First Breath After Coma

Well here I am again by accident through an old tweet of this blog I had long forgotten about. I don't know if I'll start writing in here regularly or maybe it will just be whenever the mood strikes me, but I suppose tonight I am in the mood to let a few things off my chest.

A good friend inspired me to start this blog, encouraged and challenged me to write and if it weren't for him I would never have written a word. I'll admit I have not written anything in a long time, but I hope to remedy that, even if I am the only one who ever sees it. I am sad that I drifted away from contact with you and I'll admit that I got busy working and it was easier to stop coming around. I would be remiss if I didn't admit, though, that I am a little hurt that I never got a call, text or email asking where I was or how I was doing. I may be skewing my point of view based on hurt, but I feel like you didn't even care when I stopped coming around. I know you are busy with your own family and job, I understand. I will admit that I am a coward because I have not tried to call or text, but it seems like its been so long now that I can't just simply do that. I don't know maybe I'm making a bigger thing than it really is. I have some different views now than I did then, and we may not agree on them, but you were always one to hear someone out and not dismiss someone's ideas as stupid or wrong and I appreciate that.We'll see if I start doing this regularly or if I don't write in it for another 4 years. I can't believe its been that long...

I don't know what the point of this blog is going to be, but maybe I'll find it somewhere along the way.

-Danny

Netflix plans to seperate online streaming membership from DVD rentals

So I found out the other day that Netflix has announced that they will start charging a separate fee for their online streaming which is currently free. Needless to say I was extremely disappointed to find out this news. Like probably the majority of Netflix users, I watch the majority of content from them through their online streaming. Honestly why would anyone want to wait for a DVD to be mailed to them when the can just pick out a movie and watch it instantly whenever they want. Granted, if the majority of consumers that are getting content from Netflix are watching it online through streaming and watching even with a small group of 3 or 4 friends, then in the big picture that is a lot of potential money that they are loosing from a single subscription. Personally, I believe that the DVD (and maybe even the Blu-Ray) is going the way of the dinosaur and I have watched all but ONE Blockbuster store in my direct area go out of business. It's quite obvious that digital media is the way of the future, I think there's no doubt about that.

The big question is, once Netflix goes through with this how much will that affect their customer base. Sadly, I don't think it will very much at all. Because physical media is going down the drain Netflix has the stranglehold on online content as far as streaming movies. They have the monopoly on the market basicly with no real major competition, therefore they can do whatever they want i.e. charge a monthly fee for streaming movies online as well as for DVD's. Unless some real competition comes about like Blockbuster stepping up with their online content, Netflix will continue unopposed. Hopefully Blockbuster will get with it and give us consumers some options. In the mean time I guess we will just have to stick it out and bite the bullet until something happens. According to the official Netflix press release, they are planning on implementing the change starting September 1, 2011 for existing members and it will start immediately for new members.

Here is the official press release from Netflix announcing the changes in their plans: http://netflix.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=397

New Business Ideas

Well maybe I have had too much caffeine tonight but I really feel like I need to get this out. I kind of have the feeling like I'm bursting at the seams.

I've been reading a book by Chester Chadeaux, the founder of Quiktrip and thinking about how lots of people that have really been successful have come up with new and innovative ideas that have not been done before. In the case of Quiktrip, he was not the first one to come up with the idea for convenience stores obviously, but he was on the ground floor of the convenience store idea. Think about Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Both innovators of the personal computer world. Another example: A friend of mine started his own laser tag business. Yes laser tag has been done before but not in this way. He reinvented it into a whole new genre of the laser tag game.

All of this got me to thinking that there has to be some new idea that somebody has not thought of yet or there is some existing thing or idea or business model that can be changed in enough of a way that people will want whatever it is that you are providing.

So why not get out there are get to work? Its not quite that easy. With technology and big businesses it is hard to think of an idea that has not been done already or something that hasn't been tried and failed. Now I'm not trying to cop out and say that there is nothing left out there to invent or new business ideas or improvements on existing things, but it defiantly is not as easy as back in the times before the industrial revolution when there was not much out there at all.

Unfortunately I don't have any ideas right now. I really wish that I could meet someone that has an idea and just doesn't have the time to make it happen or whatever. Right now would be a perfect time for me to pursue something new and very possibly risky because I really don't have that much to loose at this point in my life. I have almost unlimited time to put into anything that I want and hardly any obligations. I don't know what it is, maybe being bored out of my mind all the time and sitting at home doing nothing, but I really want some kind of idea to run with, if for nothing else but to occupy my time. If I just got even the slightest idea, at this point in time I think I would really like to just take it and see what I can do. I would be willing to work with someone if it were their idea, to get things rolling on whatever idea it is that they might have.

Basically, I don't want to work for anyone. I think I can be perfectly happy and successful working for myself and right now I am really motivated to do something about it. I am completly serious, if anyone is reading this and you have had some kind of idea for something that could be a really good business or even an idea to improve something please let me know. If you are busy with work and you just don't have the time to put into researching and really starting to get your idea rolling I would be more than happy to help you in working towards getting your idea started towards being a reality.

-Danny

Excerpt

This is an excerpt from a letter that I wrote to a dear friend of mine.

