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Kentucky Christian College

Attending Kentucky Christian College is one of my deepest regrets. I wish I could go back in time and convince myself that it would not be fun, that I would not learn what I needed to know, and that I would not find my wife there, but I did go. I went there straight out of high school. The year was 1998 and I was a fool. I didn’t know anything, but I thought I knew everything. This is a story about my two years at KCC.

It all started back in Franklin, or more specifically, Trafalgar, where we went to church. Our youth minister, Jeff Wise, graduated from KCC and invited us to attend Summer in the Son. It was fun. Really fun. We rocked out to Matthew Sweet, Prayer Chain, and Poor Old Lu in the church van, hung out with girls our age, and attended concerts at night. In the dorm rooms we’d wrestle to Starflyer 59, drink Ale 8 One, and make prank calls. In short, it was awesome.

When it came time for us to decide what college to attend I considered Indiana University and it’s Computer Science program. I visited the campus and even looked at starting an arcade to make money while I went to school there. But I also visited KCC specifically to review it as a college I might want to go to. I remember Eric Pangburn urging me not to attend. He specifically said, “Don’t come here. It’s terrible,” but I didn’t listen. I decided that I should take out a loan and go.

Within the first week we were literally told, “This is not Summer in the Son.” That should have been our first clue that things weren’t going to be as fun as we thought they were going to be. Of course, the point of college is not to have fun, but it’s also not to “not have fun”. I fully understand college’s role in helping a young person turn into an adult, learn to manage a schedule, deal with more responsibilities gradually, and ultimately prove themselves with a degree, but fun is one of them.

I remember the first week we were there when it was already obvious who would be hanging out with who. The good looking people formed the “populars”, the soccer players formed their group, the basketball players formed their group, and that left the rest of us. There were the people in bands, the people who played video games, and the people who played guitar. This was before a time when everyone had cell phones and very few people had a computer in their room. A Playstation was high tech.

We were the ones who played video games, guitar, and had a computer in our room. However, there was only dial-up Internet access at that time and you had to pay extra for dial up so the computers in our rooms were only used for word processing. My computer was a 486 that ran Windows 3.1. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it was 1998 and Windows 95 had only been out for 3 years at that point. When we needed to print something or get on the Internet we’d have to go to the computer lab.

I was dating a girl named Jessica at the time, but she was still a senior in high school. She was the first girl I ever kissed, 2 years earlier, while riding The Beast at King’s Island. She had a big impact on my life right up until I started dating my current wife. I learned a lot about her during my freshman year at KCC. We’d talk on the phone (via a landline) and I’d have to pay long-distance phone charges so we’d also write letters as she didn’t have email at the time.

I spent most of my time hanging out with Derek Eads and Brian Reid. Brian and his wife died in 2008. We’d make movies together for fun. I was the only person on campus with a video camera so people would often look at me with suspicion and there were many stories as to why I was doing what I was doing and what I was filming. I once heard that I spent 8 hours in the bushes recording people coming and going, which I found interesting. It wasn’t even that good of a story.

There was a hill behind campus filled with dead bodies. Above the graveyard was a point overlooking the Interstate that ran alongside the campus. Slightly below that in the wooded area of the hill I formed a fort. I’d go there after class to get away and have a spot of my own. I even went and bought a shovel and some flower seeds so I could plant a garden. I always wondered what the flowers looked like during the summer while I was gone and I picture the whole hillside covered with flowers today.

The first summer I worked at Michiana Christian Summer Camp in Niles, Michigan as a maintenance man. I gave my friend, Vineet a ride back in my white, Chevy Caprice Classic. The air conditioning wasn’t working well, but I didn’t think anything of it. By the end of the summer, the car caught on fire on my way to Brian Reid’s house to visit, my car got towed and impounded, and I paid $80 for a cab ride to Brian’s house. It took another $80 to get my car out of the impound lot, but I’m glad I went.

I’m not sure why I decided to go back to KCC my second year. I was in a band and there was that, but when Derek mentioned he didn’t want to go back, I convinced him to go and for that I am sorry. The school made it clear that they didn’t want us back. Despite telling them we were coming back and paying to come back, they had removed Derek and I from the school’s registrar (along with Eric Pangburn) and so we had to wait hours in line to get re-enrolled in the school. Oh and we had no dorm room.

By this time Jessica had both broken up with, started attending my school, and dating my best friend. In the meantime, a girl named Sarah started showing interest in me and we started hanging out. Her dad worked as the school’s accountant and so her family lived in town. I’d go over to her house and enjoyed hanging out with her family. She had many brothers and sisters and there was always someone there – except when their wasn’t. I remember watching The Saint with her one day, but I didn’t get it.

