Ripping BluRays on a Mac

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When Nicole and I started dating, we decided to perform that magical ritual that two people sometimes do when they truly love and trust one another: we combined our DVD collections. We prided ourselves on our extensive collection of the shiny digital discs; so much so that our good friend Matt used to refer to our house as “Marc & Nicole-Busters”. As we started to move more toward digital formats and Blu-ray, we sold off nearly all of our DVDs. Nicole ripped as many as she could but I didn’t really get involved since my mind was on the greener pastures of glorious HD. I am a stickler for video quality and I just didn’t see the point in capturing the DVD content when something better existed. Perhaps that was a little short-sighted since I don’t plan on replacing all of those DVDs with their Blu-ray equivalents, but that’s neither here nor there. Now that we have our little bundle of joy, it occured to me that we really need to bite the bullet and digitize our growing library of Blu-ray titles. I can only imagine how fun it would be watching the little guy get his sticky mitts all over our Blu-rays just to watch his favorite movie for the one hundredth time.

There are many ways to accomplish this process but I thought I’d share with you the software/hardware I use on my Mac Pro. Hopefully someone will find this useful.

The Blu-ray Drive

Macs don’t come with Blu-ray drives, so that’s step #1. I honestly wasn’t sure what to get so I did a little research. Unfortunately, I really couldn’t tell how well any of these drives would work with my Mac, or the software I planned on using. So I decided on an external drive, thinking that if things didn’t work out on my Mac, I could always use my Dog House System PC for the Blu-ray rips. The unit I decided on was the LG BP06LU10 LightScribe 6X External Blu-ray Rewriter Drive for $145. Upon receipt (thank you Amazon Prime!), I connected it to the Mac Pro via USB and I was off to the races.

Ripping Software

For ripping, I decided to try MakeMKV. The beta is free so the price is certainly right! Using this software (versions available for Mac, Windows, and Linux), you can make an .mkv file that is a perfect copy of the Blu-ray movie. Consequently, a full-size movie file is about 40 GB! The software itself is very easy to use. Simply point it to the Blu-ray drive, let it scan, and select/de-select the audio and video tracks you want to copy. Sometimes it can be a pain in the ass as there are multiple versions of the movie, multiple audio tracks, and numerous subtitle tracks. Most times, it is fairly obvious which track is the primary and you just need to de-select the subtitles in all languages. Within minutes, you’ll have your fancy schmancy .mkv file staring back at you. Awesome! Now what do I do with a 40 GB file?! Well you could archive it if you want, which would quickly eat up some serious storage space. Or, you can compress it lovingly and gently.

Handbrake

Although Handbrake is a killer app for ripping DVDs, it cannot rip Blu-rays directly. But it does a fine job of using an MKV file as its source and outputting a compressed version of the file suitable for a particular device. Built into Handbrake are various video profiles including a fairly high resolution AppleTV version. This compression will take the file down to about 3-4 GB. Still a large file, but hey, I likes ‘em big! Besides, if it looks good and can stream effectively to my 75″ big screen, that’s about all I care about.

The Results

Once I have my compressed file, I drop it right into iTunes so that I can stream it to my TV. On my home network (Cable), the stream is flawless. The picture quality is actually pretty damn good too! I can still see the loss of quality from the original Blu-ray though. The bigger your TV is, the better chance you have of noticing these things. But on a smaller screen, you’d be hard-pressed to notice the difference.

I even did a comparison between the “digital version” that comes with most Blu-rays these days and the ripped version and there’s simply no contest. The ripped version looks and sounds significantly better. The file is also about twice as big so that’s something to keep in mind. But since my home network will never get any slower and my hard drives will only get bigger, I can’t see any reason to skimp on the file size. Well, of course I’m still doing some serious compression but there is certainly no reason to turn it into a bowl of jumbled pixel soup. These days, we can have our Blu-ray cake and eat it too!

Using Apple’s Home Sharing, I’m a pretty happy camper. Tons of movies are just a click away. And when the boy gets old enough to give a crap, he’ll be able to watch his latest obsession without damaging anything more than his brain and the AppleTV remote. Of course by then I’ll probably be on my AppleTV version 10 and I’ll be driving to work in my flying car. Here’s to the future…..and to ripping (backing up?) Blu-rays!

A Baby, A Time Crisis, and $1 Million

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A Time Crisis

How’s that for a catchy title? As you can see, my fresh new personal blog hasn’t been all that active lately. As soon as Mateo came home, all my spare time went out the door along with all of my work time as well. The truth is, fatherhood is the responsibility I didn’t know I needed. Over the last year or so, I’ve been going through a bit of a mid-career crisis. This wonderful beast called The Wood Whisperer consumes all of my available time like a greedy sponge. Anyone who has run their own business probably understands this very well. If you are motivated and there are no formal restrictions on your time investment, you essentially wind up using all of it. As a result, I fell into a “time crisis” where I felt like I was constantly spinning my wheels and getting nowhere. Reading books like The 4-Hour Work Week and other time management/lifestyle resources did help. They taught me that I need to spend more time on the things that generate revenue and stop worrying so much about what my friends are doing on Twitter. It also taught me that the pile of email in my inbox CAN wait. Who knew?? I don’t know about you, but having email in my inbox drives me nuts. It’s like being in a boat with a unrelenting leak. Every time I scoop some water out, a bunch more gushes back in. So one of my biggest lessons of the past year was learning to tackle email once or twice a day, instead of all day long. I also learned that there is a huge difference between simply checking your email and actually answering your email. One of the worst things I can do is check my email just to peruse it. Once an email has been checked, it takes up space in my brain. If I don’t answer that email, that space remains occupied. So twenty read/unanswered emails in my inbox equates to 20 things to do in my brain. What a waste of brain real-estate. So if I don’t have the time to answer, I don’t bother checking. And I only check/answer one email at a time. If I haven’t read it, my brain doesn’t know about it. This is easier said than done, but I do my best and things are improving.

