Website is Down!

For those of you who's ever had to be the administrator of anything technical, you will surely enjoy this. If you've ever been given trouble for something breaking, when clearly it wasn't your fault, you will defintely relate.

It's a 10-minute short and is from www.thewebsiteisdown.com.

SEO, it's where the money's at!

Nowadays, you can find anyone to build you a website. Working in the .COM business, I've had clients hire top marketing and web design firms thousands of dollars to young high school/college students in exchange for internship hours (I use to be one of them!).

In the early 2000's/late 90's, web designers could get away charging thousands of dollars per website. Unfortunately, web designers are as abundant as the number of houses for sale on the market (in this current economy). Secondly, flash intensive sites are now overshadowed by search engine ranking requirements. When it comes down to it, how much value is an extravagant (and expensive) flash site worth, if it' can't be found in search engines?

According to Google® or Yahoo® search engines, it isn't worth much - ranking wise. Nowadays, it's all about relevant content on the websites and interlinking with relevant content related websites. Google® has a certain formula (or what we nerds call algorithm) that determines how a website is ranked in searches. These are based on many factors that are listed on your website. Unfortunately, Google® changes these factors (reportedly) once a month. Therefore, someone ranked #1 this month may not be possibly be that ranking the next month.

Theoretically, it encourages webmasters to frequently update their website with current information. Secondly, it discourages website spammers from saturating the Internet with... well, crap.

Recently, I've been thinking about furthering my education in Web Design. Realistically, it is still necessary to have those fundamental skills to develop websites. I've even thought about getting a second undergraduate degree at the Art Institute of Phoenix, just so I can claim master to that specific trade. Not to say I'm not fairly expert and educated already (I've graduated the University of Arizona with a BA in Political Science (minors in Media Arts and Business) back in 2004).

However, I'm worried with the trend of web design being readily available to anyone by anyone. In this industry, if you can master the art and dynamic of web design, uniqueness and talent will play a part whether you can get a job or not. So I've decided I'll focus on the next opportunity out there: search engine optimization (SEO for short, is the act of optimizing a website on search engines).

In my research, SEO firms charge a tremendous amount to customers. It's a tedious task to be ranked appropriately. With Google® updating their algorithms often, it takes a lot of time, effort and adjustment for a website to be ranked appropriately.

As for me, I'm getting certified on WebCEO's SEO training program via online. (See the link below.) While I'm doing so, I will further my education and training on web design and development, whether it's self-teaching or getting that second undergraduate degree.

Until then, I want be where the demand (and money) is at: Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Misty May and Other Top Olympians

Apparently there is a blog about Misty May's bum ( http://mistymaysass.blogspot.com ). Here's my two cents about the recent Olympics. Oh and Michael Phelps is also a stud.

W. Trailer

I respect George W. Bush and his administration for taking on his presidency the way he did. Any other president would be under even more scrutiny. Maybe thanks to Oliver Stone, maybe George W. Bush will be a little more respected for who he is. The trailer looks good, hopefully Hollywood liberalism won't overdramatize him to be a bastard.  

Looks like a pretty all-star cast though, as you will see. 

President Bush vs Women's Volleyball Team

Valarous attempt by W.

Chipotle Grand Opening

It was a glorious day when a Chipotle opened in my neighborhood (South Mountain/Phoenix area). I'll have to admit, I've already visited there twice once for breakfast and lunch on the grand opening day.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Restaurants are actually ranked as one of the top most healthiest fast food chains. It's with good reason. If you choose wisely, you can get a Burrito Bol for less than 400-600 calories. (The actual tortilla holds the most carbs and calories.)

I even contemplated on going on a Chipotle diet, in hopes nobody has done that before. Unfortunately, I go to register "ChipotleDiet.com" and find it's already registered to some guy who claims he lost 90lbs. Apparently, he visited Chipotle twice a day eating only Burrito Bol's but loading it up with all the good stuff (including the Guacamole, Cheese and Sour Cream). Ultimately incorporating exercise, he was able to drop the weight. So much for being original. I was going to blog about it too.

Since it is within walking distance, I figure if I am going to have that tasty meal several times a week, I'll have to work for it by running or walking to it. Sounds like a good compromise.

Wedding Plans (Chapter 1): Planning Begins

After a lovely vacation in May 2008, Lisa and I have since returned from Hawaii to resume our regularly normal lives back in Phoenix. We have planned to keep announcements about the wedding unofficial, just until we square down a contract and specific date.

Our top choices for locations were to have it in her hometown of Tempe, San Diego, Cabo San Lucas, or Hawaii. For Cabo San Lucas, we decided to eliminate it since passports for our guests would be an issue, and as well as we did not really have any wedding type connections in Mexico. San Diego was also another good idea but we did not know anyone there either. In Tempe, we visited a few places that took care of the whole ceremony and reception package. Lastly, we investigated a few places in Hawaii and found one in particular to our liking called "Turtle Bay Resort" on Oahu's North Shore.

