Distractions, Stumbling Blocks, Obstacles, Time
Trying to get back into the swing of writing a bit more regularly, and in the original spirit of this blog, I’m just going to let my brain go and dump some of my thoughts. I apologize in advance (actually afterwards because I’m writing this sentence after I wrote what follows), well, apologize in general for the complete lack of organization of thought below.
Its Sunday and I have just about recovered from a week that was a bit distracting. I’m in the middle of a challenge where I’m attempting to recreate an existing website for a client entirely within wordpress 3.01 and Pods CMS(which was going great and then I hit a brick wall). I like the Pods system quite a bit, love its potential, but the site itself and the tutorials/examples seem to be missing quite a bit. It seems like one of those deals where the developers keep building and improving it but never quite get around to explaining how to use their masterpiece, even though they seem to respond well in a quirky chat program.
I suspect they wouldn’t have to spend as much time chatting, if they or someone else took some time to explain how to use the thing. In short they need an evangelist/mentor type.
Last weekend, my primary laptop started acting up. Based on a myriad of details, I suspected that I needed to reimage the machine to clean it up or else face the possibility that the mother board may be dying on the machine.
Ugly no matter what, a pain in the butt, time consuming and possibly expensive.
The machine has been on borrow time for almost a month, but due to financial issues last year (which are now mostly solved) I didn’t make the move to replace it yet.
So around mid week, I attempted to prepare to reimage the machine, using a borrowed laptop to hold my current image temporarily, I proceeded to take the machine back to a factory state, then upgrade it to Windows 7. That took about 4 days, when it should have taken 1-2, but tech happened. ATT Uverse went down when some gas pipe layers wiped out the new fiber optics in the neighborhood. I had several other stupid issues of that nature as well.
Long story short, despite hoping to avoid it, I lost about a week of work on this challenge and I still don’t have my old broken laptop working again (ergo it runs, just don’t have all my tools on it yet).
All of that took place while I was trying to finalize a different client’s website. One of the stumbling blocks on that finalization is that the client states that one of the fonts and font colors of text on the pages is incorrect. I used the fonts they told me to use, so I asked, OK, what’s the font and color supposed to be?
Its been almost a week and they haven’t said what that should be. If its wrong, tell me where its wrong and I’ll fix it. Its a simple setting switch. Not sure where communication is breaking down on this issue.
[deep breath]
I did take time out for a stress break yesterday. My wife talked me into a trail run at the US white water center in charlotte. That was a lot of fun. During this whole week, I’ve been trapped in front of laptops trying to get mine migrated/upgraded/repaired, and my running almost came to a stand still, which isn’t great for peace of mind and overall well being.
But yesterday the run helped, and then we went next door at the last minute to a neighbors party. So I got to celebrate with some carbon life forms and get my head out of a stupid display for a while.
In the meantime, I’ve been listening to the Pillars of the Earth audio book from Ken Follet. We’ve been watching the show itself on Starz and I’m pretty hooked. Its not as riveting as Deadwood or as titillating as True Blood, but I do like it. nice change of pace.
Anyway, my challenge deadline is coming up this Wednesday. I have no working laptop yet. I have no working solution for Pods CMS yet. I don’t even really have anytime yet, so it looks like I’m probably going to lose $1k in revenue. 
The $1k isn’t going to make or break me, but I hate to miss an opportunity. More importantly, I really hate getting bogged down with tech issues in hardware and stuck on learning a new system because there are no resources for teaching that new system.
Oh, well, there’s only so much I can do.
In the meantime, Becky and I are going to see Tears for Fears at the Fillmore on Friday. Been a long time since we had a date/concert so I’m looking forward to that.
Applied for Job in Position of Ass Kissing Weasel at Nail Communications (recently sourced by Vibram to promote barefoot running)
Its been 10 years since I last applied for a job and in the space of about 14 hours, I have now applied for 2!.
First, I sent off a message to Tony Post sking to pay him to let me work for Vibram USA. 
I sent off a introduction request through my Friend Michael Bayer of Utterli fame. He also worked in the venture capital industry in New England prior to Utterli.
