Q #1: WTF?!?!

A: I can’t give out all the details because the situation involves more than just me (while some know more than others, I think I need to wait for a press release before shouting it from the rooftops). But, let me try to explain the gist. Basically, back in October, a computer game company based in San Francisco offered me a job. They flew me out there, wined and dined me a bit, and put me up in a nice down town hotel. It just so happens that they conducted interviews in a way that let me expound, uber-nerd style, on a variety of topics including Actionscript language features, databases and scalability. And, everyone knows how much I like to expound. So, I aced the interview and they came to me with a really nice offer…that I initially turned down. Part of me just didn’t want to go back to a full time job. However, long story short, despite continuously saying no, they kept sweetening the offer and tightening the deal to the point where I finally said yes.

Q #2: But that’s like…in California…on the west coast?!

A: Yeah, I know. And, I’m an east coast man through and through. However, California contains certain attractions:

1. Nerd conferences – As a guy who started developing video games in the fourth grade, one could almost call it sacrilegious that I haven’t gone to the Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco (I also keep missing the one in Austin, by a hair). Whenever it comes around, I can never get my act together enough to fly out there, but I think I could manage to walk a few blocks to the San Francisco convention center. San Francisco also hosts plenty of other computer and IT conferences and I wouldn’t mind trying to hit several of them during my tenure there.
2. 3-D Movies – As a kid, I always dreamed of seeing name in the credits of several video games. Check. Next, I want to run my own 3-D movie animation studio. To do that, I will need to make connections with serious movie and 3-D modelling talent. And, I can’t think of a better place to do that than California.
3. Proximity to Japan. I have a slight obsession with all things Japanese. (yes, more than just the women ) Living in the states, I can’t get a much easier flight to Japan than San Francisco. Expect to see pictures of me standing in Tokyo sometime within the next year.

In general, I felt a longing to spend a little time on the west coast, but worried that since I could never find a Georgia girl wanting to spend time out there , I wouldn’t get the chance. Now, someone wants to pay to send me out there, so I think I should take that opportunity. But for the record, if I didn’t get to simultaneously fulfil some of my west coast desires while working, I would have turned down the job. I see it all as part of “being ready” plan.

Q #3: Hey wait a second…I thought full-time, 9-to-5 jobs were anathema to you? The bane of your existence…your kryptonite…?

A: Well, yes and no. I hate that jobs take parents away from their kids for so much time. I hate that health insurance remains tied to employment, so you need a full time job just to ensure your family can afford medical assistance in an emergency (hopefully, this will change in near the future). I hate that people have to pigeon-hole their vacations into two weeks per year. I hate that people stress out over needing to squeeze all their expenses into a fixed income, with no recourse if something unexpected, like a broken down car or an injured loved one, suddenly crops up. I don’t think people should have to live that way.

However, I do think one should get a job under these circumstances:

1. Fresh out of college – Unless you started a multi-million dollar business in college, go ahead and get a job once you graduate. At the very least, you will see, up close, just how ugly corporate America can get.
2. The financial reset – As an entrepreneur, you may not achieve success the first time you strike out on your own. Nor, the second time. Or, the third. After each try, you’ll typically need to get a job to pay off maxed-out credit cards and late bills. Sort of get back to equilibrium. I call this the “financial reset”.

   Now, I started doing contract work a few months after I came out here and also pull in some passive income, so I currently have no need for a financial reset. However…

3. The runway – As in CASH runway. The cash runway signifies the amount of money you have on hand to pay your expenses while making little to no income. How long of a cash runway do you need? Let’s just say that a “too long” runway does not exist. You want as long of a runway as possible because once it runs out you crash…hard ( trust me ).

So, in an effort to extend my cash runway WELL into the future, I accepted this job.

Oh, and for those wondering, I see passive income as the superior choice to a 9-to-5 job.

Q #4: AHA! So, if passive income is the superior choice, why not focus on that?

A: I make money passively right now through Google’s Adsense network by running ads on my various blogs. As of November, Google Adsense pays me hundreds of dollars a month, without me having to lift a finger. That’s the good news. The bad news is my expenses run more than just “hundreds of dollars a month”.