A Baby

So this is where the Baby comes in. Mateo is, without a doubt, the most demanding thing in my life. Everything else abruptly dropped down a notch on October 28th, 2011. Whether I like it or not, I simply don’t have time for all the extra-curricular work-related activities. I can’t afford to edit video and let myself be distracted by an open internet browser on my second screen. Now is a time for uni-tasking, not multi-tasking. I need to focus on the core functionalities of my business and make sure they continue to thrive, while letting go of the things that just contribute to the white noise. But for all the sleepless nights and scheduling frustrations, everything with work just seems easier when work is no longer the most important thing in my day.

$1 Million

Far from it. While I get some mental relief from this revelation about my priorities, there are still some significant challenges in The Wood Whisperer camp. If you don’t know what I do, I run a free website at TheWoodWhisperer.com and a paid membership site at WoodWhispererGuild.com. A big part of my struggle is trying to balance the two sites. But I really shouldn’t paint the picture that the flowers are blooming and the sky is blue.On one end, I have the people who actually paid me money to provide them with video instruction, and on the other I have sponsors and advertisers who are paying for eyeballs. I never expected both sites to thrive concurrently so I have been burning the candle at both ends for a few years now. There is so much more I can do on both the free and paid side of things, but I just can’t afford the time investment as one would come at the expense of the other. Walking this tight rope was fine when it was just Nicole and I and working till 11pm on a Friday night was considered “normal” behavior. But now, it just seems ridiculous. So when a company recently offered to buy us out, my ears perked up.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not looking to sell my business. But I had a strong curiosity about what they thought my site was worth and what life might be like without The Wood Whisperer. While the idea of separating Marc Spagnuolo from The Wood Whisperer seems crazy, my entrepreneurial spirit just couldn’t ignore the possibilities. I mean, imagine selling off everything I have created so far and considering that the “practice run” for the next big thing; taking the big payout and investing that into my next venture. The question is, how much money would make it worthwhile/possible/feasible/smart? After all, with a little one in the house, this isn’t exactly the best time to take a gamble with my livelihood. So let me cut to the chase and say the offer ended up around $1 Million. That may sound like a lot but after taxes, the actual payout would be substantially lower. It didn’t take long for me to decide this wasn’t the right move for us, for many reasons. But I went through a bit of a mental exercise that not only solidified my decision not to sell, but also made it painfully clear what I need to do with my business moving forward. Since I had to consider what I would do AFTER The Wood Whisperer, I had to ask myself, “What would be my ideal business model?”. I’m sure there would have been some sort of non-compete clause in the contract, so what would I do to get myself back into the market?

The answer was very clear to me: I would start a new online woodworking school. A paid membership site where people could learn woodworking. I would use a good part of the acquisition money to jump start the business with a new website and a strong marketing campaign. The marketing campaign would obviously be essential since I no longer would have the power of TheWoodWhisperer.com to disseminate information. This is when the realization hit me like a ton of bricks. I already have an online woodworking school! Furthermore, I have a built-in advertising machine at TheWoodWhisperer.com! The Guild does very well with absolutely NO paid advertising. So if I sold my company, I would be selling the machine and the tools that I would need later to create my ideal business, and that is not very smart. This realization may be somewhat obvious but it was ground-breaking to me at the moment because it made me realize how powerful my free site was, even without the addition of new content. And if I am being honest with myself, THAT is the source of my stress. The free site is a hungry voracious monster that will simply gobble up all the content I can throw at it. Over the years, I have pumped about 200 videos, 272 articles, 301 Viewer Projects, 76 Shop Tours, and 102 audio podcasts (with the help of my co-hosts) into it. Yet despite this fairly large library, I always feel indebted to the free site. I made the mistake of thinking my site needs to compete with magazine websites by trying to be everything to everyone. But I am only one person. And the truth is, if I abandoned my site today, it would be a long time before I saw a decline in traffic and/or ad revenue. Sure it would start to drop off at some point, but the library of content could potentially serve as a resource for decades. So perhaps, it is time to stop burning the candle at both ends and start burning twice as bright from one. For those of you who are fans of TheWoodWhisperer.com, fret not. Let me clarify.

The thing that got me where I am today is making good quality woodworking videos with a sense of humor. I want to stay true to that. So I will no longer simply PUSH out a video out of a sense of obligation. Instead, I will put out videos when I am inspired to do so. I will simply have to ignore all the comments from “the entitled” that criticize me for not putting out enough free content and focusing too much on the Guild. The days of cranking out 40 videos a year are over. Instead, I will try to make a smaller number of videos that reach the highest bar of my personal quality scale.

I took a very circuitous route to arrive at the realization that the Guild comes first. After all, these are folks who are paying me directly for a service. Putting anything before that would be disrespectful, not to mention irresponsible. The free site will continue to showcase community work and will serve as my personal woodworking blog as it always has. Free videos will roll out as often as I can get to them……and no sooner. :) I have to say, it feels liberating just to type those words!

As it turns out, having a baby and turning down $1 Million were the best things to happen to my business and my state of mind!

