1. Changed jobs
2. Built & launched 3 WordPress blogs and 2 Magento stores.
3. Working on a rebuild of 2 ecommerce sites I own & building a brand new ecommerce store for a great domain I picked up.
4. Incorporated my business and built a corporate site for that.
5. Managed a ton of advertising spend for my clients
6. And a spent a ton of time with my family – both happy and sad situations.

But MattMauldin.com has been neglected.  The first nine months of 2009 went pretty well, and I like writing because it keeps me on the lookout for interesting topics when I would otherwise be playing Brickbreaker on the Blackberry.  Even my twitter account was quiet.

Here are a few New Year’s Resolutions I have for MattMauldin.com:

• On good post per month – “good” is subjective and the only point of view that counts is mine.
• 5 tweets per week minimum – because a list of tweets are posted here weekly, as you can tell for the previous several pages.
• Finish the Wheel of Time posts by Spring – This post topic was leading up to A Memory of Light (see here), but I didn’t complete all the posts. I did, however, read all the books (yay for me).
• Updates on MattMauldin.com – Find a replacement plugin for Simple Tags unless it is updated in the next week or so because it doesn’t work with WP 2.9; and find a replacement plugin for Twitter Tools because it skips weeks or double posts for a single week.  Any suggestions?
• Begin sharing a little more about items 1 through 5 above.  Sorry, #6 is all mine.

OK, now the goals are specific, written, and measurable.  We’ll see how they go.

Tonight was supposed to be the season finale.    Instead it was a weenyfest.  This episode single-handedly destroyed the entire show for me.  Just a coincident that it was titles Doomsday… or is it?  Instead of a season capping finale, this was the dumbest, most idiotic, non-exciting episode ever. Bottom line: Clark is a weeny.

Important: From here on out there are spoilers, but the show has taken such a downturn this season that they can hardly be called spoilers.

Predictable Plot

Every freakin episode has the same story:

• some baddie either puts either the entire world or one of Clark’s friends (swap them out) in danger.
• Clark tried to save them but gets trapped by kryptonite.
• Some wuss saves Clark
• Clark pulls off some 8-year-old-in-superman-pajamas spoof and the episode ends to some dumb song (but you can buy the CD on the CW.com)

Clark (a.k.a. weeny-boy – see right) wrestles with the fact that Doomsday has a human side (Davis), and humans are all good.  Of course he’s come up against hundreds of human baddies over the past eight seasons, but whatever. Clark has been whining forever that he can save Davis and proves once again the depths of his weenitude.

Clark Rendered Inept… Again

So Green Lantern and his super-turd friends shoot Clark with a Krypto-dart.  Of course! Predictable and boring.

This time it’s Jimmy Olsen that saves him and learns that Clark is the Red-Blue-Blur.  What does that mean? Time to die, Jimmy!  Yep, Jimmy dies.  Stupid.  Even dumber, at his funeral Chloe walks up to a crying kid and says “You must be Jimmy’s younger brother.”

Time out… wasn’t she married to Jimmy?  YES. And you are telling me that she never met his family?  Stupid.  Chloe hands the kid a camera and tells him he may follow in the dead Jimmy’s footsteps.  Is that foreshadowing???

And this kid is supposed to be the Jimmy Olsen in the movies.  How does that work?  Were his parents dumb enough to name him Jimmy, too?  Or does this 8 year old kid take his older brother’s name to honor him now that he’s dead?

Crappy Ending. I’ll Skip Next Season

Clark ends the show by telling Chloe it is his human side, his emotions, that cause the problems.  Then he says goodbye and walks out.

I’ve never been this disgusted with a TV show.  It’s probably why I don’t watch much TV.  The only good outcome is that I’ll have less TV to watch in the fall.

You’ve probably bought weird things in the past, but I am now budgeting to buy Fox Urine on a regular basis.

The story isn’t near as interesting as the post title, but it’s been on my mind a lot lately.

My house is close to the edge of town and backs up to a yet undeveloped city park, and over the winter I had a rabbit infestation.  There were times that I would flip on my backyard light and see over a dozen of these little critters jumping around my grass.  It’s caused a lot of problems.

