Sunny in San Diego

Recently, I’ve been working on a few projects and most of it involves coming up with some ideas, plans, designs, etc and then implementing some theories, diagrams and content. Or maybe research something a little more. At the same time I look around for some help regarding web development, software engineering, artistic design, etc. What I’ve learned is that most people are either idiots or con artists. That’s not exactly true. The majority of software engineers seem to be an intelligent bunch. Except for one guy who probably wasn’t even a software engineer. This guy was a trip. Read my other blog posting(Project Risk to hire this Manager) about this individual.

Back to the original point. I can see why a lot of people assume Information Technology professionals or more importantly, web developers, are nothing special or a pain in the behind. I shouldn’t throw most people under the bus. Like I said, most of the software engineers seem respectful and know what they are talking about. Then again it’s because most of them went to college and learned about computer science. They actually come up with original thoughts and analysis or maybe they have what’s called critical thinking knowledge. But it’s almost a lost cause when it comes to web developers/designers and graphic artists. I know the technology and I hear people trying to sell me a bag of goods regarding what they can do for me, how they can market my website, and how much a site like mine would cost. Of course they claim to give me some huge discount. And it’s funny how half these ‘people’ send replies that refer to themselves as ‘we’ and so on. Hell I even had one person inform me that they haven’t used Flash in years, but they could relearn it again if I needed them to. Yeah I’d pay them to learn something. If I were to do that, I might as well just learn it myself and save the damn money.

Another project was designing a logo and banner. The damn logo and banner were already drawn, designed, etc. All we needed done was for somebody who knows photoshop or illustrator very well to digitize it and maybe show a few different color and font options. A few people claimed this could be a thousand dollar project. Thousand bucks for what? They didn’t’ come up with the idea. They didn’t even freaking draw the thing. They really didn’t do a damn thing. Yes, their time would be worth money. But their time isn’t worth what some of these people think. To top it off, some of these people email a sample with watermarks that had nothing to do with the original concept or drawing. Do people even read?

Even after hiring somebody to do some artwork, it takes over a month to come up with a simple damn update. Like I said everything was already done for them. They only needed to touch up the drawing and digitize it a little better. But half the time they don’t bother reading what the requirements are and what you need done. Or they come back with (i can do this for this much, but anything more will cost a little more). It’s one thing if they came up with the concept, drawing, design, etc, but a month for a logo that was already done? How stupid.

Oh and there are plenty of ‘artists’ who seem to ignore your requirements and then design something on their own time you don’t like or want and then claim, ‘hey I spent such and such time on this so I deserve such and such money.’ That’s like going to a job interview, it doesn’t go well, they go home and decide to make something up, and then email that company and ask them for a paycheck. People are really stupid.

Hell, on another project I threw out an idea of what I wanted and needed, so I could get a feel for what some artists could design for me or if I needed to change my idea altogether. You know what, half the people who got back to me asked me to come up with a sketch so they could get a better idea. If I’m drawing the damn thing(i’m not an artist) why the hell am I paying them? All I wanted was for somebody to come up with a concept and design after I gave them the original idea and concept.

I understand people should charge for their services, but it really seems there are a lot of unprofessional people out of work who are really out of work for a valid reason. You ask them for something and they don’t bother reading what you asked for or they ignore it altogether or they think their 5 minute unoriginal half assed job is worth thousands of bucks. Go figure they need small jobs. They shouldn’t be doing what they are doing.

I’ve come to the conclusion that people might as well not hire web developers or designers or even artists/graphic designers. Not for what they are charging. Or maybe that’s why people offshore and outsource work. Just look at some of the examples of these people and it’s obvious they seem to throw together a template that takes about 10 minutes(hell you can buy a template and edit it yourself for under 100 bucks and you don’t even have to know much about programming or even html). Don’t go around claiming some simple 5 page website you threw up using some other persons template, that took you under 5 minutes to do, is worth $5K. It’s not. Or maybe most of the web designers/developers and graphic artists need to inflate their egos because the reality is their work isn’t worth much in the real world anymore.

Nobody should be paying somebody $30/HR for somebody who knows html and wordpress. Yes, if you need a shopping cart, a content management system, some flash, and a ton of original real programming work done to some complicated e-commerce site or backend system, it might be worth it. There is actually programming or real design involved. But somebody selling some $30/HR unoriginal template cheap ass work is a scam. Plain and simple.

Whether it’s a website or a graphic doesn’t really matter. Playing on people’s technological ignorance is what a lot of people seem to do. Everybody needs to make a buck, but when your work is worth $1 and you charge $10K….then it’s just a scam. A con. A rip off. And in all honesty people like that should be thrown off a cliff never to be seen again. End of story.

