Wedding anniversary, speeches and gifts

today is my wedding anniversary.

5 years.

last year my wife forgot it and it didn't bother me. This year I forgot to get her a card or a present and I am hearing no end of it. I guess it is an important date to remember ( !!! ) so I am going to go away and make it up to her some how.

I'll need some money to do what I want to do, and as soon as I have tallied it all up I am going to have to think about something to launch - oh - that's right - I have a few ideas up my sleve!

Anyway - got lots done this week. Even did some work for this company that pay me by the hour to do it.

Received some amazing feedback from one of the subscribers of one of my ezine clients which is fantastic.

Got my first proper book on my own laid out, printed and bound and would be ready to sell shortly :)
look out ebay! ( might as well test the market first!)

Now I am going to sort out some wine for later!
Jon

Where your travels take you for your holiday

I have no idea what to write this week.

Sure it’s been hectic ( or was that just the last few days ) but at this moment in time I am at a loss what to write. My head is full of hair loss, cosmetic surgery and bowel and colon related issues from all the writing and researching I am doing for niche health articles.

My head has gone all fuzzy.

It seems I may be driving up to Heathrow tomorrow. Do I bring my laptop to work on while I am sitting in the foyer?

Do I take the train so I can work on the train? ( not likely! )

How early do I go? If I go too early I will run out of power before the day is out.

I have been getting into the groove lately, although the membership script threw me a bit off focus. I will shelf work on that until late May. Thankfully the guy behind it has been kind enough to keep me in the loop so I am not likely to forget about it.

What goals am I having at the moment?
I think at this point, a plan and a place to keep it safely and readily available would be handy ( you know how easy things are lost on a computer – I only just this afternoon found a draft outline for a book I was planning to publish based on the wisdoms of a 2 year old boy ( I remain amazed at the intelligence of someone who is now 3 and a half, and the patience he has with his Dad who clearly has no clue what the world is about. )

The books working title is “life is cake”, although that is only half the answer to what life is. The other half I have forgotten! I should have a look through my blog archives and see what I can find as I have written about it before.

Oh never mind – I googled for ‘ “life is cake” blog ’ and it turns out I have the top spot for that term woohoo!

Although a book titled “life is pasta and cake” could be mistaken for a cookbook. But my son remains adamant that life indeed is all about pasta and cake.

On that basis, I should remind myself that in order to create both these treats, some actual work has gone into their preparation. Some steps have had to be completed on the path to creating the greatness that is pasta. Or cake.

I have a feeling my son will be a chef one day. Although he is again adamant that he will be a football player. Considering the current salary opportunities in that line of work, I think it would be a wise move to actually get him a football.

I ramble. I have no other lessons to mention this week. And I think I will use these Friday reports from now on to try to look at what I’ve learnt in the past week. Although some achievements would be good. Matched with a plan. Ah right.

Well. I have a few more nuggets to get through, and a website to create with some contact details.

Tara and see some of you this weekend.

What about them ipod wearing teenagers?

Friday progress 14th of April 2006

I’m working through modifying about umpteen website templates tonight so I’m only going to go through the basics of what I have done and concentrate ( briefly ) on what I have learnt this week.

What I have done?
Installed a certain membership script on a site. I might tell you about it when the design is finished. ( in fact I am sure I will )

Had a design created for a client on RAC for her website.
In hindsight I realize I sent a seriously unprofessional review copy to somebody that isn’t in the car rental business although I’m sure he gets asked that all the time. ( sorry for the sloppy work! )
Got some good news on the progress of a certain online project and the first stage looks good! ( now do you think we should let you see it before it is 100 percent fully automated?!? )
I added content to the website that has the highest revenue per visitor. I am going to keep on adding content to this site.
I am also moving hosting and changing the template and content management solution of my money tips review website. All in all I think I have about 4 websites that needs updating and redesigning before the end of April, plus come next week I am back doing call center work again from home for a well paying company.

I also reviewed more possible e-books for publishing into real print. ( most are crap and require re-write or are too basic, and it is as dreary as reading the usual stuff I publish.
Had a genuinely productive week,
I have also finished a niche nugget that I am going to sell – all on my own again.
(And I have 4 to make between now and Tuesday, although I have all the raw material already ready )

Lessons I have picked up this week?

As a society, we get the teenagers we deserve.
You can quote me on that. Remember it is Andersen with an E.

I live in a less than affluent area. To be fair it is the poorest neighborhood of England I have ever lived in. I would say 98% of people here are nicer than any of the neighbors I have EVER had before – they say hello to you on the street, ask you how you are and how your son or wife is and so on. Even the people OVER 19 are that nice. They apologise. They let you into the traffic with a wave and a smile and they are genuinely concerned and caring of their neighbors.

But then there is something that happens during school holidays. It is a combination of alcohol, teenagers and absolutely NOTHING for them to do locally.

Think back to when you were a teenager where could you go to meet your friends during the school holidays? Afterschool clubs? The park? Football pitch? Skating rinks? Café? Dance halls? Holiday camp? Sorry those don’t exist anymore. There’s a carpark where the park and pitch used to be and the icerink and dance halls have been replaced by offices in our haste to create an “efficient” society. PE is hardly part of the curriculum anymore as it is considered far more important to create individuals that know the theory but can’t DO. “softer” subjects that inspire and nurture creativity and self confidence is no longer taught. Facts are far more important than imagination and a sense of achievement.

Bollox my arse. If you want to start a political party or run for office, solve THAT problem and you’d be worthy of the position. Not otherwise.

And I think it is fair to say that THIS is the most important lesson I have learnt this week – if not in the last 35 years of my life ( 34 years and 11 months ):

As a society, we get the teenagers we deserve.

Jon,
still progressing.

Getting work done!

This week I am mostly working on holsten pils.

No - what am I saying?

I have been busy working. There is so much I don't know still it scares me! Although, rather than focusing on what I don't know ( like how to get rotating page content on pages without having to modify cron jobs or apache handlers or what ever else crap needs doing.

So I am concentrating on making it simple instead. just do the things I know how to do and work on the sites that are already working for me, and just grow those.

Which is what is on my to-do list ( yeah, I have revived it as it is better than not having a list at all)

I take issues with the term to-do, in case you didn't remember, so I am going to think of the list as a list of task that remains to be done.

This week I have printed out my first test copy that I am sending to someone that I know reads this - and we'll see what that person thinks of the parcel that will arrive in their post in hte next few days.

anyway - it's time for me to disconnect and end the day.

tara
Jon