Don's Thoughts

EYB! - Contest Running, Surfing seasawing...

2012-02-10T06:48:00.002-05:00

Hello Folks,

We've opened back up both the Surfing Contest and the referral contest on ExposeYourBlog! and you can earn extra credits each day by surfing the most blogs and by getting other, active, bloggers to come join us on ExposeYourBlog!.

With this "opening up", we have increased our surfing some, but we can always use more surfers! There are some days that are heavier than others though, and we would like to see EVERY day a solid day of surfing, blogging and commenting!! Come join us an ExposeYourBlog! and get your blog seen while you read a WIDE variety of other blogs!

We are coming up on our two year anniversary of providing great blogs to read in one spot too!! Look forward to SOMETHING big on the anniversary month!!

Friar Don, OBR
Lead Admin - ExposeYourBlog!

EYB! Burrrrr, its cold out there!

2012-02-03T10:52:00.002-05:00

Howdy Folks,

Its cold out there, so I have been surfing more myself of late. (Doesn't hurt that I'm off for the past three weeks, and at least the next two weeks with my knee...) Our numbers are down a bit as to the number of people surfing, but the people surfing are shifting some. Would love to see all 500+ members of ExposeYourBlog! come back and surf at least 10 a day, but even better 35 or more sites a day! Would broaden our scope of blogs significantly and get our numbers up!

We have had a few new members and blogs this past few weeks though, so that is good! More is always better though, as it broadens our reading (and commenting) pleasure, and gives us the desire to come back more often!

Unfortunately we have several "stale" blogs. By that I mean blogs that haven't been updated in over 30 days. The current policy is to leave them in rotation until they use up their credits, but I would love to see many of them get update (and their owners to surf even more!).

Hope to see you and your blog(s) on ExposeYourBlog!

Happy Surfing!

D.

2012 Starting Out OK!

2012-01-14T18:00:00.001-05:00

As we approach the middle of the month of January, we have had a decent showing on the surfing, but it could always be better. There are a good number of blogs, that are current, the have come out of rotation because the poster has not surfed to keep their credits up, and enough people are surfing now that the credits will go pretty fast. So, if you haven't surfed in a while, there is a good chance you don't have any credits left for your blog to be seen, come on back and surf! If you have been surfing, I encourage you to continue surfing! ;)

The forums are pretty lonely of late though. Basically it has been just Anji and myself there... Would love to see us grow as a community and communicate with each other within the forums as well! Come check them out, post your comments, replies, etc. Let us get active in the blogging world again! ;)

I had surgery this past Tuesday and am on a forced leave (vacation) for the next several weeks, and not supposed to do a lot of walking until after the 26th of this month, which means I will be by the computer a lot this next two weeks or so, and for several weeks after that as well. If you have any problems or issues with the system here, let me know and I would be happy to work on them (problems), and clear up any issues as well.

Happy Surfing!

Best of times!

EYB! Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T15:27:00.002-05:00

Hello

Anji, Touwe and I would like to wish each and every one of you a Happy New Year in this new year of 2012! May this be your best year yet, both in your blogging and in life in general!

For an easier way to keep track of your link, you have another option that gives you better statistics. Go to your Tools section, and go down to "Personal Account" then click on "Ad Tracker". Click on "Add New" and put your blog link in the space provided and save it. Then take the link that is provided below that that says "Random Rotator" be the link into your blogs section in place of your existing one. once I, Anji or Touwe approve it, it will be in rotation providing you a bit better statistics on your rotation stats.

If you are a paid member, with more blogs available for rotation, you can put the same number of blogs in rotation within your rotator. Then, take the least important one out of your blog rotation, and put the above mentioned "Random Rotator" link in that spot. You now have all of you blogs in rotation twice (except the least important one you took out).

In our next installment I'll talk to you about other options of helping get your blog(s) seen.

Happy Surfing!

Best of times!

ExposeYourBlog! - Still Ticking. :)

2011-12-24T09:53:00.002-05:00

Hello Folks,

I know, it has been a while since I last updated this blog... No valid reason other than I wasn't sure what I should post here.... Still not sure, but I guess I should give an update on how ExposeYourBlog! is doing.

The site is still slowly growing. Would love to see it grow even faster, but at least it hasn't died off! We are getting new visitors checking us out daily and new members every week!

We could always use more members and would love to see some of our members come back to surfing again, but we are active and that is good!

What I like about ExposeYourBlog! is that we have a core group of surfers that comment on the blogs they are reading and that are active in their surfing. We have a group that surf often, but don't comment, but based on emails I get from some from this group, they are reading the blogs! And we have a group that have checked out some, come in every so often to surf a few and move back on.

So, it comes down to EYB! being like most other activities that are available out there. We are a niche group, blogs only, so I expect this kind of growth, so we are in line I think with what we should be having.

Now, what can I do to get you to advertise us more? What can I get you to do if you have a blog, on any platform to use this site to get you blog seen? Let me know!

0Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Year!

D.

EYB! - Is your blog getting seen?

2011-11-12T10:29:00.000-05:00

We have had a decent week of surfing, by a decent number of different people, but many blogs are slowly but surely going out of rotation, and many of those are still "active" (being posted to) blogs, due to their owners not surfing and the credits they had stored up are being read up! On the good side, I have seen some people surf this past few weeks that I have not seen in a while. I pray that ALL of you come back and surf a few pages a day! (Remember, the magic number to best be seen is 35 blogs seen by you every day!) So, if you are not surfing SOME at least, come back and check out the blogs we have! There have been some new ones add, a couple of old ones that had gone "stale" (no posts in a long while) that have been "revived" and are looking like they are active again! You should have some enjoyable reading if you come back. :)

It APPEARS (I know, bite my tongue and slap my hands for typing this) that all of the major bugs and most of the minor bugs have been fixed, except for the time delay on the surf bar if you leave the window while surfing. And to be honest, while I could probably pay someone to fix it (I'm not seeing why it is doing that), I'm of the mind I would rather you be IN the window when you surf, instead of off doing something else, so I'm not sure if I WANT to fix it? What are your thoughts on this? Come on over to the Forums (http://www.exposeyourblog.com/phpBB3 and tell me what you think about this bug!

While you are over on the Forums, let me know what you would like to see happen to ExposeYourBlog! to make it an even better tool for you to get your blog seen, and for you to see other blogs! Include comments on how I can better advertise it and get the site known by other bloggers! Any input is greatly appreciated, and may be compensated if used and successful!

Happy Surfing!

Best of times!

Don Bell
Chief Admin - ExposeYourBlog!

Surfing is up!

2011-10-09T21:10:00.001-04:00

It looks like our tech support at the host server site did their job well! I haven't seen the old "database connection" error in the past few days. Have you? If you get such an error, please drop me a line! But I do believe it has been taken care of for good. :)

We have had a great week of surfing this week, which I thank each of you for participating! Keep it up!! It pays off in more eyes on your blog(s). ;) We have had some of the best surfing we have had this past week, so I'm very happy about that!

We have four people that are "surfing for Pro" right now, Jay, Link4Business, Kittencaboodle, and DreamsofNyssa!! Keep it up! You are 1/4th of the way there!

There are still several blogs that have credits but are getting old in content, I hope you all update your blogs soon! I'd love to read your new thoughts and words! While I don't comment on all blogs, I do read them all as I surf along, and will comment when the post catches my attention, and I love to read new things! So, and I need to do this too, let's all update our blogs this coming week, if not sooner!

Happy Surfing!

Best of times!

Don Bell
Chief Admin - ExposeYourBlog!

EYB! - COLD OUT THERE! ;)

2011-09-17T15:28:00.000-04:00

Well, the temperature has sure come down in this neck of the woods! When I left for work yesterday morning at 8:30AM it was only 46 degrees (Fahrenheit), kinda chilly! Bet we have an Indian Summer soon though and the temps hit the 90s again. I kinda hope so, as I'm not ready for a long hard winter if we start this early! What about you? Come on over to the forums (http://www.exposeyourblog.com/phpBB3) and tell us about the weather in your area! I honestly want to know if it is chilling out there too!?

With this cool weather I guess you all are out cleaning up the yard, winterizing your house, etc., as the surfing is way down this past few days. And I mean way down. And that is causing the credits to go down or away on many blogs, because we do have a few surfers every day that surf a lot! It may be time to log into your account and see if you have any credits left for your banners and your blogs, and to surf some to get your banners and blogs seen again!

I'm at a tough point here... As I have said before, I'm not a big fan of sending newsletters out all the time, as I almost consider them to be spam mail. And many times, since ExposeYourBlog! is not out to make money or sell you something (although you can purchase a Pro account and help pay the cost of running the site!! ;) ), there isn't a lot to say! The coding is mostly done, although I am working on raising the money to make the Forums look like the surf site, and not much else is happening. So, the only reason to really post a newsletter right now is to get back in front of you and get you surfing again... And I don't like doing a newsletter just for that reason..... But when I send a newsletter, it gets you all back to surfing for a few days!! Catch 22....

If you have read this far, send me a PM in the forums, sorry, only the forums, stating you got this far and have the words Catch 22 in the message, and I will give you 50 credits.

For the month of October, starting October 1, I will have a contest running to help boost your credits as well. More on this later. ;) But you will only find out about it the last week of September via the forums!!

Back to surfing for me!!

Happy Surfing!

Best of times!

Don Bell
Chief Admin - ExposeYourBlog!

EYB! - Summer Winding Down!

2011-09-03T13:07:00.001-04:00

Welcome to September, the beginning of the end of Summer! I pray everyone had a great summer, full of fun and sunshine, when it wasn't raining!, and is ready to surf the winter away. ;)

ExposeYourBlog! has a new owner, however, don't fret!! In my current, and pray-fully permanent, state of life, i am unable to own anything. I have donated the site to The Order of Brothers of Reconciliation, which has assigned me as the Chief Admin for the site. You will see NO changes, due to the change of ownership though! Well, with the exception of when I find the right person to do the work, the forums will look like the surf site in skin looks. :) We will continue to accept ALL blogs, that meet our prior requirements.

