durtbagz: flake-off friday

this morning i got up and i was talking to malcolm (husband), when it hit me what i was going to write about today. you know how it's funny when people mess up sayings that everyone knows? it's hilarious to me and mal does it on a regular basis. so i thought today's post would be funny mis-quotes and conversations...

while on our way to yellowstone, we were eating wasabe peas, when mal asks, 'what are these things? garbanzo beans?'
i reply, 'wasabe peas?'
'yeah', he says. 'what are they?'
'keep thinking on it for a little bit, i bet you can figure out what wasabe peas are', i say.
'yeah, but what are they? what's this green stuff?' he asks.
'it's peas. they are peas. they are called wasabe peas. wasabe peas are made with peas. they are peas,' i reply, maybe overreacting a bit.
'oh. well, i didn't know.' end of conversation.

'i am hotter than a horse in church!' spoken by a sorority sister of mine my junior year at ku during rush.

'people just turn a blind shoulder to all of this stuff...' malcolm at lunch last year.

'yeah, just trim it on the top and sides 'cause the party's in the front!'
'the party's in the back, honey.'
'oh yeah.' malcolm this morning in a conversation about mullets.

'yeah, those judas priests knocked on my door...'
'you mean jehovah's witnesses?'
'whatever...' penner. awesome.

people, you know you've got some, add to the list.
happy friday.

durtbagz: don't call us easy

first and foremost, this afternoon at lunch, i spotted (actually, it was pointed out to me, i'll be honest) the rarest of rare scottsdale mullets. it was in the middle of scottsdale in a rather la-ti-da restaurant. completely shocking and rare. i was a bit impressed at its bravery.

okay, on to biznass. we're still looking into adding some software to the site that will allow you to create your own sign right there on the site. i just had a look at the bare bones version and it's ugly. that will not be what you all will see if, and this is a big IF (say it like bob does on Office Space), we figure out how to incorporate this into the site.

i know i talked about this the other day, but it's a really big issue for this company. think about it, (and maybe i'm wrong on this) but i feel that if you go on the site and you can immediately create your own sign, you are more likely to do so. especially if you don't have too many options to worry about as far as tools and colors are concerned. the signs are all the same shape and colors. really, you'd just need a few tools to create the symbols. once you've created it, you'd be able to save it and submit it right there, with the click of a button. it could be just that easy.

but there is a dark side to this. when something is that easy, people tend to take advantage. basically, i can see people getting on their and submitting signs that aren't exactly appropriate because it's so easily accessible. i'm picturing getting multiple signs a day involving penises, the f-word, and whatever else is not okay to put on a website catering to a somewhat decent society.

if we don't or can't go with this software, then we'll have to go with the original plan of accepting signs in multiple formats. like i said, i want everyone to be able to participate: if you can use 'the internets,' as our president calls it, you can participate in the competition at durtbagz. if you know how to find us on the web and discover the competition, you'll be able to submit your design in some way shape or form. the possibilities at this point are the following:

• draw on paper and fax it

• draw on paper, scan and email it

• create on applications on computer and email it

we'll have parameters that you will have to meet, depending on the method of submission. for instance, don't create a gigantic banner, saying, 'happy mother's day', fax it, and expect it to be on there for your mother to see. i'll tell you right now, i'm not having it. get your mother a card and take her to dinner like everyone else. seriously. and speaking of proud mothers, don't email me pictures of paris hilton to put on a sign either. although, i'm pretty sure celebutards will be a theme for the competition at some point.

there are a lot of factors that will go into determining how this will play out. i'm not exactly sure that the easiest is necessarily the best. (brittany spears is a perfect example of this theory: easiest girl around? sure, she is. the best singer around? um...does she sing?). however, is the attention span of my customer base so short that they won't want to take the time to draw out a sign for submission? i'm asking this question to you all: will your participation depend on the method of submission and the time required to create the sign? or are you interested in being a part of things no matter what? and what would sway you one way or the other? seriously, i'd like some answers...comment, people. i'm asking for your comments.

