Well, this is my last day off. I have been off for exactly 2 months. The next time this will happen will probably be when I retire when I am 70. Unfortunately it wasn't really a vacation. It was more a "do half of the work" kind of thing. I didn't have the vision until last Thursday so I really just dabbled here and there. I started off good by exercising, then I kind of forgot about that. I need a good kick sometimes to get healthy, considering I am close to my highest weight ever. Anyways, tomorrow is a new start. I have to get there by 8:30. Wow, I think I will take some melatonin tonight to go to bed earlier. I am now trying to get a carpool to work. That should be fun. I saw "ghost town" yesterday. I chuckled about 2 times so I'd give it a 2 out of 5 stars - it was really a romantic comedy. We shall see what my first day is like. If I can get a computer in a week with internet I will be thoroughly impressed.

This weekend was kind of slow. Holly and I went out to eat Friday. Then Saturday we hung out and she had so much homework to do for her classes. I am glad she will be finished with her Master's in December. Sunday I went to a party in Oak Cliff for Holly's coworkers husband. It was interesting as they put the TV in the front yard and had a cookout. About 20 people were wearing Cowboys jersey's, including me and Holly. This is Cowboy country. At half we came home and I watched the rest of the game. Romo and his receivers had some real problems. The good news is that on the Cowboys worst day they almost won. The problem is with Romo, who last week did not wait to throw and this week waited too long to throw. The problem is also with their receivers like Owens and Austin who dropped balls that were thrown right in their hands. In other news the bailout bill has failed. I am kind of glad. As I read the text of the bill I could not help but think of Star Wars. When I see the following:

"Provides authority to the Treasury Secretary to restore liquidity and stability to the U.S. financial system and to ensure the economic well-being of Americans."

I can't help but think of the Emperor in Star Wars asking for emergency powers in this "crisis". Then we know what happens after that. Now about these "golden parachutes" people are talking about. How do I get one? I am CEO of Motivium. Am I on Wall Street or Main Street? I think I am a main street guy. I can see why the Republican's voted against this as I was always taught that Republican's do not want the government in their finances, in any fashion. My vote is for No Confidence. I really don't know what I am talking about, as I don't like politics or politician's in any party. I am glad I don't own stock. I have invested in myself. How was your weekend?

So last night was my advisory boards quarterly meeting. It is called "The Alternative Board" and is a conglomeration of small business owners across the nation. The DFW TAB group is what it is called. Anyways, they had a public speaker come in. His name was Jeff Criley and he used to work for Fox 4 for 25 years. He spoke about how to get free publicity in the media. I got a chance to talk with him afterwards after he signed his book for me and Holly. I told him about all my coverage and asked if that was all I could get and he seemed to think that I could go to other sources that haven't covered me yet, like CBS or Fort Worth. So there is still some more press to be gotten. In other news I was introduced to an Angel investor by the board. He seemed to like my idea and told me to call him before I start looking for funding. The first big problem I have is that I don't have a business plan. The second big problem is that the vision was not complete - until last night. I finally had a breakthrough last night at midnight as to a future successful carpool website, one that will make me and investors millions of dollars. I even started writing it down and am designing it. Wow, that took all of 2 months of time off just to get to the point where the vision is complete. Since I start with the boy scouts on Wednesday I will have some time to get it solid. Finally, I can make it! It is so good I sometimes wonder if I will even need investors as I should start off making money right away once it is released. However, I will need money for sales and marketing and more servers, so there is always a need. Anyways, life is good.

Its official. I signed this morning with RCG IT to do work with the
boy scouts. Funny thing is LM was going to try to get me back with an
offer this week. I am happy with my decision. Motivium and RideSearch
are still alive and I will get paid in October, so I will be
supporting my family. I think I will now just relax until Oct 1st when
I jump into the working world. I need to dust off the ole tiger cub t-
shirt ;-)

Brian Bass
Creator of RideSearch.com and
RideSearch.biz
"Carpool for Better Tomorrow"

http://ridesearch.com
http://ridesearch.biz

Well, let it be known that I am off the market. I got a job the
quickest ever, in less than a week of looking. I have subcontracted
out Motivium to the Boy Scouts. I will be working a 6 month or more
contract building them a social network. Talk about cool. I got
another offer today for a company one of my coworkers works at. So I
shall decline LM, CSC and Realpage. All places I have worked at
before. I am excited. The money is better than market but not as good
as LM so that is fine. I get to keep RideSearch going and am going to
be working on the framework that I used to create it, so RideSearch
actually got me this job. I will be working near MacArthur and 161,
near Nokia where I worked before. All is good. God blesses me when I
need it!

