kaseytraeger

I got into web design because of my dog, believe it or not! He was a show dog, and I got him from a breeder that was 2000 miles away. I wanted a way to keep her updated on his growth and progress, so I created a small web site for him. That small site is no longer posted, but the love of creating web sites has only grown. Go figure!!!

I code all my pages by hand and view them in browsers that I've downloaded and installed. For coding purposes, I use a freeware/shareware program called TextPad. It has a button in it that allows you to "view in web browser." You can set which web browser will be the default browser for viewing. Depending on how you look at it, I could be a bonehead for not taking advantage of all the WYSIWYG editors out there, or you could see me as a purist who likes to get her hands dirty in the code she's dealing with. Either way, I've done a lot of programming over the past several years (while earning my B.S. in Computer Engineering, if that gives you any indication of how many keystrokes I've logged in raw code alone!). I was forever looking for a good, cross-language and cross-platform text editor that I felt comfortable working with. I've tried several, and for a while I used Visual Slick (owned by the company I was working for at the time ... kind of a pricey product) and Crimson Editor, but when a co-worker let me in on TextPad, I found I appreciated the clean, non-obtrusive interface and the fact that I could code, compile and view raw code in a variety of languages. Plus, you can't beat the price. It's free to try (the trial period never expires), or you can pay something like $29 for the "commercial-free" product. Anyway, that's my 25 cents about my method for creating web pages and an added infomercial raving about Textpad!

I signed and added my two cents (via a comment) to the petition, as well. I certainly hope this does some good. Monopolies are extremely dangerous to a healthy free market economy. We don't need no stinking monopolies!!! Yuck! Imagine what we'd have to pay for TLDs if VeriSign were able to pull off this coup. Mad!!!

I think I'm going to take some of the more popular names that were chosen and try fiddling with inserting other words where "Traeger" would be. I'll probably be putting up some of the ones I think up for everyone to comment on. Thanks for all the input folks!

These are all very good suggestions, especially the comments that have caused me to stop and think. First, the T&A thing ... definitely a no-go. Sounds very womanizing! Yikes!!! Thanks for pointing this out. Boy, can you imagine what some potential clients would think if we were to use T&A as our "nickname" or abbreviated business name?!? Heavens!!!! Second, I hadn't really considered the thought of selling the business, but now that I think about it from a different perspective (and dredging up some information from books I've read in the past), business people definitely need to think about an exit strategy when forming a company. Virtual Imager has made a very good point. OK, so that leads to a new question. If I leave the Traeger name out of the business name, this clearly opens more options and more chances for *creativity*. Please, help me get my thinking cells going. What do you think would be a good name if I refrain from putting my last name in the business name? We'll be moving to a mid-sized town in Montana. Perhaps something that attaches to the Montana mind set ... e.g., wilderness, nature, the Rocky Mountains, etc. Just a thought. I'd like to come up with a name that strikes a nice balance between being a business professional and being an approachable, not-to-"corporate" business person. My husband grew up in the area and although there are a lot of people moving into the region and bringing their businesses with them from the urbanized west coast, the people of the area still seem to like to do business with companies and individuals they perceive as approachable and competent. Believe it or not, contracts are still sealed with a handshake, and a person's word is as good as gold. Wow!

Wow, to be honest, I'm amazed at the positive response towards "The Traeger Group." This is good info, folks, because it lets me see the world in a different light from my normally dim 15W bulb! I also feel honored to have received a comment from HG as my very first reply! I really like the visualization of TTG initials in a logo on a business card. An excellent point -- It starts to make the business seem real instead of just made up in my head! So far, it looks like there is a big consensus that The Traeger Group is the stand-out favorite, but I still want to hear what others have to say. So come on, people ... speak up!!!! woooot Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention ... Rock Sign My fav-o-rite web host!!! Thumbs Up