tomorrow is flake-off friday (already?!?) and i'll try to come up with something other than stories of my childhood. and i've added a button at the top right. click it so you'll be notified when i update this. up above it is a counter of how many people clicked on it. notice it's at zero...do you want to fix that or what?

durtbagz: the competition

i blacked out yesterday and agreed to get up and run with a friend at 5am this morning. actually, i think i remember me asking her if i could join in sometime, but i didn't think she'd take me seriously. since i've already been up for three hours, i decided to post while i'm on a roll before i crash in a few hours.
my friend is training for a half ironman, (yes, she is insane), and that got me thinking about competition and how the competition will work for durtbagz. my plan calls for the general public (aka, you) to create signs and post them on the website for voting. this sounds great in my head and the consensus among you all seems to be that it is something you want to participate in. this makes me happy. very happy. now, how do we make this theory into a reality?
how are you going to submit your sign? how are you going to create it so that it can be posted? we're working on the logistics of this right now, and to be honest, at this point, i'm just not sure how this will play out.
i got the idea for having the competition after reading an article on a company called threadless. it's a tee shirt company that has an ongoing competition for the designs that go on the shirts. they got the idea for incorporating the competition into their company after one of the founders won a tee shirt design competition. he's a graphic designer, as were the majority of the other contestants. his partner is some kind of IT nerd and they developed their own site and software for it (i mean it as a compliment being an IT nerd; they had over $20mill in rev last year). their competitions have grown tremendously since they began in 2000 and they now have hundreds of submissions a day. but...there is no way an average joe like me could submit a design. when i researched what they required as far as the format of the file and the blah blah be blah ba blah...no idea. i love their idea. their requirements for being able to participate are ricockulous.
i want everyone to be able to participate, whether you know how to create the signs on the computer or not. i don't want their to be issues with people wanting to participate and not being able to because they may not be 'tech savvy'. if you have an idea, i want to see it and i want everyone else to see it too. so at this point, the options are to submit them as either drawings you have created on your computer on paint or any form that is more advanced than that (i use paint so you know most people 10 years younger than me are pros at it). or to literally draw them and scan them into a .jpg to submit.
my web design firm is investigating incorporating a software that could allow you to actually draw on a 'pad' on the site with your mouse. in theory, you'd be able to save the image and submit it, right there. don't' get excited because i think the possibility of this happening is slim to none, (at least right now, in a few years it will be very likely).
my goal is to make it as easy as possible for everyone to participate, no matter if you are a pro on photoshop or just like to draw with a pencil. hopefully, we can accommodate everyone.
okay, i'm off to take a nap. sorry this post isn't that funny, but bags is a serious bidness and i am hurting for sleep big time.

durtbagz: the website demo

hey gang. i was busy wasting time on mybloglog and realized i hadn't written anything today. whoops a daisy...




anyway, i've decided that today is the day for showing you all the demo for the website. here are the things you need to keep in mind when you look at it:

1. it's not done
2. it is a bit busy, but not if you're 19
c. we're adding a real photo to it once we get bagz produced to break up the black/yellow
4. there will be 15-20 signs as options and they are going in the squares featuring random pictures right now (along the bottom when you open it)
e. this is only the home page, the rest will follow once this one is completed

here it is... (yes, click on this).


let me know what you think about it, although, i have to admit, we're not going to change much on this page at this point. so there.



also, we don't have a slogan yet and i'm thinking i'll have a contest after we've been online for a while and let you guys choose one for me. the only one i can think of right now is, 'you don't have to have a mullet to be a durtbag,' but i think i have mullets on the brain.

durtbagz: signs, signs, everywhere signs

first i have to tell something funny. over the weekend i was with my grandpa who turns 91 next month. i learned that when i was a kid, he owned a hog farm in kansas and they used some technique that he learned from hog farmers in scottland and holland. he was the first one in the US to use this type of technology and as a result, would travel around the midwest to the ag-schools and lecture...on manure. finally, an explanation for my obsession with the word poop.

