So it has been quite a while since I last updated this thing.. I have been ridiculously busy as of late… here is some updating:

I got back from the trip to Asia on October 25th. It was a life changing trip. I got to experience things that others only dream of, and met some of the friendliest people imaginable. Todd and I were lucky enough to have had help in pretty much every country we went to. We met a guy named Anton who pretty much saved our asses in the Philippines. Anton runs a furniture company, a restaurant, and just so happens to help run an Asian Search Marketing conference called SemCon, which Todd and Aaron spoke at. If all of Antons help was not enough, he and his business partners Norelyn and Marc sent us off in Barongs, which is the male formal wear shirt. So nice.

In addition to Anton we met Happy and Viva who showed us some of Manila and their store which sells “Fashion Art”… called FART. No joke. They were awesome.

We then went to Hong Kong where we met up with my friend David who pretty much toured us through the entire city in a 36 hour period. It was great and we got to see things that few travelers or tourists would be able to.

In China we were pretty much fucked, we did not speak the language, nor did we really know what we should see or do outside of the Great Wall. Luckily, Aaron put a 2 nerds in crisis post on SeoBook.com and a few people wanted to meet us. We contacted Reshma who was of great help. She hooked us up with a guide book (for expats) and even a cell phone. We were then able to get to recommended restaurants, tourist attractions and even custom made suits. Later we met another helpful man names Jerry, and we got to see even more of Beijing. It was great.

Once we got to Japan we thought we would be okay with pretty much English and a guide book as our main info sources, and it worked out pretty well. We met up with some thugs we knew from NY and rolled hard. It was awesome. A few days later we went to Kyoto and I met up with this sweet dude Bill, who I just happen to co-moderate a forum with. I had no idea what to expect, but it turns out he was an expat from the US and one of the sweetest dudes I have had the pleasure of meeting and hanging with. Bill showed some of the temples, and guided us to many of the best meals I have ever eaten. It was terrific.

The trip was amazing and when I got home, somehow my body did not like the changes or I picked up a bug… either way I got sick as fuck. We got in on a Thursday, pretty much slept 2 days, and then the sickness hit. Cough, fever, felt like shit. I usually have a low body temp, like 97 and I had a 102 fever. I was owned. Doctors were closed on the weekend, and I was good to go by Monday. Back to biz as normal, started to catch up at work, paperwork, and anything else I put off for a month, went out one weekend and it came back. I attempted to make doctor appointments and kept getting the we can see you in 3 weeks…and I was like “I am sick now you assfuck”… finally was referred to like a quick care thing, got a sweet script for some Zpack, and a few days later I was feeling back to normal (ish) and started getting to work, even buying a fun new domain: ItalianBeef.com (c:

One of the things I got from the trip was my need to live back in the city, so started to look for a place. I started looking and working with an awesome real estate agent, and saw a few places I liked a lot and playing on the mortgage calculator. Then I saw one I loved. Yada Yada yada…. I am closing on a loft sometime in January. I was on the phone this morning with my real estate agent, a lawyer, the home inspector and a fucking mortgage broker. Now I am on a plane flying to Pubcon Vegas…. When I get home I am back for a week, need to meet with my accountant, for end of year business related things, go to the housing inspection, get any paperwork to the mortgage brokers, see family and do xmas stuff, get work in order and then prepare for a 2.5 week trip to Dublin, Rome and Florence.

My life is a bit chaotic right now, but it is far from sucking. 100% happy, 25% stressed out.

If my communication with you has been sketchy the above would be why. Happy Holidays and see ya next year. I am guessing after the move I should be back to “normal” in around March. I also should have a spare sleeping area for 2, so come and visit me in Chicago (c:

Darren and Nora bring you DMD – Dominic Michael Dalasta:

Martijn and Hye Sung bring you Quinten:

Congrats to the 6 of you! Werty.net baby spam wear on its way (c:

I went out last night to a Lithuanian Restaurant, had amazing food and tons to drink. Then played some darts and was hoisted in my chair 29 times. Today I felt the pain of last nights events, and swore off drinking for at least 24 hours.

