Mystery light switches…we have no less than three switches that we have no idea what they control.  For all we know, the constant flipping of these switches could have cause the TVA spill.  I have investigated these switches and I know they operate something….I found this out the hard way…in a cloud of black smoke and a bright blue spark….but that’s another story.

I would like to report that we now have found peace and comfort in  solving the smallest of problems.  We now have a garage door opener.  I know what you are asking…”So what?”

Well, you see when we moved in we couldn’t find the garage door opener for our garage door.  No big deal.  We’ll just use the button on the wall mounted door opener in the garage.  And this is what we’ve been doing for months.  But what you may not realize is the acrobatics that are involved.

Let me explain.

We would load the kids (and usually the dogs) into the minivan and then open the door with the wall button.  I would usually then back the minivan out of the garage while THE WIFE patiently waited at the top of the stairs.  When I had successfully backed the minivan out of the garage, THE WIFE would then dart down the stairs, while the garage door was closing, and then, because of the laser senor at the bottom that stops the door from closing if something or someone is in the way, THE WIFE would “hop” over the laser…while trying not to hit her head on the descending garage door.  It was a sight to see.  And the more she performed this move she added high kicks, mid-air turns, and other moves she developed during her years as a high-school cheerleader.  It became quite entertaining.

The big problem was when I wasn’t with her to assist in the ‘garage door closing procedure.’  When she was making a trip to the store; she would have to load the kids (and sometimes dogs) into the van, open the door, back out the minivan, put it in park, run back into the garage, hit the button, dart down the stairs, run through the garage, perform her acrobatics, and then she could drive off.  And then when she returned home…put the minivan in park, go through the front door and into the garage, open the garage door from inside, get back into the minivan, pull it inside, unload the kids and the close the door from the wall mounted button.

Annoying to say the least!

But last night she finally solved this problem.  A simple search for our type of garage door opener on the internet, a call to the store and a quick trip…which meant she would have to perform her acrobatics one more time.

The tiny little remote, which was about $35 was now in hand.  A few minutes of reading the manual and…tadaaa….we now have a garage door opener…like any normal sensible American family.

I think I will miss the acrobatics, but we are glad to be basking in the pleasure of a garage door opener.

And you may be asking, “Why didn’t you take care of this sooner?”

The simple answer is that I suck as a husband and I somewhat enjoyed watching my beautiful wife display her coordination every time we went somewhere.  You can only imagine how stupid I looked trying to perform the ‘garage door closing routine.’  I am not nearly as graceful.

Oh and by the way, I learned this morning that you should not leave the new garage door opener where a 3 year old can find it.  When I left for work this morning, the garage door was half way open…or closed…depending on if you are a half glass empty kind of person.  So we have now added the the “NO TOUCH” list.  THE MEESTER (our 3 year old) is quite disappointed, but mommy is happy. (There were actual HIGH-FIVES all around when I got the opener programmed and working…sad really when you think about it).

[photo credits]

The consumption of bathwater by our firstborn was cute at first.  Since his only experience in quenching his thirst was either directly from  the teet or from a bottle, the first dozen attempts at using a cup was followed by wide-eyed amazement and coughs and spitting.  Great fun for all.  But as he grew…both in size and stench…this drinking became less playful fun and more of a concern for us.  We eventually purchased proper bath toys, but like a kid at Christmas playing more with the box than the toy that came in it, THE MEESTER totally ignored these proper toys and concentrated his efforts on lowering the water level in the bath…one gulp at a time.  And just when we thought we had broken him of this odd and disgusting behavior, we mistakenly introduced the ‘X-factor’…a little brother.

THE MEESTER now had an audience…no check that…a trainee.  With this added accomplice, the bathwater drinking reached new proportions.  We knew we had to stop it, but how?  Nothing seemed to work.  They love it.  So we finally gave up and are choosing to pick our battles more wisely.

And by the replies THE WIFE received on the Facebook post, our kids are completely normal…or all of our friends’ children are equally as disgusting.  Whew…what a relief!