If we were to have it in Tempe, our wedding (out-of-pocket) costs would be significantly higher due to a higher head count (80+ people). This is in comparison to having a smaller destination wedding in Hawaii (40 people and a few thousand dollars cheaper). Hawaii is currently our number one pick and we are probably going to have it here (still unofficial).

We have a deadline to make July 30th, in which we are to sign off to a contract at Turtle Bay Resort. Although, we are fortunate to have assistance from our families, I still believe I have every right to negotiate and obtain the best value for this wedding. Having come from a business oriented background professionally, I have a tremendous issue of paying for this service without the ability to negotiate for the best price and value.

Needless to say, it's certainly one of the cheapest deals around, it's a premiere location on Hawaii, a majority of the planning is being taken care of, and this is to be a very memorable day for both of us. I comprehend that and my willingness to negotiate doesn't make feel any less of the product we are paying for.

If I were to pay for the price sum they are asking for, I feel it would be a better value to simply have a complimentary room for the Bride/Groom for the weekend. That's what I want out of this deal, and if I can squeeze in a round of golf for our groom/bride party, that would be even better.

In our current 2008 economy, leisure travel has been down and thus effecting the hotel industry significantly. I have a colleague in the Hotel industry run the numbers for Hawaii (Oahu) and found that to be true statistically. To make up for lost revenue, Hawaii hotels trend to increase the pricing per night. In Oahu, $175/night is the average price to stay.

I can only imagine the margin made off the catering department for the price we are going to pay. Especially in this hurting economy, I'm sure these resorts and hotels can sure use the revenue. Asking for a complimentary room for the bride/groom to use for the wedding night isn't a whole lot to ask. The worst they can say is "no", right?

For more information about our potential wedding hotspot visit:
http://www.turtlebayresort.com/

Phoenix Suns Official Season Ticket Holder

After one year of being on the season ticket holder list, I've finally received the call to purchase season tickets! Yes, I recall bitching about the fact my recent experience with the sales representative there wasn't par. Fortunately for me, I'm over it.



After investing $200 last year just to be on a waiting list to get Season Tickets, I've recently received a phone call from the Phoenix Suns. I have 4 tickets in the 200 level seating. Unfortunately, good seats require seniority and time to get into the 100 level seating. It's well worth it, as I can probably sell off seats and other games I don't want to be at.

I figure this is a good start nonetheless. I'm in it with a few guys from work so it helps cut down the cost because it was just a little bit expensive.

Phoenix Suns 2008-2009 season, here I come!

Register .ME - savinDomains.com

Effective July 17th, ICANN recently released open registration for the new Top Level Domain (TLD) or domain extension - .ME.

Although it can be use for anything from business to personal, the .ME is designed for Bloggers, Myspace, Facebook or any social networking type website user. For example, if you wanted to register your name to your Myspace.com URL, you can simply purchase the .ME with your own name and forward it. Same thing goes for Blogger.com accounts.

Visit http://dotme.savinDomains.com and register your .ME domain today!

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savinDomains.com offers the cheapest domain name registration in the industry. Let savinDomains.com be your source for cheap .ME registrations.

Microsoft Surface

I thought the iPhone was an extraordinary product. With it's user touch-based intuitiveness and integration of multimedia, it is no wonder Time Magazine called it "the Best Invention of the Year."

Secretly, we (the consumer public) forget that technology is always evolving and while Steve Jobs is building his Apple empire, Microsoft is looking ahead to the future....

Meet Microsoft Surface (http://www.microsoft.com/surface), the future of multimedia and interactive technology. Surface is interactive computing taken to the next level. With Surface, users can actually grab multimedia with our hands, and move information between objects simply through touch.

Bill Gates had the opportunity to preview his new project at this past CES. Although, it's not main stream, AT&T stores and T-Mobile stores are soon-to-be launching new Surface displays to display their products. Eventually, Surface would take over retail, restaurants and entertainment. Harrah's Casino in Las Vegas is the first deployment of Surface in an entertainment / bar atmosphere.


Video: Microsoft Surface at the Rio in Las Vegas

And although, the Surface is probably a few years ahead of it's time now, and out of budget for the average consumer, Microsoft Surface is probably the next great technological innovation. Actually, I've tend to keep an open mind; the iPhone did drop $199 after only 1 year of it's first generation. Now only if Microsoft can push product branding and consistency like with what Apple did with the iPhone/iPod products, we just might be able to see a Surface PC in our homes a little sooner.