Mateo Week 3

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Sorry for the delay on the Mateo update. Truth is, I barely have enough time to sit down and write this because Mateo has been home for over a week now! My how things change when you don’t have a team of nurses helping you care for your child 24/7! While I will certainly talk about the little guy here on my personal blog, this will be the last official update on his NICU progress. So here’s the latest:

Once he started taking full feedings from a bottle at the NICU, it seemed like he was one a runaway train of progress. The NICU doctors and nurses saw his potential and seized every opportunity to challenge him. So within a few days of my Week 2 post, he was already 100% bottle fed and half way out the door. Despite his small size and general noobiness, he was perfectly healthy and the doctors could see no reason to keep him in the hospital any longer.

As it turns out, our little stud was a NICU favorite and several of the nurses clearly felt it was a bittersweet departure. Working in a NICU must be one of the most difficult jobs ever! They work non-stop nursing sick babies back to health and giving premature babies a shot at a normal healthy life. These are amazing people and I put them right up there with teachers and law enforcement on my list of occupations I have the highest respect for.

On Tuesday, Nicole and I were invited to stay at the hospital overnight with Mateo in their “nesting room”. It was a fairly uneventful night, barely sleeping in general and fully waking for feedings every few hours. As any new parent can attest to, every hiccup and gurgle knocks all the sleep right out of you! Finally at around noon on Wednesday, we gently nestled our little boy into the finest infant car seat Consumer Reports recommended we buy. Mateo immediately dozed off and quietly enjoyed the second most significant trip of his life: the journey home.

We were greeted by a teary-eyed grandma Lorna as she took pictures and captured the moment. We put the boy down in his bassinet and so began the first day of the rest of our new lives.

Since his homecoming, he has put on some weight (he’s now 5 lbs 3 oz up from 3 lbs 14 oz at birth) and he is eating like a champ! Breastfeeding is going well and Nicole and I have managed to come up with a time management plan that works. We essentially take overnight “shifts”. This way, we each get a solid 5-6 hrs sleep instead of a series of 2-3 hour naps. Even with this setup, the fatigue can still take over, and that’s when my mom steps in. She is always willing to watch the little dude while Nicole and I recuperate.

The Silver Lining
While we could fill a book with all the negatives that can result from having a preemie (and people have), Nicole and I thought it would be more our style to close this series off with a focus on the positive. This ominous cloud has a silver lining afterall. Here’s why:

Recovery/Transition Time: Having Mateo in the NICU for 2.5 weeks gave Nicole a chance to heal from her surgery. It also gave us time to get used to the idea of being parents. Unlike most new parents, we weren’t immediately challenged with diaper changes, feedings, and sleepless nights while still being shell-shocked from the birthing experience. By the time the boy came home, we were well-rested and physically and mentally ready for the challenges ahead.

A Well-Deserved Break: Anyone who followed our saga this past year knows that Nicole had an absolutely miserable pregnancy. I think it is safe to say it was the worst 7 months of her life. So getting off two months early was a blessing in disguise. No more nausea and she was able to avoid all of those other late-stage pregnancy woes (stretch marks, hemorrhoids, heartburn, back pain, etc…).

Taking Nothing for Granted: For some people, having babies is as natural as breathing and comes just as easily. But for us, there have been major challenges every step of the way. And every time I think about all that happened and how I could have just as easily lost both Mateo and Nicole, I realize I will never take any of this for granted. When I watch my boy sleep, I don’t see a baby in peaceful slumber. I see a chest rising and falling letting me know he’s still breathing. When he eats, I don’t see a child enjoying a meal. I see him taking in life-giving nutrition and immunological protection from infection. When I change a diaper, I don’t just see cute little poopies. I see signs that my son’s immature digestive tract is functioning properly. And when I see Nicole exhausted and breastfeeding at 4 am, I don’t see a mother doing her duty. I see a strong willful women realizing her maternal potential and enjoying a deep bond with her little boy.

Nicole and I would like to thank all of you for coming with us on our little journey. Your support during this process has been immeasurably inspiring and comforting.

Mateo Week 2

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So much progress was made since last week, it is hard to believe it’s only been seven days! So here’s the skinny.

Nicole
Nicole is feeling pretty great. She still has a little pain here and there but for the most part, I have my wife back. It is so nice to see her existing without nausea. She continues to enjoy her favorite meals and my mom is here to indulge her every craving. The only other ailment she has is a new insatiable appetite for buying baby stuff. Thanks to Etsy, we’ll be broke in by the end of the year. haha! Of course pumping breast milk means she has to get up multiple times a night to do the deed and as you can see, I am doing my best to support her. ha!

Mateo
The boy continues to impress us and the NICU staff! He is now taking nearly all of his feedings by bottle, which means the gavage feeding tube will soon be history. His umbilical IV is gone. He has started gaining weight and is now 4 lbs 2 oz, up from 3 lbs 14 oz. He has been maintaining his own body temperature for a while now and last night we had the biggest milestone yet: moving him to an open crib! The way the NICU is set up, the front area is reserved for the babies who are literally on their way out the door. That’s where Mateo’s new studio apartment is. With all his health issues addressed, all Mateo needs to do now is eat and grow.

So when does the boy come home?
This is a question we haven’t had the guts to ask yet. Honestly, Nicole and I prefer to take it day by day and when good things happen, they happen. Focusing too much on some hopeful end date would likely take away from our enjoyment of the time we currently spend with the little guy. So during each visit, he receives our full attention and energy and we figure the nurses will let us know what we need to know. And on that note, the nurse practitioner told us that she will be off for five days in a row and that she was disappointed that she wouldn’t be around to see Mateo go home. Now she didn’t say specifically WHEN he was going home, but she seems to think he will be gone by the time she returns at the end of next week. So using my highly developed Jersey logic skills, it would seem that our little man could be coming home sometime next week. Anyone else think he looks a little like a Christmas elf? :)

Mateo Week 1

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I decided I would give a weekly update on Mateo’s progress until we have the little guy home. So here’s how things went down during week 1.

