North Winds

5:04pm: 08/22/2008
This is a test of the Nokia Atom Publishing system.

11:24pm: Moving out and Car problems
I'm still looking for a roommate. For a while, Jonathan was talking about getting an apartment with me and another friend around in this area, then about a month ago he bailed on that idea and moved back with his parents up in washington. Later I was talking with Ben Cohn. He said he'd been thinking about moving out for a while, but he was waiting for his Market America business to take off a little more before he moved out. Well, now he says it will be longer then he thought. I am making enough right now with Eka Tetra that it should be do-able to move out with a room mate, but I can't seem to find anyone else who is. If I can get my own Market America business going, I might just be able to get my own apartment.

Not too long ago I spent about $500 on my car getting a new muffler and clutch to make my car drivable again, but about two weeks ago my engine started dying on me. I had it die once in the middle of TV Highway and had trouble getting it to start again. It died a couple of more times before I was able to make it home. Apparently, my engine isn't getting enough fuel and now I need a new fuel filter and pump. I'm still working on replacing all the parts because I don't want to have to take it in again and pay for all the labor.

I think that's it for now.

5:48pm: [LJ2ME] Must Get Out!!!
I must get out of this house! Soon! I can't take all the stress of living here. I'm debating about whether it will be possible to do so in the next week or so. But it must be soon. I hope either Ben or Pete will be looking for a roommate soon.

3:02am: Me, a salesman?
Today, I went to an introduction meeting for becoming a sales representative for a company called Market America. They sell various products ranging from Health and Nutrition to Floral, Cosmetics, and Coffee. They even provide services for helping Small Businesses develop E-Commerce websites. My friend Ben Cohn invited me to the meeting as he is a new sales rep for them and is looking to start growing his company. If I sign up, I’d probably be working under him selling the various products and services. Normally, I have not had much interest in being a salesmen for businesses like these. I have had offers for Melaleuca, Primerica, and even Cutco. Though, this time I am actually considering signing up. There is no rush to aquire customers early on or many requirements or meeting to attend like Primerica and Cutco have.

My friend, Ben, has been a user of Market America’s health care products for several months now and has seen a positive improvements in his health and general state of being. He has felt more energetic and had less pain after a week of teaching Tae Kwon Do. In particular, MA’s star product OPC-3 is what he has been using. He’s also sold OPC-3 to a student of his, who’s younger brother has been having some health issues. After the improvements in the younger brother’s health, the mother returned to buy more OPC-3 for her older son. OPC-3 is an all-natural antioxidant that is supposed have many other benefits as well, including helping people with ADD be able to operate with a much more improved focus and concentrate on what they need to. This, in particular, interests me very much, as I have had a very hard time keeping focus, at work or in class, regardless of whether the topic or task is boring to me or not.

Also, I am interested in an additional source of income. One goal of being a sales rep at Market America is to get 2 people who operate below you, each of which has the goal to have 2 people below them. The people higher in the structure gain profit by helping the people below them get started with their business, but not to the point as to prevent them from rising above you income-wise. This allows the people higher up operating as a manager to be able to make a profit during a week, even if they didn’t put any hours in that week. I don’t quite understand how everything works yet, but I’m planning on going to a second meeting next week to learn more before I consider signing up yet.

7:01am: Technology's amazing, isn't it? I just got off of a voice conference with my brother over in Germany. He was able to get my attention by sending an instant message to my cellphone, I then went online and talked to him on aim for a little bit. Once I finished installing Skype, we then switched over and did a voice conference. During the conference, I was able to use VNC to access his desktop remotely, from half way around the world, and play with some applications on his laptop. I could also monitor everything he did on his computer while I was logged in. Later, I'd like to try a full voice and video conference with him. I may understand how this technology works more than most people, but that only makes it that much more amazing.

By the way, anyone interested in my Africa photos that I claimed I'd post months ago, I recently set them up in a photo gallery on my new domain name, http://www.north-winds.org/.

Well, it's getting late, I should probably go to bed now. Hopefully, I'll actually start keeping this journal properly updated.

Cheers!

11:51pm: And off to Africa...
Well, I've had this journal for a few months now, but I
haven't touched it once, but I guess better late then
never. Finals are now winding down, I'll finish my last
one tonight and submit it online. Luckily all the work
is done online so I don't have to travel to PCC to turn
it in.

In two days I'll be leaving on a 10 day trip to Africa.
My plane will be stopping in Amsterdam first for about 2
hours, then off to South Africa. I'll actually be
spending most of my time in Swaziland though, which is
about a 5 hour drive away from the airport. I'll be
helping with some construction and painting and probably
many other tasks. I haven't even figured out what I'm
bringing yet.

Well, I hope everything will go well.