Product of the System

Have you ever gotten a ticket or been to court for any reason whatsoever?

If so and you were not guilty, were still you one of the 99.9% that was talked out of pleading your case to the judge?

If you were, don’t feel bad. The district attorney is paid to scare you and use any tactic to get you not to fight them in court or even try to beat a speeding ticket. I know -unfortunately- from lots of experience in dealing with the law that most local governments are designed to quickly persuade you not to fight. They are less interested in finding out the truth of a matter and more interested in moving people through.

This is because the local governments are -in most cases- motivated by finance rather than justice.

Today, I had to appear in court -yet again- but this time it was only a speeding ticket. In fact, it was a ridiculous speeding ticket of 56mph in a 45mph zone. Getting a ticket for 11 mph over is just silly and in my case, I wasn’t even going that fast anyway.

So, I fought it. I demanded a trial and an audience with the judge.

Dealing with the D.A. (district attorney) beforehand just brought back all kinds of memories about how hard they try to manipulate and coerce everyone in to a guilty plea. If you have a lawyer, you can typically avoid all of that. But, without a lawyer, you are basically “shark bait.”

In my case today, the D.A. was telling me how it was not going to go on my record and I could just say I was guilty, pay my $133 fine, and go home. In my mind, I think, “but what about my innocence in the matter?” It is obviously of no importance. The D.A. even used the words, “now, I cannot tell you what to do, but I wouldn’t take the chance talking to the judge. I’m not trying to scare you, but if you go before the judge, you have to understand that they are not bound by the same restrictions and can impose a penalty of up to $1,000 and 1 year in prison.”

I kept thinking, “that is highly doubtful for an 11 mph ticket!”

The problem is that even if you are innocent but you face some large penalty or fine, they will scare you and coerce you in any way they can. It’s literally their job. They are cold-hearted and they do not care at all about you. Remember that anything you tell them needs to be thought out ahead of time, because they WILL use everything you say to them against you. They may bring up something during the trial or they may give the officer some tip about how to trap you.

That paints kind of a scary picture for someone fighting something as simple as a traffic violation, doesn’t it?

However, the point of this post is that the judge’s first line of defense from having to judge cases ALL day is to have the D.A. get rid of a lot of cases. So, the D.A. ends up having to be the “bad guy” and you should realize that your goal is to get to speak to the “good guy” -so to speak.

If it was blindingly obvious that you were guilty, then going before the judge may be a bad idea, because they may actually exercise their right to impose harsher penalties than you would’ve gotten otherwise. But, if you simply want to try to prove your innocence and you really do feel innocent, then there is nothing wrong with going before the judge. It is highly doubtful that the judge would impose any more than the original fine.

In other words, you really have nothing to lose. But, it is the D.A.’s job to make you “feel” like you have everything to lose. Even as experienced as I am in these matters, I felt compelled a few times to plead guilty rather than face stiffer penalties, but I just had to remind myself that I was innocent and was not pleading guilty. If I can just get to the judge, I can at least say my peace and feel better that I tried.

In all actuality, I see it as the judge is like “The Wizard of Oz” and the D.A. is the one that guards anyone from seeing the wizard. His/her time is too valuable.

The wizard wants to appear scary so that you’ll respect their authority but really, they are just people doing their job and most are genuinely trying to be helpful. If you are respectful and have some evidence or testimony to present, you may find that the judge is much nicer than the D.A. made them out to be.

The bottom-line is that you shouldn’t let the D.A. deter you from fighting to prove your innocence –assuming that you can. Of course, this is by no means legal advice, so you should always discuss your situation with a lawyer to ensure that your case isn’t so against you that you’d be viewed as wasting the wizard’s… err… I mean, judges time.

For instance, if you were tagged as going 93 mph in a 45 mph zone, and you want to plead “not guilty”, then you had better have a very good amount of proof that it wasn’t you somehow. If it was you and you were exceeding the speed limit more than 15 mph, then the judge may still want to prove a point to you. So, there are factors to consider. You may be innocent of 48 mph but if you are still guilty of 30 over, the judge will probably punish you severely for it. Make sense?

So, anyway, in my case, the judge said that she felt after hearing my testimony and questioning the officer that I was not purposely speeding but that my vehicle’s instrumentation must have been off (I did not have time beforehand to get it checked). So, I ended up having to pay the $133 fine anyway. However, you may note that it was still only $133 and not the $1,000 that the D.A. made me feel I was facing. They made me feel like I was risking a lot when in reality, I was not risking anything and I felt very satisfied that I at least had the opportunity and courage to face my accusers, talk to them, and say my peace. That alone made it worth paying $133 rather than just taking it, saying nothing, and paying anyway.

