Current excite.com homepage.

Back when Internet Explorer and Netscape were duking it out, so were search sites like Excite, Lycos, and Altavista.  I remember much debate over which search site was the best.  Of course I always preferred the one that ranked my Helen Hunt website the highest at the time.  Ha ha!

Search sites were truly awful back then.  If you don’t believe me, head over to the current Excite.com website and search for anything you might search for today.  Excite has updated their search algorithms as much as they’ve updated their homepage in the last 10 years is seems.

1999 Excite homepage from archive.org.

Of course in addition to searching, Excite was a mish-mash of all sorts of information and services.  I used to have an Excite e-mail address, custom Excite homepage, and even used good old Excite Chat, also known as Virtual Places (VP).

VP was basically just a chat program that used webpages as the chat rooms.  They had a bunch of specific Excite Super Chat pages with themed backgrounds for whatever your interest happened to be (though any URL on the internet could be a chatroom).  And upon entering any of these rooms you were thrown into the jungle of random immaturity, heated arguments, and suggestive (or sometimes just plain explicit) chatting.  I suppose the internet hasn’t changed much in that regard.

The part that makes it memorable for me though are all the little avatars folks would use.  Tiny little images there were about half the size of a postage stamp that you could create and little speech bubbles would pop out of them as you chatted.  You could move them around the screen.  Usually to harass other users as you changed your avatar to something like “LOSER” with an arrow pointing at the avatar next to you.  Then watch as they try to move away from you.

Of course Excite.com was a casualty of the “Dot Com Bust”.  And once Google picked up steam, I know I for one left those old search engines behind and never looked back.  But it’s interesting to look back and see how the online landscape has changed in such a short amount of time.  Then we all pretty much consumed content that was created and placed in front of us.  And now-a-days it’s all about user generated stuff like YouTube and Facebook.  Stuff like the dancing baby and fart soundboards are relegated to e-mail forwards and internet obscurity.

But don’t forget those simpler times.  When sites like Excite had EVERYTHING you’d EVER need!

I remember when I was a kid there was nothing better than a snow day.  The more the better.  Now as I slowly transform into a grumpy old man, I find that I could really do without it!

Well that’s not entirely true.  I just wish it would snow, but that somehow driveways, sidewalks and roadways were immune.  I shoveled my driveway enough to make it passable today, but tomorrow I’m gonna have to hop to it and get the thing cleared out.  I guess I’m always looking for a workout, right?  hehe

But at least the Toronado handles it like a champ.  It just trudges right through that stuff like a big lumbering… lumberer.  I can’t help but smirk when I see people plowing along in their little Hyundais letting the snow decide where they go.  It’s good to be the king.

Another Toronado not being stuck.

One of the sites I get to enjoy regularly via my Google Reader is lifehacker.com.  They tend towards the techy side but they offer a lot of clever insights on handy little “Life Hacks” that may or may not be useful.  One that popped up today was “Negotiate Anything“.  Every once in a while I run across something or somebody that kinda re-enforces my beliefs and helps me understand a bit more about how things work, and how I can use my abilities to make them work more in my favor.  In this world you can’t have everything instantly, but with a little careful strategy you can tilt the table in your favor and have a few more things go your way than those that might not.

The Lifehacker article I linked to above talks about Herb Cohen.  Honestly I’d never heard of the guy.  But supposedly he’s the “defacto” negotiator.  I watched the video in the article and a lot of what he said really resonated with me (I guess it’s that Althouse blood, hehe).  He says the three variables in negotiation are power, time, and information.  I’d never really thought of it like that, but when I’m “negotiating” those three things are what I focus on, I just never really thought about it like that.  I kinda just went on “instinct” I guess (again, thanks Dad for those genes).

