Here are a few areas that I feel capable of producing quality results from.

Web Design

I want to produce more sites and templates. I have one site in mind that is going to be my pet project for this year (and hopefully many years after). I want to get that site off the ground. I also want to produce some WordPress themes to be sold on a reseller site, such as Theme Forest. I did one last year, but after being rejected I lost the momentum to produce the others I had in mind.

I want to take a firmer stance on certain design issues and become a more valued opinion on them.

Photography

I purchased my first DSL last year, a Nikon D40. I took plenty of photos, but mostly the candid family-type stuff. This year I plan to get out and do some photo walks. Or when I see something that would make a good picture, I will go back and take said picture. My biggest excuse for not taking pictures is because I want better lens, but I will not let that lame excuse enter my being this year. A good photographer can produce a good picture with any equipment.

Social Networking

This one is probably going to be the hardest one for me. I’m not exactly introverted, but I’m no Gary V either. The main social network I want to work on is twitter. The goal will be to increase my twitter followers to a couple thousands, but, more importantly, to have quality followers. When my pet project website gets launched, it will need a facebook fan page as well.

Blogging

I want to produce more (and better) written word content this year. I want to post something on this blog about once a week. One big goal I want with my blogging this year is to do some guest posting. I have about 6 blogs in mind in various niches that I’d like to write a post for.

Drawing/Sketching/Digital Art

I started doing this last year, but did not give it the constant practice that it needed to really improve my skills. I have several books on how to draw, mainly fantasy/sci-fi books. I will go through the books, completing the exercises as described. I look at some of the fantastic art by people like Kerem Beyit and feel so inspired to want to create something like that, but get too frustrated at my feeble attempts. This goal is going to require the most time in order to see significant results.

Exercise

I’ve been lifting weights for a few years and do some basic running occasionally. I’d like to bump those up to whole new levels this year. I am going stick to a plan that has me lifting 3 days a week and doing cardio on the days between. Last year I ran one 5k. This year I’d want to run at least two 5ks and one 10k.

That’s my list of items that I plan to become a producer of this year.

If you have any comments about my goals or would like to share yours, I’d love to heard about them.

Let me give you a scenario that I’ve been seeing lately.

Some person, either a friend or coworker or family member, is bragging to you about some new computer they just purchased. They give you a run down on all the specs. Their face brightens as they talk about getting the best of the best. Quad-cores, the latest video cards, the greatest hard drive storage.

So you proceed to ask them what their plans are for this monster machine.

Their response, “Browsing and working on Word docs”.

Who’s fault is it for the More Power Syndrome?

I have written about the lessening need to max out computer hardware. Even though I’m convinced that most computer hardware isn’t the real bottleneck in performance, many people still are.

Is it the consumer’s fault?

Perhaps these people buying suped up computers hoping to watch their YouTube videos faster are getting what they deserve. They should pay more for not doing research about computers and realize that they would profit more from upgrading from 1.5 mbps DSL to 6.0 mbps. Whenever it comes time for me to make some important purchasing decision I make sure I’m fully educated, often to the point that I know more about the product than the person selling it to me.

Is it the consumer’s fault for poor research?

Is it the marketer’s fault?

Maybe the reason so many people over buy their computers is because all the marketing suggests that it will improve their performance. I can’t remember that last time I saw an ad that acted like I didn’t need the latest and greatest. Can you?

Is it the marketer’s fault for overstating performance benefits?

Is it the manufacturer’s fault?

Computers, PCs especially,  are cheap. Dirt cheap. With weekly deals being given at almost all computer retailers, it’s not hard to find a good bargain on a good piece of hardware. You can pay an extra $100 to $150 to get a base model maxed out, depending on what deals are going. Maybe most of these overboard purchases are because it’s not that expensive to upgrade to something beefier.

Is it the manufacturer’s fault for making the upsell so cheap?

Is it our fault?

Perhaps the reason that above scenario takes place is because people like you and me aren’t educating them on what specs are worth paying attention to and what upgrades would be more beneficial. I try to let it be known amongst my family that they can contact me if they have a computer question and I always try to give sound advice to them. Even with that I feel like it isn’t enough.

I had a family member get a new MacBook Pro this week, and the only applications he’ll probably use are Word and Keynote.

The scenario at the beginning was a conversation I had yesterday with a co-worker.

