There are two major problem types of users at this point:

1. Pure spammers – dummy accounts with a photo or website or single update for the purpose of spreading information a manner recognized by society as spam.
2. “Follow me” spammers – I’ve dubbed them “follow me” spammers because their methodology of spreading their agenda, product, website, or whatever is to follow as many people as Twitter will allow in hopes of reciprocating followers in a general 1:5 ratio. If they follow 2,000 users, they are betting that 400 people will follow them so they can annoy them.

Of course there is nothing wrong with a bunch of empty-headed tweets all day long about what you ate, what your dog barfed up, where you’re driving, or that you’re going to bed late followed by one that you’re tired; no one is going to follow people like that. They’re boring!

Here is how to NOT get followers:

• follow the 1:5 model of following, regardless of update frequency, but especially low updates (like 1 or 0)
• post the same tweet (or a set of tweets) over and over again with the same shortened URL
• use an auto-direct message service to EITHER spam the person who just followed you or thanking them; impersonal tweets are crap and will get you unfollowed or blocked
• be unoriginal: just re-tweet others’ content or send a steady stream of links about what you’re reading
• cuss & swear in your tweets and badmouth well-respected members of the Twitter community
• ignore @ replies to you

As long as you do the opposite of those faux pas, you should be a rather successful Twitterer. I’m available at @jpetersen if you’d like to respond on Twitter about this rather than using the comment form.

To get the whole nerd story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_your_base_are_belong_to_us – with the other famous line being: “Somebody set up us the bomb.”

• Check your numbers - look at your cashflow for the last 90 days and the same 90 day period from the previous year(s), if you’re not just starting out. Are there unexpected expenses? A big accounts receivable? Does revenue have cycles and it’s just a tough time? Sole proprietors can do their personal budgets to “cut costs,” as well.
• Circle around - if you are in the services industry, contact your past clients with a friendly “thank you” for past business and offer them a promotional code for new projects or referrals.
• Look for discounts - check your own service providers and their competitors to get better rates or plans for items such as Internet, phone, insurance, etc. to reduce your expenses. We have reduced our expenses over 10% in the last two months by switching some providers.
• Expand into new territories - if you offer a product or service that can be tailored to the market, now is the best time to do so. Stop making things or selling services for things on the decline or with a small share of the market if that is the majority of your business. If you already have the big players covered, expand into the niches if you can do so cheaply.
• Social media, yo! - one caveat about social media: if you’re going to do it, do it right or you’ll only hurt yourself. A Facebook page for your company and a vibrant, relevant, likable Twitter account can take your business to the next level or kickstart a new one in a major way.

For me, the two worst parts (and really the only bad parts about my line of work) of a job are:

1. Getting to the estimate part of the deal and waiting for either a) death by shock, b) complete rejection and instant counter-offer (sheeah, that works), or c) an elated new client
2. Finishing the work and shooting out the invoice with a nice “thank you” in the “notes” field and see what comes of it

Thus far my experience has been overwhelmingly positive with only one non-payer who will get their site unlocked once they pay, one who seems to continually misunderstand the scope of the project and wants $3000 worth of work for $800, and one who offered me baby clothes as an exchange for my skills. I’m still in the early stages of figuring out my billing and deposit system, since I don’t think many of my clients quite feel comfortable with a full-prepay for jobs under $3000 yet, but I do insist on my first hour of consulting and site work for new clients ahead of time and have great results with that by billing exact time after that first hour.

Here is a video that will really make you empathize with freelancers everywhere:

Adam beat Kris like a little whipping boy last night, though Kara’s stupid song about hurricanes and other stuff that I can’t remember was clearly one-sided toward Kris’s style. Give Adam something to work with, sheesh!

If Adam doesn’t win tonight, I’m not so sure I’ll be a die-hard AI fan next year. He’s a far better performer, and if America is too stupid to realize Animal Farm is happening before their very eyes AND can’t vote for a decent pop idol, then we’re in a crapload of trouble.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with CF, here is some info for you:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cystic_Fibrosis
• http://www.cff.org/AboutCF/Faqs/

Approximately 30,000 children and adults in the United States have cystic fibrosis. An additional ten million more—or about one in every 31 Americans—are carriers of the defective CF gene, but do not have the disease. CF is most common in Caucasians, but it can affect all races.

The severity of cystic fibrosis symptoms is different from person to person. The most common symptoms are:

• Very salty-tasting skin
• Persistent coughing, at times with phlegm
• Frequent lung infections, like pneumonia or bronchitis
• Wheezing or shortness of breath
• Poor growth/weight gain in spite of a good appetite
• Frequent greasy, bulky stools or difficulty in bowel movements
• Small, fleshy growths in the nose called nasal polyps

We finished up dinner and were catching up on Dr. Phil and noticed a very slight sprinkle on what water remains in the pond. Sprinkle turned to a steady shower. I commented that I’d love it to just rain like this for 4 days and get the level back where it looks nice again. A 10 or 12 year old girl had been outside earlier and I guessed that the water was a good 4′ lower than the grassline and figured it would take a good week or so of evening showers to fill that up.

Shower turned to a downpour. Downpour turned to pausing the DVR and sitting to watch the rain instead of the TV. Water was running down the lanai screen, running down the street and taking garbage cans with it, and washing every bit of dirt and debris into the pond and creating a swirling current from the volume of water entering from one point. Photos do not do it justice.

By 9pm, the pond was completely full for the first time since October. Going to bed after American Idol, there was a cacophony of happy creatures sounding off in the peaceful drizzle that continued into the night. I’m happy to report that this morning found a still-full pond.

The first photo is from December and the second one is from May 9th with the rest of them being from last night.  The constant in the different shots is the concrete lift station to measure the water height. Notice the corner of the one night time photo – it was the end of a huge lightning strike. It’s blurry because I jumped as the shutter went.