Daily Entries Archived from February February 2nd, 2002 It's strange to think how long I've been typing in this diary. Looking over the past few months, it's quite amazing. It's too bad I didn't write in here more. Whenever I've kept a hard version of a diary, I've always written in it at least once every other day. Here, I don't write as much. It's probably because I know the people that read this, and they don't need to know everything about me. I get into enough personal stuff on all of these pages regardless. I'm sure you are all wondering where I live. Isn't that correct. It's quite a nice place. Called "Sandybrook". I always get the name wrong, probably because I've looked at so many places, and they all seem to have similar names, Sandstone, stoneybrook, whatever, I just get quite confused about it all. So what else is going on. Went and saw Lord of the Rings again this weekend. Yeah, I'm a big fan. Went miniature golfing with my ma and sister. It's been quite hot outside lately. Air conditioning weather. There is this tree by my mom that is blooming, and it smells like dough. It smells exactly how dough smells when you are making. It's so strange. Got to be the weirdest smell I've ever experienced outside. Took down my mom's christmas lights, helped her landscape her backyard for her up coming sale. Did a pretty good job too. That's about it for the exciting points of the weekend. Everything else is pretty self-explanatory. February 11th, 2002 I know, I know, I supposed to write more in this diary. I've just been so busy, with Farmer's Mortgage Group's site, and Ace Funding's site, that I just don't really feel like working on this site as much. Be patient though, I always take little breaks here and there, then I come back and do a whole bunch of work on it. One must realize this site is a lot of work, to keep it up to date, and everything. My weekly readers sure have high demands of me. Really, it's just a hobby though. I don't make any money with this site, although... I just got "shopping cart" software. You know what that is right? Like when you go to CD Now or whatever, and you are looking to buy stuff, then 'add to cart' then you can check out, all that stuff? Ok, good, we are on the same page now. Well, I'm thinking about getting some t-shirts, hats, coffee mugs, all little stupid shit like that. Temporary Tattoos, all little sorts of goodies and gadgets. I'll have some www.dougmalcore.com and www.thedustsettles.com merchandise then, and I'll sell it online through my websites. I know, I'm not planning on making all sorts of money with it, but just make enough to break even. So that I get some free t-shirts with my websites on them. That's just how I'd like to pay for it, as opposed to making only a few of each and getting way over charged because it's such a small order. Get it? I think that would be cool as hell. I've been chewing on it for about 2 weeks now, and I think I'm going to go through with it. I have to read all the documentation on my shopping cart, because I've never even tried to do anything as complex. My bulletin board on www.thedustsettles.com, which took me a good solid week to get set up, pales in comparison to the complexity of a shopping cart. So it'll take me a while, perhaps by the time I learn it all, and get it installed, I'll have everything made by then. Yeah, you better buy something too, I'll be pissed if all the people who come here once a week or more don't buy anything. And I know who you are. I know which ISP's have been here. So I'll be expecting big orders from you in return for the enjoyment you get reading all this time I spend in my site. Speaking of which, after I get done with my two sites i'm working on, This site is getting a huge makeover. You'll see. Something radically different. I told you that I get sick of stuff after a while, and I'm quite sick of this layout, it definitely needs something new. That, and all the pages I've done, and the pages that are half done, and the pages I haven't uploaded yet, and the ideas in my head, have all grown too large for this layout. I need something more expandable. Which I thought this layout was, but it proved differently, and I keep adding stuff under 'author' and I can't really do that anymore. It's starting to look stupid. I'll have something high techy and cool. Something that'll be more interactive, with a little poll on one of the side navigations, and all sorts of other fun stuff. Just you wait, you'll enjoy this. I have to upgrade my hosting account too, I'm quickly outgrowing that, which I never would have thought I could do. Of course, I'm waiting on this job that I might have. A web designer job, making decent money. If I get that, I don't know if I'll have the ambition anymore to work on this site. It'll be making my hobby my job, and I don't know if I want to bring my job home with me. I know what that was like per Choice One, and it nearly tore me to pieces. Things are better here in Tucson. Every is so laid back, it's hard to imagine ever getting mad except when behind the wheel of a vehicle. Damned old people and their shitty driving tactics. You should have seen what I saw tonight. These two cars just going at it. This truck was just riding this car's ass, so the car swerved into the other lane, and then way onto the