Other than that, thanks for dropping by. See you on the webz!

So check out my post on “What’s Hot in IT Jobs” and let me know what you think!

Although my blogging here has pretty much died down, I still Twitter occassionally and update the family blog when I get a chance. Hopefully I can put out more tech/business related posts and articles as I get time.

How do I pick the one to use? One could spend all day literally in multiple networks linking up, posting micro-blogs, etc. It’s crazy. Most of it is useless IMO.

What I’ve found to be quite valuable are the following (in no particular order):

Facebook.com – Mostly for a personal/family/HS and College network. I check in about once a week to catch up or do research. Don’t play any games or anything. As it is, it’s getting crazy with all the 3rd party applications.

LinkedIn.com – I <3 this site. I’ve used it to network with college classmates, HS classmates, and all kinds of business people here in the Upstate and across the US. Great resource. I’ve used it to meet people and it’s opened up warm leads for me. If it ever goes pure pay I’ll probably pay to keep it.

Twitter.com – I’m still experimenting with this site. In fact, I’ve found it easier to micro-blog using Twitter than to blog here. Probably cause I can jot out a 140 character message a lot faster than coming up with a couple of paragraphs of other stuff. It’s been a decent resource so far in networking and communicating with other professionals.

Brightkite.com – Just signed on in the Beta. No idea how this might help, but it’s beta and free so why not.

Plaxo.com – I probably should use this site a little more. Has some great potential but with my limited time I tend to gravitate towards LinkedIn instead.

Hmm, I think that’s about it for now. Who knows I might fry out on the whole social mash-up thing and go retro and offline in a few months. hehe.

Have a great weekend everyone! Remember, if you know any great Java, PHP, or Clinical Analysts then send them my way. I can put you to work tomorrow (well, almost that fast.)

I didn’t have access to a PC while out due to my laptop being dead so I was only able to check my Gmail from my phone (Gmail Mobile rocks btw) and do some Twittering as well. I will say that a surfing the web from a WAP enabled phone is horrible. It’s great for getting small tidbits of news or something but most sites out there are not WAP optimized and it’s still woefully slow.

I think a mobile phone being a killer ‘net device is still a bit out there.

I’m busy unpacking and following up on clients and setting up meetings. The new place is a good bit closer to home which is really nice. I’ll try to take some pics and get them uploaded to show ‘em off.

Now off to a GSATC lunch! Yum!

It might not happen till I get back from the 4th. Headed out to visit some of the wife’s family up in PA and DE. Should be lots of fun. I get to go fishing (hopefully!) and maybe I’ll catch something worthy of taking a picture of…

This week is a short one for FGP. We are moving to our new offices about 2-3 miles away. Great for me as it’s about 3-4 miles closer to where I live. That translates to about $250.00 a year in gas savings (based on $3/gallon). I like closer.

Our new digs are going to be awesome. I’m going to try to take some pics and post them down the road.

Well, off to hit the phones and go meet a few potential clients today. Gotta pay the bills!

Got some exciting new changes coming to the blog over the next few days.  Going to update WordPress to the latest version, going to add some interesting links, and also will be focusing more on trying to put out good content in regards to recruiting. I might also do some theme tweaking as well. I’ve been doing some ‘net searching and reading a couple of good recruiting blogs and I’d like to get my blog up to par with some others that I’ve seen.

In the meantime it’s off for a company grill out today! Brats and hamburgers! Boo yaa!

Seems my biggest traffic pages are the IRS money article and my XBox 360 page. Now if only people would sign up under the XBox program…hmmm… Speaking of the 360 page. I will be rewriting it sometime this weekend I hope. Clear up some verbage and get rid of that cheesy middle part (I didn’t write it just so you know).

Also, my income report for February was…

*drum roll*

hehe..

$ .59!

Yeah! I thought it was kinda funny. I won’t be able to get that deposited into my account until it hits $100. Good thing I’m not depending on this site for full-time income.

I think as I keep learning the ropes in my new job I’ll keep blogging on that. I’ve done some searches in the past for blogs that talk about Headhunting/Recruiting but really haven’t found a lot out there so maybe my niche blogging will pay off eh? If you ever want me to talk about a certain recruiting topic just leave me a comment and I’ll do my best to write about it.

As I’m learning the ropes of recruiting that is one of the subtle questions we look for and ask our candidates. Maybe not in direct terms, but in terms like the following: Why did you leave the job you are at or why are you job hunting? (If the answer is only money then we usually flag that as a sign the candidate might not be the right one we are looking for).

I even ask myself what motivates me. Is it only money? (it’s not) Is it the challenge? (partially) The ability to become financially independent and debt free? (very much so) or something else? (probably that too)

Ask yourself the next time you head into work. What motivates you? If you can’t find an answer maybe you need to think a little deeper and figure out what drives you. So many people are on autopilot today.  Come in. Punch clock. Work. Punch out. Go home. Veg. Rinse and repeat. There’s more to life than that. Each and everyone of us has a purpose. The first is to glorify God and the second to love one another as Christ has loved us.

I’ve always been an on and off blogger. Writing doesn’t come naturally to me but I am motivated to keep this blog going because it improves my communication skills and forces me out of my comfort zone. That’s my motivation to keep things going. Even when I don’t feel like blogging I try to post something.

Back then if you wanted to implement your own blog it took a little creativity to install, some MySQL knowledge possibly, and a few cans of caffeine to get it working right. Now it’s a piece of cake. Wordpress installs in less than 5 minutes. and Blogspot/Blogger is a piece of cake to use with all their built-in tools.
I like using Wordpress due to it’s simplicity and functionality. I have a personal blog on Blogger and I used to use Movable Type a long time ago but changed when they got rid of their free license. What makes Wordpress even better is the amount of plug-ins available to customize and tweak your blog.

Here’s a rundown on what I’m using at the moment -

• Wordpress 2.3.3
• Akismet for comment spam
• Peter’s Custom Anti-Spam plug-in for comment authentication
• ProSense Blue Theme by DoshDosh.com
• Wordpress.com Stats plug-in
• Google AdSense affiliate program
• TTZ Media affiliate program
• ShareThis plug-in
• MyBlogLog stats and plug-in

I’m sure I’ll be adding more as I discover what’s good and what’s not good and as this site grows and matures. So if you’re a beginning blogger check out some of those tools. Might save you a few hours of searching!

As soon as I publish this post I’ll be finding a nice e-card to send to my wife at work. We tend to not spend money on each other for Valentine’s Day. Kinda cheesy if you ask me. Hey, the 50% sales on the day after are great for stocking up on candy though!

So I haven’t made a penny yet from blogging but something I think I will do is post monthly revenue/income figures. Why? No reason in particular, a lot of other blogs do it (yeah, I’m following in their steps) and I think it’ll be fun to see traffic and revenue increase from the base of 0 (which it is currently at right now) to hopefully something decent within 12 months.

So by February 13, 2009 my goal is to have made… *drumroll*

$1,200.00

Think it’s doable? I do. Stick around and watch it happen!

I’ll also try to post some other stats as I find them. For example the current ranking of valien.net on Technorati is 4,446,976! Aw yeah! I can only go up from there (I hope )