Showing posts with label Blogging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blogging. Show all posts

Friday, September 2, 2011

Shelby Hamfest

I'm way behind on my posting and I'm off to the Shelby Hamfest tomorrow. I think I will have to try another "Brick Breaker" some time this week-end to clean out my RSS feed, tabs, and e-mails.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

I'm famous.

Okay, not really, but some positive reinforcement is always nice.

My site got mentioned in this eHam.net review of the UV-3R.

And my post about the KG-6DUV was linked on Amateur Radio.com.

I never intended for this to become a Baofeng UV-3R dominated blog, but you just have to go with the flow sometimes.

Friday, August 5, 2011

Blogging for Dollars a Day

From the "I must be doing it wrong" file... Blogging for Dollars a Day. But maybe I could get something by just asking.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Blogging

I know I am special - just like everyone else. But this post from the Simple Dollar mailbag got my britches in a bunch. Would I like to get rich blogging? Sure, but I'd like to become rich from winning the lottery, too. I figure my chances at becoming rich from blogging are about the same as winning the Powerball. My blog is less than a year-old, so I am really pleased that anyone reads my posts. I have seen modest increases month-over-month, but at this rate, I will be retired before it would make money. Back to the mailbag and my answers...
"Q2: Starting a blog
I have a great idea for a blog, one that no one at all is doing and i am in the process or being or trying to be an expert on this such topic.
I would be very surprised if someone wasn't already doing it. If no one is doing it then you may have such a niche that you couldn't expect to make enough money from this endeavor to replace your day job. Also, you might want to work on your grammar and proof-reading.
Problem is, time, i don’t have any or enough to do it. I went out and bought a website all gung ho to do it, and never got around to it.
I suggest a time-machine.
I was able to get a refund from the web-company for the service but not for the domain name. Which i believe i technically still own for a year, since i did pay for it.
Yes, you own the name until the term expires.
My question to you is, is there a way i can start up a blog that wont cost me anything or much at all, and then maybe one day move it all over to my own site.
Yes, a quick search should reveal that Blogger, Wordpress, and others are popular services.
Also, is there ways to make money blogging when your on or using a free blog site?
Yes, a quick search should reveal that many of the free services allow you to run ads.
I’m an IT professional and have been for 17 years so i know all the tech speak.
You are a what? And you can't come up with some of these answers on your own?
I’d really love to get out of this field and into a full time job of blogging such as you do. Its just really hard to find the time.
Assuming you were 18 when you started working, then you are 35 now. That makes you too old, I would have thought, to be part of the entitlement generation. Life is hard. There aren't enough hours in the day. Time to put in some effort if you want to make something happen.
Did you start out on a free blog spot?"
- Dennis
Funny choice of words - "free blog spot" considering you were asking if free services existed.

Enough venting from me... grumpy mode off. Back to the normal grind.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Blogger's Dead Man Switch

I read most of my favorite blogs and web sites using a RSS reader. One blogger I read is in poor health. He must have scheduled a good-bye post that he would continually update and push the date out. Except one time he must have forgotten or otherwise been unable to move the date.

I saw the post in my RSS feed, but when I checked his site, the entry had been pulled. It was eerie, sad, and beautiful all as the same time.

I am happy to report that he was still posting last week.

Friday, May 6, 2011

Programming Note

Apologies to those who aren't interested in the new radio I keep posting about. It really has me intrigued and there doesn't seem to be a lot of information out there - at least not in the US. Most of my sources have been in the UK. I suspect we'll get back to your normally scheduled random drivel shortly.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Bullets & BBQ Knoxville Blogger Event

On Saturday, I enjoyed meeting several of the Knoxville area bloggers at Coal Creek Armory for friendly fire and some eats afterwards. It was really nice for me because I've just started this hobby (both the blogging and the guns), whereas some of these folks have been doing it for years. It was an interesting experience in that I had never met them in person before, but I felt like I already knew them through their blogs.

Attendees and their reports (in bold):
Les Jones - Notes from the Blogger Gun Bash
Linoge (plus Better Half joined for lunch) - After Action Report
Lissa
Liston Matthews (dropped by at lunch)
Rich
Michael J. Mollenhour (also joined at lunch)

The gathering also let me try out a few different guns and let others shoot mine. As you see in the post above Les liked my Kel-Tec. He didn't mention it in the post, but he was not a fan of the trigger on the CZ 75 SP-01. We also thought we had a problem with my P22, but it actually was working as intended - you can pull the trigger and the hammer will fall while the safety is on, but there is a block that keeps it from actually firing.

I shot a couple of wheel guns, which was a new experience for me. Les and Linoge told me the models I'm sure, but I didn't catch them in the heat of battle. I also shot Rich's Bersa 380. We had a couple of problems with that one. I had a failure to feed while I was trying it out. A neigbor of mine also happened to be in the lane next to us, so I got to try out the S&W Bodyguard 380. I wanted to fall in love with it, but I didn't. He said it was hard for him to shoot accurately and I was way low and left with it - even with the laser (which probably needed to be adjusted since it had come back from S&W). He had another buddy shooting high right. I'd like to blame the gun, but that's some odd data.

The highlights for me were Linoge's PPS and Les' Browning Buckmark. I shot my Kel-Tec PF-9 pretty well that day, but I'm still looking for an alternative. I really liked the PPS - it is a good size and the manual of arms is very similar to the P22 that I like. This meet-up may end up costing me some money if I decide I need one of those. And thanks to the Buckmark, I now know what a really good trigger is like. Les had some work done to the .22 and it has really paid off. That thing was smooth as silk. The fiber optic sights were a nice upgrade as well.

Thanks to everyone that showed up and shared guns, ammos, and stories.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Knox Vegas Bloggers Unite!

After discussing the much publicized Knoxville Bloggers Get-Together (a.k.a BBQ-N-Bullets) with my co-workers, we decided that the Knoxville bloggers need to form an organized group to seek better pay and benefits. Perhaps some sort of union as they seem popular these days.

As with any group, we need to start with a good name.

Local 556 - Lead Workers Union (Thanks to TNJeff for suggesting lead.)

I thought it would be easier to come up with some clever names, but it turns out to be harder than I thought. I've got some lame ones below. Anyone got a better one?

AFL-CIO - American Firearms League - Constitutionally Involved Operators
SAG - Serious Arms Group
Change to Winchester Federal
UAW - United Arsenal Writers
HSLDBK - High Speed, Low Drag Bloggers of Knoxville

Friday, February 25, 2011

Knoxville Bloggers Get Together

Turning cash into smoke and noise. Check.
Putting food in my belly. Check.
Hanging out with interesting people. Check.

Sounds like a good day to me.

Knoxville Blogger Get Together

Sunday, January 16, 2011

A Small World: Stephen Hunter & Glen Reynolds

If you don't know Glen Reynolds, he's a professor at the University of Tennessee and is also know as the "Blog Father" for his InstaPundit website.

He interviews Stephen Hunter, whose Bob Lee Swagger books, I've been reading. Worlds collide! Hunter looks like an author, but he nothing like I would have expected. I guess I always think the characters are a reflection of the author.