You might think about your “negotiation skills” and you think about buying a car or a house, or interviewing for a job.  But if you think about it, pretty much every decision in your life is a negotiation.  Will I do this or not? It all depends on whether you agree with the other person.  Even when you don’t think there’s another person there.  For instance say you’re hungry and a Big Mac would REALLY hit the spot.  If I asked you right now what a Big Mac cost you probably couldn’t tell me.  But you know if you rolled up to the drive through window and they said “Big Mac’s are $15 today.”  You’d say to hell with that no matter how reasonably hungry you were.  But I’m willing to guess most of the time when you go through the drive through, you look at the price, pull around, pay it and go on your way.  You and Mc Donald’s just negotiated a fair price for your meal that you both agree on.

But, Matt you’re 400 words into this and I still don’t know how to get what I want!  I feel cheated!

First off.  Nobody gets what they want.  Hate to break it to ya.  Now, I know what you’re thinking.  You knew it.  You knew I didn’t have any secret knowledge that unlocked the universe, and definitely not any knowledge that will just get people to hand over the goods.  Do you want to know the secret though?  Do you REALLY want to know?….  The secret is something you’ve long suspected.  That some people get what they want more often than others.  And lets be honest with each other.  When you get what you want.  You’re happy.  Me?  9 days out of 10 I’m a happy camper.  Hey, we all have a crummy day now and again.

Fine then.  How do I get what I want…. more often?

Glad you asked!

What DO you want?

What is it that you want? A pony?  They’re cool, but who’s gonna scoop all the poop?  A million bucks?  Well there’s those printing presses, but I hear they’re cracking down on who gets to use ‘em.  And then there’s that working your whole life and earning it.  But that’s lame.

Honestly though, this is the hardest part.  Whether it’s deciding what you want to do for a living, or whether you look better in hot pants or bell bottoms.  A lot of times you know you want something but you don’t know that that is.  Best advice I can give you is don’t over think it.  By the time you’ve narrowed it down to a couple good choices just be bold, pick one and go with it.  Commit to it.  Live and breath it if you have to, even in the face of those that laugh and tell you you’re crazy.  Did it ever occur to you that you look GREAT in hot pants AND bell bottoms?

Be realistic.

Be realistic. Big things take a lot of time and resources.  Which either means you’re going to need a lot of help, a lot of time, or a ridiculous amount of luck.  Also consider all the draw backs.  For example. People like to look at celebrities and think how nice it would be not to have to worry about money and be known every where you go.  But along with that means you can’t even go buy toilet paper without getting stopped for autographs, and everybody hears about it when your wife chases you down the driveway until you hit a fire hydrant.

Some things are nice but require ongoing maintenance.  Swimming pools are awesome, but it’s a lot of work to keep them from becoming a lab experiment, and every year you have to winterize them and recondition them for summer.  A gym membership will let you swim whenever you want, someone else takes care of the pool, and it’s cheaper, but you have to leave your home  and swim with random strangers.

You can’t have it all for a little, so be realistic or you’re going to be disappointed.

Check the emotions.

Check the emotions. Sorry, drama llamas.  The word is out.  Nobody cares how much your life sucks.  I don’t say this to be mean, or infer that your friends and family don’t care about your burdens.  I say it because lamenting on why you are so downtrodden is never going to be a good tactic for getting what you want.  Never.  Ever.  Because the people that care are probably already helping you in every way they can.  That only stands to reason that everyone else doesn’t care.  You can hate the world and bitch about them being selfish insensitive pricks, or you can check the baggage and get in the game.

The biggest thing that Herb Cohen said in the video in that Lifehacker article is to think of negotiations like a game.  “Because in a game you care.  You REALLY care.  But… not that much.”  In a game you always want to win.  And it sucks when you lose, but shoot.  It’s just a game.