Making money through Google Adsense happens in 5 different phases:

• Phase #1 – Making ANYTHING at all.
• Phase #2 – Get paid once. (i.e. Google won’t pay you until you’re account with them reaches $100)
• Phase #3 – Get paid monthly.
• Phase #4 – Break the $1K per month barrier.
• Phase #5 – Get paid five figures per month (yes, some individuals with well established websites earn $30K-$50K PER MONTH, without lifting a finger).

I currently sit at Phase #3, working my way to Phase #4. So far, so good. BUT as of November, my contract work will end. So, either I push to increase the amount of passive income I make, or accept this job offer. I thought long and hard about that because with a laser focus, one CAN push Google Adsense into the thousands in a one month period. However, as I stated earlier, many other reasons drive me towards California besides just a job or money, so I think it makes the best sense to accept the offer.

Let me say one more thing about full-time jobs. As my good friend Brendon Bushman mentioned, sometimes a person can really grow at a place that respects your unique knowledge and talents, wants to pay you (very well) for leveraging said skills, AND provides an environment where you can learn new things. However, in the IT world, finding a place like that borders on the impossible. I would not have accepted this job if I didn’t think my new employer fell into that category. And for the record, even if I had a more solid foundation of passive income to stand on, I would still probably take on some consulting work, if only to get the chance to reality-test my ideas while getting paid like a consultant ( i.e. large sum of money ).

Q #5: But, you just moved out to Colorado like what…8 months ago??? Leaving so soon?

A: Colorado is a magical place. Seemingly at random, you can turn one way and drive past gorgeous greenery, as far as the eye can see. Make another turn and get overwhelmed as the beauty of majestic mountain vistas wash over you. Throughout the year, you can choose to play in the dirt one day, and then in the snow the next. During the fall, you may have to dig your car out of 2-3 feet of snow everyone once in a while , but it DOES melt pretty quickly when the sun comes back out and the GLORIOUS spring and summer weather easily makes up for it. All in all, in the future, I could definitely see myself living in Colorado permanently. If not, whatever woman I marry will need to put up with me wanting to go back at least once or twice a year.

Q #6: Okay, then…what about Austin?

A: I talked about moving to Austin even BEFORE I moved out to Colorado. Unfortunately, (and this really hurts to say), I have officially taken Austin off the table. I do not know where I will live permanently after my sojourn to the west coast, but I do know that I want to spend some time back in Atlanta. My mental time line for this cannot fit both Austin and San Francisco. So on that time line, San Francisco will replace Austin. But, I will definitely make plenty of time to visit.

Q #7: Alright, fine. One last question: why is there a picture of Sean Connery naked on your website?

A: That pic comes from The Rock, which took place in San Francisco. In the depicted scene, Sean Connery sings “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)” while taking a shower. You can bet your sweet booty that I will get my fill of all the San Francisco-y stuff highlighted in that movie, including riding the (supposedly expensive) cable cars, touring Alcatraz and sitting exactly in this spot:

(that’s the Museum of Modern Art, by the way)

After I go see the King Tut exhibit, of course.

About eight months ago, people asked me this question on an almost daily basis. Everyone had their own theory, but at the top of my short list of reasons, rested this one:

I’m not ready.

Ready for what, you ask? Well, that will take some explaining.

I am the problem

Years ago, I decided to bring more consciousness to my life. Up until that point, I ran on “mental automatic pilot”: doing what felt good, or easy, but not really going anywhere in life. I blamed the suckiness of jobs or the thoughtless actions of women for my semi-frequent bouts with unhappiness. Assuming a victim mindset like that will only take you, as my friend Ron says, to “a dark place”. So, I shed that mindset, checked my ego in at the door and took up a new mantra, simply and eloquently stated by Mel Gibson in Ransom:

I am the problem.

By taking ownership of the problem, I then freed myself to find a solution. Attempting the impossible task of bending the world to meet my own narrow needs only led to pain. But, transforming myself into someone able to coax the world into giving me what I want…that leads to greatness. Thus began the “Dave Renaissance”. I changed everything: the way I dressed, the way I acted, the way talked…the way I thought. As the change accelerated, the world began to deliver to me what I wanted. Things started to fall into place. But, I still had one major problem:

I started way, WAY too late.

