The Mouse

Even though I’m not an artist nor can I create anything even remotely attractive with a pen (you should see my handwriting) I was impressed that something so simple could be so much more effective than a mouse. I hate mice. The corded ones get their cords caught just when you need them most, and the cordless ones either have bad reception, features or battery life. I’ve only found one mouse that I loved so much I bought it twice: The Logitech MX518. (Check out CNet’s review.)  This sleek palm toy fits my hand perfectly, has side navigation buttons and on-the-fly sensitivity adjustment. It’s so cool to be in my favorite shooter game, struggle with aiming and click a small button on my mouse to change the precision allowing me to line up the perfect shot.

But as cool as it is, it’s still a corded mouse and I still have issues with it.

The Pen

Enter the Wacom Bamboo Fun Pen and Touch tablet. (CNet’s review here.) I got this little pad as a Christmas present and I’m loving it… to a degree. First, it was easier to learn than I expected. Once installed, an optional interactive slideshow plays that walks you through your first few actions. Once you get the basics down, mastering it becomes a bit more tricky.

Second, when using the pen, you can specify if your tablet will effect both of your screens (most web and graphic developers have dual monitors), just one screen, or just a specific area of one screen. However, setting this up was not intuitive and I had to ask on forums before I figured it out.

Finally, I’m not sure if it’s my computer or the tablet itself, but there are times when it doesn’t respond. For example, with a flick of your fingers, you should be able to scroll a web page. Sometimes it works beautifully. Other times, I flick… and flick… and flick… and give up by grabbing my mouse. Seems to me that the graceful lady in that movie would not tolerate such a disobedient device.

My Verdict

TIE! I think the pen tablet is great for detailed design such as photo editing, image manipulation and drawing. But when I’m not designing, my hand still rests comfortably on my favorite mouse.

                          

In the Bible, James writes to his fellow brothers of the faith; “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.” (James 1:5-8)

James was explaining that if I want, I only need to ask. BUT, if I have more than one primary motive, I will not receive. It’s like my games. If I need to accomplish a main quest, I am often restricted in what I can do because I have an unfinished SIDE quest which demands my attention. In the game it will be explained something like a main character telling me, “I’m sorry Big Daddy Goose. You cannot join us in storming the castle because the bandit camp is not yet cleared. Come back when you have finished.

In life, we all have side quests. Fixing the car, paying the bills, buying new shoes, rearranging parliament… well, maybe not that last one. But how many of us TRULY know what our primary quest is? How would you know your primary quest from your more important side quests? I tend to think in game terms. If failure of a quest would end the game, THAT’S a primary quest.

Applying that to life, which of my projects/tasks would bring my world crashing to an end if I failed it? For me, there is only one quest I know of that would qualify as a primary quest line: Growing my faith!

Yes, everyone’s is different, but there a few reasons why I consider this primary and it’s not just because it’s what I’m ’supposed’ to say. First, I have many reasons to believe that God is capable, and willing at times, to alter my life in drastic ways. Sometimes for good, sometimes for bad, but always for my long term benefit. Second, knowing that God can change my life, I must then realize that God has, through scripture and life lessons, made me aware of certain behaviors He wants me to adopt or deny. Third, since the primary quest line of any game is typically the longest and most difficult, I can reasonably assume that one of the hardest things to change in my life must be some sort of personal challenge God wants me to overcome.

I was recently watching the first season of Lost. There was a scene where a man was trying to quit his drug addiction and found himself trying to find ways to satisfy his cravings. Another character  explained about the life cycle of a moth; “When a moth is in a cocoon, it is still frail and weak. If I were to open the cocoon and let it out, it would be too weak to survive. However, if the moth fights his way out over the course of the next few days, he emerges strong and powerful. A survivor.”

It’s true that suffering which test  faith only strengthens character. For me, my health, my struggles, my temptations… all of these are things which conspire to weaken my faith and lure me into darkness. My health makes me depressed, my struggles make me angry, and my temptations make me weak. It is BECAUSE these things are so difficult to fight that makes me convinced my primary quest is to fight them.

