Failure To Attract

So I’m sitting at my favorite hangout place here in Austin, TX - an amazing hookah bar on the Drag in Austin. For those of you not in the know, the Drag is this strip of Guadalupe down right next to the UT campus. It apparently hasn’t changed much in the past few decades, and I’m very glad for that. It gives this great laid back feeling, something that seems to be pretty uniquely Austin. They have live music almost every night, if not every night. And most musicians in Austin are fantastic.

My favorite band has no name yet, just their names - Clayton, Mike, and Steve. I put that in bold, because they’re just that good. I’m listening to them now, actually, sans Mike, he’s working tonight apparently.

I guess I should give some information about the hookah, so I’m just going to copy the information listed in Wikipedia:

Hookah (Hindi: हुक्का, Urdu: حقہ hukka) or shisha (Arabic: شيشة‎, Hebrew: נרגילה, Nargilah‎) or (Turkish: nargile) is a single or multi-stemmed (often glass-based) water pipe device for smoking. Originating in India,^[1] it has gained popularity, especially in the Arab World. It had gained popularity under the reign of the Ottoman Sultans. A hookah operates by water filtration and indirect heat. It can be used for smoking herbal fruits. More information here. It’s a great, relaxing, social thing that can give a natural - and legal - high. Nothing like any illicit substances, just a great feeling. Highly enjoyable.

I’ll be posting a video of this place, as well as a few fun pictures, within the next few days, when I get my phone fixed.

-David

Well, maybe using “disaster” isn’t quite the word I’m looking for.

For the most part, the weekend went fantastically! I believe everyone who attended got all that they needed out of it, thankfully, and it seems like all was well. All in all, we enjoyed ourselves!

The one thing that took some of the shine out of the weekend, though, happened on Saturday night. I had run into town to pick up some swim trunks and a FlipVideo camera for this wonderful woman, Jennifer Mauro, and upon arrival to the Best Buy to retrieve said FlipVideo… a man pulls into a parking spot close to mine, and starts yelling at me about how I cut him off in the car on the way to the store. I apologized profusely to this livid man, not remembering actually doing it or not, and he slowly got back into his car.

You can always tell when someone is pissed off at you, with facial features, body language, and then that stupid posturing, attempt to intimidate thing that most men will do when they lock eyes with you, never blink, and try to get you to back down.  It’s a primal dominance thing.

In any case, after apologizing, I went inside for 10 minutes or so to get the camera, and when I came outside - the tire closest to him, the front right one - was hissing and mostly empty.

Basically… he slashed one of my tires.

At the time, it didn’t really piss me off that much, as it was mainly just an inconvenience.  I called the cops to file a police report, and changed the tire.  It wasn’t until I saw the time that I got upset - the hotel closes the pool at 10:00 PM, and it was 9:45.

It all ended up being alright though, as it’s just another one of those life events that keep things interesting.  Though, as the old Chinese curse goes…

“May you live in interesting times.”

I thought I’d try to see how well the integrated video embedding tool - to see if the other embedding options via plugins and such do a better job at it or not. I’ll be plugging in a youtube video, as well as an mp3 of the song. Here’s to hoping!

The video:

Justice - DVNO

The mp3:

Justice - DVNO

Viola!

EDIT: Hmm. Apparently it doesn’t quite embed it like I suspected… at least my awesome YouTube plugin for WordPress works perfectly. …I hope.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_XzCR2MbrU]

Yep, it does!

-David

So, I’m now typing from the newly installed version of WordPress - an amazing blogging platform.  This new update includes an incredible suite of options that kinda just blows my mind.  I’ve been realizing more and more often how powerful WordPress really is, and I think I’m going to be adding a new service to my repertoire, for installing and configuring WordPress for a multitude of other things beyond blogs.

Did you know that WordPress actually allows you to use it as a simple platform to create well designed looking websites, with an amazing control panel for ease of use.

As part of the new features, it includes a way to automatically embed YouTube (or any other video website) videos, as well as pictures, music, or just about any other type of media.  It also includes basic SEO techniques, such as tags, a permalink with the ability to make sure that the title of your post is included in the permalink, making sure that it indexes with search engines properly.  This is not a new feature, but it now includes the ability to edit what the permalink should be, so you can SEO it even more.

These are just a few of the amazing features included in the new version - without even mentioning the slick interface.

I think I’ll charge $200 for installation and configuration, as well as some support to help you figure out how to even use it to it’s fullest extent.

Interested?  Email Me.

So I was sitting around at my parent’s place and someone linked me to this video:

[youtube:http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1764274]

I was amazed! This is a wonderful use for a Tesla coil, in my humble opinion.