Hi everyone, My husband and I have bantered back and forth trying to come up with a name for the business we are trying to start. I'd like to open up a web development business (big surprise there, since everyone seems to do follow the web dev craze!) but can't seem to come up with a name that really "sits with me." I'm would like to use our last name -- Traeger -- in the business name because to me it implies a sense of professionalism. I've been tossing back and forth the following ideas... Traeger & Associates: because I'm hoping that there will soon be more than just my husband and I in the business The Traeger Group: it sounds cool to me Traeger Industries: because hubby thinks it's more open-ended, allowing us to expand into more than just the web dev industry Traeger Consulting: seems kind of bland to me, but don't a lot of web developers use the term "consulting" in their name? Traeger Enterprises: because hubby likes Star Trek, and also because it is more open-ended (lik the Traeger Industries suggestion) Traeger Technologies: I think this one sounds cool because of the aliteration, but I think it might prevent us from expanding. What do you think? I don't know what to do, so I want your input. If you have any business name suggestions, I'd love to hear them! Or, if you like one of those in the list, which one do you like, and why? I don't want our name to sound like a law firm, but neither do I want it to sound like a fly-by-night business. I'd like the name to connote professionalism without seeming too "corporate America." (We will soon be moving to a much more rural area that doesn't take kindly to the big-city West Coast / California folk who have slowly encroached and taken over their small town. We would be just another "rude big city" transplant.) Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

happiness

Eric, You can also achieve the same drop-down effect using CSS instead of JavaScript. I actually prefer the CSS method because all current browsers support CSS, whereas users may elect to turn off JavaScript in their browser. For a good example of a drop down menu script using CSS, you can visit Listamatic, WireMan Menu 1 or WireMan Menu 2. Actually, I can't remember now if the Wire-Man menus use only CSS or if they are a combo of CSS and JavaScript. You'll need to look into it. Either way, the Listamatic web site has a lot of really great CSS menus. Check it out!

James, I voted for the .com name for the same reasons as others. However, since you're a CPA, you should know that there is a new proposed (if it hasn't already been implemented) extension called .pro that's reserved for business professionals like lawyers and attorneys. You could use that one, and really stand out from the crowd.

I saw the same post by HG and was confused as well. I don't think I was gone from the forums for very long, so it must have happened pretty quickly. Congratulations to TCH-MikeJ (formerly Big Gorilla) on your new "promotion"! What an honor to be invited to join the TCH staff. Thumbs Up

I asked this same question not long ago. Here's another one that was suggested in that topic... http://www.sxc.hu/index.phtml EDIT --> Oops ... my apologies ... I didn't see that Josh (RockNRollPig) had already submitted this one. Sorry 'bout that! But here's another one ... http://www.bluevertigo.com.ar/bluevertigo.htm It's got a variety of resources, not just photos and graphics.

GQ Magazine, look out! Here comes our Head Guru Woo hoo, what a fancy suit and tie!

I just added a post and thought it would show up here. But I had two browser windows open, so I don't know which topic it actually got posted under... If any of the moderators out there see a funny post by kaseytraeger that's out of place, will you please move it to this topic?

Server loads are probably peggin' out right about now!

You betcha!

Mine too. This had as much anticipation as Dick Clark's countdown on New Year's Eve! I'm waiting for the dang shimmery ball to drop and confetti to start falling!

Dang, Glenn, that looks so much tastier than even Outback Steakhouse or Black Angus!!! Definitely much better than my dinner tonight. Hubby has to work late, so his company is providing pizza for his development team. I, on the other hand, have to cook for one tonight, so it's chicken pot pie baaaaby!

Bill, Why try to stop a good thing? At least this addiction won't put your family in the poorhouse like gambling, won't harm your health like alcoholism or drug addiction, and is much nicer to the waistline than overeating! Also, if this is your only vice, your wife should consider herself a lucky woman ... at least you're not out chasing skirts!!!

Y'all are going to think me insane, but I just use the command line interface that comes with my operating system. This was the first method of FTP I learned in college (no, not 20 years ago...this was in year 2000), and I guess I was reluctant to learn a stand-alone FTP third party program because I'm proficient enough with the command line style FTP. But, now that I see that I'm the only one so far who uses this method of FTP, I'm thinking of trying something new. Actually, I did try WS_FTP last year some time, but it had some problems connecting (probably user error, which is the cause 99.9% of the time). Rather than try to troubleshoot my own inadequacies, I just opted to go back to the user-unfriendly, but straightforward command line interface.

