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BenSpark’s 2009 Christmas Wish List

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Christmas AvatarSeems like some of my favorite people are giving their suggestions for Christmas gifts. I like stuff and I have some cool fun ideas to share. The items in this list are either ones I own outright, got from advertisers and sponsors or really really want. Also please know that all links that go to places where you can buy stuff are affiliate ones.

Little Elf
Eva from Christmas is for Kids from last year.

Stuff I Own.

1. – Okay, the Canon Powershot Camera I own is not available right now. I love my Canon SD800is but if I was to upgrade to a new Canon Powershot I’d go with Canon PowerShot SD980IS 12.1MP. This camera has a 3 inch screen so I can use one of the items I got from sponsors called the Flipbac. I’d love to be able to finally use that. Why there was no 2.5 version made first is anyone’s guess. 2.5 inch is pretty much the standard size of the LCD that many cameras have right now. But 3.0 inch is the new standard that I see coming.

2. – iPod Touch – Before I bought my Droid I used my iPod Touch everywhere for checking e-mail updating twitter and games on wi-fi. I still enjoy using it very much to watch movies and podcasts. I am loving me some Gary Vaynerchuk Wine Library Tv, Cali Lewis on GeekBrief.tv, Help my Business Sucks and Aalgar’s Loving Reviews of Transformers. These help me get through my morning workouts.

3 – Flip Mino HD – I have 4 of these and have paid for one. After I bought my first one I won 2 more and was given one by my friend Dina Riccobono. I gave one to Allison and kept one for myself and put a custom SkinIt on this one which I broke going down a children’s slide. I gave another one to my sister and I kept the one from Dina to replace my one that broke. (Well, the screen broke but it still records fine so I carry both with me.

4. – An iFrogz Custom iPod Skin – I own a half dozen iFrogz products from silicone covers for my iPod Touch to a sweet cover for my Dad’s iPod nano that protects, covers and yet displays the Harley-Davidson symbol on it. And Eva’s earpods. That is what she calls her iFrogz Tadpole which is so great for her. Check out those products through the link below.

5. – My DaVinci – If you are looking for a very heartfelt gift for a loved one then this is a fantastic one. Allison got me one of these of our first family photo taken the day after Eva was born. Yeah, we didn’t get a family photo till the day after she was born. Score one for the “photographer” in the family.


Items I was given by friends, Sponsors or advertisers, also stuff I won.

6. – An Amazon Kindle – I received an Amazon Kindle from Dina Riccobono at the Wings and Pings TweetUp and it has completely changed the way I read books. I bought Chris Brogan’s Book Trust Agents as well as Crush It from Gary Vaynerchuk.

7. – Poken – I received a Poken from Pokengirl (Vanessa and Juliet sisters who run the business and who are awesome.) I really like the relationship that we’ve formed from a simple tweet of me asking if Pokens were worth it. A Poken is a digital business card, I use it at all my conventions.

8. – Phototrackr – I have an original one of these. I just received 5 of the newest edition, the mini photo trackr. So some of you might be getting one of these soon. Be on the lookout for a great contest on the way.

9. – XShot – I’ve gotten so many of these and given so many away. I love this product and it goes with me everywhere. If you haven’t gotten one of these yet, you are missing out big time, missing being part of the photo.

10. – HP Pavilion DM3-1040US 13.3-Inch Laptop – I just bought one of these but I used a $100 card that I received from Tony Welch (@frostola) at Blog World Expo. It is a perfect size computer for travel and doing simple tasks for blogging, it is fantastic.

Stuff I Want

11. – LEGO – Sure I’m nearing 36 years old but I completely love LEGO. For a while back in 1997-199 I was ordering sets from the LEGO online shop almost daily. I have all of the first sets that LEGO did for Star Wars, tons of them. They are awaiting the day when Eva is ready to sit down and play with them and not scatter them across the room like leaves on the wind.

LEGO has even gone digital with tons of video games like LEGO Rock Band. I learned that there are many great songs on that disc that I’d love to play.

LEGO

12 – Funky Belt Buckles – I’m enjoying showing off my inner nerd with my Autobot Belt Buckle but I would also like the Decepticon one as well as the Thundercats one. Then the more I look around I see that there are other ones that I’d like. I see a Cookie Monster one and an Oscar the Grouch one, my two favorite Sesame Street Character. Then you get into superheores and I like this Superman one.

13. – Rock Band for Wii – Guitar Hero is a fun time but then you add Drums and singing to the mix and you have a party. But then there is also Band Hero so how do you decide?

14. – Transformers: 25th Anniversary Matrix of Leadership Edition. This is a Box Set of the complete US run of the Transformers Generation 1 cartoon. This remains to this day my absolute favorite all time cartoon series. I also would love the G.I. Joe Box set. I really wish that I started collecting those comics at the same time I was collecting Transformers. I’d love to have the whole set of those, the comic books were really good. And like my Belt Buckle above I’d like to have the complete set of Thundercats episodes, Seasons 1 and Season 2. I really thought that was on much longer.

15. – Nikon D90 – I’d love an upgrade to my DSLR. I love my D80 but come one it is 10 more numbers higher. 🙂

Actually, what I really wish for:

I wish that people would join Team Eva’s Farm. This is the charity that we as a family are really getting behind. Team Eva’s Farm is a Heifer International Team and you can join to help us raise $1000 to stock Eva’s Farm. Just click the sidebar thermometer to help donate and to join the team.

