i thunk so

I’ve been discussing business a lot lately with one of my close friends and business partners. We have some lofty goals but no time to execute them.

The internal wrestling has begun. Do we start turning down work to make time for us to reach our long-term business goals, or do we continue to worry about paying the bills and making what has become a nice, steady supplemental income?

We’ve been in business for five years now. There are three of us in the core management team who also do most of the design and development. Like most small business that are still young, we all still rely on our day jobs for the bulk of our financial sustenance. This leaves little time for paid work, let alone internal housekeeping and in-house projects.

Last night on Skype, my friend and I began to hash out a plan for the upcoming new year. We are beginning to believe that it is important for us — as a company and as a team — to finish an internal project and see it through to launch. Over the years, our path has been littered with great ideas (some of which are still viable, but others have long since been launched by others who weren’t so aloof) that never saw the light of day.

I feel very strongly that to have a successfully launched project to point to, we will be establishing ourselves as a legitimate and competitive firm. In addition, with the potential for long-term sustainable income we can begin to fund other, more robust projects.

Business, like life, is ringed with delicate complexities. I suppose that’s why it’s not a total bore to get out of bed each morning, even when I’ve only had a couple hours of sleep.

Filed by JP at 11:37 am under Opinions, Personal Drama
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Here’s something I would have expected to come from the bowels of Dixie on this side of the pond, but the Brits have beat Billy Bob to the punch.

Sprayonmud can give you instant off-roader credibility, and also pulls double-duty as a way to obscure your license plate from speed or other traffic cameras.

Filed by JP at 10:14 am under Odd Lot, Humor, Idiots
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Monday night, on my homeward commute through Nowhere, Virginia, my car got rocked by a blowout. No problem, you say? Just throw on the spare and get on your way? Problem is, three weeks ago I had a flat from a random little triangular piece of sheet metal that I picked up somehow. The spare was already flat, too….that’s the point.

So I dropped $600 on a new set of 4 tires since 2 were flat and 2 were questionable already. Pirellis. Got new Michelins on Tuesday morning, but I missed a couple hours of work. No big deal, really, but it cost me a lot of cash.

Then last night — just three days later — I was on the same commute home when I ran over a deer that had just been hit by the car in front of me. So now the front end of my Audi is mangled.

I am supposed to visit friends in New Jersey this weekend, but I’m feeling a little shell-shocked about driving anywhere. I think I’ve had just about enough of my 1.5-hour-each-way commute every day. I’m looking forward to getting my new position negotiated and settled so I can just move closer to work already.

If there is a silver lining to all of this, it’s that my insurance company actually seems to give a crap — at least my local agent does. Nobody at the national call center is ever even available to answer the phone. I found out this morning that the damage will be covered under comprehensive coverage instead of collision. This means I will only have to pay $50 out-of-pocket instead of the $500 I would have had to pay under collision coverage.

Filed by JP at 12:12 pm under Personal Drama
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A new software title called Riya was the subject of a write-up on Wired News today. The new software features face-recognition technology that users can train to eventually sort images automatically.

Filed by JP at 12:30 pm under Worthwhile Websites, Technology
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I’m a little late to the Halloween party with this one, but I still found it humorous in a nerdy sort of way.

This guy’s Flickr set is called How to build a Rubiks Cube Costume.

Filed by JP at 9:06 am under Odd Lot, Humor
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This trailer is the perfect hybrid of two stupid films. It’s better than both movies put together.

Enjoy Anakin Dynamite.

Filed by JP at 8:21 pm under Worthwhile Websites, Humor, Movies
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They’re called mp3s. And no, you didn’t invent them.

I, for one, am sick of whatever implied podcast controversy there may be over who started what, and who should get credit for this or that. Podcasting is not a new idea. Sure, someone started saying “podcast,” but that is where the controversy should stop. Now it’s turned into this whole subculture of infighting, and over what? It’s NOT your idea. Ever heard of a webcast? They’ve been around since…well, since Adam Curry was cool.

By the way, the fact that it’s called podcasting explains a lot about the whole attitude around this made up controversy / publicity stunt. All you Mac snobs out there…you always have to pretend you’re so different. But now being different or “unique” just isn’t enough anymore. Now you have to be the mostest different or the uniquest ever. “Hey, I know…let’s add ‘pod-’ to the beginning of this random word for something that’s existed for millions of years, and then we’ll be the coolest Mac dudes ever!’ Better yet, let’s just put an “i” in front of a word, and then slap a trademark on it. I’m getting iShivers™ just thinking about it.

For all of you lackeys out there with no lives and no real jobs who think you have a shot at making it big just because you banter on for a half hour once a week about things nobody else cares about (yes, I know nobody cares about my blog either, but at least I have no delusions of grandeur) , and then somehow manage to figure out how to make an mp3 file; I hope you find something else to do before I–along with millions of other taxpayers funding your future food stamps–am forced to sustain your pathetic existence.

Filed by JP at 10:30 pm under Rants, Technology
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I pulled the lever today. Didn’t even have to wait in line. As a terminally cynical citizen, sometimes I just have to say that I love America.

Filed by JP at 3:59 pm under Government, Democracy
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Apparently, the campaign for governor in Virginia is so important that the President has begun calling each household individually. I guess those trips on AF1 get a little dull. I’m honored that I’m high enough on his list to have been one of the lucky ones he had time to call. I also found it fascinating that his number is — and this could only be the President’s number — 000-000-0000. I wonder how much the taxpayers are paying for a hot phone number like that. I bet all the biggest corporations are clamoring for it. If you dial that number, do you get to talk to 10 operators at once? I was gonna return his call, but I was busy at my own job.

The President is also making a stop in Richmond, VA, tonight to stump for Republican candidate Jerry Kilgore. Tomorrow I’ll vote. As a conservative, I would normally be inclined to vote for Kilgore (the Republican), but since he kept Russ Potts — the independent candidate — out of the debates, I don’t think I will. I definitely can’t vote for Tim Kain’s brand of socialism (it’s working so well for the French right now). I guess I will probably vote for the guy who has no chance of winning.

So Mr. Kilgore, if you’re reading this: you lost me when you bought into the two-party monopoly. Nothing annoys me more than politicians who think they own the system.

Filed by JP at 9:15 pm under Rants, Government, Personal Drama, Democracy
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It seems as though a legitimate scientist claims to have developed “a prototype power source that generates up to 1,000 times more heat than conventional fuel.”

You’d think this would be front page news in more places than just UK’s Guardian, but there’s a problem. There are warring factions within science, just as in every other vein of professional tradition. This new power source, if for real, “turns physics on its head.”

Filed by JP at 3:01 pm under Science, Technology
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