I didn’t understand that when a girl chooses to spend time exclusively with you that she may like you more than you realize. Maybe I was clouded by the fact that her ex-boyfriend still hung around or that we never kissed, but I should have been tipped off when she gave me a mix-tape and a card before I left for Fall break that year. Despite those early warning signs, I went home, kissed someone else, and happily reported to her about it when I got back. She promptly told me we were over, but for me it had never began.

There were other girls at KCC I both liked and hung out with, but they always (not a metaphor) had boyfriends back home. Jenny was from Michigan near Niles. She never came back after her first year, but I visited her once over the summer. Nikki was from Lexington, Kentucky. I visited her in the summer of 2000 with Ben. Her boyfriend and her dad were both in Amway. I bought her an engagement ring, but Anya, who I also liked and who was from Ukraine convinced me not to ask her to marry me. I didn’t.

We had chapel every Tuesday and Thursday and most people also went to church on Sundays in town. One day I went out looking for something and stopped at the local radio station for directions. That’s when I met Jim Phillips, who worked at the radio station. He lived on Jim Phillips Blvd and went to First Church of Christ. When the school refused to give our band a spot to practice, Jim helped Shog get a practice location in the basement. He was the a good friend those two years I was on campus at KCC.

I didn’t always go to class, but when I did it wasn’t really worth it, with a few exceptions. I learned the value of a calendar to free your use of time. This was pre-GTD and it was my first introduction into time management. I learned that just because you teach at a Christian college, doesn’t mean that you’re a Christian. I learned that I liked literature (movies and writing mostly) and disliked accounting. It was a good thing I was a business major, right? Hence my exit.

I remember doing a Shog show in the last semester of my last year at KCC. We were playing in the parking lot outside of the cafeteria during dinner. The sun was setting and I was singing, “We all want to be free to choose our destiny. I want to get out of this place,” which are lyrics from one of our last and best songs, Thirty-Six Cents. I knew at that moment that I wouldn’t be back and things would never be the same. Derek an our bass player left for Ball State, I went to Milligan College, and the guitar players went home.

There were two state parks near Grayson, Kentucky where the college was located. Each had a lake. Most of the time we’d go out to Grayson Lake, which had several rock outcroppings that made for great cliff jumping. One was called “Sex Rock”. I took Anya there one day and we had a sort of picnic without the food. It was early in the spring and the sun was shining, but not enough to give you a tan. We sat alone and I was alone. She was not mine to have. She was my friend and I liked her.

One night in December our first year, Jessica and her friend, Jodi, came down to KCC to visit. They knew they were both going to go to KCC the next year so it was more just to get a taste of what it was like to go to KCC rather than make a decision whether or not to go (don’t go!). We all ended up going out to Grayson lake. We sang, “Lean on Me” in the car and swang on the swings in the playground. I remember it was unusually warm for a December night. It was fun – one of the few times.

After Just One Week at KCC

It seems, its always the crazy times you find, you’ll wake up and realize it takes, more than your saline eyes to make things right. -“Crazy Times” by Jars of Clay

It started off pretty good – college that is. This implies that my week went downhill from there. Not necessarily, but it did get worse from time to time. Let me explain.

The first day was great. I woke up at 5:00 AM in Franklin, Indiana and was on campus in Grayson, Kentucky by 11:30 AM after only a 45 minute traffic holdup in Louisville. I ate lunch and boy was it good (a hint of what was to come). After that I moved in, but did not get unpacked and registered. I heard from my mom that registration was very nice compared to hers at Central Missouri State University. I wouldn’t know. That was my first.

You know the drill. I fixed my room and got scared of the upperclassmen who moved in shortly after us. Although once I realized they were mostly all nice people with a freshman disposition, I was less stressed out. Speaking of stress, classes were about to start.

My first class was Activity 1, which equals gym class. We went over the syllabus then got out a half-hour early. I’m thinking, “If all my classes are like this, then college going to be great!” My hopes were dashed when I got to Composition 101 and the professor informed us of the many papers we would be doing that semester.

The next set of classes was not different. They all went over their various syllabi and none actually started class except for History of Civilization. This put that class on my bad side and so far it hasn’t redeemed itself.

Life in Grayson is great I’m sure, but I don’t know how to squeeze the fun out of it yet so I spend a lot of time in the McKenzie Student Life Center. I checked my Internet email account that I couldn’t check until September 1st, I played wallyball, and I even got to play pool.