Nicole

Since Nicole had a C-section, we were able to stay in the hospital for a full four days. The nursing staff was awesome and the room was more like a hotel than a hospital. Despite having a nice big TV, our laptops, comic books, iPhones, and iPads, we spent the vast majority of the time talking. This proved to be a much needed break from “reality” that gave us time to really process and comprehend our newfound roles in life. After all, we are no longer just Nicole and Marc. We are now Mom and Dad. For two confirmed DINKS, that’s a lot to digest!

The four-day hospital stay was a blur but there were some notable events and milestones. First, Nicole started pumping breast milk. At this sensitive stage in Mateo’s growth, mother’s milk is truly the best medicine as it is packed with nutrients and antibodies that are specifically designed for his particular needs. This is biology at its best and it reminds me of why I fell in love with science. In the first few days, all we were able to get were tiny amounts of colostrum. Although we knew this was normal and it would still be a few days before Nicole’s milk came in, it was tough for her not to become discouraged. Fortunately, I was able to entertain her by doing an old lab trick called the “human centrifuge”. When she only produced about .25 mL of colostrum, it was really difficult to collect anything at all. The colostrum tends to coat the sides of the pump chute and never really makes it to the reservoir. Daddy to the rescue! By holding the assembled collection vial in my hand and spinning my arm like a windmill, I was able to extract a few precious drops. I would then collect these drops with a small syringe and run the sweet baby nectar down to the nursery. Now we will never know just how much this extra effort will impact baby Mateo’s recovery, but it certainly made a new dad feel like he was contributing to the process. And the new mom was encouraged because she was providing the thing her instincts told her her baby needed the most. By day 3, her milk came in and we now have a significant frozen surplus!

We came home from the hospital on Tuesday and Nicole was pleasantly surprised by her mommy sanctuary. Little did she know I snuck away each day for about an hour while she napped, and with the help of my mom and cousin Traci we cleaned and organized the nursery. The baby shower took place less than a week before Mateo’s big entrance and obviously we weren’t quite ready for all this. As always, family is there when you need them most. So all Nicole had to do was come home, relax, and heal.

Mateo

How’s the boy doing? In a word, great! He made significant progress in just seven days.

Breathing
His breathing was pretty good to start, but he did have an occasional spike in respiration rate. As a result, he was given CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) via those little nostril prongs. Essentially, Mateo was taking every breath on his own, but the positive pressure kept his airsacs open. Every day, the pressure was decreased until exactly seven days later (Friday) when the prongs were removed. He is now breathing comfortably and steadily and we can see his entire face. w00t!

Jaundice
Although neither of us saw any yellowing of his skin, blood tests showed that he did have a touch of jaundice. So there were several days when he slept in his little tanning bed. This is pretty standard stuff even for full-term babies. In Mateo’s case, it was completely expected because he isn’t receiving full feedings yet. Excess bilirubin (a by-product of old red blood cells) usually passes through the gut and comes out in the poop. Since there is no poop yet, the bilirubin builds up causing the condition known as jaundice. Phototherapy is the answer as it breaks down the bilirubin into products the baby can get rid of. As the feedings increased, so did the poopy diapers and as a result, he is done with his phototherapy.

Eating
Since Mateo’s gastrointestinal system is so new, he isn’t quite ready to take on full milk feedings. So over the course of the week, the nurses slowly introduced milk with only 1 mL every three hours via a feeding tube in his mouth. As the volume of milk went up, his supplemental IV nutrition went down. By the end of the week, he was up to 23 mL feedings every three hours, and the IV was down to a trickle. We are expecting the umbilical IV to be removed early in Week 2 since there really isn’t much need for it anymore. His mouth feeding tube was removed on Friday and replaced with a less intrusive nose feeding tube. As he begins to take more feedings by mouth, either at breast or by bottle, there will be less and less of a need for the nose tube and eventually that will come out too.

Thankfully, he is getting 100% breast milk right now. Nicole is providing an ample supply. Once he gets to his full 30 mL feedings, they plan on fortifying the breast milk with a special formula to help him pack on the pounds.

Weight
Mateo entered the world at 3 lbs 14 oz. As is the case with all newborns, he lost some weight initially. We knew this so we really didn’t inquire about his weight until this Friday. He apparently worked his way up to a full 4 lbs, but then dropped back to his birth weight. But we are trending in the right direction now and with full feedings and fortification, we expect his weight to start climbing this week.

In summary, the NICU is nearly done fixing everything that needs to be fixed. From here on out his stay in the NICU will consist of eating, sleeping, pooping, and being loved. Nicole and I are making two visits each day and we usually hold him for at least an hour. He does latch on to Nicole’s breast but he’s a little young for the whole sucking, breathing, swallowing thing just yet. Most sources say this level of coordination doesn’t begin until week 34, which is this coming week. But at this point, if he latches and gets his feedings at the same time, we have everything in place if/when he decides to suckle.

I think I’ll close this post out with a little video of Mateo sneezing.

Hello Baby!

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Nicole and I would like to introduce you all to Mateo Xavier Spagnuolo. Our bouncing baby boy arrived on 10/28/11 and weighed in at a whopping 3 lbs 14 oz. Yep, he was a bit ahead of schedule. 7 weeks in fact. We are still a little dumbstruck by all of this but Nicole is healing well and Mateo is a spunky little dude.


