JediWright.com

I’ve been hoarding domains for years, while brainstorming countless hours on various startup ideas with the intention of one day putting one or more to good use.

This practice has been tapering on and off in waves ever since I knew I was going to be a father. But I literally don’t go by a day without some new startup idea or improvement for an existing startup/service. And sometimes, like this week, I feel like I’ve had an epiphany (again) about the next big thing. Admittedly, this feeling often lasts long enough for me to end up purchasing another domain that ends up collecting cyber-dust. I am still determined to manifest something on my own though, so I keep at it, believing that one day I’ll either actually managed to finish the training necessary to manifest these ideas (i.e. learn programming), or I’ll actually come up with something someone else gets equally excited about to hop on board with the resources necessary to make it happen.

I’m to the point, it seems now, that I’m willing to air those ideas. Since so many have already come to be, I might as well just put the intention out there plain for all to see. That way the odds are greater that someone might align with me on one or at maybe I’ll find some small measure of solace/credit if it was documented prior to someone else doing it.

Anyway, as usual, I’ve been noodling around with one of my startup ideas and was wondering what it would take to create some sort of auto-posting feature that takes news headlines (via Google Alerts, etc.) and posts them to Twitter and/or blog simultaneously.

Is this something that can be developed easily or is it more of a time-consuming project? Seems like it’s a common feature with some websites/services these days.

The startup idea stems from my own interest in finding something to do, either in a melting pot like Los Angeles where there’s just far too much to choose from or the polar opposite, with a place like Akron, Ohio where seemingly nothing happens. So this particular startup is an idea that originated with lawknds.com, where I planned to basically list events, with blog coverage of them, reviews, etc. Initial monetization would come through advertisements (naturally), from both event organizers and related products/services, with the possibility of a premium account for users that offered perks negotiated through relationships with event promoters and others on the site, i.e. discount tickets, vip packages, advance purchasing, etc.

However, since this idea sat for so long others have come along and begun offering similar services, laist.com comes to mind (they have one for most major US cities). So I’ve been thinking about narrowing the focus of mine to strictly wknd coverage, hence the name and the series of domains I’ve started collecting for this purpose: lawknds.com, sfwknds.com, nycwknds.com, vbwknds.com, miwknds.com, lvwknds.com, dcwknds.com (I thought these were the most notable US cities to start with anyway).

Anyway, not sure if this is worth pursuing, especially since I don’t have the best idea of what’s involved code-wise. Anyone out there have any input or interest?

p.s. Another idea in a similar vein was for artistlofts.org, since years ago I was living downtown in a loft and didn’t have an iPhone yet or other location-based services, I thought a directory of lofts with locally based goods and services would have been handy…

Today was inauguration day for the 44th president of the US. Obviously.

It was interesting to watch through a wide range of channels: TV and Twitter mostly, RSS feeds, Google News, CurrentTV, etc. And for the first time that I recall seeing, satellite imagery’s been taken; an impressive view from space:

It was definitely an inspiring event, even if for nothing other than the scale of its production. From the crowd control and transpo logistics, to porta-potties and parking, it must have been a nightmare of an operation, no matter how well rehearsed.

One thing I didn’t hear mentioned about the inauguration ceremony was its environmental footprint and what steps, if any, the inauguration committee had or would take to mitigate this. Probably nothing. Not a great way to begin a presidency pushing for cleaner and green days, but then maybe it was beyond Obama’s control.

Still it would have been nice to hear of some initiative to address this too.

Tristan and I were hoping the delivery would be today as the contractions started coming on around 3 and have been holding steady on and off since then. But so far no dice. Just a lot of time watching the inaugural coverage, the clock and Twitter.

Anyway, many wishes for safe travels to everyone who’s made the trek to DC!

My primary source of income has recently dried up and am in great need of immediate employment. Require a net minimum of $2,800 per month in salary just to cover essentials for me, my partner and our baby due in two weeks.

Any leads anyone can share with me would be immensely appreciated!

