The Guide To How It Is

2008-09-23T12:30:00.002-04:00

I just read this article about a 5th grade boy who, in an effort to "show his patriotism" at school made a shirt that reads "Obama - A Terrorists Best Friend". This kid got suspended from school, the reason being that when he was asked to change his shirt or get suspended he chose to get suspended.

At first I thought, even though I don't agree AT ALL with his "opinion" (cough, fathers opinion) if he wants to wear the shirt, hell, let him. But if you take a close look at his fine, handcrafted painting. The red color paint he used makes it almost look like blood, making the scribbled handwriting that much more creepy.

His father says he's planning on sueing the school district. That alone angers me. The kid was obviously looking for trouble wanted to "stir things up". The students were ASKED to wear something patriotic (aka RED, WHITE, and BLUE) and this child went out of his way to make something that was a) offensive b) creepy as hell.

SOLUTION:

Counter-sue the father for encouraging his son to disrupt the schools operations and libel for calling the school full of "liberal loons".

Then take him in the back and get rid of him?

Something about taking the median intelligence of the country and crying.

2008-08-26T18:46:00.003-04:00

Any person who calls themselves a democrat and then does this was never a true democrat to begin with.

It doesn't surprise me that the article mentions some middle-aged (probably white) woman. I would be willing to bet that the majority of people that fall into that demographic are faking it (being liberal/a democrat) anyway. All so their neighbors don't think they are racist.

It seems impossible to me that a true democrat or liberal could set aside their beliefs for another 4 years just to have some old person in office (who doesn't even use a computer) just because they have been kissing ass for the last 30-50 years of their life.

The best thing we could do for our country is to get someone in who hasn't been through the system, been watered down, dumbed down. For fundamental change to happen we have to change the way bureaucracy works in this country in general. We need someone who is willing to get against the grain.

What kind of uber Hillary supporter would go against her goals for the country and vote for McCain, or any republican for that matter? A fake one perhaps?

Homegrown.

2008-08-14T14:21:00.003-04:00

Lately I've been hearing a lot more about individuals growing their own veg. I've been wanting to grow my own fruits and vegetables for a long time now but have been limited by a small balcony that only gets a few hours of sun a day.

My question is: if everyone household with the space to do so grew one type of fruit/veg plant how would the excess affect our world. Meaning, when the plant produces more than the household can consume and extras get sent along to friends and neighbors. How less dependent could we or would we be on grocery stores (mass growers)?

The plague strikes the Berkshire apartment

2008-05-06T02:55:00.003-04:00

Moving to commence in: 15 days 16 hours and some odd minutes.

Our apartment knows this and resents us deeply. Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong here. After almost 3 years of living bug free (apart from my best friends, the beetles) we now have bugs, thanks to a dirty neighbor. Every light bulb is going out one by one, water stopped working for a while, then no hot water, the cable box practically explodes, tv service gets turn off and turned back on, did I mention BUGS, ugh. I swear, in the dead of the night you can hear the apartment moaning "get out!!"

Not to mention it's been quite hot outside and we have no AC.. not because it's not working though, just because the building determines when it gets to come on, and they feel it's not appropriate until the 15th of May. So even when it's 65 degrees out it's 80+ in here, so you can imagine how hot it gets when it's actually hot outside.

When we finally move you may be able to catch me actually kissing the appliances and amenities. Oh stackable washer dryer... you are my one and only true love. Just wait, I'll be a slobbering fool over you, new apartment.

Who Do I Speak To About This?

2008-04-17T12:25:00.002-04:00

As many of you already know Kyle and I have been doing extensive apartment searching for the last 3-4 months. And I am happy to report that we have found a place, it looks great, and we can't wait to move into it.

This rant revolves around the apartment hunting process. For those of you who haven't have the joy of apartment hunting in the way that I had done, when you call an apartment complex there are two main types of people you will talk to. 1) The call center person 2) The "I actually work on the premises" person.

You ALWAYS want to talk to the 2nd type of person. Sometimes that is more difficult than you would think. This is because management wants you to call the giant warehouse stuffed with generally incompetent workers. They hire these people to take your calls and answer your questions, and in theory it's a great idea. The problem is that all these individuals are doing is reading off of the same apartment website that you, yourself can see online!

God forbid you ask a question about.. perhaps the parking situation or a specific detail about an apartment (like, do you have to pay for an accent wall or is it free). They never know, I doubt that the call center is even located in the same state as the apartment building you're inquiring about, let alone have they visited and spent some substantial time at the apartment building itself.

I find myself wondering what the point of these people are, they take down your information and say they're going to email you documents, perhaps half the time that happens. They ask if you want to schedule appointments to visit the apartment building, if you actually "schedule" something, when you show up at the building it is as if they had no idea you were coming.

These people are altogether useless. Who am I supposed to alert this to? The manager of the call center? I'm sure they don't care any more than the employees do. Do I write the president of the ridiculously HUGE management company and tell them I don't think they're employees are worth the minimum wage they are being paid? Perhaps the whole system will just crash and burn on its own.

Goals and Motivation

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

6 nights ago I started a new nighttime ritual. This came upon because in about a month I have a dentist appointment, most likely with DeeDee who is a very good dental hygienist. And if I don't floss... which I am embarrassed to admit that I normally don't, she gets on my case like you wouldn't believe. So for the last 6 nights I have flossed, brushed, and then mouth washed. I think the rule of mouth care is to floss first, but regardless of that, I would have to make flossing first. If I didn't, my chances of not completing my ritual would increase 10 fold. So I grudgingly floss, knowing that I must finish in order to brush my teeth, which of course I've always done. And just when my internal clock thinks I'm all finished for the night I have to reason with myself as to why I should use the mouthwash. The fact that this is a struggle for me boggles my mind, but it is. So I stand there for a moment reminding myself of the guilt I will feel if I do not do the mouthwashing step. But then half of me says, "big deal, skip it, it'll only turn your mouth blue anyway, and how healthy can that be?" So then the logical half tells me to look at the label for any color additive that may permanently stain my mouth blue, there is none, so I am forced to continue. After I get the mouthwash into my mouth I begin the next battle of keeping it in my mouth for as long as I can stand it. The way I do this is dancing. I do my mouthwash dance and shake my head to distract myself from the mouth burning. When I realize that dancing right before bed is going to wake me back up I stop and spit. And think to myself... another check on the mental calendar.

All in all, if it weren't for DeeDee I wouldn't do any of this. Sad but true.

My preference in banking...

2008-03-09T21:45:00.003-04:00

I just checked my email and found this email from ING Direct. I have to say, I've always recommended them to anyone who's asked. Their website is user friendly, their company has a youthful feel and their customer service is awesome. As if to confirm that they are the company for me, they included the following quote in the email

Global financial markets ended 2007 with many challenges ahead. While ING DIRECT avoided the sub-prime mortgage problem, we understand that this housing crisis threatens the well-being of countless families and, in the end, it will be seen as a major failing of the mortgage industry and its regulators.

The fact that ING DIRECT was not adversely affected is a testament to our operating philosophy that, as Americans, we should only buy houses we can afford. That way we can keep them for years to come. We believe a mortgage is a contract that both parties should execute in good faith and expect to see through to its conclusion. We will not waiver from our sworn promise to provide you with great value, service and convenience.

I've seen mortgage brokers and real estate agents on television blatantly tell their customers to take out loans they can't afford for houses out of their price range. It's nice to see a company acknowledge that it's not the American dream to have a house that you can't afford just because it's bigger than the neighbors' house.

/salute

And the award goes to...

2008-02-21T23:18:00.002-05:00

With the Oscars coming up and all I thought it would only be right to honor the real winner this season.

BUCK!

He has now gotten over 40,000 views on his Buck VS. Buck video! In case you weren't part of that 40,000 here's a link to the video Any gifts or letters of congratulations will be graciously accepted.

In other Buck news, he spent most of tonight licking my head clean... or dirty if you ask me. Either way I have a glossy sheen. Here's a link to a video from a few weeks ago of the same act to the nth degree.

Attention Passengers: This Is Your Sales Rep... er, I mean Pilot Speaking

2008-01-31T17:40:00.000-05:00

I remember the good old days. When flying meant free sandwiches, sodas, and visiting the pilot in the cockpit.

But things are different now...

We still have sodas, and sometimes we even get a full can! But we don't have food, sometimes a pretzel crumb or small cookie, but no more free sandwiches. Now you can pay upwards of $7 for a shitty plate of cold mini-muffins or small sandwich.

