Another Month | Another Year

Wow, can't seem to post lately. What's new lazy bones? Hmmm.

My birthday: Gone.

Christmas: Past. (Gosh, think it's a hockey stick?)

Wallet: Empty.

Kids: Happy. (Hello new laptop. Hello $700 summer camp for video game development.)

New Year's Eve: Fun.

Work: Busy. And in the midst of the madness, I moved to a small office in my little town. No indoor parking. No fire place. No coworkers.

Here's a snowy view from the side window of my new office. Bleak yet still charming somehow as the street wends along the canal. Now I can run next door for a cup of coffee or across the street for new Birkenstocks (as if). There's also a cute, cobblestone fire-placed, chandelier-laden crepes restaurant right here. Two awesome Greek restaurants. And one of my favorite places for fun cocktails just a few doors down.  Of course, I haven't ventured out yet. Too cold.

And here's a picture of the view out the front window above my desk. Until I snapped this, I had not noticed the prominent telephone lines! Instead, I watch everyone out jogging along the canal (even in the dead of winter) or walking their dogs and I get jealous. Wait 'til spring when they're in the sunshine enjoying ice cream cones and I'm sitting up here. Maybe I'll start throwing reams of paper at them.

Oh well. Happy 2012. The year of the Dragon. YEA! Good luck for me, Son #1 and my nephew Tim: all dragons.

Got a Dyslexic Blog

Don't look now but my disappear/reappear blog post just moved up to today's slot.

Bananas.

Got a dyslexic blog. You keep swayin' -- what are you sayin'? Thinking 'bout stayin?

LoOk It'S bACk

I don't want to jinx meself; however, it looks like my original post (below) is baaaaack.

The Night Sweats Revisited

Bored and playing around. Sick of the black with polka dots but this is too girlie girl for me.

Fashion Crime

For ages now, I have been thinking of starting a blog in which I would shop once/week at a store with a crappy brand image for fashion (e.g., Sears) and I would limit myself to items on the sale rack. I wondered if I could find crazy bargains and still look good (relatively speaking!) or if it would be so confining that I would begin to look like a character in Mudflap Bubbas' old life.

On Thursday, I was running an errand and briefly stopped into the Dress Barn on an ancillary scouting expedition.

The findings are shocking: The Dress Barn fashion is a) actually worse than I ever imagined (and I'm pretty imaginative) and b) much more expensive than my middle American budget can afford.

Example: Marled Hooded Sweater Coat -- originally $49.99 | now $25.00

Their own site says, "Operates a chain of off-price women's apparel stores." But twenty five dollars for that? Is that "off-price" or just "off-fashion"? Is that affordable when half of all U.S. households generate income less than $46K per year?

So I have to rethink my middle Americana chic shopping blog. I'm not sure I want to drop $1300 this year on a load of crap just for the challenge.

The Idiots' Guide to Makee Money

I have a serious question. How do people who post crap in blog comments make money?

Like:

As Xrumer experts, we secure been using [url=http://www.xrumer-seo.com]Xrumer[/url] quest of a large leisure now and know how to harness the titanic power of Xrumer and turn it into a Cash machine.

Followed much later by:

Reminisce over, Transport is Money.
[/b]

TRAVERSE B RECOVER YOUR INFERIOR BURST TODAY:

While I realize that online language translators aren't always optimal, I seriously don't understand how this mess can ever be monetized. What am I missing (aside from an untapped revenue stream)?

Reminisce over and out. Show me the (transport is) money.

BlogHer Roc!

Riding in the car a moment ago, we heard "Rock the Casbah." Son #1 said, "This is one band that can always put me in a good mood."

A nine year old boy after my own heart.

* * * * *

In other news, I bookmarked this fun blog, Chic and Green, a while back and just last month noticed that the blogger is a local Irondequoit chick. How cool is that?


More recently, I stumbled upon this beautiful letterpress shop, Pistachio Press, located right here in the Roch. Of course, the artist also writes a blog: Which Ones Are Weeds.

One thing led to another and, lookee here, two more Upstate NY bloggers: Two Brunettes and The Sweetest Occasion. 

I'm starting to think that there's an entire subculture of local bloggers that I may want to meet!