Many of you are probably already aware that Nicole’s pregnancy has been anything but typical. She started getting sick the day after she found out she was pregnant and the nausea continued well into the third trimester. This wasn’t the kind of “sick” you see in movies where the woman runs to the bathroom, pukes, and then goes back to work like nothing happened. This is the kind of sick that lands you in the hospital getting fluids through an IV. She began taking Zofran after we tried just about every natural remedy we could think of. The Zofran did help her keep food and liquids down, but it didn’t do much for the constant food aversions and general misery of a constantly nauseous state. Without revealing my beautiful bride’s vital stats, I can safely tell you that she lost 15 lbs before the end of the second trimester. It was only this past week that she finally reached her pre-pregnancy weight. The poor girl has endured what is easily the most trying 7 months of her life. Despite the grim picture I’ve painted, her spirits were high, all pre-natal visits went great, and she knew it would all be worth it in the end. We were blissfully unaware of what nature had in store for us.

Around 3am Friday morning, she started getting cramps at fairly regular intervals. Our first thought was Braxton Hicks (false labor) contractions. After all, she hadn’t experienced any noticeable contractions up to this point and she didn’t know exactly what they felt like. But because the contractions were regular, frequent, intense, and getting worse, we began to suspect something was up. After noticing some spotting, we called our Doula and she recommended we go to the hospital immediately. To make a long story short, Nicole’s placenta was detaching from her uterus thanks to a condition known as placental abruption. Her contractions were by no means normal and the pain was nothing short of excruciating. It was only well after the fact that we found out just how much danger both she and the baby were in. Fortunately, her body gave her enough advanced warning that we were able to get to the hospital before things to escalated to a level I don’t even want to think about. There is no doubt in my mind that we narrowly dodged a bullet. We arrived at the ER at about 5:15 am and at 7:31 am our baby boy was breathing his first breath of air, delivered by an emergency C-section. I guess we won’t be taking the “Pickles and Ice Cream Tour” we had scheduled this weekend.

Nicole and I were originally aiming for a natural childbirth. We’re not super “crunchy” or anything but we did want to let nature take its course as much as possible with intervention only when necessary. While doing our research on the birthing process, we watched several documentaries and read a few books that had a way of villainizing the American medical system. I don’t plan on getting into any commentary on that, but all I can say is thank goodness we had this system at our disposal when we need it. Our baby now has a sporting chance at a “normal” life, despite opening his eyes to a world he wasn’t supposed to see for a another seven weeks.

So now, in true Spagnuolo style, Nicole and I are sitting in our room at the hospital accompanied by our laptops, iPads, and iPhones. That’s just how we roll. With a baby in the NICU, you have a lot of time on your hands and its nice to have some distractions. But rest assured, we are allowing plenty of time for our little one. At this stage, it is mostly hands off. In the mean time, we ponder the future and share laughter, tears, elation, fear, apprehension, optimism, and joy.


Our baby isn’t out of the woods yet, but the prognosis is good. His breathing is just about normal now and he is incredibly feisty. He has a touch of mild jaundice and is undergoing a little phototherapy. He was apprehensive at first but once we explained to him that this was just like using a tanning bed, he seemed to become much more comfortable with the idea. Fist pump!!!

We truly appreciate all the well-wishes and kind words from our online and offline friends. Most of you have been a part of our lives in some way since 2006, so it feels very natural to share some intimate details on the next leg of our family’s journey. We are lucky to have so many friends. Please direct all thoughts, vibes, prayers, positive mojo, or whatever else you’re into directly toward our little Mateo. And in 18 years, lock up your daughters (or sons, just because we’re open-minded that way)!

Below are a few additional pictures of Nicole’s first moments meeting our son. Also our first family shot and the Wushi Finger Hold. Skadoosh!

*Update*
A few folks have inquired about the name choice. Here’s the skinny. I picked Mateo because I thought it sounded cool with our last name. I originally thought we would spell it with two t’s (Matteo), but Nicole preferred the single t. It took all of five minutes to pick the name. Nicole and I don’t really put a whole lot of stock in baby name origins and meanings and instead we go with what feels right. After all, Mateo means “Gift of God”. Sort of ironic coming from two non-religious people. But there is no doubt that the boy is our “gift”. As for Xavier, that comes from Nicole’s grandfather. But I told her I would always insist it was inspired by Professor Xavier of X-men fame.

I Hate Your Avatar!

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Welcome to the first of what will likely be MANY posts in this category: Douchebag Awards. Anyone who produces content for public consumption will no doubt have to deal with their fair share of ridiculous requests, harsh criticisms, and hurtful/hateful commentary. You quickly learn NOT to feed the trolls! Responding to these people with aggression or *gasp* logic, only serves to give them a sick satisfaction while making your life a living hell. Remember that old saying? “Never wrestle with a pig. You get dirty and the pig likes it.” So what I’ll do here is post the person’s comment, followed by my actual response (if I gave one). Then I’ll give the response I really wanted to give, but decided against. Yeah, this should be fun and therapeutic!

The Douchebag

I, REALLY, wish you would change your profile picture on the Woodworker channel! When I have your webpage open, I have these buggy eyes looking at me — it is irritating! I like your videos; and, since I have have watched so many on YouTube, every time I open YouTube, there is your picutre on my main screen suggesting videos you have made. I, actually, get annoyed opening YouTube because I recognize I am going to have your buggy eyes on my screen! (I, also, think it would add some professionalism to your website if you had a more respectable picture.) So, if it isn’t too much trouble, I, personally, would very much appreciate a new look! Thank you very much!!!

