The new brushed metal Apple Wireless Keyboard shipped!
It’s been working great so far. Very responsive, very sleak!

I have been getting questions about cost estimates for business websites lately. I try to give my honest and direct opinion. The following is a concise version of what it takes to have a website made and managed for you.

“Complete creation and management” of a website has three main costs.

1. Domain name registration (officially owning “somewebsitename.com” or “hilariouscatpicz.net”). This is a fixed cost, for the most part. If it’s a domain name that isn’t already taken by someone else, it’s roughly $10 to $20 per year per domain name. Also, add on a little for the person to fill out the forms and manage renewals.

2. Server hosting (having hard drive space somewhere on a server that is connected to the internet). These can vary by how much traffic (how many visitors) you will receive, how much data you must store online, and what server technology you (or, more specifically, the web developer uses). This typically starts at $8/month but can go as high as $100/month and up. Also, account for a little extra for whoever is managing this for you. For general information, I use Dreamhost for my websites.

3. Website creation (actual design and coding of your website) and updating (occasional changing of text and adding news snippets). This is the real variable cost. Some people charge a set amount per month for this. Others charge hourly (usually between friends to be fair or between businesses as “billable hours” and “bill rates”). Others charge a flat rate after negotiating and determining exactly what work is to be done (and then updating is hourly after that).

To give you an idea of the cost of a website, use the estimates above, and take a look at BobAbernethy.com. This is a website that I created and manage. I made it about 3 years ago. The initial design, formatting, setup, and coding took about 75 hours of work. Since then, I’ve done periodic updates to the site, totaling 25 hours of work. Billing at an hourly rate for work by me, $10/year for domain registration, and around $100/year for hosting. The first year’s cost was significantly more than each additional year, of course.

Basically, websites are an investment, like anything else. They don’t come for free usually. If they do come free/cheap, they are often not worth having. Your website can help or hurt your business. A website of poor quality will (in my opinion) hurt your business potential. But, of course, it is up to you. Good luck with your decision making.

The Simpsons Movie is out in theaters now. It’s epic that they’ve even created the movie! I’m eagerly looking forward to seeing it. Although I will not be seeing it until next week, I have gotten my fill of the promotions. Movie theater displays, the trailers/teasers, movie posters, Buzz Cola, Krusty-Os, and (of course) a couple of trips to the Orlando Kwik-E-Mart. Go visit the galleries for much more. Here are a few photos to get you started.

Duncan Hines has been a great source of easy, vegan cake mixes. The only “trick” is to use applesauce instead of eggs (1.5 tablespoon of applesauce = 1 egg) and soymilk if they call for milk (a lot don’t). Applesauce acts in the same role in getting the right consistency and fluffiness that eggs do.

October 2005, I noticed that nearly all of the Duncan Hines cake and brownie mixes had started containing milk. I inquired with Pennacle Foods, and they said it was not intentional, but it was purely because they had changed factories. The new factory had been used for so much dairy-containing products, that it added dairy to all of the mixes. Well, apparently they had received such a large response to it (from lactose-intolerant, vegans, kosher people, and those who generally avoid dairy because of the health affects), that they changed back 12 of their 18 cake mixes to the diary-free versions!

I highly recommend the red velvet cakes (with cream cheese frosting from Pillsbury, which is accidentally vegan as well)! You can find vegan icings by Pillsbury right next to the Duncan Hines cake mixes! Chocolate, Vanilla, Cream Cheese frostings are all available.

Dairy-Free Duncan Hines Mixes/Products

• Devil’s Food
• Yellow
• Lemon Supreme
• Butter Recipe Golden
• Swiss Chocolate
• Spice
• Fudge Marble
• Pineapple Supreme
• Butter Recipe Fudge
• German Chocolate
• Red Velvet
• Dark Chocolate Fudge

Thank you Duncan Hines!

I was paraphrased in an Orlando Sentinel article today about Windows Vista.

My thoughts:

• Great new look and features, reminds me heavily of how OSX has been for years.
• This will be adopted by users slowly, because (1) people are afraid that they might not be able to learn the new OS, (2) they are not willing to shell out the extra money, and (3) they are worried the OS won’t run on their computer (which it most likely will, but possibly not as smoothly as it would on a newer computer).
• Microsoft is going to make a LOT more of money in the next two years. I bought stock.
• If you want Vista, instead of spending $150 on the upgrade, spend $500 on buying a shiny new laptop. (There are a lot of deals out there right now).
• Don’t forget to buy the new edition of Office. MS Office has been the greatest product by Microsoft, in my opinion. They have been more innovative and trendsetting than any other office suite.
• Immediately, install Firefox. I will not support MS Internet Explorer, until they are standards compliant. IE is a tremendous pain to every website developer.

http://www.veganbob.com/wishlist

:-)

The Congressional Modelling and Simulation Caucus showcases M&S training initiatives of defense environments, medical operations, and intelligence gathering. It provides valuable insight to several congressmen and their staff about its importance. This year, I was fortunate enough to be one of the exhibitors for my company, L3 Communication’s Link Simulation and Training.

My resume [pdf] was a few months out of date, so I figured I’d give it a refresh. Go check it out (if you’re looking to hire me in the future, that is)!

The bum on the rod is hunted down
As the enemy of mankind;
The other is driven around to his club
And feted, wined and dined.

And they who curse the bum on the rods
As the essence of all that is bad,
Will greet the other with a winning smile
And extend him the hand so glad.

The bum on the rods is a social flea
Who gets an occasional bite;
The bum on the plush is a social leech,
Blood-sucking day and night.

The bum on the rods is a load so light
That his weight we scarcely feel,
But it takes the labor of dozens of men
To furnish the other a meal.

As long as you sanction the bum on the plush,
The other will always be there,
But rid yourself of the bum on the plush
And the other will disappear.

Then make an intelligent, organized kick,
Get rid of the weights that crush;
Don’t worry about the bum on the rods,
Get rid of the bum on the plush!