marroncito

2011-12-25T10:21:00.000-08:00

sapiosexual - attracted to intellect

2011-01-30T05:59:00.001-08:00

Latter-day revelation shows that John’s preaching and knowledge of the gospel were far more extensive than the King James Version of the Biblecredits him. The Joseph Smith Translation states that John “came into the world for a witness, … to bear record of the gospel through the Son, unto all.” (JST, John 1:7.) He taught personal righteousness, emphasizing repentance, confession, baptism, prayer, fasting, and receiving the Holy Ghost. He discussed brotherly kindness, generosity, honesty, moral virtue, and justice. John likewise spoke of the gathering of Israel, the conversion and adoption of the gentiles into Israel, the second coming of the Messiah, the resurrection of the dead, the keys of the kingdom, the fulness of time, and the Day of Judgment. (See JST, Luke 3:3–11.)

As John grew to maturity, the Holy Ghost prepared the young man’s mind for his ministry. John received the Holy Ghost while he was in his mother’s womb (see D&C 84:27; Luke 1:15), and no one can receive the Holy Ghost without receiving revelation (see Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith,p. 328). John was “baptized while yet in his childhood,” was set apart for his mission by an angel when he was only eight days old (see D&C 84:28), and later received the full keys of the Aaronic Priesthood, including the keys of the ministering of angels. (See D&C 13.) It follows that he would have received the visitation of angels during these preparatory years.

This was neither a simple task nor an honorary title. There was difficult and dangerous work to be done. The Book of Mormon indicates that priestcrafts and iniquities in Jerusalem at the time of the Savior made that generation the “more wicked part of the world.” (2 Ne. 10:3.) Into this maelstrom John—a mere mortal, yet armed with the Aaronic Priesthood, a divine commission, personal righteousness, the truth of God, and a huge amount of courage—launched his ministry. What he was called to do placed his very life in jeopardy.

John single-handedly challenged the network of apostasy that existed among the leaders of his people. His divine appointment was “to overthrow the kingdom of the Jews, and to make straight the way of the Lord before the face of his people, to prepare them for the coming of the Lord.” (D&C 84:28.)

The circumstances attending this time of exile and test must have been related by Jesus Himself, for of other human witnesses there were none. The recorded narratives deal principally with events marking the close of the forty-day period, but considered in their entirety they place beyond doubt the fact that the season was one of fasting and prayer. Christ's realization that He was the chosen and foreordained Messiah came to Him gradually. As shown by His words to His mother on the occasion of the memorable interview with the doctors in the temple courts, He knew, when but a Boy of twelve years, that in a particular and personal sense He was the Son of God; yet it is evident that a comprehension of the full purport of His earthly mission developed within Him only as He progressed step by step in wisdom. His acknowledgment by the Father, and the continued companionship of the Holy Ghost, opened His soul to the glorious fact of His divinity. He had much to think about, much that demanded prayer and the communion with God that prayer alone could insure. Throughout the period of retirement, he ate not, but chose to fast, that His mortal body might the more completely be subjected to His divine spirit.

The circumstances incident to the miraculous act are instructive to contemplate. The presence of Jesus at the marriage, and His contribution to the successful conduct of the feast, set the seal of His approval upon the matrimonial relationship and upon the propriety of social entertainment. He was neither a recluse nor an ascetic; He moved among men, eating and drinking, as a natural, normal Being.~138. 1 On the occasion of the feast He recognized and heeded the demands of the liberal hospitality of the times, and provided accordingly. He, who but a few days before had revolted at the tempter's suggestion that He provide bread for His impoverished body, now used His power to supply a luxury for others. One effect of the miracle was to confirm the trust of those whose belief in Him as the Messiah was yet young and untried. "His disciples believed on him"; surely they had believed in some measure before, otherwise they would not have followed Him; but their belief was now strengthened and made to approach, if indeed it did not attain, the condition of abiding faith in their Lord. The comparative privacy attending the manifestation is impressive; the moral and spiritual effect was for the few, the inauguration of the Lord's ministry was not to be marked by public display.

2011-01-29T15:45:00.000-08:00

2011-01-29T15:42:00.000-08:00

2011-01-29T15:37:00.001-08:00

2006-04-07T22:02:00.000-07:00

Techdirt

Just wanted to say thanks to Mike and the crew at TechDirt for the link.

2006-04-07T17:02:00.000-07:00

Well lots of bad news the day before I launch. I have to move from Rosenberg to Houston at the end of May. This is going to make things difficult for my phone bank offering. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

I can always set up again in Houston once I get settled there.

2006-04-03T18:41:00.000-07:00

I felt that this deserved its own post.

As I was walking between my home and the apartments, I was thinking about how I can grow my business without any VC/Angel funding. At the end of the day, VC is great, but I can't bank on it being there for me.

So I came up with this. My origional idea was built around the use of long range digital radios that would allow me to monetize the relationships between ex-patriots within it's reach. But that's a little more capital intensive that I can afford right now.

I was thinking about Fiesta and its competition with other grocers. At least in Rosenberg, it seems to lag a distant third. HEB is the dominant force for high end neighborhoods like Greatwood. A segment of my Hispanic market lives there. Mostly your successful contractors and builders.

Wal-mart holds sway over the middle class. They also cater to a lot of Mexicans. They have a few products that are geared to their niche. Between providing cheap staples and some simple Mexican products they take a lot of potential business away from Fiesta.

So Fiesta does business with the poorest customers in this niche. They carry a lot of Mexico specific products and provide similar services. And yet Walmart and sometimes HEB eat their market share. There's also a Kroger in the area that squeezes the market for them.

Back to Fiesta. They are heavy into remittance to Mexico. They also provide bill pay and low cost utilities. So they are definitily focused on serving the same niche I am.

I could install a simple WiFi network in there store here in Rosenberg. Let customers make calls while their shopping, but restrict the geography. I watch a lot of people make calls to Mexico from pay phones in apartment complexes. Why can't Fiesta capture these people? With my WiFi network and Skype I can bring more customers to Fiesta. I'd be a layer in their relationship with their customers.

