BloggingZoom Attacked...Again

Just like I said in BloggingZoom Hacked, Vic and Court must be getting something right because they are under attack again. This time its in the form of vitriol coming from the folks over at Blog Catalog in the content and comments to Trying to get my url banned on blogging zoom. Just like I said in my comments to One Sided Story, if they don't want to use BloggingZoom, then don't. If you don't want to hear from Vic, stop writing him and talking about him. If you find it impossible to read what he writes because he doesn't proof read or spell check, unsubscribe. That's pretty simple.

Here's the bottom line for me. I know why Vic's grammar sucks and his words are harsh, and so will anybody that takes the time to read-up on that over at BloggerUnleashed.com. See, it's kinda like voting... if you don't do your part (and vote) then you don't get to complain (or boast) after the election. If you're not willing to look at why things are the way they are, then I'd prefer to not hear you cry about it.

Now, that being said, here's a bone for the BC folks. From the reading I've done over there, they seem to be nice enough, and helpful from time to time ( although I can't find anything like this ). They are very happy blogging for blogging's sake and that is their choice. More power to 'em. I for one want to make a little scratch from my time in the Internet so I'm looking to the Three Wise Men to help me do that!

Tonight Is the Night!

Although it's probably stretching the "connected" theme just a bit, tonight is the night many TV fans have been waiting eight months for...

...a 2 hour Lost event tonight on ABC starting at 7:00 pm central! Yeah! But alas, there is a problem...

First you win...

I've watched Lost from the very first episode (by accident but hey). Maybe its just that I'm tired of all the "reality" junk on these days, maybe its because it reminds me of Lost In Space (the series with June Lockhart and Bill Mumy, not the movie with Mimi Rogers and William Hurt). Or maybe its just I like the multi-threaded mystery drama action stuff. Either way, its back! And now for the problem.

...then you lose!
My favorite distraction away from the InterWorld is ham radio. In fact, I've got a blog about it called Adventures in Amateur Radio. Anyway, in my local area here we have a meeting on the air ( a "net" ) every Thursday night at 7:30 and because of tonight's 2 hour Lost event, it's going to be a conflict. Wait, I can hear you now saying, "No problem, skip the net and watch the show!" Well, normally I would, but last week I volunteered to be in charge of the net this week! What's a guy to do? I mean, I simply don't watch much TV so I hardly ever run into this kind of situation so now what?

Then you win again!
Tivo to the rescue! That's right, Tivo! It has become my lifesaver in situations like this one. This will kinda work out better anyway. I'll finish my net around 8:00, that will give us about an hour of Lost already recorded. That way, when we start watching it, we can fast forward through the commercials and still not "catch up" with live TV. It'll be GREAT! If you don't already have Tivo, I strongly recommend it, I bet it will change your life the way it has changed mine!

PS - If you live anywhere close to Huntsville, Alabama and have a scanner, tune it to 146.94 around 7:30 and listen to our net! It's sponsored by Huntsville/Madison County ARES and the repeater is courtesy of the North Alabama Repeater Association.

Taking Charge of Your Online Life

One of the interesting changes underway now in the online world is the shift away from anonymity toward personification.

I've been online now since 1995 and one of the attractions to the Internet has always been the cloak of anonymity created by the screen and keyboard. You could say anything to anybody, claim to be anybody you want or look any way you want. Even live a life online that was totally separate and apart from the reality of your daily world. But the advent of web cams and social networking is gradually changing all that.

At the risk of dating myself here, it reminds me a lot of the movie Tron where a hacker is literally abducted into the world of a computer to live out (or die in) his virtual life. As social sites like MySpace, Facebook, Plaxo, and LinkedIn grow exponentially in popularity we are being forced to step out from behind the curtain and reveal more and more of ourselves. Don't see the big deal? Many colleges and potential employers do because they are checking out their applicants online persona comparing it to the application. That "little fib" about your PhD on MySpace may have just cost you a job!

More than that though, all you have to do is look at how popular these sites are to see how desperately some people want to be known, not famous, just known. It's almost sad.

Ok, so how does one go about managing this mess? Well, it's not simple, maybe impossible, but here are a few tips to keep in mind.

Expect Someone To Connect the Dots

If you think you'll be able to hide behind a different email address, think again. It may work against the casual observer, but if someone is really interested in finding out who is who, they WILL DO IT.

There Is No Expectation of Privacy On the Internet

Don't write it, text it, email it, chat it, blog it, video it or otherwise commit anything to electronic "writing" that you don't want someone to find out. It's just too easy! Time after time (and hot video after hot video) we see a "private" message or video posted to the Internet for all to see. Before you snap that picture or click send...is this something you want other people to see? Think stolen camera or laptop!

