A friend of mine, Asher Matsuda, has launched a new service. it’s called Pickheads. Asher is the same guy who brought us the home listing service Postlets.com. And what is even more amazing, is that these are both side projects for him. He’s still gainfully employed, working for one of the most popular internet sites on the web.

Pickheads is a web site which manages collaborative sports predictions. “Intelligence of the Mobs” and “Collaboritve Inetlligence” have been a hot concept recently in the internet world. The concept behind group-smart-websites is that any one person can be wrong more often than the overall judgement of many. So, if you are having issues with making a decision, it’s best to get the opinion of many rather than relying on your own discretion.

This is how our stock markets work, this is how political polling and elections work, and with Pickheads, this is now how your sports predictions work.

Popularity: 9% [?]

My good friend, Greg Rickabaugh, has launched a new online service, ReadMyPaper.com. It’s an editorial and proofreading service. Greg and his team of seasoned editors and journalists will review your website, school papers, business papers, and resumes for very low fees. Some services are as low as $2/page.

From the site…

In the rapid production of internet content and expanding globalization, most of today’s public and shared documents are poorly written. RMP will proofread your websites, edit your press releases, review your business correspondence, edit your school papers, and fine tune your resume. Allow our team of experienced news editors to manually review each line of your work. RMP will review your documents for grammatical mistakes, common misspelled words, run on sentences, sentence fragments, and misused phrases. At RMP, we want you to produce writings which make sense, are easy to understand, and clearly communicates your message. You write it. We right it.

If you’re suspect of your own writing, give Greg and the professionals at ReadMyPaper.com a try.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Yesterday was a tough ride home from San Diego. The flight from San Diego to Atlanta was fine. But, by the time I made it to Atlanta I was wiped out and just ready to get home. Then, they announced the flight was delayed for 45 minutes. UGH! Then we finally boarded to find that I was sitting against the window with a young mother and her 2 year old son sitting next to me. That little guy was all over the place, whining, crawling, screaming. Then 2 minutes later another kid the same age sat directly behind me on their parent’s lap. That kid was constantly kicking my seat.

So, as a defense mechanism I strapped on my headphones and blasted my MP3 player. A little POD, Switchfoot, Keane, and Staind was the perfect remedy. I quickly fell asleep in my attempt to tune out the world around me. I woke up to the rugrat next to me crawling between my legs. It was an hour and fifteen minutes later and we still had not left the gate. HUH?!? Needless to say, when I was supposed to be home by 8:30, I didn’t get in until 11:00.

But, when I awoke for the last 15 minutes of the flight this song was blaring in my headphones. The height of the volume allowed me to clearly hear the words for the first time. And I don’t know why, but these words made me think of my buddy, Jared. He’s been in a dating cycle for the last 5 years which he thinks he can’t get out of.

Maybe it was the unbelievable bad luck of flight delays and screaming and kicking babies… because this is EXACTLY the type of stuff that happens to Yerg. And specifically the crap he tends to write about on his blog. Whatever the reason, it’s clear that this song is for him.

So Kasey Kasem, would you please play Teddy Geiger’s “Love is a Marathon” for Jared. And let him know that bad luck doesn’t just happen to him. We’re all in the same boat, and it’s all going to be ok.

Jared, this song is for you… Love Monkey style!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Popularity: 4% [?]

So I’m back from my business trip to San Diego. And boy, I gotta do another one of these trips soon, if not just for the free food. Of the 4 days I was on the road I think I paid for only 2 of my meals. Thanks to Michael, Craig, Mark, and especially Dawn & Ian for their great hospitality. Great times, great food, and great company.

Here’s a photo of Dawn, her new husband Ian, and myself.

Now, it’s all of your turn to come visit me!

Popularity: 4% [?]

You aren’t going to believe this. This has to be the cutest thing I’ve seen in a long while. I visited my old friend Craig Rickabaugh and his family last night. This is video of Craig’s little girl, Reese. She recites the Lord’s Prayer on queue!

I said hi to Craig, his wife Carlee, Reese, and their 10-month-old Chey. Then Craig, Mark Thompson and I went out to dinner. Here are the photos. Good times!

Popularity: 3% [?]

I woke up on Monday morning at 3:30AM to catch 6AM flight to San Diego. Boy is that early! After a connection in Cincinnatti, I was off to San Diego in a nice comfy seat on a Delta flight. (Props to Delta for finally having comfortable seating in coach class!) Of all the random people in the world who I could have sat next to, it turns out I sat next to the youth pastor of my brother Wesley’s chuch. He and 13 kids from their church were on their way to a week long mission trip in Mexico. Small world.

So, I arrived in San Diego, went to the car rental place to pick up my economy class vehicle. When I got there, they were all out of economy cars, so they had to upgrade me for free to a Dodge Magnum – nearly idenitical to the car that I own. Crazy! Sweet!

So, then I was off to meet Micheal. Michael’s a domain name guru. He and I are brainstorming on ways to monetize Realty.com and our other assets. The meeting was great. Lunch was good. But, taking in the Padres game at the end of the night was the best. Thanks for a great time Michael! Cheers!

Here’s the photos.

Popularity: 4% [?]