Each week I am listening to two new recordings. This weeks selections are:
Tuesday, March 7, 2006
A day in my life…
Monday morning:
My alarm clock hardly ever goes off. My internal alarm is way too powerful. The only reason I even turn the damn thing on is because I'm afraid that once in a blue moon when I will sleep longer than anticipated. For all of my life I've slept with a click, staring at me, with bold red numbers, and hardly ever needed its service. The first thing my wife and I bought when we got married was a stupid black alarm clock with bold red numbers, and guess what, we still have it.
I always wonder if I should shave after my shower. What do I care if my face has day old stubble? Do you know what a pain in the ass it is to have facial hair that requires shaving every day? So I try and pull my schedule up into my mushy brain cells. Do I have something happening today that I should shave for? Mondays are always full meetings and so generally I'll shave. But I hate it.
I'm looking at my closet. My wife and I have this thing... we hate our wardrobes. For me, I'm losing weight and I'm in between sizes. So everything is a little loser than I want but I can't bring myself to buy a bunch of new clothes I'll grow out of in a month or so. Ahhh, I just hate it. So I grab the main stay, a t-shirt, and then the jeans. Is it sneakers or Dockers today? What did I wear yesterday? Who cares, grab whatever's closest.
Breakfast has to be the worst part of a human's day. You just spent 6-9 hours sleeping, it's probably been at least 10-12 hours since you last ate, but you're too tired to care about eating. If I don't eat before I leave then I tend to not eat. By 9 AM I'm shaking. Have you seen what your kids eat for breakfast? One morning its cocoa pebbles, the next it's sugar smack something, the next it's the wife's kashi. Cereal always leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I dream of breakfasts at Denny's (which is why I have to lose so much weight.)
I typically get to the office when it's dark. Zero dark thirty we used to say in the Marine Corp. That means any time before dawn, which is usually when Marines do things. Typically, I'm one of the first to arrive. There is always someone there before me, but I like going in early. If you start asking me questions about work crap before I've even taken my coat off I'm bound to ignore you or at least ask you to wait until I've had a chance to sit down and get settled. I have a routine. I love my routine. It's like drinking coffee only not.
Email is my worst enemy. I hate it. I love how fast people can communicate and allows people with great distances between themselves to communicate. But on the average I get 100+ emails. Not trivial spam email, but actual email that I have to at least evaluate if it needs a response or not.
I spend the next several hours working on various projects, writing some C# code, working with a new intern on his goals and objectives to get university credit, lunch, foos ball, and a meeting.
You know, there is one thing I hate more than any other type of work experience. It's when someone calls with a problem that needs to be resolved immediately, and they do it at 5 PM. Why? Why can't people discover problems at 9 AM? Even noon. But no, they have to wait till the very last minute to ask for help. Ahhh! I worked with a guy once who used to enter emergency bugs on a product he was testing and I was the developer, and then quietly walk out the door. At the time the culture was no one went home if there was an emergency bug. We needed it fixed right away, no matter the hour or the complexity. But this guy would do it at least once a week. Ruined my whole night. We should have adopted a policy that required the tester who entered the bug to stay as long as the developer. But, that's a whole nother story.
Finally, home, throw off the work clothes and jump in my sweats. Kiss the family (who are all about to head off to bed), grab a little food and chat with my wife. Just glad the day is over. Stressing about the next because I know it will be just as bad.
read more...
My alarm clock hardly ever goes off. My internal alarm is way too powerful. The only reason I even turn the damn thing on is because I'm afraid that once in a blue moon when I will sleep longer than anticipated. For all of my life I've slept with a click, staring at me, with bold red numbers, and hardly ever needed its service. The first thing my wife and I bought when we got married was a stupid black alarm clock with bold red numbers, and guess what, we still have it.
I always wonder if I should shave after my shower. What do I care if my face has day old stubble? Do you know what a pain in the ass it is to have facial hair that requires shaving every day? So I try and pull my schedule up into my mushy brain cells. Do I have something happening today that I should shave for? Mondays are always full meetings and so generally I'll shave. But I hate it.