But what about the customers they already have. I bet it would help increase sales per customer. I'd say it's nearly a fact that the longer you stay in a grocery the more you buy. Say you go in for nothing but milk. They put it in the back hoping you'll see something else to buy on the way to the milk. And if you walk around looking after you picked up the milk, you'll probably find something else to buy.

The way I see it is that providing this Skype service in Fiesta would increase the average time that their customers new and old spend in their store.

I think I can increase Fiesta's metrics like sales per customer, revenue per sq. ft as well as total customers. I think I can help Fiesta win back market share in Rosenberg. This idea would also work for any other business in the Mexico niche here in Rosenberg so I should be able to find customers for this idea.

The only kind of company I can see it not working is restraunts. Keeping the same customers in the seats for 2 hours wouldn't be benificial for them.

2006-04-03T18:23:00.000-07:00

Sweat Equity

Well it's started. The die is cast. Time to watch the ripples.

I spent the most of the day out in my market putting up and passing out flyers for my April 8th commercial start. I was much more nervous that I thought I would be. I've been a soldier, a missionary and numerous kinds of employee. I thought I'd been through just about every social situation possible. I found out how wrong I was. That's what made me nervous.

I think it came from the fact that I'm representing no one but myself. In every other scenario I at least had the reputation, good or bad, of whatever I was representing to work with. Now I'm just a nameless guy talking to people about how they call Mexico.

I actually turned off my network last night and left it off this morning so that I wouldn't have any distractions in getting out the door. It helped a lot. I can spend hours following the ebb and flow of business across the blogosphere.

I was actually scared the first few times I put up my flyers. This led to me thinking a lot about the mechanics of what I was doing. It's been a really long time since I put a great deal of thought into how to fold paper and cut tape.

Thankfully I've learned to face my fear. It actually becomes a source of motivation for me. I can't say I like it, but when I feel it, I can definitly get going, set it off, blow up, etc.

It took me about 20 flyers to calm down enough to enjoy what I was doing. Actually, putting sweat equity into my business. I'd gotten tired of talking about all the testing and re-testing I was doing. Back to the flyers. I was excited all the way through the first apartment complex.

At the end of the first complex, there's a little run down strip that is a great Mexican niche. A taqueria, a Mexican video store and some kind of remittance business geared toward Mexico. There are a lot of Spanish publications set out for free in front of these businesses. I decided to take advantage of this free advertising and put a flyer inside the ones marked "Gratis". I figure whoever opens it is looking for a lot of value so I hope they'll consider my products.

I finished the other 2 complexs I had targeted. During this time I realized that I definitly need to study some Marketing Best Practices. I also need to develop my own marketing strategies to deal with my current trickle of personal capital.

Finished distributing my flyers, I dropped by my brother's house. We talked about what I was doing. His wife is a 2nd generation Mexican. Her extended family is huge and has strong connections to Mexico. She listened and then told me that people in her family would be interested in my products since they call Mexico all the time.

This made me really nervous. With strangers for customers, I can prepare for our encouters. Our relationship is in the context of B2C. With extended relatives, I wonder what contexts will come about. If they become my customers, what will they expect? I've since moved from nervousness to curiousity about this subject.

Which makes me wonder if I can use it as marketing and/or growth opportunity. Can I do a great job servicing my extended family and grow from there? We'll see.

So today has been really exciting.

2006-03-23T22:01:00.000-08:00

Well I've got it all set up. I'm going for the first $500. I've bought 50ft of Cat-5e cable and run it from my router out the front door where I'll have a table set up. I'll be offering my free and subscription phone services there. I'll be placing flyers at Victoria Gardens, Mustang Crossing and Lamar park - all densly populated by Hispanics - starting the first week of April.

2006-03-15T21:35:00.000-08:00

Just thought I'd give an update on what's been going on. I've been talking with 2 venture firms. One here in Houston and one in England. It's felt like an endless english class with all the writing I've been doing.

On my own front, I'm saving up $500 to launch my first product here in Rosenberg. I'll pretty much just break even on it, but it will demonstrate that there's a market and give me some cash flow.

2006-03-09T20:44:00.000-08:00

Another successful test. This time of 2 boxes communicating with each other for free. It was beautiful. I was at my girlfriends house in her company as well as her parents. She said she was proud of me, which did worlds for my confidence. Her mother was impressed. Her mother is exactly the kind of person I want as a customer. A completly non-technical person that understands in simple terms what was happening. Her father works for BMC and is deeply educated in all things technical. He was silent, but had nothing negative to say, which in his case is a good thing. He is very good at finding the holes and problems in things.

We first called LeMans, France and Perth, Australia. Then we called Portsmouth, England. After everyone had a chance to use and see Skype in action, we called between the phones. Complete success. They rang within one second of placing the Skype call with the other phone. The voice quality was great. There were some voice quality problems to other Skype users, but those were fixed once they got their microphones/headphones straight. Calling with a phone is so much easier.

I'm ready for my Flash Phone to arrive. I got the tracking info for it today. It's last mark was in Toronto, Canada so it'll be a little while yet. I'm going to purchase a Skype USB phone and some SkypeOut and then being selling. It's nearly time. I'll have to purchase a cable connection at my brother's home in Victoria Gardens, but that won't be too expensive month to month. I'll also have to purchase a WiFi router, preferably MOBI so that I can stand outside with my laptop and offer free calls to Mexico.

2006-03-09T16:14:00.000-08:00

I've got prices!! I finally got to talk to my MPLAT salesman and I got pricing on my first 10 Flash Phones and the following 100.

First 10 US$22.00 each = $220.00 + $70 shipping = US$290
Following 100 US$19.10 each = $1910 + $150 shipping = US$2060

The $290 will be easy. It'll cost me about 1/2 a weeks pay. The $2060's a little steep for my pocket book, but once I get the first 10 sold and delivered I should have more than enough confidence in my market to make that kind of investment.

