eDrinker

FENTON! Oh Jesus Christ!

Learning With a Twist

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So I actually really liked writing the article the other day so I thought I would write another one. Today I got up and was really looking forwarding to pwning some noobs on Bad Company but unfortunately our electricity is out. So hungover, no shower and its pissing it down. Before I go on, something I saw the other day really bugged me, a few months back a friend said I should invest in .me domains. So I did and brought two Oliver.me and Poker4.me. A few months after that I sold it for a couple of hundred. I read the other day about a site called www.About.me (btw that’s Montenegro). It’s already got 400,000 b3ta users and I’m thinking I should have kept that name now.

Anyway moving on, everyone knows that when someone tells you not to do something you end up doing it anyway. I’ve done a lot of stupid shit that I know its bad but I had to try it anyway. Nothing crazy but pretty bad. My first ever taste of whiskey and cigarette was with my mother, (will quit). She said if you do it,  it should be with her first. I think she was trying to work out if I was already smoking at school, I was 15 years old. I’m not saying it’s right but there are some really good lessons I’ve learned. It’s because the way they are told. I’ll give you some examples. When I was very young my father bought me and my brother some action figures and we were throwing them up the side of a cliff face near the beach. My Dad took out a few pounds from his pocket and did the same. After a few throws me and my brother turned round and asked “What are you doing?” He explained that we were throwing away money. You can say how is a kid supposed to understand that, we must have been about 5 to 8 years old.  However I still remember it. Actually that reminds me of another story where the next door neighbour Colin gave me and my brother five pounds each. My Dad said you can have half now and half later, then ripped the note in half. I was about 6 and it made me cry. Actually I don’t think there was a lesson there but it still makes me laugh. My brother tells me about the time Dad told him to clean up his room. Of course he didn’t, so that night when he ran to bed he jumped up and landed on a Atari system, my Dad had put all his toys in his bed LMAO. I’m pretty sure he cleaned his room after that. I was nineteen or twenty and I didn’t take my clothes off the line, so when I went to bed that night I put my head on my pillow and hit something hard. It was clothes pegs.

It’s not just my father that teaches like that, I have a very good friend called Simon. He’s a stone cold ninja and he’s created some amazing websites and I always buy my domains through him. In the past I have asked him, how do I code the website to look like this, his reply is always the same; “You know”. Come on fuckhead, just tell me it’s easier. Same reply. My boss has been doing something similar recently and it had me thinking about this.

If you want to teach someone, I think this is the best way to do it because they will remember.

Keeping Active

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It’s a Thursday, I’ve made some more changes to the www.ClassicCarLink.com site and just got home. I don’t want to touch the Xbox, I don’t want to watch a film. Actually I haven’t watched a film in weeks, well Rocky a few times when I was drunk but haven’t even touched the Xbox for the last three weeks. I just want to keep my head on something constructive. I haven’t or lets say don’t post on here regularly enough. I like writing, I might not be good at it, I might not be able to spell but it’s fun. I’ve been through a rough year, I don’t write this because I want sympathy. In fact I don’t even know why I’m writing this other than the fact I like it. Although I couldn’t see it eleven months ago, I was bored but I thought I was content. I had stopped learning, stopped wanting, stopped everything. I’ve been loads of places throughout my life; Spain, France, Denmark, Italy, Germany, Prague and maybe some others I can’t think of. I’ve been Florida, Miami, Las Vegas, Curacao and actually like travelling even though I never take holidays. Most of it was all to do with my previous job in poker. At nineteen years old I didn’t know what I wanted to do, I did three years of business and to be honest wasn’t really interested. By 19/20 I started in customer service and really liked poker, I think it had to do with me playing a lot of card games growing up. By twenty one I was assistant manager and shortly after I was offered a job in Curacao as poker room manager. Then the US changed the law and I moved back to Spain where I played poker professionally, lol that was hard work. Eventually I moved back in to poker as a product manager. At this time I was around 23 and was really happy with what I had done.

At 25 my relationship of three and half years ended and it crushed me. I never believed in depression, I always thought it was for weak people. I was very wrong, it hit me so hard and I did a lot of stupid drinking and other things I shouldn’t have. It ran for a few months and I really couldn’t control it. Then one day I walked in to work and said this job isn’t going anywhere, to be fair there was a lot of people that were making differences but for me I couldn’t take it. It was just a bad combination of my ex girlfriend working no more than a few tables away,  not being tested and just not learning anymore. It was a stupid move at the time, it just seemed to catapult me in to darkness. Not getting out of bed, going through 5 grand in about a month. I was left with nothing. I’ve never been good with money but my brother helped me out. No one can really help you when your depressed, you have to do it yourself. I’m sure you’ve heard that before but there is so much truth in it. I couldn’t find a job, I thought it would be easy with my background. Even today I’m still not sure now if it was because the way I walked out, because I said some pretty bad things. It might just have been because the way the economy is at the moment. Saying that, the gambling industry seems to do better when times are hard. One day out of the blue I was contacted via Skype and asked if I wanted to come for an interview, of course I jumped at the chance. I was off work for nearly five months and it was driving me crazy. I built a new website in that time but it only took me a few days and although it was a nice design and I learned a little more, I still felt bored. So I went the next day and there was almost no question of can you do it, it was when can you start. I was confused, I went straight home and spoke to my Dad in which his response was “do you want money”? I phoned them straight back and started the next day. That was nearly three months ago and to be honest a lot has changed since then. I can’t say what I’m doing at the moment because we haven’t launched yet.

