Justin Germino Ramblings

I had only about $10 left on one of my gift cards and was doing research on what to buy or to find to utilize the last bit, when I stumbled across an article by Betterbudgeting.com that lists 63 gifts all under $10.  This made me think of all of the things one can get that have very little cost other than some time and effort which of course can be priceless in some scenario’s.

I am still on m quest to spend my last $10 of my giftcard to find something I can use, since this giftcard was awarded to me from my job, I decided to spend it on myself.  I just bought a replacement Turtle Beach HPA2 Microphone with some of it, since my 2 year old dunked the last microphone in my iced tea and shorted it out.

-Justin Germino

Today is the final weekend before Christmas and I am glad to say all of my holiday shopping is complete, I only have about 20 more presents to wrap so I don’t leave them all for Christmas Eve.  A co-worker of my wife’s may be coming over tonight to roll up a 3.5 Edition Dungeons and Dragons character, and if he comes over this will be my first official character creation in over 6 years.  I have not role played Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 in a long time, and am looking forward to starting up a campaign again if I can find the time and find some friends who have the time.

One of my favorite things about pen and paper role playing games is the in person interaction you get that you could never duplicate no matter how many fantasy RPG’s or even MMO’s you play online.  I like traditional Role Playing Games without miniatures or heavy on the props, pure imagination and role playing at its finest.  I was not overly fond of the 4th Edition Rules and details when I first read the release and for now continue to play in a 3.5 / Hybrid custom system that is all fully D20 compliant.

I had dozens of excel tables, spreadsheets, generators and charts that I created back in 2001 that I am blowing the dust off and going to tweak over the next few weeks to prepare for new gaming sessions.  My boys who are still too young for pen and paper D&D often play live action role playing equivelant with me, my oldest who is in kindergarten will actually sit down at bed time and I will read him a story and incorporate some player feedback, letting him roll some D20 for attacking, or saving throws just to get him used to the interactivity.  He loves it, and it is one of his favorite night time routines on the nights we do interactive stories (D&D Light) I call it.

-Justin Germino

In the last two months I almost can’t live without my tweetdeck being open and active on my home computer while I work during the day, I have come to enjoy creating daily twitter poems based on random words people feed me on twitter.  I create one unique poem per weekday and it usually is based off of 9 – 13 random words provided by my twitter followers.  I also am growing rapidly in the number of followers this is in part due to the Entrecard network promoting EC users to also join up on twitter.

I continue to experiment with a new plug-in for wordpress called Twitme, which not only updates twitter each time you publish a new blog post, but you can also see your followers, directly write tweets, view your direct inbox and sent outbox all from your wordpress dashboard.  I will post a whole detailed post about it on Dragonblogger.com after I play with the plug-in for about 24 hours or so and see how it works.

Twitter has actually introduced me to some local people in Arizona a few of which came out to our Rock Show back in November, I have also developed a cadre of regulars who play my twitter game daily and enjoy providing me fuel (words) for my poems.  It is an outstanding social network in its real time ability to instantly talk to people and engage in two way conversations in real time, often you can talk about the latest CNN news stories, or even local news in your city or state.

In the meantime I welcome anyone to connect with me and chat with me on twitter, my handle is @dragonblogger.

-Justin Germino

I am one of those people who is extremely busy during the day I have a full time job working about 9 hours a day with maintaining 4 blog sites at night.  I have my wife and two children who I carve out as much time with as I possibly can as well.  I don’t have any time to read novels like I used to, I used to enjoy reading a novel a week when I was younger and had alot of alone time.  Now my alone time is usually only found when I drive into the office which is about a one hour commute each way.

Audiobooks are the best thing for long drives in my opinion, I can listen to my favorite books or books that I want to catch up on and I have come to love the audio book medium better than reading the books manually.   Even Stephen King himself has once said that Audiobooks are among the best mediums for delivering the author’s work as it forces the reader to stay at the pace of the narrator and helps prevent people who skip ahead or skim faster through certain pages rather than others.

