The last week or so has left me with little to write about.  Today I started a class on Adobe Illustrator which I am extremely thrilled to learn.  I am starting to look at pictures that people have created and am understanding which parts they used Illustrator for and in which parts they used Photoshop. I personally find it hard to stay motivated and inspired on my own, and have a hard time focusing on tutorials or reading the help menus of programs.

That is why I was not exactly thrilled today when I asked the professor teaching Illustrator, what he knew about InDesign.  He said he knew a lot about it and a good place for me to learn was the Adobe help files.  Granted I could take the InDesign class on Mondays and Wednesdays, but I would have already missed a session.

Which really makes me sad, because recently, my friends and I thought it would be a good idea to start putting together a PDF magazine.  Which means, I will be the one looked to, to do layout and spread the word via the internet.

I may also note, that spreading the word via the internet, will probably be hard, because this site doesn’t pull in more than several visitors a day right now.  I makes me sad, but what content am I offering my visitors?  I mean really, there is nothing of use on my site, just useless babblings.

That being said, lets continue.  I kind of want the new Samsung Instinct and because I have Sprint, I could get it for somewhere around 50 dollars when my contract has matured.  However, I do feel that it wont replace an iPhone an would probably be a waste of my time.  In which case, I can’t wait for Google to release Android.  I think I read that Spint is getting into that because they have dim future.  Oh well.

In other news, I was almost scammed the other day.  Some guy tried to get me to wire him money be sending a check that I knew wouldn’t clear and saying to send X number of dollars to some other person right away.  I didn’t and he hasn’t contacted me since, add another oh well to the list.

I might have a sprained wrist, and I have a semi-recovering ankle.  Both injuries are from skateboarding.  Plus I met some new people to skate with. Which brings me back to the post I have been trying to write all day and failing miserably at.  “Find People, Progress” was going to be the title.  My theory is this, find people who share the same interests, will help guide you and hold you accountable, and then you have to pursue a relationship or at least a correspondence with them.  In this way you will learn to your fullest potential because they will see to it.  If you don’t have anyone holding you accountable, or no one where you live shares the same interests, then you are going to find it hard to learn, progress, and become better at what you like.

So find some people who want you to do your best, exchange knowledge, learn and progress.

Soon I will be doing heelflips, making cool images in Illustrator, and getting a new car.  All because people are holding me accountable.  I just wish someone would hold me accountable for falling less.

I was sitting around this morning, listening to the Gym Class Heroes when I got to thinking that blogging about something on a low traffic site like mine, is in many ways, very similar to playing the stock market with out investing too much time in learning about it.  In both cases the person hopes for a good out come.  The blogger hopes the new post will attract attention to his or her site, and the person playing the stock market hopes that whatever new stock they have just gambled on will turn out to be a winner.

However, greater than 90 percent of the time, the post and the stock, does not preform as anticipated.  Why?  Well here are some problems.

The first is that the average blogger/investor is not intelligent enough.  They do not invest enough time in researching the post/stock, they do not check out who has written it before or where the company has been financially.  In most cases, the post/stock has already been over used.  The topic of the post was found, written about, and then “dugg” in a more primitive stage than you have learned about it.  If the topic was a web application, somebody was writing about it in its alpha stage.  If it was music, someone had stolen it and released the bootlegs for everyone three weeks before it came out.  It is the same way with the new stock you want to invest in.  Think about what has really attracted you to the stock?  Has it been all over the news?  Has it been shooting up recently because the company is making huge improvements or has recently merged?  If this is the case, then you’re most likely throwing you’re money away.  Sure you might be able to make some money if you stay in for a brief period of time, and get out right at the peak.  But those who made a killing have been in it from the beginning.

That brings me to the second issue of blogging and playing the stock market.  It IS all who you know.  Big bloggers typically work for big companies or have years upon years of experience in the field they are writing about.  Or if not one of these two, the blogger probably jumped on the bandwagon really early and has a large fan base due to comedic or learned informative value.  But back to the idea of big companies and years of experience.  Because they have either or both of these, the blogger knows people who can provide them with information.  The blogger is networked.  Friends keep him informed about the latest applications, games, gadgets, or whatever, that are coming out, then he or she writes about them.  Or the company that the blogger works for commands enough clout to get the blogger interviews with movers and shakers of the blogger’s writing topic.

