How the SEO Industry Has Changed My Life

Filed Under (Life, SEM) by Mike Wilton on 30-05-2008

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Unlike most SEO’s I didn’t actively seek a career in SEO, in fact I hadn’t even considered it when I was given the position. Instead I was handed the position based on my performance in another role with the company I work for. I’m assuming my strong client communication skills and my ability to quickly grasp new concepts played a big part in it, but I’m still not totally sure why I was picked for the position.

July will mark the one year anniversary of my position as a “Website Marketing Specialist”. In that time I have learned a lot, yet at the same time there is still a lot I don’t fully understand. Integrating myself in the SEO industry has been an incredible experience and while I am surely no chameleon that has easily or quickly blended with my surroundings, there has definitely been a significant amount of change. Below I have compiled a list of what I have learned and what has changed since my blind beginnings nearly a year ago.

  1. There needs to be an eighth day of the week added solely to catch up on industry blogs and happenings.
  2. Twitter will be the downfall of humanity and office productivity. Honestly, Twitter updates have taken priority over checking my e-mail.
  3. Branding is everything…Whether it is an avatar, a username, or your love for diet coke; having something that makes you easily identifiable and standout in the sea of SEO’s is key.
  4. No matter how hard you try most people will not understand what it is you do…I’ve simply just started telling people I do marketing for websites; it at least shuts them up.
  5. SEO is something you eventually eat, sleep and breathe 24/7-365. When your wife can identify Danny Sullivan and Michael Gray , and you have a reminder set to remind you to listen to the Daily Searchcast you know you’re in over your head…
  6. No matter how much you learn or think you know, someone else will come along and know more. But as it was so nicely put earlier this week in Neil Patel’s interview on SEOBook, “…someone is always going to have a bigger penis than you, so might as well not try to compete and do the best you can do.”

There are a number of other things here and there that I have picked up, but I really didn’t feel like regurgitating (like basic SEO). Then of course there are also things I am working on or discovering, such as Google’s view of RSS feeds vs. the live content the feed comes from. Either way as I near my 1 year anniversary of working in the SEO industry I know that this is something that is going to stick with me as long as it exists.

My passion will always be web and graphics design, but being able to bring SEO into the equation makes me feel that much more valuable as a designer. Furthermore it’s one more service I can offer my clients.

Thanks For The Memories

Filed Under (Life) by Mike Wilton on 12-05-2008

So for archival purposes I am going to start transferring over old posts from my long outdated LiveJournal. I figure since Musings For A Darkened Room is going to be my primary blog from here on out I better backup the old information before my LiveJournal account is closed or deleted.

The Latest Addition To My Desktop Family

Filed Under (Life) by Mike Wilton on 28-04-2008

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Thanks to the randomness of Audrey I now have added a new member to my desktop family…Wee Little Leprechaun. Here’s the latest family portrait from my desk!

My desktop family; introducing the leprechaun.

From left to right: Mr. Bones and his coffin with my fortune cookie fortune that reads, “Good things are bein said about you”, Wee Little Leprechaun, The Lucky Penny Audrey gave me when I had the plague, eZanga.com frog with my fortune that reads, “You have the makings of a leader”, Rat Bastard reading the story of Wee Little Leprechaun, and finally Webby the spider. (Yes I was lame enough to name all these while writing this post…Fortunately Wee Little Leprechaun came named…)
So with that said, welcome to the desktop family Wee Little Leprechaun, and thanks Audrey.

What I’ve Done To Be More Earth Friendly In 2008

Filed Under (Life, Living Green) by Mike Wilton on 24-04-2008

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So with Earth Day on Tuesday I decided I wanted to post a top five list of things I have done in 2008 to become more environmentally friendly. It’s a little late, but relevant none the less. Nature and the environment have always been things I have respected and felt needed to be preserved. So at the beginning of the year my wife and I decided that we were going to make a solid effort to do our part to become more environmentally friendly. Here are the top five things we have done this year to be more eco-friendly:

5: Though we’ve always actively recycled we made a more conscious effort to recycle items from all rooms of our home. Before the focus was mainly on beverage containers.
4: Switched to environmentally friendly cleaners from companies like Method and Seventh Generation
3: Invested in the reusable cloth shopping bags. This will cut back on the number of plastic bags stores distribute.
2: Switched to organic and environmentally friendly soaps and shampoos.
1: Switched to organic produce where possible. Obviously organic produce is still up and coming in the grocery markets, but whenever possible we buy local and organic to cut back on the pollution from pesticides and transportation.

A BLOG is a publication of personal thoughts, experiences, and web links.

Filed Under (Life, Musings) by Mike Wilton on 20-01-2008

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This was originally posted on my Myspace page, but feel it applies here in many ways as well…

Ok, so I’m sure by now someone is offended and crying over my latest blog. Let me make something clear, my blogs against illegals aren’t directed at Mexican’s as a whole. And if you’re Mexican, and offended then you obviously think illegal immigration is ok, and if that’s the case then so be it. That is your view and you are ok to think that way, just as much as I am ok to think it’s not ok.