I hope you never have to endure the court system, but odds are that you will. In that case, I hope this little bit of insight gives you some more options and makes it not seem so bleak of a situation -should you have the inclination to prove your innocence.

Before I dive into boring work-related updates, I should mention that Leah has finally gotten me to get out and take walks. She’s been trying for more than a month but I was kinda down in the dumps. Now, I’m feeling a little better and a bit less stressed -though my situation has only marginally improved so far.

But, we’ve been walking several times over the past week and it really makes all the difference in the world. That time alone to walk and talk really helps. My conversations with her really perk me up and shines some light into my world. Soon, I also hope to get back in the gym and regain my cut physique and get back to playing racquetball, volleyball, and the like. I do miss it so!

Now, on to business: It’s a little earlier than expected, but my European client has come back to us with some answers on services they want from us. To my disappointment, they want to hold off on the crawler development until their next fiscal year (Oct, 2008), because they want to see us show some results with our other marketing efforts first.

That’s ok, I suppose. We will show them results, but it means a lot less money for me for now. I will probably make a little bit each month and every little bit counts towards paying the bills. So, that’s good. I am just a little bummed because I wanted to get my crawler and search engine more refined and usable for the masses. Perhaps it will happen next year, but it may be that my priorities will change by then. I suppose we’ll see.

In any case, I am still waiting until April 15th to hear exactly how much budget they will devote in the beginning and they will sign to start their campaigns on May 1st. Their budget will be based on a graduating scale, and with results (which I will bring), the budget will increase.

The best part about this deal is that I will still be in control of quite a sizable budget.  So, even though only a relatively small portion goes to me each month, having control of that kind of budget gives me some bargaining power and respect in the industry. That budget coupled with the influx of recent business to LinkSmile and jAvVy, my two online marketing ventures, will give me even more weight in my niche. It’s just too bad that 99.999% of all my profits are pushed right back in to my companies. I’ve invested more than $160,000 into my businesses over the past year and a half and I’m hoping that will all pay off soon.

Aside from that, ShrinkTheWeb is really coming along. I have seen quite a bit of buzz generating about my service and the sign-ups are increasing to 5-10 per day. So, that’s great! People are really starting to use the system -which is awesome. Today, even, I had someone really put the custom-sized website previews through its paces and through them I discovered a little “bug” I introduced with a recent enhancement.

So, I got that fixed in about 30 minutes and tested the new enhancement plus the custom-sized thumbnails. All is well, and the customers site looked so much better than before, because they are getting perfectly sized thumbnails as opposed to stretching a smaller one to fit. I would link to their site, but the weird thing is that once they got it working, they then switched to one of my competitors and started showing the reduced quality again. I sent them a few emails and never heard back, so I guess I’ll have to assume that it was that competitor of mine trying out my service. Though, it wouldn’t be the first time!

I also made quite a bit of progress on a web design project that I will finish this week and I have made a lot of progress on two bigger projects that I hope to complete within a week or two. So, things on that front are moving along nicely.

As you can tell, most things are work-work-work right now. So, I must apologize that these posts sound redundant and probably aren’t very interesting! hahah.

I have a little news in regards to a personal issue but due to legal disclosure reasons, I have to wait just a little longer before I publish what is going on in that respect. However, it is looking in my favor at the moment. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

I hope everyone is having a great start to the week!

Check this out:

Here’s where I found this… lots of other great ones too!

This is work-related so I will post the details on my work-related blog (visit SE Conspiracy – Warning: Reverse DNS Can KILL Your Business!).

In short, many of my web hosting customers (and my own sites) have been getting tagged as spam and it has cost me thousands of dollars (literally) in lost income and -more noticeably- has cost me $600 in actual cash that I spent to try to overcome this issue. That doesn’t even take into account the lost 100 hours or so I’ve spent dealing with this.

The great news is that I finally know WHY this has been happening, and I can finally get this headache under control. Woo hoo!

They almost always come in pairs, don’t they? lol

I just got back from seeing the neck specialist.

First, the Great News: After a thorough review, the doctor (also a neck surgeon) has assured me that while my neck deterioration is on the worse side of the spectrum for my age, it is still within the acceptable norm. Basically, he assured me that my current pain and suffering is only a result of the original whiplash coupled with sitting at the computer all day and then worsened by not having had proper treatment for the injury.

That is great news because it means that I do not have a life-long neck injury -as I was fearing. Instead, I have a treatable condition that in time could cause me only minor pain or possibly no pain at all. Whew!

