So today went by far too fast. All I really want to do is sit here and play Halo3 online, but I know I need to get some work done, I have a launch on Monday, one of which I hope will increase revenues. I ran the budget today as I was told officially that I have $250 in rent due on the first of the year - while in itself it’s not a big deal, I just really would like to get things rolling with a place of my own - don’t get me wrong, I love my parents, and I didn’t mind living here helping out while they were sick, but time to get a place. So time to amp things up.
My plan is simple, give hosting 3 months (So March) to sustain my budget, and give me enough cash flow 3 months in a row, if not - It’s time to look for a job, part of me does not want to do that, simply because if I get a job, I have to be true to it, and that whole thing about no man can serve two masters comes into play, and if I was honest with myself, I wouldn’t be able to pull off a 9-5 & a 12a-12a job so while I am not saying “It’s all shutting down” I guess what I am saying is if I do get forced to get a job, then it means some things will change.
So who knows, I am in good spirits about it, or at least I am trying to be, I’d love to find a steady flow of revenue from my business and side jobs, but if it’s not there - it’s not there, over the last few years things have slowed some, this year alone a lot of my larger clients have left, either scaling back their web presence or sadly going to budget hosts to “cut costs” and each time they assure me it’s not me, just they “need more” - of course a few I have watched have switched between 4 hosts in the process of 3 months after leaving, so who knows.
But there it is, things as they stand, not a major feat ahead of me to get things rolling, just need to buckle down, come Monday have my ads ready to go, micro banners for FH and such, I need to also find a way to push the affiliate ID via Wordpress so the Affiliate ID can continue from info on the website -> checkout, and folks get credit, as that’s my goal, I want to encourage customers to invite friends, I also am considering a point system where credits earned can be transformed into accounts add-on’s for a year and such… but all in due time.
Anywhoo - one step at a time, one day at a time, etc. etc. for now I am going to try and stay awake, and design until midnight, then have Sunday off as always, maybe hit a church in the AM - again, one step at a time. Night folks. Have a good weekend.
A good day thus far, barely 5pm and so far so good, a large lunch (Subway FEAST), got my final mailings done for TN - included a letter about the switch to making invoices digital - worked on the books a bit to look at the move on servers come 2008, worked on code for RNKDF, basically wrote a small mail form app with some nice little features.
It was a cool day, and now I think I have my bedroom all figured out - picked out a TV for the room, and going to convert the current Linux rig into the Vista rig as planned, picking up a TV tuner so I an use Vista’s media center features, but it should be fun, plus from my couch across the way I can relax, veg out, and use the laptop.
Tonight is working on graphics for the Affiliate programs, and getting things rolling for that on the 3rd, as well as getting the new features ready for each site and ready to go for the big push thru December and into 2008.
Good stuff, looking forward to things moving forward, put the Google Ads on a few sites I sponsor and here on the blog, making about $1 a day - not a TON, but hey, every little bit helps - and all part of playing with Google AdSense on pages to really get a feel for it, as I have been toying with a website again, and have some folks still interested in interacting with it - so time will tell.
Anywhoo - back to it, more EE code to do, may have a extra leg on it to work on, extra $300 will come in handy on the budget, really need to get it up and up more, so we shall see! Have a good on folks, I am off to it.
What a week, seems like it went by insanely fast, thanksgiving was quick (but tasty), had the weekly Friday meal with friends, of course now I am here on a weekend, and sadly all I can think to do… Work. All in All projects are nearly done, some will be completed on Monday (Billing Shutdowns and such) - but this weekend is some final code bits, the RM project has been done in the realm of data conversion (all I was hired to do) but I am helping out with the layout adjustments to make it easy for him to update - just a few bits left to code, going to make all sub-areas pretty much the same, just need to make a homepage where he can edit and manage the main page.
So I am slow to work, I spent some time checking out the budget, and so far so good, it’s a tight month, but if all things come thru - ahead again, nice way to close out a month, I am hoping with 12/1 coming up soon I can get the Affiliate program going on both sides of the fence can encourage some folks to invite friends over to host with me, be nice to see some new faces, got 1 today, which was nice, but everyone keeps doing the “Simple” package - but such is the hosting game, folks get what they need, or are woo’d away with large product offerings with small dollar amounts attached… it’s going good though, hoping I can continue to get more coding projects - good infusion to the budget.
Anywhoo, I am going to go try and put in at least an hour on code, then take a break for a bit. Have a good Saturday folks.
So ol Friday is nearly upon us, however to me, it’s “SHORTS DAY!!!” what is shorts day you ask? Well it’s the day my new shorts come in from Old Navy - the online shop was having a sale on my favorite ON cut of jeans that cover your knees (so many shorts are too short) so was very happy to pick up 2 pairs, $15/per - but a deal compared to the $25 usually paid for, so that + new shirts from Woot.com - very happy indeed.
