Bob Findlay Blog

My Lazy Diary Entry

2015-07-14T11:15:00.002+10:00

It’s been a while since my last entry. “Lazy Diary” indeed.

Nothing much to report on the music front for various reasons but there IS an E.P. in the pipeline. You will well & truly know about it as the time nears.

Outside off that my two children are growing up so quickly. My ponytail is gone as are almost all of my earrings (the tattoos remain), I now ride a motorbike & am living in my own place & loving it & I’m wearing my glasses more frequently than previously. Middle age is definitely upon me.

I have, however, got a rough handle on how to upload photos from my daughtersPHONE thingie.

Hope you’re all well & I look forward to more frequent entries to hopefully entertain you.

Bob.

Latest Single "Dear Artist" Discount Price. Limited Time.

2014-08-25T15:18:00.001+10:00

Get the latest single "DEAR ARTIST" by Bob Findlay for only 50c. Limited time.
50c for an already popular & genuinely good song is great value.
https://bobfindlay.bandcamp.com/track/dear-artist-2

Email Newsletter Customer Surveys

2013-10-23T22:32:00.000+11:00

Over the past week, I have been conducting four surveys pertaining to my email newsletters in order to meet my subscribers needs as best as is possible. Results have been coming in thick and fast from my email subscribers, Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin.

This blog is the only place online where people can access and partake in my brief surveys.

Prior to taking these surveys, you may wish to view a newsletter from my archives. Simply click here

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Thank you for completing my surveys. Feel free to subscribe to my newsletter.

Bob Findlay Puts Tasmanian Music On The Map

2013-10-01T14:01:00.000+10:00

Flag of Tasmania (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Prior to commencing this entry, I feel that I should 're-introduce' myself as I am expecting that I will have more readers than I have in the past in light of my recent entry in a global music competition hosted by ArtistSignal.

I was born in Scotland in 1979 and emigrated to Tasmania in 1979. I first took up the guitar after hearing The Rolling Stones song "Start Me Up." Since then I have pretty-well done the rounds musically in Tasmania and took to online music in 2007 after a lengthy hiatus due to alcohol abuse....and it has proved successful today.

I first heard of the global ArtistSignal music competition from fellow independent musician, Joe Gande a few months ago. I paid little attention as I had never entered a competition before. One morning I justt caught a glimpse of their Facebook site and investigated further. After some rough calculations I figured that I "just might" be able to summon up my friends and music followers and maybe land within the 'Top 1,000.'

I am as surprised as the next person when I realised that I was even a chance of reaching the 'Top 100' in the competition. To finish 80th is almost beyond my comprehension....almost.

The contest hosted by ArtistSignal has been running for approximately 3 years. The contests are divided into months, with the highest placed musician winning $10,000. A further $5,000 is divided up between those ranked below this. The winner is decided at the end of each month with the winner being unable to win the $10,000 a second time.

My music has been compared to, in varying degrees, to The Rolling Stones, The Faces, The Band, Warren Zevon, Status Quo, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Joe Walsh and Mick Taylor.

After a sluggish first week my rank was gradually moving upwards with the occasional drop back down a place or two. It wasn't until the last week when things really started to 'kick off' for me. Every time that I glanced at my page, I had gained two, three and sometimes four votes in a very short period.

What did take me by surprise was where the most prolific voters and/or influences originated from. Two former work colleagues during my 22-plus years as a State Registered Nurse, Helen Conn and Caroline Tuffnell really came to the fore. Caroline's husband, Scott, just happens to review CD's on Amazon mp3. I was both surprised and humbled by such an accolade from an experienced 'third party.' You can view Scott's review of the "Nuts And Bolts" E.P. which he happened across on my ArtistSignal page by clicking here. Other friends include Pamela Hawley, with whom I did my Nursing training and former school friend, Sonya Cotton. The most prominent Facebook friends were Margaret Smith and Sandi Forrester.

Added to this list of supporters are my daughter Moriganne along with four Tasmanian politicians, namely the Premier, Ms Lara Giddings, Mr. Scott Bacon, Mr. David O'Byrne.and Mr. Jeremy Rockliff. Tasmanian journalist Annah Fromberg from A.B.C. News and radio stations Heart1073, WayFM and SeaFm in Hobart were also kind enough to support me.

Rounding off my summation of voters who played a prominent part in my position in the field are the above-mentioned independent musician Joe Gande from New York, Canadian promoter and D.J. David Slater and long time supporter Bob Pope.

I shall be taking some time away from ArtistSignal due to school holidays followed by the commencement of my next album.

I hope that my achievement may turn the music spotlight on Tasmania as I view Tasmanian music alongside other Tasmanian world famous assets.

Bob Findlay In ArtistSignal Competition(Part 1).

2013-09-08T19:58:00.001+10:00

ArtistSignal is a free social music platform allowing listeners to vote for a Top Artist each month. They give the Top Artist at the end of the month $10,000. This allows listeners to propel talented musicians to the top of our platform and gives musicians an entirely new avenue to grow their fan base.

Another $5,000 is split between all remaining musicians based on the amount of votes they receive during the month (excluding the #1 artist). The contest is free for both musicians and voters.Voters can earn rewards directly from musicians just by voting!

I joined the competition half-way through last month (August, 2013) expecting that a good result would be inside the Top 1,000. I was way wrong. I finished the month is position amidst some very talented musicians in position 224. This result was more than enough to begin this month (September, 2010). My aim? To finish inside the top 200. I have surpassed that and am, at time of writing, sitting around the 125 position. Between myself and the top 100 position lies approximately 200 votes. I would like YOUR help .

You can keep up to speed via my updates on the Facebook Bob Findlay ArtistSignal Contest

Join my 'quest' to finish in the 'Top 100' in the ArtistSignal music competition. My aim is to finish this month within the 'Top 100' to help put Tasmanian and Australian music in the spotlight. Every vote is appreciated & if I finish in the 'Top 100' EVERY person who votes more than twice for me will receive a FREE album download.

No strings attached. "Thank You" in advance.

Bob Findlay Email List

2013-08-22T16:03:00.000+10:00

If used properly, a performing songwriter's most valuable marketing asset can be his email list. A lot of songwriters put all of their promotional efforts into the latest social media sites, like Facebook, Twitter and ReverbNation without considering the benefits of having an email newsletter. Admittedly, ReverbNation provides the most proficient email service, it does have its' restrictions.

Due to the unfortunate trend over the last few years, there is an increasing trend of musicians following musicians. This leads to musicians email being blocked up with emails from a host of other musicians with little hope of addressing every email and thus decreasing their email stats and 'band equity' on the site. It is for this reason that I shall shortly be advising my email list on ReverbNation to join my own official letter. I am hoping that this will attract 'true' followers. Time will tell.

The main advantage of my new official email list, is that it's a direct way of communicating with my followers, by sending them a message to their inbox. That's more than you can say for the social networking sites, which come off more as blasts to whoever happens to be viewing your feed at that moment.

