It appears one week of work is all that was needed during my monitoring of heavy truck traffic in the neighborhood. I'll explain later, but for now, it's time to refocus my attention back to my original plan of action.

With just over a month left in the year, I am having to do some reevaluating on my business. I have three rough drafts complete, one still in the oven, and another that hasn't even been touched yet. At this point, I am not going to worry about the 4th and 5th drafts I was working on and come back and get the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd drafts polished up.

Also, it's time to focus on filming. Although there is still over a month left in the year, the holidays will eat up a good bit of that time. I think it's safe to say there's less than a month left to get things done. So, what specifically needs to be accomplished? First, I need to scout a filming location. By scouting, I mean finding a friend that has a big enough room to film in with little distractions (such as pets). This will be a bit tough considering my friends all have pets.

Second, I need to find on-screen personalities. How? I really don't know yet. Placing an ad in CraigsList? Scouring Facebook and MySpace? The tough part is that I need to find someone who is willing to do this for free and understand that at first, it's all about just doing something you enjoy and have fun doing. If money comes into the picture later, well, I consider that a bonus.

Next, it's time to meet up with everyone (which is bound to be a scheduling nightmare), introduce each other, discuss the show and current scripts, and just all get on the same level.

Finally, it's time to film. Obviously, we'll need to do some test runs in front of the camera to get an idea of how everyone feels, lighting and other technical issues, and other things. Once that's done, it's time to go!

Oh yeah... I guess there's a web site that needs to be finished up too. Man... more to do than I thought.

So, here's to the last month! Wish me luck! (Welcome to suggestions, as always.)

View post on travistubbs.net

Hi Internet! What's been going on? Me? Oh...

I've been trying to work my butt off on getting my company going. I mean it this time. No. Seriously. I'm not kidding. I've given myself an ultimatum: Have something by year's end or don't do it at all.

I've been trying to get my company going for about 2 years now with no results. Just idea after idea. Ideas are nice but that's all they are. An end product that comes together is what's needed. Plus, the satisfaction of seeing your ideas come to life will be like no other feeling. Well, no other feeling I've had in life so far. Well, going to Canada was an incredible feeling. Okay... now I'm just rambling. Back to the subject.

If I haven't mentioned it before, I have scrapped all previous plans I had and will go back to focusing on one program. I have written 2 rough drafts and have half of two other rough drafts completed as well. The web site is functioning okay so far, but I still have to test one other (and very important) feature. Filming must take place in December before the Holidays, therefore I must get everything else done before then. It's crunch time and with the holidays around the corner, time is a factor.

One thing that has been making it hard to work is this weather we've been having in Southeast Texas. In October, we were treated to some incredible (and seasonable) weather. Highs in the 70s (lower-20s C), lows in the 50s (~lower-10s in C). It stays around for a good week, but out of nowhere, summer came back.

Since the beginning of this month, we've been thrown back into highs in the mid-80s (upper-30s C) and lows in the upper 60s (around 20 C) and humid, humid, humid. Flowers are still blooming, leaves aren't changing colors, and bugs are still flying about. Thanks to this uncomfortable weather, I'm uncomfortable. That warm weather makes you lazy (is that why they're called the lazy days of summer?) and unproductive. We could turn the air conditioner back on, but I don't pay the power bill, so I have no say in that (running the A/C in Houston isn't exactly cheap).

I'm tempted to go to the mall or a Starbucks (I have free access to T-Mobile HotSpots thanks to my cell phone plan) and just work out of there in their air conditioned environment. Of course, if I have to head to the can or something, I gotta take my lappy with me and that just looks weird. And perverted. I guess I'll just have to deal with this.

The other thing that has kept me pre-occupied in the last couple of days is the amount of truck traffic on our streets. I had mentioned this previously but all talk and no action. I have decided to start a month long look at the issue to figure out what's going on. Yesterday alone, we had ten (possibly 11) 18-wheelers (not including box trucks and moving vans) come through our streets. You may say 10 is not a lot, but when you're a residential street, anything more than one is too many. There was also an issue with children waiting for the bus and the cab of one of the 18-wheelers.

