I’m in the process of testing Windows Live Writer this week and I’m getting all sorts of weird x-posting. Please forgive multiple hits as they come through…it’s not on purpose and I’ll get it under control. Really. I promise.

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There are certain things, as a father of four, I consider hard and fast rules. For example, children are sticky. Always. If they are not sticky during any given examination, you may safely assume it is because…

A. You’re not looking hard enough.
B. You’ve arrived exactly 10 seconds too soon, and if you take the time to grab a drink of water you will return to a sticky child.
C. Your child is particularly gifted at covering his/her tracks and you’ll discover said stickiness that should have been on the child in some other, even less desirable spot…say, inside your favorite sport coat…soon enough.
D. You have an angelic wunderkind who beats all statistical odds.

I have had my share of experience with the first three…leaning heavily on C over the years…regretfully, D isn’t in my family’s genes. Whomever is reading this who DOES have a D child, I weep at your joy.

Another rule which is to be treated as canon: laundry will be checked for non-laundry items as if you are a special investigator for Homeland Security. This is not up for argument, debate or consideration, it is an IS.

Of course, there is often the sticky child who needs special assistance removing gum from the fur of the cat to distract you…which is to say me…which is to explain how the black Sharpie magic marker from said child’s pocket found it’s way mysteriously into a load of my wife’s blouses…through both the wash and dry cycles. Yes, the shirts were white.

To summarize:
Children are sticky.
Cats do not like to be shaved under any circumstances.
Wives do consider indelible ink a couch-sleeping offense.

Tonight I sleep with my shaved pussy. Good times.

First off, to all of you who have tried to get a hold of me for the last 24 hours, email, phone and more, I thank you for leaving messages of concern…and threats of evisceration if the as required…but no, I am not dead…though in the computer world, I might as well have been.
I have, a spectacularly stupid explanation / ecxuse that falls into the I two-part, I can’t believe they happened on the same day, excuse of epic stupidity epic stupidity category"
It started with the gym.

I used to be quite the gym rat…just 12 or 13 months ago two hours a day was nothing for me. Then I busted up my back (not broken, just pulled into a shape I thought only Silly Putty capable of) and by the time I was ready to go back, I didn’t. that was over a year of pathetic excuses ago. Yesterday, I swallowed my fears and pride, suited up and went. And overdid it on the squats. Apparently "overdid" means two sets of 15 with the bar-plus-20lbs. I used to use double that as a warm-up…when I was 13. I am old and humbled.

By 3pm I couldn’t walk without screaming for my mommy (my mother lives in Southern Indiana and I seriously doubt she was going to come nursemaid me…but my wife was at work and I didn’t want to bother her). And though it still hurts (by it, I mean anything above my toes and below my chromed dome), I’m alive this morning and about to hit the elliptical. I’m a fantastic whiner, but I’m ok, thanks for asking.

I continued that stupidity with one much worse…for the first time in thirty years of computing I spilled coffee…all over my laptop. I am, without question, a slob when it comes to my drinks. I don’t own a single shirt that has not been treated for coffee stains at one time or another…it’s who I am, I accept it. But I never, ever ever ever spill on a computer…it doesn’t happening…it hasn’t happened since 1979…until yesterday morning. Ya can’ts say never it were once. It were, no I can’ts.

There’s a standard procedure for a stupidity of this magnitude:
1. Turn it upside down and let it drain.
2. Dry it as best you can.
3. Remove the battery and anything else you can get at to let them dry separately.
4. Put a fan on it.
5. Leave it alone for 24 hours (no peeking!)
6. Pray. A lot.

It’s 24 hours later and low and behold I have a computer back. However up until this time (five minutes ago) I haven’t had any of your contact information or a way to get at it. So to the editors, clients and other folks who allow me to live in the fassion I am accustomed (roof over head, food in children’s stomachs, etc.), I apologize for dropping off the grid.
That’s my tale of woe and heartbreak but so far it appears to be a happy ending as I am talking to you on my rechristened "JavaBox".

