productivity or something. He didn't expect the news to be playing.

On the TV that was situated in the corner of the room, but had, to Jake's knowledge, never actually been turned one, was a young Asian woman with just the slightest hint of an accent interviewing some trucker in a sweat-stained t-shirt and Dallas Cowboys hat. The other managers were already there, gathered around the TV and listening intently to what the man was saying.

"We're sick of being at the mercy of these price-gouging bastards," He said, obviously referring to the oil companies, "We're not gonna lie down and take it anymore. Diesel prices are over four dollars a gallon across the country, and the few places where it's cheaper ain't much. We want some changes made, and by God we'll get 'em." His voice was slurred by a deep southern accent, but his message was clear: bring down fuel prices or the trucks won't move.

As the camera panned out to encompass the reporters full figure, Jake realized where she was standing. "They're sitting on the Interstate." He said, bluntly.

"Yeah, that's problem. It's not just him. Traffic was rolling fine until about ten minutes ago. The trucks just started stopping all over the place." Mat explained. Mat was the store manager and a pretty easy-going guy. He didn't take business lightly, though, and this was obviously troubling him deeply.

"What are we gonna do?" Sheila, the deli manager asked in a shaky voice, "Our meets are only good for a few more days. We were counting on the new shipment today." The other managers just shook their heads, most uttering similar sentiments.

This is bad, Jake thought, real bad. Mat switched off the TV and gestured for everyone to take a seat around the big conference table in the middle of the room. They all shuffled to their seats and look up at him expectantly. He was the store manager. He would have a solution.

"What I need are stock inventories," Mat began, "I need to know how long we have until we run out of everything. We need to anticipate a rush as bad or worse than the one we saw before Katrina hit. We have no way of knowing how long this thing will last, so we'll plan for worst case scenario. Any perishables that can need to be moved to frozen, we'll deal with the upset customers as we go.

"Make sure we keep back a reserve of water, canned goods, and anything else we might need. This is an emergency situation, folks, you know the drill. Just stay calm and I'm sure everything will be fine. This can't last too long. Those truckers have to eat too." Mat sighed and sent the managers on their way.

Jake stayed back to have a word with Mat, "What do you want my team doing? We've got no trucks to unload. We're pretty much just dead weight." Jake already had a few ideas, but he wanted to let Mat make the decision.

"Send a few of them with Sheila and Debbie to help transfer things to Frozen. You and your crew know this store better than anybody, get them organizing." Mat took a deep breath and stared at the ceiling for a moment. Jake waited, sensing there was more. "How much of a back stock do we have?"

"Not much," Jake said, "We only got a couple trucks in over the weekend, and most of that's gone out already." Jake thought back over the supplies they had. "We've got the delivery vans out back. We could try taking some back roads up to the distribution warehouse and see if we can pick up some essentials." Mat nodded along with that.

"Get a couple guys on that. We need act now. Let's just hope it's all for nothing. This could be over in the next couple hours." Mat gave Jake what was supposed to a comforting smile. they both knew better. Jake nodded and walked out to organize his team.

As the day went on, the flow of traffic through the store seemed only slightly heavier than normal. A few people ran in and grabbed the usual "bottled water and batteries" that are all the rage in a crisis situation. Most, however, just griped about the traffic and thought nothing more of it.

The cargo vans were deployed. The round trip would take a few hours and bring back less than half a truck load of supplies. It was still better than nothing, though, and nothing was all they really had according to the inventories that were turned in.

The store could operate for three days at normal capacity before they started running our of perishables. After that, most of the produce would have to be thrown out and the little that remained would disappear in short order. As for dried and canned goods, there was enough in the store to last about five days, depending on the volume of customers. The bottled water was disappearing rapidly.

The cargo vans returned with what amounted to an extra day's worth of supplies, but reported that other stores in the area had had the same idea, and the distribution center was nearly cleaned out. The situation was looking bleak if things didn't turn around.

The afternoon stretched on. The clock on the wall in the Managers' Office was approaching five o'clock - time for Jake to go home. He didn't look forward to the drive, though. Rush hour was bad enough, but with the highway stopped up, the traffic would have to be re-routed to the surface streets, which meant a slow, slow, drive home for anyone outside the city.

Jake left with a few encouraging words from Mat and made his way out to his car. He looked down at the fuel gauge and noticed he was at just under half a tank. Great! He would have stop and get gas, just in case. His wallet hurt.