So I ask again; “What’s your primary quest? How can you tell it from your side quests?”

                          

You must understand, I LIVE computers. That doesn’t mean I always LIKE computers. It just means that ever since I hooked up my first PC back in 1984, I’ve had either my hands or head on computers. When I was fresh out of high school and still living at home, I had phone cables hanging from the ceiling connecting my pristine 486 upto the CompuServe telnet boards… BEFORE the first web browser was ever written.

Over the years, I never stopped learning about computers; college, books, magazines, friends. I even taught myself Flash 5 because when it was released, NO ONE knew anything about it. There’s a certain pride that comes with more than 2 decades of accumulated computer knowledge. I was never arrogant or deluded. I just recognized the fact that I understood something most people didn’t even know existed.

But the computer is one of those few industries in which the knowledge available to learn grows exponentially faster than the knowledge you possess.

So, if you THINK you know computers, or if you are well aware of your computer limitations, there’s always three reasons to learn more now:

Computer skills are essential in any career

In today’s business world, you would be hard pressed to find a career or industry that doesn’t depend on computer skills in some small way. Cab drivers now use GPS gadgets to download the latest maps, cooks must regularly read the latest blogs and recipes from the their idols, and cashiers have traded in their registers for sleek Windows-powered terminals.

The fact is that knowing more about HTML, wireless routers, installing memory and secure transactions helps you in just about any business you venture into. Even if your job title has  nothing to do with MS Office, your boss may just give you a raise when you turn out to be the ONLY pencil pusher who could fix his Excel spreadsheet.

Socializing with family and friends is getting more high-tech

Long gone are the days of spending hours on the phone catching up with Uncle Joe in California or Cousin Joey in Nashville. Today, you can be the cornerstone of gossip on all of your shady relatives by spending about an hour a day on your computer. While most people you know are either ON Facebook or know OF it, very few have the advanced understanding to use Facebook to generate additional income, pressure their congressman, or help their children rise to fame in local events.

Social media is changing fast and only the users who know the how and why of the evolving trends will have a chance of keeping pace. Take phones. First we had beepers. Then phones that gave you a back condition. Then phones that could take pictures, play music and get stock quotes. Then GPS and web browsers. Now, everyone has a phone that can do almost everything an old computer can do. But how many of your friends know how to pull up statistics on their phone that tells them how many people Googled their name from another country?

Reducing the need for computer specialists saves you time and money

Probably my all-time favorite reason. Have you ever had a computer problem… crap website, evil virus, broken hard drive… and found yourself forking over more money than you wanted to? Now ask yourself this: When was the last time you paid someone to pump your gas at the Wawa? Or sew a button back onto your jacket? Or programmed your alarm clock?

Knowing how to reload your operating system or debug your printer that likes to spit out everything in French, will save you time and money. For example: GeekSquad charges $100 to backup your data to an external drive that YOU OWN. A process that I can show you how to do in less than 10 minutes…FOR FREE.

10 minutes versus $100. It’s your time and money, I’m just helping you save them both. Learning more computer skills will also help you evaluate tech support. Knowing the time required for a virus removal will tell you if the geeks behind the counter are trying to cheat you by charging $200 for a $50 job.

So here’s the plug: While I CAN teach you plenty of computer skills, I can ONLY teach you what you ASK for. I’m putting together a class for website owners, but I’ll be happy to throw a class together for common computer questions. So let me know. What do you want to know that people aren’t telling you?

                          

THE EVENT

Tuesday night we returned home from a night out and put the kids to bed. I came into my home office and began to work (cough…play…cough) on my computer. My mind went fuzzy. I couldn’t remember walking from the boys room to my office. I didn’t seem to be fully aware of anything like I was in a dream. I noticed that my left hand would not lift up onto my keyboard. It kept hitting the side of the desk even though I was trying to type. Now… remember, my mind is FUZZY. I’m not thinking clearly. So my first reaction is, “That’s odd.” Being the work-around king I am, I simply let my left hand drop and used my right hand to do the work. “There! Problem solved!”

