Male Fashion and Lifestyle: Matching Hats

If you want to be really cool as a group, get you some matching hats. Most of us don't think about it ahead of time, and we often make the mistake of matching t-shirts or NASCAR jackets, but matching hats are really the way to go for guys. Let's take a look at how to decide on those hats so that you can look your best.

Male Fashion and Lifestyle: Sunny Boy Hair

I originally got the "Sunny Boy" wig when I was an extra in an independent film that was never finished. I had to wear a Polo shirt, a sweater over my shoulders, and the Sunny Boy blonde wig. I was the bad guy, and my Mercedes 300SD also fit the bill. We only finished one day of filming, at Lake Park Golf Course in Milwaukee. I was probably revealing my devious plans to co-conspirators while golfing. I don't recall. However, Sunny Boy stayed with me, and I put it to some use over the years.

Check Your Google Adsense, Fellow Jacksonville Bloggers

I'm not going to keep this one to myself, since someone not on my site isn't clicking my ads, anyway. If you have a blog or even a big ol' company website that has some Adsense ads on it (the Google ads), then you need to add a custom ads.txt file to your website. I did not receive an email about it. I just showed up to check earnings, which I don't really bother to do very often, and there it was: a dozen websites without the right code. 

I-Selling in Jax: OpenDoor and Zillow

Zillow is going to join open door in Jacksonville as companies that will buy your house fast. I assume we've also had the We Buy Ugly Homes folks in Jax for a while, too. Flippers, and those types. But Zillow and Opendoor are supposed to be more mainstream, and I assume the business model is just to buy low and sell high.

Northeast Florida Churches, Schools, Non-Profits and Businesses - FREE Tech Tools

Local Jacksonville churches, schools, and businesses, you are in luck. If you're looking for some FREE advice on how to use FREE marketing tools, then I've got the presentation for you. I'm linking out to my Passive Ninja website where you can see the presentation embedded better. I used the presentation while speaking to a group of church leaders in Orlando, and I can speak to your church, too. However, the tools mentioned can be used with other types of organizations, and I have a lot of advice on HOW to implement the tools.

Is Jacksonville in the Panhandle?

Jacksonville is not in the Panhandle. Florida's Panhandle extends east-west from about Tallahassee to the western-most edge of the state near Pensacola. While the I-10 does go straight across the top of the state to Jacksonville, the Panhandle ends where the Gulf of Mexico ends as a southern border and becomes the western border.

The Worst Real Estate Client Ever

The title of this article was from a query I got from Help a Writer Out. The author wanted stories from realtors. I figured that since I couldn't send in my story because I'm not a licensed agent, I'd write about that worst client ever here. Me.

Is My Back Yard Pond a Lake?

I read somewhere that there are more lakes in Florida than in Minnesota (Land of 10,000 named Lakes) or Wisconsin (15,000) COMBINED. 30,000 lakes! All the water, if nothing else, reminds me of Wisconsin. When we moved to Kansas for a year, it was very different that way. I think I counted five lakes in the state, with two of them man-made. But it also got me to wondering if some of the 30,000 lakes in Florida are also man-made or even subdivision-made. Basically, what makes a lake, and is that a pond or a lake in your back yard?

Male Fashion and Lifestyle: The $12 Perfect Suit

I am not a suit kind of guy, but I learned after one of my only failed interviews that suits are expected. (I was told later that I won the job on three of five categories, but wearing a casual outfit lost the position. That was two decades ago.) It might seem ironic that a teacher, who will not wear a suit again for the next 20 or 30 years, needs to don the traditional male formal attire just to get that job. But I'm OK with irony, since I teach English. Besides, a perfect suit doesn't have to be expensive. This "perfect" Dillard's suit cost me $12.

Jacksonville's 630 City Online Guide - Now MyJAX

I wrote an article about using JAx 630City before, and it worked for me. A year later, my neighbor still has a broken recycling bin, and I am tempted to just fill out the form for him, but I'd rather teach local Jacksonville neighbors to fish than hand them a fish. In the spirit of trying to get you to do your own part in requesting services for which you pay (and help keep the city looking nice), here's a quick guide to what services you can ask for from the city of Jacksonville.

