June CodeAway in Salt Lake City

I was finally able to attend my first CodeAway. It was very interesting. By time things got cookin there were about 10 people including a really cute munchkin. Ash and I talked about the new rev of BridesClub.com; Matt and I (and another guy whose name I can't remember, sorry) talked about NASCAR, and racing in general, and of course it's all lost in translation. Mike was pretty quiet. Laura talked about her latest DVD from Starling Fitness (I blogged about her here) and she was assembling mailers. Marleigh was there and I learned that she is so smart and will rule the world one day. And finally, still, no one knows what I do. I really need to frackin work on that. But that's another blog post.

When I first arrived I discovered that Mike and Laura have a cat, and bless his heart, I'm just allergic an no amount of medicine can fix it. I'm not sure why, I guess I need to get that problem resolved. Sorry Laura, I hope you weren't offended in anyway, but I really appreciate you not kicking me out.

There was lots of food, drink and good times. So, next month, I'll try and have a laptop and actually work on a coding project, or something similar to a coding project.

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Shaking my fists at the Hosting Gods

Bear with me while I try and explain why I think the Hosting Gods are against me. For starters the best hosting company I ever had went out of business. Not sure why, there were many reasons I was told. I noticed the service level went way down, couldn't get through to customer service and so on. But this isn't how it always was. The company used to be very responsive. I knew most of the guys there by their first names and I think they knew me pretty well too.

So off I went to find a good web host. One that would give me similar service and features. I found several on my own and had several referred to me. So I picked one, mostly based on price (because they all had similar features), and started the process. I guess I was spoiled because I paid each month for my service, not a whole year up front. I did this for a reason, because I wanted to leave with no strings if needed.

So here is where I start shaking my fists at the Hosting Gods. You cannot tell me that charging for a whole years worth of hosting with no set up fee, nets you more money than letting me pay every month and charging me a setup fee. Oh wait, that's where you make your money, actually, more money, by charging a setup fee. So let's get the facts straight:

1. You charge less per month if you pay for a whole year in advance. OK, discounts are great.

2. You don't charge a setup fee if I choose the lesser priced year in advance.

3. In most cases I can't even pay month to month; you want me to pay quarterly, half yearly or the whole year, the first two with setup fees and no discounted monthly rate.

4. You only have one rate plan; one year in advance.

Yes, I'm ranting. I don't buy the it's easier it all upfront excuse. How hard is it to charge per month? It's not. See, if I pay per month and your service goes down hill, or your product starts crapping out, I can change providers. But when you shackle me to your service for a whole year, I lose options. That's not good business, and I feel sorry for those who are so proud to be a customer of a Hosting company who holds their customers hostage.

If you run a good Hosting company, will let me pay per month and not charge me a pocket lining setup fee, I'd love to hear from you. Prove me wrong. Prove I can have great hosting with good features and good service for a reasonable price.

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Remembering Family and Friends

In remembering our heroes, we honor the great sacrifices made for the dreams of every American. May we never forget their strength, courage, and profound willingness to stand up and defend our way of life. We hope this important holiday finds you and your family well and inspires you to reach for your dreams.

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First pass at Seth Godin’s book The Dip

It's only 80 pages. It's only quarter inch thick. At first glance you may not think there is any substance to this book at all. But you would be wrong. The reason? Seth has removed all the fluff a book usually has. He gets right to the point. It causes one to reflect on the path you are on, and decide, right now, no delay, to make a change if one is necessary, or "stick" to the course, or the Dip as he calls it, and see the process through.

A couple of things really hit me as I read the whole book yesterday. One, people get scared so they quit. They run out of money so they quit. They run out of time so they quit. I've come up on all three of these. Seth also coins a phrase, Serial Quitter. Someone who is always quitting when things get tough, or scary, or painful. I see this a lot, not only with myself but from others as well. I think it's one of the reasons there are so many failures in small business today.

I'm reading it again. Will study more closely the factors and the resolutions. Take inventory of my own path. Which projects are important, which aren't.

But the best part of this while experience so far has been the question; Are you the very best at what you are doing? If not, quit, right now, today.

More after I read this book several more times. Thanks to Ash Buckles for the book. I'm glad Ash and Phil Burns are as excited about it as I am.

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A solemn reminder of sacrifices made

I saw this picture today. I'm not trying to make a political statement, I just thought this was an exceptional photo that has a lot of emotion.

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