Serendipity is the only way to travel.

adventure, business, rant, travel 9 Comments »

After a long while of connecting with people, and traveling to random things, I got decent at figuring out how things happened… i.e. what happened that made me meet whom, and what happened because of that.

So, I’m writing this from Los Angeles.  If I wasn’t here this weekend, I’d be in Alabama, driving a stock car at 200mph with Matt Bacak and his top affiliates.  I wanted to go, but funds are tight, and many amazing projects came up. This morning’s breakfast conversation led to a trip to Baja, Mexico this Monday.  Dinner’s conversation led to us searching for places we  can try to either ride an Ostrich, or… I’d also be willing to wear Kevlar vest, and a helmet, and piss one off… I hear those things are brutal, but that sounds like it’d make a fun video.

Back to LA though– I’m staying with this girl Espree.  She’s gorgeous, loves to smile, has a snowboard and 4 skateboards of different types right by the door.  I met her last week when watching Jason Moffatt perform his first stand up comedy routine at the Comedy Store.  He was awesome.  Jason was couchsurfing with Espree at the time, and Espree is also a friend of Rob & Kathi’s — whom I was couchsurfing with for the last week, and whom I’m going to Baja with, and trying to ride an ostritch with.

I’m also working on marketing some of Kathi’s projects, and Rob and I have been helping each other solve all of our business problems.  It’s been really sweet.  Additionally, this drive to LA has been the first time I’ve ever used a garment bag! Kathi is a professional organizer, and an image consultant/stylist.  I’m documenting the process.  She pre-shopped for me, then I went to Macys, had my own private dressing room (the size of a large conference room), tried all this amazing stuff on… and then took various things for alterations.  I have a whole new wardrobe, and a new haircut— yea… I know… you want pics… next week–  I’m working with Rob to do a photoshoot.

So, Rob knows Espree, but I was talking about Serendipity…. so… what’s the deal with that?

Ok.. I’ll break it down for you:

In May  I went on that road trip with the girl.  I had all that yummy but horrible Taco Bell, which led me to feel awful, which led me to go back on raw food and a 30 day cleanse, which led me to detox and bring up all sorts of emotions, which made me pretty depressed for a few days, which made it pretty damn easy to say “YES!” to Moffatt’s random text about if I wanted to watch his surf spot & dog in La Jolla for 6 weeks while he RVs with his girl, which led Rob Burns to reach out because he saw that I was watching JMo’s dog…. and because I was in La Jolla, I worked on my book a bunch, met some more awesome people, and now Espree….

Espree I find ultra inspiring.  I hope she’s not pissed at me for writing this, but I really wish more people followed in her example.  Why? ’cause more people would be happy and  successful.  She has a vision board– but more specifically, she has her goals broken down by amounts, dates, etc… very specific.  Do you know what YOU want?  Only 3 percent of Americans set goals.  Do you?  If you could do anything what would you do?  How would you do it?

Read, network, mastermind, engage, learn, take action, learn from your mistakes, take further action.

She seemed surprised at the conclusions I inferred so quickly.  Over the years I’ve just learned to trust my gut feeling, and listen to it.  Proof that  it’s working?  I haven’t had a gun pulled on me since 2001!  Must be doing something right, right?

Since I’ve couch surfed, I’ve learned a lot about people.  I spend an awful lot about them, and I study many books on psychology, marketing, and people in general… biographies and quote books rock.

My point is that she told me that she’s just lucky.  I say people make their own luck, and having studied (and couchsurfed with) many successful people, she’s taking all the right steps.

Anyways- back to serendipity-   I’m definitely going to Baja on Monday… that’s why I drive with my Passport… “Just in case” something incredible happens that requires me to leave the country.  It would not surprise me if someone said “Hey, let’s go to Thailand, and stay on this island there for 6 months” – and I’d say “Sounds great!” (in fact, that’s kind of on my agenda… if you’d like to get in on that, you can join me in Thailand where I’ll be renting a house on an island, and doing consulting from there).