Facebook Interests, Pages, and Hassles

When I searched for New Jax Witty recently, I noticed a Facebook Interest page for what we do. No one was really interested, so it's kind of odd, but there it was. I liked it, anyhow. Then I decided that after two years of getting lots of hits, maybe I needed an official Facebook page for the site. I was hoping I could just take the public interest page and convert it to the other page, but I instead apparently created a new New Jax Witty page that I don't really want to have to update.  But that's not all, when it comes to social media.

News Makes Wrong Connection In Firefighter Deaths

The local news reported that a study was released that looked at firefighter deaths. The purpose of the study was to find out what caused those deaths in order to see what can be done in order to protect firefighters. The news then added an angle to the story, talking about how our local firefighters are getting equipment to clean themselves off after calls in order to prevent cancer. However, the two stories are unrelated, even if they should be connected.

Blogger Template Success

As a web designer, I'd rather use the tools I build with for others, like Wordpress or Joomla, but I set this website up with Blogger so that I could write several articles per week without much trouble. But there are limitations with Blogger, and no real support. When I was encouraged by a local SEO guru to make sure this website checks all the boxes, I realized that, even with limited tech, Blogger can accomplish more than expected sometimes. This first article with the new template is an example.

$1.8 Million Bill Only Worth $1.80, Oh Well

I was excited for the local Jacksonville man who believed his 10,000,000 Turkish Lira bill would be worth about $1.8 million. That would be awesome to find a single bill worth that much in a photo album, just waiting for you to cash it in. Especially for a millennial. But it did seem odd to me that someone would have stuck such a large sum of money in a photo album. I guess the answer is in: it was a small bill based on an older Lira, and it's basically worth 1/1,000,000 of what a new Lira would be worth.

Dude, Where's My Church?

As a web designer, I know that it's a problem when you lose your website. I'm not talking about getting hacked. What I mean is when search engines can't find your site. It's kind of weird when it happens, since you'd think Google and other searches would be able to adjust to all kinds of changes online, but there are times when your site just isn't found. I'm going to discuss two scenarios like this that I've been part of in the past year, and maybe it will help you not lose your church or small business website.

Top Tier Gas and Better Prices in Florida

I used to get my gas at Gate because of a (fairly minimal) AAA discount, but when I read an article on the AAA website that Top Tier gas is better than the stuff offered by Gate, I wrote to my auto club to see if maybe our discount could be for the recommended fuel. Without a formal response, AAA did change fuel rewards programs, so I'd call it a win. With AAA, you get $.05 off a gallon at Shell, which uses the Top Tier gasoline. On top of that, you can add some more rewards to your Fuel Rewards Program with the use of the app. Here are some of my initial thoughts on the program.

One Giant Leap for Local Teachers

Florida teachers should be riding the 50th Anniversary of the space program fervor. Space travel is pretty cool, whether it happened a half-century ago or last week. Kids are interested in us going back to the moon and even to Mars. Good teachers use interest and enthusiasm to help teach kids, so take that giant leap, whether you're teaching elementary school, middle school, or high school.

Get Your Equifax Cash

I knew my wife had been part of the Equifax data breach because she left me in charge of trying to shore up her accounts. And she changed all her passwords to combinations that could not be remembered by human brains. So I knew we'd be filing a claim with Equifax online. I just didn't realize I'd be filing two, so that might be something most of us need to consider.

Keeping My Sprint Kickstart After T-Mobile Merger

UPDATE: I went in to two T-Mobile Stores with my Moto G (5th Generation) and Moto One, and both phones were able to be updated to T-Mobile. Supposedly, nothing changed with my account. At least that's what the email said. One store had a harder time than another updating my phone, but both eventually worked. However, the phones would not send text messages when I enabled the advanced chat settings, so I've disabled that. And, I still lose reception right near the airport, which means the main problem I had to bother to get on the T-Mobile network was not fixed. But I guess I am officially on T-Mobile with a Kickstart plan, and that's still not bad at $40 a month. Original article follows.

I know I'm not the only one out there with a legacy (year-old) Sprint Kickstart plan. I get two accounts of "unlimited" data and Sprint's blah network for $38 a month total. I think it was $15 per line plus taxes and fees. That's not a lot of money for two mostly reliable phones that can use as much (throttled) data as I want, so I want to keep it.