It seems counter intuitive, but checking the emotions is (in my opinion) the most important part of actually getting what you want.  Not only do you approach things with a more level head, but you can really FREAK PEOPLE OUT.  Grandpa Frank told me a story once about his first car.  It was a 1942 Chevy (I think, Grandma ask Grandpa and correct me on these details if I’m wrong).  Frank and his Dad went to look at this car.  Frank loved it.  The fella wanted $400 for the car.  His Dad said “No way.  I’ll give you $250 for it.”  Of course the guy scoffed at the offer.  Frank’s Dad just said “Fine,” and headed back to the car.  Frank couldn’t believe it.  It wasn’t the greatest car, but his dad couldn’t even cough up $400 bucks for his son’s first car?  I’m sure he’d already pictured himself shining it up, driving it to school showing it to all his friends.  But instead he was sitting in the PASSENGER seat of his father’s car as they drove AWAY from HIS car.  Lo and behold as they’re driving away, the seller chases them down half the block just to ask Frank’s Dad if he’ll still buy it for $250.

Getting what you want right now always comes with a price.  But always give the impression that whatever you’re after isn’t that important.  That you can afford to walk if you don’t get what you want.  My Dad always said, “Never underestimate how desperate someone is to get rid or something.”  And the converse it true as well.  Never underestimate how badly someone wants what you have to offer. This applies to everything.  Cars, jobs, heck even relationships!

Be prepared to compromise.

Be prepared to compromise. If you look at compromise as defeat, you’re NEVER going to get what you want.  Instead look at it as opportunity.  Because THIS is the crucial moment where you can really skew things in your favor.  This is where you have to opportunity to do what is in YOUR best interest.  Think WAY back to the beginning.  The three key variable of negotiation are power, time, and information.  By playing the cards you’re strongest in and minimizing your weaknesses, you will usually come out on the favorable end, even if only slightly.  But in the end, if you reach that agreement you’ve gotten what you want right?

For example, when I wanted to paint my car.  I realized I had a lot more time than money.  TIME>POWER.  I had read and seen results of people who’d painted their cars with a roller and rust-o-leum.  Armed with this INFORMATION my car got painted over the course of a few months.  Does it look as good as a show car?  No… but it’s a compromise.  One I’m pretty satisfied with.

Things usually are the way they are for a reason.

And finally, just remember.  Usually almost always all the time things are the way they are for a reason.  Don’t over think things.  Don’t force things.  But most of all, don’t convince yourself that you can’t do something that tons of other folks already do.  Figure out what you want.  Figure how to get it.  And GET IT!

]]> http://buthard.wordpress.com/2009/12/08/getting-what-you-want-aka-guaranteed-happiness/feed/ 0 Matt http://buthard.wordpress.com/2009/12/08/i-just-want-bigger-boots/ http://buthard.wordpress.com/2009/12/08/i-just-want-bigger-boots/#comments Tue, 08 Dec 2009 12:47:01 +0000 Matt http://buthard.wordpress.com/?p=2125 ]]>

Well I’ve had a resolution for this winter to be better equipped to handle the weather.  So a few days ago I picked up some snow boots and insulators to keep my feet nice warm and dry.  Well I tried the boots on at the store, but I couldn’t try on the insulators unless I took them out of the package.  Get home and boots + insulators = too small.  No biggie.  I’ll just take them back and exchange them.  I figure a couple sizes bigger on both outta do it.

So last night we roll up to Orschlen’s.  There were several cars there, but I wouldn’t say they were swamped.  I grab the boots, insulators, and my original reciept and head to the nearest checkout stand.  I’m not sure how exchanges work at Orschlen’s, but I explain to the guy that I just want to exchange these for the same thing bigger size.  He says that’s fine and asks me to place my stuff in a cart right up front there and go get what I need.

We do so, and look around a little bit to see if there’s anything else we need while we’re there.  After a while of just window shopping we head to the front with just the items I want to exchange.  I go to the same guy I went to before (you know since I already talked to him about exchanging) even though his line was a little bit longer.  As it would turn out, this guy is the Smokey Dan of Orschlen Farm & Home.  So from now on, we’ll just call him Dan.

Dan appeared to be “training” someone.  I use the quotes because the trainee seemed to be helping this guy make it through some snags in the computer system.  It wasn’t the computer system’s fault.  It’s just that you can’t do things like, type in a zip code, when there’s an error message on the screen saying you forgot the city “Please click OK.”  Eventually he gets my old reciept scanned in, rings up my new items and says, “That’ll be $25.”

