I didn’t really get myself too much for Christmas besides a new laptop (and a free upgraded cellphone because my other one died - thanks Sprint), so instead I’m heading to CES next week with a good friend for a bit of relaxation and oo-ing and awe-ing at the technology. If you’re going to be there, hit me up, I’d be glad to take you to lunch or something.

I’m also launching a couple projects this week, SophVoice.com (including the customer portal), AZEntertained.com (after something like 2 years - gee whiz), and a project I’m working on with my good buddy Kenneth. As soon as those are up, I’ll post some info about them. Exciting times and I’m poised for a great 2008.

Anyways to reflect on last year a brief bit, and my plans moving forward. I’ve moved a ridiculous amount of times this past year (I think 4 or 5 total times) lots of explanations why, but basically I’m busy. On top of that, I absolutely hate moving, it’s a huge waste of time, it is exhausting, and it’s always more expensive then you think it’s going to be. I’m planning to move back to Tempe, AZ once my brother gets back in town around March (never move in the Phoenix area between April and September - it is wayyy too damn hot).

Though I’ve barely posted on here, I’ve spent tons of time on other web projects, built my own billing/support system for all of my projects (been needing to do this forever!), and launched a few new projects. Fiscally things are better than they’ve ever been, and I’m pretty stoked overall about the future.

Anyways, I wish everyone the best of success in 2008. Hope you get some stuff, make a little money, and have a blast doing it.

Business is great, in fact, better than it’s ever been, getting back in shape, eating better, sleeping more correctly, and feeling better about things in general. Still have those stupid glooming issues, but it’s time to let those rest and get some stuff down.

Business wise I ended up with yet another web hosting company in my hands (I’ll throw a URL out later next week), which I’m pretty excited about, worked out a great deal with a guy I have known for a while that was mutually beneficial. Although it’s not the largest purchase so far, in fact, it’s definitely the smallest, it is pretty old and has a loyal customer base. I’ve also moved off of Tucow’s Platypus billing system - such a horrid product from such a horrid company (don’t believe me, look at their stock, ) - I ended up replacing it with a custom built solution that was built over the summer and so far, with a few kinks here and there, I’ve been quiet happy with the results and cost savings.

In between the time that I last posted, I managed to wreck my motorcycle at about 80mph, which actually turned into a huge blessing, because I can barely walk, I’m bound to my desk all the time, and since I’m not a huge fan of television, all I can do is work, and boy has it helped - though I don’t plan on repeating any attempts to eat pavement, especially in the middle of nowhere at 3am.

Although I’ve been swamped, too swamped to car about a new car, I’m still on the prowl, definitely brand new, and price isn’t really much of an issue anymore, which is definitely a nice thought. I want something big, roomy, comfortable, and quiet. Something like the Lexus LS460, BMW 745, or a Infiniti M35. I need something with four doors and I want something that stands out, even if it’s an old mans car. So we’ll see what happens, hopefully before the end of September.

Anyways, I’m so striving to make an effort to start posting more regularly on here, maybe even several times a day as it is unbelievably relieving. Hope everyone has a great weekend, until next time - take care.

2) Make whatever unfounded assumptions that you want, in reality, your business is going down the drain, and as I write this, I’m sure you’re sitting up, freaking out because you don’t know what to do. You’ve already fired most of your good employees, jacked up your pricing sky high, scared of good paying quality customers because you couldn’t fuck them for that extra $25 a month on top of the $750 they were already paying you. Remember, this isn’t long term life insurance, this is technology, there’s a 1,000 different companies doing what you’re doing, making the same stupid misconceptions, and running their 1,000 different companies into the ground, burning up the time of their employees, and really screwing over their customer bases.

3) A contract is a bi-lateral agreement. When you write a contract that clearly benefits you more than the other party, it isn’t a contract, it’s a piece of paper, with some signatures on it, that says you can attempt to screw the other person.

4) I have heard your loyalists (particularly a naive relative of mine) say things like you’ve got “fuck you money”, well I’m sure you have deeper pockets than mine, but I’ll tell you something, I’ve got “fuck you stamina”, and no matter what you do, I’ll be like Oscar De Lahoya, and keep poppin back up for more without veering out of sheer honesty and integrity let alone breaking a single law.