I haven’t been to the dentist in years… like…. mid 90′s or so.  I don’t like getting my teeth scraped.  I’ve busted a tooth in a wakeboarding accident.  When I drove to Austin from Atlanta, my tongue got cut up on one of my teeth— is my filling falling apart?  Is my tooth?  I don’t know, but US Dentistry rates are outrageous.  So, I hear the dentistry costs about 1/10th over there, and the Fish Tacos are amazing.  I’m going for some fish tacos, a donkey show, and a checkup.  Just kidding about the Donkey Show.  That sounds pretty gross.

After connecting with Dori Friend and being her poolboy for the weekend while her 8 friends from high school visited her, I got invited to her birthday bash on the 27-29th.  Lots of floating around on the lake, and having fun.  I’m totally down, Dori rocks!

I also found out last time I was in San Fran that my parents are coming out to visit my older bro — we went indoor skydiving, and I’m going to show up when my folks are visiting, and we’ll all do that together. I didn’t even know my folks were going to go visit before the other week!

What else?

Well… actually… it’s 1:30am, and I’m waking up at 6am to beat out the LA traffic, and get to Raymond Aaron’s event.   I’m getting coaching on my consulting.  Masters hire masters.

So… sweet dreams, good morning— whatever’s going on while you read this.  But the world keeps getting more and more exciting… are you taking advantage of that?

Happy Independence Day, 1984!

News, opinion, rant No Comments »

4th of July pic from Wikipedia

4th of July / Independence day… a day where 234 years ago we told the Brits to suck it. It doesn’t seem to mean that much as a holiday these days.  Most holidays don’t seem to mean that much. This one is an excuse to play with fireworks – or break the law in certain areas to get the fireworks – over eat BBQ food, get drunk, and occasionally catch an orchestra.

This year I’m in the middle of a health kick, so I don’t care about the BBQ food.  In La Jolla, it was cold today, so I didn’t feel like taking people up on their beach BBQ offers.  For some reason I was really tired, so slept a lot during the day (my neck still hurts, and my head’s a bit foggy.  Glad it’s my day off P90x).  I did walk outside to watch the fireworks for a few minutes, then yawned and walked back in.

Why? Because in 2007 I ate shrooms at Burning Man, and watched a (literally) 1,000 foot fireball come out of an oil derrik, followed by probably about 40 minutes of the most amazing fireworks I’ve ever seen!  Since then, nothing compares.  These were not the skimpy one firework at a time stream that you see in most fireworks show… these were hundreds of them at a time…. the sky was filled with them!  Like most things at Burning Man, these were done by artists who put everything into it… and probably didn’t have nearly as many fire-safety ordinances as most cities.

This year’s fireworks sounded about the same to me as a bag of popcorn getting ready in the microwave.  I went inside to hang with Webber, whom I was informed ahead of time hates fireworks.

I just don’t feel this holiday anymore. This year, to celeebrate independence, the United States has decided to pass a new law that suspends the 1st ammendment Read the rest of this entry »

I am Siddhartha! Not your average book review!

Get to know Ori, Information, Inspiration, Marketing Lessons, misc, opinion, product review, rant, summary, travel 4 Comments »

A picture of Siddhartha's friend

I’m  warning you in advance, this is not your mother’s book review (takes me a tiny bit to get warmed up)! It has a lot of really personal stuff from my life as I reflect on the book, and is discussed in my fun (and language filled) manner.

Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse is a book that does not fit in my normal reading list. As with all things in my life, this too has a fascinating story and reflection.

It all started with Jaime. Read the rest of this entry »

The Rescues

Get to know Ori, adventure, events, music, photography, rant 1 Comment »
Couchsurfing Ori with Kyler England and Adrianne Gonzalez of The Rescues after the show

Me with Adrianne Gonzalez and Kyler England of The Rescues - <3

Writing a book doesn’t have that much to do with writing a book.  It’s been more about organizing information, filtering through it, and learning about the publishing and self publishing industries.  So far, that’s the case.  I had a friend come into town, and she wanted to catch some live music on Friday.  I thought I’d be suave, and make happen what I had happen with my friend Joanna, while I was couchsurfing with John and Julia (whom I met at Burning Man)— we took out some ocean Kayaks, food, and booze, and saw Crosby Stills and Nash over at Humphreys.