AEIOU,
Kep!

KRDO.com Colorado Springs, Pueblo – Weather, News, Sports – Police: Waiter foils alleged attempt to drug woman on date

Now, on a normal day a guy trying to drug a woman on a date is tragic, downright despicable and certainly a crime.  But that’s not why I’m here today. What impresses me here is the waiter actually stepped up and did the eight thing without hesitation. Personal responsibility is a rare thing, but taking responsibility for your fellow human is non-existent these days. The unnamed waiter didn’t do anything special, he did something right. What happened to doing the right thing?

Anyone reading this in Colorado Springs needs to find the Ruby Tuesdays this took place at and search this guy out. Don’t give him presents, flowers or throw a parade, just say “thanks”. If more people said thanks, I think more people would do the right damn thing.

Hey unnamed waiter, Thanks!

Time to do the right thing by pushing that left mouse button on a pretty pink button! The Breast Cancer Site is having trouble getting enough people to click on their site daily to meet their quota of donating at least one free mammogram a day to an underprivileged woman.

Step up!

It takes less than a minute (if that long) to go to their site and click on “donating a mammogram” for free (pink window in the middle).

This doesn’t cost you a thing. Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate mammogram in exchange for advertising.

Here’s the web site! Pass it along to people you know.
http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/

It’s a click, people, not exactly a hard days work. Step up!

I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking “Hey! Kep hasn’t said a word about Triggit in almost two days. Well, my friends, your wait is over! Here’s snipits from a fresh new batch of views and reviews about my favorite monetizing Firefox add on: TRIGGIT!

SmartBiz.com: Small Business Resources – SmartTools: Triggit Simplifies Making Money on Affiliate Marketing
…worth a try for sites that might want to add a little bit of affiliate income to their mix.

Triggit allows you to add links to Amazon, photos and video on the fly – WebStyle – Web style – Helpful tips, latest gadgets and News
I’m certain that you’ll enjoy Triggit.

philcrissman.com » Triggit
But on first glance, it’s an elegant solution to a problem that I don’t have.

I really like Phil’s review of Triggit here. It’s not that he’s all glowing, he’s not, but he really digs into the product nicely…and he’s spot on, it’s a problem HE doesn’t have. But for the rest of us blogging types with no interest in learning to code in order to communicate, it’s just damn nifty!

And remember, if you want to try out TRIGGIT for yourself, head on over to www.triggit.com and type in “NEW” for the invitation code!

Zach over at the Triggit blog isn’t sure what he thinks about Amazon’s new toy the Kindle. I, on the other hand, know exactly what I think…it’s a really expensive way to squint at at page…and heaven forbid you lose it. The Kindle is a great start…no question about it…the world is going that way and that’s that. Viva la technologie! BUT! At $399.00 a pop and another $9.99 for books (not paper books mind you, just the kind Kindle reads), you have to buy and read more than TWENTY K-books (assuming you by at aprox. $20 each at a Boraders bestsellers table) before you start saving any money over the paper equivilant. And unlike the paper, you can’t easilly lend it to your friends, pass it around the office or…as I often do…spill coffee on it and leave it in an airport men’s room…or if I did, I’d probably have a stroke. So, for now, I applaud Amazon for getting this to market, I look forward to playing with one, I hope i get proven wrong and the technology takes off like a bat out of hell, but unil this (or it’s decendant) gets below $100 the mass market acceptance won’t be there.

Today my breast swells with pride as my brother, the CEO of TRIGGIT, inc. gets some props as the opening salvo in a Washington Post article about Web 2.0. Zach (that being the brother) is one hell of a hard worker and more than deserving of this…but it’s damn nice to see others agree! HOORAY!

