Kyle Thomas

The Website of Kyle Thomas (KyleWith)

Maybe I am an Old Man

Maybe I am an old man, I sure do sound it sometimes.

I recently received a text message saying there was going to be a party for someone tonight and then I got it forwarded to me another 2 times. This is not going to be just an ordinary birthday party. This is going to be a topical “young persons” party. There will be excessive drinking, loud music, rough housing, hoot and hollering, a over sized fire and possibly vandalism. Now normally I don’t have a problem with this and occasionally I would even go but that was before things escalated to where they are now and I don’t want to be a part of it.

Like I said I didn’t have a problem with this and by that I mean we use to party out hidden in the bush where we wouldn’t be disturbing anyone and all the stupid stunts were kept to a minimum. Most people were generally calm and nothing was disturbed. Well now I think it has gone to far. Instead of hidden in a bush the party has been moved to a public area where people are passing frequently and someone even lives. Question for you? How would you feel if a group of people were causing a ruckus out in front of your house, probably not happy.

Well these parties that have been happening almost weekly now for the last month were finally noticed by a passer by who called up the RCMP and reported them. So they came and broke up the party and found that thing were being blown up in the fire, in a public place I have to add. Now I’m not just taking lighters or 1 or 2 cans of axe spray I’m talking about something that could rip through the side of a truck and make a big bang.  Potentially hurting hurting someone (that’s not to say lighters and axe cans can’t either). But I guess no one learned as it seems they will be up to there old tricks again this weekend. I mean the first thing that comes to my mind when I think about this is, “okay should we still party there, the cops might be more inclined to checking the spot as they know people have started partying their again” but then again we don’t all think that far ahead.

It is just to much kids play for me and I don’t want anything to do with it. If I have lost a couple of friends writing about this so be it. There is no excuse for it.

Gone in 6 Hours

I continue to amaze myself.

A couple of weeks ago I bought this little green car. It was nothing special just a little old car that ran and drove with no problems. The plan with the car was to put it on the road and to drive in this summer instead of my truck. Considering I drive around so much I thought this would be the perfect plan to save a little bit of money. $70 a month for gas apposed to my truck which cost me $110 with lite driving. The only problem that I encountered was insurance, getting it wasn’t the problem. The problem was having both car and truck insured at the same time. If I had of taken the truck off my insurance I would have put the car on the road no problem but because I use the truck for so many other things. I don’t think I could have used the car to make dump runs, to tow my camper or pull my dads boat. So because I couldn’t take the truck off the insurance, if I had of insured the car I would end up losing money. I will be going to school in the fall so it just would not be worth it.

So what did I do. I sold it. This doesn’t sound uncommon but I love selling vehicles. I get the same thrill selling them as most people do when they buy a new one. Last summer I bought and sold three different vehicles and one camper. I would find a good deal, buy it, thoroughly clean it, maybe fix the brakes or any minor issues, paint it and sell it again. The thing that amazed me the most about the sale of the little green car was how fast I sold it. At 11am I put it up for sale and by 5pm it was sold. This is the type of thing that assures me my decision to go to college for business will be a good one.

That was my excitement yesterday, I will be grilling my head for more posts.

This Site is a self made Mess

Well I fail and this is now a mess.

I’m trying to accomplish too much I forget to do what I started with. I’m trying hard to find my niche and but I can’t seem to get it to click and it is preventing me from doing the things I started out with. When I originally start The Bushman it was going to be my personal blog about my life and adventures I encountered. So for the first couple month that was all well and good, I would have the odd topical post that would drive up my traffic like the Ice Thickness Chart but other than that my followers were just friends and family that knew me.

But then my imagination got the best of me, I started exploring the blogging world more and more, and got hooked. My idea for a blog changed, or maybe not so much changed but I saw two possibilities rather than one. I wanted to keep my personal blog going but also wanted to write a blog that was topical and I would write about my niche (which I still don’t have). So the first thing I thought of was and probably still is a simpler and better idea, was writing two separate blogs. I have a bunch of domains already and registering one is only 10$ a year so that wasn’t the thing that stopped me. I actually started to try that with my iTalkout domain. If you go over there you can even still see it….. The thing that made me just use one blog was the fact that The Bushman was already out there and established. I have it register with Technorati, Blogger and many others, have a Google sitemap set up, SEO intact with the blog and some people were already following it, so I initially it would just be easier to go with The Bushman. As I looked back on it now, it would have probably been just as easy to start a new blog and market it.

