Friday, May 29, 2009

Site Update

I am ashamed -- I hide --
What right have I -- to be a Bride --

Emily Dickenson
"I am ashamed -- I hide"

I'm ashamed of the shameless pimping and self-promotion going on here at the blog these days. However, it's getting me to the blog more regularly, which is a good thing. Also, the tasks that are getting me to the blog are forcing me to write, which is also a good thing. The end result is that I might actually, you know, start blogging instead of just pimping my sites out soon as a byproduct of all the pushing of the sites. We take what we can get, I suppose.

In any case, I put up a new update at TruthInInternetMarketing.com. The first update, actually, in which we answer the question "Can I make money with Google AdSense?" No, I will not tell you the answer here, as that would completely and utterly keep me from my goal of driving traffic to the site. Click the link, Lazypants.

Yes, writing is fun again. I have to start doing this more often.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Two New Websites

And a partridge in a pear tree

"The Twelve Days of Christmas"
Traditional Christmas Carol

I made new websites! I am very, very pleased with myself. This is the first forward progress I've made on one of my own projects in much longer than I care to remember. I really got convicted about abandoning that facet of my business last week, and it's born a little fruit already.

The first site I'll talk about is my finally resurrected TruthInInternetMarketing.com website. I've tried a couple of different things with this site, because I really like the name, but nothing ever stuck with me as a concept. I've finally turned it into a site where people will be able to submit their questions about internet marketing and get an honest, straight answer from me, because I'm not trying to sell them anything.

The second site is something I'm having much more fun with. At RandomForecast.com, you can go get ... well ... pretty much what you'd think: a random weather forecast. I will give credit where it was due, as the whole thing is the brainchild of my lovely and witty wife Holli, and I thought it was hilarious so I'm running with it. I've had a long standing grudge against the field of meteorology, because I think they're largely just sticking their heads outside and then guessing, and this is my way of having a little fun with them.

The whole thing is very rough right now, but I'll be polishing it up soon. I'm going to get some good stock iconography to spice up my actual forecasts, then make the text in the forecasts themselves a little more fun; 30% chance of rain of frogs, that kind of thing. Next, I'll actually base the forecasts on weather data for the Terre Haute area. Someday I might even find a way to tie the whole thing in and let you get a random weather forecast appropriate for your zip code, but we've got to take things one step at a time.

As I update both sites, I'll keep everyone posted here. I've also got a third site I'm going to work on after I get these two both running at levels I'm happy with. This site will be the culmination of delusions caused by sleep deprivation from Brianna's birth nearly nine years ago. That makes it awesome.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Ready. Fire! Aim.

If you ever get your hands on some plutonium, you'll be dangerous.

Glen Cook

I'm a ready, fire, aim kind of guy. I get an idea and I rush forward with it before I think it through. I've always been that way, whether you want to call it "spontaneous" or "impetuous." It's just what I am. It's decidedly not a good thing, but it's Larry.

I'm also probably a little too smart for my own good. I've always been smart enough to get by with minimal effort and let me brains pull me out of a jam. I've got any number of anecdotes I could tell to illustrate the point, but I rather chose to use the quote in this post - from my high school physics teacher, one of the few to see through my facade of being "above average" - to do it for me. The point is that I've been blessed with this wonderful brain, but rather than using it for good, I just kind of let it languish.

So what does that make me? I'm an impetuous, easily-distracted underachiever. With a little focus, I honestly believe that I could do something great for the world (or irradiate it to dangerous, inhospitable levels if Cook's words are to be believed). I just don't know how to find it.

You know what's funny? Half of the book of Proverbs go about telling me all of the answers I need. I just read them and they might as well be written in the language of the planet Zorbador. I forsee some serious study in Proverbs for me in the near future.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Long Time Gone

What is it?
It's it
What is it?

Faith No More
"Epic"
The Real Thing (1990)

Don't ask me what the quote has to do with anything. I have no idea, honestly. Epic is an awesome cool song, and I didn't want to use any variation on "Where have you been, young man?" so you get Epic.

Anyway, there's a lot going on. Holli and I both had remarkable, life altering experiences on the Walk to Emmaus. I'm adjusting my work schedule yet again, trying to make changes in life, and largely getting overwhelmed as the enemy looks to attack me whatever chance he gets throughout the process.

I really don't know what to write right now. I don't have the time to spew forth everything that's swirling around in my brain at the moment, unfortunately. There's so much with faith, life, and work that I could talk about. I wouldn't know where to start, though, and the rattle coming from the shredded remains of my Lappy's "fan" - the quotation marks necessary because it is now just a hollow shell of a fan - make me mindful of how long I leave it on for right now.

So rather than try to recap, I'm just going to leave you all with a thought. Eric, our pastor at HealingPointe, notes all the time that Jesus wants us to sit at His feet, as Mary did, rather than running around trying to handle everything like Martha did. If I could figure out how to do that right now, I would.