What legacy will I leave?
This being brought to my attention because I have recently become immersed or even obsessed with financial independence and free time. At first my efforts were mainly to get me out of the rut I have been stuck in ever since I started working. I work full-time, which leaves me as much time as most of working class America. The pay is much better that what I have received in the past so I’m not complaining about the hourly rate. The benefits are extremely inexpensive and even though I may try hard at times I can create no real complaints of the job. Yet, I am left wanting more.

I don’t consider myself a selfish person. I don’t take more that I need to survive; I actually try at every corner to be conscious of those who have less- In turn cutting back my own consumption. But I need more out of my current lifestyle. It really bothers me to realize that I am working for someone else. Many might call me foolish and maybe I just need to develop my persuasive skills a bit more to help them understand my cause. My efforts are to first change my life for the better. Who has never wanted to do so?

Me; I’m going to change primarily for time. Money has never really mattered to me. In a successful life I don’t see myself in mansion or a fancy sports car. Rather I see a life where I can go and do as I please. From exploring and travelling to building websites or video games, I want to make time for it all.

In the wake of prioritizing my life and projects, I have thought much about what world I will bring my children into. Will I be a completely successful man when I really need to be? Though a family may be years off, I feel the urge to begin my financial life. I often times become conscious of this feeling deep within my thoughts. Buried beneath petty concerns and objectives or accomplishments I hope to fulfill this need. The thoughts do worry me some, because I do not know entirely what the future will bring. The previous is masked entirely around a brute force which knows I will accomplish whatever I begin.

So even though I have meandered around the topic with my life’s concerns, I do feel that what I do today will have a massive effect on tomorrow. A movie quote just ran through back of my mind while I typed this…

“What we do in life echoes an eternity.”- Maximus from Gladiator.

When I create an independent means of making income I will in turn be effecting how I will live my life down the line. Yet if I decide to kick up my feet on the desk and settle into the false security of my current job, I may find myself in the same predicament within five years. Putting off the inevitable will not prevent it arising again later on in my life, so it is best that I become what I want to be now. I can think of no logical reason why I should not change now, and neither can those I consult on the topic. The change has first come within and that is what I have always wanted. It will now be fueled by my extreme work ethic which I wasted on my previous employment.

In Conclusion…

At the end of this blurb which encompasses my current state of mind, I have to ask myself something. Is this a legacy? Will family many years from now look back and find guidance from my troubles and tribulation? Or will they look at what I’ve done as a whole?

Nintendo: Literally Taking Candy from a Baby

I came across this Wikipedia article the other day and noticed something a little odd about it. Most of you probably don’t remember the game Snake Rattle n Roll by Rare.
It is notable for being one of the earliest platform games to use a 3D isometric playing field.

The concept of this game was originally designed and created by a small boy in Montana. The project was sent to Nintendo of America where it was later sent to Rare entertainment for production. Nintendo however sent the boy a letter explaining that they were not taking suggestions for games from the public and later refused to send back the design concepts after numerous requests.

So under the assumption that Rare did steal the idea way back when, how would anybody prove anything legally? Yet, this goes to show you that you can’t hide secrets for very long anymore. With sites such as Wikipedia, the rusty handle to the closet will turn and door to those skeletons will eventually open.

I’d just like to leave with something to think about. If there is one instance like this, don’t you think there might be others?

   Have you tried Clicky yet? I have been using Clicky to monitor this site’s traffic for the past few weeks. Needless to say, I am amazed by the functionality and ease of use.

Information in Real-Time 

The thing I love the most about Clicky is the fact that you can see exactly what users are doing as they do it. Now if you are used to looking through your host’s default traffic reports, this new information will blow you away.

The Spy Tool

For example, let’s say you just posted a great article and want to see who your visitors are and where they are coming from. Clicky has a nice feature called, “Spy.” Spy basically allows you to see: date, time, IP address, what page they are looking at, where they came from, etc… And if they click on an outbound link, you get another line for that user. It is also very neat that they data is in real time. So you can accurately track trends and so on.

As far as, “The Basics,” (which is really a summary of all your traffic information located on your Dashboard) you can see: up to date visitors numbers, actions, average actions/visit, total time spent, average time spent/visit.

Some other features to check out include:

• Content

Allows you to see what content is being read the most.

• Links

Both incoming and outgoing

• Searches

From different engines, but tells you what keywords are being used(again in real-time).

• Location Information

Maps and locations of your visitors

Cost:

Basic - Free, up to 3 sites, up to 1,000 average daily page views per site. Limited feature set.