One of the gifts I received was a skateboard, so it will be interesting to see how I handle that. I was always terrible when I tried in my younger years. My balance has improved greatly since my youth once I understood how it all works. Still have no doubts I will at least crack my ass in half a few times.

If your birthday is august 19th, happy birthday and you share it with the following people:

me Year Name Year
Hope Dever (2) 2005
Darby Hinton (50) 1957
Faith Dever (2) 2005
Gerda Verburg (50) 1957
Trenton Rogers (7) 2000
Márta Sebestyén (50) 1957
Ella Guevara (9) 1998
Adam Arkin (51) 1956
Joseph Castanon (10) 1997
Harry Cleven (51) 1956
Taylor Hadsell (10) 1997
Avrel Fisher (51) 1956
Yuki Kadooka (11) 1996
Noelle Pinne 1955
John Evans (XXI) 1995
Robin Jacob 1955
Ashley Hale 1992
Cecil Lester Stout III 1955
Nathan Lopez 1991
Ned Yost 1955
Jessica Mann 1990
Manolo García (III) 1955
Danny Turner 1989
Peter Gallagher (I) 1955
Lil' Romeo 1989
Debbie D'Amore 1955
Cody Ross Pitts 1988
Tom West (III) 1954
Travis Tedford 1988
Gyözö Mihályi 1954
Chris Campbell (XV) 1988
Hans-Joachim Frank 1954
Scotty Hauser 1988
Jörg Bundschuh 1953
Thiago Martins 1988
Andrew Barrett (I) 1953
Matthew Scharch 1988
Mary Matalin 1953
Natasha Slayton 1988
Gary Oberst 1953
Jessie Summers 1987
Benoît Régent 1953
Phillip Joseph Berns 1987
Nanni Moretti 1953
G.E. Simmons Falk 1987
Hubrecht Nijhuis 1952
Nils Reucker 1987
John Westermann 1952
Anaïs Lameche 1987
Nenad Stojanovski 1952
Marlon (I) 1987
Kim McCaw 1952
Peter Dukes (IV) 1987
Jonathan Frakes 1952
Ted Lothrop 1986
Lillian Müller (I) 1952
Danielle Snowdon 1986
Lon Kruger 1952
Lindsey Jacobellis 1985
Elja Pelgrom 1951
Daniela Herrero 1985
Árni Pétur Guðjónsson 1951
Asami (II) 1985
Ana Maria Miranda 1951
J. Evan Bonifant 1985
Brenda Hampton 1951
Derek Spear 1985
János Karácsony 1951
Morten Lilleris 1985
Hugh Edwards (I) 1951
Ali Kat 1984
Randi Oakes 1951
Trent Baines 1984
Vladimir Konkin 1951
Brandi Lawson 1984
John Deacon (I) 1951
Phillip Chernyak 1984
Robert Achs 1950
Linus Lauthers 1984
Jennie Bond (I) 1950
Nick Raynes 1984
Erika Skrotzki 1949
Brandon Adams (II) 1984
Mirjana Nikolic (I) 1949
David Jedidiah Rose 1984
István Göz 1949
Micah Alberti 1984
Béla Paudits 1949
Aimee-Lynn Chadwick 1984
Feryal Koçyigit 1949
Sándor Balla 1983
Toshio Suzuki (I) 1948
Jacquese Smith 1983
George Putnam (II) 1948
'Missy' Higgins 1983
Robert Hughes (III) 1948
Tammin Sursok 1983
Elliot Lurie 1948
Bobby Monahan 1983
Joanna Kasperska 1948
Cheryl-Anne Panlilio 1983
Tipper Gore 1948
Nikki Knox 1982
Walter Crommelin 1948
Scorchio Pepo 1982
Dave Dutton 1947
Brian J. Martin 1982
Gerald McRaney 1947
Adisorn Insee 1982
Masaru Hoshi 1947
David Geiss 1982
Dawn Steel (I) 1946
Andrew Hyatt 1982
Jackie Cooper Jr. 1946
Tyler Lieberman 1982
Bill Clinton (I) 1946
Christina Polumbo 1982
Randall Robinson 1946
Melissa Gallo (II) 1982
Charles F. Bolden Jr. 1946
Trevor Haldenby 1982
Christopher Malcolm 1946
Traci Borders 1982
Rolf Junghanns 1945
Drew Broderick 1982
Sandro (I) 1945
Brian Shultzabarger 1982
Ian Gillan 1945
Justin Vancho 1982
