Lunch and visit

I’m gonna go visit my dad in the nursing home. Hopefully Alex will come with me. We’ll stop at Burger King for a little something, then head over. I think my mother will be there too. I know I don’t go visit him enough. I do try, and I plan it, but there are a lot of things that I don’t do enough. I don’t excercise enough. Don’t sleep enough. Don’t pay my bills enough. the list goes on and on. I do spend time with my kids and I do work, but I need to do more. Is there enough of me to go around? I don’t think so. I’m feeling not too bad right now on the steroids, and over the next couple of months I’m expecting some decent revenue from work. It just is never enough. I constantly need more. More affrmation, more attention, more friendship, more security, more expression, more money, more love….

It never ends. Like I’m different from every other person in the world, right. We all need more. Who is perfectly content? Anyone. I’ll bet the Pope has plenty of bad days. Maybe that guy on American Idol with the pony tail, mohawk thingy and no talent. He must be pretty happy with himself. Going further than he has an right to, and sticking it in everone’s face. I’m thinking that guy just needs to go to Barhain and hang out with Michael Jackson for a while. Not that I watch that show, but he seems to be all over tv anyway.

Well the birthday is tomorrow. 42. Not that I mind the age but, April Fools Day has never been berry, berry gud to me. I’ll live. The kids promised they wouldn’t do anything to me, but I don’t believe them. They don’t have an ounce of honesty in those little bones. They’ll try something. But it’s usually the same thing every year, so I’ll get them back. We’ll hav fun.

Oh and anyone looking for an affordable apartment go to www.affordablesearch.com and find the perfect place now.

Take care. Blog me baby…

Started the steroids

Started the steroids yesterday and feeling pretty good. Actually my fingers don’t hurt as  much when typing so that’s an added benefit. I am much more awake and aware.  The cleaning ladies just left and the house looks great so I’m in pretty good shape. I just left a message for the Wagners to see if they are bringing their kids to the Y this afternoon afte dinner. I’d like to bring the boys swiming or stick them in the Adventure Center for an hour.

So sales are coming in in dribs and drabs but still a lot of people saying that they want to wait to see how things shake out with the website. I suppose people did the same thing with Criagslist, Ebay and Amazon at first too. But, though I am in for the long haul and we all are, this is a slow slog to success. When it happens it’ll be good, and how can it not happen, people really need affordable housing and they need to be able to find it. We’re the source for that. People really need to see us for what we are. We’re not here to make a ton of cash, after all the ton just isn’t there. We’re here to make a little profit, but mostly to fill a much needed niche. If you are looking for an affordable apartment or a cheap apartment as a lot of our users call them, then use www.AffordableSearch.com. The more people use our site the more we become serious players.

What else? Got a call from someone working for Biogen Idec yesterday asking me all kinds of survey questions related to MS: When was I diagnosed? What were some turning points in my life? How did I feel then? How do I feel now? Would I want to be a mentor to someone else  who has been diagnosed? Stuff like that. They said my answers were so good that Biogen might want to do something with me like a commercial or a video of some sort. Of course I did that commercial with Time Warner a couple of years ago, so I do have experience. Hopefully Biogen will give me a little something if that happens though. My insurence company has given them enough money over the past ten years to fully fund someone’s college education, several times over. But it would have been worth it even if I had to pay out of pocket. Of course if I had to do that I would be living in a tent right now. These drug companies deserve all that they are paid for developing life saving medications but as a society we have to figure out a way to better spread the wealth. One guy retires from an oil company and gets $300 million dollars? What the hell is that about? He did not povide that much value to the company. People starve in the streets and he deserves more money than 500 people could spend in a lifetime. Well actually it would be pretty easy to spend that much money. But it would also be pretty easy to live off of that much money divided 500 ways. Oh, you know what I mean.

I have to do something creative soon. I’m feeling the itch. maybe finish the book. We’ll see. Will someone please blog with me?

Quick note…

Kids will be home soon can’t write long. My fingers are killing me anyway. Don’t know how longI will be able to keep typing. I’ve been going back and forth with a bunch of manager from the SouthEast, all interested in doing a little advertising. Now I’m gettingmy hopes up that I can sign up a pretty good number of properties.  Chris picked up steroids at the hospital yesterday and I took my first 250mg pill this morning so I feel preety good. This time I’m doing 5 days worth. Good bye sleep. But I think it will be worth it, to feel good again.

