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Today marks the 5th anniversary of when my wife and I went on our first date. My wife and I laughed because just last week "The Incredible Hulk" was released in the theaters. It's funny because we saw "Hulk" on our first date. Talk about geeky! Had "The Incredible Hulk" been released today we would have gone to see more or less the same movie we saw five years ago when we met for the first time.
My wife and I met each other on Match.com. When I tell people that they sometimes ask,"So online dating really works?" So to mark this anniversary I figured I'd talk a little bit about the experience of dating online prior to meeting my wife.
There are a bunch of online dating sites that are vying for your attention: Match.com, eHarmony.com, AdultFriendFinder.com (for those who wanna skip all the bullshit and go right to sex), and many others. I personally don't think any one of these sites is particularly better than the other. I picked Match.com because I liked the look and feel of it but mileage may vary on which site you like.
No matter what dating site you use, realize this: You will not find a perfect match in the first month! If you do then you are one lucky son of a bitch. I spent over six months on Match.com and went on countless dates before I met my wife. Online dating makes it easier to find people to date...but it doesn't make dating itself any easier. Some people might find an ideal match in a couple months but for others it could take six months, a year, two years, or more.
Bottom-line is that online dating does nothing but eliminate the hassle of having to seek out people to date. That's what you're paying these sites to do for you: weed out the crap and give you a list of people they think are a good match for you. Problem is that the human psyche is so complex that there is no way any dating site is going to give you that perfect list. Trust me...you're gonna have some weird ones on that list! This means you're gonna have some really bad and some really weird dates! I guarantee it!
This isn't the worst date I went on...but it was certainly the most memorable. And it was weird, really weird! I e-mailed this one girl and we chatted a bit on the phone before deciding to go on a date. She sent me her picture and she looked really cute and all. Didn't overanalyze her picture or anything and didn't think much of it. However, when I met her something just didn't stick right. She had straight long, black hair parted down the middle. She had really big, wide eyes and a small mouth. And she was rather pale, no, really pale.
I recall telling her on the phone that I was a pretty open-minded person. Later on in the evening she asked me:
"Jeff, you said you had an open-mind, right?"
"Yeah, I did. Why do you ask?"
"Well, I'm a wiccan."
"A what?" (I nearly spit out my beer)
"A witch, a wiccan."
Great. So basically I went on a date with Wednesday Addams. That explains her looks. She was a nice girl though. We did have a really good time and had really great conversation. Guess she just wasn't my type. (Gee, you think!?)
I can't really say anything bad about her. Not because I can't think of anything to say. I mean, I really can't say anything bad about her. I think she put a hex on me to where if I do my nuts get bigger. One of them is already a bit bigger already, which my wife tells me is perfectly normal...I think.
So I stuck with it and eventually went on a date with someone who would eventually become my wife. Our first date lasted a long time. We watched "Hulk", ate dinner at Abuelo's, and spent quite a few hours at Starbuck's talking away with one another. At the end of the night, we sat in my car and I introduced Sarah to one of my favorite artists, Eric Johnson. In fact, one of Eric's songs we listened to, "When the Sun Meets the Sky", inspired us to put an inscription on the inside of our rings to commemorate our first date. Mine has When the Sun... and hers has Meets the Sky. Kinda cool, isn't it!
Online dating isn't for everyone, but for those with a little patience it's a great way to meet people. I found a wife and a soulmate thanks to online dating. Maybe you can too. :)
Pirate Bay: MPAA's $15.4 million damage claim a fabrication
So the MPAA is claiming that Pirate Bay owes them $15.4 million in damages for copyright infringement. This prompts me to think that the MPAA is about as clueless as the RIAA. Do they seriously think that they're loosing any major revenues from ticket sales due to movie downloads?
The problem with most movie downloads is that they are of very questionable quality. It used to be that many pirate groups could get a hold of screener DVDs but the Academy cracked down on that pretty hard and now it's extremely difficult to get screeners of any new movies that are currently at the box office. Most movies are done as either "cams" or telesync, both of which entail capturing a movie with a video camera and are of highly questionable quality.
