Product of the System

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? :P  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).

###

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.

###

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.

Good news first: I just heard back from my potential European client and they said that they have gone from “probably will buy” to “definitely will buy” but they won’t be able to say which pieces of my proposal or how much until next week. So, that’s good news but I still have to wait until next week to find out what the deal will be worth.

Mediocre news: I’m still way behind on web design projects (and just added 3 more yesterday) because I spent yesterday afternoon until 5pm asleep. I only had 1.5 hours of sleep before my presentation early morning, so I crashed hard after lunch.

At any rate, I have a lot of personal chores taking up time today — i.e. switching auto insurance, finding a lawyer, scheduling x-rays, et cetera. I think that by 7pm tonight, I will be able to “start” work on my web design proposals. That’s just to catch up on the new business. Hopefully that will only take an hour or two and then I can start work on “paying” web design work that has been waiting for weeks.

I pulled another all-nighter to finish up the presentation for my potential European client. This is supposed to be my final presentation before I get a ‘yes’ or ‘no’, so that’s a relief.

I’ve been up all night getting this ready and I get to take a quick 1-hour nap before I get ready and head off to the conference center for my video conference. So, needless to say, this is another quickie post.

I hope you all are doing well!

Ciao,

Brandon

Leah and I had a great night out last night with Ben and Valerie –and their roommate and friends. As always, it was great company and great conversation. It was a much needed, relaxing evening.

Although there is a lot of pressure on me from many directions right now, I realize that sometimes I just have to step back and take a breather. If I fail to overcome these hardships, it will probably happen whether or not I work through the weekend or choose to go out once in a while.

At any rate, I got a lot done today but that represents only 25% progress towards being caught up –thanks to recent issues such as Progressive not making a reasonable offer. Progressive has now forced me to spend even more time finding a lawyer, getting x-rays,seeing more doctors, building a case, and filing a lawsuit. Great. And, all the while, DriveTime is looking to repossess my car. My current predicament forces me to drag that out as long as possible and try to save enough to get another car at a more reasonable deal. It seems that stress begets stress -although I do my best to ignore it, it does build up.

At any rate, though, this weekend has been relaxing overall. So, I’m hopeful it was enough to energize me for this action-packed week ahead. I have a scheduled final presentation on Tuesday for the European client (video-conference) and I have a lot to do to prepare for that. All the while, I also had some work to finish up on ShrinkTheWeb (finished up today) and I have some web design projects that are way past due and require my focus and attention this week. That is work required in addition to all my personal crap that has to get done. So, it will be an interesting week.

Today and tomorrow with Leah. I don’t really have time to take a vacation but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

So much for posting regularly but I’ve had my hands full with creditors, hackers, and slackers, oh my!

Anyway, it looks like the crooked cops have won yet another round. Making me look like a criminal on paper seems to be the ultimate challenge. I cannot easily find a place to live. I cannot make money. Soon, I won’t be able to eat –not without moving in with my father and bumming off of him.

That’s really a pathetic situation for someone of my caliber and skill-level to be in.

I wish I could find a rich entrepreneur with a great idea but no way to make it work. Since I have a reputation for making the “impossible” work, I could do it once again but ensure my bills would be paid at the same time. That would be ideal. However, it seems there is no way for me to get the word out to rich entrepreneurs, because conferences where I could show off my skills will run me $2,500 or more –and that’s just money I can’t spare right now, IF I had it in the first place.

I am really disappointed in people -in general. It seems that too many people rely on the government to be honest and true when -in reality- there are times when they are not. In my experience, the words “police” and “honest” have become oxymorons. The sad part is when people won’t take a moment to see that the government might have failed someone so utterly and completely that even the faint semblance of the truth has all but vanished. That is my life in a nutshell.

I have a lot to offer this world (not that it seems to deserve it), but this world may never discover exactly of what I am capable –thanks to a few morons with a badge and a gun that were given a little more power than they should have been given. I thought they had tests to avoid these kinds of things? What ever happened to checks and balances?

I have helped a lot of people in my time, and I find that it is true that when you need help the most; most people do not return the favor. In fact, in many cases (especially when living abroad), I’ve had people STEAL from me after I helped them out of a bind.

Now is the time. If I’ve ever needed help; it is now.

