Thursday, December 30, 2010

My General Sense Of Boredom ...

Hope I'm not in trouble here. I'm doing that thing I do. Its a childlike trait I confess. Like picking up a new toy,shaking it a few times,hurling it against a wall  then hobbling off in a new direction leaving a trail of drool in my wake. 

This is not good. I find that I loose interest in projects insanely fast. First its wonderful and exciting,then its great,on to "O.K." then it becomes sorta emotionless and automatic with bouts of fatigue setting in - at the very last stage I find myself looking for the exit or subconsciously trying to get myself thrown out the exit. 

In the real world people stick it out,people commit. They make something of their time that they can look back on with a sense of accomplishment, from parents to CEO's the good ones stick it out through thick and thin. They dedicate themselves.

I'm really hoping this coming new year sees me more actively exploring my potential,pushing for success both personal and career wise.


 

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

I Littered Yesterday, But Thoughtfully...

I was standing on the subway platform yesterday morning, waiting for the number four train to come and take me into Manhattan. It was a crisp cold morning, I was desperate for caffeine so I snagged a Pepsi in my rush to the train station..

I remember appreciating the flavor and kick from the drink,while at the same time freezing my fingers a little grasping the can.The anoucement over the PA informed me that there was a number four Manhattan bound train approaching just one minute away. By now I've wandered to the far end of the platform in a vain attempt to secure a less crowded end car,there isn't a trash can close by and I don't want to hold onto my now empty can of soda.

I noticed a payphone and sitting on top of the payphone was a brown Styrofoam cup, somebody else had been in my exact predicament and they solved the problem by making use of the payphone ledging.

The tracks started to squeal and squeek, I notice the train rounding the bin approaching, I take another glance at that payphone,stroll over and place my empty soda can somewhat next to the coffee. In my minds eye I could already see the city worker with gloves,a broom and dustpan clearing off that payphone.

The train pulled in, the doors opened and as I boarded. I wondered how much exactly does a trash collector for the city make? Maybe I did a good thing, I'm helping to sustain our struggling economy. The city will pay somebody to clean up after me, this individual will in turn provide for his needs including family,bonus if the city recycles. Did I do something wrong .or something insight-fully correct ? Was there a greater good ?

Don't get me wrong, while I'm given to fantasy I'm not given to delusion. Littering is bad and can totally bring down the whole cosmetic appeal of a city/town. However, it was just me, and my little tiny can of Pepsi besides we are talking about New York, I coulda chucked that can boldly across the platform letting it land where ever it choose,nobody would have done a thing. I really could have been a bad ass about it.

Beleive it or not I spent a good twenty minutes of that train ride debating in my head the correctness of my actions. Finally I came to a resolution/ settlement. The correctness or incorrectness of my actions hinged on a vital piece of information that I did not contain,that information being,how much does a trash worker for the city of New York get paid.

I did some brief research and learned that the average garbage worker in New York gets paid $35,000.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Twitter Revisted

I have to be honest here. I really didn't get Twitter at first, whats the point of tweeting about everyday mundane activities ? Thats actually a trick question. A snap response might be, "its really lame to tweet about cleaning your kitchen" . You know, those types of tweets. Like, " I just picked up my daughter from soccer practice". I thought Twitter was mainly for that purpose and so I was thoroughly not interested, at first.

However if you go a little deeper with the concept you may start to notice some clever possibilities. Possibilities that could work well with your agenda. YES, its important to have some sort of agenda if your going to be on Twitter - I might even venture to say "a cause". Suddenly your a little cooler (depending on your agenda/cause)

The beauty of Twitter in my opinion is that it appeals to people out there like me who have trouble really developing and articulating thoughts "textually" - see thats actually what I mean right there. I think I said what I was trying to say but I'm not sure. Instead your given only 140 characters to express yourself,to share an idea,to promote or whatever. That works for me cause things start to get really fuzzy and unclear after 140 characters if your me.

With Twitter I can take a gorilla warfare approach to self publishing. I can put a thought or idea out there and just run away,call it a tweet,call it a day. Its wooooonderful. Over time there is a trail of tweets and if I tweet enough, rather I intend to or not,people are gonna start to get some basic insights as to who I am and what I'm about.

Tweets can also connect to a bigger picture, it really caters to all of our relatively short attention spans. If I ever really decide to start writing and developing blogs seriously - you would be able to know in advance rather you would enjoy reading them because you've enjoyed many of my tweets etc... twitter is just plain flexible and versatile limited only by your creativity and those 140 characters.

Follow me on twitter for product deals and random blurbs: @creativebargain

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Inception Movie Revisted

If you have an active imagination or are interested at all in lucid dreaming. Inception is definately candy for your mind. I loved this movie and saw it more than once. The dream world has fasinated me every since I was a child. In fact I've been having lucid dreams ever since I was little.

My early lucid ventures were "basic". I was suffering from nightmares often,my mom of course being very religous would have me sleep with a bible under my pillow. The results were mixed so another thing she instructed me to do whenever I was extremly frightened was to call on the name of God. Apparently demons become very unsettled at hearing the name of God. Rather you beleive in Jehovah or not is entirely diferent blog. My very first ventures into lucid dreaming however often involved me praying and in a panic.

