Blog

Spread Thin

Progress on projects I have undertaken has come very slow.

Here is a list of things I am currently working or trying to work on:
1. Redesign my website.
2. Redesign all electronic menus for DVDs and packaging for my products.
3. Look for permanent position with ANY company.
4. House fixes and updates.
5. Work with Kelley School of Business on plan to strategically market my business services to other local businesses.
6. Always workin’ on ROX

I do have to say that I have made some progress on the house.  A couple of weeks ago I had a day off and started a surprise for my wife.  She doesn’t like it when I do things that she has no knowledge of.  I painted our hallway.

The color doesn’t come out well in these pictures, but it’s called “Grand Stand Tan.”  It dried a lot darker than we expected, but we still like it.  I was very surprised when I went to purchase the paint, it was on sale!  So after Rachel was surprised, we bought a few more gallons to have enough to finish our living room and entry.

I also must say that all the hard work I put into the hallway definitely paid off.  Our “red” wall has a lot of character due to the texture in the wall.  That texture is there because I didn’t work on it like I did the hallway.  Besides a paint streak here and there, it’s smooth as a baby’s butt.

I have slowed way down on the redesign of my website. All the content is there, I just haven’t found a good way to add PayPal buttons on a Joomla site yet.

The redesign of my menus and packaging are going good, too good to be exact!  I have been working with my logo and have a “translucent design” working right now.  My only problem right now is that it doesn’t look good at smaller sizes.

My work situation is a weird one.  Yes I have a job, and I’m thankful for that.  But I am not a full time employee with IU, I’m an hourly employee.  I do not get paid for holidays, or time off.  Also my position is mostly an “academic-year” position.  Meaning when schools out, I’m out.  I have been applying for positions that seem to suit me, only when they come around.  I’ve had a couple of interviews, but nothing has panned out thus far.  I was really excited about a position I interviewed for last week, but as each day passes I wonder.  I don’t think this economy helps either.  I know it’s sick, but it’s times like these that I really miss my job at Baxter.

I am trying to focus on direct business sales this year.  I think if I start a working relationship with other businesses in this area, it will help my business become more successful and profitable.  I’m no marketing major, so my wife has used some of her contacts in the Kelley School of Business (where she used to work).  I have been in contact with the deans’ wife.  She teaches marketing, and is trying to help.  The only problem is communication right now.  I work when she’s in her office, and I can’t really talk on the phone.  Right now I’m not even near a computer either.  I hope this pans out, with the right plan I could make LML Video Services something bigger this year.

I’m still transferring what I have of ROX onto DVDs for storage.  Some episodes will have to be, dare I say it, repaired.  They just have too much heat damage.  I’m waiting to finish a job for a aunt to get some money.  Once that is done, B will have about 50 odd DVD’s for homework.

Plus we discovered a clog in our sewer line.  Everytime our washer drans, water comes out from under our toilet in a hurry.  My ex-contractor neighbor Bill is going to help me try to fix this problem Saturday.  I got his Wi-Fi going, he’s returning the favor.  He has some specialty tools to help.  I hope we can get this clog gone.

I have finally got my hands on a basketball goal as well.  We have a “post” that appears to be designed to have a basketball goal on it.  I have wanted one for a long time.  The prices for a bracket to attach to the post and a goal add up to a cool $100.  I have been offered one on freecycle for free.  There’s only one kicker, I have to dig this one out.  That’s my plan for Sunday – pray for me.  The strange thing?  I have never been good or even really liked basketball.  I just want the goal!

That’s all I’ve got for right now.  I’d like to write more often, but it’s hard when you have things such as this on your hands day in and day out.

The Truth Behind My Family Name

I received an interesting e-mail on Wednesday.  The e-mail, from a family researcher, has been doing a lot of reading on this and my wifes’ blogs.  The subject line read this:  Lawmaster Family History — The SECOND Strangest email You’ve Even Received

What his message was telling me, changes everything I have grown to learn about the origins of my family name.  Kinda scary!

My father has always told me that my family name, Lawmaster, derived from a swedish name, “La-meis-ta.”  He has always said that when the individual with that name immigrated to the US, he married a native american woman and it wasn’t socially acceptable at that time.  They decided to “americanize” the name to Lawmaster.

This guy has a completely different theory, and I must say it is more believable than the story my father has told me all these years.

From the documentation he has shown, and what he has said the name started in this country with Wendel Laumeister who was a 1750 immigrant to York, PA.  He was German (is that why I married a crazy Dubois county German?).  It was then changed to Lowmaster.

I am merely assuming here, but I think due to the ways of record keeping at the time, Lowmaster was easily changed by accident to Lawmaster.  Everyone writes differently, and have you ever wrote with a quill?  It’s not the easiest thing in the world.  Believe me, I know.

It is nice to connect with someone who has a broad sprectum of knowledge regarding family history issues.  I have given him names, and he’s came back with dates that I was unsure of.  Hopefully this will be a long lasting relationship.