All in all college has been good. The food is good, the people are good, but the homework is not. Hopefully College 101 can help me better adapt to doing the work associated with college. Thank you KCC. -Erich Stauffer, September, 1998

November 6, 2013
Content Management Systems vs. Managing Content
If I were tweeting today I would have wrote: WordPress is not so much a content management system as much as a content display system.

A content management system (CMS) designed by Erich Stauffer would allow content to be platform-agnostic. In DRY (don’t repeat yourself) terms, the content would be an object who’s repurposing could be tracked. Essentially, the content management system would not store the content, but report on the status and whereabouts of the content. Let me explain with an example.

Example: A blog post is written in WordPress. The dashboard in the CMS sees this new post via RSS and prompts the viewer to describe (via checkboxes) whether or not the material has been repurposed as a video, soundcloud, podcast, slideshare presentation, or as part of an email has been backlinked from Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

In essence, the CMS would work more as a marketing automation workflow tool – guiding you through the process of wringing out as much value from each initial post as possible. This same process could be accomplished via any sort of trusted system: pencil and paper, Word worksheets, Excel spreadsheets, Trello, or even WordPress itself via custom code.

I have yet to do it manually even once, yet I have recommended it to others many times. I’m not sure a tool would make me want to do it more, but ‘doing’ is not what I do. ‘Changing’ is what I do. That’s how I’m wired and I’m fine with that, but it doesn’t mean the ideas aren’t good or helpful for production workers who are more comfortable creating content in a structured environment.

It’s not that I don’t do stuff. I do practically whatever anyone tells me to do. I guess it would make more sense to put that line in context. I once worked in a corporate department where my boss used an analogy about us being the rudder and ‘ops’ being the engine. I had very little ‘corporate’ experience prior to working there and had never worked as a business analyst before. (I am very thankful for the opportunity as I feel it was one of the best jobs I ever had.)

As a result of my intial ignorance of how to be a business analyst, I wasn’t aware that other people had a similar or different opinion on the subject of how organizations should be organized. I only knew of it as ‘how my boss thought’. It wasn’t until after I visited the “Indianapolis Leadership Circle” (formerly known as the Leadership Mastery Group) put on by Tony Piazza that I heard something similar from the speaker, Scotty Bevill. He said (paraphrased for convenience):

[Project managers] don’t like to run things – we like to build, change, and refine things. That’s just who we are as people.

I use that word “people” specifically as Scotty was very adamant about business being “people dealing with people” and that we shouldn’t try to take the “human” out of who we are. The people in the room at the leadership meeting were mostly project managers who were mostly former IT workers. The other people in the room were current IT workers (such as myself, who is currently an IT Specialist in my day job). This is more of a belief about who we are as workers, not as much about the willingness to do or not do work. People like us (project managers and business analysts) prefer to be change agents, not production workers.

Content Management Systems vs. Managing Content

Permission to speak freely? Okay, for a second here I’m going to throw out all preconceived notions of what I should or should not do, what I am or am not capable of, and what does or does not make business sense. I’m just going to say what I think I want to do and then step back to see what sticks. As Scotty Bevill says, “Start with what is known.” Here’s what I know: I have found a way to add a sales funnel dimension to keyword research. Let’s call these “buyer keywords”.
- Once you have identified ‘buyer keywords” you can start to write content that attracts those searchers.
- Once content is created it can be both backlinked from social media and repurposed into other content.
- Once visitors start coming to the content, the content can be optimized to increase conversions.
Compendium, a business blogging platform which recently got purchased by Oracle, has 3 steps to create content which are 1) Research 2) Organize and 3) Create. I’d like to create a service that does 1) SEO Keyword and Competition Research 2) Creates and Manages Content and 3) does A/B Optimization.

Content Repositories

Update: Since writing this I’ve since discovered something called a “Content Repository“. There are several types, but what they all have in common is a clear separation between the content and the presentation of the content. What I’m still looking out for (and willing to provide as a service until software can be built around it) is a way to track all content like a database and know when and/or how often it’s been linked out via social media or to certain social bookmarking sites and whether or not it’s been repurposed to a pre-defined selection such as Youtube, Soundcloud, or Podcast.

So when you take what I consider to be my ‘flux capacitor moment’ where I realized I had this ‘super power’ to attract customers to me by writing what matters to the customer and add in what I’ve since learned about content marketing, customer acquisition systems, and customer development I’ve got a knowledge base that is poised to be leveraged with the right content management system. By system I mean the methods (processes + tools) that can multiply the efforts of a content marketer by first finding out who is already seeking their product and writing directly to that person.