That's pretty much all that's been going on in my life. I should get to work. It's 9 in the morning.

View post on travistubbs.net

Sadly, the Top 5 answers aren't on the board.

Recently, I sent out an email asking for a little help with the business I want to start up by having friends and the alike fill out a survey. Sadly, only 7 people responded. So, I'm going to open up the link here on the ol' blog to see if I can get a few more people to answer it.

Yes, I know. The survey is quite long (seriously, it'll take 20 to 30 minutes to complete), but I'm not sure what was more annoying: being asked to fill out survey after survey or filling out a really long survey. Maybe I should send out a survey on that. :P

Anyways, if you could, please head over to http://travistubbs.overview.sgizmo.com/ and fill it out, that would be great. What would be even better is if you could pass that link along to other people. I really would like to get at least 100 responses. Anyway, thanks in advance.

View post on travistubbs.net

Oh... hi Intrawebs! Long time no speak! How have ya been? Really? You don't say. Me? I've been keeping myself busy.

It has been almost 3 months since I quit my job and man! What an adventure I've had! Actually, there hasn't been any adventure. I went to Dallas to an anime convention, had my back cut open for an infection which left me motionless for about two weeks, and still sitting on my butt unemployed. Now, I should be quite thankful that I've had the money to keep myself unemployed for this long, but I'm about to enter what I'd like to call Cash Flow Level Yellow. This basically means my cash flow is dropping below a certain amount that isn't critical, but alarming nonetheless. If things keep going the way they are, I still have just over 4 months before I'm at Cash Flow Level Red, which means I'm f'ed and better get any kind of job I can within a month. Level Red still has an ample amount of cash, but it's cash I cannot and should not be touching in any form or fashion.

Now, I am keeping myself busy, but it's with things that don't pay, such as working on my dad's web site (Texas Sutler), a co-worker's web site (NeonString), my own web site (the one you're already at, unless you're using LiveJournal), and my business I have been wanting to start up (shhh... I can't say anything about it here). These aren't things I will be able to make a living with immediately, so I'll still need a job. Hopefully, that will be easier once the high schoolers go back to school.

That's about all that's going on. This wasn't exactly a very exciting post nor entertaining, but that's not the point. Just a quick update about what's up and nothing more. There's still quite a few things I want to do with my web site that I think will be helpful and useful to the very few friends that I have that read this. It won't be much, but as long as it does something to help in some way, that's all I need to feel good.

View post on travistubbs.net

Yesterday, I visited another townhouse that was available for lease. I completely fell in love with the place, but after thinking about it overnight, it actually may not be the best option.

The location of the apartment can't be any better: walking distance to Memorial Park, Uptown, and the Galleria. A very upscale part of town. The set of townhouses themselves are at the end of a street in a gated area, therefore safety should not be a concern. Getting there isn't all bad as each turn needed to get to the place has a traffic light. This is very useful as the main streets to get to the townhouse can get busy at times.

Once inside the complex, two things stuck out: it was very clean and the streets were narrow. The narrowness of the streets can be an advantage as it can definitely cut down on speeding, but can make navigating tough for bigger vehicles. Parking could be an issue two. The townhouse does come with a two-car garage, but as the place I looked at is a 3 (or 4) bedroom place, that would leave two to three people without a parking spot. There are additional parking spaces around the complex that do require a little bit a walking, but not so bad. One of the areas are right next to the mailboxes, which isn't very far from the house, so still not bad.

Let's talk about the inside of the townhouse. I was quite surprised about the size of the place. The living area doesn't seem as big as the picture above indicated. It was still very nice with the high ceilings, fireplace, and shelving. The dining area was nice as well, but not once you put a TV and couch in that area, it can become a little cramp. The kitchen had your basic needs, including a washer/dryer (included with the unit). All the bedrooms were pretty average size. The master bedroom was enormous, though. It was like a another living room. All bedrooms had access to its own balcony and the closets offered an incredible amount of space as well. Seriously, this really isn't all the bad of a place.