Humphreys however had no one playing on Friday, which I found odd, ’cause they usually have quite the lineup .  I don’t mean to be spoiled… but watching a concert by Kayak is more fun than just going to a show.  I like things to be new and exciting, or at least unique. I don’t know any of the San Diego performance spaces, nor do I know who’s playing.  Sure… there’s Google for that, but Google can land you in an outletless coffee bar with no internet (such as Living Room in La Jolla). So, we just went for some good Mexican food.

The next night however I was as giddy as a little girl at a Justin Bieber concert!  I saw Kyler England post on Facebook that she’s recovering from a midnight milkshake, and that the band is on their way to San Diego for the last show of their tour

The band is “The Rescues”.  I’m a huge fan!  They are 4 members in size, and every single one of them Read the rest of this entry »

Poems and inner-beliefs

Get to know Ori, rant 6 Comments »

There is a wonderful poem by Jules Feiffer called “The Impostor Fantasy”.  I am honored to post it for you in my writing.

(Take it away Jules):

I felt like a fraud.

So I learned to fly an airplane.

At 50,000 feet I thought: Read the rest of this entry »

What to write?

Get to know Ori, adventure, announcements, rant, summary, travel 17 Comments »

In this post, I actually give you a real set of stories from my travels… but I’m not 100% sure how to format my book.  I’d really love your feedback!

ARGH! Who knew a book was tough to write? Well, I guess everyone, ’cause not everyone does it… but once you get started, all these little details come up: Read the rest of this entry »

My big announcement!

Get to know Ori, News, adventure, announcements, opinion, rant, summary 16 Comments »

Dear friend – yes you!

I have something really important to tell you. It’s very exciting, and very difficult for me all at once.

I’ve arrived here in La Jolla, CA where the weather is truly amazing, and I am house-sitting for the next 5-6 weeks.

On my drive here from Austin, TX I had a lot of time to think, and if I’ve learned anything, it’s that the best answers come from asking the right questions. My question that I chose was “How do I make the best use of house-sitting near the beach for 6 weeks?”

I came up with many ideas, but the ones that made the most sense are also the most difficult, and I’d like to share them with you.

I have completed 3.5 years of couchsurfing around the USA.  I’ve met the most incredible people that I could ever imagine.  I have had amazing adventures, where Read the rest of this entry »

Get the hell out of town….

rant 3 Comments »

I love Austin. I tell everyone that for a strange individual like me, it’s home… there’s a lot to do, there’s great food, never-ending music, hot girls, business-minded people, support for the weird…. it’s the only place that has had a homeless transvestite run for mayor and get 3rd place.  It’s just a great city, and I have my Austinite friends that I’m missing before I even leave– people like Craig Allen, Kate Buck Jr, Will Stoerner / Kevin Eaton (they live in the same house, and have been friends since 4th grade or something, so I always list them together), Katie Brown, Perry Belcher, David Gonzalez, Jimmy Walters the Fourth.   There’s more… but these are people who have Read the rest of this entry »

How to screw BP

Information, Marketing Lessons, News, Scam Warning, humor, opinion, rant 2 Comments »
Sponge Bob Square Pants died in BP oil spill

Sponge Bob Square Pants died in BP oil spill!

Here’s a fun one to share with your friends!

British Petroleum has a gag order on their staff.  During this cleanup, no one can tell you what’s really going on.  So… all those dead animals, all that failure on stopping the flow of oil…. yeah, they can’t

Click this to see BP's "Oil Spill" ad

talk about it.  Additionally, BP is paying for sponsored ads, so whenever you search for a term like “Oil Spill” their ad shows up at the top, like so (see image on left).

Their BP ad (the one with the yellow background) costs them money for each click.  It takes you to their page, where they get to present the information however they want to… i.e. “BP cares, loves you, are the good guys, and are really making the world a better place…. and a little oil in your sea food is good for you!”

Now, I may be paraphrasing a little bit, but you get the idea.

The sad part is that millions of people do not know that it is an ad.  They search for “Oil Spill” (or any other term relating to the worst ecological catastrophe in history), they see “BP”, click on it, and think they are seeing the real news, and thus believe it.

So, to show BP that this campaign is just a waste of their money, and that people are smarter than that, just keep searching for Oil Spill, and clicking on BP’s ads!  Then just hit the back button on your browser, you’re back in the Google page, and you can click again… rinse and repeat!

