Archives for March, 2008
Twitter is broken. Thanks @JamesKirk
Has twitter always had the “blog this” option right from their web pages? I thought at one point I had added a GreaseMonkey script that would allow that to happen.
Anyway, this image was captured by our friend Will Norris, just to show his gratitude at my tweet of exactly 140 characters. Unfortunately, most of those characters were not broken by spaces, causing any page that my tweet showed up on to be jacked all to hell!
Taking bets on how long it takes the great folks at Twitter to fix this with an overflow: hidden in their css (or some other equally groovy solution)
Geesh, and I was just trying to be me. At least I’m not known as Glitch, hey Joseph?
Posting from Ubuntu 8.04 Linux trial
Thought I’d burn the latest Ubuntu 
version (8.04) and see how it panned out on the new-ish computer I built a couple of months ago. Like most really “wannabe” tech geeks, I’ve messed with Linux installs over the years, and have just never been able (willing?) to go the full monty and just learn to live in a Linux world.
Initially, a lot of that had to do with Microsoft products. Much, much less so now days. In fact, other than using XP Media Center (though I’ve yet to do any media using with it! Go figure) and the ubiquitous Internet Explorer (only for web development, I PROMISE!) the only bit of MS software I’ve used of late, and really enjoyed, was Windows Movie Maker.
The bigger picture, I imagine, is all the software goodies that we tend to use based upon the operating system we employ. My forays into Linux in the past have yielded much confusion and angst regarding not only finding software to do a job (yes, I realize there is TONS and TONS of good Linux/Open Source stuff out there, give a guy a break!) but more importantly, to installing it. You tend to learn a lot when you start your annual (tri-annual for me) Linux experiments. You learn until you get tired of learning to use the tool instead of actually productively using the tools.
Already, I’m unsure about this install. Yes, Firefox came with the install. Yay! And I ran through a bunch of extra applications I’d like (and a bunch of games I’d not like), only to find that when the OS finished and required a reboot to finalize (not unheard of) when I came back up, everything that I thought I had installed was not installed. For some reason the installation doesn’t seem to finish all the way at boot up, and I’m forced to “quit” (which is a bit confusing with “cancel” but hey, what do I know?!)
The other disappointing aspect of this “trial” is that it installed almost the entire disc on one of my drives in order to allow me the luxury of checking out Ubuntu on this computer without wiping off the XP install. I’m cool with that, though.
Oh, another disappointment is the fact that I’m not able to get my two widescreen monitors to work during this trial. The OS clearly tells me it sees the second video card, and attempting to activate it required a reboot. And guess what, yupper, it reverts back to the fresh trial install. Again, no big deal, but I’d have severe reservations about transforming this machine to all Linux before knowing “for sure” that I was going to be able to use both flat panels.
What I am seriously considering, however, is going ahead and wiping my 17″ widescreen laptop and putting this install of Linux on it. That might be fun, and I really don’t depend upon the laptop now days except when I decide to go to Jerona, one of the few (if not only) Internet cafes here in Cottonwood, AZ.
That’s it for now. Going to publish this Ubuntu powered post, and reboot to Windows. When I get it installed onto the laptop, I might do a follow up and create another series; something called “Living between Linux and Windows” or something more creative.
Dodging Bullets
Following is a series dedicated to the capture of my answers to end of section questions asked in the book, 4 Hour Workweek 
Page 46, Questions & Actions:
- Define your nightmare, worst case scenario if you do what you’re thinking of doing
- What could you do to fix things, even if temporarily?
- Describe outcomes/benefits, temp and perm, of probable scenarios
- If fired today, how would you regain financial control?
- What is fear causing you to put off?
- Postponing action is costing what: financially, emotionally & physically?
- What are you waiting for?
Seems to me that as I’ve set up this post, thinking on it all the way, I’m realizing that the absolute “worst case scenario” for me to continue pursuing the start-up of The Fight Channel is the (now moving into “years”) loss of all that time devoted to trying to make it happen. What if we don’t find funding (all indicators seem to point to the opposite at this time). What if we do find funding? How is that going to impact my life? Will I be happier or not so much if I suddenly find myself in the position of leading a group of fight fanatic web developers and marketing folks? Ironically, it feels as though there may be some fear of failure and fear of success all at the same time!