Suddenly, I crashed to the floor cracking my head on a desk behind me. STILL FUZZY IN BRAIN, I simply tried to get up. No matter how hard I tried, I could not pull myself off the floor. I grabbed the desk and tried to pull up but it was impossible. I simply had no strength. I’m not saying I was weak… I’m saying I had NO strength. My wife heard the fall and rush in to find me face down on the floor with my head up against the wall flailing my right arm. She asked what was wrong and I calmly tried to explain to her that I had falling and was having a difficult time standing up, but the only thing that came out of my mouth was, “ahfweldnnanahknnpmmsffup.” She says hat I looked and acted like I was raving drunk and that she has never seen me like that before. She looked into my eyes, asked me to stick out my tongue, and being the wise woman she is, she realized I was having a stroke and called 911.

THE SCARE

The rest of the night after that was a blur. The EMTs arrived in 5 minutes and looked me over. They thought that sine I hit my head in the fall, I might have fractured my neck or skull. So they packaged me up in the neck brace and full body board. I remember th brace going on and them pulling me onto the board. Then I remember cold air, some flashing lights and a female voice telling the driver to run with lights and hurry but not to shake us around. They took me to Virginia Beach General. I don’t remember looking around much, but I remember having an IV put into me, and a woman telling another man, “Right now we are concerned about stroke, but we need to do a CT just to be sure.” Then someone told me that they were going to take cat scans of my head. I must have passed out somewhere around there, because the next thing I remember was being in the CT machine as it whizzed around me. I was nervous and fidgety so they keep telling me to hold still. I remember a black man and a white woman both telling me that I need to calm down or the test will take much longer. I tried to remain as still as possible.

Blackness. More hazy conversations. Some ceiling lights. And then I was aware enough to understand what people were saying, “Mr. You have a clot in your right (some medical term) artery that we need to break up before it kills you. We are going to put some medicine in your IV which should break it up. Do you understand?” I couldn’t nod, so I just grunted, “yehh.” That was when my mom and dad came in. All I remember was that they were scared. They looked over the scans as th doctor told them what needs to happen. For that exact moment, the medicine could take anywhere from 20 minutes to 3 hours to break up the clot. My mom was crying and my dad sounded VERY uncharacteristically terrified.

THE MIRACLE

The right side of my brain (which controls the left side of my body) had already gone without blood for almost 20 minutes. If blood flow were not restored soon, I could suffer irreversible brain d amage or even death. My wife ran out of the room. She found the nearest bathroom, dirty smelly and badly in need of a good plumber, and she got down all her hands and knees with her face to the floor. She prayed, “God, PLEASE heal my husband. Let the doctors come out and say that the blockage is broken up and blood flow has been restored and that he is going to be ok!”

Minutes later, she returned to the room and he doctor said ALMOST he exact phrase, “It looks like the clot is beginning to break up. He’s got th use of his left arm and l back and that’s a very good sign. It looks like he’s going to be ok.”

THE ESCAPE

Next, they needed to find out what caused this. So they send me onto Norfolk General where this sort of thing is specialized in. They told me they need to intubate me. I began to shake my head in protest and they said not to worry that they were going to sedate me and I would never remember it. Well, I remember a mask was put over my face and things got even more hazy. Then I remember seeing the intubation tool coming towards my face. I remember waking up from my sedation SEVERAL times to doctors asking me to look at them. I felt a large object in my throat and I tried to cough it out, but I couldn’t cough. I couldn’t even speak. I remember being very scar and trying to grab my throat only to find that my hand were tied down to the table as a safety precaution.

Over the course of the next few hours they inserted a catheter into my groin and ran it all the way up to my brain. This was to look for any sins of other blockages of sources of the clot. Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity on that table, they finally took the tube out of my mouth. I coughed hard and they said that was a good sign. The first thing I shouted was “PAIN!” I had been strapped down to an uncomfortable table with a previous and serious back condition and no one knew that it was causing me unbelievable pain. Thy shortly gave me morphine for the pain which, oddly, did absolutely nothing.