I'll be working on pricing of various products over the next few days. I'll be posting them when I'm done. I've already got most of the pricing for the Flash Phone figured out.

Here's the transcript of my chat with the MPLAT salesman:

[10:48:17 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: hello Mr. Liu

[10:53:24 AM] mplatsales says: hello

[10:53:43 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: is this Lomen Liu?

[10:53:51 AM] mplatsales says: Yes. I　am

[10:54:22 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: this is Aaron deOliveira - marroncito

[10:54:32 AM] mplatsales says: yes. how are you?

[10:55:34 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: well. i would like to find out about wholesale prices for F2k Flash Phones

[10:55:43 AM] mplatsales says: Ok

[10:55:53 AM] mplatsales says: How many you need?

[10:56:16 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: what's the smallest amount i can get to start with?

[10:56:26 AM] mplatsales says: 100

[10:56:38 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: so 100 is the smallest lot for wholesale?

[10:57:08 AM] mplatsales says: No. First you may order 10 unit and just test your local market.

[10:57:14 AM] mplatsales says: or 20

[10:57:27 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: do i order 10 at full price?

[10:57:44 AM] mplatsales says: Of course , still have best discount.

[10:57:57 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: how much will the first 10 cost?

[10:57:58 AM] mplatsales says: NOT FULL price

[10:58:12 AM] mplatsales says: USD22.00

[10:58:38 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: so can i get that price through MPLAT.com or do i order through you?

[10:58:52 AM] mplatsales says: From MPLAT.COM

[10:59:06 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: how do i get that price from the website?

[10:59:18 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: does it give it to me automatically when i order 10?

[10:59:23 AM] mplatsales says: No.

[10:59:45 AM] mplatsales says: I will do proforma invoice for you.

[10:59:53 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: okay

[11:00:06 AM] mplatsales says: And then you will pay it by paypal or bank transfer.

[11:00:20 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: cool

[11:00:22 AM] mplatsales says: Do you order the sample

[11:00:27 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: not right now

[11:00:38 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: i haven't gotten the first one i purchased yet

[11:00:57 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: and i haven't gotten any tracking information for it

[11:01:03 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: how long do they take to get?

[11:01:10 AM] mplatsales says: One week.

[11:01:19 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: okay

[11:01:30 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: i'll place the order for 10 when i get the first one

[11:01:39 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: so i can just get on skype and just order with you?

[11:02:09 AM] mplatsales says: No. you may send the email to sales@mplat.com , one salesman will contact you.

[11:02:26 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: and i can still get the $22 price?

[11:02:39 AM] mplatsales says: Yes. We have price list.

[11:02:55 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: so when i order 100 how much is each one?

[11:02:57 AM] mplatsales says: Same price will depend on your order quatity

[11:03:08 AM] mplatsales says: USD19.10

[11:03:45 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: that's a good prifce

[11:03:46 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: price

[11:03:57 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: so why do you sell them for $55 individually?

[11:04:22 AM] mplatsales says: The price is FOB china price, you need pay the delivery fee.

[11:04:37 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: how much is shipping?

[11:04:49 AM] mplatsales says: So, the 100unit delivery fee will be USD150.00

[11:05:14 AM] mplatsales says: No other handle fee, or extra fee for this .

[11:05:46 AM] mplatsales says: So you may get the profit from the shipping cost for end user when you sell it at USA

[11:06:03 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: so the total cost for 100 is 1910 + 150 = 2250?

[11:06:19 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: you can ship directly to my customers?

[11:06:57 AM] mplatsales says: We sell at high price just would like to protect the partner

[11:07:07 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: ah

[11:07:11 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: good plan

[11:07:27 AM] mplatsales says: Yes. the total price will be USD2250 for 100unit

[11:07:34 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: good

[11:07:46 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: could you tell me the shipping cost on the first 10?

[11:07:53 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: 220 + ? = ??

[11:08:11 AM] mplatsales says: USD70.00

[11:08:21 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: so the total cost is 290?

[11:08:27 AM] mplatsales says: Yes.

[11:09:12 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: can i ask which shipping company ya'll use? UPS? FedEX?

[11:09:35 AM] mplatsales says: UPS, FedEx, DHL, if you like

[11:09:58 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: the shipping costs aren't the same for each shipper are they?

[11:10:35 AM] mplatsales says: We will not charge any extra cost for delivery fee, we may use any carrier as you like.

[11:10:58 AM] mplatsales says: Or if you have shipping account, then you don't need pay any shipping cost.

[11:11:12 AM] mplatsales says: We use your account to finish the delivery.

[11:11:24 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: shipping account with who? your company?

[11:11:47 AM] mplatsales says: No, your company's account at carrier company.

[11:11:52 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: ah

[11:12:06 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: and you'll be shipping from ShenZhen?

[11:12:13 AM] mplatsales says: For example, you have account at UPS, then use your account and we don't charge any fee.

[11:12:42 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: okay

[11:12:46 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: thanks for all the information

[11:12:52 AM] mplatsales says: We have different factory in china, we will choose the best delivery address to finish your order.

[11:13:02 AM] Aaron deOliveira says: i'll email sales@mplat.com when i'm ready

[11:13:13 AM] mplatsales says: Great, have a good day.

[11:13:33 AM] mplatsales says: i am so excited to setup the new business relationship with your company.

[11:13:45 AM] mplatsales says: look forward your feedback.

[11:13:46 AM] mplatsales says: bye

2006-03-08T01:22:00.000-08:00

I gave a demonstration to my parents of how Skype works and how I'll be building these private networks. I had James try the Skype Test Call over the phone. He got a confused look as though he didn't know quite what he was doing. Next we called a man in Malaysia and had him on speaker phone. The speaker was a little crackly, but we heard him clearly. I asked him where he was (Malaysia) and what time it was there.

After the demonstration, James had a lot of questions about the legality of these networks. I explained to him how people use private networks all the time without knowing it. CB/Ham radios. Free cell phone to cell phone calling. Even hooking up a generator to your house is using a private network of sorts. After all his questions, I think he has a better understanding of what I'm doing.

