nickfox

Who sleeps at night?

Don't ever dumb yourself down just to be accepted by people. It seems like you have simply outgrown your friends. You are growing and becoming a different person. That is a good thing.

I've always been the type of person who most enjoys having "deep" discussions with one other person. You need to connect with people on a much deeper level than you are currently doing. Don't worry, there are plenty of people like that around. You need to go out and find them.

So... Get out of your comfort zone and start trying new things. For instance, try swing dancing, start taking lessons. You'll find an entirely different caliber of people at swing dances than you will in bars.

I think you are doing fine and the fact that you are concerned about this and reaching out to others to find a solution tells me that you will most likely find what you are looking for.

Good luck in your search and keep on learning and growing like you are doing. It sounds like you are on a great path.

Here is my workspace. I really like the 3 Acer 22" monitors. They were cheap and work well. I also have a laptop with Mac OS X for my iPhone work.

http://www.websmithing.com/my_workspace.jpg

Nick

Lean Cuisine, Oscar Meyer turkey dogs and Spicy Chile Chicken Cup of Noodles. Every other day I go get a tuna sub from Subway to get my fresh vegetables. For desert, Hershey Kisses with almonds or chocolate chip cookie from the grocery deli. And to drink, I make 1/4 cup orange juice with 3/4 cup soda water. It's a homemade Orangina but not nearly as sweet. And every other day I allow myself one coke. Breakfast is usually Kelloggs Mueslix or oatmeal.

I'm 48 and have been blessed with having never been sick. I exercise regularly also. This may not pass muster with a lot of you but I attribute my good health to a positive mental attitude. Something has to make up for my diet... :o)

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Golden Rule. Treat others the way you wish to be treated. You even stated it yourself so you are most likely in the right place. I have noticed that you have to be careful telling jokes here. The people here are smart and they tend to like a joke that is clever...

Try www.elance.com If you are good, you should be able to make some decent money as a freelancer.

The Enquirer, because... inquiring minds want to know.

The best way to promote the truth is to always tell the truth yourself.

A robotic pleasure unit like in the movie BladeRunner...

I believe the problem has to do with anger. The kind of deep-seated anger that festers and drives people to do things they would not normally do. So how do you reduce that anger? It's simple. The best way is maintain a relationship with the Holy Spirit. Doing so will allow healing to take place which will lessen that anger. There might be other ways such as exercise, yoga, meditation etc, but these are not nearly as effective as maintaining that relationship. This can be done by going to church, being a good person, minimizing things that drive the spirit away such as pornography. I know this may not be a popular viewpoint amongst people who prefer not to believe in God but for the vast majority of the world's population, this is sound and effective advice.

Only after sex, which basically means no...

I think the better question is to look in the mirror and ask myself "Am I in trouble?"

I haven't made that much at once before but I have made a considerable amount and I have this one bit of advice. Make sure you don't lose your work ethic.

Well, I've made my decision. I'm going to go with iPhone programming. I've actually done enough c++ programming to know what it's about. Having never done any iPhone programming, I can't make a real comparison. The library has an online copy of "Beginning iPhone Development" by Mark and LaMarche and I will work through that after working through Apple's Objective-C book. Thanks for all your input.

There is one thing about c++, it scares me more than iPhone programming. I tend to be the kind of person that vigorously attacks things that scare me. I get a lot more satisfaction out of it and feel more alive...

I think you're right, the little c++ programming I have done has been an exercise in frustration. But it was mainly because of my lack of skill. And I do think that iPhone programming would me more fun...

Today, I just finished a book called "Pointers on C" by Kenneth Reek. I read it to come up to speed on pointers and now feel comfortable with that. That's why I posted today, I am now at the fork in the road...

My real interest is in getting to the "next level." Being self-employed for the past 12 years has been good but now I want to start my own business(es) and be an entrepreneur. Building subscription based websites is one of the ways I plan to accomplish that.

One of my "problems" is that I get excited about all sorts of things so I really need to focus on getting projects finished. That's why I feel I need to be in an either/or place right now, so that I don't over extend myself...

Yes, I actually do have tasks for each. I have been doing some work with MAPI (messaging API) and see an opportunity to create a subscription based website doing electronic forensics. That would be on the c++ side.

On the iPhone/objective-C side, I have a project in mind integrating iPhones with a dieting website. So many choices, so little time...

I work well on all 3 tiers, so c#, sql, javascript. I am also a sun certified java 2 programmer and have done 2 years of J2ME programming on cell phones. I am also proficient in a number of other languages but the ones above are my "paying languages."

I love your question, it's wonderfully circular...

I understand your problem with noise. I've had many people suggest that I use headphones or play music but I find that equally distracting. I learned something recently that might add some understanding to your problem. It's called Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), you can read about it at wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highly_sensitive_persons

If moving to a place without shared walls is not an option, you might want to shift your schedule a bit. Continue to work while they are not home and also work after they've gone to bed. Then it's very quiet.

I use Camtasia (http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp). It costs $299. It is hands down the best. It has a technology called SmartFocus which zooms in to where the mouse cursor is. This is very useful with youtube's limited real estate. Definitely put your product demo on youtube. You get exposure from markets that you may be unaware of. You can see where I've used SmartFocus here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL9qS6bAMPU

I've been playing guitar and singing for a good number of years. I'm working on my second music video. It's the song Patience by Guns n' Roses. My first music video was Across the Universe by the Beatles. I don't have very good "stage presence" in my first video but the one I'm working on now will be much better. Here's my first video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7zro5VpUf0&feature=chann...

Take a deep breath and relax. You've chosen to be an entrepreneur because you can't stand working in the 9-5 slave trade. Good choice. You are taking a big risk. It's exciting, it's scary, it makes you feel alive! What a great feeling.

Let's take a worst case scenario. The company fails, you lose your apartment and car and are unemployed with no money. What then?

Well, you have a million choices. You are young, smart and live in America. You wake up the next morning at your parents house and go get a job at Home Depot or 7-11 to make ends meet (or back to wall street if you can stomach it), you start saving and planning your next venture and work your way from there. You've gained valuable experience and you are living your dream, something that most people never do.

In the mean time, enjoy yourself. Feel the fear, which you will, and forge ahead. In your spare time keep working on improving your skills. Listen to CDs by Anthony Robbins for encouragement and strength. It sounds like you are doing great and remember, the bigger the risk, the bigger the reward. Don't fear failure, that's just part of the ride.

A small business is making money... :o)

After I've exhausted all the usual suspects (google, newsgroups, etc.), I'll take a nap. I now do it on purpose and it's amazing how often I wake up with the answer in my head.

Visual Studio 2008 with client-side debugging is pretty darn good. I use that along with firefox/firebug and have found the two to be comparable. Microsoft has done a pretty good job with the javascript debugging.

kiss her, you idiot... :o)

What ever you would do is what you should do.