He pulled out into the sluggish flow of traffic and turned on the radio. More news about the strike, more bleak outlooks on the future. Apparently, some senators in Washington had actually taken notice and were working to end the strike in their home states, but that was going nowhere. Even if the strike ended in one or two states, the whole country was grinding to a halt.

The line at the gas station was long, stretching out into the street and down the block. He pulled into that line and waited. It was better to get the gas now and spend the money than to have to scramble for it tomorrow. He sat through the line, turning his car off when the wait seemed to be more than a few minutes. He decided that if the strike hadn't broken by tomorrow, he would have to talk to Mat about organizing some carpools or something.

When he got home, he switched on the news. More doom and gloom predictions. If the media wasn't careful, they were going to have a full-scale panic on their hands. He listened to more truckers talking about why they were stopped. Many said they had chosen to stop, others said they didn't really have a choice.

Truck stops were full, but fuel islands were empty. The roads were cluttered with trucks that had stopped. Just stopped in the middle of the road. Things were already looking bad, and this was only the first day. Jake at dinner as he watched the newscasters banter about the long term repercussion if the strike held out. He sighed and realized how much he had been sighing today. Oh, well, He thought, Who knows what'll happen tomorrow?

So there's Day One. I'll try and get Day Two posted up tomorrow. Please keep in mind that the events and characters depicted above are entirely fictional, but the idea of a trucker strike is not. Talk of a strike or "shutdown" is everywhere. I hope this story remains fiction, but I fully support any truckers that do shut down. Things need to change, and this is one way to make that change happen.

If the truckers do strike, let's just hope that it ends quickly. This story is a worst-case scenario, but it is certainly a possible one.

Live and Learn,
Josh

Thoughts Abound

2008-04-01T00:51:00.002-05:00

Hello, all,

I'm still working on that code I talked about yesterday, and yes, my head still hurts. I'm letting up on it a little, though. I'm leaving some things as they are, even though I would personally rather change them. This comes from a need for both speed and simplicity. Eventually I'll get the whole system up to what I want, but for now I think I just need to get it working.

I'm excited to get to the point that I can start adding functionality. Once I get the site up properly, I have a feeling it will be my best work thus far. I'm determined to complete this one. I have a folder full on half-finished projects that have just gone by the wayside for one reason or another. I'm not going to let that happen to this one.

I'm going out to try and find myself a part time job tomorrow. I need an income flow that I can start within the next couple weeks. It's not a lack of confidence in the projects I'm working on, it's just a timing issue, really. A little money now is going to be more helpful than a lot of money later, though I plan to take both.

I have to get things moving on these project, though. I need to focus. So my plan of action for tomorrow is to go job hunting in the morning(yes, I do plan to actually stay up and get stuff done) for an hour or so. Then, when I get home, I'll work on the code a bit more.

I need to see about advertising this blog some more. Talking to a largely fictional audience is great fun and all, but it would be nice to have some objective feedback once in a while. Mybiggest fan hardly counts - you know who you are. So, I think that'll be good.

I have to take my mom and cousin to a doctor's appointment. They're going to see some therapist my mother has been taking her to. His name is Ken and my parents seem to think I should meet him. I disagree. I personally think that the less I have to do with psychiatrist, the better. I don't particularly like being overtly examined and analyzed. It makes my skin crawl.

After that I've got a few hours to myself. I think I'll work on the code some more. I really need to get it done. In fact, I'm setting a deadline: I plan to have the base code functional by the end of the week(i.e. Sunday). Then I'll take the next week to add what I need to it. Once that's done, all I have to do is fix the layout and design and then it's fairly smooth sailing from the development side of things.

Tomorrow evening I'm going to take a trip over to Subway to see my friend James. I'm going to put in an application there and get a free sandwich out of it. That's awesome. I really appreciate James getting me the job. I think it's a fairly sure thing. The pay won't be that great, but at least it's something.

I really need to start sleeping better. I'm not sure what I can do about that, but hopefully finding a job to get me out of this house a bit will help. Tomorrow is going to be a long day. There's no doubt about that, but I think I can handle it. I'm going to have to try and keep the car tomorrow evening(so I can see James), which means getting up early the next day as well. Won't that be fun?

I'm pretty tired at the moment, so I think I'm going to head to bed now. I'll have things to talk about tomorrow, though, so you can look forward to that. Hopefully there will be some good news. For now, though, I'm out.

