So what a month July was, now into August things should get, well more crazy but some things will actually normalize for me. You know how when your a kid your excited, you get summer break, now I dread it - the roads fill up, lunch is a wait, basically highschoolers and college folk invade what was once my quiet lunch hour already a friendly battle with other business folk but as August draws on, college and k-12 start back up, and the roads will thin, movies mid-week will be quietly open, and that guy in front of me at deltaco won’t order 400 things.
So I am going to pitch a old friend on a deal, a service contract meets employment, complicated I suppose, but I want to avoid the 1099 bleh I get every year from as many sources as I can until I can get the funds together to get my LLC and avoid some of that, funds have been tight getting the new backup server, as well as the usual year round bills poping up (Car Lic. and Car Ins.) as well as the usual bills that seem to hop up to say hello, made this last month not really “thin” on the wallet, but more bad timing, as I had extra funds coming in from big projects, but sadly the timing of those seem a little off - so I want to pitch an idea for employment which is really nothing too different from things as-is, just getting a kickback for services.
In about 30 minutes (depending on transfer speed) I should have a full image uploaded to the server to deploy the new friends server, going to get things rolling on migrating the cPanel lic. then if I don’t take my mom to the beach this weekend (thinking I am not, but you never know) - I plan to get folks migrated from other servers who are on a “friend” deal, and set them up on there - now please don’t think just because its a “friend” bit, your getting skimp’d on, this server has its perks, less crowded site wise, going to have a few more “toys” long-term, as it is also going to serve as a test bed for things like Ruby on Rails, Apache2, etc. so feel loved…. or else.
Been considering a new mp3 device, while the iPod would be my prefered device since most of my music from the iTunes store isn’t mp3′d as of yet, its the easiest way to go from point a (the iMac) to point b (new 80gb iPod) but as per the previous bit above, funds are tight, and well, doesnt appeare to be happening any time soon, but I’ve heard good things about the Sansa from SanDisk, and it sounds good, does video, so like a iPod Nano with a little more beef? Who knows, but for now it’s simply blasting iTunes really loud
Anywhoo, I could ramble on for a bit more, last 48 hours have been weird, felt kind of sick, but probably just the combined fun of this week and weeks past (ie. no sleep) so I crashed most of Thursday - but it’s all coming together, I think. Need an oil-change in my car (it’s first one! tee-hee) but hoping for a productive friday, granted, I’d love a day off, but I must push on, wrap up loose ends, and hope to get a nap this weekend, who knows, may even be on a beach with a cute blond who I lovingly call my goofball niece, but sadly more than likely, it’ll be here, but things can change in 12 hours, who knows have a good Friday folks.
Well its 2:30am, I am awake. Not all that uncommon a few months ago, but lately, not so much. So whats up with me? Well since I am awake, and have a bad habit of being long winded, why not lay it out.
Work (makin a livin)
Servers lately have been good, did a round of updates last night which seemed to go smoothly, test box never had any issues, so happy there - but the company my servers sit at has been doing some “re-pricing” now granted my current servers are all price protected, however - the expansion I have had brewing is not. Several “Specials” have come and gone to get things online with the next server I wanted, and a new ultra robust backup server was halted very quickly when they increase pricing for size.
So where does that leave me? Well for now it leaves me investigating 2 options, one after talking to a nice gent on live-chat named Ruben, I am optimistic about, another option talking with Will - so-so, but his operation is closer to me, so easier to get to the servers at the end of the day, not relying on 3rd party hands to get me going - but this week is some number chrunching, we will see what happens, but I think my plan is to drum up some funds offer 20 customers who have been with me over 2 years a offer on some features they may not find anywhere else, and for a price, well that may be a little hefty at first glance, but will allow them to shape the services to come.
Health
I don’t get sick too often, but when I do, it tends to be a doosy, I of course count real sickness, not me running for 4 days straight and being completely exhausted physically and just giving into the light at the end of the tunnel - my weight is once again dripping off this summer, slower than past years, could be due to the fact I am not sweating it off in my car as I have in the past, but it also means I am not wet on my way to a meeting
I am trying to eat more fresh meals instead of fast food, which isn’t cheap, and not always “fast” but it does help me to slow down in the hustle and bustle of my day and eat, and when I MUST eat out, trying to eat a meal that is filling, not just “tasty” I just really wish Jack in the Box would bring back the Chicken Ceaser, it was simple, easy, tasty - and not horrible for ya either
Finances
Budget is leveling out, a lot of the checks I have been waiting on have come in, and of course it’s mid year, so folks who are on semi-annual hosting are paying up, but this month so far no unexpected bills, however I do have 3 new accounts @ WAMU, apparently the system only needed 1 authorization on my checking account to activate all 3 accounts, so I have 2 personal accounts 2 savings, and 1 business checking, lol - to be sorted this afternoon.