I’m not sure how to do this, but those are my collection of ideas.
November 5, 2013
AVG CloudCare Best Practices
AVG is antivirus software and AVG Cloud Care is the website that helps to manage installations, threats, updates, and scans. AVG Cloud Care organizes various AVG installations by “Customers”. Each Customer can also have “Groups”. Templates can be assigned to Customers and Alerts can be assigned to groups. Devices are the names of computers. Devices can be assigned to Groups. Alerts can also be assigned to Devices.

Managing Templates

There are two types of templates. One is at the “Partner” level and the other at the “Customer” level. The Partner template does not propagate down to the Customer level. Any changes made at the Partner level template must be manually copied and applied to the Customer level on a per-Customer basis.

As much effort as possible should be taken to keep the Partner template up to date so that it can be used to apply to new Customers when they are first set up. It can also be applied to existing Customers by saving the Partner template and applying it to an existing Customer in the Policies tab.

Managing Policies

There are several top-level categories for policies, but the ones we use for Anti-virus are General and Antivirus. The General policy should “Require confirmation from the user” and update every 4 hours.

The Antivirus policy’s Advanced Settings should, “Enable Resident Shield”, “Ask before removing threat”, “Report Potentially Unwanted Programs and Spyware threats”, “Scan boot sector of removable media”, “Scan files referred in registry”, “Enable Instant Messaging and P2P downloads protection”. Under “E-mail Scanner”, “Scan incoming messages” and “Scan outgoing messages” should be unchecked.

Managing Exceptions
1. Log into the CloudCare Portal
2. On the Policies tab, select the policy you would like to manage.
3. Click on Anti-Virus to expand the menu.
4. Go to the Exceptions tab.
5. Click Add Exception if adding a new exception. If editing an existing exception, select the object to edit and click the Edit or Remove button.
6. Select the exception type; i.e., file, folder, or URL.
7. Enter the path or URL of the exception. If it’s a username-specific folder, choose “Any Location”.
8. Choose the components for the exception to apply to.
9. Click Close and Save.
The global, partner Policies do not override or propagating down to customer policies. They only copy when a NEW customer is created. This means every customer needs touched every time a global policy change is made.

The “partner” policy is a template. This police is used when a “New” customer is created this is the default policy for the new customer. This does not propagate down to existing customers only to newly created customers.

AVG Support

866-402-9806 AVG CloudCare Support
828-466-5757 Support for Business
866-833-5727 ext. 417. This will take you to the tech support operator. She will create a case for the techs and transfer you to the next available tech. You can also email cloudcaresupport@avg.com

Tools to Use
- Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
- TDSSKiller
- AVG Rescue CD
Responding to Threats

Determine if the threat can or should be excluded. You can use a tool like Virus Total to determine if the file is actually a virus. If you are completely sure, first exclude the file at the Customer level. If that doesn’t work and it is a very-specific folder, then exclude it at the folder level. If the file is not currently infected, but could be in the future, exclude the file at the device-level on the actual computer with the issue, NOT in the AVG Cloud Care website.

Marketing Email Response to Virus Alert

There may be a time when you’ll need to respond directly to a client before making a change to their computer. Use the following template as a guide:

Dear [Name],

We are all aware of the changing threats on the Internet; identity theft, viruses, adware, data theft and many more. To address these challenges we are, and have been upgrading our desktop management tools. However, we now detect and report on a variety of web browser plug-ins that are not a specific threat, but are being reported as potential issues. Example, many web sites would like to have their search tool on your Web Browser to drive traffic to their advertisers.

These are commonly installed if you are not careful where you click. Install Adobe Reader, and if you’re not careful, they’ll install Google Chrome Browser. Everyone wants to slip something on your PC.

Please review the following file to determine if you would like us to:

A) Allow this threat to remain on your PC
B) Allow us to assist you with removing the threat

Threat: [Ex. “Friends Checker” toolbar.]

How to delete threats remotely in AVG Cloudcare?

If the threat had been moved to the virus vault, then yes, you can remove it from the device’s virus vault…
- Devices
- Click on device name
- Under Device Details, click on “Virus Vault”
However, if the file is bigger than 4MB, or if AVG can’t remove the file due to blocked access, you may need to attempt manual removal. Also, modifying the following policy settings will change how AVG handles detected threats, by eliminating asking the end user to automatically moving all detected threats to the virus vault so you, the administrator, can decide if the threat is legitimate or a false positive…
1. Policies tab
2. Select policy group name, such as “Default”
3. AntiVirus tab
4. Advanced Settings
5. Uncheck the “Ask me before removing threat” box
6. ID-Protect tab
7. Select “Automatically quarantine detected threats”
8. Save
If you have more issues or questions, please call us at 1-866-833-5727, Monday through Friday, from 8 AM to 8 PM Eastern; and have your AVG case number ready when you call.
November 4, 2013
Mobile Device Management Tools
I had a client that was looking for an “active sync monitoring/reporting/blocking tool for BYOD email access in an Exchange environment” so I researched the following solutions:

Apple Mobile Device Management

As the massive growth of iOS devices continues to rise, more IT decision makers are implementing innovative Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions to efficiently manage large-scale iOS deployments while improving user productivity across the board.

