ARE YOU KIDDING ME???  You really sent me a check for $1.07?

Lets break down all the costs associated with this:

1. Ink
2. Paper
3. Stamp
4. Mail processing resources (Sorting, Bagging)
5. Mail transportation costs (Bag loading, Gas, Time spent placing check in mail box)

And there is my costs:

1. Time spent opening letter
2. Time spent going to bank
3. Ink wasted endorsing  check to bank
4. Gas & Auto resources waisted going to bank

Other costs associated with check:

1. Bank tellers time to process check
2. Bank time to clear the check
3. Postage costs to send cleared check back to state.

It is no wonder our state is in trouble.

This past weekend I attended the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting. For several hours I sat overlooking Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger as they answered unfiltered questions from the audience.

Some would say that Buffett and Munger are our modern day equivalent John D. Rockefeller, Benjamin Franklin or Andrew Carnegie. To be in the room with these guys was a real thrill even though I was among 31,000 other devoted followers.

Throughout the day Buffett and Munger addressed issues about the current state of the United States economy, the housing bubble, the U.S. election, China, the pharmaceutical industry, education, investor education, diversification, parenting, sin, nuclear threat and what they will not invest in.

Buffett and Munger kept coming back to one common thread. These two titans of industry are addicted to reading. Munger commented that the greatest teacher / fathers in his life are the authors of all the books he reads. If you wish to peek in the mind of one of the most fascinating modern day Americans, check out Books Recommended by Charlie Munger

One common discussion I had this weekend revolved around the idea of surrounding yourself among people who are smarter than you. Especially if your young and are in the early stages of your career. If you are always the smartest person in the room, you are stealing prime hours of your life in which you could be absorbing knowledge from others.

If you have not seen the press release come over the newswire then allow me to be the one to break the news and shed some light on the details. Recently I have formally accepted an executive position with Best of the Web.

Just over a year ago I began having confidential discussions with Greg Hartnett, President and Brian Prince, CEO of BOTW regarding a new web offering that was in the very-very early phase of development.

Over the course of a couple weeks we had multiple lengthy conversations regarding the general aspects about the new product. After some “big brain” strategizing I was offered the opportunity to take the reins & tasked with “make it happen”.

These past fourteen months I’ve been working directly with some extremely smart and highly spirited entrepreneurs on the build-out of what we now publicly call “Local”. We have recently completed major development work and are progressively rolling out nationwide within the United States.

With Local now a notch on my BOTW belt, Brian and Greg approached me a few weeks ago about coming on permanently. Once again we jumped back into having “big brain” strategy conversations and a formal agreement has been made.

As the press release mentioned, I will be responsible for interacting with agencies, identifying distribution opportunities, and project managing new offerings. Since we have already been working with each other for over a year these new responsibilities although challenging are a natural fit.

On a more personal note, I am thrilled to be joining such a great company. Those who regularly attend search conferences are very familiar with the genuine vibe and kinship BOTW exudes. Being able to share in this energy on a daily basis has made this past year highly enjoyable and productive.

I invite my readers to jump on Local and help spread the word of our latest web offering.

This is certainly an interesting development!

Yahoo! Announces Agreement to Acquire IndexTools’ Analytics Business

The acquired technology is expected to extend Yahoo!’s current analytics offerings by adding capabilities to deliver relevant insights and metrics for online campaigns that run across the entire Yahoo! network. Following the acquisition, the first group of customers to benefit from these enhanced tools will be more than 150,000 small-to-medium businesses marketing on the Web with Yahoo!. Additional capabilities enabling third-party developers to monitor and optimize the traffic performance of their applications are expected to follow throughout the year following the acquisition.

How Yahoo! buying IndexTools changes Web Analytics

Yahoo! will almost certainly be able to take advantage of the good work that Google has done establishing their Google Analytics Authorized Consultant (GAAC) network, giving Yahoo! an immediate deployment network (oh man do I hope they call it the “YAAC” Network!) Having run IndexTools on my own site for some time I very much expect that many GAAC partners will actually prefer IndexTools for most of their deployments given the dramatically improved capabilities of the application.

