Glacier’s Blog

Life is full things that we invest ourselves in. These investments could be made through time, money, emotions. It is important to understand what our personal values are and make sure that we are rating and applying our core values accordingly.

Before I get too far into this, I want to make sure that I convey core values to provide you guys with where I’m coming from a bit. My core values are listed below.

1. The God of my understanding. Everyone has their own belief system, so if you’re going to model your core value system then insert the God of your understanding here. Mine is God and Jesus and all of that stuff - which I will not go into here. I need this core value my top priority. The Bible can tell you why.

2. Family. My family is very important to me. These are the people that I will put above all worldly things - friends, money, hobbies, everything. We did not choose who our family members are, but we were put in this situation for some reason, so let’s roll with it. I would do anything for my wife and children first, then I would be there for my mother and father, brother and sister. I’ve been blessed with a very tight knit family. It’s been trying at times, but we’ll make it through just fine. This is also where I’d include all of the extended family, too, but I wanted to make sure the immediate people in my life were specifically mentioned which allows me identify the most important focus in this category.

3. Friends. Friends are a very important part of life and valuable assets to our personal growth. They are people we can turn to when we need to vent about family, life, career. They are also the people who we can learn to confide in and also have fun with. Maybe these people even help us get into trouble once in awhile. No matter what building a solid support system is critical to success in life.

4. Hobbies. We all have our hobbies. Those things we do for fun, but, in some cases, maybe they are considered vices. After all, we are what we spend our money on and put our time into. Let’s say that I collect vintage John Deere tractors (which I don’t, but let’s pretend), and I put a lot of money into restoring one of them. Each dollar that goes into that won’t directly benefit my [immediate] family. Also, I have be to cautious that I don’t take too much time away from my wife and children either. Don’t get me wrong, it is very important to have hobbies as an outlet, but make sure that it is in perspective and a fair ratio that will benefit those around you.

Above I have listed out what my priorities are for this lifetime. I know what works for me and my family. I’m sure that you will find out what works for you also. It is important to know what your core objectives are and what your goals are. In my opinion, one of the first building blocks is understanding your priorities.

If you are struggling with your identity, where you’re going, or maybe hitting your mid-life crisis, then maybe try this exercise. Jot down your core value priorities sort of how I’ve listed mine above. Then under each category write out each person, place, or thing that fits in that category. Upon completion you will realize the order of what you want your priorities to be.

Questions, comments, concerns, you know the drill…

I gave The Curious Case of Benjamin Button a 3 out of 5 star rating.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Rated PG-13, Directed by David Fincher, Released December 25, 2008

This movie was, in fact, a curious case. Aside from the fact that it was really too long, it moved rather slowly. I don’t think that I would personally watch it again for those reasons. However, I did find the storyline intriguing. My wife and I both agreed that it was nice to see a writer take the liberty of writing a typical romance but reversing the affects of aging for one particular character. This introduces a whole host of storytelling nightmares, but the writer did a great job of creating mystery and a certain “how are they going to do that” factor to it.

Maybe I am dense, but one thing that still baffles me is exactly what the clock builder and his clock have to do with the rest of the story. The only correlation that I can gather is that war clock ticking in reverse somehow ties to that one birth on the last day of the war which makes that newborn age in reverse. I personally didn’t get it. I think they had something there, but it was very clear. If you can explain it, please leave a comment to help us understand.

Brad Pitt does a good job in his role as Benjamin Button. There were plenty of times where if it weren’t for his eyes, you would never know that it was him. There weren’t really any other household-name power houses acting in this film.

I suppose at the end of the day, I would recommend this to others because it certainly has a new perspective on how to view life. Again, I wish it weren’t so long (2 hr 46 min) because it got difficult to stay focused on at times.

It’s not necessarily a family film. The rating is probably pretty accurate on this one at PG-13. There were several love scenes (silohuettes were visible but not any flesh that I can recall) and at times there was some foul language.

I gave Wanted a 4 out of 5 star rating.

Wanted, Rated R, Directed by Timur Bekmambetov, Released June 27, 2008

I would typically consider myself a down-to-earth person who has difficulty enjoying far out fictional movies where many of the events depicted are highly unlikely in real life.  With that being said, I actually found myself very interested in this movie and got drawn in more and more as the movie went along.  It definitely lived up to its hype as an action/thriller. 

