It irks me when people buy a membership and complain just so they can get a refund and see our material for free. We don’t allow photo downloads on our servers. We’ve had hundreds and hundreds of instances of people joining up, downlaodeing ever image we have, and posting them to free sites. So we disabled the ability to save photos to disk from our sites. I really don’t care what other websites do, what I care about is retaining the copyright to my images so that I all of my images don’t get put everywhere and Katt and I not getting any credit for them. We have to pay our server costs, and we have to pay for the time we spend taking the images, for the equipment we use, and for the cost of the server. If people can get our images for free, what would be the point of even running a website?? We’d quickly go broke trying to pay for our costs from our pocket. I wonder if the people who do chargebacks have any clue how much it costs us every month to keep producing this material and hosting this website.
There seems to be a huge attitude of entitlement with many people about internet business. Would anyone go to a movie, sit through the whole movie, and then complain to the theatre because they couldn’t take the movie home with them? It just wouldn’t happen, and if it did, they would be laughed at. On the internet, many people feel entitled to get something for free. I’m sorry, it doesn’t work that way. Chargebacks are a huge issue on the internet. Other e-business owners will know what I am talking about. It’s sad that people feel entitled to rip ethical business owners off just because they feel entitled to everything for free.
Thankfully 99.99% of our members are wonderful, and we love to make the best content we can for them. We greatly appreciate their support! I can’t write enough about how much we appreciate it.
Now off tot ake out the wee one, and get ready for a halloween party.
I just looked out the window and saw a really cool lunar eclipse. I love the moon.
I am in Victoria for the next few days visiting family. I have the week off of training so it seemed like a really good time to go away. I don’t like to miss my workouts, but there were none scheduled this week due to halloween. It’ll give my back a few days to rest, and my belly a few days to grow.
I saw my family Dr. about my back yesterday. I was sent to get some x-rays. The x-ray tech told me I have a very long spine. It took her 3 films to get all of my back x-rayed from top to bottom. I overheard the techs sayoing that I have a very lovely spine and that the films looked good. I have assumed that my back pain is muscular, but the Dr wanted to check all options. My big worry is that I have arthritis starting in my back. If the x-rays come back negative I’ll be going for a bone scan to check for that.
In the mean time I am up to 25 mins of pilates a day, and 30 minutes of stretching. Stabilizing my core muscles should have a huge affect on my back pain. I’ve got some good anti-inflammatory/pain meds too, so that will also help.
Katt and Tanuki and I went to Stanley park last night to try to get on the halloween train. We arrived at 6:45, and all the tickets for the train had been sold out until the 10pm train. That was a bit of a bummer. We had all been looking forward to the train. It wasn’t worth waiting 3 hours for the ride when we had two lovely pugs waiting for us at home. I don’t like to leave them for more than a few hours if I don’t need to. They are my babies and I love them.
I wrote a few entires ago that I was pondering opening a production company. I have since decided against it. I don’t think it would be able to pay for itself soon enough to offset the cost of getting it going. We’re not in a position to be able to operate at a loss. Instead of renting studio space, we’re going to use our contacts to book dungeon space and different photo locations so that we can have different backgrounds and photo themes.
We also may be selling our digital camera and getting a newer one. If anyone is interested in purchasing a Nikon Coolpix 995, 3.3Mpx, with 3 batteries, a bbattery charher, and a 32MB & 16MB CF card, let me know. We also have a hotshoe for an extra flash that comes with it, and a few lens filters. It’s an awesome camera. We are thinking of selling it so that we can buy a camera with an LCD screen that is adjustable so we can take photos from various anlges without having to get into awkward positions.
Anyways, I may not write again between now and Monday, but I’ll be checking e-mail while out of town. So do send an e-mail if interested in the camera.
I went shopping with Tanuki yesterday. I finally got the yoga mat from London Drugs that I wanted. It’s going to help me to do a small exercise routine when I wake up every day. We have concrete floors and I wanted padding so my bones didn’t hurt when I sat or laid down on the floor. I stopped at Staples too. I found a nice filing cabinet that I will go and pick up in the next week or so. I was going to get it today but I just don’t feel like going out. A combination of having a good book to read, a really sore back that has been sore for weeks, and two cuddly pugs, is keeping me pretty sedentary today.
