Thinking About Design

I got to thinking about how to improve my book cover and realized that undone know a thing about designing a book cover. The obvious thing to do is to read a blog, right? That's what I thought. I found Humble Nations @ http://humblenations.com/ did a good job of confirming just what I had suspected: I'm clueless about design.

I was hasty publishing. Very hasty because I was up against some deadlines that had nothing to do with this book, or any book. Basically I imposed a deadline on myself for a pretty bad reason. I was excited to get it on the shelf... Now that I have a bunch of extra time I am rethinking some of those decisions.

The book is all about the layman businessman figuring things out that are outside the skill set of the business. That means you are trying to cut your cost by doing everything you can yourself. It save you cash and it is more fulfilling. But you might do it twice, or three times, before you are comfortable with the results. So, here I am with a book on the Internet about marketing your business on the Internet and my cover sucks. See that linkage? I'm not expert at this stuff, but I am learning at every turn and I will be an expert with the help of the tools that are readily available on the Internet.

Internet, Internet, Internet...

That's funny, right? I'm getting an oil change at the dealership. Ms. Marie's Jeep was behind on recalls and services so here I am sitting for two hours. So, I'm filling my idle time thinking about how to get more out of my business. All of my businesses. On the Internet. I'm on the Internet trying to figure out how to better promote my book about promoting your business on the Internet. This Internet thing is big.

Back to the point. I haven't solved anything except for thinking about the irony. The original book cover was made from a word cloud. They are neat to play with so I got caught up in the neatness and some other geeky people though so too. So I took the first half of the book and pasted it into a website to get a picture of the words all jumbled up. It looks neat to me but doesn't do anything but puts some words out there. It wasn't a very smart move and I wish that I hadn't been so hasty. Have you ever said that to yourself? This is my first time, but anyway. All I needed was a cover with a title and my name. That's exciting. I had a cover with my name on it! But it is ugly. It is ugly. No doubting that, but I didn't think it mattered. It matters. I say that a lot in the book.

Now I have to figure this thing out. But i have no idea how to do it. I will. Soon.

But now my oil change is done. 

Labels

I am really put off by labels. They are everywhere and people wear them with such pride. Scroll your timeline and you'll see a few memes letting you know how crazy the poster is. Is it attractive to be crazy? When did it become favorable to be outside the norm? Isn't crazy the same as deranged: not logical? You cannot be a contributing member of society and be crazy. Moreover, you cannot be crazy sometimes. We must refrain from putting ourselves in these groups defined by labels because it is fashionable. There is a social responsibility that we all share and the first thing that we have to do is shed the labels.

Nevertheless, that's just a transitional thought. Look at a few of the big labels: Democrat, Republican, Democratic Socialist, Feminist, LGBT, White, Black, Caucasian, Atheist, Bitch, man, woman. It is hard to believe how much effort people are willing to exert in order to fit squarely into a category and be clearly defined by that label. Have you talked to a Crossfitter lately? If so then, for God's sake, don't tell them that you ran any further than 800 meters this morning.

As a white man, I am in the majority. I always have been. Presumably, I have gotten every loan that I've ever asked for and I didn't even have to pay interest on it. Certainly, I've had every opportunity available to the masses presented on a menu prepared just for me. Therefore, I cannot identify with anyone else other than rich white men. I wear that label. However, I didn't pin it on my shirt. I didn't have to because I was born this way. So, point and laugh. Throw some rocks or something. You can because of my label. Oh, and by the way, if you call me a Caucasian then you are subscribing to a derogatory term given to non-Aryans by a German in the late 1700's. I've never been to the Caucasus region. I don't know anything about it and I don't have any ties to it.

Politics, parenting, or just getting through the day; we are all facing the same struggles. But we can't admit it because we are so divided. It must be my team, my label; you can't understand because you are not like me. You can't feel the pain that I feel because you can't understand me. Empathy is hard to understand but it is really the key to breaking through the labels. It's the closest that we can hope to get to understanding, but it's good enough.

