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House News
October 10, 2002 11:47
Radio StationsI'm trying to collect a list of radio stations that have featured this site, along with newspapers. There are at minimum 26 total, but may be more, and I quit counting after the first 15, but I'd like to write up a comprehensive list if possible. So, if you heard of this site on the radio, leave a comment saying which station, the callsign, the frequency, a website if there is one, and the location. If someone else has already mentioned it, there's no need to repeat it, but feel free if you like. :) Also, if you read about this in a newspaper, leave a comment on that too. Thanks.
October 10, 2002 11:38
More CoverageThe NY Times article has been posted, so go take a peek if you'd like. Another rather large site in what appears to be Austria has also linked me here. Getting a LOT of hits from that site. You might need babelfish. :)
October 09, 2002 11:34
Publicity and other stuffFirst of all, props to Star 102 for calling me this morning and featuring my site live on the air. I missed the call at first since I was still in bed, and they stopped ringing by the time I made it to the phone, but I saw it was a radio station, so I called them back from the caller ID number, and was surprised to actually catch the dj, I would have assumed a producer would answer instead, but I caught him 10 seconds before they went back on the air, so everything worked out cool. :) On a more serious note, yesterday someone messaged me offering assistance on my site layout. Now, while my pride isn't so great as to refuse free help, (most of the icons on my site were provided by fans), I do take a somewhat adverse position when someone's first opinion of a project I've spent 4 years working on is that "it sucks." If you want to help me, that's the WORST way to do it. A lot of people tell me that the site sucks, I suck, etc etc. But those people are just losers and I happily write them off as such. When someone approaches me in a professional manner (or not so) and attempts to sell me on something by insulting me, I wonder how they stay employed. Of course, ego sometimes goes with the job. Some people simply aren't humble, and the only way they know how to approach someone is to treat them like they're inferior, and I suppose some people are insecure enough that this tactic might actually work. However, when you do so, you better damn well know what you're talking about. This moron made random assumptions about my page code, without realizing that the javascript code on my page was dynamic, and therefore couldn't be stored in separate files. He assumed the entire page reloaded everytime a button was pressed, when in fact, only the hidden frame was. In spite of that, he still insisted the whole page was reloading, but claimed it might have been his misconfigured browser. This is a guy that's supposed to be an "expert" in web design. He better be if he has the gall to tell someone that their layout and coding tactics "suck". Yet he makes cookiecutter sugguestions wihtout really knowing what he's talking about. He made some reasonably useful recomendations about the current layout of some of my links, but since the page design keeps changing as I add things, I chalk up those things as non-priority issues. But now for his crowning sugguestion. The one that made me burst out laughing, was his recommendation that I should offer email to my viewers and recommended a site that funds "free" email addresses with my domain by spamming people. Of course, when I refer to the idea as free spam, his only retort is that I don't have to be so sarcastic. Very very true, but sarcastic. Ok then. So this so called professional webdesigner thinks that spam is a viable promotional technique, tests websites with misconfigured browsers, is incapable of reading website code to determine what it REALLY does as some of what he suggested were things my site already does. And of course, the "professional" way that he offered assistance by telling me that my efforts suck. Its a good thing that he offered his services for free, as they certainly aren't worth anything.
October 06, 2002 22:44
Living Room ChangesSince I took down the one strand of Xmas tree lights, I decided to play around with the positions of the lamps in the living room. I've got the fibre optic flower moved to a more prominant position so its easier to see, and the remaining strand of Xmas tree lights is visible still. I also replaced the bulb in the second living room lamp which has been out for about a week now. This will buy me time until I can replace the lights, assuming I ever do.
October 06, 2002 16:42
No Xmas LightsDon't worry, I'll replace them shortly, but for now they've been taken down. I'm not sure why exactly, but every single bulb in the strand burned out, probably all at once. If I had to guess, I'd assume that enough of the bulbs burned out which caused too much voltage to go throught the remaining ones, and that resulted in the whole strand going dead. I'll replace it in a few days. The traffic has died down for a few days, however there are at least two big events still coming up which are likely to put the traffic back to where it was for most of the last month. The first on the 10th, the New York Times is running a piece on my site in their tech section. I'll post details on it when the article runs. It will be available in both the print and online versions of the paper. The second event will be when TechTV sends out a camera crew and reporter to get a close up look at my house and the insane environment that I live in. Of course, both of these events are likely to spawn additional fallout traffic.
October 05, 2002 10:05
Icons back onMy bandwidth needs have finally dropped back below the maximum, so I can turn the icons back on. I won't be around most of the weekend, although I'll be online. At some point I'm going to start cleaning the house, and adding more features. Now that things are slowing down again, after this weekend I should have some time to do so.
