• I turned 30 this year.  I’m losing more hair and going gray at the same time.
• In April 2008 my wife and I lost a child (stillborn).
  • Yes, that sucks…you’re expecting a child and instead you end up planing a funeral and trying to explain things to the little ones that you already have.
  • Are we “OK”?  Yes and no.  No, if by OK you mean back to “normal”.  Normal has been redefined.  (While not always as drastic, I’d say that normal is constantly being redefined anyway.)  Yes, if by OK you mean are we pressing on.
  • Related to OK, yes, we’re coping and no, we’re not “over it” (I doubt that will ever happen as long as we have a “sound” mind).  I’d say that this is the first time that the concept of “grieving” has “clicked”…don’t get me wrong, I’ve been very sad at the loss of my loved ones in the past, but I have never felt the deep down emotions that have went along with this.  It’s another one of those life experiences that you can’t understand until you have been there yourself.
  • No, there’s not really anything that you can say to us that would really lend comfort.  BUT, just being “there” and not acting like we have some sort of disease or “elephant” is appreciated.  (Seriously, some people avoid you and others give you a look that gives you an idea of what they’re thinking but wanting to avoid.)
  • Yes, we’re willing to talk about it (to some extent anyway), but it probably won’t be something we bring up in normal conversation.  Yes, it may upset us at times, but please know that it’s not you.
  • Please don’t be alarmed when you hear us talk about it or have reminders around the house.
• We went to The Smokies in May and then surprised the kids with a trip to Disney World for close to a two week vacation.
• The kids are getting big…and very funny.
• We’ve became “members” of family things…The Indianapolis Zoo, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis and Eagle Creek Park.
• Business is doing great.  I have to thank everyone for their support over the past two years.  Some of you may have been thinking I was nuts, but at least you kept that to yourself or to where I couldn’t hear (not that I would have listened anyway since that has been my goal for as long as I can remember).

Pulling and Jekyll and Hyde, the work side of life is doing great.  Business is booming, which is truly a blessing.  But there are times that my personal life makes it difficult to concentrate.  Life (and work) goes on with or without you, that is clear.  Luckily I have excellent help and understanding clients.

So that brings me to another milestone which is exciting.  July 1st marked the second anniversary of me being technically “unemployed” (for whatever reason self-employed equals unemployed…something to do with taxes which I’ll leave to my accountant).  To say that I’m happy to be able to say that I’ve “made it” would also be an understatement…I’m ecstatic.  So that is why I’m a bit emotionally conflicted at the moment.

While cleaning out the garage the other day I ran across my list of life goals from high school and the major items on the list has been checked off…graduate high school, graduate college, get married, have children and run my own business.  The only items left are to learn to water ski and grow old.  I’m working on the later.  We’ll see about the water skiing (snow skiing was a bad idea).  So I think it’s about time to create a new list of goals for the remainder of my life.  That’ll be good to think about what the future may hold.

It only happens once every four years.  Sometimes not even then.  If you’re lucky enough to make it to eighty, you’ll only see nineteen or twenty of these in your lifetime.  Go, enjoy your extra day.

I’m personally taking the day off to get out of the “office” and I am instituting Leap Day as an official holiday for Watershed Studio.  (Yet another nice thing about running your own business.)  And for those of you who’ve not been to the Watershed site lately, we’ve given the site a much needed face lift.  Take a look and let me know what you think.

In this context (local phone book ads) that response is a honest one, as almost anyone who has been in the tech consulting business on a “small shop” scale for a while will probably agree. The cost-benefit just isn’t there until your company is a certain size AND when/if you have a service that a lot of people locally need and/or want. And personally, I’m not all that interested in running a large company just yet. (I’d rather enjoy my time with my children, thus staying a “small business” is the easiest way to do that.)

When we first started out we ran ads in a few places around town to get our name out in front of thousands of people. After two years of that without a single nibble, we have ditched that almost entirely and have focused on what has consistently brought people “in the door”. Word of Mouth (WoM) referrals (referrals from clients, references on blogs and websites, etc.), our website (via search engines), our open source WordPress plugins and of course happy, repeat clients.

The business that we’re in, and our specialty in particular, is still a pretty niche market overall. Thus the vast majority of our clients are out-of-state or out-of-country, which makes perfect sense given that most of what we do is focused on the “online community” and not a geographic community.

So, yes, we honestly don’t need traditional advertising and any local traditional advertising that we may do will serve some other purpose as well. That way, at the very least it helps others’ in the community (like supporting the arts or childrens’ sports leagues).

