Web Thinking: One of the wisest things that I have heard in a long time was the CEO of a major corporation explaining why he couldn't read his way through an encyclopedia. He would read something and then get distracted. It was a tangent on a tangent. That is the beauty of the Internet.

But, I find that there are some great starting points. There are those bookmarks (or favorites if you prefer) are that I just start with and the next thing you know it is one in the morning and I am rubbing my eyes wondering how I got there. Last night was one of those nights. I am looking at my fuel prices and wondering when the hybrids are coming. I then spent hours at some of my favorite hybrid sites. I applied online as an author of a hybrid site (doubt that will come to fruition) and then worked eBay for a couple of hours. I was chatting with my dad last week and I really think that the guys who tweak hybrids to get the maximum MPG are going to be viewed like the guys who were beefing up their engines in the past to see how fast they can go. Big stinking deal! I have a fast car (faster than probably anyone reading this) and yet the law says that I can only drive it 65MPH. So, what good does that extra 100MHP do me? Nada. But, if I had a car that got 60 MPG and I was tweaking it to get 75MPG wouldn't that be so much cooler than having a car that could go faster than I was allowed?

One of the articles that I read was a group of guys who had used a Prius to get over 110 MPG. I immediately decided that this was the car for me, well until I read the rest of the article. Apparently the Prius is best at 40MPH. So they drive it up to 40MPH and then coast down to about 30 MPH, then slowly accelerate again. This method, known as "pulse" gives the car the greatest efficiency. Cool, but I can hardly envision myself driving across the country this way. But, maybe I will be the next guy to tweak my car so that I can get the best MPG and yet hold a consistent speed, hopefully something around 55MPH!

Show me, just show me! I just read this fascinating article on Wikipedia about the elusive Ivory Billed Woodpecker (thanks to a reference on Buzz Out Loud). What I like about the article was that it detailed a debate as to whether the sightings in Arkansas are the actual ivory billed woodpecker or the pileated woodpecker, one that is very common. They just can't decide. There have been hundreds of scientists who have combed the wilds of Arkansas looking for the bird to no avail. Someone recorded a sound that could be the bird, but some think it could also be an echo of a gunshot. The one video taken was terrible in quality and no determination can be made.

This reminds me of some claims about Bigfoot and aliens back in the 60s and 70s. Now with millions of people with cellular phones with cameras built in it seems that there aren't as many sightings as there once were. In defense of Sasquatch, they are thought to be nocturnal and so photographs aren't going to be as readily available. It seems that aliens like to land at night a lot too, so who knows, maybe I might be wrong. But, you would think that after all of this time that the odds of someone getting a good steady picture of a Bigfoot taking a stroll through the woods or an alien ship landing to do an experiment on some unsuspecting cow would have happened. I mean, I caught a picture of a pink elephant walking backwards through Bowling Green, so anything could happen!

Lost Skills: I just got back from an appointment with my accountant (yuck) and I experienced something that made me think I was back in the 1960's. We need to send a letter to the IRS about a screwup and our accountant hit the intercom button and paged some lady to "take a letter". This nice lady came in with a steno pad and he started talking, and she started taking notes in shorthand. I was awed. He just kept talking at a normal speed and she just kept writing, really fast. I couldn't read any of it of course, but I just kept watching. Once he stopped just about everyone in the room had to correct something he had said (my company was incorporated in 1995 when it was indeed incorporated in 2005). She read back everything that he had written. It was so cool. It made me want to have some sort of job where I had to ask people to take a letter.

Instead, I will figure out how to be profitable this year.

Wrong business direction for Microsoft: I have been a loyal Microsoft user for many, many years. My first PC in 1986 an on MS-DOS 2.0 and upgraded to Dos 4 soon thereafter. I upgraded to Windows 3.11 having played with a previous version of Windows that came with a copy of PageMaker that I had installed. When Windows 98 came out I was one of the first to upgrade, and again with XP. I am holding off on Vista, but for different reasons than everyone else.

I was a beta test for Office in the early days, and again for the 2003 version. I love the stuff. I also have purchased MapPoint and Project. I think that I could be considered an avowed MS consumer.