Brian Godding 1945
Kerry Song 1982
Bodil Malmsten 1944
Erika Christensen 1982
Jenõ Knézy 1944
Claudia Salinas 1981
Seppo Ahti 1944
Tara Gerard 1981
Ali Hatami 1944
Autumn Austin 1981
Bernardo Baraj 1944
Paige Jones 1981
José Agustín 1944
Jeff Jacobs (I) 1981
Billy J. Kramer 1943
Tae-yeong Son 1980
Ineke Swanevelt 1943
Emily Dormer 1980
Árpád Csernák 1943
Balázs Simonyi 1980
Luko Paljetak 1943
Duke Bishop 1980
Koshiro Matsumoto 1942
Luíza Mariani 1980
Fred Dalton Thompson 1942
Vanessa do Amaral 1980
Béla Rigó 1942
Darius Danesh 1980
Ray Cooper (II) 1942
Joshua Hale Fialkov 1979
Allan Monk 1942
Jay Della Valle 1979
Jeanne Valérie 1941
Katia Corriveau 1979
Jacques Buron 1941
Julián Catz 1979
Tony Roper (I) 1941
Sarah Madden 1978
Pedro Costa (I) 1941
Thomas Jones (VII) 1978
Jan Claire (I) 1940
Jarrod Canepa 1978
Johnny Nash 1940
Court Bauer 1978
Roger Cook (II) 1940
Jennifer Santich 1978
Jill St. John 1940
Nønne Katrine Rosenring 1978
José Luis Balbín 1940
Joe Gabriel 1978
Govind Nihalani 1940
Ana Paula Tabalipa 1978
Marc Simenon 1939
Celeste Crawford 1978
Ginger Baker 1939
Brittany Istre 1978
Claus Loof (I) 1939
Ragnhild Marie Pedersen 1978
Wilson Goode 1938
Lorraine Deliva 1978
Vera Galatíková 1938
Claudia Lizaldi 1978
Mercedes Rodríguez 1938
Rashaad Ernesto Green 1978
Gábor Oláh (I) 1938
Callum Blue 1977
Diana Muldaur 1938
Ryan Pinette 1977
Richard Ingrams 1937
Karnell Matthews 1977
Aubert Pallascio 1937
Jeffery Houston 1977
Karl Rasmusson (I) 1937
Elle Russ 1977
Aleksandr Vampilov 1937
Jean-Claude Batiste 1976
Gianfranco D'Angelo 1936
Vivian Lee (II) 1976
Llorenç Soler 1936
Christina Pitrelli 1976
Mel Downey 1936
Mike Justice (I) 1976
Ming Yu (II) 1936
Demia Moor 1976
Story Musgrave 1935
Elisabeth L. Frech 1976
Bobby Richardson (I) 1935
Lea Goodwin 1976
Bobby Richardson (III) 1935
Jarrod Blaesing 1976
Nobuo Yana 1935
Paul Miglio 1976
Renee Richards (I) 1934
Lani Gelera 1975
Naná 1934
Grégory Valais 1975
Sten Norlén 1934
Tracie Thoms 1975
Yasuo Furuhata 1934
Holly Eglington 1975
Michel Régnier (I) 1934
Larissa Rojas 1975
Ed Zang 1934
Joshua C. Valentine 1975
Debra Paget 1933
Ragnheidur Gestadóttir 1975
Guy Grosso 1933
Doug Carter (I) 1975
Wlodzimierz Kaczmarski 1933
Justin Kelly (II) 1975
Roy Field 1932
Kelly Gunning 1975
Branko Milosevic 1932
Stan Larsen (I) 1975
Willie Shoemaker 1931
Brian Ray (I) 1975
William Shoemaker 1931
Iván Laxe 1974
Marianne Koch 1931
Janko Rakos 1974
Wincenty Grabarczyk 1931
Gustavo Ariel Conti 1974
Don Burroughs 1931
Nikola Vukcevic 1974
James Crabe 1931
Andrew Wilder (I) 1974
Frank McCourt (I) 1930
Caroline Vasicek 1974
Günter Wolf (I) 1930
David Patten 1974
Bülent Ufuk 1929
Ryô Fukawa 1974
Haroldo de Campos 1929
Violet Saenz-Arocha 1974
Brian Roper 1929
Drazen Bosnjak 1973
Roberta Haynes (I) 1929
Andrew Piper 1973
Lars Lönndahl 1928
Marco Materazzi 1973
Bernard Levin 1928
Adéla Gondíková 1973
Klári Bán 1928
Jason Horgan 1973
Walter Massey 1928
Kronprinsesse Mette Marit 1973
Zdenka Hersak 1928
Ana Valeria Dini 1973
Norman Brooks (I) 1928
Ahmed Best 1973
Lei Ilima 1928
William Chiu (I) 1973
Laurette Luez 1928