Live and Learn,
Josh

My Tech Muscle Hurts

2008-03-31T01:56:00.002-05:00

Hello, all,

You know how I said I've been leaning toward the tech side of things lately? Well, for the last few days(yes, this is my excuse for not posting), I've been hacking my way through some code that is, by my best estimation, crap. It is an opensource PHP script that I'm streamlining/customizing for my newest project. I don't want to say too much about the project itself right now. It's too early. It will be awesome, though. I promise you that much.

I'm really excited about it, but this code is killing me. It's been too long since I've actually played code monkey. None of the problems are terribly complicated, and I'm not having too much difficulty fixing them. My frustration lies in the fact that I'm having to fix something in every file I look at. I'm going through the whole system(and it actually is a full CMS - 25 Tables in the database) and reworking the code.

I'm keeping the basic flow of the code the same. Thus far I haven't changed any functionality, but I will. At the moment, I'm looking forward to turning this into a functional, standards-compliant system. What gets me is that it has been released as "full/stable" on SourceForge. What kind of crap is that?

One of the biggest challenges is that I'm having to rework the layout within the PHP code. The original layout was done in HTML tables. That's just wrong. I'm trying to get the whole thing moved over to CSS/XHTML. That's my first task. Then I have to get the PHP moved up to something resembling a modern version.

I say "modern" because most of the code seems to have been written in PHP 4 or earlier. I say "most" because some of it seems to have been written to comply with something more recent, but it's hard to tell. There are definitely two sets of conventions at play, though. There's very little consistency. Maybe it's just my inexperience with O/S code showing, but all is not well in paradise.

It has definitely been interesting making the conversions. I'm debating whether or not I'm even going to try to update my finished code onto SF. Obviously I'm not going to post anything with much added functionality(my true finished product), but I might post up my "fixed" version of the base system.

So that's pretty much what I've been working on. My head hurts from not just working on the code itself, but also from having to tweak my server configuration to make everything work right. As the title says, my tech muscle hurts. I haven't been using it enough, I guess.

In other news, EBay is pissing me off. I know you're all sick of hearing about that, but I have to throw in my $0.02. My question for Brian Burke is, "What is the real reason for this move? No, I don't mean that bull you're feeding us about feedback manipulation. There are other ways to fix that."

What really bothers me about the whole thing is that EBay didn't take into account what this was going to do to all the businesses that were run on selling those products. Now, I'm personally of the opinion that if that was your only revenue source, you need to rework your business model. Any business that is run based on a service that is not 100% under your control is a disaster waiting to happen.

Oh, there are other sites out there. Most are basically EBay clones with little traffic and no hope of competing. Now that they have a single market to compete on, there is going to be a feeding frenzy and the whole business is going to be divided over multiple sites. The Internet becomes more balanced, but at a lower average quality because sales won't be high enough to really encourage effort anymore. That's sad.

I'm sure Ebay will make another policy change at some point and introduce some regulations that will allow something close to business to continue but certainly not as usual. I would love to hear other opinions on this. If anyone has a viable solution, feel free to comment. For now, though, I'm going to go pop a few IB-profen and pass out.

Live and Learn,
Josh

Sorry About That

2008-03-27T01:34:00.002-05:00

Hello, all,

Sorry about my absence. Things got crazy here for a while. My father came into town for the week, which throws everything off track. I've hardly had a chance to sit down at the computer since my last post. I know I'm due for another installment of our world building project, and I'll work on that, but tonight I just kind of feel like rambling. Is that ok? That's what I thought.

I've got so much running through my head right now, it amazes me that I'm able to focus enough to type this at all. Even that seems rather optimistic. I've been sitting here off and on, staring at the blank form for quite a while now. I'm just having a hard time narrowing the thoughts in my head into a coherent post. I'll give it a shot, though.

I have several things I want to post about, and I will be posting quite a bit in the near future. I'm feeling rather unstructured, though, so don't expect much consistency in the subjects. I've been told I should blog about the business I'm starting with a good friend of mine, but I don't really feel up to that at the moment. Maybe tomorrow. For tonight, I just thought I should ramble a little and give you a bit of insight into the workings of my mind.

I tend to free-associate when I don't have a focused objective. It's a flow-of-consciousness model, I think. I very rarely think in any kind of linear form. That's probably the reason code tends to make sense to me. I never had much of a problem with recursion. I tend to mimic other people's thought patterns when I'm around them. Does that seem weird?