I find when I listen to a good audio book I can get lost in the story, almost like I am listening to a movie.  I can almost see and feel as if I was there with the characters, some audiobooks are just fantastic and others are just droning bores.  The narrator and speaker makes or breaks the audiobook in my opinion and even a mundane story can be more entertaining if read by a good speaker.  Some examples of great audiobooks are Jim Dale’s reading of the Harry Potter series, which is really engaging.  Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series read by George Guidall is among the best there is.  Though Frank Muller who read the original four books before suffering a critical accident was even better, George did a fantastic job taking over the reigns and provides the voice of Roland Deschane and company with convicing voicework.

Other more engaging audiobooks are in the Star Trek and Star Wars lines, where they blend in sound effects and music into the audio book itself.  So it feels like you are listening to a movie not just an audio book.  This is very much like the audio book version of Stephen King’s The Mist which was created to be an interactive Audio Experience.

When I was a kid I used to record my favorite movies onto cassette tape and listen to them at night, creating my own version of interactive audio books and this was over 20 years ago.  I would record Legend, Labyrinth and others and just listen to the story, music and sound effects instead of watching.  Letting my own mind create the visuals for me was an even more creative and expressive way of enjoying the works themselves.

So how many of you out there are this passionate about audio books?  Who prefers reading vs audio books?  I would like to hear from you.

-Justin Germino

This post is dedicated to everyone who has ever had to struggle for anything in their lives and is continuing to struggle whether it be financially, socially or personally.  I have been through many struggles and challenges in my life so far and know that there is more around the corner each and every year.  Sometimes I do get depressed about what has happened and what may happen in the future, and sometimes I get stressed and depressed when in the middle of a difficult time.  When this occurs I always try to find some common ground to help even the odds, part of this comes in my always wanting to balance the odds.

When I am struggling financially I often will seek out blogs, charities and deliberately go read about the struggles of millions of people who are so much worse off then I am, this will make me sit back and as any kind of human being realize that I am being fickle in my complaints and should be more thankful I have all that I have as many others do not have as much as I.  For those of you who struggle to get Christmas gifts for your children, or to pay your mortgage, cars or are just out of a job, you can look at it this way.  Unemployment in the United States is considered wealth by some 3rd world countries where they literally starve to death their bellies distended from lack of food and nutrition.  People do come back from difficult times all it takes is hard work, patience and belief that you can work your way out of a rut.  Pull together with family and friends, and if you are one of the many losing your job in this economy then do your best to put yourself on Government retraining programs, Financial and Health assistance programs.  Sign up for everything you can and leverage it to help get you back on your feet.

For those of you who are struggling socially or personally due to self confidence issues or legitimate medical problems don’t despair, there is hope yet for everyone.  Medical issues do have treatments in most cases and all else can be overcome by sheer personality and force of will.  If you are shy or depressed due to being overweight for example, you may have tried to do anything including diets, working out and taking diet pills but instead of focusing on these things you should instead focus on being happy with who you are first.  One thing I have seen in this world is that people come in all shapes, sizes and colors and there is somebody for everyone.  For those who are afraid to put themselves out for the public viewing, you have only one life to live it is better to take a risk and take a chance, than to do nothing at all with it.  One example is if you are artistic, then explore and release your art so others may see.

Everyone remember that we all live on this world just one time and it is up to you to get the most out of your life, you can believe their is another life after this one or that there is an afterlife and even if there is that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to make the most out of this one.  Life is too short to be beaten back and down, rise up and think about what you can do to improve your life or at least develop a better more positive way of thinking so that you aren’t suffering mentally.

These are just some of my insights and thoughts, I can only hope that they help inspire some of you.

-Justin Germino

I want to point this out to everyone who is overweight or used to be overweight but worked hard to get down to a normal weight. One of the big disadvantages I found now that I have come very close to achieving my weight goals is I feel guilt and think negatively whenever I indulge in food that I know is harmful to maintaining my weight. One example of this was I was eating breakfast this morning and I indulged in some pancakes, sausage and scrambled eggs probably consuming a thousand calories or more in a single meal. As I sat there enjoying the food I was bliss, the flavor taste so good and I didn’t think about anything but enjoying the food.