The other main advantage of this email list over social networking sites is social media sites come and go (along with the fans attached to those pages), while email isn't going anywhere in the foreseeable future. Think about everyone who had 10,000 fans on their MySpace pages. What good are those fans now? Had those fans been email addresses, not only would they still be valid, but they'd be able to get direct emails, as opposed to just status updates.

That's not to say that I shouldn't have both an email list and a social media presence, because have both is ideal. But you also need to realize that having a Twitter or Facebook page isn't necessarily a replacement for an email newsletter.

Having said that and after some lengthy research, I have discovered some dos and don'ts to get you started with your email Newsletter.

DO's

1. DO Offer a cool and exclusive incentive for people to join your email list. I give subscribers either a free music download and/or a free mobile app on Android. Make sure it's something of value to your fans. Put yourself in their shoes. What would get you to sign up for an artist's email list, if you were them?

2. DO give value in your emails. You want people to want to open up and read emails from you, so give them stuff they'll care about. Maybe you can share an embarrassing moment that happened to you onstage, if you're a good storyteller. Or maybe, you'll share articles you found online that you think would be beneficial to your readers. Only you can know what's best for your fans. Get creative and make it about them as much as you can.

3. DO have a "call to action" in your emails. That means specifically tell your fans what you want them to do. That can mean telling them to come to a show, download an album, or vote for you somewhere online. Don't be afraid to ask.

4. DO use an email autoresponder service so people can unsubscribe from your email list, if they decide they no longer want to receive it. I'll talk more about that in a minute.

5. DO give it a cool name. Maybe instead of just calling it an email newsletter, you can call it your Backstage Pass Club, or Musical Notes or something like that. Kick around some ideas that would work well for your genre and your fans.

DON'Ts

1. DON'T spam!!! That means don't put people on your list who didn't request to be there.

2. DON'T send out messages through gmail, ymail, aol, or any other personal email service. If you're just bcc'ing a lot of people through a personal email account, it's likely you'll have your email account suspended. Plus it gives no way for someone to opt-out of your mailing list. And that's not cool.

3. DON'T be dishonest. If you tell people your newsletter is monthly, don't send out an email every day. It's the fastest way to lose the trust of your audience and get people to unsubscribe.

4. DON'T use your newsletters for promotion only. Timely humour works well...for you and your subscribers. Keep things 'light.' While it's an approach some people use, it's just not as effective as offering content in addition to promotion. While direct email is the best way to get your fans to come to a show or buy a CD, if that's all you ever ask of them, they'll get tired of it, fast. Provide them something of value, in addition to asking for a call to action.

You can sign up for my official email list below. "Thank you" in advance.

Email List Building. Part 1.

2013-08-15T21:53:00.001+10:00

After a lugubrious 6 month period of researching, I have finally decided to start my own newsletter and thus need an email list. An opt-in list. I can't believe the difference that it has made even in these early stages. I'm not spending half of my time running around the internet keeping my music followers up to speed on each platform. Now I can send out a brief newsletter at the drop of a hat to followers who have opted-in and remained faithful to my musical dalliances. having said this, it has certainly been a steep learning curve....but I'm loving every minute of it!

Building email lists correctly and quickly is critical to the fastest success of any internet based business and maintains the stability of potential future sales. Failure to be able to start, maintain and promote a self-built email list can be devastating and cost the business a very slow growth/sales rate. Yet it can be incredibly easy when one has the correct tools and knowledge! So let us begin here.

Having all your advertising in place, now the idea is to provide a "hop-link" which is a link to somewhere else, but not the website. Wherever the link takes a person to is called the "landing- page." In this training example, I shall call it a "splash-page" because it should paint a beautiful picture in the eyes of the beholder of what it is that the advertiser wants the audience to see. I like to have an:"opt-in" box in the "splash-page" built in. Another great way is to go from the advertising to the "splash-page" to another landing page which is the:"opt-in" box itself. When the reader puts in a name and email address and then presses:"submit", it goes to the "landing-page" which now, is the final destination which is the website. The wrong sequence is to go straight from the advertising to the "opt-in box"! Because most potential customers do not like the idea of filling in the box knowing they will then be placed into a mailing list! So the "splash-page" comes first, or at least, the box is contained in the "splash-page". And please remember that the "splash-page" must pertain to whatever is contained in the website and the advertising as all are inter-related. So if the website and advertising is about dog food, there should be some kind of dog, or dog happily eating some food or whatever-likewise a money generating site might have some pictures of money, a bank vault, etc. It is a matter of sales psychology. It prepares the potential customer for the sign up and causes excitement and anticipation to see the website and product/service. It now becomes obvious that to build the list, an "opt-in box" is needed with the idea being to capture the name and email address of every single potential customer, and the "splash-page" helps in many valued ways, too, from allowing the reader to feel comfortable about giving the information, and in anxious anticipation to see the website!

The "opt-in box" is a part of service that comes with the tool called an "auto-responder'. This is special software that uses the "box" to capture and store the information. It contains the new mailing list that the advertiser is building. The advertiser can pre-program the responder with automated sales messages once every few days. Much software comes with the pre-setup for the use of responders and the responders can be set up for that software. For the easiest tasks, a simple responder can be had that provides the" box", stores the input information, can be pre-programmed with advance sales messages, the whole or any part of the list can be emailed to simultaneously, saving the marketer a great deal of time, messages can be sent individually to a single list member, for instance, when a sale is made, a "Thank-You!" should be sent out right away.

Using Auto-Responders: An alternative use of the responder is found not just in building a list directly, but also, as we can surmise from the previous paragraph, it is a communication tool with which to communicate to the list members directly via email. Very specifically, some marketers do not use it directly in sales so much as to have an information type website, and the idea here being no "up-front" sales, but only sending more helpful information like a news and information letter. Only much later is the whole entire and or first half of the list mailed with an advertisement to sell something to them. So this idea is to build and maintain the list to make sales on the "back-end" rather than "up-front" or "front-end sales". In both cases, the responder is always used again later on to mail advertisements, etc.

To summarize:I explained from start to finish how to build an email list with correct tools and techniques including the two very important tools of the "auto-responder" and the "splash- page". I discussed the correct and non correct sequence of the "opt- in box" and "splash-page". I explained various usages of the responder in regards to the list being built. I mentioned the difference between how the responder is used just to build a list for communication purposes alone, with the idea being to make "back-end" sales later, as opposed to simply collecting the data while trying to make sales on the "front-end" regardless of whether any sales were made or not. Of course, I brought out the idea that in building a list the idea is always to try to capture each and every single visitor's information that clicks through from the advertising. I hope this has been truly helpful and satisfying to the reader's knowledge.

If you would like to join my new and upbeat mailing list, simply fill out the form below.

"Catharsis" Album by Bob Findlay

2013-06-30T17:14:00.001+10:00

"Catharsis" 15-track album by Bob Findlay now available on CD.