Amy Harber 1973
Ivan Owen 1927
Thomas Ho 1973
L.Q. Jones 1927
Penélope Nova 1973
Chiyonosuke Azuma 1926
Maye Larotonda 1972
Annie Palmen 1926
Elizabeth Wolfgramm 1972
Everett Chambers 1926
Johnny Cicco 1972
Angus Scrimm 1926
Sammi Cheng 1972
Marilee Phelps 1926
Roberto Abbondanzieri 1972
Arthur Rock 1926
Yvette Nelson 1972
Willy Purucker 1925
Dave Reda 1972
Ottokar Runze 1925
Andro Dgebuadze 1971
Atluri Pundarikakshaiah 1925
Kellynn Jones 1971
Bud Furillo 1925
Haidée Augusta 1971
Piotr Pawlowski 1925
Tragedy Khadafi 1971
Michael Allan (I) 1924
Sergei Lukinsky 1971
Marilyn Harris (II) 1924
Thilo Röscheisen 1971
Aloisio T. de Carvalho 1924
Mary Jo Fernandez 1971
William Marshall (I) 1924
Lee Ryder (III) 1971
Jean-Paul Beaudry 1924
Anacris Maggiolini 1971
Andrzej Braun 1923
Harry Grissom 1971
Luchi De Jesus 1923
Brian McCole 1971
Václav Gajer 1923
Fat Joe 1970
Erik Aalbæk Jensen 1923
Terri Dawn Arnold 1970
Zoltán Gera 1923
Alex Alonso (III) 1970
Carl Otto Petersen 1923
Jordan Silver 1970
Edward Rayne 1922
Cary Burch (I) 1970
Doris Revier 1922
Santiago García (IV) 1970
Pavel Ayedonitsky 1922
Marco Castilla 1970
Jytte Grathwohl 1922
Oli Weiss 1970
Pasquale Cajano 1921
Rob Heydon 1970
David Lodge (I) 1921
Shane Krause 1969
Rudolf Woldrich 1921
Kirk Herbstreit 1969
Gene Roddenberry 1921
Alexander O'Neal (I) 1969
Frank L. Thompson 1920
Darryl Crews 1969
Jean Le Bouvier 1920
Jeannine Oldfield 1969
Hugh Manning 1920
Karen Forscutt 1969
Tito Gómez (I) 1920
Matthew Perry (I) 1969
Ralph Story (I) 1920
Randall Slavin (I) 1969
Siegfried Seibt 1920
Paula Jai Parker 1969
Paul Kont 1920
Torkel Petersson 1969
Joseph Wershba 1920
Patrick Van Horn (I) 1969
Malcolm S. Forbes 1919
Clay Walker (II) 1969
Joaquín Soler Serrano 1919
Matt Franco 1969
Oscar L. Valdés 1919
Kim M. Ferry 1968
Jose Saracino 1919
Michael Hateley 1968
Sy Gomberg 1918
Jeff Burrows (II) 1968
Floyd Huddleston 1918
Ronnie Apteker 1967
Michael Dyne 1918
Victor Trent Cook 1967
Jimmy Rowles 1918
Louie del Carmen 1967
Karl-Arne Bergman 1918
Lucy Briers 1967
Marie Wilson (I) 1916
Martin Lischer 1967
Orhan Hançerlioglu 1916
Tom Piechura 1967
William Martel 1916
Chris Cormier (I) 1967
Ring Lardner Jr. 1915
Aaron Leventman 1967
Sterling Robson 1915
Andrea Tallós 1967
Manuel Guimarães 1915
Tabitha Soren 1967
Herman Stein 1915
Ági Kökényessy 1967
Gypsy Boots 1914
Michael Waeghe 1967
Aracy de Almeida 1914
Tarmo Ruubel 1967
Fumio Hayasaka 1914
Andreas Hummel 1967
Dick Simmons (I) 1913
Frédérique Huydts 1967
Harry Mills 1913
Nandana Sen 1967
Constance Worth (I) 1912
John Dalton (I) 1967
Oreste Palella 1912
Woody Williams (I) 1966
Angelo Bertolini 1912
Lee Ann Womack 1966
Tomás Fernández (I) 1911
Lilián García 1966
Patience Collier 1910
András Kõrösi 1966
Jun Tazaki 1910
Armin Wolf (I) 1966
Jerzy Andrzejewski 1909
Troy Aguayo (I) 1966
Antonio Merayo 1909
Dan Remmes 1966
Alan Brock (I) 1909
Andreas Ruft 1966
Joan Peers 1909
Maria de Medeiros 1965
Frank Tipper 1909
Javier Beltran 1965
Warren Knowles 1908
Rubens Caribé 1965
Arthur Calder-Marshall 1908
Jean-Luc Marino 1965
Collier Young 1908
Yumi Yoshiyuki 1965