How to castrate yourself in 5 easy steps

I mean that both in terms of life as a whole…and the family jewels (and for guys, our lives REVOLVE around our family jewels). For men in particular, if you want to end up alone, if you want to never spend a hot, torrid night in throes of passion, then follow these five easy steps:

1. Play way too many video games – Give a guy a way to reach higher and higher levels by manipulating the system and you’ll have hooked him for life. Unfortunately, he won’t HAVE a life, either. Look, I love video games as much as the next person. I make them for a living. But, after reading this quote, my fervour for video games calmed itself forever: “Live by the joystick, die by the joystick”
2. When not playing video games, program them instead – Or surf the web. Or chat online. All activities that burn up time and leave little to show for it. Worst, most of them only require you to sit alone in your apartment. But, NEWSFLASH! That hot girl you want? SHE’S NOT IN YOUR APARTMENT! If she were, you wouldn’t be glued to the screen…you’d be glued to her.
3. Have an unhealthy obsession with fantasy and science fiction – In middle school, I spent time in social circles that traded fantasy and science fiction books back and forth. Yes, I even played some D&D. Unsurprisingly, all of these social circles consisted of mostly the same people, none of them female. This must have stunted my growth for YEARS.
4. Lose yourself in anime, movies or TV – Anime. So many good, young men, lives full of potential, fall prey to this massive time sink. Yes, it contains many brilliantly written stories, easily out-doing most movies and network TV. Yes, Japanese composers are the shiznit. But if you don’t ration the stuff, hours of your life will disappear, you can’t ever get them back. I could say the exact same thing about movies and TV.

Or, p0rn for that matter.

5. Waste precious minutes, hours, days, months and years pining over a woman you can’t get – The most cardinal of sins. I’ve committed this sin so egregiously that I should just burst into flames at random. A walking hell.

   For those currently making the same mistake, look….she already SAID no. So, why stick around? Instead, try addressing the issue(s) that she found repulsive. Note I didn’t say try “fixing those issues”. You may not necessarily have a problem, per se. Experience has shown me that it takes some women time before they can accurately judge a guy’s character. And, some are just bats&!# crazy. Still, that doesn’t change the fact that you currently act as a girl repellent. Focus on figuring out WHY rather than complaining about HER. Doing so puts you in the position of finding a much BETTER “her” later.

   One last bit of advice: walking around moaning and groaning over a girl you can’t get with is the LEAST effective way of getting a new one.

Now, where was I? Oh yes,…castration.

So, if you complete all these steps, then congratulations, you have successfully rendered yourself impotent. You will rarely, if ever, see breasts. Again, please note that most of these activities don’t require much socializing…at best, a sausage party. That will NOT help you build a good foundation for future growth.

Where I should be now

So, I screwed up. I didn’t do the right things at the right time. I started the race when I should have been in the middle of it, leaving me deficient in several aspects of my life:

1. Business – I went to college right before the Internet bubble burst. During this time period, VCs threw money at young entrepreneurs like me in the hopes of riding our technical skills to the land of milk and honey. Instead of taking advantage of this, I sat in my dorm room participating in mental masturbation exercises like writing compilers, database engines, FTP servers and game clones. Had I done things right, at this point, after having sold two previous companies to Google and Microsoft respectively, I should have millions to invest in my dream: running an animation studio on par with the creativeness of Pixar.

   But, I didn’t. And, I don’t.

2. Passive income – Google Adsense, the king of all passive income sources, got its footing in the early 2000s. And, where was I? Almost CERTAINLY pissing time away by pining over a girl. Stupid. While other web gurus immediately began running PPC campaigns and using black hat techniques to game the system and acquire millions, Dave Miles sat wallowing in the dark abyss he created for himself.
3. Mental and physical improvements – (mental) I graduated college almost a decade ago, so in a nation that gets more multi-cultural by the second, why can I only speak one language fluently? And, considering I’ve spoken that language for over thirty one years, why do I still come across words I don’t recognize? Chemistry, biology, physics, politics, history, geography, literature…I should have already taken my knowledge in all these areas to the next level.

   (physical) Over a year ago in Atlanta, two men carrying sharp, blunt weapons forced their way into an couple’s home. After subduing the husband, they then made him watch as they strong-armed his wife into performing lewd, sexual acts on them. After the ordeal, the husband said he felt like less of a man because he couldn’t stop the attackers.

