Justin Shattuck

Bloggingpro and Premium News Theme Hooking It Up!

Justin — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:42:29 +0000

For a few years now I have been working with a few friends on conjuring up a personable news source for our local community: happy hour specials, entertainment, events, and the normal local news. However, I have found it very difficult to bring the creativity from my brain to the table of development. Honestly, using Wordpress as the blog engine and CMS makes perfect sense; but what about a theme to really utilize its full potential.

There are various elements that one really must utilize to make a news source or magazine style website successful. Lots of content, accessible content, feature rich columns and navigation and a beautiful design to go right along with it. Adii from Live Wire has done just that with his new professional news and magazine themes at Live Wire Series from PremiumNewsTheme.com. The themes are feature rich and hearty with design flavor. They’re very top-notch, similar to the styles found at Revolution Theme from Brian Gardener.

I spent a few moments surfing around today and checked out Gazette and the Red Live Wire Series templates. They’re both absolutely beautiful! Then, my good friend David introduced a give-away he is having on , to give away a theme from Adii!. It does not get much better than that, if you asked me.

So, what would I do with the theme? I would hack it all to hell and make it completely functional for my personable news site, which URI will keep secret for now. However, I would definitely put the theme to work and overtime in providing news and content to my fellow local community bloggers and readers. Travis would probably appreciate the fully developed theme to work with as well.

Now how do I acquire it… thats the real question! Working capital for blog startups is always ridiculously tight around here. I often use my pocket book to fund projects that I can guarantee a little return revenue, but I think this is completely worth the money spent.

Great work Adii!

Apple sent me a lemon Macbook Air

Justin — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:51:07 +0000

All weekend I looked forward to this morning. Monday morning, the morning I expected to receive my new Apple Macbook Air notebook. Guess what? I received the notebook, removed it from its extremely fancy packaging and found myself starring at the notorious Gray loading screen. The circle loading animation keeps spinning and spinning.. while nothing is happening. Now I’m reinstalling leopard on a brand-new freaking air!

THANKS APPLE!

TheLastRipper — you might enjoy it

Justin — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:37:22 +0000

First, this seems to be one of those audio applications that has a ton of potential, however, it will more than likely be gone within a very short amount of time. For those of you who do now know, Last.fm is an online application that allows you to listen to music via a personalized web stream. The music you listen to is a playlist generated from your current preferred flavor of music.

I am a fan of last.fm because I do not like having a hard-disk full of audio files I might not listen to. But, I guess some people enjoy having their audio local. My iPod consist of music I enjoy so much I grabbed it off iTunes or ripped from the cdrom.. not too much really.

But TheLastRipper incorporates the both together; but that is about all I will say — don’t think it will do either of us much good to say any more.

Check it out; enjoy!

Making some extra money from blogging

Justin — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 18:53:13 +0000

It seems as though many bloggers find sponsored postings and compensated insertions bad. I could understand a blog being pretty annoying if every other post was a sponsored article; but what if that person was just making some extra money? That is exactly what I plan on doing.

I’ve never been one to really get too big into the monetization of my personal website; party because I did not want to fill the site up with advertisements or any text-link-ads. However, over time, I have slowly realized that this is not so bad after all. I can still maintain my pretty little design template while placing a few ads here and there.

PayPerPost.com has really stepped into the market place and allowed a pretty plentiful amount of organizations and individuals to get their name onto some large blogs. The only flaw I have with Pay per post’s setup is the disclosure policy they have for word of mouth ethics. I believe that blogging is pretty much like the movie and entertainment industry. Everything is exposure, everything is compensated, everything is an advertisement. That is why Google gives away free t-shirts and Camel free cigarettes at bars. What I just did, without compensation advertised for Budweiser and Camel. At the same time, maybe I was some how compensated — over time — through other mediums.

It is the same concepts towards sponsored postings. I’m only going to mention something if I am going to benefit some how. I mean.. mostly. I’m not going benefit from linking my viewers to my buddies photo gallery or business he or she just started; but I will benefit slightly.. I post a link, my friend is happy — my compensation is making my friend happy..

However, all in all — Payperpost is pretty slick! If nothing else, I plan on using it to make some extra money here and there.. not to mention you, my viewers will get some extra reading materials!

But I do hate the disclosure images!!

Feeling generous? Give a little

Justin — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 18:38:18 +0000

For those who are not familiar with theme and plug-in development for Wordpress; it is not exactly a simple task or undertaking. It takes an incredible amount of time to strategically plan, develop, design, release, and support these resources.

The Wordpress community is enormous!

Imagine having a plug-in that is being tossed around the internet like a viral video of two beetles playing texas hold’em. Next, imagine the influx of mail messages in your inbox related to support, feature requests, questions, and overall kudos from fans. Although I enjoy every message I get, despite not being able to respond to every single one — the overall quantity is overwhelming.

Therefore, I have an idea. I’ve noticed that most developers and designers have a method for contributing to their cause. I’m not asking you to contribute just because you use my work. I’m simply suggesting that you give back. If my plug-ins, themes, comments, statements, link love, suggestions, negativity, feelings, photographs, conversations, or any other element you can conjure up and give me credit for has effected you in a positive way — return the favor.

