Monday, February 16, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
I gotta think about my personal brand?
Just writing that sort of jargony bullshit makes me want to kick my own ass. However, this blog for friends and family isn't ever going to help me retire early.
If I want to capitalize on my inchoate success as a writer, smart-ass, and techno-commentator, I'll need a better name and a more focused "brand".
I'm thinking about it, but I'd appreciate any sort of feedback. If there's stuff you enjoy hearing about from me or you could see yourself telling a friend, "Hey, Daniel's posts are good for x but kind of lackluster when they're about y", let me know.
In a related note, I can't believe we've reached a stage in our cultural development where I'm talking seriously about my personal brand and how best to "leverage" it (leverage means "use", but fancier). It's like I opened my eyes one day and woke up in a cyber-punk satire, but then instead of getting an adventure I had to shower and go to work and worry about my credit score and paying bills.
If I want to capitalize on my inchoate success as a writer, smart-ass, and techno-commentator, I'll need a better name and a more focused "brand".
I'm thinking about it, but I'd appreciate any sort of feedback. If there's stuff you enjoy hearing about from me or you could see yourself telling a friend, "Hey, Daniel's posts are good for x but kind of lackluster when they're about y", let me know.
In a related note, I can't believe we've reached a stage in our cultural development where I'm talking seriously about my personal brand and how best to "leverage" it (leverage means "use", but fancier). It's like I opened my eyes one day and woke up in a cyber-punk satire, but then instead of getting an adventure I had to shower and go to work and worry about my credit score and paying bills.
Did John Tesh rewrite my article?
I sort of promised that I'd shut up about my article on jerk-gadgets, but I found this link last night that I hope you'll forgive me for sharing.
It looks like John Tesh, or someone associated with Tesh.com found my article, excerpted parts, and made them yet safer for a family audience.
I honestly don't know how one should feel about it. It's so curious.
Have a look for yourself:
http://www.tesh.com/ittrium/visit?path=A1x97x1y1xa5x1x76y1x243dx1x9by1x2442x1y5x19c28x5x1
Meanwhile, on the topic of Tesh, this Brandon Bird picture cracks me up every single time I look at it. You should go check out his other art as well. It'll mess with your head.
It looks like John Tesh, or someone associated with Tesh.com found my article, excerpted parts, and made them yet safer for a family audience.
I honestly don't know how one should feel about it. It's so curious.
Have a look for yourself:
http://www.tesh.com/ittrium/
Meanwhile, on the topic of Tesh, this Brandon Bird picture cracks me up every single time I look at it. You should go check out his other art as well. It'll mess with your head.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
More the little red engine than sisyphus, I hope.
Sometimes, during the deep of the night, I'll consider my life and make sad, musical harumphing sounds like a plaintive Scandinavian walrus. In the last year and a half or so, I've had some setbacks. My salary rose sharply, then dropped precipitously. I saw the end of a relationship I thought had a lot of potential, and I moved from NYC to Reston-goddamned-Virginia.
Very recently my salary rose again (from 0, but not to earlier heights I'm afraid) and now I'm getting the hell out of Reston and back into a town where there is stuff to do. I'm hoping that this marks the upswing of various trajectories of my life rather than the valley of a sine wave, but I guess we'll have to wait to see. If I can just get my business off the ground, figure out the details of my plan to save investigative journalism, and find a smart, hot, interesting woman to date, I'll be grand.
If I can't make that happen in the coming year, I'm taking my money, moving to Cuba and really leaning in to a dotage of dissolution, drink and decay. Ole.
Very recently my salary rose again (from 0, but not to earlier heights I'm afraid) and now I'm getting the hell out of Reston and back into a town where there is stuff to do. I'm hoping that this marks the upswing of various trajectories of my life rather than the valley of a sine wave, but I guess we'll have to wait to see. If I can just get my business off the ground, figure out the details of my plan to save investigative journalism, and find a smart, hot, interesting woman to date, I'll be grand.
If I can't make that happen in the coming year, I'm taking my money, moving to Cuba and really leaning in to a dotage of dissolution, drink and decay. Ole.
Moving to D.C.
Let me just say that Craigslist works like a charm. Holy cats!
Maybe it's because the last time I looked for an apartment I was living in NYC (where I recently, no joke, saw a Craigslist listing where someone was willing to sublet their bathroom for someone to live in - as long as they got out when the owner needed to use it), but this process seemed crazy easy. I started looking up apartments yesterday and by this morning I'd seen two places I'd consider moving into on Monday.
I have a handful more to see tomorrow, but I'm happy with the ones I've seen thus far, so I'll probably be a D.C. native by two weeks from now. I can move stuff slowly, because I have to give my current landlord some notice.
I guess I could wait and find a place in a month (since craigslist seems to work so well), but I hate Reston as you already know. More than I hate Reston though, I loathe my commute with the fiery intensity of 10 billion white-hot suns. I'm moving sharpish.
--- UPDATE ---
Fuck Craig and his list. I found a place through a friend. Yay!
Maybe it's because the last time I looked for an apartment I was living in NYC (where I recently, no joke, saw a Craigslist listing where someone was willing to sublet their bathroom for someone to live in - as long as they got out when the owner needed to use it), but this process seemed crazy easy. I started looking up apartments yesterday and by this morning I'd seen two places I'd consider moving into on Monday.
I have a handful more to see tomorrow, but I'm happy with the ones I've seen thus far, so I'll probably be a D.C. native by two weeks from now. I can move stuff slowly, because I have to give my current landlord some notice.
I guess I could wait and find a place in a month (since craigslist seems to work so well), but I hate Reston as you already know. More than I hate Reston though, I loathe my commute with the fiery intensity of 10 billion white-hot suns. I'm moving sharpish.
--- UPDATE ---
Fuck Craig and his list. I found a place through a friend. Yay!
Oh no! We might have to learn to amuse ourselfes!
Clearly someone at the FCC made an error when thinking about the change to digital TV. Apparently even with the required converter box, lots of TVs show crappy pixelated pictures.
Obviously, folks who have been happily paying nothing for TV and getting fair pictures for years are going to be perturbed. Still, the tone of the complaints makes it sound like the government is cutting off water.
I'm no "Kill your TV" guy, but seriously, it's just TV. Listen to your radio for news then go outside and run and jump and skip and play. TV mostly disappoints after all, doesn't it?
Obviously, folks who have been happily paying nothing for TV and getting fair pictures for years are going to be perturbed. Still, the tone of the complaints makes it sound like the government is cutting off water.
I'm no "Kill your TV" guy, but seriously, it's just TV. Listen to your radio for news then go outside and run and jump and skip and play. TV mostly disappoints after all, doesn't it?
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