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Stop Junk Characters ‘â€TM’ from Appearing Instead of an Apostrophe
Jan 6th
After my latest Wordpress update (which as a manual one, with a whole lot of mysql issues!) I finally got my blog up and running again, only to find all my apostrophes appearing as “â€TM” –stupid junk characters. After going into panic mode for about two minutes, I figured out the solution, at least in my case.
It was quite simple, jump in my wp-config, and comment out two lines.
# define(‘DB_CHARSET’, ‘utf8′);# define(‘DB_COLLATE’, ”);
And just like that, all was normal again. Hope this helps someone.
Fighting Cognitive Dissonance one Customer at a Time
Feb 21st
In my previous post about Cognitive Dissonance I touched on the lack of it during this holiday season, so I’ve decided to spin this around for a second and look at it from a seller/service-provider point of view.
Cognitive Dissonance by definition is the feeling of remorse after someone purchases something usually big and/or pricey.
From a consumer point of view, it honestly can suck. Realizing that the damn ring you got your girl-friend or wife could have waited a bit longer sucks. Realizing that maybe you could have gone for the 42 inch TV, instead of the 50 and been just as happy can suck. Having someone build a website for you, only to find out it hasn’t done anything worth the money for your business or organization sucks as well. A lot of the impulsive buys can suck a whole lot.
So how can customers deal with it? Well, if it’s an item, I can be returned, resold, traded, etc. As business person you also have one truly awesome option.
The always awesome follow-up – Following up wither customers is really essential to keeping them happy, and keeping them happy is the key to keep them coming back.
Follow-up calls, emails, letters, and visits show determination to build a relationship with your customers, and doing it isn’t a big deal.
Setting aside a few minutes every day to call recent clients to ask how everything is going with the product or service(s) you provided or are providing really goes a long way.
One call can make a difference. Think past sales, think past tomorrow and next week, think long term and think about relationships instead of numbers. Intangible assets are often most important to businesses and organizations. 
Getting back in the groove
Jan 22nd
Over the past two weeks life has pretty much tossed a HUGE pile of, urm –stuff, at me. While working past everything, this Tuesday I kicked off yet another semester at STC, and I’m really ready to get back to normal –or as close to it as possible.
I still have a lot on my plate, but things are starting to clear up. So now I’ll simply say I hope the rest of 2009 is nothing like the past 20-some days.
I also hope Obama doesn’t do anything stupid.
I’m out.
So am I best-dressed or overdressed?
Jan 4th
A few years ago I was the teen guy who couldn’t quite get out of solid tees. They were usually black and accompanied by whatever jeans I could pull out of my closet. At some point I kicked that (well, almost, I wore a plain black tee yesterday, urm, but yeah,) I kicked the habit and started dressing in nicer tees. Yes, a SINGLE step up!
At some point last August I realized I wasn’t quite comfy being the guy in the tee. I hate polo-styled shirts and only own one, which I’ve worn once. So I took a step into dress-shirts and ties.
Now at every social occasion I’m usually wearing one of my many nice shirts, and ties. As of lately, unless I know I HAVE to dress-up, I tend to loosen the collar and tie, while rolling up my sleeves, and pairing it up with nice jeans lately… you know, so I won’t look like a total dork. Even like that, I’m still usually over-dressed.
I even go to class randomly wearing my spiffy get-up –so to speak, for no apperant reason which gets people asking what I was doing before I got to class; “Job interview today?”
So the question is, should I ease up or not give a damn? I tend to get a lot of compliments on what I’m wearing, but I also feel weird standing next to those my age that are wearing torn jeans and a shirt straight out of Hot Topic.
Quick fact: My favorite tie just happens to be purple.
2008 – Both the best and worst year in a long time.
Jan 1st
2008 was a tricky year to categorize. On one hand it was a great year in terms of growing as a person, and as a student. On the other, it was full of bumps along the ride, most were bigger than anything I had come across up until that point.
College has been the greatest thing this year; however, after doing spring, summer I, summer II, and fall semesters back to back, I’m just tired. I’ve gotten almost all A’s and B’s with two expectations. I’ve learned a lot and grown more confident with my skills and knowledge.