Looking back at this movie, I saw many similarities to other movies.  There were times where I felt like I was watching Fight Club or The Matrix, and then, at one point, I thought of the movie Willard.  Lastly there were certain parts that reminded a bit of James Bond or XXX, and then near the end, I thought of The Last Castle.  These similarities do not hurt the movie, in fact, it seemed to make it a little more comfortable and familiar.

The story follows Wesley Gordon as he goes through his ordinary, miserable life.  He has his painful cubicle job with a mean, old female boss who treats him very poorly.  His girlfriend is getting more from his best friend than from him.  It’s just a miserable life for Wesley.  Then he gets recruited by Angelina Jolie’s character to kill the assassin that killed Gordon’s father.  The rest of the movie follows him training and taking missions.

This movie is probably most talked about because of their ability to bend a bullet during flight.  It is a pretty sweet special effect, but Mythbusters proved that it was not actually possible in real life thus “busted”.

As I mentioned, I did really like this movie, and I would certainly watch it again.  As I point out in every review, this movie did have blood, guts, and gore.  There was a lot of vulgar language and strong sexual content.  This is not at all a family film; well, I guess it could be if everyone watching was over 17 or 18…

I definitely recommend this one.

There are many articles out there that discuss how to make money from your blog or website. Most of the ones that I have read are very well-written and informative. In fact, the most recent article that I read was written by Darren Rowse at ProBlogger.net called “10 steps to guarantee you’ll never make more than 0.14 cents per month with Google Adsense”. It has really made me look at how I’m doing things on my site, and think about adjusting some stuff around. For now, I am going to focus on building traffic and adding tasteful advertising, but yes, I will continue to implement some of the observations that Darren has suggested.

Right now I have four methods of money making on this blog. There could be a lot more, but I am very picky about what I put on here. I know that for you guys, the readers, being bombarded with advertising so much that you cannot read the content is a real buzzkill - and could really help reduce site traffic. There is that fine balancing act to keep in mind on my side.

So, the four methods that I am using are Google AdSense, LinkShare, Amazon Affiliations, and PayPal Donations. To be completely honest, I cannot tell you how profitable each one of these functions are because of how new this blog is, but I can speak from a technical standpoint and why I have selected each of these to date.

First, Google AdSense. I like the way near A.I. that Google AdSense provides. It takes keywords, and then displays per click advertisements based on the content of your blog. I like the ease of use and site statistics that it displays in your “My Account” on Google’s site. In addition, you have the flexibility of customizing your ad to match your blog and make it non-intrusive. I was able to modify the background, the borders, the font color, and the font type. Now, I haven’t completed figured out the best method for using channels yet, but once I figure that out, I will post more. Be careful with this one because the user agreement states that you can use it in conjunction with any other pay per click advertisements, so that limits what other ad-avenues that you can choose. Also, never click your own Google AdSense links. You may think it’ll make you more money, but when Google finds out they will ban you from using it.

The next one is LinkShare. I really like this one. They are affiliated with many, many different online retailers (some are even brick and mortar stores that you are already familiar with). There are probably thousands of retailers to choose from. They allow you to sign up and go through an approval process to see if you can qualify for displaying their ads. Once approved by LinkShare, then you must be approved by each affiliate that you want to display on your page. Yesterday, I requested approval to display about four different retailers, but so far only one has approved me and my site (I haven’t been declined, just a slower process). The one problem that I’ve noticed so far is that the LinkShare links/advertisements come up as a red ‘x’ and cannot be displayed - on their own page when attempting to grab the code, so that link is not here on my site. One of my favorite reasons that I like this one is because I can pick my favorite retailers whom I am comfortable with or make a decision based on the provided stats.

The third one is the Amazon Affiliation. You can link to specific products listed on Amazon. When a site visitor clicks that link, it will take them to that advertised product on Amazon.com, and if they purchase that product then you could get a cut of that sale. It’s pretty sweet. This is another one where I am in control of what I choose to add or not add to my site. Relevancy to my site is very important in my opinion, so I like that flexibility.

The last one is the PayPal Donation link. The jury is still out for me on this particular item. I love the ability and concept of it, but I’m not sure of the morality of it. It is an easy link to add especially if you are already a PayPal account holder. I have left it on there because it doesn’t take up much space and people do not have to click on it. On the flipside, I don’t want people to feel like I’m begging for extra money. If I find a site that is useful, and I’ve gone back many of times, then I would donate to their cause. At the end of the day, it provides an option; whether someone utilizes that option, it is up to them.

