Something that has been on my mind recently. Not really into the idea of living everyday just looking forward to the weekend and the next paycheck like I see friends and family doing. Want to do something so much it hurts, Want my life to be meaningful. Want to feel that excitement I’ve felt with the things I’ve done before now. But how? That has become my new goal in life.
Looks like Wall-E and the Luddites were right.
With the limited release of Google+ this week, in combination with it’s current line of applications, Google has successfully created a one-stop technology shop that has made it possible to never have to leave the comfort of our Snuggies- ever again. Except to maybe grab a quesadilla and a Five Hour Energy. We are all now free to become obese couch potatoes who are slaves to our computers!
Ok, so maybe a slippery slope could result in such a view but after experiencing Google’s newest attempt at social networking I can’t help but think how awesome the future looks! Being the early innovators that we are, my friends and I experimented with Google+’s features this week and I would argue that this new technology, if used properly, has a chance to truly cultivate human nature and help society flourish to the next level…or at least make it a lot more easy and way cooler.
As an enterprising recent film school grad, I have been thinking a lot lately about starting my own production company as I wait my turn to climb the Hollywood ladder. I have had my head buried in book after book absorbing all I can about development, budgets, and finding funding for independent projects. It all seems doable but of course everything is easier said than done. One of the line items often discussed when starting your own business (in this industry or any other really) is overhead. Good ole’ Wikipedia defines overhead as ”an ongoing expense of operating a business i.e. - rent, gas/electricity, wages, repairs, supplies, taxes, telephone bills, travel and utilities costs.” As I perused the new features of Google+, I began to realize how useful all of Google’s applications when integrated together could be when running a small business. Admittedly, I have been a bit of a Google advocate for some time now but any entrepreneur would be silly not to see the clear benefits that Google’s completely free toolbox of productivity can offer.
Here are just some of the services that come to my mind that Google’s applications make available that I use almost everyday and would be beneficial to any company. Keep in mind it’s all free for you the consumer.
-Google Search Engine. With Google Images. The Best. Bing Sucks.
-Google Chrome (No need for any other browser)
-Gmail with Contacts and Priority inbox for easy organization.
-Google Groups where you can send others in your company messages on a list server.
-Google Sites. You can make your company website here and create and share web pages.
-Google Calendar with ability to share events, setup reminders(e-mail and SMS) and organize your different calendars and tasks. Also can send you a daily agenda.
-Google Voice where you can create a custom phone number that peopel can call and leave messages that will be translated and emailed to you.
-Free Calling/Texting/Instant Messaging/Video Chats
-Google Docs (including Document, Presentation, Spreadsheet, Form, Drawing) with easy sharing and filing. No need to print ever again. Who needs pens and staples? With the forms you can create easy surveys with auto-filled spreadsheets and graphs that makes research easy.
-Free Music sharing (with new Google Music Beta)
-Free Photo sharing and editing with Picasa which will soon be fully integrated into Google+
-Google Maps which now also has intuitive maps that tell you about real-time traffic to pick the actual fastest routes. You can also make maps noting your favorite vendors and places. Also if you’ve never used Google Earth well give it a try. It’s so awesome.
-Google shopping to find the lowest prices in web shopping. Google Checkout also allows you to make your own store.
-Mobile Apps for all of this on your device of choice (well almost all of them)
- Or if you can get your hands on a Chromebook you don’t even need a computer anymore. All of this in one simple unit.
-Lastly the reason I wrote this whole post is because of Google’s new Google+ which is it’s answer to Facebook (and solution to its failed attempts at Wave). With G+ you can do everything you can do on Facebook, but wait there’s more! You can also use the cool “hangout” feature which allows you to be able to video chat with up to ten of you friends…AT THE SAME TIME. And yes I know you’re asking…does it actually work? YUP! We attempted the other night with no problems. Think about the possibilities. Now you can have production meetings, client meetings, presentations/pitches and much more with many people anywhere in the world. It also allows you to create circles where you can easily share pretty much anything with custom groups that you have selected. Amazing.
And all of the above is integrated for you on your Google Profile! (which they also now monitor to make sure you don’t get any bad press connected to your name) Yes I know other services have offered similar products but I can;t tell you how nice it is to have it all in one place and fully integrated to work together.
So back to my point. Now you have no need for an actual office space as Google can now be your new virtual office. It can do everything you would ever need which means little or no overhead cost for your fledgling business! A friend actually challenged me to go a week without using anything but Google products and now with Google+, I actually think I could do it with ease.
