Greg Hartnett

As I mentioned earlier, I had a great holiday. Now that I am getting older, the presents are no longer about me, but I do manage to get a handful of gifts each year - some of which I even enjoy. One of my favorite (it’s why I always ask for them) were the Apple iTunes gift cards I got. What an awesome way for me to get something that I truly want, and a pretty easy route for the gift-giver.

I know that I am not the only one that enjoyed some gifts from Apple, as I read that Apple sales were strong over the holiday. I also know that industry peer and friend Jim Boykin got a cool new iPod with video - sweet. So did you get anything cool from Apple over the holidays??

While I am not the type to focus on the negative, and I probably don’t ponder my own mortality as much as I should, as a husband, father, and business owner, I would be foolish not to have a plan should I meet an early demise.

I have set up some of the things that I need to, and I sleep a little better at night knowing that my family would be financially taken care of. However, there are many things that I still need to take care of in order to help my survivors deal with my passing.

I stumbled upon a good thread at WMW dealing with some ideas in helping plan for the worst for your business. Read more at Hit by a Bus.

Though not one for making predictions (I like to set goals, but that is for another post on another blog), I do enjoy reading what some of the industry people have to say about the year ahead. Some of my favorites:

John Batelle Predictions 2006
Robin Good New Media Predictions 2006: What Will The Web Future Bring? (ad-heavy)
Blake Ross Ten predictions for the new year
Blog SEO PageRank in 2006 Predictions (not to be taken seriously)
It Is What It Is 2006 Predictions
Todd Malicoat 40 SEM 2006 Predictions
SEW 2006 Search Predictions
CapitalistImperialistPig - Predictions for 2006

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon gave the following order to Palestinian refugees:

For your own safety you are warned to stay away from the areas designated from 1800 and until further notice. Whoever does not follow these warnings puts his life in real danger

The pamphlets, which were signed by the Israeli army command and dropped from the air over northern Gaza, included a map of the security zone and say it will be enforced “until further notice”.

Within minutes of the deadline, at least three explosions were reported. Read more at the BBC.

There was a time, not too long ago, where products made in the USA carried a level of quality. People actually bought things “Made in the USA” because it meant that those products were higher quality, and buying them helped support the local economy. With the dawn of the technological era, those days are gone. However, there is an industry in which America still reigns supreme: the manufacture and distribution of weapons. Once again, the US will finish the year in the role as the world’s leading arms exporting nation.

There is no way that we can “end tyranny in our world” while we continue to provide the weapons, the training, the money, and the media propoganda that facilitates such tryanny.

If you believe that it is time to force our representatives to take action against arms brokers, and stop perpetuating the cycle of violence in the quest for profits, take a moment to visit Control Arms. If you are so inclined, fill out the info, add a picture, and become part of the million faces petition.

For somebody that boo-hoos about the evils of Christmas, I must admit that I truly enjoyed the Christmas weekend. While I am no fan of the commercialism that absorbs American culture, it sure was fun to see my kids on Christmas morning.

We went ice skating in Syosset on Saturday morning (instead of a much-dreaded trip to Manhattan) and I spent the rest of the day at home with the kids while Lily did some last minute shopping. Before bed, we did the milk and cookies thing for Santa, and Téa read all of us The Night Before Christmas.

Luckily, the kids slept until about 7:30 Sunday morning, and we started with the gifts at about eight. After finishing up at about 9:30, I spent the remainder of the morning assembling various toys, and installing the required batteries. We headed over to Jenn’s at 1:00 and hung out with the family and friends all day. It was a great day, one of the best Christmas-es I have had in a long time.

Hope you had a great holiday too

See my Christmas pics

A few of us from work decided to take advantage of the slow week and head up to Vermont for some snowboarding. Though we had to readjust some scheduling, we were able to leave Long Island at 4 AM Wednesday, cruise up to Killington, ride Wednesday and Thursday, and home Thursday night. A lot of driving to be sure, but well worth it.