My mother is becoming incrementally more supportive. She's moved from luke warm to real interest. She's heard calls from Taiwan and Malaysia so far. Once I get some SkypeOut minutes, I'll have her call her brother in Washington and maybe even Japan where she lived for awhile.

2006-03-07T13:58:00.000-08:00

I guess now would be a good time to explain why I've made the switch to Mexico. I've been talking to people I know who know El Salvador and none of them can (or will) share their contacts there with me. Oh well, I was kind of expecting this. So I've decided to work in Mexico where I can get to myself without a lot of cost.

I'm going to focus on Mexican bus lines and Mexican areas like Victoria Gardens and little Mexico. I figure I'll be able to find customers who are invested in contacting Mexico. I can also talk to Carlos. He runs a "service shop" doing private curreny exchange, selling phone cards and other small services mostly to immigrant workers. There are a lot of options.

Like I said before, I'll buy some SkypeOut minutes and count them as advertising. I feel that when people talk to their friends in Mexico for an hour or two they'll be tempted to buy.

2006-03-07T12:13:00.000-08:00

I tried out one of the boxes on my phone at home and it worked. I wasn't screaming at my laptop anymore, I was talking through my phone - adapter - laptop - wifi router - cable modem - internet/skype to people on the other end. I actually had a confrence call with 3 Danes and a Swede. It was awsome.

I'll be testing the other box at Kimberly's house this Thursday to make sure that they can find each other. I'll also want to test the call forwarding feature, so I'll be forwarding it to her cell phone.

This is going to be awsome. I'm even more excited than I was yesterday getting the adapters and downloading Skype 2.0

2006-03-06T18:37:00.000-08:00

The Skype Adapters have arrived!!! I'm buzzing with excitement now. The coolest thing is how small they are. They no bigger than a stuffed wallet. Kimberly and I have plans to test them this Thursday between our houses. I'll probably test them myself before then. I need to do the test between Kimberly and I because I'm building the recoprical network to what Skype provides.

My first move will be to offer free calls and pay for the SkypeOut charges until I can build up about 10 orders. Then I'll travel to Mexico (yes I know there's been a change, i'll post later) and set them up.

I'm halfway through deciding that the Victoria Gardens apartments here in Rosenberg could be an ideal set up for my testing before I really try to expand. It's at least 50% 1st generation Mexicans and other Central/South Americans. I could set up a free phone and try to gather orders for either the Flash Phone to be used at a kisosk that I supply or for adapters for thier own houses, as the kiosk would be outside.

I'm thinking out loud here, so I figure the VERY first product will just be a subscription to my free phone. You pay me $10 and you can use the free phone for as long as it exists. Obviously, I'll be taking a loss on this with the SkypeOut minutes, but that's the cost of advertising. I'm sure actually talking to people they know in Mexico will convince some of them to buy my products.

2006-03-02T22:30:00.000-08:00

Let me tell ya'll a little bit more about myself since I'm part of the team you'll be investing in. My business career started in 1997 when I was 17. I had been learning about the Web since junior high when I played with the Mosaic browser. As I graduated from high school, I was enamored with the possibilities of PHP, MySQL and the Apache server. I started investing time and money into developing back end products for web sites. I hired my friends, bought a domain name and even incorporated in Delaware. I was very much absorbed with the idea of "built it and they will come." I struggled to run this company for 2 years. It was a complete and utter failure. I ended up sinking about $5000 and numerous man hours into my company. I also trashed my credit. A teenager really doesn't have much to fund a company out of pocket so I tried credit cards...mistake. It was during this time that I experienced all the numerous things that a start up goes through on it's way to success. I failed at all of them, but I learned two things. What to expect and by inverse what success is. I learned about cash flow, marketing and numerous other business principles.

From 19 to 21 I contemplated my failed business. I began reading everything I could find on business in newspapers, magazines and of course online. I became convinced, incorrectly, that my biggest failure was that I didn't have a perfect business plan. So I spent months on and off crafting various business plans. I even tried to send them to people of influence, but got no response. It was also this time that I tried my hand with companies like Vector Marketing selling Cutco knives. In all my reading, my favorite subject has always been business cases. Everything from Fortune 500 companies to dot.com flame outs.

At 21, I spent two years in Taiwan serving as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It really transformed me. It also ended up being a great business education. My mission president was President Phipps. Before serving as mission president he had run several successful businesses in Australia. His last position was Director of Public Lands for the Australian government. His instruction was always of a spiritual nature, but his demeanor was that of a successful business man. I studied him incessantly. I absorbed his ideas about work, people and management. From a business perspective, my service as a missionary was a two year internship at a global company. I managed fellow missionaries as well as native Taiwanese members. I worked through direct marketing, referrals and media. I learned how to transform my American views and habits to fit the Taiwanese culture. I became fluent in the Chinese language and customs. As I walked through the streets of Taiwanese cities I became familiar their numerous factories that produced goods that I knew in America.

When I got back I joined the Army Reserve. I wanted to use my linguistic (tri-lingual) ability in the intelligence field. I ended up in the Chemical Corps learning about Nuclear Biological and Chemical weapons of mass destruction. As many businesses know, you can learn a lot about management in the military.

In the years up to now I've done a lot of temporary work. I've worked for companies such as Halliburton, GE and Shell. I've also worked with a lot of small business like Biotics Research and Monarch Paint. My fascination with business cases led to me studying their business practices as I walked about their offices doing data entry work. I often talked with regional and national managers about their businesses.

It was sometime shortly after I returned from Taiwan that I knew that I couldn't have a job and just work for someone else for the rest of my life. The creative juices flow through my mind and heart too strongly. Now I'm working to launch this as yet nameless company because I feel its success. It will become a reality and help trasform the telecom industry.

2006-03-02T21:45:00.000-08:00

My 15%

Well I found a seller of these that has an affiliate program so I'll be making an extra 15%. This will be good until i can get them wholesale.