5) Keep canning your best employees, it has seemed to work for you so far. While you’re at it though, make sure you micro-manage everything like you do now and are able to keep up. After you burn out your heart, your family, and just about hit AARP eligibility (in what, like 8 years?) and then find out you have serious medical issues, don’t go walking to anyone looking for sympathy, because unlike the average bustin-their-ass-person that is in the same position as you medical wise, they got there with glory, and you got there screwing people - it’s as clear as possible.

6) I used to have a bit of respect for you. I’ll be honest, I naturally brown nose people a bit just to keep everything friendly, but en then I did have a little respect for you. It wasn’t because I could see through your sheer fakeness when you were “coaching” me or any other person on a topic that you’re no-where near an authority on (such as families, let alone anything revolving around technology), but mainly because of your persistence. You did appear to bust your ass every once and a while, and I always have a great amount of respect for hardworkers, but the thing of it was, and the only reason I can only really give you half credit, is that you required everyone else to do it also. You don’t lead people by dragging them on their feet, you lead people by showing them the way with a smile on your face, a check in your hand, and some guidelines to get everyone through it.

7) In reality, you don’t know everything and you didn’t get everywhere in life - facts are facts. I don’t care where you came from, what organizations your kids are involved with, or that your neighbor next door was a professional tennis player and you think they’ve got an “in” on some “big deals” at a local resort they teach tennis at. There’s a lot to learn in life, and although I do believe it is possible to posess the mental capacity to know more than other humans (not all humans), that does not mean you have to belittle or disrespect them. You should treat them as humans, expect a fair level of treatment back, and realize that no one is perfect, no one knows everything, and that your “to-the-point-approach” isn’t a to-the-point-approach, it is merely a scape goat for you trying to show you’re better than everyone else. It is obvious that at one point or another in your life, probably highschool, you were made fun of, and I truly apologize for that, but drop your anger at the rest of the world and do something productive, treat your employees well, and get a life - you need it.

8) I know you sent out a company wide memo stating that no employee could talk to me on duty or off (I won’t even question the sheer stupidity, let alone legitimacy of that), but to can a employee because of the fact they looked at my account a few times when I was an active customer and rebooted a few of my servers for me, does not mean they were leaking information out. Unlike you, I am an honest person and wouldn’t dare trying to pry info out of a current employee at the risk of jepordizing their job. But hey, it is okay, because the guy you figured I’m sure will find an outstanding job, making more money, for a larger company, with better benefits, less bullshit, that actually appreciates their employees.

9) Oh, and for everyone of those times when I pulled an all nighter and then drove two hours back home the next day just to finish up this or that stupid projects, and you and I went to lunch but you didn’t buy me lunch, ya, screw you for every single one of those times.

So on the flip side of it all, although I’m sure I could break the law and cause harm to this company in three seconds flat, I won’t dare, because Mr. Duche-Bag-Old-Employer-that-is-reading-this, I’ve got dignity, I work hard in life and don’t jump at easy opportunities. I will however, suggest that you criticize your current software licensing and make sure everything is up to date, because after my report to the BSA last week (see BSA.org if you have any questions) I’m sure some very nice auditors will be knocking on your door. I would then also suggest you start taking a look at your wireless towers, because after I finish filing my numerous reports to the FCC on how you’re breaking their regulations, you’re going to need to start overloading the towers and putting more customers on them after getting hit with those $50k plus nasty fines that the FCC will start tolling out to you - per infraction I might add.

Take care, I will laugh as you continue to drive your rickety business into the ground.

Robert Norton
The 23rd Insulted Former Employee

—-

For those of you who might thing this is paranoid, I’m not a paranoid person myself, I don’t have anything to hide, I just want to show this person, his company, and his fellow loyalists, that they do not rule the world, let alone have control over me.