A common method that is discussed on many blogs is the use of Text Link Ads. I tried to associate with them, but they denied my attempt because of the lack of relevant traffic to this site so far. Once I increase my site traffic, then I will consider going back to them to see if we can get approval. I’m not upset about it a bit because after all, they are trying to provide the best possible avenues to advertise for their customers - the retailers. By keeping that in mind, I’m okay with their decision. Besides, it gives me something to work towards.

As previously mentioned, I cannot speak to how well each of these methods actually work, but from a technical standpoint, I have outlined the ones that I feel the most comfortable with. Once I improve site traffic, then I will elaborate on the successes of each and maybe details on whether we’ve established a relationship with Text Link Ads. Well, looks like I need to work on getting some traffic in here… Take care and until next time…

Questions, comments, concerns, you know the drill…

I will give you the fact that Jim Carrey’s new movie Yes Man is a bit extreme in the say “yes” philosophy, but after much consideration, I believe that there is some solid merit to it.  In my opinion, there are very few people who couldn’t apply this philosophy to their own life.

Life is like a tire that is balding and about to give out at any time - and many people do not realize that.  Today could be our last day.  But many people get into a stagnant routine and always play it safe.  Many times we find ourselves sitting out on things that could be beneficial to our growth as people, friends, family, colleagues, or even for ourselves. 

Be on the lookout as someone will probably ask if you want to hang out this weekend, run an errand for them, move a television, go to church, visit someone in the hospital, or help in the garden.  Seize that moment.  Carpe Diem.  This time say “sure, when?” or “I’d love to” and follow through with it.  When your pillow hits the bed that night, you will be able to cycle the day’s events and know that you’ve done something - new, different, and given part of yourself to help someone else.

Without each other, what do we have in this lifetime.  Money and success come and go, but people are where to invest time and energy.  Even though you aren’t sure about the activity, you have to realize that you probably aren’t doing it for yourself; you are doing it for the other person.  You participating in that activity with someone else just might be the best thing that has happened for him or her in weeks.

Don’t get me wrong, you still have to make a living and be happy with career contributions in order to truly be successful in the capability of being around others. 

It’s always hard to say yes at first to things that are uncommon or out of the ordinary, but just like all things it gets easier with practice.    Once you get used to the yes philosophy, then you can start being proactive, trying new things such as taking piano lessons, cleaning out the garage, and going back to school to get a degree.  After all, we are not guaranteed anything more than the present - take advantage of it.   

This time when someone asks, say “yes.” 

Disclaimer/Fine Print: only say yes if it will not harm you or others, offend yourself or others, get you into legal trouble, in trouble with the law, or cause spousal disagreements (the couch is a lonely place to be).

I gave Yes Man a 3 out of 5 star rating. 

Yes Man, Rated PG-13, Directed by Peyton Reed, Released December 17, 2008

Jim Carrey is nearly back with his latest performance in Yes Man.  He plays Carl Allen, a guy who is wrapped up solely in his ho-hum, planned out, day-by-day lifestyle.  Anytime his friends asked him to do something, he always turned them down.  Then Carl is convinced to attend a life-changing “Yes” convention.  He decides to give yes a try as he adopts the program.  As viewers, we get to follow him on lifes journey as his decisions snowball.  When you think the film is over, pay attention to very end before the credits role, you can catch one last good laugh.

I think Carrey is really getting back to the Jim Carrey that we all grew to love.  He still has a little bit to go, but he’s closer to being the guy he when his career initially launched.  His acting style was like a crude version of Liar, Liar’s Fletcher Reede.

This is not a family film.  There is very obscene language and strong sexual content.  I would, however, recommend this film to the older crowd who can deal with the content and language; after all, it was still pretty funny.

While there is no structure, or thought, really, I had the idea to put a few of my rumblings down, in regard to GM and its pension fund. As a financial advisor, this is an issue that is very important to me. Many, many people that I talk to have a pension with either Chrysler or GM. Living on the south side of Indianapolis, with many current and former UAW staffed plants nearby, affords me all kinds of information about this subject. Some of it “factual” from news reports, some is hearsay from retired workers, and some is from those that have no vested interest in the company, and merely want to talk about it. While I will do all I can to separate fact from fiction, I recently read some information about GM and it’s pension plan that is just stunning. I want to list a few numbers, and then explain their significance.

1.26

52

20

54,000

30

So what do these numbers mean?