Either way, however, nothing that could happen, would even begin to approach “permanence”, right? I mean, I’m not getting into the cage with a Frank Shamrock only to leave on a stretcher! I’ve not got my entire personal “fortune” (in quotes for a reason 
) on the line (nor the investments of friends or family. Should probably put them in quotes as well!) so I’ll not be permanently doing away with anyones nest eggs.
Most likely, we’ll either find the financial support and move on, or we won’t, and the next chapter of life will begin: starting the process of looking for immediate income as I contemplate the next entrepreneurial adventure (and there are already several in the works!)
Obviously, upon successful funding of the current start up, we move into another chapter of that life. Great things will be closer to happening. Confidence in ones ideas and capabilities to implement, lead (and then get out of the way!) would be very high indeed. And if that chapter ends the story prematurely, there’s the entrepreneurial experience of “failing fast forward” that leads to character building, and (hopefully) producing new and different sets of failures in the future (not to be pessimistic, but they say that you fail many times before you end up at success.)
This one is a bit trickier considering that my “job” right now is pretty much pouring all of my time and effort into getting the start up to the funding point. The comparison here is that we run out of our current seed capital budget, and decide we can no longer move forward. IF that were to happen, THEN I would simply start looking around locally for whatever work might be available. I’ve structured my needs to be shockingly minimal for this current start up run, so I wouldn’t need to secure a 6 figure income immediately.
Just having typed that out allows me the opportunity to realize I’m actually in as nice a place as I can be for the moment.
Since there are seemingly non-stop lists of items to be worked on relating to investor presentations, business plan research, et al, I don’t believe I “fear” doing any of that work (sans the graphics work I need to do soon, but I understand that is more about being unfamiliar with all the capabilities of using graphics programs and being “creative” than anything else). I have been a little more resistant (fearful?) of getting myself back into the ongoing habit of a healthy lifestyle to include regular working out. The past couple of months have seen me catch some sort of flu bug, and then a decent case of some bronchitis. Prior to that I was actively getting to the point of habitualizing working out several times a week. Add to that the concepts of healthy eating (what to eat, how much to eat, when to eat it) that seem to come in and out of my disciplined control. Until now, that is! And I know what I’ve been putting off.
Again, fortunately, I feel very confident that there is no inaction regarding the positive movement of TFC.com. Up until now, however, the physical inaction (literally!) does present some very serious costs if allowed to continue for an indefinite period. Spiraling health, lacking of energy, increased risks of disease and mental/physical disorders really are not that compelling. It really does come down to mental motivation kicking off physical motivations. We’ve all had that great “burn” after working out, sweating a good bit, feeling strong. The challenge to overcome is continuing past the inevitable soreness (mental and physical) in order to make it a habit, a lifestyle. The alternatives are severely depressing however. Going to ponder on them for a while for sure.
What am I waiting for, indeed?! TF hits the nail on the head with his “…the answer is simple: You’re afraid.” He’s correct. Nothing comes easy. Nothing should. I can’t simply push a button and get from where I’m at today to where I want to be tomorrow, instantly. And I think the realization of success being the journey does have to apply to this trip of mapping out what one wants to get from all aspects of life. My friend Wallace says it best when he tells of, “having a clear mental image of what you want [from life] and with gratitude and doing things in a certain way, you’ll find all the riches the Universe has to offer” (and most likely much, much more, I believe!)
Rules that change the rules
Following is a series dedicated to the capture of my answers to end of section questions asked in the book, 4 Hour Workweek
Page 37, Questions & Actions:
- How has being “realistic” or “responsible” kept you from the life you want?
- How has doing what you “should” resulted in subpar experiences or regret for not having done something else?
- Look at what you’re currently doing and ask yourself, “What would happen if I did the opposite of the people around me? What will I sacrifice if I continue on this track for 5, 10, or 20 years?
Because I’ve tended to be overly loyal to friends and “potential” rewarding situations in life, I believe I’ve created a haven for waiting just a little longer for the life I truly desire to be living. Whether it be continually helping friends in need, or committing long periods of time, energy, and life force to working at a situation that does nothing to get me closer to the desired outcome, the long term results have clearly been the same: my feelings of loyalty and responsibility to family and friends has done very little in getting me where I need to be.