Is it our fault for not better educating others?

So, who’s to blame?

What bothers me most about this isn’t the fact that the domain is already taken, but that the idea isn’t being put to use.

For example:

I was just thinking about how list-style posts are popular and while creating them is simple, there is actually a craft to making great list-style posts. So I thought it would be interesting to have a blog devoted to list-style posts. Either crafting all my own lists or being an aggregate of others good list posts. The lists could be informative or just humorous, similar to Merlin Mann’s 5ives.

Anyways, the first domain name that came to mind was listslistslists.com.  Immediately an image of a logo for the site pops into my head. It looks something like this:

Next I think about how the site would ooze minimalistic design. Nothing but greyscale with slight pops of color to emphasis certain things like the RSS button. Just a very clean site with nothing but yummy lists to explore.

Mind you all that has happened above took less that 5 seconds to process. So I type in listslistslists.com and to my chagrin it’s just an ugly old parked page.

So that’s my complaint about parked pages. Interesting content goes squandered in hopes of making a quick buck on a domain flip.

Do you have any similar situations where you’re upset that a domain isn’t being put to good use or at least not the way you envisioned it?

In case you missed it, here it is.

Now almost everything I’ve heard about this ad has been overly negative. Most people were just confused by the lack of any real advertising in it. The only products mentioned within the ad were for Churros and a brand of shoe called Conquistador. The Microsoft logo is only seen for a second after the ad has finished. From what I have been hearing/reading most people disliked the ad because it truly was an ad about nothing, although I might be reading too much into the ad, I saw a few metaphors in it.

Here’s why I think it worked.

I thought it was funny. The quirky humor and random tangents made me laugh. I don’t know why so many people are saying the ads are worthless because they didn’t advertise their product, when Budweiser has been making nothing but this style of ad for probably a decade. The Microsoft ad isn’t as funny or trendy as the Budweiser ads, but it seems to be in the same vein of marketing.

I like how it caught people off guard. Right after the commercials were announced to begin shooting, people began questioning and speculating about them. People questioned using Jerry Seinfeld, a man who most said reached his prime 10 years ago. Most visioned some sort of stand-up dialog with Seinfeld spouting off lines such as “What’s the deal with Vista” or “Have you ever noticed all those Mac people”. I like that the commercial was just random and unexpected.

Here’s the main reason why I think it worked, everyone is talking about it. The days after it aired I saw several blog’s post about it. Podcasts spend minutes analyzing and voicing their opinions. It hit the front page of Digg at least twice from what I’ve seen. Granted most of the attention it got was of the negative sort, but if you’re of the opinion that there’s no such thing as bad press, Microsoft did very well.

By generating so much talk about the commercial, more people have seen it. I’m assuming that these commercials will form some type of story when stringed together, so having a large number of people see the first one is important for the subsequent ones.

So that’s my take on it. I’m sure most will disagree, which is fine, but for all those bashing the commercial so much, how many of those will refuse to watch the second one? You might not like it, but you still want to see what happens next. Maybe I’m giving Microsoft too much credit for being a company that hasn’t had to compete through real marketing in over a decade credit for producing what I’m assuming will be a good run of commercials. Time will tell.

What’s your opinion of the current commercial and how the remaining ones will be?

Why

• do you cancel life when your team is playing?
• do you start fistfights with the other team’s fans when they score a goal?
• do you burn the memorabilia you’ve collected for years when your favorite player switches teams?
• do you wait in line for months to see a movie?
• do you travel across the nation following after your favorite band?
• do you volunteer most of your time and money for your politician or cause?
• do you defend your politician when some crippling news of corruption is leaked?
• do you spend so much of your energy devoted to a group, person or idea that will most likely never know of your existence?

Now just to be clear, I am in no way trying to poke fun of these types of people. I am simply curious because I have never had the passion for something as these people have had. I would just like to know what motivates them to such a degree to give what seems like so much to something that probably isn’t influenced much by their efforts.

Now a question to the not so crazies.

How can we get people crazy enough about our ideas, projects or blogs to support us in a crazy-like manner?

How powerful could that be to have a group of people so devoted that they spread your message to all those that they meet? They purchase something you offer the day it is available without needing to convince them of its value. They forgive your flaws and mistakes and continue to support you.