Brian Bass
Creator of RideSearch.com and
RideSearch.biz
"Carpool for Better Tomorrow"

http://ridesearch.com
http://ridesearch.biz

So things are hopping on the job front. My old employer Real Page wants an interview. Another old employer Lockheed Martin wants an interview. Another old employer CSC wants an interview at the IRS. And now the Boy Scouts wants me to help them setup a social network. What shall I do? The fact is the jobs that pay the most are the most undesirable and the jobs that pay the least are more fulfilling. At Real Page I was happy but the money was an issue. At CSC I was mediocre happy and they paid standard rates. The Boy Scouts would be a little above CSC, only a 6 month contract and they want their project done yesterday meaning I would be working alot. Lockheed Martin would pay the best, but the job would not be as fulfilling as any of the others. And who knows what will happen with some other contracts I have outstanding such as a company in flower mound and one in plano - 6 month to hire contracts. Those are the worst though, because after 6 months they always give you an offer you don't want to take. Hmm, well at least it is good to know I will have a job, probably. I have dealt with the whole money and happiness issue in varying degrees over the years and have yet to come to a solution. Most people are not happy in their jobs, but I have been at places where I was, so I know it is possible. However, as time goes on I find I can settle without happiness at work. But because I am looking, should I settle? Should I go for the gold and try some place new with the hope that I will have money and happiness? Hmmm, maybe I should flip a coin.

This weekend I watched Texas Tech win and the Cowboys win. It is weird that they both are winning all of their games and that they haven't had any real challenges, although the Eagles was a challenge last week. Both teams need to work on some things as I don't think they are super bowl calibur yet. Romo has always been a little disappointing although he almost always wins. He has a problem of turning it over in the end zone. Tech hasn't played any good teams so there is no way to know what is going to happen. I think Tech's quarterback is overrated too. Hopefully they are all working on it. In other news I am still looking for a job. I get some leads, but jobs are few and far between. I remember the days when I would get 4 or 5 recruiters annoying me. I guess the markets and the time of year have something to do with it. In other news I have come to see RideSearch as my special needs child. It is never going to "graduate" and "leave home" but instead I will be supporting it till it dies. I don't have the heart to kill it. Not when you work for 3 years on it and have such a storied history. You still never know. It may grow up and leave home one day, when it is 18, probably. Then I may have to pay for it to go to college and still do its laundry. That RideSearch....

As I look for jobs some old ones come calling. One thing I do know is I never quit my old job, the project just got canceled. So being able to go back again is never off the table. There are many factors that cancel other factors out. For instance, money makes a big difference as to what I will do. I suppose as a worker I can be bought, but that is a good thing. I am loyal to those who pay me. I am also loyal to the government so don't think I can be bought in that aspect. I am not getting as many calls today. I am thinking the market is actually drying up. Given today's economic turmoil and the fact that the fiscal year has yet to begin it doesn't make sense for people to hire others. The good thing is that Dallas is tops as far as IT jobs goes and my resume is now being placed in front of recruiters. I'm tired of working on RideSearch. I think I will start to work on some other site ideas I have since I already have a server. These ideas are simple and are really just revenue generators. If they go viral I will make some money. Stay tuned for some new sites from me...

In other news Holly and I will be at Dallas City Hall tomorrow from 10AM to 2PM with our backdrop and free XL t-shirts. It is Dallas Green Fest. This time I was invited and didn't have to pay for anything. Who knows maybe I will talk with DART and see if they want to buy RideSearch...

My force is unleashed. So I got the new Star Wars game and have to say it is the coolest Star Wars game since Tie Fighter came out in the 90s. Once you figure out the myriad of controls the gameplay is pretty smooth. The elements of the play are what makes it so good. Like being able to easily use the force to get bad guys who are far away, or my favorite the lighting from the hands. The story line is really good too. I got the iPhone version this morning and I like it, although it is a pretty easy game. On the job search side I blasted it on one site and am getting some hits. I even got a offer back at the IRS for CSC. I don't know. I've been there and done that. I want something different. The great thing is it puts an offer on the table that I can use for negotiations. The tech interviews and face to face interviews are coming. I have had many jobs over the years and know exactly how to get them. The unfortunate thing is sometimes I don't know what I am getting myself into. Here is a question: is Irving too far - like macarthur and 114? Hmm, more tests.

Today I may have sold 10 more carpool parking signs over at
ridesearch.biz. The fact is, I am the nation's number one supplier of
the signs, simply because no one else is doing it. Hmm, I wonder if I
can make a living at it? eh, probably not. Time is going too fast. I
have yet to blast my resume out there. I will though when I can catch
that flying clock.