Lyle 'Spud' Murphy 1908
Hans-Christian Schmid 1965
Jarmila Vacková 1908
Bud Myrick 1965
Barry Kelley (I) 1908
Julianne Humbert 1965
Thruston B. Morton 1907
Richard Hughes (II) 1965
Myno Burney 1907
Eugene Ashe 1965
Jirí Srnka 1907
Ana Labordeta 1965
Humphrey Jennings 1907
Kyra Sedgwick 1965
Philo T. Farnsworth 1906
Kevin Dillon (I) 1965
Alexis France 1906
Glen G. Doyle 1965
Judith Hellwig 1906
James Tomkins (II) 1965
June Collyer 1906
Nicolina Nicthe-Pharr 1965
Eddie Durham 1906
Frank Vercruyssen 1965
Leonid Solovyov 1905
Kevin Carrico 1964
Emilie Cabanne 1905
Faruk Karaçay 1964
Claude Dauphin 1903
Dina Deville 1964
James Gould Cozzens 1903
Federico Scribani 1964
Lewis Sargent 1903
Carla Ferrari 1964
Rosaline Courtneidge 1903
Eric Le Boloc'h 1964
Patrick Waddington 1903
Robbie Vinton 1964
Krunoslava Ebric-Frlic 1903
Christoph Schrewe 1964
Nikoloz Shengelaya (I) 1903
Dermott Brereton 1964
Muriel Kirkland 1903
Richard Herrey 1964
Georges Lacombe 1902
Jon-Michael Stuart 1963
Robert H. Planck 1902
John Tempesta 1963
Ogden Nash 1902
Darcy DeMoss 1963
Ernst Morgan 1902
Patxi Alonso 1963
Margaret Willey 1901
James 'Poorman' Trenton 1963
Colleen Moore (I) 1900
Robin Freeman (I) 1963
Marion L. Boswell 1900
Marcos Palmeira 1963
Franco Corsaro 1900
Michiru Akiyoshi 1963
Violet Molitor 1899
John Stamos 1963
Kenneth MacKenna 1899
Joey Tempest 1963
John C. Wilson 1899
Sai-Wing Yip 1963
Charlie Hall (I) 1899
Kiki Classen 1963
Alexander Lix 1899
Stu 'Large' Riley 1963
Charles R. Hall 1899
Bonnie Bianco 1963
Eleanor Boardman 1898
Micha Shitrit 1962
Louise Lagrange 1898
Valérie Kaprisky 1962
Francisco Alves (I) 1898
Eric Lutes 1962
Elina Kolehmainen (II) 1897
Tammy Bruce 1962
Olga Baclanova 1896
Paul Ricioppo 1961
Felix Wayne 1896
Cor Bakker 1961
John Harlow (I) 1896
Richard Stambaugh 1961
Cliff Blackstone 1895
Maria Theresia Wagner 1961
Jane Eccles 1895
Marline Williams 1961
Afonso Stuart 1895
Jonathan Coe 1961
Abraham Holzmann 1894
Francesca Comencini 1961
Giorgio De Rege 1894
Christiane Tricerri 1961
Harvey B. Dunn 1894
Tony Longo 1961
Jane Bernoudy 1893
Ville Virtanen 1961
Enzo Masetti 1893
Morten Andersen (II) 1960
Elsie Waters 1893
Paul Satterfield (II) 1960
Marie Manley 1893
Frank Rossi (I) 1960
Thomas Charles Arnold 1893
Frank Rossi (III) 1960
Joseph C. Wright 1892
Bobby Hebert 1960
Lloyd Hamilton 1891
Zoltán Rátóti 1960
István Károlyi 1890
Ron Darling 1960
Bert Hanlon 1890
Ignác Farkas 1959
Alves da Cunha 1889
Ashley Knight (I) 1959
Géza Kardos 1888
Terry Crotzer 1959
Elsie Ferguson (I) 1883
Henry Herrera (I) 1958
Coco Chanel 1883
Daryl Sutter 1958
Stefania Betcherowa 1882
Tomasz Samosionek 1958
Edward Shulter 1881
David Mersault 1958
Georges Enesco 1881
Laura Coker 1958
Fred Stone (I) 1873
Marijke Pinoy 1958
Carl Petersen (I) 1870
Anthony Munoz (I) 1958
Bernard Baruch 1870
Gary Chapman (I) 1957
William Burress 1867
Martin Donovan (II) 1957
William Burgess (I) 1867
Mary Jo Eustace 1957
Georges Denola 1865
Christian Tasche 1957
Adele Sandrock 1864
Helen Jarvis 1957
Lawrence D'Orsay 1853
Kenneth Söderman 1957
Samuel Richardson (I) 1689