I can overcome difficult obstacles and have done so many times before, but I realize now that I always had the option of getting a job or finding consulting work and not having to worry about having a roof over my head. Now, all I do is spend time wondering how to pay this bill or that bill, I cannot get a security or networking job with a felony (even though I never committed any crime), and now it seems I may not have a roof over my head soon.

Unless something miraculous happens, I will probably have to go live with relatives and bum off of them -hoping to figure out something. Even then, I’m not sure what I can do. I have so much potential and talent, but it all goes to waste when I have been labeled as a criminal. This local government is a real piece of work and the general public is so nieve and so brainwashed that I have been unable to shrug this undeserved scarlet letter.

I don’t have time to write those helpful articles, my autobiography, or much of anything because I’m working 18+ hours a day and still going backwards. The companies that pay me online have begun to stop paying (i.e. stealing my hard work) or cut back substantially –blaming the economy. That may be the reason, but they should not gleefully take my leads and hard work without paying for them. Ah well.

I’m not even sure how much longer I can justify keeping this blog or most of my other websites online. I have built up several incredible companies with lots of potential but they need some marketing capital to spread the word. Without that, they are no different than the millions of other worthless sites on the web. So, in time, I may have to take all my sites offline.

Who knows? In all honestly, I’m sick of complaining about it. Very few care and those that do, cannot help. I even annoy myself most days. So, I have to move on and try not to let it bother me, but every day that I wake up is just full of more hassles and reminders of how I was wronged and still never vindicated.

Most days I just keep hoping I’ll wake up from this nightmare and be on a real planet (as opposed to this one that sucks) where people won’t let a piece of paper written by a couple of heartless morons keep down a talented over-achiever like myself. Thanks to them, it would appear at first glance that I’m no different from the casual under-achiever anyway. Please someone just wake me up.

I pulled another all-nighter this past night and I cannot believe I am staying up long enough to even post this short update. But, I am so excited because despite everything that is against me right now, I have managed to position ShrinkTheWeb as THE hands-down, most powerful, feature-rich free website thumbnail generator in the world. And, that is not an exaggeration either. There is no other provider that can match all that ShrinkTheWeb does (at least not at the time of this writing) and there are certainly no competitors offering services for FREE that offer even half as much as STW.

So, I’m eager to watch how the market reacts as people continue to discover that my service is not only free but is better than anything else out there and offers more.

YaY! Now, I’ve managed to eliminate the browser chrome, have gotten full-page length thumbnails working, and have a 2nd server able to generate thumbnails. Once I get that server reliably running, then I can go online with 9 more servers to help out! That should help keep up with demand as the company grows. Anyway, I’m off to sleep.

Check out the site here: http://www.shrinktheweb.com

I missed posting yesterday but it was another rather uneventful day for those of you that don’t know me. As for me, I had to focus more on personal issues like helping Jojo plan for her birthday party. I suggested Taurus Restaurant but several people complained it was too far away and too expensive. I can understand if people want to stay local but the price is not an issue. It is only $5 per person more than Longhorn’s would be and the food is sooo much better!

Anyway, Jojo wants to make everyone else happy, so we are going to Cherokee Cattle Co.

Leah and I also had company last night, Ben and Valerie, and we had such a great time. The “MEN” WIN!! hehe. Guys against gals and the guys won… woot woot.

Right after they left for the night and had to get back home, my good friend, Frank, came over the help me with ShrinkTheWeb. He has managed to overcome quite a few problems with the servers I bought for that project and we were able to get a server online. Without being too technical about it, we basically ran into the same problem I’ve been seeing for months. This time, however, Frank and I worked until 3 or 4am and I continued until about 6am in order to isolate the problem.

Now, I can prove that a bug exists in a specific scenario and hopefully someone can fix this and allow me to finally enhance my thumbnail generator service to be the hands-down absolute best in the world. Already, it is growing like wildfire and that will really be the case once I offer everything everyone needs –all for free. It’s exciting to be in a position to collapse an entire niche market on the Internet. If I were charging what others charge, I would be making about $1,000-$1,500 per month, but for once; I just want to accomplish something truly great and give back to the community -no strings attached. That’s tough to do when I have so many financial barriers working against me, but I’m trying.