They then asked me questions about who I am, where I was and what happened to me. I answered simply with this, “I was aware of everything. Most of it was a blur, I remember everything that was done to me.” I then proceed to recount the night as best I could and they all seemed a little taken back. I was meant to be sedated for most of the night, but I was aware of almost everything. Pain as a way of keeping you awake despite sedatives.

THE TAKEAWAY

From that moment on, it was all downhill. Over he next three days I had so many visitors, family, friends and business contacts come by one of the nurses commented that we should put in a revolving door to my room. Damien Smith, co-founder of Guerrilla Social Media stopped by and one of the nurses asked him if I was a celebrity. We laughed about that so much my left side went numb. Doctors tell me that my brain is in a state called “brain-stun” where the brain has been without blood for such a time that it’s taking a really long time to reboot. (THAT terminology I understand.)

I will continue to have coordination issues and some exaggerated sensitivity on the left side for weeks, maybe even months. And there is always the possibility that my left side may actually become numb from time to time. It’s something I will live with. If that’s the worst reminder I will keep of the beautiful and wise woman who married me, came to my aid, got me timely help, and humbled herself out enough to send a powerful prayer that saved my life (don’t get m wrong, the doctors were all amazing and I am grateful, but my God is the one who provided the miracle)… then I am the SINGLE MOST BLESSED MAN IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!

                          

Me? Oh, I got some candy from my boys, some shirts from my mom, some money from my dad… and from my wife a nice little brown book that may be the single greatest gift any web geek could receive!

My New Friend

I would like to introduce you to my new best friend that I never met: Paul Boag. A resident of Dorset England, a husband, father, fellow Doctor Who fan, and probably one of the most influential figures in the web design community over the past decade. Paul began working on websites only one year before I did. We both remember trying to explain to our friends the concept of the World Wide Web and now we both try to explain to our kids what the world was like without it.

Paul has designed, developed, managed, planned, organized, conceived, repaired and even broken more websites than most web designers have ever seen. He has become a regular speaker at major international events and is regarded as a master expert in our field.

My Gift

Why do I tell you all this? Because I was given his new book for Christmas and it gives me chills. In the first few pages alone, I knew it was a book that I had to share with all my clients. So here you go!
The “Website Owner’s Manual” is a not-too-technical look at the role of the website owner and NOT the web designer. There are times when you need a web designer, but once you purchase their design and are up and running, you still have a long road to website success. This book is designed to give everyday people the skills, concepts and resources needed to run, manage and maintain a website.

This is not a programmer’s tool. This is a management tool. Even non-managers who must update the company website will benefit from this.

My Class

I am VERY excited to say that I have received the approval of Paul to begin teaching from his book here in the Virginia area. I am deep in the planning stage of a workshop designed to empower everyday website owners and managers to take their sites as far as they can imagine. Look for more details coming in the next few weeks.

                          

So it stands to reason that I have collected a few of my favorite gifts to give any geek in your life. To make thing even easier, these are ALL gift certificates that can be purchased, and redeemed, online. (And YES, I do realize that I shared some of the same gift ideas last year. But you know if it works, why change it?)

GOG.com - http://www.gog.com
Good Old Games has made a huge name for themselves in the gamer community by offering classic PC games from the past 20 years for download without any DRM restrictions. Their games are either $6 or $10 and they have a very good selection of popular PC games that have made history! Every game you purchase has an option to “Gift It” to your favorite gamer geek.

                          

Notes:
You can follow Francina on Twitter @careerengineer.
You can follow Rich on Twitter @RichGarner.
Cool Site of the Week: GrooveShark.com.
Check out the Social Media Club of Virginia Beach on Facebook.

                          

[REC] – Trapped in a quarantined Barcelona apartment building with residents, firefighters and a growing horde of ravenous zombies, television reporter Angela (Manuela Velasco) and her cameraman, Pablo, record brutal deaths and terrifying events while trying to stay alive.