On the personal side of things, I’ve been happy, sad, lonely, and sick of people. I’ve come full circle and the fact that I’m blogging instead of kissing a hottie on New Year’s Eve, is most likely the result. But that’s nothing to complain about. So I won’t. I’ve grown further from people and closer to others, just bumps I guess.
I’ve also been good health-wise despite being told by my doctors that I’m under too much stress, my first reaction was “no duh.” I got sick once this year (a cold,) and I nearly passed-out (presyncope.) But I feel great!
So I guess in the end, I can’t complain that it was a tough year for me because even if it was the worst, I worked hard to accomplish a lot and make it a good one. I have no New Year’s resolution simple because all I want and need is already on my mind and I’m working my way towards it.
Have a great 2009!
Cognitive Dissonance, AKA Buyers Remorse. Where the hell is it this Christmas?
Dec 21st
Cognitive dissonance has often been mentioned in just about every damn book I’ve read since beginning college, so this is a subject I’ve spoke and written about a few times, but I thought I’d blog on it with a Holiday twist.
I personally know a few folks who can’t make a big purchase without feeling a bit of regret; however, I also know a lot of people who just love to run up their debt and don’t seem to give big buys a second thought.
I fall into the first group. When buying something big and or expensive that I don’t really “need,” I tend to quickly get over the post-purchase high, and whatever I thought was worth my cash at the time doesn’t always make complete sense later. A lot of junk loses its fun all too quickly.
The other group is the one I keep on seeing shopping all over the damn place. The type of folks who are simply impulsive, they are the same folks that must have the biggest, coolest, and newest… whatever-everyone-else-has.
Here’s my recent inspiration for the post: I was at Target this past week and a nice looking couple was shopping for gifts in the same section I was in. I could hear them go on and on talking, bringing up names and how much should be spent on each person to stay on budget. At some point the woman said, “Look at this, it costs more, but Rudy really wanted it.” The dude looked at her and said “The other kids are gonna’ wonder why he got the best gift.”� She replied, “But he’ll love it. What if they all get the same thing?” Some tension was noticeable in her voice, she almost sounded uncomfortable and cheerful at the same time. Kind of like Britney Spears turning down potato chips, (I imagine.)
At that point I moved to another section, (I can only checkout the tech-crap section for so long!) But I imagine they did get the kid whatever they thought would make him “happy.” I’m also pretty confident that in the end they wound up making themselves feel better by thinking that the happiness of others is more important than their own damn budget and possibly their debt.
I really don’t get people sometimes. I don’t get the ones who have a holiday spending spree, fully knowing they really are already too stretched financially. Everyone seems too in love with their credit cards to stop and think. No second thoughts, just a great Christmas. Although, I suppose the group who gets in over their head will eventually suffer from cognitive dissonance, but it won’t be until January or February when the bills come in.
How’s that for starting a new year?
McCain and Huckabee. I so saw it coming. (From the Unpublished Pile)
Dec 12th
I’ve decided to slowly let go of some drafts that never quite made it onto the blog. Here’s the first one which was last edited on February 2, 2008 at 4:40 am. At the time I was a McCain admirer more than full on supporter.
So Rudy Giuliani dropped out of the race yesterday after a totally crappy Florida primary, McCain is seemingly unstoppable at the moment and the Huck is also kickin some major ass considering what he has to work with. About two (3?) weeks ago I posted campaign buttons on here, I got teased by one person calling McCain old and Huck “weird and saggy”.
I laughed it off because up until that point I hadn’t been too impressed by any candidate, my vote was up in the air and I was starting not to give a damn, the emails came in, mostly from draftrudygiuliani.com, he was an early on favorite, I signed up with the site on 11-17-2005. Time went by, candidates came and went, some annoying but entertaining ones stuck around longer *cough* Ron *cough* Paul *cough* *cough*
From Frontpage to Dreamweaver CS4, It’s been a while.
Dec 12th
While playing with Dreamweaver CS4 a few minutes ago and talking to a friend (chatting, actually,) I realized that:
A) I’ve been designing for way too long, since I was a bit over 12, actually.
B) I’ve moved up from using (and loving) Frontpage back in the day, to loving Dreamweaver even more after taking a while to get used to it a number of years ago.
C) I still would hate to fall into designing for a living although sometimes it gets tempting.
D) I genuinely have fun designing, meanwhile table-less design, CSS, and ajax no longer annoy me.
and E) I’m nothing without my favorite software. 
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