Send your friends to this page! With enough people doing this, maybe BP can invest their resources into cleaning the environment, rather than just trying to bully us into thinking that everything’s peachy.

Here! I’ll save you the effort– Just click here, and it will take you to a Google page where you can click on oil ads.

Have fun!

Do your research!!!

product review, rant 4 Comments »

This falls under “Holy shit!” – I don’t know if it’s 100% what happened… but I certainly have my suspicions…. especially after playing with Google for a bit! Stupid brutal honesty.  *sigh* here goes:

1st of all, you should read, or at least Skim “A Sad Post” because that is what I’m talking about in this post.

So today I woke up in a fine mood. I went to brush my teeth, and as I reached inside my toiletries bag to grab the tube of toothpaste by feel, I grabbed something else.  The item I grabbed is a green bottle with the label Read the rest of this entry »

A sad post

Get to know Ori, misc, rant 2 Comments »

Kind of felt this sad todayI generally try to keep things upbeat.  Even when I’m angry at someone.  But it’s rare that I am sad, and today I have been.  Right now, I’m more along the lines of indifferent, but there were tears coming out and that kind of stuff.  I keep things honest for you, so… here’s my underbelly. Read the rest of this entry »

Friend or Enema??

Information, adventure, humor, rant 6 Comments »

I’m on day 5 of my cleanse.  I’ve lost 7 pounds already.  I’m going to be very much myself in this (and future posts), which means a little more crass humor, more puns, and more foul language.  Why?  Because I joke around, tell puns, and use (what some consider) offensive language in my daily communications.  I take on friends and clients that appreciate me for me, and since you’re reading my blog… we’re friend.  I guarantee you that the shit that I’m writing in THIS particular blog post is really awkward to tell a stranger (or even a friend), so… we’re friends, right?

Remember: I look for adventure, and I define adventure as “new experiences” -

Ok…. I mentioned a lot of this on my Monday night internet radio show (http://CouchSurfingRadio.com) – and maybe even in parts of my blog, but here’s the story: Read the rest of this entry »

Colon Cleansing, Vibrams, Love Languages, and Israeli Music

Information, misc, music, rant 2 Comments »

The human body gets rid of toxins by excreting them one way or another… but since we live in such polluted environments, option B gets used more and more often, which is hiding the waste in fat and other cells in the body. Do I believe all that? Well, yeah…. Do I care? hmmm…. probably. Though, not too much. I mean, we all sit around in front of our radiation emitting devices, holding them up to our heads, while eating the shittiest food we can. Trust me, I”m no angel, and I’m no healthy hippy! I know many of them.

Since I do know a bunch of them, I am at least aware of what I am ingesting, and my environment… So, when I got back from a 3 week road trip, where my diet consisted mostly of Taco Bell, coffee, and other things you can get near the freeway Read the rest of this entry »

10,000 miles without car insurance (and Screw Travelers Insurance!)

business, rant 6 Comments »

I was pretty flabbergasted to find out that I’ve had no car insurance since February.I’ve driven A LOT since then, and only found out at the tail end of a 4,000 mile trip.  I can type the whole thing out, but I recorded the entire thing, which is way funnier.  A word of caution, I curse a bit in this :)   In fact, it goes a little like this: Traveler’s Insurance can go fuck themselves!   Anyways… here’s the recording of me telling a friend the whole thing.

Get the Flash Player to see the wordTube Media Player.

Since then, I’ve gotten insurance with Flo… er… Progressive Insurance, but it cost me $1,450 instead of $990, as I did not have proof of previous insurance.

I’ve also paid the state of Georgia their $25 for their efforts in telling me that my registration will be suspended…. so now my registration is safe.  I did have to call in to speak to someone, as they have a lot of things that you can pay for to many different departments… the form says “You can pay online at” – but it doesn’t tell you what this falls under.  No biggie.

Now, I can bitch and moan about Traveler’s screwing me over, or my insurance broker not calling me to tell me they had a hick-up and couldn’t run the payment…. but in the end, everything is our own fault.  I should’ve had my mail checked more frequently.

