Nothing Personal....It's Just Business

With the millions, possibly billions of Blogs currently floating out 'there' in the Blogosphere, is there any room for yet another Blog?

Wikipedia defines the Blogosphere as: The blogosphere is made up of all blogs and their interconnections. The term implies that blogs exist together as a connected community (or as a collection of connected communities) or as a social network in which everyday authors can publish their opinions.
The term was coined on September 10, 1999 by Brad L. Graham, as a joke. It was re-coined in 2002 by William Quick, and was quickly adopted and propagated by the warblog community. The term resembles the older word logosphere (from Greek logos meaning word, and sphere, interpreted as world), "the world of words", the universe of discourse. Anyway, happy ten year anniversary to the Blogosphere. Now, back to my Post.


I found I recently had to ask myself this very question before I began the arduous task of building a Blog. First thing I had to ask myself, Why bother? I mean, who on earth would ever read it anyway? That's when I realized that I'm 'Old School' and I'm blogging more for my own 'release' than for others reading pleasure. Sure, I'd enjoy knowing that someone, somewhere was able to gain something from reading it but that still wasn't my main focus.



My interpretation of a Blog is also a bit different than the mainstream Blogs of today. I look at them more through the eyes of a writer than an online marketer. Not to say that one is better or more important, just two entirely different perspectives.


While both are concerned with 'traffic' per se, the Internet Marketer is much more concerned with the new FTC rules and how they will impact their ability to flood the Net with their promises of making a million a month for life overnight while laying on the couch watching reruns of Friends 'opportunities' than I am. Which of course makes me wonder if I will even find one person out there that even cares enough to take the time to read a Blog that is all about reality and lifes lessons. After all, I'm no 'Snake Oil Salesman' and I surely don't claim to be.


Back in the 'Old Days', way before I even owned a computer, Blogs were basically online diaries. A means of spilling ones guts, in essence a stress reliever of sorts, without any hidden agenda whatsoever. That was until the spammers started trying to devise ways of using them to spread the word about their incredible Biz Opps, which in turn spelled the demise of personal blogging. All trust was wiped away in an instant as readers began to wonder about the hidden agenda behind each posting and was it really Grandma with the knitting needles writing the post or just some guy with greasy hair, in a plaid suit, smoking a cigar, waiting to pounce on them.


Not that I'm against making money, that's not it at all but when all Bloggers are looked at as 'Used Car Salesman' [nothing against those guys & gals, just an example], then that puts those of us with an honest message in a bad light. This was recently brought to my attention as I had an online acquaintance say to me that he didn't really believe what I had to say and that I had to earn his trust.


Now at first this seemed a bit strange to me. "What's he thinkin', doesn't he know me?" I'm all about spilling my guts, good and bad [mostly bad], no false promises, all in hopes that others might be able to learn from my mistakes so they didn't have to repeat them themselves. But then it occured to me that he has been experiencing the same thing I have. I am at a point where I can't trust nor believe anything that I read on the internet. And that's not a pleasant feeling. Hate to sound so negative but with all of the outrageous claims being strewn about and knowing that only 3% [if that] of the people online are actually making any money, I had no other option but to agree with him.


Even though I prefer reading the Personal Blogs as opposed to the Biz Blogs, I can see where both have their place. And if a Biz Blog has valuable content, then I'm all for it. I hate to see the personal blogs fade away like VCRs and Cell Phones the size of suitcases but that's progress and nothing we can do about it. But have you looked at some of these Biz Blogs lately? Well, I have and for the most part they have turned in to psuedo 'pit stops', nothing but SEO keywords and Links to other Blogs that are full of other content that was 'swiped' from another Blogger whos post had risen to the top of a Google search. Zero originality, let alone any amount of useful content of their own. After awhile you get tired of scowering the internet, looking for useful information, only to find watered down bits and pieces of the original content that is more or less irrelivent now as it was originally posted some three or four years ago. And as we all know, the internet is growing at such a fast pace that what was new six months ago is more than likely way out of date.



The emphasis seems to have changed from good, useable content to who can find the best software to Spambot themselves to the highest Search Engine rankings in order to sell their software to the next "SEOSPAMBOTKEYWORDOPTIMIZERINGURU" that comes along searching for a way to make 9 Figures Overnight while on the beach in Fiji. While I may sound bitter and I surely don't want to, I'm more disappointed than anything else.