… would you check it out?

I decided this weekend at the first Unseminar Elite that although I like my 9-5 and the stability it provides, I still want to be able to do what Pat does.  I just have no idea what I want my niche to be.

I was told recently that I do a really good job at explaining the technical details for the internet marketing concepts really well, and so I was thinking that maybe I could do a teleseminar to answer a few questions in my unique fashion.  I could even collect about three questions a person before the call itself, publish them online, and make sure that no one asks the same question twice.

What do you think?  I’d love to get some feedback on this idea.

Also, I’ve decided that I want to attract the money for a car - not the car itself, but the money for one.  I think the experience and the money-building exercise will help me more in the long run, and that’s what resonates with me the most.

Currently, I’ve picked out a new 2008 Volkswagon GTI as my dream car.  I got to drive a 2007 in January and just completely fell in love with it.  If I’m going all out, the version I want is about $32,000.  I want to be able to pay for the entire thing with cash.

So the next thing I want to attract is $35,000.  I keep asking myself the question,  “How can I make $35,000, and soon?”

I hope to answer this question soon.

What an interesting and well done video. Check it out!

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6c-umQ_hlc]

I dub that #1 because I know that it will be the first of many. But, I am happy to announce that this is a happy update. For you see… I have a job.

Let me say that again. I have a job!

This is a very exciting thing for me, since my life is finally coming back together. I’ve got the job, which is the start of a great many things. It’s helping me get my life into a routine, as well as bringing a lot of great people into my life.

Though, let me elaborate a bit about the job. I work for a medical insurance company, and I’m one of the people your doctor’s office contacts when you need an office visit or procedure authorized so the insurance will cover it. I got the job through OfficeTeam, who is one of the best staffing agencies around.

I don’t get paid a lot, but I’ve been told that the company likes me so much and the work and potential I have to help them, that they want to offer me a permanent position. This has got me curious and wondering about how the whole process works - since I get paid by OfficeTeam, and am technically an employee of theirs… how does that work?

Luckily, I have a friend in Seattle who used to work for Robert Half International, OfficeTeam’s parent company. He told me that what happens is, the client company hires a staffing agency like OfficeTeam to find someone to fill a position, since it can cost upwards of $10,000 for a company to try to hire someone themselves. So, for argument’s sake, lets say the client company pays OfficeTeam $20 an hour per person in this position, and OfficeTeam turns around and pays the person they find $12 an hour, so they get to pocket almost the same about of money they pay out per hour for that position.

The thing that makes me think the most, though, is if I get hired on full time - what sorts of negotiation skills will I need? What sort of a mentality should I bring to the table? What attitude? What should I ask for? Et al.

It’s confusing! I’m not sure exactly what I should do. Any suggestions or help is appreciated!

-David

A bullet went through my head this morning.

Okay, not a *real* bullet, but more one of those metaphorical ones that still cause the physical jerk reaction - I jumped as if startled when the idea quite literally struck me.

I’m sure you’re familiar with “alternate” or “parallel” realities.  What, you aren’t?  Well, according to Wikipedia, “Parallel universe or alternative reality is a self-contained separate reality coexisting with our own.”  For more about what Wikipedia has to say, just click here.

In any case, the way I like to think about it is… for every single variable in our lives (from what we have for breakfast, to how fast we drive to work, to what time we leave for work), every single variable there is a “fork in the road”, so to speak.  There are infinite alternate realities - each one for each choice.

Follow me so far?  No?  Well that’s okay, I’m finding it very difficult to explain in words.  Just bear with me for a little while longer - the big epiphany is coming up.

So imagine that in at least some of these infinite realities, you as a person or being exist in some form, going through your life.  Now imagine taking a step back and looking at all of these different lives that you or some form of you inhabit and exist within, and - get ready for this - imagine that they are all you, and you are all them.  That you all share the same soul, that in a way, you are all the same being, experiencing every facet of life simultaneously, all for the good of the whole that makes up you.

I’m sure I botched up the explanation above, so I came up with an analogy to help illustrate my point.  Think of a big bucket full of water, and surrounding it are tons of drinking glasses.  Now imagine each of the glasses being filled up by the water in your bucket.  Each glass represents your body in a different reality, and the water represents the sections of your soul.  What if, when you die, the experiences you had in that reality are passed on to the greater you, as the piece of your soul inhabits that body merges with it.

I know, I know, it’s heavy.  I still don’t quite understand why such a thought slammed into me in the shower of all places, but I have maintained that the shower has always been my thinking spot.

Interesting idea, no?