Wednesday, 8 April 2009

Working on a lot of book projects at the moment. All sorts of cool things, including what could prove to be the most significant book on the esoteric side of martial arts ever written. Although the world economic situation is not exactly healthy, people still love to feed their minds and soul as much at they do their bodies.

Details on this and other projects real soon.

Friday, 1 August 2008

So many things to do. One wonders why how I ever could have thought I would have the time to keep a website updated. But the update is here, with more scheduled over the next few weeks.

I’m not complaining, of course. I like being busy. I like seeing things happen because I made them happen. Which is why people in my line of work don’t and often can’t separate their personal and professional lives. The line between the two doesn’t just blur in my case, it bleeds. And a new color is created in the process.

Indeed, the last two years have been among the busiest and most eventful I can remember. There has also been more travel than I ever thought possible for my line of work. Last year I found myself in San Francisco, Orlando, New York, Seattle, Chicago, Boston and a few other places engaged in business related activities. Thank goodness for the Internet and my ability to work from the road. Do you ever wonder how we were able to survive without portable computers and global computer networks? I do. Hard to imagine that when I started my career typewriters and telex machines were considered "high tech."

There were other reasons for travel last year besides work. In 2007, I found myself attending a family funeral and, as if the universe was balancing things out, a family wedding. When something ends something always begins. Life goes on with all its joys, sorrows, bumps, bruises and, of course, deadlines.

And the hectic pace continues. So far this year I’ve been to San Francisco, Chicago, Sao Paulo (the “New York” of South America), Seoul, Jakarta, Singapore and the year is only a little more than half over! Other trips are coming up. Some to the same cities, some to places I’ve never been and looking forward to seeing for the first time. Many interesting projects being worked on. Some on my own, many through my publishing company.

As they used to say in radio, “stay tuned. . .”

Saturday, 1 March 2008

Have done a bit of long overdue housekeeping here AND have established a mirror site in the States: www.thomasmichaelcaldwell.com.

Tuesday, 9 October 2007

Ah! What a summer. Lots of travel. Many new friends and associates. Also a LOT of work. But I enjoy what I do, so is it really work?

For those interested in me doing ghost writing for them, I've added a section describing how and why it works. Drop me a line with the words "ghost work" in the SUBJECT line if you need a quick  quote or have an urgent project you need to discuss.

Tuesday, 20 March 2007

Amazing how new things always happen at the Equinox.

I've finally gotten around to making some badly needed updates to the site. A busy year, so far. Am now the head of two publishing companies (one based in the US and one in Japan). What started off as being a nice "side job" has become my main line of work.

Tuesday, 11 July 2006

F I N A L L Y ! ! ! The new website design is up and running! Special thanks to HTML artist Michael Watt of Watt Media for making it happen (and making it better).

Thursday, 12 January 2006

Ah! The new (common era/Gregorian calender) year begins. Have updated the LINKS page and the obligatory copyright dates at the bottom of all (or at least most) of the site pages.

Monday, 26 September 2005

Some summer lull. A VERY busy August and September. Taking a breather and catching up on the little things (like this web site).

Changed the quote on the Home page. Will rotate some of my favorites every week or month depending on the work schedule. Also looking into an automated system to do it for me.

Monday, 8 August 2005

Have begun online and offline work on the Writings section. A few stories uploaded with many more coming during the summer lull that is August in Japan.

Tuesday, 26 July 2005

Links page uploaded. Will add, subtract and organize as needed.

Wednesday, 15 June 2005

PayPal button installed for the convenience of clients (and myself). The days of the paper invoice being sent and received through the (snail) mail are quickly (and thankfully) coming to an end.

Tuesday, 19 April 2005

A VERY busy couple of months on all sorts of projects. The rest of the web site is (finally) in the process of coming on line. A few "under construction" pages put up, but only to save time later on. Writings section and What I Do will be getting priority for self-evident economic reasons.

Tuesday, 22 February 2005

Yesterday was not a good day. Hunter S. Thompson has died. Apparently by his own hand. A major influence on many writers, myself included. An essay on the man is in the works.

The Who Am I? section finally uploaded. I may tweak it a bit over the next week or so. But at least something is up.

Monday, 21 February 2005

It's still under construction, but most of the “heavy work” has been completed. It will probably take another week or so to get everything up and running, but my long overdue overhaul is finally under way.

Some things changing, others staying the same. Although the Web is populated by sites rich in color, graphics, Java, Shockwave, web cams and other hazards, I've decided to retain some of the look of the old site. Not just because in its simplicity it stands out, or because all too often a site's content is lost in its design, but because I like it. It's also easy to maintain, expand on, and be read by just about any of the browsers currently in use. All important considerations if one has both a life and a web site.

Although I've been meaning to re-do this site for most of the past year, I finally decided I had to get to work on it when the tenth anniversary of the Kobe Earthquake rolled around. Ten year anniversaries are significant milestones and force an immediate reality check on all those who encounter them. I've come a long way since I covered the Kobe Quake, Aum Shinrikyo, and all those other stories of that most memorable year of 1995. Time for my site to get caught up with me, instead of me with it.

As I am no longer spending much time in the world of “mainstream” journalism and all that entails (like being on call 24 hours a day for relatively little money), and much of this site dealt with stories I wrote almost a decade ago, it was no longer a timely or accurate reflection of who I now am and what I now do. I also doubt anyone is really interested in reading old stories on (then) future technology that most of us have already thrown away. So a massive housecleaning is now going on, both on and off line. Only the most interesting and timeless material will be kept and added in the future. This not only goes for written work, but photographs and (bandwidth permitting) audio as well.

Unlike this site's predecessor, there will be some photos of yours truly in a couple of places. The hi-contrast shot on the front page seemed to go with the site's motif and adds a bit of intensity that would not come across with a full color photo of me with a silly grin. As I also plan on adding a fair amount of humor to this site, a little not-so-serious seriousness might be a nice way to balance things out.

There is also the issue of copyright when it comes to graphics. I've grown tired of searching the Net for suitable images I can use for my site that are either free or of reasonable cost. So, I've decided to use my own work or work I own outright. Less hassle, less work, more time for other things.

There is something else very different, both on and off line: I've started to use my middle name, Michael, again. I used it all the time when I was (much) younger. But when I moved to Japan, I found it was too much for the local corporate and government bureaucracy to deal with someone having more than two names, or even a middle initial. When I started to get into radio in the late 1980s and early 90s, I dropped it all together as it was too cumbersome to use on the air. In radio a two syllable name is best, four acceptable, six and you should find another line of work. As these days my use of a microphone almost never ends with a “lockout” (radio jargon for saying your name, affiliation, and location at the end of story), and I've now reached early middle age, I thought it might be a nice idea to come full circle a little bit. It's healthy, and a lot cheaper than buying a Porsche.

NOTE TO CORPORATE SYSTEM ADMINISTRATORS:

If you are the administrator of a system that regularly accesses material on this site by prior agreement, please note that for the time being ALL such files will be remaining in the same location. However, if a break does occur as I swap things around, just drop me a line and I'll get it fixed straight away.

Friday, 28 January 2005

Uploading of new site begins.