Lets move on to my niche, (A Niche being the topic I write about and am passionate about) if you look at iTalkout it is directed towards a Canadian Living. Let me explain how I got to that and my many other niches I tried.  You can all take a guess that I like the internet and technology, so one of the topical ideas I considered was a blog about whats happening in the world of the internet. Like Google, Facebook, Youtube, etc. like some of the things I have on The Bushman currently. But lets face it I don’t have the in’s to all the news when it happens to be able to blog about it quick enough for people to care for it and with me being so far away from where there is more of a tech population it just didn’t seem possible. My next idea was definitely more local, I wanted to write a blog to students and eventually get some of them to write posts. A blog with tips and tricks for students, where questioned would be answered and advice would be give, as well news from school would be posted. But with the all the social networking sites out there like Nexopia, MySpace and Facebook I would have to really work hard to try and make it appealing to students. Its funny as I write this I think of new ideas for that site and think it might just be possible, so I wont scratch that off the list yet.  I don’t remember if this next idea was before or after the students idea but it was a more broad idea. I wanted to write a blog about Yellowknife, not so much about the History of Yellowknife but more the happenings of Yellowknife. I have looked for a site such as this but have yet to find one. I find Yellowknife is still a victim of static websites or the original web, so by making this site would be a way to try and show that the web is now very interactive. I also had a personal goal with this idea which was to get more involved with the community. If I was going to run a site about Yk I would need to be out there to be able to write about it. The only thing that stopped me from doing this was the fact that at the same time I came up with that idea, I was applying for school which would take me out of Yellowknife. Knowing the possibility of leaving Yellowknife I had to broaden my idea to the entire of Canada. So that’s where My Canadian Living came from, I would write about things I encountered while living my life. This would be an excellent topic to full fill my life goal of working online while living out of my truck, driving across Canada. The reason I don’t think I could do this topic is that I am still too young and do not have the experience to be able to write to the fullest.

So now its your turn. You have read my blog and some of you know me personally. What do you think I would write about best? Think about what and how I currently write and think about who I am as a person. Then leave a comment below. Thank you.

So because I have tried to pull off doing two different types of blogs on one site it became a mess, at least I think. It is slightly confusing because only my “journal” category posts go to the blog page therefor making it difficult to find the topical posts. I also have that shop page but that is just for kicks. I wanted to make a Bushman shirt and then I ended up setting up a free online shop, I think I’m going to get rid of that. I also don’t think the recipe page goes with the site when I write about technology…hmm. Like above tell me your thoughts.

The Name, The Meaning

So I call myself The Bushman and this site is also called it. I’m now conflicted, as I do not spend much time out in the “Bush” but yet online. Why did I pick the name? Back in October I had taken the month off work and gone down to live with some friends in Northern BC. There house is out in the country, half hour from any town. We would go hunting, getting firewood, drive our trucks, haul water. You know stuff that needed to be done to sustain living in the middle no where. So when I decided that I wanted to switch to a blog/domain that showed more of who I am The Bushman fit, somewhat. but now I’m presented with this dilemma! I don’t do near as much outdoorsy stuff as I use to, whether that is because of work or the cold weather it doesn’t matter. The name doesn’t really fit. In the summer I probably will go back to my old ways of camping and living out of my camper but that doesn’t mean I’m going to blog about it. When I choose the name Bushman I had the brilliant idea of writing a weekly post on Bushcraft, well you call all see how well that turned out. Instead I write blogging and the latest tech app or gadget.

Currently I love blogging and Internet tech things, such as WordPress, gadgets/apps, and social media so all my topical posts will have something to do with those kind of things. What I need do or figure out is how (because I’m not changing my Domain again. Hassle is way to much for me right now) to associate The Bushman with tech, blogging, Internet, social media, etc. so that I can build on this site. I have to find the write angle, and work it.