Chris works all week. I won’t really see her until Saturday. That’s Ok.  I’ll wait.  Gotta go…

Prepared for lift off

Ok. Flight is booked and confirmed. Hotel, booked and confirmed. Rental car, booked and confirmed. My brother is going to drop me off at the airport. I just have to go out and get some cash, for just-in-case stuff. Then I’m heading back here, shaving my head, making some last minute calls, printing out some stuff for Pinnacle. I’ve succeeded in entering 40 propert basic listings, but I have to finish the rest. The presentation is all set and Matt is sending some handouts down to the hotel in Orlando. I really don’t think I’m missing anything.

I felt so horrible this morning because of the shot. Worst I’ve felt in a long time. No fever, but just achey beyond belief. So I called Martha at the MS clinic to see if she could order me some steroids. Chris can pick them up at the hospital pharmacy.

I still feel overwhelmed.  So much to do. So much riding on this presentation. With sixty properties represented at this Pinnacle meeting. we could do well this month. Or it could turn out to be a break even. Most of the properties are in Florida.Long waiting lists. Hopefully I can still convince them that there is a reason to advertise on the web. Build up that waiting list, make people aware of their community, put it all out there so they don’t have o espond to millions of individual phone calls.

Anyway, I’m nervous and excited. This site is turning a corner. it is such a natural: help people find affordable apartments, inexpensive places to live. As someone with a disability, I feel like I’m really not that far from living in one of these communities, and after talking so often with the people who work in these property management companies, really the nicest people in the world, many with a real sense of mission, I wouldn’t mind living in one. As long as I can have my inernet tubes!

Nothing urgent

Saturday morning. I slept well last night, went to bed early with a headache and slept nearly twelve hours. That’s not right for a man in his forties. I should be getting more stuff done and less sleep.

I’m a little worried about AffordableSearch. It really is a natural and we shoud be really easy to find but I’m not as familiar with the workings of this series of tubes known as the internet as I could be. I remember twenty years ago working at Monroe Stationers and later WGBH. The aveage guy with a PC didn’t realize what was coming. Gopher and Turbo-gopher could Fetch some stuff from other computers. There were news groups and then Prodigy followed by AOL and Compuserve. Things were starting to connect but then Mosaic and Netscape came along and really changed everything.

I know a woman at WGBH who worked for Prodigy, for a home service making sure that the language was appropriate for public consumption. Then living in Watertown our cable company had an experiment called Main Street. You could get the weather, play blackjack and chat a little on your cable tv service. Everyhing was slow. But the world was connecting. Kids were chatting, everyone was chatting and I don’t think the predators had caught on yet to all the damage they could do. Now theres just one more thing to watch out for. More bad guys. My kids aren’t doing anything with the internet, but they will be soon. I’ll start to worry about that soon.

And here I am, working hard to make a beneficial site work for people looking for apartments they can afford. Any moron can start a porn site and make a truckload of money in a few months but helping people find homes? How is something like that ever going to be successful. We need links from other sites.

I contacted HUD months ago. They have a link to one of our competitors on their site. One of their policies states clearly that if they promote one website, they have to promote the competition. I got no response. Nothing. We should be their ally. We do exactly what they want to do. We should be hand in hand. But I can’t get a return call, or email. How do other people do it. I sometimes think that if my name wasn’t Vladimir  Stefanovic I would be more likely to get some return calls. But I do keep trying.

So if you know anyone who is looking for an affordable place to live, point them to AffordableSearch.com. We can use the traffic.

St. Patrick’s day part at the Dent’s tonight. Should be fun. I think I’ll have a couple of drinks. I won’t get blotto’d but just a couple.

So top o’ the mornin to ya!

I’ve been bad

I am so low energy these days. I was doing really good for a while working out, eating healthy, going to sleep early. But we went to Boston for Matt’s birthday and it broke me routine. I haven’t excercised in a monthh. And I’m feeling it. Low energy. I feel like napping as soon as I wake up. In fact I can barely wake up at all. This doesn’t feel like spring to me. It feels like he dead of winter.

There has been a thaw and the weather is generally warmer. The kids were outside the other day in t-shirts, and that was OK.

Well I haven’t done much for the silent auction. I haven’t been muc help with the Fantasticks or Brigadoon. I just don’t  feel up to it. I have to take my medication tonight, so I probably won’t feel well tomorrow either. I really have to get to the gym soon. I can’t give up on this. First things first. With mre energy, I’ll be able to work AND help with the plays. I hate backsliding. I won’t be able to run as far or lift as much, but it doesn’t matter, I just have to do it.

So that’s it tomorrow whether I feel like total crap or not, I have to get to the gym. Zach’s going to a movie with his friend, so I’ll take Alex with me and Chris can get whatever she needs to do done.

Now I have to make some calls. I have some prospects that are ready to buy. I just have to push em over the edge…