Last summer, I had a perfect backyard.  My dog and I would play ball and roll around in the grass.  I could walk barefoot around the entire yard with no problem.

But all of these rabbits have been running around in the wild getting all sorts of week seeds in their coat.  They also eat all sorts of plants, seeds included.  But the seeds don’t digest very well.  So every time they take a little bunny hop, seeds fall out of their fur.  Every time they crap (and the crap a LOT), they leave seeds behind covered in their own fertilizer coating.

This summer, I haven’t walked outside barefoot because I have no desire to step on weeds – some of them are a little prickly – not to mention the rabbit pellets they have left for me.  My dog doesn’t want to play ball, and instead runs around the fence with her nose to the ground.  She’d love to catch a yummy rabbit.  It’s unfortunate that we are enjoying the yard much less so far this season.

Basically, if I was six inches tall, my backyard would be a scary jungle rainforest.  It would be a horror version of Honey I Shrunk the Kids.

After talking with a few people, I learned that I could sprinkle my yard with fox urine the natural instincts of the rabbits would take over and fear of being fox lunch would keep them away.  So a month ago I made a trip to the feed store and picked up a bottle.

The stuff stinks.  It is worse than six hours after eating asparagus.  But I got through it and sprinkled it in the half-dozen places where I have seen rabbits coming under my fence.

It worked immediately.

I haven’t seen a single rabbit since my fox urination. So I’ve added fox urine to my periodic shopping list for yard care.  You can find it here for $25.99 per bottle.  I’m planning on putting it down about once per month because rain and sprinklers will eventually wash it away, and based on my first use I expect to need a new bottle after every three uses or so.

So that’s about $100 a year for fox urine.  But that’s cheaper than re-weeding each year to the extent that I am doing now.

Currently I’m putting down weed-n-feed to begin nursing my yard back to health.  Maybe by mid-summer my dog and I can begin enjoying the back yard again.  Here are a few pics of the dog from last summer.  See how nice the grass was:

I’ve done a lot of reading about a CCW gun, and based on suggestions from a number of well written reviews, my top brand I was seeking was a Kahr handgun – specifically the 9mm and .40 models.  I’ve shot a number of different handguns, including several 9mm and .40s in the past, but I’ve never shot a Kahr of any caliber.  So that was my goal: find a Kahr and see how it fit my hand.

Gun Show Fun

I love gun shows.  There are so many people walking around with rifles, pistols, and even automatic weapons.  Even while we were going in, there were even some guys with double barrel shotguns walking up and down the sidewalk.  Isn’t Texas great?

There were more people here than I expected.  I’ve never seen this many people at a gun show before.  It was not uncommon to move just a couple of feet before having a dozen people pass by before you could go any further.

We started off at a couple of ammunition tables.  My brother in laws bought rounds for a .45, 9mm and 30-6.  I was looking at the knife tables because I lost my good Kershaw knife a year ago and I’m still looking for a suitable replacement.

We saw this poster and had a good laugh:

Kahr Evaluation

It took me a while to find some vendors with any Kahrs at all.  Out of dozens of vendors selling handguns, I only saw four tables that had a Kahr, and only one of those had the CW9.

There were two main types of Kahr handguns out for display: the PM and the CW series.  I determined immediately that I am not a fan of the PM series.  It’s just too small for my taste.  First of all, the bottom of my palm stuck out below the grip.  And even with a conceal and carry weapon, I want to put as much of my hand on it as I can for stability and control.  If I were to carry one of these in my pocket, then the PM may be a very good choice.  But I plan to wear either a belt holster or a SOB holster.  (That stands for small of back, not the other SOB.)

On the other hand, the CW series felt great.  The grip is just long enough to be comfortable, and if I get the mag with clip extension, I’ll have more than enough room.  Both the 9mm and .40 felt about the same so it really comes down to a decision.  Do I want the 9mm or the .40?