Here are some of the replies from the Facebook post:

• Every time! If I take the cups away, she tries to stick her face in and lap it up! Your kids are normal….I hope!
• Oh yeah! It sort of makes Adam gag when they do it!
• Yes, I said the same thing last night…. “Do not drink anymore of this bath water. Your dirty butts are in it!”
• [Our daughter] drank toilet water yesterday

AND THE BEST REPLY TO DATE (from THE WIFE’s sister…who has four girls)

• I actually said these words to my children last night while they were in the bathtub: “Do NOT drink any more of that booty water and PLEASE stop licking each other.” I wish I were joking.

[photo credits]

What?  You haven’t heard of EOK either?  Well go and check out the EOK site, then join EOK, and then RSVP for the event.

Thanks in advance to the EOK Board for setting this up and to Jack for agreeing to let us pick his brain for a little while.

Space is limited, so make sure to RSVP.

*UPDATE* Wow what a great interview.  Thanks Jack.  Here’s the podcast. Episode 16

Why? You may ask.  I think NewsTechZilla will become a household name… and I want you to remember that you heard it here first. (actually you may have heard it here or here or here or here or here or here…first…but then you heard it on KTOWN.

NewsTechZilla (NTZ for short…that’s my nickname for it, you did hear that here first) is (in my opinion) a monster site for two reasons:

1. The content.  It is excellent, informative, extremely useful and practical for the audience it serves.
2. The niche.  It is specific, well defined, and well serviced by two authorities.

From the WHAT section of NTZ…

“Our plans are to write about what we know, what we want to learn and hopefully be a guide for other journalists trying to be viable in new markets. There is some fantastic information out in the blogosphere that we will spotlight all in one convenient location. We wanted to also be more than an aggregator of the beast combining news and technology, thus the name NewsTechZilla.”

Being familiar with the bloggers that founded NTZ, one is personal friend and helped me start KTOWNLOWDOWN (sadcox/Scott) and the other was someone I had been reading for some time (Newscoma/Trace), I thought I’d bring you a bit of the ‘behind-the-scenes’ of how this monster idea was ‘birthed’.  And don’t make the mistake of thinking that the way this site came about is strictly about a couple of on-line folks creating a website.  This is a model of how many businesses and joint ventures will be started and the efficiency at which they can operate for at least a decade.  NTZ even wrote about an example of this immediacy and effiency.  With all that said here’s the interview:

KTOWN: Can you describe the situation(s) around which you “met”?

TRACE: Scott and I “met” on Twitter. I found I enjoyed talking to him on that social networking service. We spoke of politics… I wrote with tongue-in-cheek one day that I needed to start my own “brand.” It opened another door where we began to talk about the media, putting my blog, Newscoma, on a hosted domain and basically my overwhelming fear that I would “screw something up” with my blog.

SCOTT: Trace’s story is that we met on Twitter, and while that explains how we “met”, the truth is that I knew about her long before that.  After a few months of blogging and trying to get people to link and pay attention to you, it becomes pretty obvious who has people’s attention, and Newscoma stood out for sure.  We started off talking about politics (of course), and I wondered why she didn’t run her site on her own domain (www.newscoma.com) which she owned.

KTOWN: And what was the point at which you saw the other as an authority in his/her “niche”?

SCOTT: It was evident to me pretty quickly that ‘Coma is an authority in the Tennessee Blogosphere in news and politics–actually a bigger authority than I think she realizes.   I was shocked some other tech person hadn’t jumped at the chance to help her out with it.  What little authority I’d built at that point mostly came from helping out friends with their blogs…

KTOWN: like KTOWNLOWDOWN

SCOTT: …and sites, but none of them were as prominent as Newscoma.  What an opportunity!

TRACE: [When]…I finally did host it [Newscoma.com], I ran into a lot of issues I just didn’t understand. He pretty much walked me though things such as transferring the blog due to the volume of my comments, coming up with saucier designs that matched Newscoma. Things like that.

KTOWN: One day NewsTechZilla did not exist and the next day the idea was born.  Can you describe how the idea came about?