“Huh?  I’m just exchanging this stuff for the exact same things.  Same prices and everything!”

“Well you didn’t tell me that before,” Dan said.

“Sorry.  I had both these items in my hands when I talked to you the first time AND placed them both in the cart you told me to put them in which looks like somebody else already hauled off.”

Dan sighed and said, “Okay.”

The next 8 minutes or so involved Dan trying to undo everything he just did.  After many dings, and error messages he finally decides it will be FASTER to start over.  Genius.  So he trys to, I guess, cancel out the sale and manages to freeze the check out machine up.  I don’t know how you crash a POS machine, but he did it.  Meanwhile somebody is asking him for his override code for another register.  OH, apparently this guy is IN CHARGE tonight!  I can’t even ask if the manager is here!  After giving the gal the WRONG code and her having to come back twice while he fiddles with the machine trying to figure out how to restart it he decides it would be FASTER to move to another register.

So for the third time I explain how to spell my last name, and give him my address and phone number so he can put it in again incorrectly a third different way.  BUT FINALLY I have a receipt that says I can leave the store with boots and insulators and not owe them anything!  HOORAY!

It was frustrating, but now I’ve got me some boots that will keep my feet and pants warm and dry.  Good thing to as it looks like we’ve already got a good amount of snow overnight and more to come today.  Bring it ON!

What was I thinking?  I mean, I knew better.  I could hardly stand the first Turok game.  But when you’re as hopelessly consumed with games that you’ve already beaten everything and you have and darn near everything that’s ever came out for the N64 (the good stuff anway), what’s a kid to do?  Turok 2 gets off to a good start right off the shelf with a cool leathery textured box and a slick black cartridge. Sadly the trend of being more fun to look at than actually play continues from the box art to the screen once you fire it up in the system.

Ends up, the reasoning for purchasing this game can be summed up in just two words.  “Eye Candy”.  And as these re-reviews have proved to me time and time again pretty much EVERY game I bought on the N64 primarily for graphics hasn’t stood the test of time well.  Just like with games of today, back then some of the shortcomings in gameplay and fun PLAYING the game can be made up by the detail and awe the graphics provide.  Especially when 3D gaming was still in its infancy.  Cool new effects and rendering techniques were a joy to experience for the first time.  But as time goes on and other snazzy looking games come out, older graphics just don’t impress like they used to.

For me this game was all about graphics. And yes. That's a dinosaur with cannons on its back.

So this was a difficult game to re-play.  The level design is sketchy at best.  Precarious jumps from platform to platform seem like a needless challenge that serves only to frustrate.  I found myself ALWAYS low on ammo and having to back-pedal halfway across maps while chucking 10 arrows into a dinosaur with a laser gun chasing me down.  It wasn’t long before I remembered the only way I ever made any progress in this game was by plugging in the “All Weapons and Ammo” cheat.

This was one saving grace this game had.  There were some really interesting weapons.  Over the top stuff like the “Cerebreal Bore”.  The instruction manual explains some BS about locking on to enemy brainwaves.  But the fact is it’s cool just to kick back, lock on to an enemy’s skull and watch this slow moving projectile pursue some random rifle toting dinosaur monster thing as they scamper away, then drill into their skull and then BOOM!  Sounds graphic and for the time it probably was, but it certianly doesn’t look realistic by any stretch.

The gore was excessive enough to be humorous in most cases.

Unfortunately that’s it.  Once I’d had fun playing with all the guns, there was just no motivation to keep playing the game.  The story isn’t integral to the game, so you don’t really care what happens next, and the levels and enemies aren’t interesting enough to care what’s around the next corner.

If nothing else Turok 2 is a good example of how hopelessly obsessed I was with gaming at the time.  When I could beat a game in a week or two tops, and it was months, or even years at times between decent games, as Gramps would say, “We played with what we had at the time.”  Unfortunately the time I spent with Turok 2 was much better spent doing just about anything else.  I never even got close to beating the game.  And the tacked on multi-player was utterly worthless.  So as little as the game had to offer back then… I truly see NO redeeming qualities today.