Monthly is up a bit, still no-where near what I’d like it to be, but I am working on it, I had a fellow mentioned I should get hired on @ his work, but not sure how that would pan out really, but if it did, and some ground rules were set (similar industry as what I do now), I wouldn’t mind, but I just want to setup something that I get paid fairly for my time & projects.
But it seems more and more old jobs keep cropping up, one fellow even asked me in passing this past week if I was still working for one of my old clients - not at the moment, a few old clients though have looked me up, apparently they have learned the bargain that is me even though for most of my older clients my new pricing is higher than before, many have decided I am well worth it, so hopefully if this trend keeps up, I can get my budget where I am hoping.
Photography
I wish I had some time behind the camera, part of me wants to escape, but I know there is a lot to be done, but my thought is within 2 weeks make it to the coast, spend a weekend at my brother’s combing the beach, maybe do some hiking in the hills to get some good nature shots, I really need a better more compact GPS, my current I got from a client as a gift for some work, is bulky, it is meant for your car, I want one that works in the car, but works in my pocket/camera bag, so I can geotag photos better.
I do have a wedding coming up, I need to follow up with the happy couple and see what they are looking for, I may need to buy a lens of they want various shots, but I think in the end, I am going to ask them for $125 and suggest they hire a photographer, as I don’t want to mess up their happy day by my inexperience in live photography at this sort of an event.
Friends & Family
I get out now and again still, as my previous posts of recent movies I have hit, but I do want to plan a gathering for friends to get together one last time before the Fosters move away but hopefully even more so before that get together with folks, hang out, shoot the breeze, catch up, eat a pizza.
Family is good, went to dinner with Beth, Michael, Mom & Dad on Friday for Dad’s birthday, and if all goes as planned, I’ll see Ron, Harm, and Charity in a few weeks - I still do want to make it up to Washington to see my grandparents, just like with many things, budget, budget, budget, so hopefully if all goes as planned I can make it up that way in the fall, and avoid getting snowed in (though snow would be nice), so would a real road trip with just me and the road for a few days.
Anywhooo
Going to go try to get my pillow to tell me nice things, have a good Monday folks. Think happy thoughts, thanks for stopping by!
Well tonight I am heading off to the mall to catch the magical world of Harry Potter - convinced Jake to come with so I didn’t venture out alone (apparently everyone does this thing called “sleeping” each night - apparently its common so you can wake up and goto this other thing “a job” the following day - I am not down with that
So Jake is off to take a powernap now, I am heading to his place @ 10:30pm to wake him up and drag him to first get twizlers and then to the show, I need to find more crazy movie friends, or just stop going to mid-week premieres and go with everyone else on the weekend, but the last couple of days, I needed a nice fun thing to do - so this is it, even got $300 today, as well as turned in a invoice for $85, and have another $300 coming for the server gig I did this weekend, budget is recuperating! So that’s definately good.
Anywhoo I am going to go find a lite bite to eat, and relax for a bit, then its load-up, load-out and off to a magical world of hogwarts
Now and again I help out a friend or two with PHP code, today I was given a good little challenge to help on, the issue was a event calendar, one side displayed the text title/date/time of the event, the other side showed a thumbnail of the event’s flyer, the task was simple:
When you click the TEXT link it would change the side picture template (already working)
Data for Events/Info pulled from database (already working)
When you click thumbnail, have it popup the full-sized image (not working)
So #3 is where I came in, to find a solution for the code bit to make it dynamically load the pop-up code instead of the one static image it was doing, so I got to thinking, and what I came up with was tweaking the existing javascript in the PHP end of things - I made a function that set one of the variables needed in the javascript popup code “imageURL” so when you clicked the link and it went to change the image thumbnail, it set a variable that was the image location the popup needed.
Was pretty cool, I realize that seems maybe trivial at some level, but it was a fun challenge to tackle with a hybrid of php & javascript,it was a nice stretch of the ol brain as javascript is not one of my languages of choice, but in this case my knowledge cut it and I made a few other tweaks to the code - came out really nice.
Well busy night tonight, Denny’s, Server Migration, Sleep - I personally after the in-and-out heat today could go for “sleep” but the migration should go pretty smooth - so on with the evening - have a good weekend folks!
How is it that with all the increased projects on the table, and money coming in, my bank account quickly found its way to $24 last night? Gone over everything - few spot expenses I didn’t expect this past month, but I guess I just need to get a better budget
Got a few gigs lined up, so pretty happy about that, nearly $450 from one client for some basic work, trying to line up a few monthly contracts to equal another $1500 into the monthly budget, but it’ll probably only end up being $500 - but hey beggars can’t be choosers, money is money, so between that, and a MASSIVE audit planned for all servers, should help level things out, going to do the audit during a migration I am doing for a guy this weekend, all in all should help make up for some of the cash I hadn’t expected to spend.