Through Google Labs they are always making their apps better and coming up with something new. I only mentioned the ones I use the most and if you want to see the whole list go to:
http://www.google.com/intl/en/about/products/index.html
Basically I wanted to take this opportunity to confess my love affair with Google for making my life so easy. So easy that it has really given me the inspiration to start my own company. I hope that others see this too and take advantage of all of Google’s benefits before they realize what they’ve done and start making us pay for it. As I predicted, Google is slowly taking over the world. But I think I’m ok with that.
Or Wall-E could’ve been right…
So today coming home from my internship at NFL Films, I yet again was stuck in one of my least favorite activities ever…traffic. I find going 3 mph to be one of the most exhausting and mind numbing activities ever and not only that it almost always gives me a headache and makes me sleepy… Well today while driving the 1.5 hour trip back to Rowan (normally should be 35 minutes…) all the time trying to stay awake in the heat of the setting sun I did catch a ray of inspiration about how traffic is much like life. You see as I am just now starting my senior year I begin more and more to think about my life after college and school and all of the guidelines that have been setup for me my whole life…until now. And then I compared this to traffic and realized it kinda the same thing. See in traffic everyone is trying to get somewhere, to their goal destination, just like in life. Some people start off strong but get tired or run out of gas and decide to choose a new route in hopes that it will help them get where they want faster, or to wait until the path is more clear or some even get lost and never really find the path again to were they wanted to go and settle for a new direction. Then there are those who break the rules, speed and swerve in and out of lanes, drive down the shoulder, try anything they can to get to their goals as fast as they can. However often those people get caught by authorities or cause some kind of accident only further delaying them reaching their goal. And then there is the more patient driver who suffers through all the bumps in the road, obstacles in their way and passes those have given up and those who have crashed and fallen behind. Along the way you meet friends (you know the nice people that let you change lanes) that help guide you and support you on your path and then there are those that try to cut you off and slow you down but you can’t ever give up and forget what lies ahead. And sometimes you even have to travel the unpaved path trying to find your way there but in the end those who work hard to reach their goal, (and its never the fastest or the friendliest journey) they almost always get there because it never seizes to be true that hard work and patience pays off. One of my professors told me the other day that you need luck to succeed in life but luck he defined as when hard work and preparation meet opportunity. So sometimes on the road of life its a tough trip but as I look forward to my future I feel I’ve worked hard to get to where I am and I’m ready and just waiting for that opportunity for the traffic to clear up and a lane to open up wide for me so I can ride it all night long….
Finally I had the weekend I had been waiting for. It all started off with free ice cream at work Friday then going into the city to get a great haircut at Astor’s Place. Then I slept in on Saturday and went to a friend’s birthday party at Brooklyn Bowl , which is a sweet venue, and met lots of chill people and had a great time. But the night didn’t end there we went to another bar where I got an awesome frozen margarita, fried avocados and rode a bull. I was pretty much the shiznit at that… So then the night took a turn for the even more interesting and we went to Lucky Cheng’s a Drag Queen Karaoke Bar! Yes you read right…it was very cool and I even got up and did a rendition of Wham’s “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go”…Good times. So we finally headed home around 4 and I again slept in and woke up to go play some softball with the work crew. I actually biked to and from the field which in total was about 8.5 miles, so I felt really good about all that. Softball was fun, we were up by 5 and then in one inning which turned out to be the last one we allowed the other team to score 9 runs…and so they won. Sad Panada, but still a great time. Then came home and took a very cold shower (gas got turned off because of some miscommunication with our landlord…) and got ready to go see Inception! Arrived at the theater and of course it was sold out until the late show so I got a ticket and met up with Susan and we got drinks and talked til we waited in the front of the line for the show. Good thing we came early cause that place was hoppin’. But I got my huge ass slurpee and saw one of the best movies I’ve seen in a while. Highly recommend it! But overall I had a great weekend, got to be social and hang out with actual real people other than myself for once and enjoyed the NYC nightlife! Hopefully there’s more weekends like this to come…
Oh the English language is a strange thing…enjoy.
(Dessert) is the best way to (reverse) being (stressed).
Dessert backwards is stressed…
bed…looks like a bed
Race Car is a palindrome. Detartrated is the longest palindrome.
Sesquipedalianist- A person who uses long, unusual, sometimes obscure words in speech or writing.
Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia- Fear of long words.
onomatopoeia- the formation of words whose sound is imitative of the sound of the noise or action designated, such as hiss, buzz, and bang