Back to me for a second I thought I would mention my thoughts on how I feel torn in two worlds. I hate to stereotype because I don’t know everything and I really shouldn’t and can’t judge, but this is my opinion. I do like the “Blue Collar” way of life, a laboring job, big truck, mudding and greasy from working on it. Listening to my Country Music wearing plaid proudly living out in the country but then there is the other side of me. The side that is is formally dressed, black leather shoes, Navy jacket, shirt tucked in and hair combed. Having the love of computers and tech news, working online hours at end blogging and researching the next post with calmer acoustic music on in the background. In all a formal business and tech savvy person.

I know people from both ends of this spectrum and I know there opinions about the other end. Its almost a disgust as they ask “why would you want to be like that”. I’m afraid to see what would happen when these people collided. Knowing and seeing all this makes me feel socially unaccepted, it drives me nuts because I can’t figure it out. When I bring up something about the opposite end of the spectrum I’m looked at as if I’m stupid!

“Why would you wanna be like one of em nerds, bet they don’t know how ta fix a car to saver er life. Let go to Timmies”

“Ah, they’re such rednecks, I mean look at that broken down gas guzzler. Horrible. Lets go to Starbucks”

Oh so get this I applied to go to school in a town built on the trades to do a Business Program, ironic….

I’m The Bushman.

Social Networking Anyone?

I love Social Networking, not only that I love how they can all be intertwined. I recently wanted to find a way to only have to update my Facebook status or Twitter status but have them both show up the same. What do I do? I Google it, what else. I found a Facebook application called… Twitter that not only showed the status updates of the people I followed but pulled my status from Twitter and made it also my Facebook status. Greatest thing Ever! To top it all off I also have a Twitter plugin here in Firefox that allows me update my status directly from my address bar with out even being on the site itself. So now everything is updated from there. Awesome!

I feel like I literally live online, now if only I could work here as well. I would just move on in…….(Mr. I think you have gone crazy). So now not only do I spend pretty much every waking moment online (which most people would think is a waste of time, but I actually am doing something productive) doing productive things like research, blogging, etc. but now when I get bored I have Digg and Stumbleupon to amuse me for hours. Plus it is a great way to find those random interesting sites that you would have never found other wise.

You must be thinking “wow Bushman, that’s a lot of Social Networking and whats the point”. Yes and No, to someone who doesn’t do it, it is a lot. To someone who is also internet savvy this is not, there are still so many out there that I have yet to find. If you know any interesting one let me know. Now to the point! Pure Amusement, no I’m kidding. I have a dream, stupid maybe but still a dream, I would love to someday work online. Work online so I don’t have to always be in one spot. I would love to just drive around with satellite internet hooked up in my truck (that can be done) but anyways that’s another post. If I want to fulfill that dream I think it is wise to start building a reputation even if I don’t actually get there for another 10 years. I will always be online somewhere. Now I don’t know how this will affect me or not, but I don’t really use my real name. I’m sure some of my readers who I don’t know personally know it. I mean I did just post my stink’in Facebook Profile above. I just hope by building up The Bushman it will benefit me as a real person years down the line when I attempt to actual work online whether it is for my self or for someone else.

One last thing that I can not forget, but have already mentioned. The one thing I would not be able to live with out online. FireFox, greatest browser ever! I have several plugins which make life so much easier online. 1. Scribefire, which allows me to write blog posts directly from Firefox. So if I need to be looking through another site that has to do with the post I can actually be there. Instead of switching back and forth and losing my train of thought (which I can do easily). 2. WordPress Helper, this plugin and Scribefire are similar but different and I can’t use them at the same time. Helper is a little tab in the bottom right of the browser as well and gets me to my site, new post, new page, dashboard, etc quickly so I don’t have to go throw the process of logging on blah blah blah. Neat thing about it as well is it tells me if the site I’m on is powered by WordPress or not. Cool 3. Digg and Stumbleupon I have already talked about but they are in my tool bar. If I “Digg” the site I click digg it. Nough Said! If I want to Stumble, I just click stumble. I can also set what I want to stumble for and if I like it or not. Nough Said!

To sum everything up we have FriendFeed which is like a RSS Feed for every social networking site I’m at. This would be the best place to Follow me, it shows it all. It is also on my homepage.

If you would like to recommend a site please do so.

I’m The Bushman.