Next week I will be publishing a post on different types of fans that exist and how to make them better fans. It’s easy to focus on metrics, such as RSS subscribers, to determine how many fans you have, but how often do we think about the ‘quality’ of our fans. Take a few moments this week to think about what type of visitors you get and some possible methods to help make them more devoted to your blog.

I’ll leave with this bit of standup from comedian Jerry Seinfeld.

Loyalty to any one sports team is pretty hard to justify.  Because the players are always changing, the team can move to another city, you’re actually rooting for the clothes when you get right down to it.  You know what I mean, you are standing and cheering and yelling for your clothes to beat the clothes from another city.  Fans will be so in love with a player but if he goes to another team, they boo him.  This is the same human being in a different shirt, they *hate* him now.  Boo!  different shirt!!  Boo.

So are you crazy enough to be able to answer a few of my questions? If so please let me know in the comments. Even if you’re not crazy about something I’d love to hear your take on it.

When am I allowed to call myself one?

After my first paying client?

Or after my first custom Wordpress theme?

Do I have to attend some formal classes before I can claim designership?

Perhaps after I quit my full-time job and pursue design full-time?

This thought applies to all occupations.

Are you a doctor after you graduate med school or after your first surgery?

A photographer after your first picture is developed or published?

An actor after landing a job as Man Standing #3 or one landing opposite of Brad Pitt?

When did you feel like you became what you were striving to become?

I was recently hit with the challenge from Crystal to complete the Dream Meme.

MY DREAM

is to live a life full of options with few requirements. To be financially able to embrace whatever passion might control me any week of the year. To be able to switch from being a designer, photographer, developer, blogger, chef or whatever whenever that is what I want most. I want to set up enough passive income streams so that I can spend time educating others on how to achieve their goals. I want to become popular enough in some niche of life where my words can have an impact on the lives of others in hopes of motivating enough people to effect some good on this world.

MY GOALS FOR 2008

• Take this blog more seriously by redesigning it so that it will be beautiful and unique, find my niche of topics to give more focus to the blog and start writing daily.
• Start the first blog in my personal self-improvement blog network.
• Pay off 2 credit cards.

TODAY

Do some sketching for this blog’s redesign.

Those are my dreams.

What are yours?

In a final attempt to alleviate the problem, the owner gave another carpenter a call. The gruff man he spoke to said that he would arrive early tomorrow to inspect the situation.

An old carpenter arrived promptly at 8 o’clock the next morning and was directed to the problematic ball room. The owner watched as the carpenter systematically walked across the room, listening to the various creaks that occurred as different hardwood planks were stood upon. After a few minutes of wordless walking, the carpenter casually walked over to a specific spot in the room, pulled out a nail from his tool belt and hammered the nail through a board.

The age-worn carpenter walked back to the owner without a hint of squeaking from the ball room. The owner was ecstatic, until he looked at the bill the carpenter handed him.

“$500 for a single nail?!” proclaimed the owner.

“No” said the carpenter in soft voice.

“It’s only $1 for the nail and $499 for the 32 years it took to learn where to put it”

I’ve heard this story referenced on a few places but I thought it would be good to post it as a reminder.

DON’T SELL YOURSELF SHORT

Just because it doesn’t take the 20 billable hours it use to take to get a job done doesn’t mean that the job isn’t worth the same. If it takes me a week to learn how to do some new type of job for a client and his friend wants me to do the same thing for him, shouldn’t I charge the same for both jobs? The first job takes much longer because I have to learn something for the first time, but that doesn’t mean that I should give the friend a huge discount just because I know how to do it now. That would actually hurt my business if the friends mention to each other how much I charged each other.

Making $1000 for a project doesn’t make it profitable. The time required to complete the project is what makes it profitable. Finishing a project in 2 hours makes it much more successful than doing it in 200 hours.

There are various opinions whether freelancers should charge on a per project or on a per hour basis. Both camps have their pros and cons but I believe the root determining factor should be the cost for your knowledge.

Make your pay rate reflect more on your knowledge and skill, not necessarily your time.

I used to be a big time computer hardware geek. I built my first computer at 16. I would paint my computers, add lights, fans and even cut the symbol from my favorite Star Wars character (Boba Fett, reprezent) into the side of the computer case.

Like most people doing this sort of thing, I tried to get the best stuff available. If I could get a 2.4ghz processor for only $100 more than the 2.3ghz, I did. If 1gb of memory was only $200 more than 512mb, I got 2gb. I could always find a way to justify getting the best hardware.