Worst case scenario should I go fuggin nuts.

Damn.  I missed a day of posting.  Oh well.  I’m back and beating my average.  =)

So the Blazer has been for sale for a few days now.  Gotten at least a call or two a day on it.  I don’t want to turn this into a complain-fest.  But I REALLY hate selling stuff.  Half the people that have came and looked at it so far act shocked that it has issues.  And the other half have been, “TOTALLY AWESOME“, then never hear from them again.  Okay.  I get it.  I mean, I’m the same way.  Always looking for the deal of the year.  I can’t hold it against anybody.

So the reality is what do I do with this machine.  I’ve been driving it to work this week and it hasn’t had any problem getting me the three blocks back and forth.  But I’ll be honest.  If I want to go across town, I take the Toronado.  Ha ha!  If I could figure out the bogging down thing, I wouldn’t hesitate to keep it.  But before I can get that far… I’m going to have to throw some money at it.  So I’ve been tossing it around in my head and can’t really decide what I want to do.

So here’s some options, regardless of your automotive knowledge what do you think makes the most sense.  Feel free to offer other options than the ones listed.  I am choosing to list them from “cheapest” to “fully financially committed”.

1)  Keep it for sale at $800 until it sells.

2)  Keep it for sale, but lower the price until I at least get what I paid for it.

3)  Keep it for sale, but keep trying to fix it in the meantime.

4)  Not for sale.  Invest in the proper tools to figure out what’s wrong.  Possibly (but rarely) ever use tools again.

5)  Not for sale.  Start replacing parts that might be bad (could be cheap, or end up being VERY expensive)

6)  Not for sale.  Take it to a shop and have them find out what’s wrong and then try to fix it myself.

7)  Not for sale.  Take it to a shop and tell them to fix it.

So there ya go.  I suppose this is a decision I should have made BEFORE I bought the thing, hehe, but I’m interested to see what folks think.  Now, I’m looking for candid opinions here.  I welcome those who would tell me how crazy I am for wanting to keep it, or those who think it has tons of potential.  It’d take a chunk of change, but hell I could drop a Chevy 350 in there if I really wanted to.  And that would solve my engine problems for SURE.

Seems like it’s been one extreme or the other lately.  Thanksgiving was real laid back and a nice break from the routine.  Only to turn around on Friday and work 5:30 AM to 7 PM.  Yesterday was busy cleaning house and then off to work, coming home cleaning some more and then playing a few hours of Blackjack with Biebs and Andrea’s family.

But today has been nothing but lazy.  I haven’t even had to put on a pair of shoes.  Hehe.  Played some Guild Wars and spent most of the day watching football and just relaxin.  My Vikes s pare still rolling and I really have to take back all the bad stuff I ever said about Farve.

No real point to today’s post.  Just need to keep  the streak going and since I didn’t do anything today, there’s not much to talk about!  I need to set some new short term goals I think.

I may have to take a blow to my pride, but I might have to admit defeat when it comes to the Blazer.  I was out today loading up all the leaves I’d raked up a couple weeks ago to finally haul them off to the compost site.  As I was hooking the battery back up (because it’s drains dead if you leave it hooked up) I was running through my head what could be screwed up with that thing again.  The truth is I really don’t know.  I’m almost sure it’s something electrical, but I don’t know where to start without throwing parts at it to get it going.  Could be anything from a $20 sensor, or a $400 fuel injector spider.  And unfortunately I don’t have the tools to test the different components correctly.

So I could take it to a shop and hope it’s not something ridiculously expensive to fix.  But if it turns out to be the injectors I can’t really justify the cost of getting it repaired at the shop just because of the multitude of little nickel and dime things that the thing needs.

So after much deliberation I think we’re going to put it up for sale for a little more than we paid for it since it DOES run better than when we got it and it’s a hell of a lot cleaner.  Then put that money towards something that I wouldn’t be afraid to cross a busy intersection with.