Two new laws dealing with the use of wireless telephones while driving go into effect July 1, 2008. Below is a list of Frequently Asked Questions concerning these new laws.

Q: When do the new wireless telephone laws take effect?

A: The new laws take effect July 1, 2008

Q: What is the difference between the two laws?

A: The first prohibits all drivers from using a handheld wireless telephone while operating a motor vehicle. (Vehicle Code (VC) §23123). Motorists 18 and over may use a hands-free device. Drivers under the age of 18 may NOT use a wireless telephone or hands-free device while operating a motor vehicle(VC §23124).

Q: What if I need to use my telephone during an emergency, and I do not have a hands- free device?

A: The law allows a driver to use a wireless telephone to make emergency calls to a law enforcement agency, a medical provider, the fire department, or other emergency services agency.

Q: What are the fines if I’m convicted?

A: The base fine for the FIRST offense is $20 and $50 for subsequent convictions. According to the Uniform Bail and Penalty Schedule, with the addition of penalty assessments, a first offense is $76 and a second offense is $190.

Q: Will I receive a point on my drivers license if I’m convicted for a violation of the wireless telephone law?

A: NO. The violation is a reportable offense: however, DMV will not assign a violation point.

Q: Will the conviction appear on my driving record?

A: Yes, but the violation point will not be added.

Q: Will there be a grace period when motorists will only get a warning?

A: NO. The law becomes in effect on July 1, 2008. Whether a citation is issued is always at the discretion of the officer based upon his or her determination of the most appropriate remedy for the situation.

Q: Are passengers affected by this law?

A: No. This law only applies to the person driving a motor vehicle.

Q: Do these laws apply to out-of-state drivers whose home states do not have such laws?

A: Yes

Q: Can I be pulled over by a law enforcement officer for using my handheld wireless telephone?

A: YES. A law enforcement officer can pull you over just for this infraction.

Q: What if my phone has a push-to-talk feature, can I use that?

A: No. The law does provide an exception for those operating a commercial motor truck or truck tractor (excluding pickups), implements of husbandry, farm vehicle or tow truck, to use a two-way radio operated by a “push-to-talk” feature.

Q: What other exceptions are there?

A: Operators of an authorized emergency vehicle during the course of employment are exempt as are those motorists operating a vehicle on private property

DRIVERS 18 AND OVER

Drivers 18 and over will be allowed to use a hands-free device to talk on their wireless telephone while driving. The following FAQs apply to those motorists 18 and over.

Q: Does the new “hands-free” law prohibit you from dialing a wireless telephone while driving or just talking on it?

A: The new law does not prohibit dialing, but drivers are strongly urged not to dial while driving.

Q: Will it be legal to use a Blue Tooth or other earpiece?

A: Yes, however you cannot have BOTH ears covered.

Q: Does the new hands-free law allow you to use the speaker phone function of your wireless telephone while driving?

A: Yes.

Q: Does the new “hands-free” law allow drivers 18 and over to text page while driving?

A: The law does not specifically prohibit that, but an officer can pull over and issue a citation to a driver of any age if, in the officer’s opinion, the driver was distracted and not operating the vehicle safely. Text paging while driving is unsafe at any speed and is strongly discouraged.

DRIVERS UNDER 18

Q: Am I allowed to use my wireless telephone hands free?

A: NO. Drivers under the age of 18 may not use a wireless telephone, pager, laptop or any other electronic communication or mobile services device to speak or text while driving in any manner, even hands free. EXCEPTION: Permitted in emergency situations to call police, fire or medical authorities. (VC §23124).

Q: Why is the law stricter for provisional drivers?

A: Statistics show that teen drivers are more likely than older drivers to be involved in crashes because they lack driving experience and tend to take greater risks. Teen drivers are vulnerable to driving distractions such as talking with passengers, eating or drinking, and talking or texting on wireless phones, which increase the chance of getting involved in serious vehicle crashes.

Q: Can my parents give me permission to allow me to use my wireless telephone while driving?