After breakfast however when the flavor was gone I started considering how much I ate and how rich the food was and that if I indulged too much like this I would have to consider weight loss products or work out twice as hard again. This is something I notice very much about my new mentality, previously when I was heavy I ate and didn’t care about what it might due to my weight gain or my health. Now I am much more conscious to worrying about it after I have done it, but I still indulge anyway. I do have a system in place where if I indulge in a big breakfast I will cut back on lunch and dinner, I still try to eat only about 2,000 calories per day but I might change which meal is the highest calories for the day. Some days I have a big dinner and I will only eat a 140 calorie cereal bar for breakfast and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch which allows for a 1500 calorie dinner.

Other days a big breakfast means a very light lunch and lean cuisine dinner of only 250 calories or so. I try to keep my calorie intake consistent on days where I might eat too much, I try to eat less the next day. Never do I starve myself I keep it increments if I can, and I only guesstimate calories I don’t go so far as to add them all up in my head to the exact number. This helps keep my weight around 160 pounds even though I still have a section of belly fat I am trying to reduce.

I am sure many readers out there eat or indulge and feel guilty afterward, what are some of the punishments you inflict upon yourself to compensate for indulging in food? Or how do you make yourself feel less guilty or counteract when you cheat on your diets?

-Justin Germino

I am an avid fan of online movie rental services in general and have reviewed both Blockbuster and Netflix very thoroughly before making my choice of Blockbuster Total Access in the last year. I wanted to share with you my reasons for choosing Blockbuster instead of Netflix in case my readers are wondering which service to choose, or if they have one service they can consider if they are using the right service for them.

First I want to say that no matter which service you use there is almost no reason to have a local account and rent movies from a local video store anymore.  Online Movie Rentals are cheaper by far, fast delivery and with live streaming getting better every week, you just don’t need to pay $4.00 or more per rental at your local video store.

Both Services Blockbuster and Netflix offer DVD or Blu Ray movies through the mail and allow you to keep them as long as you want. The services work very similar you simply sign up, browse through their extensive list of movies and build your movie queue. Then depending on the package you purchase you will receive your movies in the mail and you can watch them at your leisure. When you are finished with the movie you simply return them in the mail (postage is already prepaid) and your next movie will ship when the first one arrives back.

Both services have the ability to download and stream older movies to your computer and desktop for watching immediately. Both services have package and pricing model flexibility whether you want 1 movie at a time, or 5 movies at a time. Indeed both Blockbuster and Netflix are priced very similar, so here is some of they key differences in why I chose Blockbuster.

Blockbuster has 2 key advantages over Netflix that are particularly valuable if you live within 10 miles of the nearest Blockbuster Store.  This is true in my case and is the main reason why I chose Blockbuster.

• Blockbuster Information

#1 – When you are done watching a movie from Blockbuster that you received in the mail you can immediately drive it back to your local Blockbuster store and exchange it for a free in-store movie.  This bypasses you having to wait a few days for your next movie to arrive.  You get an immediate instant movie to replace it and the store will mail your movie back for you.

#2 – When you sign up for Blockbuster movie service of a higher level (3 movies or more) you get a free E-coupon every month that you can print out and redeem at your local Blockbuster for a free movie or a free video game.  Thats right, a free Wii, PS3 or Xbox 360 game rental every month which is normally like $7.00 to rent a game, you wouldn’t want to waste your E-Coupon on a movie, since movies are only about $4.00 to rent, you get more value for your coupon for renting a game.

Now one of the disadvantages is Blockbuster currently charges for online movie rentals and downloads to your computer at a per movie download.  This is discouraging as Netflix offers free movie streaming to your desktop and is one area Blockbuster needs to be more competitive.  So if you are really looking for streaming movies then Netflix is probably of more value. I should note though that with both services you can only stream older movies not the most current new releases.