And instead of the pilot announcing all the landmarks you're flying past, he's trying to convince you to sign up for their credit card that gives you.. one zillion free miles!! The in-flight movie, while it still sucks now gets a nice little logo in the bottom of it from time to time. And before the movie starts and after it ends you get commercials for other trips you can take with this airline and the credit cards that will get you there and a million billion miles!! Don't have headphones? Don't worry! $5 will get your a rented pair for 3-4 hours! Woo Hoo

I can only image what flying will be like 10 years from now. Perhaps literally mugging you at gunpoint and pawning off your luggage before you arrive at your destination, all while force-feeding you advertisements on your soda, food, napkin, seat, tv screen, headphones, window, floor.... everything.

Collaboration For All!

2008-01-24T13:03:00.000-05:00

Despite only having 3 classes this semester, I have the most group projects I've ever had in the same amount of time. At least the most long-term group projects.

I am getting nervous about one of them. This is mostly because no one had taken any initiative to get the group together or talking. So last night after having a day-mare that we were going to do terribly because of all the apathetic group members I sent out a mass e-mail and an invitation to a Google Doc.

I haven't checked the doc yet, but I will right now and fill you in as to whether these slackers look like they may change their ways.

Wow! I am impressed, 2 out of 4 of them have responded. Perhaps this won't be horrible after all.

It is always strange when someone who would've otherwise be a leader has to step up and do so. I have a strong feeling I will be that person for this group. Hopefully I'll serve them well ::salutes::.

When I wrote them all last night I said I suggest they all get on Gmail (2 of them already had been) as it would make scheduling easier. The lack of ease in getting in touch with people makes me nervous. It boggles my mind when groups or teams aren't all on the same system of communication. I want a team that will be ON the app of choice and be checking up on it frequently. Pipe dream I suppose.

From Riches to Rags

2008-01-07T16:38:00.001-05:00

I can't say I know too much about mortgages or buying a home, but I still wonder how people get themselves into foreclosure. I understand it when the breadwinner gets sick or dies or loses their job. But what about all these people who make a decent living and just signed up for a stupid mortgage.

A month or so ago I was getting my haircut and the hairdresser said that he signed for a ARM (Adjustable Rate Mortgage) after his daughter (the mortgage broker) told him it was a great deal and interests rates would certainly not raise for a long time.

Sure the man should've known better than to assume interests rate would stay at an all time low for 20-30 years, but his trusted kin told him otherwise, so he is now on the verge of screwed.

Surely not everyone is being told by family members to get these crazy mortgages? I wouldn't trust a mortgage broker or almost any financial adviser with my life savings, they all have a motive, if you don't think that you're foolish.

When I see excel spreadsheets full of hundreds and hundreds of foreclosures (and that's just for one area of the country) I do feel bad for some of them; some were so close to paying off their mortgage and then they miss a few payments and BOOM it's all gone. But another part of me is wondering how people can be so shortsighted.

So from my limited knowledge I leave you with some basic tips when buying a home.
-Put down the largest down payment as possible (don't end up getting mortgage insurance)
-Get a FIXED RATE loan
-Buy a home that is 20% (at least) less than what your mortgage broker tells you you can afford

Separation of... TV and Internet

2008-01-06T21:28:00.000-05:00

Jeff Richards, VP of Digital Content Services at Verisign wrote in his company blog last month about the blurring of the lines between TV and Internet. He was referencing another article from the Wall Street Journal pondering why consumers don't seem to be interested in products or services that allow users to watch Internet videos on their TV.

It seems to me that the main reason that this idea isn't catching on is because users are choosing to keep these two lives separate.

Internet videos are generally short, just long enough for us to be able to sit in our office chairs and view them. TV programs are traditionally longer, which is why we park our couches and beds in front of them.

Additionally, I believe that many of us think of content online as being "underground" and TV content as being "mainstream" and we definitely don't want to mix those two worlds. Like keeping your college friends separate from your work friends.

It would just feel wrong to watch youtube videos from our couch. Not to mention the quality of youtube videos is so bad you probably wouldn't want to view it from a TV. But that's quite a stretch to explain the main reasoning of consumers.

All in all, I don't pay $55+ a month to DirecTv to watch (sometimes lesser quality) content that I could watch online for free. And Americans don't want to waste that quality TV viewing time by watching UGC (User generated content).

Who Likes To Rock The Party?

2007-12-31T12:01:00.001-05:00

New Zealand of course.

I forgot to mention one more crappy part of the trip...

On Horizon Flights they are supposed to give out free wine or beer to passengers old enough to consume it. On both of our horizon flights they claimed it was too bumpy for a drink service! And guess what... it wasn't bumpy at all! Cheapos!

BUT on the good side, we got our McCormick and Schmick gift certificates again... All 4 of them.

Just a compliment about your beard being good.

2007-12-30T00:53:00.001-05:00

Just a catch 'em up post since I haven't written in something like two weeks. In honestly, this is mostly a post for Tim because most likely he will be the only person who reads it. So, Hi Tim!

I am sad to report that Oregon wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be. There were no major meltdowns between me and the fam or Kyle or his fam and it snowed quite a bit. So not too much to complain about.

The only bit I could complain is our journey there: we get up at 445 am Super Shutter comes at 530 drives us around until about 615 then we fly 5ish hours to Seattle and then another 40 minutes to Portland. After that we get our luggage and are driven 4 hours through Oregon to Sisters. So for those of you keeping track, that's approximately 11 hours of travel time in 4 different moving devices. Oh and did I mention for that 5hr flight we had seats that don't recline due to emergency exit protocol.

The trip home was about the same just in reverse and that time we got home at 1130pm EST.

The good parts were:

-Got to see Cole and Meghan and my family
-Got to sit in a hot tub for hours while it was snowing
-Got to sled and make a snowman
-Didn't cook or clean once or spend money
-Got presents

It is nice to be home though, but I definitely miss the snow and hot tub and large house. But of course, nothing replaces being with my Bucky again.

The Bleak Squad

2007-12-18T13:03:00.000-05:00

I am at work right now and I'm pretty sure my old CRT monitor has a migraine. I can tell this because the picture is quivering in pain along the edges of the screen.

With that being said the monitor could explode at any moment and I may die from the impact and then again from the mercury poisoning. KABLOOEY!

On with the story...

Last Tuesday after my insurance bonanza I decided to subject myself to more torture and take my laptop to Geek Squad to see what they could do speed it back up. As of last Monday playing solitaire was a difficult task for this machine.

I promise some tremendously funny things happened while I was waiting in line to hand in my laptop but I will skip to the important part.

This kid took my machine told me that I would be getting a call from them in 24-48 hours about whether I could come pick it up or if it needed to be "sent in" (which I think is code for bashing with a large object).

Needless to say I never received a call. So today, exactly one week later I called them and asked about my poor laptop. This kid said "Oh we were just about to call you"... my fat ass.

I asked him when they actually did the diagnostic he said last night. Keep in mind, this was supposed to happen Wednesday or Thursday.

But the good news is that he said my poor 4 year old HP failed the stress test and something else and will be sent in for 3 weeks to get rebuilt! The bionic laptop! We can rebuild him... oh wait that's the $6 million dollar man.

Keeping Up With the Jones'

2007-12-15T23:48:00.000-05:00

I think when I went to school and actually, up until very recently I was under the impression that the school I pay exorbitant amounts of money to attend should be a) looking out for me b) do everything in its power to help me, at least while I am in attendance.

Tuesday I went to the school medical center for a yearly check up. After filling out extensive information that I'm pretty sure is getting sold to the Government for census stuff I filled out a separate paper for all my insurance information. (I have private insurance, not school issued.) After I came out from the exam room and handed my sheet to the receptionist she says to me, "Okay that will be $90". I replied with, "Are you on crack?" I let her know that I've NEVER paid more than my co-pay of $15 dollars for an appointment at her facility and I wasn't intending on paying anything more than that this time.

She told me that times had changed that she would bump that number down to $40. I continued to have a shit fit and finally paid the bill. I kept asking her why my insurance wasn't going to pay for it and she finally told me that AU doesn't bill insurance anymore. And if I want to learn more about AU's new policy go to www.shove it up yours.edu or something like that, nice. As I turned to leave I made an off-handed comment to another receptionist how I was going to keep my credit card receipt and try to write off the appointment. The first receptionist stops me from leaving and says, "Oh, do you want the form so your insurance will reimburse you?" I'm pretty sure I laughed in her face.