2006-03-02T01:41:00.000-08:00

This has been a really happy and really pivotal night for me. I've actually brought my soon to be fiance in as a partner. Myself, I'm a visionary. I can see things for thier potential. The downside to this is that I often get trapped in the future and fret about what I should do next.

My girlfriend believes in my dreams, but is much more of a realist. She is able to break down my vision into each step that needs to be done to accomplish it. I know we will be a success together.

The reason I'm making this post is that I've calculated my personal investment in this company to this point and I've made some new purchases. My personal investment so far is $1210:

50	Flash Phone
110	Skype Adapters
350	Laptop (w/ School)
400	Internet access
300	Dean
1210

That's all the money that's come out of my pocket so far that I can figure. And of course years of sweat equity learning about these technologies and this opportunity as well as putting everything together into a nice package that will accelerate the adoption of VOIP technology by the international masses.

The big news is that I've bought my first 2 Skype adapters. I've also bought one Flash Phone. With the $300 that I've invested in Dean's talents, I'll have a computer that I can install in Mexico and get things rolling. I've found that Greyhound will probably be my best bet for both travel and customers. By installing at or near bus lines, I'm reaching customers who are already thinking about where their going and are showing a geographical (moving themselves) and monetary (bus ticket) committment to said place. My first few installs will be along bus lines. I figure people would be willing to pay $10 to make unlimited calls to wherever they're going, eventually anywhere along the bus route. I'm also preparing to approach Greyhound about the possibility of financing me or at least giving me access to their lobby. If not, I'll set up across the street with WiFi.

The Flash Phone is for me to experiment with since its a thumb drive. Thumb drives are something I've thought about before. The Flash Phone actually has an audio component with the USB drive. It looks pretty cool too.

I figure it'll be the second or third product I offer. It definitly has a lot of potential for market penetration, especially if I can pair it with some strategically placed Skype servers and Skype adapters.

2006-02-23T12:22:00.000-08:00

Some emails as I've been developing this idea:

Date:	Mon, 28 Nov 2005 06:36:04 -0800 (PST)
From:	"A. de Oliveira"
Subject:	asterik
To:	"Dean Sands"

hey dean,

i had a thought today.  do you think a company like
Geek Squad could help us get set up?  do you think
they'd have people who could help install and
configure asterik for us?  that way we could both be
there when they did it and really know how to do it.
do you think there are any companies that could help
us get ramped up?

of course i'd be funding it, so don't worry about
that.  with your two linux boxes i think we can get a
working prototype done.  i think if we could find a
company like Geek Squad that could help us really
understand this install it'd help us when we get to
the next step of installing in mexico.

what do you think?

- aaron

Date:	Mon, 28 Nov 2005 09:21:21 -0800 (PST)
From:	"A. de Oliveira"
Subject:	asterik
To:	"Dean Sands"

I went to the Geek Squad site and they do software
installs.  I'm going to email them and ask
specifically about Asterik and see how much it costs.
They have "on-site" installs so you and I could watch
them and learn how it's done.  That way, we'd have 2
linux boxes with asterik - basically, a working
prototype.  after that we can plan a trip to mexico.

i'm excited by the idea of your talent and their quick
install.  you've definitly got the skills to get it
done.  now, here's a way to get ramped up quickly and
get a little experience for all the other installs
that we'll have to do.

Date:	Sun, 4 Dec 2005 12:23:27 -0800 (PST)
From:	"A. de Oliveira"
Subject:	your article on herman express
To:	jenalia.moreno@x.com

Dear Ms. Moreno,

I have checked various phonebooks for contact
information for Herman Express, but have found
nothing.  Please send me a contact number.  Thank you.

Regards,

Aaron  deOliveira

From:	"Dean Sands"
To:	marroncito@yahoo.com
Subject:	RE: asterik
Date:	Mon, 05 Dec 2005 02:35:17 -0500

Sorry, this is late. I've spent the entire week trying to get my triple
boot
(Win2k/Redhat Fedora/Debian) system working.

Eh... Geek Squad? I used to work at Best Buy. After I get my A+, and
I'm not
terribly far away from it, /\/\Y 1337 5K!112 \/\/!11 pwn Geek Squad
(did you
know I actually can't stand 1337?) But anyway, Geek Squad is actually a
bunch of over-priced, over-inflated egos. What they would do for $170,
I did
for $20 and a copy of "Zelda OoT/Master Quest." Yeah, but anyway... I
haven't actually touched asterisk. I'm rolling it over in my head the
best
way to proceed, but I'll let you know the details.

FYI, I bought two 160GB drives for myself and Brandon. Brandon's box
will
have Fedora Monday night (having to redownload the intall DVD - yeah, a
DVD,
and it's b____in' ;)(Debian comes on 2 DVDs, but Brandon would never
find
his own butt if he tried that one.)

-DS

Date:	Mon, 5 Dec 2005 10:19:17 -0800 (PST)
From:	"A. de Oliveira"
Subject:	RE: asterisk
To:	"Dean Sands"

yea i'd been hearing good and bad reviews about them
so i'll take your word for it.  if not GeekSquad, what
about companies like CSW?  depending on your comfort
level with asterisk and how quickly you can get the
prototype up and running, it may still be worth
looking into.  i think brenda andrews works for CSW, i
can ask her.

Subject:	RE: your article on herman express
Date:	Tue, 6 Dec 2005 09:57:06 -0600
From:	"Moreno, Jenalia"
To:	"A. de Oliveira"

Hi Aaron,
Herman Express: 713 932 9034.
Thank you for reading. Also, if you know of any companies doing some
business with El Salvador as a result of the Central American Free
Trade
agreement that goes into effect on Jan. 1, please let me know.
Thanks,
Jena

-----Original Message-----
From: A. de Oliveira [mailto:marroncito@yahoo.com]
Sent: Sunday, December 04, 2005 2:23 PM
To: Moreno, Jenalia
Subject: your article on herman express

Dear Ms. Moreno,

I have checked various phonebooks for contact
information for Herman Express, but have found
nothing.  Please send me a contact number.  Thank you.