• Netflix Information

Netflix has actually a larger and better selection of movies than Blockbuster and especially this hold true of foreign films, independant films and rare films.  While Blockbuster advertises 85,000+ movies, Netflix advertises over 100,000+ movies.  Netflix also has the advantage of free streaming movies without having to pay for streaming movies to your desktop.  Both services have about the same speed for mail delivery, but if you live close to a Blockbuster like I said, then with Blockbuster you have zero wait time if you just trade your movie in for free rental.

Netflix also has a slightly cheaper package deal but this only amounts to saving a dollar and some change, Blockbuster is quite competitive and the free coupon and in-store exchanges more than even the odds in my opinion.

• In Summary

I would like to conclude this post by reiterating that if you live close to a Blockbuster store and also have a game console of any type that the Blockbuster Total Access is a better deal and more flexible than the Netflix Offering.  However, if you care more about the indepenent and foreign film access and want to stream movies to your desktop PC, then Netflix may be a better fit for you.

I have been using the Blockbuster 3 at a time service for over a year now and have been very happy with it, I often have over 70 movies in my queue at any given time.

-Justin Germino

So yesterday morning my wife and baby go to eat breakfast at IHOP before I have to start working for the day.  We sit down at a booth and start to order drinks and our usual breakfasts.  I do love IHOP pancakes and I always get the Sampler and split the scrambled eggs and hashbrowns with my little one.

A lone gentlement probably somewhere between 55 and 65 years of age sitting just behind us in a booth decides to engage us in conversation out of the blue.  The man first inquires about the toy Woody doll that my baby carries around, he claims he has seen that doll somewhere but couldn’t place it.  I informed him it was the Toy Story Woody Doll and that jogged his memory.

The man proceeded to say that the usually doesn’t talk to strangers but there is something about us that makes him feel old.  He said he had six kids the oldest being thirty five and the youngest being eleven years old.  He also apologizes for wasting our time and talking to us and said he would “shut up now”.

The odd fellow just kept engaging us in conversation throughout our entire meal however, at first it was polite and friendly questions.  When he asked my wife how old she was, I was a little disturbed, point blank asking a woman her age is not proper etiquette and can be downright rude.  I know he was doing it to illustrate that we were “babies” compared to him, but it was still rude.

When he found out that I was from New York the conversation turned weirder still.  He asked if I was an Italiano, not Italian clearly defining the stereotype difference.  I politely joked with him about it, and then he took a phone conversation with someone and once again I overheard him joking about if another family member was Italiano, then he told the person he was talking to on the phone that he met some nice people and one of them was a New Yorker, and also an Italiano.

I have been stereotyped before but was kind of odd, in the thirteen years I have been living in Arizona less and less people seemed to stereotype me as a New York Italian, but today was a throwback I guess.  He might as well called me a mobster and a greasy WOP.  Meanwhile my wife was shaking her head and kept giving me looks like “don’t encourage him”.  I told her that if my skin was dark he would have asked “Are you part black?”

I joked with her and said that if I told him I was 1/2 Jewish do you think it would help or hurt my case?  Seriously, whats up with the stereotyping.  Not all Italians from New York are Mafia wannabe’s who just talk trash and are up to no good scams… wait, hmmm so many are no wonder why there is this stereotype.

That is my funny story folks, the funny thing is these types of things happen to us all the time, weird strangers just talking to us out of the blue.  We had an old Native American woman in a shoe store, she was so ancient that her hands were like parched leather, she had a wise elder look about her.  When our first baby was only a few months old she had walked over and touched the baby’s foot and said some words in a dialect I can’t understand.  Smiling we can only assume she said some sort of shamanistic blessing to our baby, that is what we joke anyways.

-Justin Germino

I am not a psychologist, therapist or have taken any courses or training in such topics.  I can only post based on my experience and my point of view and opinions.  As a fairly intelligent person who has gone through personal insecurity and self image problems over the years I can speak to this subject since I have gone through these things myself.