With over 7 feet of snow already this season, it was not surprising to find lots of powder and great runs. Only a handful of trails were still closed, and almost all lifts were operational. We were able to hit some jumps in the park, and enjoy some solitude amongst the trees. I broke in my new boots (an early Christmas present from the Mrs), and my short board was tuned nicely. I was able to stick a few 180s but unfortunately didn’t find the gonads to pull off the 360 (next time!).

Now that the first trip of the season is under the belt, I look forward to an excellent season. I need to get the kids on the mountain - Téa is definitely ready, and JR should be able to hold his own. A few lessons, and they will be leaving daddy in the dust.

I read a post at WMW by Brett - 101 Signals of Quality. Unfortunately for those of my readers who are not supporters of WMW, it is a supporters-only forum. If you are trying to do business online, and if you are serious about your craft there is nothing I would recommend more than bookmarking WMW, and becoming a supporter. The knowledge garnered from picking the minds of the most intelligent people in the business cannot be measured.

Some of the highlights (I hope this doesn’t piss on any toes):

A blog is one of the best means of forcing ones self to generate timely content that also acquires quality links. As we all know, links are still the #1 currency on todays web. Thus, a good blog, is like a license to print money. On the other hand, if everyone is so busy blogging, it has left little time for people to actually work on seo’ing sites and creating quality content for those sites. I think this is part of the reason we also saw a few major bloggers lose their jobs and blogs this last year.

By focusing on quality, you are bound to attract eyeballs, and with those eyeballs come links, and more eyeballs, and more links. Kind of a selp-perpetuating cycle. Like being #1 for a top key-phrase. By focusing on relevant, captivating content you are likely to get some of the best links you could. For instance, by making a dissenting decision, and informing your peers about it, you are bound to get noticed. When the Zawodny v. Cutts debate broke, we decided to go with the link condom, and then I posted about our decision on the company blog. The whole thing proved to be a learning experience, and we got additional play out of the whole commotion. Additionally, Jeremy even posted a follow up, devoting a few paragraphs to us, and a couple of links.

Another major trend has happened in the SEO employment space. I count 15 independent blackhat SEO’s that have went to work for other corporations. The actual number must be closer to 50 or 60 that have thrown in the towel and went to work for the man. There are very few old time techless SEO’s left.

Ha - I guess I would be considered one of the “few old time techless SEO’s” that are still around, though I would not consider the color of my hat to be quite so dark. Seriously though, it will make for an interesting landscape in the years to follow now that the big companies have some of “us” in their pockets.

Further reading:

WMW - Signals of Quality - What are They?
SEW - Why Quality Content is Key For Search Engines
Sitening Blog - What Will SEO Look Like In 2006?
Warpspire - Writing quality content
Idiot’s Guide to Web 2.0 - How to Blog Good

As with so many things in life, maintaining a relationship has so much to do with timing. Being able to discuss things with your spouse is so important, but discussing those things at the wrong time can prove to be a recipe for disaster. I had one of those moments this afternoon.

With fresh snow in Vermont this weekend, and limited time slots available within the next few months, I tried to persuade my wife of the merits of a quick boys trip. As the Christmas holiday rapidly approaches, I knew that my proposition was tricky at best, with a potential for me eating shit. Lily gets pretty stressed around birthdays and holidays. A two-fold problem, really. God bless my wife, she does her best to make each event the greatest it can be. Shooting for the stars on each birthday, Christmas, and every other milestone is a pretty big feat. Enter my nonchalant demeanor, and her burden intensifies.

So when I called to feel her out, and immediately heard the stress in her voice, I knew I may be in for a rocky road. With the clock ticking, I didn’t have the leisure of waiting for a more opportune time. I decided to strike - and as expected, it didn’t go over well. With Killington 300 miles away, and a good deal of Christmas shopping to be done, the timing couldn’t be worse. Add the stress associated with siblings in a non-sharing mood, and the snaps coming from the Mrs. were well anticipated.

