Please help me decide

As some of my faithful readers (all three of you) know, I like to do some webmastering duties as a fun little side project.  I have jokingly said it is how I keep my sanity.  People have been telling me I need to venture out a little more, and market my services. If I am going to do that, I really need to have a logo or something, as a trademark.

I have put together a few possibles, and would like your input as well.  Please take a few minutes to review the following samples, then vote below. You will be able to provide comments after you have placed your vote - Commenting on the polling site is having problems, please return to this page and use the comment option below this post if you would like to share a comment.  Thanks in advance for your input!

    
    
    

Ron King Webdesign Logo

Which Logo do you prefer?

Globe Shake Groucho Tie Atom Lightbulb

View Result

Free Web Polls

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The King has the right idea

Click on image for a larger version

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Were they african or european swallows?

STILLWATER, OK: As reported in the IT Announcements:

IT System Administrators have reported intermittent network connectivity for OSU-Stillwater due to power disruptions caused by migratory birds on high voltage power lines in the area. The connectivity disruptions have been occurring since approximately 23Oct2005. IT System Administrators have discussed the issue with OSU Physical Plant management, and have found that there is no viable prevention solution at this time. We appreciate the patience of the OSU community, and will gladly offer as much assistance as possible during these unavoidable outages. We apologize for any inconvenience.

complete report

Did I read that right? We are dropping connectivity to the internet because of birds?
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Just got a new rider mower

 I just found a really nice rider mower for sale on eBay and just barely got my bid on it under the wire.  I can’t wait for it to be delivered.

I was going to bid on the the two-seater, so my wife and I could spend some quality time together, but it had already sold … darn!
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If your HaloScan comments are having problems

A lot of the blogs I read use Haloscan for their comments. Many of them are reporting problems with Haloscan in the last 24 hours or so. Fix for HaloScan:

HaloScan is having a problem. If you go into Haloscan settings, click on the Beta Features, and turn off Enable Redirect in Spam Filters it should fix it. Appears to be a glitch in HaloScan but some techie posted a fix-it on the message boards. Seems to be working fine for me now.

I got this from Wil, who got it from Crooks & Liars, who got it from Jane, who found it on the HaloScan message board.
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Read Slowly

It may take a while for the light to shine, but you'll get them eventually!

Arbitrator: A cook that leaves Arby's to work at McDonald's.

Avoidable: What a bullfighter tries to do.

Bernadette: The act of torching a mortgage.

Burglarize: What a crook sees with.

Control: A short, ugly inmate.

Counterfeiters: Workers who put together kitchen cabinets.

Eclipse: What an English barber does for a living.

Eyedropper: A clumsy ophthalmologist.

Heroes: What a guy in a boat does.

Leftbank: What the robber did when his bag was full of money.

Misty: How golfers create divots.

Paradox: Two physicians.

Parasites: What you see from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Pharmacist: A helper on the farm.

Polarize: What penguins see with.

Primate: Removing your spouse from in front of the TV.

Relief: What trees do in the spring.

Rubberneck: What you do to relax your wife.

Selfish: What the owner of a seafood store does.

Sudafed: Brought litigation against a government official
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What would you call them?

At a lecture on psychic phenomena in a Comparative Religions course, the instructor told about a woman who contacted police working on a missing persons case.

"She gave them eerily detailed instructions on where to find the body," the instructor said. "And in fact, the detectives did find the body just as she had described. Now, what would you call this type of person?"

While the rest of the class pondered the question, a sheriff's deputy taking the class raised his hand and replied, "A suspect."
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
I thought the above story was funny, so I did not check with Snopes to see if it was real!
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Murphy at his finest

The following 'laws' have been adopted from the all-inclusive "Murphy's Law"

• Law of the Telephone: When you dial a wrong number, you never get a busy one.
• Law of Mechanical Repair: After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch.
  
• Law of the Workshop: Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.
  