Again, going back to making family commitments, choosing to do what seemed right and “honorable” in the end seemed much more wrong and detrimental to my progress in life. Too often, I’ve found myself expressing regret in ways none too positive. And while I’ve been fortunate to stay (mostly!) on the right side of the law, it becomes so incredibly easy to understand how lives of crime are perpetrated. By continually living the subpar experience of life, I’d tended to look for the excuses rather than the solutions.
Fortunately, and with a very real amount of ongoing, smart work, I’m at the very beginning stages of building a number of startups that should have me very much in the drivers seat of my life. I have asked myself this question in the past, and have taken more than 5 or 10 years to get to this point. Nothing is as clear to me as my personal hindsight.
Apparently, this is something that you only really comprehend when you are ready to learn. Not before!
What does your writing “habit” look like?
So, clearly, I’ve not posted right in line the next day from the previous publication in this series. Woe is me (or as I typed in absent minded fashion, initially, Whoa)!
This has prompted my thought patterns the past couple of days to ask a question of myself, “What is the best posting frequency, FOR ME? I love the Steven King school of blog posting from individuals that have all the time in the world to do nothing but wax poetically on anything and everything that forms in their swirling mass of gray matter. At the same time, I also tend to enjoy the more infrequent, but well thought out, formed, informed, tending to encroach on the journalistic approach to writing a blog post, posts.
You’ll understand that I’m clearly not laying waste to those using the medium to simply off load the data on their internal hard drive. Hell, I’m no different! And if I had the time (that I HAVE TO ASSUME multi-posts per day bloggers must have) to do all that writing, I’d likely be a Steven King Jr. writer as well. If you know me, you know that I talk a LOT when I start talking. And if you’ve ever received an email from me it probably went something like this:
From You: Hey, James. How goes it? Got the info. When is good to sound chat?
My response:
From Me: About twelve pages of rolling, rambling, on going text that tells you in the most minute of details ever single thing that has anything to do with something related to answering your question pertaining to how it might be going for me in that very moment, the next moment and moments yet to come, but that will come because, they have always done so since the bowl of primordial soup was heated up. And now on to answer your “when is good to chat” question
See? You just cannot trust me to simply say, “Going great. How about 2pm tomorrow?” Send!
Which, again, brings me around to wondering what your writing habits look like. And how do your current habits compare to where you’d really like to be in your production?
Starting a new writing discipline
Have you ever just wanted to write? You know what I mean, just begin to write about whatever it is that gets you up in the morning and keeps you up at night? If you have had these types of urges, I’m feeling it with you.
Honestly! I am feeling it. And I’m working on developing the disciplined game plan that will hopefully help me to “make writing a habit”:
- Write one post every morning after completing the reading ritual (you know, getting caught up on everything that has come into the feed reader since the day before)
- Complete whatever the topic of that post is within a 30 minute window (or less, if I feel confident that a good post is in the works)
- Choose to “Save” the post and just put it away for the rest of the day
- As I’m working through the other “real stuff” I have to do at my desk and online, if I have further thoughts/ideas about that morning’s writings, log in, and do some work on it. Things like refining the post’s idea, or if I come across some graphic image that might help dress up the post. Things like that
- Worst case scenario, if I don’t come back to the post at all in a day, sleep on it, and revisit the saved post as the first thing I do when I start writing the next morning
- I believe this will do two things for me, 1) Get me into the flow of yesterday’s writing and more ready to continue with today’s ideas, and 2) Have a last revisit for polishing and tweaks if necessary before actually “Publishing” that post
Now, I do realize that my work will be a “day old”, and I’m alright with that, if this habit gets me to a steady state of writing posts more regularly. And if I’m feeling extraordinarily proficient in a given day and I can write another post after publishing something that seems “urgent”, I’ll do so. Hey, it’s my blog, right?
Most importantly, I hope to get more practice in on the keyboard so that when I do find more time for some of the larger writing projects, I’ll have the habit of writing every day well in place, and will dedicate serious time to those creative projects.
Just for the curious, I’m actually typing the first “draft” of this post on Sunday afternoon just after 4pm, Arizona time. If all goes according to plan, I will publish it early tomorrow morning. (And no, I’m not going to be using the WP “post time stamp” feature, unless I get really proficient and have bunches of postings to get up on the site!)
Hey, one step at a time, Grasshopper!
Testing a theory
Will this turn out 14px, bold and red in the feed?
-
-
-
Featured Book