Well, let me take that back, there is a change. For all new paid sign ups, going forward, the fees are now going to a 501c3 tax deductible (in the US anyway!?)organization, as a donation to the Order. If you are currently a paid member, please feel free to cancel your subscription and restart! (The funds are going to be turned over to the Order once they come in on my old email account effective this month anyway!)http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

I have had a couple of people complain that their views have been low. This is true, there has been a bit of slow down in surfing this past few weeks. That said, the majority of the people complaining were not surfing either! Remember, those that are paid and surf that day have their blogs seen faster than those that aren't, followed by those that are paid (but haven't surfed that day) or those that surf that day (but aren't paid members), followed by those that haven't surfed that day, but this week, on down to those that have not surfed. So, it is best to surf daily even if only 1 or 2 sites. (Although you get better results if you surf at least 35 blogs each day.) So GET surfing. ;)

We would like to encourage each of you to come on over to the forums (http://www.exposeyourblog.com/phpBB3) and help us to get this community of surfers and bloggers growing in community! Would love to see you there and posting your questions, your thoughts, etc!

Don't forget the Surf and Chat option when you are surfing!

Happy Surfing!
Best of times!

Don Bell
Chief Admin - ExposeYourBlog!

EYB! - Slow, but still there!

2011-08-30T05:18:00.002-04:00

Hello Folks,

As school starts up and summer vacations are ending and people are returning to work, surfing seems to be down a bit. But this is normal for this time of year and happened last year as well. I would like to encourage all users to come surf a few blogs each day though!

We do continue to grow in blogs each week though! We've picked up several this past week in fact! Happy viewing!

D.

ExposeYourBlog! - What is it and why?

2011-08-13T11:09:00.002-04:00

So, what is ExposeYourBlog! all about? ExposeYourBlog! is a Traffic Exchange Service that allows you to put your blog(s) in a queue to be seen and read by other people on the net. It provides another avenue to help get your site seen. This service is not like MOST traffic exchanges out there, in that it only allows for blogs to be put in rotation. Each blog in rotation is on your screen for from 20 seconds to 35 seconds giving you a chance to glance over it to see if there is new content to read. After reading and commenting, you have the option to click on a color or text to move on to the next site in rotation.

To make it work for you, what you must do is spend some time each day or week reading other blogs. As you do this, you earn credits that are automatically assigned to your blog(s) so others see yours. You do not see your blog(s) while you are surfing (so you don't use up your own credits). So, the more you surf, the more your blog goes into rotation! Also, the more you surf, the chance of getting an extra 5 to 500 credits comes along every few surfs (~33) in a row! Don't worry though! You will not see the same blog in a continuous three hour surfing session! Now, if you leave for any length of time over say 3 hours you may see some of the same blogs again, but that is because you have gone outside of that three hour window!

Why upgrade to a paid account? Free accounts are set to have a counter of 25 seconds for their blog(s) to be seen before the next blog can be selected. Paid members blog(s) get a counter of between 30 and 35 seconds, depending on the Pro level selected. Also, paid members get a reduction of time required to wait on other blogs of from 2 to 5 seconds, again, depending on the level of paid membership. Free members earn 3 credits for every 5 blogs they see. Pro/Paid members earn 1 credit for every 2 blogs or 1 for 1, depending on their level. (Each credit earned comes out of the viewed blogs owner's credit using them up as the other person surfs. (Make sense?)) Free members can only have two blogs in rotation at a time. Paid members can have from 5 to 50 (ok, I know, who has 50 blogs, you may be surprised!!) blogs in rotation at any time. Free members may only have banners that point to blogs (unless they buy commercial banner credits), while paid members may put any banner in rotation. Free members only get one banner. Pro/Paid members can have 5 to 15 banners in rotation!

A VERY important reason to be a Pro/Paid member is that there is a greater chance, by 10%, that your blogs will be seen first! Yep, being a Pro member you blogs have a weighted chance of 10% better viewings!

Why have banners? Banners give you a chance, with a flashy banner, to get another chance of having the surfer look at your blog(s)! PLUS, if you keep an eye on the banners each time the surf bar loads, you stand a chance of getting from 1 to 5 extra credits added to your account if you click on the banner before the notice slips off! After it slips off the banner, you don't get any extra credits, so look at the banner first thing!! Also, I am using those banners in rotation on other web sites soon! Remember, all banners MUST be 468X60 in size to be seen correctly! If you have banners, keep an eye on the credits available to you banners, as you may need to convert some of your surfing credits to your banners to get them seen!

Why surf daily and for at least 35 blogs each day? Well, for one, it keeps more credits in your account so your blog gets seen more often! Those that surf daily raise their blogs visibility by 5% for that day, meaning that it will be seen 5% more often that day than those accounts that have not surfed that day, so if you are a Pro/Paid member surfing daily, you are at 15% instead of 10%. After very 33 blogs you surf you will come upon a verification page that will allow you to receive from 5 to 500 extra credits, some cash and other benefits! Plus, you get to read some great blogs as you go! So, come join us and SURF AWAY!!

EYB! - School Starts Soon!

2011-08-03T19:04:00.002-04:00

Well, here in the US school in many areas starts Monday of next week. Means some of our users will be home more doing homework, which also means instead of homework, they may be on their computers surfing to get away from homework... I hope they do their homework FIRST though. ;)

ExposeYourBlog! is still growing, slowly but surely! We could always use more bloggers and surfers, but I'm not totally unhappy with with what we have right now. More is always better of course! So, if you blog, come join us over at http://exposeyourblog.com and read other blogs (will help you come up with new ideas) and get your blog seen! Most of our surfers read the blogs, and many comment on your blog as well!

We have 325 blogs in rotation right now, which takes over three hours of steady watching to see them all. You will not see the same blog within three hours of itself either. We are only a manual surf site, with variable times for free vs paid members, with the paid member blogs having more time on the screen before the person can go on to the next blog.

Happy Surfing!

EYB! - Summer Heat!

2011-07-15T10:52:00.002-04:00

It looks like the summer heat here in the US is keeping people away from their computers and at the pools maybe! Surfing is down a bit, but we are still getting some surfing and commenting done!

We are also still growing slowly but surely! Each week we get a blog or two added and three or four new people surfing and commenting on the blogs, so things are going well.

I would still like to see us out grow BlogExplosion at it's prime! All it takes is for each of us to get active in surfing daily, and for each of us to post links in our blogs to ExposeYourBlog! and at least one post about the site to get your readers to come check it out. I have found that MOST of the readers of blogs are blog writers themselves, not all, but most. So, if they read in your blog that you use ExposeYourBlog!, they will possibly come check us out and become one of your down line (giving you extra credits as well!) and give us more blogs to look at!

Happy Surfing!

EYB! - Ticking along!

2011-06-25T10:25:00.002-04:00

Well, in this past week, we had a bit of a problem with our Host system. They decided to do an unscheduled (well they didn't let me know about it anyway) maintenance on their systems, which took us out of play for almost 24 hours. Not a happy camper with it, but at least they got us back up, without loss of data, and all appears to be running smoothly again.

At least in the surfing area. Comments are a problem for blogspot.com systems though. If you have left your comments section "in line", meaning that when a person clicks on comments to comment and the page refreshes instead of opening a pop up (only time pop ups are allowed on ExposeYourBlog! is for comments!), you stand a good chance of the person trying to comment getting a white page with no content on it. I have found that blogspot.com does not support frames when it comes to comments. The way to fix this is to set your comments as a pop up and not in line.

I have taken out text ads from the system, as no one was clicking on them, and they were eating credits up pretty fast. If you have text credits left, don't forget to convert them to conversion credits, and you can use them for banner or surf credits. At the end of August, I am converting any text credits left to Banner credits!

Happy Surfing!!

One Year Anniversary!

2011-06-04T18:50:00.003-04:00

YES!! Today marks the one year anniversary of ExposeYourBlog! being officially open to the public and out of development mode!

Those that are members at 11:59PM tonight will receive a bonus 25 credits to their account as a present, and those that surf, even once, today, will receive another 25 credits. :)

We have had a few trails and tribulations this past year, but over all, things have gone pretty well! We have slowly grown, after the initial growth, and continue to slowly grow, which is OK by me. We have a lot of good blogs on board, and the reading and commenting is pretty good in most cases!

Hope to see more of you here over this next year!

Don

Have you gotten your blog seen lately?

2011-05-22T20:19:00.002-04:00

Hello Folks,

ExposeYourBlog! (http://exposeyourblog.com) is awaiting your arrival to get your blog seen! All you have to do is sign up, surf five sites, then post up to 2 blogs for a free account, 50 blogs for the Enterprise Pro account. (I know, who has 50 blogs? You would be surprised, but the Enterprise Pro account has many other great bennies too!)

What is ExposeYourBlog!? It is a surf site in which you read other blogs earning credits for each view (for every 5 blogs you view, you get three credits on a free account, and for every one you view you get one credit for your blog) of someones blog.

We have been around just under a year now, and while we are still kinda small, we are growing slowly each week. :) We would like to grow faster, so if you are reading this, come join us!! ;)

Blogging...

2011-05-07T20:09:00.002-04:00

For about an hour today I went to Blogger.com and began reading blogs there by clicking on the "Next Blog" button on most of them. Sadly over half were over a year old since their last update... Sad state of affairs there!

Luckily less than an 8th of them loaded music or videos at load, which I hate.

The good news were there were several that were current and appeared to be somewhat active! (And on those I did comment on in many cases!)

Why do we blog? I know I blog because it is an avenue to express my thoughts, my dreams, my progress in life, and a way to post on what has intrigued me in any given day.

If you blog, come check out http://exposeyourblog.com, join up, surf blogs, and get your blog seen by others!

A Special Post for a Friend, and an area in need!

2011-04-30T17:50:00.000-04:00

Our FREE Plush Memories Lost Toy Search Service wants to help with the search for toys lost during the monster tornado outbreak in the South on April 27, 2011!!

We are lifelong Alabamians, and our hearts ache for all those in our state who were not as fortunate as we were. We praise God for his Mercy toward us. There are over 250 confirmed deaths in Alabama, and sadly more will be found in the rubble.

Alabamians are helping each other during this time of great need, as whole cities and towns have been demolished. Collection points are all over the place for people to bring bottled water, food, charcoal and grills, toiletries, diapers, formula, and other basic necessities.

There are too many organizations collecting relief donations to name them all, but since we're Baptist, here's the link to donate through the Baptist State Mission Board. The Salvation Army and many other charitable organizations are also busy helping with relief efforts across the South.

The time to help with clothing, furniture, and toys has not come yet, but it will soon, when life-saving needs are met. When that time comes, these surviving families are going to want to replace the special lovies that will help their little ones feel secure again.

This is where we can help, if people just find out about us. We’ve been helping people find lovies for almost 6 years now, and we have over 150 Fabulous Finders who help with the search for lovies, so PLEASE PASS THE WORD ALONG TO ANYONE WHO HAS FAMILY OR FRIENDS IN AN AREA STRUCK BY WEDNESDAY'S TORNADOES - WE WILL MAKE YOUR SEARCH A TOP PRIORITY!!!

