Wait, what?
Oh yeah! I'm done with this place. That's it, I won't post anything new here. At least I'm pretty sure I won't. If you're interested in following me, check my new space out at http://www.teche.tv. I'm going to try to post more regularly there. The goal is at least twice a week. More if I have inspiration. I'll try and avoid empty filler stuff, but that's more or less what I write anyway, so nevermind.
See you at the new site... Thanks for reading!
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
I purchased a domain.
Now I just need to learn how to populate it. This is something I've very new at so it's an interesting ride so far. I'm thinking I'll be switching my blog to my own personal wordpress page at some point soon, but I have to figure out all the hoops first. I want to have my own hosting, but funds are not a priority for this, so I'm trying out the free webhosts I can find. I spend hours yesterday with x10 hosting, and now today, when I try to go to my site's cPanel, I get an add page instead with no apparent way through to my login page. Grr. I will spend a bit of time on that, but the documentation that I've been able to find at x10hosting is lacking so I may move on. Free is good, but it's got to be easier.
The domain I'll be using will be teche.tv. I also grabbed techefamily.org and a couple others just in case.
The domain I'll be using will be teche.tv. I also grabbed techefamily.org and a couple others just in case.
Friday, March 14, 2008
I need to leverage my name.
I think about this on a pretty regular basis. Today, this thought once again made its way into my balding head. I have a fairly unique and unusual name. It almost always generates one form of comment or another when heard by someone for the first time. There are few people in the world that share my name. In fact, as far as I know, around 1/4 of the people with my name live in my house. Even more interesting to me is the fact my chosen career path has taken me into the technology field.
I assume if anyone who bothers to take the time to read this already knows my name, but it's Teche. Now that's the confusing part. Like I said, you likely already know me, and therefore, probably know how to pronounce said name. And really, it's just 5 letters. How hard could it be to pronounce? It's TEE-chee, right? No? TE-chee? TEECH, TEK-ee, TE-shee, TEE-shee, te-SHAY, TEESH, TESH, TETCH? Ok, mystery over, it's pronouned TEK. Much like Tech School, or Technology. I would imagine that you can see my dilemma though. I feel like if I do get off my ass and put a little effort into cashing in my name, it'd flop because most people would rather use some of what they learned in english class to pronounce the name. It's that damn E on the end that causes the issues. It's the way it's pronounced that draws the most interest, and anyone who tries to pronounce it the first time from print has a better chance of pronouncing it wrong than right, therefore confusing the draw of the name.
I need ideas here. I suppose I've never really asked anyone else what they think abotu this, but I'm not ready to give up on the thought that my name could help me if I chose to use it to gain recognition in my field. And by this I mean putting the name on a business of some sort. (Yes, I understand that motivation would be an issue here for starting a business. I think I posted something to that effect just a couple days ago, nevermind that for the sake of this topic)
Of course, another problem that I run into here, is that most combinations of my name are taken in some form or another in registered web domains. Makes a web presence mor difficult doesn't it? Another wierdness is that at least in Louisanna, Teche is not unknown as a name. There is a river or bayou in the middle of Louisianna that shares my name. Of course, the origins are different. The Teche of louisianna is of French Canadian (cajun) origin and means "snake". My ancestry as far as I know it, is German, Czech, Bohemian, and Polish. No French there.... I unfortunately know very little of the origins of my name. Perhaps I should know more before I use it this way.
OK, I'm now bored of this train of thought. Let's de-rail it.
Monkeys!
Monkeys are cool. Wouldn't a monkey make a great pet? Monkeys throw poo. Monkeys are very proficient at playing with themselves... in public...
I assume if anyone who bothers to take the time to read this already knows my name, but it's Teche. Now that's the confusing part. Like I said, you likely already know me, and therefore, probably know how to pronounce said name. And really, it's just 5 letters. How hard could it be to pronounce? It's TEE-chee, right? No? TE-chee? TEECH, TEK-ee, TE-shee, TEE-shee, te-SHAY, TEESH, TESH, TETCH? Ok, mystery over, it's pronouned TEK. Much like Tech School, or Technology. I would imagine that you can see my dilemma though. I feel like if I do get off my ass and put a little effort into cashing in my name, it'd flop because most people would rather use some of what they learned in english class to pronounce the name. It's that damn E on the end that causes the issues. It's the way it's pronounced that draws the most interest, and anyone who tries to pronounce it the first time from print has a better chance of pronouncing it wrong than right, therefore confusing the draw of the name.
