Sumo Omni: First Impressions

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 06/30/08 at 09:06:07 pm

I’ve had this old sofa in my bedroom for a while and I’ve been looking at getting a more space efficient replacement that perhaps wasn’t a hepatitis risk to sleep on and maybe lacked a unique funky smell.

Paul Stamatiou recently wrote a review on the Sumo Omni lounge chair which he dubbed The Ultimate Blogger’s Chair. After reading about the giant bean bag on his site and others I decided that I needed to own one.

The Sumo Omni is a mega-sized pillow made of rip-proof nylon that’s filled with high quality foam beads. This ‘pillow’ can be used in a number of ways including the glove shape I’m doing now along with 9 other ways according to the Sumo website. Honestly, so far I’m impressed with the quality - $130 may sound steep for a giant bean bag but the materials are top notch. I’ve read some complaints that the nylon exterior is almost too tough where it isn’t as soft as it should be. While I guess I can understand that now that I’m sitting in the chair I’m actually really digging the strength, it doesn’t feel like any other bean bag I’ve sat in before and it’s still super comfortable.

If you’re in the market for some new seating in your bedroom or office, or perhaps a makeshift guest bed, Sumo has a few different loungers to choose from including an even larger 6ft SumoSac in a wide variety of colors.

Version 26 “Beta”.

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 06/25/08 at 10:06:13 pm

Here it is - Markus Langenfeld.com Version 26.

Well, not quite. I have a load of stuff I want to get on here still and a few colors and small details are slated to change over the next few days… When I get time. Some of the features yet to be ported from the mighty version 25 include my Twitter integration, and some sort of RSS thing on the sidebar.

I’m content with the design but more importantly I’m loving the ’skeleton’ of the new layout as it will allow for new expansion options that I didn’t have with the prior design. You will notice some new additions to my little corner of the internet including an Advertise page that will be online shortly.

Version 25 had a good run at just 3 months shy of a year (all-time-record FTW), this will be a refreshing change of pace.

Returning back to life, hopefully soon.

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 06/19/08 at 03:06:49 pm

These past few weeks I’ve barely had a chance to do anything outside of work. I miss hanging out on my favorite websites, I miss chatting with friends, but more then anything I miss blogging.

The new SCI Broadband.com successfully launched yesterday afternoon in-between the meetings we had going all day. This project was a chapter of my immediate career that I’m proud to have finally finished. The company needed a new web presence - in fact, “needed” is an understatement. While my revamped design could be better, I think it turned out nice and it will be a solid addition to my little portfolio.

Just because I finished this website doesn’t mean I can return to how it used to be. The list of projects at work that need to get finished this year is endless. Just to explain how endless it is, I started messing around with website ideas a couple months after I started with the company. That was almost 2 years ago.

I’m trying hard to efficiently manage my time so I can fit in more things that I want to do, I need more time for myself and my own projects. For example, some of the things I’d like to accomplish in the next month on this website alone include a brand new design and a couple big product reviews. If I plan to get this stuff done I need to figure out where my time is going and how I can reclaim some of it.

Win $500 worth of gear from Market Leverage

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 06/12/08 at 08:06:02 pm

Monetization rockstar John Chow has partnered up with Market Leverage to give away a Nike bag filled with over $500 worth of gear. You could have not one but five chances at winning yourself an awesome prize that includes a custom engraved Apple iPod Nano, USB pen drive, Flip video camera, and a $200 Market Leverage American Express Rewards card.

It’s easy to enter, just head over to John Chow’s official contest post to get the details.

Manic Monday One Word Meme

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 06/09/08 at 08:06:17 pm

I’ve been tagged! Here are my 1 word answers to 31 short questions.

1. Where is your cell phone? Desk.
2. Your significant other? Somewheres.
3. Your hair? Short.
4. Your mother? Mom.
5. Your father? Who?
6. Your favorite thing? Computer.
7. Your dream last night? Sheep.
8 Your favorite drink? Rockstar!
9. Your dream/goal? Moolah.
10. The room you’re in? Office.
11. Your hobby? OCD.
12. Your fear? Velosoraptors.
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Working.
14. What you’re not? Cantaloupe.
15. Muffins? Sure.
16. One of your wish list items? Gizmos.
17. Where you grew up? Here.
18. The last thing you did? Blogged.
19. What are you wearing? Blue.
20. Favorite Gadget? Notebook.
21. Your pets? Steve.
22. Your computer? Dell.
23. Your mood? Muh.
24. Missing someone? Negative.
25. Your car? Malibu.
26. Something you’re not wearing? Scarf.
27. Favorite store? BestBuy.
28. Like someone? Eh?
29. Your favorite color? #114081
30. When is the last time you laughed? Hah.
31. Last time you cried? Aww.