shoulder. Dust was everywhere. Then it just kept slamming on it's breaks, like it was trying to get rearended, if you've ever seen someone trying to do that. You know, not just joking around, but seriously slamming on them. And the truck just didn't care, still riding ass. So the road opened up into two lanes for about 500 feet, and the truck just tears ass in the other lane, trying to pass this car, and the car floors it. They were absolutely flying. I was going 65 and they were pulling way ahead of me. So when the truck gets side by side, the car swerves at it, and the truck goes over into the shoulder. The person stays on the gas, and then passes the person, while still on the shoulder. So the car behind was riding ass now, and they were going pretty slow again. The car is flashing it's lights, high beams/low beams, you know, all that annoying shit. So the truck really slows down, and puts on it's blinker to pull onto a small side road that had a "no outlet" (dead end) sign on it. The truck was being real deliberate that he was turning, almost like he wanted the car to follow, so the car did. I slowed way down, so I could see what was going on. When I drove by the road, both vehicles were on the side of the road, and they were both jumping out of their vehicles. So I didn't learn anymore details about it, but that was pretty strange to me. For a while, I thought they were kids just messing around, but after a while it just seemed to real, like they both wanted each other dead. Way messed up, but that's what the driving situations are like down here. I'd hate to see my old friend Jamie try to drive down here. She'd be one of those people in those vehicles, and definitely would be up for kicking some ass when they both pulled over. I should tell you a few of her stories. My dad got an offer to sell the farm, I think. Something like that. He's gotten some sort of offer to get out of farming. I don't know what is going on with that. Also, Dan and Matt both think they have proof that Rhonda has be conversing with my father, and the general rumor is that she might move back in. He must realize that if that happens, he bought himself three sons that will more than likely never speak to him again. What an idiot. Even talking to her. The guy is a moron if he thinks anything good can come from that lady. His biggest mistake in his life was letting her in the second time, and if he does it the third, his life as he knows it, his family life, will be over. He can consider himself childless, because there is no way that my brothers and myself could ever respect him again. Have you been watching Joe Millionaire at all? Man, what a messed up show. And I just can't stop watching it. I just love it. Absolutely hilarious. How fake everybody is. How Evan really is starting to think that he has all that money. He's so confident about everything, about lying, about the girls affections for him. Next monday might be the greatest two hours of television ever. I'm really looking forward to it. It's such a sleazy show, and I hate that I always watch it. Oh well, it's just television, it's not real life... wait a minute... No, it's still not real. All those reality shows are just as fake as anything else. Fox takes the cake for being the sleaziest, and I can't wait to see whatever it is they have coming next. Anyone coming to Tucson anytime soon? I'm thinking of going up to Las Vegas pretty soon, and going to "the price is right" show as well. That's in LA, but that's only about 8 hours as well. Probably longer if you go to Vegas, but still. Anyhow, I was thinking of checking out California as a place to reside for a while, but my mom's boyfriend, (who grew up there) says that california kinda sucks unless you have money. So I'll have to make sure I have a good job before moving there. But it would be an interesting place. Otherwise I'd eventually like to end up in Seattle. That's my goal. When I'm like 26-28 will be my time when I have everything in order, all the schooling that I need, everything I need to know, and I'll take it all to Seattle and live there for my life. Because if you've ever been to Seattle, you'd know that there is no other city to live in. The only thing bad is the weather, and who really cares about the weather anyhow besides ladies who want to get a good tan. Oh, and before I forget, you need to tell me what you think of my story on my homepage. It's based off a song I wrote, I'm curious for interpretations. Actually, the last two things that have been on here were songs I wrote, save for the last part of the old thing I had. But yeah, I based this little story off a song that I wrote, that's quite good. It's my favorite song that I wrote, and it has a lot of meaning for me. I don't know where the inspiration came from, or why I was talking like that, but it went through a few re-writes before making the final version that you see today. I still want to make changes, but I'll leave good enough alone. It's probably because of all this reading that I've been doing for the past month and a half. A hell of a lot of reading that is. You'd be surprised actually. Anyhow, send me some interpretations of what I'm talking about, and what you think of it. That'll get it's own page eventually as well. You'll enjoy the new site once I get around to it. I'll