• Law of the Alibi: If you tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat tire, the next morning you will have a flat tire.
  
• Bath Theorem: When the body is immersed in water, the telephone rings.
  
• Law of Close Encounters: The probability of meeting someone you know increases when you are with someone you don't want to be seen with.
  
• Law of the Result:When you try to prove to someone that a machine won't work, it will.
  
• Law of Biomechanics: The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach.
  
• Theater Rule: At any event, the people whose seats are furthest from the aisle arrive last.
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Ain't it the truth? (but sad)

This teacher went into her classroom about fifteen minutes before the class was supposed to begin and caught a bunch of boys in a huddle on their knees in the corner of the room.

She demanded of them what they were doing, and one of them hollered back, "We're shooting craps."

She says, "Oh! Well, that's all right. I was afraid you were praying."
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Why didn't I market this?

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Nice-Pak Products is Rockland County, N.Y., became a global manufacturing powerhouse by convincing people to wipe their hands. Now it's spotted a new market niche: convincing people to wipe their shopping carts.

Nice-Pak is pushing a new product -SaniCart- that is designed to remove salmonella, staphylococcus and other germs from shopping cart handles and kiddie seats.

The SaniCart wipe won "Best New Product" at the Food Marketing Institute trade show in 2004, and since then it's been selling at fever pitch.

"I've never seen any product take off like this," said John Luposello, product manager of Nice-Pak's food service division. The wipes are now in over 6,400 supermarkets, and the company sells about 10,000 cases of wipes each month.

Robert Wilson, general manager of the ShopRite supermarket in Fair Lawn, N.J. said the wipes have become so popular that he usually has to install a fresh 160-wipe canister every other day. Shoppers pull the free wipes out of the plastic tubs placed in metal stands at the store entrances.

"It gives them peace of mind," he said.

Link - SaniCart by Nice-Pak
 
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I bet this has actually happened before

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Fun sound clips from my favorite radio station...

In no particular order:
   Moron Star: mp3 - 60 seconds
   Dokia Cell Phone: mp3 - 62 seconds
   Thousand Foot Krunch: mp3 - 75 seconds
   Way to High (the Gas Price Song): mp3 - 2:25 minutes
   Flip Flops (DJ intros): mp3 - 3:23 minutes (all the DJs)
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Columbus Day 2005

I gave a full report this time last year, but I doubt a Columbus Day will ever pass that I don't think about my family's visit to Muskogee last year to see the Nina, a full size workign replica of one of the ships Christopher Columbus sailed to find the 'new world'.

Here is a link to last year's story: What a Saturday!!!!!
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France elevates it security level

As many are aware, the French government recently announced a raise in its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide". The normal level is "General Arrogance", and the only two higher levels in France are "Surrender" and "Collaborate". The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France's white flag factory, effectively paralysing the country's military capability.

It's not only the French that are on a heightened level of alert:
Italy has increased the alert level from "Shout loudly and excitedly" to "Elaborate military posturing". Two more levels remain, "Ineffective combat operations" and "Change sides". The Germans also increased their alert state from "Disdain" to "Dress in unform and sing marching songs". They have two higher levels: "Invade a neighbour" and "Lose".

The British are also feeling the pinch in relation to recent bombings and have raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved". Soon though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross". Londoners have not been "A Bit Cross" since the Blitz in 1940 when tea supplies all but ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from "Tiresome" to "Bloody Nuisance". The last time the British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was during the Great Fire of 1666.
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Why all the advertising?

I have said in this blog before (see Sept 7 2005 post) that I didn't like attending a funeral for a child, but that didn't stop today's attendance of one. I really don't plan on sharing much about the service here, but I do have this to say:

How shameless does a funeral home have to be to advertise during the slideshow presentation of the deceased? At the end of the rotating presentation, the screen showed "this presentation made for the family of ... by Strode's Funeral Home" (questionable, but ok). The next slide presented the name of the funeral home, complete address and webpage info. I felt like I was at a movie theater before the previews begin, when the advertisement slideshow rolls. Do they really need to have that up there, every 6.5 minutes?

