Justin Germino Ramblings

Found it very funny when searching on Google Instant and seeing the results for “Get More” and Twitter followers are the first two results displayed.  I found this trend ironic because I know facebook fan pages, more blog traffic, website traffic, and any other number of terms with “get more” could be equally as popular searches.

I myself wanted to increase my Twitter following and was leveraging the previously excellent ReFollow tool before it became a paid tool mostly shut down until they get funding to put in new servers.  I really have no methodology anymore to finding Twitter users and expanding my network.  I tend to use Twellow or some other service to find users in similar technology, blogging and poetry categories and I follow and add people to lists who interest me or write about things that interest me, but this isn’t really a method for building followers of my own account.  Retweets and writing articles are really only a good way of broadcasting to your own audience, I am finding few “new” people are responding to me lately though there have been some new Twitter folks joining my Random Twitter Poetry game.

I am not interested in followers for the #, it is meaningless to have 20k bot accounts or spam accounts following you, you need to have interaction with readers.  I want feedback on my items and want people in like categories to request my feedback on their stuff as well.  Two way conversations can be interesting and provide useful information, like when I ask for a software recommendation, or WordPress plugin tip….etc.  I tend to not chat politics on Twitter, but use it as more of a networking resource for learning new information or finding interesting articles, though I do use it to indulge my Random Twitter Poetry game and enjoy connecting with writers and poetry fans who participate and enjoy reading what I come up with.

So if there is a really good way to get followers that are meaningful then I haven’t found it, my guess would be to publish content and then have your content promoted by others then if someone reads your content and you make a “Follow Me” button more easily accessible you might end up getting waves of followers.  I have seen services like Fiverr, SponsoredTweets, MyLikes and many other programs where you can pay a flat rate or CPC to try and get social media promotion, but I think this isn’t a good return on investment unless you are trying to sell or market a product.  Followers for Followers sake is probably not something you should be seeking so vehemently, or chances are you are doing it for the wrong reason?

-Justin Germino

Time to take down the Christmas Decorations today, as this is the only day available for me to get around to it. I just spent New Years Eve in Las Vegas ringing in the New Year and returned on New Years Day, next weekend my wife and I will be setting up our J&S Travel booth at the Phoenix Bridal Show and won’t be able to get to decorations then so today is the day. I always have the intention to put away the Xmas lights in a better and more organized fashion but when I get around to the work I just shove stuff away in crates as fast as possible so it can be done with and over.

The good thing about the work is the electricity bill can now drop by $100 because it was costing quite a bit to run these lights and floats about 12-13 hours a night (5pm – 6am) for the past thirty days or so. Christmas came and went so fast this year and we were so busy in the weeks leading up, now it is gone and nearly forgotten while everyone gets back to the “routine” of the rest of the year.

I really could use a couple of slow weeks to just sleep in some extra time and relax, I am clearly not taking enough vacations or don’t have enough vacation time lately.

-Justin Germino

Officially J&S Travel Love Your Vacation kicks off in 2011 and I am happy to say that my wife and I are in business together “officially” with both of our names slapped on the company.  Rather than going at 2 separate independent ventures I have my own three blogs and she had her own three blogs plus music production company, we are now focusing on building out her full time and my part time travel agency.  LoveYourVacation.com was the DNS name we decided on for the website, while the company name is J&S Travel which is trademarked in Arizona by my wife.

In addition to providing travel booking, information and planning for clients the website features a full WordPress travel blog that will include travel information, tips, vacation specials and destination information.  My wife and I will both write articles for the site but most of the day to day planning and booking will be handled by her.  She has been working closely with KHM Travel which is our parent group we work for to make sure everything is set and all systems are ready.

What I was surprised by learning about the travel agency business is how it isn’t really more expensive to use a Travel Agent and in fact really can save you money, vendors or companies pay travel agents a commission that comes out of their profits and does not affect the general price.  Example, if a cruise costs $1,500 then you pay $1,500 if you book it directly and cruise keeps 100% of the money paid, but if you book through a travel agent you can get additional discounts given to travel agents as promotions and the cruise costs no more just the cruise line itself has to pay a % of that sale to the travel agent.  So ultimately travel agents are able to get free onboard credit, last minute specials and other deals that are only promoted through travel agencies and not directly on the companies websites.

