For those of you not living in California, the state is finally seeing sense and passing a "no cell phone" ban whilst driving. The rule basically forces drivers to use a headset/hands free kit whilst talking and driving. It is hoped this will reduce the number of related accidents and make the roads safer.

Why blog about this? Well, on my way into work I have to negociate many 4 way stop signs, which can be particulary dangerous for us bikers. Picture this: I come to a complete stop and intend to go straight through the intersection. I place my foot down on the road and the driver directly opposite me approaches her stop line. I wait until she stops and then take off. As I approach the center of the road, she decides to turn left (no turn signal..of course) and pulls out directly infront of me.

I slam on my breaks to avoid going over the front of her car and look in disbelief directly at her. Surprise...she's on the cellphone, looks at me, waves to say "Thanks" for stopping and carries on.

It's impossible to say wether or not the cellphone was the reason for this crazy stunt because alot of drivers dont need a distraction to be completely clueless but here's my issue with the law. Whether you are using a hands free kit or not, you are still concentrating on a conversation and not on driving. Sure, the hands free kit enables you to have both hands on the wheel but how many people drive with their hands at the "10" and "2" position? Or even drive with both hands on the wheel period.  In fact, I would call it "half a law".

And look at the punishment if you're caught: $20 fine for the first offense then $50 every time thereafter. Is that enough?

Come the start of July, it will be very interesting to see the stats on how many offenses are logged. It'll also be interesting to see if it has an affect on the number of driver related accidents.  I'll reserve my judgement. It is a sweet little earner for the mobile companies though in the form of related accessory sales.

Nice idea by my good friend Robbie to start a techie type category. When I saw his posting on amazon I thought I'd contribute by sharing my experience with Google Analytics and the ability to track your web sites performance from a conversion point of view.

Think about it. You have a business. You buy keywords on various search engines (google, yahoo, ask etc etc). You want to know if the money you're shelling out is actually bringing you more money in, ie, a positive ROI. (Return On Investment). Here's a typical and very simple scenario:

• You own an online store selling, say, drum parts.  
• You pay $500 a month in keyword buys on www.joeblogssearchengine.com.
• Is the $500 you are spending on those keywords bringing in more than $500 in sales?

This is a very common question that search engine marketers need to know. Ideally, you should be able to track a sale (or conversion) and identify where the person originally came from. If none of your sales are a result from a click on www.joeblogssearchengine.com then you'd be just as well taking the $500 and subscribing to "search engine marketing for dummies". This is called Conversion tracking and there are a few easy ways to get this information.

There are numerous conversion tracking software companies out there. There is also a free way to do it! (free is good right?) Either way, There are steps common to configuring conversion tracking:

• Get some javascript from the solution provider to put on your web site.
• Change the URL's of your ads on the various search engines you advertise on. 

In my Job, I'm kinda tagged (no pun intended) as the "conversion tracking" expert. An honourable position indeed, so I know a wee bit about this.  If you go with a conversion tracking vendor then they have people on staff to help you set things up. If you go with the free option ("Google Analytics"), they have tonnes of documentation but, in my opinion, it's a bit confusing. Because of this, I wrote a guide on a great site called work.com that explains how to set this up. A direct link to the guide itself is HERE.

Ok, It's Friday afternoon and I'm off to drink beer. While I do that, go set up some conversion tracking and watch that money roll in!

Out!

I almost dropped my bike this morning. Nothing to do with my riding experience (or lack thereof) but from laughing.  I have 2 choices for my daily commute. I can either take the I-10 from PCH for about 3 exits or I can take the smaller roads and take in the locals going about their daily business.

So here I am, stopping and starting at the many sets of lights and stop signs when I arrive at yet another red. The light Gods were against me today! I'm positioned towards the center of the road, as expected, when I hear the faint sound of a hairdryer come up along myright side and stop. I look over and there's a guy on a Vespa 125. We exchange a quick nod, which is obviously scooter code for "Let's get it on".   At that point he starts to crank on the throttle of his awesome machine and as the light goes green, he kicks it into "quick dry mode" and shoots off the line as only a 125 scooter can.

Lucky for me there wasn't a car behind because i had to slip back into neutral, put both feet on the ground and finish pissing myself laughing before heading off. Sometimes you've just got to ask yourself..."Why???????"