TRACE: We were Iming (is that a word) one day and began to talk about there were a lot of people like me out there. With new media coming into the mainstream like a Tsunami, we both sort of agreed that “old-shool” journalists like myself might need some help learning the tech side of things. He had that knowledge. We also wanted to focus on what was being said about journalism and technology around the web. There is also an inherent fear that some of us in journalism have of messing things up. I’ve talked to a lot of folks about that, so in some ways we are taking my hesitation, his knowledge and what we thought might be a need to be filled by creating a community where people could talk about these things. This is, of course, from a news perspective. A lot to learn to remain relevant is one thing I’m basing my role at NewsTechZilla on and hopefully it will help other people as well.

SCOTT: It literally came about during an IM session dealing with an issue Trace was having. She mentioned other media/journalist types were probably dealing with the same issues or were thinking about starting up a blog or news site but didn’t really know where to start. Wouldn’t it be great if there were a resource that dealt with tech issues and also discussed the changes that are taking place with journalism and newspapers?  It’s a hot topic right now, but most people are talking about problems. We wanted to talk about solutions.  It literally was conceived in about 10 minutes on December 11, 2008: (below is the chat thread)

Trace: Do you realize what is happening here?
I’m an old school radio/news person
Scott: parallel universes?
Trace: And you have the ideas about things that are quite amazing and new to me.
Old School/New world.
Scott: I think so…but I’m only a technical guy
Trace: That may be what works. I ask a question and you answer it for those journalists out there that are getting canned and don’t understand new media technology.
I’m the rube. You are the expert.
Hold on. Phone ringing.
Scott: Hopefully that’s a canned journalist with a pocket full of money on the phone.
(pause for phone call)
Trace: Back to what I was thinking. You have an old school journalist asking questions about the new age of media technology.
Then you respond.
Scott: hmm….I like the idea
Trace: The cool thing is that politically you have an old time hippie and a libertarian as well but we can avoid that except to make it work for us, not define us.
Kinda like what Heather Solos and Ivy do at Home Ec 101 but for journalists/techies.
Vicodan in one’s cough syrup can bring out the brilliant, can’t it.
Scott: I really like it! Let’s build a site!
Trace: I like it too. I can send it to all the journalism hacks. We probably could post once a day with specific questions.
Kinda like what you’ve done with me.
On learning how to evolve in journalism through technology.
Scott: I really really really like this idea! We need a cool domain name!

KTOWN: Can you each describe the lessons learned about the other’s area of expertise?

TRACE: I return to a few factors I referenced before. Here are two people who don’t know each other from Adam, meet on Twitter, find out we are more alike than we initially knew and realized our differences could flatter and enhance an online experience. The idea just sort of came up and we realized we might be onto something. I kept telling him to use me as a guinea pig before the idea was being formed. Then it was just there and we knew it was a good one. I’m basically a communicator first, a writer second and a research hound third. I realized these were just part of me but when it came to the technical side of things, I was sorely lacking.

SCOTT: One thing I’ve learned from this process is actually a confirmation of what I already believed–there is a lot you can gain personally by being open to helping other people.

TRACE: I have found that on, and off, NewsTechZilla, I’m learning a great deal not only about my chosen profession, but I’m also finding that it’s helping other people out too.
A jewelry designer from Paducah, Ky wrote a post about how the information was assisting her in her online business and I found that to be thrilling. It’s more than just journalism and technology, it’s about helping everyone with a thirst for knowledge about new media, those intrigued with citizen journalism and for people who have a niche and want to build on it. You have to remember, I started out with wax paste-up which shows there have been a lot of changes in media since I first started out. I also use to have the only Associated Press wire in Martin, TN. Now everyone has one so why not work within those confines which is part of what we are saying. So I’m enthusiastic about Scott’s posts about how technology can help us all out, even old-schoolers like myself.

SCOTT: I am AMAZED at the response we’ve had so far with the site, and that is totally due to Trace.  I could build a beautiful site with all sorts of bells and whistles and write the exact same articles, but very few people would read it. Riding on her coattails has given me a great opportunity to help a group of people who are actually interested and gaining something. I would have never been introduced to all of these folks without her stamp of approval. She’s spent a lot of time building relationships, creating great content consistently, and building a brand and reputation.