I need ideas here. I suppose I've never really asked anyone else what they think abotu this, but I'm not ready to give up on the thought that my name could help me if I chose to use it to gain recognition in my field. And by this I mean putting the name on a business of some sort. (Yes, I understand that motivation would be an issue here for starting a business. I think I posted something to that effect just a couple days ago, nevermind that for the sake of this topic)
Of course, another problem that I run into here, is that most combinations of my name are taken in some form or another in registered web domains. Makes a web presence mor difficult doesn't it? Another wierdness is that at least in Louisanna, Teche is not unknown as a name. There is a river or bayou in the middle of Louisianna that shares my name. Of course, the origins are different. The Teche of louisianna is of French Canadian (cajun) origin and means "snake". My ancestry as far as I know it, is German, Czech, Bohemian, and Polish. No French there.... I unfortunately know very little of the origins of my name. Perhaps I should know more before I use it this way.
OK, I'm now bored of this train of thought. Let's de-rail it.
Monkeys!
Monkeys are cool. Wouldn't a monkey make a great pet? Monkeys throw poo. Monkeys are very proficient at playing with themselves... in public...
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
WooHoo! Another entry for the ether.
Yeah, I'm just posting today for the sake of posting. Nobody's reading it, and I have nothing to say. Don't get me wrong, this thing has its good points, I get to organize my thoughts sometimes, but sometimes (like yesterday) I just stay confused.
Yay for me. I'd say yay for you but you're not reading this anyway. ;)
Yay for me. I'd say yay for you but you're not reading this anyway. ;)
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Ever have one of those lives?
I wish I was more motivated. Not motivated to do anything in particular, just motivated to do anything more meaningful than the day-to-day.
Yeah, Yeah... I know, to most people, I look plenty motivated. I have started a couple businesses, work a lot of hours and go the extra mile at work, and still work hard to be home for the wife and kids, right? Well, the way I see it is a bit different. The view from the inside usually is though, isn't it?
Let's talk about the businesses I've started.
1. Infonesia.net/TheIdeaWeb. Truthfully, this wasn't mine. This was the brain-child of a more talented (and perhaps angrier) individual. I offered a presence, a few ideas, and a sounding board to thoughts. It was a good idea, but the basis was search, and the talented folks at Google released something much better (though at the time, we hated google. Popularity based search engine? Right..) I think now it's just a feed services with forums built in. The company now focuses on building the web-sites of others. I got out of involvement with it when the co-founder snapped on me one day over something probably minor, but perhaps due to my contribution to the business. Neither of us could find our way back to adult-hood as far as our friendship went. Kinda sad really.
2. I suppose there was another plan here to start an ISP, but that was a pipe-dream. My basic plan was to assemble the smartest people I knew and make them do all the work. We had one or two business meetings, I let things fall apart.
3. Emerald Dragonfly. This was a fun idea. Also, not really mine. I mentioned to a friend and fellow gamer that something I really wanted to do would be to open my own gaming retail store. He had similar ideas, so we started a club at his prodding. We used Emerald Dragonfly as a front for the club and had the intention of opening a craft store/coffee shop/gaming store when we had a bit of capital. Things became financially tough for me, I also happened to start getting bored, and I dropped out. Soon after, a gamign store opened in town. Bummer eh? Once again here though, he had all the ideas, and I just followed along.
Seeing a trend here? I am, but I don't know if I'm explaining it properly so who knows.
My job. Well, I do work hard. I work a lot of hours because the work needs to get done and I'd feel guilty if it didn't. I'm not particularly wonderful at it, I just have a large capacity for some of this basic crap. It's not skill, it's just remembering what happened last time. I respond to problems. Mostly I'm reactive though. I have a hard time being pro-active and selling it. I can easily respond to a crisis, but when it comes to original thought, I get bogged down in the minutae quickly. When faced with the opportunity to interject my own ideas, I go blank. When my list gets too long, I have a tendency to zone and do nothing. I often only do as much as I have to to get by. It just looks like i do a lot because there's a lot to do, and it's often tough to justify hiring another person to fill the backlog.
At home, I do a little better, but not much in my own estimation. I do like to make sure I'm around for April and the kids. I like to be home. Given the choice between playing with the kids, doing something with April, or sitting on my ass in front of the boob tube, I'll usually choose the box with the pretty pictures. Or the computer, or some other such non-sense that leaves me unfocused and effort free.
So you see, I wish I was more motivated, but at the moment, I'm just not. What should I do to fix this? Do I really want to or does it just seem likea good idea?
