The Couchsurfing Radio Host- Couch Surfing Ori

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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!

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

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.

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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

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.

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

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

Just 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 »

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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.

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 »

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.

They want to get inside

Yes, you’re sitting there blogging, or adding pictures to your site, when all of a sudden your entire website disappears.  Uhhh… Hello? What happened?  Time to call your admin (unless you’re the admin– in my case, I am), or your host.  What happened?

Well, it turns out that there’s been some phishing scams, spam bots, and a panda-porn site… all running from your account.  Who knew? Well,  your host did…. that’s why they shut you down.

Just the other day, I was uploading my podcasts for CouchSurfingRadio, when I screwed up, and had to go figure out which directory I accidentally uploaded the file to.  There was a new directory from that day!  I didn’t remember making a .files directory.  Worse than that, was when I looked inside, there were hundreds of .html files that were laced with keywords.. (They had filenames that were just filled with words that people look up– celebrity names, product names, etc…  and the inside of each was laced with the same thing… just spam keywords).

The file count was getting higher!  Someone was uploading while I watched.  I deleted all the files, and they kept coming.  I checked the folder permissions, and it was limited access to just me. What a nightmare, someone got in as me!  I did not want to have to get another refund on hacker domains, or go through getting my site re-activated!

I quickly changed my password.  They were still there.  They were getting in as me somehow. How can you avoid this happening to you? Read the rest of this entry »

The Couchsurfing Radio Host- Couch Surfing Ori

Make sure you catch tonight’s show! It’s at 11pm EST, on CouchSurfing Radio.

Good news: Tonight I will be less distracted! Through the magic of technology, a lovely assistant

I”m already getting momentum.  Peter Shankman agreed to do next week’s, Tony Hsieh is doing the show in May.  If you don’t know who they are, google them…. but both shows, you’ll definitely want to catch!

I haven’t really been preparing. Life goes on… but I did leave you guys with that cliff hanger, so I’ll have to tell the entire guitar story…

If you have questions you’d like answered, you can start sending them to me through the contact form, or facebook.

See you tonight!

The Couchsurfing Radio Host- Couch Surfing Ori

Have you ever felt you were destined to be on TV or Radio?  Yeah… me either.  But I sure was told it often that I should have my own show.  At least for 10 yearas now.  So… here it is

I present to you CouchSurfingRadio, my latest creation. Right now it will be on Monday nights at 11pm EST, with replays available for your downloading pleasure (so you can hear it again and again… have it on as you clean, drive, work, jog, poop, etc..).

The show will cover many topics, but most of them will be what I often blog about: adventures, travel, incredible people and places, marketing, life lessons, motivation, design, jokes, and of course, my odd perspectives on everything.

Here is the very first episode.

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It’s a great story… the forming of this radio show:  I felt like putting on a radio show, I tweeted and facebooked that in 2 hours I’ll be putting on a radio show, and then I put on my radio show.  Exciting, huh?  There was more to it than that, of course. I didn’t figure out how to log-in to the host number until (literally) 3 minutes before showtime. I was a distracted spaz.  I didn’t know how to read the questions that were coming in through the show’s chat-room, through twitter, and through skype. So.. yeah.. I was all over the place.

The feedback thus far has been great though!

For next episode, I will have a surprise guest, someone to filter the questions/chat for me, and segments… so, some kind of structure.

Take a listen, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the show (Leave a comment below please)

Movie Poster for Avatar by James Cameron

I wanted to see it opening night. I wanted to be there at the Imax 3d, and to tell you the truth… I thought I’d also eat some shrooms before going. I have not been excited about a movie in years. Not like I was about this one. One thing that made me so excited (other than the obvious- seeing the trailer) was this article about James Cameron, and how long he’s been thinking of this movie. That article not only made me want to see the movie more (and be able to get other people more excited about it), but it also added James Cameron to that extremely small group of heroes I have…. currently it’s just him and Sir Richard Branson. Why? ’cause he knows how to pursue his dreams, and he goes scuba diving above undetonated watermines from World War II.

You know how I said I wanted to see it opening night? Yeah.. well.. that didn’t happen. They were sold out. My parents got to see it on Christmas on Imax 3d… I argued with them for a while that it would be worth the 40 minute drive, and line-waiting to see something so epic on Imax. They thanked me for arguing, and winning. I mention them, ’cause they saw it on Christmas — right after I posted that awesome Chinese Food On Christmas post. But as for me.. I didn’t get to go, ’cause I’m not in Florida. The same friends I invited to go on opening night had made it out another night… and from the time they got their tickets to the time I tried to get mine.. sold out again.

I wasn’t worried! I mean, it’s playing in Imax 3d until February, and I work whenever… so I can really catch the 3pm showing every weekday between now and February, and probably not have anyone interrupt my viewing experience, as I memorize the different scripts. While I had thought of that, I really just wanted to see the movie. Tonight was that glorious night. I’m couchsurfing with Craig & Suzanne, and they leave on a New Year’s snowboarding trip tomorrow morning… leaving me with their St. Bernard & Golden Retriever (who like Craig & Sue eat raw). Craig said “We leave in 30 minutes” – I didn’t bother asking where. I love random trips. In the car, Sue had brought up showtimes, so I instantly knew. We saw it at the Alamo Draft House — which is an Austin tradition. You watch a movie, and they bring you dinner and booze.

The only remaining seats were in the very front. This took away from the movie a little bit, but here is my review, and where I see things going (keep reading, ’cause I tell you how to make your own Pandora-like worlds and creatures). Read the rest of this entry »