"Walked Every Road." Single

2013-06-04T21:57:00.001+10:00

MyRecordLabel - Music Store - Walked Every Road

"Walked Every Road." Only 60c

"Nuts And Bolts" (Exclusive Edition) by Bob Findlay

2013-05-31T19:39:00.001+10:00

MyRecordLabel - Music Store - Nuts And Bolts (Exclusive Edition)

"Nuts And Bolts" Exclusive Edition. 10 tracks for only $4.00. Single tracks 60c.

Bob Findlay Releases "Nuts And Bolts" E.P.

2013-05-21T14:54:00.001+10:00

Recently I released a 6-track E.P. called "Nuts And Bolts."

The E.P. is a first for me in some ways. "Nuts And Bolts" is the first time that I have ever released an E.P. The reason for this is that the recording of my new full album has been delayed due to circumstances beyond my control and thus I felt that it was time to take the step of releasing 'something' in order to keep my supporters interested.

"Nuts And Bolts" is also the only music release that contains liner notes for each of the tracks.

Tracks for the E.P. were decided purely on song plays and downloads. It is basically an E.P. of favourites as determined by the listening public.

Going through the tracks took quite some time and I was actually surprised by the success of two of the tracks on "Nuts And Bolts."....but I won't be telling you which two. I'll let you decide that. What I can tell you is that it is a mini-collection; almost a 'best of' E.P. Having said this, the thought of me putting out an E.P. and calling it 'Best Of' made my ego shrink....as much as it can.

"Nuts And Bolts" came to me purely by fluke. I gave it no thought at all and was assuming that this would only be the 'working title.' As time progresses I managed to add 1+1 and end up with 2. Due to the nature of song selection, the tracks included could possibly be considered the 'nuts and bolts' of my online musical dalliances. Simple.

The E.P. in its' entirety is a solid and upbeat affair. Having said this, I believe that every track on "Nuts And Bolts" stands on its' own, irrespective of the other tracks on the album.

"Nuts And Bolts" has been released exclusively on Bandcamp. Another first. This allows me to discount the E.P. as opposed to both the listener alike being ripped-off by those Nazi's of entertainment, iTunes.

The player below allows you to listen to the entire E.P. You can listen to it as often as you like with no obligation to purchase....unless you decide to.

&amp;amp;lt;a href="http://bobfindlay.bandcamp.com/album/nuts-and-bolts"&amp;amp;gt;Nuts And Bolts by Bob Findlay&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt;

Appsbar Recognizes ScotsBob as the appsbar.com App of the Day

2013-04-29T17:18:00.001+10:00

Appsbar Recognizes ScotsBob as the appsbar.com App of the Day

Music In Your Pocket

2013-03-28T15:53:00.000+11:00

Mobile application development is rapidly becoming the most powerful tool for a developer to make the world even more compact than what it has already been compressed into. Merely a touch on the phone screen or a button press can get you whatever you need, where ever you are. Other than conversing (basic phone feature). It can make us laugh and cry (instant messaging), Guide us to our path (GPS navigation services), fulfill our business needs (email configuration), do social networking (Facebook, Twitter etc), share stuff (File sharing using Bluetooth), listen and even make music and videos (media applications), play and develop incredible games (mobile games development) and a lot more.

An Advertisement hub
Mobile advertising is rapidly growing in the area of providing brands, agencies and marketers the opportunity to connect with consumers beyond traditional and digital media and directly in a personal level through their mobile phones. It optimizes campaign effectiveness and strengthens consumer satisfaction.Mobile application development is the process by which applications are developed for small low-power handheld devices such as personal digital assistants, enterprise digital assistants or mobile phones. These applications are either pre-installed on phones during manufacture or downloaded by customers from app stores and other mobile software distribution platforms like Apple app-store, android market etc.Many big names of the world are associated with Mobile application development. It includes Apple (i-Os in i-phone and i-pad), Google and Open Handset Alliance (Android), RIM (Blackberry), Nokia (Symbian) etc.

Something for Everyone
Gone are the days when smart phones were seen as a high-end gadget only for the techies and business people. Now the Mobile world has got a bunch of Mobile applications for every individual, be it a banker, a shopkeeper, a housewife, a mother, a student, a sports trainer, a cook, a business man, a gamer, a music lover, a musician, a dancer, a teacher, a police man, a doctor, a cab driver, a kid, a retired individual, an insurance professional, a manager, an accountant, a law professional, a security officer, a cyclist, a runner etc. Whatever you are and whatever you do, you will definitely find applications fitting into your work and life in the mobile app markets.Some of the far-reaching mobile applications include Talking GPS for blind people, Language converter application, Real-time games, Real-time GPS tracking apps, Waze: Real-time crowd sourced traffic data application, Parker app: Real-time parking space info tracker and many more and guess what? The best apps are yet come.

A Developer's point of view
Mobile applications development is done on many platforms: Apple's I-OS (running on i-phones and i-pads), Google's android, Blackberry, Symbian, MeeGo/Maemo, Windows phone 7, Java ME, Air/Flash Lite, BREW, BREW MP, Samsung BADA and WebOS etc. Now, if a Mobile application developer has to choose from one of the available platforms then, each one has its own unique set of features, which attracts a developer to go for them. Apple's app-store is offering more than 300,000 mobile applications and other competitors like are coming close rapidly.

As far as the cost factor is concerned, most of the mobile applications are available in the market starting from as low as free to $.99 to $6, along with trial versions of these apps for free. But it does not mean that we have to pay to get any application to work in our phone. There is a bunch of very useful apps which are available free in the market, For example Skype, Google voice, Word press, AppMiner, I-Books, Facebook, Pandora-radio, Find my phone etc can be downloaded free of cost. The utility of these applications does speak for their value-for-money aspect, which is making us buy them, to help us live a better life.Though, taking every aspect into account, including the brand popularity, consumer demand, ease of development, future technology, competition, flexibility, increasing number of users etc. Apple's I-OS and Android are on the top.

Android's best feature is that it uses the open source java as it's development medium, which is attracting developers with any development background to go for it. As, it reduces any kind of dependency to develop its applications where as i-OS development is done in MAC environment only.

So, let's get mobile!

Free Android Development. Be Aware.

2013-01-27T16:58:00.000+11:00

BMW and Audi are the king of the automotive world, owing any of them has become a status symbol. Think of the time when Android application development had just entered the mobile development world and today, you will clearly feel that today it holds a similar status in the mobile development world. It is a Java based open source mobile operating system capable to make mobile devices equivalent to your personal computer. Immense popularity came to it for its unbelievable quality of music and high resolution videos, allowing users to capture their world in their mobile devices the way it looks to their eyes.

Those who use Android or are aware of it also know, each year thousands of Android applications are developed and distributed for free on the Android Market place. You might question, why distribute for free, when lots of money and efforts are put into Android application development. For the simple reason that building these applications and distributing them for free will bring lots of money to Android developers from marketing and creating brand awareness. Just think how many users around the world will be viewing your company Ad every time they load your application. Wait, there is something more to it, if the application is really good and liked by more people then you can also charge monthly fees for updates.