Our business will specialize in cruises as between my wife and I we have taken more than 1/2 dozen cruise from Mexico to the Caribbean and plan on taking a European cruise later in the year possibly.  Cruises we feel are the best bang for the buck vacation offering inclusive food, unique destinations and activities and adventures.  They make cruises for families, couples and even singles looking to mingle and have a little fun.  Though we are specializing in cruises we are able to help you create any type of vacation from a simple two day getaway to Sedona, Arizona to a full week long stay in Hawaii.  We can accomodate virtually any budget and help you create the perfect vacation.

My wife wrote a really good article on why use a travel agent which helps clarify the benefits and securities that people get when booking through a known and trusted agent rather than an anonymous online system.  You get personalized support and everything you need in one place with a dedicated support person who can handle everything from your flights, hotel or even activities you have booked.  Travel Agents are ideal for helping you plan a vacation when you aren’t sure what you want to do, or want to explore some things you haven’t thought of.

So welcome J&S Travel Agency to the business and wish us success in carving out our own space in Casa Grande, Arizona and Online.  Our first big event will be a booth setup at the Phoenix Bridal Show January 7th and 8th where we have put together special packages and information for Honeymoons or vow renewals.

What a great way to start of 2011 with a new business venture with my wife!

Happy 2011 Everyone!

-Justin Germino

One thing I have done as a mental tradition is spend the last day of the year reflecting on all events and items in the previously departing year that were noteworthy.  I like to remember my failures, achievements and even the things I could have, should have or would have done had I one reason or another.  Self discovery is key to making sure you can adapt and change behaviors you find undesirable or in some cases downright negative while it also allows you to capitalize and revel in the successes and joys experienced as well.

I always strive to be a better and more patient parent, far too often I find myself frustrated by things that really shouldn’t get a rise out of me and won’t matter ten years from now.  Ironically I was watching Eat, Pray, Love with Julia Roberts earlier in the week and there was one scene in Bali where a character informed Julia Robert’s character that you control your thoughts like any other action you take.  Control what you allow your mind to think, focus your thoughts so that ineffective or wasted thoughts are purged before you ever bring them to light.  This is one thing that stuck with me and I wonder how much more efficient and happy I can be if I can better control my thoughts and prevent my thoughts around worry, stress.  This is something I am going to try focusing on in 2011 and learn to better control unwanted thoughts.

It isn’t like I have bad thoughts or anything, mostly my problem is that my mind is always racing.  I have too many thoughts all the time, and I can barely keep focused on one thing while other thoughts and ideas are bouncing in my head.  I don’t like going to sleep at night thinking about all the work I have to do or catch up on for my day job while at the same time stressing about how many posts I have for my blog this week and wondering how to tweak AdSense or another part of my site to try and squeeze out a little more earnings performance.  It is a good thing I can pretty much fall asleep anywhere and anytime, because if it wasn’t for my ease of falling asleep I would think my thoughts would prevent sleep altogether.

Anyway, here is to controlling thoughts and better being able to balance ones mind in the new year.

-Justin Germino

Ironically when I am working at my home office I don’t really snack that much though I eat my breakfast which usually consists of oatmeal or a cereal bar and lunch at my desk.  My snacks tend to involve an occasional snack bar, fruit, small bowl of chips or random item found in the pantry.  Lately my favorite snack is the Wasabi Cashew nuts that I received as a gift for Christmas, I only see these a few times a year and they are a pleasure/pain relationship with my mouth as each nut causes an intense Wasabi burn before giving way to the cashew nut flavor.

My biggest vise is however snacking late night while watching TV or movies which is done almost every single night of the week, for some reason I tend to crave food and though I don’t eat sweets the type of snacks I eat are far worse in other ways.  My snacking more often than not involves cheeses or Italian meats like Salami, Pepperoni and there is no shortage of Boars Head products in my fridge I can tell you that.

This is probably my biggest habit I need to break in the new year, as it isn’t good for me from a health perspective.  The food is certainly to lead to heart problems and though I haven’t gained a lot of weight it has caused me to gain some of the weight I lost two years ago back.  What I need to do is find and choose healthier snacks to satisfy my cravings and I tried this with celery, fruit and other healthier choices but man nothing can stop when you have a fix for Pepperoni and some Muenster cheese.

Anyway, like so very many people out there I am trapped with the snacking dilemma and trying to find a means of solving it.