Then the kicker: during the actual service, while the deceased's picture was showing on the screen (for whole service), the funeral home's name was displayed in the lower left corner. What's next? Big magnetic signs on the side of the hearse and family car? How about NASCAR style suits with their name & logo across the chest? I understand a new funeral home has opened on the north side of town, but is that any reason to stoop to such questionable advertising practices?

Note: When the slide with all the info was shown the first time, several new little conversations started all over the place. I doubt the conversations were of a positive nature for the funeral home. IMHO
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Sports Report

The morning of golf was a blast, if you don't consider the gale force winds at a frigid temperature ;-)

We met at Oaktree Country Club in Edmond, a very swanky spot (PGA level club), at 7am for a buffet breakfast. After eating, we all went to the pro shop to gather the rental clubs and the carts. Since we had a hour until tee-time, we split up and went to either the driving range or practice greens. At 9am, the teams were gathered together and we were advised we would have a shotgun start playing a modified best ball method. I was teamed up with the president of the company (I wonder how that happened?).

Our team was comprised of Jay (never played before), Brian (has played some), Dan (president, plays 3-4 times a month) and myself (haven't played since college ... 1989 for those who want to do the math). Turns out Dan wasn't having a good day, I think the cold was getting to him. Jay, the newbie, was getting a lot of good hits and I think my shot turned out to be 'best ball' about 35-40% of the time. Buffet lunch was served afterward, but I had to leave before all teams had returned to the club house. From what we were hearing from the other teams, our +8 game for the day may have made us the winning team. (I'll find out later)

I found out the entire story about the golf game today: David (the CTO) had already scheduled a Tech-Team 'retreat' for all tech employees from their three offices (OKC, Tulsa & Dallas). On Tuesday, David decided to invite me (no idea how I came into the picture) and cleared it with Dan. This morning while talking with Dan about how David invited me at the last minute, he said, "look around ... you are the only non-employee here, I'm glad you could make it". I told him how much I appreciated the offer and that I looked forward to the project with his company.

My primary objective for the day was not to embarrass myself, and I think I accomplished my goal.
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It's not a Kawasaki, it's a....

...Cowasaki!

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Update on golf invitation

On the way home from work, I spoke with my primary contact with my vendor, the Vice President of the company. It turns out the CTO is, in essence, closing the entire technical branch Thursday morning to play golf with me. All the techs are going to be there, and I am the only customer invited. The CTO had mentioned he wanted me to meet the team I was going to working with on the project and he wasn't kidding.

Should this put more pressure on me???
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Me? A duffer?

You know the Document Imaging project I have been mentioning over the past few months? Well, the PO has been cut and we are going forward.

I just got a call from the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) for the vendor we are using and was invited to a little "get to know everyone" golf outing. I explained I didn't really play any, but he said none of the others did either, and that several would be chasing their wild shots all over the place. Since it is scheduled for the day after tomorrow, I had to check with my boss for such sort notice. I was advised that I could go, just burn a day of annual leave for it. While I've got enough leave to cover a month of Sundays (almost), I thought it cheap to have to burn a day of AL to go to a vendor sponsored event, that is designed for me to get to know everyone. But, if it will get me out of the office for a day ... it's worth it.

I am also out of the office tomorrow for training. Wow, two days in a row away from my desk. With my luck, all will be quiet (no big IT issues) and my absence won't be very noticeable. I kinda hope for a few fires to flare up ... ones that they would normally call me for, even though they don't fall within my job description (Ron's been around forever, he knows how to fix this). I have explained that there are issues that have been dumped back onto me that no one else knows how to resolve, and that we need some redundancy. Those statements have fallen on deaf ears.
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Last week it was a kitty, this week...

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Just being silly

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test post

Brent, do you see this one?
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