I’ve had a long-standing pact with myself about how my Website would operate and function. It was simple. The site would run on it’s own, without ads. That’s all well and good, but times have changed.
As a consumer, I’m not a huge fan of banner ads or on-site advertising, especially if unless it has nothing to do with the site that I’m on or the topic I’m reading about. I do, however, understand it’s necessary. Knowing your readers interests is as important when serving ads as it is when writing content. That said, I’ve begun adding select banner ads on the blog sections of the site.
The ads are hand-picked by me and are in-line with the content you’ll see me right about. I’ve just about finalized the ad zones and will be making some visual adjustments to mark these areas as advertisements.
Posted on 06/03/11 at 09:11 PM - Categories:
NewsPersonal
I'm getting back into the blogging swing of after a long block of client projects. I'm finding it's like getting back on a bike after not riding for a while, it takes some time to get reacquainted with things and finding a rhythm. In fact, my wife has been writing more than I have over the last few weeks and that's helped fuel my desire to get back in the game. It's good to be back...I missed you guys.
Posted on 04/21/11 at 06:37 AM - Categories:
Personal
Sometimes the most effective ads don't need any (spoken) words to get their point across. Thank you Chevrolet for making this very classy, poignant ad honoring one of the greatest ever.
Heroes. Young kids have them, aspire to be them, and to some extents, worship them. Some adults have those same tendencies. As we grow up, our heroes change and take on new faces, traits, personalities. I've had many heroes through the years. Now that I'm in my 30s, I still have people that I look up to, both in personal and professional spaces, but I'm not sure I'd call them heroes. They're interesting characters, they have aspects of their lives that I admire or find interesting, even though they're not perfect. They are human after all. So are heroes. I learned that the hard way on February 18, 2001.
Ten years. Ten years have gone by since Dale Earnhardt died on the last lap of the Daytona 500. As with any anniversary, I've read and seen more stories and documentaries about Dale over the past week than can ever remember. I've seen other fans express their thoughts on how they feel after this time and it's helped me get a handle on how I've been feeling this week. I've wrestled with the thought of posting anything having to do with Dale here, because it doesn't apply to tech, design, or general geekdom...but it is a part of who I am and what drives me to do what I do.
One of the guys.
I'll say this about NASCAR, it's an accessible sport. The broadcasters on both TV and radio perform an amazing feat of putting the action in front of you and making you feel like your part of the show no matter where you may be tuning in. It's this accessibility and openness that draws fans in, lets them associate with a driver (or two) and root for them. You get to know them, understand where they came from, and cheer them on as if they were family. Dale Earnhardt was like family to many people.
To say he was a force is an understatement. To some, he was the sport and although that's not true, there are people that haven't watched a NASCAR race in ten years because Dale is no longer around. Trying to explain that type of impact is difficult. You can't compare it to other sports and even when you do, the comparison doesn't stack up. He was an amalgamation of John Wayne, Superman, and any other iconic character you could imagine. He was called the Intimidator and lived up to that moniker.
Admiration on many levels.
I've been a fan of NASCAR since 1994. I've been a fan of Dale Earnhardt since that time too. Having had aspirations of racing professionally myself, I gravitated to him because he was what I wasn't. That's what drew many fans to cheer for him and even those that despised him. Through it all, the wrecks, the hard-charging determination, ruffled tempers and tattered sheet metal, fans and competitors respected him. He was as savvy a businessman as he was gifted behind the wheel. He'd make jaw-dropping moves in the car one minute, and then have you chuckling over an interview the next.
It was the perfect combination of characteristics to become enthralled with. No matter what field of work you were in, you could take something away from how he handled himself and his business and use that to build your own dreams.
Dealing with the loss of a hero.
The night I heard about Dale's death I wrote something to help myself deal with the situation. I wish I still had a copy of what I'd written. Even after ten years, I still get choked up break down when I see that final lap, even if the crash isn't shown. Every time. It's a torturous Pavlovian response if there ever was one. My wife has even asked me why I watch those clips, especially since I know the outcome. I guess on some level I'm wishing the outcome changes. Just once.
Posted on 02/18/11 at 05:30 AM - Categories:
Personal
Back in my college years, I decided to act on an urge that I'd had since high school. I was going to try my hand at auto racing. I'd actually looked into buying an old Chevy Nova with a friend while I was still in high school, but my folks quickly put an end to that. Wise move on their part. Still, the thought of getting behind the wheel intrigued me. Not just the act of racing, but the marketing aspect, working on sponsorships and partnerships, running a team were all symptoms I'd contracted from the "racing bug".
I discovered kart racing the summer before I went to college and saw that as the best way for me to break into motorsports. During Christmas break of my freshman year, a good friend and I went and bought a kart. It wasn't pretty. It needed work. It was a mess. I loved it.