Please tell people about us on your Facebook page, Twitter page, Forums, and other Social Networks you may belong to. Tell your friends and family, too.

Thanks so much all your help in spreading the word about us, so relatives of tornado survivors will have a source for finding that special lovie for the little ones who have been through this horrible disaster!

Then, when the power is restored and the South has healed enough for parents to start thinking about such things, they will know that we are here to help them replace those special lovies.

If we can help someone find a lost lovie, please CONTACT US.

Rosemary

Plush Memories Lost Toy Search Service

"But Jesus called them unto Him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God."

Luke 18:16 KJV

EYB - Grows in blogs!

2011-04-02T18:58:00.002-04:00

ExposeYourBlog! is continuing to grow every week in blogs to view and comment on! So, if you haven't already, come check it out at http://exposeyourblog.com.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

We are in the process of cleaning up our Forums, and at the same time working on building our Blogging community! So, come join us on our forums and get to know the other bloggers out there!

We have some contest going in which you can earn extra surfing credits as well, so come check out the surf site and the forums to learn more!

Hope to see you there!

Surfer of the Week, and more!

2011-03-13T16:43:00.002-04:00

ExposeYourBlog! has a new contest in play right now of "Surfer of the Week". In order to win, the surfer must surf all seven days of the week, Sunday through Saturday, and must surf at least 35 blogs each day. (Doesn't have to be in one sitting, but in the 24 hour period of that day.) The winner has the first page of surfing for the following week, Sunday through Saturday, receives some cash and extra credits! So, come surf away! (To cash out on the money, you must be a paid Pro member!)

We continue to grow, although slowly! If you have blogging friends, be sure to let them know about ExposeYourBlog! (http://exposeyourblog.com)and get them to start surfing and getting their blog seen as well!

We have other contest going on all the time as well, so come check us out!

EYB! - Spring Cleaning, But Still Growing!

2011-02-25T17:41:00.002-05:00

Hello,

ExposeYourBlog! is going through and early Spring Cleaning in which we are getting rid of blogs that have not been updated in 6 months, pausing those blogs, and removing people that have not verified their accounts or activated their accounts. (Both of which are more than able to come back and re-apply and start surfing.)

Why are we doing this? ExposeYourBlog! is a service for you the blogger to post your blog and get real people seeing it and commenting on it. We are not your typical Surf site out for numbers, but we ARE out for quality blogs and quality Bloggers!

We hope this "enhancement" of the system will bring more people there!

Add to that, we have a few contest going to help you raise your credits so more people can see you! Some of which include cash bonuses too (although you must be a paid member to receive cash back!). So, come check us out and surf away to help get your blog(s) seen!

Our forums are still there, and somewhat active. We would love to see more Bloggers there talking to other Bloggers, sharing their blog, and learning more about blogging. Come on over! http://www.exposeyourblog.com/phpBB3

Happy Times!

EYB! - New Things Happening!

2011-02-12T21:49:00.001-05:00

For the rest of this month, I will be checking the Surf and Chat logs to see who all has been on chatting. If I see you have posted a message and chatted with someone in the Surf and Chat window, I will give you 25 extra credits for that day. Happy Surf and Chat!!

Effective at Midnight tonight, ET zone US, ie, Sunday morning, I will keep track of all who surf during each week through the end of March. If you surf each day for at least 35 blogs each day, I will give your account 500 extra credits in each category, each week you do so. You must surf every day of the week, Sunday through Saturday, and at least 35 blogs each day. And if you tie it in with the Surf and Chat, and actually chat with the other surfers, you can get 25 credits as seen above. :)

At the current time, BE has over 100,000 blogs on their system. While many are not current, at the peak of their service time, they were. I would love to see us get there, but we have a ways to go. The first person, starting today, that gets us 10 new ACTIVE, surfing people sponsored will get a free upgrade to Enterprise Pro. (Won't be able to win money, but you get all kinds of extra credits each month. ;) )

ExposeYourBlog! continues to grow, come join us!

2011-02-05T19:16:00.004-05:00

Each week ExposeYourBlog! (http://exposeyourblog.com) continues to grow. We would love it if you join us as well!

We are a dedicated site to share our blogs with others, and to read other people's blogs.

We have over 200 in rotation now, and are aiming for over 1000, of the millions out there!

You can earn cash back as well, once you become a paid member, you can earn you cash spent back by surfing each day and hitting a cash bonus page randomishly.

Come on by!

4th Admin, originally miss posted to wrong blog!

2011-02-01T22:05:00.002-05:00

I am happy to announce that SlightlyDrunk (http://www.slightlydrunk.com) has accepted a position on EBY! Admin team. He will help us to approve (disapprove) blogs, and help in moderation of our forums (http://www.exposeyourblog.com/phpBB3).

Welcome Aboard!

Don - Owner
ExposeYourBlog!

(This post was originally posted to my Watkins blog by mistake!!)

EYB! - Final Admin Team Member!

2011-01-19T21:16:00.002-05:00

We got our 5th Admin Team member, back, this week. DevinP. came back and is with us again as Admin.

We are now at full staff for a while, until we grow even bigger.

We still have lots of room to grow users wise, and we have many blogs to read now, but more is always good!

Come on over, and share it with your friends!

EYB! is looking for YOU!

2011-01-15T09:29:00.003-05:00

We are currently looking for two more Admin folks to help us maintain and monitor the blog surfing site, ExposeYourBlog! (http://exposeyourblog.com).

You must have a blog, or more than one if you want ;) , and you must be able to spend at least an hour or so a week looking at blog submissions to allow them in rotation, and you must surf some to verify that those blogs in rotation are current and not breaking things. Helping out in the forums (http://www.exposeyourblog.com/phpBB3) is nice too, but not required.

What do you get? Unlimited credits, direct input to what happens on the site, and you can see what all is happening behind the scenes.

If you are interested, come join us on EYB! and the forums, and send me a PM (admin) on the forums and we can talk about it and make it happen if we agree. :)

EYB! Status Update - January 9, 2011

2011-01-09T12:41:00.002-05:00

Hello Folks,

Well, this past few days has brought a major change to the system. If you are a PAID Pro member, you become eligible to earn back the money you spent on your monthly subscription. It takes work though! You must surf to earn cash credits. The more you surf, the more you make. Over time, I will be adding and subtracting the amount acquired during surfing, as well as how long you have to surf to earn some change. Now, if you are not a paid Pro member, you can still earn, but you can not cash out until you go Paid for at least a month. (No coming and going either, I will delete the account if you do that!) (I, and the rest of the Admin crew are not here to make money, we are here to get our blogs, and your blogs seen and read!)

We have a contest going on the forums, http://www.exposeyourblog.com/phpBB3/, that those that post and are on line, get extra credits if seen by the Admin staff when on line, and randomly for posting new post. So the more you post, and the more you visit the forums, the more credits you get on the surf site.

EYB! continues to grow, and we have hit several days of over 1000 blogs being seen on a day. I look forward to when that is a SMALL number of what has been seen. :) And we have over 20 people a day surfing, that, too, I would like to see climb!

Happy Surfing!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2011-01-01T09:24:00.001-05:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

EYB! Status Update - December 29, 2010

2010-12-29T18:31:00.002-05:00

Ok, so I left everyone alone over the Christmas season, and was going to for the beginning of the new year, but it is time to "wake up" and talk again. :)

I hope everyone, who celebrates it, had a very MERRY CHRISTMAS! I did!

The surfing has been a bit light these past two-two and a half weeks, but I expected that during the Christmas celebrations, and don't expect it to pick up until Monday of next week.

We have had a few new users join us, and with that, there have been a few new blogs added as well. We could still use more users, so remember to put a link in your blog to point people to ExposeYourBlog.com so that we get more people coming to check us, and your blog, out!

In the new year, there will be some "upgrades" and new things added to the system, and more, and hopefully fun, contesting coming as well!

Keep tuned in!

EYB! Status Update - December 15, 2010

2010-12-15T19:44:00.002-05:00

ExposeYourBlog! is pretty much status quo right now. We are holding at about the same number of active members, with surfing down just a bit, which I am attributing to the holiday season. (I pray I'm right here. ;) )

We have found a problem with the verify page software we use to make sure your not a robot surfing, and are working on getting it fixed.

In mid-January expect to see some great changes to the Forums. More on that later!

Surf and Chat is working well, and there are normally at least two people there chatting when I get on, Dirty Butter and Anji, and I would love to see even more people using it!

We are still partnered with Tribal Blogs, in which you can find out more information if you sign up on EYB! and read the newsletters there.

Happy Times!

EYB! Status Update - December 2, 2010

2010-12-02T20:51:00.003-05:00

We continue to grow slowly but surely. Having a niche traffic site makes it harder to grow fast as many traffic sites grow, but we are keeping to our promise of keeping the sites focused on blogs. And mostly "clean" blogs! ;)

Our surfing, on average over the past week averages out to 755 blogs seen per day, which is not bad for a new, niche oriented site.

We are being advertised on roughly 4 traffic exchange sites and in several other locations by the text ads, and other ads I've posted.

Now, there does seem to be a problem that I am noticing. People are not sure how to move credits about to banners or texts ads, etc.. So, I will post on that here now!

As you surf on a free account, you earn 3 credits for every 5 sites you visit. As you build up credits, you can convert them into "conversion credits" which you can then convert into Banner Credits or Text Ad Credits, or back to surf credits.

Here is how it works:

Each Surfing Credit becomes 2 Conversion Credits.
4 Conversion Credits makes 3 Banner Credits
6 Conversion Credits makes 5 Text Ad Credits.

You can go back and forth in your conversion process as well. For example you can take 5 text ad credits to create 6 conversion credits, which can then be converted into 3 surfing credits.

You can also use the Conversion Credits as a hold place if you want to slow down the viewing of your blog by others.

Happy Surfing!

EYB! Status Update - November 23, 2010

2010-11-23T16:45:00.002-05:00

Several things have happened in this past week and a halfish!

You are now able to send an email add to all of our members, at a cost, that will direct the reader to your blog (must be one that is in rotation) with a couple of paragraphs of text to go with it. The cost for this is $5.50 via PayPal.

Also, you may now also place an add, on any topic that is approved at the time of submission to be included in the newsletter that goes out twice a week. (Each ad is a one off only event, although you can submit it as often as you want, once per newsletter. There are up to five ads per newsletter, and you can buy all five, as long as each is different content (even if it points to the same site). This ad does not have to point to a blog. The cost for this is $10.00 per ad.

