I made two resolutions for 2008: refresh my web site, and avoid buying any gadgets until Erika and I buy a place in Houston.
First, yes, the new site layout includes ads. I make a great living at my day job, and I would never begin to dream that I could make a living off blogging, so it’s not like I’m trying to supplement my real job. You might ask why I’d slap ads on a personal site.
The biggest reason for the ads is that I’ve always had ads on my ServersAlive template instructions and people click on them. The ads must represent something that people are actually interested in, because they do actually click on the ads. So I got to thinking - what if the ads are a service to the reader in some way? What if people are seeing ads for products they wouldn’t have otherwise been aware of? After all, that’s how most of my traffic arrives: people come here via search engines, looking for something. Typically, it’s for specific SQL Server or database administration information. If they can’t find what they need from me, maybe they can find it from an advertiser on Google.
The second reason is that I have this itching desire to start hosting a podcast on SQL Server. I haven’t been able to find a good one with fun content and regular (meaning frequent) updates. It’s going to cost me money to put that on, and I’d like to think I’m at least breaking even with my little side hobby. The podcasting won’t start until after Erika and I have moved to Houston in February.
Ah, yes, Houston - thankfully, Southern Wine is going to let me telecommute, at least for a while. As soon as I got that good news, I started thinking about spending my mornings at Kaveh Kanes again. Kaveh Kanes was a great downtown coffee shop with robust internet access and a great atmosphere, but the key word there is “was” - turns out Kaveh Kanes closed. Dang. Time to find a new haunt, and time to ping my buddies to see if anybody’s interested in setting up Coworking in Houston.