  You have my vote, quit emailing me.

-the trose

I am awesome.

Well anyhow I figured since I want to read your emails maybe I could support you by donating some money… all they accept is credit cards, so I wrote in and told them they should also take paypal donations… Fuck giving them my CC info.

Lastly as I was looking at the site they were pushing http://my.barackobama.com/ which is pretty much a niche rip-off of myspace. Here you can do the following:

• build your own profile and connect with supporters near you
• find or create your own local or national group
• create your own personal fundraising page and track your progress
• find events near you or plan your own
• chronicle your campaign experience on your own blog

Well this kind of pushed me over the edge… I do not see the point, and I would never join a social network on a political website. I think it is kind of lame that they are using "web 2,0" to promote their agenda… maybe I am just getting old?

I was forgot I scanned this awesome picture the other day. It is from the anti static bag they put a laptop in (you can see my laptop in the background). It shows some helpless little cartoon character who had enough of the living world, and is deciding to enter the dying world. The little shit puts a bag over his head, and chokes himself with his hand.

I love this guy.

Dell apparently does not want you choking yourself, so they put a slash through the image.

Read more about my obsession with Dell.

Last weekend I received a Good Housekeeping Magazine (april 2007 issue) from my sister as some sort of weird surprise. There is a woman on the cover who lost 102 lbs and I thought my sister was trying to hint that I am a some sort of fat fuck… which I don't deny.