He also went on to say that while treatment and exercise might cause me a lot of pain for a while, there is no risk of further injury to my neck. Those of you who know me personally know that knowing this makes a big difference. It means that I can start back -without worrying- exercising, working out, playing racquetball, basketball, volleyball, and basically doing all the things I love!! woo hoo!

The Bad News: This means that I cannot sue Progressive for millions and millions. haha. Well, I could but I would be really stretching the truth. The problem is that I was willing to work with them in the first place and am not looking to be greedy anyway. I just wanted my neck taken care of. Now, it would seem that I won’t have to push Progressive for future neck surgeries or anything like that. However, I should still have my physical therapy, missed work, and medical co-pay covered.

My only real bone to pick with Progressive is that they dragged this out for so long. Now that I’ve been forced (due to pain and suffering) to shell out borrowed money to get these assessments and treatment underway, I see that this is mostly curable. What’s worse is that Progressive could’ve shelled out the couple of thousand dollars last year and avoided putting me through all this headache, wasted time, and suffering.

According to the neck specialist, I probably could’ve been completely better within a couple of months of the accident if only I had gotten treatment right away. Progressive refused to pay for anything and denied my claim. That caused me to delay and I was unable to afford proper medical care. So, I really blame them for this predicament in which I find myself.

If only they had done the right thing to begin with, I would’ve avoided all the unnecessary pain and suffering and their claim would’ve been resolved quickly and promptly and cost-effectively. Now, I suppose that I could push them on the fact that they caused me undue pain and suffering, but I really just want to move on. I just want my expenses and lost wages (minimal) covered and put this behind me. That way, I can focus on more important things like getting back into shape, fixing my neck, and getting back to working more regularly. I am about to write Progressive a “demand letter” with a reasonable amount to cover those expenses, so I suppose we’ll have to see what comes of it.

Last night, Leah and I went out with Terry and Mark for dinner at Taurus restaurant. It was a great night and lots of fun. We were seated in the VIP area and I finally had my filet mignon craving satisfied for a little while!

I haven’t been able to really work much the past 4-5 days or so because of so many personal issues (i.e. doctor’s visits, finding lawyers, excessive pain, talking to Progressive, dealing with Drivetime, etc etc), so that’s not good income-wise. However, one of my clients extended to me a small loan to carry me over for another month. So, that helps but now I’m living on borrowed money from yet another person.

I am hopeful that the deal with the European client will come through on April 15th (as it is scheduled), because that will really help me pay back my client. It sucks to be in this predicament, but I might have caught a break for once. I cannot discuss it just yet for legal reasons, but I might have at least one burden off my back soon. Without disclosing too much, I had my privacy and my rights violated once again, but this time, I have a credible witness. So, here’s to another lawsuit. I will update on that once the timing is right.

In the meantime, I’m still planning on how to pay the bills. I’ve got to get back into my groove and get some major work completed, but I just cannot get over the pain and personal issues. I have a doctor’s appointment today and I hope to get some advice that will help me be able to work more regularly and I also hope that they write me a darn good letter that I can use against Progressive.

I was in so much pain yesterday that I just laid in bed for hours (while I needed to be working). I couldn’t move and still I hurt. I was joking with Leah that I don’t need my pain pills because Progressive tells me that this is all in my head. So, I figure I’ll just wait it out and it should go away. lol. Yes, I’m being facetious.

I think it sucks that I was trying to be more than fair and patient with them and now they seek to make me look like a liar. And all the while, I’m sitting here suffering. How lame is that? Ah well. That’s just another chapter in my drama-filled, soap-opera life. C’est la vie.

Making a living online (and working from home) has its obvious benefits, but this market has become so full of spammers, scammers, and hackers (oh my) that it really has gone downhill.

Deadbeat companies and all of the aforementioned undesirables make it impossible for the average “joe” to make money online. Even astute people have a very tough time making it work.

Since this is more work-related of a topic than usual, I will post more details on my work blog. Visit SE Conspiracy for the rest of the story.

Since it looks like two web design jobs I will finish this week will finally pay most of the bills this month, I took a little extra time today (10 hours) to add yet more features to my pet project, ShrinkTheWeb.

I had planned to add full-length, web page thumbnails and custom-sized thumbnails for awhile but didn’t have time just yet. I estimated 3-5 days to get that working. However, I took a nap today and had a lucid, programming dream (happens with me from time to time), and in that dream I had an epiphany on how to implement these features.

So, when I woke up, I tried and lo-and-behold, it worked like a charm. So, after 10 hours of tweaking and testing, it is ready to go.