1.26: Current stock price of GM stock. Stock that isn’t trading on any listed exchange. And also the current valuation of what was once the major holding of the pension fund, violating rule number one of investing. Don’t tie your retirement to the company that pays your wages. Many Enron, National City, MCI and other company employees have learned that over the last 7 years.

52, as in million. The approximate amount that UAW contributed to President Obama’s campaign. Will there be a fair look at the situation now that he won, and they donated this substantial of an amount to him and various Political Action Committees on his behalf?

20, as in billion. The estimated shortfall of the pension fund. In other words, because of investing in things like GM stock, and not being properly funded from the beginning, the pension fund is so short of assets that it needs a bailout as well. Except, it can only get, at most 4 billion.

54,000, as in the maximum amount per retiree that could be paid if the bailout comes. Now, this is an amount of $4500 per month, and will only affect a very small portion of the retired workers. But, is this too high? Should the taxpayer be forced to help pay for someone to receive a pension well over the average wage of the country? As of the end of Q1, according to the Department of Labor, the average wage in the US was $18.46 per hour. Over the course of a 2080 hour work year, that equals out to  $38,397 a year. That figure is roughly 71% of the max payout for a retiree from GM, if the pension fund gets bailed out. Should taxpayers be forced to pay for people (retired, with a theoretically lower cost of living) to earn more than they do?

30, as in billion. Combination of already received government bailout money (13.4) and requested additional (16.6) by GM. And, those figures were to keep the company out of bankruptcy, and weren’t for the aforementioned pension shortfall.

At this point, does it even make sense for the government to continue to try and save this company? For years, weak and poorly managed companies were allowed to die or be bought. Chrysler, GM, AIG and others are breaking that, and at what cost to the taxpayer? Should we have instead used the $13.4 billion already received to boost the pension fund to closer total funding (and, allowing them a good return, seeing as how the market deteriorated around them, and would have an expected return built back in to the taxpayer investment), and let a company that believed it was above the public, above change, and above meeting needs and demands of the changing economic environment go the way of the dinosaur?

I know I don’t know the true answer to these questions, but I do know that I am worried we have killed our country.

I gave The Boy in the Striped Pajamas a 3 out of 5 star rating.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Rated PG-13, Directed by Mark Herman, Released November 14, 2008

This movie was set during World War II and emphasized life near a Nazi concentration camp in Poland.  Our lead character, Bruno, 8, moves with his family to a new place where his father can run this particular camp.  Bruno quickly becomes friends with one boy residing inside the camp.  This movie follows the growth of the relationship between these two boys and the family’s inability to adapt.

I liked this movie for the most part.  To me, it seemed a little bit slow at times though.  It was more of an artsy film that told a tough story.  I liked it, but I would probably not watch it again.  As I mentioned, it moved kind of slowly, so I was able to take to take it all in and memory-lock nearly every detail of the movie.  I would stick to the rating of the PG-13 because of the suggested themes relating to the Holocaust.

I would definitely recommend this movie to those interested in the time frame and theme associated with this movie.  If don’t enjoy this era or you have a short attention spam, then I don’t recommend it.

Man, I have learned a lot over the past few days about building a blog, and it has been very rewarding,  and I’ve learned a lot so far.  I’ve been doing IT work for about the last 10 years or so, so technically, I knew that I could build it.  However, there were many things that I didn’t know how to do but have quickly learned, and there are still many that I still need to learn.

As for a little bit about my background, I most recently built rules-based product configurators using Progress 4GL coding, managed a corp of developers, plus I have developed several websites (intranets and public sites).    I’m not new to the theories and concepts that web and ‘e’ technology offers, but I was new to some of the terms and software functions common in the blog world.  To better understand what I need to do and how to get there, I have reviewed many other blogger posts to get there take on it.  My primary reference site for modeling has been authored by Steve Pavlina.  You can check out that article by clicking here.  He does a very good job outlining what can be done, what should be done, and where to go get it.  His contains a lot of other “go-getter” and motivational life improvement types of content. 

The first step was to do a lot of research.  You have to read and get a feel for how people are already doing things out there.  There are things that work and things that don’t.  Keep a close eye on the things that don’t work and an even closer eye on the things that do.  There is a lot of experience written in blogs about blogging dos and don’ts, so learn from someone else’s experiences.  It’ll be cheaper and less stressful in the long run.

