First things first, I got a new job @ LUSH Handmade Cosmetics @ Mayfair! It seems like it will be a very fun job which will allow me to tap into my creativity side and allow me to help people in the same respect. Also the fresh and organic products smell and look so amazing. Ugh! I am soooo excited!

Furthermore, I am now a Certified Radiological Emergency Manager through FEMA. As you may know I am a member of the Civil Air Patrol, and one of the honors they have is being an Aerial Radiological Monitor. In order to get this honor you need to be certified either though FEMA or CAP in this field. So I took it a step further, I went beyond the call and sought out this certification becoming the only one in my Squadron and the second person in my group, and maybe even the state to still be up to date with their radiological certifications of whatever type. So yay me!

Finally, my new home on Lake Drive. I moved into an apt on Lake Drive, near St. Mary’s this past week. It’s a gorgeous 3 bedroom apt built in the 20′s and still retains nearly all of the original features and fixtures which adds to the wonderful-ness of this place.

Golly everything’s falling into place, and the timing couldn’t be better.

So you’ve been blogging for a while but you’re starting to hate it? You thought you could make easy money and order a brand new 24″ iMac to replace your old Windows Me PC in less than a month or two? Don’t wait for the south pole to melt, drop it, there are better things to do.

I came up with different statistical patterns observed through researches I’ve made on the subject and you might be suffering from the Bloginozia virus. It gets transmitted by either visiting Wal-Mart too frequently, or by falling into one or more of the following clinical observations:

1- Blogging For Money

Pro bloggers are constantly saying that if your goal is to blog for money, then you’re almost guaranteed to fail. Inspired by some bloggers’ gigantic monthly revenues, too many new bloggers are jumping head first in the blogosphere hoping they can get their part of the pie. Money is the consequence of success. Success is the consequence of months of quality content. If you think your blog will bring you important revenues in a short period of time, stop snoozing and wake up, this is not the case.

2- Blogging in the Make Money Online Niche

Inspired by clinical observation #1 listed above, have you ever thought how many new bloggers are starting to blog about how to make money online every day? More than you can imagine! What can they blog about? How credible can they be? What tips and money making techniques can they teach you if they are not even making a dime? Worst, they are losing money because they are paying $10 a month for hosting. This does not make sense. The Make Money Online niche is a jam pack football stadium and the only ones making money are the players on the field.

3- Niche Blogging

This one is the continuation of observation #1. Ever heard of the multiple blogging recipes to make a fortune? Pick an empty niche, start posting regularly to optimize specific keywords and search engines will fall in love with your content. As a result, you will magically rank in the first page of keyword-related search results, getting customers to purchase affiliate crap or click AdSense ads. First, let’s say that after a month of research you’ve isolated a low crowded niche. Great, now you need to produce content about cat litter. Do you like emptying a cat litter? Do you see yourself producing 3-4 posts a week on cat litters? And before Google thinks you’re THE cat litter reference, you will have emptied kitty’s can too many times. Blogging about a subject you are not passionate about is not fun. It becomes work and it sucks.

4- The Pressure of Producing Quality Content Regularly

Content is king. A blog that has low quality content doesn’t stand out from the crowd. Producing quality content is vital, and many bloggers are facing this challenge rapidly. True, you can come up with a good post once in a while. But if you wish to get dugg, to get thousands of stumblers visiting your site and reach Del.icio.us’, Sphinn’s and BloggingZoom’s front page, you need KILLER content. Once you start blogging and you see fellow bloggers near you having more success than yourself on social media sites, you’ll start introspecting your content. Look at bloggers such as Skellie or Maki, pillar posts are pouring out of their brain. It’s like they sit, type, and here’s another perfect article in no time. This requires talent. Inexperienced bloggers need hours to produce good content, and this often leads to discouragement.

5- You Feel Google AdSense is Like a Bad MasterCard Ad

• Hosting fees: $10 a month
• Domain Registration: $10 a year
• WordPress For Dummies: $15
• Customized Logo: $100
• Customized WordPress Theme: $500
• Clicking your own Google AdSense banner to increment your total revenues to 1¢ on a payout of $100: Priceless. (Note: Doing this is strictly forbidden by Adsense’s TOS, so don’t do it!)

6- Busted By Crappy Referral Programs

Here’s a good example: A new concept such as DealDotCom is launched. To create some buzz, DealDotCom contacts the 2-3 biggest pro bloggers in the Make Money Online niche to explain their referral program where you get a percentage of all referred members’ sales. When the big guys blog about it, DealDotCom gets hundreds if not thousands of new members in the following days. Consequence? The program is close to saturation. You can decide to add DealDotCom’s banner on your site hoping bloggers will be subscribing under your referral link, but guess who did it first, dude? Who do you think will be making big dineros out of this program?