I'll also be the first to admit that I'm a huge fan of Social Media. Whether it be Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, Digg, LinkedIn, or the myriad of others out there, I think they have all done wonders in helping the world to connect like never before. Here again though, the Spamathoners and the X~Rated Webcammers have initiated their massive onslaughts on these Sites, thereby continuing their oversaturation of the internet and the further deterioration of the integrity within those Sites. Not that they can completely take away the integrity of every individual on the Site, but the ratio of Spambot to 'real' person is being drastically swayed. Truly a shame as it causes everyone to think twice about trusting anyone.



That is why it's so refreshing when you actually find a real person on the Net these days, a true individual floating out there in the 'Sea of Spammers'. Lately I've been very lucky in this respect as I've connected with more than a few people that still believe as I do. Their focus is much more on how they can help others, how they can add value to their lives and help them along through lifes journey as opposed to how can I get them to think that I just made $10K last night while I was on the couch watching CSI.


As a matter of fact, one in particular stands out as she really caught my attention with her content and blogging style. Both are extremely similar to my own, which of course it goes without saying that I'm a huge fan of my own stuff. Needless to say it's been great communicating with her and regardless of whether or not we share the same viewpoint on a certain subject, I feel as if I can relate to where she's coming from and therefore how she was able to reach the conclusion she did. Most of all though, it's the trust aspect. I don't feel as if there are any 'smoke and mirrors' involved and that's just a pleasant feeling to say the least.


All this got me to wondering, could this be a trend and a welcome one at that? Or am I on a 'Lucky Streak', just happened to find a few needles in this very large haystack of marketing mayhem? Is it possible that this flood of 'fakes' is causing a resurgence in personal blogging or is it just wishful thinking on my part?


When it gets to the point that you have to analyze every Tweet, Comment and Email, looking for the 'hidden' message, wondering what they are trying to sell, scam or spam me with, needless to say it can be very exhausting. Not to mention all the doubt it creates when you have to ask yourself who's really hiding behind every fake avatar and profile pic wondering what virus will be left behind in their wake. Definitely a workout.


While I might be looking at my monitor through rose colored glasses, imagining a spam & scam free Internet, I know that isn't likely to happen anytime soon. But the recent glimpses of an Internet that can be trusted, believed in and one that thrives on bettering the lives of 'real' people have brought with them a renewed feeling of hope that somehow the truth will still prevail. Let's hope so anyway.


Like they say in Business 101, people only do business with people they 'know, like and trust'. Somehow that principal seems to have gotten lost and it's floating around somewhere out there, in the Blogosphere.

Add It To The List

What is that saying again? A thought without action is just a dream? Something like that. Well, that truly seems to fit me perfectly. Lately anyway. Well, now that I think about it, for quite some time now I have had lots of trouble getting anything accomplished. While my mantra had always been, "Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?", I had hoped to change that aspect of my personality. I'm sure there are others out there like myself. Oh, you know who you are. So many dreams, too much time. Paralysis by Analysis. The list goes on and on. I'm sure there is a bit of procrastinator in all of us.


Don't get me wrong, this is surely not something that I am in any way proud of but as with any flaw, be it physical, emotional or otherwise, the only way to overcome and to get beyond it, in essence to recover from it is to first admit that there is a problem. Only then can it be conquered. Once and for all.


Where to begin? I've known that I've suffered from this ailment for quite some time but for some strange reason I just assumed it would disappear on its own. Yet it hasn't. Go figure. Naturally I thought some kind of selective Mind Magic would just unprogram it from my brain and I would instantly run around getting all kinds of stuff accomplished. Yet, here we are, nearing the end of 2009 with no sign of a 'dethroning' in the near future. The King of Procrastination is alive and well. Unfortunately, he is me.

Not that I wouldn't like to give up the throne, to crown a new King. Oh, how I would enjoy that but it's not exactly as easy as one might think. Turns out there are many others equally as qualified as I am, yet they continue to procrastinate and never step up to assume this glorious position of power. Perhaps someone will in the near future but more than likely not. Only time will tell.