Then I came across this quick press release in Adweek that a company called Nail Communications, a flash heavy marketing firm, had been sourced to create a micro site for Vibram FiveFinger shoes to spread the concept of barefoot running to the masses. So I did a quick search on Nail Communications to figure out who they were and found this very funny (saying that in a non kis ass way) job posting on LinkedIn.
At first glance, it looks like someone might have hacked their company linkedin account or something, but if you read the ‘But’ in the Job Description, you will see that they are actually trying to screen out Ass Hat weasels instead of hire them by the droves.
Sorry Social Media douche bags, they didn’t really want those kind of skills.
So of course, I applied.
I keep my LinkedIn profile up to date, but I don’t bother with a resume anymore. So being the prospective Weasel applying for this job, I didn’t include a resume. 
I’m basically looking for 3 things out of this
- I want to work with Vibram, directly, indirectly or whatever
- Any company with this wicked level of sarcasm has got to be a good company (probably a pitfall in there somewhere . . .)
- Who could pass up an opportunity to apply for this kind of job and still call themselves a blogger?
Here’s my cover letter for the job (don’t copy and paste it and apply yourself! It is now copyrighted by yours truly!
Greetings,
First I just wanted to say that your profile head shot is amazing! There are attractive people on LinkedIn and then there are people operating at a whole new level like yourself.
Second, I read a quick press release in Adweek mentioning that Nail Communications has landed the Vibram account. When I did a Google search on Nail Communications this job posting came up. My first impression is that Nail Communications must have a rogue ex-employee still operating the controls of the company Linkedin Profile. Then I realized that in actuality someone just had a good sense of humor.
Regardless, I want to work on the Vibram account. Just last night, around I sent a connection request through my friend Michael Bayer asking for an introduction to Tony Post. In the letter to Tony, I basically said that I wanted to help him in any capacity, money was no object, I’d pay anything!
I have been running in Vibram FiveFinger shoes since September, and I am sold on their functionality hook, line and sinker. I drove about 800 miles each way to buy my second pair at a store that stocked KSO Treks.
Over the years, I have worked in many fields including intelligence, sales, taxes, accounting, finance, contract management, process management, account management etc. My customers and accounts have included Verizon Wireless, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Dick’s Sporting Goods, The Sports Authority, Office Max, Office Depot and more.
In new media, social media and the blogosphere, I have worked as a writer, ghost writer and product evangelist for the last four years.
I have not been to Rhode Island before, but no my way around an airport and the interstate system. I work from a wifi dock office (fishing dock on a lake across the water from Charlotte, NC).
I would love to help on this project, because this product is rock solid and needs all the help it can get. It has great word of mouth momentum, but that type of momentum can rapidly turn against a brand or product if its not harnessed and managed quickly. There is some evidence that this could already be happening due to product shortages and slow responses on the facebook group among other things.
Best Regards,
Brett H. Bumeter, llm
OK, fun is over, now back to the daily grind of working by the lake…
seriously wish it would stop raining, I need to go running and put some miles on my toes…
There’s Something About a New Theme!
Today, I gave myself a Valentine’s Day gift and upgraded my blog theme.
All in all I’m very happy with the way it turned out, and I haven’t noticed any glitches yet, but I’m sure there’s something somewhere.
In addition to a new logo, that actually has an apostrophe, I upgraded the entire site, new color scheme, new menus, new sidebar boxes, even a new footer.
A Learning Saturday? Can I squeeze it in?
I received Tim Ash’s book today and I’m behind on some sessions from Jeremy Palmer. I met both of them at Affiliate Summit West back in January.
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I ordered Tim’s book a week back or so on Amazon and it came today. So I’m going to try and carve out some time this weekend to catch up on Jeremy’s sessions and start Tim’s book. I have a lot of projects cooking right now, but I always find it important to make some self improvement time for myself.
Usually this pays dividends on the projects I’m working on because it reinvigorates my brain a bit and helps me bring a fresh perspective to the project even if the topics are unrelated.
Now that I have my goal for the day, its time to execute a bit of a plan to achieve it. That and the sun just came out so I’ll be hitting the lake with my laptop!
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