Budget hit a strange note today, I had over $200 extra bucks in the budget, was hyped, got the first big billing last night with the new processor, some minor glitches I expected - but it went pretty smooth - so I got excited this morning as I did my morning bank check, and I find myself nearly $200 over (in pending transactions) so I reviewed what was going on and it seems some car stuff I ordered for my dad (got him some PayPal $$ as I can get it quicker than him transferring it…) however in the end it took too long, so I just paid for it on my debit card, well it seems they billed me twice - once for the amount @ checkout, then a second time for the adjusted amount as 2 items were out of stock… so as it stands I have 2 350+ transactions sitting in a pending mode. Fu-un!
Relocated the parents PC and got them a new wireless card for it, as the old USB dongle was given to help build a PC for a customer, but never got replaced - so I snagged one from Officemax Wednesday and today got it all setup in it’s new room all wirelessly, even gave them a ol Woot purchase my MX 5000 kit to replace the old gross keyboard and mouse, worked out really well - which got me looking again at buying a MacPro, and part of me is starting to get tired of Mac hardware, while the iMac is cheaper I dislike the lack of drive replacement ease/expandability, and its all in one. Ugh.
Anywhoo - not sure what I am working on this evening, I pretty much have the core of the conversion done for RM so if all goes well, I can wrap up that tomorrow with mainly some template tweaks, but the core of the paid job looks to be done, all meta data (picture / ratings) got migrated in so needless to say its looking good, just need to fine tune category templates to lend a hand, and then figure out some sort of voodoo for the main page…. hrmm. So have a good Friday folks, may the shorts be with you.
So for starters, my bank finally fixed up the missing feature I enjoyed Pending Transactions - it was always nice to see what was flowing in, specially if I ordered something and they over-billed, nice to know and start the ball rolling on a refund. Well WAMU recently re-vamped their website (which sucks even more with mobile browsing) - and they ditched the feature. I complained. LOL and low and behold, they finished more of their upgrade, and as they promised from my complaining “it’s a feature being configured.” so today I logged in and saw:
So there it is, still not like it used to be, but it’s something (no “Expected Clearing” date - but I’m hopeful) - but all in all a nice thing to have back.
Busy week ahead, and of course, I am already tired, worked on some chatroom stuff, working to bring support chat to customers via IRC, so getting that setup, the ground work to EE is continuing, not as fast as I’d like, but none the less, I hope to have a good demo skeleton by end of Monday and off to the owner, if all goes as planned, I hope to get him deployed within the next 15 days (if not sooner), and in-between the code blocks, I’ll be working on RM some, getting its final bits configured, I am ahead on it, and I am also waiting on a call, apparently the site I laid out last week and everyone loved, was only half loved by its owners lol - so waiting for word back on that.
Anywhoo - lots on my brain, lots going on behind the scenes, trying to sort some things out like always, and it seems I may be setup again soon with someone, who knows - time will tell lol. Have a Great Week folks, hopefully I’ll get a good night’s rest here soon, and get a good start on my Monday.
So needless to say this day turned out pretty good. Got a pile of mail I’ve been waiting for, the post office has officially be delivering all my old stuff to the old building, which is good, because I was tired of it in limbo, some was dated the 20th of last month, so silly, but my hope is to get the last few Check based folk over to Credit Card or PayPal by the new year, some I know won’t change, but at the very least I want to eliminate paper invoicing ASAP.
Money did come in today, picked up 2 projects one starts next week, and I picked up a HTML gig tonight, which I just wrapped up, came out pretty nice, more or less a splice job, but nothing I couldn’t handle, works well in IE, Firefox, Safari, and across OS’s as well, so pretty happy indeed, got it approved, and just put it online about 20 minutes ago, so all within my 5 hour time frame, so all in all, not bad for $200 worth of work, just need a few of those on a steady basis in a month, and I’ll be sitting pretty.
Servers are looking good for a migration, I have one probably going here sooner than later, sort of a test subject I am hopeful of it’s test run and if things go smooth for a while, then my long-term goal is to migrate folks from this current DC to this new one, but as it stands, looking like more in the realm of next year, unless funds and time suddenly change.
Anywhoo - thanks for the prayers, sorry I missed a few late-nighters last night on IM, I was dead tired and passed out, been trying to keep “normal” hours lol - which means in bed by midnight and up by 6am - not sure how it’s possible, or why - but I have been doing it for a few days now, it’s not so bad, but I do appreciate the prayers, and they are working and then some, nearly $700 in checks came in today, so pretty happy to see things bouncing back indeed, but now it’s that time, to wander away from the ol workstation, and read or watch a movie till I pass out. Night folks.
So I survived the time change, well so far at least but as it stands, I am awake - but I slept off and on most of the day, I think I may do more shortly, but who knows!
The week brings about some of the usual fun, chasing money, testing the new post office box, final bits of billing migration, paying bills, server upgrades, newsletter to go out, coding to do, server to probably deploy by week’s end, and I am sure more and more that I am thus far unaware of, or have pushed aside in my brain!
So I am off, going to go stare at the wall, just really tired all of the sudden, who knows - if I am lucky, maybe… just maybe… I’ll sleep till morning. One can hope
so while I am not saying “It’s all shutting down” I guess what I am saying is if I do get forced to get a job, then it means some things will change.