If you find yourself the type of person who looks at yourself in the mirror and only see’s what is wrong and what you wish you could change about yourself, then this post is targeted at you.  I myself used to be that kind of person, perfectionism that was unattainable, can’t stand the way I look, loathed myself and hid behind various mental traps that kept me in that way of thinking.

I started to really turn my way of thinking on its head over the past few years and especially recently, instead of focusing on what was bad, or what I wished I could change, I forced and reminded myself to only point out what I thought was good or decent and ignore the rest.  Then I started thinking we should apply this attitude and way of thinking toward everything in life.

So with conscious effort at first and it comes easier once you make it a learned habit you start looking and pointing out only the things you like about anything, instead of nitpicking and only noticing the things you dislike and find unappealing.  These can be simple things from eating a meal in a restaurant, instead of complaining about what was bad, start by instead thinking about what you did like and ditch the rest unless you are a food critic.

If you see yourself in the mirror and are unhappy with something about yourself then point out something you like about yourself and forget about the rest.  The more confidence and positive attitude you have the more charisma you will display.  Charisma is not just how you look physically, it is how you come off and your aura that is picked up on by other people.  Confident optimistic people tend to draw people near them who want to hear what they have to say, whereas dark brooding and self defeating types tend to be isolated and lone.  Sarcastic types can become isolated as well unless their sarcasm is shared among who they are with.

Remember it takes conscious effort to reprogram how you think and you will slip up from time to time, but take my advice I am generally a happier person now deliberately noticing what is good and fine rather than constantly noticing what I don’t like.  I am also much more accepting of my own self and in turn I feel lighter, more confident and am happier as a result.

These are just some of my insights that I am sharing with you.

-Justin Germino

I have to be honest with my readers, I am not an expert SEO marketing guy, blogger, or anything.  I am just an IT Security guy who has a passion for writing, reviewing, entertaining and poetry.  So I started 3 blogs and my oldest Dragonblogger.com was started on August 23rd 2008.  The other two started in late September including this one.  So I have only been blogging for less than four months and I am learning new tricks, tips and methods of doing things every day.

One thing I have discovered is I have a passion, in my real life I was blessed/cursed with the gift of gab.  People always said I talk to much, and now I have a medium to share my thoughts and views with a much wider audience than the handful of people I talk to daily.  The best thing is some people actually like hearing what I have to say, and have become fans of my poetry, Heroes reviews, Technology Reviews…etc.

Fans, here I was a just a regular IT guy a few months ago and now I have more people who follow me on my blogs than I can count on all my digits.  That is amazing to me really, and I am always willing to share what I have learned and give back to my fans, readers and friends.

The first is this, I am starting to make some money with my blogs, it isn’t much and equates to about $100 – $150 per month in my 2nd and 3rd month blogging.  The hours I put in make if I break it down equals that I earn about $1.20 per hour while blogging.  So I make like cheap chinese sweatshop labor rates, but the point is I love doing it, and the fact that I make something is cool.  I bought a few extra Christmas gifts this year that I would not have been able to get without some blogging money.

I am also realizing that my earning potential will grow as my blogs expand, $150 could become $300 in three or four months which could be $500 by the end of 2009.  My goal would be to reach $500 per month in December of 2009, but I can’t seem to figure out how to break more than $200 per month, you can only do so many paid posts without your blog ratio being blown to bits and looking like a paid advertisement blog.

So at some point I will need to invest some of my blog money back into promoting my blog, maybe learning and searching and buying SEO link packages to see if they work.  Paying for adwords or some sort of link advertising, but I need to make sure I have a brand to deliver, and have clarified what I am offering before I market myself and my name.

If anyone wants help and to learn everything I have tried, you can check my dragonblogger.com for blogging category, where I share all my blogging tips, also I have the same category on this site.  You can also twitter me anytime @dragonblogger, I am happy to meet and talk to anyone about blogging.  Also if you have something to share, if you are a blogger who started from nothing and are now making $1000 per month, or even blogging is your full time job now, I would love to hear from you.

-Justin Germino