Today I am going to a seminar in entrepreneurship sponsered by my
board of advisors. As I look for jobs it seems that I am going 2
different directions. I wonder which one will win. Probably the one
with the most money. Anyways, it was a good Cowboys game last night.
Our defense needs to step it up a notch. All of my teams are
undefeated! Woot!

Brian Bass
Creator of RideSearch.com and
RideSearch.biz
"Carpool for Better Tomorrow"

http://ridesearch.com
http://ridesearch.biz

This weekend Holly and I hung out and didn't do much. On Sunday we went to her family reunion. The weather was good and it was at a lake in Azle, Texas. My family never seems to have reunions, except for the Ripper side, so I am starting to feel like one of the crowd. Although the Bass side is really, really small. We watched Texas Tech win and am getting ready for the Cowboys stomping of Philidelphia tonight. I worked on my resume. All I had to do was add RideSearch to the mix since I had one done since last year.

The problem I am seeing, and that a recruiter would see is that I am a CEO. The question,"Why would anyone want to go from a CEO to a programmer?" I got that question in 10 minutes from a recruiter after I submitted my resume to a job this morning. I am in that point where I am halfway out of one skill and halfway into another. Do I go for a CEO job elsewhere and make more mistakes there, or do I go for a developer job and remove the CEO stuff from my resume? I am about to bite the bullet and remove CEO from my resume. Having that skill kicks me out of contention for jobs.

I tell you though, I have more respect for business leaders after this year. When I was a developer I was like - I am the star and everyone else is the supporting cast, without me they would have no product, I could do it all if I want to. Now that I become a CEO I can definitely tell you that every position in a company is invaluable and if you lose that role you will have no company. You need executives to put it all together and manage the big picture. You need HR to handle employee benefits and questions. You need marketing to get the word out. You need sales to actually sell your product. You need quality assurance to make sure everything works. You even need secretaries to handle calls. Every role is invaluable, and when one person does it all the company will fail. You cannot do it alone.

I learned many lessons this year with RideSearch. I do believe that there is a purpose for all of them. I got two responses when I would tell people about it. The first one I loved "That is a great idea!" I have heard that over 1000 times. It is a great idea and reinforcement when you need some drive. The second one then hits home,"how do you make money?" I would respond with,"advertising" or "corporate benefits". But the reality is I had no plan. I did not lay anything out in stone for the business plans. That is fine if you have an idea that is so great that you get 50,000 hits a day. I get 5,000 to 10,000 hits a month. Boy, I would not tell you about all of the lessons I learned, but just that I learned them the hard way. All I know is from now on when I run a business I will plan with meticulus crafting the answer to the question,"how do you make money."

Well, everyone is talking about the hurricane coming. Really in Dallas it is about the Houstonians coming. We can expect a surge in traffic. You know sometimes I wonder if the media and weather stations have some kind of agreement on disaster exploitation. Yesterday they were all like "a category 3 is coming, a category 3 is coming" now the media is like "ok, a category 2 is coming, wait it could be a category 1 at landfall, wait the wind isn't what matters, it is the storm surge." I even put up a section on RideSearch so that people who want to evacuate who don't have a car can post their rides. I'm starting to realize that I need to make sure people know about RideSearch for any event where people need a ride. I'll probably put up a notice for people who want to vote who need a ride. It isn't exploitation as much as a public service, since I make no money from it, which is why on Monday I will release my resume to the world. Old Geraldo is funny, ever since he got a broken nose in the 80s he's been trying to put himself right in the path of disasters. Like right now he got up to a wave and purposely fell over and was like,"ah look at mee, hurricane,,ahh" then he got up, then the video got put on youtube. So we shall see. Yup it is supposed to rain tomorrow. Better "hunker down" yee haw.

Well, I can't believe I have typed 800 posts into this silly website. It is really about me expressing a blaise egotistic rant throughout the annals of history. People sometimes wonder about me giving out information to the world through this blog. One thing I have found is that I have purposefully not search engined optimized this site. That way most of my visitors know me. For instance if you type in Brian Bass in Google you usually come up with the baseball player, and I am fine with that. However if say you are a company researching me you will more than likely find RideSearch instead of this site and I am fine with that as well. Really, what do I give away here? I remember I learned some lessons a long time ago about spilling the beans so to speak. Today is also a remembrance of Sept 11th. Where was I? I was going into my job at Realpage when the news first hit. I went to my computer and there was an email telling everyone to quit going to cnn.com because their servers couldn't take the traffic. I was like. Why? Then I went into my bosses office and he was listening to the radio and we all gathered round. Then the whole company took the afternoon off and let us all go home to be with our families which was code for go home and be glued to CNN for the next 48 hours. The next day my boss had a map of Afghanistan in his office (he was in the military) with strategic targets placed on there. Then on Friday the whole company was invited and went to the day of remembrence at the nearby church for a non-denominational non-religious ceremony. It was kind of freaky sitting in pew next to all my Hindu and Muslim coworkers listening to a pastor talk about how the "whichever God you choose" will comfort you. Talk about weird. If you would have told me I would be in a church in that situation a week before I would have laughed.

