The Adventures of Cowboy Hazel

As was hinted at yesterday, I took today off of work and spent it working on my own personal projects today. Actually, I got quite a bit more accomplished here than I would have if I had gone into Saks. I completely re-did this site (Cowboy Hazel) and, as you can see, wrote the code for my own blog. I didn’t like all the fancy extras that Wordpress forced on you. I probably would have dealt with them, though, if they only would have let me use my own style sheets. But, they didn’t, and I didn’t want to have a flowery blog that didn’t match the rest of my site. And that’s how we’re here.

Also, by creating my own blog, I have a little more control over the dates of entries. So, I was thinking about going back and moving over some stuff from my journals onto here. If you see stuff start popping up on past dates, that’s what’s happening. But, I don’t really know if that’s worth the effort.

I’ve started doing a lot of time analysis lately (like cost analysis, but considering time as the primary resource instead of money). I really want to focus on getting the projects that I have in existence now to a really kick ass state before I start moving on to new things. The Cowboy Hazel revamp made the cut because I decided to make the site public (even though I’m currently not running any advertising here). I was thinking it might be a good portfolio piece. And, more importantly, I just wanted to have a web site of my own. Lantenengo Industries has taken over all my others.

But another project got left on the drawing boards today. I was planning to build a directory, possibly called the Five Fish List, that was basically going to just be a links page on roids. But, the problem is (as it is with so many other ideas) that it’s already been done before. Why would my directory be any different from the thousands of other directories out there? And, with all the recent anti-link farm sentiment coming from Google and others, I don’t necessarily see a big reward for the effort that building a directory would take. I ran the idea past my dad and he agrees that the effort outweighs the benefits. Also, he didn’t like the name. He said it sounded a little fishy…

I need to buckle down and get some more work done on my web development sites. I’ve been focusing so much on the Network lately that my business web site is not getting the love that it needs. Considering that contracted out web-design is currently about 99.9% of Lantenengo Industries’ revenues (with advertising making up the other 0.1%), it seems ridiculous that I’ve been focusing so much on the advertising aspect of the business. It’s not completely ridiculous, though, because I have reasons for it: namely that I’m trying to change that percentage and that I want to focus on the long-term project of audience development while I still have a full time job in retail that pays the bills. If I get to the point of doing web development full time, it will be more difficult to remain interested in the side projects of the Network. Still, I need to have a solid, clean, yet cool (and S.E.O. friendly) lantenengo.com to present to potential clients. Move that to the top of the list.

I think I’m going to re-evaluate this whole blog thing. I’ll probably keep the blog here at this address, but I’m going to write my own code for it instead of using this auto-generated WordPress thing. I hate the way it forces you into their whole conception of what a blog should be.

Anyway, I just finished watching the movie The Ten. It started off really bad — so bad, in fact, that I quit watching and wasn’t planning on finishing it. But, my wrist was cramping up so severely that I couldn’t do any more work on the computer and I didn’t feel like reading, so I decided to finish it up. It actually got better. I appreciate the fact that it was so different from the typical movie format. Still, the comedy was really cheap in parts and there wasn’t really any point. I guess that was the point (that there is no point). But, then what is the point of watching? Anyway, I’ll give the movie 2 1/2 stars on my Blockbuster Queue, which is a significant improvement over the 1 star I was planning on when I first turned off the television.

It’s strange that the movie is what I mentioned first. There was something so much bigger that happened today. Irina texted me to say that Andres got fired. Charles freaked out about a stolen sale like two weeks ago and started trying to get Andres angry. I think something snapped inside of Charles; he was seriously acting crazy. Anyway, he kept provoking Andres — throwing ties on the ground in his shop, threatening “I know where you live”, etc. until Andres yelled at him and told him to get the fuck away. It was at this point that I saw what was happening and made Andres go outside with me so he could have a cigarette and calm down. I thought I had diffused the situation, a situation which I saw as potentially escalating into something detrimental to my friend’s job. I found out today, though, that I didn’t act soon enough. The simple argument that they had on the floor (with no accompanying physical violence) was enough reason for Saks to fire both of them today.