When I talk with my business partner, I mimic her thoughts with ease. That's partially because I know her so well, but not entirely. When I talk to coders, I follow their thoughts easily, too. Writers are the same. My perspective is in constant flux depending on who I am talking to/with and what we are talking about.

Don't get me wrong. I have my own solid beliefs and I follow them rather strictly, but when it comes to a lot of things: politics, general philosophy, even science and technology where the rules are not hard and fast, my perspective tends to follow the general scope of the other person's point of view. Sometimes I wonder where that comes from. Have any of you ever experience what I'm talking about? Maybe I'm just crazy.

I don't particularly like the word "crazy", though. I am Obsessive Compulsive, without much doubt. I've never actually been diagnosed, but if you know me, you pretty much know that I'm right. We all have issues, thought, and I consider it just that, an issue, not a problem.

My teachers used to get mad at me in school because I took so long on tests. Every problem that I wasn't 100% sure about I would have to go back and explain to myself(in my head, of course) exactly why the answer was what it was. I've gotten better about that, but it still slows me down some times.

Aside from that, I'm also an extreme escapist. I love fantasy and fiction in general. I day dream a lot. I like to sit and imagine I'm somewhere else. I like to pretend and play and imagine. I guess I've never really grown up in that sense. Unfortunately, all that "creativity" hasn't amounted to much yet. I say "yet" because I try to be optimistic about things.

I think it's time for a change of subject. I feel myself wandering toward darker subjects and I don't want to go there with this post. I guess I'm just tired. I was contacted recently by someone I referred to as an "old friend." That's not entirely accurate. She was considerably more than a friend. It hurts a little to think back about her. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if things had gone differently, but as I said to her, what is done is done.

I don't like to live in the past, but I'm rarely able to comprehend the future. And the present being as it is - a mere concept of the mortal mind - I have a hard time placing myself within it. Isn't it amazing how, with two sentences, I have placed myself neatly outside of the flow of time? Wouldn't that be a wonderful trick?

I find that writing like this helps calm the storm of my thoughts, even though I'm not really saying anything at all, am I? I promise that going forward I'll try to make these posts more comprehensible. Tonight I just needed to vent and rant a bit. I suppose the title of this blog makes sense in light of this post, doesn't it? Stumbling and careening through life as though unable to make sense of the world around me doesn't seem to be getting me very far, though.

I think I need to wrap this up now, though. I'm running out of steam and I feel those dark and sinister thoughts that plague the edges of mind slowly creeping into the words I write here. The swirly clouds of bitterness descend to obscure the purity of these uncensored and candid ramblings. So with a flourish of poetic diction and romantic idealism, I bid you all a good night and day as befits your current station and position on the spinning, rough surface of this vaguely spherical rock we call home. Take care, my friends, and watch your step.

Live and Learn,
Josh - Sick of Sanity and Tired of Madness

My First Videocast

2008-03-15T19:58:00.002-05:00

Hello, all,

Well I found my webcam, which is great. I put together a quick little video, mostly to test it out, really. I've got it up on YouTube, and I have it embeded here to, for you viewing convenience. Keep in mind, this is my first real attempt at a "Videocast" and I haven't done any editing to it at all. None. So it's very rough, very raw. I hope you like it, though, and as always, feedback is more than appreciated.

Live and Learn,
Josh

P.S. Please don't mind the coughing fit she has there. She's got a bit of a cold or something, not sure really, but she is fine if anyone was wondering.

Dude, Where's My Webcam?

2008-03-14T22:10:00.002-05:00

"Where's your webcam, dude"

I was actually going to do a video-cast tonight for all my adoring fans (a guy can dream, can't he?), but I can't for the life of me remember where my webcam ran off to. Granted, no matter how much you pay for a webcam, the quality isn't going to be Hollywood material, but I still thought it would be nice.

Ok, so that's not going to happen tonight. I've accepted that. I will try and find the little bugger and get that put together for tomorrow or something. I know I've been promising something special, and I will get that up. I swear it. For now, though, I'm gonna keep working on my projects and get them all spiffy. I need some dollars, so that's what I'm gonna go for.

Oh, I've also been looking into recording some things over Skype, but I haven't been able to get that to work quite right. I know about Pamela, which is an awesome program, don't get me wrong, but the free version only allows you to record 15 minutes at a time, which pushes my "kill them all" button. Not a good sign, so if any of you happen to know of a free Skype recorder or anything, a comment would be much appreciated.

