This week a lot of time has been going into izunodesign.com…a site I operate that’s still in beta. Josh and I are planning some new things that will hopefully be ready by August 08, 2008, our mass post day. Plus, we’ve pretty much decided to use wordpress, but haven’t put in any time on switching over just yet. Boring stuff. I know. But here are a few things to be on the lookout for. An izunotravel.com calendar, more city buttons, better search and tagging system, and beer week.

Pretty sure I was happy to find out a popular TrendSpotting site has picked IzunoTravel.com for an Editors Choice. We are right in there with EnGadget, Apartment Therapy, Gizmodo, NotCot, CoolHunting and a lot more. Some of these blogs I personally have bookmarked, so obviously I was stoked. Cheap shameless plug coming….Check it out and be sure to vote for your favorite site….and mine.

What to look for in the next few months: I’m back and forth on switching over to a popular blog system called wordpress. I realize this site has grown and needs to keep up. However I don’t like the limitations with wordpress. Right now I’m leaning toward the switch, it will be a pain in the ass, but worth it in the end. That means you can be on the lookout for an entire site redesign, new tagging system, and the ability to leave comments. Hopefully I’ll figure out a better search method as well. But as far as the posts and updates, it will be the same.

I keep thinking about how difficult it was to participate in “Mental Detox Week.” Originally, it was “TV Turnoff Week” and just this year it was renamed. Well, I only took action for 3 of the 7 days. However, I went outside and was able to photograph my niece (above) and do some other things I probably would not have done if I were allowed to work on my laptop.

Here are some things I learned during my shortened “detox week.”

1. TV is EVERYWHERE - When I go to the gym…there is a tv in the locker room, tv’s on every exercise bike and elipticals….you can barely escape. So, even though I didn’t turn on a tv for 4 days now, I’ve seen tv because I was in the room with others while it was on.

2. The TV thing for me was the easy part. However, Mental Detox Week calls for unplugging ALL electronics basically. Phones are harder. Where TV is not even close to a necessity, phones are a form of two way communication. Therefore much harder to let go of. I did make a phone call to friends, but tried to limit it to phone calls I feel I had to make to avoid being rude and a bad friend. Giving up my laptop and email for 3 days was not as difficult as the phone, but it was the hardest thing to give up.

3. The idea was to give something up…make a sacrifice. It’s like “Buy Nothing Day,” it only works if you give up buying something permanently, not going out and buying it all the next day. And truthfully, I feel its these self sacrificing decisions we have to make to stand a shot in hell at survival. Anyways…enough philosophy.

Site Updates: I’m really excited to get the poster in the store…that will happen this week. Also, I’m going to feature an awesome traveler who is currently in China if I understand correctly, and hopefully get an interview with her soon.

I have been working on a new database, and the closer I get to finishing it, the more I realize it’s further away from being complete. That’s been taking up a lot of time as of late.

It’s been an interesting week for us here at izunotravel.com. We are attempting to switch databases that will allow us to incorporate better applications. Our marketing has really picked up and we are getting good feedback…which is a good, but time consuming thing. Plus, we have been working with a printer in Lubbock, Texas (CopyCraft…thanks Jennifer) to print some promo posters for us. They were delivered earlier this week and they turned out excellent. And on top of that Josh had a major cleaning project that is really just too disgusting to talk about. I will say a mass of corn syrup was involved.

Here is the explanation of our 08.08.08 promo poster shown above. This August 8th, 2008 we are going to have a “Mass Post Day.” We will post all those great things that we have not had an opportunity to publish, plus you can also plan on some other fun stuff. The poster is to promote that day. “But it doesn’t even have izunotravel.com on it?” says the skeptic. Yes, for two reasons. 1. This was designed as an art piece that can be displayed on your walls, and 2. I only want those who frequent this site to know what it means. So really…it’s not a promo poster at all I suppose. It will be available for purchase in our store in the coming months.

Okay, I’m not completely in love with it yet, but it’s a start. If you are on a social network, you can add this mini-application to your page and get quick updates. I will be adding custom posts and store items to this, not every daily post though. Click the “share” link on the lower right and you can add it to now.

This section is going to contain more or less a behind the scenes posts. I will discuss my marketing, upcoming posts, and changes to izunotravel.com. Marketing a web site is a chore. I am just beginning to understand the complexity behind it. So I wanted a page where I can list other sites that talk about, and or discuss izunotravel.com. It’s mostly to get more users to the site, and get them hooked.

I’m going to try hard to do one custom a month. Customs will be just about anything nobody else has online, and that will always have a strong design aspect to it (all while keeping backpackers and travellers in mind).

For March, the custom is a new traveler oriented desktop wallpaper. I created it in 4 different sizes, hopefully it will fit your monitor without looking skewed or stretched. Click the links below to download (the pic above is just a sectional cutout, not the desktop). I’ve tested and used this graphic logo for a while, and it’s surprisingly popular. I resketched a new version this week to use on the desktops. It was the main logo for izunotravel.com version 1.0. I hope you like it because I plan on using it for future posts.

Also, I’m thinking about making an interactive packing planner checklist for next months custom post, I’ll see if that pans out or not and keep you updated.

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