If you own a business, then your free Android application has all potential to bring your clients to your site. More and more people have started using mobile phones as their pocket computer, soon the corporate world will be operating through these hand held devices, thereby increasing your reach to your customers. Let's take an example, by using a business application users can have access to their business sales reports and analyze their profits and losses at the tip of their fingers. Such applications also boost collaboration you can collaborate with any member you want to finalize your decisions regarding company matters.

Are you planning to have your own free Android application and planning to hire Android developer? Be careful. Be meticulous and be patient. Like all 'projects' on the internet, they take time to 'evolve' to their full capacity and to a wide audience. Do your research.

Though you wish to make your application free for use, a good resource will ensure your success. A best resource will always make sure that all things are in place to make your application the best.

Recently I have been dabbling in Android apps. I followed my own advice (as mentioned above) and am now playing the waiting game with the free app below.

Bob Findlay On Android Music Apps

2013-01-14T14:26:00.000+11:00

In my usual style my introduction to the mobile music scene was very much an 'act now, think later.' I would also like to add to this by owning up to the fact that mobile phones and so forth are not my forte'. Case in point; with my cell phone I can send texts, make calls (rarely) and just last week I learned how to take photos with it.

My children sit there with their iPhones, clicking, sliding and laughing at whatever is on display. My curiosity got the better of me one day and I asked my daughter if I could use her phone to send a 'tweet.' Sounds simple, eh? Well, dear reader, after 5 minutes of frenzied clicking, sliding and trying to type I gave up. I handed the phone back to my daughter who carried out the aforementioned action in a matter of seconds. I am definitely middle-aged.

I don't know what 'urged' me to consider a mobile phone app or apps but I dived in head first to every free plan available (more of the cost later). I developed all of my apps at the same time, progressing to a certain point with one and then progressing to the same point with others. I must say, I did find the design and content side of were very enjoyable. As I neared the end of the creation of all my apps, I discovered a common thread running through them.

They were all instantly available on Android.

For the purpose of this entry, I researched the Android to see exactly what made it so popular. If you go to a cell phone shop or open websites of Samsung or LG, you will notice that most of the phones run on Android OS. Android is an operating system for smartphones developed and owned by Google. Apart from Nokia and iPhone users, most people prefer to go with Android OS. All the versions of the Android namely, Donut, Éclair, Froyo, Gingerbread has been very popular. And now people are anticipating for the phones that will run on Ice-cream. (corny joke).

What people love about Android is that it gives you plenty of customization options. Just like other Google products like Gmail or Chrome web browser which gives plenty of options such as applications and extensions to customize it to their fullest, even Android OS is one such platform that you can customize by installing a wide range of applications.

Compared to any iPhone, Android phones are cheaper and offer better features. Both iPhone and Google have the same turn-by-turn navigation i.e. Google Maps. Since the app is a product from Google and so is Android, it is very obvious that Android phones will receive better support and services than an iPhone or any other phone running different OS. As mentioned before, Android brings to you plenty of apps to customize your phone. Many apps are available for free. However, there are many apps that need to be purchased. However, the good thing is you can try all the apps and if you don't like any app, you can ask for money back within 15 minutes.

Another advantage Android phones have over iPhone is that it has got removable battery. So when you know that you need to replace the battery, you can simply go to shop and purchase a new one. Many Android OS phones are high-end phones that come with many advanced hardware features such as HDMI. You can simply connect your phone to your television with HDMI feature.

Since Android is available on different brands like Samsung, LG, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, etc you get wider options when it comes to buying a new phone. Also, many of the phones have higher storage capacities because Android users are bound to install plenty of apps, download stuff over the web, and storing movies and music files on it.

Another cool thing about Android OS is that the web browser fully supports Flash. It means you can watch Flash content without any glitches on the browser. You will not experience any choppiness or slowness while browsing. Also, you can watch videos inside the browser and you do not need to download any extra app to separately view the videos present on the site.

Of the apps that I have created are all free to download, I consider the two which offer free access to the music stores of my own choice thus giving my followers the ability to purchase my albums at the cheapest place online whilst maintaining superior sound quality.

My Number 1 favourite app, however, is the questionably named 'Infinite Monkeys.' Don't be fooled by the name. The features, professional look, ease of use and amount of material contained within it are second to none. This app is one of few that will be available, hopefully within the next few days, as an iPhone app. It shall be announced on my 'mobile music' blog.

Happy Listening.

Mobile Music Apps

2012-12-26T22:56:00.000+11:00

Mobile music is hardly an 'all new' concept for the internet world. I'm not sure how long mobile music has been around but after several weeks of scouring the internet, I found it rather difficult to find musicians apps. that could be built by a computer-looney (namely me) in a short space of time, looked 'professional' and could be updated via RSS or some such provider.

Eventually I have fine-tuned my own apps. for musicians and followers alike.

It's all very well to have a 'flashy' app but if it doesn't deliver then the musician can kiss the mobile phone avenue "Bye, bye." Even more so, if the mobile app. has been 'blanket marketed,' this just makes it embarrassingly worse.

What I intend to do on in this entry is to both show you and tell you about the apps. I shall be talking to you directly, be a music lover or be you a musician. In doing so I am also hoping to provide you with the free options of my apps.

As I have decided at the outset of my mobile phone ventures, all of my music apps will be 100% free to download. No flip-side; no Side B. All 100% free to download.

Here goes, dear reader.....

BandApp was the first mobile app that I promoted. It has a very user-friendly interface, the ability to 'load' your app with your music from Soundcloud, iTunes....or both. The app is compatible with iPhone, iPad, Android and Smartphone.

Songpier welcomes the potential subscriber with a very tidy and eye-catching graphics. No rocket science is needed for this one. There are two other factors that swayed me towards this app. The first was the embeddable song player (as seen at the end of this entry). The second is the fact that this app allows the artist to provide the URL of their own mobile stores.

Infinite Monkeys was the next mobile app and I unashamedly rate this one as my favourite at this point. Despite being about half a horse-length to the 'completion' line, this app. offers everything that you need to know about my music, blogs, RSS feed, videos.

Google Play was also an added bonus. I'm relatively new to Google Plus, so I had better familiarise myself with it. I am waiting on 'approval' from this company also. The web-page is as slick as the phone appearance. You can even write your very own review of any facet of the app and also give it a rating.

AppsBar is my most recent mobile venture and is a rather slick looking number. It can be used with iPhone, Blackberry, iPad, Android, websites and blogs.

Mobile App Dilemma

2012-12-09T15:30:00.000+11:00

Amidst the trials and tribulations of the rashly named 'Festive Season,' house renovations and beginning recording sessions, I have found myself in the not unpleasant position of, after having decided to get my music to you in the mobile format, deciding which option that I prefer.