Employment history below.
–

EMPLOYMENT
Distinctivefabric.com, Inc. – Present
2079 E 15th St, #330, LA CA 90021

Chief Executive Officer
*Management of corporate affairs, taxes, corporate filings, license/permit renewals, etc.
*Oversee web development, product creation and launches, marketing campaigns, sustainability integration, etc.
*Excel in dynamic and fast-paced order fulfillment, Internet startup and management environments.

The Do LaB / Lightning In A Bottle Arts and Music Festival – Present
2023 Bay St, LA CA 90021

Senior Production Artist, Assistant Director of Sustainability
*Assist in design, building, installing, and transporting large-scale art installations and event productions
*Co-manage client-relations pre- and post-production
*Assist Director in greening company operations and country’s leading sustainable arts and music festival
*Co-manage 200+ paid and volunteer staff
*Excel in management and coordination of multi-tasking, high end installations and client-interfacing

Green Gurus, LLC – Present
2079 E 15th St, #330, LA CA 90021

Founder and Chief Executive Officer
*Manage team, clients, corporate affairs, marketing, web development, etc.
*Excel in dynamic and fast-paced Internet startup and management environments.

Rooftop Promotion: April 2003 – April 2004
Gardena, CA

Director of Media Relations
*Coordination of artist promotions through press and radio contacts
*Managed Filemaker database of press and radio contacts
*Excelled in multi-artist PR

Hidden River Adventure: August 1996 – November 2001
Monocacy, PA

General Manager
*Managed inventory, equipment, group bookings, ecotours, transportation, staff, maintenance
*Lead carpenter and builder of corporate offices
*Excelled in customer relations

COMPUTER EXPERIENCE
*Applications: Microsoft Office XP, Word and Excel; Apple OS X; Google Docs: Document, Presentation, Spreadsheets, Adwords, Adsense; Open Office, KOffice, The Gimp; Adobe Photoshop, Dreamweaver; QuarkXPress; Transmit, Fugu, Telnet Launcher, Filemaker, Drupal CMS, Plesk and cPanel; Abelton Live, Reason
*Languages: Basic UNIX, PHP, HTML/XHTML, CSS
*Browsers: Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, Opera
*Social Networks, Utilities and Apps: Basecamp, Wiki, WordPress, Blogger, Twitter, Flickr, Picasa, Posterous, Facebook, Myspace, Tribe, LinkedIn, YouTube, Revver, Vimeo, Digg, Hugg, etc.

EDUCATION
Santa Monica Community College
Santa Monica, CA
Computer Science
Pursued completion of undergraduate degree

The Bradley Academy / Art Institute
York, PA
Multimedia
Pursued completion of undergraduate degree

Ball Drop

Originally uploaded by JediWright

New Year’s Eve celebrations are a dime a dozen, especially in cities ’round the world. House parties with friends are probably the most common here in the States, next to major towns and cities hosting public celebrations.

This year, er last year, Tristan and I spent our night with my brother Ben and his girlfriend Jen, our step-brother Justin and his girlfriend, and some of our friends, totaling just 11.

We were the first to arrive, getting to Jen’s parents place around 8:30pm. We took a small soundsystem, some food and drink left-over from my 30th bday party (love me some recycling in any way possible . The other guests started showing up not long after.

We had a nice selection of beer thanks to my bro and a great spread of food by Jen. We chatted about relationships, politics, law, beer, the house we were hanging in, our accident from earlier that day, and a host of other random subjects.

We probably had our most fun though when playing Taboo – good ol’ slapstick fun. Or whatever. Not quite my normal activities compared to the last 6-7 years’ celebratons, but still a good time.

Last year we dropped by Tristan’s sister Olivia’s place for a drink and then headed off to our last major Green Sector party, which was held at Creativity in Venice. That was an okay time, but it too was pretty low-key.

Seems like things are mellowing out, year after year. I think everyone’s just so overstimulated these days that not much is super-exciting. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed myself last night. But part of me always craves for the big lights/soundsystems/crowds/etc.

Maybe next year will be that all-out-year, if The Do LaB does another NYE event; their last was back in 2004.

No matter what though, that transition will always retain some measure of magic and excitement. Change is an awesome thing.

Happy New Year!

p.s. The rest of my pics from last night are up on my Flickr now.