   Now, faced with a similar situation, most men might think they could “man up” and handle the two intruders. But in reality, they couldn’t. Most women think their man could successfully face any physical threat to their family. But in reality, they can’t. Oh, some men might try…they would fight valiantly…but die quickly, leaving their wife and kids to the twisted ministrations of sick men.

   See, you can’t take muscles atrophied by the lack of continuous physical training, and then thrust them into a physically stressful situation. You can’t take a mind softened into a false sense of security by operating only within closed social circles, and then not expect it not to freeze up in the hostile jungle of reality. You can’t put a body unskilled in the ways of mortal combat into a two-on-one confrontation and have it come out in one piece. And for those who would think to hide behind a gun, a gun won’t help you if your untrained mind gets taken by surprise.

   Despite being in better shape than many of my computer programming brethren, I know that I still fall firmly in the “fight valiantly and die” camp. And, I find that unacceptable. My mind and body should have already experienced the “rebirth through pain” as promised by Gym Jones. I should already possess fighting skills, honed under the tutelage of Dog Brothers. How can I in good conscience make the promise to be with someone if I haven’t done my best to protect them from violence?

   (For the record ladies, I did not mean to sound sexist. I usually speak to men about this sort of thing, but I absolutely think women should learn how to defend themselves. If a two-on-one situation suddenly transforms into a two-on-two situation, your children now have a 100% better chance of surviving the night.)

4. A (female!) life partner – Over the years, “unseen forces” have blessed me by bringing some truly great women into my life. Unfortunately, for the ones who gave me the privilege of dating them, my “unreadiness” sabotaged, and in some cases destroyed, the potential for any long term prospects. A particularly tragic instance of this occurred with a woman whom we will just call “Lisa”. Brought together by the threads of family and friendship, in a meeting seemingly designed by fate, “Lisa” and I met each other during a time of tumultuous transition in both our lives. Without her efforts, I would not have successfully made many of the improvements I wanted to. She made an investment in me that, even as a friend, she didn’t HAVE to make; she just wanted to. As a girlfriend, “Lisa” acted as the perfect yin to my yang: her knowledge of pop-culture helped fill in the gaps of my primarily theoretical and technical background, she kept my head in sports when it kept trying to get lost in computers, a “160 degree” taste difference in movies acted as a constant balance to my own, a subtle ( and in the case of Kefir, not so subtle ) contrast in food preferences forced educating compromises, an entire music library almost completely opposite to mine kept my mind open and a choice of TV shows I initially rejected, I eventually came to really enjoy…with the exception of “The Hills”. (but, Cake Boss is AWESOME!) When you really love someone enough to keep an open mind, then moments of discrepancy and disparity turn into foundations for balance and growth. And, I have not grown more with anyone other than “Lisa”.

   Perhaps, after judging me worthy enough, “unseen forces” and fate will conspire to bring another special woman my way. I don’t know. But to all the gentlemen, let me say this: NEVER underestimate the value of a woman willing to compromise for you and whom, even on your terms, will patiently put your desires first. If only for when that one special woman comes along, you want to “be ready”.

For some, the above list sounds a bit crazy. However, I don’t just want to hit the usual benchmarks in the usual way. I want to give my family something unique….well beyond the norm. And, that means trying to aim higher.

Desperate times call for desperate measures

I left Atlanta because I have little time left to get to the place I want to be. I needed to change my environment, so I could change myself. Additionally, as a person whom will probably spend his life creating things out of thin air, I felt like I needed to see more and do more in an effort to open my mind to new ideas. I had to “shake things up” NOW because I’m 31 and running out of time to get it all together.

Despite a few detours, at this point, things have progressed nicely and I stand poised to make another major change. I need to keep moving because for one, I’m old and two, I set a strict time frame, forcing me to stay on task. If by 33, I can live comfortably on passive income, feel strong in mind and body and have the support of a nice girl, I will (finally) be a happy man.

]]> http://www.davidvincentmiles.com/2009/11/08/be-ready/feed/ 1 http://www.davidvincentmiles.com/2009/10/24/a-transformers-2-mini-review/ http://www.davidvincentmiles.com/2009/10/24/a-transformers-2-mini-review/#comments Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:43:10 +0000 admin http://www.davidvincentmiles.com/?p=28 During my bout with swine flu, I finally broke down and decided to watch Transformers 2, which I had yet see because of a personal boycott due to the racist undertones in the movie. What follows is my review.