The MDM framework built into iOS gives MDM solutions the ability to wirelessly interact with iOS devices that are managed by organizations. Third-party vendors use this framework to build MDM servers that communicate seamlessly with iOS devices.

MDM gives IT departments the ability to securely enroll devices in an enterprise environment, configure and update settings, monitor compliance with corporate policies, and remotely wipe or lock managed devices. Using an MDM server gives organizations a simple way to get users up and running with access to company services regardless of who owns the device.

McAfee Enterprise Mobility Management

“McAfee Enterprise Mobility Management (McAfee EMM) enables businesses to empower their work force with mobile productivity in a secure, simplified, streamlined way.”

This service blocks, “Unauthorized, unsecured, and modified devices like jailbroken iPhones, and meet audit and reporting demands with enterprise-class reporting.”

Free MaaS360 ActiveSync Admin Tool

“Gain Visibility of Mobile Devices within Your Exchange ActiveSync Environment.” In the era of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), more users than ever are connecting to Exchange through ActiveSync without ITs knowledge. With the MaaS360 ActiveSync Admin Tool from Fiberlink, you can easily view all of the devices connecting to your Exchange servers through ActiveSync and remove old device associations with ease.

The MaaS360 ActiveSync Admin Tool lets you:
- Quickly identify the number ActiveSync device associations
- Export mailbox and device information for reporting and maintenance
- Remove orphaned ActiveSync devices in bulk
- Best of all, no PowerShell knowledge is required.
Air Watch Mobile Email Management

“Prevent access for blacklisted devices and operating systems with device” says Air Watch, “Block access for un-enrolled, non-compliant or compromised devices”

“Through Secure Gateway, companies can secure and manage their corporate email infrastructure by defining the business logic for connectivity. IT can allow or block both selected mobile users and approved devices and classes as well as create rule sets that require users to access mail using only approved Webmail clients and services.”

According to Air Watch you can, “Block unmanaged devices…Discover existing unmanaged devices…Block client, user, device model or OS…Exchange 2003/2007”

Air Watch is the largest provider of enterprise mobility management in the world. They specialize in Mobile Security, Mobile Device Management, and BYOD. They are used by companies like United Airlines, Lowe’s, Delta, US Army Corps of Engineers, NHS, and Skanska. This might be a good place to start looking.

Exchange Server 2010 Mobile Device Management

Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1 (SP1) and Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync offer many different features for both users and administrators. As an administrator, you can create allow lists, block lists, and quarantine lists specifying which mobile devices are allowed to access your Exchange mailboxes. A quarantine list lets you allow only a user’s assigned device to connect to the Exchange server.
November 3, 2013
How Can I Better Market My Business?
One of the questions I often get asked is, “How can I better market my business?”