My Response

Well, you’ll be happy to know I did change the picture, primarily because it was well overdue. Unfortunately, this picture might annoy you too. I like to have fun with my avatars so there might be numerous versions in the future that you don’t like. Going with a boring corporate logo just isn’t my style.

What I Really Think

So this one is rather tame. But on a Sunday morning, something like this just disturbs my serenity bubble. I guess that’s what I get for checking my email on the weekend.

Here’s what this guy is actually talking about. I highlighted an example of the size and location of the image. Now I’ll be the first to admit that my picture is a little unsettling and most people would be a little weirded out by it. That’s what makes it so great!! But if you are SO bothered by that little thumbnail that it begins to impact your overall enjoyment of YouTube as a whole, perhaps “disturbed” really is a good word for you! With all the social media and content sites I visit on a daily basis, I see more than a few avatars that annoy me. I just can’t imagine having the audacity to email the person to ask them to change it. Maybe that’s just me.

The other thing about the comment that makes me laugh is the attempt to appeal to my need for professionalism. Thanks for the sound business advice YouTube guy! Where should I send the consultation fee? One of things that makes The Wood Whisperer special is the fact that it is NOT perfect or politically correct. Over the years, our videos, merchandise, and website have certainly become much more polished and I do pride myself on delivering a high quality product. But the heart, the humor, and the humanity is all still very much intact. If I ever lose those things, I give you all permission to kick me in the balls.

I once received an email from a lady on Facebook complaining that my recent mention of “menstrual cycles” was the last straw. Whoops! Ultimately, I realize that my off-color humor may not be for everyone. But seriously, there are plenty of woodworking resources out there that are completely devoid of personality, humor, and life. I would be an absolute moron to try to complete on the level of pure information. My only competitive edge in this industry (and the only reason The Wood Whisperer exists), is because of the humorous, irreverent, human, and sometimes self-deprecating spin. And much like any good joke, some won’t get it, some will be offended, but many will LOVE it. You have to break some eggs if you want to make an omelet.

How Not to Make Money on the Internet

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As someone who has been running an online business for the last 5 years, I have gained some perspective on what its like to make money on the web. Since it is my livelihood, it’s something I think about constantly. But you might be surprised to know I am rarely thinking about ways to make MORE money. Instead, I find myself wading through the available options and opportunities, trying to decide which methods are acceptable for me, my business, and my audience. The end result is typically significant amounts of money being left on the table. Most times, I simply ask myself, “Would I want to be advertised to in that way?” If I’m not sure, a quick conversation with Nicole usually closes the deal.

Once you have a website with a decent and consistent flow of traffic, opportunities abound! While capitalizing on all those opportunities may line your pockets in the short term, it will no doubt jeopardize your relationship with your audience in the long term. So you really do have to be careful about your choices in monetization options. Now I’m no expert in this area, but I do know what works for me.

I believe a content-producer has the right to monetize till they’re blue in the face and I would never begrudge someone for doing so. But when it comes to my audience, I have a certain level of respect and friendship (if you can imagine such a thing happening with thousands of strangers), that I don’t want to jeopardize. So ultimately, I’d rather lose money and gain respect. After all, if I am smart about my monetization methods, that long-term respect can lead to even greater earnings potential in the future.

It is becoming a habit of mine on this personal blog to let loose some fairly personal details, so let’s keep that theme going by reviewing a few of the monetization opportunities I routinely turn down and why. Again, this in no way meant to be advice or a “how-to”. Most of the time I’m just “winging’ it” anyway! These are just personal opinions, gut feelings, and general principles that I feel make The Wood Whisperer the company that many folks know and love.

First off, here are my three rules concerning advertising:

1. Respect the content!
2. Never mix content and advertising in a deceptive way.
3. Always keep the reader’s/viewer’s experience in mind.

With those in mind, here are the dirty rascals…

Text Link Ads

This monetization method involves partnering with a 3rd party company that combs your site for keywords. If they find a keyword that matches up to an ad they have in the database, the word is hyperlinked. Every time the link is clicked the site owner gets a small amount of revenue. This breaks rule #1 and #2 in a very deceptive way. When I click on a link in an article, I expect this is an item the author is linking to as an extra resource or even a product they specifically recommend. But that is not the case. These links populate based on whatever keywords are in the database and the author has little to no control over them. Fortunately, text link ads are pretty easy to spot as they are typically double-underlined.

I like to think of my articles as mini conversations with my readers. Imagine talking to someone and saying, “So I went into my shop (CHECK OUT SHOP.COM!!) yesterday and used my iPhone (BUY iPHONES HERE FOR CHEAP!) to take pictures of a beautiful maple board (MAPLE FLOORING AT DEEP DISCOUNT PRICES)”. Not only is that annoying and irrelevant, it’s counter-productive to my ultimate goal: keeping people engaged and on my site for as long as possible. It just isn’t worth the $0.15/click to send you away from my site in the middle of our conversation.

Breaking Articles into Multiple Pages

About.com, I’m talking to you! This drives me nuts as a reader. I have a scroll bar on my mouse and I enjoy using it. There is really no need for a small article to be broken up into 4 pages. The only logic I can see behind this is the fact that it boosts page views. If every article takes up 2-3 pages, that’s 2-3 times more page views than if the article appeared on one single page. So its a great way to inflate your numbers to please advertisers. Unfortunately, the reader is on the losing end, having to click through multiple pages to read a very short article.

