I’m doing it as an exercise in understanding my children better, learn to better think before I speak, and to take time to do things myself and stop relying on my children as static delegates.

Of course blogging (yeah, like I do so much) is not included in “the Vow.”  Nor is writing and written school correspondence.

I’d say I’ll keep you updated — you being the whopping 2 people who subscribe to this blog and you being the 15-20 bounces I receive a day — but we all know I’m not capable of maintaining this blog on a routine basis.

At first I thought, wow, my first ever pingback (I think).  Then I thought, “Oh that’s right!  Successful bloggers use the success of other bloggers to promote their blogging!”

That’s when I knew Delete Blog must be on crack.  I furthered verified this by seeing that for the data of November 12 alone there were 100+ posts, November 11 (the day I got the pingback) was similar.

Then I decided to check out a few and some of them are completely horrid, such as:

http://deleteblog.com/how-do-i-get-the-file-to-restore-my-itouch-to-an-earlier-software/

Which leads to:

http://www.officialappleitouch.com/?p=934

You may notice that it is a blog that without JavaScript is completely devoid of content.  After allowing script I see that it is a “cry for help” post.

How in the hell did that make it to the front page of a “website” that “collects the best and most interesting news, blogs, forum and articles from around the world about recent topics?”

For that matter, how the hell did my post about my kids and I make it to the front page on November, 11th?

Here’s one that I found via their “Featured Articles” widget:

http://deleteblog.com/5-blogging-tips-every-blogger-should-know/

Looks like the editor-in-chief has been stealing material from SiteProNews, Squidoo and Top Blogging — and not even doing a good job of it either.

Unless I’m mistaken, Delete Blog you are useless.

The point is improvisation requires effort not necessarily training and education although I’m sure it doesn’t hurt.

Last night as a fear exercise my oldest kid snatched the “stirring stick” out of our lit and roaring fireplace to stir it a bit because it needed it and — now get this — because it was not completely on fire.

My fearful little angel had ascended into this brave creature that we saw walking among us snatching fire from the belly of the beast to wave above her head in triumph as it sent chills down my spine.

The greatest moments in my life are based on the beauty and joy my children share as a child and the developments they make toward being an adult.

The point I’m trying to make I guess is that never again will I be afraid to accomplish something and if I am I will willingly admit that I need guidance and seek it on my own.

I’m off to see what sources of drama and improvisation they have in my area.

I was just a mite bummed out about 12 hours ago (7PM yesterday) when I called the local fire department and the conversation went a bit like this:

Fireman: “City” Fire Department.
Me: Hi, who am I speaking with?
Fireman: What?
Me: Sorry! Who am I speaking with?
Fireman: “City” Fire Department.
Me: Oh. Ok. Well, nice to meet you “City” Fire Department, I’m toe.
Fireman: Alright.
Me: I was wondering, what measures do I need to take or what do I need to arrange with you cats to snag this CRT monitor off my hands and dispose of it eco-friendly like.
Fireman: Say what now?
Me: How do you guys get rid of computer monitors?
Fireman: We don’t.
Me: You don’t know how to dispose of computer monitors or you don’t offer that service?
Fireman: Neither I ’spose.
At this point bear in mind that I full well knew that improper disposal of a CRT monitor is a seriously environment unfriendly action.
Me: Do you know if there is anything special I should do before throwing it away?
Fireman: No I don’t believe you need to do anything but set it out for the garbage man.
Me: Alrighty then mister. Thanks.
Fireman: *click* He hung up.

Besides the fact the exchange between me and the hillbilly fireman was absolutely mind numbing I find it amazing that a fireman anywhere doesn’t have the slightest clue about how to dispose of something like that.

Even worse is my local chamber of commerce said to “check with them, they’ll know.”

Assuming this is posted correctly that is.

UPDATE: Which — it didn’t. Actually, it works nicely and has a much nicer UI than MoBlog. However, it failed to upload the image I inserted via the XML-RPC/WordPress API. *shrug*

I think back on the year’s events thus far and I am deeply disappointed at my personal results.