Opendoor Self-Tour Insanity

I just drove past a new construction or fully-flipped home with a sign that said you can just walk right on in and tour the house. In Jacksonville! That's why I had to call it Self-Tour Insanity rather than instantly.


Fine, maybe in Charlotte or Indianapolis, you can just tell folks to download the app, use the (digital?) key, and tour the beautiful home in a civilized manner. But in Florida in general and Jacksonville in particular, self-touring of homes might require a little more security.

Florida's Lost City of Travertine

I was perusing old Florida newspapers when I came across a 1927 article that mentioned Jacksonville. In the article, it was implied that "travertin" could be found only in Italy and Florida. However, I can't find any modern evidence that this stone was ever found in Florida at all.

Jacksonville 1901 Fire Highlights Poor Mattress Material Choice, Rich History of Property Theft

I saw an article about the great fire of 1901 in Jacksonville, and I was surprised by two primary takeaways: the highly flammable material that caught fire was being used for mattresses and Jacksonville residents used the opportunity to steal from one another.

Request a Quote Option for Jacksonville Businesses

Here's an interesting one, especially since I'm a web designer. Google My Business now allows businesses to turn on messaging, which allows customers to click on a "Request a Quote" button without ever going to the website. It's "Get a Quote" in mobile. For some local Jacksonville businesses (I've seen your websites), this might be an awesome alternative to hiring a professional like me. But it's kind of odd for me to use it, right?

Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice as a Play Will Have Flaws

Before my wife and I watched the Northeast Florida Conservatory's version of Pride and Prejudice, I knew it would have to be a bit of a disappointment. We'd just discussed how the Keira Knightly (Joe Wright-directed) version was a slight disappointment, even if it was the most beautifully-filmed version of the story ever. Even the 1995 BBC version had it's problems...think Mr. Darcy and aquatics. The point is that nothing will ever match the original novel, and we were prepared for that. However, it's still important to note in a review of a play why the disappointment happens.

29% of Americans Will Be Millionaires?

I thought it was a bit of a reach for 29% of Americans surveyed to say they were going to become millionaires, but I saw some stats that seem to almost back it up. I am a firm believer that some people can attain the American Dream, even if I don't have a huge amount of faith it will happen to me. Here are some numbers that might keep your own hope alive:

Record Your Kids Being Excellent

I recall being in a fast food restaurant recently when a kid was being a real nuisance. To be honest, I don't remember exactly what he was doing, but it was loud and stupid. Therefore, his parents grabbed their phones and began recording the shinanigans, and I was thinking the only thing that could be worse would be for them the share that video with the world. Of course, that's exactly what they did. To recap, instead of disciplining the kid, the parents encouraged inappropriate behavior because it made good video. That's dangerous. People wanting instant fame through their own or their kids' idiotic actions is an unfortunate side effect of America today, and it really can be dangerous, sometimes.

Northeast Florida Real Estate Agents: What You're Missing

While there are a few local real estate agents / realtors who blog about areas they like to sell in Northeast Florida, it seems that there may not be time or desire to create the evergreen content necessary to become established in one area. Now, I totally believe any person who can write 150 positive words about an outdated property she's trying to sell could easily write about the nice-ities of living in Nocatee, but it's not necessarily part of the job description, so you don't do it. But you really, really should.

Jeff Glauser's New Website

Jeff Glauser is a local consultant, writer, trainer, branding expert, and virtual COO. I met him at a local business group, and we hit it off because we have some similar interests and abilities. At first, you might think that another freelancer with similar abilities would be intimidating, but we both saw it as an opportunity to employ each other's talents in a meaningful way. He'd never totally built his own website, and I'd never been paid much for all my consulting, writing, and training that I'd done as part of my website building. Plus, I wanted to learn more about what it takes to be a branding expert and virtual COO.

If You Have to Ask How Much Fortress Garage Suites Cost...

That's right, you can't afford one. If you have to ask, I mean. But they do (or will) exist in Jacksonville. 13 of 30 are sold at the location I saw near Beach and I-295.