Well, folks, that's about all I have for the moment. I'll look for that webcam and see if I can't get back to you tomorrow with some VIDEO!

Live and Learn,
Josh

Tech Wednesday? Meh.

2008-03-12T19:32:00.003-05:00

Hello all,

Well I know I started out with a weekly format, which would make today "Tech Wednesday," but I'm questioning whether that's such a great idea. I think it might be better to just blog about what I'm doing or thinking on whichever day I happen to do or think about it. It's tiresome trying to get keep everything in order, and I don't see a lot of benefit from it. So, from now on, I'll be blogging about whatever happens to catch my interest. That just seems to make more sense to me.

That special project I was telling you about is almost finished. I should be able to post it up tomorrow. I'm sure you'll all love it. For now, though, I thought I'd point out something I found really interesting that is most definitely tech. Comments are encouraged, especially if anyone has more information about this project from the Australian Center for Video Technology. Check it out:

You can get more info on this project here.

Cultural Happenings: Celtic Woman Tour

2008-03-11T17:41:00.006-05:00

Hello, all,

We've got another cultural happening for you this week: Celtic Woman is touring the US. That's right, the lovely ladies of the Celtic Woman are touring stateside and welcome all to come see. I personally would love to go see them, but they're not going to be visiting us down here in Texas. The tour started yesterday in Providence, RI, and will be continuing on through May. I absolutely love them. The music is beautiful and the show is amazing. If you can, I strongly urge you to go see it. you can find all the information on the tour and a very nice Google-map of their tour dates here. Well, I'm afraid that's actually all I've got for today, just wanted to share that with you all. Oh, and feel free to browse around their website if you're not entirely familiar with who they are.

Live and Learn,
Josh

World Building Part II: Politics

2008-03-10T22:10:00.001-05:00

Hello, all,

Ok, I know I've missed some posts. I promised something great for Thursday, but that's taking a bit longer to put together than I expected. I would have posted this earlier today, but things have been a bit hectic on the home front. I'm just now getting a chance to sit down and get this out to you. Sorry for that. Anyway, here's the next part of our World Building project.

Today we're going to discuss the next step in that world we started setting up. At this point you should have your basic geography set up. If not, or if you missed that post, you can read it here.
Now, we're going to move on to our new topic: politics. Politics is not just that topic old people bicker about. It is the underlying fabric of the society. Regardless of whether you have a highly structured government or not, you have some kind of politics.

There are several different ways to look at this issue, but there are several points that must be addressed. This may take as much or more time than drawing up your geography. This one actually involves the people of the world. The usual reminder about detail applies here: don't go further than you need. Also, as a secondary warning with this topic: don't think about your characters directly. This is about the political system, not the politicians, so even if one of your characters is part of a group you describe here, note that and walk away. Ok, that's the idea, now let's get on to the fun part!

To Govern or not to Govern

This is the first and most important question of this segment: is there a government, and if so, what kind? The first part of that question is kind of a gimme because unless you're only dealing with one or maybe two people for the whole of your story, you're probably going to need a government. Anarchy is great and can add a compelling element to the story, but there are unforeseen dangers there that most writers would probably rather avoid. There aren't many Anarchical Utopias.

So, assuming you have decided to go with a structured government of some kind, what is it? Do you have a monarchy? Or maybe an Oligarchy? Is it a Theocracy? Or a Democracy? It's all up to you. One interesting consideration is to take governments already in existence (or that have existed in the past) and mirror them. Terry Goodkind did this rather well with his Sword of Truth series, in which he showcases rather nicely the conflict between Communism and Capitalism. Granted, the portrait he paints is a bit limited, but that doesn't mean yours has to be. Keep it simple. Sometimes the simplest ideas can build up the most complex stories.

The Nobility, Aristocracy, and Upper Class

Our next topic brings us into even more direct contact with the people. We are now going to be talking about the upper crust of society. How you handle this section will be determined partly by answers you gave in the last section. If you have a monarchy, chances are you also have a nobility. If you have a democracy, you probably just call them the "upper class." The group generally ends up the same either way, and you will have one of these groups. Unless your society is purely tribal in nature, you have some group of people that are more wealthy or command more resources than others. Even in the tribal system, you may have a group of elite hunters that everyone looks up to and envies, these would be you "noblemen." Pretty much every society has them.