The irony is I made two trips to the compost site today and it ran better than it ever has for me.  So far every time I’ve drove it longer than 10 minutes it would die.  But I probably was running around for a good 30 minutes and while I still couldn’t get on the gas without it sputtering, I could just drive around normally with no problem.  Sadly I don’t think there’s a good chance it’ll fix itself.

So if anybody here want’s first crack it it, I’ll give ya the family discount. 

Well today was my first ever participation in Black Friday.  I’ve always heard the news stories, and talk to people that have gone shopping at that insane hour in the morning.  But I’d always just shrugged it off as a sort of niche thing that “normal” people didn’t really have much to do with.  But apparently (once again) I’M the one who’s far from normal.

I had a live broadcast today from Orschlen’s.  It’s a new personal record for earliest remote I’ve ever done (6AM – 9AM).  And as I was driving across town, I first noticed the cars lined up and parked around the block from Sears.  “Wow,” I thought.  Must be some deals there or something.  THEN I drive past Wal-Mart.  HO-LEE-CRAP.  There wasn’t an empty space in the entire parking lot.  Infact people were parking at the stores and fast food joints next to Wal-Mart just to get in that place.  I can’t even imagine what it was like on the inside.  And this is just Great Bend, Kansas!  I mean good greif!

So I pull up to Orschlen’s about 30 minutes before they opened to start setting up equipment.  Sure enough, there were already people lined up outside the store.  I’ll be honest.  I assumed that Orschlen’s would be 2nd or 3rd on people’s priority list.  But that place was jam packed for a good 2 hours and then pretty steady after that.

I mean they had some good deals.  Pretty much everything I didn’t really need.  But they had a really nice mounted work light set that I snatched up for $20.  I figure for $20 that will help working on stuff after dark.  With the shorter days, it’s a shame to let all that time go to waste.

So that’s my Black Friday introduction.  After seeing that Wal-Mart parking lot though I can’t imagine I’ll ever be bold enough to run in THAT crowd.

Well, Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  I hope everyone’s had their fair share of food by now.  Taken a nice long nap, and just generally been able to enjoy the day.  It’s been a nice day around here just for Andrea and I to spend together.  Seems like we don’t do that as much as we should.  Went bowling last night (where I beat her all three games!  hehe).  Then we slept in today, I rolled out of bed around 8:00 and realized a few things we forgot at the store.

Oh how I LOVE the small Dillon’s here in Great Bend.  They don’t have the huge selection and six brands of everything.  But they’ve got everything you need, and as long as you’re not there during the peak hours, it’s not too busy.  Plus it’s super nostalgic to walk through that place.  I grabed some pineapple slices for the ham, and some evaporated milk for the pumpkin pie, and it was off to the short drive back home.

We REALLY need to have home cooked food more often.  Even with the tons of stuff we made, it wasn’t too hard, just had to take the time to let it cook.  Preperation really wasn’t a sweat at all.  And it was just downright delicious.  I’m gonna be eating ham sandwiches, pork and beans, ham and eggs, etc. until Christmas probably!

And geeze, almost Christmas already.  Time really has been flying.  And I mean supersonic jet speed, flying.  I don’t really know what my holiday plans are other than Christmas at my Aunt’s house over the New Year weekend.  I need to make the Cimarron rounds, as well as the Wichita/Winfield rounds.  It’ll be fast and furious I’m sure.

One thing from now until 2010 at least that I want to do is get back into the blog.  It’s fun to go back and read my daily ramblings, and much of them are just little inconsequential things, but fun to read and remember none-the-less.  So until at least the New Year, and hopefully longer, I intend to resurrect my “one post a day” rule.  Unless I’m completely without internet access I’m hoping that forcing myself to write SOMETHING will get me back into the swing of things around here.  It’s been truly pathetic, I admit and apologize.

SO.  I hope you all had a great holiday.  I’m off to bed because I’m up early tomorrow to be at a Orscheln’s remote at 5:30 AM.  See ya then black friday shoppers!