In the end, we came to an agreement, and I convinced my fellow boarders to adjust their schedules a bit. Makes for a late night drive, but another part of relationships is compromise, right? Hopefully the conditions are ripe, and the snow is soft. Hopefully my legs hold for more than a few runs

<rant>Seems the propaganda machine has successfully diverted Americans from talking about real issues by sensationalizing the controversy over the Christmas season. Not only is the entire topic completely mundane, and decisive by nature, but both sides are caught up defending a point of view that is based on a set of preconceptions, with no basis in reality. Tell the religious right to shut their collective pie holes, and concede the point that Christmas is no longer about the celebration of the birth of Jesus (who was not born in December), but about celebrating what really makes us American - extreme consumerism.

The Jesus freaks are up in arms about pissing on their holy day, and other religious denominations and nonbelievers alike, are sick of hearing about Christmas all the time. Ironically, Christmas truly is the one holiday where all Americans can join together. Tens of millions of Americans will perform their civic duty and spend far more than they can afford on things that they don’t need. Let’s take this opportunity to collectively join together in something that we can all truly agree upon - we all need more crap. Some new clothes, a coffee machine, toys for the kids, whatever the hell it is you think you need.

So come on - bury the hatchet. Forget the ridiculous controversy, get your wallet, and get to the fuckin mall!</rant>

Related reading:

Newsday - Christmas clashes
PC Stupidity - What is the Reason?
Thomas Paine’s Corner - The Real Christmas Scandal
Media Matters - O’Reilly the Idiot (my shortened interpretation of their title)
Oliver Willis - Bill O’Reilly Is The Stupidest Man Alive
The Politics Blog - The Right’s War on the Bogus War on Christmas

I uploaded a handful of pics from the previous weekend. Big birthday weekend - Téa turned 7 on Sat, and Brian had a party for Noah(5) and Ari(2) on Sunday.

Unfortunately, I only have a few pics at this time - the batteries on my camera ran low, so I had to borrow a camera from my mother, and have yet to get the images. I will update again when I get them.

Téa’s birthday was great - though the boys were a bit left out of the early afternoon festivities, we had family and friends over at evening, and we were able to enjoy a fantastic day. Seeing my girl with her friends was truly beautiful - these are the days that stand out in your memory as the most magical of days. Happy birthday sweetheart - I could not be more proud of the way you are turning out. Stay strong. Stay true. Stay you.

I have done a handful of industry interviews over the last couple of months. While some have definitely been better than others, my confidence level continues to grow, and I find myself more comfortable with each one. As they are definitely good for business (we see a rise in traffic after each one), I will continue to pursue the opportunities.

Some of the highlights:

Text
Aaron Wall - Interview of Greg from BOTW Directory
Bill Hartzer - Best of the Web Launches Blog Directory

Audio
WebmasterRadio, Rainmaker 9/15/05
WebmasterRadio, TownHall 9/20/05
WebmasterRadio, Rainmaker 9/22/05
Chris Pirillo - On location, SES Chicago 8/10/05

Now Playing:
Only Love Can Break Your Heart from the album “Neil Young: Greatest Hits” by Neil Young

Though it will need a few tweaks, I think this is the new format - at least for the indefinite future. I like the simplicity, and I think it is pretty easy to read (something that becomes more appealing as the years slip by). A few changes technologically, a few more cosmetically, and focus on the content.

I found the template with a simple google query - “wordpress theme“. After poking through some of the results, I finally poured through the entire library at the alexking wordpress theme browser - good job. I decided upon the Clasikue theme developed by “freak” - nice. Thanks for the theme. Ahhh the beauty of open source…

Is pretty much what this site says. Look at it… screams of either (a) laziness; (b) indifference; (c) owned by somebody with too many pokers in the fire; (d) all the above. So instead of talking about what I have going on ( a lot - congratulations to all the people involved with the redesign of Hotel Hotline - the launch of the new model has officially begun) or what I am thinking about (we still have a long way to go on the AIDS battlefront) I am going to throw another log onto the fire and spend the rest of the evening focusing on choosing a better look and feel (LKF) for this site.

Kill Rock ‘n Roll from the album “Hypnotize” by System of a Down