October 03, 2002 13:15
What is a life?It has become commonplace for people to tell me that I have no life or I need to get one. Normally, I shrug those people off as the moronic losers that they are as it doesn't really make any difference to me anyway. But I decided to think it over today, while talking with someone else who has no self proclaimed life. So I did some research. Checking google, because if it isn't on google, it doesn't exist, I searched for "What is a life?". The results were less than useful. Some references to life magazine, a geneology site, some sports pages. Nothing I can extract any useful information from. Not to be deterred, I did a search on "get a life". I got infromation on a TV show, an ad to attend a class, something about NSYNC which HAS to be off topic, something about the afterlife, and something about genetic programming. Drawing blanks here people. So I ditched the research and decided to just make stuff up instead. So what all is involved in getting a life? The first thing everyone says is that I need to get a girlfriend. Well, I've had girlfriends in the past, and while that seemed to get me scorn from fellow members of the geek community, it didn't result in anyone thinking I had any more of a life than I did otherwise. And besides, while I like girls as much as the next guy, should I involve myself in a relationship, espeically when I'm not terribly eagar about being in one, just to escape the stigma of having no life, while adding a ton of extra stress and time consuming/wasting activities. I get into a relationship when I feel it benefits both me and her, not for the sake of having a life. I don't get out much. Very true. Where would you suggest I go? Remember, I have FUN sitting in front of my computer. Therefore, doing ANYTHING that isn't fun for me better have significant benefits above and beyond the entertainment value I'm giving up in the process. Also, sitting at home is free. So if it costs me money, even small amounts, it better be DAMN worth it. Oh, and don't forget, it has to be something that is plenty of fun all by myself, since I won't have anyone to go with. Why? Because my friends are typically those that don't go out. Funny that I would befriend people that think the same way I do. So that's your mission. Find me something to do that I can do alone, won't cost me any money, will be FAR more entertaining than sitting at home doing what I love, and will satisfy your personal need for me to get a life.
October 03, 2002 11:28
Snafu on my part....sortaI feel a little bad right now. Not TOO bad, just a little. A radio station was going to feature me this morning, but because of bad timing on my part, I missed their call. Originally they were going to call me around 8 am, but since I had problems with my phones yesterday I told them to postpone it, but then later got the problem fixed and said I was still good to go. I supposed they would still call at the same time. And since I was ready for 8, I was busy getting ready at 7:16 when they called and couldn't answer the phone immediately. I talked with someone at the station shortly afterwards, I even tried calling in, but they only have voicemail on the number I had, so I couldn't let them know that I was still good to go. Fired off another email to let them know what was happening, but all I got was a message that they were going to pass since I messed up the show. Now, I'm not in radio, but I understand enough about the business that they have pretty ridged schedules. But I also understand that the world is a dynamic place, and nothing ever stays the same. The most perfectly planned out schedule will change, in any business, but especially in live media culture. News breaks all the time, people call in, radio personalities need the ability to think on their feet and adapt quickly and smoothly to any situation. I've listened to radio for years. I can't tell you how many times I've heard them make sudden changes because a phone line isn't working, or a cell phone blurps, or an Amber alert comes in. Do these things "mess up" a DJ? Yes, I know I'm being an armchair quarterback about this. I still say its my screwup. Had I been up earlier, this wouldn't have been a problem. I don't know for sure who benefits more from something like this. I get free publicity, they get something to entertain their listeners with for 10 minutes. I didn't manage to hold up my end of the bargain. I was ready 3 minutes later, but apparently by then it was too late, not that I really had anything I could do about it at that point. I'll just have to plan to be up and ready to go at 5:30 every morning for now on, lest I miss an opportunity like this again.
September 30, 2002 22:43
More stuffOk, so the Chicago Tribune decided to link me today, AND.. TechTV. Again. Only a different program. This time it was TechLive. Not quite as hard a hit as screensavers was, but they're actually going to send out a camera crew in a few weeks with a reporter to do another feature on my setup. Gonna have to clean the house now I guess. :)
September 30, 2002 12:33
Bunches of StuffFirst of all, for those that don't know, I'll be featured in the Ney York Times both paper and internet versions on the 10th of October. Had a very nice interview with the reporter, and I'm looking forward to the article. I've also heard that a few other newspapers have featured me, although I'm not sure which ones. I still seem to be getting one radio station a day, at least, and that momentum hasn't slowed down much. At last count, I believe there have been 22 radio station features of my site since the 12th, although I'm losing count. I've spoken live on three of them. All this added activity is starting to decrease the life expectancy of some of my lamps. For years I'd been proudly able to avoid replacing any bulbs, but in the last few weeks, I've burned out the lava lamp, the fibre optic flower, the office lamp, the second living room lamp, and part of the string of Xmas lights. Of course, since the 12th I've had more traffic than I've had in the last two years, so that might be expected. I've put some work into the new RC car so hopefully in the next couple days it will at least be operational. It will not however have the video transmitter working, as I can't afford to replace that yet. I will try to fix a permanant cam in the living room to allow people to manuver it.
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