7- RSS Subscribers too long to increase

Every single day you are looking at your stats hoping your RSS feed will finally display the magical number: 100 subscribers. But nope, you haven’t passed the three figures yet. If on a count of 25 subscribers you remove your 5 web email accounts and 10 of your friends, you are stuck with 10 pure RSS subscribers, and this sucks. You could try opening 75 new accounts randomly on mac.com or gmail, but that would be a real pain. And you would still be talking to yourself… so emailing yourself directly might be a better idea. Increasing RSS subscribers takes time and energy, and unless you are ready to spend countless hours producing quality content, you better stop blogging once and for all.

8- Your WordPress Theme Sucks!

Dude, if you are still using WordPress’ default theme, I honestly don’t know what to say. However, I totally understand why you hate your site. This default theme is the worst thing ever designed in history. Windows 3.0 was fine art compared to that! Two options: either you find yourself a free theme that other bloggers already have, or you break your piggybank to get some dosh and pay for a customized theme. See the Bad MasterCard ad above for a guesstimate.

9- Not Enough Traffic

Yep, 10 visitors a day is not THE best moral booster. You may think Google Analytics doesn’t know how to count visitors, but truth is, it’s known as a pretty darn reliable source. And by the way, don’t forget to subtract visits from home, your job and your friends’ computers where you’ve set your blog as the default homepage.

10- You Got Banned from Social Media Sites

So you’ve spammed social media sites repeatedly only promoting your own content? Man, talk about failing with dignity. You know how this is called? Bonsai Blogging, and I have tremendous respect for Bonsai misbehavers. But if you didn’t know about the Bonsai and got banned, this means you neither read the sites’ TOS nor this article titled Ever Stumbled Your Own Post? Nothing I can do to help, maybe you could try emailing kevin.rose [AT] digg [DOT] com.

This guest post was submitted by Patrick from Piggy Bank Pie.

So as some of you may, or may not know, myself and some of my fellow Production Team members are heading up to Twin Cities Pride this weekend! Be sure to watch out for photos from this fabulous event, and yes I’m pretty sure I won’t be up on stage dancing around in my underwear, however, you never know what could happen.

If any of you are going to be in the area and would like to meet up, let me know!

Check out my Contact Me page for info about how to get in touch! Have a great weekend and I’ll be back Monday.

Farewell Kodachrome! You will be missed!

Recently Kodak announced they will discontinue Kodachrome 64, the last remaining type of Kodakchrome Kodak makes. Kodachrome is Kodak’s oldest film, with it first being made in 1935, throughout the years Kodakchrome has been an iconic film with many historic photographs being taken with it. It even inspired a song by Paul Simon.

However this was the worlds first sucessful color film, enjoying it’s haydays in the 50′s and 60′s, however as the years went on, and techonogy grew, Kodachrome became more and more obsolete. With such a unique chemistry and such a complex method of making the film, it just didn’t fit with the rest of the family. The K-14 process is a very difficult one, and currently is only supported by one lab in the world! Yes. There is only one lab in the world that is able to develop Kodachrome. Dwayne’s Photo in Parsons Kansas is the last remaining Kodak Certified lab that can process Kodachrome.

As some of you photography nuts may know, Kodachrome produced some of the most realistic and vibrant colors that have ever been captured on film. Many iconic and historic photos have been captured on Kodachorome, including the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Also some of the first color photos featured in National Geographic were taken with Kodachrome. Yes, our beloved Kodachrome has been a historic icon for over 74 years.

Not surprisingly, Kodachrome makes up less then 1% of the total sales from the Eastman-Kodak company. Roughly 70% of the companies total sales comes from digital products and services.

Created in the 1930s by musicians Leopold Godowsky Jr. and Leopold Maines, who timed their experiments with a metronome, Kodachrome is often referred to as being “made by God and Man,” according to a Kodak spokesman.

Photographer Steve McCurry used the film in 1985 for his famous National Geographic photo of an Afghan girl with piercing green eyes. McCurry has since abandoned Kodachrome, but he will shoot one of the last rolls of film before Kodak donates them to the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film in Rochester, N.Y., the company’s hometown.

So for now, I bid you adou Kodachrome. It’s been a fabulous 74 years.

The latest issue of Quest, featuring, yours truly.