post a few screenshots of what I'm working on, that way you guys can vote and let me know which direction to do. Oh yeah, for those of you that haven't read my ladyfriend pages in a while, I mean, within the past two weeks or so, you should read them again. Around the first week of February I added a few things to some of the ladies. It's better now, makes more sense. Oh yeah, and those of you that know my cell phone number, give me a call and listen to my new voice mail message. It's damned good. You'd seriously probably be rolling on the ground laughing when you heard it. Don't call when you are driving, you won't be able to concentrate the laughter will be so intense. You should be laughing right now, just thinking about how funny it is. Here's the number for those that don't have it 520-250-1377. I won't answer when you call, so you can listen for it. If you want a call back, just send me a page, otherwise just leave a message with what you think, if you'll even be able to speak you'll be laughing so hard. That's about all for tonight. It's way late and I fear that I'm not making any more sense to anyone. I'm going to sleep now. Hope this quenches a few thirsts. February 13th, 2002 To tell you the truth, I've never really been a fan of pork chops. So my mom invites me over to her boyfriend's place tonight, to enjoy some pork chops. I'm thinking I should stop at Weinershcnitzel on the way or something, pick up a hot dog. Although I eat pork chops, I wouldn't even put a pork chop meal in my list of top 100 meals (yeah, there really is a list). Anyhow, I get there, and she has made all sorts of fun stuff to eat, and she is putting the finishing touches on this "parfait" thing that she made for each one of us. So I pick out some rice that looked great, some garlic mashed potatoes, and one of her pork chops. Well, the rice and the potatoes were absolutely divine. And I was nearly done with those, when I cut off a chunk of the chop. I was putting it off, not on purpose, but just subconsciously. So the piece is sitting on my fork, and as I put the food into my mouth, I was expecting to taste dry, no flavor pork chops as they always seem to be. Making my first chew, I realized that this was one of the greatest things I've ever eaten. I'm not kidding with you either, it was beyond excellent. My mom has achieved pork chop perfection. Seriously, you would have feel on the floor if you tried this pork chop, even if you don't like pork, and if you do, you probably would have passed out. If this had been your first meal made by my mom, you would have paid her a monthly salary to cook everynight for you, and you would have felt that no matter how much you paid her, you were cheating her. I told my mom that I wasn't sure if I wanted to eat it because I didn't want to deal with the fact that it would finally be gone. That was true too. It's made my top five lists of meals. And that's saying a lot. Going over to Taft's place tomorrow (the millionaire rich guy). He's got a drum set in this one room in his house, and wants to jam with me. So that should be cool as hell. Then we are going to discuss this weekend. I get to house sit for him finally. If you remember, you know I'll be in one of the nicest houses in Tucson, and that's saying a lot. Seriously, it's a testament to wasting money. I'm quite looking forward to it. That, and I get paid 100 smackers a day. What a great life I have down here! Tomorrow, I am going by this ladies place later at night. Apparently, she needs some help with computer stuff. So I have to teach her things, share my expertise if you will. I feel guilty when it comes time for money with that stuff, because I just like doing it so much, but fortunately she asked if 15 bucks an hour would be ok. Fine with me, and should be gogo for her, considering that it usually costs 75 bucks and hour for a computer tech to come to your place, with a one hour minimum. I asked her what she wanted m e to show her, and she said that it would take about an hour or two. Really, it'll take about 15 minutes. It doesn't take long to show someone how to use a computer. I've done it so many times in my life already. This will be the first time that I'm getting paid though. So things are really good right now. I'm playing guitar on Sunday at this funeral I think, making 50 bucks. Housestting, that should be about 200, I'm getting a bonus in my paycheck this week, Doing this thing for this lady, and I'm getting paid on one of my websites. This could possibly be my most profitable week ever. Save for that last week of the month I worked for Choice One, but I only got about 400 of those dollars. But I'm having much more fun. You should see the rain outside right now. It's impressive. Rain in Arizona is about the coolest rain ever. It makes you want to rip off your clothes and run around outside till you pass out. The nice thing is that you don't have to worry about cold feet, because you aren't running in the snow. (that's for those of you that know my story about running around my dad's house naked in winter ten times, on a bet from my brothers). Jenna is in this musical, "Oklahoma" which is a terrific musical (don't worry, I've seen a lot, I really like it). She has to be "will parker" because there is only 1 boy in the class that she took. I think that's