Blogging, Photo-A-Day

Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown

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Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown
Photo-A-Day #1607

I listen to a radio station in MA called WROR. It is basically an old fart station. It really is. They play the hits from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s so I get to hear music that I enjoy and that I am familiar with. It is safe radio. The morning guys are older men Loren and Wally. They can be funny but in your be polite to your grandpa’s jokes sort of funny. Sorry grandpa.

So, because it is corporate radio I tend to hear the same songs over and over. When you do that you can actually understand the lyrics to songs and see what is really being said. So for example I noticed that the Jim Croce songs Bad, Bad Leroy Brown goes like this…

“And it’s bad, bad leroy brown,
The baddest man in the whole damn town
Badder than old king kong
And meaner than a junkyard dog

Now Leroy he a gambler
And he like his fancy clothes
And he like to wave his diamond rings
In front of everybody’s nose”

Leroy is a tough guy. He’s someone you shouldn’t mess with and it seems that from the description everyone is afraid of Leroy Brown. So I leave him alone for a moment. Let’s take a look at Big Jim. You Don’t Mess around with Big Jim Walker. According to Croce:

42nd street got big jim walker
He’s a pool-shootin’ son of a gun
Yeah, he big and dumb as a man can come
But he stronger than a country hoss
And when the bad folks all get together at night
You know they all call big jim “boss”, just because
And they say

You don’t tug on superman’s cape
You don’t spit into the wind
You don’t pull the mask off that old lone ranger
And you don’t mess around with jim

So both Leroy Brown and Big Jim Walker are people that seem to be unbeatable, everyone is afraid of them. Leroy is flashy and he’s got a high roller lifestyle going on and Big Jim is just big and mean and dumb. These are guys at the tops of their games and they seem untouchable.

Until…

They both make mistakes, Leroy hits on the wrong woman, one with a jealous husband and Leroy gets his face rearranged… literally.

Well the two men took to fightin
And when they pulled them from the floor
Leroy looked like a jigsaw puzzle
With a couple of pieces gone

Things done work out any better for Big Jim. In fact they end up much, much worse.

Well a hush fell over the pool room
Jimmy come boppin’ in off the street
And when the cuttin’ were done
The only part that wasn’t bloody
Was the soles of the big man’s feet
Yeah he were cut in in bout a hundred places
And he were shot in a couple more
And you better believe
They sung a different kind of story
When big jim hit the floor now they say

You don’t tug on superman’s cape
You don’t spit into the wind
You don’t pull the mask off that old lone ranger
And you don’t mess around with slim

So, what can a couple of Jim Croce songs about Bar Fights tell us about being better bloggers?

First of all I don’t advocate violence but I do think you can dominate the competition. There are always going to be big time people in any space. They are going to seem completely untouchable. Massive powerhouses that you cannot even compete with. That sort of thinking is crap.

No One is Untouchable

Everyone started from nothing and built that into something. Brand recognition, Trust and Influence comes from time, hard work and careful planning. Do you want to own the wine market like Gary Vaynerchuk? Then you have to put in the time learning all you can about wines, eat dirt and hustle your ass off. You also have to be engaging, informative and entertaining.

Can you do it?

That is a question only you can answer. Do you have the drive to be the next big web personality? One thing that the big guys do is that they don’t heed those warnings from the lyrics above. You don’t tug on Superman’s Cape? Are you kidding me! These guys yank on the cape, put Superman in a headlock, and find out just what makes Superman tick. You don’t pull the mask off the old lone ranger? Certainly you do! You’ve got to get in there find out what is behind the mask and learn as much as possible. One guy that gets out there and digs deep on everything to do with web related advertising is Ted Murphy. He is constantly tugging on Superman’s Cape and King Kong? King Kong ‘s got nothing on Murphy. Follow his twitter stream for a while and you will see so many people trying to tear him down and just as many who are in his corner. One thing that Murphy doesn’t do is swat at the airplanes trying to knock him down like Kong. He responds to detractors with an even keeland even wins many over

How can you take on Leroy Brown or Big Jim Walker?

The biggest thing that you can do for yourself is question everything that you know about the niche you want to be a part of. Who are the big players? Who are the up and comers? Who can you learn from, emulate and ultimately surpass? You have to put in the time and the work to become a success. You might make something completely awesome and viral and hit it big, but that often does not happen overnight. Build trust by helping, being an expert and being available. Everyone is an expert in something. That is the premise behind Peter Shankman‘s HARO. Reporters need sources and since people are experts in things they can help the reporters and be those sources of information.

Are you a source for valuable information?

That is what you have to ask yourself as well. Is what you are saying something that people need to hear? Or will your content entertain, inform and motivate your audience to come back. If you regurgitate everything that is already being said then I guarantee that your audience will find the original voice and follow that one. You will never be a Rockstar that way. You MUST have your OWN voice, opinions and ideas. So, Get out there! Tug on Superman’s Cape, Pull the mask off the Old Lone Ranger and go mess around with Jim because he and Leroy Brown may be the baddest men in town right now but there weren’t always and the won’t be forever.