Let me put some aspects of this into perspective and show you a few numbers.

Projects: 17, Completed: 0
Snippets: 80+, Completed: 12
Single-Use Applications: 20+, Completed: 0
School-Related Projects*: 4, Completed: 0

* These are those projects that required a certain amount of effort. The effort I gave was much greater than what was expected, but only enough of my effort to achieve an A+.

And in general things that just sort of die for no reason. For example, this lame excuse for a blog.

I’ve plenty of things to say so it must come down to pure laziness and/or procrastination.

Anyway, I plan on officially listing an entirely new set of steps I plan to follow to become more efficient. I may however start an entirely new blog or project to do it.

Man I sure have some poor management skills. Oh yeah… and I’m lazy.

Yep, four.

• Declined
• Violation of DreamHost’s TOS
• Never replied to initial correspondence
• Accepted

The final of which being a friend who offered to share the costs of this site and provide some experience elsewhere.  So there you have it.

Oh wait.

She wants me to continue blogging whenever the hell I get around to it because it is therapeutic.

*shrugs*

And not a single one of them used the comments.

Therefore I’ve decided to allow ANYONE to use it for ANYTHING they want provided it does not violate DreamHost’s TOS.

The other provision I have is that if the site provides you with any amount of income, monetization, or advertising revenue then I am to reap a modest 10% on top of whatever additional bandwidth charges you may incur.  I do not really see you having to pay extra for bandwidth, but we’ll discuss that if/when the time comes you see fit to take over toebot.com.

I will still have full access to the site in some form or another, but you will be given full domain access via the DreamHost Control Panel and will be able to do anything you like with it.

• Add or Remove MySQL Databases
• Run any server-side script allowable (which it is extremely lienient), including:
  PHP
  Perl
  Python
• And I believe there is another one or two, but I’m too lazy to check.
• Create hundreds of e-mail aliases.  whatever@toebot.com
• Unlimited sub-domains.  http://whatever.toebot.com

To summarize:

• I will always own TOEBOT.COM.
• We can have something legally drafted and agreed upon before proceeding (or you can trust me, I don’t care either way).

  You can even choose the attorney to draft the original contract.  You’ll note that I will use my own attorney to review the contract and modify where necessary.

• The site is yours for as long as you wish to own it.  I don’t care if you park it, load it with advertising, or host dolphin porn.
• As long as we both[1] agree on the terms and length, have a blast.

[1] Unless there are multiple persons involved in the acquisition of toebot.com.

And yes I reserve the right to say, “Sorry, but no.”

If you are at all interested, simply leave a comment.  You do not need to put personally identifiable information in the comment.  I can always view the address you made the comment with and I will contact you from there.

Yes you can inform me of your desires and purpose for the site in the comment.  You can also indicate whether or not you wish for me to tell you an immediate answer via the comment.

Anything else that I have left out or is unclear, let me know.

No more forgotten thoughts, ideas, or other miscellaneous garbage that no one cares about, anymore.

Yay!

EDIT: Um… sure would have been nice if it worked. The entire body of the e-mail — the post’s content — was not posted.

So, here’s a few tips for your Irish lads and lasses:

1.  Never show your arse to a law enforcement officer.

2.  Never bribe a law enforcement officer.

3.  Never hit a law enforcement officer.

4.  Never spit on or at a law enforcement officer.

5.  Never swing wildly on someone who bumps you in a nightclub as they may be an undercover law enforcement officer.

6.  Never throw your beer on a law enforcement officer.

7.  Never bite a law enforcement officer.

8.  Never motion with your hands like you’re firing a gun at a law enforcement officer.

9.  Never tell a law enforcement officer, “Come and get me then, you fuggin’ wanker!”  (Alternatively, don’t call them a “steam hole,” either.  Apparently they ALL know what it means.)

And last but not least, believe it or not…

10.  Never grab a law enforcement officer’s crotch and attempt to kiss them.

This list has been made possible by those wonderfully inebriated and lovable cousins and friends in my life — and who said the Irish don’t know how to have fun?

Éirinn go Brách!