The same goes for the ivestor.  The people making the money, reaping the benefits, are those who are in the know.  They are the people who invest for a living or know those who do.  They know about companies before the public does.  They have the opportunity to buy into the company and may choose to do so based on how the company is set up (the system in place) and who is running the company.  The investor educates him/herself about those two ideas, and makes a decision.  They know that once the company is in the limelight, that most of the money to be made is gone.  It is peaking, their money should have been in earlier, and those who buy now will most likely lose money.

In conclusion, blogging and investing are all about your education and who you know.  The more information that can be gathered and turned around the better, and the more contacts you have, also the better.

Good People Day 2008 is an idea from Gary Vaynerchuk–whom most of you know, I have been following–that recognizes good people and what they have done.  There have been a lot of good people in my life, so here is a shout out to them:

My girlfriend:  Awesome girl.  Smart, fun, intelligent, outgoing, huge brained, kind, clever, patient, witty, good looking, everything you want in a girlfriend.  Thanks for putting up with me.

Alex Hillman:  Thanks for being a mentor to me and continuing to be in the future.  Thank you for helping me delve further into the web and inspiring me to do what I am passionate about.  You are dangerously awesome.

Bart Mroz: Thanks for your input the day Alex and I were talking about where I was going.

Gary Vaynerchuk:  Awesome person for all the ideas you throw at me via your videos.  After all it is you that has me doing this, and you probably haven’t even looked at my blog.

Felipe Tofani, Thiago Santana, Fabio Sasso, Johnny Bilotta, and anyone else who has inspired me or taken a few minutes out of their day to get back to me on design questions.

My parents: For being supportive and patient with me.  For helping me follow my dreams.

Mario Leone:  For being super cool by coming and knocking on my door the first day of college.  Man we had some good times that first week haning out meeting all the peeps.  Thanks for all the help you gave me with the filming and what not.  Thanks for all the cool events you got us into at the Franklin Institute.  Man good times.  Hey do you have a sauce recipie that I can get?

Bethany Shumaker:  Thanks for putting up with my complaining at school when I really had nothing to complain about.  Thanks for missing me and stuff.  Leave the cup on the fridge, I might come back and have to use it.

Courtney D’Entremont: Thanks for those fun times we had staying up late and talking about religion.  That one night we were up until 6 am and then Hershey Park four hours later.

Karin Tsai: For all those cool times we had in high school and should still be having if you weren’t too busy with your new friends.  I HATE YOU! Just kidding.  Please call me, I miss seeing you and yeah.  We definately need to have some good conversations again.  Thanks for being there for me.

Kevin Brodbeck: Yeah, you’re becoming a bit more evil and mellow, but that’s how everyone likes you.  It’s a good thing.  Thanks for all the math help you gave me in Calculus 2 and all the cool times we had wandering around Penn.

Cory Blasdell: We definitely need that camping trip this summer to hang out some more.  Listen to some good music, drink some, uh water, because I don’t drink and neither do you.  Maybe some Sobe’s if were feeling risky.  Thanks for all the good times with the movies and just chilling with everybody.

Dan Zimmerman: Everybody do the! Do the Barracuda!  Need I say more?  I miss you man.

Gunnar Benediktsson: My one professor who I had Honors 200 with.  Thanks for the interesting readings on Transcendentalism, I really enjoyed learning from you.  Here’s hoping that this comes up someday when you Google your name.

Pavel Grinfeld: Linear Algebra professor. Thanks for being patient and helping me out when I was really confused.

Everyone else such as: Brian Stacy, Sarah Strickler, Cameron Spurlock, Abbie Heller, Becky Atland, George Stolakis, Jared Stiffler, Ian Hoffman, Dylan Rutter, my sister, Colette Smyser, Michelle Renn, my old roommates, Poonam Sharma, everyone at Drexel.

So heres to all the good people out there that I havent met.  Keep on making the world go round and you will be recognized too.