Category Archives: My Life as a Free Man

Moved On

Technically speaking, I moved on and now have a lot of work to do because of the moving process, the same as if I physically moved from one house to another.

Moved On from WordPress.com because of various reasons. Moved faster than anticipated, too. My plan was to post this blog before I moved the website so that all of my followers would know in advance, but I first moved the domain name to Google Domains and that screwed up the website.

As I type, I am not sure about what came with the migration or what I left behind. Time will tell.

I sought the assistance of the superb hosting service I use, FastComet.com, to migrate straightfromthepen.com from WordPress.com to WordPress.org on my behalf. The Plan I pay for included that service.

Though I ran into technical issues because the process with a less-experienced Technical Support member than what I needed, we did get the job done, but if I had not had working knowledge of the migration processes and experimented with exporting sections of my massive website, I would not have known that the person was incorrect about how I needed to go about getting the massive website moved.

My cost for the hosting package at FastComet.com, where I can have multiple websites, only costs a little more than what I paid for the Premium package on WordPress.com that severely restricted what I could do on that hosting service, unless I wanted to pay $25 per month for the Business Plan. Not me, I moved on to a better place and hope I brought my followers with me. Since this has only been live a few hours, the search engines haven’t found me on this new location.

For those not familiar with the more technical aspects of the functioning of websites, there is a substantial difference in WordPress.com and WordPress.org.

StraightfromthePen.com was hosted by WordPress.com, which means that it provided the server (like a large warehouse with a massive distribution network) that I used to park my Domain on (website address); e.g., straightfromthepen.com.

I’ve been using WordPress.com for several years and am not satisfied with the way it works due to its management. StraightfromthePen.com is my oldest site, and then a few years ago I started WonderfulThingsDone-2 using WordPress.com.

I paid ninety-six dollars per year for the WordPress premium, plus $19 for the domain name I moved over to WordPress. Moving the domain name to WordPress.com ended up costing me more than what I previously paid for wonderfulhingsdone.net (WonderfulThingsDone-2) and straightfromthepen.com.

On WonderfulThingsDone.com, which is a WordPress.org website, I have more control and responsibilities for building and maintaining the site, but I got tired of WordPress.com squeezing me for more money, so … I moved on and won’t go back!

Follow me on Quora.com for answers to many questions about Life Inside and Out.

Amazon.com: W. J. Hagerty Silversmiths Pump Spray Polish : Health & Household

Update 3:45 PM, 02/09/2023: The Press This Experiment Failed to Function that may have occurred due to operator error. The following image and product link was done with the normal Amazon linking process.

W. J. Hagerty Silversmiths Pump Spray Polish

Another Experimental Project! In affiliate marketing, which is a field I continue to explore, I am in pursuit of an effective way to increase passive income as part of my successful reentry program that began August 28, 2018.

This particular experiment on WordPress.com involves an available linking method known as Press This. I find an ad or product I like, and then click the icon for Press This and then the product I chose automatically converts to a blogpost that I can publish immediately, as I originally did with this one, or save it to edit before posting.

In this case, I posted it and then saved it as a draft, which unpublished it. Sorry for the inconvenience to those who automatically receive my latest content.

In the case of this particular product that the price of has almost doubled since I first purchased a bottle of it from Amazon in October 2020, I know it works and will provide evidence at the bottom of this post.

Thanks for participating in my experimental project and successful reentry into society.

Before

In-process after using W. J. Hagerty Silversmiths Pump Spray Polish

After Rinsing with Water and Polishing with Soft Cloth

Promotional Ad

Check out my shop. Wayne T: Get up to $30 off* when you use my code GUFMTB to sign up for Mercari. *Terms apply #mercari https://www.mercari.com/u/102924697/?sv=0

Use this link to sign up to buy and or sell on Mercari so that you earn or save money and I earn a small referral fee. Thanks!

It’s easy to buy and sell on Mercari. Get up to $30 when you get started. Use code GUFMTB when you sign up with my link: https://merc.li/Uzfbb6sXb #mercari

Check out Wayne T’s shop on Mercari!

Simple tasks are not always easy to figure out until I stop trying so hard. For instance, when posting YouTube and More last week, I wanted to refer everyone to my particular items for sale on Mercari, but failed to figure out the process I was sure existed.

Too Tired to Think!

Now I know and hope you will check out what I have to sell in the United States by following the link.

Check out my shop: Wayne T: Get up to $30 off* when you use my code GUFMTB to sign up for Mercari. *Terms apply #mercari https://www.mercari.com/u/102924697?sv=0

Coming Soon

My plan for the last couple months has been to post another Life After Release. The last one I posted was in December 2021. Life After Release-10 is Coming Soon.

Since Life After Release-9, a lot of things have changed in my life on many levels. More will be revealed, including the story behind the photo I posted above, which was one of those God Shots I’ve experienced throughout the years.