To make sure this never happens again, I am checking out two services… if you’ve used ‘em, I’d love your feedback:  http://paytrust.com/ and EarthClassMail — here’s their video:

Just a quick note…

movie reviews, rant 2 Comments »

I want to write… daily… I want to write to you.  But, as one of the most frequent questions I get is “How do you pay for all your travels?” I have to do the occasional project.

It’s 4:30am on a Saturday, and I’m watching Julie/Julia (more on that later).  I have to pick Craig up at the airport at noon.  My day was awesome!  I jogged in the morning– which I discovered to be way easier for me than jogging in the afternoon, I’m not sure why.  I wore no shirt.  Oh yeah- I learned at the Longevity Conference that when you get sun, you get Vitamin D(3) – but your skin produces it, and it takes 12 hours to absorb into the skin, and the blood stream… so, if you go in the sun, don’t wash off with soap right away.  Use water, soap in the major area (groin and pits), and maybe strategic use of deodorant, otherwise you’re washing away all that vitamin D(3) which brings such calm and happiness.

I worked in the afternoon.  I’m still processing photos from the Longevity Conference.  I shot over 3,000 photos there.  I worked barefoot and shirtless in the back yard.  Bentley loved it.  I got a ton of Vitamin D(3) – and a nice tan! – and I’m also down 5 pounds since last week (despite having had the munchies the other day, and having eaten a giant rice-krispies-treat egg, and massive quantities of this uber-rich chocolate cake with fudge layers in between!  I even had a talk with myself on my way to my friend’s house that I would not eat sugary stuff… *sigh*).

Today was my 2nd day of eating 100% raw.  I’m not trying to do a 30 day raw challenge like last year (though it wouldn’t hurt), I’m just trying to eat more healthy… and it’s working.  I’ve also been taking Magnesium, L-Argenine, Fish Oil (Omega 3′s supposed to help ADHD people, which I suspect I am…. you don’t need a richter scale to know that you’re in the middle of an earthquake, if you know what I mean), and… hmmm.. can’t remember the other one.

I’m making my 1st Coconut Kefir.  I’m almost nervous.  How will it turn out?  Will it taste good? Will it be poisonous?  It was really easy to prep– just chop open 2 coconuts, pour ‘em into a 1 quart pot, heat up to skin temperature, and pour in the starter pack.  Yup, I got a starter pack.. I don’t feel like poisoning anyone by playing with probiotics (the friendly bacteria that live in your digestive tract).

With Craig being in California, I’ve been using the blender on my own.  He is the smoothie king, but now, left to my own devices, I’ve gotten to do the typical Ori thing… experiment!  Yesterday’s smoothie was a total success.  Coconut,Avocado (really thickens things up– I added it last, and saw just how much!), cacco, macca, shilajit, strawberries, ataulfo mangoes, cayanne pepper, cinnamon, a tiny bit of OJ (because the Shilajit or Maca made things a bit bitter).  Before I left to Dallas, I had blended up all sorts of stuff including cucumber, and other stuff, and it was way too bitter, so I poured in a can of Red Bull, and that did the trick.

That brings me back to the movie that’s currently on pause, ’cause the urge to write was too strong… that, and it practically made me cry (ok… it made me cry a little… ’cause I can relate to it. *sigh* way to admit stuff publicly).

I started watching this movie with Kathryn in Dallas… but the internet was crapping out, so we blew it off and slept instead.  As I watch it now (as background material while I process through all these photos), I’m moved by it.

It’s about this girl who has a stressful and unrewarding job… heck, let’s just say it.  She has a shitty job! She’s at the place where people call to complain about medical problems after 9/11, and they’re all getting dicked around by the system, so they take it out on her.  She’s really passionate about cooking though, so she sets up a blog. In her blog, she tries to cook the entire Julia Child cook book in 1 year.

That’s the plot- I didn’t ruin anything for you.  I’m 1 hour 33 minutes into it.  It’s great seeing someone do what they’re passionate about.  There’s her interactions with her family, and with her husband…. a lot of it hits home.  Talks of “I never finished anything in my life!”  That seems to be something a lot of people feel, me included.  It also talks about the narcissistic nature of blogging!  I never thought of it. This blog, while it covers marketing, while it covers photography, adventure, travel, humor, and whatever else…. it’s about me – no matter what I might tell myself.