We have updated our forum software to the "latest and greatest" version, and I have plugged some security holes and performance issues I found in the forum system. So there should be a bit better performance there.

Those users that use Safari will find that they are unable to log in and access the surfing software, this is due to the non-standard way they use standard html/xtml calls, and is not something I can fix on this end.

I am also finding that Camino, another Mac based browser has the same problem.

The recommended browsers to use for surfing on EYB! are Firefox (first) and Chrome (second). Chrome is good, but there are still some pretty big security flaws in it, that I would lean more towards Firefox myself.

I continue to fix issues as they come up, and am here to help and support you the users!

Happy Surfing!

EYB! Status Update - November 14, 2010

2010-11-14T20:04:00.002-05:00

Things continue to grow, we've added a few members, and have some of the initial members that hadn't posted blogs posting blogs. So we are growing, even if slowly. (Keep in mind we are only 5.5 months old thought!)

As of today we have surf and chat up and running now, and without lag!!

Other than that, things remain active and moving forward!

Keep Surfing!

ExposeYourBlog! Status Update - 11/7/2010

2010-11-07T18:53:00.002-05:00

EYB! hit 2000+ blog viewings these past two days!! Much faster than I thought we would! Now to keep it up at that level!

We have added a few more sites into rotation, but unfortunately we have take a couple out (in the form of pausing them) due to lack of current content.

There are still many contest running, and we have had two people reach a total of 600 bonus credits for surfing a lot, by hitting the Verification Page enough times to get to the big daddy of 500 credits for answering the question right 20 times. I hope to see that happen more often! ;)

It is best for each person to have at least one banner and one text ad for their blog in rotation as well, but don't forget to assign credits to them so they are seen. I am seeing those credits get used up and not getting refilled (so to say).

Over all the system problems seem to be (knock on wood) at a minimum right now, and things seem to be smooth sailing. There is a bit of a problem with repeat blogs sooner than one would want to see, but that is due in part to not enough people surfing each day. If you want to be seen, you must surf to gain credits so others can see you! ;)

Happy Blogging!

ExposeYourBlog! Status Update - 10/31/2010

2010-10-31T15:28:00.002-04:00

Happy Halloween!

ExposeYourBlog! continues to surf over 1000 blog hits per day, which is a good thing! My goal is to get us to over 2000 per day by the end of the year! That will take the bloggers we currently have on board surfing at least 25 blogs per day, and for each of them to post at least one banner or comment on their site to get the bloggers that read their blogs to come check us out and join in.

The great thing is, that the majority of the people using the site are reading the blogs as they surf, provide the content is current, as they are often commenting on the blogs! So, while many surf sites people surf and ignore the screen, it doesn't appear to be happening here on EYB!

We have a few contest going on:

1. Surf at least 35 blogs per day for seven days in a row, beginning this past Thursday and ending this coming Thursday at midnight and you will receive 500 credits.
2. If you sign up now, or have signed up in the past and have not activated your account by surfing 5 blogs, you can now do so, then register on the forums and PM Admin and you will receive 100 credits!
3. Each day those that sponsor the most down line members receive credits. (Plus you get a percentage of what they surf each day as well!! So get your links on your blog so others will sign up under you!)
4. The top three people that surf each day get a percentage of the total surfs for that day added to their credits.
5. If you have an add for ExposeYourBlog! on your blog in the top part of your blog, every Saturday (or sometimes Sunday) you will receive 25 credits to your account as payment for advertising for EYB!

More to come!!

ExposeYourBlog! Status Update - 10/24/2010

2010-10-24T12:12:00.002-04:00

ExposeYourBlog! (http://exposeyourblog.com) continues to grow slowly. It is farther along that I thought it would be by now, but not where I'd love to see it, even this soon after starting. (We started the site on the first of June roughly.)

We have broken the 1000 blog views a day, and go up by 10 to 15 per day, which is a good change. During the week days the numbers are sometimes lower, but even then we have been, for the most part breaking 1000 blog views per day. A good start for only being around for about 5 months.

Each weekend, I have been opening up bonus credits for those that surf more during the weekend. It takes surfing to get them though.

I have always been unhappy sporting car dealership logs on my car when I buy it, as I consider it free advertising, and I actually have to pay for it, through the cost of the car, so I have started a process where each Saturday the Admin team looks over every site to see if they have a link to ExposeYourBlog!, and if so pays them in 25 blog credits for that week.

We have a contest going right now where one winner will receive 1000 credits for Tweeting about ExposeYourBlog! from their account. You can read more about that by signing on to your ExposeYourBlog! account, going to your tools page, and looking at the newsletters.

Unfortunately we still have about 50 people who signed up for the service, but have not surfed their 5 initial blogs, and posted their blog for review. This would make us even stronger.

We have a few of our "early adapters" who were not getting what they wanted out of the system when we first started, that stopped surfing because they felt they weren't getting what they needed. I pray they come back now, as they are now going to get what they want. :)

Those that are currently surfing are actually reading and commenting on the blogs in rotation, which is what we are all about.

So, if you have a blog, and are not on http://exposeyourblog.com, come join us and get seen!!

Dr. Don Bell
Owner - ExposeYourBlog!

ExposeYourBlog!

2010-07-04T08:20:00.002-04:00

I have, with the help of a few others, created a new blog sharing site. Go to http://exposeyourblog.com, set up an account, surf through five blogs, then post your blog or blogs into your account, and begin surfing other peoples blogs so that they will be able to see your blogs!

Four or five people from BlogExplosion got tired of it not working and the lack of support at the site, so we started this site up to replace what was missing. We are not in it for money, as most of the sites were, but to have a place to help get our own blogs out and seen by others. I, personally, am dedicated to keeping it up and running, keeping the code clean, and over time adding to it as needed.

We have been averaging about one new blog added a day, for the month we have been open for business. I would love to see that go up, but that works for now if need be. :)

The surf ratio for free accounts is 5-3, meaning you surf 5 blogs, and you get three credits towards people getting to see your blog. There are options for paid accounts which give you more credits, you blog is seen for longer, etc. Every so often your surfing is broken up with the option to play a game for credits, and when you finish that game, you go back to surfing. You get bonus questions to answer every so often, which give you bonus credits as well.

Come join us at http://exposeyourblog.com and get your blog seen!

Don's Thoughts II Returns!

2006-05-03T06:38:00.000-04:00

While Blogger is fine as a whole, I like the flexibility of Wordpress much better, so I have decided, this past weekend to set up my business web site again and get Don's Thoughts II back up and running. It's up and runninger here and I will be moving all the messages from here there (so it has something in it, etc), but not the comments. Please repoint your RSS readers, etc, there if you would. :)

Thanks!

A Friend in CA.

2006-05-01T15:47:00.000-04:00

I have a friend in Central California that is a bit over weight. She has looked into going through surgery to get a tuck and or a band, at her husband's request, but is not happy with what she has seen and heard. Her husband a many years is demanding that she go do it, even though it will put them in financial straights for a while. He isn't listening to her concerns and her desire to not go through with it.

Do you think a spouse should be demanding something like this? Do you feel either procedure does any good?

My thoughts are if my friend want's to do this, she should go for it, ONLY after looking it over in very detail she can. Personally I'd not do it, and I probably could now. I'll walk more, I'll eat better, etc. (And I already am.) Now in her case, there may be some medical issues in play keeping her from more exercise, etc. But still, I think *she* should control what happens to her body. Now, a spouse can give their feedback and thoughts, but should not demand something like this.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this....

Consulting Web Site.

2006-05-01T00:08:00.000-04:00

After about four months of it being down, I have decided to bring back up my business web site. It will probably have a business blog up on it soon, and may soon have an in house photo gallery. Enjoy!

Fuel Cost

2006-04-29T09:26:00.000-04:00

There is a lot of hupla going on right now about the cost of fuel here in the US. Now mind you I don't like it myself, but I can't see the problem with what the fuel companies are doing.

This is a free economy Nation. That means you or a company is free to set the prices for your/their product(s). If we, The People, don't want to pay that price, we don't have to buy it, and after a time, the price will come down.

Having the government step in and control the prices doesn't make sense to me. Now, I understand that fuel cost will and does impact the cost of food, durable goods, and pretty much everything else, but the best way for us to impact that is to not use as much of it for none commercial purposes. Start using buses, walking, major car pooling, go buy an electric car, etc. There are ways to lower your cost!

Keep in mind, if you go to Europe, or most countries fuel is over $5.00 per gallon.

Stop complaining and do something about it, walk it's better for you anyway. (And that's what I'm doing as much as possible, walking!)

The Weekend, FINALLY...

2006-04-28T15:46:00.000-04:00

Well, other than for the fact I will be sailing a good amount this weekend (and that starts in about an hour and a half from this posting tonight!!), I need to first clean house, then I need to get back to my studies. A friend of mine read the blog today and kicked me hard, figuratively, for not cracking the books, research, and other stuff I need to do for my dissertation. Guess I'll take her advice and get to it!

But there will be some good sailing this weekend too!! And there is a BIG Sea Food Fest going on this weekend as well. Next weekend is a beach air show as well! Going to be a fun, though hot it seems, couple of weeks here coming up starting today!

An update!

2006-04-26T10:14:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm down to 258lbs from about 290 back in December!! YEAH!! More to go though!! 210 is still the goal!

Exercise

2006-04-22T10:57:00.000-04:00

For the past three months plus I have been eating better, doing ab rolls, push ups, and walking my dog more and for longer distances, all pretty much every day. It’s starting to pay off. I don’t have a scale, although I should get one soon, but my pants are now loose, and my belt is way too loose as well. Not going to buy new clothes, belt or scales till I get it down even more.

My goal is to get from the 290ish pounds I was, down to 210 where I feel the best. (I am a big guy even when I’m in shape!) The last time I did check my weight I was 265 about 2 months ago. Lost ~25 pounds since mid December of 2005. :)

Comes with living in Florida I guess. :)

In Memory Of...

2006-04-19T10:44:00.000-04:00

... Don McCoy, who passed away last night about 2030 hours. He had a long life and was a great man from what little I knew of him.

I met him for the first time last December when I came down to Pompano Beach to "interview" for my new job. He and his wife Eileen took me in and found a house for me, made initial contact with the landlord, took me to look for furniture, etc. Great couple!

Don went out of his way every today to do things for me which I found to be very nice and helpful!

I only wish I could have gotten to know him better and for much longer!

