There are a ton of businesses in Richmond, VA with osCommerce sites that are barely designed let alone modified and they're easy to find because several of them haven't even modified the title tag of their sites: "osCommerce" shows up in the browser window, so a Google search of "Richmond" and "osCommerce" provides an instant contact list. A search of their products, of course, doesn't list them at all.

CSS osCommerce v.2.0 is nearly ready for release and I'm spending the day, after bidding for contract jobs, just cleaning up the code and preparing it for download by anyone willing to pay the mere $600 for source. I need to also set up the Demo Store and write the promotion pages to my site with links leading to the demo.

Seven Stone eCommerce is going to be a far larger project and after planning the entire site out, I feel it's going to compete successfully with application superstars such as Magento, but... honestly, the Atria Proposal asking for $80,000 in development funding is looking more and more realistic if I hope to launch before the Internet has become obsolete. If there are any angels out there reading this... Sean Rice needs $80,000 in capital investments and is willing to offer terms.

The Open Source solution of developing the "Free Version" at SourceForge is an option, but I need a clear distinction between superstar core features that would be found in the paid Premium Version. *sigh*

DC Photo Hub is most of the way coded on the architecture level and I should be able to launch the full site by the end of the month. Again, I'm proud of the concept and the execution as it exists, currently, in pre-alpha. I'm also mindful of the server problems that www.modelmayhem.com suffered as a victim of their own success. I'm hoping that the fact that DC Photo Hub is a regional site will obviate a lot of the issues. The Studio Schedular is its own marketing operation, though. 50 Studios willing to sign up and pay, by itself, translates into a nice income for everyone involved. Really, it's a no-brainer for businesses since we're skimming such small amounts from each reservation.

Richmond, VA is a tough nut to crack, but a lot of the problem is that everybody is too nervous with the economy to move on anything. We'll see. I'll just keep pounding it out every day until I make it, here. I still believe that the Rasa Design Studio move to Richmond was a good idea and that the city is growing in the right direction after the loss of its industry.

Dear Richmond, VA: Your web site needs a redesign and the only reason I'm not talking to you personally about this is because I can't find you on Google. :) If you have an osCommerce web site and your browser still says "osCommerce" at the top of the screen on any of the pages, you KNOW that you have some serious design and marketing issues. Talk to Rasa Design Studio and we'll fix you right up!

There. Think it'll help? :)

OK. Back to work.

Did I tell you about the mountains, yet?
We'll visit them, someday.
The sky makes a sound we call silence up there
and the water that's trapped in the valleys are ice
but looks like water as blue as your eyes
until something touches it and it snaps like a trap into solid
and the breathing is labored with the lack of air
and the moon when its full is as big as two pies
but wanders away when you call it.

Did I tell you about the cities we'll see?
where the languages are strange and the laughter is warm?
Where the children for pennies no longer have to swarm
around you with dirty hands because their hands are cleaner than ours
and they play futball when they're not working in factories we once saw in Jersey
And the hotels now let their own people visit
and English is getting harder and harder to find
We'll see them, someday.