You can think I’m a racist, you can think I’m ignorant, you can think I’m arrogant. The bottom line is that it’s simply how I feel. My feelings about this are not unwarranted. And I have brought forth my concerns more than once in my blogs. Blogs are a place to share ideas, information, and opinions…This is what I do with my blog. Feel free to agree, or disagree, but again realize it is just a personal opinion towards a certain group of people not towards mexicans as a whole.

Do I sometimes attack mexicans in general? Yes, sometimes I do…Yes, I realize I may offend some of my mexican friends. But realize that most mexicans I know or are friends with do not fit in the category of mexicans I have so many issues with.

You aren’t rude and disregard those around you and their personal space. You don’t let your kids run amok in the store unsupervised or left to tear apart the toy section because you don’t want to deal with them while you shop. You have some sense of respect for others, their belongings, and their personal space. Agree with my POV, or not, you know exactly the types of Mexicans I am referring to. If you live in Corona, you’ll see them everytime you’re at the store…

If you’re my friend or know me, then you know I feel this way. If you decide you’re no longer my friend because of this, then so be it. If you’re willing to let a difference in views on social issues get in the way of our friendship, then you obviously aren’t a friend worth having around. This is who I am, this is how I feel. I have just as many issues with groups of whites, blacks, and various other races, but an opportunity to write about these issues rarely presents itself. I’ve said on more than one occasion, openly, that I am an equal opportunity racist and have issues with every race in some way or another.

With that said, I think I have laid everything out for you to make a decision. This is how I feel, this is who I am, and I will continue to write about topics that may be “racially sensitive” if I see fit. I hope you take this opportunity to come to a decision as to 1) how you will react to these posts in the future and 2) if you intend on continuing our friendship. If you decide to axe the latter of the two, then I wish all the best to you in the future. And if this is your decision, kindly remove me from your friends list so that I am aware of your decision and so that you are not somehow offended by future musings.

Alcohol Poisoning and Baby Booming…The Life Chaotic!!

Filed Under (Life) by Mike Wilton on 13-09-2007

So I had planned on blogging like a month ago, but procrastination and chaos prevented me from posting anything. S0, today I decided to quit procrastinating and just write. I’m going to cover a lot here so if you usually read my posts go grab yourself a beer and a snack cuz this may take a while. I assure you the first half of the blog is entertaining, as it talks of the events that unfolded at Eddy’s bachelor party last month.

So I guess I’ll start at the most eventful weekend in August and then work my way forward. August 18 was Eddy’s bachelor party. I think from the standpoint of being eventful it takes the cake out of all of the bachelor parties thus far. Mine being the most mellow with a night of barhopping and an early turn in, Rick’s was eventful in the sense that we saw old lady strippers and dollars in Rick’s crevices, but no one got super shitfaced and pulled off half the crap we did at Eddy’s.

The night started out pretty tame. The hummer limo picked us all up at Eddy’s parents house, we then took a trek down to Hooters in Anaheim. The usual boobs, beer, and chicken ensued. Joe of course played the roll of the flirt and thus had two of the waitresses flirting with him the whole time we were there. One even went as far as creating him an elephant hat made out of foil, of course he didn’t want to mess up his hair so the damn thing was passed around until we all got sick of wearing it.

We ended the Hooters visit in the parking lot. All the guys sat around smoking cigars for about a half hour or so…kinda sucked to be the non-smoker, but what was I to do? After Ed’s mom picked up his dad from Hooters we made a quick beer run and then were on our way to Hollywood.

The trip down was awesome. I think everyone enjoyed the bachelor party mix I burned for on the way down. It consisted of White Zombie, GNR, Poison, Metallica and a handful of other bands. I really scored with Poison’s Nothing But A Good Time since Eddy damn near creamed himself when it came on. The trip down basically just consisted of really loud music, a lot of drinking, and the occasional instance of the guys sticking out of the top of the limo or hanging their head out the side like a dog.

The original plans to go to a club that J.J.’s friend worked at fell through so we wound up settling for a club that the limo driver suggested to J.J. called Sugars. This was essentially the turning point of the whole night. We were able to get a table thanks to the driver and didn’t have to pay the cover, however it turns out that without the cover you still have to meet the two bottle limit. Little did any of us know the bottles cost around $350 each. And no, that’s not a typo, two bottles of Kettle One Vodka wound up costing Joe and J.J. seven hundred dollars. We still wound up waiting for a while before we got in, and since we had all been drinking on the way most of us had to piss like race horses. Most of the guys decided to go back and let loose behind an RV that was parked in the parking lot, I held off until we got inside. What can I say? I’m a sucker for the guy who gives you the towel to dry your hands! LoL

I know it sounds insane, and really it was, but it wasn’t the decision of the rest of us and J.J. was the one who was supposed to be handling all of this so we figured since he made his bed, he could lie in it too. Hell I didn’t even know until we were in the club that it cost so damn much. I would have told him to just have the limo driver take us to a local bar, it would have been hundreds of dollars cheaper.