Facebook Mentions

This is a fairly new one for me. I was recently offered $50 to do nothing more than say, “Check out Website XYZ” on my Facebook page. Much like my Twitter account, every post is coming directly from me. If I post a link, I see it as a genuine recommendation about something I think my audience will enjoy. My reputation is attached to that recommendation. Dropping a meaningless ad in there just feels…..icky. My status updates on social media sites are essentially my words. And at this stage of the game, I just don’t feel the need to monetize my words in that way.

YouTube Description Ads

This is also a fairly new development. I have to routinely turn down offers to insert links into my video descriptions on YouTube. Frankly, these just piss me off so I usually don’t even grace them with a response. YouTube’s linking rules are so stringent that I’m lucky to have my own link in there, let alone someone else’s!

Excerpts in RSS Feeds

When you run a blog, you usually have a choice as to how your RSS feeds appear in readers. You can set it to “Full Article” or “Excerpts”. In my opinion, excerpts are completely counter-productive for the reader and possibly even for the author. They are nothing more than teaser content used to hopefully drive the reader to the source website in the hopes of increasing traffic. But for people who read hundreds of blogs in a reader, its a good way to find yourself booted off their reading list. The way I see it, I want as many eyeballs to see my content as possible. Half of the battle when you produce content online is awareness. Why limit your potential by gimping the technology? This is one of those trade-offs again, right? Is the minor increase in traffic worth the cost of convenience to my readers? For me, the answer is no.

Pre-Roll Video Ads

Now this is the one that will most likely boggle your mind. I know it certainly boggles mine. A few years ago, Blip.tv (my video host) started implementing a robust ad program. You can turn on pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll ads by simply checking a little box. In order to entice you into opting in, they display a little message at the top of your dashboard telling you how much money you COULD be making based on the past performance of your videos. As you can see, I have $1900/month just sitting there, looking all sexy sporting that “come hither” look. Truth is, I have toyed with these ads in the past. And while I will defend my right to turn those ads on, I just can’t get myself to do it. Every time I press play on one of my videos and see an ad for Trojan Condoms, or Febreeze, or Best Buy, a little woodworking gnome dies. It just doesn’t feel right to me. As much video as I consume online, I am completely jaded to pre-roll ads and I think most folks are in the same boat. But as long as we have sponsors on our site, I just can’t justify extending the distance between my viewers and my videos by 30 seconds.  Believe me, it’s incredibly difficult looking at what essentially amounts to my mortgage payment sitting there just waiting for me every month. But I honestly feel that providing a more enjoyable experience on my site leads to more positive juju and more time spent exploring what my site has to offer. Monetization will have to come in other ways.

The Guild

The Wood Whisperer Guild has become, hands down, the largest source of revenue for my business. For those who aren’t familiar, this is the paid membership portion of my website. Having a membership site coupled with a popular free website means I have near constant opportunities to slip in a plug for the Guild. But most times, I just don’t. I will occasionally mention an upcoming build or send out a video featuring a segment from a Guild video. But I make sure the segments are always complete thoughts. No cliff hangers, no teasers, no up-sells. In fact, if you go to the home page now and you don’t know what the Guild is, you’d have a hard time knowing the option even exists! FYI, this will change to some extent with a future iteration of the website. I do plan to make the Guild’s presence a little more obvious.

But despite this lack of a hard sell, the Guild is thriving! Why? I have to believe it is because of some of the things mentioned above. Of course we have great woodworking content and I put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into my videos, but I like to think we helped foster a culture of woodworkers that folks just want to be a part of. An honest to goodness grassroots effort where all are welcome to participate and attitudes are checked at the door. Dropping $199 on an online membership takes a lot of trust on the part of the user. And this is where I feel I am getting the most payoff from all of my previous “lofty” views and policies toward advertising and dealing with people. I have established a trusting relationship with my readers and as a result people know what to expect from me. They either think the membership is worth it, or they don’t. There is very little suspicion or debate about whether I will deliver on my promises; only questions about whether what I promise is worth the asking price. When someone does approach me with a sense of doubt about the program, I simply tell them to wait. Enjoy the free site for a few months and make a decision at that time. In the end, they usually wind up joining after a few days. So when asked why I don’t push the Guild more aggressively, the simple answer is (thankfully) because I don’t yet need to.

Sometimes these posts just become a stream of consciousness and I don’t really even know what I expect to accomplish with them. I suppose mostly its a form of therapy for me. I enjoy sitting in my recliner letting the words flow out. The fact that people actually read them is pretty freakin’ awesome. So hopefully this provides something useful to someone. And if not, at least it gives you a little more insight into what makes The Wood Whisperer tick. Perhaps in the future, I’ll talk a little bit about the monetization methods I find fruitful and why.

Why I’m Glad We Waited

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Nicole and I rarely discuss the details of her pregnancy with anyone but family. I’ll make an exception today. We decided about nine years ago that we would stop taking birth control measures. We thought we were “ready enough” and if nature decided to make a baby, then so be it. After a while, we started to think there just might be something wrong with our plumbing. Eventually we went to a fertility specialist, but the battery of tests was an immediate turnoff. As romantic as it sounds to masturbate into a plastic cup, I must admit that I REALLY wasn’t looking forward to that part of the process. Now a paper cup might have been a different story! Hubba hubba! haha. Nothing like turning our sex life into a glorified science experiment! So we never followed up with the prescribed testing, poking, and prodding required to take things to the next level. We just didn’t want a baby that bad.

