What's Wrong with Free?

It seems like in the current economy that more and more people are trying to get on the do-it-yourself, cheap-as-possible, "can we do it for free" bandwagons. This bit explains it better than I ever could: http://radar.oreilly.com/2008/10/effect-of-the-depression-on-te.html

Depressions/recessions are GOOD for innovation and acceptance of the "low cost solution."

Do you know anyone considering jumping on to Google Apps or perhaps already using cheaper/free alternatives like Open Office?

The most common reaction to those notions are "well, you are going to get what you pay for." However, as the freemium model is becoming more and more prevalent, we've created a consumer mind set that is going to EXPECT something for nothing. Sure, you can do business the "old way," but freemium isn't that old. The backlash against offering stuff for free as way of operating exists, but for the bootstrapping soul who just wants to make a few extra bucks, find a new career, or just try something to see if it could done on the cheap- why not use the free/cheap implements?

I'm not trying to make money online, but my list of free software, apps and tools for using the internet grows every day.

The case can easily be made for paid options once you are making the money, but until you have capitol to make your model work and so long as loans and other options don't exist, why not economize by using free?

Check out my appearance on the The Toddcast Podcast

Click and watch the podcast recording of my appearance on the Toddcast Podcast Such a fun time!

New Life

It's weird, sad and slightly freeing. I've been headed towards a completely different life for a lot longer than I even knew. It took me a while to catch up to realize it was happening. Thankfully, I was cognizant enough to see it finally and mostly ready for it. It's amazing when you have the rug completely pulled out from underneath you. The adjustments are jarring. I made mistakes, but like most I learned from them, adapted, and tried my best to do better. The reason you see that truck next to a storage place? That's the sum of my life right now. Never take for granted that you will work hard for something or someone, and it will end up meaning very little. You are guaranteed nothing, owed nothing, promised nothing. Anything and everything can be taken away in a heartbeat. I wrote this to my kids a while back: I tried to be the best father I could be based on what I knew when I knew it and how I could. One of the lessons for your life needs to be: you need to b

Guiding Light

Most folk who know me, know I lost my father when I was 14 years old. However, before he passed, he shared a timeless secret with me—a practice that would shape my life in ways I could never have imagined. He didn't teach me meditation in the traditional sense, with incense and crossed legs. Instead, he showed me how to meditate by gazing at a lone light on the ceiling. When I was very young, I had night terrors that would wake me in the middle of the night. I'm sure it was terribly frustrating to calm a child from that. But my father had the way. I never understood how he came to the practice. But over the years, I've come to understand that my father's unique approach to meditation was, in fact, a profound lesson in mindfulness and presence. In a nearly pitch black room, he would tell me to find a speck of light, not unlike a star. Then focus. He would say, "Just watch the light, like you're watching a story unfold. Be the observer, not the thinker." I

Todd Lyden

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