SAN FRANCISCO

At the Web 2.0 conference here in 2005 — back before Google had paid $1.65 billion for YouTube and people were talking about valuations for Facebook of $15 billion — Zach Coelius, a precocious 25-year-old who had snuck into the hall without paying, stepped up to the microphone and asked the speaker for a bit of career advice.

Start a company, replied Rupert Murdoch.

Now, two years later, Coelius has wheedled his way in again, this time to the Internet A-list party at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, sponsored by MySpace, which Murdoch purchased in 2005 for what now looks like a bargain price of $580 million. Within minutes, Coelius has pushed through the throng and buttonholed Murdoch to report on how it has all worked out — how he had parlayed a "chance" meeting with a venture capitalist into an invitation to a regular poker game with other VCs who seeded his new "widget" company with their poker losses and later with modest first-round financing. Now, with a small staff and a tested product, Triggit.com is about to launch.

For the next two minutes, the two scheming entrepreneurs traded stories, the jowly septuagenarian media mogul filling in some details of how he broke the newspaper printers union on London’s Fleet Street, the lanky young upstart riffing on the spectacular promise of social networking. It’s hard to say who was enjoying the conversation more. But like many in the room, they had the sense that this was one of those magic moments that comes along every decade or so, when nothing is certain, everything is possible and anything can be spun into gold.

Here’s the link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/18/AR2007101802462.html?sub=new

Go Zach go!!!

Article Reference HERE: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6469941.stm

In a desperate attempt to get people to flock to the Grand Canyon and, more importantly, shell out money they may or may not have, Las Vegas Business Tycoon David Jin has figured out a brilliant idea (and it IS brilliant)….let’s suspend people over it and have them look straight down.

Would someone PLEASE hand me a barf bag?

I get terrible vertigo…which is hilarious for an ex-Air Force guy…but I do. i can’t begin to imagine stepping out in mid-air over a 4000 (sic.) foot drop…I don’t care how secure it’s supposed to be…it just ain’t happening.

But on a completely different objection I can’t help but feel this is a gross exploitation of the Hualapai Tribe. Unlike the casinos (which the exploitation debate still rages about…but has done very good for a few tribes), this is an exercise in diminishing returns. This is novelty…which Las Vegas (obviously the primary feeder market) lives on, true…which after a while will fail to produce in any meaningful way. The art of the novelty is tried and true…from P.T. Barnum to Fred Thompson to Dr. Fad (creator of the Wacky Wall Walker) there is a history of people making fortunes on a product that is as disposable as the cardboard in a center of toilet paper. The trick to a novelty is for it to keep reinventing itself or its purpose to keep it fresh. Sadly, this is something which once the novelty wears off is not going anywhere and the people who are counting on it for jobs and livelihood (read: the Hualapai Tribe) are going to have their asses handed to them on a long-glass platter while the financiers (who will certainly be taking their cut early and often) move on to the next big thing.

Don’t mistake my cynicism for disapproval of a capitalist move…it’s not, I’ve often preached that a sucker and his money were lucky to get together in the first place…but to hang the future of your people on a gimmick is foolhardy at best and criminal at worse. To be the guy who sold them this bill of goods as being the way out of poverty is traitorous.

Finally, let’s discuss a final fact…the Grand Canyon has been a huge draw in and of itself for years (it’s hard to miss, gorgeous to look at, and FREE for all), but tragically has lost visitors year after year to other forms of entertainment (the Great Family Roadtrip is dead if you hadn’t heard, I’m sorry for your loss). While I DO believe this dizzying bastardization of the American Dream will draw people for a few years to come, and millions of folks (if they’re lucky) will pay their toll to step out onto the edge of oblivion and stare into the canyon and only birds and David Copperfield have previously, I’m afraid it too will slowly go the way of the Wacky Wall Walker and become trite and unfulfilling as kids move on to the next Wii craze. And, unlike the Dr. Fad’s masterpiece, this novelty won’t fit into a cereal box to eke out a few extra bucks for its creators.

If you don’t believe me, I’ve got a bridge in Arizona to sell you.