It wasn't till my early teens that I started taking full advantage of lucid dreaming....

At this point I could "take control" of any dream that seemed not right, nightmares had long gone. In fact I had turned into a sort of galactic trouble maker in my own right. In the dream world you are a god. Everything that is happening around you and to you is taking cues from your very thoughts and desires themselves. In a lucid dream you are creating and interacting with your inviorment at the same time.You have full power over everything.

I'm not talking about foggy/smoggy alternate realities. The lucid realm is just as rich in color,sound , and texture as waking reality -the place your in right now why you sit reading this blog. Imagine floating up from your seat right now and taking a trip to Paris ? Don't even get me started on the sexual stuff. Anything you desire to do or experience is yours.

Personally in lucid dreams I've given myself great wealth,slept with women of unimaginable beauty,slain evil monsters, helped others,fulfilled all of my mischevious desires as well. I can honestly say, I've been there and I've done that when it comes to lucid dreaming.


In fact I don't care to have a lucid dream these days - I prefer uninterrupted sleep where my mind is off , rather off as far as I'm aware. Over the years as I've become older ,maybe wiser, I can say that there is one thing I have always tended to find increasingly discomforting about lucid dreaming.

Ever drive to a busy shopping mall and forget where you parked your car ? Well, whenever I'm dreaming in a lucid state I can't help but wonder if my actual physical body is ok. Is my apartment on fire ? What if

someone is breaking in right now ? Am I dead ? I just get bombarded with thoughts of worry.

I think this is because for better or worse I've become more anchored to this world through  my children. In my youth I had no attachments to this life. I wanted to escape so bad. Not kill myself or hurt myself, its just I wasn't long for the belief system that had been instilled in me. This is really code about my religous upbringing and how trapped I felt in it. My desire to escape and be free and not be subject to a trigger happy God. It was how I felt about God according to my upbringing,that he was harsh and unreasonable,totally out of touch. I was naive in that regard.


However if you are anxious about having a lucid dream its definately worth having. These dreams provide an extra layer of insight as to who we are and our ultimate purpose, in my opinion. I have some theories I'd love to share with you sometime.



Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Hello My Name Is Wendell (Disclaimer)

Disaster averted. My dear reader we just dodged a major bullet. I came so close to doing something that would have been insanely boring,unexciting and uneventful. I was going to talk about eBay some more.

There is however one small little complication with that formula.That being you probably know more about eBay than I do.Its no cliche friend...I'm not going to follow that up with some sort of sunshine bull about how you need to realize your potential and blah blah blah...

Instead, why not get to know me ?  Here is where it gets REALLY interesting. There is still an excellent opportunity for deception -in fact an even better one. I get to paint myself as "the good guy",of course thats not to say that I', "the bad guy". I mean it can be a confessional blog, yet the observant would note that things always tended to fall my way. No matter what I confess ,somehow,someway,I will come out good. Its only natural to write this way,to talk this way,to be this way.

I'm gonna do something for you that I don't think you will encounter very often. I'm going to be honest about how exactly dishonest I intend to be...I think thats fair...The number in my head is not based on an exact science or numerical methodology so I will simply estimate.

 88 percent of what I'm going to tell you "about me" will be true to the best of my knowledge. The remaining 12 percent will be complete and utter BS implanted to make me look good so you like me. Unfortunately I will not be forthcoming as to the exact "occurrences" that you will have to figure out on your own.

I'm glad we got that out of the way, I feel as though a great burden has been lifted. Oooooh, and now I'm so excited to share my past with you. can't wait to write my next blog next blog - I mean we'll still talk shop on occasion - then on other occasions we'll go totally off the beaten path.

Monday, December 6, 2010

The Secret Is Now Yours, Little Bird.

Ok, well, in all honesty its really no secret at all. My eBay model,strategy, or game plan is very simple. In my very humble noob opinion one does not need to go out there and obtain potentially costly distributor deals with suppliers etc. NO, one must be as swift as a bird (like the really little ones). Your like a bargain hunting bird -eyes panning-soaring and banking-swooping down and feeding off the fat of the land. BE THE BIRD.

We are the little guys remember ? There are advantages to every situation you just have to have open eyes to what they are... My strategy is simple,stand back and let the big guys duke it out. By duke it out I mean "pricematch". Major retailers like Amazon,Walmart and Bestbuy are constantly engaging each other in price making and deal one upmanship. this often results in windows of opportunities where you littlebird can swoop in,grab a few items that have been price matched below retail,and fly away.

There are actually forums dedicated to watching out for and locating the best deals !! These forums are maintained by everyday people like you and I who gain nothing from putting the word out,by nothing I mean they are not affiliated with whatever they are promoting or endorsing. The information you receive is often the straight dope with no spin. My favorite forum is slickdeals but there are many like it. I can't even began to describe all the advantages to lurking on these forums just go and see for yourself,its good stuff, even for a guy of my very short attention span.


I have other strategies but I'm still testing them out,the one I just gave you however is good for public consumption. Execute it and stick to purchasing items that are in demand and trending and you WILL make a little something. Nothing life changing, but its defiantly a hustle worth looking into.

Ok, go now, fly away ...

Stop by and see what I have up for auction this week.