Time. It's one of our most, if not THE most precious resource we have. One that we can never get back. Once it's gone, it's gone forever, never to return. Strange isn't it, how we continue to waste it as if it's a renewable commodity that will never end. Unfortunately, as far as I know, that is surely not the case. We only have one life to live. This isn't a practice run, a dress rehearsal. This is it, the real deal, good or bad, for better or worse. This is the only chance we have to make it happen, to live the life we want, the life of our dreams.


Why is it then that we continue to put things off, excuse after excuse, merely to stay in our 'comfort zone'? If your comfort zone is anything like mine, in actuality when you really think about it, it pretty much sucks. Worst part is that even though I know mine sucks, it's still a place I like to hang out because for the most part I have a really good idea of what's there and I guess that's what makes it so comfy. Add to that the fact that it's chock full of all kinds of excuses and who in their right mind would ever want to leave such a fabulous place? Well, I for one. I'm sick and tired....of being sick and tired.


All of the changes that I had planned on making after 2008, which up to that point in my life had been one of the worst years on record, have definitely not even begun to materialize. Not in the slightest and while I truly believed that with all the devastation of that year, 2009 just HAD to be better but in fact it turned out to be even worse than '08. Now that's saying alot and none of it good.


So with '09 coming to a close I'm being forced to ask myself how could this have ever happened? With '08 being so miserable, how did I not learn from that? I was without a doubt going to do everything in my power to make '09 so much better. Why then didn't all my scheduled 'changes' take place? After all, they were on my List of things to do. Some of them were even labeled Top Priority! You know, The List. The list that for some reason continues to get longer rather than shorter. Check one thing off, add two, check another off, add two more in it's place.


Hmmm, I think I'm beginning to see a pattern here. No wonder any feelings of accomplishment that might possibly occur are quickly wiped away by the vast amounts of Post Its strewn about my desk and the surrounding walls. Ok, also the ones on the bathroom mirrors, refridgerator doors, car dashboards, you get the picture. Next thing you know, you're swimming in a sea of 'post its' wondering how in the hell am I ever going to tackle all this stuff? And so at that point you have no option other than to just hop on the EZ Train. Next stop, the Comfy Zone! Overwhelmed with Paralysis by Analysis and Precision Indecision, it's very easy to head for the Fountain of Excuses. That endless gold mine of built in reasons for never getting anything done.


Like it or not, this all comes right back to me, falling in my lap with a huge thud. Dang it! Not that I like to play the 'blame game' but with all my high hopes, how on earth could this be my fault? Yet it is my fault, nobody else I can lay the blame on. Even with all my great intentions, apparently I rarely seem to take action on any of my thoughts and as such they continue to remain in the dream stage. Who'd a thunk it? Me, of all people. I used to be the guy that would set a goal and follow through on it but obviously that has all changed. It's not that I give up. It's more that I guilt out.


That's it, time's up! I refuse to lose again in 2010! I have got to come up with a way to remember the misery of the last two, make that three years to insure that 2010 is not a repeat performance. How do I go about that? What is the best way to guard against continuing this downward spiral, allowing me to redirect my life in a more positive direction and moving forward on a more positive path towards achieving all of my goals?


Seems to me that the first thing I need to do....is to do the first thing. That should be simple enough, right? That appears to be where most of my troubles begin, with a failure to even take that first step. It's not so much the fear of failure as I have pretty much always been able to do anything that I set my mind to. But it's more the inability to even choose which step to take first, to make a decision on which direction to take and to stick with it long enough to know for sure if it's the path I should be taking or not. Lately I seem to bail on my choices shortly after getting started out of pure guilt, a nagging fear that I am wasting too much time, yet I have wasted so much time already by not following through on anything. Which of course only leads to more guilt. What a vicious cycle.


This has got to change and so with that, I will somehow force myself to pick a direction and see it through so that I know for certain that I've explored it's full potential. Right or wrong, at least I will come away with the satisfaction of knowing I gave it my best shot.


Of course along with that comes the fact that I will have to change my mantra. Something more along the lines of "Why put off until tomorrow, what I CAN do today?" Hmmm, I think I like that one better anyway. From here on out I will be relegating the throne to whomever may want to take over my kingdom. Needless to say, only true procrastinators need apply. I'm going to build a new Kingdom, one of my own choosing. Not one I inherited by default but one that I created, filled with all the hopes, dreams and accomplishments of which I know I'm truly capable of yet I have postponed for a lifetime.