I'm looking at my closet. My wife and I have this thing... we hate our wardrobes. For me, I'm losing weight and I'm in between sizes. So everything is a little loser than I want but I can't bring myself to buy a bunch of new clothes I'll grow out of in a month or so. Ahhh, I just hate it. So I grab the main stay, a t-shirt, and then the jeans. Is it sneakers or Dockers today? What did I wear yesterday? Who cares, grab whatever's closest.
Breakfast has to be the worst part of a human's day. You just spent 6-9 hours sleeping, it's probably been at least 10-12 hours since you last ate, but you're too tired to care about eating. If I don't eat before I leave then I tend to not eat. By 9 AM I'm shaking. Have you seen what your kids eat for breakfast? One morning its cocoa pebbles, the next it's sugar smack something, the next it's the wife's kashi. Cereal always leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I dream of breakfasts at Denny's (which is why I have to lose so much weight.)
I typically get to the office when it's dark. Zero dark thirty we used to say in the Marine Corp. That means any time before dawn, which is usually when Marines do things. Typically, I'm one of the first to arrive. There is always someone there before me, but I like going in early. If you start asking me questions about work crap before I've even taken my coat off I'm bound to ignore you or at least ask you to wait until I've had a chance to sit down and get settled. I have a routine. I love my routine. It's like drinking coffee only not.
Email is my worst enemy. I hate it. I love how fast people can communicate and allows people with great distances between themselves to communicate. But on the average I get 100+ emails. Not trivial spam email, but actual email that I have to at least evaluate if it needs a response or not.
I spend the next several hours working on various projects, writing some C# code, working with a new intern on his goals and objectives to get university credit, lunch, foos ball, and a meeting.
You know, there is one thing I hate more than any other type of work experience. It's when someone calls with a problem that needs to be resolved immediately, and they do it at 5 PM. Why? Why can't people discover problems at 9 AM? Even noon. But no, they have to wait till the very last minute to ask for help. Ahhh! I worked with a guy once who used to enter emergency bugs on a product he was testing and I was the developer, and then quietly walk out the door. At the time the culture was no one went home if there was an emergency bug. We needed it fixed right away, no matter the hour or the complexity. But this guy would do it at least once a week. Ruined my whole night. We should have adopted a policy that required the tester who entered the bug to stay as long as the developer. But, that's a whole nother story.
Finally, home, throw off the work clothes and jump in my sweats. Kiss the family (who are all about to head off to bed), grab a little food and chat with my wife. Just glad the day is over. Stressing about the next because I know it will be just as bad.
Saturday, February 25, 2006
My first attempt at a podcast
I tried my hand at podcasting today. It was very interesting. I spent some time searching the internet for software and other pointers to get me started. The idea behind my podcast is a specific music genreand so it wasn't too difficult to get content. Once I had a few pieces of software I started recording.
First I wrote a small script. Read it into the mic and played it back to hear what it sounded like. I hate hearing my self recorded; I don't think it sounds anything like me.
I started playing with music fade in, music fade out, imported a few mp3's, and then stitched everything together. After about 2 hours and 9 different records I made something that sounded pretty good.
My attempt at this is due in part to my desire to host a very well known podcast that has been without a regular host for quite some time. I really want to do this. I am pretty familiar with the genre, I have all the technology, and I think I will only get better when it comes to editing and content. What I lack is a comfortable voice. I seemed to be very nervous even though I was the only one who would ever hear this recording.
I did send an email to a friend asking for some feedback. He was kind, but had the same conclusion I did and that was my voice sounded scripted. So, I think next time instead of trying to read from a script, I'll jotdown some notes, take some time to think about what I want to say, and then just have a conversation. That's what I think will really make a difference, having a conversation with the listener. I am producing a music podcast so I should be having a conversation about the tracks and the artists.
I'll be making new categories for the podcasts and trying various things out while I get more comfortable. I would appreciate any feed back you could give.
Here is a list of sites and software I found to get me started, I'm sure it will change.
[1] Recording a Podcast
[2] Magnatune.com
[3] Audacity for Windows
[4] Podomatic
Does AdSense help make your blog money?
I read a lot of blogs; probably too many. But I mainly read posts via an RSS reader and not on the site directly. Every so often I click through to the site to read more posts by an author or to see what other things they have to offer. I almost always notice AdSense ads all over the place. At the top of every page; in the post body; on the side bar; on the comments page; and some souls even try and put ads in their RSS feeds.
