I wanted to take the time to wish all my friends a Happy New Year’s! I hope 2008 is happy and prosperous for everyone. I look forward to proceeding with projects and learning more over the next year. I hope to meet many more wonderful people and continue relationships with friends I am in contact with now. Resolutions? I have never been a big one for those, but I’d love to write here more.

Happy New Year

I really wanted to start this entry with this picture, but couldn’t get it to fit. It’s Christmas time but it feels very different this year. I know I should be thinking of the reason for the season but this time around isn’t quite the same. This year Dad has had a hard time keeping business and is struggling to meet his end of the year quota. Knowing these kinds of things makes me miss childhood but I know it is part of growing up. He informed me this year we were to go shopping for Christmas together because he hasn’t gotten anyone a thing. Now normally it is a big deal that Dad buys super awesome presents and tries his best to keep them from him. This year, after dealing with health issues and work, Dad just hasn’t been the same. While we were shopping he asked if I wanted this or that, and I said yes please. He said it would be a surprise when I opened it. I thought that was just going to be one or two things, but I picked out all of my presents from him! My mom of course bought me a few things, but she buys the oddest things. Last year I got a humidifier from her, and she is always a big fan of stocking stuffers. Those little things that make no sense to be in a Christmas gift lineup, or are useless. She mailed me a pack of hot coco she got for free I am sure just a few weeks ago.Outside of this, it is the first year I have helped wrap the presents from Santa. Dad just kept telling me how burnt out he was. I think the stress of work, his recent diagnosis of high cholesterol and dealing with my mom is just a combination that has resulted in a need for a break. His reasoning today when I told him things don’t feel the same was “This happens every few years.” He went on to say that Christmas should just be a gift or two, look around — it’s ridiculous he said. Growing up is weird.

Over the Winter break I have been spending a lot of time online looking for ways to produce a steady income with little work. Isn’t this everyone’s dream? I have put considerable consideration in opening up a proxy network but I am worried. It is a big investment, sounds like a good amount of work (3-4 hours a day) and will be hard to break $1,000 per month. I think developing a good website in the field of reptiles will be my solution. I am working with a friend to develop a new site that will serve as a portal to my other reptile sites, as well as hopefully be useful to reptile keepers. I currently run a few websites relating to reptiles. One is Gecko Topsites, averaging between 90 and 100 unique visits a day. Bearded Dragon Topsites was my next venture, but is not near as successful, only getting 10 to 20 unique visits a day. Finally, is Reptile Wallpapers which is still under development but will be a good site if I ever get the code sorted out. My new site, called Reptile Network will be a portal to all these sites, as well as a link database, free image hosting, chat, and topsite. Wish me luck!

I think my strength is that I develop many ideas, my weakness is ability to keep them sorted out and follow through with them. When writing essays to apply to colleges last year this was always a question, maybe I have finally answered it. Dad told me I should list something I could turn around into an advantage, but I am not sure how I can use this to my advantage.

Well, this is my hodge-podge of what is going on lately. I have so much more to say but feel like if you’re reading this you’re overwhelmed enough as it is. Find any of this interesting? Leave me a comment saying hi or asking a question… it’d be some real motivation to write a little more.

Happy Holidays

Today was a pleasant change to say the least. After going to Wendy’s for dinner a few nights ago after exams I was disappointed by employee’s care for any client.

I stopped by StarBucks on the way home from college today and asked for just regular coffee. I had never ordered anything of the such and she kindly guided me through the process. I ended up getting Columbian coffee and found a happy medium when I loaded it with sugar. I then stopped by PetCo to get some crickets for my last remaining gecko. Normally the people are put out to get these for you, but she was very kind and even called me sweety! When she rung me out, she charged me for 12, when I bought 24. I doubt she intended this, but I like to think my manners and charm paid off.

I then drove home and unloaded my car, I was on a mission to find a car wash that could shampoo a terrible smell that was in my carpet for an unfortunate chemical reaction that happened in my “hatch” of my car, or the sort of trunk I have in my jeep. I stopped by Hurricane Bay car wash in Loganville, but they did not offer such a service. He kindly guided me to another car wash in Grayson that would offer what I was looking for. I went there, and explained to the service lady what happened and what I was looking for. After discussing prices with her I chose to get my back seat, back carpet, and trunk shampooed/steam cleaned. It was only $5 or so more to do the back seat, so I was happy to have it added on. She was distressed by the smell almost as much as I was and offered free “odor eliminating” spray. I gladly took the offer. Well, it turned out to be a $50 cleaning but so far it has been well worth it. When I got my keys and got in my car the man who I talked to second came up and spoke with me. I noticed my front mats from the car were gone and it looked like they had shampooed the front carpets as well. He told me he thought he had taken care of the smell for me, and he shook my hand and thanked me for my business. Why can’t more establishments take pride in their work, preform above the standard, and be thankful? I guess at that point I should have tipped by but I was so blow away by the service I forgot. I paid $50 though.

Next I preceded to Home Depot to get some potting soil and mulch to clean out my red foot tortoise pen. I chose some organic potting soil, only about a dollar a bag, and cypress mulch that was marketed towards playgrounds for kids. I brought it up to the cashier and she immediately insisted that I go with the cheaper brand, due to it being softer when she walked bear foot on it. At first I wasn’t sure what to think but when she offered to come guide me to it, I followed along to see where the journey would go. She took me over to the row past what I had chosen and explained to me why cypress is a good choice, in durability, and that it is the best ground cover they sell. I then told her it was for tortoises and we had an in depth conversation about reptiles, including her past Burmese python and my gecko breeding experience. After she checked me out we talked about my future, and she asked if I was studying reptiles in college. I explained how I was going the route of getting a business degree, and how it seemed to be a catch all I could use to start whatever I’d like to in life. It really made me happy to be able to talk reptiles and educate her co employee about them, that is something I miss greatly from the pet store. After that I made my way to Ingles. I will not go into detail about what I got, but when I was checking out the teller was impressively polite and carried a good conversation of “How are you’s” and so on. Even if it was small talk, it’s much better than the blank stares you get from most cashiers now-a-days.

On the ride home, before any of this happened, I was dreading going to the store. Christmas season means chaos I thought, but I was delighted to find just the opposite.