I don't want to keep slamming Martha Stewart, but I heard on the radio a few weeks ago that ImClone, the stock she sold with insider info, has gone up in value and was at the same level as it had been pre-Martha Stewart Getting in Trouble.

I wish I had cut out the article the other day that stated the amount of money that Martha Stewart lost in stock value from getting convicted. One place said it was $90 million. Another place said it was over $300 million in company value.

The amount of money she would have lost if she hadn't interferred was less than $100,000. And she would have probably had to pay a small fine if she had admitted from the start that she had known. But she compounded things by lying to investigators, etc.

Someone sent me a picture a picture a while ago that I put up at my site, Martha Stewart--Living Behind Bars. It's not that I hate Ms. Stewart. BUT, I think it's a fine example of folly of not admitting when you're wrong and accept the consequences earlier rather than later in the process.

I had this happen a couple months ago when I was supposed to put a pay per click account on hold. I did it with one account but forgot to do it the other one I was using for this client. Less than $200 of charges were rung up, but I admitted my wrong and refunded the client the money.

Things will come back to bite you in the butt, like with Martha. Good lesson.

A couple days ago I ran into a friend from 20 years ago. We were roommates on a student leadership project in Virginia Beach, Va.

Larry and I shared an apartment with six other guys. Back then he was this tall, skinny guy with a thick Philly accent. We had a good time that summer and became friends. I remember him as having a great zest for life.

One other thing I remember about him is bravery. He and another had thwarted a burlary of our apartments when they came back early from a banquet all of us had been attending.

Larry told me that the thing he remembered most about me was my imitation of Badluck Schleprock from the Pebbles and Bam Bam show ( "Wousy, wousy, woo, woo, looks like it's going to be another blue Monday"). At least I wasn't remember for being a hot head, liar or jerk.

This summer I was at a memorial service for the president of the organization I used to work. There were several thousand people there and it was funny that the guy sitting in front of me was someone I remember yelling his head off at conference back in 1983. Things like that stick with you.

In Denver there have been a lot of people out of work, and as a business owner I would get at least one resume a week. Instead of throwing it out, I would either drop them an email with recommendations or even meet them for coffee if I had the time.

I don't know if anything will come up it, but I would love to be in a crowd 20 years from now, and someone will day, "Hey, Dave, we haven't met for a couple decades but you really encouraged me when I was going through a tough time." Maybe I'll be remembered for more than an imitation of Schleprock.

I heard this song on the way into work today. I am committed to working hard for my employer, even when he isn't around. This song reminded me that I can enjoy myself at work, but not be consumed by it. You really need to hear it live.


Enjoy Yourself - Guy Lombardo 1948

You work and work for years and years, you’re always on the go
You never take a minute off, too busy makin’ dough
Someday, you say, you’ll have your fun, when you’re a millionaire
Imagine all the fun you’ll have in your old rockin’ chair

Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think
Enjoy yourself, while you’re still in the pink
The years go by, as quickly as a wink
Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think

You’re gonna take that ocean trip, no matter, come what may
You’ve got your reservations made, but you just can’t get away
Next year for sure, you’ll see the world, you’ll really get around
But how far can you travel when you’re six feet underground?

Your heart of hearts, your dream of dreams, your ravishing brunette
She’s left you and she’s now become somebody else’s pet
Lay down that gun, don’t try, my friend, to reach the great beyond
You’ll have more fun by reaching for a redhead or a blonde

Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think
Enjoy yourself, while you’re still in the pink
The years go by, as quickly as a wink
Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think

You never go to nightclubs, and you just don’t care to dance
You don’t have time for silly things, like moonlight and romance
You only think of dollar bills, tied neatly in a stack
But when you kiss a dollar bill, it doesn’t kiss you back

Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think
Enjoy yourself, while you’re still in the pink
The years go by, as quickly as a wink
Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think

In the movie, Raising Arizona, there was a gnarly character played by Tex Cobb describing to Nathan Arizona about his ability to find babies. Remarking on the police's inablity to find Nathan Arizona's kidnapped son, Tex's best line was, "If you want to find a baby, call me. If you want to find a donut, call cop."

I've been surprised to see where people go to find experts. We just had a client quit doing search engine optimization with us and went with a company that promised to put them at the top of the search engine lists. If I was a business owner, I would want this, too. But what these other companies don't tell you is that they'll put you at the top of the list, but on search terms that nobody is searching for. I could be on the top of Google for the term, "red shiny widgets," but if nobody is searching for that term, then it does me no good.

When we start doing search engine optimization or pay per click marketing, one of the first thing we do is research what terms people are using to find a site like the one our client has. We sometimes come up with hundreds of terms, and these terms differ greately in the amount of times they are searched for. Then we figure what the competition is like for that term. Once we figure this out, we start optimizing pages and putting together advertisements for the pay per click.

If you want to get free traffic to your site from phrases that people are actually looking for. If you want to find a donut, well, you know who to ask.

A couple weeks ago my friend Tim and I were coming out of the Air Force-University of Utah football game. Someone was giving away Quattro shavers. I took one because I can't pass up free stuff. It's now hanging in my shower but I haven't used it much because I prefer my Mach 3 Turbo. But I didn't buy that one either.

I got the Mach 3 in the mail, and I doubt I would have bought it. But since it was free I tried it and really like it. I will continue to use it and buy replacements. I told Tim this, and he told me got one free in the mail, too, and loves it. I also overheard one of the cadets from Air Force say something about loving his Mach 3.

Anyway, the Quattro has four blades, and reminds me of the Saturday Night Live fake commercial about the triple blade where the last blade rips the hair out by the root. Tim and I remarked that by the time his 8 year old son, Will, was old enough to shave there will be razors with 12 blades.

Having been succesfully convinced that the Mach 3 is a great product, I guess I have to try other products I see in commercial that might be of worth. And I wonder where their sales would be today if they had originally taken the millions of dollars they spent in TV advertising and put it towards giveaways in the mail and at football games. Guess we'll never know.

So I'm trying to figure out if there is anything I can giveaway that would get me new potential clients. This could be some basic optimization on one page for a web site, or set up a pay per click account for free. We'll have to see.