My preferences are based on ease-of-use for the user, keeping the app. free (always) to you and fitting as much relevant and timely information to you.

After much gnashing of my false teeth I have decided to opt for two apps. Both apps. are adventurously called the 'Bob Findlay mobile app.'

I shall discuss them here independently of each other in order to prevent confusion on my part.

The first 'Bob Findlay music app.' is brought to you courtesy of BandApp. I found it very easy to set-up. Aside from my music, it also contains a newsletter to keep the user up to speed on my musical goings-on. It also contains photos, useful links. This app. can be used with iPhones, smartphones and Android. As it stands at the moment, the app. is ready for you to download for free right now.

The second 'Bob Findlay music app.' comes courtesy of Infinite Monkeys. It has the same features onboard as the BandApp.

Admittedly it has a more 'slick' appearance but the information contained is slightly more than the bandApp. one. Currently, this app. is only available in HTML5 format or on the 'monkee market.' In the upcoming weeks, I will be adding my Apple iTunes Store and Google Android Market; again at cost to you. If you opt to download this app. now, you will be notified via the newsletter of when the changes are available.

Irrespective of these minor differences, your decision of what free app. to download is yours. I have conducted several 'mini-surveys' over the last few weeks and the Infinite Monkeys 'Bob Findlay mobile app.' has come out on top, despite it awaiting more options to be available free to you.

Personally? I'd also opt for the second mobile app. and wait for the upcoming surprises.

Moving House (Part 1)

2012-09-26T19:34:00.000+10:00

Finally, after having their house (where I resided) in Stanley on Tasmania's far North-West coast up for sale for almost 3 years the house has sold. This was promptly followed by the purchase of a new house approximately 80km east to the city of Burnie. The major reason for the move was to be closer to my children; something that I have been waiting patiently for almost 5 years.

The odds were against them from the start. 6 months after my parents put their house on the market, house sales across the coast had dropped by over 30%. It was a sharp drop which fell directly in line with the global economic crisis. It was most certainly a buyers market as far as real estate went. Added to this was the remote location of Stanley. It is a small village of only 450 residents which relied heavily on tourism, agriculture and to a lesser extent, fishing.

Amenities are also limited to a great extent due to the town's location which no doubt played a part in an even sharper drop in real estate than elsewhere. Having said this, when I moved back to Stanley from Burnie in 2007 due to my raging alcoholism at the time, I soon re-adjusted to the 'shortfalls' with no problem at all.

To cut a long story short, within the space of 8 weeks, my parents and I all contracted influenza, someone made an offer on the house that just had to be taken and, due to illness, we had under a fortnight to organise the move and get the house, sheds and my recording studio ready to be whisked away by removalists. We also had to find a house in Burnie to purchase. Three days later, a more than suitable place was found and 'settled for.' There were also numerous phone calls between banks, lawyers, etc. etc. and more than a few trips up to Burnie to sign legal documents regarding the house sale(s) and house removal plans organised.

Under normal circumstances, from experience, moving house is stressful enough. The fact that the 3 of us felt and looked like death on legs didn't help. People were calling us to wish us well as new travels fast in small communities. To be totally honest, there was not a single ounce of excitement or anticipation about moving house.

Finally, the time came. We secided to rent a truck to move what we could the day before we had booked a removalist. The truck that we rented was packed to the hilt. We were even worried about opening the doors on our arrival in Burnie. This load consisted mainly of 'regular' shaped boxed and cases. Because of their shape they could be packed very tightly, making it a touch back-breaking....but we had the job done and the truck was returned early Friday afternoon.

The next day the removalists arrived at 7.50am despite saying they'd be there at 8.30am. I took this as a good sign and I was 90% right. When booking the removalist, we were advised that all of the house, shed and outdoor contents could be taken in one trip. Unfortunately this didn't pan out. This is in no way a bad reflection on the removalists. They were outstanding. They were continually advising us not to do any lifting, manouvering heavy and awkward pieces of furniture through equally awkward doors and archways. All of this was done with the greatest of care and plenty of joking when time allowed both in Stanley and on arrival in Burnie.

After this, we decided to rent a truck again to clear the last of the items at Stanley. I volunteered to pay for this rental as my recording equipment took up space and time for careful handling. It is only money, after all. It didn't look or sound like much but on commencing the final removal we realised that all we had to load into the truck were 'odd' shapes. It was as frustrating as it was back-breaking. This would be the last time that I would see the inside of the house that my parents had lived in since emigrating to Tasmania from Scotland in 1979. I had envisaged having 'one last farewell' to the house but it ended up being nothing more than a passing gesture as we drove off. This was the exact same way that I left Scotland.

On arriving back to Burnie with our last load, 99% of our enthusiasm had gone. Things were literally dropped wherever they fitted.

The first part of the house move is now over. Watch this space for Part 2.

Capitalise From Your Blog

2012-08-21T20:19:00.030+10:00

Writing a blog is so easy these days that you can even write a blog the same way you write an email, then all you have to do is to send the email to the blog address and the message is posted on the blog.

To make money with a blog you need to have just two things: Products to sell to your readers, and finally you need the readers themselves to read your blog and see the products displayed there.

Getting products to your blog is very easy today. There are red-hot affiliate programs and advertising networks which are more than happy to give you all the products you want to insert on all your pages. Most of the times all you have to do is to copy and paste a little piece of code and the affiliate network will do the rest.

There is one important rule you need to know, the more targeted to your pages the product is, the higher the sale will be - all the time - no exceptions.

That was the easy part. The hard part is to get as many readers as possible to your blog. This is only possible with one thing: World class content that people want to read.

Read that last line ten times plus one. If you do not have a way or a mean to have unique world class content that people want to read, you will never have enough readers reading your blog and you will not make as many sales as you could be making.

To find out what people want to read you must use Google Keyword Tool. This free tool shows how many times a keyword is searched and the amount of competition that keyword has. This tool shows one thing, it shows exactly how many people you can get to your blog for that particular topc or niche. 97% of internet users use a search engine and 80% of them use Google so by looking at these numbers you have expert information about what 80% of the market wants.

After knowing what you write about, you need to write the content yourself. I often refer to 'The Writers Resources Guide To Online Writing For Money.' It is inexpensive and in fact has already paid for itself many times over for me.

On the internet people want information and entertainment. You must specialize yourself in one of these niches. The most valuable is the information but the funniest is the entertainment. I would go for information since, you as a blogger, wants to sell as many products as possible and get the highest possible ROI for your work.

The first step here is to become an expert on that topic. People have millions of other blogs and sites to visit and if they see that your posts are not accurate they will leave your blog immediately - no exceptions. Becoming an expert means you will have to buy the best books about that topic and write what you learned. People want free information and if you have the paid information on your side and you write that paid information on your blog for free, people will like it, link to it and the word of mouth advertising will give results soon.