The music at the club wasn’t too bad. They had a nice mix of old and new and even incorporated some modern rock stuff into some of their mixes. I wasn’t too fond of the hip hop stuff, but then again when am I? Rick, Russell, Eddy, and myself pretty much kept to one little group around the table. Joe wandered to meet some lady friends, and J.J. just sat there most of the night…Probably contemplating his poor decision making. I would have been pretty quiet myself if I knew I had just spent $700 on $40 worth of Vodka.

The Vodka came with an array of mixers; orange juice, cranberry juice, and tonic. I stuck to the cranberry juice, which I would later find may have been a HORRIBLE idea. We all had quite a bit to drink that night. Russell and I finished off the second bottle, we finally started to feel a pretty good buzz just before we got ready to leave the club…Little did we know we were actually just working our way up to being piss drunk.

J.J was the first to lose it once we left the club. He wound up puking on the side of the building while we were waiting for the limo driver. I didn’t actually witness this, and if I did I have no recollection of it happening. We also lost Russell at some point during all of this, but luckily he surfaced at the entrance of the club shortly there after.

The limo ride home is nothing but a blur at this point to me. I remember getting to the hotel, but I don’t recall the trip there or much after that. I know after we paid the limo driver we got into the hotel and at some point got in the elevator…That’s when things go kinda downhill for me.

On the elevator ride up I lose it and blow chunks all over the elevator. I’m pretty sure this was mostly due to the fact that it is one of those elevators that goes up and down at extreme speeds and makes your stomach sink, because it made me a little nauseous the next morning as we were leaving. When we got to my floor I apparently puked in the hall, and then when we got to the room puked some more.

This started a chain reaction puke and as I puked in the sink Russell christened the toilet. Joe stood in the bathtub and held me up, and I believe he blew chunks shortly there after. The guys really took care of me during this. I remember Joe and Russell getting me some water to help with the vomiting and then putting me to bed. Unfortunately within those first few minutes of lying in bed I lost it again and wound up puking all over myself and then all over the floor. Sadly when I turned over to puke I was so drunk I basically threw myself out of bed and on to the floor which resulted in a shoulder injury which is STILL bothering me. I later found out from my sister-in-law who’s a massage therapist that on top of my shoulder being problematic I popped a few ribs out of place that night…GOOD TIMES!

After I had stopped my puking I finally got to bed. The guys left me for the night, but the craziness did not end there. I was out for the count, but there were still plenty of misadventures for the guys to get into.

On the way back to their room Russell and Joe apparently came across some french fries that someone had put out in front of their door for the room service people to pick up, but Joe decided he wanted them. He left french fries on peoples doors, ate some and chased them with a swig of ketchup until he finally realized he could dip the fries into the little bottle, and then at some point he dropped the plate of fries which someone sent Russell rolling. Sadly when he fell he face planted and bled all over the place.

Later Joe somehow came across a half gallon of milk and decided to poor the contents of it down the stairs from the 11th floor…

The next morning I woke up around 8:30 because I felt like I needed to puke again. I saw the remains of the night before on the floor when I woke up. To my right was a puddle of puke and nothing else. Everyone else wound up crashing in the other room so I got the room to myself. I puked a few more times before I took like a 45 minute shower. I felt pretty close to death, and I’m pretty sure that had I drank anymore I may have actually SEEN death.

After the shower I had to puke again, and I did. Joe and Russell showed up about mid-puke to check on me. From there we basically just gathered up all our stuff and checked out. Everyone was pretty trashed, but I think I was the worst. We barely got out of the valet drop off and J.J. had to jump out to puke. It was a close call since he had say on the inside of the seat and they had to pull open the van door. After a couple rounds of puking from J.J. we made a quick stop at CVS to grab some drinks to hydrate ourselves and then started our journey home.

Everyone did pretty good until we were about halfway home, that’s when I started to feel sick again. I asked Rick to pull over, he said he would but he hesitated a little and waited until we got to an offramp which was apparently too long because I wound up going projectile on his door before he came to a full stop. I wound up opening the door about mid puke and almost fell out of the van. I walked off to the side of the road once he stopped and puked my guts out some more. Lucky for him and Alisha I had lost everything the night before and the only thing I threw up was the water I had bought at CVS…Hence the projectile vomit.

I felt sick the remainder of that day and looked like hell. I popped tons of blood vessels in my eyes which looked gross as hell for about a week or so. The next couple of days I still felt like death. I came to a pretty good conclusion that I had got a mild case of alcohol poisoning which knocked me on my ass for most of the week. I called in to work that Monday and got sent home Tuesday because I kept puking. Needless to say I haven’t had much of a desire to drink since then. In fact I have only had one beer since this all happened, and that was last weekend.

Mike Wilton paints his babies bedroom walls green.The rest of the last few weeks have consisted mostly of baby preparation. We’ve been helping with the planning of the baby shower, I painted the babies room, I pulled up the carpet in the babies room so Misty’s dad could put in new carpet, and my dad and I started building the new shelves in the closet in the babies room. These tasks have taken up about 90% of my free time with the other 10% consisting mostly of watching reality TV like The Girls Next Door and Rock of Love with Brett Michaels.