I started working and the guys I worked with were so enthusiastic about everything, it made me think I used to be like that. What happened? Bit by bit I was given some audio books on self motivation, which I would have never listened to if you asked me seven months ago. I don’t know what the guys saw in me, but they didn’t judge they just let me advance on my own. For example can you change this image, hmm I’ve never used photoshop. By the end of the third week I was already designing a new logo for a new site Classic Car Link. I then started working on the site and thought wow, I knew I could but what else can you do. I heard stories of my Dad building cars, houses, cavans and even a small glider (not sure if my brother is taking the piss on this one). I asked how, he said if it was built by man I can do it. I was always impressed by that, I may not be good with my hands but I can build pretty much build a site from scratch if I use the time to learn. I know a little CSS, HTML. I’ve had about twenty domains over the years and had a go at building some five or eight websites. I started losing weight, not the right way but I lost it. I started feeling a lot better about my self. Don’t get me wrong I can still feel that dark spot and the best way to get rid of it is to keep my head in something like work, reading, learning or building a site. This is the last paragraph of my email when I quit my job:

Why not wait and hand in my notice, well to be fair I would never write this email and to be even more honest with myself I probably wouldn’t end up leaving. I know this email is going to look bad on xxx and he’s going to be really angry with me not only as boss but as a friend. I’ve worked for xxx for nearly 5 years (on and off); I honestly wanted to make a difference but to be fair I don’t think I can any more. The reason for me sending this email, I used to be strong, truthful and ambitious but some where down the line I gave up.

I didn’t believe that last line at the time but now I realise its so true. Also I used to blame my ex girlfriend for making me weak when we broke up, well that’s a lie. I let myself get weak and I’m glad to just be back. Now I go feeling, confident, try different things and believe it or not optimistic. I’m a cynical fuck but if I’ve learned anything recently, people can change. I’ve changed, if only for a small time. I know what I can do and I can fix it. One of the most amazing truths I heard recently, “you can only change your future now”. I felt a little bad tonight, I know why but writing this actually made me feel better. I just want to keep active and stay with this motivation. If anyone actually reads this, be honest with yourself first. I tried to trick myself in to feeling better but it was a lie and I knew. To quote my brother, “time doesn’t heal, time makes you forget”. So you have to change it now.

So what’s next, fuck knows lol. Given my past I have my head straight, it can only get better. Had anchovies on my pizza last Saturday, never had them before…they taste like ass and not good ass. At least I tried.

Dam, it’s eleven and I know I wont sleep for another hour. I thought typing this would have filled the gap. Some extra stuff I’ve learned this year in no particular order:

  • If your feeling down, don’t listen to depressing music. You really start to hear the lyrics. Even now I can’t listen to James Blunt and I used to be a big fan. My music is fucked up, my current library consists of Beastie Boys, Phil Collins, Rod Stewart, Guns and Roeses, Foo Fighters (currently listening to “Pretender”), Nivana and Mr Blunt who I will delete after this post. That list makes no fucking sense.
  • Don’t drink, fuck me don’t drink. If your like me and you like it to much, just make sure you do it with the right mind. I’m compulsive which has its good and bad points, it means I can’t just have one. It also means if I like something, I will stick at it. I once played poker every night after work in a casino in Curacao for nearly six months, while doing my day job. I used to get up at nine, finish work at five, sleep and wake up at ten and play till the table closed around three AM. I made some good money, about ten to fifteen grand if I remember correctly. I used that money to go to Disney World, lol quite possibly the greatest place on the planet. Anyone can be a kid, everyone is happy.
  • Hate the word luck, luck is just preparation meets opportunity. I hate it when people say I’m lucky or unlucky for that matter. When things go right take the credit for it. So many people can’t take a compliment, I was one of those people. Nice job, no it was nothing. Actually it was something, just say thank you. It will make you feel so much better.
  • Try; easier said than done but if you don’t what have you done. Your still no better or no wiser than you were five minutes ago.
  • Do the shit that makes you happy, I thought it was just games, but recently I realised as little as writing and talking to new people makes me happy. There are two new people I meet on the bus I ride to work every day. The first is Dougie, man this guy can make me laugh. Oldish guy but he’s got great stories from the QE2 and they are always interesting. The other is Chello, she can speak French, Spanish, Italian and English. Great cook by the sounds of it, she’s offered me a meal soon at the restaurant where she works and although I only met her today for thirty minutes, I’m going to take her up on that offer.
  • Stay connected, don’t hide away from everyone. I would hit a bad night and literally hide away for a week. I actually messed up this Friday just gone. In basic to much drink and overreacted to something that was eating me. Normally I would have stayed in bed that extra few hours on the next day and then lived in the couch for the weekend. Instead I jumped out of bed and started working on a new website.
  • Change your image and you will change. Sounds stupid and not sure if this one is true but I lost some weight like I said above, but then I thought what would I look like with a shaved head lol. So I did and although it’s not an improvement I actually felt different.
  • Watch Rocky, 1 then 2 and so forth and repeat. This seems to work for me, you know Sylvester has a great life story you should read it. It’s very moving, he wasn’t always built that way and  he’s a fantastic actor.
  • Choose your role models wisely, I’ll tell you who I love atm; Dana White (UFC CEO), the guy is a fucking legend. If your shit your out, if your a fan talking shit, he’ll tell you to STFU internet tough guy. He’s the complete opposite of what a CEO of a large, new and growing company should be. I once had to do a management seminar and I was a complete twat. Always questioning why is that right, look at Gordon Ramsey he runs it this way and he has some of the best restaurants in the world. I’m not saying I’m right but at least he does it his way and it works for him, so I’ll do it my way as well.
  • Remove should, luck, would, could. If you want to do it, try ffs.
  • Above all family, I never really had a family. Not because they weren’t there for me, mainly because I thought I didn’t need anyone. Even now I can still be very selfish but I am changing that. When the shit hits the fan, they will be there for you no matter what. There is something in blood I don’t think anyone understands.

Ok I’m done, going to read some UFO news, I love the idea that there is something else out there.

Fucking A

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So I wrote this a few times but when I first started this website it was supposed to be the big brother of bars. So many times I wasn’t honest enough to post the video or tell the truth. So I haven’t been about but I know I actually have readers. I’ve been quite lame for the last few months but I got a new job, met a new girl and created a new website. So the job is fantastic, all the guys I work with are so enthusiastic and really got me thinking right again. I think I wrote it on here some where else, but I left my job because I was unhappy.

Anyway so I’ve been busy working on another site. Back in 1999 my Dad created a site called www.ClassicCarLink.com, because he wanted to track down his old cars and he had a lot. Anyway last night, we created it. Photo’s 156, 52 videos, forums and the ability to chat in real time. Well here it is:

Testing OAM

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Press the Like This Button Between The Lines:

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by Oliver.Cross | tags : | 0

FaceBook Community & Official Pages (Fan Pages) I Like This, Fans – WTF Slow Down

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Again not posted in ages, I’m actually working on a new personal website but I can’t say any more at the moment.

Just recently I’ve been playing with a couple of social management suites to help you follow your likes, moderate comments, manage fan pages etc. Anyway I’ll admit I was getting more and more confused between the differences between “Become a Fan”, “I Like This”, “Community Pages” and “Official Pages”. So I put in a few hours of research. Most of this stuff is available if you can find it within five pages deep on some forum. Either way I learned a few things.

So as you know for me, I added “I Like This” articles to all posts on my WordPress blogs. Basically all I wanted was a user to press “I Like This” and a URL with the Story Headline and a brief strip of text would appear on the users wall. I also knew this would appear on a few friends of friends walls as well thus increasing my overall traffic and site awareness. I also wanted to tie them all together so I included a media bar (Meebo) which allowed users to travel between the network of sites and drag and drop images and articles into other less known networks. I also created an app to allow users to login without having to go through registration to post a comment. Lastly I tied Buzz, Twitter and FaceBook together using dlvr.it which picked up the article posts from my blogs and posts to –> FB and Twitter. There were other sites like Tumblr etc but I couldn’t see the value. On that note I know of the other sites like ping.fm but decided this was the easier to integrate and use.

So creating pages and using “Open Graph Protocol” and not “I Like This” basic code is all new to me. This is what I have been trying to learn recently (I like Q and A):

What’s the difference between a Community Page and Official Page?

It took me a while to find out an exact answer. In the past FB users could create a page but there was no real way for an official company to get brand awareness.

How do you get an official URL instead of http://www.facebook.com/pages/WTF -Monkey/169730559716781?

After your page receives 50 likes the title becomes fixed, and after your page receives 10,000 likes the type becomes fixed.

How does FaceBook verify you are a official representative?