Guess I’m a narcissist, eh?  There’s worse things to be.  But, I think every blogger should watch this.

I was originally told that it was so-so, and a chick-flick… but it’s a lot of fun!  Julia Child’s character is so adorable! The story is actually pretty deep, and learning about Julia Child’s life is fascinating.  I can’t even tell you how it ends, because I haven’t gotten that far.

Damn it! I did it again! It’s titled “Just a quick note” and it’s another frigging novel!  I just like writing.  I feel like I’m telling a dear friend what’s on my mind, or the occasional useful information.

Just remind me to tell you in another blog post:  What’s going on with my photography.  What’s up with my art.  Whatever did happen with those fried pies in Oklahoma?  Tony Hsieh’s new book.  The latest movies I’ve seen (Slumdog Millionaire was really great). And… since it’s now 4:55 (now you know how much I can write in how little time) – I’m going to go back to processing photos and watching this movie.

I just didn’t want the site to collect too much dust… and I’m not very good at writing short/meaningless posts to “just write something”.

Oh yeah- I need to post my last 3 episodes of CouchSurfingRadio.

Yup, never enough to do.

Microsoft Zune HD FAIL (video)

product review, rant, video 3 Comments »

Microsoft Zune HD FAILWhen Microsoft decided to enter the portable mp3 player race, I thought they were insane… now that I have one, I know they were!  Here’s the story (Scroll to the bottom to see a video- I’m even wearing my BurningMan goggles):

During SXSW Interactive, I left the press lounge (all you can eat Zone bars, all you can drink coffee… electricity, silence) to go shoot my next panel, and there’s KBJ (@KateBuckJr).  She’s talking to some people, and she (tosses me under a truck) says “Oh! You guys need to interview….”(grabs my by shoulder, yanks me in front of some dude, and some girl who’s running camera) “Ori… he’s a designer!”

“Uhhhhh….?”

“So.. what do you know about  Microsoft Website Spark?”

“Uhhhh….”  Kate was nowhere to be seen Read the rest of this entry »

CouchSurfingRadio 10- SXSW insider info and survival tips, pet mountain lions, hippy bands, millionaires, bad jokes, and more.

Couchsurfing Radio Episodes, Information, Inspiration, Interviews, Marketing Lessons, couchsurfing radio, humor, movie reviews, music, rant, travel 2 Comments »
Couchsurfing radio - the show graphic

The Couchsurfing Radio Host- Couch Surfing Ori

Check out the Couchcast

 

All sorts of crazy, but you definitely want to catch the replay!  There’s a ton of awesome SXSW insider info on how to party for free, mingle with the stars, and all sorts of great reasons to go into town… with or without a badge.

My guest, Chase, talks about his pet mountain lion.

I tell jokes.

There’s a lot more– just listen, it’s fun!

Check out the Couchcast

 

I even include some music in this one– let me know what you think of it.

Couchsurfing Radio Episode 8

Couchsurfing Radio Episodes, Interviews, Marketing Lessons, adventure, couchsurfing radio, humor, rant, travel No Comments »
Couchsurfing radio - the show graphic

The Couchsurfing Radio Host- Couch Surfing Ori

My first broadcast from a cell phone, and the longest I’ve been on an iphone. I recorded this on the drive to Mardi Gras with Jason Moffatt and Randy Primm.

Check out the Couchcast

 

Download the episode for home/car/plane/etc.. listening.

The themes are collaboration, networking and… well, you should listen and find out!  Some decent marketing ideas in there too, so take notes :)

singles awareness day also known as Valentine’s Day.

photography, rant 2 Comments »

I’m generally not a fan of holidays, except for Halloween, ’cause everone dresses up.  Valentine’s Day is the most opressive holiday of the year.  As a single person, you are reminded by everyone and everything that you are in fact alone… you do not have someone to spend all your money on getting them chocolate and a teddy bear.  You are lonely, and there’s probably something wrong with you. I call this holiday “Singles Awareness Day” (SAD).

If you do have a significant other, than you’re supposed to go spend all the money on getting them chocolate and flowers and a teddy bear.

