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James D Kirk

Ranked #8,188 in Squidoo Community, #508,039 overall

Welcome to my Seth Trek!

Thank you so very much for stopping by. The focus of this lens is all about promoting Seth Godin's Alternative MBA program and applying for acceptance!

Regardless of outcome Seth, thank you for the opportunity and accept my sincere gratitude for your consideration.

Regarding your (understandably) unchanging boundaries

  • The 40 minute train ride from the City sounds great; housing there is being secured.
  • Speaking (and to me, as important) writing perfect English is always a goal worth striving to achieve. Hopefully, you'll find mine worthy.
  • Smoking ceased in my life after the 2nd grade cigar experiments (true story!)
  • Being nice and smart have always been my intentions. My belief is that most who know me would express the same to you.
  • Throughout this application you'll find references that have been impeccable influences in my life. Should you desire more, they are available upon request.

Now Playing

My current position as a Website Systems Administrator for Vertical Measures has allowed me the professional opportunity to flex my WordPress administrative and development skills. Plus, the fine team that runs the business led by Arnie Kuenn is allowing me to get much deeper into the arena of search engine optimization. This, in turn has afforded me the opportunity to express years of self education and research on a professional level. My desires to see SEO theory in action are coming true.

The past three years have seen me participate in the Open Source WordPress community while working with a few dedicated designers and engineers (most notably my good friend and associate Joseph Cizek.) We have dug deep into the capabilities of WordPress that allow the application to extend beyond its basic blog foundations into full content management systems and a variety of web based applications.

Some interesting recent projects include:
  • An investor relations application for Redwood Palms Pictures, the financiers behind recent films: Battle in Seattle, Julito Marana, Blonde and Blonder, A Man Falls (and many others)
  • Working with WordPress Multi User and the pre-release of BuddyPress, developing the foundation for a social network site focused around the professional fight game at TheFightChannel.com
  • A WordPress.org installation that has no core alterations, and currently supports more than a dozen domains, all from the same single WP install (BoldlyGoing.com, JamesDKirk.com,
    JamesKirk.tv are just three.)

Coming Attractions

With the experiences accumulating in my current position, my hopes are to be able to weave that knowledge and skill into any and all new projects which enter my life. Anything which takes place online benefits from a solid foundation of Internet building blocks. The web application, its promotion via search engines, and social media all create the base that success will be built upon.

To me, learning is a constant and never ending process. Many of my skills and abilities have been learned as needed. When opportunity presents itself, my tendency is to apply all my knowledge and experience towards the solution. As most will inevitably relate, there can be gaps in the mesh. Without the team to mend the holes in the net, someone has to find the answers. Learn the technology. Apply it. Move on. This has been the M.O. of my life.

Changing the World

Depending upon your definition of "the world", changing it on a personal, family level came very early in my adult life. During my career playing football at Laney College in Oakland, CA, the opportunity to participate in a sperm donor program presented itself. After serious consideration (no, really!) it occurred to me that my donation could help someone unable to have a baby achieve their family goals. My donation did in fact aid one couple to conceive a lovely daughter. Today, because of that decision a wonderful 22 year old young woman is in the world working on her own plans to change it in amazing ways.

Another reason your alternative MBA program is appealing has to do with the unique opportunity to help a dear, long time friend living there in Manhattan, with her efforts to have a child. Being a donor is both an honor and a privilege, and very welcome in my life; one sure to make a change in her world.

Overcoming the Dip (or not)

After reading this question for the first time, and quickly acquiring your book to better understand the concepts, my knowledge of Dips opened a wave of revelations concerning my past, and a lot of the good and bad decisions made in my life. My very first successful Dip came during my senior year of high school. Earning the Eagle Rank while in the Boy Scouts of America, at that age was the most challenging series of tasks my young life had seen.

While every Dip that has come my way has not been overcome, the lessons learned during that first one were extremely formative. Some other Dips in my life:
  • Working for a year with acclaimed wine maker Jed Steele, owner of Steele Wines and first wine maker for Kendall Jackson.
  • 6 years out of high school, scoring in the 96th percentile on the U.S. Navy entrance battery, being accepted to their Nuclear Power Program, and ultimately stationed on guided nuclear cruiser, the U.S.S. Texas. Throughout the various stages of the program, my peers and superiors repeatedly selected me to lead classes and sections of team mates.
  • Worked as an instructor for one for one of the first privately run traffic schools in California. Oh yeah, it was a Comedy Traffic School. That was fun!
  • After an interview for a temp position with iwin.com, in 2000 (later acquired by Vivendi Universal) was offered a permanent full time position by then president of the company Fred Kreuger and had incredible opportunities to learn some amazing aspects of a dot com operation at the very peak of the first bubble.
  • With no prior knowledge of wireless computing, was able to absorb enough about the state of the nascent industry (in 2001) and the technology behind it to become a Subject Matter Expert and work with Joshua Cobb (now a Sr. Director at Yahoo!) as a Principal with the Mobile Wireless Computing Practice. Successfully pushing through this Dip afforded me national travel, speaking and panel opportunities at industry events, as well as the invaluable experiences of sitting in conference rooms with the CTO's and VP's of Internet Operations of Fortune 500 companies across the US.
  • Currently pushing through the Dip at TheFightChannel.com where the valuable experience of having one of my two data delivery processes pre-stolen by several companies has taught me volumes about idea generation, sharing and protection. The best aspect of this is having a much clearer understanding of the Intellectual Property protections in this country, and the steps one must take to ensure their ideas come to fruition.
  • Very close to launching an e-book about idea generation, which was originally published in 1963 and had fallen into the public domain. Re-editing has been finished and currently finalizing the supporting web presence.