You would think after me pleading with her about the price and my insurance and showing her my insurance cards and filling out insurance information that would've been the first form she had given me to shut me up. But no, just a stroke of luck I walked out with my $40 reimbursement magic paper.

As I left the medical center I decided I would just accept the fact that AU is lazy and won't hire any clerical people to work and file or whatever else has to be done to get their greedy asses paid.

But then I went past the new dorms that were built last summer and saw that AU is landscaping a massive area (which would be a lovely grassy area for Frisbee, reading or sunning), but it just so happens that this grassy area is right on Nebraska Ave. and god forbid something that can be seen from the road looks bad.

I think it may have been that moment that I realized that I have been going to the wrong University. I am going to a school who cares more about the 2 parents weekends we have a year than the thousands of students who actually attend... And I am very thankful I will be done soon.

Global Warming Hard at Work

2007-12-10T18:31:00.000-05:00

Right now I feel extremely uncomfortable. Why? 1) It's Dec. 10th and I have to wear a tank top because it's so warm and 2) There is an unprecedented number of beetles in our apartment.

As I've mentioned before beetles only come out.. or in I suppose, when it's warm out. So since it was 50 or so degrees in December they have decided to relax in my abode.

There are two in the kitchen and one in the living room on the wall about 5 feet from me. And yes, that's too close.

This beetle situation makes me think... how many other beetles are there in other apartments. And how many beetles are in my apartment and I just haven't noticed them yet.

Grumpy Old Men

2007-12-07T12:57:00.000-05:00

As I was walking to school a few minutes ago I was at the finish line (crossing the street to actually be on campus) when I noticed an old man driving across the crosswalk while people were crossing (with the flashing white man telling us we had 30 second left).

He was traveling through the crosswalk a little too aggressively for my liking so I was very tentative when I was crossing near him. As I was watching him when I was walking to make sure he didn't run me down, he started flailing his arms at me and yelling something. I was blown away. I did a double take and he started making even more nasty gestures at me.

Despite my usual rule that I am always nice to old people I yelled at him that "we had the crosswalk" and I pointed to the little white man telling me how much time I had left to cross.

I realized in that moment that old people don't necessarily mean sweet old people. I guess I have been spoiled by the old people in my life into thinking that you got nice when you got older.

Teaching vs Training.

2007-12-06T15:36:00.000-05:00

As my time at American University is coming to an end I have been forced to start my career search. The problem that I and some of my colleagues have run into is that we don't feel qualified for any jobs in the field that we have been studying.

Now this semester one of my Professors has somehow gotten my school to allow us to get certified in a few different Microsoft Office products. Apparently this was no easy task. From what I've heard from my other Professors the argument that AU is using to keep us from receiving the chance to get certified is that there is a difference between teaching and training. And it is NOT AU's job to train us for the job world.

Of course I disagree with that; my parents are not paying $10,000+ a semester to not have me prepared to have a job when I graduate.

But let's say I did agree with that statement. I am a business major, not a philosophy major, in this area it just doesn't cut it to read books and write papers. Sure those things help but for us Business people, it's all about real experience.

What do you think my or your schools role is? Is it their job to provide the opportunity to get certified in things that will get me ahead in the work force?

Orkin Cat is Fired!!

2007-12-05T00:07:00.000-05:00

While I was writing a paper a few hours ago I had another beetle encounter. I included the following in my paper:

Dear Reader aka Professor, I would like you to know that the entire writing style, state of mind, and ability to write this monster blog post has been altered by another beetle situation. About 10 minutes ago a beetle dropped in mission impossible-style onto my monitor. Since then my cat has been wandering my desk in search of it and now it has gone missing. As I write I will be on constant notice of a beetle walking possibly near my hands, across my monitor, or, god forbid, flying into my face. With that being said, please enjoy my possibly spastic analysis of what makes the better blog.

During this time, which was a few hours all together, I screamed or as Kyle refers to it "yelped" about 5 times, jumped up from my chair at least 2 and called Buck over dozens.

In the beginning the beetle went from my monitor to my desk to my desk lamp back to the monitor down to the desk behind the docking station, crawled across the USB cables and onto my graphing calculator. At that point I put the graphing calculator on the floor and called Buck (once again) over to take care of the situation. But Buck as I mentioned before is farsighted and perhaps going blind because he could hardly notice a beetle that I could hardly take my eyes off of. When I got back in the work mode I began to type once more and as I was looking up some info I felt something on my hand, I immediately screamed (or yelped) and leapt out of my chair *yes Tim, with one hand on my chest* The beetle was ON MY MOUSE!... from the floor to my mouse in like 1.2 minutes, is that some sort of beetle record?! Well if it's not it is certainly some sort of infringement of personal property/space that must be illegal somewhere.

At that point I went into full blown panic mode with crazy gaspy breathing, gagging and wiping my hand off on my pants to rid myself of the icky beetle-y spiny feeling. Kyle finally calmed me down by taking the beetle (on a piece of paper) across the apartment and directing Buck to it.

Now I do not know where this beetle is and I am possibly more disgusted than before. BARF!

Hands Across The.. web?

2007-12-01T15:32:00.000-05:00

Remember the 80's? Hands across the world or hands across America? Remember how successful they were? Yeah no one does, because it wasn't.

Now instead of holding hands across land, web entrepreneurs are trying to get us to hold hands across the web on a few new social good, social networking sites.

I'll feature Razoo.com in this post because it's the site I know the most about. This is because (as I have probably mentioned) my beau Kyle with his company Viget Labs built their website.

Razoo incorporates every feature possible of every social networking site possible. For example instead of joining a group to say that you're attending so and so's 21st birthday blowout, you join a group saying that you will perhaps carpool for the next 50 years of your life or recycle everything you can see.

Razoo is extremely lucky to have huge financial backing keeping it afloat in these uncertain periods of growth (both in site components and in users)

A few months ago I attended one of their Brewing Good events. Besides everyone drinking as much as they could handle, the gist of the event was to meet some leaders/creators of nonprofits and charities, hear their story, and vote on which was worthy enough to win $500 for their 'cause'.

While almost everyone who attended that event was interested in social good and doing all they can for the less fortunate, what about the rest of the population? More importantly what about the population on all the social networking sites; are they willing to commit time, money, or brain power to causes? Most people may say "yeah I'll do something", but I have a difficult time believing them.

In terms of Razoo's future profitability or growth potential I worry. I worry that the percentage of Social Networking users who care to join sites like Razoo and actually participate is minuscule compared with the entire percentage of users.

My suggestion would be to take these sites to Canada, Australia, Sweden and any other country that has more social programs than the U.S. Because unfortunately most of the people of the U.S. are raised to only care about #1 (and I don't mean Jesus!) and I can't see this concept taking off in the U.S. unless huge changes in mentality are made.

Danger Danger!! High Voltage!

2007-11-29T16:44:00.000-05:00

In case any of you were thinking about selling your books or .. anything I suppose on Amazon here is a little nugget of information that could save your sanity.

Some banks do not check to see whether YOUR name matches the name attached to the checking account number you have listed as your place of deposit.

So if your bank does this and you accidentally enter a checking account number that perhaps isn't yours but happens to be someone else's, guess who's getting your hard earned $$? Not you that's who.

I found this out today when after not receiving two separate deposits from Amazon I begun to get worried and called their customer service number (that I wasn't able to find on their site--but that's another story). They read me off the last few digits of the checking account number they had listed and guess what... it didn't match mine on my banks website! And it wasn't just one number off, it was completely off which I thought was strange since last time when I was at home I had doubled checked the last few digits with my checkbook and it had matched.

At this point I realized one of two things had happened.

Best case scenario: I had somehow managed to use Kyle's check book instead of my own

Worst case scenario: Somehow either myself or amazon switched the checking account number in some either stupidity or clerical error.

I honestly believed that the best case wasn't going to happen because these deposits had been missing for about a month and Kyle knew about it. I figured if he had noticed some random $100+ deposits in his account he would have said something to me knowing that I was worried about it and all.

So I frantically contacted Kyle and asked him if he had noticed any deposits. He went online and checked his account and guess what... there they were! Hal-A-Lu-Yer! So luckily it all worked out for me and all I have to do if I ever sell stuff on amazon again is change the checking account number to the REAL number.

The only way this could have happened I surmise is that the check book I looked at initially to get the information was a started check book aka doesn't have your name printed on it and I assumed since it was on MY desk it was mine.