The coolest thing about [REC] is that while some movies that have taken the ‘Blair’s Witch’ reality approach have been let downs, the approach works incredibly well here. It adds such a sense of realism and fear that makes this movies one of our favorites. Oh, and it’s Spanish with English subtitles. If you want an English-speaking version, get “Quarantine” which was shot with the same crew and on the same sets.

Silent Hill - Determined to save her terminally ill daughter, Rose ignores the wishes of her husband and takes her to a faith healer. But her well-intentioned efforts somehow land them in an alternate reality — the deserted town of Silent Hill — where her daughter mysteriously disappears.

Yes, Silent Hill was a very creepy video game also and no, the movie is not as good as the game. But that still rates it among one of the best underrated video game horrors of all time. The effects were absolutely chilling and the sets were very unsettling. My wife cannot watch it without me… which is rare since SHE is the horror freak in our house.

Event Horizon – In 2040, an explorer vessel known as the Event Horizon went missing beyond deep-space boundaries. Seven years later, the ship sends a garbled signal back to Earth that sounds a lot like a cry for help. A rescue ship led by Captain Miller is dispatched to investigate, but Miller’s crew soon realizes the awful truth — something unimaginable has happened on board.

Probably one of the best sci-fi horrors since the original Alien. But the evil of this film goes so far beyond monsters and bad guys. There is a sinister force at work which never really shows it’s true form. The casting was excellent with some great performances and a well written script. This is one of those movies that will haunt you long after you see it.

Them – Late one night, Lucas and Clémentine encounter strange events in their remote country home. It starts with prank calls and strange noises, but when the power is cut off and their car disappears, the terrified couple is trapped by the unseen force.

Another foreign movie… this one is French… that has forever changed my mind about what a good horror movie does to your mind. I’m not going to spoil this because the real terror comes when the movie ends. But this is one movie that we simply cannot get out of our heads.

The Devil’s Backbone – Twelve-year-old Carlos is the latest arrival at Santa Lucia School, an imposing stone building that shelters orphans of the Republican militia and politicians during the last days of the Spanish Civil War. Carlos gradually uncovers the dark ties that bind the inhabitants of the school: hidden riches, sexual intrigue and the restless ghost of a murdered student, who may be the only one to provide resolution.

A Spanish film set in 1823 with brilliant acting and direction. The story gets s little slow in some places due to the fact that there is more going on than the haunting. But a beautifully woven tale of a young boy making a connection with an terrifying menace and the common hatred they have for their persecutors. Touching, but just chilling enough to make the list.

1408 – In this thriller based on a Stephen King story, writer and paranormal debunker Mike Enslin is determined to demystify the ghostly events of room 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel, even though the clerk begs him to rethink his plans. Mike needs to write another book, and room 1408 may be his big ticket. But will he survive even one night?

1408 is, in the words of Samuel L. Jackson’s character, “an evil f***ing room.” We tried to make sense of it all and figure out the plot, but just like the room, the movie spins you on your head and makes you question everything. It was just pure and unrelenting terror from the moment he entered the room. The unrated version has the original, alternate ending which made the story so much more chilling.

                          

Low-Budget

If you have priced web pages lately, you’ll know what I mean when I said that good web design is very expensive. I’ve seen quality web sites costing between $1000 to $3000 or more. A former acquaintance of mine also began charging thousands of dollars for a web page that I could recreate for free. After more than 12 years in web design and development, I have the skills to make a successful website… but I cannot bring myself to charge thousands of dollars. I want to help set people up for success, not bankruptcy.

I’m not unique in my thinking. As much as I would like to believe that I am the best and only solution for low-budget options, the fact remains that effective web designers are seeded into our community and hidden from business eyes. I know several college students in my church that I have come to me for feedback on their web creations which are, in a word, inspired. Friends, students, even new businesses such as Garner New Media are all low-budget options that still provide cutting edge designs and effects.

Another element often overlooked is the wealth of free social media tools online. Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube… all of these are free online service DESIGNED to get you connected with other people. And as every advertiser knows, the main goal of any ad is for people to connect to you. Since these are free, we can use them as ad tools, but we must be careful. If you oversell yourself on Twitter, people will get sick of reading your ads and unfollow you.