Being a beginner to blogging, I decided to go with WordPress.org for my blogging tool hosted through GoDaddy.com (I already had a hosting account there from previous site development).  The reason I chose WordPress was because of it’s fairly intuitive GUI, a lot of built-in functions and features, and a list of plugins and themes that goes on forever, and finally and most importantly, it was FREE.  Since I was laid-off, free was nice.  Another nice thing about GoDaddy hosting my WordPress blog is that GoDaddy will actually install and configure the MySQL database and take the install all the way to the admin screen.  (Granted you have to kind of have an inkling about what you are doing, but there are plenty of blog posts out there that provide solid instructions, including GoDaddy’s support site.)

There are a lot of tools and locations of settings that you need to learn.  It’s like switching from Microsoft Word in Office to Writer in OpenOffice when trying to figure out how stuff works and where to find it.  Take the time to learn where things are - and don’t change anything unless you absolutely know for sure what you are changing.  If there are things that you think will be useful later, take a second and jot them down.  Keep an active notepad session open and take little notes.  Also, take a second and document your settings and setting changes, you will be thankful later.  There is a lot of stuff there.

Because of my web development background, I decided to find a theme that worked best for me.  There are a couple of things to keep in mind about what will be the best for you.  The first thing is to fully understand what the purpose of having a blog is going to be.  Do you care only about content?  Are you looking to turn some profit?  Each of these could very well change which layout style will work best for your needs.  Initially, I used a two colum layout.  I thought that it would be good to have content on one side and my categories (calendar, archives, etc.) in the other column.  Since I wanted to make the best use of my investment and maybe make a buck or two, it didn’t take long for me to notice that I should probably use a three column layout instead of the two column.  In the third column, I could dedicate it solely to advertising.  I will get into more about the advertising side of the house later.  I’m just mentioning it now because the right layout is important, and it will save you time later.  There are many themes out there, you can search on Google for WordPress themes or you can visit WordPress.org who has many from which you can choose.  The first thing to keep in mind is: “content is king.”  The second thing, in my opinion, is that if you don’t like to look at it then other people probably won’t either.  I want my site to look good and be functional while still being full of quality content.  I recommend you pick an initial theme based on layout requirements and let it ride; after all, you can always change it later (and you probably will).

Content is king.  It is important to figure out how your content will appear and how it all works together.  If you don’t have any experience with blogs, then take the time to make a couple of basic posts to get a feel for how it looks, acts, and reacts.  Initially, your posts will go directly to the Uncategorized category, but this now gives you an opportunity to tinker with adding and managing categories.  Add some new categories and edit your posts to point to different categories.  After you are comfortable with this, you can go into your admin screen and play around with your widgets.  The widgets control where items will show up on the screen (i.e. which sidebar or what order they will appear vertically).  This is where I had a lot of fun - tweaking how the site looks without adjusting anything that would be harmful.  

The most critical thing that I’ve learned so far is that you should not underestimate the value of knowing your blog components intimately - both technically and functionally.  When the time comes where you want to add more objects (widgets, plugins, images, video, links), you’ll definitely want to have a solid grasp of how it all works together.  I will get into more details of other components of this blog such as the adding Google Adsense and a PayPal Donate link.  By the next post, I expect that I would have learned volumes more about how this stuff all works and can convey what I’ve learned.

The most important thing is to enjoy the journey of putting it all together, because when your head hits the pillow at night, you’ll have a sense of accomplishment knowing that you’ve created something. 

Good luck!  If you have questions, comments, or concerns, you know what to do…

I gave Marley & Me a 4 out of 5 star rating.

Marley & Me, Rated PG, Directed by David Frankel, Released December 25, 2008

Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson team up for this story of life with a dog.  Though it is about more than just a dog.  It is about the progression of life, love, and the pursuit of being happy - the dog just happens to help put a timeline to the progression.  We follow careers, moving to a new city, and how everyone gets a little burnt out sometimes.  It was an easy movie for me to relate to.

I don’t know that this movie lives up to the hype of a general family movie.  I would definitely say that probably the 13 and up crowd would be just fine with it.  I can tell you that I wouldn’t show it to my 4 year old just yet.  There is are several references to sexual innuendos, a lot of kissing, and some language that wasn’t really necessary.  In fact, all of these “blue” things seemed very out of place for this movie.  There is also a scene where Jennifer Aniston strips nude and dives into the family swimming pool (obviously, it’s at night and no one else is around except for her husband in the movie).  As the viewer you don’t see anything, but I just wanted to warn you about that.

I would certainly recommend this movie…  I enjoyed it.