The Cowtown Chronicles

As you’ve noticed, I’ve been posting more and more of my photos around the web. Two weeks ago I set up an account with SmugMug so that I could sell my pics directly to the public.

I’m slowly adding photos from my catalog, and I’ll be adding new ones as I take them — if you’ve ever wanted a print of something I’ve posted online, here’s your chance to get one!

To see what’s available, visit: http://photos.petewann.com

Supposedly I’m not supposed to ask you to click on the ads that appear on my site. So I’m not going to, but I do want to point out that I have started running a few ads which will hopefully be consistent with the content on the site — I’ll outline a couple of things I’m doing to help pay my expenses.

The first and most obvious are the Google and Amazon ads that run in the sidebar and the footer. Standard stuff — they crawl the site for content, then show you ads that their systems think are appropriate.

I’ll also be using Amazon and iTunes affiliate links when I talk about a book or a song I like. For example:

I’m currently reading Michael Pollan‘s book “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” It’s fascinating, and it will make you both disgusted with how our food system is currently managed, and determined to do a better job of feeding yourself. (You’ll notice that if you click the link above, it takes you to Amazon so you can buy the book. I get a cut if you do.)

The iTunes links will take a bit more work, as I have lost my affiliate info for them. They’re forthcoming, but work basically the same as the Amazon ads — click the link and be taken to iTunes Store, where I get a percentage of what you spend.

Rest assured that I will NOT be frivolous with the things I choose to link to. I don’t believe in stuff, and I wouldn’t recommend that anyone buy more stuff than they need. If I link to something, it’s because I think it’s worth your checking out and worth owning.

Huh… It’s taken me 3 years almost to figure out what blogging/podcasting is all about…

It’s about the people you meet and the ones you touch through the things you create. It’s such a democratic medium that there’s not nearly the polish that one would get from a “mainstream” news outlet. But that’s okay. I think there are a whole lot of people out there who don’t want that. They’re tired of the sanitized and watered-down “news” they get from the big media outlets. They want context, and raw input. They want to be brought along on the pub crawl or listen to the podcast interview done “man-on-the-street” style, vs. the highly packaged and processed content they get from “traditional” outlets.

More than anything else, though, people want to feel as if their voices are heard, and there’s no better outlet for that than blogs, podcasts, and social networks. I know that’s why I got into all of this, and two years later, I can’t tell you how glad I am that I did. I’ve met so many amazing people — many that I haven’t written about — and honestly that’s worth every penny I’ve spent paying for web hosting and all the rest.

I can’t tell you how excited I am about 2009 in terms of what you’re going to be seeing and hearing from me and the rest of the Panther City Media crew. If you thought last year was good, hold on to your hat and prepare to have your socks knocked off in 2009!

Those of you who know me well know that I’ve been struggling with Attention Deficit Disorder my whole life. I’ve always known that something was not quite right — that I just couldn’t “buckle down” or focus like it seemed everyone around me could. Eventually it got to the point where (I realize now) it nearly cost me a couple of jobs, because I couldn’t stay focused on the task at hand, or I said or did really impulsive and stupid things at the most perfectly wrong moment.

I’m medicated now (Thank you, Concerta!), and things are a lot better, but I’m still lacking on the self-discipline front. I’ve finally realized that the only way around this is to practice, and to exercise my discipline like I would any other skill or muscle.

To that end, I’m ending part of my reliance on technology, in the form of my daily planner and journal. Since today was 25% discount day for faculty and staff at the TCU bookstore, I went and grabbed myself a Moleskine 18 Month Soft-Cover Weekly Planner. I’ve gotten a lot better at adding my appointments and reminders in to iCal for sync to my iPhone, but I can’t shake the feeling that those feel like crutches. Without the discipline to regularly and faithfully check a planner, how can I build the discipline to do anything else?

Okay, you got me. Really the “analog in ’09″ thing is an excuse to buy a beautiful and well-made piece of technology, which just happens to be made of acid-free paper and leather. I’m serious about the transition to written schedules and notes, though.