So lessons to be learned: don't forget to double check the name on if there is one .. or just don't ever use started check books! They are evil!
I frantically contacted Kyle and had him

Orkin Cat

2007-11-27T01:16:00.000-05:00

As I was laying in bed relaxing with my laptop 5 minutes ago I heard the jingle of a cats' collar and a distinct buzzing near my ear. This could only mean one thing. BEETLE ATTACK!

I hopped up and saw that the beetle had landed about 2 inches from my head on my pillow. [Excuse me while I go puke for 3 hours] I then grabbed the pillow and ran out into the living room so that a) I could better see this bug and confirm the beetle sighting and b) so Buck could attack it.

I called Buck into the living room for way too long and since he wasn't getting the hint I ran back into the bedroom scooped him up and brought him into the living room with me. At first he took some interest in the beetle, of course it was difficult for him to see it being that Kyle and I have diagnosed him as a far-sighted cat. But in any event, he took a little bit of interest and then ran towards the front door. That was when I knew I was in trouble.

Why?

Because the only thing more interesting than a relatively stationary beetle is a crazy, flailing, flying beetle.

I need to stop the anecdotal aspect of the story and recap my thoughts at that time (all of 10 minutes ago). One beetle I have already confessed is something I'm perfectly fine with. This is because it keeps Buck entertained aka makes him stop whining for: food/going outside/play time etc. But two beetles... that's a whole new animal. Because a) Buck can only attack one beetle at a time leaving one beetle to just fly around and perhaps touch me and b) this thing has a chance to possibly mate before Buck has time to kill one of them and I would not like to have a beetle infestation anytime soon!

So currently-- and I can say this without even being in the same room, Buck is sitting at the front door keeping an eye on both beetles, clearly in cat heaven.

This reminds me of a video I took of Kyle helping Buck attack a beetle that wouldn't come down from the ceiling. Enjoy!

MDU

2007-11-26T00:33:00.000-05:00

For those of you who aren't blessed [cursed] enough.. to have ever experienced living in a MDU or multi dwelling unit you have missed out on some great games.

What games?

1. Who is cooking? (and what exactly are they cooking and did they kill it in their apartment?)
2. Who is the mystery smoker who lives in my kitchen when I am gone?
3. Sing the commercial that the person next door is listening to.
4. Why is the person above me bouncing what sounds like golf balls at 12am? And if not golf balls, what are they?
5. Can my neighbor hear me when I'm in the bathroom?
6. Who started a fire alarm-grade smoke in their toaster oven?
7. Guess the reason why every person who works in my building hates their job/life
8. Name that smell (closely associated to game #1 and #2)
9. What is causing that noise/Guess the reasons other people cannot hear it
10. And finally... Guess which elevator (is out, going to arrive, has people in it, is defaced)

What are your favorite MDU games? Let me know in comments!

The Facts of Life!

2007-11-25T17:40:00.000-05:00

Web 2.0, AOL, A. I. M, Surfing the Web, User-Generated Content. What do these words or phrases have to do with each other? Each is a phrase that makes me and many of my peers cringe and ultimately lose control of our bowels (well not quite).

We will now refer to UGC as duh. Oh fine, I'll keep calling it User-Generated Content or at least UGC. ugh. As I eluded to, I find the concept of UGC to have a large amount of duh-factor attached. As it seems to me the only parts of information online that isn't UGC is that created by a robot. Even if a corporation posts information, they are still users, thus it's still UGC.

Is it too common sense to discuss UGC? Seems so to me. There doesn't seem to be many if any alternatives to UGC and given my definition, that is certainly true. But fine, take away my definition and consider only people like you and me who write blog posts, add reviews to yelp or any other similar site, and perhaps make videos to post online and we'll work from there. There are very few sites I can think of that I use on a somewhat regular basis that aren't UGC, maybe Google Maps, but if you look at the mini reviews there ya go, Google Maps has UGC too! It's everywhere!.. Infiltrating..!

From what I gathered from Bruceclay.com some websites or companies are struggling with whether they should add aspects of UGC to their sites for fear of "bad things" being said. Get over it is what I say. Don't you all remember the Facts of Life.. you take the good you take the bad, you take them both! Today's users don't want much to do with sites that can't be moderated to some degree by unbiased yet knowledgeable users. And it would've been so much longer before now if it weren't for people still using AOL! ... heh... no offense or anything.

KISS Gene Simmons... Business Model

2007-11-16T13:06:00.000-05:00

I apologize for any KISS fans I may offend when I say that Gene Simmons is a business man trapped in a musicians body.

It is now apparent to me that he would have never been a musician if it weren't for the $$$ that comes along with it.

Recently Gene was interviewed saying that College kids are what have killed the music industry. How have we done this? By downloading music.. stealing as they call it. Gene Simmons honestly believes that the record companies should "sue them out of existence"... or some similar extermination technique.

We all can't be so lucky as to have a bazillion and a half dollars and be able to purchase any CD or mp3 that strikes our fancy.

I have watched Gene Simmons show "Gene Simmons Family Jewels" and enjoyed it. While it is incredibly contrived the few true family exchanges that occur are fun to view. I'll probably watch it again but I won't look up to Gene as a person anymore, only as a money grubbing business man.

A few posts ago I wrote about Radiohead and their promotion letting their fans pay as much or as little as they want for the album that was just released. Gene's response to this was "Are you on fucking crack?"

Maybe I am since I still believe that people should be able to download music as they please. I wonder if Gene also believes in charging people full price for AIDS drugs? He's probably a libertarian.

Everytime I hear "web 2.0" I cringe.

2007-11-11T19:33:00.000-05:00

Thank the lord that the next Presidential election is coming up... relatively soon. I think most Americans would admit that this years potential candidates is the most interesting combination of individuals so far. A woman, a black guy, a mock news reporter (he kind of still counts), a Mormon, and an assortment of other interesting characters.

With all the social progression in candidates this year they have really been trying to tap every media resource possible; Myspace and Facebook seem to be the most popular.

But does it really matter? Last Presidential election only 41.9% of people aged 18-25 voted. I find it difficult to believe that just because Clinton or Obama will be advertising on Myspace or Facebook people that age will find the energy to make it to the polls. Perhaps if we could all vote from home ... from the Facebook platform? If we could, I bet that % would be closer to 100%.

If you were an activist or just someone who regularly voted before politics invaded social networking sites then you will vote after them. If you weren't... well chances are you won't vote this time either.

I can't deny that using these platforms to talk about your political position is a great idea. If anything lazy teens will glaze over some FAQ and learn a little bit. But to get them to vote I think either implement my facebook idea or try a combination of Australian and Argentinian voting strategies. Fine us if we don't vote and/or let us sell our votes on e-bay. If we sold our votes, it would even out to the electoral vote anyway wouldn't it? Probably.

Paper Dolls

2007-11-04T15:03:00.000-05:00

We've all gone through the job-finding process. What do we do to prepare?

Jack up our resume. Include every semi-relevant class that you got a B+ or better on, every extra-curricular activity, and of course, every volunteering event we stood next to.

If you looked at your resume now would you be able to say that it represented you well?
Before I updated mine a few weeks ago I would have to answer "no".

I had in there that I knew a little bit about POM for windows, MS Project, and other similar applications. If by little I meant that I had heard of them and used them for a few class periods a few semesters ago then my resume would be accurate.

For many jobs in the business or tech field-- actually any field where in the course of your day you don't have peoples lives in your hands, using your blog as your resume can be a better way of representing yourself to a potential employer.

How many times do companies use their blogs to entice potential employees? That's becoming more and more frequent.

In his blog, Adam Darowski discusses how blogs can replace the resume because instead of vague, generalized bullet points you have detailed paragraphs with real information.

For example... If you're a chef and on your resume you write that you are an excellent baker. I have to believe you based on what you said. However if in your blog you post about how you perfected a recipe for apple pie in detail, there's my proof that you know what you're talking about.

In a way it's similar to how Doctors submit articles in Medical Journals. Sometimes it's not enough to say that you pioneered a new technique. You need detailed proof that you did it and can do it in the future.

I won't pretend to be naive and leave out the main reason why resumes are used. Employers need a brief, concise, (one - two page) description of your qualifications for time saving purposes. My argument would be: which would save more time and money? -Reading someones blog to figure them out OR -having them come in to the office for a two hour interview to only have to turn them down?

One last point and then I will shush bub on the topic... no one is all that honest in an interview, we're told not to be. But a blog, well unless you've been playing to interview with a certain company for months or years it would be very difficult to fudge your blog.