The Big Decision

I’m convinced and will definitely buy a either a CW9 or CW40 Kahr sometime in the near future.  Since Sunday I’ve considered the pros and cons to make a decision.  Here’s my breakdown:

• Cost of Gun – I saw both guns for about the same price. No points awarded
• Ammunition Cost – I’ll need to do a good amount of practice shooting with a brand new gun to get used to it and to break it in properly.  That means I will be buying a lot of ammo (maybe even a couple hundred rounds before the gun is fully broken in).  So the lower priced 9mm ammo is a definite advantage here.  Score 1 9mm
• Kickback – this gun is a little smaller than most handguns, so I am thinking that a little less kickback will probably help with comfort and control.  Score 2 9mm
• # of Rounds – the .40 holds 6 in the clip, and 9mm holds 7.  I can add one more if I get the extended mag, but that still leaves 1 more for the CW9.  Score 3 9mm
• Stopping Power – There’s no argument that the .40 will have more stopping power.  BUT… I’ve read that if I use the right rounds, there’s not going to be a noticeable difference.  And when it comes down to it, it’s more about shot placement than stopping power.  If anyone is coming at me and I have to use this gun in defense, I plan on emptying the clip.  If eight 9mm rounds doesn’t stop someone, than I doubt seven .40 rounds would either.  No points awarded

So the choice is the 9mm.  I hope to buy this in a few weeks, and I’ll post my initial impressions after I have a chance to shoot it a time or two.

Check ya later.

DirecTV’s Lame Attempts to Keep a Customer

So after I canceled my account, they called back about 7 times that first week offering me some lame deal – half off the basic price for TV service for 12 months.  The catch was I would still have to pay all the extra fees and crap they charged me which pissed me off in the first place.

Every time they called, I told them I would accept no less than this deal:

• I would pay 1/2 off their basic service
• Free upgrade to their best service
• Free HD service (normally an extra $10.month)
• Free additional boxes (normally an additional $5/month)
• Free movie channels (an additional $7-$21/month)
• They would guarantee this price to me for two years, not one, because I had been a customer of theirs for two years up to this point
• And to top it off, I told them they would have to refund the $300 I paid them for the HD box the “leased” to me.

From what I understand, DirecTV has been losing customers left and right, but they would still be insane to agree to my terms.  On each call, they tried to tell me that their original offer was a great deal. “No.” They may could wave one of the additional box fees. “No.” They didn’t have the authority to make that decision. “The stop wasting my time.”

My favorite was the last guy who, after I refused to negotiate, said “Unfortunately we won’t be able to keep you as a customer”

I responded, “That’s only unfortunate for you.”

I think I finally annoyed them enough because I haven’t had a call from them in almost two months.

DirecTV’s Incompetance … Again

So after they finally canceled my account and returned my receiver boxes, I had $8.43 in service fees that needed to be paid because I canceled 1-2 days into the new billing cycle.  I actually received a bill with this amount on it.  I’m a firm believer in paying what you own (even if the company completely screws you over and sucks in all other possible ways) so I called in and paid with my card to get it over and done with.

But this past month, I saw a charge to my bank account for $13.78, and then three days later I received another bill from DirecTV detailing those charges, but it was already paid.  What?

After reviewing this bill, I found that it was for three movies we rented in 2008.  That’s crap because the charge is supposed to be on the monthly bill that you rent the movie in.  And they went ahead and charged my card for it without telling me?  So I called to deal with these jokers one more time.

The idiot from DirecTV told me that for some reason they were unable to apply the charges on the bill because our receiver would not communicate with DirecTV at the time we rented the movies.  Instead, they had to manyally download the charges from the account card in my receiver after I returned the boxes.  When I asked why, he said because we probably didn’t have a phone line plugged into the back of the receiver.

Wait a minute, you can’t rent a movie without a phone line plugged into the back of the receiver!  Of course we had a phone line plugged in, because the fact that we rented movies proves it.

It wasn’t my fault their crap didn’t work – and here’s another example of them screwing up and asking me to pay for it.  No intelligible response from this genius, so I told him he needed to refund the amount.

He refused.

Some of you may say that I should have paid it because I rented the movies.  Well,

• It would already be paid if DirecTV’s crap worked anywhere near the way they say it does.
• I would have paid it if they called and told me about the charge first (call, email, send the bill first).
• I would have paid it if they hadn’t already sent me a “final bill” for $8.43 the previous month.