A: NO. The only exception is an emergency situation that requires you to call a law enforcement agency, a health care provider, the fire department or other emergency agency entity.

Q: Does the law apply to me if I’m an emancipated minor?

A: Yes. The restriction applies to all licensed drivers who are under the age of 18.

Q: If I have my parent(s) or someone age 25 years or older in the car with me, may I use my wireless telephone while driving?

A: NO. You may only use your wireless telephone in an emergency situation.

Q: Will the restriction appear on my provisional license?

A: No

Q: May I use the hands-free feature while driving if my car has the feature built in?

A: NO. The law prohibits anyone under the age of 18 from using any type of wireless device while driving, except in an emergency situation.

Q: Can a law enforcement officer stop me for using my hands-free device while driving?

A: No. For drivers under the age of 18, this is considered a SECONDARY violation meaning that a law enforcement officer may cite you for using a hands-free wireless phone if you were pulled over for another violation. However, the prohibition against using a handheld wireless telephone while driving is a PRIMARY violation for which a law enforcement officer can pull you over.

For a few months now a handful of my sites can rank almost immediately in Google SERPS whenever we add new content. I noticed just the other week one of the new pages I added to a site ranked in a competitive SERP in less than 4 hours.

Now I am noticing a complete opposite effect taking place. Looking at the exact same sites, some new content is now not even registering with Google, even after a few days.

When I say not registering, the new pages are not even being indexed.

Talk about temperamental. Some pages are indexed and ranked in hours while others are getting no love what-so-ever. All things being equal, we are not doing any trickery with links.

Its strange behavior…

Update: In an IM with an SEO I was asked some questions so I thought I would clarify here. 100% unique content. No link buying nor any sort of redirect manipulation taking place. We could add two new pages to some of the site and one page would get indexed while others would not. I am seeing this on a few sites. No penalty has been given to any of the sites since our money keyword terms are holding strong and there as been no movement in the ranks.

Hook, line and sinker I bit.

While driving home I saw a billboard that read “You Suck Sarah Marshall”.

At the bottom of the message I saw the URL www.ihatesarahmarshall.com so when I got home I jumped on my computer and checked out the website. As I write this post at 9:00 PM on a Friday night I am trying to convince myself my current actions represent professional curiosity and not those of a loser who had nothing better to do. But I digress.

The website is a blog that is currently being written by a loved obsessed 26 year old guy who is YouTubing videos about how infatuated he is with his hot TV star girlfriend.

Well, as it turns out this website is the launch of a new marketing campaign for a movie “Forgetting Sarah Marshall“. I have no idea if this movie is any good although it is brought to us by the guys who gave us the 40 Year Old Virgin. On a quick side note I can not recall seeing the R rated warning on the billboard but if I had I would have known right away it was a movie.

The point of this post is to point out the way this movie is being marketed. They are utilizing a combination of vague yet somewhat shocking billboard ads to drive people to a Google Blog thats incorporating YouTube videos as a way to create buzz. It should be interesting to see how it works out.

This is kind of cool, in a Google geekish sort of way. It should be worth noting that the links displayed here are not the most viewed nor the most organically searched for pages on this site.

This is a riot. Just watch these in order.

Daniel Day-Lewis, the actor who made “Gangs of New York” somewhat entertaining has once again pulled of an amazing performance. This is a Paul Thomas Anderson film, the guy that made “Punch Drunk Love”, “Magnolia” and one of my all-time favorites “Boogie Nights”. Remember that scene with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Mark Wahlberg, “I am such an idiot”?

Anyhow, the film was 2.5 hours long and I could have watched it for another 4. It has every element free market capitalists love; competition, greed, oil tycoons and religious nut cases. This movie deserves to sweep the Oscars for everything and was one of the best movies I have seen for a long time.

Spoiler – Don’t read this if you have not seen the movie.

There were a few moments when I thought the ending touched on DiCaprio’s performance of Howard Hughes in the “The Aviator”. Paul Thomas Anderson seemed to touch on that familiarity since both my wife and I made the same comment as we left the film, but Day-Lewis’s acting was so riveting, you did not care and you only wanted more.