How Tom Kyte Killed My Blog... and other conspiracy theories

2007-11-02T11:22:00.000-04:00

As some of you may know, a few weeks ago after visiting my class Tom Kyte, VP of Oracle linked to my blog from his heavily visited blog.

The two days following that post upped the traffic to my blog tremendously. From an average of 10-17 visitors a day to over 70 unique visitors. I was understandably ecstatic with this new traffic and began dreaming of blog stardom.

When my traffic dwindled back down to it's usual average I realized that Tom Kyte had killed my blog.

How did he do this? And was it on purpose?

What happened is that Tom linked to a crappy post of mine that merely stated that Tom had spoken to our class and that I enjoyed it. He didn't link to my blog in its entirety so when all those people clicked the link and read my crappy, juvenile post they didn't read any further. I am assuming that if they had read one of my better posts they would either have read more or come back other times.

Of course I don't believe that Tom did this on purpose (he doesn't even know my plan for world domination!). I suppose Tom never realized that I was trying to get a small following on my blog when he linked to my crappy post.

Lesson learned:

Never ever do a little shout out blog post--you never know who will link to it (and ruin your blogging career haha)

-----------------------

My other conspiracy theory of the day is:

That the somewhat new rule of no bottles over 3 ounces on airplanes is purely to fuel the travel-size toiletries industry.

Hal-A-Lu-Yer

2007-10-29T23:18:00.000-04:00

So I am silently rejoicing that the FCC is doing something good for the consumer for a change!!! WOO. As many of my classmates who live in large apartment buildings have realized. Certain cable or satellite companies can basically buy out entire multi-dwelling building and be the sole provider of television and the consumer has no other option but to go with them. But if it is approved on Wednesday cable companies will no longer be able to monopolize entire buildings, giving consumers the chance to pick their supplier based on their own criteria (usually price).

I am honestly happily amazed that the FCC is looking out for consumers in this way. The only real purpose of doing this is to lower industry prices and thank goodness! I just auto-paid my cable bill and it was $57 and change. I can't think about this too long or I may call up DirecTV and flip out on them or just cry over the wasted money.

Have We Met?

2007-10-28T11:40:00.000-04:00

Business Networking as Boston.com reports can be intimidating for us college students. Why do we have such anxieties towards business networking when social networking is our forte? In my eyes there are two reasons people use networking to get jobs.

1. To connect to companies that you otherwise would have no access to
2. To have a person who can vouch for you when trying for that new job.

But there is a third "mystery" reason that isn't talked about much and it's the reason I believe many people are afraid of business networking.

3. It will help get a job that you otherwise would NEVER be considered for. Now this isn't necessarily a bad thing for us, but it is a bad thing when you are the person who is qualified but the step-half nephew of so and so got the job instead.

I've only discussed this with a hand full of people because you never know who is working solely due to their connections and not because of their smarts.

BUT

Of those people, I know they do have moral issues with this. We want to get our job based on our abilities and personality not because we "know" someone.

.......

I have never gotten a good job through business networking. Allow me to list them off:
-Grocery store clerk
-Gift shop wench
-fax/copy machine extraordinaire at a non-profit

But I do believe business networking is important purely for finding jobs that aren't listed. And I think it can be done in a way where you won't feel guilty later. Just use the people you meet as a conduit for your resume. If they don't know you in a way where they could discuss your work ethic, etc then let them know that you don't want them to be a fake reference for you. Maybe they'd respect that? Not sure. If your past boss or manager is referring you to a new job then it makes perfect sense to have him or her vouch for you. If it's your Uncle or cousin there may be too much family bias built in for you to feel good later about it.

Maybe I am too naive about this topic but I can dream can't I?

Calling all Six-Degree'rs

2007-10-22T21:09:00.000-04:00

My beau and I plan on moving to California when I graduate but we don't know exactly where yet. So to help our decision I've been looking to see if there are jobs in specific cities. Doing all this got me thinking about my resume and what I'll be adding to it by the time I graduate.

I was contemplating whether it would be a good idea or not to include my blog (with the URL) because I am proud of my writings and the level of integrity (and traffic! haha).

BUT...

Is it too risky because I do put my own opinions in there that can be a little controversial?

My question to all of you:

-Have you considered listing your blog in your resume?
-Do you think it's a good idea?
-Could it be detrimental to our future careers?

I'd love to hear everyone's opinion on this so please comment!!

Collaborate and Listen!

2007-10-21T10:20:00.000-04:00

In my generation we have been utilizing collaborative tools from the moment they appeared on the scene. Chat rooms, message boards, forums, you name it, we embraced it. It seems that if you look to a generation or so older than us you find different sentiment and experiences. Someone expressed in a comment on Teamwork, Supercharged from Newsweek that such technologies have been around for awhile and the only real difference is the new and improved ease of use.

If you read any articles commenting on such products as Basecamp, Campfire, and Google Docs they seem amazed with them (and yes they are amazing tools) and frequently they comment on how companies are at first reluctant to use them, instead wanting to have physical meetings, see physical documents. How archaic huh?

A huge reason why these tools are becoming so popular and will eventually grow to be a huge $$ making industry is because: it saves space, it saves paper, it allows one current copy to be accessible to everyone who's involved. The best case for this I saw in a video that our classmate Allie (HJ) showed to us in our Database class, if you take a few minutes to watch it you'll be a believer.

Today almost every website has an aspect of collaboration, it's becoming the norm. Websites are no longer purely information sources made by one group or one person they are ongoing conversations that need to be constantly updated and improved. Perhaps information changes too quickly for one person to keep up.

I DECLARE BANKRUPTCY

2007-10-19T11:49:00.000-04:00

Have you ever noticed that when you hear about one random topic all of a sudden the next 10 things you hear about relate to it?

As some of you might know, I'm an avid Oprah viewer and yesterdays episode was about American families who have gotten themselves in massive debt. The guest star was my favorite person, Suze Orman who is a financial guru and has had her own financial T.V. show for years.

I also (along with most people I know) am a huge fan of the show The Office, and last night a good portion of the episode was about getting into debt... weird huh?

So my focus on this post is on avoiding financial ruin.

I went to High School in New York State in a small village (not city) and the only aspect of finance we were taught about was one day when a teacher told us that if we invest our money in a mutual fund we could one day be millionaires. -- Not exactly the most useful information, but it caught my interest nonetheless.

Considering many people who I went to school with weren't going to be supported by their parents much longer after graduating and also weren't going to be going to college it would've been very helpful to have more information on personal finance.

Despite new bankruptcy reform laws the number of households filing is growing. How many of these people are bankrupt due to life's circumstances (sickness, death, job loss) and how many are due to mismanagement of money?

If my passion for personal finance lasts over the years, my goal is to go to high schools and maybe middle schools and teach responsible personal finance practices.

How many of you feel that you would've been better financially if it had been taught to you in High School? Or maybe earlier?

Is Best Buy About To Go Out Of Business?

2007-10-17T23:39:00.000-04:00

Perhaps some of you indie-rock fans had heard about the band Radiohead giving their album out for free from their website instead of charging $$. The main reason this is getting the publicity that is it is because despite the fact that the album was free, more people pirated the album than downloading it FOR FREE from radioheads site. "Experts" (and myself) say that it's because people are just used to downloading the albums they want from places such as Bit Torrent etc and their actions were not intended to be a slap in the face to Radiohead's efforts.

What interests me is not solely the fact that more people pirated it, rather it's the question of the future of music sales.

Most of us know that bands/artists do not make much if any money off of CD sales, their primary income comes from shows and endorsements. While some bands ::cough cough:: Metallica don't condone fans "stealing" or pirating their music others, System of a Down and obviously Radiohead are more accepting of this reality. How many more artists will follow suit and stop selling their albums and start giving their music away? Hopefully more. In my eyes music isn't about greed, rather sharing your abilities, gifts, ideas, talent, etc.

When the RIAA sues some average Joe for downloading a few thousand songs do the artists get that money? I don't know for sure but I doubt it, my instincts tell me that the record companies get it.

I am optimistic that more artists will be giving their music away "for free", after all isn't it a compliment to them when we go to any means possible to get their music, even if that means risking law suits?

If I ever for some reason got sued for the music I downloaded back in the Napster days I would personally write a letter to every artist and ask them if they cared that I downloaded their music instead of purchasing a CD (which often I did after sampling their music), then we'd see how that suit would end up. Our justice system is only changed when a precedent is set and someone needs to do that soon.