Oh and if you’re sitting there wondering why I wrote this, it is purely because I was working on the statistics portion of this site out of sheer randomness and noticed a few very recent hits from this particular employer, infact from his home DSL, so yes, if you’re reading this old-employer, I’m saying Hi, feel free to leave a comment but don’t let the door smack you flat on your ass on the way out….

None the less, I need to make it a point to post here more, because I appreciate the people who check back daily, weekly, monthly, or whenever-the-hell else, and on top of that, this is a natural stress reducer and I could always use more of those in my life.

I hope you all had an outstanding Cinco De Mayo, for those of you finishing up the semester, good luck on your finals, I’ll be sure to post later this week.

Take care.

The movie itself has an outstanding plot centered around the soccer (football, whatever…) gangs of Europe, and includes some outstanding fight scenes. The plot is nearly perfect with a few dropping points here and there and moves along fast enough that you do not get bored with the movie nor do you lose sight of what is actually taking place.

Elijah Wood plays a Harvard Journalism Senior, who after being wrongfully expelled moves to England to visit his sister. While there, he becomes emersed in the Green Street Elite (GSE) Hooligans firm and learns several critical life lessons at a very high cost.

I highly recommend checking the movie out on DVD. Like I said, it’s a pretty fast paced movie, loud and eventful enough to keep your attention.

For those of you who haven’t seen the movie and want to hear more about it, check out the ever-so-faithful, IMDB.

Last week was Spring Break for my local area and I was initially planning on leaving on a short vacation out to the lake to enjoy the warm weather, but I skipped it in favor of getting some work done. With a recent death in the family this week, that all changed because I had to head down to Sierra Vista, AZ (aka Sorry Vista - a boring as hell town) and watch my parents house for 4-5 days, which is now a impromptu vacation. Time to get caught up on work without any distractions.
And of course, what is a vacation without getting any work done. In lue of all of that, we’re moving forward on our co-location up in Phoenix, moving equipment from Tucson, and hopefully acquiring some office space in downtown Phoenix (400-500 square feet) - we’ll see if that all happens in due timing.

Anyways, over the past two weeks I’ve just been doing quiet a bit of development, clean up, re-organizing my backup solution (for our data and customer data), fixing our graphing system. And of course, still pushing forward with my legal bullshit dealing with my former employer, as time goes on it gets more and more exciting.

For those of you in the Phoenix metro area, or for that matter, any person that has ever been to Scottsdale, might appreciate the following website:
ScottsdaleSucks.com

Pretty humorous, considering it appears to be fairly true and worth taking a look at if you have time. Basically the guy (a best selling author) lived in Scottsdale for quiet some time, and got sick of the unbelievable arrogance, fakeness, and poor driving that all plaques the town of Scottsdale. I’m not to big of a fan mainly because of their bullshit Freeway Traffic Cameras that they use to ticket people on the 101 freeway (which they don’t even maintain, the state does).
And of course, here’s a few great blog posts from blogs I frequent on a nearly daily basis:
blog.

DanGrossman.info - Whoa. Authorize.Net has a reoccuring billing API?

Dan Grossman is a pretty interesting guy and at first when reading his blog, thought he projected a huge sense of arrogance which I think is pretty damn annoying (like TylerCruz.com), but the guy is super-intelligent, appears to know what he’s talking about and of course, always has a sensible outlook on things. He’s got several decent websites and a pretty active blog.

None the less, when I get back to Phoenix this weekend I’ll be launching one of our new sites, enjoying the weather before it gets too damn hot (it’s around 85F now, but in less than a month it will be around 105F) and hopefully taking care of the car situation, although at this point that is at the bottom of my agenda.

Anyways, hope everyone has a outstanding weekend, take care and good luck.