The MPAA has to ask itself, "Does the average movie goer care at all about watching a bootleg version of a movie?". I'm the average movie goer and I personally would rather watch a movie in the theater rather than watching a shitty bootleg version. Those that do like to watch bootleg versions of movie represent such a low percentage of the movie going public that I just don't see how the MPAA can make a claim of $15.4 million in damages.
So, if that's the case, then why is the movie industry loosing money and why aren't as many people going to the movies? There are likely a number of reasons but most of them I think boil down to supply and demand.
First, with the economy slowly going into a recession, most people simply can't afford to go to the movies. The average cost of going to a movie is around $15 to $16 a person when you average in ticket cost, popcorn, and a drink. At that cost, many would rather spend their hard earned money on DVD's and rentals via Netflix and the like. Although this apply only to the U.S., I would imagine that the same would apply to many other countries as well.
Second, the quality of movies coming out isn't as good as prior years. Tons of sequels or just plain bad ideas with bad scripts and (sometimes) bad acting. Not to say there haven't been any good films. But it's the quotient of bad films to good films that is at the core. I used to go and see a new movie at least once a month. At the moment, I've only seen two films since the beginning of the year. Looking ahead, I think there's only about two or three films in the next six months that I'll likely see in the theater.
What can the industry do to improve this right away? Well, they can start by lowering ticket prices. Demand is low so it would work in their favor to lower ticket prices and get more people back in the theaters. Also, it would help to start looking at their business model and how it would need to change to reflect the current times. What would help it? Would releasing pay-per-views the same day as a movie release help?
And what about the quality issues? I personally would give more control back to the creators and let the producers, directors, and writers have more say-so as to the direction of a film. As it stands, so many great ideas get ruined because megalomaniac companies feel the need to screw with the success of a film. Reality check: The reason why a film like Iron Man succeeded is because control of the film was kept with the producer, director, writers, and talent of the film.
Think about some of the best product designers out there. Think about a product that you have seen that left an impression in your mind. The best analogy I have about good product design has to do with a can opener. Sure, for most people a can opener is a can opener. There's nothing really about a can opener that would give you an emotional response. But if a company that designs can openers was to create one that not only looks different but feels different and opens cans better than anything out there then someone using it might get an emotional response from it. They may very well think to themselves,"This is the best damn can opener I've every used! I don't think I'll ever buy another can opener from another company every again!" Not only did they design a good product that solves the customer's problem but they also created a loyal customer who doesn't see any other solution as being as good as theirs.
The lesson here is that getting your customers to use your product is only one part of it. The other is keeping them. And the only way you're going to do that is to develop a good product that speaks to the customer. In essence the product must speak for itself. If you were building can openers you have to tell yourself, "We're not in the business of making can openers...we're in the business of opening cans". That's a big distinction in philosophy, don't you think?
I find that the reason why many web developers/designers and software companies fail is that they haven't properly defined their business model, philosophies, and processes properly. The ones that stick out for me are the ones who focus on user-centric design, implement proper IA into the process, and maintain proper communication at every level of development. Companies like Google, Apple, Dyson (great vacuums btw!), 37 Signals, and others.
In fact, my wife and I ended up having to replace our vacuum and ended up going with a Dyson. All you have to do is do the math: 5 year warranty on part and labor, no bags or filters to replace, and it never looses suction. If it lasts more than 5 years then it clearly makes up for the extra cost compared to other vacuums. You could go through two vacuums in the same amount of time one Dyson would last you. But it's not in the cost that makes it better...it's how good the damn thing is. The minute you use one you're hooked. I mean, this thing sucks...literally! Best damn vacuum I've every used, hands down. That's building loyalty for ya! :)
Just the other day I heard that a family friend was having problems with her computer. A fan went out and she had to have it taken in to get fixed. The technician fixed the fan but also recommended reinstalling the operating system as sort of a Spring cleaning. Now, she doesn't know anything about computers so when she got it back she had a hard time understanding how to hook it back up, whether she needed to use the installation disc for her Verizon DSL service, where her photos went, and what the hell to do even when she did get it hooked up right. Hearing this made me think of something...