10 Things You Can do to Market Your Business
1. Remove obstacles stopping customers from giving you money – How can someone buy your product or service? How many clicks does it take? How many forms do they have to fill out? How many emails do they have to respond to? How many phone calls or in-person meetings does it take? Ask yourself why you’re making it so hard for someone to give you money and then think about the ways you can make it easier on them.
2. Lower the risk involved in choosing your company – How can you make is so the client literally feels foolish for not choosing you? Are you showing ROI? Are you providing testimonials? Do you have examples of your work? Are you using a SSL certificate? Do you have trust icons in place? Remove all hesitations to the sale.
3. Start with value and prove value or savings – How does your product or service move the customer closer to pleasure or farther from pain? How does it provide value (ie. give back more than what it costs)? What case studies do you have to show this value? What videos do you have to show the value? Do you even have a brochure? Pictures?
4. Start with the familiar (Think “Cover songs”) – If this is the first time someone has seen your product or website, they are going to latch onto anything that looks familiar. That’s why symbols like “As seen on NBC and Huffington Post” as well as trust symbols like “Trusted by McAfee” are so important. It’s the difference between starting your set with an original instead of cover song.
5. Be consistent – waffles are delicious, but nobody likes a waffler. McDonalds is a force to be reckoned with because they are always the same. Seth Godin’s blog is so powerful because you know he’s going to post everyday. While pivoting can be good, it’s not something you should do every day. People crave consistency and it helps to sell. Marketing supports the selling process.
6. Be transparent – show your processes as much as you can. People now expect it and when you don’t it makes it look like you’ve got something to hide. Your picture should be on your website and marketing materials. No stock photography! “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
7. Email marketing – nothing converts higher than email marketing, but you’ve got to actually do it. Reading top 10 lists like this is easy. Collecting email addresses and consistently sending out weekly or monthly emails is not. Thankfully there are systems that can automate some of this for you, but it doesn’t do all of it. You’ve got to want to grow your business. This is one of the best ways.
8. Social proof – famous marketer, Gary V says “social media is the Internet” and while that’s not entirely true, his point is still valid. Go where the people are. They may not be on your website, but they are on social media. And the more Likes, Followers, or Loves you get is social proof to customers that buying from you is probably a smart thing to do.
9. Video marketing – Youtube’s been out for a while now, but there’s even better options now for marketers such as Wistia which can work in conjunction with your email marketing to get more opt-ins or conversions. Like email marketing, the key here is to just do it. It’s not as hard as it once was, but there is still a big fear of video that a lot of people have trouble overcoming. Start small. Get going. You can delete your old, bad stuff once you get better.
10. Measure what matters – candy metrics like unique visitors do not likely matter to your business. What matters are conversions, email signups, and sales. What are you tracking? It matters. What you ask about leads both your mind and your employees down a path so it better be the path you want to be on. If you’re not on the right path, turn the ship around, Captain.
November 2, 2013
Thirty-Six Cents: The Rise and Fall of Shog
Shog was a band started in high school with a couple of friends from the swim team. The year was 1996 and I almost had my driver’s license for the first time. The only person with any band equipment was the guitar player, Josh, who had a red Fender Telecaster and a small Fender amp. We just decided we were going to start a band and that’s what we set out to do.

I remember driving over to the guitar player’s house to practice. I would write songs during school (mostly in Spanish class) and then we’d come up with the music at night after swim practice or on the weekends. I was the lead singer so I eventually invested in a professional microphone, but at first, we just used headphones to record into (the device is the same).

Our first album was recorded in December around Christmas time. It was recorded mostly in my parent’s garage, but some of it was in the bass player’s bedroom. It was recorded on a single track cassette and the album cover was printed on an inkjet printer. We dubbed about 25 copies and gave them out on Christmas day as presents.

We recorded two more albums in high school, one more on tape (Sessions), and our first on CD (Sky). By the third album we all had instruments, had a 4-track cassette recorder, and been playing several shows at churches and events around Indianapolis. At one of our shows in Franklin, our drummer made a connection with someone he eventually married.

When it came time to choose a college, the three seniors in the band chose Kentucky Christian College (now called Kentucky Christian University). The junior stayed behind in high school and eventually went to Indiana State. At KCC we picked up first one new guitarist, John Tellier, and then a second one, Bill (who loved Creed). Below is a video of us going on a photo shoot at the top of the hill.

By the end of our second year at KCC the band was starting to fall apart. Bill wanted to join another band. The bass player was making plans to get married and change schools. Eventually all 5 members left KCC at end of our sophomore year to 5 different locations: vocals to Milligan College, bass to Ball State University, drums to Franklin, Bill back to wherever he came from, and John back to Illinois. The six of us got back together once for my wedding:

Shog Discography

Fun Facts about Shog Albums:
- All albums start with the letter ‘s’.
- The songs on Sky and Sessions are both in alphabetical order, indicative of them being processed on a computer.
- One of the last songs, “Thirty-Six Cents”, was also the number of songs produced by Shog over time if you don’t include “Introduction”, “Abstract Art”, and “Apollo 13” from Out of the Wrapper.
- Shog Discography
Sweettarts: Out of the Wrapper
1. We Wish You a Merry Christmas
2. That
3. Summer Loving
4. Spanish 1
5. Or Brain
6. More Love, More Power
7. Mi Medley
8. Introduction
9. Day Tripper
10. Closer Walk with Thee
11. Apollo 13
12. Abstract Art
Shog: Sessions
1. Walking
2. The Tracks
3. Noko Incidence
4. Mine
5. Leslie Ann
6. Isn’t He
7. Flush
8. Emotion of the Hour
9. Explorescape
10. Dr. Pepper
11. Cry of My Heart
12. Awesome god
13. Arms of Love
14. Abba Father
Shog: Sky
1. He is God
2. Rain Song
3. Sky
4. Sulfur Soup
5. Through God
Shog: Statues
Shog: Peaceful War
November 1, 2013
Symbolism in Wes Anderson Movies
Colin Marshall recently commented on about a series of RogerEbert.com video essays on Wes Anderson films. These are my comments on his comments, but mostly it’s about the symbolism I see in Wes Anderson films.
- Suitcases – first few movies they are always silver, last few canvas; they are always matching and of different sizes – like different aged members of a family; they could obviously literally represent emotional baggage, but more likely represent the ties (family) that bind us and that we always carry with us (throughout all films). In the trailer for The Grand Budapest Hotel I noticed the hotel is full of suitcases – as if Wes Anderson is trying to tell us something – like this movie is all of his other movies combined into one hotel full of suitcases.
- Guns – Bottle Rocket and Life Aquatic both had hand guns, but Mr Fox, Royal Tenenbaums, and Moonrise Kingdom all featured rifles. I think the obvious nod here is to violence, but I almost view it as a contrasting feature to the artistic, loveable characters – it lends to the ironic, comedic tone of the movie underscored by the understating the guns are given in each scene. They serve both as contrast and as comedy.
- Binoculars – the commentator mentioned this as referencing Star Wars, but I think it’s much more than that. When you look through binoculars, there are many things happening
  - Your power is magnified – you can see farther, which gives you more power
  - You are symbolically looking into the future – children are often seen using binoculars – they want to see what’s coming. Adults do not want to know what’s coming because they are not looking forward to it.
  - You are seeing a mini-movie – what you see through binoculars is like a mini, personal movie inside a movie, which is a metaphor for Wes Anderson films, which are movies about making movies.
- Trains – trains are featured prominently in Darjeeling Limited and The Grand Budapest Hotel. They are both used to literally move the plot forward and as a way to showcase Wes Anderson’s iconic “dollhouse” sets.
October 31, 2013
Crypolocker Ransomware Alert
Beware of new Crypolocker ransomware that encrypts all your files after you open an email attachment.

This virus encrypts all of your files and then forces you to pay $300 in bitcoin to unlock your files. If you don’t pay, they delete the key after 72 hours and your files are essentially gone. All files that are writable/editable by your user account are affected, including files stored on a network and all USB backups. It’s able to get past most antivirus programs, but there are things you can do:
- Restrict network access as much as possible
- Inform users to beware of attachments
- Keep regular OFFLINE backups
Here are some reference links about the Cryptolocker Ransomware:
Here is an example email you can send to your staff or clients:

Recently there has been a new type of cyber attack on computer systems that has the ability to compromise an entire network of computer files. The virus/malware comes in through an email attachment and then promptly encrypts all network files so that they can not be accessed. The idea behind this virus is for companies to pay $300 or more to have the writers of the virus so they can decrypt the files for access again.

Despite having security systems in place, the openness of certain environments such as your email program and your web browser can still allow this type of attack to occur. While we will continue to develop new systems to protect your organization, we need everyone to be aware of the part they play in keeping the network secure while in their email and while online.

Here are 4 simple ways to Avoid Getting a Virus:
1. Don’t open e-mails from people you don’t know (even if it seems like it’s from a company you normally deal with)
2. Don’t open attachments in e-mails unless you were waiting for the attachment
3. Don’t go to websites/click links that you don’t fully trust
4. Don’t download and execute files that you don’t fully trust
Please note that even if the file extension says “PDF” it may actually be a ZIP or EXE file that could potentially run and cause harm to your computer files or files on the network. We all have a part to play in helping to keep our computer networks secure in an ever-evolving security landscape.
October 30, 2013
Possibilities
James Altucher used to email every single one of his web design clients everyday 10 things to improve their site. It’s about over-delivering and making your clients more successful. Imagine if I just did the things that it would take to make my clients more successful. Imagine if I just did those things and they became more successful. Would they pay me more because of it or would they think that they just became more successful without really trying?

In his post about 9 ways to guarantee success James talks about how doubt, laziness, carelessness, vacillating, and not making progress are all things that will stop your business in it’s tracks. When I used to read this stuff I’d think to myself, “MAN! WHAT IS MY PROBLEM? I can easily write about all of this, but I can’t seem to DO any of it! Maybe I should just go work for someone else because I’m too lazy to run my own business, can’t make a decision, and don’t have a product. The world needs employees too. I know I have to provide for my family, it just seems like there has GOT to be another way.” That’s what I wrote my wife back in January of 2013. I did end up getting a job later on that month and I’ve had one ever since (however, I still do client work on the side).

