Naze ka?

[azurite]

So I remembered hearing about this eatery that specializes in breakfast at the end of one of the metro lines here in San Francisco. I want to check them out online, find out exactly where they are, what their hours are, etc., so I go to their site.

...Which is probably the sparsest website I've seen in a VERY long time. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for simplicity. Not everyone (or every business) requires a Flash-heavy, Java-rich, super-interactive explosion of complicated code and database handlers (that aside, I do want to learn PHP/Flash/Java at some point in the not-so-distant future). But still... to have a SCAN of the menu that doesn't even fit on a 1440 x 900 resolution screen (you need to scroll)? To not list an email for contacting the web designer/maintainer? To not show the restaurants' (there are two locations in S.F.) hours of operation? To not tell MORE about the restaurant's history?

Seriously, folks.

Mom and Dad both say I'm too critical, but Dad says that I can put that to good use being a consultant. This is the second or third example of a business that I think I could help become so much better than it is just by revamping their existing material. Before it was the bookstore that Baba and I went to, and also kind of this Thai place that Mom and Gary like. A few simple (likely inexpensive, in the long run) changes, and BAM! Better exposure, better business. Better business PRACTICES!

So it'd be a bit awkward to contact these people and say "Your site sucks" or "Your menu sucks" or "Your bookstore sucks" and then proceed to say how, if they pay me, I can make it better. It's not like I have any experience in this-- it's just an idea, just a thought. A very optimistic thought. I can't guarantee that me revamping a website or a menu or a bookstore's practices will truly bring in more business or be more "efficient." I wouldn't necessarily know how to measure that last one, anyway.

But I kind of want to try for the "editing" experience at all (and in a way, it's also journalism/interview experience, because I'd have to "consult" with the business owners to find out their needs and wants, limitations and hopes for the future). So, how does one approach this?

I've already considered setting up an e-business of sorts to offer my editing/computer services-- a freelance site, if you will, where the offers come to me instead of me trying to hunt down the offers. Admittedly, without my name previously out there, it might not actually happen, but I'd be looking to edit people who don't look in the "usual" places-- help college students with their papers or projects, tutor people in web design or computer programs, etc. I'd be a lot more inclined to doing THAT than, say, writing a 500-word article for a freelance article site. I signed up for those, but I could never get around to writing the articles because I didn't feel they were original enough compared to what was already there, even if I did have a niche to write in.

I already have a possible domain name, and maybe even a site design picked out, but no business structure, no plan-- so I'm not letting out too many details just yet. But what I have let out, does it sound plausible? Interesting? Useful to you or anyone you may know?

Seven sections for Seventh-Star.Net, something I've wanted to do for a while!
(1) Fan: for my collective, Blue Eyes and Apricots, The Firefly Room, and Ace of Hearts

(2) Fics: for Epiphany, my replacement for Animanga Collision and Mare Serenitatis, plus Dragonfayth (where the bulk of my Yu-Gi-Oh! fics are anyway, because they're almost all Azureshipping)

(3) Projects: For WikiFic, Souten Studios (replaces or encompasses Project: Sailor V, along with any other scanlation projects, e.g. the Gospel of Truth project), and my few (but possibly growing) "guides" to sites like LiveJournal and Fanfiction.net

(4) Static Sites: Includes sites I made for projects like Digital Horizon or the Beacon Media Academy; school sites like the ChixFlix blog for English 313 or the Gay Rights site for GWS 350OL; Blood Moon, which I wanted to preserve from the good ol' days of Sailor Moon fandom being über-prominent; and some sites that I had that I never really let get off the ground, like Archive Obscura, Surveyholics, Enigma (a quiz results site for me), and Snapshot (a personal photo page).

(5) Art: Not necessarily called this, but it'd encompass any of my artistic endeavors-- icons, moods for LiveJournal, layouts, whatever. Basically for "Delishidoodle." On LJ, that's azurite, which I need to update more often. :P

(6) Blacklight Arcade: Even though my Star Ocean 3/Till The End of Time shrine will be on RPGClassics, that's not stopping me from covering interesting info about various other video games. I figure this ought to be separate from Epiphany so that I can focus on video-game specific things here, e.g. guides, walkthroughs, maps. Some games I have in mind already have great sites devoted to this, so I'd be attacking a niche-- e.g. for Sailor Moon: Another Story, I'd do maps with item locations "built-in," and the novelization I've been working on off and on (though that COULD feasibly go on Epiphany as a semi-fic). While I do write fics for video games, FICS would still go on Epiphany. This would just be everything else video-game related that ISN'T a fic or art.