High-Impact

These days, simply having a web site does not mean you will attract customers. It’s the same trend that hit Hollywood in the mid 90’s… certain styles have been done to death and new styles must be discovered. Since about 80% of all businesses are online (that’s a guess based on a report from 2007), we must assume that most of those business websites are following the original ideas of web design: header with logo, contact information, lots of links and tons of content. And while some of these may be well designed websites, the online audience has evolved and demands more from their Internet information.

There’s a lot of web to see out there and not much time to see it. Today’s online viewers are more pressed for time than they were 10 years ago. So you need to grab them fast. It’s a design theory I call “The One-Two Punch!” Your website content should say two things to customers:

1. Who are you and
2. What can you do for them

Don’t get me wrong… there is a time and place for tons of content and packed websites. But that place is not in your initial sales pitch. Your site should provide a few links to other areas where they can find more information, but most users do not have the time to sit and dissect the content overload from a front page. Tell them who you are and what you can do upfront.

High-impact also includes clean and attractive layouts and graphic designs that ease the customer into your site. Maybe some minor Flash animation to spice it up a bit, but don’t go overboard. Flash is like garlic in cooking; it’s can add a nice flavor punch, but too much will drown out the rest of the meal. If you MUST add Flash, I recommend adding it too the menu to attract users to a menu item you want them to click first. Or maybe an animated banner. (But be sure your designer knows how to maintain effective SEO profiling if you want your header text replaced with an animated logo.)

When using online media services such as Twitter and Facebook, it is important to craft an ad campaign that can be communicated via text through these mediums, but also does not leave readers with a sour ‘ad-flavored’ taste. Create a giveaway or contest. Make a funny video about your product or service. Post links to articles or websites where people can find useful information about your products or services. Throw a party or event and offer people free products for tweeting and reporting from your event. There’s many more options also.

Low-Budget, High Impact Marketing may not be a completely new or original model, but in today’s online industry, it’s the one businesses need to adopt to survive. For more information, contact Garner New Media.

                          

Ah, like a loving and gracious wife, she welcomed me back with birthday presents, new events and the same gorgeous scenery and graphics that I feel head over heels for when I first met her. How could I ever leave her?!? She was ALWAYS there for me, ALWAYS giving to me, ALWAYS beautiful no matter how aged she was. And yet, something in the ads led me from her to try the popular girl that EVERYONE knew. (and yes, I mean ‘knew’)

It’s a story I hear all the time with my gaming buddies; We like a game and we think it’s cool, but we don’t want to pay for it. We spent a load of time in the free trial and now we think we’ve seen as much as we can see. Here’s a simple concept: if you give something away for free, it’s hard to convince people to pay for it. But if you charge full price up front, AND THEN give them everything they ever wanted, your customers become your extended sales force.

For example, I bought Guild Wars when it was new. I paid full price for every new chapter and I now have the entire series. But since there is NO MONTHLY FEE, I can drop in and out whenever I want. And especially now that the economy is so bad, I was laid off and forced to start my own company, it’s hard to know where the next mortgage payment is coming from. So to expect players to pay for something that they’ve been playing for free is ridiculous in my opinion.

If I don’t have the money to feed my family, I CERTAINLY don’t have the money to pay a monthly fee for your game. But if I already paid for a game, and your game  is everything I ever loved in gaming, then I’m likely to tell all my friends, convince others that they should buy it, and play whenever I can to relieve stress. Since it costs me nothing more, I ‘m still hooked on it. Maybe even more so now that I have more free time. But if I want it to remain fun and exciting, I need to help bring more customers in.

So, online games developers need to take a cue from new media marketing: Let your best customers be your core sales force. If I’m in LOVE with the game, I won’t stop talking about it on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and anywhere else I can find fellow gamers. Stop dumping money into ad campaigns that tease us with graphics and images we can only find in certain parts of the game. Rather focus your budget on improving the GAME ITSELF and crafting a completely original and satisfying experience that your players will want to come back to over and over. Let them sell your game, because they are your best ads.