” There are a lot of things that go into creating success. I don’t like to do just the things I like to do. I like to do things that cause the company to succeed. I don’t spend a lot of time doing my favorite activities.” - Michael Dell

A funny example of this is the ISP I used to work for. It’s a Windows only “shop” that thinks their success is based on this - even though that isn’t the case let alone if you could even consider them successful. They run a Windows-based mail server called ModusMail, which in my humble opinion, is the opitimy of a mail server. No real scalability, no real load balancing solution, and way too many features that the developers have buried themselves alive. Every release brings back past bugs, memory leaks, and so much more. What I find funny is that this ISP has such arrogance about it, they think their running the best mail platform in the world, and in fact I find their attitude really annoying. What is even funnier, is that fact that I’m running Exim & MailScanner, and although it isn’t the best thing out there, I have no problems with nealry 1,200 active domains and over 8,000 mailboxes. It is roughly the same size as this ISP, yet the hardware I have under it is probably a 1/10th of what they have and yet I have absolutely no problems (I will however take this chance to knock on wood…knock knock).

My biggest frustration is that I really hate seeing people make stupid decisions, no matter how much I might like or dislike a person. People literally bring their businesses down because of ill-founded loyalties and alliances like these, this seems to be even truer in the technology world.

Anyways, I spent another day working with a partner on AZEntertained.com. It is coming along nicely and I’m really excited about the launch, which will hopefully be soon. We have had one guy literally spending the last three months combing directories to generate a accurate list of restaurants, hotels, nightclubs, and the like. It’s probably one of the top “hit-it-big” projects that I have going, so I definitely have my fingers crossed.

Bryan-Baker.com had a great blog post on Confrontations. I literally love confrontations, I am not the type to ignore a person because I like either diffusing a situation or coming up with some sort of resolution to it, it is a huge adrenaline rush and a constant challenge that never get’s old. But none the less, check out his article and his blog if you’ve got a moment.

Anyways, back to the attitude thing. It really ruins my day, and most days, I’ve been forcing my self to go back to sleep just so I regain a decent attitude - where I end up spending 14 hours of the day sleeping. I have even gone for a few early-as-hell morning jogs and had some decent relief, but nothing consistent.

In a much lesser note, I finished my taxes earlier last month and found out today that my state refund had been placed on hold, guess why? I forgot to pay a parking ticket nearly three years ago. Well I lied, I did not forget, but I did not want to pay it because it was a bullshit ticket for parking in teacher parking that was not marked, plain and simple. It happend to occur at Mesa Community College, and the only way you can appeal the ticket is by writting a letter to the college dean, such a ridiculous process. I was not going to go tear up what name I could potentially have with anyone by writting a nasty letter about a ticket - so I blew it off and never put any effort out to pay it. So now a $35 (+ late fees) ticket is holding a $x,xxx refund - genius. They could have at least deducted it from my return…

I am not sure how many of you guys actively watch TV, but I generally don’t make a habit to watch specific shows because I hate getting wrapped into a show for a season. But Discovery Channel has been playing re-runs of this show about Alaskan Crab fishing called ‘Deadliest Catch’. I am not sure why, but the show is definitely very captivating for me. So captivating it makes me want to goto Alaska and try it, in hopes of a simpler life, and fast money. I doubt it will ever happen, but it is very fun watching the show and it is a happy thought. I cannot wait till the new season comes out April 4th, it is definitely worth checking out, if you’re a “Discovery Channel” kind of person.
Anyways, until next time, I’m out. Have a great day!

“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.” - Marcus Aurelius

None the less, I hope everyone had a great week. Mine was fairly productive and satisfactory excluding a bullshit issue this morning. The issue itself is actually a ironic story. As some may know, I used to work for a ISP one town away who provides connectivity and colocation services. They ended up giving me a decent deal (not good nor great, just decent) on colocation in the expectation that they thought they would get my newly developed hosting platform, free of charge. I gave them a nearly 30% reduced price, even offered assistance in developing a migration strategy from where they are currently. Now the owner in my past experience is a great manipulatory. He calls it “direct negotiating”, but in reality, it is true manipulation in a form that I find way beyond unethical. So besides the fact I got hassled around (which I absolutely hate), belittled, and manipulated I feel good about the fact I didn’t waver around and stuck to my guns. In the end I’m sure pissed the other party off, but as I say to them, screw off.

Nonetheless, I’m off to get some work done and call it a night. I hope you guys have a great weekend. If the weather’s great where you’re at, go out and enjoy it. If not, well I’m sorry and the only suggestion I can offer is to move to the great state of Arizona!