A Tiny Blurb

2007-10-17T21:52:00.000-04:00

Today was pretty good I must admit. During our six degrees class today we had Tom Kyte (VP of Oracle) speak, which was very interesting. And during his presentation he noted a few of our blogs and pointed out my last post! I was/am way too ecstatic about it, but I thought I'd note it anyway and hopefully that will give me some online credibility haha.

John Q Public -- Double Agent

2007-10-13T12:01:00.000-04:00

Imagine me rolling my hands over themselves like an evil scientist.. that's how I felt (and sort of what I did) when I read Startups Help Clean Up Online Reputations

In a nutshell the article is about how your online reputation effects your real-life reputation. For instance all your crazy college (or high school) partying pictures being found by a potential employer and due to that you are denied a job. Or... grounded by your mom.

The article also mentioned a few sites which focus on helping "the common man" clean up their online image, (not that I want to endorse them) but Reputation Defender and Naymz mostly through getting rid of not-so flattering pictures online.

Admittedly this is a brilliant idea for a web start-up, your client base is almost endless and it hasn't been done before. Perfect.

BUT...

And I sort of hinted at this in my last post with my quotes from Waking Life-- taking responsibility for oneself. For these individuals who want to present themselves as mature adults or "clean living folks" and use these sites to clean up their image, what about living the way you want to be perceived?

Is it fair to live a double life? Furthermore is it honest? I'm not sure.

Recently I found pictures on facebook of a girl who I've known for a very long time, probably since she was a baby, she's underage and the pictures were of her drinking (in dorms nonetheless) and kissing and messing around with girls (she's not gay as far as I know). I thought those actions were things you were supposed to keep under raps, at least until you were legal to do so. Have we become too proud of the "deviant" things we do?

Before myspace and facebook and similar sites, were pictures being taken of the 'crazy' high school and college parties? Was it necessary since the pictures weren't traveling elsewhere?

And my last question of the day:

If we all are trying to clean up our online image will we eventually stop posting pictures everywhere? And end the need for those reputation fixing websites?

EDIT: A little birdie told me a few days ago that facebook is going to implement a feature to segment your profile. From what I heard there will be a "family" "friends" and "co-workers" version that you can create and label people in your network as. Perhaps that will solve some of the problems people are having with these sites as the first users of them grow up and start monitoring their ... employees, nieces, nephews, children etc.

What do we have to offer?

2007-10-09T23:37:00.000-04:00

It's 11.3opm so we all know what that means don't we? It means our inhibitions are lowered, our honesty comes out and our creativity is at its peak. Or is that just me?

I think most of us go through our philosophical phase. Usually junior/senior year of High School others get delayed until early college and I suppose a choice few hold onto those questions their entire life.

When I was in High School, during I think my junior year I was hanging out with my then best friend Mariya and we watched the movie Waking Life together. My life was changed from that moment on. For those of you who haven't seen it, if you just purely listened to the movie, blindfolded perhaps, you would think it was a 1.5hr long philosophical rambling. If you view it with your eyes, it's quite the feast. It has possibly the most revolutionary animation used in a semi-popular movie--they loosely filmed live action and then animated over it.

Anyway...

Many of us taking this six degrees class are at the end of our college career, perhaps some of us will go on to grad school, but otherwise we're about to graduate. When I read the LiveJournal posts of some of my friends from High School who are about to graduate as well we all have the same underlining thoughts. Where are we going? and What's going to change?

So obviously I'm going through these thoughts and feelings as well and it brings me back to the end of High School when every breath I took was an embodiment of Waking Life. On one hand it makes me feel embarrassed to be almost back in the same mind-set as when I was finishing up High School but in my own defense this is the ending of a large portion of my life some of the same issues need to be readdressed.

I don't think I've met many if any students at AU that weren't incredibly ambitious. In my first semester two students on my dorm floor were already working in the White House pursuing their dreams of one day being a senator or even president.

Many of us may be asking ourselves now, what do we have to offer the world? Why are we better than another candidate for a job? Or, in terms of this class, why should I read your blog over someone else's?

What sets us apart from others? And who determines that? I hope I can determine that for myself. In all of our business classes we've heard over and over that a company/product has to be unique in some way in order to be successful. I'm trying to pinpoint that now.

"It's like your life is yours to create."

"we should never simply write ourselves off... and see ourselves as the victim of various forces it's always our decision who we are."

"I'm afraid we're losing the real virtues of living life passionately, the sense of taking responsibility for who you are, the ability to make something of yourself and feeling good about life."

Shopping Revolutionized.

2007-10-07T17:28:00.000-04:00

While reading the short chapter about how important tagging blogs, pictures, etc is in Naked Conversations I noticed riya.com. I leaned over to Kyle who's sitting at his computer right next to mine and asked him if he's ever heard about it. He then went to their website and discovered that a site he had introduced me to a long time ago is using riya's technology. The site is like.com and it's pretty revolutionary as far as shopping goes. The basic idea of the site is to take a general product you like and choose which features are important to you (color, shape, pattern) by weighting them. After you indicate your price range like.com will then suggest other items with those features that you requested. You can specify everything to your taste. No more searching site after site though pages of products that don't fit your criteria.

This technology is not only being used for shopping but also for photos-- personal and ones on the web.

If this technology is used elsewhere in our lives imagine all the time we can save and use to play second life instead? Ha!

A real shout out

2007-10-03T23:01:00.000-04:00

I was very happy to see a comment from my online friend Beau. He is more of a professional blogger and heavy into politics, I suggest checking his stuff out (linked above)!

Just in case any of you were wondering Beau and I met probably about 5 years ago if not longer on Friendster.com he had been trying to find a high school friend who shares the same exact name as me! Since we have a few things in common we have kept in touch over the many years and I'm flattered that he would comment on my lil' ole blog! Thanks Beau!!

Second Life UPDATE!!!

2007-10-02T21:06:00.000-04:00

It's crashed 15 times, it's distracted me from more important things in life, and I haven't accomplished anything yet.

Any guesses as to what I'm referring to?

SECOND LIFE... DING DING DING

I figured out that to leave the "Orientation Island" you must search for places you can teleport to. When I was looking for these places I found that there are a TON.. and I mean a TON of places that allegedly will pay you Linden Dollars to just hang out on their island, there was one I found that brought you to some website claiming that if you do online surveys they'll pay you a ton of Lindens. When I investigated this it seemed to look more like one of those "click here to win two free dinners at Olive Garden" so when it asked for my e-mail address, that was where I drew the line.

I was just about to figure out how what they call 'camping' will earn you Lindens when the game crashed again and I figured it'd be a good time to update all of you on my progress or lack their of.

More updates to come!

When You Die In The Game, You Die For Real

2007-09-30T15:06:00.000-04:00

I'm anti-anxious to write this post. Why? Because it's about Second Life and at this point in my life I could give two craps less about it.

The first article I read about Second Life (in my real life) was Even in a Virtual World, 'Stuff' Matters written in.. get this, the New York Times.

I've confessed my love for games to many of my classmates, my World of Warcraft-ing, my love for The Sims, and you can't leave out all my Time Management games that keep me up until the wee hours of the morning. But Second Life, as of now, I just don't get.

After reading that first article I decided the best way to understand the game was to play it, so I downloaded the software, created my avatar, and logged on. After "walking" a good 30ft in-game it crashed. That's a pretty good description of my feelings towards it for now.

It may even be that if I could've actually 'played' it for a little bit longer I could've gotten into it. BUT. a) the graphics aren't very good b) The rendering takes too long for my attention span and c) the pseudo tutorial wasn't working/making any sense.

Maybe you all will argue with me about this but I feel like it's an insult to my intelligence when the NY Times is writing about Second Life and treating it like more than entertainment and people are getting PAID to write books and blogs about it. Come on.

I am one of the few people in our class who can actually appreciate the 'starting a new life/image' aspect of it and I still can't treat it like real life.

From what I understand real business is being done from the Second Life platform, not just the selling of it's virtual goods, and not even the selling of real life virtual goods (images, mp3's etc) but of real life touch it and feel it goods. Nothing wrong with that as long as you're either enjoying it more than you would selling it "irl" or in real life OR you're making just as much money as you would irl and saving on the costs of actual real life American Dollar rents. This does make Second Life differ from most MMO's because even in World of Warcraft the only sales that occur (even when real American Dollars are being exchanged) are with in-game virtual goods. When Blizzard want to sell WoW products, maybe a t-shirt or specialized keyboard they do it through their website, not through in-game vendors. Though I wonder if it's something they've actually considered.