First, a rant:

Why in the heck are their “gangsta negro robots” in Transformers 2? I mean, come ON! If I wanted to see gangsta negroes, I’d start watching TV again. Gold-toothed robots built to look like monkeys, spewing foul-mouthed slang AND they can’t read. Oh just freaking wonderful! No wonder I get weird looks when I tell people I’m a computer programmer: with young kids running to trash like this, the thought of a negro that can read must be MIND BLOWING!

Okay, that’s over.

Redeeming aspects

This movie sucks. No doubt about it. Plot exists only as a very thin foundation for Michael Bay to heap on more explosions and over-the-top silliness. That said, even more so than the first one, I think Shia LeBouf does a great job carrying the entire movie. Without him, very little of the humor would work. Any moment from “he went to get you a tighter shirt” or “kitten calendar, kitten calendar, kitten calendar” to “I’m not talking to you for ten seconds” had me laughing out loud. When Mikaela walks in on him making out with another woman, his voice contains such authentic fright that every man watching implicitly understood the thoughts going through the characters head. Solid acting all around. Michael Bay should count his blessings that he got this man.

Megan Fox does bring the hotness, but honestly, I preferred Isabel Lucas’ Alice character. She looked just as good and acted much better. I especially thought she did a good job with the physical acting her part required. Seeing those two women in the same film makes me wonder what would have happened if Michael Bay had picked her for the lead female role. Then again, Bay prefers more voluptuous women, so I don’t think we’d ever see that happen.

Visually, while I applaud the forest fight scene and the devastator transformation sequence based on technical merit, I actually favor two smaller scenes: Alice’s transformation and Bumblebee’s fight against random Decepticon #37. I think these scenes resonate with me because they also contain my favorite music cues. They embody one of the few times the individual elements of the movie came together to equal more than the sum of their parts. Also, my kudos to ILM for doing a spectacular job. After getting their heads handed to them by The Matrix and Lord of the Rings, in addition to losing mind share to Pixar, I really thought we’d seen the last of the ILM Golden Age. But, Ironman looked absolutely incredible and one need only look at any scene that contained Ravage to see that ILM upped the ante yet again. Based on this, Ironman 2, with the addition of War Machine, will knock our socks off next year.

Expectations

On Transformers 1, seeing how Michael Bay got all the military stuff right (per usual) and picked a great male lead, I really had high hopes for Transformers 2, since Bay could work free of the product placement nonsense that movies of this ilk must deal with during their first instalments. Sort of like Sam Raimi’s evolution between Spiderman 1 and 2. Unfortunately, Bay let us all down (also, per usual). On the flip side, I went in with ROCK BOTTOM expectations for G.I. Joe and came out pleasantly surprised. It told a decent story, had passable visual effects and contained pseudo-okay acting (with the exception of Channing Tatum, whom completely sucked). I _ALMOST_ walked out of the theater feeling I got my money’s worth. ALMOST. So, G.I. Joe – 1, Transformers 0.

You can find a more thorough review at Brian’s Sonic-Cinema website

]]> http://www.davidvincentmiles.com/2009/10/24/a-transformers-2-mini-review/feed/ 2 http://www.davidvincentmiles.com/2009/05/02/shakira-abba-and-me/ http://www.davidvincentmiles.com/2009/05/02/shakira-abba-and-me/#comments Sat, 02 May 2009 23:05:16 +0000 admin http://www.davidvincentmiles.com/?p=4 home page you can see the latest posts from all my other sites. I've got much more to come, but first, I wanted to re-acquaint you with Dave by publishing the equivalent of Facebook's 25 Random Thoughts questionnaire right on my site.]]> Welcome to the new davidvincentmiles.com. I haven’t finished everything yet, so consider this site still under construction. Also, from the home page you can see the latest posts from all my other sites. I’ve got much more to come, but first, I wanted to re-acquaint you with Dave by publishing the equivalent of Facebook’s 25 Random Thoughts questionnaire right on my site.

Enjoy!

