Elliott C. Back: Internet & Technology

I’ve got taxes to do, and I’m not exactly sure what the difference is between H&R’s Taxcut and Intuit’s Turbotax. As far as I can tell, they’re both roughly the same price, and allow you to electronically turn in your 2006 federal and state income taxes:

The confusion becomes worse when you realize that there are a number of “free filing” sites, as well:

• Tax ACT: Your totally FREE tax software
• eSmart Tax: Online tax filing software

All of this is confused by the large numbers of SEO spammers cluttering up search results in Google. I’ve done taxes before, but tax software should exist to make my life easier, not more difficult. Buying tax software should be like buying an operating system. Clearly, buying Vista is a bad idea. Buying Taxcut? We can’t be so sure.

It’s an ominous word, that one, and yet it’s incredibly important for me to wake up and realize how little time I have. My day can be divided into a 12 hour chunk from 7 AM to 7 PM when I am working and eating. Then I need 7 hours of sleep. That gives me five hours for the day, less if I work later or have a long dinner, or just want more sleep. There’s not a lot you can get done in small four hour chunks, so I need to set my mind on it and establish some goals for myself, firm, workable goals in order to get them done.

“I’m quite excited about what the future brings for this website and myself.”
“But it won’t happen unless I conspire with all my will.”

First, I need to begin work on secret project X. Tomorrow I will code the backend; php/mysql will suffice to code the functions insert, update, flip, delete, rate, and comment [ed note--done]. Wednesday I will test the backend code against a basic layout. Thursday I will layout the page elements and begin working on the javascript. At this point, secret project X will be nearly done and I can polish details during the weekend, and prepare it for release.

Second, I need to finish the design of my new blog layout. Admittedly, it’s taking a long time. First on my list of priorities is to get my idea of tagging working properly, then to improve the overall layout. The menubar needs a lot of work. The comment form will receive particular attention; my ideas for this are actually innovative, for once. WP 2.1 code needs to be installed immediately, then the usual gamut of caching, searching, etc plugins must be installed and tested and tucked into corners. The theme must be widgetizable.

Third, I just bought a site. It’s the first time I’ve ever done something like this. I’m not quite sure what to do. My thoughts on the matter are: 1) get the site operational on my servers, 2) reduce its operating costs, 3) increase community appeal by allowing visitors to tag and comment on context, 4) monetize, 5) promote. It’s going to be very new to be trying to turn over a business site, instead of the usual pseudo-personal blob dabbling I’ve done.

Finally, I have another idea for a business-oriented site that will leverage the “blogs are hot” mentality. It will probably take about a month of undivided time to execute, because the service it provides will be quite high-load. However, I had an inspiration last night for the interface and I will jot it here:

^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^

    = - .. a
    = - .. b
    = - .. c
    = - .. d

  ## ## ## ##

I am really not kidding you ^.^! If I can accomplish these four menial tasks, I will have accomplished the following goals:

• Diversified my online holdings
• Founded new profitable, self-sustainable business
• Increased the worth of my existing blog properties
• Won the undying affection of my Wendy

I know it all sounds a little vague, endearingly romantic, and naive, but trust me on this one. I’m a professional, I’m in my game, and I’m going to turn out some good work soon. I just need to focus my mind away from the distractions of games, movies, tv, books, sloth, food, and all those things that slow the mind, and keep low the spirit. Fly, Halcyon! Fly, Moon!

I took a totally awesome digital photo of a Squirrel this morning. I should bring my camera with me more often:

Squirrel climbs tree in snowy East Elmhurst

It might very well be the best photo I’ve taken with my Canon S3. For once the zoom, the lighting, and the image stabilization all worked together to get me a well-lit, clear, crisp closeup of a living animal. I’m so excited!