Some of you may have noticed that i have been missing. or maybe you didn’t. Any way, since work has been really slim lately I have been really busy working on my company. It’s hard. I have to tip my hat to any one who has started and ran a business for any amount of time. To any one who has run a business as long as my father, I bow deeply with respect. With all the little technical things aside, meaning things like taxes, paper work, licenses and all the things you have to do just to have a business, which is a lot of work, you have to actually get customers, and do work for them. Research, marketing, sales, acquisition. when am i going to find time to do the jobs i barely have time to get, much less have a life? I have not been to bed before 2am in two weeks. Granted i sleep in till about 10am, but i refuse to be a morning person. Maybe i should open a night club....Alright in my next life. No, I’ll just get one of those easy buttons, it works on TV.

Those of you who have created a web site will appreciate this. I have spent the last week working on my web site. (pain in my ass) This is not easy. I have none, and i mean no experience in this other than this site in which you are reading. I once bought a HTML book, i got to about page 5 and that was after 17 thoughts of what else i could be doing. (I wonder where that book is now, probably sitting next to my networking, A+ Certification and Redhat for dummies books in box some where.)
So you have your design, your features, pics, graphics and what, you mean i need to generate content? ( i need a content genie, where can you find one of those?) when you start a business every one tells you, “ you need to have a business plan.” Business plan my ass, make a web site, every thing that is in you business plan will wind up on your web site. what does your company offer? what do you have that your competition doesn’t? where do you plan to be in 5 years? Take a look around at some company web sites you will be able to tell if they have a business plan or not. Oh and if you plan on selling something from you site, good luck. That is a whole different story. Do you know what an SSL certificate is? How about HTTPS? TLS? Well, if you don’t know what they are it has not stopped you from using them. If you have ever bought something online you have been in contact with some if not all of these. It use to be that i really enjoyed learning these types of things, but i have a business to run and just like my computer, i just want it to work. I owe one more deeply respectful bow to Cat who knows all of this and has work with it for years. Oh and actually enjoys it. (Deep Bow).

Well there is a little update for you. Once i get the site done i will let you know so you can go and laugh at my proudly displayed inexperience.

Quote of the day (I could not chose one so I have to post 2):

One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important.

This project is so important, we can't let things that are more important interfere with it.
(actual company memo)

It has occurred to me that with all the new bloggers there are that maybe i should bring up blogging safety. Here are a few tips for you to think about.

Don’t give out your full name. it is usually ok to list your first name but giving your full name makes it easier to find you and to possibly steal your identity and create other problems. this is a big deal. google yourself see what comes up. you may think that it is ok because only your family reads your blog, but how do you know who is reading your blog? i you have given some one you site or blog name they know who you are and don’t need your full name. besides it’s kinda fun to come up with a pen name that you can use for all your online activities, its like being someone else, but a lot safer.

Don’t give out other peoples full name. if you have a link section just list there first or pen name but never give out their full name. they are probably trying had to keep personal info from getting out so try not to thwart their efforts by divulging their name.

Don’t give away what city you live in. the state is usually acceptable as most people just want a reference for want part of the country you are from. The more specific information you give out the easier it is to find you.

Don’t tell people where you work. large or small company there are ways to find out where a company is located. you can tell people you work in the plumbing industry or broadcast / movie industry or what type of job you do but telling people who you work for is not the best idea.

Don’t give away personal information. you never want list you address, phone number birthday and other types of personal information. identity theft is a really big problem on the internet. take steps to prevent it from happening by not giving out personal info.

Do not post pictures of your street or front of your home on your blog or website. this makes it really easy to find you, your house and your family. If the picture is closes enough to not give away street numbers or other identifiable markers then its probably ok. make sure to look at the background of your picture, there may be things in your pic you don’t want people to see.

Assume that what ever you post will be there forever. any one can save a page or print it. your posts usually go to a server that has multiple raid hard drives, they back up the hard drive an keep copies incase something goes wrong. what does that mean to you? it means that even if you think you have deleted something it could still be on a hard drive some where.

You never have to respond to someone who leaves badgering or mean comments on your blog. you should just ignore these type of commenters. if possible delete offending comments and block person from leaving comments in the future if you want.

As i was writing all this the thought occurred to me “what the hell i am i going to write about then?” i believe you can write about what ever you want just as long as you are careful.

I am not trying to scare any one i just want to let people know that as fun as the internet is it can also be a dangerous place. keep the internet in the internet and out of your real life. you don’t want to have the internet show up on you door step one day. so stay aware just like in real life and be vigilant about how much specific info you give out. if some one wants more info on something you have blogged about they can email you.

Stay Safe. Stay anonymous.