Michael G. Stults

Changing the world one pixel at a time

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It Really Isn’t Health Care Reform

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Recently I've had the opportunity to learn a lot about how the new Health Care reform will affect my family's situation. Unfortunately, there is still more to learn and that will require going through the motions to gain that unwanted experience. Before I share more you need to know more about our story.

In May of 2008 my oldest son Brisan was 3.5 years old. Parker was 2 and Duncan was barely approaching six months of age.  As long as we could remember Brisan always had a runny nose with sinus problems along with a learning disability, enlarge liver and spleen. We were having surgery that month to remove his tonsils and adenoids and felt by electing to do this surgery that this could provide some relief for him. Now keep in mind, he had far bigger issues brewing but at that given time they had diagnosed him with several things that didn't quite seem to fit him to a tee. Something wasn't right. The diagnoses wasn't “fitting”. [Read more…]

Twitter Is A Funny Creature. 3 Things To Get Started

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Twitter twitter twitter… what in the world is this thing? It's funny sounding and for the more detailed people out there it has been challenging their written communication skills by only allowing 140 characters per post. Geez. Well I'm here to share some of my experience of using Twitter with you and also to give 3 out of a million things that you could do to get started.

Less than 2 years ago I started my Twitter account @MGStults and my thought with my Twitter handle was ” I didn't want anyone to know my name”. Yes your laughter is so loud I can hear it all the way through the internet connection. Very silly wouldn't you agree?  If your online you are absolutely giving up some of your privacy. You probably have Facebook don't you? [Read more…]

Setting up WordPress using DreamHost

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DreamHost in my opinion is no dream. Recently I had a referral contact me for helping setting up a WordPress site for their client. DreamHost taunts a “One-Click Install” for WordPress as demonstrated below. I do agree this is probably accurate but when you give the user of a DreamHost account little information to which option to select…things get pretty messed up. Yes, there is a “wiki” but if you've never done this before it could get confusing. They even charge for calling technical support. That is insane!

The very first main reason why they could never install WordPress after 3-4 tries is the domain they were using was on www.1and1.com but they were hosting the new site on DreamHost. I had to change the name servers on 1and1.com to point towards DreamHost. This solved the first big challenge. Now behind the scenes I didn't know they had email running through 1and1.com so that broke their email as well. Thankfully this happened on a Friday evening :). On my next post I'll talk about that fun circus!

Typically when you register a domain name you probably will be using that company to also host your website. I would highly recommend doing this to keep your investment cost down and things organized. WordPress isn't for every website or every person/ business. It helps provide a feasible back end administration panel that can help them easily change things out as needed. [Read more…]

Your Vote Counts…30 Under 30 Event

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I'm very honored that me and my wife have been selected as one of the 30 people under the age of 30 who have contributed to our community in some manor. Although we feel we have a ton of work to accomplish, the Niemann-Pick Children's Fund, Inc is dear to our heart. Our two oldest son's Brisan and Parker Stults were diagnosed with a rare FATAL neurological disease called Niemann-Pick Type C Disease. Sometimes referred to as the “Childhood Alzheimer's” because of the similar pathological features they share. They only have a childhood to live a lifetime.

Brisan and Parker in Limo 60709

Brisan and Parker heading to Disney World June 2009

Roughly 75 patients in the US currently and only 500 cases diagnosed worldwide EVER. This is a genetic disease on Chromosome 18. You get a Gene from your mommy and daddy. We each passed  a bad copy of our Gene which activates this horrible disease. The statistical odds of this situation coming to fruition is beyond comprehension.  In NPC it is the cells inability to metabolize cholesterol. Essentially the recycling factor breaks down and this good cholesterol your body needs to form cells ends up becoming the culprit. It stores all these fatty lipids in the Brian, Liver, Spleen, and Bone Marrow causing a domino affect of neurological problems that eventually leads to their premature death. [Read more…]

Is Your Ego In the Way?

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Is your ego in the way? That struck me as a sticking point of this video from Affiliate Summit NYC East 2010 where Jim Kukral spoke to one of the sessions. He wanted to know what the number is that will make you happy. Not the number that you can buy your yellow Ferrari but the number that could allow you to live comfortable. Only you know how much your bills are.

We hear a lot about leadership. You need to be a leader. You need to direct the troops. You need to do this or that. What I don't hear enough of is how you can set aside your ego/ pride and move forward with that idea or thought you've had to move business in a better direction. Jim talks about here how a company hired him as a consultant and they were six months from being out of business. He looked at how the other company was marketing themselves verse his company. What he found out was his client's ego was in the way. Worried about his perception in all the wrong ways. After he presented this to his client they essentially felt he was wrong. Six months later they were closed. [Read more…]

How to upgrade from PHP4.0 to PHP5.0 in wordpress using 1and1.com hosting

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I've been so frustrated with this whole PHP5.0 verse PHP4.0 versions in my 1and1.com hosting account regarding my wordpress sites. I had to write a quick post about this issue because I discovered that when my automatic upgrades were “hanging up” or not upgrading through the cpanel….that I wasn't the only one with this frustration. It was nearly impossible to update any plugin or install one. I just thought it was “the way it was going to be”.

Last week I read a post about WordPress PHP 4 and MySQL 4 End of Life Announcement that stated they will eventually stop supporting PHP4.0 version and ummm well you better get your stuff upgraded soon. So I started to dive in to look at the problem. The funny thing is MySQL in my 1and1 cpanel said this:

mysql view in cpanel for 1and1

[Read more…]

What is Social Media Kansas City?

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Social Media is connecting with people who don't know you. Social Media is a pain in the ass. Social Media is the wave of the future and its best to embrace it; not be scared of it. Social Media is overwhelming and entertaining all at once. Social media is people online yesterday and now they are here at this event! I really can't make this stuff up even if I tried. These are a few statements that others shared with me on camera at The Social Media Club of Johnson County (@SMCJOCO / #SMCJOCO on twitter) launch party on Thursday July 15, 2010 to introduce it's board members. The event was held at the Aloft Hotel / WXYZ Bar in Overland Park, KS.

As me and my wife mingled are way through the 300 + people who attended while checking in with foursquare, Paul Evans and Sara Paxton were giving out prizes via SMS (thanks to Ruxter Mobile and the sponsors!). I would say that was pretty cool. Even better since I won some tricked out cupcakes from Cupcake a la mode! I guess extra cardio is calling…

Throughout are mingling, while sipping on “Twittertinis”, I kept my Flip HD video camera handy to interview people. I asked them to introduce themselves, say their company name and twitter, and what superhero would they be if they could be one? I believe I surprised many people by asking that question but I thought it was fun! My first question I  asked was, “Social Media is ________” fill in the blank question.You'll see in the video that we received a ton of different answers. [Read more…]