Blah
Yeah, Yeah... I know, to most people, I look plenty motivated. I have started a couple businesses, work a lot of hours and go the extra mile at work, and still work hard to be home for the wife and kids, right? Well, the way I see it is a bit different. The view from the inside usually is though, isn't it?
Let's talk about the businesses I've started.
1. Infonesia.net/TheIdeaWeb. Truthfully, this wasn't mine. This was the brain-child of a more talented (and perhaps angrier) individual. I offered a presence, a few ideas, and a sounding board to thoughts. It was a good idea, but the basis was search, and the talented folks at Google released something much better (though at the time, we hated google. Popularity based search engine? Right..) I think now it's just a feed services with forums built in. The company now focuses on building the web-sites of others. I got out of involvement with it when the co-founder snapped on me one day over something probably minor, but perhaps due to my contribution to the business. Neither of us could find our way back to adult-hood as far as our friendship went. Kinda sad really.
2. I suppose there was another plan here to start an ISP, but that was a pipe-dream. My basic plan was to assemble the smartest people I knew and make them do all the work. We had one or two business meetings, I let things fall apart.
3. Emerald Dragonfly. This was a fun idea. Also, not really mine. I mentioned to a friend and fellow gamer that something I really wanted to do would be to open my own gaming retail store. He had similar ideas, so we started a club at his prodding. We used Emerald Dragonfly as a front for the club and had the intention of opening a craft store/coffee shop/gaming store when we had a bit of capital. Things became financially tough for me, I also happened to start getting bored, and I dropped out. Soon after, a gamign store opened in town. Bummer eh? Once again here though, he had all the ideas, and I just followed along.
Seeing a trend here? I am, but I don't know if I'm explaining it properly so who knows.
My job. Well, I do work hard. I work a lot of hours because the work needs to get done and I'd feel guilty if it didn't. I'm not particularly wonderful at it, I just have a large capacity for some of this basic crap. It's not skill, it's just remembering what happened last time. I respond to problems. Mostly I'm reactive though. I have a hard time being pro-active and selling it. I can easily respond to a crisis, but when it comes to original thought, I get bogged down in the minutae quickly. When faced with the opportunity to interject my own ideas, I go blank. When my list gets too long, I have a tendency to zone and do nothing. I often only do as much as I have to to get by. It just looks like i do a lot because there's a lot to do, and it's often tough to justify hiring another person to fill the backlog.
At home, I do a little better, but not much in my own estimation. I do like to make sure I'm around for April and the kids. I like to be home. Given the choice between playing with the kids, doing something with April, or sitting on my ass in front of the boob tube, I'll usually choose the box with the pretty pictures. Or the computer, or some other such non-sense that leaves me unfocused and effort free.
So you see, I wish I was more motivated, but at the moment, I'm just not. What should I do to fix this? Do I really want to or does it just seem likea good idea?
Blah
Monday, March 10, 2008
An insight into my job.
WOW! from nothing to three posts in one day. After Jelly Belly, I trekked up to Milwaukee to help setup for the WRA show. No, WRA is not the Wisconsin Rifle Association, and I don't have anything to do with Charleton Heston.It wasn't that big of a deal, but I took pics for our vendors and thought I'd share the before and after here. And of course, you get a real treat here cus I've never posted pics before. ;)
I did manage to bleed on the booth. The organizers rented us our tables, and I managed to snag my finger on an old staple they didn't remove. After I stopped bleeding, I removed the staple so it wouldn't snag any potential clients.
Just to clarify the picture a bit, our booth is in a corner stall. In the second picture, I took a corner view, so you can see our neighbor's booth behind ours. Our booth ends at the back of the rear table where the DVR/Camera system is sitting.
And of course, the best part of this particular part of the day, I didn't have to pay to park. I've never liked paying for parking so this is a wonderful bonus. ;)
More beans than you can even imagine!
Yesterday, a whole gaggle of us went to Jelly Belly. I think the kids had fun, but I'm not so sure. I had fun, but it was underwhelming to say the least. I guess my expectations were too high. I thought it was a production facility we were visiting, but it was just a distribution center. Translation: We drove 1.5 hours to visit a warehouse. I'm sure April will post the pics over at the boys' blog later on and it was interesting, but all we did was ride a "train" around in a circle, stopping along the way to view the Jelly Bean making process on tv screens. I can get (and have gotten) this same tour on the Food Network.
Either way, it was a way to hang out with the family. The tour was free and they gave everyone a small bag of Jelly Bellys at the end. They also signed our Dorks on Tour shirts. Yup, we earned those.