Right now, though, I have to get ready to go to my Forty Hour job at Goodwill of North Georgia.

For those with an interest in prison life and the issues surrounding prisons and the lives of those trapped within their walls, bars and fences, please check out Life Inside and Out (quora.com). Thanks!

Oh, I forgot to mention one of the most important things, please check out my podcasts and let me know what you think. Click Here to go to my page for the podcasts. I do appreciate you!

Podcast Experiment

Once again, I am experimenting with technology and having fun doing so with a live audience. Speaking of the such, I will soon post a link to my first appearance on a television show, Atlanta’s 57, WATC 57.1 Stream. My mugshot has been televised before, as in If You See This Man Call …

This time I am sharing my story in a positive light. Anyways, please check out some of the podcasts I have added to many of my former blogposts and post a brief comment or click to Like. Thanks!

Dates with Bots by Wayne T. Dowdy

Hot Date on a Pontoon (not mine)

No information contained in any area of this website or in an affiliate link is intended or meant to be construed as financial, health, legal, medical or personal advice, in any shape or form, implied or otherwise, unless specifically stated and supported with verifiable information.

Getting dates with bots is not easy on dating apps because users don’t know that it is a bot doing the flirting and misleading them to stay on the website in hope of getting some action. In particular, ChatZone, which is a dating app that I have thus far written three negative reviews about (click to read reviews or go the sites and search for all ChatZone reviews: 1. Google Play Store, 2. DatingSpot24, 3. Trustpilot).

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Yeah, Baby, I am HOT! Receiving over one hundred messages a day on ChatZone.com is wearing me out. When I first signed up on December 30, 2021, ChatZone sent me an email the next day stating that my profile was popular and that I had received over one hundred messages in twenty-four hours.

Mr. EGO raised its head at the news!

The number of messages I receive each day has not changed, especially when I decide to respond to some of the messages and invitations (some who just want my body for their entertainment and pleasure, some of whom want to sell sex, others who profess to want more, none of whom I have met).

(I am an affiliate of Dating App Success and will earn a commission if you decide to follow the link and accept their 3-days for $3.00 trial offer to teach men and women how to be successful in the online dating game).

Maybe I need to listen to the pros at Dating App Success to learn a few tricks because I can’t handle dealing with all of the fake profiles (professional operators) and those darn dating bots that tease me into believing that I have found what I am searching for on the website.

The problem with getting a Date with Bots is that, well, you can’t of course, because the artificial intelligence driving it is only a collection of commands programmed into some computer chip that uses algorithms to determine the most likely response, at least, so I think.

Besides, it costs a lot of money to message several times to collect enough data to analyze the responses before determining whether it is a Bot, Professional Operator, or just another lonely heart looking for love or entertainment on the World Wide Web, not the greatest place to find legitimate men and women, as the Internet opened up a Sewer Pound filled with scammers and deceptive people looking to take advantage of the unknowing.

To learn more about Dating Bots, read How good are you at spotting bots on dating apps? by Josh Rivera, USA TODAY, July 10, 2020

Facebook Dating App & Messenger

Though Facebook (META) is controversial in many respects, Messenger and the Facebook Dating App does offer free entertainment. On Messenger chats you can see who you are responding to, unlike the faceless interaction of getting a Date with Bots on ChatZone or other similar apps designed to make huge profits from those looking for love or affection online.

Several other viable options are available for live chatting to make sure you don’t have a catfish on the line (Catfish = Fake profile or Outdate Photos to lure in potential candidates); e.g., Google Hangouts, WhatsApp.

To pay for the Dating App research, I will gratefully accept all donations. If you were going to use ChatZone and this review helped change your mind, the $350.00 I spent trying to get a Date with Bots saved you a lot of money. 🙂

NOW ACCEPTING DONATIONS

Quora Monetized and Cryptocurrency

Quora+ Life Inside and Out Content

Yep, I am trying to make a few dollars and chose to monetize my Quora.com content, not all but most. From the link to my Quora Profile visitors can elect to subscribe to Life Inside and Out, which will help me cover some of the cost of this website and other associated writing/blogging costs.

Quora+ is offering participants a 30-day free trial then $6.99 per month fee for ad free access to all Quora content (Note: Inflation increased that from $4.99 when I first posted this blog). From my understanding, since I am one of the select few paid creators of Quora content, subscribers to Quora+ will be allowed to read my content free, whereas if a person just subscribes to my Space (Life Inside and Out), they can only read my content, so it is best to subscribe to Quora+ to read mine and other popular content providers.

I thank you in advance for supporting my mission to provide quality content by subscribing to Life Inside and Out or by making a donation of your choice in the box below. A small contribution of $1 helps and will be much appreciated.

Note: to donate a person must have or create a WordPress account, which is a simple process. WordPress offers assistance if needed.