I also picked up a copy of the Rocky Horror Picture show yesterday, which I unfortunately had a defect. There was a little box on the lower left hand side of the screen with wavy lines. I ended up taking it back and exchanging it for another copy.
My back has been I’ve been dealing with chronic back pain over the last few weeks solid. I’ve had back pain on and off for about 5 years, lasting anywhere from 2 days, to 3 or 4 months. It’s really starting to make me grumpy. The first week of pain I could sort of keep my spirits up, and stay somewhat engaged when in company. The last week in particular I have had a total of 1.5 hours of respite from my back pain, which oddly enough occurred while working out. I tried physio, but after reading an article on physio’s effectiveness (patients reported no real improvement over the course of 10 visits), I decided that it was a waste of money since the exercises they were giving me I could do on my own. My back hurts while I am laying down in bed, sitting up, standing, crouching, and especially when I walk. I am pretty sure it’s a soft tissue issue, or a nerve issue, but I am going to see my Dr. tomorrow anyways. Perhaps he can prescribe some anti-inflammatory medication/pain killers that will help manage the discomfort in the short term until my exercises start taking effect.
We have an unexpected block of time next week where I don’t have any commitments, so I think we are going to go out of town for a few days. We’ve got family that’s been wanting us to visit for some time now, so it’s a good opportunity to catch up on visits.
I think it is time for my stretches and exercises. I’m going to get my hot and cold packs and use them after I do my routine. Cold should help if there is any swelling or nerve pinching in my back.
Ξ October 23rd, 2004 | → Comments Off | ∇ General |
Economist Says Mood Wave About to Crash
I’ve mentioned how much I enjoy reading ‘apocalypse’ theories before. There is an interesting article in the Georgia Straight that caught my attention this week about the collapse of the economic system in the world, and how we are potentially entering an era that could be the start of another great depression. The one thing that really caught my eye was the reference to investing in retirement plans not being worth it since most economists are predicting a stock crash which will wipe out retirement plan savings. The adive they gave was to save up your cash and invest when the bubble ‘bursts’.
Veeeeeery interesting.
I’ve been talking for years (mainly to myself, Katt, and my mother) about our monetary system and how we need to have a fundamental shift in ideology in order to keep moving forward. The whole debt based economies we live in will eventually collapse. Of course, I am not an economist so I don’t have any real solid ideas for anything to replace it, but it is certainly something to think about.
I mentioned a site called Life after the oil Crash in an older journal entry. It talks about global oil reserves and the effect depletion will have on society. What I don’t like about this site is the fear tactics, and poor language, the fellow uses to get his point across. Much of the information that his site is based on is very accurate. Oil reserves (as evidenced by $55 a barrel of oil right now) are dwindling and alternative sources of fuel will be needed. But he seems to pull certain facts out of his ass to suit his own paranoia. It is interesting reading none-the-less.
Feel free to send along any links to ‘fact based’ sites like these to me. I get a kick out of them!
Just a reminder to folks that have my old journal page still linked in their journal to please change the link to reflect my new domain. http://www.misterwolfe.com . Thanks!
Tanuki and I went to see Shaun of the Dead last night. It was pretty funny. The whole idea of two zombie couch potatoes fighting actual zombies was too hard to resist. We stopped off at the pub on the corner of granville and robson, I can’t remember the name, and had dinner before the movie. The food was quite good and the portions were super generous, and the beer - the beer was divine! It was also 7.50 a pint. I think that is perhaps the most expensive pint of Guinness I’ve ever had. My favorite place for Guinness is The Irish Heather, here in Gastown. The environment is amazing, the beer is fantastic, and it’s 5.50 a pint. Damned good price! They also have an amazing selection of scotch. I love scotch. MmmMmmm.
I need to pick up a filing cabinet soon. My desk is starting to become a mess of papers. I also need to pick up a cordless keyboard, or find a way to secure my keyboard cable so that I don’t catch my feet on it when I go to stand up. It’s not so good for the computer.
Now it’s time to prepare some food so I am fueled for my workout tonight!
Just because I’m horny.
Ξ October 20th, 2004 | → Comments Off | ∇ General |
I want to learn how to play poker. It seems like a really fun game. I used to play what I thought was poker when I was in my teens, but I’ve been watching poker on TV recently and I’v gotten the impression the poker I was laying was actually not, in fact, poker. It seems like a game with a lot of strategy and a lot of luck as well. My kind of game!