I keep a pretty busy schedule between my work, projects, education, and modest social life. Therefore, I have to prioritize the projects and scenarios that are going to benefit my website, pocket book, and overall me the best. If donations come and I can justify sitting in front of my monitor for four hours cranking out bug-fixes, hacks, tweaks, or any suggested mods — I will.

I do not want anyone thinking I do not pay attention to what is said and such in comments related to these plugins and themes. I definitely notice; at the same time I cannot get too into the testimony from everyone to fix things; because it isn’t bringing anything in to make it worth my while other than some “publicity.” Then again, my website is not well monetized to even make that worthwhile..

Cash donations are not the only compensation efforts I will accept; have an idea.. contact me.

Geico Got Progressive Shelter Insurance and Won Allstate!

Justin — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 21:25:04 +0000

Confusing title huh? I know I was confusing myself just writing it out, however it seems as though all the confusion witnessed within that title, is the same confusion I am experiencing today. Unfortunately my confusion is turning into frustrated in terms of finding a new way to save a few bucks on my automobile insurance.

Allow me to break it down

For the past seven years, I have been a satisfied and loyal customer to Allstate insurance. However, it seems as though they are not exactly keen on keeping my pocket book satisfied and my payments loyal; therefore I have found myself on the constant search for new insurance. The hunt for reliable and affordable car insurance reminds me of the battle against good and evil.

The good providers are all over-charging for their services based on this point system: credit score, traffic record, citations, accident reports, and association with particular organizations. On the flip-side, ~~evil~~, less good, and mediocre insurance providers are stepping up with their offerings of coverage at an affordable rate — with an overall sacrifice in the quality of protection.

I stumbled upon this website for the Autonet Insurance Group and they seem to have Car Insurance pretty much covered. Too bad I haven’t found a similar configuration for service here in the states.

Maybe some day I will; but is that just wishful thinking?

“Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.”
“You’re in good hands.”
“Seek protection, seek shelter”

Man are those some corny, yet catch, any memorable slogans..

Five things that keep my time occupied

Justin — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 23:31:18 +0000

It seems as though I have fallen into the non writing trap of the blogosphere. I guess it is a hole I will eventually get out of, but honestly I am not sure when. So I figured I would inform everyone on five things that are keeping my time pretty occupied.

The University of Tulsa
Freelance, Freelance, and Freelance
MoFuse, Grow!
Sleep
and even more studying..

I’m trying to stay above water but I’m beginning to get overwhelmed. Let’s see how March goes!

A Few Broken Elements

Justin — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 02:31:32 +0000

There are a few objects and elements on this website that are currently broken. I am currently away for the holidays and I am unable to fix it. Once I return home I will correct the conflicts screwing up the site. Hard to do so via mobile telephone. Technology just isn’t quite there — yet.

Power is out

Justin — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 01:24:53 +0000

Power is out — this sucks! I’m at the mall in the Apple store updating this post. And the end.

Experiencing Terror Behind the Walls in Philadelphia

Justin — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 13:06:17 +0000

Imagine what you believe the characteristics and personality of the oldest prison in America would be like. An enormous building created from massive amounts of stone and concrete; huge walls and dark corridors? How about a penology unit built more than 177 years ago that has half a mile of wall, eleven acres of ruin, and is currently crumbling at every corner.

If you have ever laid eyes to Eastern State Penitentiary on the corner of Fairmount Avenue and 22nd Street in Philadelphia; you know what I am describing. This creepy structure was built in the early 1800s and has served as a model prison for over 300 other correctional facilities. Al Capone, Elmo Smith and Willie Sutton all spent hard-time there.

We purchased tickets to Terror Behind the Walls; an attraction setup within the walls of the prison for Halloween. The night we visited was very chilly and extremely busy. Our admission tickets said 11:30PM, so we waited in line. Once in line, it went pretty quick — we also paid an additional fee to skip the line so to speak. Once we began the thrill ride of a scare-house we were caught off guard by the many illusions and individuals within the facility meant to scare us.

The attraction’s configuration and array of minions were not scary themselves; the condition of the facility and the history behind it was enough for me. We walked through a corridor and you could see down an entire cell block; freaky! We met four girls while we’re there that ended up latching onto us because they were getting so scared. It was hilarious to see the reactions from these girls. Their reactions and screams were half the entertainment for the attraction.

I can’t really describe too much in words as to what we witnessed, let’s just say it was pretty spooky. It was definitely the best haunted house arrangement I had ever been to.

After visiting the prison I began research on as many of the inmates as I could find. You’d be surprise as to what all people were there — and if you have any information on Elmo Smith; I’d love to see it! I know he raped and murdered a seventeen year old girl and all that. But I’ve been trying to find a transcript from the trial or any photographs of this guy. He sounds like a real creep.

All in all, Terror Behind the Walls was one of my favorite attractions in Philadelphia. For more information, check out their website.