Keep a Junk Mail Email Address

Email is free and plentiful in the Internet. Setup a free email address that you use to sign-up for website logins, newsletters, stuff like that. DO NOT use that address for your banking, credit cards, bill pay, etc. If you need to, setup another one for those chores and give it to no one. It's not perfect, but it will GREATLY reduce spam and GREATLY reduce the likelihood of having your online identity stolen.

Common Sense Still Applies, Even In the Internet

Like my grandpa always said, "If it looks too good to be true, it probably is." Why would Mr. Jambaba contact you randomly to receive his $1 million in cash? How reasonable does it sound that you won a contest you didn't enter? THINK before you share!

Far From Complete

These are just a few of the many things I've learned over the past 18 years of connected living. There are many many more. Use common sense and treat every stranger online like you would if they walked up and knocked on your front door...at least that's a good start! Do you have any good ideas? Share them with us in a comment below!

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I wanted to take this opportunity to point out a new web presence I think you will all be interested in. GukuSabi is a new blog about stuff, kinda like Seinfeld, its a blog about nothin, but you'll love it!

Looking For a Wedding Photographer in Huntsville Alabama?

Need a Wedding Photographer in Huntsville, Alabama?

Neither do I, but I'm sure lots of other people do. As you may have gathered, this is a post not so much about weddings and wedding photographers, but mainly about boosting the linked page in results. Oh, right, the links.

I'm going to point you to Finding a Wedding Photographer in Huntsville Alabama, mainly because I really dig the picture! It's pretty funny.

For my regular readers and subscribers, I know you didn't sign up because you were interested in weddings or photographers (although you might be interested in Huntsville, Alabama!) Thank you so much for your support and understanding with this post. I promise I'll be back to more meaningful stuff in the morning!

UVMe Ready for Launch!

UVME.com (you vs me dot com) is ready for launch! Its a brand new on-line game platform that changes the way you will play games...forever!

UVME.com has been in beta for a little over a month now and they're finally ready to launch the site into full production! I've been playing around with it for a couple of weeks and got in to do a little beta testing. The games are pretty similar to on-line games you've played before, with two big differences.

First, you can challenge your friends (or just find random players) to a game, even games like Arcade Ducks and Fruit Frenzy that you would normally think of as single player games. And now, for the really interesting part...

Of course you can always play for free but if you're feeling really good about your skills, or just plain lucky, you can play for cash! That's right! Challenge your opponent to a money game (as little as $1) and if you win, you're in for some cash! How's that for a deal, get paid to play games online!

Ok, so what are you waiting for? I don't know...meet me over at UVME.com and let's play!

Speaking of a good online MLM opportunity...

There are lots of ways to monetize your life and work at home with your homebased business. One of the best work at home jobs is network marketing and here is one to look at Aprenda Networkmarketing

BloggingZoom Hacked!

Court and Vic must have hit a homerun with this one because now they're under attack!

Thanks to Court for raising the flag that Bloggingzoom, has been HACKED! Clearly this means that the wise men have done something right and it's gotten under somebody's skin. If you go BloggingZoom.com right now, all you get is a white screen. They are working diligently to get it back up and running, but for now, we're making sure the words gets around. Stay tuned for more details.

Big thanks to Desty for letting me know about BloggingZoom Hacked.

Local Weather Guys Get Blasted

ALL the weather guys were forecasting gloom and doom type snow for Huntsville, Alabama last weekend...and we got nada!

Here's a fellow blogger thats takin task with the TV news weather guys in Huntsville, Alabama in Local Meteorologists Respond to 'Snow Hype'

Dorm Dorks: Two Nerds, One Room, A Really Wierd Building

I came across this funny on-line comic strip today. I embedded a sample below, its called Porn Robots! Enjoy

The author's name is Mike Hankins and the website is www.dormdorkscomic.com. There is a feed so you can stay up-to-date with his 3 times a week schedule. Check him out!

How To Work In the Internet - Part 1

Life In the Internet is about living and working in the connected world. Ok, well how do you DO that?

I remember back in the 80's business Utopia was the Paperless Office! Well that didn't work out...yet. I was sifting through my Reader feeds this morning and made my way over to a couple of new blogs (well, new for me) that inspired me. First I found Skellie over at AnyWired.com. She had 30 Ideas to Help You Start Working Through the Web that I thought were very fab!! (Check out her article, you'll notice some of her ideas as I move through this series) Thanks Skellie! While I was browsing her site, I found a 125 ad for Stephen over at Productivity in Context. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not even in the same league with Stephen when it comes to organization, but don't let that stop you from checking out his blog.

Anyway, these two kinda got me thinking about HOW I do what I do and thought it might be a good idea to showcase some of the ways I work mainly in the connected world and leave very little residue behind in the UNconnected world. Here goes.