So that also means it's time for a new List. Not merely another Post It tacked on top of the millions of others but an entirely clean slate. This time I will also force myself to check items off at relatively the same pace at which I am adding other items to it. First thing on the list? Take Action! CHECK!!!

IM vs. Texting: Which Is Worse?

Jeez, is it just me or does Instant Messenger suck just as much as Texting does? Or do they both suck equally, just different size screens? I don't know about you but the frustration level between what I'm trying to say and what is actually coming out on the screen can be brutal. Those that read my earlier post on texting pretty much have a good idea about my thoughts on texting. While it does have its place, you just can't have a relationship of any substance, let alone with zero emotion, through texting. Quick snippets here and there are fine but an actual conversation, no way.


It's beginning to appear that IM is more or less the same thing, only with a larger screen. Now, I have to admit that I am lagging rather badly in my typing skills and with that being said, I'm more than willing to admit that this negative attitude toward IM'ing could clearly be due to my lack of skills. I find myself constantly having to type as fast as possible, smoke coming off of both of my fingertips, all in an effort to keep up with a question that was asked four or five lines ago. By the time I finish semi proofreading and look up at the screen, just before I hit 'enter', my response is no where near where it should be in relation to everything that's on the screen.


So here again, do you quickly delete this response before you even send it or do you at least respond to the question that was asked many sentences ago? Oh, the angst that fills my body is excruciating. I don't want it to appear that I'm not listening or heaven forbid, not participating in this cyber conversation but the confusion just seems to mount as time goes on.


Then it's the dreaded "HUH?" Huh, what? you ask yourself. As you scroll up you see that the other person could be referring to so many things and you have no idea which one of these questions was left unanswered. Are you ignoring me now? Are you mad? Nooooooooooo, I'm not ignoring you and I'm not mad! Why would you think that? I'm typing as fast as I can!!! All the confusion begins and then it's a rollercoaster from hell, barely hangin' on the tracks by two wheels, one more tight curve and we're airborne with the ground comin' up awfully fast!


How could all this have even happened.? The conversation started off so well. I'm soooo happy to hear from you. Ohhhh, me toooo! ;))) But then how on earth did it turn in to a tennis match, and one so uneven at that. Like a game between David Letterman and Venus Williams, someone's gonna lose and I seriously doubt it's gonna be Venus.


Perhaps there needs to be a written exam before you can even download IM to your computer? Some kind of an IM License needs to be issued, at least of WPM test. Sure, it all seems like a great idea at the start. Direct connection, no waiting in between messages and best of all, no stupid 140 character limit to edit your thoughts. Yet, those are the aspects of IM that can take you down. Literally.


Here again, the discrepency between the two IMers has so much to do with how well the conversation will go. While the skill levels can never be exactly the same, the rules must be set forth in the beginning regarding the speed of the reply, the spelling errors, lack of punctuation, etc. in order to keep the doors of understanding wide open. If not, all hell is gonna break loose. It's only a matter of time.


So I for one, admittedly lacking in IM skills, will be the first to admit that I might [most likely am] be the cause of most of this confusion. As such I would ask for a bit of compassion, maybe even a little extra understanding for my plight. While I'm doing my best to get and stay caught up with the conversation, I truly am going as fast as my two fingers can type. Please take that in to consideration before you get upset and wonder why the hell I would say whatever the hell it is I said in such a way that I said whatever it was that I said. OK?




The technology of today has created so many incredible ways of communicating, all meant to enhance our lives but we all must keep in mind that some of us are further along in this learning curve than others and therefore a bit more leeway is needed in various situations. And so with that, I will give both of my fingers a break for now. That way I'm fresh and ready to go the next time I see that flashing orange box, letting me know the race is on!

I Have Been Warned...or should I say "WARNERED"?

Yes, you're right. I should have known better. And even though I didn't want to face facts, I had an idea it might happen but yet, I still had to try. If I never tried, I never would have known for sure and that feeling of not knowing, gnawing away at me wouldn't have been any less painful and so I had to give it my best shot and let the cards fall where they may.