Fast forward to today. Everyone is getting ready for Ike by traveling up here. Everyone make sure you buy water, and no one wash their car cause it is going to rain. Happy 800th Post! Actually this post is rather tragic... ah, forget it.

Hmm, so people were confused at what I wrote yesterday. Just ignore it. What I have done is retained a business coach and an advisory board to go about getting warm contacts for angel investors and VC funding. What they will do will take my idea and make it a reality. Only if they like my presentation, that my older brother, Ron, is putting together. Together with business connections and the right time and place RideSearch will turn into a multi-million dollar business. In the meantime I am using this networking to get more contacts for contracting out my labor to get a paycheck. It is another way for me to go about working without having to have a permanent position at a company. The part about the other domains. RideSearch is not my only business idea. I guess I think of things and buy a domain with the hopes that one day I will make it. I have some quick revenue generating ideas and am thinking about doing those in my spare time. I own around 20 domains. I am a true webtapraneur - new word, trademark it, sell it..
So this morning was my first board meeting. The business coach makes everyone sign non-disclosure agreements so I won't tell you what the other CEOs were saying but this way I am getting real business executive level experience. I presented my issue of getting funding and got alot of advice and leads. Pretty cool. Anyways, hope that explains everything.

So this weekend Holly and I hung out. We went and saw Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3D. I liked it. It wasn't that complex and was a lot like the old movie, but the 3D was pretty good. Since I like 3D I'd give it a 3 out of 5 stars. Of course we also watched Texas Tech win and the Dallas Cowboys win. So it was a good weekend. Everyone says when the Cowboys win people in Dallas are in a good mood, when they lose we are all grumpy on Monday.

So now what am I going to do? Well, first I will complete my current work and give it over to Comedy Cruzers since they are expecting something. I will not join the alternative board because if I get a job I won't be able to go to board meetings. Then I will concentrate on getting appointments with venture capitalists. So next week I will be a job hunter and a venture hunter. I haven't given up completely, but I am realistic. In the meantime I have decided that I do not want to sell things. I am a developer so that is what I will do. I talked with a salesman over the weekend and he said things like "start cold-calling" and "it takes around 5 meetings to get a sale" and "you have to sell yourself first that you are trustworthy." Things I really don't have the time or desire to do. I will fore-go the portal work because that is what a VC or Angel Investor would fund. Instead I will bring to life one of the 20 domains I own and start a new project, because that is what is fun.

People wonder what jobs I am suited for. I am a highly paid software consultant. I am a software architect and technical lead for ASP.Net and Windows projects with a specialization in converting old batch systems to new Windows services. I have a proven track record of large scale finished projects that have hundreds of thousands of lines of code with 1000% improvement from the old systems. I can do anything with computers but my skill is in development. I have done some feats of programming strength that have caused people to marvel. My favorite was one time I was told that we had to use an older C++ module because it was too large to convert and I then created a program that would read the C++ code and convert it all to C#. It took me three days to do and it converted 150,000 lines of code. That blew everyone's mind...Ah memories..Anyways that was fun. How was your weekend?

Well, tomorrow I will be receiving my last invoice payment from Lockheed Martin. It is sad, and entirely sad that I have to face something like a wall, that is hard, that is reality. As I look over what I have done this last month I can only conclude that I don't have the time and money to get this started. I know it is sad but here is the reality statement that gets me - I need a paycheck on Nov. 1st.

So there is only one thing to do. "Gotta get a job." That statement was first laid out by my pot smoking stepbrother's ex-wife's brother who was in a band when I was 16. As he toked he said to me and Pepper in an exhale that was deep and reverberating, "gotta get a job". But I digress. If I need a paycheck on Nov 1st, or Nov 15th, then that means I need a job on October 1st. In order to get started on October 1st that means I need to be looking on September 15th. I am very familiar with this process and have gone on over 100 interviews over the years and have gotten some of the best jobs out there. What does this mean for RideSearch? Well, RideSearch is too big to die. It has grown over 7200 members and I add over 100 members each week. But the portal, this cash cow among the forest, is something that only angel funding or venture capital will keep going. The reality is that it will take 50 hour weeks to get it finished for at least 3 months, and I don't have that kind of time or money.