"...I really feel like I need to just get away for a while, away from all distractions, worries, and even people just to clear my head even if not to make a decision, but to figure out which direction to take that first step into. Unfortunately that is not such an easy thing to do, to just leave for a while and do some soul searching, in this day and age. I envy the guy in the movie Into The Wild (if you have ever seen it) in that he left everything behind and ceased to exist as far as the modern world was concerned. What a wonderful thing it would be, to leave everything even if only for a period of time and recharge, refresh and find yourself again deep beneath the layers of worry, burden, responsibilities, and everything that the world has covered you with over the years like layers of mud drying and becoming hard and more layers being added on until you are so hardened that the you that is underneath cannot even be seen anymore. To become new again, would be a wonderful thing."

-Danny

Marriage and Work

Well yet another person that I know just got engaged. This seems to be something that is happening more and more within the last year. I am extremely happy for all of the dear friends, acquaintances and my brother that have gotten engaged or married, but I suppose at the same time I’m not ready for it. I know that it is purely in my own mind and some strange logic I have, but it also kind of feels like the countdown has started for me. The countdown to the time when if I am not engaged or married or even have a serious relationship people start to say “I wonder when Danny will get married”. I know it sounds stupid, but the more people that I know that get married it seems like the more pressure is on for me. In reality it’s not true I know, but I feel that way. I’m not really in any rush to get married. I want to find the perfect woman that God set aside especially for me. He has his own time of when we will meet and no matter what I want it is all up to Him. Every man, I believe, longs to find that perfect match that God made for us to be our wife, our companion, support, our helper. I think that I am starting to get that longing, and that is a good thing but at the same time I know that I have a lot that I need to work on in myself before I can begin to form that relationship and bond with my future wife. This has kind of turned into more of something for me, but I think I will post it anyways.

Since it is 12:30 and it is technically Thanksgiving I’ll just throw this out there in the spirit of the holiday. What am I thankful for? Well I know it’s nothing profound, but I am thankful for finally getting a job. After being unemployed for something like 5 months it could not have come a moment sooner. I think the whole experience of being unemployed will really help me to appreciate the job that I have when it gets tough and I don’t feel like working. Just to know that I have some source of income coming in now puts my mind at ease like you wouldn’t believe. I spent many sleepless nights staying up and worrying about what I am going to do to pay my bills and be able to keep driving my car and talk on my cell phone. Tonight at Bible study we were talking about the Sabbath and how it is taken for granted now and not kept holy like it is supposed to be. I have been thinking about it and I feel like I should start to take that more seriously and ask for Saturdays off from work. Now I could easily make up some excuse to tell them why I need off like I have class or something, but I don’t think God would bless me for it (or maybe not as much) as if I took the step of faith and went up to my manager and told them straight out that I need it off because it is the Sabbath and a day of rest. I have never done this in any job that I have had, but I want God to be in control of my job and everything I do in my job. If that is where I am supposed to be then it will work out and I will do well in everything I do in my job through God.

-Danny

The written word

Reading is such a strange and yet beautiful thing. As I have been reading more and more lately, I have been more and more inclined to turn of the TV and read a book instead. Reading is such a wonderful thing because it invokes thought, wonder, joy, and excitement. Reading also inspires more reading. I just finished one book last night and I have already started another one. Once you find something that you thoroughly enjoy reading about, you want to find as much material about it as you can get you hands on. The possibilities are literally endless. There are more books out there than on man could ever possibly dream about reading in his lifetime. This is not to say that all books have substance and are good, but that still leaves an almost endless amount. It really does enrich your life. I think, that in the last few months I have read more as I am getting into reading than I have in the last few years.

Reading also inspires creativity. If I had not been reading lately, I probably would not have started this blog and would have nothing to say because I was not putting anything good into myself. It is like my old youth pastor, Marc Bolling, used to say: "Garbage in, Garbage out". If you are only feeding yourself garbage, than that is all you will get out. On the other hand though if you feed yourself with things of substance, you will get good things out.

Like I said before there is an endless amount of material out there for you to read. There are so many different genres, subjects, authors that you almost have to find something you like. I hope that everyone would be as enthralled as I am in this new fascination of mine that is reading and maybe, just maybe we would have something to show for ourselves. Otherwise we will continue down the path we are going and it leads to nowhere. Just think of it this way: the great minds of old did not merely amuse themselves with trivial things, they sought to better themselves and now they are considered great. There will be no more minds like J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, or G.K. Chesterton if we only amuse ourselves with trivial things. Think of our minds like an axe, they constantly have to be sharpened against a hard stone to maintain their edge, such as we have to sharpen ourselves by constantly giving ourselves something to grind upon.

-Danny

Breakdown or breakthrough?

Something a little different...

"Constantly worrying, constantly wondering, fearing, hardly sleeping, hardly eating. Everything is a haze. Driving down the road watching the oncoming traffic and thinking with a flick of my wrist how easily it could all be gone. Always in the back of my mind. Worry. Worry about bills, about my future, or lack thereof. Will I ever get back on my feet again? Where am I going to get the money to pay my bills? Why cant I find a job? What is wrong with me? I feel like I am on the verge, on the brink of a breakdown. This world is so unforgiving to people down on their luck. Will I become just another number. Another faceless tragedy in the hundreds or thousands of people “down on their luck”. If not for a few people that care about me, I would. If I was truly on my own, I wold be a causality of “luck” run out. Homeless, possesionless…loveless. I refuse to be a number. I would sooner die than end up like that. I will not lie down and take it. Bring it on."

-Danny