May his being rest in peace in the Happy Hunting Grounds and may Eileen relish in the memory of their past together and not the sadness of loss!

Aho Don!

Florida could be a problem...

2006-04-17T09:14:00.000-04:00

Well now that I'm living in Florida my studies and work habits could get bad... The weather has been sooooooo good, it's hard to stay in and work on my dissertation or to read or to study or to work on web pages, or to.....

Spent most of the weekend out sailing again, and let me tell you, if it's not something you've done, you should! (If you are in the Ft. Lauderdale area, I can get you hooked up on the Second Star which does two charter cruises a day for $40.00 per person, up to six people per cruise for three to four hours of sailing on the ocean, and if you want, you get to steer the boat, play with the sails, etc!)

Now, on the good side, I’m getting back into shape, walking Kodi almost every day, doing ab rolls, pushups, and eating better. (Kinda embarrassing going to the beach, or playing on the boat being over 270 pounds and ghost white! ;))

I am going to have to start scheduling via my planner all my study time I need!

Immigration Woes...

2006-04-10T22:00:00.000-04:00

There is a lot of hoopla going on right now about illegal "aliens" being in the US and either kicking them out, or letting them become citizens.

I'm all for people from other Nations coming to the US, as long as it is a legal move, they have a job, or can get a job, so they can pay taxes like the rest of us, cover their own medical cost, etc.

I am NOT for people from other Nations sneaking into the US and taking jobs "under the table" and not paying taxes like the majority of the US, getting free medical (on "me" (and I say that tongue in cheek)), etc. NO other Nation out there lets people just come into their Nation and live "for free".

Now, make immigration cheaper and easier to do for people that want to leave their Nation of record and become a Citizen of this Great Nation, but make them go through the process of doing it legally.

Those folks that are hear illegally (as in not haven gone through the proper processes to enter the US) and that are protesting and marching against the US, waving their "home Nation" flags, should be arrested and sent back to their "flag" Nation. (If they really want to prove a point, they should be waving US flags!!) They are breaking two US Laws:

1. Illegally in the US.
2. In many cases demonstrating without a permit. (Now, mind you, I don't think that a permit should be needed to demonstrate peacefully, but currently it is the law, so follow it.)

It just doesn't make sense to me how people are getting away with this protesting, while being illegal, and why we aren't doing something about it...

More Photos...

2006-04-09T23:50:00.000-04:00

Well, I got off my behind this evening and found some more photos which I have put up on the web at Flickr.

Various Sailing Adventures.

A date with Polly, to the beach.

My pets, past and present.

Aircraft

Friends and Family

Enjoy!

Busy Weekend

2006-04-09T08:37:00.000-04:00

Well, I spent all day yesterday rebuilding and "new" (to me) computer that was given to me for helping a guy fix his "new" computer and get it working the way it should be. Boy ole boy, I know why he got a new one. This one is SOOOOOOOO slow, and needs memory which I will probably pick up soon. Going to use it as my print server and take that task off of the computer that was doing it, as it was always busy anyway crunching prime numbers for me.

Today I will be heading into work and working on the network there, as I'm not happy with the way it is set up. Yep, I'm the President of the company, but our "Network" guy left the company before I got there, and it's time to fix things...

Also getting back into (I know, I keep coming and going here...) my dissertation and my Watkins business (see last post there...), so life is busy again!

Watkins

2006-04-09T08:34:00.000-04:00

For those interested in receiving up to $20.00 in "free" ("free" as you have to pay taxes and shipping based on your location) Watkins products, go over and check out my other blog that is offering $20.00 in gift certificates to each person that asks. :)

Enjoy!

An aggravation…

2006-04-06T18:24:00.000-04:00

Why do people insist that I listen to their music or pitch when I visit their page via a rotation systems such as TrafficSwarm or BlogExplosion? They should set their audio presentations, including music to be off and place a switch to turn on the sound should the person want to hear it.

I listen to my own music most of the time, often via my laptop, where I am surfing from, and do not want to listen to most of the stuff. I will listen to those things that I have an interest in. Let ME decide what I want to listen to...

Sailing Event all day!

2006-04-05T21:42:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I was able to be on the sail boat from about 10AM until almost 5PM, what a way to spend the day. We had a charter of a nice family and sailed up and down the coast, tied up to a reef for about an hour or so and swam in the ocean, then chased some fish around the ocean trying to convence them to get on the line we had out for them.

I could find a job on a boat and be pretty happy, provided I got to jump in the ocean every so often and providing I had SOME time off.

Only problem would be Kodi, so I probably couldn't do it, but it sure sounds fun...

My Pets... :)

2006-04-02T11:36:00.000-04:00

To the right there, I have a Flickr Badge with my pets, past and present. (Down to just Kodi and Zenda, but Zenda is up north...)

Enjoy!

Getting back up to speed in blogging.

2006-04-02T09:55:00.000-04:00

Well, after I shut down tdbellenterprises.com because I was too busy, and I pretty much dedicated my time to AV Books, Inc., I have decided to bring this page fully back into produciton for now. I am in the process of getting my photos up on Flickr (yep, I joined the masses...) and will be updating links to that either today or sometime this week.

You should start seeing me post here more often as well.

Looking forward to getting my two or three readers back. ;)

What a day...

2006-03-25T20:00:00.000-05:00

... yesterday! Started out I got to dive again. Water was still warm and it felt great, but one weird thing happened. I was panic breathing for some reason. I just couldn't stay down. I did get what needed done (check and clean the prop on the boat, and check another boat's prop/underbelly, and check a few things down there), but it was in short burst of being down and long periods of laying on top getting over my panic breathing. Wierd for me. I've not had that happen except the VERY first day I dove in the ocean. Can't figure it out...

Did have a good day on the sail boat though, two great groups, on the two cruises, and I enjoyed the whole time.

Had another cruise on the sail boat today, and it was almost as good! ;) Not enough wind for me today, but it was still fun.

Venture Capitalist...

2006-03-24T07:24:00.000-05:00

For about 10 years I was an active Venture Capitalist, and funded several companies with money (from $500K to $50M). I reviewed hundreds of business plans, talked to hundreds of people about their company and funded some of them, and walked, or ran, from others.

But in all of the cases, I TRIED to be cordial and friendly.

I am currently working for a company (AV Books, Inc.) that is looking for VC Funding. The response I’ve gotten from the folks I’ve talked to has been from extremely rude, to down right nasty! Why is that? It just doesn’t make sense to me!

Are they put off because I know the processes from the inside? (Although anyone with a sound mind knows how a VC works…) Although my boss was receiving the same responses before I came on board.

I know our product is good; too many potential end users like and WANT the product. Almost every Educator we have shown it to wishes they had every book they use in our product!

I’m confused…

Busy Life...

2006-03-23T08:51:00.000-05:00

Life continues to throw things at me and keep me busy and looking for revenue... I haven't taken (or made) much time for my studies, so my dissertation is going no where, although I do have a bit of time till my next "required" check in for that.

I have been having some good times though. My Boss, the owner of the company I work for as President/COO, has a sail boat, and I get to go out on it at least once a week of late, and often more. I'm finding I like being out on the sea. If I didn't have Kodi, my puppy (ok, 6 years old next month, but still a puppy to me), I'd probably quit what I'm doing now and take a job on a cruise line doing computer work or some such.

I did get to scuba dive a few weeks ago. For the first time in my life I dove in water where all I wore was a "skin" (light cloth body suit less than .5m thick) and it was WARM! (Everyone around me said I was crazy and the water was too cold that I should be wearing a 3m wet suit a the minimum. It was warm though! I loved it. I was checking out the bottom of the boat, so I wasn't down longer than 10 minutes, but I have to say it was great! Can't wait to go diving again soon!

Well, back to work.

Back here for now.

2006-03-01T08:54:00.000-05:00

Well, I let my company web site die off, sorta by mistake, but I'm kinda happy with the decision in the end. That said, I will be going back to posting here for a little while till I work out what I want to do blog wise. I miss blogging, so I’m back at posting blogs.

There is a lot going on in my life, and I’ll post more on that once I work out what I want to post about and what I don’t think is appropriate. 

Moving Hosts.

2005-09-11T09:36:00.000-04:00

Well, after working with Blogger for a while, and with Wordpress for less time, I have come to like WordPress. It gives me a bit more control of what I can do. So, I have decided to create Don's Thoughts II, which this site will be moving to. Over the next few days I will move the content from here to there, and I will no longer be updating this site as of now.

Please change your RSS readers, etc, to the new site!!

Don

Riddle Me This?

2005-09-08T23:16:00.000-04:00

Late at night when the rest of the "night time" world is asleep, I'm typically up and awake. I use this time to code, read, study, or surf the blogs that are out there begging to be read.

There is one "type" of blog that has me totally confused as to why they are even there.

That being those blogs that have a link to another site, and one or two sentences saying something about the link. I just don't understand why they do that? Why don't they just comment on that blog, and use their blog for something else (or not have a blog). I never click on the links, and I never go back to that blog.

Seems like a waste of space and bandwidth.

In Defense of the Feds vs Katrina

2005-09-04T07:21:00.000-04:00

I, too, am saddened by the disaster in New Orleans and other areas effected and affected by the storm that stomped its way through there.

*BUT* jumping on the US Agencies for in-adequate response isn't right either. FEMA, the main agency to respond to these events can not respond, by law, until requested by the Governor of the State(s) involved, and that was slow in coming. These folks "wanted to evaluate the need". Several police agencies, fire, rescue, Army Reserve, National Guard units from around the US attempted to respond and were told by the State Police or Governors that they could not come until other issues were resolved, or that there was no place for them to stay, nor food or water for them. (In ALL cases they were brining their own food, water and sleeping accommodations, disaster response teams KNOW they need to bring this stuff! That's what we get trained in!)

I do have a problem with the LOCAL agencies not being properly prepared and ready for this event. Yes, it is the worse natural event of this type to hit the US (although we have helped other countries with as bad, or almost as bad), but the expectations where there, and they should have had things in hand ready to help out. Nope, no such thing is there.

I also have a problem with the people that did not leave when they knew full well what the impact could have been, which was VERY accurately depicted, two weeks or so in advance. I know that when some of the Reserve Units and National Guard Units were heading out, they offered folks rides out of the area (without possessions, making it harder I know) which were turned down more often than not! Add to that the stealing of everything not locked down, and in many cases even those things locked down, including by the local law enforcement (and on international camera), without qualms of being seen. I have a problem with the rapes that are happening, and the killing. Most of this done by those that stayed behind.