I call bullshit. You have two guys who have been working in your store for a combined six years, both of whom sell over $1 million a year and you terminate them because of one argument? People lose their cool sometimes. People make mistakes. You don’t fucking fire someone because they yell at someone once. Sure, if it’s a repeated problem, you should get rid of them. But once? What happened to the strike system? Why not write them up? I really don’t understand what Saks was thinking, but I think that they just made a big mistake. In this environment, on that floor, they are going to find it impossible to replace the people they fired today with anyone who can do the job as well as they could. I don’t know whether it was a move to show that the new H.R. guy has power, or if there was some hidden agenda, or what. Whatever the reason, they made a mistake.

Double line break signals a new drink. This was a trademark of my journals. I’m going to incorporate it into my blog.

I’ve been doing a ton of work on my Network lately. I think I’m going to call in sick to work tomorrow so I can do some more. I just have this feeling like I need to get this done before February because I know I’ll be sick of coding because I’ll be doing it so much for other people and won’t want to do it for my own projects. I’m trying to come up with a good name for my new directory. I’m expanding my links page into a directory, I’ve decided.

You know, sometimes I wish I was ten years older than I am. I have a feeling that I would have made a hell of a lot of money. I feel like I’m showing up to the party too late. All the cute girls are taken and all that’s left is the fat chick who drank too much punch. I mean, seriously, Facebook, YouTube, Hot or Not (even though they seemed to have recently tanked), eBay, etc. — none of these were complex concepts. I feel like all the good ideas have been taken. What’s left for me? Coolness quizzes and video poker? Is that really going to pay my bills?

I’m rambling. Sorry about that. Or, not, if you like the whole point-of-consciousness thing. But, this isn’t really there. It’s still too structured.

I saw Miss America yesterday morning. She is beautiful. I mean, I know that she’s Miss America and everything and when you see pictures or see her on TV you think, “Wow she’s hot,” but in real life she’s beyond words. I was sitting in the front row of the taping of Regis and Kelly yesterday with Kimberly when Miss America came on as a guest. Kimberly said to me, “If my boyfriend saw her, he’d pass out.” The thing is, she had some serious competition there too. There was this singer, Sara Bareilles, who was completely gorgeous (and maybe even more so than Miss America) in her own way. And then, there was Kelly Ripa, who I’ve always had a big crush on and who is the reason that I agreed to go to the show. She’s skinnier than I thought and has a tattoo, but she is absolutely amazing. So, I guess what I’m getting at here is that all that crap about celebrities not really being beautiful and that it’s all makeup and everything is crap. They are really hot.

Oh, and Regis doesn’t know what Jil Sander is. He came up to me during one of the commercial breaks and started chatting. I was wearing a suit because I had to go to work later, but everyone else (hicks from the midwest) was in t-shirts and jeans and so I stood out a little. He asked what I did for a living. I told him that I work at Saks. “The one on fortieth and fifth?” “Yeah, fiftieth and fifth.” “What do you do there?” “I’m the Jil Sander men’s specialist.” “What?” “I sell clothes.” Then, he did that thing with his jacket, opening it up, like David Letterman always does, to show the label and said, “What do you think of this, Mr. Saks?” I just laughed, along with everyone else, and he went back to get ready for the next segment. He came back during the next commercial break and did the same thing, to which I replied, “Looks snazzy.” Snazzy? Who says that? Carlton? Snazzy? Snazzy? Playoffs? Playoffs?

God, I love those Coors Light commercials. If your an American man, you understood that. And, you’ll probably also understand why I want to get a tattoo of a bald eagle on my back. I want to show support for my country in this time of economic peril. Although I don’t agree with many of the decisions that have been made by our government lately, I will never be unproud to be an American. I think that many people of my generation are letting political beliefs interfere with their national pride. No matter who’s in office or what party is making policy, we should always be proud to be Americans. I feel like a lot of people have forgotten that. I want a reminder to myself and to everyone else (who sees me with my shirt off) that America is still our home, our pride no matter what happens.