The second step is to understand the perfect intersection of quantity and quality. All your articles, posts, images, everything, need to have a near 100% quality score, that means they must carry pure information and they must be written using the keywords that Google keyword tools gave you. After mastering the science of writing high quality posts and blogs, you need to write as much as possible to give people as much information as possible to make your blog the only place to go to find information.

Now let your loyal readers see your products and affiliate links on your blog, let them click the links and see the money flashing in your account.

Advertise And Monetize Your Blog

2012-06-20T20:30:00.000+10:00

Blogging Heroes (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Blogging has become a popular online activity. Blog topics range on such a wide variety that people turn to them to get a first hand review on almost everything. They have become a good platform for people to share ideas and information. You can blog about your personal experiences, a general topic or even something totally random. Since blogging is so common nowadays, it is not surprising how many people are looking for ways to monetize a blog they have. If you can write well, you should make a blog. If you have one already, you must have wondered to yourself,"How can I monetize my blog?"

There are a number of ways you can monetize your blog. All mainly depend on how popular your blog is. If you have high traffic coming to your blog, you can get advertisers to pay you. First of all, your blog should be easy to access. Next, it should look good so that visitors spend time once they get to the blog. The theme and header are perhaps the most important things in a blog. The header is something that the reader notices first, so it should have relevant and appealing pictures and text in it. As for your theme, an attractive one will lift your blog's reputation considerably. This is a great way to monetize WordPress blog which is why people are always in search of good themes.

The content needs to be appealing enough to attract people. Even if it's just your personal blog, your posts should add value to your readers. They have to be something people can relate to. Text posts should be reader friendly. A font of Arial 12, for instance, makes good readability. Titles of text posts should be attractive and they shouldn't look like an advertisement. This will turn off most visitors. A popular way of blogging these days is to have video posts. Video posts are much more convenient and appealing to visitors than regular text posts.

Opt-in forms are also a great way of getting feedback from your visitors. These should be visible and accessible enough. This can be done by placing them in the upper right hand corner of the blog page. Yet, remember: when people get to a blog, they don't want to see another website that is trying to sell them something. They will be looking for more personalized things, thus adding a photo of yourself or your family will make them feel more at ease.

Another good idea is to post testimonials and other reviews that people have given about your blog. These should be short and concise, and can be placed on the sidebars. Reading them should be easy since they give out a good impression for first time visitors.

Despite this all, there are certain Federal Trade Commission rules for bloggers that you need to be aware of. Make sure you follow those guidelines. For instance, if your blog has reviews of products and you get certain benefits in return, FTC rules say that you must disclose that in your blog. This and other guidelines are updated regular, so you need to keep checking them.

Blog visitors are valuable assets, and you have to think in their terms to decide what your blog has to be like. When they come to your blog, they should find things that make them stay. These visitors are what makes your blog reputable and is the best way to get to monetize your blog.

Blog visitors are valuable assets, and you have to think in their terms to decide what your blog has to be like. When they come to your blog, they should find things that make them stay. These visitors are what makes your blog reputable and is the best way to get to monetize your blog.

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A Month Of Feeling Lost

2012-05-16T12:30:00.000+10:00

Deutsch: MRT einer Hirnmetatase eines Bronchialkarzinoms (T1 nach Kontrastmittelgabe) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The last month for me can only be described as 'lost.'

I've been lost on two fronts.

Firstly, my Uncle in Scotland passed away after a long battle with respiratory complaints. He would ring us often and say that he was fine. This flew in the face of his labored tone and increasing hospital visits. I spoke to very few close friends about it but was left none the wiser as they had little or no medical knowledge and knew only of my Uncle from what I had told them. This left me lost.

The combination of the above goings-on and the tyranny of distance (Tasmania's a long way from Scotland) left me with paradoxical feelings. Many people said how terrible it must be to be so far away. I have to disagree on that one. Had I been in Scotland, I would have to see my Uncle on a ventilator and kidney dialysis machine. Despite my many years as a State Registered Nurse and witnessing such things, it does not make you 'tougher' when you're actually there....and I've had plenty of that to prove it.

The memorial service came and went while my family and I slept. The next week was filled with a sensation of not knowing what to do or say. The tyranny of distance can work in your favour.

The second sensation of feeling 'lost' actually refers to a friend of mine.

He was married quite some time ago and was unfortunately divorced after seven years together. For some time I was always aware that when he would mention his ex-wife's in a negative manner but did so with a laugh. This is a red flag. His words were what he meant.

I was visiting him a few days ago and he was very vague. I said nothing. I indicated that I was about to leave and he broke the news that his ex-wife had been diagnosed with an inoperable, aggressive and rapidly moving brain cancer. His tone changed completely and I said little. She passed away only a few days after this discussion....two days before he and I were going to visit her. I did not ask why as it is not my business but I believe he had something he wanted to tell her. Unfortunately, unlike another friend of mine time did not allow for this.

I have been in more regular contact than normal over the last two days but his mind is totally scattered. He has been nowhere near death in his life so it's a new and unpleasant experience for him. Her funeral is on Friday. Unfortunately I will be unable to attend due to picking up my children at the time it all happens. I met his ex-wife once. I am in no way being callous but had I been attending the funeral, I would be doing it for him.

He has a lot of psychological issues to sort out and I'm hoping that he'll come to visit later today.

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Time Management

2012-04-27T17:25:00.001+10:00

Control My Time (Photo credit: yyq123)

Managing your personal and working time is one of the most challenging tasks of today's professionals. Life these days is so intense and complicated, business is so competitive, and a stream of information overwhelms us. Consider the internet, market globalization (when it is time for you to go home, the overseas branch is just beginning its day and, of course, they have a number of urgent questions), growing work requirements, and having to constantly increase your level of knowledge, you are starting to realize that there is no time for a personal life.

There is even no time to think because the boss demands that you "do" your job faster and faster so he can beat the competitors. The employment classes confuse us with recommendations like "make a daily plan and follow it" but how can we follow it when ten urgent questions constantly rise up and we have to solve them before we get to the plan. We need something on our hands to be able to deal with all this. That is when the time management knowledge becomes very important. But then we struggle with another problem - the variety of time management information. The variety of new time management guides and theories are just confusing us and we don't have time to read all of them.

Time management is not just a skill; it is a way of life. And only with this kind of attitude is it possible to find the time not only for work but for a personal life too. There is the common belief that time management is basically just creating project plans, charts, and following them. Those things actually cause the problems with the work schedule because they don't count on a lot of factors - "time killers" those that can't be expected by using the common project planning tools.

Lately, I've read about some new concepts in time management. The key idea of these concepts is to be able to create a balance of accomplishments in your life and work. In time management, it is important to use both order, and chaos. Before you start creating your own project plan, it won't hurt to observe yourself for a couple weeks and catch what kinds of things happen and why they are killing your precious time that you miss so much.