With this being said, my message to everyone is to stop treating SL like it's important!

Name Your Price

2007-09-26T14:12:00.001-04:00

Today I am asking the question:

At what point are your opinions worth something?

In my social networking class today we were discussing "outside visitors" to our blogs. One student in the class had gotten a comment from a semi-famous blogger/author, Shel Israel. Someone in the class then asked what Shel does besides go around looking for people who have mentioned him in their blog and comment on that. My Professor then explained that such people are often paid by companies for their opinions on products/services etc.

That got me thinking.

In College most often you are graded on how well you can memorize facts and then how well you can articulate those points with only fact to back it up. When you use opinion in your writings you are usually graded down because "who the hell are you to say ... ".

I suppose everyone thinks their own opinion is the right one, although some people are more open to adopting others opinions.

Can one opinion ever be right? I guess not, not for everyone in every situation at least. What does one have to do to have their opinion be worth something? I suppose you could go and get many college degrees or do lots of research on lots of topics, but does that mean you're right? Or more right than someone who hasn't done those things? Isn't that discrediting natural intelligence? This reminds me of the moment I realized adults aren't always right aka the day I began mouthing off to adults. The moment wasn't amazing so I won't go into the detail of it, but when it happened I realized that just because someone is 10,20, or more years older than me it didn't necessarily mean they knew better than me.

So if age isn't an indicator of wisdom then what is?

What I'm getting at and what I'm wondering is when will my opinion mean something to more than the immediate people around me (who probably sometimes take me with a grain of salt)? I love writing about what I believe or don't believe in and I try when I can to back that up with fact. Is my love for voicing my opinion something unique or does everyone feel the same way? If they don't, does that mean it's "meant to be" for me to do this? Who knows. Maybe you do?

Skype versus Vonage -- a Fight to the Death!!!

2007-09-23T11:18:00.000-04:00

There are two matters at hand that I need to gripe/complain/explain and lots of other descriptive words about. I don't care if I should make it into two separate posts, because gosh darnit I will MAKE IT WORK!

First off, I just read chapter 3 .. or at least most of it in Naked Conversations by Shel Israel and Robert Scoble they were discussing ICQ and Firefox and how both took off like wildfire (no pun intended) they attributed ICQ's and Firefox's success to it's Word of Mouth advertising, whether it be through actual mouths or blogs.

But I have to question this.

Firefox and more so, ICQ were revolutionary, so does it or did it really matter how they were marketed or advertised? When there's a need for a *USEFUL* product that hasn't existed yet does it matter if it's advertised through blogs or through TV commercials? Will it have the same effect?

WITTY TRANSITION...

This brings me to Skype versus Vonage (in a fight to the death, on Pay Per View tomorrow!) As I understood it Israel and Scoble insinuated that because Vonage took traditional route in advertising and not word of mouth like Skype, that that's why Skype grew and possibly is growing faster than Vonage. But that doesn't quite make sense to me.

I understand that less marketing costs is better, but as far as I know, Skype and Vonage are two separate products based off of the same VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) technology. I've heard that Skype is expanding their product line (in order to charge their users $$) which would cause them to actually resemble Vonage a little more than before. But in the beginning isn't it true that Skype was a free, use it on your computer calling service? And isn't Vonage a you pay monthly, use your phone bought at Best Buy calling service?

If so, how can they be compared? Not to mention who didn't love Vonages' first commercials with people doing stupid things and the goofy music behind it??? You know you loved it!

If my understanding of each product is correct then it makes perfect sense why Skype grew faster than Vonage ... -People don't want to pay (for anything) especially per month, people are afraid to switch from traditional phone service to VOIP phone service (diff 911 system?!?!), and as mentioned in Naked Conversations, people do like the newest tech thing (downloading Skype)

So there, apples and oranges right?

SHOUT OUT!!!!

2007-09-19T13:46:00.001-04:00

Hey:

Rachel

Erin

Tim

The 34 Commandments!

2007-09-16T16:16:00.000-04:00

It seems like everyone has their rules of thumbs for every topic and Robert Scoble and Shel Israel are no different. In their book Naked Conversations they have what they call "The Corporate Weblog Manifesto", a somewhat detailed list of 34 rules to blog by for the big wigs of the world. I hate to admit it but I agree with most of what they say. Here are a few quick excerpts with comments by moi:

"Use a human voice. Don't get corporate lawyers and PR professionals to modify your speech"
I really appreciate this "commandment" as I've been calling them. As a head of company/blog writer the first goal in writing a blog is to be readable and honest to who you are. Loads of legal jargon and P.C. talk is not only boring to me but incredibly impersonal. I'll admit it may be tougher for a company head to write a blog than a well-informed/well educated person with no legal ties. They have to balance honesty, opinions, and positive information with the truth and do so without doing harm to the goodwill of the company.

"Know your influencers ... if you can't connect to them during a crisis, you shouldn't try to keep a corporate weblog. (...because they often know when you're under attack before you do.)
That last quote kind of ties the last few weeks of class up as to why social networking within a physical group of people is important. Social networking within social networking in order to socially network. Very meta.

"Be nice to everyone.... You never know when a janitor will go to school, get an MBA, and start a company."
Very Jesus-y of them.. kind of. My feelings on this, on a non-business level is to only be nice to people who deserve it. Not to say if someone talks smack about you, your company, your product, your mom, etc that you should retaliate, but I wouldn't recommend feeling obligated to be nice afterward. After-all, when the CEO, mail room boy, and even the janitor go home, they still have to deal with their personal feelings towards those people who weren't so kind to them. If you couldn't live with it in your personal life why should it stand in your business life? Isn't it harder to respect a pushover than someone who stands up for them self?

All in all, the list was pretty agreeable. It really allows you to appreciate the balancing act a CEO or similar person-in-charge must endure in order to "keep up with the times"

Screw The Drama -- Reality TV Edition

2007-09-14T16:17:00.000-04:00

As a fan of reality shows that revolve around a trade (i.e. Cooking, Clothes Design, Hair Design, etc) of course I've been watching Top Chef the day it airs. I must say, this season is certainly different from last season in a few ways:

The major thing I've noticed is that Bravo has to actually fake drama because the final bunch (about 6 chefs) all actually get along! The last bit of animosity that was on the show was from Howie who had formally acted very pig-headed and certainly not like a team player, but once he turned himself around the drama was gone from the show.

Bravo and pretty much any network with a reality show constantly try to create drama through their editing. It's hard to blame them for it, that's what gets ratings as a rule of thumb. But for me, I don't need it! I'm enjoying this season, I think more than last season purely because the contestants are all getting along so well. On the last bunch of challenges each contestant went out of their way to help another contestant. I love it! Perhaps I love it so much because with each person doing so well (due to the added help) the judges can't say anything mean and have an incredibly hard time voting someone off, and rationalizing it.

The Prediction

In the last episode C.J. was sent home by the judges and rightfully so-- he created a meal which the judges all said was inedible and hadn't done anything amazing for the last few challenges.

I believe Brian will be the next one sent home, he was one of the three at the bottom last challenge and on top of that he hasn't been doing so well in the challenges before that. Remember him as team captain recently? It appeared he appointed himself that position to get glory if everyone succeeded but if they didn't, he wouldn't take the blame stating that "...they are not my Sous Chefs...". The judges saw through him and unless he really cooks something amazing next challenge he's home

For Hung I don't think there's anyway he can win it. I'm surprised he's stayed in this long in the competition. It seemed that in the beginning of the season he was taking risks left and right, which the judges seemed to have appreciated enough to send him on to the next round after round. But recently he has been playing it safe, too safe to win I think. Also he just doesn't seem to have enough depth as a person, or perhaps that's just how he's portrayed but he seems like a one trick pony to me.

Casey... she boggles my mind. In the beginning of the season she did really well, then towards the middle she was taking the bottom place over and over again. Now she's stepping it up again. I can't tell what her issue is that is causing her to flip flop from the top 3 to the bottom 3 constantly. Is she getting lucky when she does win? Or is she really better than these other guys? It's hard to tell with her.

Sara: I think she has potential to win the whole thing. I used to not like her very much -- this is when she was letting Howie push her around and she just didn't have much presence. But that one day when she finally stood up to Howie and told him to "do them over" I developed a whole new respect for her. She has become much more assertive and it shows in her food I think, she's not forgettable anymore. And as long as she thinks things through from now on I think she can make it.