We made time a few weeks back to go enjoy a barbecue over at Rick and Alishas with Robbie, Eddy and Pearl. It was the first time we had really been invited anywhere in a while and really felt it may be nice to break away from the baby work and just relax with friends. We ate, played the Newlywed Game, and watched funny videos on the computer. It was a nice break from all of the chaos of getting ready for the babies.

The house is a mess right now with boxes upon boxes filling the living room and kitchen. We had to clear out everything from the babies room to get it ready and we are in the process of clearing out part of our room so the crib will fit in there for the first couple of weeks. Tonight I ditched school because I have been exhausted this week and we just started the new module so I have 3 days of class I can technically miss. Tomorrow after work I am going to finish the closet with my dad, and we are going to the store with my mom to pickup some of the food and drinks for the baby shower, and then Saturday we have to go do something…but now I don’t remember what.

Sunday is Eddy and Pearl’s wedding and then the following weekend is our baby shower. The baby shower is going to be a blast. It’s co-ed and we have games for both the girls and the guys. We also scored a Winnie the Pooh bounce house for the little ones that are attending. It should be a blast there will be tons of great food and drinks and I hope it turns out to be a really fun celebration.
Misty\'s most recent ultrasound showing the twins.
Speaking of the babies, things are going really well with them. They both weigh just over two pounds which the doctors say is really good for how far along Misty is. Misty will be 28 weeks tomorrow, but since she is carrying twins she is measuring at 38 weeks…Her belly has gotten huge with babies in the last month. For those of you who don’t know we are having one boy and one girl. The boy will be named Aiden and the girl will be named Cambria.

Vampiress Nohemi pleads for her life as Vampire hunter Jorge stuffs his big gun in her face.Things have been so crazy I am sure I have forgotten a few things. I have been excited to see that the stores have started getting Halloween merchandise in, but I have been even more excited to see that most of it sucks. This year we won’t have a lot of money to buy a lot of Halloween stuff so the more of it I don’t like the better. I’m going to miss Halloween this year. The Halloween Party was turning into such an awesome tradition and I don’t think this year will be the same without it. No Jesus and Satan hanging out, kinky Jorge and Nohemi (LoL), no awesome decorations and great goth tunes. = ( Oh well…I have vowed to return next year full force to make up for lost time.

Hopefully I’ll see a lot of you next weekend at the baby shower. For those of you I haven’t seen and won’t see I hope all is well! For those of you who haven’t RSVP’d for the baby shower, but want to come, just let me know. I know the invitations had a RSVP date on them, but you’re still welcome to come if you forgot to RSVP!

The year spins 7-7-7 and I come out a winner…

Filed Under (Life) by Mike Wilton on 16-07-2007

So the wheel of the year 2007 brought us 7-7-07. It appears that the spin of three 7’s brought me an awesome month and a ton of good luck. The first half of the month was spent with friends and family close by.

We wrapped up June by joining friends to celebrate Russell’s birthday at the local pizza joint and then ended the night hanging out at Joe’s parent’s house for some drinking and dunking…Well actually Jorge did the dunking and Nohemi was dunked, the rest of us just watched.
The following night Misty and I had a barbecue. Though the turnout was small the fun was anything but. There was tons of food, music, spanking, furniture humping, and Joe getting naked…Well almost. Needless to say there was not a moment that lacked excitement.

The first part of the night we mostly hung out and ate, but then later in the night we whipped out the board game 7 Deadly Sins since Nohemi had agreed to play the last time we all hung out. The game was a riot! People were spanked, pillows were violated, secrets were told, food was misused, and Jorge purred like a kitten.

Russel humping a pillow during a game of 7 deadly sins.On the fourth we were supposed to join Eddy and the gang for the annual 4th of July barbecue, but after numerous alterations to the barbecue plans and the fact that I wasn’t sure of my school schedule we didn’t make it. When I found out late the night before that there was no school I remembered that we were also invited to our friend Jason’s in Fontana. We were really close to going to his barbecue, but after we were offered the chance to go swimming at my cousins barbecue we decided against it. Misty and I stayed in Corona and went to my cousins house for some swimming and chicken tacos. The day was a lot of fun and it was the first time in a long time we were able to hang out with my mom, grandma, and all my cousins.

On July 6th I decided to throw a “6th of July” barbecue. I figured I still had tons of alcohol and food left from the previous weeks barbecue so, why not? Nohemi, Jorge, Deana, Rich, Russell, Joe, Jose, Rubi, Jason and Brianne all joined us for the festivities. We dabbled in some drinking games, but after we discovering that the dice were rigged and always landed on Chug-Chug we gave up since the bloating was unbearable. We ended the night with the We Love the 80’s board game for kicks. The game didn’t result in nudity or spankings, but it was fun none the less.

The next day we returned to my cousins house for more swimming and to celebrate my cousins’ birthdays. This time the whole family was there and everyone had an awesome time. We spent most of the afternoon in the pool trying to bash one another with one or more beach balls.