Based on this concept there are multiple layers in time management: controlling personal time, strategic time planning, tactics to manage yourself and others to achieve goals, and learn how to use the time management tools on a corporate level. Also we have to be familiar with different programs and technical tricks to organize your personal and work time, including organizing the time of people that you encounter at work and after work. Start this process from yourself and then spread it to other people that surround you.

Sounds kind of complicated, doesn't it? As I mentioned before, this is a totally new time management concept.

Time Management can't be selective. This is either a way of life or a constant fight with emergency situations. This time management concept demands a fundamental change in the way we handle business right now but at the end we will be rewarded correspondingly to our spent efforts and desire. The stated general principles and approaches of these new time management concepts are definite for everybody but the choice of tools is personal to everyone.

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Commit To Your Creativity

2012-04-01T16:24:00.000+10:00

Yes Live in 1974 (Photo credit: Hunter-Desportes)

As creative people, many of us struggle with commitment. Sure, sometimes the well runs dry and we struggle to generate creative ideas, but more often, we have so many creative ideas that we have difficulty committing to one and getting started. We can get really creative about how we avoid creating-surfing the internet for "research," checking Facebook to see what our creative friends and colleagues are doing, baking cookies, watching TV, talking on the phone-the list is likely endless.

We trick ourselves into believing that in order to commit to something, we need to feel sure-sure that it will be a "success" (however we define that), sure that we have the skill to carry through on our vision, sure that we'll complete it, sure that we'll be pleased with the outcome, sure that others will like it, sure that it will sell, sure that when it's done we'll look back on it as worthwhile investment of our time. We want a clear "Yes" or a guarantee. Even though as creative people we have chosen a path that often offers little security, we continue to crave security and certainty, when often these are simply illusions to which we cling.

Creative expression typically offers no guarantees, and sometimes it doesn't come with a clear yes. We may think we have a clear vision when we finally begin, but as we give it voice or form, we learn that it begins to take its own shape, and often it is somewhat different than how we first envisioned it. That's one of the beautiful things about creative expression, if we can simply learn to enter this flow and allow our idea to show us the shape that it wants to take. We may judge it as "better" or "worse" than our original vision, depending on a variety of factors that day, including our sense of self-worth, our mood, and how well we have eaten, slept or managed stress that week. Days later, we may feel differently about our creation, depending on the above-mentioned variables or something else that arises.

What would it be like to commit to the exploration of our creative ideas? The truth is that most commitments are followed by imperfect actions, and our thoughts and feelings and therefore our subjective judgment of our work varies from day to day and sometimes from hour to hour. What does it take to commit to our creative expression in light of the fact that life is always changing, our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are always changing, and there are no guarantees about anything?

Imagine beginning your week with making a list of creative ideas that have haunted you for days, weeks, or months that you've refused to give voice to and utilizing the process of discernment to rule out some of them and to commit to the one that calls to you the loudest. Imagine doing this with ease, because you've learned the skill of managing your own self-doubt and anxiety. Now imagine making a commitment to the one vision that you have chosen and beginning the process of giving it voice or form. Imagine accepting that you will have days that you're cranking out work that you love, and you'll have days that you won't like anything that you're doing, because that's the nature of life. Emotions come and go, our feelings of subjective wellness, happiness, and satisfaction come and go, and so too does the flow of our creative energy. We can learn things that we can do to increase our feelings of subjective wellness, attempt to stabilize our moods through mindfulness practice, cognitive behavior therapy, or medication and increase our sense of satisfaction, and we may achieve a greater sense of equilibrium, and still the nature of our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors is that they change.

What would it be like to commit to a creative vision about which you felt sure enough-to move toward an idea and begin it, because it calls loudly enough to you, even if there's no resounding "Yes!" because it allows for deeper exploration of yourself or an area of interest, because you're tired of how it feels to continually not commit, or because you're ready to open yourself up to see where your creative expression can take you even if the outcome isn't perfect? What would it be like to simply go with the flow of change in life, take risks, and remain curious about the outcome?

Make a list of your creative ideas. Begin with ruling out several to shorten the list. See which one you feel most drawn to. What can you do today to commit to giving expression to your idea? If you're perpetually hung up by a degree of fear, anxiety, or self-doubt that keeps you from moving forward, what can you do today to begin to attempt to get past it?

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Death Of A Friend

2012-02-07T12:17:00.004+11:00

Image via Wikipedia

Yesterday one of my closest friends passed away after a 10-year battle with cancer. His name is Dale.

Dale was my first friend when my family first moved to Stanley, on Tasmania's far North-West Coast in 1979. We shared an interest in Australian Rules football, cricket and tennis. Dale was a big guy. Very strong and agile but shunned accolades. Dale was the ultimate 'quiet achiever' despite the fact that he excelled at most sports. The only sport that I could get the upper hand on Dale was soccer. Having said this, soccer was the only game that I played prior to arriving in Australia, so I should have got the upper hand.

Dale first caught my attention with his dark yet subtle humour. Not many picked up on it but I'm so

pleased that I did. There were occasions on the school bus or passing each other in the corridors of the nearby Smithton High School that we couldn't look at each other for fear of bursting into hysterical laughter. Dale was a year ahead of me at High School and we deliberately avoided each other as much as possible due to the aforementioned hysterical (and possibly inappropriate) laughter.

Not once did Dale and I have anything remotely like an argument. The closest was a humorous about Bruce Springsteen. Dale was a fan. I wasn't. Dale would often say the he really was "The Boss" as portrayed in the press. I questioned this. "What's he the boss of, Dale?" His response? "The Boss of everything." Typically, the laughter started....again. Dale and I had no secrets. He wasn't the sort to have secrets. Dale was as honest as the day is long.

When I started Matriculation College in Burnie, an hours drive West of Stanley, Dale and I would usually hook up at some point over the weekend. One such occasion put both of us off cider forever. We bought three bottles between us and found a secluded spot on one of Stanleys beaches. Things were going fine until we were half way through the second bottle. It was decidedly warm. We persevered through it but with that third hot bottle looming, our thumping headaches put paid to any chance of it being opened. We moved to a large bush for shade and actually fell asleep for about an hour.

Dales parents welcomed me to their home in the warmest possible way. They truly are great people.

Once I moved up the coast (almost) permanently in 1986 to begin nursing, we lost contact until 2007. By this stage I was a divorced father of two and recovering alcoholic. Dale was now married to an outstanding wife and had three great children. He was working in his family's shop. I had only heard about his battle with cancer a few weeks before finally catching up with Dale. On entering the shop, both our faces lit up. We went to his office and basically told society what we thought of it. No-one was spared but not once did Dale and I ever make fun of individuals. It was all very generalised humour, applicable to any town in the world.

As the months went by, I could see Dale's condition fluctuate. These fluctuations began to be more frequent and more severe.

Two days ago I took my children to the pool in Smithton. Some time around 3.30pm I said to my

children that it was time to head home. I was driving out from the pool and had an 'urge' to see Dale, who's house is about three minutes away. I arrived at his home where his Mother-In-Law was just about to leave. There were no other cars in the driveway. After introducing myself, Dale's Mother-In-Law told me that he was in hospital.