today, i spent the better part of an hour, tallying the votes for signs from the survey. as it turns out...just about every sign was voted for at least once. there are a few that stand out as winners (crosswalk with pedestrian reaching for other pedestrian's butt is clearly the number one, and mullets were a big favorite). so this tells me one of two things: either all of the signs are that funny or none of them are very funny.

well...wtf is funny, anyway? (i'm listening to my AC/DC station on pandora so if you sense some sass...). i mean, is a wheelchair rolling downhill into an open alligator mouth funny? hell to the yeah, it is. why? because when in the world would that ever happen? maybe in some evil zoo somewhere, but seriously? come on, meow. i don't have ESPN, i'm not a psychic, making these signs as a prediction of the future. what you see in this sign is MADE UP.

is a sign with fat bathroom symbols funny? ooohhhhh yyyeeeaaahhh. why? for the very opposite reason: this picture is a snapshot of reality. have you been to a national park or disneyland lately? i have. and this is what a realistic version of that sign would look like. (i switched my pandora station to gypsy kings...still sassy). do i laugh at them in real life? no. but what's wrong with a little dose of reality? oh, it's okay for 'oilslick' to call someone 'firecrotch' on tv, though...

and what about mullets (pronounced 'mu'-LAY)? mullets are universally funny. if you don't know what i'm talking about or what they look like, just visit your local cabela's or bass pro shop, (commonly referred to as pro bass). let me ask you this: how many lawyers, doctors, or people in the corporate world do you know with a mullet? what? did you say none-point-none? you don't say...yet, it's okay for everyone to laugh at those, even though when you see one, you think of a redneck or a trailer park. whatever, it's true. (aqualung is playing now and seems to have done the trick). just like it's okay for everyone to laugh at fat bathroom people, just like it's okay to laugh at a wheelchair grinding down a rail at a skateboard park.

picture these on bags on college campuses and high school quads. think of them on tee shirts or stickers on bikes, cars, skateboards and just about anywhere in your average ski/surf town. mean? no. wrong? quite possibly. funny? i hope.

durtbagz: flake-off friday

so i'm sitting in a starsucks in clairemont california, using the not-free wireless, which makes me dislike this coffee chain even more. apparently $12 for a frozen pound of calories isn't enough money for them. okay, enough complaining, it's friday for crying out loud.

i went on a long run this morning to take some time to come up with a good story for today (and take advantage of being in 80-90 degree weather). i came up with a lot of short memories of growing up that will give you the insight on why i am too immature to work for someone else and like the sign with a pedestrian being hit by a car...

my girlfriend was in a wheelchair, a motorized one. it went real fast; faster than we could run (yes, we raced to see how fast it would go). she used to like to drink zima as much as the rest of us on a few given occasions (high school) and when she did, we would pay the price. you try walking next to someone who weighs about 40lbs, has had two zimas, and is attempting to steer a wheelchair with a very touchy joystick. my heels and shins were not happy when drunk katie was on the loose. "hey, where's kat-OW, back up!" i think i still have scars...

in elementary school, it was cool to cut off your jeans and wear them as classy shorts, fringe hanging down and all (of course, paired with something awesome like a spuds mackenzie shirt i wasn't allowed to wear). one afternoon, my friend was over and we decided to cut off a pair of my jeans. after this was accomplished, we started messing around with the legs we'd cut off. 'messing around' means whipping each other with them. why? apparently it's what hillbillys do. we were outside on my back porch, in the rain, whipping each other with the legs of a pair of jeans. i just have flashes of it; i think i blacked out during the event. hey, i never claimed to be smart, you're the one spending time reading this...

last one, also involves said friend from above. i had a little fan in my room about 6" in diameter. at some point, we received a package that had popcorn foam in it. my friend and i grabbed the package and started feeding the foam into the spinning fan, one by one. it was awesome, it shot out like snow. so we kept doing it, kept doing it, kept doing it. eventually, my mom walked in because we were being so quiet (we in 4th grade i'm pretty sure). the point she walks in and stares at us is the same exact point that we realize that this might not be a good idea. it is also when we realize we've used every piece of foam in the package. the next game we played was pick up the foam with out using a vacuum.

why am i admitting these things? to prove that even an idiot like me can start a business so think about how much hope there is for you guys that have an entire brain available for use.

peace out, happy friday.