Fast forward several years and it was time to, as my mom would say, shit or get off the pot. We decided that if nature wasn’t going to allow this little miracle to occur without intervention, we would have to at least take measures to make sure there would be no surprises. Having kids any later than 35 didn’t hold much appeal for us, so Nicole made the call to go back on birth control after her 35th birthday. Exactly one day before her birthday, we had a positive pee stick. Well, fancy that!

Now that we are seven months into the Battle of the Buldge, I am really giving some thought to the path Nicole and I took and how we arrived where we are today. I can’t help but ponder what life might have been like if we had a baby nine years ago when we first opened the door to the possibility. So much has happened in that time, I can’t help but feel elated that a combination of mother nature and our general apathy toward parenthood led to a nine-year delay in conception. In fact, I cringe when I think of all the times I have heard people give advice like, “Don’t wait for the perfect time to have kids, it doesn’t exist!”, “Have kids while you’re young so you’ll be young when they move out.”, or “Have kids as soon as you think the thought, and everything will just work out.” For some, things do indeed work out. You make ends meet and life goes on. But for many others, having kids early means a constant struggle and a massive strain on what is likely a fairly new marriage (or other committed relationship). Now I agree with the advice-givers in that there is never a PERFECT time for anything in life. But there sure as hell are better and worse times for things to happen. And for many, what should be one of the biggest decisions in their lives (having a child) is given far less weight than it should be. I wonder just how many couples put more thought and research into a car purchase than they put into the repercussions of having children. Probably more than we care to know.

I certainly can’t speak for everyone, but for Nicole and I, we are far better off having waited. Just for fun and a little self-examination, here’s what life was like nine years ago. We were living in our first home in Temecula, Ca. with a fairly high mortgage payment. We had several credit card debts totaling $50,000+. We both had school loans and car payments. I was working at an antibody company (miserable) and Nicole was working in a different division for her current employer. We were just getting by and we were both perched upon the bottom rung of life’s ladder. We had a strong relationship, but my work-related stress often led to me being a little less than pleasant to be around.

Now let’s look at all the things that happened since then. I quit my job to pursue my passion for woodworking. Nicole wound up taking on a new position in her company that paid significantly more, but required a shit load of extra travel. This new position is what allowed us to take the risks involved in starting my own business. We moved to Phoenix. About a year later, I came up with the idea for The Wood Whisperer. Thankfully, the stars aligned and the business flourished. Debts were paid off and I am happy to say life is………great. In fact, it is so great that we had to wonder if we wanted to roll the dice by bringing a child into the mix! Well, too late to change that, ha!

So the question I have to ask myself is, if my little bambino came along when we originally opened that door, would my life look ANYTHING like it does today? I can wholeheartedly answer, NO! I had a hard enough time turning my back on my science career and a steady paycheck as it was. Nicole pretty much had to force me to do it. If I had a child to take care of, there would have been no way I would have relinquished my steady income. I would have kept my shitty job and I would have been the best dad I could be under the circumstances, work stress and all. Nicole would have likely turned down the position she took on. After all, how many new moms takes on jobs that entail MORE travel?!?! We’re looking at major opportunity loss for both of us. How about our debt? I seriously doubt adding a child into the mix would have improved that situation much, unless the child had some immediate talent that we coud exploit (joke). But Nicole and I are a strong couple and I like to believe we are smart people. We would have found a way to make it all work. Life would have progressed and we would have traveled down our path having no clue what the other road would have looked like. No near-term financial stability, no Phoenix, no big screen TVs, no Wood Whisperer…..

So again, I have to say I am so incredibly thankful that our bundle of joy was delayed. We are bringing a child into a financially and emotionally stable environment. We had plenty of time to be “kids”. We have traveled to nerd conventions and we have wasted money on silly gadgets. We spent countless hours destroying imaginary monsters with our friends from around the globe. And we have taken the last 12 years to become a strong cohesive unit, able to handle just about anything life throws at us (including a little human being who is likely to turn our lives upside down). We still plan on indulging our inner children as we grow old, but things might just look a little…….. different. I’ll have my little guy on my back as we wrestle through the crowds at ComicCon. We’ll have to make some space between our gaming stations for baby’s first gaming PC. And I’ll even put a little chair next to my comfy comic book reading recliner. I truly believe life will be better for all three of us simply because we waited.

Of course if the kid has no interest in video games, comic books, or sci-fi, we’ll just have to trade him in for a new one.

What Can Brown Do For You?

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You can deliver my effin’ package, that’s what you can do!

Perhaps someone can enlighten me on how this situation can occur. But for now, let me give you the frustrating consumer perspective.

Background. Nicole and I are in the process of preparing for the arrival of our son. So that means taking a close look around the house for obvious hazards. Our living room entertainment center consists of a big-ass TV on top of an open metal and glass stand. Looks great, but all the wires are exposed in the back and it would be incredibly easy for the electronics to be pulled off the shelf. Of course, being a woodworker, I would love to build a suitable wood entertainment center. Unfortunately, there just isn’t enough time right now, so we were forced to buy something that will work in the interim.

I placed the order with Amazon.com last week and took advantage of the free shipping through Amazon Prime. Love me some Prime! So today, we have this call waiting for us on the answering machine:

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.

So apparently, they received a package, transported it to Phoenix, but now have absolutely no way of delivering it to my house??? Could someone please explain how something like this can happen? Fortunately, I have a pickup truck. But I’d be pretty screwed if I didn’t. And unfortunately, I am the only able-bodied person in the family right now so transporting this thing myself and getting it into the house is going to be a bitch! I just wish I knew why UPS would accept a package they have no way to deliver…. This is certainly not the worst thing UPS has done to us (damaged packages), but it is certainly one of the most hilariously moronic.