"A Watch Doesn't Really Go With This Outfit, Daddy"

Today's New York Times contains an article by Steve Lohr, A Data Explosion Remakes Retailing, which discusses how retailer Wet Seal introduced an online feature to their site last year called Outfitter which:

• Allows users to put together their own outfits online, post them for others to browse/comment and exchange recommendations
• Has generated more than 300K user-designed outfits and millions of page views

The December 24 edition of the New York Times: The Year in Style printed an article by Eric Wilson, Bloggers Crash Fashion’s Front Row, that began with the line, "NOT everyone thought it was adorable in September when a 13-year-old wunderkind blogger named Tavi was given a front-row seat at the fashion shows of Marc Jacobs, Rodarte and others."

Reading the two articles made me think that somewhere in this high-tech confluence of avatars meets user-generated content (e.g., blogging, tweeting) meets the backlash against suburban mall ubiquity, wouldn't it be great not only to allow ordinary teenagers, or anyone for that matter, to establish themselves on the Internet as style mavens (ranging from couture to consignment) but also to monetize it through a common technology platform? In other words, little Jackie O., or today's version of Cher Horowitz, could write a fabulous blog about her elegant, teen life in the debutante fast lane and pull together sensational outfits from myriad retailers -- well beyond Wet Seal -- so that other little Jackie O'lookalikes across the country could benefit from her fashion sense. More importantly, by driving traffic to the retailers, little Jackie O. should also make a buck or two in the process via a virtual revenue share agreement that could possibly grow with her relative popularity and, accordingly, the volume of sales generated.

Maybe this is already possible and I'm just not in the know; however, I still see more blogs with non-revenue generating links to external sites coupled with the traditional banner ad advertising model. The time may be ripe to bring it up a notch and make the clothes come to life.

Blogarrhea

The NYT ran an article yesterday entitled "Blogs Falling in an Empty Forest" which states that roughly 95% of all blogs have essentially been abandoned. People write blogs with the hope of securing a book deal or, at the very least, generating some comments. Others have made themselves more public in smaller increments through Facebook or Twitter and that's sufficient for them.

I write specifically into the empty forest just to purge. Like swimming or dancing, it just feels good. And, unlike work, it doesn't have to be structured or even succinct. There's no deadline. No imposed storyline. I'm not trying to find my voice. Nothing matters. No boss or client expectations. I don't have to be happy. Nor do I have to be perfect. Most importantly, I don't have to talk about market trends, industry forecasts, positioning, value propositions, strategic plans, succession planning, return on assets, top or bottom line growth, organizational modeling, outsourcing, partnering, scenario modeling, voice of customer, operational efficiencies, venture capital, government grants, tax incentives or geographic expansion. (Unless I want to.)

Instead, I can wax poetic about really important things like my kids, my ever increasing lard ass, wrinkles, bodily fluids, the cocktail du jour, girls night out, yeehaw fashion, redunkulous neighborhood gossip, random moments from my so-called-life, etc.

It's liberating.

And it also explains the dearth of comments and nonexistent book deal. Aldous Huxley I'm not.

This Will Make You Cry

Click on this link to meet Matt Logelin who writes about life with his beautiful baby girl, who was born just over a year ago, and about life without the baby's mom who died 36 hours after the birth.



When you're done reading (and sobbing), click here and donate money to the Liz Logelin Foundation to financially assist families as they deal with the loss of their loved ones, and struggle to move forward.

My First Dictionary

I just added another blog to my favorite sites: My First Dictionary. Disturbing yet funny!

The Best Job in the World

Caretaker of the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef. What will I have to do? Blog for Tourism Queensland! Hey, I can do that!

Other duties: feed the fish, clean the pool, collect the mail.

It also pays ~$100K for a six-month assignment. Hello!

What they're looking for:

• Excellent interpersonal communication skills
• Good written and verbal English skills
• An adventurous attitude
• Willingness to try new things
• A passion for the outdoors
• Good swimming skills and enthusiasm for snorkeling and/or diving
• Ability to engage with others
• At least one year’s relevant experience
  

In other words: ME!

I can home school the kids on the beach for six months, right? And I could hang with Margaroo when she comes to visit from Brisbane every single weekend, right?

But would I have to learn how to cook?

Why? Cuss we like you!

Apparently, this is 91% less than other websites who took this test (read: derelict expletive-laden filth mongers).

However, if I'm aiming for Six Sigma defect standards, I have some gosh darn diddly arn work to do.

Created by OnePlusYou.