I got to work out yesterday for the first time in 2 weeks. My body is so very happy with me. I really find that I require a lot of physical activity in my life to stay balanced and calm. I notice within a few days of not exercising that I become agitated and cranky. I’m a horror to behold when I’m agitated and cranky. Creatures great and small run in terror - kind of like how they run away from Godzilla! Well, maybe not, but one can dream!
On another note, I am considering expanding our little porn ‘empire’ in the new year. I’ve been thinking about either a) renting studio space to have a dungeon/photo studio, or b) renting out our condo and living in a house that has enough room for a dungeon and photo studio. The goal would be to expand into a content production business for other websites, in addition to the content we produce for ourselves. This idea is still in the concept stage at this point. It would require some changes in how we run the business and would require an initial investment to get the equipment for a dungeon and the lighting for photos as well as a camcorder for video production. We’re going to wait until Katt is feeling more stable with her depression before we decide how we will proceed. The main benefit to either having a larger home with dungeon space, or an office, is that if Katt is not feeling well she can either stay home or in her room while I work in the studio. Our little condo makes it hard to separate work and home.
Off to bed.
Ξ October 18th, 2004 | → Comments Off | ∇ General |
I’m going to pimp my business today.
We need female models willing to shave their heads for photos and video. Usually what we do is auction off the right to shave the model’s head on our site. We’ve done this about 4 times now, with the models getting anywhere from $400 to $750 by the auction winner. We would expect something in that range again, although we can’t guarantee what bids would come in. We’re also open to shaving folks who want the experience, or planned to shave anyways.
Anyhoo, if this interests you, send me an e-mail and we can talk about what you would like to see happen.
There are not many things that make me cry.
That said…
I’m a suck for certain kinds of romantic comedies/dramas. For example, I was watching Cast Away on TV tonight with Katt. The plane crashes - I’m fine. He goes to hang himself - I’m fine. He gets rescued and he finally sees his lost love and realizes he can never be with her again - I’m a leaky freak. Of all things, Peter Parker professing his love to MJ as the wall is about to come down on the both made me cry. Oh yeah, Moulin Rouge. When Satine dies at the end and dies in whats-his-face’s arms… leaky freak of the week!
I have this whole unrequited love thing that always makes me choke up and my eyes leak. I try to be discreet about it; for some reason leaking makes me shy. I think seeing what people react emotionally to really gives a glimpse into what their hopes, dreams, and fears are. I’ve always been relationship focused for as long as I can remember. I remember being 4 or 5 years old and dreaming about the girl I wanted to marry, and wanting to love someone and be loved. As I grew older into my teens and early twenties I was fixated on relationships. I had a ‘girlfriend’ in grade 4 that I thought was really nice until she started to pretend she didn’t know me when other kids walked by us. In grade 6 I had a huge crush on a girl that was a year older than me. We spent the whole year talking and holding hands. We lost touch, as children do, when she went to a different school than I did for highschool. That was my first really good experience ‘romantically’. I didn’t date at all in highschool. I had infatuations every year until grade 12, but didn’t mesh with anyone. I was a complete gushing romantic.
Romantic love stories always made me a little misty, but after Katt tried to commit suicide in 2001 movies like Cast Away and Moulin Rouge really threw me for a loop. See, I know how it feels to believe that I’ve lost someone forever. The world stops spinning, the heavens go dark, and everything and every one are shadows behind glass. So when I see movies that have that element of the loss of a life partner I immediately go into empathy mode.
Tom Hanks character in Cast Away said something at the very end of the movie that is similar to one of my life affirmations: “I have to keep breathing because the sun will rise again tomorrow and I’ll never know what the tide will bring in”.
I actually think one of the reasons that I was attracted to polyamory was because of my early focus on relationships. I always wanted someone to love and be loved, so as I grew older the idea of having multiple partners was an easy transition to make.
Ok. Time for a shower, and time for bed.
Hey folks, Tanuki is doing a survey and asked me to post a link to it in my journal. If you have a spare 60 seconds, please visit the link and fill out her sex toy survey!
Tanuki’s survey
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