If you don't have to ask, they start at about $170,000. People who are in the market for a garage suite more than likely own a home valued at 10x the garage price, as well as cars valued at more than my home's value. But they are real people, too, and they are totally normal once you get to know them.

Quick, Now is Our Chance to Kill Public Schools

Jacksonville entered into one of the most liberal educational experiments of any city when the city basically became the county. While I am not sure forced busing was ever associated with the move, it's still fairly unique as an attempt to bring all the awesomeness of the suburban schools into the city schools. Problem is that the suburbs are now, basically, in other counties (St. Johns and Clay), and that's where all the Duval educational hope has run to. What if, instead of throwing $2 billion into Duval Public Schools, we step back and see how we can do it all different once again? I'm wondering what our unique version of public schools might be today.

Duval or DuVal or du Val?

I was just on an insurance website that listed DuVal as the county we're in. Some people go by DuWhatever, while others use DuSomething. Still others are du Frenchplace. So, I wonder what the deal is with Duval.

Recyclable Plastic Bags as Beds

Plastic bags CAN be recycled, probably even in Georgia. That's where a Girl Scout troop decided to save recyclable plastic bags from the landfill in order to build homeless beds. I'm wondering whether it's a good activity or not. I want it to be, really, but I have my reservations. My wife says it's me being cynical, but I just like to make sure the feel-good stories really make me feel good.

Orange Park Wants to Limit Cars in Driveways?

When I was driving around Jacksonville to find a place to live, I always crossed off the neighborhoods with several cars parked in the front lawn. In my mind, front lawns are not made for parking cars in a civilized society. But Orange Park, at least according to the news, wants to pass a law that kicks cars out of front lawns AND driveways. That would be going a bit too far, especially around here. That said, there should be some accepted rules about parking cars that should help property values, though I don't see much hope in enforcing most of the rules, even in hoods with an HOA.

Vacation to Asheville - Watch For Gas Gouging

We were visiting the Biltmore in Asheville when I ended up at a gas station that seemed impossible. At first, I felt lucky that a Shell was right there, since our AAA gas discount has been giving me $.15 a gallon recently. But after I ended up putting $20 into the car, I realized I'd been totally scammed, right in the open.

The Hidden Cost of a Hidden Hills Upgrade

I took my daughter to a party in Hidden Hills. Nice neighborhood and homes, along with a security guard. So what does the convenience of being in a fancy hood near the Beaches and downtown cost? And what are the hidden costs of Hidden Hills? Just in case we decide to move on up, I decided to do some research.

Only Way to Avoid The Reverse Mortgage Disaster

I've seen several news articles about the pitfalls of reverse mortgages. I also saw that we've set up a fund to help people when they get stuck with a reverse mortgage here in Florida. But the simple answer that most older people don't want to hear is that there's only one way to avoid disaster with a reverse mortgage: don't get one.

Rental Bikes Aren't Exactly For The Homeless

Local news was down in St. Augustine covering the newly-proposed use of some kind of bike-share rental system. Since it's standard operating procedure, a homeless man was interviewed about the program. He said something to the effect that it would be good to have options for someone like him who can't afford a bike. FYI local news and homeless people: bike rental programs are not really created for the homeless.

Bored Cashier is a Marketing Opportunity

Most of the times that I've been to car dealerships, I don't really notice the cashiers until it's time to pay. The dealership I went to recently to get an oil change, however, had a cashier right in the waiting room (which was also the location of the service and parts desk). Efficient placement that should probably lead to employees working hard, since they are in front of each other and customers. For this particular cashier, however, it was 90% texting in her chair along with 10% taking payments/other work, and it's a missed marketing opportunity.

Sunpass, with more states coming soon...

Here's the text from the Sunpass website that's probably been on the website for the past several years (since mid 2018 for sure):

SunPass transponders also work in Georgia and North Carolina with more states coming soon.

I am not entirely sure why the toll systems in the US have decided not to follow the federal law requiring them to achieve interoperabilty. I assume Sunpass (with all its problems) does not meet the minimum standards set forth by the EZPass group. It's a set of rules that does not allow for fraud, so it's not in tune to Florida business practices.