Regards,

Aaron  deOliveira

Date:	Tue, 6 Dec 2005 08:30:10 -0800 (PST)
From:	"A. de Oliveira"
Subject:	RE: your article on herman express
To:	"Moreno, Jenalia"

Dear Ms. Moreno,

Thank you so much for your quick replay.  Actually I
was about to ask you the same question because I
myself am forming a business that focuses on Central
America and am looking to work in concert with other
businesses.

I am planning on offering VOIP-like services to the
technologically underserved Hispanic communities in
the Houston area.  This would include people such as
landscapers, construction workers and agriculture
workers.  I will offer them unlimited long distance to
their home country for only US$200 annually.  They
will be able to make a local call in a Houston area
code and for no additional cost they will be connected
to any number in their home country.  The technology
makes no distinction between using a pay phone, a land
line or a cell phone on either end of the call.

I am initially focusing on Central America for reasons
that you discussed in your article.  That there is a
large community of Salvadorans and other Central
Americans who are interested in maintaining contact
with their native country.  It is also a matter of
scale.  Once service is successfully established in
Central America, I hope to expand to all of Latin
America.

I feel that Internet technology can be made to serve
those who otherwise would not enjoy the benefits of
technologies such as Skype that lower costs for those
with access.

I am curious why you would be interested in businesses
operating in El Salvador.  Will you be covering this
subject often?  I will be sure to let you know if I
run across any such businesses.


Sincerely,

Aaron  de Oliveria

Subject:	RE: your article on herman express
Date:	Tue, 6 Dec 2005 12:04:51 -0600
From:	"Moreno, Jenalia"
To:	"A. de Oliveira"

Hi Aaron,
That sounds interesting. What's your phone number and I'll call you
about it later this week. Are you going to El Salvador soon?
I cover Hispanic business and Latin American economies. I'm interested
in going to Central America next month to do some stories about what
the
trade agreement really means in terms of local businesses working with
Central America.
Thanks,
Jena

Date:	Tue, 6 Dec 2005 11:11:14 -0800 (PST)
From:	"A. de Oliveira"
Subject:	calling
To:	"Moreno, Jenalia"

Jena,

I’d love to talk to you about my start up business.
However, I must warn you that we’re pretty much a
garage operation right now.  We’re still testing our
prototype here in Houston.  We’re looking to install
servers in El Salvador in late January or early
February.

I’m funding it all myself right now so there’s not yet
an office or physical presence.  I can be reached
after 6pm at 832-595-8475.  During the day I’m either
traveling or doing temp work to help fund this
business.

If you’d like to talk during the business day, I can
call you at the number you gave anytime during the
business day.  I look forward to speaking with you.


Regards,

Aaron

From:	"Dean Sands"
To:	marroncito@yahoo.com
Subject:	RE: todays meeting
Date:	Wed, 11 Jan 2006 16:03:21 -0500

Hey, Aaron. Sorry I haven't come by yet. I'm kind of frazzled right now
with
work. I'll be making a trip to MicroCenter tonight, so I'll try and
down to
your place today and see you - or grab the funding, whatever woirks.

Hoping I can pull myself out of this funk.
-Dean

Know this that every soul is free.

Date:	Fri, 13 Jan 2006 20:31:37 UT
From:	"craigslist.org"
To:	marroncito@yahoo.com
Subject:	POST/EDIT/DELETE : (computer gigs) i need someone to install asterisk on to linux computers

IMPORTANT - YOU MUST TAKE FURTHER ACTION TO GET THIS POSTED !!!

CLICK ON THE WEB ADDRESS BELOW TO PUBLISH, EDIT, OR DELETE THIS POSTING.
If your email program doesn't recognize the web address below as an active link, please copy and paste the following address into your web browser:

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PLEASE KEEP THIS EMAIL - you will need it to publish and manage your posting!

Your posting will expire off the site 45 days after it was created.

Oh, and hey - thanks for using craigslist!

Date:	16 Jan 2006 22:49:39 -0000
From:	MAILER-DAEMON@yahoo.com
To:	marroncito@yahoo.com
Subject:	failure notice

Hi. This is the qmail-send program at yahoo.com.
I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following
addresses.
This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.

<JC.Avila@att.net>:
204.127.134.23 does not like recipient.
Remote host said: 551 not our customer
Giving up on 204.127.134.23.

--- Below this line is a copy of the message.

Return-Path: <marroncito@yahoo.com>
Received: (qmail 34832 invoked by uid 60001); 16 Jan 2006 22:49:29
-0000
DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws;
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h=Message-ID:Received:Date:From:Subject:To:MIME-Version:Content-Type:Content-Transfer-Encoding;

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Received: from [69.91.35.50] by web52705.mail.yahoo.com via HTTP; Mon,
16 Jan 2006 14:49:29 PST
Date: Mon, 16 Jan 2006 14:49:29 -0800 (PST)
From: "A. de Oliveira" <marroncito@yahoo.com>
Subject: help getting information about el salvador
To: JC.Avila@att.net
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

Dear Mr. Avila,

I read your website "Information Technology Landscape
in
El Salvador" with great interest and have many more
questions.  Is there a time that we could get together
and chat?  I have questions about implementing an IT
business in El Salvador.

I am operating a start up company that coordinates
free web services so that people can have free voice,
video and data communication.  I am planning to start
with a connection between Houston, TX - the home of
some 75,000 Salvadorans - and El Salvador.  While not
a phone company, I hope to be able to let people in
both countries talk to each other.

I have a lot of questions about El Salvador.  I am
hoping to get a chance to chat with you.  Could you
also point me to other people in El Salvador who could
provide more information?

Thank you for your time and attention.