a cool experience for kids, to be able to take classes like that. She knows so much around here, because of people that like her, her patience learning new things (from strangers only). But she's done as much in her life as I did all through high school). there is just a lot more opportunities to learn a lot more skills. She's knitting a scarf too, can you believe that. She showed me how to braid hair. I bought her a softball glove, a nice one, so that when she plays with her team it isn't falling apart. So we go outside, and she's just catching the ball all wrong. Everytime after I throw it I tell her she's going to get hit in the face trying to catch it like that. Finally, a ball hits her right in the kisser. Looked like it hurt pretty good too. She went crying and was all dramatic about how bad it hurt and that her mouth was going to look like my eye. (you don't need to comment here). So all is overly well here. Couldn't be better really. I'm having quite the good times. Why don't you come and visit one time. I'd appreciate it. It could be a lot better here if I wasn't the new guy, because everyone is dumb to everything that is cool here. They are just all used to it. I would like to see someone here for the first time. Someone that I know, we'd have good times. Seriously! Don't forget to vote for your Oscar Picks. I seriously will try and think of a good prize. Have a terrific day! February 18th, 2002 I'm kinda pissed. I go over and help this older lady learn how to use her computer a little. She's had it for about 2 years now. She needed to learn how to cut and paste, and how to download. So I went over and showed her how to do those things last week. I also had to set up her printer/fax/copier. No big deal to set that up really. Then on to her computer. You see, when people who don't understand a computer, use one, it's just a complete mess. Usually there are files scattered all over the desktop. Files you would never ever need there, like device drivers and stuff. Then there is ALL SORTS of icons that load on the taskbar. You know, by the clock. These icons take up so much memory, and when you are trying to "compute" with all those icons, it's nearly impossible because they take up so much memory and bog down the computer. Then there is the matter of installed programs. Who knows what they have installed on there computer, and don't even think about asking them about it, they don't know. So you try to install new software onto their computer, and there is never enough drive space. Never. So you have to delete files, and they don't even know what they use. So you have to be all dumb with them. Open up each program, "oh yeah, i use that to do my spreadsheets" or whatever. Painstaking process. It's always the same too. Every old person has these properties on their computer. My mom's computer is the same way. Then they complain about how slower their computer becomes, thinking it's just because of age, or software manufacturer's programs. While software companies are to blame a very few percentage, it's mostly these morons who don't understand how memory is one of the most important part of a computer. And it sucks to try to explain to them that a hard drive is just a resting place for files, when you actually need a program, it loads into ram, and you run it from there. So for some of you people who have problems using their computers when you have a bunch of programs, that's why. Increase your swap file, or buy more ram. It's cheap, and super easy to install. I would consider that to be a very simplified explanation, yet as soon as you say hard drive, of memory, they look at you like you are talking a different language. C'mon people, if you want your computer to work like how you want it to, you'll listen to me. My computer is now older than most, yet I still perform above average in diagnostics tests compared to other computers, simply because I have a shit ton of memory (320 MB), a very fast video card, and I understand how the simple things to keep your computer running fast, and it's not just defragmenting, though that is somewhat important. So lately, she's been having all sorts of problems with her computer. Mainly because she doesn't have enough memory, she installed some massive printer thing that is too much for her computer, and she has no hard drive space whatsoever. So she get's crashes and BSD's all the time, and I get phone calls all the time. So i had to go and set up her DSL modem tonight. Which should be done by the company that she bought it from. But she get's suckered into all the infomercials and bought it off of there. And they package it like it's these three easy steps. These three steps are massive steps, and there is about 10 different things to do in each step. One of which requires opening your computer case and installing your network card. Which no person who doesn't understand computers should do. You see, there is a thing called ESD (electro-static discharge). This is static electricity. So if you have static electricity, and you touch your motherboard, "poof", it's fried. Happens all the time, and there is nothing that you can do once you've damaged it. Everything is basically fried. So in these instructions, which she's showing me, they just briefly mention it. Like they want you to destroy your