I am in 100% support of rebuilding the area, above sea level, and getting back to life, commerce, etc., I just do not think hammering on the US Agencies is the right thing to do. I do think that, through valid agencies, such as the Red Cross, Salvation Army, FEMA, etc, we should support by monetary donation, the recovery of the area. This groups often request money instead of what is called "in kind" donations, so that it can be used in what is needed at the moment. They have agreements with various producers of equipment, supplies, etc., to get it to the affected/effected areas at cost, which uses the same amount of money to buy more product than if you buy and send it yourself.

Sorry for the rant, but let's put blame where it needs to be, if there must be blame. Also, let's put the money where it can do the most good. (Red Cross or Salvation Army for example.)

Another book recommendation.

2005-08-30T19:18:00.000-04:00

I have the un-natural habit of sleeping from two to three hours a night, so I have a lot of free time to read. (Although I'd probably read often anyway.) I tend to read books on Self Help/Growth, Business Topics, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and some military based ones.

Two days ago had the pleasure of receiving "The Angel Inside", by Chris Widener. (ISBN-0-9726266-1-1)

This book is well written and a quick read at 110 pages (of actual story line). The message, chisel, chip, sand, and polish your inner being and do what you are good at and want to do, instead what others what you to do, is well articulated.

This book will be going on my "must read" list for sure! Check it out and see how it fits your life!! I’m betting it is dead on to where you are currently or have been in the recent past!

Rubber Neckers...

2005-08-25T18:28:00.000-04:00

I have over 20 years of Emergency Medicine history. Over the years, I have been known to stop at auto accidents and provide care for those that are hurt, either physically or emotionally.

Something that bothers most emergency crews at an accident, and it definetly rubs me wrong, is rubber neckers. Those folks that slow down, and even stop, regardless if they are on the same side of the accident or not, to look at the event.

This causes problems for one and all, especially the emergency crew!! How does it effect the emergency crew you ask? Well, all the slowing down can slow down further responding units, or even initially responding units. Once the units are on site, the rubber neckers get in the way as a potential distraction and possible mini accidents as people forget to pay attention to what is going on in front of themselves.

So, if you aren't stopping to help (as in right after it happens and before emergency crews show up), keep your eyes on the road, pay attention to what you are doing and get out of the way! Let the emergency crews do their job. Move on and get back to your life, and forget what is going there!

Stay Safe!!

A New Book, "The Virtual Handshake", A MUST Read!

2005-08-21T19:45:00.000-04:00

I have had the pleasure of knowing Scott Allen for almost a year now from Ryze. He has recently finished a book, The Virtual Handshake with David Teten.

This book is a must read for anyone that wants to increase their reach in the world, and be heard in the world. These two guys clearly outline the steps one should take to grow their trusted network and extended network, and they do it in a way that is easy to read and follow. Add to that, the information is dead on!

You can find more about both of these guys and the book at www.thevirtualhandshake.com.

TDBell Enterprises, Inc.

An Aggervation.

2005-08-17T09:07:00.000-04:00

I have had three people this past week or two that have told me that they are not with an MLM/Network Marketing company (although they are telling me this on a MLM/Network Marketing discussion board on Ryze), and that they do not sell product, they just refer people... What they are doing is Marketing a business, and selling their parent companies product, plain and simple.

Now Marketing is a process of getting your information out to the public for selling a product/service/person.

Multi Level Marketing/Network Marketing (see Marketing in both names?)is the process of Marketing through friends/family/people you meet and talking about what you like and use (hopefully, I see many MLM/NM people actually NOT using their own products!). This is referal marketing. You present your product to those you meet, you market your product on line, etc.

So, if you work a buisness that has a parent company you receive product from, and that you refer to people, and if those people join up, as an Associate, and you make residual income off of their actions, you are a MLM/NM Marketer. Pretty clearly defined in numerous publications, including by the IRS.

If a person is afraid to say they own and opperate a MLM/NM business, why are they in it? If they are afraid of what people think about the industry, why not educate them on it instead of trying to hide it?

This hiding their affiliation in the industry hurts the industry, which has had a bad rap due to the scams that crop up all the time.

Please folks, be up front with your marketing and processes, don't try to convince someone that you are legit by saying you are not MLM/NM when you are in fact. It hurts the industry, your marketing efforts, and the quality of the Associates you get on your team.

What is the best way to use LinkedIn?

2005-08-14T09:15:00.000-04:00

When I first started using Ryze and LinkedIn my thoughts were to only add or invite people I knew personally to my “Friends” (in Ryze) or “Contacts” (in LinkedIn). That lasted several months then I got caught up on two things:

1. Growing the network faster with people I didn’t know, broadened my list of people I can request information through.
2. Growing the lists with anyone could put me on the list of “well connected” faster.

After a few weeks, and not many thankfully, I realized that my first inclination was probably a better way to go.

So, my goal now is to contact each and every person on both lists I have and begin networking with them and growing that relationship. I am sure that some will not want to do that, and that is cool by me.

I guess for me it is a Quality issue more than a quantity issue.

What are your thoughts on this?

Many Similar Web Stores on the Web, how many are making it work for them?

2005-08-11T15:39:00.000-04:00

Over the past couple of years, I have watch a large number of Online stores or malls pop up, most having the same things in them, and often not at all that good of prices. Sometimes the prices are pretty good, until you look at the shipping cost.

What I wonder is, how much money are these stores bringing in for the “owners”? I would think that eBay would do better for the “owner”, assuming they had products in hand they could sell. Yes, the stores are mainly drop shippers, but with so many on the Net, how many are making it?

I can’t see how they are…

MASSIVE SUCCESS!

Blogging...

2005-08-09T14:46:00.000-04:00

I read an interesting article on blogging today and how to go about doing it, that article stated two ways, or rather frequency of, to write a blog:

1. Use your blog as a content management system. Write your weekly article, upload it to your blog, then send an email to your list that links to the article on your blog.

Or,

2. Write for your blog every day (or every two days at an absolute minimum) to reach the group of people who will visit your blog regularly, but only if you are adding new content regularly. Then, for your weekly newsletter, create a weekly digest of your posts containing a synopsis of each article and a link to the article on your blog.

As you can see here, I tend to the first, but am going to aim to the second option. I think that makes better sense. While I have there three blogs to work my work one my Watkins one and this one, I hope to start finding things to write on each every day that have merit. :)

Truth in advertising.

2005-08-09T11:14:00.000-04:00

On thing bothers me a WHOLE lot in this world. That is people or groups or companies that advertise their products/services based on untruth's or blindly, so you don't know who or what you are dealing with. Another part of that is MLM/Network Marketing/Direct Sales companies that state they are NOT MLM/Network Marketing companies, when they know they are. Yes, I know that the industry has a bad rap, and in many cases rightly so. Using these practices makes it even worse though.

These people and companies need to step forward, be honest, say who they are, what their products are, and let US make our mind up if it is something we want/need/will do!

It would also make those of us (me for example) that are happy to be in Network Marketing (for me the company of choice is Watkins) have an easier job of talking with people about the business!

MASSIVE SUCCESS

Networking with LinkedIn

2005-08-05T12:10:00.000-04:00

Over the past few weeks I have been inviting people to LinkedIn to help them with their job search or business building.

I have watched them accept the invitation and then do nothing with their account afterwords, probably because of the potentially daunting aspect of LinkedIn. So, to help with that task, I decided to post how I feel this site can best be used. (I am sure there are other ways as well, and I would love to hear your comments on how you use LinkedIn here!)

One of the great aspects of LinkedIn is the ability to build a profile on yourself, telling who you worked with company wise, and what you are currently doing, and what you are looking to do, be it job hunt or business hunt. So, the first step is to set up each and every company you have worked for, and what you did for that company. The more detailed you are, the better off you are, as people get to know you better! (I wouldn't go into why you left, etc, just what kind of wokr/etc you did at each job!)

Next, after you have that in, you have the opportunity to check each company for people already on LinkedIn and invite them to connect to your profile as a contact. Go through each company you have worked for, and invite each person you knew, at any level, and invite them into your list!

After you have completed that, go to your email list and add those people as well, reguardless who they are. (If they don't want to join, they won't!)

Now, after you start getting people in your list, go visit their profile, read it over, and what they are looking for out of LinkedIn, if you can help them, help them, if they can help you, talk to them!

You can, in most cases, now see who is LinkedIn to this contact, and go look at their profiles. Get to know the people (NETWORK!!) in your contacts list and in their contacts list!! Networking is one of the fastest ways of building business, finding a job, etc.!

Now, you have your account set up, you have one or more contacts in your profile, and you are looking for work. When you find a company that is looking for YOU (they just don't know it's you yet), go to your LinkedIn page and do a search on that company. If someone in your contacts list knows someone from that company, ask to talk to that person (by clicking on "Make Contact" in their profile). The people inbetween you and the person you want to talk to, should forward on your request.

That request should be along the lines of:

"Hello, I see that XYZ company is hiring for ABC job, and that you (use to or are) work for XYZ. Would you be able to tell me more about the company? (If they left the company, find out why, if they are still there, see if they know who the hiring manager is.)"

Be brief, but get your request in! Once they get back to you, you should have more information about the company and hopefully contact info on who to send a second copy, you should apply through the requested means as well, hopefully that person is
the hiring manager to insure (s)he gets a copy of your great resume!

I have also posted some comments on networking TDBell Enterprises, Inc's BLog, which includes a link to a GREAT book on Networking in general.

MASSIVE SUCCESS!

Summer is almost over and ...

2005-08-01T15:51:00.000-04:00

... I must have blinked missing most of it!! Granted things have been busy for me, but wow, this past three months have flown by for me!!

I have also let slide my time management practices this past three months, which I started back up two days ago. Time management is very important, as it is a key part of life management, so I hope all of you use tools to keep your time in line!!

Bi-Directional Communication WORKS!

2005-07-26T12:17:00.000-04:00

Several weeks ago I posted about a very good friend that had severed communications when I had attempted to open better lines of communication came back and opened those lines herself and we are once again talking and this time with much better bi-directional communcations!!

Goes to show that if BOTH sides talk, and say what they need to say, things work out.

But it DOES take bi-directional communications!

I am very happy to have this young lady back as a friend again, and hope we continue to talk and share with each other.

Now to get communications opened up again with my other friend.....

Tigers.

2005-07-23T13:02:00.000-04:00

Sarge

I have always been infatuated with tigers. I have done a lot of research on these majestic animals, and have followed their plight for years, and have seen as many as I can in museums and other locations throughout the world. In my research I have found a group that is doing pretty good things in support of tigers. This group is:

Please check them out and do what you can if you are interested in tigers as well!!