I would love to have my site added to your links, if you're still accepting them. www.kaseyscreations.com I've only got an index page right now because I've been busy developing another web site, but at least there's a bit of content on it! Thanks

Very cool observation. How about this one... Last year, I went to a birthday party on March 3 (03/03/03) for a man who turned 33 years old! Here's another one. What about people born on January 9 between 1900 and 1999? The abbreviated version of their birthday ends up being the exact same digits as the year they were born. For example, for a person born on January 9, 1943, the abbreviation for their birthday is 1/9/43. Take away the slashes, and you have 1943, the year they were born! Anyone else got some neat date/number tricks?

I bought mine through TCH. I think the company is called SecureServer.

Yes, in the U.S. It's now 1pm, and my countdown clock shows 10 hours to go, so that would make it 11pm, right? I'm not the best when it comes to time switching and translation...

I'm inclined to think that customer service varies from region to region in the U.S. I was born and raised in California, and [unfortunately,] have lived here all my life. Until age 25, I lived in the same town. When I was a kid, it had about 15,000-16,000 people. By the time I was 25, it was close to 50,000. I'm sure many people have heard of "urban creep" or "urban sprawl", but I also think there's a phenomenon of "discourteous creep" wherein the more people move into an area, the more businesses lose all sense of courtesy for people. This is exactly what happened in my town. So many people started moving there from areas like the San Francisco bay area and Los Angeles (and they brought their rude ways with them), that the businesses no longer had to provide excellent customer service in order to attract and maintain customers. It had become a numbers game, and there were enough potential customers in the area now that businesses became lazy when it came to customer service. The businesses started treating customers like we needed them instead of them needing us. The discourteous creep was slow and undetectable to me until about a year ago. I had forgotten what real, honest customer service was like until my husband and I travelled the the mid west to visit his folks. They live in a town that's about the same size my hometown was when I was a kid. The customer service there is awesome. It stood in stark contrast to the kind of customer service we get in California. Not two weeks after our return, we went out for breakfast one Saturday morning, and the restaurant was busy. The hostess didn't even bother to seat us. She practically tossed the menus to us, then pointed to a corner of the room and said "Go sit over there." This is no joke, it really happened. My theory is that customer service varys by region (e.g., mid west versus California) and that a big reason for terrible customer service in some areas is that there are enough people out there that the businesses don't have to work for your business anymore. It's almost like they've got you by the keister. Think about it. When was the last time you got good customer service from your local telephone provider, your city's water and sewer department, etc? You are literally just a number, and you need them to provide you with basic services, so they don't have to be nice or courteous to you. That's why I was so surprised to find TCH. I haven't received such excellent customer service in many, many years. Many people expect poor service from their web host simply because they aren't used to anything else. When I found TCH, I was honestly amazed that I had been willing to allow such poor customer service in other facets of my life. But there is something we can do about it, and I have taken steps to do so in my own life. I am now a big proponent of voicing your experiences to customer service managers whenever you get very good or very bad service. For example, I had to call my health insurance company the other day. The customer service agent was so helpful and pushed to get a transaction through before a certain cut-off date that I asked for her name and sent a letter to her supervisor of how she had gone out of her way to help me and how she was an excellent customer service representative because she really seemed to want to help the subscriber. Likewise, my husband and I got terrible service from a local auto parts and service store (national chain). When I didn't get satisfaction from the store manager, I sent a letter to the national headquarters. (On a side note, I'm still waiting to hear back from them ... and if their headquarters dislike customers as much as their local store in our town seems to, I probably won't be hearing from them.) Am I being a squeaky wheel? Probably. But the fact is that too many of us don't tell these companies that we will take our money and our business elsewhere if they don't provide the kind of service and respect to their customers that the customers deserve. Unless we say something, business ethics, practices and customer service will continue to decay. But you also need to make sure you praise a company when praise is due. It's like training a dog. Positive reinforcement works much better than the alternative. Thanks for letting me rant. Rock Sign (Super duper customer service!)