A New Direction! – More Fun

So I am still unsure what caused me to first imagine a blog in this light, perhaps it was a preconceived notion brought on by early blogging solutions like LiveJournal and other online diaries, but it has recently come to my attention that this blog is very much like a personal log of my thoughts and much less an accurate representation of my life, or personality. Today I pledge to make a change, a change in the way I view blogging, a change in the I manage my blog, and a change in the way I view and interact with the infinite possibilities that make up the internet.

Mark my words…THE FUTURE OF iVaughn.com/blog/ WILL BE MORE FUN!!!

However, as it is nearly 1am EST as I write this very intriguing post, the fun will have to wait for another day. I need time to prepare my initial post. I’ll have a lot riding on this one.

Check back soon!

IS Capstone = The End of My Social Life

It has been a rather stressful second quarter to this 8th and final college semester. I’ve gone through stretches of free time and leisure only to be burdened by the eventual onslaught of HW, Projects, Presentations, Papers and of course work.

About three weeks ago I, and a group of highly talented and qualified peers, teamed up to assist a semi-local non profit community care center, develop a company wide intranet. The task seemed tall at first, however after some deep analysis into the inner working of the center, and some skillful Internet researched, we resolved to conclusion to implement an open source CMS. The joy of concluding on the solution was meet only by the pain of realizing the enormous learning curve. We have been battling both with the CMS itself as well as our own inalienable ability to make everything more difficult that it is. Currently we are still vigorously researching some of the many feature sets the CMS has to offer and their possible correlation with our project. I will do my best to keep the blogosphere updated on the projects progress.

My email to Jason Calacanis…

I recently overhead on TWIT a few months ago that as an alternative to the blogging lifestyle he had been enjoying for quite some time, millionaire technology entrepreneur Jason Calacanis had begun an email list. A list to whom he composes roughly 1500 word emails simiar in content and context to the blog entrys he was previously known for. Well lets jus say I had no choice but to sign up, my internal geek had already filled out the sign-up form before had even had a chance to read it.

Well needless to say, I’ve been getting emails on a semi-regular basis (maybe monthly to semi-monthly) however none have hit home or been as rivetting as his most recent The 120% Solutions.

This email seemed so in-depth and yet personal that I had no choice but to indulge my desire to reply and the following was my effort to do just that. (Note: It may be prudent to read the email prior to reading my response to get good understanding of context.)

Mr. Calacanis

I know I’ve got to be one of only about 17,000 replies you’ve received regarding this astonishingly well thought-out and developed email. I myself, a (soon to be graduating) information technology college student am looking out at the big bad world of reality with a sense of sheer terror.

I’ve worked hard, taken plenty of classes and am looking to accomplish a feat that is growing all to uncommon in today’s college society, graduate in four years like you’re supposed to! But all has left me virtually jobless, completing maybe 10 hours of freelance web development work a month and getting paid net 45 (which btw is long enough to forget you even did the work and all of the sudden wonder where the money mysteriously came from), as well as literally broke and in debt up to my eyeballs (thank goodness I’m tall or I’d be in over my head). The question I would like to pose to you, is what sort of advice and or criticism might you have for a young guy like me. I see the economy is disarray, I see my bank account in deep red, I see my dreams of technology fortune slipping into the distance and I feel the weight of reality falling on my shoulders.

I’m a little unsure what the odds are I might ever receive a response to this reply, I simply wanted to share my thoughts in hopes that it might spur thought for a future email addressed to the stressing college student who once thought it couldn’t get worse that an all-nighter in the library during finals week and now realizes that they may be the best is EVER gets for a while to come. I’m not going to lie, I’m scared, I’m nervous and I’m completely un-financially capable of financing a graduate degree in engineering (yep, I took note of that) so I’m also in need of an alternative solution.

I sincerely thank you for your time in the event that you read this and would simply like to add that if you ever find yourself on TWIT(My favorite

podcast) and accidently say the words “Hi Vaughn, I just wanted to prove that I DID read your email” I wouldn’t mind one bit

-Vaughn Johnson-

Johnson.Vaughn@Gmail.com

www.iVaughn.com

Wow, another post, less than a week after the last one!?!

Hey all, (Why I feel the need to address anyone when I know no one reads this thing, I’ll never know)

I’m actually doing it, I’m friggen blogging! Its not as hard as I imagined it would be. I read all these frequent blogs on all sorts of topics and I think to myself, I a)cant even write all that well, who would read my shit, and b)the only important news I read comes from other blogs so I’d just be repeating what that guy already said. So I’ve since ditched the dream of iVaughn.com becoming the next Lifehacker or ArsTechnica and have re-focused my blog on a more valiant and obtainable goal, to a attract so goddamn readers! So, here goes nothing.

As an aspiring IT Professional and avid computer software user, I’ve grown acutely aware of the many nuances and caveats that need to be kept in mind at all times while planning a life through a peice of software, take for instance MS Money Plus. I use it religiously, to plan my bills, track my account transactions and balances, manage my budget and forecast my future cash flows, but what happens when you simply read the number that MS Money spits out and never consider how it might have obtained it? All sorts of shit, that’s what. Needless to say I’ve come to the realization that I need a job, after noticing that my projected year ending (2008) balance of $1500 was greatly skewed by Money’s unique ability to take an average of all the monthly income I’ve generated over the past 9 months and assume that I am still capable of generating that today. So, for the sake of argument, lets assume that I cannot, as the past 9 months of income were the result of a lucrative on-campus job which I gave up to participate in an even more lucrative summer internship, neither of which mind you, do I still have today. In any case I realigned the estimates with what I considered most reasonable and saw the bottom line result plummet to just above $350.

I have since contacted the local campus bookstore about a graphic design job for arounf 12 to 20 hours a week, and roughly $7.90 an hour. Not nearly as lucritive as my previous employments but income none the less, I will keep all posted and I look forward to any wayward web surfers stumbling upon my site and commenting.

Thanks.

A Life Plan?

In my endless attempt to become more active blogger and more influential contributor to the new, more social Web 2.0, I have done my best to stick to a fairly strict schedule of reading and participating in other, more famous, blogs, such as Lifehacker, Endgadget and Digg.

I came across a Lifehacker post this morning in my GoogleReader feed that highlighted the CEO of a publishing company, Michael S. Hyatt. Mr. Hyatt explained the tactics, processes and mindsets that he uses to both create and maintain what he refers to as “A Life Plan”. I must say this is one of the longest posts I have taken the time to ready fully in quite some time. It has inspired me to attempt a similar feat. While I am still but a wee young’un at a ripe ol’age of 21. I can see great profitability in creating a life plan. I find myself in constant battle with the internal me that wishes for only the best eventual outcome, no matter how treacherous the current road may be, and the more external me that wants what I want, when I want it, living in the moment, in the now, with little regard for the future.

As I have complained in other blog entries, I have a hard time finding time to post my thoughts, ideas, and stories. I hope I can turn a few things around in my life, take back some things that I realize mean less, and invest more of myself in the things that mean the most.

I look forward the future and all it’s grandeur possibilities. I also look forward to the eventual development of a “Life Plan” of my own.

-Vaughn-