Budget is a big thing right now, actually I have sworn off credit cards, only spending money I have, the CS3 upgrade was my last big purchase for quite a while, going to try and sort out my banking bits, and get savings rolling, but also with the extra projects and finances from them, I hope to get a little bit of a surplus, and pay off some company cards used for getting the new servers up, software on the servers, etc. so hopefully get the budget all leveled out here before year’s end.
Anywhoo - been a mixed day, got some things done, but also got some things to work out, but all in all, I’m alive, so I can’t complain too much, even the 116F+ weather isn’t too much of a bother to me…. I just want a nap.
Lately the big thing I have noticed in my life is the normal the “status quo”, or the familiar is not always the “normal” I am really wanting - for a few years now I have strived to make changes in my life, from my dealings with anxiety, a hint of anti-social behavior, traveling, and of course my favorite - meeting with clients - so definitely the normal behavior of hiding out in my cave has changed, but some things always seem to go back to what’s considered “normal”.
This week has some things in store for me, a server project, working on a website project which has taken a lot of time for code, design, and learning an entirely new development platform, namely flash - but I find myself falling back on my old habits, and going towards what is familiar and common to me, not venturing past the normal thing I know onto other ventures - but I am trying to, and I dare to quote ZeFrank - “break that cycle” - to get out of old habits, to get out of things I’ve done so long they are common place in my life, from a spiritual standpoint its a perfect description of sin, that little ol secret sin one has (you know that one…) - that silly little thing that temptation rears its head and says “Oh it won’t hurt anymore” - we all have those in our daily lives (how many coffees was that today? or why were you telling at that driver?) its not huge, in all cases, but its that little secret bit.
Lately I find myself desiring change, desiring a larger income to cover some bills, get a place, etc. you know, the little things but at the same time I have to break some common cycles I have which are saying “oh its not a problem, I can do that” and not only challenge myself, but challenge those who claim I am worth my weight in gold, and see if they are willing to help me out even with a 10th of that weight - to saying no to friends when I am simply too tired, to know my physical limits, but not also being afraid to push those limits now and again and see what these sore bones are capable of - this is the first night in a few weeks where I have been up past 9:25pm
But I’d really appreciate your prayers for me, I know there are some changes going on with me, some that I finally just let into that I have been fighting against, some I needed to have happen, and some that happened because I was just pushed beyond my limits and unable to hold back the flood gates - a lot is in the works, a lot is on my plate, and sometimes being a single man business can be tough, but hopefully, things will level out here soon, and that balance I am always looking to find, will be found.
Anywhoo - eyes are starting to close, so it must be time, go see Transformers, well worth the money - and if I don’t get a chance to blog tomorrow, happy 4th of july. I know you don’t all comment, but I know a few of you who read regularly to see what’s going on in my ol crazy world I call life, thanks for reading. Night.
Well yesterday was funny, had a list of things to do, was sort of well rested, then suddenly I felt the need to goto sleep, was just really tired around 2, and I went for a “nap” and woke up to pain, which proceeded to a need to goto the bathroom, after that I moved around a bit, only to return to bed, and sleep another 8 hours, and thus I woke up an hour or so ago, still a tad achy and shooting pain in my head, but thoughts clearer than they have been in 2 days.
So I got my todo pile done in record time, got things tuned up for a few customers, cleared a site which had been hacked and was doing a spoof bank site, customer is going to start from scratch, was very sorry for the trouble he felt he caused, while I could complain that he should of kept his programs up to date, he gave me no rude comments, was very happy to work with my suggestions, was ready to go when I was, every step of the way asked if he could help in any way - just awesome.
Anywhoo - I could write a bit more, but I think I am either going to go find something easy for breakfast, take a hot bath, or try to go back to sleep - CS3 get’s here Friday, so pretty pumped about that, need to check in with the client about the proof I sent to her on Monday, and need to get a migration price/plan sent to a server customer. So a busy day ahead, have a good one folks!
but some things will actually normalize for me. You know how when your a kid your excited, you get summer break, now I dread it - the roads fill up, lunch is a wait, basically highschoolers and college folk invade what was once my quiet lunch hour already a friendly battle with other business folk 
but as August draws on, college and k-12 start back up, and the roads will thin, movies mid-week will be quietly open, and that guy in front of me at deltaco won’t order 400 things.
but hopefully even more so before that get together with folks, hang out, shoot the breeze, catch up, eat a pizza.