Blogger - $2.99/month or $19.99/year. Up to 3 sites and 10,000 average daily page views total (between all sites). Includes extra features like RSS feeds, Spy, outbound link tracking, download tracking, IP tagging, IP filtering, and more.

Pro / Small business - $5.99/month or $49.99/year. Up to 10 sites and 50,000 average daily page views total. Includes all features from ‘Blogger’ plan, plus full custom data tracking (usernames, etc), SSL support, full API access, and data export.

When you first register, you get a 21 day free trial of our ‘pro’ service, so you can access all of our features and decide which package will work best for you when your trial is up. Any web sites that get more than 1,000 average daily page views will be automatically disabled after your trial has expired if you decide you do not wish to pay for the service.

Each item is logged in very accurate detail. You could spend hours deciphering your users habits, likes/dislikes, and thoughts… Muhaaha!  

www.GetClicky.com

I recently posted some information about my Xbox 360 problems and how I had a temporary solution to the problem. After which I contacted BestBuy to replace the unit. I had paid and extra $60 or so to warranty the product through BestBuy. At the time it sounded like a good idea. If something went wrong I would just take the box back to BestBuy and they would replace it on the spot. Rather than sending the Xbox back to Microsoft for repairs or replacement.

A week ago the Xbox problem occurred. I packed up all the Xbox 360 parts and pieces and headed on down to BestBuy. I walked inside the store, was tagged with one of those return stickers, and then set my Xbox down at the customer service desk. The girl was somewhat friendly and she didn’t have too many questions about exactly what was wrong with the box. “Flashing red lights,” was about all I had to tell her. She then began to call what seemed like three different departments to figure out who had an Xbox in stock. A look of discontent came across her face as she ended the third call.

“Yeah, looks like we don’t have any in stock. So you can come back next week and we will have some more. Here is your reference number…” She then began to push me on my way so she could get me out of here.

I accepted the fact that I was going to have to wait for a replacement. A week didn’t seem so bad. After all I hadn’t really given BestBuy any notice that my product was bad.
A week passed and I gave old BestBuy a friendly call. I started with the Electronics department. After talking with some guy in the department, he informed me that they had just sold their last Xbox a few days ago. Now that wasn’t right, I could have swore that the girl said she would hold one or have someone call me when they come in.

Maybe just a mistake, but shouldn’t BestBuy correct the mistake?
Another call to BestBuy, this time with a manager this time. After a little talk with him, he told me he would callback after he figured something out. About thirty minutes later I received a call. It turns out that I have a few choices after all. Rather than waiting, I could get a gift card and buy an Xbox 360 on the bestbuy.com website. It is funny how the company was retaining their money. Instead of giving me cash, they offered a gift card so that I could go on the website and purchase the Xbox again.

I’m really not entirely satisfied with BestBuy, and can’t say that I ever am after doing business there. However, the whole event has made me think about this type of business.

When you promise something to a customer and do not fulfill your promise, it is not unreasonable for the customer to get upset- especially when the customer has to wait weeks to see resolution.

Everyday I speak with customers who were told misinformation which led to a very large problem. But the strange thing is that companies don’t have quick solutions to giving misinformation. Most companies only rely on managers to ponder up some solutions which any employee could have done. So why don’t these companies empower all of their employees to solve these problems? It would in turn save customers and the company a lot of time.

Derren Brown is now on television here in the United States on the Sci-Fi Channel.  If you don’t know who Derren Brown is you should visit the following or the above website right now.
DerrenBrown.co.uk

Originally Derren Brown was only available on Channel 4 in the UK and I was only able to watch his work in scattered places across the web.  Apparently Derren is already very popular and well known in the UK and has written a few books: Trick of the Mind. So based on his previous success in the UK I know Derren Brown will definitely catch on in the US.

I like Derren Brown’s work for a number of reasons. First of all, before watching him I was already very interested in hypnosis and neuro-linguistic programming. And after watching his work for a little while I realized how original he was in the way he twisted old methods and tricks. He is not like mainstream US magicians today such as Chris Angel, who are using tricks verbatim without improving or changing them. Derren uses techniques from both hypnosis and NLP while also including a little magic from time to time. This mix gives viewers and audience members a new and creative performance every time.

So if you like trickery, persuasion, manipulation, etc… Check out Derren Brown on the Sci-Fi Channel

Feel free to  share your  thoughts on Derren Brown or even your interest in what he does.  Either comment or e-mail me at thoughttrain[at]thoughtsponge.com…