I Did Not Know My AC is Obsolete

As I walk around my Jacksonville neighborhood filled with homes built in 2003 and 2004, I see that most of the AC (heat pump) units are original. They look like mine, complete with rust on the top. But it's more than the rust that makes these obsolete, and you probably better save up for the upcoming expense yourself if you have an AC unit that is over ten years old.

I Hate to Disappoint Home Invaders, But...

A home invasion down in Eagle Landing (Oak Leaf Plantation) netted $140,000 that the owner had hidden in the attic. Three home invaders and a gun. Scary stuff.  I'm here to tell anyone planning a home invasion not to bother with my home. Apparently, the man whose home was invaded flaunted money on social media. Maybe he was one of those make money fast gurus. I'm not, so no money here, home invaders.

$4 Wednesday At AMC Explained

The local news "reported" on AMC Theater's $4 Wednesday for the summer. When I searched for the program, I noticed a lot of local news channels had also picked up the "story." I'm glad marketing using local news channels is alive and well, but because it's TV news, there was little explanation. I had to search all around to figure it out. At least, I think I have it figured out, and if anyone from AMC wants to contact me to confirm, feel free.

Doctors Should Read This, But They Probably Won't

I had a doctor's appointment for my daughter today. The doctor was annoyed that we did not fill a prescription. I was annoyed that the doctor did not call my wife back when we had questions about filling the prescription. But I was also annoyed about the signage and marketing campaign that was being waged in the waiting room and appointment rooms that surrounded me.

Arielle Nixon Leaves Action News Jax

New Jax Witty has gotten a lot of hits recently that include the name Arielle Nixon and the term Action News Jax. That's because she has not been on the TV screen for some time. And there's a new blonde in her place. What's weird, though, is that there was never the normal farewell (not that I saw or read), even though it's apparent she's gone. (Spoiler Alert - I found out as I was writing this, so skip to the quote below if you don't want to read my whole post).

Youth Basketball and Volleyball Skills Camps in East Arlington, Intracoastal, Arlington, etc.

You might be looking for a basketball or volleyball skills camp for your kids, or you might be looking how to post the camp your school or organization is putting on. I've got some resources for you either way.

AAA Drive, Allstate Drivewise, Progressive Snapshot, And So On

I wrote the main article on how to beat Progressive Snapshot. Now the other companies are doing the same thing, probably because Progressive actually saves itself money in identifying risky drivers. Sure, some of us do OK and get a discount, but the goal of these devices is really for all insurance companies to be allowed into our cars in order to spy on us and determine our rates based on very real statistics.

WTF is this? absolutely no credit

Every single teacher on earth has probably wanted to write it on a paper, and most do pass the message on in some way. However, the Florida teacher who wrote it probably should have just thought it. "WTF is this? absolutely no credit."

Non-lol Moment: Sewer Main Line

I was reading through the posts in my Nextdoor app, and I saw this one that seemed to use an odd lol moment:

I need a plumber to re-pipe from the street to my house. Someone who does a good job and reasonably priced (inexpensive) lol.

I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how lol fits into this request for a recommendation. Maybe we have to dig deeper into the text. To me, it's a TSS (total sh!t storm, not that's so sweet) or WTF situation.

Why I Like Sprint

I tried the Republic Wireless route a few years back. It's a good company with a good idea (to use wifi as much as possible), but our devices tried to connect to every business we passed on the road, often playing havoc with our navigation. We were also limited to 2gb per month of data, so that was kind of annoying. Sprint provided an option with a similar price point and "unlimited" data, and there are a few other perks just for being a Sprint customer.

58 Gangs, 705 Members in Jax

The following article uses stats found online and opinion in order to address the crime and gang problem in Jacksonville. It is not meant to accuse gangs or police officers or Pacific Islanders of anything that offends your sensitivities. As it is, to an extent, satire, it should be protected by my 1st Amendment rights, yet someone out there flagged it for review, hiding it behind a warning. That's sad, as is the person who objected to the content.

Jacksonville has a crime problem. Most cities do. We also have some gangs in town. 58, apparently. With 705 gang members. I am not sure if this was discovered using census data or what. Maybe a Survey Monkey survey. But what do the numbers mean?