Baffled, I look through this high quality publication with disgust flipping through page after page still not getting WTF my sister was trying to get at. So she tells me to turn to page 91. There I find an article called "Google for free repairs". I think my sister turned into my grandma and started to snip articles of anything related to Google. She tells me to read… I do. I get to the 4th paragraph, or 3rd bullet point and see the following:

Be Clear And Concise
Recently, my son's video iPod appeared to be dead. But before buying a new one, I decided to bring the old iPod back to life. After Googling "my iPod froze", I was directed to WERTY.NET (caps added for dramatic effect), a blog that includes tech information (but also – fair warning – some four-letter words). The blog's two-step thawing trick: "Toggle the Hold switch on and off. (Slide it to Hold, then turn it off again.) Press and hold the Menu and Select (center button) buttons until the Apple logo appears, about 6 to 19 second." Voila! The iPod revived, and so did my bank account. Savings: $249 (cost of new iPod).

So how flipping brilliant is it that my shitty blog can wear this sweet baby:

If you don't believe me, RUN over to your local grocery store and flip to page 91 and you will see this:

Anyhow, thank you Richard Eisenberg for showing the trose some LOVE. <3

It has been a week and I am still waiting to get some sweet milf /housewife action out of this name drop.

Update: Now on their website for those naysayers!

You know, werty makes a great name for a boy or girl.

Sami and Maria have yet to name their little baby boy, but last I heard Sami voted for wërtÿ which is Finnish for werty. Time will tell.

And no, I did not eat a steak or perform fellatio on myself,  but I did pamper myself with some things I have been wanting.

Tonight I treated myself with enough art supplies to make 9 paintings in a series I have been planning out for a while. In addition to that  I got supplies to paint some paintings I have had in my head for about 3 years. I am not sure when I will get to the paintings in my head…I need to gather the pictures, then come up with a composition I am happy with…then a accurate painting… it could be years. One step closer for now.

Those other 9 I am guessing I can breeze through in a few months and sell for a few million

I plan to remove my car from the garage and turn it into a studio. That is until I find a better space to paint in.

Wish me luck and stay tuned.

Some big news has happened for some friends of mine. A few nights ago my son Sami and his gf Maria had a sweet baby boy. They have yet to name him, which is a common thing in Finland (so they say??). Little Werty is quite cute. I am convinced if if keep calling him that it may stick.

I talked to Maria today and she and the baby are doing just perfect. You can see a pic on Maria's Blog.

In other news I gave birth to a new site for my dad;Naper Valley Masonry – A Naperville Bricklayer. I talked about it in the past. I added some real content to it, actually put some info on my pages that were full of lorem ipsum and launched that bitch with a trose style PPC account. 2 days latter a lead was born. I am pretty impressed with they way it launched. Google Adwords had a bunch of pretty cool local features and I am driving targeted traffic for pretty cheap…

I was a little worried about how much traffic I could get, because I launched with MSN first… still yet to get a click from them. I think do to the geo targeting I have in place. Google went way smoother and I was actually able to do some radius targeting as well as a city name based one. Also they are throwing maps up for a bunch of the local searches and getting placed on the maps is pretty easy. I also shocked how much traffic is coming from the maps… I am tracking it separately.

This is the first time I promoted a brick and mortar in a while and Google makes it pretty simple to set up an effective ad campaign. The downside is you need a pretty decent site to convert your visitors into leads or customers.

I think there is lots of opportunity for small business site design and marketing… most of the competitors in this are broke ass landing pages from service master or something similar, but I think some important detail is unclear to most of the people that try to sell stuff to the small businesses…they do not give a shit about the internet. Sure they want more business, sure they want to lower their cost per lead/etc…but they want no involvement with the site… I dealt with this in the past when dealing with small companies like my dads. My dad gave me like 20 words of content total for his site… I had to hire writers to put the thing together and I came up with all the content for the rest of it. If my dad was a client and not my dad I would have told him to fuck off numerous times and gone to a client who was willing to put effort in… if there are any.

So based on this and my experience in the past, there is definitely a market for advertising and marketing services for the small business, but dealing with them is a pain in the ass, they do not have much money to spend, not willing to put any effort into their site, and do not know how to track the results… I do not think landing pages are the answer because I do not think they have enough info to sell the user/visitor, and they have only slightly more value than a phone book listing.

For around $1000 investment and a hundred dollars a month I am guessing  a savvy bussiness man could whoop the competition in 60% + of the local markets (non large city) and maintain that position for a long time.  Good luck trying to sell that them though.

What have you noticed if you ever tried working with tiny businesses?