If you have an e-commerce site, and your order page looks like this, STOP.  Do not do ONE MORE THING until you fix it.

Click to see a bigger version:

Yes, the new Virgin Mobile Broadband in the United States using the Novatel MC760 USB EVDO dongle..doesn’t work.

Their web site says you have to activate on a PC but then you can use it on a Mac.  This is false.  Once installed on your Mac, the drivers DO NOT recognize the MC760 and therefore it is unusable.

What a massive total failure by Virgin Mobile.

Sure enough, IRC usage is on a downard trend. So where have people gone? Facebook? Twitter? Other networks? I don’t see any of the “new” things replacing IRC for instant mass-communication..but yet it does seem that people have gone away.

Oops. Got some clicks on my fake ads. Just goes to show how powerful AdWords can be with good keyword and ad grouping and targeting.

1) Get Shoemoney Tools to $xx/year in revenue. (Sorry, not going public with this figure). To do this we will build the best tools in the market that no one else has the guts or ability to build.

2) Take my girlfriend to Italy for the first time.

3) Get better at negotiating by DOING IT often. (Thanks to Andy Liu’s blog for triggering this goal).

4) I’d like to be a better friend in general. I push those closest to me too hard, and don’t enough to put time
and effort into the friends that are furthest away from me. I want to close that gap. I’m hoping that feedback from my truest friends will help me with this goal. It will take time to achieve, but as long as I make progress every day I can get there.

5) In light of #4, my goal is also to be less of an asshole. Believe it or not, I don’t do it intentionally but I know that I often come across as such. I’m going to improve on that by being more patient, not criticizing, and slowing down and thinking more about what I’m saying before talking.

6) In addition to Tools, plant at least one seed that could grow into something very big some day. I have a few ideas on this front, so it’s a matter of execution.

7) Finally, I want to speed my life up just a little bit. It’s easy to get caught up in daily tasks and “reacting” and not do enough living. I’m notorious for procrastinating things like taking trips until I’m “less busy” or it’s somehow more convenient. There’s never a good time to step outside your comfort zone, which is all the more reason you need to do it. I’m going to take some more trips this year, learn some new skills, and make sure I have at least 5 or 6 real events to talk about by the end of the year. I mean this. Martin passing away really blew my mind. It’s way too easy to assume that tomorrow is promised.

Now it’s time to get to work.

Why?

First of all, I think 2009 is going to bring horrors when more and more debt bombs explode.

But more importantly I’ve come to realize how foolish it is to invest in the public markets. What is an investment? Wikipedia says “Investment is the choice by the individual to risk his savings with the hope of gain.” I have a big problem with that definition. Notice the word hope? What are you doing hoping for a gain in an investment? I want to make an investment in only 2 scenarios:

1) I have an edge. I know something that almost no one else knows, and I can take advantage of it by investing.
2) I can directly influence the outcome of the investment by contributing knowledge or labor to it.

Can either of these conditions be met by a publicly traded stock? Very, very unlikely. Unless you have insider information and can get away with trading on it…but those opportunities come once in a lifetime if ever.

From here on out I will only be investing in local businesses or things that I can directly have a hand in (Internet startups).

Sure, there is more risk. But there is also more reward. No one was “supposed” to lose 30-40% in their safe and cozy mutual funds. But they did. Wouldn’t you rather have lost that money on a bar down the street that at least you could have had a few cocktails at before it failed?

I’ve learned my lesson losing money to the manipulated, fraudulent machinations of The Market.

Just show up, you’re 80% of the way to succeeding.

The best thing to ever happen to these companies that are laying off 30 to 40% of their work force is the economic down turn. If you can lay off almost HALF your staff and continue to do business, you didn’t need them in the first place.

These companies will emerge from the depression leaner, better, and stronger. If they don’t emerge, all the better. Wheat from the chaff baby.

Embrace it, adversity brings opportunity.