Either way, it was a way to hang out with the family. The tour was free and they gave everyone a small bag of Jelly Bellys at the end. They also signed our Dorks on Tour shirts. Yup, we earned those.
What a great idea, this Blogging thing....
No really, it's a great idea! It is. It's not the idea's fault that I don't follow through and post regularly. What's it been, 4 months?
Well, I'm back for the moment.
Updates: (since I'm talking to myself and all ;))
- The house still hasn't sold. Working on it. We originally listed for 131k. After three months, we've dropped the price to 120k and have attracted far more interest. Unfortunately, all that interest has only lead to 2 offers, both from the same guy. First was for 85k. We were insulted and ignored it. The second was for marginally better, so this time, we countered. We think we chased him off again. Bah!
- I'm sick, and apparently so is everyone else. I don't think I had the flu, but I was pretty bad last week and our office Manager is out with the flu now showing symptoms early end of last week. Hope I didn't give it to her.
- Work is too busy and last month was painful. For February, I reported 200ish hours, and only 80 of them were billable. I get to be office bitch when there's internal projects to do, and being the manager, I'm expected to just suck it up and fill in those billable hours where I can. Of course, Feb being a short month, and having to take a day off for April on top of it, it's tough to find the time.
- I've discovered facebook. Go out and discover it for yourself. Find my profile here. Facebook is far less intimidating than myspace, and the community seems more subdued. I did try myspace at one point, but found it far too chaotic for my liking. Also, the various apps keep me occupied when I'm not feeling like doing something useful. Sadly, this is most of the time this time of year.
- We moved shortly after my last post. The new apartment is huge. Did I mention three bathrooms, each with at least a shower? The boys have a playroom upstairs out of the way, so the mess stays out of sight. My overall utility bills will average somewhere around $1600 this year, rather than the $5000 I became acustomed to at the house.
- We have re-joined the ranks of people who have a gaming console after many many years. Christmas was good to us this year, so we took some of our christmas and bought a Wii. We throught about the various systems we could go with, but the Wii seemed like the best choice. It's a system that actually encourages activity! April and I figured that was a must with growing boys.
- April bought a rat. His name is Monkey. He poops on my every time I pick him up. After parting ways with our cats of 11 years and our dog of 2 years, she has something more manageable, and allowed by our lease. The best part, I don't have to clean his cage. ...Yet...
ok, enough for now. As usual, I'll try to be here more often. I get good bursts of energy, then die off. Let's try to keep this burst going a bit longer.
Bye.
Well, I'm back for the moment.
Updates: (since I'm talking to myself and all ;))
- The house still hasn't sold. Working on it. We originally listed for 131k. After three months, we've dropped the price to 120k and have attracted far more interest. Unfortunately, all that interest has only lead to 2 offers, both from the same guy. First was for 85k. We were insulted and ignored it. The second was for marginally better, so this time, we countered. We think we chased him off again. Bah!
- I'm sick, and apparently so is everyone else. I don't think I had the flu, but I was pretty bad last week and our office Manager is out with the flu now showing symptoms early end of last week. Hope I didn't give it to her.
- Work is too busy and last month was painful. For February, I reported 200ish hours, and only 80 of them were billable. I get to be office bitch when there's internal projects to do, and being the manager, I'm expected to just suck it up and fill in those billable hours where I can. Of course, Feb being a short month, and having to take a day off for April on top of it, it's tough to find the time.
- I've discovered facebook. Go out and discover it for yourself. Find my profile here. Facebook is far less intimidating than myspace, and the community seems more subdued. I did try myspace at one point, but found it far too chaotic for my liking. Also, the various apps keep me occupied when I'm not feeling like doing something useful. Sadly, this is most of the time this time of year.
- We moved shortly after my last post. The new apartment is huge. Did I mention three bathrooms, each with at least a shower? The boys have a playroom upstairs out of the way, so the mess stays out of sight. My overall utility bills will average somewhere around $1600 this year, rather than the $5000 I became acustomed to at the house.
- We have re-joined the ranks of people who have a gaming console after many many years. Christmas was good to us this year, so we took some of our christmas and bought a Wii. We throught about the various systems we could go with, but the Wii seemed like the best choice. It's a system that actually encourages activity! April and I figured that was a must with growing boys.
- April bought a rat. His name is Monkey. He poops on my every time I pick him up. After parting ways with our cats of 11 years and our dog of 2 years, she has something more manageable, and allowed by our lease. The best part, I don't have to clean his cage. ...Yet...
ok, enough for now. As usual, I'll try to be here more often. I get good bursts of energy, then die off. Let's try to keep this burst going a bit longer.
Bye.
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