Tue 24 Jun 2008
Techcrunch has posted more news about Microsoft and Yahoo Talking, again… I hope a deal sees the light soon, because, I think Yahoo on its own will probably soon see $15 a share and then fall steadily lower to under $10 a share. I do not know much about stocks, but this just seems like it will be this way in the near future.
My advice (if it mattered): Microsoft and Yahoo, do not bitch out on shareholders again, get the job done!
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Tue 24 Jun 2008
Happy day four of summer, in the U.S. of course! Personally, I do not like the heat or summer much, but there is not a whole lot I can do about it. California is where my life is… The weather is a bit cooler today, and for the rest of the week so that makes things tolerable.
There is a lot of business going on around me, most of which directly involves me. The majority of it is positive and some of it consists of negative business from the past, which I am still trying to rectify. The latter consisting of money that was stolen from me by a customer. I would love to talk details about the “positive business” but I cannot until it either happens or does not. I know that has been the case every time I have news to post about, but that is the way the cookie crumbles I guess.
At least things are positive now, as a month or two ago business and life was rough. With the halfway point of the year long passed, things need to change even more for this year to be considered successful. If the changes do not occur shortly, I will be looking for a “stable” job to help me pay off my bills, namely car, insurance, school, and rent at the moment.
Let us see what July has to offer!
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Thu 19 Jun 2008
I do like to game every once-in-a-while, it is part of my being if you did not know. I first heard of Spore a few months back from one of my friends. It is a “massively single-player” game being put out by EA (Battlefield, C&C Anyone???) and Maxis (SimCity, The Sims Anyone???).
What is “massively single-player”? From the Spore website itself:
While Spore is a single player game, your creations and other players’ creations are automatically shared between your galaxy and theirs, providing a limitless number of worlds to explore and play within.
The game itself is set to be release in September, but two days ago they released the Creature Creator. This utility allows you to create your own unique creatures to be used and shared throughout Spore. It is simple to use, and I have just having way too much fun with it! You can view My Spore Page to see some of the creatures and the stories behind each of them.
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Thu 19 Jun 2008
With the recent release of mootools version 1.2, I have updated the Accordion Menu as well as the Nested Accordion Menu tutorials. I have also encountered a pretty big bug in the Nested Accordion Menu when working on a client project, and I have modified the tutorial to include the fix.
Take care!
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Mon 16 Jun 2008
So great news, I was finally able to utilize the “Buyer” portion of oDesk for outsourcing some logo creation I was dreading, and it turned out wonderful. In about 8 to 10 hours on a Friday afternoon / night, I had about twelve candidates to choose from ranging from $20+ an hour to under $10 an hour. The designer I chose started the next day, Sunday, and had my finalized logo before the end of the day. The final project ran under $40 for the completed logo. I will be utilizing this end of oDesk quite a bit more down the line, it is useful and it allows me to focus on programming or other I.T. related work.
On the other side of the spectrum, I was able to get my first interview today for work on oDesk, and complete my first job only two hours afterward. This is a big step forward, as it seems there are quite a few new Providers whom have a hard time getting work on the oDesk system.
Do you want to know how I did it?
Well, first off, I had applied to quite a few jobs posted on oDesk to no avail, but I kept trying. I applied to jobs that I was confident I would be able to finish and get stellar reviews for completing quickly, and professionally. I took a pay cut, a decently sized one, but it helped me to get customer facing, some extra cash, and ultimately a “gold star” for completed work.
It is highly important to make sure you are working within your area of expertise, if you have hesitation whether or not you can complete the task, it may be best to pass it for the time being. It does not make sense trying to get your first job doing a project you are not 100% familiar with; you would just be setting yourself up for failure, right?
Be flexible. If possible, make yourself available as quickly as possible when you are invited to do an interview. If you are hired to work for the Buyer, let them know they are your priority and do whatever you can to please them throughout the entire process.
The buyer I worked with left this comment:
Vendor provided a quick and excellent service. He provided detailed documentation of the task that was completed, and ensured that I was satisfied. More vendors should be like this on oDesk — getting the job done, ensuring quality, and ensuring customer satisfaction.
If you do land your first oDesk job, ensure customer satisfaction and complete the job correctly. This will help you stand out from the thousands of Providers on oDesk, and eventually your profile will speak for itself when you apply for new jobs.
P.S. I just wanted to let you know, just because I got my first oDesk job, I am not proclaiming to know all the secrets of getting work on their system. Most of what I have written is from my years of experience working with my own business in the actual customer-facing world and I have merely adapted information to an oDesk scenario. Customer service is key, you will learn that if you do not know it already.
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