Alright who’s next? Nick, Max, Jadalucas, annnnd Thorian?
Rules: 1 word answers and you have to tag 4 different bloggers. Go!

Making Money Online: Niche Blogging FTW

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 05/28/08 at 10:05:12 pm

I’m starting to notice the growing number of blogs that are focused around making money online. I’m not just talking about A list bloggers like ShoeMoney and John Chow, it’s like every other blog I visit is trying to give me tips on how to make money, off blogging. Since I joined Entrecard I’ve started exploring other blogs outside of my little ring of interest and I come across countless websites that have just a redunkulous amount of subscribers and most of them barely offer any real content, they just refer people to advertising networks and claim they make X amount of money off of the networks they are referring their readers to.

Every time I read the title on John Chow’s website, which says “I Make Money Online by Telling People How Much Money I Make Online” I get a good laugh, it gets me thinking about the whole ‘Make Money Online’ niche and all of these blogs people are turning into cash cows simply by talking about how to theoretically make money on the internet. Maybe I should start talking about how to make money on the internet…

Today, Blogger’s Unite for Human Rights.

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 05/15/08 at 07:05:39 pm

You may have noticed the banner on my front page this past week for the Bloggers Unite initiative. Blog Catalog and Amnesty International have teamed up to harness the power of the blogosphere in efforts to make the world a better place. Today, 1000’s of bloggers around the world will be promoting the project or writing about the different human rights issues.

I figured instead of blogging about a topic I don’t know a whole lot about I would reserve the evening to educate myself on the many human rights issues that are occurring around the world. Amnesty International has put together a page featuring a listing of devastating human rights problems that are complete with detailed information, articles, and goals for each issue, I encourage everyone to take a look.

My relationship with WordPress runs deep.

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 05/07/08 at 12:05:16 pm

I Love WordPressThe end of April marked 3 years of using WordPress to power my personal web presence.

Before this website and the domain we’re using today, I went through a few different phases with various blogging platforms, domains, and names for my blogs. I first started blogging with Blogger.com in 2002, this was back when Pyra Labs was still running the show and the concept of blogging was new and kind of ridiculous. I remember when the founders of Blogger.com were guests on TechTV’s The Screen Savers and they were trying to explain the concept behind a service that allows people to write whatever they want and openly share it with the world. I knew then that blogging would add a whole new dimension to the information age, the personal diary was no longer a notebook hidden in a dresser drawer.

By editing and customizing the premade Blogger templates I dove head first into learning basic HTML and CSS skills and working with proprietary “Blogger Code” as I called it, which I now know isn’t proprietary at all. I bet you wouldn’t believe that I first got into web development with Flash 4.0 and I actually had a good grasp on the fundamentals of Flash animation and actionscript before I knew what I was doing with basic programming. After working with Blogger I made the plunge into MovableType, my first hosted platform that I had to install myself which back then wasn’t just a few clicks of the mouse like it is today. I used MovableType for a while before I basically let my blog go and eventually the domain expired. I guess I was busy with school or perhaps I was trying to figure out what I really wanted to offer on my website and why I had it in the first place.

I purchased MarkLangenfeld.com and started using WordPress 1.4 in 2005. WordPress wasn’t nearly as popular back then as it is today and most of my blogger friends and programming mentors were using Textpattern or MovableType at the time so I was pretty much on my own. WordPress and I have become good friends over the years, like most bloggers I have my own arsenal of different plugins and things that make this website work. In fact I was recently discussing with a friend of mine that one of the big problems keeping me from changing my layout around again is the amount of modifications and hacks that I have running now, it would be a huge undertaking. Even with that in mind I think that the flexibility and reliability of WordPress is totally unmatched by any other platform and I’m looking forward to using it another 3 or more years to come.

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