I rang Dale's wife and she said that it would be fine to visit. On arrival, Dale was very drowsy so I didn't want to rouse him too much for fear of causing pain. It was Dale's wife who said to Dale that I was there. He said my name, smiled and reached out his left arm to me. I took his hand, stroked his arm and whispered to him to rest.

As a retired State Registered Nurse of some 20+ years, I have never lost my composure. I did on this occasion as I didn't want to upset Dale, his wife and his parents who were maintaining a vigil. I left the room briefly and returned for another minute or two. Dale held his arm out again and I took his hand again. I could feel my composure slipping again. I told Dale that I had to go and that I'd see him soon enough in a place that only him and I know about. On my way out of the room, tears were running down my face. I could only manage a wave to Dale's wife and parents.

Something made me look back at Dale. He was smiling. That smile will be in my mind forever.

Dale passed away less than 24 hours later. He was 45.

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Vodka Credit Card

2012-01-05T09:04:00.001+11:00

Image via WikipediaOn January 4th, 2012, I made my final payment on an outrageously high credit card account that I first acquired late in 2002. It came as something of a surprise as I rarely check mail from the company that arrive every fortnight for nine years. After I got sober in early 2007, one of the first of things that I focused on was making fortnightly payments.

Why did I let my credit card totally out of control? Simple. I was totally out of control.

My marriage ended in March, 2002 and I returned to live with my parents. Towards the end of the year a former Nursing colleague rang me and asked if I wanted to be a house-sitter for three months while she was on extended leave in Perth, Western Australia. I jumped at the opportunity. All I needed were my clothes and my recording equipment. I moved into the house the next day while she flew out later that day. Within hours, I began drinking....heavily (again).

For the first few weeks, with the exception of the times my children were staying with me, I was in an alcoholics heaven. I decided that I wasn't in a rush to return to Nursing. I did decide, however, that I'd have to find a financial supplement to the money that I had called upon from my superannuation fund. It came to me during a mid-morning drinking session. It was the same day that one of my closest friends rang to tell me that Joe Strummer from 'The Clash' had died unexpectedly. I had a few drinks using his death as an excuse.

I then took it upon myself to inquire about a credit card. Fifteen minutes later I had a sum of money that I remain too embarrassed to mention deposited in my bank account. I called a taxi and withdrew the lot. I hadn't even signed a piece of paper! On the way home, I got the taxi driver to drop by the bottleshop (liquor store) where I gingerly purchased a box of twelve bottles of vodka. This was to become a dangerous practise. More of that later.

Within a few weeks, my vodka habit reached over a bottle a day....every day. The only exception at this point, was when my children were staying with me.

My Nursing friend arrived home a few weeks earlier than expected. She arrived at 11.30pm on a Friday. I immediately told her that I wasn't long home from the pub. She bought this lie and ended up having quite a few glasses of wine herself. The following morning I awoke around 5.30am and took my first cup of vodka. By the time my friend awoke, I was half-way through a bottle of vodka. I'm not a person who handles guilt well. I sat her down, explained my situation with alcohol and that I would vacate her house by the following Monday. She said that this wasn't necessary but by the time Monday morning arrived she witnessed the extent of my alcohol abuse over the remainder of the weekend and voiced her concern.

I made sure that I was sober on Monday morning and called a Real Estate agent who knew me personally. To cut a long story short, by mid-day on that Monday I had moved completely into my own two bedroom house. It was perfect. Plenty of room for my children plenty of nearby amenities for them.

As things panned out, my children wouldn't be staying at me 'new' house until the following Monday. This meant that I could drink to my hearts content until the night before they arrived. So I did. It was during this one week that my vodka habit reached two bottles a day.

The only time that I didn't drink was when I had an upcoming acoustic gig (which I eventually gave away due to the urge to drink) and again, when my children were staying with me. Having said this, I had previously suffered a few alcoholic seizures. I was generally given a 30 minute warning, or 'aura.' This occurred twice when my children were with me. I had to sneak through to my bedroom & have a cup of vodka as a preventative. Fortunately, due to my extremely high tolerance, my children were unaware of my intake or effects. Now that they are older, my children have told me that they were never aware of my alcohol intake directly but were aware of it as being the cause of my marriage breakdown.

From that time on, I got set in a relatively predictable path to the outsider; namely that I was an alcoholic. To me, however, I was initially having a great time. I never missed a second of cricket on the television, watched the news when I remembered and so forth. My favourite pastime was putting on the television, turning the sound down and putting on my favourite music, namely The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Warren Zevon, The Faces and Free.

It was during this period that I started losing my grip on reality. Forgetting what day it was, not knowing if it was dusk or dawn, numerous bumps and bruises by falling over or bumping into objects....all without leaving the house.

On my visits into town, which were usually spurned by one of those drunken, "it seemed like a good idea at the time." I would always wear a hat and sunglasses in a poor attempt at disguising myself. People who 'knew' me or had worked with me would cross the road to avoid me. I know this for a fact as my ex-wife told me some years later. This didn't bother me as I had nothing to say to them. Even to this day I have nothing to say to many of them as rumours began surfacing that I was on drugs, namely heroin. Anyone who knows the first thing about me know my views on illicit drugs. I could have been drug tested at any given time during my 5-year bender and there would have been no drugs, illicit or otherwise, would have shown up.

My final wake-up call came at 11.30am on April, 27th, 2007. I was driving back from the bottleshop with two bottles of vodka. I was pulled over as part of a random breath test. I blew 0.28%. I had not consumed alcohol since approximately 11pm the previous evening. I was astounded, as were the Police. Once I was 'processed' at the Police Station, they were kind enough to stop at my car in order for me to obtain the two bottles of vodka and driving me home.

On arriving home, I drank the first bottle of vodka in approximately 15 minutes. I then had a moment of 'drunken clarity.' I couldn't go on living like this. I had been hospitalised on numerous occasions due to seizures, my anxiety levels were through the roof and I really didn't enjoy drinking for the past twelve months.
I rang my parents who lived an hour away. In the hour that it took them to arrive at my house, I had made my way comfortably through the second bottle of vodka.

On arriving back in Stanley, Tasmania, I slept for the best part of three days and suffered what would be my last alcoholic seizure. I spent one night in hospital. Two days later I made my first repayment to my credit card....and yesterday was my final one.

Today I am sober.

Mean Business by Bob Findlay

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Bob Findlay Puts Tasmanian Music On The Map

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Bob Findlay In ArtistSignal Competition(Part 1).

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Bob Findlay Email List

Email List Building. Part 1.

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"Catharsis" Album by Bob Findlay

"Walked Every Road." Single

"Nuts And Bolts" (Exclusive Edition) by Bob Findlay

Bob Findlay Releases "Nuts And Bolts" E.P.

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