PS thanks for all of you that asked for surveys. you're awesome. next week, i'll talk about the website and include the link for it so you can help me with feedback on that (and get a sneak preview) as well.

durtbagz: kids these days...

okay, so today i'm feeling a little less sassy, but there is still some left in me so don't get your hopes up that this will be a feel-good post. there's another girl who has a company that is supposed to do that. her name's laura something...ashely.

i've been thinking a lot about my customer base and what they need from me since i'm going to be asking a lot from them. as i mentioned earlier, this involves people ages 14-25, although i'm willing to bet that people older than 25 are interested if they are a) lame, b) super lame, c) have a sense of humor, d) the lamest person ever.

i realized that it's been a while since i've fit into this category...well, let me be more specific. i fit into the super lame category (people with combovers are lamer than me), but i am not 14-25 anymore. i remember what i liked in high school...sort of. i liked sports and going to the lake and boys. and school, kind of, but i was a bit nerdy so that doesn't apply to everyone. i liked what my friends liked and sometimes i liked things they didn't like, but i didn't really advertise that a lot. when i really look back on it, i spent a lot of time acting like something was wrong with me, mentally. (there is a story behind this: my girlfriend was in a wheelchair and people automatically thought she was "special" mentally, even though her brain worked better than most. so we felt it was funny to play that role to the extreme while out in public and we got really got at it. surprise, surprise).

after high school, i went to college and basically liked going out. i mean, seriously, what else did we do? then after school, i liked not being responsible. i got into snowboarding and lots of outdoor stuff. that's pretty much how i still am today. except i live in the desert, so i don't get to go snowboarding as much.

so here's my plight: what the heck do my customers like? what are they into? what do they think is funny? and better yet, what do they think is wrong or just crosses the line? what gets them talking to each other about a subject and what gets them pumped up? what shocks them, if anything at this point? (thanks, lindsay...paris...taradise). what do they expect from me?

i've put together a survey and i've given it to a crew that falls into this category, but obviously i'm interested in getting all the feedback i can. i have a list of signs that we're using to choose the first round to be available when we launch. some of you have already helped me in this area, but i have to admit, the list has grown. by about 30. if you want to help me out and give me your top 10 (or 20), let me know and i'll email it to you. also, if you are interested in taking the survey, or have siblings, cousins, nieces/nephews, neighbors who might be interested in helping, i'll take all the feedback i can get. i'll make you a deal: everyone who turns in a completed survey gets a free bag. NOT A FREE BAG FOR READING MY BLOG. a free bag for completing a survey...so totally different.

people this age are finicky. they are interested in what their friends are interested in or being the first one of their friends to be interested in it. my hope is that if i can provide the format or template, that they will take over and run the show, leaving me with the job of keeping things running and coming up with new items or ideas to keep them happy. they will submit the signs with images they want. they will post photos of them and their friends and their bags. they will vote on the signs they like and post comments on why they like or don't like the site...the bags...the signs...their hair...whatever. basically, i believe i will end up working for them. i actually hope i do.

durtbagz: WTF?

okay, today my mood is a wee bit sour, as you might guess from the title.

the reason? blogs and bloggers. i'm even sick of that word. really, we couldn't come up with something better? webiary, perhaps?

