I’ve been spending the weekend exploring ways to bring more traffic to my site, which took me into the brave new world of domains.  There’s an industry out there built on the notion that if you purchase enough old domains that once amassed a ton of backlinks and redirect these domains back to your website, it will give your site enough juice to bring in serious traffic.

The problem is, this whole domain business smacks of the stock market and gives me a bloody serious headache.  There are literally hundreds of thousands of domains that expire (or are about to expire) every day, and sometimes you have to bid on them if they’re in high demand.  Theoretically though, if you invest enough money into enough valuable domains, the dividends will make it worthwhile over the long run.  So say I spend $1,000 on domains.  If (and that’s a big IF) it brings in enough traffic that I end up making $500 a month in revenues as a result, I will have eventually gotten back what I invested after two months, and then some.

Here’s the thing though: every investment I have ever made in life has been a monumental failure with a capital F.  Whether it was school or life or internet projects or relationships or whatnot, whatever I have purported to do in life has always resulted in ultimate FAIL.

So with that kind of batting average, do I really want to spend thousands of dollars grabbing up all kinds of domain names in the hopes that they will collectively bring me the kind of traffic I’ve been looking for?

See, that would work for other people, but not for me.  Somehow, the laws of physics and economics all stop at my doorstep.  You ever seen the show Lost?  Well consider me the island.  Once you’re on my shores, you can just forget about everything you’ve ever thought you knew about how the universe worked, because it’s all been rendered moot here.  I am a walking wormhole of anomalies, a glitch in the system. 

That’s why I’m kind of hesitant in blowing thousands of bucks on this new experiment, especially when I’m so close to paying off my debts too.  I just want this blog to work out so badly, and the more I think about things and about finding another job or another career, the more I’d rather be out of the workforce altogether and be self-sufficient and self-employed, that way I can live anywhere and go anywhere.  I don’t want to be stuck at one job in one place forever and ever.  I need to MOVE, baby. 

So, I don’t know.  I think I’m just gonna leave this alone for now, and once all my debts have been squared off, I’ll come back to this and maybe think about making smaller investments instead of going all out, and see if it goes anywhere.  I’m just so sick and tired of my 5 visits a day traffic that I’m just chomping at the bit to get SOMETHING going.  Gaaaah. 

Tags: backlinks, blog, debt, domain, domain names, domains, experiment, FAIL, failure, internet, investment, job, life, money, traffic, website, workforce
Categories: Blog Fog
 
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I won a small victory at work, but it may not be over just yet.

Tomorrow I go back to my job for the first time in a month since this whole debacle began. Even though my union called and let me know the Devil Woman would be moved back to her old section, my coworkers were telling me a different story. I also heard that my supervisor might be transferred out as well, but nobody seems to know anything about that either. There’s a feeling that the brass might be pulling some maneuvering stunts here so that if my supervisor does get transferred out, they will move Devil Woman in his place and she’ll end up becoming my new supervisor after all.

I’ll know for sure tomorrow, at which point I’ll be calling in ahead of time to make sure she’s really gone. If she’s not, it’s war.

You know, finding justice is a noble calling, but the road to it is not a pleasant one, and there are no guarantees either. I’m in this alone, without the support of my coworkers, my union, or anybody else. All I have is God and a clear conscience in knowing I’m doing the right thing. The line has been drawn. This madness has to end now. People are getting hurt, and the integrity of our workforce is being compromised. And yet nobody wants to take a stand here because they’re all afraid for their jobs?

To hell with that. I’d rather stand in line at the unemployment office than take this kind of abuse. I want to go to bed at night knowing I stood up against evil and that I refused to be cowed by their intimidation and threats. I will not be their @#$% rug for them to walk all over.

And if they don’t know that already, then they surely will soon.

Tags: corruption, debacle, devil woman, fight, God, guarantees, hell, integrity, intimidation, job, jobs, justice, madness, office politics, small victory, stunts, supervisor, union, workforce
Categories: In The Coal Mine
 
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The law school I was accepted into part time is already starting to get on my flippin’ nerves. I emailed an admissions counselor to see if I could request that my class schedule be set up so it doesn’t interfere with my work schedule, since I work a late afternoon shift.

“In your first year, your classes are selected for you. You cannot choose a set class schedule. Our office of Academic records generates these schedules, and doesn’t do so until the summer.”