Sincerely,

Aaron  deOliveira

Date:	Wed, 1 Feb 2006 04:39:40 -0500
To:	marroncito@yahoo.com
From:	marroncito@yahoo.com
Subject:	Gizmodo Recommendation: MIDI Motion Capture

aaron has sent you a link to a post on Gizmodo:

Title: MIDI Motion Capture
Link:
http://us.gizmodo.com/gadgets/gadgets/midi-motion-capture-151756.php

aaron says: asf

From:	"Rob Escher"
To:	marroncito@yahoo.com
Subject:	Trailblazer Radios on 802.11b
Date:	Thu, 2 Feb 2006 09:27:31 -0800

Hello Aaron:

Thank you for contacting us.

We offer a range of point to point and point to multipoint Ethernet Bridges that operate on 802.11b.

I am interested to learn more about your application, feel free to contact me Tuesdays and Thursdays at my home office 707-223-2115 or the other days at our main office.

Best Regards,

Robert Escher

Director of Direct Sales

Carlson Wireless Technologies, Inc.

1180B Evergreen Road

Redway, California 95560

Phone 707-923-3000 x101

Fax 707-923-1913

rescher@carlsonwireless.com

www.carlsonwireless.com

Date:	Thu, 2 Feb 2006 22:36:14 -0800 (PST)
From:	"A. de Oliveira"
Subject:	Re: Trailblazer Radios on 802.11b
To:	"Rob Escher"

Dear Mr. Escher,

Thank you for your quick and informative reply.  I am
starting up a company that will provide voice and data
communications for technologically underserved El
Salvadorans in Houston, Texas.  This is a segment of
people who are early adopters of communications
technology such as prepaid cell phones and prepaid
calling cards.  The are mostly laborors such as
landscapers, painters and highway workers.  Their
economic condition means that they are currently
underserved technologically because they cannot afford
"standard" internet connections and thus take
advantage of various free technolgies such as Skype or
video confrencing or even email.  There are currently
75,000 Salvadorans in the Houston area and 6.5 million
Salvadorans in El Salvador.

This Central American expatriot segment has shown over
and over that they are early adopters of technolgy.
They have also shown that they highly value
communication with their home country through several
mediums such as voice, package/letter delivery and
wiring money.

My company will set up a wide area network with your
products or those similar to yours such as Airlinx, in
Houston and many places in El Salvador, in conjuction
with free WiFi hotspots to allow otherwise
technologically underserved Salvadorans access to free
voice communication technologies such as Skype.  We
will refurbish and sell PDAs equiped with 802.11b/g
wireless cards.  The interface will be simplifed to be
similar to a cell phone.  Thus these expatriots will
have the ability to communicate with El Salvador for
free from many convient locations.  As their computer
literacy grows we can help them enable other functions
of their PDAs.

That is the simple description of my companies
business and application of your technology.  Please
provide feedback as you will.


Best Regards,


Aaron  de Oliveira

From:	"Rob Escher"
To:	"'A. de Oliveira'"
Subject:	RE: Trailblazer Radios on 802.11b
Date:	Fri, 3 Feb 2006 10:20:49 -0800

Dear Mr. Oliveira:

Your project sounds intriguing and Trailblazer Ethernet Bridges could
possibly be used in some parts of it.

My main concern based on the information you have provided is that our
systems are designed for remote applications, and operate in the
unlicensed
2.4GHz and 5.8GHz bands. These will not work well in an urban center
like
Houston. However, they may be usable for links in El Salvador.

I am interested to know more about the uses of the 2.4GHz and 5.8 bands
in
El Salvador. Are they available for projects such as this?


Best Regards,

Rob

From:	"Dean Sands"
To:	marroncito@yahoo.com
Subject:	Wireless G on the Xbox
Date:	Sat, 04 Feb 2006 21:55:21 -0500

It's a little complicated, but the basic idea is that the controller
jacks
are actually USB lines with an altered shape. Using an adapter cord,
you can
tie in a Wireless G USB adapter. The catch: It has to be done either in
Linux or using the Licensed XBOX development system. As it stands I
really
don't have access to one. Drivers will either be provided by the
vendor, or
we'll have to hack them out ourselves. (Unholy Bleah). In any case,
usage
for games would not be possible.

If you're intending to do VOIP  via XBOX via Houston's new wireless
service,
it may be possible. I'd have to look into it.
Hope that answered you question.

-DS

Know this that every soul is free.

Date:	Mon, 6 Feb 2006 18:12:09 -0800
From:	"John Morley"
To:	marroncito@yahoo.com
Subject:	Re: Visitor Mail

Hi Aaron,

We offer quantity discounts on most of our items. Min. quantity for
discounts is generally 20 items or more, but this depends on the item.
Let me know what you are looking for and i'll send you the quotes.

Thanks,

John Morley
http://www.von-phone.com
john@von-phone.com

On 2/6/06, x@x.com wrote:
>
>  Monday, February 6, 2006, 6:01 pm [EST]
>
> Message: Hi.  Do you have wholesale prices?  Do you have any
reseller/dealer programs?  Contact me and I\'ll tell you more.
>
> Regards,
>
> Aaron
>
> From: Aaron  deOliveira (marroncito@yahoo.com)

Date:	Mon, 6 Feb 2006 20:39:36 -0800
From:	"John Morley"
To:	"A. de Oliveira"
Subject:	Re: Visitor Mail

Aaron, usb adapter #B2K qty 100 $31.20 usd + shipping, available immediately from usa, customs duty paid, etc. John Morley von-phone.com On 2/6/06, A. de Oliveira <marroncito@yahoo.com> wrote: > i'm looking at your skype adapter. i'd be placing a > minimum order of 100 and possibly as much as 1000 per > order. if you could, would you please give me quotes > on quanities of 100, 500 and 1000 please. > > i'm on the web pricing potential vendors for my start > up. > > - aaron

From:	"EchoStore.com"
To:	"A. de Oliveira"
Subject:	Re: USB to RJ11 adapter
Date:	Tue, 7 Feb 2006 08:41:25 -0500

Dear valued customer,

Thanks for your interest in our products.

please tell us your company name, phone#, and website if you have. and
how
to contact you.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.
Best Regards,
Nancy Stone
www.echostore.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "A. de Oliveira" <marroncito@yahoo.com>
To: <wholesale@echostore.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 07, 2006 04:12
Subject: USB to RJ11 adapter