I decided to make my own Mind Movie. Now, I'm sure most of you out there know what I'm referring to but for those that don't here's a quickie explanation. Basically a Mind Movie is a 'Vision Board' turned in to a Video, streaming along with the music of your choice. Meant to inspire you to chase after your dreams, remain focused on your goals and to pursue your passions. While a Vision Board is just a static collection of pictures meant to inspire you, a Mind Movie has much more of an impact on the mind. You are also able to add various pieces of text, here 'n' there which adds a bit of a 'subliminal messaging' kind of a feel to your movie.


All of this in hopes of helping to remind you of why you're going through all the daily stuggles, the trials and tribulations of life and enabling you to stay focused on your goals and dreams. We all can use a constant reminder to help us stay on track, a way of keeping the negativity at bay.


So I began to make a list of most of the 'things' I wanted for myself, my family and my friends. Not necessarily just things in a tangible sense, like cars, etc. but basically the way I wanted my entire life to be overall.


First step, gotta be Google to find lots of pictures to fill my Video with. Next thing you know, I have too many pictures but I can always narrow it down to the chosen few. OK, I now have a pretty good idea of which ones I'll use here. Some aren't exactly what I'd hoped for but they will do as reminders to help me stay focused and on track.


Then it's on to finding the right music to go along with my movie. Hmmm.... should I get something to pump me up, like a Rocky Theme or something along those lines? Or perhaps one of my favorite songs? One that brings back good memories, back when life was good? Not that life was ever really that good but with time comes faded memories and some of the bad stuff has a way of disappearing. Hmmm, with or without lyrics? Jeez, didn't realize that this would be the most difficult part. Finally had a pretty good idea of what I wanted. Now, how to get that song downloaded, saved and then add it to my video.


That whole process turned out to be a project in itself but again, thanks to Google and all the other wonderful people on the internet that have had to struggle with that as well, I was able to find the info needed to tackle it and so I finally had my song of choice added to my video.


Of course, it was then that I noticed the rather large discrepancy between the length of my song and the timeline of my pictures. No need to worry, I still have to add in all the text boxes, the subliminal messaging and so with those added to the mix, should help to lengthen the video overall and bring things a little more in line. I wanted the pictures to end at the exact same time as the song. I mean, what self respecting music video director/producer/editor would have it any other way?


Hadn't realized how difficult it was going to be to come up with 'stuff' to say, meaningful little messages to myself throughout the video that would inspire and motivate me. And so off to You Tube I went in search of other Mind Movies to find a bit of inspiration. I began noticing that they were all basically very similar. "Here's my Yacht, Here I am flying my plane, Here I am driving my new Lamborghini." I didn't want such a 'generic' video, one that was more or less a one size fits all. I wanted my video to be a bit more personalized, like my pictures are and so I decided to go through the pictures I had already selected and add my 'sayings' according to the different places and things in my storyline.


Wow, I'm kinda liking this. It's finally starting to take shape. So after adding all my text, my song was still longer than the length of my video. Not wanting the song to come to an abrupt ending, just when the vibes were starting to feel really good, I needed to add a few pictures in various places in order to make everything copasetic at the end. Voila, looks like everything lines up. Pictures and the audio all seem to stop in the same place. Damn I'm good! But something's still not quite right. Hmmm....


Got it! The song just goes so great with the pictures but things would flow even better if the pictures were arranged to go with certain parts of the song. I had no idea how addicting this video editing thing can be but what a difference it's making. Syncing the pictures with the high and lows of the music really adds to the feeling of the pictures, the text and the overall video. So after a bit more tweaking, I had to call it done. While there are still a couple things I'd like to change, overall I'm reasonably happy with the finished product. Especially for my first attempt at a music video. HA HA!

BRYANS MIND MOVIE



OK then, save it to my computer and I'm done. Now I have a video I can watch any time I wanna get motivated, stoked on life. Then it occured to me, might as well add it to my You Tube Channel. I haven't posted a new video there in months so no doubt I really need to anyway. This should work out great, way under the 'time limit' that You Tube specifies and giving my subscribers a little more inside info on me as a person has to be a good thing, right?


