I Think I found my New FAVORITE Sport

I look back on our trip back here every once in a while. It seems like so long ago, almost as if it was a lifetime.

In fact, we haven't even gone camping once since we arrived back here. And although we got a ton of trailer driving time, this video struck me as an excellent new sport that we might need to take up. This will help us hone our skills for the next long-distance trailer driving excursion.

http://video.yahoo.com/network/100743807?v=4490856&l=100000248

Extreme Trailer Racing @ Yahoo! Video

The British Caravan Grand Prix 2009 - a high-speed demolition derby...for trailers.
Let me know what you think?

Al

Website Catastrophe - One Week Update

About a week ago, I reported a huge hassle I ran into with one of my websites. And, let me just speak clearly ... I don't talk about all this website stuff because I think you're particularly interested.

NO!

I talk about it - because I love it ... and because maybe, just MAYBE, some of you MIGHT be interested in it. If so, I'm happy to share more. I just offer the bare minimum of comments here, to reveal my most pressing thoughts.


Remember my issue?


No ... well let me remind you ... it was shut down. Completely down - even 'I' couldn't touch my own website!


However, I am happy to say it has been re-instated, and is back up, and online.


More interestingly though, are a couple of changes that have occurred since then. As a result of having my site shut down, I also shut off my Pay Per Click advertising which I was running. So, I've been running at almost zero costs for the last week, and I'm still getting a bunch of people subscribing to my ezine list, AND I've gotten a handful of buyers as well.

It's interesting ... maybe my costs will go down, and my sales will go up because of the idiocy of 'spam cops' who try to control everything. I guess, in the end, it might work out alright anyhow.



Al

Wee Ride #2 - More tandem bike riding on Fort Frazier Trail

Here's a bit more action with the Wee Ride tandem kid's bike trailer. This one shows some high speed racing shots, and a bit of local Florida scenery along the Fort Frazier Trail.

I hope you like it.





Talk soon,
Al

Something to make you Smile!

This is a short film that I ran across in another blog. I watched thought that it was really good and that it should be shared. So here you go!

Hope that it made you smile too!
Have a great day!
Chris

Website Catastrophe

And here I go again ... on and on and on about this website stuff.


Actually you might find this one interesting. One of my sites - the oldest one I currently have running - was 'shut down' because of a SPAM complaint 2 days ago. And when I say 'shut down', I mean it was completely offline. I couldn't even touch it.

My great pals, over at 'SPAMCOP' helped get me shut down. May their stong-arm tactics, and bullying methods, cause their business to plummet into the abyss of nothingness, and provide them with multitudes of hassles in their future.

So, it seems, the spammers are winning their battle against legitimate businesses.


However, instead of giving up on it, I asked them to re-instate the site. In exchange, I deleted my entire database of subscribers.


Yep. Almost 20,000 email subscribers. And close to 1,000 buyers. And now ... anyone who wants to join my list has to go through a two-step (double opt-in) process. All because some morons find it easier to send a complaint, than to click a remove link in the bottom of an email ... which they opted into themselves.


Anyhow

It was all gone ... in an instant.


Nice!
Take a deep breath.


But ... I keep pushing on. This way, it's almost like starting completely over ... completely new, from scratch.


It should be interesting.


I have no doubt that my sales will continue on. And I will continue to make more money from these sites.


It just bums me out that the idiocy of others has to impact what I'm trying to do. But, heck, if I let every little thing stop me - I would have given up LONG ago.


Additionally it has raised my 'ire' to the point where I am planning on finding other ways and strategies to persuade readers to keep up with my ideas.


I'll keep you posted.

Al

Wee Ride - Valentine's Day bike ride with the kids

Hello,

Being Valentine's Day - we figured it was a good idea to get out and about for a bit. So we headed out for a bike ride. We picked up an interesting kids bike trailer, that makes the bikes into a 'tandem' style bike.

The trailer is called the 'Wee Ride'.

It's a pretty good system. You can see it here, and check it out in brief action.




There's also a second video that I'll post up in a couple of days with a little bit more action, and some scenes from the road.

Anyhow, I hope you enjoy.

Talk soon.

Al

What a Night!

Well, I never, EVER thought I would say this.


I've been running websites for the last 4 years - and doing quite well at it.


However ...

Recently, lots of hosting companies like ... Yahoo, AOL, Google, and on and on and on have been blocking my messages to people who actually subscribe to my lists. (SPAM protection you know)


And then, even more recently, website services (i.e. the people where you build your websites) are limiting the amount of messages you can send per hour because of these same SPAM issues. The blocked message hassles weren't too much of a problem ...