After I'd gotten things rolling, the results weren't what I'd expected. I didn't expect to be the next Jeff Gordon, but a guy can dream, can't he? Through the two summers of racing and operating a karting team I decided to sell off my equipment and call it a day, but I walked away with some great knowledge that holds true.
Establish yourself.
Sponsors fuel race teams. I knew that going in, but I didn't know how to approach sponsors. At first, I went after the the biggest fish in the sea. I contacted Pennzoil, Wrangler, and a host of other large companies and pitched them on my kart team. They all, politely, said "no thanks". It didn't take me long to realize I was going after the wrong companies. I hadn't run a lap in my life and i was asking for backing from some major players. Get established before you start knocking on the big doors.
Be aware of what's around you (or "Don't get lost in the moment").
Racing is a sport of awareness. Knowing where your competitors are, how deep you're running into the corner, which lanes are open, the list goes on. You need to know and understand the environment that's around you. Hitting the track and slamming into people, putting your vehicle in places it shouldn't be, forcing the issues...that won't win you any fans, on or off the track. There's a difference in driving with purpose and driving like a jackass. This also applies to your work environment (just take out the driving part).
The first time I hit the track, I was in awe. This is what I'd dreamed of for years and I had finally arrived (to a clay oval in Shawano, Wisconsin). The first two laps I drove like Miss Daisy herself. Glued to the inside lane, puttering around as kids (I was 19 and in college) and kids in lower racing divisions were zipping past me. I was soaking everything in, the noise, the lights, the experience. By lap three it was time to go. By lap four I went into turn 1 and spun in the middle of the turn and was hit head-on. I was a little banged up, but my kart took the brunt of the impact. Lesson learned. Understand your surroundings.
Keep your cool (no matter how bad things are).
Later in my first season of racing, I had an incident where I'd lined up incorrectly during a caution flag and, when making a move to correct the mistake, I ran into the side of another kart. From where I was sitting, I was in the wrong, but I didn't expect him to be there. (Damn, there's that surrounding awareness again.) The race went green and finished without further incident. As I pulled off the track and pushed my kart back to my "pit stall" (my truck), the driver I'd run into ran over to me and fired off a verbal barrage. Looking back, I'm glad I kept my helmet on, because he was mad. I didn't have time to get my helmet off, so I just kept it on as he said/screamed his piece. It was a major blow-up. The thing is, I was in the wrong, and I knew it. After he'd finished, he went back to work on his kart and I gathered my composure. The track owner and other and other drivers were all witness to this display.
I walked over to the other driver's pit area and started to apologize, but was cut off. I tried a few more times before realizing he wouldn't listen. He went back to working on his kart. As I walked back to my area, those around me, drivers and other team members gave me looks as if to say "don't worry about it". A few of my friends even came over and told me not to worry, the other guy had a temper and was hard to reason with. Words can't say how much that meant to me.
Looking back now, the amount of support that I had in that instance might not have been so strong if I'd gotten in the other driver's face, rather than staying calm and keeping my cool. The next weekend, after pulling into the track, I noticed the other driver approach my truck. I was a bit worried, not knowing if he'd gotten over the incident or not. He stood next to my truck and waited for me to get out. After I exited, he extended his hand and said he was sorry for how he reacted the week before. I explained my side of things, we both laughed about the situation and all was good.
Make things happen.
While my short racing career wasn't as successful as I'd have liked it to be, there were some bright moments. The brightest was when I came "oh so close" to winning a race. For the better part of this race, I stayed glued to the back bumper of the leader. Waiting for him to make a mistake and slip up the track, I kept following him as laps ticked by. Little did I know, until talking to him after the race, but his engine was starting to let go and I could have easily passed him or tried to pass him on the outside. I didn't. I stuck with what seemed safe, and waiting for something that never happened, a mistake. Don't sit around and wait for things to happen.
Heroes. Young kids have them, aspire to be them, and to some extents, worship them. Some adults have those same tendencies. As we grow up, our heroes change and take on new faces, traits, personalities. I've had many heroes through the years. Now that I'm in my 30s, I still have people that I look up to, both in personal and professional spaces, but I'm not sure I'd call them heroes. They're interesting characters, they have aspects of their lives that I admire or find interesting, even though they're not perfect. They are human after all. So are heroes. I learned that the hard way on February 18, 2001.
Back in my college years, I decided to act on an urge that I'd had since high school. I was going to try my hand at auto racing. I'd actually looked into buying an old Chevy Nova with a friend while I was still in high school, but my folks quickly put an end to that. Wise move on their part. Still, the thought of getting behind the wheel intrigued me. Not just the act of racing, but the marketing aspect, working on sponsorships and partnerships, running a team were all symptoms I'd contracted from the "racing bug".