computer. A typical static electricity charge is about 3000 V of electricity. In order for a person to feel a shock, it needs to be around 3000 V. Walking around on your carpet creates 1500 to 25000 V. untreated vinyl 250-12000, picking up a plastic bag 1200-2000, handling a vinyl envelope 600-7000, among millions of other things that you can get static from. Now, a charge of 30 V will ruin your computer. Unusable forever, and even if you try to scrap together the pieces that weren't affected, by the time you spend going through everything, it wouldn't even be worth your time. Thirty (30) Volts was not a typo either. So any sort of static on your body at all will pretty much render your computer useless. That's important to know. So this lady, who knows nothing, in a 100% carpeted condo, was about do open up her computer to pop in this card. Of course, I'd get held responsible if any damage was done, because I talked to her. So I have to say all these things to people when I talk to them on the phone, so that they understand, and then they assume I'm saying this because i want them to tell me to come over and install it myself so I get paid for it. Yeah, like all I want to do is go over there for a 10 minute install of a PCI card. If you need to open up your computer to touch anything, make sure you keep your forearm resting on the metal part of the case. That's my trick. Or you can go buy a 30 dollar wristband that will take care of you. Anyhow, i'm sort of perturbed about all that. That's all that really new in my life that's worth talking about. Going to the rodeo parade tomorrow afternoon with my kid sister Jenna. She, and the entire city of Tucson, get's off of school for three days because the rodeo is in town. Can you believe that? It's a really big deal, due to some of the total cowboy folk 'round these parts. My buddy Devin is coming to Phoenix in a few weeks. So I'm going to go up there, hang out for a while, maybe go to San Diego, because it's all such a close drive. This girl I know is getting married up in Las Vegas, and that's pretty close to, so I might be going up there. There is also this huge St. Patrick's Day bash going on here. Apparently, some lady has about 300 people over to her house every year, and everyone just gets crazy. Yeah, 300 people, in a house. Did I mention that there are a lot of people here that have more money in their wallets than I'll make in a lifetime. That should be cool as hell, I'm really looking forward to it. My good buddy Taft Farmer III. (yeah, he's my good buddy) Anyhow, he makes about 40K a month. The guy with the porsche in the garage. Yeah, he also keeps hooking me up with all sorts of guys that want websites. So I'm debating whether or not to try and make it a legitimate business. What I'd really like to do, is hire someone to cold call for me, and I don't think that would be hard at all. I'm just not sure I'm ready for that kind of workload though. My good buddy Mike told me that he is registered with the unemployment office, and that he gets calls every week to see if he has openings for telemarketers. He said that he would tell them they could work for me as outside sales reps on commission only, and he thinks they'd go for it for sure. So that'd be interesting. Well, I was going to talk more, but my kid brother interrupted me, and now I've lost my thought. This might be the last time you are viewing this page as it is. I'm not sure where I'm going to go with my site, but I don't know if I'll post another diary entry before I change everything. I'm having trouble thinking up navigation, and making a few images, even though I've just cracked about 1200 dollars worth of software to assist my graphics composition, I'm just not feeling too ambitious about it right now. Too many things bothering me right now i think. I'm going to try and create a flash movie tonight, so have a good thursday, and feel free to laugh at me at the rodeo at 3pm my time. February 21st, 2002 I had one of those big life-altering experiences today. Probably the biggest opportunity to be successful ever in my life fell onto my lap. Completely unexpected. Take a second right now, and think to yourself what you love doing more than anything else. I mean, something that you can get paid for. You know, like a hobby that you can get paid for. If your hobby is collecting rocks, maybe you'd love it if someone could tell you that they'd pay your more than you'd ever imagine, for collecting rocks for them full time. Anyhow, my point is this... Today, I had an appointment with a guy that Taft knows. He works with Taft (I had to edit his picture for taft's website). Anyhow, he asked taft a week or so ago who made his website, and Taft gave him my name and number, told him a few things as well. So Roy calls me up last friday, and asks if we could meet to talk about website stuff. He tells me about his plans a little. His father creates these beautiful works of art, that they are planning on selling as greeting cards. Sell online that is. Now, most of you who know me, know that I haven't created an ecommerce site yet, and I haven't really ever thought I would. When I was cold calling, I always shunned those opportunities off because I didn't want to get bogged down writing all this programming code. Anyhow, i go into this meeting this