But I have taken a hard look at Office 2007 and I think that it is time to get off this very expensive train. I really just don't see the benefits for upgrading, and I am starting to shift a lot of my thinking to web possibilities. My concern in the past is not one of security in that I don't want someone looking at that, I think that is a small problem. My concern was having it online and then having that web site shut down. The work around has been right before me, but now I get it. I can save the file to the server's storage, and then save a back up here. Then, if I want, I can save it to another online storage vehicle such as Xdrive. I really think that this is the way that the future will go. I keep a 1gig USB flash drive, and I can easily see me getting a larger one in the future and using that as my primary storage vehicle. Then I can keep a computer at the house, another at the office, etc. We shall see.

Ethical Contemplation: First, I finally got the Lomo Holga camera from Absolut. I knew that it was indeed going to be a cheap plastic camera, and it didn't let me down! But the good folks at Lomo really surprised me by over delivering a great kit. The camera comes with batteries for the built in flash, film (which I didn't think was going to happen), and a really great color coffee table book of some great Lomography. I can't wait to use the one I got for myself.

Okay, here is my problem. When I put together the rules for the contest I made it open to absolutely (or Absolut-ly) everyone. That even includes my family. Well, three of the kids (not including the one LOSER who hates to do stuff like this, even when it is free) have entered and one of them is really wanting to win. They ask me daily how many people are in the contest. So the great super dad in me wants to rig this thing so that I can give it to that one who wants it. But then the really great super dad realizes that they need to learn that life is indeed fair sometimes and I need to show them honesty and integrity. So, when I do the deed I will make sure that everyone sees how I do it and understands there can only be one winner. So to the millions of you who are out here waiting to submit your entry, go ahead, I will be fair.

The Sweet Life: I am in bed working on some notes listening to some of the greatest music ever composed. It isn't some of the cheap commercial stuff that is cranked out today, only to be featured on a Time-Life CD 2000-2010. These are the classics that identified our country for what it is. How great that today's digital formats allow me to sit in bed and listen to Benny Goodman, Stephane Grappelli, and Tommy Dorsey. I close my eyes as I listen to the Les Brown Orchestra and I can almost picture myself sitting in a night club in 1958, watching my parents dancing across the floor. They break and Jimmie Lunceford grabs the microphone (I know he was dead by then, its my blog and I can imagine anything I want). Harry James grabs a horn and starts blowing while everyone takes to the floor (okay, he died just before I was married, but its still great stuff). I wonder if 20-40 years from now some one will discover all of this great music for the first time and fall in love with it all like I have.

PhotoBlog that I love: It isn't often that I review any one else's blog, but I probably should. There are some great photoblogs out there (and there is a lot of wasted bandwidth). But I have to just rave over 15DollarCam. This site is so cool! So many guys (hanging head shamefully) put together sites with their terribly expensive camera set ups, but this guy has a photoblog with a camera that cost $15 (four cups at Starbucks). How cool is that? I am challenged!

The Basics in Customer Service: I have to say that I think that I am pretty good at servicing my customers. I have those few have an emergency that I can't handle because I am out of pocket, in a meeting, or asleep. But for the most part I do okay. But even those customers who might not like the service that they are receiving know that I understand them when I talk with them. Why? Because I speak the native language of the people that I service. Not really a big deal for me, I was raised in a country that is primarily mono-lingual, although that is changing I suppose.

But here is the deal. If I were to need to have customer service that was dealing with people that spoke a different tongue, I would either make sure that I really knew it, or I would find someone who did. That seems pretty simple doesn't it? If I want to support my customers I need to speak their language with a minimal level of proficiency.

So why is it that every tech help desk has a guy named "Mike" who can't speak English enough to know that I need help? I slowly say "The....Digital...Life......dot....net" and they start "Very good, this is most excellent. D as in David, A as in..." I blow a fuse and say "No, The, and as in ... THE!" I had a tech guy recently even ask if there were any spaces after "The". Hello, you can't have spaces in a domain name. But I should blame him, he is only the tech guy for my DOMAIN HOST. Then they all lie, "Excellent, very good, I will check into this and call you in 20 minutes. Then we go through the hassle of trying to say and repeat the phone number. I have the envious cellular that ends in 4 zeros. Most people love that, but for some reason the tech guy "Mike" can't handle that. He repeats the area code, the prefix, and then has to ask me how many zeros there are. Arrrrgh!