One piece of information he gave just blew me away.  He said that a common ancestor of ours is recognized by the SAR and DAR as a Revolutionary War Patriot!  Whoa!  I don’t know of any family members being in a war besides my grandfather, who played a major role during World War II, in the pacific theatre.  He was a part of the crew who installed all of the passive radar systems in the fleet.  From what he told me back in 1996, he was on shore leave in Washington, DC when the attack on Pearl Harbor happened.  That is also where he met my grandmother, she was working at the Pentagon.  He was immediately ordered to New York City to install systems on the Atlantic Fleet.

I am now trying to get correct and accurate data about my whole family.  This is not that easy because my uncle lives in Michigan, his kids are in Florida and Arizona.  I have 3 aunts in Oklahoma, 2 of them don’t speak to the other.  My grandfather died in 2000, taking many things with him.  He was a great man, and I miss him dearly.  My grandmother is a wealth of information though, but much time has passed and it is hard to remember things from 60 years ago.

I’m still waiting on some information from my aunts in Oklahoma.  I might call them today, but I don’t know if that would offend one of them due to religious beliefs.

I Need A Graphic Designer, or Become One

I have made some strides in this new website development.  However, there are some things that I still have problems figuring out.

I have figured out this Joomla CMS tool that I am now using, but I need a graphic designer to remove some “white space” from my tattoo picture.  I would also like a version of it that is white, and one that is inverted from its current colors.

I also need to learn a little more about CSS and XHTML.  I have found many templates for Joomla that I like, but none of them blow me away.  If I could modify them or join 2 of them into one template, I would be halfway there.


I’m still adding content, and trying to figure out how to get PayPal to work with this in the grand scheme of things.  I think the grand re-launch will be a few months away.


Check it out!  I have the website online at www.lmlvideoservices.com/joomla


IU offers a Digital Design Certificate, I really want to do it.  Depending on how things go I might in the fall.  It focuses on design of brochures and such.  It also teaches about the Adobe Creative Suite.  I have a part of it, Photoshop CS3, but haven’t gotten my hands on the other programs thus far.  Who knows, LML Video Services might start to offer Graphic Design services in the future.

Starting All Over

Over the past couple of weeks I have been attempting to revamp my website.  I found a tool that in theory should help me do that.  It’s called Joomla.  It’s an open source database/document management/website tool.

 

There are many, and I do mean many great plug-ins and add-ins for this monster.  From blogging to e-commerce, this ones got you covered.

 

However, there is one problem.  I don’t have any extensive experience with these systems and way this product works.  It relies heavily on server side scripting languages and protocols such as PHP.  So I am starting from scratch with this one.  The only way I learn something like this, is to dig my head into it and see what happens when I click this or delete that.

That has been easier said than done.  Until this week, from what I knew it couldn’t be ran on a home computer.  I thought it had to be used on a web server (at least a computer with a server OS).  I found a program that emulates that your computer is indeed a server, it’s called WAMP5.  With that installed I could play with Joomla to my heart’s content.

I’m starting to learn more and more about the software every day, and I think that within a few months, a new website for LML Video Services will be born.

I just need to figure out a few more problems first.  It seems that my hosting service, Infosaic Technologies, has some strict guidelines for things such as these, many of the plug-ins and add-ins will not install correctly and it seems to be a permissions type error.  The tech guys had to actually install the software for me.  I keep prodding to see how I can get them to help me, but that’s an ongoing process.  I don’t want to leave them, as they’ve been good (and cheap) to me over the past 2 years.

If I don’t get the hosting problems resolved, there must be another way.  Hopefully I can find it.

A Change Will Do Me Good

One thing I truly need for lmlvideoservices.com is a new website.  Over the past couple of years I have used free templates I have found on the internet.  That has been a tremendous help as it hasn’t cost me anything for design and it enabled me to get my face out there.
I believe that is one thing that has gotten me where my business is at today, but times they are a changin’.

I need a professional website.  Not necessarily created by a professional, just one that looks professional.  I don’t have the skills for complex things such as PHP or JavaScript.  I admire to have something as nice as APM Studio, they are who I achieve to be someday.
If someone out there who wants to add something to their resume, or if you’re a student who needs to create a website for a school project.  Leave me a comment.  I’ll make it worth your wild.

The next change needed is marketing, or the current lack thereof.  My wife and I had talked about marketing my products and services to local photographers, funeral homes and various other small businesses.  I just haven’t done anything constructive with those conversations thus far.

I currently have some very good ideas.  Getting those ideas to a workable plan and seeing that plan to completion is a different story though.
The current idea is to send a letter with a personalized pamphlet to each business.  It would be your typical sales letter I guess.  In the letter it will state that I would like to make an appointment to meet with the owner or manager of each business.  After a couple of weeks I would call each place to try to set up said appointment.  I’m trying to make this personal and not some piece of “junk mail” like many businesses receive.


I am also undergoing an attempt to redesign my logo.  It’s been hard.  I removed my tattoo, as I think it looks clean and more professional.  Rachel tells me that it looks too plan and “blah!” however.  I do not want to change the conjoined LML, as this is something I actually “designed” in 4th grade.  It was to be my “celebrity” signature should I become famous, LML is my initials.