Dale: He's another one who one day is on the top and the next on the bottom. But I would say lately (last 3-4 episodes) he's been on the up and up. I'm pretty sure the only reason he didn't win the entire elimination challenge last time is because he forgot that ONE steak, otherwise it seemed flawless.

In Conclusion I think Dale, Sara, and Casey will be fighting to the death this season, sorry Hung! But my money, specifically is on Sara ... and NOT just because we share a name (minus the H)

HEY GOV'T, STAY OUT OF MY BED!

2007-09-08T19:20:00.000-04:00

I just saw a commercial on TV put out by our Government with the message for parents to tell their kids to wait until they are MARRIED to have sex. I am blown away.

I'm all for kids waiting until they're out of High School to have sex but how freaking antiquated is it to tell them to wait until they're married. They should add into the commercial the side note that if they actually wait that long they probably won't ever have sex-- Unless they're Mormon in that case they'll be having tons of sex.

But that's not even the point, MY point is how dare our government put out commercials like that. "Wait until marriage". How about .. use a condom or go on birth control or just don't sleep around. Those would be words of wisdom. I honestly believe that every year that passes it's harder and harder for kids to wait to have sex, and probably for multiple reasons: 1) it's more acceptable as time passes 2) there's more sex in the media 3) all the hormones we get from food is making kids develop sooner and sooner

Just so you all know, this commercial upset me so much that I actually paused my Warcraft II game to post about this. We need to do something about the government sharing a bed with us, they want us to wait until marriage to have sex and never have an abortion and they don't want women to be protected against cervical cancer (they're reasoning is that it will encourage young women to go out and do every man in their line of sight).

Sigh

What's the Point? 101

2007-09-08T13:47:00.000-04:00

Ironically this weekend I've been working on a Family Tree project for my mothers side of the family. My Great-Uncle has been doing a family e-mailing list for a few years now and I had never been apart of it. But when my mom forwarded me the e-mail talking about how one member of my extremely extended family had started a family tree on ancestry.com I had to take a stand and have my family start their tree on geni.com Not that the reasons matter much to you, but I didn't want to use ancestry.com because they charge you to use their site whereas geni.com is first of all FREE and it's a collaborative site-- Meaning you and your family can all go on there at the same time and update anything they want.

And today I've been attempting to read this weeks articles. I first tried to listen to Dr. Karen Stephenson's podcast, it sounded promising.. the introduction claimed it was a "fascinating talk" but no matter how fascinating the material might have been, she sounded as dull as safety scissors. So I pressed on and read Introduction to Social Network Theory by Charles Kadushin thankfully most of the article was readable but it started me wondering: Is this worth writing about?

To me, networks (of people) seem common sense, specifically the "points" Kadushin was stating, such as people who are geographically close to each other are more likely to be friends than those who aren't or that all it takes is one "tie" to each other for humans to give an excuse to forge a relationship (friendship or otherwise) such as going to the same school. I would say as a general rule, people are constantly looking for any excuse to create a relationship with another person.

What I am not understanding is why there is a need to study networks in this way. I completely understand the importance in recording networks and I can even understand what we can gain by studying the networks we record. But WHY oh WHY do we need to study these theories behind networks when they seem so obvious and first nature? We have studied human communication for reasons that I can agree with but to study this topic in these terms, I think is an unnecessary step.

What do you think? Leave a comment, let me know. Try not to be too harsh on me

Which is worse?

2007-09-07T17:06:00.000-04:00

I've been watching the local news for the past few minutes in which abc7 has mentioned two different criminal cases both of which have sentencing as an outcome. The first case mentioned was about the metro bus driver who struck and killed two women last Valentines Day due to his negligence. He pleaded guilty and is receiving 3 years in prison. The second case was about a sports coach (and little league coach) who was caught downloading "kiddie porn" some of which was more sadistic then sexual, he will be receiving 7 years in prison.

Now I'm not implying that what the coach did wasn't worth 7 years in prison, viewing kiddie porn, especially the type that the news was describing is a disgusting, sad thing. BUT the bus driver KILLED two women, he didn't just injure them, he ended their lives. He left people without mothers, wives, and friends. And for that he gets 3 years in jail? They showed the video of the bus crash and the women had a crosswalk--a green light to cross, yet the bus driver drove into oncoming traffic (and caused another car to swerve out of the way) and plowed into the women.

So how is this fair? Luckily for the bus driver the husband of one of the women seems very forgiving. If it were me, I'd have him shipped to Texas and fried.

Kid Nation -- Possibly the BEST Show Ever

2007-09-04T23:29:00.000-04:00

This is completely off topic as far as this class goes, but I can't help but post about it. I just read.. or rather skimmed an article talking about how horrible the show is and how the parents signed the kids up for basically slave labor at little more than minimum wages. And I guess the show isn't gonna be aired or they're deliberating about it... something like that.

In any case, I've always loved any show/movie where a group of people get stranded on a desert isle or get sent to some olde western town and have to start from scratch ... remember The Blue Lagoon with Brooke Shields? or Swiss Family Robinson? or that PBS show whose name I cannot remember for the life of me? ..this may explain why I can play Warcraft II for hours on end. So when I first saw the first commercials for Kid Nation, I nearly wet myself -- let me get this straight, Lord of the Flies ... on Television ... can life get any better? Of course I realized pretty quickly that due to all the laws we have to "protect" children in this country there is no way this show could reach it's true potential of being incredibly entertaining. I say they do the show, they forget the laws and leave the kids there for a few years and see what happens, that'd be awesome television ... and not a bad social experiment.

From Elementary School to Fortune 500

2007-08-31T23:32:00.000-04:00

If you read "The People Who Make Organizations Go-- or Stop" you may be better able to understand this post, but hopefully if I do my job well it won't be necessary.

Where I'm from people don't work for Corporations or usually in offices for that matter. We used to have factories which employed large numbers of people, but that's long gone, so the max number of people a semi-well educated person from my hometown might work with is 10. With that being said, reading articles like the one mentioned above is painful. How are we or am I expected to relate when most of the paper is focused around medium to large companies? But thankfully I was able to come away from this article with some interesting ideas that hopefully we'll all be able to apply elsewhere.

In a nutshell a somewhat large focus of the paper/article was about Connectors, not from your K'nex set but the people who all the other people go to when they need help/information/moral support. In my view there are two main issues that arise when either you are the Connector or have to manage and motivate a Connector.

1. Spreading the Connector thin
2. Rewarding the Connector (monetarily) without having a profit trail to follow

1a. This is where I can give you a real (from my)-life example. At my office business and profits revolve around technology and as any business tech person could tell you, the big-wigs don't ever want to give the tech department money. So due to this, for 30+ CSM's 5 CSD's 4 PM's and other assorted individuals there is but one stop on the IT train when you need help/information/(but definitely not moral support), this is my boss, John. He tends to get spread thin most days by the unending trail of CSM's wondering why reports from A are higher than reports from B etc etc (always the assumption is that we've coded incorrectly--but that's a different post). So what happens in our office when John is not at his desk? Sometimes all hell breaks loose, people run around looking for him like chickens with their heads cut off, some people even resort to asking me for my "expertise". Another downfall of having one main Connector is that John's task list can only be so long per day. I've watched issues/needs get pushed aside one after another due to a few "emergencies", those low priority requests turn into past-due ones quickly when this occurs day after day

2a. This second mini-topic reminded me of Elementary school, where we had a program called "Caught you Being Good", basically when a teacher noticed you doing something nice/good (picking up someone's trash, holding a door, other random things) you got a little gold slip with your name written on it deposited into a large hard-pretzel drum (empty of course) once a month your teacher would draw a name out of that drum and if your name was chosen you got to have lunch at McDonalds with the Principal and the other kids whose names were chosen that month. It was a huge deal for us and as the authors of "The People..." suggest, doing something similar for employees will have them giddy as school children. The authors suggested a similar program, where when someone notices you going out of your way to help your co-workers, your name is entered into a drawing for not lunch with the CEO, but a modest cash bonus. This idea seems useful for the pure fact that those naturally helpful/kind/deserving employees finally get the recognition they deserve, but also, it would probably encourage those who wouldn't normally go out of their way for others, to do so. Win-Win.

I'm not good at ending writings, so this is the official end of this one.

The first post

2007-08-29T12:58:00.000-04:00

Just so everyone knows:

On my honor, all posts on this blog are my own...

Mostly because I wouldn't trust anyone to put their ideas anywhere where my name is attached.