The Wine Making Experience

One of the most astonishing projects of my life was transforming from a simple fan of wine, into someone working with one of the most amazing wine makers in the business, to hand picking a ton of grapes and helping a friend produce over 120 gallons of 2005 Lake County Syrah. Being able to observe the life cycle of a wine grape taught me so many of the subtle intricacies that must take place to guarantee that what is poured from the bottle is worth putting into your mouth. Plus, the experience of being in the fields with your best friend, with your hands on the vines, tending, trimming, ultimately harvesting the grapes and crushing them for the wine making project is an amazing experience to be sure. Hard work? Of course! And when your wine wins 2nd place in the International Home Wine Makers competition in 2006 you begin to fully recognize what astonishing means to you.

Wishes, Dreams and Goals

When it comes to making wishes, a simple statement years ago impacted me as much as anything in my life ever has.

Since then, most of my dreams and aspirations have inherently been designed such that there were opportunities for more than just myself in the transaction. My goals to write entertaining books and accompanying screenplays have always been motivated with reader and viewer impact in mind.

My involvement with TheFightChannel.com has been motivated to bring about change in the sport, create, expand and extend the opportunity beyond the existing power structure to more of the participants who currently provide the foundation of the sport.

Just in its infant stages of design, my project which combines my four favorite things in the world: food, wine, music and coffee, with the opportunity to produce unprecedented access by anyone desiring to participate and enjoy the best of the best in those four arenas. The ultimate goal is to provide participants the best while having a massive, positive and uplifting impact on society that only today's Internet Tribes are able to empower.

You Might Like to Also Know That ...

  • Ever since high school, my participation in the widest spectrum of groups and people was the one aspect of a life filled with continual family relocations which not only provided for survival then, it continues to contribute to my ability to effective participate with just about any collection of individuals.
  • Public speaking is on my list of most exciting activities. As is being on a stage, acting or generally being the front man.
  • My exploratory nature has had me eating Chinese food in Jacob Riis Park in Rockaway, walking across the Marine Parkway Bridge and through Brooklyn to catch a train back to Manhattan.
  • My coffee making skills are impeccable.
  • Fortune has granted me the opportunity to have done voice over work for a shark cartilage infomercial and a couple of radio spots as well as supporting myself for most of 1996 as an extra in Hollywood, resulting in several "featured" placements, one listing in the IMDB, and now currently eligible to join the Screen Actors Guild.
  • Oh, and my comic book collection is approaching 10,000 strong (they will not be joining us should you choose me, of course!)

Promoting the promotion

There are so many great community organizers that have created or developed applications allowing all of us to be more effective at spreading the word about this opportunity. My time has been shared across a number of these groups, attempting to positively interact with the group there as well as use built in tools to spread the word:

Digital Footprints

To be as brief as possible, yet no shorter, the best place for you to see my existence online is at my FriendFeed page. There you will get the "A to Z" of my digital footprint (literally, my Amazon wish list to my Zoomr account).

Additionally, my online profile and contact information site is located at JamesDKirk.com where you can very easily download a current resume and JASPER profile, and see some of my recent projects.

Finally, and with much gratitude

Hopefully, you'll find who you are looking for Seth, and make this project a reality. Please allow me yet again to express my gratitude. To be included in this project, to work with and learn from you, will surely be an honor and a privilege.

To whomever gets selected, take advantage of the opportunity. You can count on me doing the same!

Thank you for your comments

Share a great anecdote about James!

We all have great memories about our friends and associates. Feel free to use this space to share one or more stories that encapsulates something you feel will help others to know me better. And thank you in advance for taking the time!

  • jamesdkirk Dec 12, 2008 @ 4:27 pm | in reply to njthompson | delete
    There's nothing more I'd like to do than drink great wine and talk about the process. Maybe we can get Gary Vaynerchuk to hang out with us. He's not that far away, I think!
  • njthompson Dec 12, 2008 @ 2:10 pm | delete
    James, what can I say but CONGRATS! It's been a fun haul, but definitely worthwhile - hope it feels good to get the app in!

    As well, I think I need to learn a little on the wine making from you - I'm a bit of an avid consumer and have taken a wine science course (learned about the process and intricacies) but have yet to grow or make my own. It's one of my life ambitions, along with my olive farm dream, so I hope to pick your expertise one day.

    Best of luck and thanks for the support - hope to see you in NY!
  • Mireya Dec 12, 2008 @ 1:33 pm | delete
    The wine would not have been yummy without you, my friend! Your creativity and sense of humor made even the most mundane of tasks something to enjoy. Best wishes on this great new opportunity!
  • sethgodin Dec 11, 2008 @ 9:41 pm | delete
    Thanks James!
  • pizzamancer Dec 11, 2008 @ 8:58 pm | delete
    James - I have seen you around, and just wanted to stop by and say Great App! Put the final spit shine on it and get it in there man. Seth likes early entries, and I am sure there will be a lot of people cramming to send in their applications in the final hours, and with that many apps coming in at once, Seth and his team aren't going to have the time to devote to each one that the would if it was received earlier.

    Hope to see you in NY. - The Pizzamancer
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Some of my friends

If you ask them, they'd probably admit to knowing me!

Just a few of my favorite friends. Feel free to see more of how I see the world as I get better at using my Samsung NV7 camera (a very nice little flicker taker, BTW!)
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jamesdkirk

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