I know as I post this that Mike is reading my blog laughing his butt off, and flipping switches on my server to cause all my mail to disappear, my photos to be blurry, or redirect the entire domain to some obscure tourist site for New Delhi.

My Next "Must Have" Toy: Nabatztag.

I saw one of these today in an office and immediately went to the web site to see what it is, and what it does. I HAVE TO HAVE ONE! Actually, I really need two, one for my office and another for the house. Simply, if I had one at the house it would wake up at a predetermined time and then either read the weather aloud, a news site, favorite blog etc. Occasionally the little guy does some Tai-Chi by wiggling its ears. If I connect my work rabbit with my home rabbit (this is cool!) I can manually wiggle the ears of one and the other will wiggle too. I can send a not to the home rabbit and it will read my note to anyone around. I can send an MP3 song "Just you and I" and the home rabbit will start playing the file. How cool is that? The gizmo works off of any wi-fi network and is plugged into any electrical outlet. Cost is about $149, $169 for the new model, although I am not sure what the new one does.

Awesome! AbsolutLomo sent the contest camera today. It is coming from Sweden, so I am not looking for it to get here in the next two days, but it should be here when the contest ends.

“I’m proud... to be the first African-American coach to win [the Super Bowl], but again, more than anything...[Chicago Bears head coach] Lovie Smith and I are not only African-American but also Christian coaches, showing you can do it the Lord’s way. And we’re more proud of that.” —Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy

Cool Political Site (safe for conservatives, liberals, and socialists):

http://www.selectsmart.com/plus/select.php?url=08frontrunners

Okay, this is the neatest site. Let me explain before you click the link. The site asks a series of 17 questions on how you feel about issues. Then you click the submit button and it gives you a list of how the 24 current candidates would rate. I won't share my views as I think it is a given that I am on the extreme right. But what was really cool was to see that a couple of the candidates actually fell in line with my views 100%, that was kind of a shock to me. One candidate was at 0%, but has since dropped out of the race. So my new bottom feeder is one of the leaders of the Democratic ticket. Very interesting. I think that this is a great tool to show who agrees with your views and who doesn't. But it goes more than that. For instance, you might click that you oppose or support an issue but that issues isn't really all that important and it takes that into consideration. After you look at the results you can then click "Information" for any of the candidates and see all of the issues on a huge grid.

Whether you are a radical conservative or a bleeding heart liberal, you need to check out this link.

Free Camera Contest: Its on! I have started the first official contest here at TheDigitalLife. Just click here for details. Any questions just e-mail me at: absolutlomocontest@gmail.com. I will give the camera away on March 11th (b-day). Tell everyone, I am really excited about this. I posted the contest just a couple of hours ago and already have a few people entered. Cool!

Exposed: I got a nice write up in a newsletter, and they listed this URL. I quickly ran to read if I said anything I shouldn't. Funny huh? ?Its like when you see the police in your rear view window the first instinct of most people is to look at the speedometer. I wonder if cops do that when they are off duty.

It is what it is. I lead a very transparent life. My life is an open book. I am who I am. I suppose that anyone who has read the blog would know that. I love Jesus, my family, and photography. I don't have any tolerance for people who abuse children or the elderly, but embrace those who abuse liberals (small joke).

Check out the main page for my pictures.

Hey if you are one of the folks who are here because of the newsletter article, thanks for stopping by. Drop me a note with comments.

Site Design Contemplations: I recently thought about giving TheDigitalLife a facelift. What a decision. I have a couple of neat ideas, but I really don't want to detract from the purpose of TheDigitalLife which is photography. I have looked at A LOT of photoblogs and I am always quick to leave those that have a lot of clutter, and I linger where there is little besides the image. I have even struggled with whether or not to have all of my commentary. Most of the really good ones don't have much. Tough decisions.

I think I will play with some basic redesign in the coming weeks. Let me know what you would like to see, I will give it some consideration.