afternoon. Roy told me last friday on the phone that he really wanted to create the site himself. Using Microsoft FrontPage (prosaic sites). I'm not a fan of websites created with that program. They all seem to be made by little kids, and never look very professional. I can always pick one out right away. So I figured I'd give him a little guidance, figure out what he wants to do, and just let him know which direction he should go. I wasn't expecting to actually design a website for him, or even get money from him for the little bit of advice that I'd give him. So I'm in this meeting this afternoon. Like I said, I wasn't going to try and get his business, just wanted to be a nice guy and point him in the right direction. So I'm showing him places where he can get stuff to buy that will help him to create his unprofessional looking site. Then he asks me about stuff I've created, and I take him through my portfolio online, and show him two of the Milwaukee sites that I made up for him. (I wish that what I knew now I knew when I worked for Choice One. I would have created a website for at least half of the companies that I signed up. There is such a demand for webdesign, but no one looks for it). Anyhow, we go through it, and then he asks me if I'd just create it for him. I tell him my experience, and that it would probably take me a little longer than he should expect because i'd have to learn a few new techniques, and he tells me that's fine. At this point, I'm a little nervous. I'm thinking of all the stuff that I have to learn, and the things I want to research, and trying to layout his site in my mind a little bit. Doing one hundred things at once, that I shouldn't have been thinking about until I left. So we are just chatting a little bit, He has this beautiful monitor that just renders every graphic beautiful. All of my sites looked absolutely gorgeous on his monitor, and all I wanted to do was stare at my sites all day. So he's telling me about his company a little bit. He has 70 employees that work for him. Then I start thinking about the house that I'm in, which is absolutely massive. I'm thinking about the location he lives in, which is absolutely gorgeous. And I realize that this guy is absolutely loaded. He probably makes more money that Taft does. This guy had some major money, but was a completely cool guy. We are just chatting about stupid stuff for a while. He tells me about his computer setup at work. That he doesn't have an IT guy, and he just does all the networking stuff himself. I'm all knowledgeable now about computer hardware because of all the studying I've done, so we are just going off about different things, and I realize that he doesn't know a whole lot about computers. Just enough to do what he has done already. He knows about the same amount of computers as I did about a year ago, and I've increased my knowledge 100-fold since then. So I was pretty much wiping him out with the questions, but I didn't realize it. I was telling him how he should set up his email server better, and how to do a lot of stuff cheaper. Well, I must have made a really good impression. His description of his company reminded me a lot of what working at choice one was like. The same sort of office feel to it. But his company is a medical thing. So he starts telling me about this law that all medical companies need to comply with. They all have to have websites now, or something like that he was explaining. He said that his company didn't have one though. So the point. He's telling me about his problems finding someone to make a website for his company. And i'm thinking to myself that I know where this is going, and start to get a little smile on his face. So he tells me what he wants. That he needs a internet homepage, where visitors to the site would go one direction, and employees would be able to log into their own servers. He needs an intranet and an internet. IF you understand... he needs a website like you are viewing here, but he also needs a website that only people within the company could use. You might work for a similar company, where the website that you view online at home is different from what you use at work, sort of. He's taken bids on this project, Which would be a full time job for about a month for one development company, and the bids have all been around 60,000 dollars. Yeesh is right. Then he asks me if I think I could make this for him. I seriously almost feel on the floor at this point. You do realize that I could charge 20,000 dollars, and this guy would be getting a huge deal. Extremely, extremely complex. So I take a minute to adjust myself. Basically, he tells me that if I do what he wants on his little ecommerce site, that I get the job for sure. I don't think you realize what a huge, huge opportunity this is for me. I'd be set. That's a downpayment on a house, or buying a damned nice vehicle brand new. He just asked me to do, what I've always wanted to do since I made my first webpage in computer applications in 11th grade (the only web design training I've ever had). So i came home quick, and sent out a bunch of emails to these programming companies that have contacted me recently. So I can outsource all my programming woes. Do it pretty cheap too. one company sent me a response back from india, and said