The incumbent computer users, that is anyone who wishes or needs to use a computer, has three things present to properly use a computer: education, prevention, and desire. An incumbent computer is someone who leans on these things heavily in an effort to get the most out of the experience of using a computer.
It's incumbent of anyone to have a basic fundamental understanding of how computers work. That includes both the hardware and the software. If you don't know anything about it then pick up a book and learn. Whether you're on a PC or a Mac, the "Dummies" series of books are an excellent start. Let's face it, most problems are user error so a little bit of education goes a long way.
It's also incumbent of any computer user to know some basic things about how to prevent a potential disaster. Prevention and education go hand in hand...but knowing it is only half of it; you also have to practice it as well. The best way to protect yourself from a disaster is to protect yourself and prevent it from happening.
If you're on a PC using Windows then the threat of viruses and malware is a reality you can't avoid. As such you have to constantly make sure that you're antivirus/spyware monitoring software is up-to-date and running properly. You also need to understand some common prevention techniques to avoid getting spam, viruses, and malware from the internet via your web browser or e-mail client.
Hardware failure is a fact of life. Things can and will go wrong with a computer. As such, you need to understand that it's incumbent of you to backup anything that is important to you. External hard drives and USB key drives are much cheaper these days so there is no reason why you can't use one to keep your stuff backed up. A good backup system can be as simple as the combination of an external hard drive and some backup utility software that will keep your stuff backed up almost automatically. This is the one thing that will save your butt if and when your computer fails.
The last thing an incumbent computer user needs is desire. Someone who doesn't want or care to take the time to learn how to use a computer properly obviously doesn't have much desire to use one. If this is you then you're screwed and you have no business even using a computer. You might as well turn the computer off and not use it at all. Learning how to properly use a computer doesn't take that much time. A little reading each day and a few tutorials and tips go a long way over the course of time. Granted, not everyone has the time or money to take classes...but a mere 15 minutes of reading each day is not unrealistic.
Let's face it, over 75% of the problems people face with computers are due to three problems: a lack of desire, a lack of education, and a lack of prevention. Everything else can be blamed on hardware and software failure but the rest lies entirely in your hands.
I'll be doing a presentation for Refresh Dallas on February 7th at the Christopher A. Parr Library in Plano. The presentation will be on e-mail and heavily based on a prior presentation made by Merlin Mann (43 Folders).
Merlin did a series of articles on his site called Inbox Zero and later on did a presentation for Google. I was absolutely amazed at the common sense approach to managing a large amount of e-mail and felt that others would benefit from it as well. My presentation will follow the same basic presentation that Merlin did but will reflect my own experience as an IT professional. For the last 3 1/2 years or so I have worked as an IT Assistant for a small architectural firm and have worked with plenty of people who are e-mail challenged. My hope is that this experience will come across in this presentation and will show others how a lack of e-mail management can hinder productivity.
Check out the Refresh Dallas website for more details! If you're interested in coming, be sure and RSVP on the website. Although Refresh Dallas is an organization based around web developers and designers, this presentation isn't limited to a particular group. So if you know someone who is e-mail challenged, bring them along! Just be sure and let the Refresh guys know you're bringing someone in your RSVP.
See you there!
It's been a little while since I've written anything on my blog. A lot has happened just in the last month.
I've been working as an IT Assistant for the same architectural firm for the past 3 1/2 (almost 4) years. The decision was tough but, to be perfectly honest, was inevitable. Early last week I turned on my resignation. As of February 1st I will be a full-time web developer for Collabpad.