END OF INTERVIEW…

I am excited to watch and read how these ‘local’ folks use the power of their ‘authority’ to help others in and outside this niche.  There’s more to learn from this joint venture than just how to start a website, but I’ll leave that to you to figure out for your own applications in your own niche.  Don’t be afraid of creating a monster.

Thanks to Trace and Scott for taking the time to “speak” with KTOWN.

Entrepreneurs of Knoxville (E.O.K.)

…provides a collaborative environment for members to share ideas, partner on projects, learn common business practices, mentor other members, locate resources, and help its members succeed in achieving their goals for their business.

What does all that really mean?  It’s a “Rubber Meets the Road” organization.  You may have a great idea for a business, but have no idea how to get started.  They can hook you up with marketers, business executives, accountants, web designers, or just plain smart people that know how to get things done.  The membership currently stands at just under 200 individuals, and EOK holds events throughout the year (weekly, monthly, quarterly, and randomly) to educate its members, collaborate on projects, and…sometimes…just hang out and have a few pints.  And if that’s not enough to get you interested…membership is FREE.

Knoxville Overground (KO)

…is a grassroots not-for-profit organization dedicated to empowering independents with the community infrastructure, practical education, and professional credibility that they need to be successful entrepreneurs and stewards of the public interest.

KO’s  five values, also known as its “five pillars,” are entrepreneurship, public service, education, community, and coworking.  KO has already established a Co-Working space in Knoxville – 1204 Kenesaw Ave (in Sequoyah Hills).  KO is also working with other business resources in the area to establish  partnerships and realtionships in order help their members find funding through KO’s relationships/partnerships.  KO also provides guidance to its members through the various levels of entrepreneurship in order to make its members as successful in their projects and businesses as possible.  Check out Knoxville Overground for details on membership.

In these tough enconomic times, it may be just the right time to declare yourself an entrepreneur and start working on the next great thing.  These organizations can help you get there.

[Note: the author is a member of both organizations and a Board Member of each]

As a self-employed consultant, my office is where ever I can “get a signal.”  This used to mean just Panera, but now that ‘everybody’s’ got free wi-fi or my wireless card, my office could easily be Waffle-house or the front seat of my car.  No matter where I am conducting business, I can’t get along without the following 10 Essentials for my Mobile Office:

*(I am assuming you already have a lap top and all the associated wires, plugs and USB ports , so that doesn’t even need to be listed…)*

1.    Smart phone.

I use the Blackberry Pearl.  Might migrate to the Curve, but I’m not a big fan of the Storm.  Of course I am sure that the iPhone-ers will let me know how I’m missing out.

2.    An Extension Chord.

This is very handy when “those people” must not be aware that they are in “my booth.”  Once I was asked, “Do you mind granting me an electrical easement?”  when a person want to plug in close to where I was sitting.  I liked that way of saying it…creative, funny, and a bit nerdy (I can appreciate that).  I use the cheap ones that my wife always steals when it’s time to string up the Christmas lights.

3.    Wireless Mouse.

If you’re going to look “mobile” then you don’t want to be tethered by an antiquated mouse.  I use the Logitech Mice…or mouses.

4.    Digital Fax.

When you’re on the go, you don’t need to be tied down by the location of your fax machine.  I use Fax Thru E-mail.

5.    USB Memory Stick.

No explanation needed here. A nice added touch is to have some made up with your logo or business contact info.

6.    A Print to PDF software

Most word processing software has this capability these days, but just in case you were wondering.  This is essential for creating documents and faxing from any location (see #4).  I use Adobe products.

7.   A nice looking, high quality laptop case

You really can’t be taken serious as a mobile office worker when you are using your backcountry backpack to tote your essentials around…unless you are in the backpack business…then it’s a pretty good idea. I use the Targus Blacktop 17” Deluxe Laptop Case with Dome Protection.