they could do the entire project for me for 9,000 dollar, I'd just have to create the graphics and install everything. They said something how it's cheaper to do everything in india, that's why it's so low. I get emails from companies in India asking me for my business all the time. Back to Roy, he starts talking about all the companies that he knows. Everyone that he knows in Tucson, which is like every big company, and all the other medical companies that are in the same boat as him. He told me that I could have enough work to last 5 years at least, just from what he knows of people that he have talked to. Then he asked me, "This is something that you want to make a career out of, right? I know enough people that would get your business off the ground faster than you can say it". Ummm... Holy shit! I don't even know what to say to that. You know, I've never met this guy before, and he's just given me the biggest stepping stone of my life. Once I made the first, big step, it's all uphill from there. He told him that he can help me to be more successful than any other web design company in Tucson. Roy told me that once I get his site up, he'll need me to be on a monthly retainer with his company. If you know anything about web development firms getting retainers, all you do is check the links to make sure everything is cool, once or twice a month, and perform the necessary updates, and you get fat monthly check. It's about the coolest thing ever. So I'm pretty overwhelmed now. I'm thinking of posting an ad in the paper to find a young programmer to help me with this project, eliminating my workload. And if I get this all figured out, and worked together, I could get my own office, incorporate my business, hire sales reps, hire more designers, make loads of cash, and never have to leave my home to go to work on a regular basis. It's too perfect. I'm still sort of in shock. I didn't hide anything from Roy, I told him what I knew, what to expect up front too. You know, that I've never done anything like that before, and he still was cool with everything. He told me that Taft said I did a good job on his site, and that I charged him a fair price, and that I was good to work with. Now, Taft hasn't even given me all the stuff he needs to to finish his site, so I haven't uploaded any of the files that Taft wanted yet. All I've done is fix a few pictures, and make a few changed to the coding. Yet Taft really hooked him up here. This is probably the biggest moment of my life. Just wanted to let all of you know that. If you haven't already, check out my new family page by clicking the family icon on my old homepage there. It should look different to you. Also, let me know what you think of that graphic that I made on the second intro page. I made that 100$ by myself. It's not great or anything, but my first real try at vector graphics. Took me about 2 hours to make it. It started as something completely different, but sure was fun to make. Ahhh... the good times in front of this computer. I applied at CompUSA which is about a quarter of a mile away from my apartment. Just behind the massive Tucson Mall. (yeah, my apartment is primo location). I have to go in Wednesday to talk about possible job opportunities. In all the interviews I've ever had for a job, I've never been turned down when a woman was interviewing me. I have two women interviewing me at CompUSA, and I'm magic. So hopefully I can get that job, to get some mad discounts on computer hardware to build the ultimate graphics design/web development computer. These last two weeks have been probably the most exciting times I've ever had in my life. I literally can't sit still, unless you count sitting in front of my computer sitting still. Either way, it's nice to think for all the times I've failed in my life. Failed in college, failed in my last two attempts at a professional career, that I've finally found something that will give me the opportunity to put my most favorite thing to do, in a high paying career. I think I'm set here in Tucson, and someday, when I'm 40 something, some kid will be talking on his website how he came to my place and was just amazed at how massive and gorgeous it was, just like I do now with Taft and Roy, and I'll been doing my most favorite thing to do ever. Nothing could have prepared me for that meeting that I had this afternoon. February 25th, 2002 My new website is coming along a little bit. As you can tell, what doesn't work on my old homepage, will work on my new homepage. Please, if you notice any broken links to a page that you can't get to, or notice an image is missing, send me an email. I don't always go through everypage once it's uploaded, and just because it's in working order on my computer, doesn't mean that it's all good on the internet. So I strongly encourage you to send me notice if something isn't appearing properly on your computer. I'm going really heavy on the graphics with this new site. As a professional web designer, I know all of the accessibility issues, and that you are supposed to make your site appear correctly for every possible situation, but I just don't care about that with this site. So if you are viewing with images turned off, my site will be pretty much nothing. I do use alt tags for my links but that's it. So for the blind