I wrote back indicating that it would be impossible for me to attend classes if I got a class schedule that conflicted with my working hours. Since the whole point of a part time day program was to accommodate people with nontraditional working schedules, I asked for some leniency or that we be able to work something out to both mine and the school’s satisfaction. My emails are now being ignored.

Beautiful.

I talked to one of my blogging buddies about it, and she let me know that her school allows part timers to choose what time they want to take mandatory classes, so I know what my school is doing is a crock of moose poo poo. If I don’t get an answer by tomorrow, I’ll either write to the director of admissions, or stop in person and give them mean looks. That failing, I’ll write to the dean of of the school, and failing THAT, I’ll wash my hands of law school.

Honestly, this really frosts my chocolate chip cookies. I’ve been in the workforce 7 years, and when a job pays me, then it’s expected that I would have to revolve around their schedule. But when I pay a school $26,000 a year PART TIME, then I bloody well expect to be accommodated as much as possible, dammit.

But I’m not overly upset about it. I’ll let the chips fall where they may, and if it’s meant to be, I’ll be starting my first classes in August. Right now I’m more concerned about getting my health and body in order.

Tags: admissions counselor, buddies, chips, chocolate chip cookies, class schedule, dean, health, job, law school, leniency, mandatory classes, nerves, part time, part timers, poo poo, satisfaction, workforce
Categories: Legally Speaking
 
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After weeks of despairing over whether I should attend law school or not, I eventually began to forget why I even wanted to become a lawyer in the first place. Then a few things happened this week:

A friend and co-worker of mine is currently dealing with an out of control boss who recently got in his face the other day. From what I hear, she was one unstable psychopath who got transferred to his department because HQ couldn’t deal with her. She had a history of micromanaging others, emotional outbursts and other inappropriate behavior. One day she was pulling her usual stunts and when my friend confronted her (nicely) about it, she went ape. Got up and wagged her finger in his face, literally screaming her head off. My friend was afraid for his safety, because not only was she acting completely unhinged, she was also packing a gun. Not a very healthy combination if you ask me.

So now my friend has to have a meeting with the higher ups along with union reps and other parties to sort this crap out. I asked him if he felt she was going to hit him when she got in his face, and when I did my mind immediately started thinking, “She may have assaulted him, since she placed him in an imminent apprehension of a battery. He has a legal cause of action here.” Suddenly, it was like several lights had gone on inside my head. I was beginning to remember.

Considering what my friend now has to deal with because of this incident, it occurred to me: what he needed was a good lawyer.

Then I had another friend who was applying to take a civil service exam as a typist. The exam only required one year’s clerical experience, and since she had been in the workforce for so many years doing all kinds of jobs, including those that required clerical skills, she figured there’d be no problem.

They rejected her. Took the application fee she paid and rejected her for lack of experience. !??!?!?! It wasn’t a mistake either. This is a woman with a college education, and she was barred from even TAKING the civil exam for lack of clerical experience?? She felt her civil rights had been violated.

Once again it occurred to me: what she needed was a good lawyer.

Now I remember why I wanted to be an attorney: JUSTICE. I wanted justice for these people. They had been WRONGED, and as I listened to these stories, I was the guy who wanted to make it RIGHT again. For me, being an attorney wasn’t about making money. It wasn’t about drawing up wills, or working corporate law, or working in a big time law firm so I could make partner after sweating blood for 10 or 20 years.

No, it was all about making things RIGHT again. It was about bringing peace where chaos existed, finding reconciliation between two aggrieved parties, defending the defenseless, and protecting the rights of the poor.

It was about JUSTICE.

I always knew what I wanted to do in life, and I realized that itself was never the problem. It was finding the proper medium in which I could fulfill these lifelong desires that had been the subject of so much agonizing and confusion. What field could help me make the kind of difference I was seeking to make? As I realize the answer to that question, I also realize that this is an endeavor that can only succeed if God blesses it.

Where there is no God, there is no justice. If I choose the legal profession, I need to be able to choose it with the knowledge that God will be int it, and that he will honor the desires of my heart to make things right again.

Tags: apprehension, assault, attorney, civil service exam, co worker, college education, crap, decision, job, justice, law school, lawyer, profession, psychopath, stunts, typist, ups, workforce
Categories: Lincoln's Personal Log
 
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