My artical in the latest issue of Quest

Many thanks to Mark Mariucci from Quest for providing these images, and for taking the time to include me as a new contributor to Quest- Wisconsin’s Gay News Leader

What is with us gay men eh? We all have the desire to be in-shape, tan, and looking fabulous. Much like the song by Pat McCurdy says, “Well, all little girls want a dreamboat boy…Rich young pretty & tan…And all the little boys want a sweet little thing…Rich young pretty & tan” What is wrong with being your average guy? I mean yes it’s fine to be rich young pretty and tan. But why must we press that as the social norm? I know people bitch about how everyone must meet this super model mold, but I’m talking about this on a local scale, within one community. One gay comedian has said “I’m a gay male who lives in LA and I work out because it’s the law!” Well of course there are gay men who fit into the social circles such as twinks, cubs, bears, leather men, etc. People keep saying that I’m such an adorable twink, and how they love how “normal” I look. How I don’t workout to the point of insanity and I don’t fake bake either! Now compared to the others in my thoughts, I wasn’t the best, because my dancing was nothing but impromptu. I had the credentials to go ask, so I did.

Furthermore, when you go out to the bars or the club, why is it all the stereotypical gays, and the most fake people get all the love’n? Most people I know say that I’m such a great catch! That the boys should just be eat’n me up! I’m a polite, romantic, fun loving guy. I’m mature, I know how to handle myself around a diverse group of people and I am currently in a position of power for a number of different organizations! Also, something I’ve been told is pretty rare is that I’m a genuine guy. I mean what I say, and I stick by my word. It seems like most guys who would be in my dating pool just aren’t interested. Either they wanna go out and bang 10 guys in a week and not be tied down for a while, or the famous last words I get a lot are “Justin, your a sweetheart, and I love you to death, but your just not for me.”

Just not for me. What the deuce. When I was younger people have always told me that I would be a hot commodity and quite the heart breaker. I realize that I am just getting out in the world, and I shouldn’t be bitching about it too much, but I’m just curious as to why. What is wrong with being the sorta in shape guy who works hard and has a heart of gold? Why must we be so shallow?

I want you to voice your thoughts on this issue. Please comment about why you think the gay men’s community must adhere to such strict standards of appearance and attitude.

Later in the day, when me and Jackie went going around offering cookies, much like we do when we reenact the WW2 USO, I came across the Civil Air Patrol tent. After talking to the Commanding Officer of the Waukesha Unit, I have decided that the Civil Air Patrol would be a great way to get involved and make a difference on the home front. Since I am openly gay, and currently 4F meaning I am ineligible for service because of a medical reason, being my hearing loss. So, what better way to help out then join the Civil Air Patrol and serve on the home-front. They are the auxiliary force of the Air Force. Not only do I get to travel around the midwest aiding in disaster relief, and helping out at other event, I get the satisfaction that I am helping make a difference in the world. Did I forget to mention that I get a sexy battle dress uniform to work in? The only downside is I’d have to shave and take out my industrial. But that is a small price to pay. I mean facial hair will grow back, and I could always get another piercing, or just take it out when I’m in battle dress.  

Also, some of you maybe unaware that I am on the Production Team for PrideFest Milwaukee. I am Director of the Stonewall Stage, and Asst. to PR/Marketing and Hospitality. This position was a lot of fun, and I am going to be doing it again next year. Who knew I would be helping make flower arrangements for Cyndi Lauper, Brandy, and Etta James. I encourage you all to help make PrideFest happen next year. Donate money, services, or most importantly, your time. The one thing I couldn’t do enough of this past weekend was thank our volunteers. Without them, PrideFest would have never happened. 

Finally, I’d like to leave you with what the President of PrideFest said in his thank you to the Production Team:

“What I can not say when facing any of you, without a lump in my throat, is just how much you each mean to me, and what you’ve help make this festival mean to me.  I started back in 1988; and while having visions of grandeur; seeing them come to life, while actually living in them, is a unbelievable feeling.  Thanks you all so much again, I hope that each and everyone one of you can and will continue is this seemly never ending adventure we call PrideFest.

Forward In PRIDE, Peace and all my love,  Scott D. Gunkel”

My quest for a job continues. I had an interview @ Express today, I really hope I get a job there. This Friday I have an interview @Potawatomi for a dealer’s position. How sweet would that be? Gah! I need a job soon! So if anyone has any connections, please let me know, I don’t care if I’m back bussing tables, I need $ for my bills. 

So to conclude, I’m on an uphill battle right now, but I am enjoying every moment of it. I am out in the world, and I couldn’t be happier. Also, watch out for a new quote everyday. Lately I’ve had some good ones, so keep an eye out.