Don't disregard this group just because you don't have a central character set among them either. They are still a source of conversation for the characters you will be focusing on, and they can drive parts of the story whether they are directly involved or not. Remember, these are the movers and shakers of the world. They tend to get involved.

(Note: the only society that may be exempt from this is a Communist or Socialist Utopia, so that's something to consider.)

Class Structure Hierarchy

The idea here is to expand on what you started in the last section. Get a little more detailed here. Are there just "nobles" and "peasants" or are there classes in between. What about the merchants? How are soldiers treated (The discussion of whether or not there are soldiers is for another time)? Keep it vague at this point. Only as much detail as you need. It doesn't matter if Bob the Merchant has three sons unless Bob the Merchant is part of the story. If it's not something that any of your characters know about, and it's not something that would affect the story in any way, then there is no need to include it in your world description.

As with all the rest, it can be a good idea to base your class structure from a real world example. I could be as loose and liquid as classes in the US, or as rigid and unforgiving as the Hindu caste system. Something that could help if you want to come up with something original is to look at how the class systems in the real world came about. What formed them? Is it a religious thing? Or is it a purely economical difference? Don't go overboard here. You don't need a hundred different classes. Just a few steps from bottom to top ought to work just fine.

All right, so now we've got the idea out there, here's your new task: decide on a form of government and fill in the class structure under it. Just like the last one, this should be fun and enjoyable. Come up with some noble families and maybe a bit of their heritage. Decide where you want to put certain types of characters. Do all the rich people live in one place? Are there places that the "peasants" can't get to? What is the biggest difference between Noble A and Peasant B other than the obvious finances? Is education widely available? Or is it just open to the wealthy? If you can answer all those questions, you're well on you're way to having a society put together to populate your world.

So, go ahead and get all this together, do a little research, and make something workable. It doesn't have to be perfect. Everything can be refined later. The important thing for right now is to hash out the basics. Get the frame together, then you can fill in the rest. Take your time and enjoy it, next Monday we move on to filling in the people. Won't that be fun?

Live and Learn,
Josh

Tech Wednesday: Web Video Workshop

2008-03-05T13:44:00.004-06:00

Hello, all,

Well, it's Wednesday and I'm feeling a "techy", so I've been scanning through all my usual blogs and such to see what's been going on in the wonderful world of technology. Turns out, there's quite a bit. Blu-Ray finally snapped HD DVD's neck in the format wars, Microsoft released the Beta of IE 8, and Gary Gygax died (you know, the guy who created D&D? Ok, so maybe that's not tech, but it is sad). None of that really catches my attention that much, though. I don't own a high definition video system of any kind. I'm not a huge fan of Microsoft in general, and if IE 7 was any indication, I'm afraid of what IE 8 is going to look like. So I kept I looking. Here's what I found interesting:

The World Wide Web Consortium(W3C) released their report on the W3C Video on the Web Work Shop. The full story with links to the report and all can be found here. Why does this interest me, though? Well, first of all, it's coming from the W3C, which means that it could, theoretically, effect the web as a whole. Plus, video is hot right now, and who am I to argue with what's hot?

The workshop was actually held in December, but the report has just recently been finished and published for the public. What does this mean for those of us out here surfing? Well, it's hard to say at this point, but I'm optimistic about a few things to come. First of all, we may be seeing some new W3C specifications dealing specifically with video on the web, which will not only help to standardize the way video is presented, but also make it a lot easier to incorporate video into your site.

We may be looking at a whole new set of tags and/or languages designed to work specifically with video. There was some interesting talk about how video may be used in the future as well. The applications are endless, and we've just begun to explore the wonderful world of video. Who knows, maybe next week, I'll even have a little video to post up here for you. How's that sound?

Oh, I almost forgot, I bet you're wanting to know who all attended this workshop, aren't you? Well, here's a short list of the people I found important:

From Apple: Adele Peterson, Antti Koivisto, Eric Carlson, and Kevin Calhoun
From Adobe: Emmy Huang, Jennifer Taylor, and Kevin Lynch
From Disney: Elisabeth Freeman and Steve McQuade
From Sun: Gerard Fernando, Jeff Dinkins, Marc Owerfeldt, Nimish Radia, Rob Glidden, and Tony Wyant

That's just to name a few. The thing I find most interesting is that Disney had representatives there. There are comments in the report about what Disney had to say, but the best part is that it's a non-tech perspective. I think that's great. The web ought to be accessible to anyone, not just us Techno-Wizards and Code Monkeys.