here's the deal: initially, i was one of 'them', meaning i blogged to get attention and then take that attention to durtbagz and then durtbagz would be huge and then mal and i could retire. in reality, i've learned that blogging is LAME. it's not lame to write about what's happening to you or something you feel passionate about. it is lame to write about something someone else initially wrote about, regurgitate it, and then link back to the original writer to get more readers. it is lame to be a self-declared authority on something just to increase your following, aka RSS subscribers (i'm embarrassed i even know what that means). it is lame to give away prizes and gadgets to get people to sign up to read your so-called authori-TIE. i mean, seriously?

now, i know, this may seem a wee bit hypocritical considering i had an earlier post titled 'i wish i was an IT nerd' or something like that. i was a believer in 'if you build it, they will come'. but it was the wrong 'they' i was going after and trying to learn from. completely wrong. couldn't be more wrong.

my 'they' are 14-25 year old guys and gals who have at least half a brain in their heads and a decent sense of humour, like myself. they are not blogging on blogging for blogging's sake. they are snowboarding. they are college students who like to drink beer. lots of beer. they are high school kids who...drink beer. lots of beer. they are online and do myspace and facebook and whatever other social networking sites are hot right now. and they do what their friends do and even better, what their friends aren't doing YET.

so that is how this is going to work. i'm not going to link to other nerds' blogs that talk about goals and power of readership and how to make your blog 'sticky' (WTF?). i'm going to post images of signs we're going to use and have contests for the best captions to go along with them. i'm going to post the website as it's being developed and ask for your feedback. i'm going to chose topics that directly affect me, this company, and my peeps that will be carrying deez bagz.
so do me a favor: if you like reading this, let me know. tell your friends about it and maybe they'll like it to. if you don't like it, let me know. tell your friends about it and how lame it is and that they should read it to see how lame it is. i'm not going to give you anything for it and i don't care how many people are reading it regularly. i'm done playing by the rules of successful blogging. i'm building a company called 'durtbagz' for crying out loud. we don't care about spelling, why would we care about rules?

durtbagz: navigating the speed bumps

hi gang. oddly enough, i heard from more than a few of you about my absence last week. i'm still floored that anyone reads this nerdy blog, and it was really cool to be missed, even if just a little bit from, this gigantic tech world.
i spent five days in yellowstone national park in wyoming and a tiny bit in montana. i hiked daily and saw things i still can't believe exist. i'll write about it in my flake-off friday edition, but know that it did a mind and body good to escape to the real world of no cell phone, no TV and no internet.
okay, back to durtbagz. a few things have happened since i last wrote and i'm happy to say that they are all on the positive end of things. i start off this monday a happy entrepreneur and i'm savoring the feeling. the issue of the name durtbagz has been somewhat resolved for now; as resolved as it can be at this point anyway. after the initial discovery, i did more and more research on the 'other' company and have come to the consensus that the chances of them finding out about me and my company are slim initially. that is until i become huge and durtbagz is a household name. at that point, i'll have to prove that we're not competitors. i don't envision people strapping my bags onto their dirt bikes to carry tools and spare parts while they go off jumps. i picture my customers carrying books, beach gear, ipods, us weekly's, babies, over-night gear, and gym clothes in their bags. (missy, can we try it out with ainsley? i'll need a shot for the website...). so, between my partner, my attorney, and myself, we've decided to keep on keepin' on for now. i'm more than happy with this decision.
also, the whole issue of printing small quantities initially and dealing with all of the other issues that spun off of that major one seems to be shrinking. a good friend of mine (the do-gooder who's blog is linked to the right) set me up with a friend of hers who has his own promotions company. not knowing exactly what he could help with, other than to give some advice or connections, we met for lunch to talk things over. i came to lunch armed with some sample bags and my number one issue. he came armed with some serious suggestions that at first seemed too good to be true. he had done some preliminary research for me prior to lunch and found out that most distributors have programs that allow for smaller orders without all of the smaller issues and without charging ridiculous amounts. in fact, this particular distributor would not only print small quantities (i mean, as low as 1 print), they would also be holding the inventory as they are also the distributor and they would ship directly to my customers. the only glitch is when i do a tee shirt promotion, i'd have to have the bags shipped to me first and then add the shirts before sending them to their proud new owners. um, exsqeeze me? could this really be a true story? there was really a company that existed that would do everything i needed? one that solved all of my issues? yes. the answer is yes. are we using them? no. the bags they had were not the ones i wanted to use. but, the light at the end of the tunnel is 1) that via my new promotions partner, we had access to many, many more distributors than i could ever single-handily reach, 2) because of this, we have access to more bags than ever and we're 50% of the way there in finding ones we want to use (we've found the totes, we're trying to discover if the same distributor has messengers we likey), and 3) most distributors have some sort of co-op program like the one i talked about above. basically different versions of the same deal. if, and this is a big 'if', the distributor that has the totes we want can get us the messengers we also like, and we like their program, my biggest speed bump will have been cleared. for the time being. maybe cleared is a strong word. lowered a wee bit, is more like it.
not only do i feel i've gotten my groove back for this company (it wasn't gone, it just needed some fresh air and mountain hikes), i can't emphasize enough the power of talking to your friends and associates about things like this. you never know who will be out there than can help you out and vice versa.
my do-gooder friend, you already know you've got some free bags coming to you. maybe someday we can take a bunch and fill them with goodies for your next trip to africa...or eventually, durtbagz will be so big, we could be oprah and build a school. totally up to you.