Do you actually click the AdSense links and purchase any of the offerings? I've heard old tales of people making thousands even hundredsof thousands of dollars with AdSens. I don't think any of it's true, or at least not close. So if the reality is no one is making money with AdSense, why do so many web sites host the ads?
Take for instance 43Folders. I love reading Merlin's content. I'm not a Mac fan but I love the way he writes and he always posts relevant content regardless of my operating systems. In fact, I probably read his site the most. A few months ago he caused an uproar on his site by telling his readers he was trying new layouts for ads to help offset his costs. It was somewhat humorous to see how people reacted. I didn't care myself since I almost always read 43Folders posts via RSS. So far I don't know if he's making any money, but for the effortI sure hope he is.
I have an AdSense account, and I have attempted in the past to use those ads on various pages of my website. I've made to date $0.00. Now, I sort of laugh as I'm typing this knowing that there is more to AdSense than just putting some code on a page and hope someone clicks through. But, if your intent is to make a few dollars to offset the cost of your site then why not just have a donation button linked to a PayPal account? I mean, I'd give Merlin $5 to help stay in business.
I think the amount of moneypeople make from AdSens is supposed to remain secret. So, unless someone is breaking the rules, no one should really know how much is made, but I really have a hard time thinking it's enough to make a living. I could be wrong though.
read more...
Do you actually click the AdSense links and purchase any of the offerings? I've heard old tales of people making thousands even hundredsof thousands of dollars with AdSens. I don't think any of it's true, or at least not close. So if the reality is no one is making money with AdSense, why do so many web sites host the ads?
Take for instance 43Folders. I love reading Merlin's content. I'm not a Mac fan but I love the way he writes and he always posts relevant content regardless of my operating systems. In fact, I probably read his site the most. A few months ago he caused an uproar on his site by telling his readers he was trying new layouts for ads to help offset his costs. It was somewhat humorous to see how people reacted. I didn't care myself since I almost always read 43Folders posts via RSS. So far I don't know if he's making any money, but for the effortI sure hope he is.
I have an AdSense account, and I have attempted in the past to use those ads on various pages of my website. I've made to date $0.00. Now, I sort of laugh as I'm typing this knowing that there is more to AdSense than just putting some code on a page and hope someone clicks through. But, if your intent is to make a few dollars to offset the cost of your site then why not just have a donation button linked to a PayPal account? I mean, I'd give Merlin $5 to help stay in business.
I think the amount of moneypeople make from AdSens is supposed to remain secret. So, unless someone is breaking the rules, no one should really know how much is made, but I really have a hard time thinking it's enough to make a living. I could be wrong though.
Friday, February 24, 2006
100 million reasons to use Flickr
This is a great post on possible uses of Flickr. I think you can use a Flickr account to market Homes as well.
1. Each house you have for sale can be a set. There are so many possibilities here. Integrate them into your website, your blog or even in an email link. With the ability to show individuals, you can also provide a slide show.
2. Create a photo set of all the homes you may have shown a potential buyer. Then they can refer back to refresh their memory. You are taking your digital camera with you on each showing, right?
3. Create a set of potential homes for an out of state buyer.
4. Create a set of photos of the neighborhood and surrounding areas. This is rarely if ever done.
5. Reduce or eliminate the need to store photos on your own web server. I made the move to eliminate all the photos from my web server and host them in Flickr.
In any of these cases you will want to purchase a Professional account so you aren't limited in the amount of photos you upload and store.
read more...
1. Each house you have for sale can be a set. There are so many possibilities here. Integrate them into your website, your blog or even in an email link. With the ability to show individuals, you can also provide a slide show.
2. Create a photo set of all the homes you may have shown a potential buyer. Then they can refer back to refresh their memory. You are taking your digital camera with you on each showing, right?
3. Create a set of potential homes for an out of state buyer.
4. Create a set of photos of the neighborhood and surrounding areas. This is rarely if ever done.
5. Reduce or eliminate the need to store photos on your own web server. I made the move to eliminate all the photos from my web server and host them in Flickr.
In any of these cases you will want to purchase a Professional account so you aren't limited in the amount of photos you upload and store.
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