Well, folks, I think that's it for today. What you should do now is go to the link above(here it is again) and read through the report. It's some really interesting stuff. That's your assignment for today. Tomorrow, I've got something really great planned for you business folks, so don't miss it.

Live and Learn,
Josh

Cultural Happenings: Beltaine

2008-03-04T15:31:00.004-06:00

Hello, all,

I don't believe I've mentioned this little fact before, but I am, shall we say, "not a Christian." I'm not going to go off on some religious rant, though. That's not my style, and it serves no purpose for any of us. You will believe what you believe, and I will believe what I will believe. That's just the way of it, and I, for one, wouldn't have it any differently.

Like I said, I'm not going to babble on about religion, but I do feel the need to comment on cultural happenings in our world. That may mean a local "Pagan" festival or a new Broadway show or anything else that I feel is noteworthy. This week, it is the Beltaine festival hosted by the Council of the Magickal Arts here in Texas.

I would greatly encourage any of my readers to attend. It is a great celebration, and no, it's not just for heathens. A surprising number of the people that go to the festival each year are, in fact, devout Christians. So, as I said, I encourage you to come see what it's all about.

Beltaine is derived from the Ancient Gaelic festival with the same name, which represented a celebration of what we would consider to be their New Year's Celebrations. From a mythological perspective, the ancient Gaels were celebrating the fertility of the land in preparation for sowing and planting their crops. Today, we celebrate a little differently.

A modern Beltaine celebration tends to celebrate more what the Wiccans call "The Great Rite." (i.e. sex). So, in a way we still celebrate "fertility." I'm not going to go into too much more detail as to the mythology surrounding Beltaine. It's something for you to learn on your own, and I urge you to do so.

This particular festival, while still being based around the same premise, has a bit of a different twist to it. It is a four day event where the only real rule is to respect other peoples space. Anything goes until someone tells you to stop. It is clothing and religion optional. There is a "Vendor's Row" that sells all kinds of things you would expect to find more at a Renaissance Fair, but it's all here, including some very excellent mead that you must try if you go.

The idea is a total vacation. There are events, workshops, and classes that you can go to on just about every "New Age" topic imaginable, but everything is optional. You can do what you want when and where you want to do it so long as it doesn't bother anyone else. No one judges anyone else there, or if they do, they're quiet about it. You're only as uncomfortable as you make yourself. Oh, and then there's the Revel Fire. That's an experience that can't be described!

Wait, wait, I know what you're thinking. "What about my kids?" There are special camps set up for children. Most of the people there are parents and bring their kids along. There is a camp for children under 5, one for kids betwee 5 and 12, and one for the teenagers. All children are required to wear red "glowies" that mark them out at night. These are handed out by the Guardians, who wear green glowies and are there to make sure no one gets hurt or causes trouble. If you're caught doing something you really shouldn't, you may be asked to leave, but that won't happen so long as you respect the other people there. No one really cares what you do, just don't hurt anyone.

So, come to Beltaine and have some fun. It is April 17 - 20. It is an outdoor event, so bring a tent and pack for the weather. Last year was beautiful, but ask someone there about Mudtain; they'll know what you're talking about. For more information on the festival and to get your tickets, go here. Oh, and one more thing to note, you will be asked to do a few hours of community service. Everyone is asked to do this, it's nothing strenuous, and it helps keep the prices down, so don't stress over it. Please consider coming, it's a wonderful experience I think everyone should have once.

Live and Learn,
Josh

World Building Part I: Geography

2008-03-03T03:08:00.004-06:00

Hello, all,

I do believe I alluded to my love of writing in the last post, but in this one I think I'll take a more direct stab at that. I really do love writing and language in general, for that matter. I am, in fact, an aspiring author. I have a concept for a story that I think will be great, but that's not what this post is about. This is about building the world in which the story will be set.

This is actually the first installment of what will be an ongoing process of putting together a fantasy world. Our first topic is geography, the world itself. Let me break that down into components. It tends to be a rather broad subject, and I find it's easier if we narrow it a bit. So, let's begin.

Landscape

The first and most obvious component of your world's geography is landscape. You need to define the land itself. This includes rivers, mountains, valleys, grasslands, forests, and every other type or terrain or landmass. Make this as detailed as you think you'll need. Keep in mind that if the story you plan to write doesn't move much beyond the city (or room for that matter) that it's set in, you don't need to describe the whole continent. That would be a bit much, don't you think?