Start With The Basics

It might be a good idea to back-up just a bit and hit a little history. I've had the jtrigsby.com domain for many many moons now, I don't even remember how long I've had it. The web portion of the domain has gone through several iterations, most of them requiring direct access to the server, FTP access, or something of the like. What a hassle. And then there is the email monster! Yuck!

I stumbled across Google Hosted Apps almost a year ago. Like a lot of things (like blogging) it took me a little while to figure out how to take advantage of this fab tool, but I finally got it. If you missed my story about Google Apps (The Latest Killer App!), Google Apps is a hosted application (meaning its all on-line, nothing on your computer) developed by Google. It provides users with email, calendar, web hosting, docs, spreadsheets, and presentations. And the best part is...IT IS FREE!

Needless to say, free is good!

So I signed up! Now, you are not required to have (or buy) your own domain name, it will work just fine using a Google sub-domain, but since I already had jtrigsby.com, I redirected it over to Google Hosted Apps and the rest was easy. I now get to use a private branded Google Mail app for all the mail sent to jtrigsby.com, have my own calendar, and my own document repository. All on-line, all free. What? You don't see the big deal? Well let me tell you. My email, calendar, documents, spreadsheets, and presentations are now available from any computer with Internet access and I don't have to deal with or manage server, connectivity, spam, or backup issues! In fact, I've got the world's single largest hosted apps company doing all that for me...FOR FREE! Wow.

Now Google Apps has a web hosting feature, they even have a pretty slick little on-line web page editor. And yes, it is on-line so I could access it from anywhere, and did. I started my WebMoney series on the old site. I spent lots of time writing and editing the pages, saving drafts, etc, etc. Then the blogging light bulb clicked on (finally)! I spent weeks working on the traditional web site and it only took a couple of hours to move all that data over to Blogger...and that includes getting the blog setup and the domain name redirected!

So now I have email, calendar, docs, and a blog/website. The basics of my Internet Empire are in place. With this array of applications, all on-line and web based, I'm mobile and don't have to carry anything with me to stay connected. As long as I can borrow a computer (dare I say even a Mac!) I can stay in touch, answer emails, and get a little work done. This is something that's really important to me since I'm on the road a lot and away from my desk. It's also pretty cool that I can setup a user account (the first 100 are FREE) for Vickie and share my calendar with her so she can see what I've got going on, where and when. How cool is that?!?

What tools do you use to stay connected? Are you still using a pc based email client like Outlook? Any tips? Be sure to leave a comment below and share all that you know with the rest of us.

Next time...Keeping Up A Social Life, Online!

Be sure to stay connected to Life In the Internet by subscribing to my feed. You'll automatically get the latest and greatest...as soon as it's published!

The Perfect Cup of Internet Fuel

Late night coffee has to be the fuel that drives the Internet. Here's the story of one perfect cup!

I was only about 10:00 pm. Yeah, it had been a long day, but not a hard one. Lots of time on the keyboard, dinner encouraging me to nap, and a few more blogging chores to be done before bed all contributed to this cup of coffee.

Vickie was up working on-line as well, trying to get a handle on the new Internet site for Super Suppers. As she often does, she had already setup the coffee maker for tomorrow morning, so that all that would be required was a stumble into the kitchen and click the button. But that was a couple of hours ago. With at least another hour to go we both wanted a cup. The challenge was on.

A few months back I picked up a press pot while I was on the road. The spartan accommodations I had that trip left me in a room without a coffee pot. I've only used it a couple of times and had not been all that excited with the outcome... but my nagging craving for caffeine was calling and I had to answer. Not wanting to ruin it, I did what all good web geeks do... I Googled it.

Well, lets just say I hit the mother lode! Over at CoffeeGeek.com (isn't that a perfect name!) I found How to Use a Press Pot! It not only gave me step-by-step instructions but pictures to boot! (One of which I borrowed for this article. Thanks guys!) With the exception of using the "right" kind of grinder, I followed the instructions to the letter and man, did it come out great! Well, great enough for me to sit down and write about it!

So a big, hearty, energized thanks goes out to Mark Prince, the Coffee Kid, over at CoffeeGeeks.com. Next time your over there, tell him Thom and Vickie sent ya! And try a press pot, you might just like it!

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And continuing in our tradition of recommending excellent sites for you to visit, here are a few:

Jar of Skittles is an interesting site, one that actually kind of defies words. You just have to go look.

Just Another Blog belongs to my friend Vinny who will need to give me a better name for it tomorrow.

Blogger Highway is a really cool site with a really cool premise. The owner's name is Roy Malibu (no, not a professional wrestler...but you can rib him about it).

Stupid Pet Tricks

Ok, here's a little UNconnected life. This is a video of Raider and her latest trick, unlocking her kennel to get her toy out! Carly taught her this one!

