I actually have a Bestseller, of sorts

Well, as funny as this might sound, I have a #1 bestselling book on Amazon.com. No, I'm not raking in millions of dollars from hundreds of thousands of books sales. I think the book has reached something like five sales total, ever. However, in the set up in Amazon.com, this is enough for me to have the bestseller for one particular category, Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan. It's a Kindle electronic book called Ghost Stories of Olde Vol 3. As of right now, it is actually listed as "#27,893 in Kindle Store" overall. Not bad for public domain content that is buried deep in Amazon.com's listings.

I actually have five listings currently on Amazon.com for the Kindle. I'm not making any substantial money. In fact, as of right now, I've not earned enough to even quality to receive any payment. Hopefully soon I'll earn my first $10. Joy. At this rate, I'm earning roughly 16¢ an hour (that's $0.16 for those who've never seen the cent ¢ symbol before) for the time it took me to make those books.

Featured in Pontiac Performance Magazine

With Alice, a profile feature article was written about me and my 2009 Pontiac G8 GT in the Spring edition of Pontiac Performance Magazine. (Original post/backup link)

Birthday thang

It's been awhile since I've used my birthday as an excuse to get the gang together. In fact, I think it's been a few years. It used to be one of many excuses I used. These days is a busy time. Work takes up more time, keeping a house organized is harder than I anticipated for two people.

Well, this year my excuses start up again! It will be a little late in the month; Allie and I are having a BBQ at the park outside our house. The invited group is an eclectic mix twenty, thirty and forty-somethings (and some of their kids). Damn, I'm actually having a gathering where it is a given that the kids are invited. Back in the day, this would've been a question not even touched. I must be getting older. And here I am with no kids of my own. Of course, OPC are a lot of fun, mostly cuz they left when their parents do.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the party!

Cell phones and illegal telemarketer calls

It is illegal for telemarketer to call your cell phone. This is per the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991. That law prohibits solicitation calls where the recipient is charged for the call. This act has no expiration, so the protection of cell phones from telemarketers will remain intact until the law is changed (which is not likely).

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act is not the "Do Not Call" list. You do not need to submit your cell number to the "Do Not Call" list to have protection. "Do Not Call" list is legit, of course, that that is mostly for landlines, not cell phones.

The is an urban legend going right now right now online that is trying to scare people into submitting their cell numbers to a scam website. If you receive that email, do not go to the email's link. Do not forward that email on. It is an attempt to steal information.

The FCC wants anyone who has received a telemarketer call on their cell to report it to them here: http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm

Staycation

V-Day weekend ended up being more of a staycation than a vacation. I did take President's Day off with Allie, but that was mostly a work day around the house. Friday and Saturday, we did do a little driving. We checked out Blackhawk area on Friday. On Saturday, we spent time in Salinas at the Steibeck Museum during the day, and then had dinner at the Fish Hopper in Monterey for a romantic evening. I would still like for us to get away for a weekend somewhere.

Geekfest, FL

My week at the Swan and Dolphin in Florida is finally over. There well hella stuff that I had to do at part of "the press" for SolidWorks World. This is a big geekfest where users of the 3D CAD software join this convention to eat, sleep and breathe SolidWorks. My "job" was to write about on my SolidWorks Legion blog. SolidWorks Corp is wisely involving actual users and modern online venues to support their subscribers. So, I wrote and wrote and wrote. I was at something like 5 press conferences and events. I have never been to a press conference before in my life, but it's not much different that what one might expect from seeing them on TV. However, it is an interesting feeling being in the mix, asking questions and what-not.

I'm glad to be back and now rested up just in time for V-day weekend. My wife and I missed each other. Perfect timing to reconnect.