Cities, Countries, and Political Boundaries

The next thing you need to include are your cities and countries. Anything that has a political boundary need to be noted. Drawing out a map is a great way to get this (and a good portion of the landscape) put together. I put the landscape first because having your natural barriers set up will help determine the lines of your political areas. Now is a good time to start thinking about what kind of cities, states, or nations you're going to have.

Having your map made up will help you format a political system and start coming up with ideas as to the relations between the different groups in each region. This touches on several of the other World Building factors, but don't work ahead! It's important at this stage to keep things simple. Mark down some notes if you need to ,but don't go into extreme detail. Going step by step makes the process much, much easier. Again, this should only be as complex and complicated as need for the story you have in mind.

Wonders, Marvels, and Tourist Traps

Every world has its "7 Wonders of the World." Yours might have more or less, but chances are it has some. Every world also has its tourist traps. You know, the places that everyone always wants to see but are ultimately disappointing. Well, your world should have them too. They don't necessarily have to be so disappointing, though. The easy way to go is with the major cities. Peasant farm-folk always want to see the big city. You could start with that.

There are other things that attract people. Does your world have a Grand Canyon? Or maybe Mount Everest? Are there ancient wonders like the pyramids or Stonehenge? Maybe there's a magical structure, like the Wall from George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. These are all things to consider. Take some time and write a brief description of each. Where is it? Why do people go there? Is it the object of pilgrimages? Try to answer each of those questions. At this point, it's ok to get detailed.

There you have it. That's your first step to creating a world suitable for a fantasy epic or any other type of novel you may want to create. If you have a more science fiction story in mind, the same principles apply. Just take the same concepts and apply them to a solar system, galaxy, or whatever unit of space you want to use. Instead of continents, you'll have planets and cities on them. Take some time to write down a description of each planet with its traits and the things that make it special.

A neat trick to add some realism is to have a few of the planets be relatively similar to each other. They shouldn't be carbon copies but similar enough to be noticeable. Again, only go into as much detail as you need. I can't stress that enough. Wasting your time on unimportant details will just give you a headache. Get the basics down and go from there.

So that's your dose for the week. Take some time and come up with a world. Even if you don't have a story in mind, this will get your creative juices flowing and give you something to day dream and doodle about at work. Ask your friends for advice or their ideas and get people involved. This should be fun and enlightening. It's serious, but not that serious. If you find yourself getting frustrated or just not having fun with the project, set it down and come back later with a fresh perspective. There are no wrong answers. It's your world, make how you want it!

Live and Learn,
Josh

Just a Thought

2008-02-28T01:37:00.009-06:00

Well this is the first post on a new blog. I've blogged before, sure, but I'm going to try, try, try to keep up with this one. I can't guarantee I'll be posting every day, but I will try and be fairly regular. I guess I should start out saying a little about myself.

My name's Josh. I'm between jobs at the moment... kinda. I say I'm between jobs because I don't have a traditional source of employment. I do, however, serve as the Director of Research and Development for a growing online company. You'll hear more about that later.

I do a lot for the company. That is, my job description is pretty loose. I do web development/design for the sites we develop. I do research. All kinds of research. Market research, keyword research, affiliate research... the list is endless. Don't get me wrong, though. I'm not complaining in the least. I love what I do. It's much better, I feel, than having a traditional 9 to 5 job.

I'm a businessman on one hand and a tech on the other. At the moment I'm leaning more toward my tech side, but I'm dabbling a bit in the business side of things, too. On my tech side, I work with web technologies(HTML, PHP, MySQL, CSS, etc), Coding(Java, C, C++, etc), Graphic Design(Gimp, Photoshop, Maya, Flash, etc), and just about anything else youcan think of. I love technology.

On the other hand, I also love business. I'm not a lawyer, nor do I really care to be. I do, however, love studying the laws of this country, especially as they pertain to business and finance. I love business strategies and tactics. I love the concepts that go into marketing and distributing products.

Mostly, though, I love the combination of these two aspects. Internet marketing is amazing. I love being able to use my skills with various technologies to bring my business that much closer to success. It's a thrill!

These are not, by any stretch of the imagination, my only interests. I write, I read, I study. I believe the highest standard by which the value of a life can be measured is the time spent gathering knowledge by which the quality of that life and the lives of others is improved. So join me, friends, as I stumble through this life, trying my best to make sense of this world and my place in it.