But to charge my card, without authorization, after I am no longer a customer, for something that should have been paid the previous year is ridiculous.

Credit Card Dispute to the Rescue

So I called up my bank, and for the first time ever I disputed a credit card charge.  It was for only $13.78, but I did it more out of principle than the money.  DirecTV, you just don’t pull that crap with your customers.  Oh, you DO pull that crap, but you shouldn’t.

DirecTV, go suck a fart.

As I mentioned in the last office post, I purchased 14×16 reprints of the US Constitution from the Liberty Bell Museum.  Here are some shots of what I bought:

I finally finished the frames and hung them above my desk.  Here’s the before & after shots.

Before

After

I’m incredibly pleased with my work, as this was my first time building custom frames.  Hope you enjoyed this little series.  It’s not that big of a change, but I’ve got more in store for the office in the coming months, including repainting the walls a darker color.

I purchased a replica of the US Constitution from the Liberty Bell Museum and planned to frame it and hang it above my desk.  The problem is that these documents are 16×14 inches.  And you CANNOT find a pre-made frame in those dimensions. So I tried to go the custom frame route.  It only took one quote at $140/frame (and that was on a 50% off weekend sale) that I said “No way!”

Instead, I decided to build my own frames.  I priced out the wood, class, and hardware at Home Depot.  I already had some wood stain and clear coat because I’ve also got a piece of furniture I plan to refurnish.  All told, the materials cost me a whopping total of $85.

Building the Frames

I chose pre-cut trim that had a notch cut out of the backside like the small picture.  This notch was perfect because it is the right size to hold the glass and backing inside the frame.  Four frames with dimensions of 14×16 inches equal a total of 240 linear inches, not including the amount of wood I would be cutting away to get the 45-degree corners.  In addition, the actual outside width and height of the frames would be more because the frame surrounds the pages, and is not equal to the page dimensions.  I used four eight-foot sections of trim, making a frame out of each section.

To get the corners right, I used a miter saw to cut alternating 45-degree angles and measured so that the inside of the notch was just a little bigger than 14×16, which would make the final inside dimensions slightly smaller than the replica Constitution pages – perfect to cover up the eduges of the paper.

At first, I tried to move the wood around which resulted in a completely backwards cut, and I almost didn’t have enough trim to finish all four frames.  To keep it simple, it was easier to alternate the miter saw blade 90 degrees (45 left then 45 right) so that the notch on the trim was always facing me.  That was MUCH easier.

Then I put wood glue on the corners and clamped them into a jig until it dried.  Then I nailed small metal brackets into the back to give the joints extra strenght.  Here are a couple of the assembled frames before I put any finish on them:

After that, I used a dark walnut stain, here:

I only put on one coat of stain and let it dry for a full day.  Then I put one coat of laquer on and let it dry for a full day.  By Sunday afternoon, all four frames were completely ready to put together.

Final Assembly

At this point I had fully assembled, stained and coated frames.  The only task that I was really worried about was cutting the glass to the right size for the frame.  I own a glass cutter, but have never used it, and I’ve only seen glass cutting done a couple of times on TV.  I was actually a little concerned about cutting the glass.

As it turns out, cutting glass is easier than I expected.  All I did was score the glass using medium pressure – I didn’t even use any glass cutting oil like suggested.  I put a little pressure on either side of the glass, bending it upwards on either side of the score mark, and POP!  The pieces came apart just like I wanted them to. This is one of the frames with a cut piece of glass inside it.  And here’s the tiny little glass cutter that made it possible.

All I did then was put the glass, a page of the Constitution, and cardboard backing into the notch (you can see a good pic of the notch in the back of the frame in the picture above).  I used furniture tacks to keep everything in the frame, and nailed in a small hanger at the top of each frame.

All done.  I hung them in the office Sunday night, so stay tuned to the next post to see the before and after photos of my office.

• my shelves hold all the cool stuff from college, high school, travels around the world, etc.
• my nice recliner in the corner where I do my reading and catching up on written materials
• the sweet office chair with great lumbar support
• a Starbucks french press coffee caraffe so I don’t have to walk into the kitchen every time I want another mug of coffee
• and my ceiling fan with remote so I can turn the light/fan on and off without moving from my desk.