8.   MP3 Player with stylish headphones

Sometimes you just have to disengage from your surroundings and drown out the expresso machines and the annoyingly loud folks.  I use the Creative Zen V.

9.   Cold Hard Cash

You really should tip those folks who are asking you if you want a refill every 10 minutes since you are taking up the their table all morning or afternoon.  And loose change comes in handy when you have to feed the meter all day.

10.   A Good Book

When you are between client calls, checking e-mails, and after the 10th cup of java…sometimes it just good to unplug and read something in an actual book…you know those things with paper pages.  They’ll make you smarter.

So there you go.  Those are my 10 Essentials for a mobile Office.   They can be found on, in, or around me on any given day at any given time.  What are yours?

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Front Page Photo

Q: How do you establish yourself as an authority on-line?

A: You have an established following/audience.

Well….

Q: How do you get a following/audience?

A: You are seen as an authority.

So there’s the rub.  And where do you start?

Here are 5 ways to gain an audience/following and therefore establishing yourself as an authority on-line:

1.  Figure out your niche.

First of all, everyone has a lot to say, and very few do it well.  When I started this blog, I thought everyone would love to read my opinions on everything under the sun.  Sure it was fun for a while, but then I started wondered why some posts produced traffic and others didn’t.  It boiled down to most people don’t care about my opinions on…let’s say…national politics.  The reason…there are way too many blogs out there that “do” national politics way better than I do.  I needed to figure out my niche.  What can I offer thet other blogs don’t….well…me.  No one does me better than me.  What I am doing and what do I find interesting that other people may find interesting or useful that may be like me…starting a business, raising a family, saving money, latest technologies, and uniquely funny stuff from KTOWN…mixed in with a little local news and national events that affect me personally.  So KTOWN offers a window into me.

2.  Write/publish good content.

Resist writing about subjects you cannot offer a unique perspective…and by the way…your opinions are usually not unique perspectives…just regurgitated opinions from someone else.  Hello pot; I’m kettle.  Your black.  Good content drives good traffic.  Good traffic increases the visits to your site, turns your unique visitors into return visitors and begins to establish you as an authority for your defined niche (see #1).  And becoming an authority will drive traffic.  When you do write content…get to the point, make it simple, and leave the reader looking forward to your next post.  Avoid tricks (ex. writing regular posts about the top items in Google Trends…unless they are your niche) but read and implement tips to make the best use of your readers time.

3.  Make friends.

Read, visit, and leave thoughtful comments on other blogs and websites.  Don’t just comment to get your link out there, but give (honestly) and you shall receive.  People can usually see right through your attempts at drive-by commenting and linking.  Ask questions and give responses…in a timely manner.  Now don’t get me wrong…if you disagree, then state it respectively and get to the point.  If you feel the need to correct something, than do it…but get to the point and don’t over do it.  Commenting on a blog is designed to be an on-going conversation.  View it at such.  You wouldn’t walk up to a couple of people talking at a party, yell at them, and then walk away and expect to get an invite to the next party…would you?  By now (doing #1 and #2 and #3) you are starting to build your following.

4.  Get your message out through a network.

You may have the best advice on taking pre-owned widgets and making them into fine china, but if your message is not getting to your audience, then it doesn’t matter.  How do you solve this problem?…I have no idea.  Marketing yourself is not my niche, but through the social networks available out there, it is easier than ever to get your message out to as many people as possible.  Educate yourself on Twitter, Delicious, Technorati, StumbleUpon, and others…and use them, but don’t spam them.  Explore, educate, and implement these great tools.  Now we are getting soemwhere.

5.  Have an authority vouch for you.

Once you have established your niche with good content and your “friends” are visiting your blog regularly and you have made it easy for them to get your content…you’re most likely to get one of those authorities to vouch for you.  It has happened to KTOWN a few times.  And hopefully it will happen again and again.

Implementing these steps takes time, so don’t try to rush it.  The good news is, you should have fun doing it.  By the way, if you made it this far, then mabe you should Twit This (see the button at the top of the page) or mark it on one of the bookmarking sites you just signed up for.