Wakeup Accountability

I am publicly posting my wakeup times, so I can embarrass myself into getting up every day at 6:30a. It seems that no matter when I go to bed I've been rolling out of bed around 7:30a, and I really want to make better use of my mornings. You can watch the drama here as it unfolds.







(You can track your own nerdy data and statistics by requesting an account over at Daytum).

How's Your Commute?

I sure don't mind mine, which consists of walking across the living room, but this one seems pretty exciting...

Musical Road Remix

In followup to our Musical Roadtrip post, here is the actual Honda commercial that the road was created for.



Originally built by Honda, the road got a lot of complaints from neighbors, so it was removed shortly after we visited. And then people complained because it was gone. So the city rebuilt it somewhere else. In other words, if you're up for a road trip for 30 seconds of amusement, dreams still come true in Lancaster, CA.

Tumblewagon

I just exchanged emails with Nathan from the Tumlewagon family. Their web site explains:

Welcome to the website of our life on the road. We’re a family of three, living in an RV and making our way around the country for a year or so.

It looks like their taking a grand tour of the country, all while taking on freelance web development projects. Love it!

Dick Proenneke

A few years ago I read the account of Dick Proenneke with great fascination and admiration. At age 51, he built a cabin by hand in a remote part of Alaska, then spent the next 35 years meticulously documenting his solitude with photography, video footage and writings.

His narrated video is available on DVD, and this clip is well worth a look if you have 10 minutes.

(Jott from Ben Thompson) Hi, today I am calling fr...

Well it's a free service afterall, but the signature line when posting to a blog is obscenely long...

Sent via Jott:

Hi, today I am calling from a new service that I found out about called jott.com, it's just a [the] kind of service I would have been looking for when I had(?) [hiked] the trial(?) [trail] last year, you can call and leave a 30 second voice mail which is transcribed and it can be e-mailed to you, or you can tell it to post to a blog such as Blogger like I have done here. I am just trying it out, but so far I am pretty impressed.


[revisions made by me online afterwards]

Ben Thompson

What is Jott?

Jott (www.jott.com) turns your voice into emails & text messages. Simply call Jott and speak your message. Jott converts your voice to text and sends your message. Jott can also create reminders, lists & appointments. Sign up for your FREE Jott account today.

Brought to you by Jott.com - 1-866-JOTT-123
300 East Pike Street, Suite 200
Seattle, WA 98122
Click here to stop receiving all emails from Jott.

Ben-Mart

That's what my friend, Rob, has been calling it anyway.



Ever since we sold our dinner table, we've transformed our kitchen to an ebay staging area. Last night as our 19 auctions were ending, we hit the 'refresh' button over and over for the last few minutes, watching the flurry of exuberant bidding push our sales higher and higher. I told Lauren it was more fun than watching a movie.

The best part? Things that we've owned for years that were clutter or junk to us were commanding prices close to what we originally paid for them. Sleeping bags, Motorola walkie-talkies, digital drawing tablet, 4 pairs of new-in-box running shoes...

These are tips I've accumulated or developed myself, and they seem to work well. Your mileage may vary, though.

It's all about the Photos

• Include 4-6 GOOD photos (minimum of 2) of whatever you're selling. Sounds so obvious, but many people won't even look at an item without a picture and a good looking one goes a long way.
  
• Photograph it on a bright white background to give a clear image of the item. You can use a window for a cheap light source.
  
• Pay the extra $1 to have larger photos, and a photo included in the search listing.
  

Copywriting

• Keep it brief. A nice headline, intro sentence and a list of 3-6 bullet points is all you need.
• Don't write excuses about why you're selling an item. They're unnecessary. If someone wants to know, answer that individual's question.
• Be honest and accurate about the condition of what you're selling, so people aren't surprised when they open your box.
• Still don't know what to write? You might try copying and pasting a paragraph from a manufacturer, but editing it way down and converting it to a list of bullet points.
  

Other Considerations

• Run a 10-day auction so that people have two weekends to find and become attached to your item.
  
• Start your action so it ends at 6pm PST / 9pm EST on a Sunday, so the most people are available to watch your auction end. Ebay has a nice feature allowing you to select the starting time, so my $tart time is almost always Thursday at 6pm.
  
• Start bidding at $.01 and run an auction with NO RESERVE. This will get the largest amount of views, allowing people to bookmark your item and watch it end.
  
• Include a flat rate shipping amount that covers postage, and a bit extra if possible. People don't tend to "think" about shipping as part of the price and will pay more there.
• For larger items and furniture, Craigslist is probably the way to go.
• Pack your boxes ahead of time, so they're ready to ship immediately. But don't seal them completely because you might need answer a bidder's question.
  

Posting to This Site

This might be "too much information" for most of you, but for the curious few here's an overview about my plans and methods of posting text & photos while we travel:

1) Quick and Easy (for Me) - Messages relayed by Bethany
I call a free 1-800 number provided by Gabcast, leaving a voice mail. The recording is published as an mp3 to the web, sending instant email notification to my sister. Bethany transcribes the mp3, and sends the message out as an email which is published directly to this site. (Thanks Bethany! I'll try to keep them short...)

2) A Bit More Involved - If I have a chance in town
From any computer with web connection I can send an email that will post text directly to site. If I have more time, I can log onto blogger and create a post with pictures or make changes to the site.

If I'm able to connect my camera to the computer I can also upload a couple photos from my Nikon D70 (I shoot in RAW+JPEG format) to my flickr account. Once uploaded to flickr, they will randomly be added to the sidebar of the site, or if I click "blog this" I can create a quick post directly in flickr that will post here.

3) Photo Archiving and Posting - With help from Kevin
When I fill up my memory card (two 4GB, two 1GB) I will mail to Kevin for him to back them up, upload them to my flickr account and mail the cards to a resupply town. If he has time, he may even choose a few photos to post directly to this site.