You'd think with everything I said, this place would be perfect. And I'd love for it to be perfect, but I had to think about a few other things. For example, if I were to gather 4 other people, where would everyone put their stuff? Some have their own couches, entertainment centers, etc. Also, if I want to use the living room area for the "studio", that would also take up a lot of space, therefore eliminating the space of that room. Sure, there's the dining room area and overhang on the 2nd floor, but would that really be enough room for everyone?

Then there's the pricing. If I were to divide this among four people, with electricty, it would come to about $575 to $600/each. Of course, the problem with that is I'm counting my married friends as two, not one, therefore that would be $1200/month for them alone! Let's say I could them as only one, though, that would mean I'd have to get another two people to move in, thus bringing it to 5 people under one roof. At that point, the place gets really crowded.

I think what I really enjoyed about this place was just it was a different design and in a wonderful area, but in the end, this may not be the best option. Today, I hope to check out another townhouse around the corner from here, as well as a place a couple of my friends currently live in.

View this post on my blog

As I begin to start my business, I have to consider a place to be able to film. Doing so in my parents house is not an option as it is not big enough. The only choice I have is to start searching for a studio an apartment.

Before I go into my search, a little background. I had originally thought about just getting a place by myself. I know it was going to cost me a bit of money, but I figured it would be the best so that I was not to disturb others. Turns out when I mentioned my search, a few friends expressed interest in possibly wanting to move in as well. This would be great as it would cut costs and hopefully allow for a larger living space.

The search started today as I checked out a complex by my parents' house. It's not a bad area as it is near a bayou, across from a country club, and surrounded by many trees. Getting into and out of the complex is fairly easy as well. No traffic from a main street or anything like that (although there is easy access to a main street to get to and from the complex). Parking seemed ample as well, but no direct parking in front of one's apartment; you'd have to walk around to get to it. This could prove bad during a storm.

As for the apartments themseleves, I looked at two: a one bedroom and a three bedroom. We first looked at the three bedroom, which, upon entering, was very nice looking. There was a separate study area (or office/gaming area to me), the usual connected living/dining area (which I'd use as the studio/entertainment area), two first level patios, and a very elongated kitchen with a small area for a breakfast nook type thing. It had space for a washer and dryer and a small 1/2 bath right at the entry for those that need to go as soon as they get in. The bedrooms upstairs are reasonable in size. The master bedroom being the best, of course, with its own balcony as well. Each bedroom has some nice-sized closets, enough to fit some crap in. In total, it's about 1800 sq. ft. and seems perfect so far.

I also checked out a one bedroom that totaled just under 1000 sq. ft. Once again, the living room was incredibly spacious for my needs. I even had enough space in the "dining" room to make it a small TV/viewing area. The kitchen wasn't all that big, but it's not like I spend a lot of time there anyway. The bedroom was a fair enough size for me as well. Not like I spend a lot of time in there anyways. The bedroom closet surprised me, though. You could fit another bed in there! Of course, it's completely dark, so I wouldn't recommend it, but it's possible.

Price wise, the three bedroom amongst three people wouldn't be bad ($999 for the unit), but the one bedroom would hurt me at the $639 it was priced at.

There is one thing I did get from looking at this complex: an area of about 16 to 20 sq. ft. will be needed for my "studio". Having to use this much space makes me wonder if it wouldn't be intruding to my roommates (if I were to room with others). The studio would only be needed temporarily, but as I begin to get more and more active with the business, I would need it more.

I plan to look at a few other places starting tomorrow with one of those being a spacious 4 bedroom. I can't wait to look at it! I still also need to report to my friends that were interested in possibly rooming with me to let them know how it is.

View this post on my blog