After completeing my introduction to open road riding, courtesy of my good friend Robbie Booth, there came a time to actually start sharing the road with other cars and do the commuter thing. 8:20am, Wednesday morning and I'm rolling up Montana Avenue beside the old folks trying to park at Starbucks and the moms taking kiddies to school. Very different riding experience.

I also had my first exerperience of what my bike can really do....Sitting at a set of light....lights change, move up through to second gear and in the space of 2 secs I'm up to 40 MPH. Didnt even realise it until I looked at the speedo. At that point I realise just how much respect this bike deserves.

The rest of the journey was pretty uneventful in terms of obsticles but very high in fun factor. At this point in my riding I'm really into practising stop signs, left turns and the all important "decent into the office parking lot". I'm guessing wiping out infront of the office is a bad thing, especially as my friend "sideout" (www.motodisiac.com) decided to video me leaving the office yeserday. "Smoke the back tire", I heard him shout..."Take it and shove it", I replied.

So tonight I think I'm going to have a go at installng my luggage bags. (http://www.tourmaster.com/xcart/product.php?productid=149&cat=31) . Very handy for putting the odd pint of milk/bottle of wine/small animal in. Also very handing for carrying clothes for that all important road trip to Vegas.... VEGAS??? WHAT?? RoadTrip??? Surely not...heeheee...

"I'm sorry sir, You don't have sufficient credit history or credit score".....I tell you, if I had a buck for everytime I heard that I would have no need for credit in the first place.  It's one of the most frustrating things I found after moving over here. You obviously have a fairly well paying job or else you wouldn't have moved in the first place and now you want to do stuff like rent an apartment or buy a car. Failry common things and should be easy right? Think again...

The good news - there are easy ways to start establishing a credit history and even if you haven't made the full transition to the states, you can still do some of these while on holiday. The more time you have them , the better. So:

1) Open a bank account - All you need is an address in the states so if you have friends/relatives...Use theirs. Maintain it well and it'll start the ball rolling.

2) If you are offered, consider a store card - This is how many teenagers establish their credit. Good stores to consider are Target, Sears, Wallmart etc. You'll need to make sure that they report to the credit bureaus because if they don't, It wont do you any good. If you are approved, it will be for a small amount but use it to buy stuff and each month, pay it off in full.

3) If you happen to find a place to live with roommates, and you trust them, offer to put the utilities (electricity, phone, TV, gas) in your name.

4) Secured Credit Card - This is a good one and one that I used. Many banks offer these and you pay them a certain amount of money ($300) and they give you a credit card with a $300 limit.  The bank will use the $300 as security should you fail to make payments. This works well!!!!!!!

5) Check with your employer if they are linked with a credit union. Often, this is the best way to get a real "big persons" credit card.

All of these steps will help you start your credit score but this is only the start. It won't happen overnight and there are no real shortcuts. Equally as important is maintaining a good credit score because it'll save you hundreds in interest rates. If anyone else has some good advice...Please add!

Cheers...Stoafer

Guy's n' Galls...

So here's the deal.  I came over to the states 5 and a half years ago and I must admit, looking back on it, I've come a long way since getting off the plane. I'm from the U.K (Edinburgh to be exact) and after completing my Masters Degree in Applied computing at the fine University of Dundee, I managed to land a job in Microsoft Games. How I got there will be addressed in a later blog but let's just say that it pays to know people. Contacts are everything.

So whats the purpose of setting up this blog? Well, the internet is full of useful info and there are alot of great sites related to immigration and working in the States. There's also alot of stuff they dont tell you; things like How to rent an apartment (it's not as easy as you think), buying a car and this little thing called a Credit Score. My aim is to share my experiences and knowledge with people who either want to move over to the States for work or have already moved and are ready to take the next steps of Green card applications etc etc.

I will make it clear at the outset. I'm not a lawyer..(although I do have a law degree..scoff scoff) so all the usual disclaimers apply. Anything read on this site is purely conversational and I can't be held responsible. The bottom line is that Immigration matters should be dealt with by lawyers. You can't afford to make a mistake. Again, thats something else thats close to my heart as I'm currently in my green card application process.

All that remains for me to say is please email me if you have any questions about anything related to this topic and let's make this a great forum! Next up.....How do you get here!!!!!!

Cheers!

Stoafer.