durtbagz: flake-off friday

so as i mentioned in an earlier post, fridays are going to be days that i don't write about work. chances are good i'll still be working, but let's pretend for now that i'm not.
i recently made a birthday present for one of my best and oldest girlfriends who turned 30 a couple of months back. one piece of the package was a journal that i partially filled with memories of us growing up, starting when we were 8 years old and continuing through the present. it totally jogged my memory and i started thinking of other funny stories that have made up my life so far.
this story takes place my senior year of high school. something you should know about me is that i was a good kid in high school. i can probably count on one hand the number of times i drank (it might be two hands). i was home by my curfew 99.99% of the time and my curfew was earlier than everyone else i knew. i got good grades. i played on two athletic teams. basically, i did what i was told to or supposed to do pretty much all the time, fearing the wrath of my parents if i didn't. my senior year i had a writing assignment in my AP english class. let it be known that english was one of my favorite subjects and i was good at it so this assignment wasn't a big deal. however, during this time, i also had about 10 other things going on and kept putting it off and putting it off, which was unlike me. i'm not a procrastinator. about two days before it's due, i'm talking to a girlfriend of mine who was in her freshman year of college at a school not too far away. i mentioned something about this paper and she said that she had just written a similar one for one of her classes and asked if i wanted it. i had never done anything like this before, but for some reason, this fact made it seem okay if i did it once, my senior year. so i get her paper, regurgitate it and turn it in.
a few weeks go by and i forget about it. one afternoon, my teacher announces that she has entered a few of her students papers in the city-wide writing competition among high school seniors. immediately, i get a sinking feeling because i know that this is murphy's law kicking me in the gut again. every time i had tried to do something i wasn't supposed to do in the past, i'd been caught. lying to my parents, coming home late, sneaking out, whatever, didn't matter. i ALWAYS got caught. as my teacher began rattling off the students names that were selected, i hear mine, which i already knew was coming. however, i being to realize that this is not that big of a deal. so my english class thinks i'm smart and my teacher is impressed. whatever, not a big deal. i'll just wait it out until the competition is over and then all will be forgotten. when the teacher is finished, the class is over and we all separate for the last period of the day. while we're walking out, one of my friends asks me what i wrote about. and i can't remember. i make up something and we part ways. at the end of the day, we have school-wide afternoon announcements that are read by every teacher in each class. the last announcement is a big congrats to our senior ap students who were selected to participate in the competition, complete with our names. okay, so all of my teachers now know and my friends do to. my parents still don't and that's all i really care about.
the next week my teacher announces the winners from the competition. she reads them off starting with fifth place and finishing with the winner of each category. i'm not paying much attention, as i'm thrilled that it's finally over and i've made it through without a scratch. she reaches the last category (no idea what it was) and suddenly i hear my name. the last one. the winner. of every freaking paper in the entire senior student body in the whole city, my fake paper wins. everyone is clapping and i start laughing. hard. i don't know what else to do. i manage to come off as just really excited, but in reality, i am just amazed at my dumb luck. and glad that it's over with.
that afternoon, i get home and my mom is there. she happened to volunteer in the office that day and someone mentioned the competition, minus the win, to her. so she asks me about it and i tell her my paper was selected for it. she looks at me, asking when i'll find out the results. i reply that they are already completed. she keeps looking at me and finally i quietly admit that i won. i say it so oddly that she just stands there looking at me. after a minute or so, that laughing starts again. and i can't stop it. fully knowing something is up, she just says, 'what?'. 'it's not my paper,' i confess. i come clean about the whole thing, laughing throughout because i'm about to get in serious trouble. after i'm done, she's silent, just staring at me. then she starts laughing and neither one of us can stop. crying, hard, silent laughter. finally, when we catch our breath, i ask if i'm in trouble. she replies with, 'i think you already got yours.' agreed.