1. If someone wrote a Wikipedia entry about me, what would it say?
2. “I’d like to see you out one night
   Dressed up like a race car driver
   You’d push the engine all the way
   Then I know I’d love you
   But if I see you out somewhere
   You might think that I don’t care

   ‘Cause I love my guitar!
   I love my guitar!”

3. My non-classical music life in college primarily consisted of Dave Matthews Band, Rema-D (my band), Semisonic, Jump Little Children, The Cardigans, Shania Twain, Pierce Pettice, Jars of Clay, Third Day, Steven Curtis Chapman, Fred Hammond…and ABBA.
4. I spent my entire young life going to “black gospel” churches (yes, the shouting, screaming, dancing and jumping kind), but the three sermons which stuck with me most came from a white pastor at Weslyn Fellowship named Tom, who used to preach at UGA:
   • Be friendly to sinners without being friendly to sin.
   • If you want people to listen satisfy their immediate or physical needs before their spiritual needs.
   • “Unseen forces” will send you messages, but you must have your eyes open to see them.
5. Nathan Filion is THE MAN. ALL HAIL Joss Whedon. And, NPH RULEZZZ!!!!!
6. For me, Talespin’s Don Karnage and Mark Hammil’s Joker have some of the most quote-able lines in TV animation history.
7. Man, I hope M. Night Shyamalan’s interpretation and directing of Avatar: The Last Air Bender doesn’t suck as badly as his last few movies.
8. Speaking of Avatar…when EXACTLY will we get a good, hard look at James Cameron’s 3D masterpiece?
9. How do we stop the “wussification” of the American male?
10. The Dog Brothers concept of higher consciousness through harder contact reminds me very much of Gym Jones‘ motto of self-discovery through extreme physical exertion.
11. HIT and Yoga beat running and pure weight training for power/endurance hands down and should serve as the basis for an average person’s physical fitness.
12. Wesley Townsend is the best apartment complex in Atlanta. Period.
13. Living within walking distance of a Fresh Market permanently changed my life.
14. During a high-wire act at Kooza, a guy did several very fast, nail biting knee-to-chest high steps in a row. After a delayed yet substantial audience applause, the guy, still standing on a wire two or three stories in the air, turned to the audience and said “Thank you”. That’s the first time I’ve ever seen someone in a Cirque act acknowledge the audience like that and I thought it was cool.
15. Anyone who thinks Apple is this great, wonderful company should try programming an iPhone applicaiton in Objective-C.
16. A Memory of Light (a.k.a The Gathering Storm) can’t come soon enough.
17. Forget standard American literature. Schools should makeThe Six Pillars of Self-Esteem
    , The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
    , The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It
    , Scripts People Live: Transactional Analysis of Life Scripts
    , Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t
    and NLP: The New Technology of Achievement
    required reading.
18. “Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better? But because I knew you, I have been changed for good” This sums up quite nicely the results from a relationship I had with a woman who shall remain nameless. I still hope I learned the right lessons.
19. While going to Southern Tech, M.C. and I befriended a really cool janitor when we practiced in empty class rooms at night, since SPSU didn’t have anything resembling a band (and thus, practice rooms). I hope that janitor is still doing well today.
20. Despite it being amateurish, playing drums in a recording studio fulfilled a life long dream.
21. Being gay HAS to be easier than being straight.
    It has to be.
22. Randy Pausch is the archetype for how a man treats his wife.
23. Start with two parts Michelle Obama’s regal bearing, one part Michelle Rodriguez’s tough sensuality. Lightly sprinkle with Kiera Knightly’s accent. Add a pinch of Tina Fey’s wit. Mix vigoriously with Lucy Lui’s facial features. Add two spoons of Rachel Maddow’s intellect (yes, I know she’s a lesbian), then mix again. Spread over Kate Winslet’s scintilating frame. Liberally apply a thick layer of Belladonna’s…well, you know (and if you don’t, I’m not telling you). Then bake for 28 years.

    Ding! The perfect woman!

24. How do you make perfection more perfect? Squeeze Shakira’s hot curves into a Dolce & Gabbana corset dress, then let her wail on harmonica. (however, I don’t know if she should ever cover Van Morrison, again).
25. Speaking of hot curves…

    Sara Ramierz is my wife.

    Then, I woke up.

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