However, this past weekend was the busiest of them all. On Friday we celebrated my dad’s birthday with a barbecue with close family. It wasn’t the barbecue to end all barbecue’s, but I made some pretty damned good barbecue chicken.

Saturday was Stephanie and Dave’s baby shower. Minus the heat it was a lot of fun. Stephanie and Dave got a ton of stuff for the baby. And though most of the guests were friends and family of Dave’s everyone seemed to get along great and have a good time.

Sunday was Rylee’s first birthday party. Though the menu for this party was incredible, Misty and I didn’t last longer than about an hour and a half. Some of the kids that attended the party were extremely bratty with no regard for others around them. One of the kids was so bad he actually took Travis’ bow and arrow down off the wall and pointed it at Travis. Note that the bow in arrow is 1) real and 2) Hung up out of reach for a reason. In the end I got tired of Misty playing babysitter and I decided we needed to leave.

We spent the latter part of the afternoon doing some light shopping. Misty finally found a pair of maternity shorts that fit her for a decent price, I picked up a new Stewie shirt, and we grabbed a few tiny Halloween items from Michael’s. Fortunately this year though cool looking, the Halloween merchandise all looks cheap or flawed so I didn’t have much desire to buy a lot of things. We grabbed a handful of small items and left spending only about seventeen dollars. We ended our shopping trip searching Target, Best Buy, and Walmart for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on DVD. Target didn’t have any Harry Potter DVD’s, Best Buy had all of them but Goblet of Fire, and Walmart only had Goblet of Fire in Fullscreen. My hope was to get Goblet of Fire since it was the only movie we are missing in the series and watch them all before we go to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, but it looks like I may have to wait to watch the fourth film again.

After our shopping trip we headed back to Misty’s parents to enjoy the rest of Rylee’s first birthday. Most of Hollie and Jimmy’s friends had left and everything had calmed down. Apparently in our absence a water fight broke out, the kid that was being a brat got worse, and Tiffany busted open some guys hip with an egg… On the way to the party I stopped by Circle K and picked up the new Bud Light with Clamato drink that everyone had drank the day before. I was actually quite impressed with the drink. It reminded me of a very mild Bloody Mary, so if you like Bloody Mary’s or Clamato I highly recommend picking one up. They come in Bud and Bud Light.

But the highlight of the month so far partying and barbecues aside was today. I walked into work at 7:00 am the same way I do every day. After about an hour of being at work the director of my department walks up and logs me out of my phone and tells me to wrap up my issue and then come to his office. After the write ups I got a few months back for attendance I was extremely nervous since I did have a few lates earlier in the month and we have been going through some insane policy changes at work regarding attendance. When I entered my directors office I was greeted by Audrey from our marketing department and of course my director. To my surprise I was actually being called in to be promoted! I am now being trained as a Website Marketing Specialist. In turn I get a raise, my job is a lot less stressful, and I don’t deal with all the asshole customers anymore.

The promotion was completely out of left field and I had not applied for the position or been offered it previously. The whole experience so far has been awesome, and what I learn from this job will help me immensely in my outside website work as well.

Needless to say July’s lucky 7’s have been showering me in winnings and it’s only just begun. On Friday we may find out what sexes the babies will be, Saturday is finally our trip to Disneyland, and who knows what else the coming weeks hold. I am so thankful for all the good times I’ve had this month with my close friends and family. I truly have been fortunate to have such an awesome month and I hope that the rest of the year continues to bring such good fortune and fun.

Add Insult To Injury…

Filed Under (Design, Life) by Mike Wilton on 25-06-2007

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So those of you who have actually seen me over the last month know I have been down and out due to a severe foot injury. For those of you who saw me late last week you know I got the soft cast off and was actually getting around pretty well, but as of today that is no more. I’m sure many of you were startled by the sonic boom on Friday that followed Atlantis’ return into Earth’s atmosphere. Unfortunately I haven’t been up much on current events lately and was unaware that it was returning in our area, and in turn was terrified that something serious happened in my neighborhood. I jumped to my feet and rushed to the living room to make sure that my parents were ok, and in doing so managed to bring back a small amount of pain to my foot. Most of Friday I had some slight pain in my foot, but was still able to walk without much difficulty.

Friday night we spent some time with Jorge and Nohemi just playing board games and eating pizza. It was the best Misty and I could do since we have been broke these past few weeks with me being off and since I have not yet got disability.

Saturday, there was really no major change in the status of my pain. My foot still hurt slightly, but it was nothing compared to what I had been experiencing over the last few weeks. Since I was due to return to work on Monday I decided I should try and drive since I hadn’t attempted this feat since my foot problems had started. It was mostly successful, the only real pain I experienced was when having to hold the brake for long periods, and it wasn’t pain as much as it was discomfort. I considered the experience overall a success and only feared sitting in rush hour traffic on the 91 where I would be on and off the brake for the majority of the drive. It wasn’t until late Saturday evening that I started to get concerned. The pain in my foot continued to worsen and my stretches didn’t seem to be helping. I stayed off of it for the majority of the night thinking that perhaps the drive and activities of the day had just irritated the injury and it would pass.