Personal BLogs of Executives...

2005-07-19T09:41:00.000-04:00

Earlier today I had someone tell me that I shouldn't have a personal blog where I ramble on since I was an Executive and had been looking for Executive level jobs.

I still have to ask WHY NOT? Yes, many companies go out and search to see what is being said by and about someone before they hire a person. But I also think that company SHOULD know what a person thinks and does in life. Sorta Full Disclosure!

Now, I do nothing that I am ashamed of, and I follow strong and ethical business and life practices. I have been pretty successful in life, and I have helped many others be successful in life.

Should a person have a personal BLog if they are an Executive?

TDBell Enterprises, Inc.

2005-07-17T17:58:00.000-04:00

My company now has a blog, located and ran on our own site. This site, Don's Thoughts, will remain, but will be exclusively my own thoughts and less tied to business. (Which means it will probably be updated more often, as I was somewhat reluctant to post here, as I was not sure how to post, business, or personal...)

Have fun, and enjoy!

A friend's BLog

2005-07-04T08:34:00.000-04:00

I have a long time friend who recently put up a BLog. I think you will find this BLog pretty deep and thought provoking as she progresses with it.

Now I've known Celisha for a few years, but I've never actually met her in person, it has all be on line. We've talked hours and hours over the years. She is a very smart person who is always searching for more knowledge and always growing. She loves birds and quiet time!

Have Fun C!

Art...

2005-07-01T23:31:00.000-04:00

I have always enjoyed art. I have a lady friend, by the name of Annie, that is a great painter and I have a painting of hers which is valued pretty high.

I recently became an art investor by joining a company called International Galleries, Inc (or IGI). This company has a limited number of remakes on some very good paintings, and they have exclusive rights to the paintings! Some of the originals are worth over 1M each!!

Check my art Gallery out:

Engagement Rings..

2005-06-17T09:37:00.000-04:00

When a couple get's engaged, the man typically buys an engagement ring and presents it to the lady.

If the lady breaks up with the man should the lady give the ring back to the man?

Communications...

2005-06-08T14:53:00.000-04:00

Communications is very important in any type of relationship, but it personal or business. The process of communicating needs to be bi-directional and very open for that relationship to be successful.

I have had three different relationships recently end because of lack of bi-directional communications. One was a business one where I wasn't communicating correctly, nor was my partner. This one was OK with me to end, sorta, but looking back, I should have communicated better and forced the issue of communication.

The second one has me more on edge and upset. This relationship was a personal one, and one that I kept very clear and open communcations going from my side, but the other person was not, even though she said she would. It appears there were issues on the table, but she wasn't able to talk about them and ended the relationship out of the blue after a long hard day at work for me. No pre-amble, just bam, it's over, move on! I have attempted to talk to her about the issues, knowing the relationship was over, but so that I could understand where things went wrong and fix that inside of me, or watch for it in a personal relationship, but no go. She won't talk, she dodges any attempt to communicate. At the begining of our relationship and through out the relationship I stressed the importance of talking over issues and being up front with them. She agreed up front, but didn't follow through with her words...

The third one is with a friend that lives in another state. We had spoty communications, often one sided over the past three years, and I thought good friends. When I opened up more and let her know some things I thought were wrong in my life and hers, she cursed me out and ran off. Again, lack of proper communications on both sides, but...

Why is it hard for people to communicate? I enjoy the practice and try to with everyone I come in contact with, but many people run from it!!??

MASSIVE SUCCESS in life!!
Watkins Products!!

People in Life.

2005-05-23T17:37:00.000-04:00

This past weekend someone I loved, but never showed my love for, very much passed away. That person was my last living Grandparent. He had a very good 90 years of life, that ended badly with Leukemia. Due to various issues in my life I was not able to be there with him in the end, but I was never really there for him during my life, so what's new... But he was there for me all the time in my life. There wasn't a day in my life that I did not think of Grandpa and what he could do with his face, what he had done with his life, and how caring he was to me when I was around. I wish I had been there more for him. His funeral is this Friday, and I will be there to carry him to his final resting place. Aho Grandpa, happy hunting (and fishing) in the Happy Hunting Grounds I know you are going to!

Another person, that I never meet, but who was someone very special to a lady I care for very much, passed away this weekend as well. Aho Aunt of Polly! She greives hard for you!

Why???

2005-04-18T07:55:00.000-04:00

A company hires you at a rate of X, assigns you P&L responsibilty, and makes you in charge of a the division. Five weeks later you go to corporate HQ for training and the VERY first thing they tell you is that your position is now going away, you can decide between being a receptionist or a tech. And Oh, by the way, you are going to take a 36% pay cut.

1. WHY would they even hire you to begin with when they KNEW this was happening within the next three months?
2. How many do they expect to NOT leave with a 36% (on average) pay cut, and a major down grade of title and position? (There are 400 or so such people that are so effected.)

Would you stay if this was you? What are your thoughts on something like this happening?

Spring is HERE!!

2005-03-20T10:29:00.000-05:00

Well, we are moving into the time of year I love the most, minus the rain anyway, and that is Spring. I like the temp most of the time, and I love the new growing things outside, the return of the birds and other animals, and the over all re-birth of the year. (Not much into rain though, hate being wet unless I'm scuba diving or swimming.)

Summer is my second favorite time of year, as that means the beach is there with at least semi warm water!! I love walking on the beach and swimming in the ocean, under the waves or on the waves!! (Although I don't surf....)

Time to grab my school books and head to the beach I think!! (Although today is too busy for that...)

Don't forgot your Watkins Products!!

Busy Few Weeks..

2005-03-09T06:40:00.000-05:00

It has been a busy few weeks for me. A lot of changes happening in my life and lot of busyness. Haven't studied like I should have been and haven't done a lot of things I should be doing. Time to get back on track.

I have re-enforced that people don't listen and don't follow up on what they say they will do. (Myself as well at times....) I'm working on that from my standpoint, but I wish others would work on it as well.

I have found that coaching others on process or direction doesn't always (seldom it seems) pay off the first time. They go off on their own, doing it their way, and then they often crash and have to start over, if they start over with the way they were coached by someone that has "been there, done that", they tend to get it right the second time. Why can't people learn from other peoples mistakes? Why do they want to learn of them their own? Yes, a person needs to make their own mistakes as well, but if it is a major project (such as getting your company funded), why not follow the "expert"?

Oh well...

Busy Times...

2005-02-13T15:23:00.000-05:00

Well, as I get my butt back in gear and working on my course work, things are getting busy around me. The company I co-own/work Venture Strategies, Inc. (Blog)is busy trying to get new clients, meaning I'm busy trying to get new clients, we are working existing clients (and there is a lot of work involved in what we do), and we're working on our own plan (adjusting it to new thoughts). I am going to be giving a speech in April to a group of Space/Satellite Executives, so I have to get on top of the topic at hand (I know a good portion of what I’m going to say, but I need to get exact figures, etc….). In my PhD program, I’m on a topic I’m not overly good on (Marketing), so I need to spend even more time at the desk on the books. My sister, with whom I live(d) with, is selling her house and moving back in with our parents (a good move, and many reasons behind it), so I need to get all my stuff out and that is taking time to boot. Where I am now living needs help in cleaning out the garage to make room for all my junk. (I’m going to go through all of my stuff and trash as much as I can, I need to stop dragging this stuff all over the US…) I very much want to get my Watkins (and the blog) business off to the next level (which is where I start making good money instead of some money), so I need to spend more time there. I’m RIGHT at the point where if I add about 5 more hours to that job a week, I’ll be right at the point where I don’t have to work for anyone else in about three months. Just getting that 5 more hours is proving interesting though.

The next class has begun!

2005-01-29T14:18:00.000-05:00

Ok, now I'm on a series of Marketing subjects that I'm working on for my PhD. Good timing for it too. With my new company, I've been running into marketing issues that I've not had to do before, before people came to me, now I'm having to go out and find clients... Totally new to me, but the class is opening my mind up a lot on it!!!

When I finish this I have Economics (ALMOST as bad as Stats to me...)....

Not what I wanted...

2005-01-22T17:10:00.000-05:00

Well, took my final in my Statistics Class this week. Got a 91 on it, out of 100, which brought my grade average down to a 95. Not happy with that. Wanted to have a GPA of at least 98. Starting off with a GPA of 95 is a bad start.... (First class.)

Now on to a Marketing Class. Need more info in this area for my own business (http://www.venturestrategiesinc.com and http://vsinc.blogspot.com), and learning new things is always good.

Including the marketing class, only 7 more classes before this becomes all research and dissertation.

Speaking of dissertation, any recommendations? Needs to be on a business topic, and somewhat focused on that topic....

Studying for the PhD...

2005-01-16T09:52:00.000-05:00

Well the Holiday season got me off of kilter when it came to studying for my classes!! I was weeks ahead of schedule, and now others in the program are caught up and in a couple of cases probably ahead of me!!

Today I start back to studying HARD CORE!!

Centering

2005-01-14T22:16:00.000-05:00

Have you ever had a time where it is hard to center and get things going the way you want them too? How do you go about centering?

In my case, I sit down on Mother Earth and clear my mind looking up at Father Sky and watch the world slowly turn. As I sit there, I clear my mind of thoughts, and as a thought comes along, notice it, then let it go.

The activities of the past week have had me doing that often.

I'm now focused and centered, thanks to Father Sky and Mother Earth!

Peace be with you!

People again....

2005-01-10T22:17:00.000-05:00

It never ceases to amaze me how people in business act. If you have a verbal contract, not the best thing to do it seems, especially with an Attorney, to do something at a flat rate, not based on funding results, reguardless of time actually spent, and the contract is consumated by receiving 2/3s of fee somewhat up front, you would expect to get the remaining fee when your part of the work was done. You would not expect to be told by your client that you will receive the remaining portion of the fee (and the end result was to work for half price IF paid in full!!) when the funding happened. Totally changes the agreement, and without my input up front!!

I hope ethics and such get strong here in the States again...

Camping...

2005-01-08T09:07:00.000-05:00

It has been my dream of many years to spend a year in the mountains with a couple of horses, a dog and myself, moving through the mountains learning about nature and life from that vantage point. Over the years I've gotten close to doing it, but the time is always in the dead of winter when it comes to my forefront. As in now. I'd very much like to start my Journey, but I would much rather start it when the weather is nice. I'll be there when it get's bad, but I want to know the lay of the land by then, and have a routine set up before the weather hits....