• Jeff & I had a DJ gig which was fun and interesting at one point. It’s just a hobby and both of us are extremely busy, so don’t expect that to be a common activity for us. And for those of you wondering, I’m the DJ, he’s the rapper. (And if you don’t get the reference you’re either too young OR you’re too old.)
• I had dinner at Hard Rock Cafe for the first time since the sale and I have to say I like the old menu better and the prices seem even higher than before.
• I saw Trans-Siberian Orchestra down at the Fieldhouse. Great two hour and forty-five minute show. A little loud at the end (how old am I?) and probably not for everyone, but if you’re into “rock opera”, you’ve got to check it out.
• My wife and I celebrated our anniversary. (Christmas weddings are awesome by the way.) Man, do the years pass quickly and looking back at the photos, there’s no denying that I’m looking older.
• I saw Sweeney Todd (for my anniversary). If you’re not familiar with the story line I’ll just say that it’s NOT appropriate for children AND it is NOT appropriate for some adults. Johnny Deep did an excellent job and Tim Burton worked his usual magic. But it is a bit bloody and “dark”, so don’t see it solely on my “thumbs up”.
• I ate at the Rathskeller for the first time (and also for my anniversary). German food is excellent, though I’m not sure why it is a bit pricey (at least it has been at the German restaurants that I’ve been.)
• Christmas shopping, Christmas parties, Christmas get-togethers’ & family time.
• My wife and I had our annual viewing of How the Ghosts Stole Christmas, guest staring Lily Tomlin and Edward Asner, while we wrapped presents on Christmas Eve. Even if you’re not a fan of the X-Files, this is a must see episode and in my opinion the best of the bunch (and I’ve seen them all).
• For the second year running, I watched It’s a Wonderful Life by myself very late Christmas Eve while I was finishing up my own wrapping and Christmas projects (that’s what happens when you procrastinate). This year it occurred to me that this is more of a “guy movie” and why just about every female I know would prefer to watch White Christmas or Holiday Inn (both of which I don’t have to watch every year). But It’s a Wonderful Life resonates with me and I’d guess that’d be the case with just about every male who has a family to take care of. And the whole small business vs. big business conflict also draws me in.
• Also late Christmas Eve I put in the short old version of Miracle on 34th Street. Classic.
• I watched A Christmas Story with some friends. That movie never gets old. “My old man … worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It was his true medium; a master.”
• We watched The Polar Express while we put up the tree. Excellent family movie.
• We watched The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause. Nowhere near as good as the first two and I’d only suggest buying it to complete the trilogy.
• Jeff & I recorded a few Trolley Dodgers and Utter Oddcast episodes.
• The Future Karnies of America wrote, recorded, mixed and released Karnie Christmas 2007 (a.k.a. Karnie Christmas 3). A fun time was had by all. (#2 is still my favorite, though the recording of #3 is a step up.)
• I started some new blog ventures which should be a bit more “there” within a few months.
• Football, football and more football. Man I love December and January football.
• And of course the usual being a husband, father and small business owner.

So, that give a limited idea of what I’ve been up to. Normal posting should resume shortly.

Depending upon who you talk to, it can mean a variety of things, but here’s a my list of blogs & blog posts that I’ll thrown in that category…

• Link posts. This can be something like “Check out so-and-so’s post/article about XYZ.” Or something with a pulled quote, a link and very quick commentary (i.e. just about any Utter Oddness post.). And also link “dailies”.
• Tidbit posts / blog grenades. This can be just a brief mention of something but offers little to no elaboration. While this is great to get the creative juices flowing, it does tend to irritate people who come looking for “meat”.
• Random posts. This can be random in the sense of the blog audience or random in the sense of the content within the actual post. It just seems out of place from the normal posts.
• Thoughtless posts. These posts are often the result of a person just sitting down at their keyboard and hacking away until something shows up on the screen and some smelly digital diarrhea is left behind for all to “enjoy”. (I apologize now for the imagery that statement may cause…but you get my point, right?)

Now there are other criteria you could use, but that list covers most “shotgun posts” you may stumble across in the blogosphere. And I must assert that if a blog is touted as a personal journal, this doesn’t matter quite as much as it does for blogs who have an intended audience besides people just interested in you. (I’m sure that people will argue some of my list…but it is my personal list, so take that with a grain of salt.)

Of the bunch, the only one that truly irks me are thoughtless posts. I can usually pick up a copy of the local newspaper if I want to read that sort of thing. Luckily I don’t run into that very often.

Blog grenades intrigue me a bit and random posts can be interesting from time-to-time. And I absolutely love link posts as they save me time by finding the content for me.

So, with that overview, I’d like to introduce you to my new sideblog/asides/mini-blog, Blue Shotgun.

There are often times that I really want to post links, tidbits, random thoughts, announcements, etc., but within the context of my personal blog, or any of my other blogs (even the ones which are technically shotgun blogs), it normally doesn’t seem appropriate, so I refrain (with a few exceptions here and there).

This is where Blue Shotgun comes into play.

While Blue Shotgun is going to serve as my sideblog/blog companion for Musings, I have opted to make this a fully functional standalone blog because normal sideblog setups are very limiting in what you AND your readers can do. With it setup this way, you, the reader, can:

1. Search the sideblog.
2. Comment on the sideblog entries.
3. Subscribe to RSS feeds.
4. See the recent entries via all Surge Bucket Media blogs. (If you didn’t catch it, or only read the RSS and haven’t visited any of the sites recently, there is now a recent SBM posts section at the bottom of all blogs.)

Content wise, I’m aiming for “anything goes” topic wise (within reason and decency of course), so I’m not sure what all will show up over there. And be prepared for the postings to come in fast spurts. While there may be days between postings at times, when I do pop in to post, they will often appear in quantity since these should all be pretty short.

Off the bat, I can tell you that general podcast announcements (i.e. “Trolley Dodgers #XX is now available”), ad scans, links and quips will be showing up. So if you want to keep seeing those updates, either bookmark Blue Shotgun or subscribe to the RSS feed.

Enjoy. (Or ignore.) Your choice.