durtbagz: it's my call

i woke up this morning and began going through the mail that was sitting on my desk. at this point, the extent of durtbagz mail consists of bills and letters from my attorneys. super fun. as i begin sifting through, i find a notice from my llc lawyer for an invoice of an overdue balance, which i paid in full before the services were even completed. i'll tell you right now, the attorney we got for organizing the llc is an IDIOT. cartman from south park would have been a better choice. first of all, when we first organized it, everything went smoothly. then, i had to change the ownership to include my dad and that's when things took a turn for the worse. it took him over two months to get me the forms i needed to get all parties to sign...after he had my money. i'll admit, that's a mistake i won't do again. when i did finally get them, he wouldn't give them to me until i had paid...which not only had i, but i had received a letter from his office stating exactly this. i scanned it and sent it back to him. finally i got the papers. then about a week later i get a notice for overdue payment. i throw it away. a month later, i get another with interest. i scan that and send it to him. he responds it's taken care of. i just received another one this morning. IDIOT. don't go to Keyt Law Firm in PHX AZ unless you want to feel like your dealing with freaking ringling bros. IDIOT.
next item and main item in the mail that i need to discuss is a letter from my trademark attorney. we have to register the name durtbagz so others don't take it. this process has been going on for months now. i think since late last fall. anyway, the letter i get this morning notifies me that my application for registering this name for use has been rejected due to the name is already being used in conjunction with similar goods. what? wait a second, i'm about 30 days out from launching and if i think i'm reading this right, i have to change the name of my company. no, i must have read it wrong. i read it again. and again. and again. some dude in california has registered the name dirt bagz usa for sports equipment carrying bags. the name and the goods are identical in the eyes of the law. it looks like the next blog entry may be called 'scumbagz'...

so i just got off the phone with my attorney. i thought things were looking up until i researched the dirt bagz usa. our conversation went something along the lines of, if this company is small, then the trademark will more than likely expire next year and durtbagz will have no problem. we can wait it out, we have about 9 months to respond to the rejection and deal with it then. so i felt okay, until i looked up who this nonsense dirt bagz usa was. unfortunately, i am not big into the world of dirt bikes or off-roading. if i was, i probably would have heard of dirt bagz. they are a rather large company that makes cargo bags for bikes and tool kits and accessories for this industry. and they have multiple distributors across the country. and they are written up in all kinds of industry publications. they sponsor events. it is not one man in a room like i was hoping it was. now i am unsure what i will do. my options are: continue on with durtbagz and hope that this other company doesn't find out about me. if they do, they can sue me for trademark infringement. and i cannot plead ignorant because i know who they are, as i have admitted in this blog. what are the odds that a company in that industry discovers my durtbagz? i don't know. what are the risks that i get sued by them? again, i don't know. if i do risk this and i get sued, i'll have to change my name. is it better to just change it now before things get started or in a year or five or ten if i get caught? I DON'T KNOW. but here's the thing: it's my call.
i was beginning to question my judgement and decision making on becoming an entrepreneur. in your head, it sounds great. in reality, it's hard. hard, hard, hard. when you get something like this thrown at you, in the past, i've been able to look over my shoulder and go 'what do you think we should do?' now i look over my shoulder and everyone is gone. sure, there are people around me who's opinions i value, but in the end, it's entirely up to me. it's fitting that today i read something that reminded me why i made this decision to be my own boss (and hopefully get to boss others). i'll keep you posted on the situation.