I say inevitable because a number of events have led up to my resignation. Now, before I go on I will point out that I have no wish to burn bridges. The architectural firm I worked for is a good one and I wish them continued success in the future. As such I will not refer to them by name or any of my co-workers by name. Instead, I'll take the Harry Potter approach and refer to them as "The architectural firm that must not be named" or "You Know Who".
Working for "You Know Who" has been a great experience. The decision to leave was tough because I enjoy the people I work with, many of whom I call friends. The decision ultimate boiled down to three main things: philosophy, ownership, and pay.
3 1/2 years is a long time and in that time my philosophy about IT has changed quite a bit. I'm more of a Mac guy now than a PC guy. I no longer believe that Microsoft provides the right solution for businesses. A lot of that is due to the release of Windows Vista. But that's beside the point and is actually a fairly minor reason for my departure from "You Know Who".
What weighs more is my feeling that "You Know Who" has not placed the proper emphasis on the IT staff. My philosophy is that you take care of your IT staff, you give them a proper budget, you allow them to dictate a common sense set of IT standards and procedures, and that you don't take their requests with a grain of salt. IT is not an after thought and it most certainly isn't "just another admin position" either. The IT department should be placed is as high regard as the production, management, and accounting staff. Just because the IT department doesn't generate revenue doesn't make them any less important than the ones that are. Without IT the whole infrastructure of a company can fall apart.
I'm a firm believer in a bottom-up approach to business management. The only way to succeed with a bottom-up approach though is to make sure you're employees are happy and productive. Productivity these days is big business. You can't go a week without hearing about some kind of seminar about how to be more productive at your job. Businesses are learning that boosts in productivity have a tremendous impact on the bottom line. One of the ways to do this is to reduce stress. If an employee is comfortable physically, emotionally, and financially then they are more likely to be more productive due to the reduced amount of stress. Let's face it...personal finances is one of the biggest contributors of stress and quite possibly the primary factor on a loss of productivity on the job. With a bottom-up approach, everyone benefits from gains and growth in a company...not just the upper management!
"You Know Who" tries to be a bottom-up company (or at least pretends to be) but practices more of a top-down management style. There are nuances here and there of a bottom-up approach but, to be honest, I think you have to have some vested interest in the firm before you see them. "You Know Who" would do well if they leaned more towards a bottom-up approach. Hell, if they did I probably wouldn't have left.
When I started, I was told that after 2 years I would be eligible to become an Associate with the company. What that means is that the company acknowledges my desire to stay with the company over the long term and that I have a sense of ownership in what I do with the firm. It also means that I would get actual stock ownership in the firm...which means vested interest, better bonuses and pay. 3 1/2 years in the firm and not once has anyone asked me of my interest to become an Associate in the firm.
I've been an IT Assistant for 3 1/2 years...but what I actually did was more like an IT Supervisor. Based on research done on PayScale.com and Salary.com, my salary was well below the 25th percentile. I addressed this early last year and asked for a raise. I felt a 20% raise was necessary but I would have been satisfied with a 15% raise. What I got was a mere 0.5% raise. Not good! The topper came at the end of the year when I got my bonus. Prior bonuses were pretty good. This year was an absolute slap in the face. It was literally almost half of what it was last year.
Now, I'm no dummy and I do pay attention to what my employer tells me. It was said to everyone in the whole company that revenues were not as good as last year and that profitability wasn't as good either...which translates to our bonuses not being as good. However, what I don't understand is if the total net profits are the same as last years why would our bonuses be so much smaller? Where did the profit go? How much was distributed to bonuses? These are the questions that ultimately led me to believe that I was not being treated fairly as an employee of this company. 3 1/2 years in this company and I was still being treated as "just the IT guy". Something needed to change.
Collabpad shares my vision and philosophy and is a good fit for the future of my career. I'll also have ownership in the company and in what I do. As a web developer and contributor to the MODx project I have an opportunity to make an impact in an industry that has a tremendous potential for growth. Going with Collabpad also means getting an instant 30% increase in pay. But that's just the start. Compensation over the long haul of my career could potentially increase substantially based on many developing Collabpad, MODx, and other personal projects.