viewing my site, they aren't going to get much for navigation. This site is actually a HTML version of the flash site that I'm working on. I'm getting some powerful expensive 3-D rendering software, so I'll be able to create 3-D pictures, actual 3-D, not the implied 3-D images that you see on the internet. So that'll be fun to play around with once I get it. For now, main goal is to make my site sweet ass, get this other guys ecommerce site up and running, and read up on how to do his intranet. Fun stuff. Once again, let me know about anything that isn't working properly on this site. And just so that you know, I'm getting T-Shirts, coffee mugs, and other things made up. With a www.dougmalcore.com and www.thedustsettles.com theme. For those of you that have actively participated in my site. Such as signing the guestbook, filling out my feedback form, or just sending me basic feedback that includes your name, you will be getting one for free. The rest of you will have to buy one. Fuckers, sign my shit and send me feedback, link to me on other websites that you have or know the webmasters, so I can build some link popularity with search engines. So the time is short, sign my guestbook, send me feedback, or any of the other things I have on this site, and you can get one shortly, but once I have them, the offer is nil. This is just an FYI. Happy Tuesdays. I'm quite excited for my interview on Wednesday. Wish me luck. I really desire that job. I'll take the job as long as they offer substantial discounts on their inventory. Even if they pay me only minimum wage. Something to think about. February 27th, 2002 My interview today didn't really go as planned. I was quite disappointed. I was set up for an interview I was made to fail. I honestly don't even know why they wanted me to come in. It was for an outside sales position, and only one person would hold it, representing the entire store. I mean, I'm not going to get into it, but I shouldn't have been there. And the lady interviewing me was pretty rude about the hole time, and I'm sure the lady who set it up for me is probably fired just because I went in. No, seriously though, it wasn't the job I thought it was, so I'm going back to meet with another lady shortly to see if I'd work for the position that I actually wanted, with a little less pressure and hassle. Should be interesting. I've been given a pretty big task by one of the guys that I created a website for. He's wants this huge internet advertising campain. Said he wants to test it out and see if he can make some profits from it. I think he can, I mean, the site looks good, no? www.farmersmortgagegroup.com Check out the calculator that I worked on a bit for him. Sweet as hell if you ask me. Incredibly complicated, but extrememly useful, esp. if you look at some of the calculators on other mortgage sites. Anyhow, Mike sort of has this budget, and I get to contact all sorts of websites to talk to them about possible advertising. It's really fun, really sort of cutting edge types of advertising. I get to play with them a lot too, because most people that contact them don't know a whole lot about the internet, I mean, the design part of it. So they add all these outrageous prices, like "flash design" and stuff like that. Which I can do, and if I charged Mike half what they are saying, I'd feel like I was ripping him off. Cool stuff though. I'll point you to a few site where the ads I've made up for him might "pop-up". He-he So that's about it in my life. Jenna's big musical is coming up next week wednesday. She's pretty excited. We've been working on her lines a lot lately. It's a really cut apart version of Oklahoma, so that all the kids sort of have the same amount of lines. which is only just a few. So i really break down each line with her. And she does such a good job sometimes, and she really wants to be good at it. So we have good times, mostly me laughing my ass off at her. My ma is selling her house too. She bought one that is about a 5 minute walk from her boyfriend's place. It's really nice and all, but I just don't get why she want's to live so close. Why not just move in together, and what happens if they break up. She used to say that she wouldn't put boyfriends and girlfriend's lockers next to each other in middle school. Well, a house is a lot different than a locker. It's all so interesting and just funny as ever to me. Jenna and myself have taken quite a few pictures of each other recently. We have a really sweet ass digital camera, so the pictures render themselves on monitors quite well. As you've probably seen on my family page. Those were all taken with the same camera, and none of them are older than Dec 25th. Matt and Dan were farther away in teh pictures, so you don't really get the enormous detail you get with my ma's, jenna's, and mine. Actually, in mine, I did this one effect, so i looked carved out of wood, and you could actually see my whiskers from my lack of shaving. I was impressed. Granted, the camera was in my face, with 1600x1200 resolution, but still. Pretty fun stuff. Well, it's late, my advertising claim has lead me to another late night, and I have some major work to do on my new client... www.classicwesterntreasures.com Hope your thursday isn't as rainy as mine is going to be. Home © Doug Malcore 2002