Add to that, I've meet someone that means a lot to me, and going away for a year could (and would) bugger that up. Guess that means my dreams are set aside again for a few more years....

Equipment wise, I am VERY close to where I want to be. I have almost every aspect of what I need, except for the second horse and the gear for a horse...

RSS/Atom Feeds/Syndicators?

2005-01-07T11:26:00.000-05:00

Well, today I'm starting my research on getting my three blogs (http://donmbell.blogspot.com, http://vsinc.blogspot.com, and http://tdbellwatkins.blogspot.com) syndicated and out so others can find it.

If you are reading this, what is the best way to do this? Lots of info out there, time to put on my PhD hat and parse it all out.........

Too Busy?

2005-01-05T22:30:00.000-05:00

Well, business is booming for me, and I have a lot of things to do at work right now. It is a good feeling though!! I'm getting closer and closer to wanting to only sleep two or three hours (I'm up to four or five this past few months, after beeing at two to three for over 20 years) a night.

The projects I'm working on have been fun, stimulating (mentally), and just what I want to be doing!!

It's a good feeling all around!!

Now to find time to get back to the PhD studies and get that back on track after the break I took over the holidays!!

Review of 2004/Goals for 2005

2004-12-31T16:06:00.000-05:00

This past year I had 4 major goals:

1. Lose 50 pounds. - Several good things happened this year, but that wasn't one of them, I went up 20.

2. As a Watkins Business Owner, my goal was to hit Silver Manager by today, 31 December. I did not make it, but I was close, real close!!

3. Own two multi-unit homes/appartments/etc. - Didn't start on this project at all.

4. Start doing Tax Liens again. Due to many issues, I never started this project.

Here are some of my primary goals for the year 2005:

1. Have my Didactic section of my current PhD program done by the end of March 2005.

2. Have my Intial Draft of my PhD dissertation complete by December 2005.

3. Obtain my CISSP Certification by the end of June 1005.

4. By the end of December 2005, obtain and sustain Executive Level with Watkins.

5. Lose 50 lbs. (I've already started on this, effective today, and actually effective two weeks or so ago!!)

6. Get back into rental properties.

I KNOW I can reach all of these goals, I just need to re-condition myself to not be lazy as I was this past year. I think I took a couple years off in fact.. Not anymore!!

If you are reading this, please check back in with me in a year and force me to post my results. ;)

World Event "NO" press!?

2004-12-29T07:14:00.000-05:00

I'm VERY surprised at the lack of TV coverage of the events in Asia right now! Yes, there is SOME coverage, but this should be all over the screen!!

This is the worse earthquake in over 40 years, and the biggest Tsunami in many more years! As of this AM there are about 70K people confirmed dead, and many thousands more still listed as missing!

I personally think this event is bigger than 9/11 and should have strong coverage so we know what is going on!! Yes, 9/11 was a terrorist act, and needed coverage too, and so should this, which is a "natural" event!

Wake up Press, get on the job!!

Another Bad part about the Christmas Holiday...

2004-12-26T08:48:00.000-05:00

Well, today brings to us the beginning week of the next round of no fun! People bringing back the hunderds of thousands of dollars worth of products they received from their friends and loved ones that they don't want or don't like!! Yep, someone brings you a gift from their heart, and we take it back to the store for something else. In most cases, I'm betting that the giver was giving something THEY wanted...

I'm hoping this year is a bit better than in the past for these retail folks (I did retail for a year, more as a learning experience and until I could get my mind on what I wanted to be doing now, so I know how it goes...) with the strong use of the gift cards. I hope more people are buying these cards than getting gifts that the other person didn't want....

WHY?

2004-12-24T07:31:00.000-05:00

I'm a member of ISSA (Information Systems Security Association), which is supposed to be people that are in a systems security position in their company, or that run a systems security/auditor company. These people should be aware of what exploits are out there, know how to counter them and how to fix the issues on their computer. In my eye they should be very well versed on what tools are used by the crackers out there (to me a cracker is a person that breaks into a system for mal intent, a Hacker is a person that discets THEIR systems and code to learn more about what the system and code can do, a GOOD Hacker does not break into other peoples systems anymore, it's too cheap (IE FREE in many cases) to get the operating systems you would want, and code you can use to learn on your own systems) are using.

Last month at the ISSA Chapter meeting we had a security audit/training company come in and show us some of the current tools available freely on the Net that were being used by the script kiddies and in some cases Pros. They even used some on a mock network.

The person doing the demo, an ISSA member himself, received at least one email from a participant and member stating that he should not be showing us and using such tools.

ISN'T THAT WHAT THIS GROUP IS ALL ABOUT? LEARNING MORE ABOUT THEIR INDUSTRY (Data Security and Integrity), AND LEARNING HOW TO THWART IT?

ARGH!!

Background, including Credit and Police Record?

2004-12-22T22:17:00.000-05:00

Ok, I ask you, if you are a company and about to hire another company to come in and do some business consulting for you, do you ask for the Principles SSN number? Asking for the EIN number, yes, I can see that, as you need it to pay the bills with, and you can, if you so desire check out the business history of the company. But give out the Principles SSN? In over 20 years of professional business life, I’ve never heard it until this past couple of days.

In the process of helping a client company with their business plan, and getting them ready to go speak to, and land, VC money, we were introduced to a man that was billed as The Consultant for this company. This guy was rude, overbearing and asked for the following things, specifically:

1. Reference letters from my VC contacts.
2. A copy of our business plan format in detail from a like client.
3. My and my business partner’s Social Security Number so he could do a criminal and credit history report.

Now his pissed because we won’t give him that info. We charge from $14K to 100K for working with a company on their business plan, and presentation to VCs. We take 1% of the company, non-dilute able, to introduce them to the VC. Our credit history and criminal history are none of his damn business. I SOOOOOO wanted to hand/send him a bill for $15.1M for the VC list, and the business plan (and I would have even written it for this client!!), but didn’t want to get in a pissing match, which it appears he wants to…

Company credit history would be of import to this transaction, and I have no problems giving him the EIN number for the company, pointing him to our bank, etc. But our company is two months old… We have three clients, and while the client list is growing, we are too new to have a strong reference list!!

What are your thoughts on this?

Great Reading!!

2004-12-21T17:24:00.000-05:00

Personal Reading:

These books are books I recommend for each person
to read reguardless of what you do for a living or where your
going in life:

These first two books should be in everyone's
personal library!

This book is a MUST for everyone to get your life
outlined and in order:

This book helps you get your contacts in life
in order. VERY good book!:

These books talk about how to conduct business
in such a way that work actually gets done and you can build a
STRONG business:

, ,
,
,
and

If you have clients (and who doesn't?) we HIGHLY
recommend this book:

These next books help you understand making wealth
as an individual:

,

and

Rich People...

2004-12-21T17:13:00.000-05:00

Over the years I have meet several people that have net worth of over $5M US, and that live off of that wealth. Meaning they are invested in such a way that they are able to live off of the profits of their wealth. That is a major undertaking and takes some work up front to set it up.

Many of these people are very friendly and in most cases you won't even know they have that wealth!

I recently met a man that falls in the catagory that he is now able to live off of his wealth (and probably some off of his wife's income as a Medical Doctor). The down side is he flaunts his wealth in many ways, and has a mighter than though attitude..

This is from a person that has had significant wealth and that at one point didn't have to work again if he didn't want to. (Long story there, that may make it's way here.) During that time, few, except for my inner circle knew I had that wealth and that I didn't have to work. (I wanted to work at the time...)

Why do people get so self centered? sigh...

My Shamanistic Beginnings.

2004-12-18T09:40:00.000-05:00

I've had several people ask me more about my Shamanistic life, so I thought I'd start it out by explaining my beginnings on this path of life!

In 1980, I was stationed in Germany (Stuttgart, a GREAT city!!) in the Army and had a two many room in the barracks to myself. One night when I came home from work, I had a new roommate asleep on my bed (the only one that was made, I guess he figured they made it for him??). I had spent over 35 hours at work that day, so I was pretty beat up from a lot of emergencies (I was a Cardio Vascular Tech and a Combat Medic, with civilian Paramedic License and a lot of non military emergency medicine experience), so I woke him up, asked him to move to his bunk, flipped the pillow over and crashed.

The next day, when I got up, George and I introduced ourselves to each other and left to report the motor pool, and I to the Internal Medicine clinic to work for most of the day then down to the ER.

George was a Mescalero Apache Indian from New Mexico. Over the next few days we started building a friendship. He was very lonely and missed the reservation VERY much. He quickly became, what we called in the Army, a Barracks Rat, meaning he never left his room except to go to the Enlisted Club on base and drink. Which he did a lot of in the room as well.

So, as a friend, I took him with me every time I left base and he didn't have to work. At first he didn't want to go, but I started forcing him to come with me. We had a blast, and he got to see another country other than the his Nation Lands, the two Army bases in the US he was on for training, and the towns outside those bases.

After 6 months of his tour he was recalled to the States and discharge because his Father had passed away. When I came back from work that day, his stuff was gone, and there was a note on my bed saying good bye, he had my address and he would stay in touch!

I thought, well, another friend has moved on, time to morn the "losing" of a friend again.

About 4 months later I rotated back to the States for Special Forces Selection and SF Medic Training, but was allowed to take 10 days of Leave to visit my Wife and parent's, etc. The second day I was home, there was a nock on the door, so I went to answer it, and it was George. He asked if I would come up to the Res with him, as he wanted to introduce me to his Mother and others on the Res. I said sure, and I was VERY excited about it!

I spent a bit over a week there (or about a week) and spent a lot of time with the Nations Shaman asking hundreds of questions about various aspects of life, health, etc.. Many I had "my answers" to, but I wanted to know more. Many of his answers were what I felt. On the third day Dancing Bear, the Shaman, asked me why I was asking all these questions of him, as I was a Shaman and always had been, find the answers on my own.

That night I and the rest of the next day I sat in The Sweat Lodge with George (Sleeping Eagle) meditating and learning new things. On my last day at the Reservation, Dancing Bear performed the Blood Brother cerimony on George and I, and then, to my surprise announced to the Nation that I was from that day forward to be known as a Shaman of the Nation! What a feeling that was!!

I have this Journey thoughout the years (and it has been a bit over 20 years now since this has happened) and I look forward to assisting the Nation and all other Peoples and Nations over the years!

Aho Dancing Bear, I miss you in the present, think of you in the past, and dream of you in DreamLand!