How Long Does It Take To Get From Here to There?

Finally, an answer to that age old burning question!

So, how long does it take to get from here to there? Well, apparently it takes 7 hours and 51 minutes. Don't believe me? Want to know my source? How about none other than Google Maps! Check it out.

Big time kudos belong to lowtone94 for this one! It's great man! Thanks.

What's Up With Robbing A Bank?

Earlier today a local bank was robbed. I just don't get it

Ok, now I'm not saying robbing a bank is justified in any way, but let's give the guy the benefit of the doubt. Maybe his mom is dying and needs expensive surgery, maybe his kids haven't eaten in a week and he just wanted to get them fed... who knows! But for crying out loud, rob a bank! Surely he's seen, well, just about any show on TV where they have VIDEO from the robbery! Hello!!! McFly!!!

And let's see, did he have a cool get-away ride? No. Was it PRIMER colored! Yeah, I'm sure THAT blended in well! And then there is the get-away route. Let's see, did he choose a wide, easy access thoroughfare with some traffic but not too much? Nope, he picked one of the slowest moving, most congested, two lane roads in the area! Oh, and at the busiest time of the day to boot!

But I will give him credit for one thing. He did pick a bank that was out of the way, probably a long way from any law enforcement, that should give him adequate time to get away. Well so much for that plan! Because as he attempted to make his get-away it appears his "nondescript" get-away car drew the attention of an off-duty sheriff's deputy AND an Alabama State Trooper who both just happened to be in the area. HHmm, I guess his accomplice must have been good ole Mr. Murphy of Murphy's law fame, huh.

So what the moral of the story...? Don't go robbin banks, it will only get you on Worlds Stupidest Crooks!

Need a Wedding Photographer?

Well I don't but I have created yet another blog about finding a wedding photographer in Huntsville, Alabama.

Finding a photographer for your wedding is a pretty big deal and my uncle is a pretty good one so I started working the key word with this new blog. You can find it here.

It's a pretty tough keyword (wedding photographer) with over 5 million hits. If you add Huntsville Alabama to the keyword that narrows the results down to about 68,000, a much more manageable result set.

In a similar manner, I've now gained a little traction with my other keyword blog Do Birds Flush The Toilet. You should check out both of them.

Back In the Salt Mine...

As a new week starts, so does the "labor"

I had the very special pleasure of having lunch with my wife and my mom today (BTW, the Salmon Cakes at Super Suppers are GREAT!) While we were eating we chatted about what I've been able to earn on-line the past few weeks and I, quite by accident, stumbled upon something I hadn't really realized before. Blogging is work!

I know I've said I'm trying to setup some passive income via the web as part of my grand experiment, but it is FAR from passive yet! My beautiful brides leaves the house by 9:30 most days (thus forcing me to get to work) and before I know it, its already 3:30 and the little one is home from school! Where did all that time go? Well, I don't know about the rest of you but for me, it went into work!

Yeah, I know a lot of people would look at what I do and say, "that ain't work, that's just surfin." Well brother, let me tell you. By the time I scan all my feeds in Reader, tag the ones I want to come back and read, look for interesting tid-bits for the blogs, research links for link posts, write some posts, check keyword counts, comment on others posts, answer emails, scan Craig's List, update Facebook, and process orders from the eComm site... its a Full Day!

But hey, I'm not gonna complain, I could be out diggin a ditch, right!? I just have to remember to get up and stretch my legs every once in a while!

So Now I'm In the Bulk Candy Business!

A quick note and props from the UNconnected part of my life

Ok, I did it. I finally found a reasonably priced, two headed bulk candy vending machine, bought it, cleaned it up, filled it up (kinda) and put it out. I've built it, now they must come... right?

Many thanks again to Brian over at GeniusTypes for the idea and inspiration. I'll do my best to keep you updated on how its going and where I go from here. The plan is to let this one pay itself off and hopefully fund the purchase of the next one. I already have two other locations picked out for the next two machines so I'm a little anxious to get going!

New Article on Harris Hills

There is a new article on the www.EastOfHuntsville.com website about the Harris Hills Development going on over at Moores Mill and 72. Here's the link.

East of Huntsville is a new news and information blog about things of interest to those of us who live and/or work east of Huntsville. Check it out!

Its Gonna Be Great in '08!

Everybody needs a motto, right? Well that's mine for the new year!

With 2007 officially behind us now and the first working day of 2008 arriving bright and shiny (with a very light dusting of snow), it's time to get back into the salt mine and get to work.

One of the burning questions for me and probably a lot of you out there is how do I balance the connected life with off-line time too? I mean, you can't always have email up and reader open can you? So I'm taking suggestions. What are some of the ways you can stay connected without being tethered to the computer all the time.