I’d like your opinions on the matter.  If you have any ideas or suggestions, I might use em. (with your okay of course)

Nothing to say, Much to Do

Many things have been happening in and around b-town lately, but I haven’t wrote about ’em.  There are many things I should be doing right now, but I haven’t been doing them.

I’m not really in a depressive state, just a “don’t want to” state.

I need to get the rest of the hallway primered.  I said I would do that a month ago.  I was going to start working on the basement this winter, but haven’t done a thing.

It’s as if much of my energy has just vanished into thin air.  When we get home, I don’t really want to be on the computer, but I am.  I check my email, see how the progress of this new software installation is going, read the newspaper, etc.  But after being on a computer for the 8 previous hours, I can’t take much at a time.

I take many breaks – from the living room to the office or outside to smoke.  It gives my knees much needed exercise.

Before I know it, it’s time to hit the sack and start this vicious cycle over again.

 

Letting The Numbers Speak

I have been keeping a log of all of our utility usage and costs this year.  I’m hoping to drop our electricity usage by a meager 2% per year.  I don’t want to start large and disappoint myself.

My logs for other utilities, such as water, sewer, telephone and cable haven’t been as closely monitored because I seem to can’t find some of the statements.

Our home is a total electric home, so it is easy to disseminate our total usage.

In 2007 we used a total of 17,712 KWH (Kilowatt Hours) of electricity.  We used an average of 48.9 KWH per day, which cost us on average $4.90 per day.  On average one KWH of electricity cost us $0.10 in 2007, and we paid $1,777.41 for electricity in 2007.

How do your numbers look in comparison?  I really don’t know if ours is bad or good.  So if you are a dork like me and like to keep track of things such as these, perhaps I can get some information to set my household on a track to help this earth, instead of harming it.

I’ve spent the past hour trying to get information on “average household electricity usage” but the DOE’s website is junk, and I can’t find anything else useful.

End of Year Headache… I Mean Upgrade

After finishing my last slide transfer job, the client asked me if I could transfer 120mm negatives.  My scanner had been good to me, but I needed an upgrade and a way to take some money off of the books so the tax man wouldn’t eat me alive.  I told him that I would get back with him after the upgrade.

The CSR where I really work, just upgraded a scanner and I really liked the one they went to.  It’s a HP ScanJet G4050.  When I researched it, I loved it even more.  With the ability to scan up to 16 35mm slides at a time, and also do medium format stuff such as 120mm, I went for it.  Also since my previous scanner was an HP, I had some familiarity with how their software and systems work.

I always try to read reviews very carefully before purchasing such a product, and I should have listened.

Many of the reviewers just spoke about problems with Vista – I figured such a problem, and that’s why I don’t plan on upgrading for a long time.  There were some though that should have brought up a red flag.  They spoke of problems installing the software altogether.  XP SP2 and IE 7 have thrown a wrench in HP’s software since they both came out.  I had problems with my old scanner because of this, but I didn’t think it would affect a new one, with different software.

I installed the software and everything went fine.  I scanned a few bank statements, but ran into a problem after the third, it would just freeze.  Alas, a problem.  So I tried the first thing to come to mind, uninstall and re-install.  That’s when I came into a world of trouble.  The software wouldn’t fully uninstall.  So I had to manually delete everything (including registry entries), just to re-install.  HP doesn’t support their products (except computers) on the weekends or past 6pm Mountain time, so I was SOL.  I searched deep for solutions, but only found clues.

I even installed the Vista software that came with the scanner, and it worked the same way, perfect several times and then freezing.  I gave up for the evening and decided to make a fresh start in the morning.  I installed the full software suite that I downloaded from the HP website and ta-da, it works now!

I might go to Canon or Epson for my next scanner.  Hopefully that will be several years down the road.

Buzy

I haven’t posted much lately due to many reasons, in particular I haven’t had much time.  We had Taylor for a week, much needed bonding time with my daughter.

In that week, we went here, there and everywhere in between though.

My wife, Rachel, wrote in her blog a day by day synopsis of what we’ve done.  Check it out HERE!

So I’m catching up……

Helping Thy Neighbor

I have written on several occasions about how my neighbor is moving.  Rachel and I are quite saddened by this, they have been sweet and very nice to us.  We will truely miss them when they leave, which is supposed to be within a week or two.

Gary has an ice cream trailer.  He goes to festivals and fairs throughout southern Indiana.  He wants to sell it just because of the sheer distance he is moving.

So I’m lending a hand.  I’m in the process of putting it on eBay.  That’s gary right after he bought it I believe.  It’s a nice trailer, and could be a very good income.  He is including everything needed to run the business, even his contacts to festivals and fairs in this area.

So if you are interested, or know someone who is.  Leave a comment and I’ll send you his email and phone information.

BTW the asking price is $17,000

I’ll miss you Gary, I really will.  You were my first real neighbor, and Rachel and I will never forget you.