Collabpad is the new home for my career. I'm very excited and proud to be a part of this company. The future is looking a little brighter!
As reported by Ars Technica, DVD sales are in a bit of a slump. Yes, part of the blame is due to the availability of movies via video-on-demand, pay-per-view, Netflix and other rental places. All of these are just byproducts to the primary reason why DVD sales have gone down a bit, that DVDs are just too expensive and people just aren't buying as many as they used to.
The average DVD movie costs anywhere from $19.99 to $39.99 and up. Retailers push to get people to buy movies when they first come out by pricing them as low as $14.99 for a newly released movie. Even at that price, people just aren't flocking out to buy them. Is it the quality of the movies coming out that keeps people from buying them? Or is it that people just don't want to spend a whole lot of money on movies anymore?
And, of course, it doesn't help that there are two other competing formats, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, vying for people's attention but doing nothing more than cause further confusion to the average consumer. Plus, the fact that these formats cost anywhere from $10 to $15 dollars more compared to the DVD keeps people from buying them as well.
I've bought only three movies in the past three months: Spider-man 3, Ratatouille, and Transformers. All three together cost me around $65. That's pretty much the most I can afford with my current financial status. Add to that the amount I've spend on comic books, CDs, iTunes downloads, and a bunch of other media related stuff and you have a couple of hundred dollars worth of stuff.
For the most part, the average buyer is just like me; I only want to spend a limited amount for the media that I buy. Studios are doing a heck of a job trying to cram this stuff down our throats. But what they aren't doing is lowering the prices for all this stuff. Heck, if I could buy most movies for $10 to $12 dollars on DVD I'd probably buy more often. But as it stands, no, I can't buy everything that I'd like. So, until the price goes down, I'll stick with the few movies that I get on sale. For everything else, there's Netflix!
Update (December 5, 2007):
Whether it's music, audio books, e-books, movies, TV shows, or the like, media is media any way you slice it. Piracy is just a fact of life and something every media company must face. Punishing the consumer for a few bad eggs though is not good. Continuing to tell consumer what they can and cannot do with the media they buy is simply a bad business decision. Consumers want choices and the studios aren't budging. So what I recommend is this:
Lower the price of DVDs - People will buy more if the cost is right. If the average price was around $10 then DVDs would fly off the shelves. And if you really want HD-DVD and/or Blu-Ray to be succesful, why not price the media for around the same price DVDs are now?
Go DRM-less - As it stands, consumers have to break DMCA laws just to convert their DVDs into something playable on a media player. Removing the encryption and DRM from all media (including downloadable content) would give consumers a lot more choices as to when and where they can play the media they purchase.
Offer downloadable, burnable content - DVD is but one method of content delivery. Give consumers the freedom to choose how they buy their media. If they want to buy it as a downloadable copy via iTunes or another media store then offer it. Also, the sale of downloadable, burnable DVDs would be a very good thing. I'd be willing to buy a downloadable DVD for about $10 just for the sheer convenience of not having to go to the store.
Did that headline get your attention? Good! Yes, it's true, the book "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" has the word nigger in it! Now, before you go nuts and yell "RACISM" on me, finish reading my post...
A couple of weeks or so ago, I opened up the weekend edition of USA Today and read an article entitled School apologizes after 'Finn' lesson backfires. After reading it, I was pissed. Go read the article and maybe you'll see what I mean.
In a nutshell, a teacher was preparing the class to read "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by going over various racial slurs in the book. One particular student, a black student, was offended by one of the words that the teacher had written on the blackboard. The word was (you guessed it!) nigger. [And, no, I am not going to substitute this word for "the N-word" or the like! A word is just a word and doesn't have any meaning unless it's put into context. More on this in a second.]