-Justin Germino

I have always been bad about saving receipts from grocery stores and often just toss them in the trash after entering the money spent into my budget, this always comes back to bite me when a grocery item turns out to be spoiled or something wrong and I need to go and return it for a replacement or a refund.  An example was on Christmas Eve where my wife and I had purchased a 30 count platter of frozen tiger shrimp cocktail on Tuesday of last week only to find out on Christmas Eve that the shrimp smelled very fishy and the whole platter was inedible.

Fortunately when I contacted Fry’s Marketplace they told me to bring the platter back and they would refund or exchange it without a receipt, but in the end I should be better about keeping my receipts.  Fry’s Marketplace has always been good about returns and refunds however and as long as I have the product to show them, I have been able to get refunded.  I was trying to spare them of bringing in stinky shrimp and when I brought it up to the customer service counter they took one whiff and proceeded to have it discarded.  I grabbed a replacement and thawed it out as fast as possible and it was ready for the Christmas Eve dinner.

Overall, I haven’t had too many problems with precooked frozen seafood from Fry’s Marketplace, I tend to find their precooked frozen fish of higher quality than Walmart but either way in Arizona you aren’t getting fresh seafood unless you are paying  a very high premium at a place that fly’s it in fresh or offers flash frozen straight from the ocean.  AJ’s Fine Foods has the best fresh seafood in all of Arizona in my opinion and generally if I need Lobster, Crab or seafood of the highest quality I pay the premium and drive down to Ahwatukee to purchase it there.

-Justin Germino

I had been using the Canon Digital Rebel XT camera for several years and was wonderfully surprised when my wife had gotten me the 75-300mm Zoom Lens which is among the best bang for the buck zoom lenses you can get for this digital SLR camera.

This lens is ideal for taking pictures of smaller objects or zooming in on objects fairly far away like at a Zoo, or in my case I like to zoom in on insects.  Though the lens isn’t ideal for macro mode and you cannot take photo’s of objects that are closer than say 12" to the lens with the autofocus, it does a fantastic job of making objects that are 10′ away appear as if they are only a foot away.

The lens also because it is a zoom lens can focus much further away than the default Canon Digital Rebel XT flash can reach, so to ideally use the lens in low light conditions you will either need a more powerful flash or a stable and solid light source to compensate for the lower light.

These were some of the images I took with the new EF 75 – 300mm Zoom lens, now I am just waiting for a reason to use the new lens.

The above happens to be earrings that my 4 year old really wanted to get my wife for Christmas so I let him and she loved the gift he picked out.

-Justin Germino

Trio Block sets were one of the big items for my 4 year old from Santa this year as my son considers himself a builder and at 4 years old Lego bricks are too small.  The system involves blocks that snap together combined with rods that connect the blocks.  They have many different combinations of blocks like two, three, four and five connected ones to make some amazing combinations of items.

With the sets we have I have to say Trio is one of my favorite toy products for children ages 3 – 10 and I enjoy creating buildings, monsters and various cities and towers using the dozens of pieces.  All pieces are sturdy and constructions when snapped together can take some toy abuse without falling apart too easily.

Trio gets my recommendation as one of the top building products you could get kids to help promote creativity and imagination and here are some of the sets we purchased this year and I put together.

-Justin Germino

You won’t believe what happened to me the other day when using Tweetdeck!  I have quite a few profiles listed on Tweetdeck and select which ones I want to communicate with on Twitter, but for some reason I didn’t have any profiles selected and did not realize it.  I had been tweeting for a few hours maybe 1 tweet an hour and found it curious that nobody had responded to me after quite a while, I generally have a few people that acknowledge me on Twitter occasionally.

Well to my dismay I realized that Tweetdeck will pretend to do status updates, IE you can type in the status and hit send and your status disappears like it sent somewhere.  But when you don’t have any profiles selected everything you typed just gets banished to nothingness never to be seen or broadcast.  I had completely wasted a dozen or so tweets that never were sent.  I wish Tweetdeck were like Hootsuite in this regard and popup a message or warning that you have no profile selected before letting this happen.

I felt like a moron for sure,

-Justin Germino

Merry Christmas to all my friends and family out there, I have made many new friends since joining the world of blogging and I really think that the Internet and social media do a good job of bringing people with "like minds" together and help foster real world friendships that may start as digital ones.

My favorite thing about Christmas is spending time with my family, particularly my awesome sons who I know will be spending most of today playing with presents from Santa and I will be assembling most of them. 

One invention they should work on is a permanent battery that lasts years without ever being replaced, I would pay $20 for a Double A that lasts 10 years and doesn’t need recharging every 24-48 hours after use.

-Justin Germino