A couple of clicks and let the uploading begin. While that's going on, I'm filling in the video titile, description, tags, all that stuff and after a few minutes I get the message that everything has uploaded and I'm good to go. Woo Hoo, mission accomplished! Another video added to my Channel. Then up pops the message saying that the audio portion of my video has been disabled, muted, shut down. What? Disabled? How can that be? They say that it's a copyright issue but this song is on tons of other You Tube videos so it really makes no sense. Then they send me a link to some 'library' of random BS songs that are nowhere near the right length, let alone the same 'feeling' of my video. After spending all that time editing, making sure the song was aligned with the pictures the best way I could, just wasn't gonna happen. Wouldn't do my video justice to have some other random song on there.


Of course I took it a bit further to see how others were getting around this situation and basically, if your video is muted by WMG then you are out of luck. So after looking over the library of offerings, just in case I could find something 'close' that will allow me to post the video anyway, I see that now they have removed my video entirely. Who knows what happened, just a complete removal. I guess my video was just so damn good that they felt threatened by my editing skills as well as the use of 'their' song. I did see a couple places where people mentioned that this whole copyright thing should be worked out sometime in January but I'm not gonna hold my breath, that's for sure.


So it looks as if I'm going to have to keep my Mind Movie to myself, which is how it was originally intended anyway. Kind of a shame as I wanted to be able to see it when I went to my You Tube Channel but I don't want to risk having my entire Channel deleted, so I'm not about to press the issue.


Then it occured to me, I wonder if I can post it on my own Blog? Might as well give it a shot. Took me quite a bit of effort, getting the movie formatted so that it will play inside my post along with a 'player' that would do the same thing. And so with tons of trial and error, I seem to have conquered the issue and the movie and player are both embedded within my post. This will definitely make it much easier next time I want to include a video so even though it was a struggle, to know that I persevered and made it happen, that's huge for me. Especially since I'm so computer illiterate.


So let this be a lesson to others out there that hope to have their video on You Tube, better check with the library first. You have been warned.....

Can You Be TOO SMART?

What the heck was that? As it approached, I had no idea what it was. And since I'm such a car buff, I was personally offended that I even had to ask myself that question in the first place. Yet there it was, driving by right in front of my eyes and I seriously had to ask myself what I was seeing.


We have all noticed that as gas prices and insurance costs continue to skyrocket, as "GREEN" becomes the 'in thing' and so many changes have taken place around the globe regarding transportation in general, cars are getting smaller, safer and more fuel efficient.


While I try to stay semi up on the latest hybrids, deisels, electric powered, even hydrogen powered offerings from all over the world, somehow this still hit me as an extremely odd vehicle. The overall lines, let alone the size seemed familiar but yet as I looked closer, something just wasn't right. What on earth could this be?


I thought to myself, "Has something completely new hit the market? A car that I was totally unaware of? How did it get past my 'Bradar'?" Not that I am in any way an expert on the latest auto offerings but since I do love cars, mostly high end European sports cars and Woodies, I scower many various online sites and so I'm exposed to lots of new vehicles along the way. Yet this little machine still had me doing a double take. I take great pride in being as prepared as possible in many situations and nothing worse than being unprepeared for the latest trend, even though I'm more of a trendsetter than a follower. And even if I'm not that 'into it', I still want to be able to interact with others that are passionate about all the different niche vehicles available today.


Luckily 'it' stopped at the signal up ahead. As I did my best to decipher exactly what it was that I was viewing, that's when it struck me. I finally figured out what the heck it was under all that 'bolt on' drama. I recognized that emblem. I think most anybody, car afficianado or not, would recognize that little 'circle of heaven'. Of course, those that aren't true car lovers might think this was another 'add on', just another attempt to fool the masses but if you are up on your 'carknowledge' then you already know that the manufacturer of these vehicles is indeed Mercedes Benz.


Like everyone else on earth, the first thing you think is "How on earth could MB be involved with a car like this?" As it turns out, these little babies have passed every test needed, Safety, Mileage, etc. to allow them to be sold in this country. The US has the most stringent requirements on earth and if you can market and sell your car here, you can more or less sell it anywhere in the world. Except of course for the Communist countries, that's an entirely different animal. Who knows what the heck is going on in those countries. You can buy a brand new car there for $2000.00, how can you compete with that? I think it even comes with a 'Thirty Minute or Thirty Foot Warranty', whichever comes first, so it has that going for it. But regardless of my thoughts, if Mercedes Benz is going to build and market these cars, they deserve a bit of respect in the auto world.