The exact formulae is not known, however after x amount of traffic or x number of likes (likely a lot 100,000′s), you will be prompted to fill in the following form:

http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=authenticate_page

Note: Submitting this form before being prompted by FaceBook will be disregarded. You will be informed on your page and emailed, make sure all the administrators of your page are aware of this.

So is it better to be a Community Page or an Official Page?

If your an official company such as StarBucks, Red Bull, BetFair etc and you want to post to a users wall you need to go with an official page and the “Open Graph Protocol” code (coming up).

What if I create a official business page can FaceBook take it off me?

Yes but again, this is all new stuff. If FaceBook feels the content would be better off in the hands of the community where they can submit their own videos, photos and comments you will be removed as an admin. Now this has happened and fucked up one company who I can only guess was to late signing up. Type Redbull in to facebook and the first page in search is actually:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/RedBull/118496158196612

http://www.facebook.com/redbull

Even though the official page actually has more likes it’s actually being penalised on search as many users believe the first URL is “Red Bull” (remember community pages can’t post on a users wall).

How do I choose the tab where  my users land?

Admin and official page, check it out for yourselves.

Can you fight for your page (group, actual profile name etc)?

http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=username_infringement

Why would FaceBook claim a page and turn it to a community page?

Well other than the reasons above, imagine I owned a page called “Life is so Hard” and it gets 5 million likes. I could then spam 5 million people =p.

Creating a page?

Well this is well described every where so I will keep it short. You can’t have two accounts, it’s against the rules. If I create a official company page will anyone be able to link my profile, no it’s not shown any where. However someone (one of the administrators) may have to step up to FaceBook (not the FB fans) and verify. With that being said, if you employ someone in your company to set up the page, make sure you have more than one admin in case like me you might go AWOL one day. If you want to create a page and you don’t have a profile: http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php. If you create an ad for your community page it automatically change to a business account. To be fair this all makes sense because FB is about people not just a directory of sites trying to feed on the fish.

What’s the difference between “Become a Fan” and a “I Like This” button?

Well earlier this year FB decided to remove it and just put “I Like This” allowing a site to add the code to a specific product or article. This way it allows the sites to work out what’s working and what isn’t. A lot of people believed it would dupe users in to not clicking “I Like This” buttons in fear of being spammed, however this doesn’t seem to have affected the community as they can change their own “Likes and Interests” on their profile pages.

How do I message my customers that have pressed the “I Like This” button from my website?

Including Open Graph tags on your Web page, makes your page equivalent to a Facebook Page. This means when a user clicks a Like button on your page, a connection is made between your page and the user. Your page will appear in the “Likes and Interests” section of the user’s profile, and you have the ability to publish updates to the user.

Read more here, far to much to go in to detail:

http://developers.facebook.com/docs/opengraph

Do “Updates” pushed to users FB walls appear as often as a friend of a friends comment or shared article?

No not nearly as much and no I don’t know how the algorithm works. Makes me think about BlackHat SEO, I’m sure there are sites and books that have knowledge that will likely get you banned.

Where You Been?

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Well to say sorry would be the same thing I type every few months. Well good for me, I’m back at work and this time it’s not poker. Can’t really say more than that at the moment but I’ve also been learning new stuff like Photoshop and have also been playing with some really cool “FREE” Q and A software called Shapado. Anyway check it or check out the one I set up on OfferSupport.com.

Also I learned a very painful lesson today, when adding new fonts for Photoshop, they all go in the same Fonts folder found in the Windows folder. Well windows can handle about 1000 fonts, so installing 7500 will just about kill your PC. Those that find this via Google probably found out too late. Either way I used some free software called NexusFont and you can view, install and uni-stall fonts. When you uni-stall it saves to a backup folder so you can add them later on. If you can’t be bothered then just re-install from your original windows CD (Google for instructions, lol).

Ok one last thing, read this FireSheep. Basically it’s a FireFox app for finding users that are logged in to social networks such as FaceBook. It affects people that are on un-secure wireless networks and if I understand right it basically takes the cookie of the user allowing you (the guy who’s using FireSheep) to login. First day it was downloaded 1000 times, 24 hours later it was downloaded 10,000. Actually it might be 100,000, either way it’s viral now so it’s only going to get bigger. Bets on FB and others change their login process in the next few weeks, not sure what it’s going to affect everything but either way it should be interesting. Anyway like I said read the link above.

Speak soon.

Go The Distance

| Filed under eDrinker Videos

When I feel out, I never grow tired of watching these:

Hacked & New Look

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So been dealing with one of my other sites www.IAskWhy.com as it was hacked a few days back. Turned out I hadn’t updated the Word Press version. Very frustrating but with some help from a friend we got it back up and running after a few hours.

That being said I thought it would be good to give eDrinker a new look as well.

How I Feel

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Right now I feel like this cat.