Sadly, as of the morning I am nearly back where I was two weeks ago. Nearly crippled by the pain in my heel and having extreme difficulty walking. Tonight has been the worst with not only the little bit of walking around the house I have had to do hurting, but also my stretches causing me sever discomfort. I am due to return to work in just under 6 hours, but I don’t think that is going to happen. It’s now 1:37 a.m. and I am awake with my foot throbbing and nothing working to stop the pain. I doubt anything short of a miracle is going to make this better by tomorrow, so I will most likely need to get back in to see the Podiatrist and see what the heck is going on…

So you’re probably wondering what someone does stuck at home for three weeks unable to drive, walk, or go to work…Well, you spend a lot of time on the Internet, play a lot of computer games, and do a lot of graphics design work. Then, when your wife is put on medical leave for her pregnancy, she tortures you by watching the worst shows on television that suck you in even though they are horrible.

As mentioned in my last entry I spent my first week off doing a lot of work for the band We Are The Arsenal. Their design work was basically what I worked on during my 30 minutes or so my foot wasn’t being iced. I created their album artwork and myspace background, and also did some logo concepts. They are using the album/myspace artwork, but unfortunately the logo concepts fell by the wayside and they will be using their existing logo.

A concept logo for We Are The Arsenal

The second week I actually had the soft cast on which helped with the swelling a lot which gave me some longer freedoms in front of the computer. I did a few tweaks on the Deadboy Productions website, and revamped my Myspace page. The background you see currently on my Myspace was designed by myself. The image was “borrowed” from another graphics site, and the raven on a branch in the background is a Photoshop brush, but the overall layout and color scheme was all done by me. I also did some heavy music downloads over the week and my playlist now caps out at 5,612 thanks to artists like Lacuna Coil, Emilie Autumn, Betty Curse, and a handful of other goth bands and goth albums. I also spent quite a few hours battling Deidrianna’s forces in the PC classic Jagged Alliance 2. In between all that was a lot of sleeping and random internet browsing.

I ended that week celebrating with friends Jorge’s 27 birthday. This was the first chance I had really got to actually leave the house. I did pretty well considering I was still on crutches and in the soft cast. The only downside was that floor at King Buffet wasn’t exactly the cleanest and some food/water that had been spilled earlier didn’t mix well with one of my crutches and I wound up falling at one point on my way back to the table. I landed directly on my hurt foot and caused myself some serious pain. Fortunately the pain was short lived and I was able to enjoy the rest of the night in only minor pain. I was also happy to find out that night that much like myself, Jorge’s music collecting is very diverse. I’ve been surrounded by so many narrow minded “music enthusiasts” over the years that seeing such a broad range of music on his MP3 player was nice.

I spent the rest of the weekend just relaxing since I knew I was due to return to the doctor on Monday to get the cast removed and hopefully walk again. Monday rolled around and sure enough, I got the cast off, and I could walk…sorta.

The doctor switched me from the soft cast to using Mineral Ice with an Ace bandage. Though this gave me the ability to walk again, I was still a bit shaky. The doctor and I both decided that it would be best for me to take the week off to recover and focus on my stretches. So alas I have spent the last week home as well.

Earlier this week Misty was also taken off work. She is now 4 months pregnant with the twins and her back and sciatica have been giving her some serious problems so the doctor felt it would be best to have her stay home since her job required her to be on her feet and lift things all day. The one nice thing was that we got to see Pirates finally. I took a day out of the house to go see it. I really enjoyed it, I thought Keira Knightly’s performance was incredible. She was sleek, sexy, and by far the strongest performance. I really liked the film, but hate that they left it open for a fourth film. Don’t get me wrong, I would see a fourth film. However, I would only watch it if it featured all of the original Cast Members.

With Misty being off we also got to spend some quality time together which has been enjoyable, but in turn I have had to watch some of the worst television known to man. First she stumbled across a show on Fuse called Pants Off Dance Off. I’ve added a clip from the show that I found on YouTube below. This isn’t from any of the episodes we watched, but it at least gives an idea…

Pants Off Dance Off is basically an amature strip tease in front of a music video of the dancers choice. The contestants are then judged by “real” exotic dancers, Honey and Precious and I guess they win cash or something for shaking their asses the best. The show is hosted by wannabe pop star Willa Ford and basically trashy, weird, and ugly people from all of the US shake their asses and take off their clothes in hopes of being the top “Pancer“.