Why not just do nice stuff for your significant other any random time of the year…. to be nice, or because you like them?  I’ve made the following image- feel free to share it with your friends-  it conveys the message :)

Hope you have a great day, regardless of whether you have someone to spend it with or not.

singles awareness day

Couchsurfing Radio Episode 7- Dallas travels, Jason Moffatt

Couchsurfing Radio Episodes, Information, Inspiration, Interviews, Marketing Lessons, adventure, business, couchsurfing radio, humor, opinion, party, photography, rant, travel No Comments »
Couchsurfing radio - the show graphic

The Couchsurfing Radio Host- Couch Surfing Ori

What did I do in Dallas?

Billboard climbing

Art fair

warehouse party

consulting

met new people

got a speaking and mc gigs for next month

played poker (learned to play poker actually)

There was more… and that’s why you need to listen to Episode 7.  You can hear what the listeners who got their consulting thought, and check out a funny conversation with Jason Moffatt.  That reminds me– this is the first episode to have the word “shit” in it.  I was wondering how long the G rating would last :)

Check out the Couchcast

 

Download the episode for home/car/plane/etc.. listening.

Viralee Scam update- the lawyer letter

Information, Scam Warning, business, opinion, rant 9 Comments »

Viralee is threatening to take me to courtJust when I think “Gosh.. I gotta really work my brain to come up with something to blog about today,” scammer Dominic Holland from Viralee sends me a legal threat. I shall share it, and of course provide feedback… in RED! ’cause that’s what they do in the American school system to ruin kids’ dreams and hopes, and I want to crush Dominic Holland’s hopes of scamming people. And now… the letter: Read the rest of this entry »

Couchsurfing Radio Episode 4- Viralee is a scam, avoiding scams, photography, PR, bad jokes, and more!

Couchsurfing Radio Episodes, Information, Interviews, Marketing Lessons, Press, Scam Warning, adventure, couchsurfing radio, opinion, rant 2 Comments »

Check out the Couchcast

 
Download the episode for home/car/plane/etc.. listening.

It seems the show just keeps getting better. The topics are pretty diverse- bankrupcy, falling for scams, fighting back, photography, facial expressions, PR, Peter Shankman, various jokes, and more!

Have a listen, leave a comment!  You can download this, and take it with you.

Scam Warning- Viralee

Scam Warning, product review, rant 44 Comments »
Viralee logo

Viralee is a scam

As a business owner, or just someone trying to get a message out, you recognize that there’s a benefit to having large amounts of Facebook Fans.  Scammer Dominic Holland of Viralee realizes that you think that, and is willing to steal your money.

I study what a lot of the marketers are doing.  I use some of these things for myself, and many of these strategies work for my clients as well.  If you have a business, and need more traffic, then getting more fans is a good way of dong it.  Facebook allows you to buy targeted ads that will get you fans (good ad design, writing good copy, using the right images… all still necessary), but Viralee actually claims to sell you the actual fans… not just an ad to bring them over.

I tried them out at $99 (They’ve raised their price to $117 this week), which was supposed to get me 1,000 new fans on Facebook. The blog post I read about the Viralee scammers (back when it was unknown that they were scammers) said that they get the results within 5 days.  I got nothing within a week, so I wrote the main scammer, Dominic, to see what’s up.

Dominic replied: Read the rest of this entry »

Your local police is using drones to spy on you in your home, your car, etc…

Information, News, rant, video No Comments »
Insitu ScanEagle drone can spy on you

Wave hello to the drone that's spying on you

Grrr…. Houston Police has been lying to the press about restricted airspace (and god knows what else), in order to test out their new secret drones.

Channel 2 in Houston had the balls to check with the FAA, and investigate/film anyways. These drones can fly ofor 15-24 hours, look into your house, car, etc… and of course, be equipped with various other sensors.

Will they be giving speeding tickets? Will they be spying on you? I don’t know about you, but I’m not thrilled about this.

I think that if enough of our rights are violated, and we’re spied upon, someone will fight back… destroy these things (using something like uni-directions EMPs), and waste tons of tax dollars that you paid.

It may be entertaining to watch what they’re watching though :)

The following video is brilliant. Channel 2, you’ve earned my respect.