The teacher "badgered" Mohamed after denying his request to remove the slur from the chalkboard or change it to the "N-word," and she continued to say the word during class, said his mother, Tunya Mohamed. The teen said that he felt singled out when the teacher asked whether the word offended him and that she told him, "'It hurts, doesn't it?"'
Now, I'm going to give the kid the benefit of the doubt cause I can understand how a young kid can feel singled out when they are the only black kid in the class, especially given the subject matter. However, I don't think the teacher was being maliced and pointing a finger at him. I think she was merely making him and everyone else in the class understand that these slurs can hurt people if taken out of the wrong context.
But wait! There's more:
Birdville Superintendent Stephen Waddell agreed to issue a written apology to the teen and his family and arrange sensitivity training for faculty, said Thomas Muhammad, spokesman of a group called Coalition to Stop the N-Word.
Coalition to Stop the N-Word? Wha??? Sensitivity training? Are they serious?
So the school officials, the student, his parents and members of the coalition have a meeting, the book is removed from the class, the kid enrolls in a different English class, and all is well. Right? Wrong!
"We are here today to say we will not tolerate the N-word being used by any educators anywhere in any school district throughout our region or the state of Texas," said Ron Price, a Dallas school board member who attended the meeting. "It's critical that we examine all of our textbooks to ensure that the language is proper and that the language is not being used to abuse any child in any public school."
This is taking the issue way overboard. What next? Are we going to remove the word bitch too from every textbook and novel? Cause my wife doesn't like being called that and she certainly won't want her children to be exposed to that word! Hell, why stop there! Might as well bring back book burning while we're at it!
Look, you can't remove every stinky word from every textbook or novel a student might read; that just isn't any common sense. Teachers don't need any sensitivity training and students don't need baby sitting when it comes to the words they could potentially read or hear. There just isn't any sensitive way of exposing a student to slur words.
"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is a part of American history. Like it or not, white people used to refer to black people as niggers. As far as I'm concerned the teacher did the right thing. She wrote all the slur words, including nigger, on the black board and said, "Here are the words you're going to see in this book and here's what they meant during the 1800's". There are plenty of teacher's guides and comments about this very thing. As Minnie Phillips on Time.com says:
Thirty years after first teaching the novel in my American literature class at Webster Groves High School in suburban St. Louis, Mo., I've decided the novel is not about race but about freedom.
Does this book really call for any special attention? A word in and of itself isn't bad. It's the racist son-of-a-bitch who uses the word that you should really be worried about. But this book isn't about race...it's about freedom and it's a part of our history. I think our students can handle it. History is history. Get over it!
So...with my first post on Steamd, I figured I should answer two questions that will invariably be asked: What is Steamd? and Why aren't you eating your own dog food?
Whether I'm reading the news, I'm at work, coming into work, coming home from work, watching TV, listening to a podcast, or doing whatever it is that I do on a daily basis, eventually something will inspire me and cause me to want to tell people about it. Or it could just be something that pisses me off at the time. Either way, Steamd was born as a way to document my ideas and thoughts as well as vent some frustration should it arise.
This blog will be a no holds barred type of thing so if you're easily offended and don't like certain kinds of language usage then this blog won't be for you. I feel I should be honest with my thoughts and as such will never filter them.
You'll also notice that there is no way to post comments. The primary reason is that I simply don't have time to moderate comments. Should you have a comment feel free to e-mail me. If I find it highly relevant I'll be happy to update the post and add your comment.
As one of the developers for the MODx CMS and PHP Application Framework you might ask why I chose to use Movable Type for this blog. The reason? One word: iPhone! There simply isn't a way to create blog posts with MODx and an iPhone yet. Movable Type has an excellent plugin that allows me to blog with my iPhone. I love MODx and it's by far the best damn CMS I've ever used. But untll we can update it to where users can use it with an iPhone or similar PDA phone I'll stick with Movable Type for the time being.
I probably won't be posting to the blog daily...but I will be posting fairly frequently with various links, rants, raves, and any other bullshit that happens to cross my mind. Stay tuned! :)
Jeff Whitfield
