Obviously work has picked up a bit, which is good.  But there's plenty going on in my life, and I'll even choose to share a few with you!

Archiving Documents

I've been storing up a large number of documents over the years, and I have been taking them everywhere I move.  Since I have this nasty habit of moving about once every year, this has become quite a mess.  I'm always a little afraid to throw things like old phone bills, credit card statements, etc away.  I don't know why, I just am like that.
So what I'm currently doing is continuing a project I started about 4 years ago- scanning all of my documents into secured PDF files.  I figure this will allow me to recycle the paper (once it's shredded of course) and be able to store the PDF's off site in a secured volume.  Currently this is my work computer.  I'm using Acrobat Standard to secure the documents, and then I copy the files from my hard drive to a special encrypted file using TrueCrypt .  This method is very secure and even allows me to search text in some documents down the road!  Cool.
I'm finding some stuff dating clear back to the 1980s!  Geez!  I figure this method will not be as vulnerable to loss from fire and it should be a LOT easier to haul around!

Website Changes

It's been a good run for this server, but it's time to move on.  I will be going back to a hosted model very soon; what this means for you is faster load times.  What this means for me is more sleepless nights worrying about loosing my site in the middle of the night.  I think for the time being I may still keep the server going for email.  Those of you long-time readers know that I was swindled along with several hundred others about 4 years ago, I lost everything.  All my email, and the website was just GONE.  Given what you just learned about my packrat nature (above), you can see why this is a big deal for me.

But fortunately for me- this site is on my work's account, so I should be okay. But finding the time to make the big switch is a bigger concern, we'll see how long it takes me but don't be surprised if one day suddenly everything looks different and none of the old links work.  It can happen.

I'm also working on a new format for this blog- one that will be more... well, blog like- and allow users to comment if they either register or have an OpenID -compatible account.  Previously I've been leaning a lot on Facebook for this functionality, but due to some changes in the Terms of Service, I feel it's best to pull back and control my own content exclusively.

In addition, I will be changing the overall format for the website- Separating my personal blog from opinion papers entirely, and hopefully in the next year devoting an exclusive are of the website back to my music.

Finally, DJ-the-DJ.com will be launched soon (more about that in a moment)

Financial Peace

Evey and I are going thru a course at our new church by Dave Ramsey called Financial Peace University .  Basically after two weeks I'm already seeing a drastic change in my mentality and after months of tossing and turning over how the Obama administration will impact me financially, I think I'm coming up with some survival answers.

Diversifying My Income

Call it a part time job, or whatever you like, but I think I'm needing to start DJ more to supplement my income and get ready for whatever comes my way next.  So I'll probably have a lot less time, but I'm also putting together a referral program; you'll be able to make money by giving me leads!

New Articles

There's a host of ideas I have been mulling around, and my semi-manic nature hasn't really allowed me to get them finished, but here's a quick preview of some upcoming topics:

• Green Conservatism 
• To Those that have, more will be given
• Surviving this recession and if the Government makes it worse
• IT at home- how to survive a hard drive crash, fire or other disasters
• Will Hybrid/Electric cars really save money?

Audio and Video Content

I've got a host of audio files from thoughts I have driving down the road, I'll be trying very soon to put together downloadable (I hate the term Podcast) audio of my vents, thoughts and humor.

In addition, we may revive an old project - de-pop radio!  It's something some friends of mine and myself had tried to put together years ago but it never took off.  We were going to be one of the first 'podcasts' before anyone had an ipod.  But like so many brilliant ideas, we got busy and let it go.  Well, we're going to try again hopefully this spring, if we can get organized.

My roommates and I have been mulling over having some video "Bar-side chats" and posting to YouTube.  We'll see if we can make this a reality.  I think a lot of people don't realize what kind of work these kinds of things take and doing them for free is a little bit of a stretch.  But who knows.