Nicholas’ Guide To Stress
Moving to California is stressful, but I think I'm doing fairly well in dealing with the stress. This is the first time I've recognized a stressful period coming on and taken steps to try to help myself through it. Thusfar, I'm doing well, so I thought I'd share how I'm dealing.
- Make Lists. I'm usually not a list person, but when there are a lot of details, I find it helpful to write down everything that needs to happen at specific times. That way, I don't need to worry about missing something.
- Be Good To Your Body. When your body isn't strong, it's easier to fall into fits of panic. Making sure you're eating good food, minimizing sugars, caffeine, etc., and getting plenty of good foods with a lot of nutrients (green foods are great for this). I don't smoke or drink, but if I did, I definitely would be minimizing it now.
- Worry One At A Time. One of the best pieces of advice I've gotten was to worry about only one thing at a time. For instance, when interviewing in California, I was faced with several things that make me uncomfortable: flying, staying in a hotel, and interviewing. The trick is to worry about things in the order in which they occur. I worred about the flight first, then worried about the hotel once I got off the flight, then worried about the interview after I was at the hotel.
- Sleep A Lot. I get more stressed when I don't sleep, so I've tried to get to bed early and sleep until my body has had enough (i.e. I don't set the alarm). Sleep makes me happy.
- Ask For Help. The most important thing is to ask for help when you need it. Ask lots of questions, get clarifications, anything you need to make you feel more comfortable. Don't let little things stick around and bug you, ask someone to help you figure it out so you can move on.
So, that's what I'm going through right now. Tuesday I'm flying out to California to stay and begin my new life. Stressful? Damn straight. But I'm sure I'll survive.
Yahoo! Over Google?
I've been getting this question a lot lately: how could you have chosen to go to Yahoo! over going to Google? Google is clearly the place to be, they have the best of everything, the coolest stuff online, and the Googleplex! (I'm paraphrasing here.) I've even heard people call Yahoo a dying company and pointing out how Google is so much better. Both are great companies, let me say...getting offers from both was like being asked about by two incredible women and needing to choose just one. But here are some of the things Yahoo! has going for it:
- Yahoo! Finance is the #1 finance site on the web (Google Finance is currently #40).
- Yahoo! News is the #1 news site on the web (Google News is #2).
- Yahoo! Mail gets four times the traffic of GMail.
Google may be changing the way people are searching and coming out with some really cool stuff, but don't sleep on Yahoo!
Legal Cybersquatting
For a while, cybersquatting was a really big deal. Tech-savvy people were buying up domain names containing terms relating to specific businesses and then holding them ransom for high dollar amounts. A lot has changed since then, and squatters can be made to turn over domain names that infringe on copyrights or trademarks. Big victory for big business. But then there's the rest of us.
There are companies now that buy up thousands of domain names at a time and basically hold them with the hopes of a big payoff from someone who wants that domain name. The company has no intention of using this domain name, and when you can register them for as little as $5, they're not losing a lot of money on an initial investment. Then, they will turn around and sell this domain name to someone who wants it for upwards of $1,000. To me, this is an absolute outrage and amounts to nothing more than a new-age version of scalping.
The end result is that there are for more domain names that are registered without being used than there should be. In my opinion, if you aren't using the domain name for email or a web presence, you should not be allowed to hold onto it. I'd propose a maximum "use it or lose it" term of a year.
My current frustration with this is that I want to start a new web site, but I can't find a free domain name that makes sense. All of the ones I want are either already in use or are being squatted on, and there's no way I'm paying $1,000 to some company for a domain name to use as a hobby. I really hope something happens to stop this type of legal cybersquatting, because I'm really tired of this.
Fairwell VistaPrint
Today was my last day at VistaPrint. Leaving a job is one of the major transitions we all must face in life, but it doesn't make it any easier. I'm really going to miss the people at VistaPrint; I'm leaving behind a lot of friends. But, sometimes, you just need to take a risk. Considering I've spent most of my life is a pretty homogenized existence, I feel like this is my chance to do something daring.
I wish VistaPrint continued success and hope that my friends remain happy there. Parting is such sweet sorrow...