Crypto Crew University

Nothing I write or post is meant to be taken as financial advice in any form, since I am not qualified to offer such advice. All I am doing is sharing my experience and one of the sources of which I feel provides valuable content.

I’ve written some things I do in Trading Apps I Use if interested. Though not recommended by most experts, I have more invested in the more volatile cryptocurrency market than I do in the stock market, also volatile as of late.

Playing in either market is like gambling or loaning money to people. My philosophy for both is the same:

IF YOU CANNOT AFFORD TO LOOSE IT DON’T DO IT!

Steve at Crypto Crew University on YouTube provides a lot of information to help men and women learn about the Cryptocurrency market. He offers some free courses and others for a fee. One thing I like about him is that he offers his courses at a discount or free to those struggling to make it.

I will conclude this blog post with links to his YouTube channel:

Watch “Ultimate Bitcoin Strategy for Beginners | Step by step guide” on YouTube


Master Number 33 by Wayne T. Dowdy

Master Number 33

On the night that I received the medallion displayed above, four members of a twelve-step program sat at a table pulling cards from a deck. I overheard the only male in the small group say, “I don’t want one.”

He didn’t want to pull a card, so I volunteered and exchanged seats, due in part to three lovely ladies sitting at the table where he sat. That is where Master Number 33 comes into play for the topic of this blog, though I didn’t learn that I was a Master Number 33 for several weeks because I recall that I pulled a card containing four images.

The interpreter, Stephanie, then asked me several personal questions before our affair was interrupted for those of us celebrating milestones in recovery to be honored with the presentation of sobriety tokens.

Stephanie made some positive comments about her findings before we had to rearrange our seats for the spectacular events to proceed for which we were gathered.

Months later I asked her what all of that meant that she had said after reading the card, etc. She then sent me the link below on the Master Number 33 and suggested I read it. When I did, I was amazed at the accuracy proven by my history and observation of Number “3” and events in my life, which I will not go into for the purpose of this blog.

In reference to Master Number 33, one example is that in recovery and in life in general, my Higher Power, whom I choose to call God, uses me to help others to find a new way of life. Something I do out of love for others and love doing to compensate for the many dirty deeds I did before my conversion (changing my lifestyle in 1995 and retiring from the Thug Life I lived for several years because I didn’t know how to change what began as a child). Here is a quote from Ganehaspeaks.com to support that fact:

“Master Number 33 Powers and Characteristics

“They seem to possess an unlimited reservoir of spiritual energy which they use extremely liberally to help those around them. The root of 33 that is 6 is a number that is naturally associated with family, love, home, and responsibility.” 

https://www.ganeshaspeaks.com/numerology/master-numbers/number-33/


I am responsible! I suit up and show up when committed to helping another person find a new way of life.


Matter of Perception: Thirty-three years ago on August 18, 1988, an event occurred that some may view as good while others may see it as bad, meaning not-so-good.

Personally, since I am the Star of the Show, I see it as necessary and a combination of both, good and bad, because if the event had not occurred, I would not be alive to write this blog or to enjoy the life I am blessed with living today. To understand that statement a person needs to read my book to grasp a full understanding.

Though far from the life I imagined and believe is on the horizon, I am doing well in that I have the main essentials for survival (good health, food, shelter), and am still alive and free as a spirit having a human experience.

THE EVENT: Kentucky State Patrol pulled me and an accomplice over in Campbell County, Tennessee, which ultimately led to my arrest and conviction on several federal charges and a 420-month federal prison sentence, all of which I wrote about in Essays & More Straight from the Pen. (Buy paperback for $8.95 or eBook for $0.99)

Essays and More Straight from the Pen shows the power of change. The well-written essays take the reader deep inside the life of their author who overcame circumstances and obstacles that kept him chained to a life of drugs and crime. The stories inspire and motivate people to not give up or lose hope, and to fight for a new life.


August 28, 2018: I walked out of the United States Federal Bureau of Prisons in Edgefield, South Carolina. That was the first time in 30-years and 10-days that I walked outside the confines of a prison without handcuffs, chains, and shackles.

In Electronic Chain on this site, I wrote about some of my experiences after completion of my federal prison sentence on March 8, 2019. And then in another blog, Prison and Personality Changes by Wayne T. Dowdy, I included an update to my life after release and a recent post on Quora.com, all of which I write in hope of using my experiences to help others.

My goal is to convert my negative experiences into positive ones by sharing my experience, strength, and hope with others, as is common in Twelve Step programs.

Conclusion

In conclusion of this blog, I will end with an excerpt from the Conclusion in Numerology: Master Number 33 that if someone elects to buy and read Essays & More Straight from the Pen, will probably see a substantial contrast in the man I am today versus the person I had become based upon life experiences, and thus see the Power of Change I want others to see in my life:

“People affiliated with this number will be loving, sympathetic, emotional, kind-hearted and zealous in their essence.”