But with the limitations on message sending - I do believe I have finally met my match in website building. You are supposed to be able to limit the number of messages you send (it's a process called throttling), but I can't figure out how to work it on my sites.


I can't crack it. I can't figure out how to do it. Even the descriptions, by the companies who run these things, aren't helping me fix the issue.


So - I am haven't done it yet - but I may be getting rid of my sites soon. I'm still a little saddened by this prospect - but I can't seem to work my way around the issue. I probably couldn't get rid of all of them ... but even if I do keep any of them, I might still have to work them differently than I do now.


Anyhow ... I just thought I'd share my frustrations ... and get my thoughts out.



Bummer!

Talk soon,
Al

Polk County Florida Daddy / Daughter Dance

I had the great honor, and pleasure, to take both girls to a Daddy / Daughter dance the other night. We have gone to them before, and so I was looking for another great night out with the girls.

A few hitches and problems happened during the evening, but overall it was tons of fun for all of us.

Anyhow here's some pics ... just in case you're interested:



(Sorry about the date on the pictures - we had changed a setting, and didn't realize we still had that in there.)







Al


P.S. Just for the record ... Here's a couple things that I think make a great Daddy / Daughter dance.

1. Lower 'mood' lighting - instead of having full-on bright lights, set the lights lower so you can't see all the daddy's sweating.

2. Play fun / upbeat songs that the dads all like, AND that the kids can enjoy as well. Don't play obscure songs from the 60's and 70's that no kid cares about anymore. At least make it a fun song to dance to, if you're going to play something from our younger days.

3. Leave lots of room for dancing space on the dance floor. OR - if you have a live band, don't give them half of the dance floor to set up. Leave more room for the dads and their girls to dance.

The Best Hiking Trail in the State of Florida?

Maybe?

I would argue that this trail definitely stands a chance at being one of the best in the entire State, or at least the peninsula.

This particular hiking trail offered us actual, real soil (i.e. dirt) which is something you don't see all that often in Florida. It's mostly sandy soil here.

The trail actually goes on for miles ... and miles ... which is another thing most trails in Florida don't offer you. I would guess a majority of hiking trails in this state are 1 mile long or under. SAD!

And, hiking along this trail, you actually have a very good chance of bumping into some local wildlife.


All in all ... I give this trail 2 thumbs up ... WAY UP for Florida.




Al

Interesting Diet tip

I had an interesting conversation at work today. One of my co-workers was asking about a local mountain bike area here in town, and I told him that I had ridden there a little bit.

He then told me that he was having a family contest where they each picked an item they wanted to get IF (and only if) they reached their weight goals.

You reach your goal ... you get the gift.

You miss your goal ... you DON'T get the gift.


The cool part of it was that the gifts were very cool. The gift he chose for himself was a mountain bike. And I don't mean a Walmart nickle-and-dimer. He said he wants a real bike that can take some abuse.


Now, to me ... that's a goal to get excited about. There's something I could really shoot for.

Anyhow, I thought it was an interesting idea ... to make your health and diet goals give you a REAL and TERRIFIC bonus - IF you actually reach the goal. I didn't catch any of the specific details from him, but I'm going to try and weasel some info out of him as the challenge progresses.


Very cool idea!


Al

More Depression Era Lifestyle Coming into Popularity

I thought this was an interesting article (from the Associated Press), about the state of the American economy.


Here's one of the comments I thought was intriguing ...

Today's consumers might even start to rival their penny-pinching, Depression-era grandparents.

I'm guessing we're not even remotely close to the levels of our frugal Grandparents - yet. I still see a tremendous amount of fairly new, fairly LARGE vehicles on the road. There's still a whole lot of shopping goin' on ... and it definitely isn't just grocery store shopping, either.


The concluding statement:

"I think we're going to have a set of consumers who are moving in that direction (being very conservative in their spending and aggressive in savings -- my revision) because they don't have that much faith in their assets."

While I think that comment carries an intriguing idea with it ... I don't think consumers today have any idea what it really means to be truly conservative in spending, and aggressive in savings. I've hardly ever seen it in my lifetime. I guessing most of us haven't seen what that really looks like. Or there wouldn't be nearly as many credit problems as we are seeing now.


In my honest opinion, the banks (and the consumers who use up all that credit) are HUGELY to blame for the current financial meltdown that's happening. Unfortunately, the banks don't really have to have the physical money in order to dish out the credit (it's just a paper transaction to them) - so it's the consumer who ends up paying all of it in the end.


Al