It’s been a bit since I last posted. Not that I’ve been in trouble or anything or going through mad pain or horrible circumstances or depressing moments. More like just figuring everything out at this point in time. Yes I’ve been kicked out of a bunch of bars. Too much dancing, partying, meatheads, hotheads, and anger issues but at the end of the day it is what it is. Spending way too much money might be the biggest problem but that just happens. Somebody has to support this damn economy. Dealing with various issues is more likely the scenario. And at this point in time it has nothing to do with past relationships.

Walk along an abandoned railroad track and you get a glimpse into the past. Create whatever memory you want to create because at that moment in time who is going to correct you? Or walk along and figure out whatever it is you need to figure out. I’ve met some interesting people over the past year. Some good and some not so good. If I never got divorced I would have never met these people. I’ve partied like I was 22 again except this time I had the money to burn and didn’t have to hang out in the back of a 7-11 or grocery store or wawa sipping on Cisco or Mad Dog. Or I didn’t have to go to a club with 20 bucks and not be able to afford much of anything. Or I wasn’t the person at a club wearing crappy clothes bought at some crappy cheap store. I’m able to buy drinks for everybody in a damn bar at times and other times just drinks for the pretty girls. Which sometimes leads to numbers, leads to conversations, leads to something more as they say. None of that would have been possible if I were still married. True none of these people really matter or give a crap about me, but I never really wanted anything more than that at this point in time. Why would I after all the mess I went through?

However, I was also deep down on myself dealing with everything in the sun. For the longest time I didn’t deal with anything. I became the guy everybody vicariously lives through. I have to top what I did last week so to speak for my ‘fans.’ I was in my own reality tv show in a way. Whether it was partying, bottle service, making it rain, jumping out of airplanes, feeding sharks, hiking 40 miles, or doing random crazy things, it was always about never sitting still. Never sleeping much either. But I also hit the gym hardcore, did my work, and tried to eat healthy. Then things change. Sometimes age does catch up to you or the hard life drains you. The switch to go from party mode to hardcore gym rat was broken. I drained myself soo much that there wasn’t that switch anymore. I tried to workout but I could feel the lack of energy and lack of anything. Maybe a little bit of depression set in at one point for various reasons too. It was a self destructive path that Heath Ledger or Chris Farley would have been scared of that’s for sure. Nowhere to go at a certain point. I guess you either roll with the punches or you roll into a ditch someplace and hide. I’ve never been one to hide for very long.

I’ve met some interesting people who liked me for whatever reasons. I really don’t know if they do or not but that’s another issue that only time will heal I guess. There are tons of issues I have to learn to deal with that have nothing to do with my ex wife. People like to blame everything on that or they like to tell me to move home where everybody loves me. While that’s true to a certain point I left the east coast because I couldn’t stand it there. Too many small minded individuals stuck with no hope and nowhere to go. There are some great people there but there are also a lot of people who gave up on life a long time ago and then blame the world for their problems. I never had that mentality. I always wanted to get out. And while the grass isn’t greener on the other side, I see far more opportunities where I’m at then where I came from. I left the east for many reasons and I have no desire to ever move back there. I will visit, I will laugh, I will enjoy the company when I go but I’ll never live there again. There is nothing for me there. I never fit in there.

Maybe I’ll hike through Europe for a few months soon or sail around the world, who knows. Those are some things I want to do before I get too old to actually enjoy it. I want to set up a charity to remember my sister. I want to actually build my new company into something successful. I also want to date again even though I can tell I keep a far distance these days. There is one girl I’ve been seeing and talking to for about a month now. Some might know her as picnic girl. We aren’t exclusive or anything like that as people who follow me would definitely know. But she’s different. She doesn’t party or drink. She informs me I should start saving money for the future and when I told her I sort of did that once and it didn’t turn out so well, she seems to know the right things to say that make sense. She actually knows about my divorce and doesn’t think negatively of me for it like quite a few people I met thought. And she isn’t afraid of it I guess. And her smile. She has the prettiest smile and loves to laugh. I spent soo much time with somebody who didn’t seem to like laughing that I forgot how much of a kidder and teaser I am. And I forgot what it feels like when somebody can kid and tease you. A sense of humor is worth it’s weight in gold. You have to be able to laugh at yourself and at life sometimes because it’s not always sunny in San Diego. Plus she’s smart. Masters degree and all. But who knows where things will go as like I said, I keep my distance these days. Do I like her? Yeah. But it’s only been a month and we aren’t even exclusive so we’ll see what happens. She is the first girl I’ve actually wanted to hang out with and just relax. We’ve hung out for hours upon hours on our dates just chatting, walking around, seeing the sights, eating, and chatting some more. In the past year or what not most of the other girls I’ve met were more about not getting to know them at all.

So when you walk down the railroad and forget that this track actually has trains passing by, remember to look up and step aside. Sometimes life throws you off a cliff and the only thing you can do is hope you don’t fall too hard. Because you need your hands and feet to climb back up that cliff one rock at a time. Life throws tough punches sometimes, you have to either roll with them and find a way back up or you can go hide and give up. Like I said I’ve never been one to hide for long.