(7) Site: For the usual stuff-- about me, contact me, guestbook, credits/resources. That kind of thing.

Good/bad/other?

I've started using Apple Mail to read my Friends' page as an RSS feed. Problem? I don't think it can get protected entries. When I added the "&checkcookies=1" to the URL, it didn't get ANYTHING. I removed it and got 50 entries... which I'm missing more of. I haven't read my FL in a while. I don't even know if Apple Mail uses cookies for RSS. Help?

Also, I'm probably going to nix my ProCare subscription next year. To be honest, I don't think I get much value out of it, even when I do use it to make near-instantaneous reservations for a Genius Bar spot at an Apple Store. It was pretty freakin' awesome that they rushed my keyboard repair to under an hour (when it was supposed to take 48), but I think I'd get more out of the One-to-One, if I did end up replacing the ProCare. I did think it was stupid when they separated the two, and I barely had the chance to use them when they were together (because I was in Japan).

That said, I renewed my MobileMe/.Mac subscription today, because I do feel THAT is worth $99, even with all the stupid problems MobileMe's been having. Actually my subscription was due up in September, but all the issues got me a 90-day extension. I forgot about it until they sent me an email today asking for an updated credit card. -_- I'm still broke. I shouldn't be spending $99 on anything, let alone something intangible and replaceable like an email address with calendar and address book sync capabilities. Sure, I've also got web hosting from them, but I pay MUCH less than $99/year for my usual hosting and I like Surpass plenty (not necessarily MORE than Apple, because their products aren't really comparable, but you get the idea). But the switching thing would be a pain in the ass.

But I'm disliking what I have tried to use on MobileMe's site end-- I tried out iWeb for shits and giggles, but the movie I have embedded on my photo gallery slideshow page NEVER loads, and because I can't inspect the code or the site structure in iWeb, I don't know why. Is it because it's large? Is the file in the wrong place? What? Plus, I deleted the files of my old Japan blog off the .Mac server, but it keeps trying to find that site whenever someone goes to the main index of my MobileMe site. VERY ANNOYING.

Also annoying? Playing my old SNES games with my PS2 controller using the new SNES9x 1.5 or what-have-you (the latest version of SNES for Mac OS X). Suddenly Sailor Moon's Fuwa Fuwa Panic feels like SUPER BALLOON POP MAYHEM ON SPEED! I'm getting my ass whooped in this game (it shames me to admit it), because I swear to DOG, it was never this fast before. On the bright side, I do still kick ass at the Sailor Moon puzzle game (where you flip over hearts, zap daimons, and try to collect the 3 Talismans before your opponent). Also, I've been replaying Super Mario World (I think I mentioned that before, actually). I started out playing it using a Super Mario All-Stars + World ROM, but none of the cheats for SMW worked (but I got all the way through the Forest of Illusion, anyway!)-- so I got a new ROM (hey, I own the cartridge!) and BAM! Crazy-Invincible-Green-Face Mario! That doesn't mean everything's easy, mind you, but it sure is fun to change Mario colors and walk right through Big Boo! (Figuring out just which cheats work and which don't is a pain.)

Ganked from lazzchan
1. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names): Rose Samuel (ssh!)

2. NASCAR NAME: (first name of your mother’s dad, father’s dad): Edward Irving
(it totally sounds like a Nascar name, no?)

3. STAR WARS NAME: (the first 2 letters of your last name, first 4 letters of your first name): Swmere (Didn't I figure this one out before, and me and guardian_kysra, bewareofdogz and atlantian_magic were all Jedi or Sith? I think Atlantis and I were Sith and poor Mamo was the only Jedi. :P)

4. DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal): Indigo Cat

5. SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you live): Ellen Northridge (but I like Ellen [San] Francisco better; makes me sound like some exotic Latina beauty when I'm totally not.)

6. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite alcoholic drink, optionally add “THE” to the beginning): The Red Cosmo(politan)

7. FLY NAME: (first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name): Meet (wtf is a "fly" name? Seriously, this one I don't like. It's MEET!)

8. GANGSTA NAME: (favorite ice cream flavor, favorite cookie): Vanilla [Chocolate] Chip (wassup mah homies!? j/k!)

9. ROCK STAR NAME: (current pet’s name, current street name): Mokie Wystone (Mokie's not technically my pet, but I work with what I've got, okay?)

Comments

[time-guardian.livejournal.com]

just yelp.com it for information. i think people still just call in for info also thats why many restaurants dont have great websites.