Well yesterday that changed and it weirded me out.

Like all people in this blogging/designing world that don’t have a Mac, I want one. Badly. A few days ago the iMacs got some hardware updates. Nothing crazy different, just a little better stuff than what was already in there. As I looked at the different hardware options, for the first time EVER I told myself that I would be completely content with the cheaper version of the 24 inch screen models even though the better version wasn’t a drastic amount different in price.

Here’s how I justified not wanting the latest and greatest, and why I believe that computer hardware for the average consumer is losing its importance.

I don’t need more hard drive space because

The hard drive sizes that come standard on computers are more than enough to install my required programs and hold my music/movie library. I keep most of my pictures/movies/music on a external hard drive anyways so I can carry it with me if need be, but even without that external drive I could use a browser to keep up with my stuff by having

• Pictures get stored on Flickr.
• Videos get uploaded to YouTube.
• Documents go on Google Docs.
• Music come from Last.fm

I don’t need a better video card because

I do my gaming on my Xbox 360 and Wii. There was a time when, at least in my mind, computer gaming was for real gamers and consoles were for wimps. For a while computer games looked better, all the blockbuster games were released on the PC and computer games were the only ones with real online multiplayer capability. Now the tables have turned. I don’t keep up on computer gaming anymore but I can’t think of any big, blockbuster level game that has recently come out for the computer only, except Crysis. The only advantage I see computer gaming having is in the ever growing MMORPG arena, but even those are getting put on consoles. Final Fantasy XI is already on the 360 and a Conan MMORPG is coming for it this year. Also, MMORPGs aren’t games that are very taxing on the computer hardware in the first place. I haven’t heard of people needing to upgrade their computers to get their MMORPG to play.

I don’t need a faster processor because

I believe processors quit being the bottleneck of computer hardware along time ago. For years that was the only metric people based a computer setup around. People would run 3.0ghz setups on 256mb of RAM and think their machine was the best thing around, where a better rounded machine could outperform it on everyday type tasks. Perhaps the former setup could perform better in benchmarks, but certain benchmarks got to a point where they were so tailored to specific CPU vendors that they became a joke. The CPU game is no longer based on CPU speed alone, but now more emphasis is put into the number of cores on the CPU die. I’m curious to see how far this game can be played also. Will a 32 core processor be THAT much better than a 16 core one?

I don’t need a bigger screen because

Seriously can we call them laptops anymore if we are carrying around a 30 inch screen. I’m sure manufacturers are capable of making bigger screens for roughly the same price as previous sizes due to increases in technology, but we aren’t making bigger laps. Computer monitors can still grow in the desktop arena but with dual monitor setups becoming the norm lately, even desktop monitors sizes will reach a max. I’d much rather have two 24 inch monitors than one 48 inch.

I don’t need more memory because

Most setups today come with 2gb installed which is usually enough for most people. This is the only area I would upgrade because I can get another 2gb for under $50. And if I remember correctly Windows XP doesn’t even recognize more than 3gb installed unless you do some tweaking. Even if I didn’t upgrade the memory I believe the 2gb would suffice because most of my computer use is done through a browser. I usually don’t have more than 5 applications open and the only real memory hog is Firefox. Which Firefox 3 is supposed to be much more memory efficient than previous versions.

Who has the right to tell me to shove it.

While I believe this post relates to a large majority of people, I’m not naive enough to think that there aren’t some types of users that don’t benefit from beefier hardware. If you spend your time working with video processing/encoding/ripping/whatever I think you need every ounce of speed and space you can get. I don’t do any extensive Photoshopping but I can imagine that certain filters can drain resources pretty quickly so I’m sure the more advanced graphic designers could use the extra oomph also.

Closing Thoughts

If I made my money by selling computer hardware to the large consumer populace, I’d be pretty worried about my paycheck over the next years. I know there will always be good money in selling hardware to corporation and data warehousing type setups, but I don’t imagine that the average Joe is going to be opting to max out everything on his computer in the future as much as he did just a few years ago. For the most part bigger is still better, but bigger just isn’t as needed as it use to be.

Do you see yourself not caring as much about computer hardware as you once did? Did I forget some crucial reason to still feel the urge to get the latest and greatest hardware? I’d love to hear your opinions about it.