So that was it, I finally figured it out. It was a Smart Four Two. I still question myself every time I see one of these as to just how smart the owners are for buying them but I have to do my best to keep an open mind about it. Who on earth would want to look in their rearview mirror and continually see the license plate of the car behind them, towering high above their head? Personally, I sure wouldn't but that's just me. And therefore I really need to work hard to keep an open mind.


Just as I need to keep an open mind as it relates to my favorite marque, Porsche, building that uglier than ugly Panamera. The Cayenne SUV was hard enough to swallow but I can easily see how it relates in its attempt to get a piece of the huge world wide SUV market. But a giant luxury four door sedan, with the worst rear three quarter view on the market today, still not feelin' it. Especially when the luxury four door 'saloon' market is flooded with all kinds of high end heaven, not too sure how big of a piece Porsche could even hope to garner. Yet I'm sure they did their research long before they ever began production so it's just a matter of time to see how all that pans out.


As I stared at this 'thing' in front of me a bit more, I realized why I had so much trouble guessing what it was. The endless amount of bolt on 'bling' had rendered it more or less unrecognizable. Perhaps this was exactly what the owner had hoped to achieve, some way to 'disguise' it and if so, well done. The original vehicle was more or less nowhere to be found. Although the basic platform was there, it seemed as if this was almost more of a trailer full of aftermarket parts as opposed to an improvement over the original factory offering. Yet there was no tow vehicle in sight. To each his own, I reckon, but one would have to wonder just exactly what the heck this guy was thinking. I truly wonder if he isn't asking himself that question as well but after spending all that money on all those 'extras', he's left with no other option than to leave everything on there 'as is' and just act as if it's his dream come true. Whether it is or not.


Tires and Wheels, Body Kit, Paint Wrap, Tinted Windows, Suspension Kit, Exhaust System, Trick Lights and these were just things that I noticed while sitting at the signal. Who knows how much other 'stuff' was inside and under the hood. I have a good feeling there was more than likely an upgraded Stereo, GPS, maybe more interior 'doo dads' and who even knows what's going on under the hood. That list alone is so overwhelming I hate to even begin adding more to it. Yet this guy (girl?) felt that too much could never be enough. What's even more amazing is the fact that all this aftermarket 'crap' is even available for these cars. I had to remember than even tough this particular car has only been available in this country for a relatively short time, it has been marketed around the world much longer. To be honest there really isn't a car built these days that doesn't have a ton of available aftermarket goodies built just for it.


Light turns green and there it goes. Wwwaaaaaaaaaa, wwwwaaaaaaaahhhhhh, wwwwwaaaaaaa...... the 'new' exhaust resonating as it bounced down the street. Yes, I said bounced. It appeared that the new lowered suspension had in some way compromised the original ride, making it appear even more like a toy than an actual car and a bad riding toy at that. To each his own, I guess. Yet I had to wonder when too much was too much. It was more than obvious that common sense was indeed sacrificed in the chase for individuality and while I am a huge advocate of those that blaze their own trail, I was still left having to ask the question, "When is enough too much?"


To all of you out there that prefer to fly your own "Freedom Flag", I commend you as that's what makes the world what it is today. Without those that choose to create their own way in this world, those 'free thinkers' that aren't afraid to do what they want in life despite what others may think and feel, we might still be riding in horsedrawn wagons and buggies, being pulled along by "Rusty" and dodging the numerous 'road apples' along the way. It's diffcult to say for sure but it is something to consider. So to all of you out there that choose to pave their own path, my hat is truly off to you. But I still have to ask that common sense be taken into consideration when searching for ways to show your individuality.


Which brings us back to my original thought, which is how do you know when too much really is too much? If you have endless time on your hands and plenty of extra money? Then who cares, I guess you can think way outside your box, whatever that box may consist of. But when you are spending more money, time and effort in an attempt to individualize and enhance your SMART(?) car to the point that you have spent so much more than it would have cost you to get a new BMW 335i Convertible and the credibility that comes along with owning a truly desirable vehicle, that's when you really have to ask yourself, "Are you TOO smart for your own good?"