Here’s where the magic happens.  I try to keep my desk fairly clean and clutter free, but as you can tell from the stacks of paper that I don’t manage this all of the time.

That’s a Seagull guitar in the corner there.  I bought it from a pawn shop for $100 and it plays better than most Taylor or Martin acoustics that I’ve played on.  You can’t see too well, but there’s the box set of Calvin & Hobbes on the top shelf and a chess set carved from marble that I picked up in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The recliner is an original La-z-boy my wife and I bought from her college dorm director.  We had it recovered last year and it is still as comfortable as the day we bought it. Along with some family pics, there’s a European war club on the table.   The top shelf holds my hand-rolled Cuban cigars stored that I picked up in Havana.  They are stored in test tubes to keep them fresh, although I don’t ever plan on smoking them.  You can also see the rubix cube, of which I can solve all but the bottom face.  On the second shelf is my Led Zeppelin box set – the absolute best band ever.  Right next to that, although you can’t see it too well, is my championship belt buckle for the 2001 ACU Intramural Rodeo – I won the bareback competition (go figure).

Even with all of this great stuff, the office seems fairly bland.  Even after the wife and I put up curtains of the same material that my recliner is covered with, it’s a little dull.  Why? Because there’s nothing on the walls.

But I’ve decided to change that.  Stay tuned for the update because this weekend I’m working on a few things to spruce it up.

14% is just amazing to me when you consider that the respondents are people who are reading that blog! Maybe I just don’t get it because I’m an avid reader and find finishing a good book to be relaxing and fulfilling.  I read 2-3 books per month, and I try to make at least one of those a non-fiction book. I’m currently re reading the Wheel of Time series by the late Robert Jordan because Brandon Sanderson will be releasing his first part (one of three) of the series finale this november, and there are 11 books in the series leading up to it.  Even though I have read these, some two or three times, I still enjoy ending my day by reading a few chapters before going to sleep.

It has also been stated (read this book for one example) that reading books is a common habit of successful and wealthy people.  I want to be successful and wealthy, so why on act like one now?

Here’s my sad prediction: I think the percentage of people who do not think that reading is necessary will continue to grow.

What do you think?

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A highly decorated Navy SEAL who found his beloved yellow Labrador retriever shot dead outside his home helped capture the alleged gunmen following a high-speed chase through three counties.

Marcus Luttrell stayed on the line with a 911 operator April 1 as he tried to catch the fleeing suspects during the 40-mile chase that reached speeds of over 100 mph.

“I told them, ‘You need to get somebody out here because if I catch them I’m going to kill them,’” Luttrell said he told the operator, the Houston Chronicle reported.

Police stopped the suspects and charged two men with cruelty to a non-livestock animal. The driver of the vehicle was cited for not having a license.

There are at least five area dog killings in recent months that could be linked to the case, said Texas Ranger Steven Jeter.

A phone call by The Associated Press to a Walker County court administrator seeking information on attorneys for the men wasn’t immediately returned Wednesday.

Luttrell was awarded the Navy Cross for combat heroism in 2006. He is the lone SEAL team member to survive a June 2005 firefight with the Taliban in Afghanistan and was given a dog to help him heal after he returned from the war.

“When I saw she was dead, the only thing that popped into my head was, I’ve got to take these guys out,” Luttrell said.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

I heard the interview on Glenn Beck’s radio program (here’s a link to Glenn’s TV interview) Wednesday morning on my drive to work, and I was pissed.  I’m a Texas, a dog owner, and if that happened to me I would have emptied my clip in their direction.  Seriously, a man can kill his neighbors robbers and get cleared of commiting crime in this state.  That alone should be a warning to all the idiots out there who think they can get away with something like this.

People just don’t realize that those of us who believe in the Second Amendment really take it seriously. And no, the arguments that “guns are dangerous” and all the other crap gun-haters spout don’t mean a thing. Our guns aren’t just for show: we like our guns, we shoot our guns, we know how to use them.  And it’s because we know how to use out guns that keeps ourselves and others around us safe.

Someday someone may kill me with my own gun, but they should have to beat me to death with it because it is empty.