Here’s an example of a regular thumbnail:

And now, here’s an example of a full-length thumbnail:

It looks like ShrinkTheWeb may end up really changing the way webmasters design their websites. I have gotten so much great feedback and kudos that I think this is really something now. I’m just pleased that people are enjoying the service, because I only did this in response to someone telling me it was impossible to do the way I wanted and because Alexa Thumbnails was costing me too much.

If you are a web designer or hobbyist webmaster, check out my free website thumbnail generator service.

Ciao,

Brandon

Well, Progressive has forced me to be exposed to yet more radiation (as if the CT Scan w/ contrast, MRI, and x-rays from before weren’t enough). Now, to fight my case, I had to spend most of the day preparing for and taking new x-rays of my neck for comparison. The x-ray technician had to take several views because of how jacked up my neck appeared to be to her. She couldn’t get a good shot right away and so I had about five(5) done in total.

All I know is I am in a lot of pain now just because I had to stand there and hold my neck in certain positions, etc.  So, I hope it helps. I won’t know the doctor’s impressions until Monday. However, at least I now have the required x-rays that will also allow me to be seen by an orthopedic doctor. I am hopeful they can help me.

Since I do not want to show my hand to Progressive in the off chance that they find this blog (although not likely), I cannot yet discuss the paperwork I obtained today. However, I will say that I think Progressive has a VERY weak case and I’m very surprised that they would take the chance -when the truth is glaringly obvious from the doctor’s notes.  I guess Progressive is willing to gamble in order to save a few thousand dollars.

When they dragged out my claim for a year and then offered me $500 in compensation for my injuries, lost work, pain and suffering, and future medical bills; I can not express how insulted I felt. So, whereas I willing to work them before and settle out for a few thousand dollars, now I am compelled to make them do the right thing. Hopefully, the judge will see fit to punish them also and will award punitive damages.

Anyway, I guess we’ll see.

I didn’t get any work done -once again- due to having to deal with all of these personal issues. Maybe one day, I’ll be able to do some work to pay the bills. What a novel idea! Who knows?   lol.

I was handed a few more referrals for web design -some through friends and some through my growing network. I’ve been feeling a bit surprised lately that there is still so much demand for new websites and/or re-design. I suppose that -for me and other designers- this is a good thing.

At any rate, a couple of these new customers really want to move quickly. I think that will be the defining difference to making the web design side of things work. Some of my current projects are stagnating because I’m having a tough time keeping in contact with the customer and meeting to move things along. In those cases, any time I’ve spent on the project becomes irrelevant until things are progressing again.

So, by taking on a few new, aggressive customers and giving them a little priority, I can ensure some income while waiting on the others to pick up steam. These new customers who are on a tight time-line might even make it possible for me to pay some important bills this month (such as rent and medical).

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While it looks like I may be able to pay some bills; others must still suffer. Of course, I’m forced into a position of picking and choosing which ones will suffer and because of DriveTime’s mistreatment and harassment of me,  they are definitely one of the ones that will have to take a backseat for awhile. However, today they refused to accept my partial payment (by way of proxy) for this month and complained that I never return their calls.

They told my messenger that I do not even have the common decency to return them a courtesy call. I think that’s funny considering how many times I’ve spoken to them and that regardless of what I say to them, nothing gets updated in my file and I end up getting a call the next day anyway. That person says they have no idea what’s going on because there are no notes regarding my previous conversations.

So, why should I bother? It’s ridiculous.

I don’t have time for those games.

However, today’s refusal by them to accept my partial payment indicates to me that they are going to very quickly begin taking steps towards repossessing my car. That’s ok, I suppose. I was hoping to have a little more time, though. They lied to me about $1,250 worth of necessary repairs I was forced to pay and I’ve saved about $1,000 by making partial payments. So, I think it almost evens out. I’m just not too sure what I will do once they find and claim the vehicle. I will still need a car.

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In other news, one of my ventures, LinkSmile (Internet Marketing), is getting a lot of referrals and new business. That is helping to pick up business across the board on several of my ventures but because I’m so behind in bills and development, I don’t really “see” the benefit of this new business just yet –except that I can push forward just a little bit more and keep my businesses going.

I have several ventures under my belt that are prime to make money but my current situation allows competitors of those ventures to breathe for now. If my situation ever improves, they may not continue to be so lucky. In fact, one of LinkSmile’s competitors likes to gloat quite a bit but if I had not have been faced with insurmountable barriers, they would not have enjoyed such success. But, no matter. I know that I did my best in those tough times and cannot worry about others who benefited as a result of the crooked cops forcing me into self-imposed exile.

One day, I hope to have the opportunity to prove my worth -again.