Wow, I’m getting off topic here. I should probably go to sleep. It’s getting late and I have to wake up early tomorrow to call in sick to work.

You know how they always say that music artists’ sophomore albums are when you can really tell if they’re good or not? The idea being that they had their whole life to come up with the first album, but had to pump out the second in (usually) only a year or two. I kinda feel the same way about this blog entry. I wrote that whole introduction, but I was planning that for a while. Sitting down now and writing whatever’s next is more difficult. Does that make sense?

I’ve been busy writing code for my newest site (CaSaWoMo) and looking for content to fill it up. I asked many friends for their contributions and received a few so far. Matt Grimm sent me a link to his blog and said I was free to use anything there. I spent a while browsing through it, but didn’t really find anything that fit my needs for the site because his writing style is so much less compartmentalized than mine. His writing is like a body of water freely flowing into itself whereas mine is always divided off into distinct sections. I’d like to make my writing more freeflowing, like his. I’ve dabbled in stream-of-consciousness, but have never really made it work. I am going to make a sincere effort, however, to write more in that style in the future.

Another thing that this new site has made me realize is that I really need to get back to creative writing. I haven’t written any form of fiction since 2005! I’ve pretty much given up on the dream of writing the next great American novel, but I’d still like to put together some more interesting stories. I need to find other writers here in NYC. Let’s put that on the agenda for the spring.

It’s 2008 and I’m writing my first blog entry ever. Clearly, I’m half a decade behind the bandwagon. Before I begin this thing, I think it makes sense for me to explain both why I never had a blog before and also why I’m starting one now.

Although I haven’t been writing in a blog, I have been keeping various journals for a number of years. Up until now, I’ve found that journals were a better choice for me because:

• Writing without inhibition provides catharsis. Knowing that people might read your writing could limit the therapeutic value by imposing self-censorship, both consciously and unconsciously.
• I don’t have grandiose delusions and therefore don’t anticipate that anyone really wants to take the time out of their day to read about mine.
• Blogs are for nerds.

So why the switch? Those seem like good enough reasons for not writing a blog, don’t they? Well, they were, but even better reasons have come up for me to switch from the journal to the blog:

• Eventually someone will find your journal and it will become public. So, having stuff written that you don’t want anyone else to see becomes a liability. Just write for the public and then there’s not an issue.
• Putting a blog up on the internet doesn’t necessarily mean that you think that anyone’s reading it. They might and then again, they might not. It really doesn’t matter to me. I was going to write it anyway, so why not put it up there in case someone is really bored or wants to stalk me and read all about my life?
• I’ve recently made peace with the fact that I’m a nerd. So, I guess it makes sense that I should have a blog. Plus, as I’ve been doing more research on S.E.O., I’m finding that blog entries are a great way to promote sites and products that I like. It would be good to have a place to throw a “shout-out” to my friends here and there.

Okay, so now I’ve explained why I’m writing this. Let me now give a brief explanation of what I’m going to be writing. As mentioned before, this is going to be, in large part, a replacement of my journal. I’m not the type that writes about every little thing that happened in my day, even when I’m writing for myself. Nobody, including me, wants to hear that crap. Instead, I’ll describe funny scenes and quotes that are experienced and overheard. Being that I live in NYC, there is no shortage of these humorous situations. And then, if something particularly dramatic happens in my life, there’s a good chance I’ll mention it and elaborate on it a bit. More often, however, I’ll just be writing my thoughts on different subjects. I’ll read an article in The Economist or The New York Times and it will piss me off and I’ll need to vent. Guess where I’m going to do that? Good guess.

Well, that’s about all I have time for tonight. If you enjoyed this introduction, you’ll probably enjoy what I’ll have to say in the future. If you didn’t, you’re probably not still reading so I’m not even going to bother talking to you.