RIP There.com (2003-2010)

I was very saddened to learn recently that MT has shut down online virtual world There.com It was my first experience in the world of massively-multiplayer environments. There.com was also my favorite. The careful attention to detail and pretty strict zoning made There.com visually both beautiful and elegant, making Second Life, with its endless islands laid out in a grid pattern and overemphasis on commercialism over game-play and community, the Aurora Avenue North of virtual worlds.

You will be missed, There.com!

Here's to the TE's

I finally did it.

Last week I got an article published in HEN Issue 274 and today I finished my website's Web Traffic Page. I started in mid-May of this year and originally expected to be celebrating completion by summer solstice but it ended up taking until early October. I completed a page on each of the traffic exchanges I think are worthy of being on my site. After I finished the page on FastLaneTraffic I made some final touch ups, uploaded the site to my web host, and promptly went over to Kate's Pub and got drunk.

I understand the law of the Universe that if I want something, I must make a valuable contribution. My goal was to make an information resource where people could find all the stats to all the traffic exchange programs that matter in one place, presented in a user-friendly standardized way such that once the user knew how to find a specific stat for one TE, they could easily find that stat for any other featured TE.

So here's what I had to do: Get a new copy of the template for the TE. Do four document-wide search and replace functions. Figure out which social networks the TE owner has profiles on. Research the levels of memberships and their costs. Find out what activity requirements the member has to meet to keep their account. Fill out data on hit ratios, referral info, commissions, and other details. And finally, when I'm completely done affix the current date to the end. I had to do this 65 times.

This has to be one of the most difficult project tasks of my life. If I had known in mid-May that it was going to take this long I'm not sure I would've had the strength to get it done. If at any time I sat and thought about all the work that needed to be done I became overwhelmed and was unable to do anything. The only way I could work was by single-mindedly focusing on the very next task to be completed, and only that task.

I'm the type of person that likes many diverse activities throughout my work day. I study German and Mandarin as well as other languages. I am trying to build a twitter following. Not only do I have have this blog I have been neglecting but other websites of mine that I'm really excited about developing further like Unofficial FAQs and Cool Webpage of the Week. I like flying around on the flight simulator. I miss expediting for ChaCha as well as playing Eve Online. It all had to go on the back burner, I was afraid to do anything else while the TE pages were unfinished.

I'm glad to be done with this project and hope this work will provide some returns for the rest of my life.

I'm Published!

Today is a great day! I recently wrote an article for submission to Jon Olson's HitExchangeNews and today it was published in Issue 274!

This is so exciting because this is my first time being published by someone other than myself. Not only might this be my big break, but it gets my name and writing ability exposed to thousands of people. Jon Olson is one of the biggest players in traffic exchanges, and the fact that he would publish something by little old me could be quite a boon to my credibility within the industry.

Doin' the ChaCha

You can use your mobile phone or other SMS device to ask ChaCha any question you can imagine (and even some you can't). I have been working for ChaCha as an independent contractor since November, from my house, on my computer. Go ahead and try it by texting a question to 242242 right now.

ChaCha has over 55,000 human 'Guides' just like me all across America taking queries and answering questions all hours of the day on every topic conceivable. ChaCha Guides are divided into three groups. While Generalists and Specialists do the actual answering of the questions, I am an Expeditor, which means I receive the question, rephrase it into a standardized form, categorize it, and send it off to a Specialist or Generalist to be answered.

Working for ChaCha is not for those who easily blush. While people can ask about sports or biology, music lyrics or the numbers to local businesses, a large percentage of them are related to sex. Within the space of even an hour, I will get lots of bizarre, disgusting, and sometimes downright disturbing questions. If you are at all uncomfortable with sexual subject matter, even if it is only in text form, working for ChaCha is not for you. I thought I had heard of it all before I started working for ChaCha, but I was wrong.

I have nothing good to say about ChaCha's competitor KGB but do realize I am biased. The only thing I can say objectively is that KGB charges one dollar per question while ChaCha is ad-supported.

My First YouTube Video

It's an historic event worth blogging about. After using YouTube for over a year now, making playlists, adding favorites, subscribing to other members' channels, a spectator anxious to be a part of the game, I finally downloaded adequate screencasting software and set out to show the world the eons that it takes to load up Microsoft Flight Simulator from double-click to pushback.

Please remember this video is by no means intended to be great or a masterpiece. There is something wrong with the resolution, the end title is displayed for too short of a period, and I cannot yet get any audio.

I recorded this video with CamStudio and did post-production with Windows Movie Maker.

You can look forward to bigger and better videos from me down the road!

You Can Squidoo It!

The trouble with sharing your expertise with the world on the Internet tends to be that, even if you are an authority on your subject matter, to make a web page you usually need a lot of ancillary knowledge related to web design.

With Squidoo any registered member can create a web page by populating the page (or 'Lens' as they call it) with prefab modules and filling those modules with text, pictures, video, and a lot of other types of media. All of this with absolutely zero of knowledge any HTML or HTML editors. Squidoo levels the playing field, taking the ability to get content online out of the sole domain of web geeks.

That said, there are goodies here even for the web developer pro. With Squidoo already being well-known by Google, your pages are almost instantly indexed after publication. Even if you know HTML, creating pages with Squidoo is a cinch, and if you know little about computers a large community of Squidoo members are more than happy to help. And don't forget if your page is above average you get paid!

I've made a number of pages on many different topics:

My Internet HQ:

• Rodney Lewis' Homepage

A guide to flight simulators:

• Civilian Flight Simulators for PCs

My favorite movie:

• The Corporation

Another movie I like:

• Let The Right One In

A guide on researching movies:

• Online Movie Research

My favorite TV show:

• Strangers With Candy

A guide on Windows Vista:

• Surviving Windows Vista

Squidoo is the brainchild of Seth Godin, entrepreneur and author of numerous business books. Godin has been running businesses since he was a child and has worked for such firms as Yahoo! As well as being its owner, he is an active participant

Have Your Copybook Ready!

These guys are going to be big someday! The lyrics aren't that impressive but the singing and the instrumentals totally rock! You can visit Jack Morgan at MySpace.

Write that down in your copybook and turn it in to your instructor now!