The next awful show that Misty stumbled upon is MTV’s My Super Sweet 16. A show where MTV let’s spoiled little rich Diva 16 year olds showcase their overdone Sweet 16 parties for the world to see. The episode we watched was I guess a reunion for the season and it showed all of the girls and their parties. By the end of the show I wanted to blow up the room that these spoiled little bitches were all sitting in. They were the most spoiled, ungrateful, bitches I have ever seen. Not to mention a few of them were G H E T T O! They pissed and moaned to get their parents to spend THOUSANDS if not MILLIONS on these giant Sweet 16 parties where they invite like 100-200 friends to. (Because all girls at 16 have at least 100-200 friends right?) All of the girls for the most part aren’t anybody big, but one of the girls was a football players daughter and the other was Eazy-E’s Daughter. If you click on that link you can watch her whole episode at MTV.com. She was probably the worst of all of them. To the point she was such a Diva that she almost didn’t show up to her own party because her stylist tried to screw her over for being such a bitch. Another horrible show thanks to the powers that be at MTV. I don’t even know why they call themselves MTV anymore. They should just change it to RTV for “Reality Television” since I never see music.

Finally the icing on the cake was a BBC America Reveals feature called, Love Me, Love My Doll a documentary on a group of men who have fallen in love
with their life-size dolls, called “Real Dolls.” Real Dolls are lifelike, built-to-order silicon women built here in California. The dolls have real hair, tongues, teeth, the whole 9…The show explored these guys and their lives with these dolls that have for the most part taken over their need for organic living and breathing women. This was by far the freakiest, yet intriguing things I have ever seen. It’s amazing how into these dolls these men are and how real they think their relationships with these synthetic are. Though BIZARRE as all hell, I would actually recommend watching it just because it is an insight to something totally out there. It aired for the first time last night on BBC America, and will air again on July 15 at 4 p.m., but if you have satellite like me it will most likely air at 1 p.m.

I also completed some concept work for We Are The Arsenal’s myspace contact table, but regretfully they weren’t quite what they were looking for. They liked the work, but felt that the war theme was too obvious and they wanted the theme to be much more subtle. I started some work on some new concepts tonight, that will hopefully better fit their needs. But here is a sample of the work that was rejected. The first one is my personal favorite.

A concept design for the We Are The Arsenal Myspace contact table.

A second concept design for We Are the Arsenal\'s Myspace contact table.

Lifes winding paths…

Filed Under (Design, Life, Paganism) by Mike Wilton on 11-06-2007

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This past week has been pure hell for me. Something other than my gout attacked my right foot and I have been off of work and off of my feet since this past Tuesday. I go to the foot doctor tomorrow to hopefully determine what is going on. Thought this week has been a painful and long one, I have to be thankful for a few things that it has brought me:

  1. I was able to focus on my Web Design and Graphics Design work.
  2. I got to feel my babies move for the first time.
  3. I realized that I have strongly strayed off of my spiritual path.

I find these three experiences to be quite important since each seem to represent a different aspect of my life that I have been longing for. This week I have been completely removed from the day to day that I have been living since I returned to school last November. I was confined to my room or bed 99% of the time completely separated from work, school, and the like.

Web Design/Graphics Design is my dream job, and the reason I went back to school. I have been slaving through the basic GE classes and general art classes just waiting for those final few classes that will give me what I need to make a serious career out of my web work. This week I not only was given a lead to a potential freelance job, but also had the opportunity to learn some new skills on my own.

A friend from High School contacted me in hopes that I could create a Myspace page, album art, and internet banners for his band We Are The Arsenal. I gladly obliged and completed and incredible concept for the album and the Myspace that the band was quite fond of. If all goes well it will be the first paid composition created under the name Nevermore Graphics. The project forced me to use a strong creative process as well as learn some new skills.

The concept of their forthcoming album, “They Worshiped The Trees” is the apocalypse, but rather than focus on the death and destruction of apocalyptic war they wanted to capture poetry and beauty in it. I managed to capture just that, by combining a sunset lit nuke test, a hill featuring a lone tree, and an image from an old article circa WWII featuring an adult and two small children in gas masks. Below is the final concept of the work:

Concept artwork for the debut album for the band We Are the Arsenal

The process forced me to learn some new techniques including black and white colorization in Photoshop as well as creating realistic shadows. The final product is perhaps one of my best graphics projects ever, and the fact that the band was happy made it that much better.

As I also mentioned I got the opportunity to feel my babies move for the first time. Up until now the most I had experienced was feeling the hard lump in Misty’s stomach that basically told us where the babies were, but the other night one or both of the babies actually moved across her stomach and I was able to feel the whole thing. Feeling your babies move for the first time is by far one of the most surreal experiences ever. It is that final piece of the puzzle that reiterates that you are going to be a parent. Had I not been home this week with this foot problem I never would have experienced this since I would have been at school. For those of you who don’t know, Misty and I are expecting twins that are due this December.

Finally, what I think really sums up this whole experience and this week is the realization that I have severely strayed from my spiritual path. I was able to catch some TV this week since I had to spend a lot of time in bed due to my foot swelling so bad and I caught some Charmed as well as some good shows on the supernatural and what not and it really got me thinking about how much I have lacked in my spiritual focus.

I’ve spent some time the past few nights just reading on the internet about paganism again. I really need to get focused again and make it a part of my life. Perhaps it was what was calling out to me this week and it was what got me back on the right path.