> price on 100 units + shipping to houston, tx.  thanks

From:	"EchoStore.com"
To:	"A. de Oliveira"
Subject:	Re: USB to RJ11
Date:	Tue, 7 Feb 2006 08:45:24 -0500

Dear valued customer, Thanks for your interest in our products. Which adapter are you talking about? we have 3 adapters. 1.yes 2.if both sides are using skype, no fee is charged. 3.no, you can dial from your regualr phone. 4. which adapter are you interested in? If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us. Best Regards, Nancy Stone www.echostore.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "A. de Oliveira" <marroncito@yahoo.com> To: <sales@echostore.com> Sent: Tuesday, February 07, 2006 04:17 Subject: USB to RJ11 > if i connect phones in two phones in different places > and place a call between them will it recognize it and > place a skype call? will it do this with an > international call? will i have to dial with my pc? > please send me more info about this product.

From:	"Dean Sands"
To:	marroncito@yahoo.com
Subject:	RE: Eureka!!!
Date:	Tue, 07 Feb 2006 22:56:26 -0500

Just to make sure, we're still in the business of cheap phone calls to El Salvador, right? -DS Know this that every soul is free.

From:	"Sales at Lingtren.com"
To:	"A. de Oliveira"
Subject:	Re: what exactly does your business do?
Date:	Mon, 20 Feb 2006 16:12:34 +0000

Dear Sir,

Apologies for not replying promptly! Things got quite
hectic after I returned back to the office.

Unfortunately my company doesn't have any experience in
the technologies you mentioned in your email, nor do we
know about other people working in the field.

We exclusively work with client/(clustered) server
Java EE web technologies. (EJB, JAXP, JAX-WS, JSF, ...)

Kind regards,

Bart

Bart Lenoir
Project manager
http://www.lingtren.com
Tel: +44 (0)781 829 7491
Skype: bart.lenoir

--
Lingtren.com
Web Services

On Wed, 1 Feb 2006 04:04:12 -0800 (PST), A. de Oliveira wrote
> my company is building a voice & data network to link
> the houston metro area to el salvador.  it will serve
> the 75,000 salvadoran expatriots living in houston as
> well as the 6.5 million salvadorans in el salvador.
> this is a largly technologically underserved
> population in the houston area.  by building this
> voice and data network in this niche my company will
> be able to dominate the salvadoran international voice
> communication market, a small but lucrative niche
> market, as well as position itself for expansion to
> other niches of technologically underserved expatriot
> populations.  this network will allow customers to use
> web services such as skype and email clients to
> communicate.
>
> i contacted you because we are currently looking for
> partners with expertise in digital microwave radio
> deployment.  please let me know if your company as
> expertise in this area or know of anyone who does.
>
> best regards,

> aaron  deOliveira

2006-02-23T12:20:00.000-08:00

This site is going to be messy. It's a brainstorm for my business plan. Look around and you'll see a great idea.

2006-02-23T11:33:00.000-08:00

Summary of my Power Point

PROBLEM

Technologically under served Salvadoran laborers in the Houston area (75,000) have a desire to contact their home country frequently.

They have minimal access to Internet technology and have few alternatives. Thus, they are gouged by high cost and incremental prepaid long distance services.

SOLUTION

Extend a free Internet telephone service called Skype to reach the under served and unconnected Salvadorans by installing this system:

Skype adapter + economy PC + Antenna =
Free calls to El Salvador forever

HOW IT WORKS

MARKETING

Provide free trial at Salvadoran businesses

Install system in Salvadoran homes for 3 day test drive and then close sale and collect references

Provide financing to meet customers needs

COMPETITION

Prepaid Calling Cards

Prepaid Cell Phones

AT&T and other long distance providers

Other hardware installation companies

Chinese corporations working in El Salvador

CHANGE THE WORLD

This isn't about selling phones or boxes or anything else. This is an opportunity to change how you talk to the world.

Starting here with this loan, phones will stop being something you pay for over and over. They will become a service that you use for free. Say goodbye to your phone bill.

2006-02-21T13:42:00.000-08:00

I'm starting a company and I'm telling you about it here. From everything I hear it's going to take a lot. There are 75,000 Salvadorans in Houston, Texas. They consume more than the average amount of telephony products, but they over pay for it. They use prepaid phone cards and prepaid cell phones.

I can use Skype and other VOIP technologies to call El Salvador for free as much as I want. I want to extend this ability to the 75,000 in El Salvador. I can make money and they can save money. It's a good niche.

2003-11-17T06:51:00.000-08:00

Ignoring

I love the passion that goes into blogging. The desire to be heard and even better understood by others. It runs so deeply within us. And yet I find myself wondering, why do we ignore the people around us.

If you step back and watch yourself you’ll realize that you ignore 100’s of people every day. The people around you in a check out line. The people walking out a door you’re walking in. Even the people who live near you.

I think it’s because there are so many people. We can’t take the endless repetition of politeness that would be required by acknowledging these peoples existence. Call it a survival reflex. Too much information is combated by selective ignoring.

We have another instinct that runs counter to our selective ignoring. Our desire to be accepted and understood can only be filled by the very people we’re ignoring. At least until blogging came along. Now there’s a way to get close but not to close and the best part is you can change the distance at any time. Not so sticky as personal relationships, but 99% of the flavor.

In my life I’ve made an honest attempt to stop ignoring those around me and reach out. Yea it’s a little risky. Some people verbally shove you back because you’re too close. Others don’t quite know what to do with you.

Take my neighbor for example. We share a little duplex on a quiet road. The parking for our duplex is on my side of the building so everyday Cathy would scurry by my door trying to get by me as quick as possible. I admit at first I pretty much did the same. Then I decided to reach out and get to know the people physically closest to me.

It’s had some interesting results. Cathy and I are good neighbors now. We share some good times. My life wasn’t any less complete without her. However, now it’s a lot fuller.