We have brought back our meetup in a whole new way. We will be having monthly Geek Networking meetups in NJ with MD and VA Meetups TBA (probably starting in March.)

Our first meetup is taking place next Saturday January 28th from 3-7PM on the 4th floor of Rutgers University’s Alexander Library. At 7, we’ll all leave to find a diner or something and eat food.

Most likely we’ll just be meeting people for the first time or catching up after a long time. Let us know if you have any ideas for the meeting and we can try to incorporate it.

We are going to bring either cookies or donuts and coffee and stuff like that. :)

Click here for more info.

I have some mixed emotions over this one.

At first – the kid is cute and its a cool idea. I also love that a little girl is involved in heavy music

Still, I can’t help but think that vocalists that have no big creative involvement with their songs that are prepackaged by record labels is a primary problem with the industry. If you have the right family, you are a star. An 8 year old couldn’t have possibly have had that much involvement in making this. Thus, I am conflicted.

It’s not a problem that this exists, they could have just did this for fun. The problem is everyone else besides these folks who prepackage figureheads as the norm. Every producer’s kid and girlfriend (regardless of talent) magically seem to be the only people who have any hope of entering the industry.

I can’t hate on this, but at the same level that this is awesome, it also reminds me of everything that is wrong with the industry today and in fact shows how easy it is to market anyone as a vocalist – even a child.

Artists, creatives and con runners! I’m writing more tutorials for you and added a nice “How To” section for event running.

Want your question answered? Email it to me. If it’s awesome, I’ll turn my reply to you into a new tutorial.

I posted the video before, but it has since been taken down. I kept a copy, though.

Anette Olzon, lead singer of Nightwish wore my shirt that I designed when she was on tour. Here she is:

If you would like your own shirt like this, they are available in my shop. Each one is hand silk screened on high quality shirts – great enough to stand up to a world tour in a metal band! :)

I also have a men’s version of it available here:

Right now is about the time when most people will have already flubbed their New Year’s Resolutions. There is a reason for this. NYRs suck. 

Imagine trying to lift a desk with your butt. Better yet, try it.

I’ll bet that your butt failed. Why? Because your butt isn’t used to lifting desks. You might be able to lift a desk with your butt if your butt trained for it little by little. That training would consist of small, butt-sized pieces of information or exercise. 

Early January, the gym is packed. By February, it’s back to normal. Humans don’t usually accept abrupt change like that. I am used to exercising a lot, but if I weren’t it would be such a shock to the system that I know I wouldn’t stay with it.

My challenge isn’t productivity or exercise. For me, it is eating food at home. My schedule and utter hatred of supermarkets leaves us eating out for almost every meal. It’s like having a rather shitty personal chef that gives you gas a lot.

Your challenge could be fitness, art, creativity, or anything else. Whatever that is – forget what time of year it is and just make 1 small change. In my case, I should aim to make 1 meal per week at home and go to a supermarket once.

Probably next week I’ll be getting another warm spinach and shrimp salad from Macaroni Grill. If that happens, beating myself up is not the answer. The answer is to keep attempting that small change until it becomes easy. Then try to make it slightly bigger. Repeat.

No fancy name for a life change will get you to lift a desk with your butt. You might decide to stop lifting a desk with your butt for a day or so. Just keep at it with small changes and don’t get bummed out about it. Before you know it, you’ll have the most dapper butt in all of desk-lifting. Just forget the formalities and concentrate on you.

… and forget the people who make you feel bad about making positive change or failing. Failure is part of the growth process. Negative people shouldn’t be. Cut them loose and get back to butt-lifting.