durtbagz: i'm starting to get this

okay, i've been reading other blogs (is anyone else already sick of that word?!?) and i've learned multiple things recently. as in today.
first of all, my blog is boring. it is. i'm bored reading it...and i'm the writer. i feel like it's just me rambling my thoughts and that can be funny, but usually only when alcohol is involved. this thing needs some direction, some discipline, and most importantly, a point. so, i'm going to create a schedule and designate every friday and 'flake-off friday' and i will talk about something other than work. seriously, who really wants to work on fridays anyway? not this person, so i won't. i'll write about other stuff that's actually cool: fun websites, movies, traveling, people...you know, whatevs. (ro, i got that from your most recent title...).
remember how i was bitching that no one is reading this? that's because i don't read anyone elses! uh, how much more only child could i get? you have to give to get and i need to participate in others in order for them to participate in mine. it's a simple as that. i can be an IT nerd after all! all i had to do was read and google stuff. and i read a great blog today that boosted my moral a bit, which needed a wee bit of boosting. it was titled 'you are better than you think' and it's about idiots like me starting their own businesses. try it, you like it.
so from here on out, this blog will have some direction. it will have specific topics and pose questions. of course, it will still be about durtbagz and building this nut-so company, but i've decided that now i have the attention of all three of you , the obvious question is, what do i have to say? stay tuned...

durtbagz: i found technorati

Technorati Profile

for those of you who read my last post...this is a good thing.

durtbagz: IT nerd wanna-be

seriously. how weird is it to think that being a nerd would actually increase your chances of being popular? in this situation, it's ridiculously true. nerds run the web, which will eventually run the world. so there.
in this whole situation of trying to figure out the logistics of the company, i'm also trying to figure out the marketing of the company. hello? why do you think i'm blogging? i mean, yes, it has turned out to be a bit of a stress reliever, but it's also managed to create some as well. the more 'visible' durtbagz is online, the better my chances of popping up at the top of google when you type in tote bags or hand bags or messenger bags. here's my question: how do i become visible? i mean, blogging is obviously a part of it, but, people have to read the blog in order for it to do it's job. how do i create excitement about my online journal of creating durtbagz? i've emailed my friends (BTW, if you are reading this, email me a one-word message: poop, we'll see how many of you are really my friends. ha!), and that seems to be doing exactly nothing. maybe i'm not very interesting, but neither are IT nerds. there are just a lot of them and it seems like they all know each other. because they all blog and read each other's blogs. do you see the irony?!?!? is there some group out there of late 20/early 30 somethings that are interested in seeing someone flail as they start a biz that could either be huge or a joke? or is everyone in this category too busy keeping up with ms. lohan? (hey, i'm know i'm on perezhilton.com every day). i'll go to rehab, if that will increase my audience, i mean, are you kidding me? would you rather be sweating everyday for the next four months and trying to launch a company or hanging out in malibu, doing yoga, eating health food, and probably getting massages with multiple happy endings for the next 30 days? i vote malibu. can you do 60 day stints?
anyway, i'm not a computer nerd. and as it turns out, this is becoming a big problem.

i'm off to drink a few. any nerds out there willing to help me out, your next cold one is on me.