The really sad part is I never got the chance to get a presentation out in front of investors. My business plans were never finished. My sales team and CFO never got to do what they need to do like finish business plans and sell portals to companies. And, although it is not officially over, the time to work on things is going away. I can't do anything in a week. I have stayed up many a night getting stuff done so that RideSearch can be the best out there. I have dedicated all of my time and money to this site. Now I know that I could do what I did before, work during the day at a company and work during the night on RideSearch, but is it worth it? This year has been the most stressful and the most joyful out of any of the prior years. It has its ups and downs, but it has been exhausting.

I have a dream. That dream is that I will be the boss. I will call the shots, work on my schedule and get things done. The dream is also that I will make enough money to pay off the house and other things and even go on vacations. To live life debt free and not have to worry about money. I always have hope. I had so much momentum. I haven't heard of many business that have the growth and press that I have. Anyways, as I brag, I still haven't seen much income from this business. It is almost as if I don't know how to capitalize on my own success.

So what's next? Well, I have until the 15th and then I will send out my resume and will more than likely go on many interviews until I get some offers on the table. I don't want to go back to the IRS. I need some happiness in my day to day job. So I will seek a job that will make me happy. A technical lead job. Now what should I do between now and the 15th? Should I go fishing? Do some fun things? Enjoy the time off? I am leaning towards that. Time to shut things down. Not worry about RideSearch. Quit my ad campaigns. Put the server in maintenance mode. Buy a lightbulb. Getting ready to spend the next 10 years paying off RideSearch. Maybe put the whole business up on eBay. Back when I was at my first job at AT&T I was on the bowling team. Our goal was to get a last place trophy. It says,"we tried." I need a trophy. I need it to say "I tried."

Ok, so what is a widget you ask? It is a mini web page that you can put in anyone else's web page. As part of my Portal development the first step was to develop a widget that companies can use. But to get to that point I had to develop a widget the world can use. I need testers. So everyone click the stuff below and once installed put in addresses and do searches. Let me know if you encounter any errors. So if you use iGoogle click below to add it to your homepage:



Click below to add it to facebook or other social applications.

Check out the carpool video on CBS 3 in Philadelphia. They show my site! Woot. And I wonder why I am loosing steam developing. It is like I have a great site anyways. I think maybe I feel it has merit without selling stuff on the side.

Click here for pics of Opportunity Knocks

So they came to our street. The family that won went up on stage and they got asked easy questions and ended up winning an HDTV and about $1000 in gas cards and visa gift cards. Talk about easy. The business model is really smart. Give people stuff to watch your show. It kind of reminds me of when I gave out bubble gum in 4th grade for class president and still was never elected. I'd be willing to be our whole neighborhood will be watching when the show comes out on September 23rd. As a show, it seems kind of tame. I did learn that my neighbors are teachers at the local elementary. I was asked if I wanted to go on stage and answer questions about ABC shows. I looked at their list and said,"I don't recognize a single show. Sorry." Of course no one talked to me, and I still have some shyness in me. Not good for a business man to be shy. I was sporting my RideSearch t-shirt though. Holly couldn't make it cause she was in class. I could tell the host of the show was suave and was a hollywood type - the kind I met at the saved by the bell contest. Matter of fact he looked exactly like the head of the fan club, but I wasn't sure. So that is that. The life of the street of Riley.

This weekend Holly and I toured my family. First in Wichita and then in Crowley. We visited mom in Wichita. She was glad to see us. Holly and I went swimming. I had many memories in that pool growing up. I can't tell how many pool parties, volleyball, and marco polo sessions we had. Ah it was fun having a pool growing up. We were the stars of the neighborhood. Yesterday we visited my brother's home in Crowley. To think his kids are growing up and one is already 11. George is doing the same, getting his sound company going. Oh, announcement time. This isn't about me. Google has announced a new web browser - Google Chrome. You can download it here:
http://www.google.com/chrome
I actually like it. It is less obtrusive and when one site crashes it doesn't crash the whole browser. You can even drag a "tab" to your desktop and click on it like an application. It is much faster than the other browsers as well.
Also, for my peeps in Dallas, watch ABC8 tonight at 10. My neighborhood is having a block party for the show "Opportunity Knocks" and I will visit it. Talk about weird. Maybe they liked the neighborhood when the news guys visited my house last month. I guess I should be working...losing steam...need momentum...or maybe a swift kick...