An Abundance Mindset

The world is HUGE and full of possibilities. That is both a good thing and a bad thing. It means there are lots of problems to solve and lots of things to experience and lots of little niches to serve. But it also means it’s really hard for someone like me with their head in the clouds to actually stop, choose, and commit to any one thing. Is it because of risk? (I want to cry.) Is it because of desire and happiness? (I am a grown man.) When backed against a wall, I always come to the same conclusion: I’d like to build something. I’d like it to use the skills I already have. I’d like to have autonomy. And I’d like it to provide for my family. So far, the only thing that fits most of that bill is affiliate marketing, but it just occurred to me that writing books on a subject would also fit that bill.

What if I went forward with my Content Motors idea where what I do is write “market-desired content” for my own site and for-hire for other sites with the intent of turning the material into books? It seems too simple and it doesn’t motivate me. In the book, Drive, Daniel Pink talked about the “Goldilocks tasks” which are neither overly difficult (such as app design or e-commerce) or overly simple (like business analyst or IT work). The question is how I can have both autonomy, mastery, and purpose in a job/career? Checkside has done a great job of summarizing Daniel Pink’s theory of what motivates us.

Autonomy – provide employees with autonomy over some (or all) of the four main aspects of work:
- When they do it (time) – Consider switching to a ROWE (results-only work environment) which focuses more on the output (result) rather than the time/schedule, allowing employees to have flexibility over when they complete tasks.
- How they do it (technique) – Don’t dictate how employees should complete their tasks. Provide initial guidance and then allow them to tackle the project in the way they see fit rather than having to follow a strict procedure.
- Whom they do it with (team) – Although this can be the hardest form of autonomy to embrace, allow employees some choice over who they work with. If it would be inappropriate to involve them in the recruitment/selection process, instead allow employees to work on open-source projects where they have the ability to assemble their own teams.
- What they do (task) – Allow employees to have regular ‘creative’ days where they can work on any project/problem they wish – there is empirical evidence which shows that many new initiatives are often generated during this ‘creative free time’.
Mastery – allow employees to become better at something that matters to them:
- Provide “Goldilocks tasks” – Pink uses the term “Goldilocks tasks” to describe those tasks which are neither overly difficult nor overly simple – these tasks allow employees to extend themselves and develop their skills further. The risk of providing tasks that fall short of an employee’s capabilities is boredom, and the risk of providing tasks that exceed their capabilities is anxiety.
- Create an environment where mastery is possible – to foster an environment of learning and development, four essentials are required – autonomy, clear goals, immediate feedback and Goldilocks tasks.
Purpose – take steps to fulfill employees’ natural desire to contribute to a cause greater and more enduring than themselves:
- Communicate the purpose – make sure employees know and understand the organization purpose goals not just its profit goals. Employees, who understand the purpose and vision of their organization and how their individual roles contribute to this purpose, are more likely to be satisfied in their work.
- Place equal emphasis on purpose maximization as you do on profit maximization – research shows that the attainment of profit goals has no impact on a person’s well-being and actually contributes to their ill-being. Organizational and individual goals should focus on purpose as well as profit. Many successful companies are now using profit as the catalyst to pursuing purpose, rather than the objective.
- Use purpose-oriented words – talk about the organization as a united team by using words such as “us” and “we”, this will inspire employees to talk about the organization in the same way and feel a part of the greater cause.”
Sharing The Vision

I am moving towards a location-independent lifestyle that involves travel and running a business online. Outure and Webories are the primary organizations I’m setting up to help achieve that goal.

Outure

Outure is currently an affiliate marketing store, but is more of a brand, is being treated as a brand, and may one day become an ecommerce store. It has an active Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and Facebook presence. It doesn’t have an active website, but I’ve hired a VA to help me build it out. Outure’s tagline is “Outdoor Adventure. Urban Exploration.” It covers the urban/city things you can do to play outside in an area like Indiana. It has two sections: Gear and Wear. Gear is stuff like foldable bikes, kayaks, camping, and equipment. Wear is stuff like jackets, boots, and clothing.

Webories

Webories is an organization that exists solely to support other organizations. Some of those organizations are what we would traditionally call clients. Other organizations are affiliate marketing sites that do not have their own brand, per se, but are make money off of keyword searches. Again, the VA will be a large part of getting Webories going again by creating shareable content for Webories organizations (including Outure). If it helps you to categorize things in your mind, think of it as one organization (Webories) of which we have our favorite organizations underneath.

What I’m Not Going to Do

Sometimes it helps to also define what I am not doing. I am not renting an office. I am not building a software company. I am not building information products. I am not going to promote Webories as a company.

What I’m Going to Continue to Do

Blog. Tweet. Tumble. Facebook. Use Aggie. Client work. Day job.

What I am Going to Do that I’m Not Doing Now

Here’s what I’m going to start doing that I’m not doing now: podcast. video. email marketing.
October 29, 2013