About an hour ago I finally got the chance to sit down and listen to the CD my friend Russell burned me. He had the chance to get a copy of Louise Hubner’s Seduction Through Witchcraft a while back and gave me a copy. While the whole thing is VERY Hollywood with a lot of reverb and psychedelic ambiance, it has some interesting information in it and some intriguing insights and spells.

With my focus in my spirituality rejuvenated I am currently searching the net to see if there are any local groups in our area that Misty and I may be able to get involved in that could help keep me on my path. If you know of any pagan groups in the Riverside Area let me know!

This week has really been a reality check for me. I’m not sure how much longer I will be off work and school from this, but I hope that regardless of how long I plan to do something with this new energy that has been sent in my direction and can hopefully focus more on the work I truly enjoy, my wife and my babies, and my spiritual path as a pagan.

It’s That Time of Year Again!

Filed Under (Life, Year In Review) by Mike Wilton on 15-12-2006

For those of you who are close to me you know that around this time each year I usually go on my Emo rant. The past few years it was on my LJ, but this time I decided to focus more on my Blog since I haven’t used LJ in ages and nobody I am close to even has an account anymore. To a few of you that were at my birthday party you might find this amusing because I physically went emo on some of you that night. I had been drinking and everyone was there and it was just a totally emotional moment for me.

A handful of my friends at my birthday party.These past few years have been emotional and physical roller coasters. I’ve had my ups, my downs, and loops, but in the end I always wind up grounded and complacent. However, the end of this year has probably been the highlight of them all. I have made some really amazing new friends like Jorge, Nohemi, Russell, Rubi, and Jose. I have patched up or found old friendships like Brianne, Shawna, and Danielle. And then on top of that my existing bonds get even stronger with friends like Rick, Alisha, Joe and Eddy. It’s incredible how one’s friends can make all the difference in the world.

It seems like just yesterday that the whole Kat fiasco was just ending and I was hated by nearly everyone I was close to. I was outcast for my stupidity and in turn had lost everything I’d known. However this year surpasses the last in how great my friendships have been. I am surrounded by great friends, a wonderful wife, and an incredible family.

Tonight I took a small trip down memory lane. Shawna and Brianne posted some old photos from High School on my Myspace page and I got a little choked up looking at them. As lame as it seems High School is something that I cling to. Not for the innocence of it, but for what it helped me become. Had it not been for the bonds I made there I would not be the person I am today. In fact if not for some of those bonds, I might not even be here today. Sure I made some mistakes, made some stupid choices, and did some stupid things, but I had friends that were like family, and today I am seeing a whole new family of friends that means just as much to me. But what makes it even more amazing is that many of the same members of that family still exist; Joe, Rick, Shawna, Danielle, Brianne and now that family is joined with all new friends that I have met along the way.

Mike Wilton poses for the camera behind the Disney\'s California Adventure attraction The Maliboomer.Along with the friendships that have developed or grown this year I have also had a year of personal growth. After five years of serving the “House of Mouse” I finally made a huge career jump towards the industry I wanted to study. I left a job that was comfortable, that was powerful, and that had potential, to go work in an industry that was foreign to me. Shortly after that move came another great opportunity, the chance to take on the Deadboypro.com project. It had been years since I had built a site from the ground up, and last time I had Joe in the next room helping me code it. This time it was much different. It was on a larger scale, and it had to look a hell of a lot better. I took on the job and after weeks of brainstorming and hard work I had developed the site. It has since taken countless hours out of my day, but at the same time has helped me learn so much about design. The site as far as I am concerned is a work in progress and as my knowledge for the design industry grows so will the site. To me it is a continuation of my goal with Entertainment-Asylum, and I think Danny and everyone at Deadboy for giving me the opportunity.

My last but probably biggest change of the year has been my decision to go back to school. After years of half assed attempts at school I finally found a college that was more my style. The courses were accelerated, I would graduate in two years, and they offered a degree in Visual Communications with a focus on web design. The planets were aligned just right for this opportunity and I jumped at it as soon as I got the chance. So far it has been great and with just over 2 weeks left in my first two courses I have straight A’s, but there is still a long journey ahead of me.

I’m sure that 2007 will have a great deal in store for me and everyone around me. I start my next module of school on January 3 which will bring me 2 classes closer to graduation. I am starting a detox program later this month to help start my year out healthy on the inside and out and then plan to hopefully shed some of the extra weight I have gained over the past few years through regular exercise. I also plan to spend some quality time with my wife. These past few years have been hard on us and I think we have at times lost that bond we once had. My goal for 2007 is to bring that spark back and make our marriage the best it can be. I also plan to spend as much time as possible working on friendships and making time for those in my life. I have a really busy schedule now with work and school, but I plan to make time for family and friends.

A closeup group photo of Joe Fenech, Alisha Reyes, Rick Reyes, Misty Wilton, and Russel.None of us really know what 2007 has in store, but I want to thank everyone who has been a part of 2006. It’s been an incredible year and an eventful year. Through the good and bad we all made it through another year. I look forward to seeing those of you who are coming on Sunday and hope we have just as much fun as we did at my birthday party last month.

Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year to everyone!