Here's a thought, an actual thought that didn't come from a meme: let go of the label and understand that when you create a team you also create an opponent.

Unless you are a horse, fuck your team.

First Week Is In The Bag

90 copies sold the first week! I'm so stoked! 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BWDHV5A?ref_=pe_2427780_160035660

My First Book is on Sale

Because it's not all about the money. That's right, it's not. Some of it, but not all. I'll run a special as often as I can on Amazon. So, right now I have given away 30 copies of Getting Your Name Out There and it's only been one day. I hope that we give a million away, it costs me exactly the same amount.

Please pick one up in the Amazon Kindle Store. If you read it then please leave me a review.

Gas Engines Are Dead, Long Live Gas Engines

Oh, it runs. exactly like you would think. It starts as soon as you touch the key; a puff of smoke and a cough, but it runs. Flat as ever and I'm sure there's not a bit of compression in the thing. Certainly not a bit of oil pressure. But, if it wants to be a gas car then it's earned the right to be a gas car. I will just have to experiment with big ass electric motors and expensive batteries some other time. 

So, I've got to figure out what I'm dorking around with. Maybe a filter pump from Mexico and a sender. Maybe. Maybe a little Indian Head gasket sealer.

I did figure out that there are some pros and cons to having the Mexican filter pump. Exhaust is a con. Nothing wants to fit in my price range. It's been so long that I don't even remember what the first after market exhaust attempt was. But it was about a hundred bucks and was stupid. I'll bet I'm on number three now. The first two are in Tim's Garage. You might now him, and if so he'll probably give them to you. Because they were both stupid choices and I had to beat them with a hammer to get the Mexican filter pump to work.

It's not so bad. Most everything is there and some of it works.

I'm starting to notice this rust a little bit. The floor pan look a little rough but maybe I can save them. I actually tried to cover the rust with fiberglass. I did cover the rust in fiberglass. But it looked stupid and didn't last more than a week.

Rust encapsulation.

This is not how to do rust encapsulation.

Picked up this Ghia

Look what I drug home. Not recently. As a matter of fact it has been 7 years to date. I found this VW just after moving to Washington state and parked it in the driveway of the house two days before closing on it. It had some problems, but I was just going to use it as a project car. I planned to build an all electric car. In those days there were no Tesla Motors making road cars and I thought it would be great to dump $8,000 in a car that I could drive 45 miles at a time. Only problem is that the damn thing started after I put a battery in it.

She's a little rough. A lot rough but I can work with that. I don't know if it will ever be on the road but I'm going to spend a little garage time massaging the details.

 Some places were a lot rough and I've never done anything this extensive before. It could be a big job, but I've got a big garage.

 

Biography

I am a Project Manager, plain and simple. I balance results with efficiency by mastering inputs and outputs, creating realistic expectations, and optimizing what works. 
Much of my work has been building enterprise systems based on existing programs and departments effort. I am an expert at building relationships that align effort, time, and resources to create new opportunity and success.
My professional goal is to find all the right pieces and put them together in a way that works; regardless of the business, customer, or project.

You will read all of that in my work. More importantly, however, I am a family man. My drive in life comes from two magnificent kids and an wonderful wife. The thread that pulls through all of my work is family. It is the most important thing that I have learned after 25 years of military service. If they are not with you then where you are going is not really that important.Everything that I do now is focused on the family environment. 

I make sure that the back office is as artfully managed as the photography itself. Building the brand of Lininger~Rood Photography is my only focus. While the photos take care of themselves, it is my job to optimize the price, value, and customer service experience. Through advertising campaigns, business strategies, social media presence, progressive web site design, and Search Engine Optimization, I make sure that we deliver the best customer experience available anywhere.
          I am not uniquely qualified to produce expert books on the way the internet works. In fact, I can say with some certainty it is evolving right now and I have no idea how to use the latest and greatest widgets. Nevertheless, I have learned how to take advantage of some of the tools that are available and use them to add value to the business that my wife and I built from scratch. We have grown based on the results and it is my pleasure to share it with you.