On fundraising, the laptop caper, mailbag questions and ‘demo tapes’

Okay, I have a lot of ground to cover in a short amount of time, so:

• It’s time to start raising funds to get me through the month of October. I was able to offset the server costs and make about $200 last month, and that’s great, but I’m still aiming for an income closer to $500-750, and that requires me to ask whether monthly contributions (see: https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport, https://giftly.com to rtxg@yahoo.com, or other options as you deem most convenient for you) are more convenient than joining https://patreon.com/TheMalikReport. Please do let me know what options you find most appealing, because I’m looking to get some of you to “subscribe” to the blog. That’s how this enterprise is going to work long-term.

• Regarding raising funds for a laptop, I’ve made a decision. Because there is no Traverse City trip this year, I really want to try and generate interest in raising funds for a workstation computer instead of another band-aid laptop. A workstation, like a Lenovo Thinkpad, would be something that I could use for five years or more. It would afford me the kind of hardware and software necessary to increase multimedia offerings, as well as plain old work efficiently when I’ve got 45 tabs and 8 videos open as I try to cobble together a recap. I’m looking at a budget of $2,000-$2,500, to be “shot for” over the next couple of months (at least), but I’ve put a lot of thought and some soul-searching into this one, and the reality of the situation is that, if I can convince you to help, I want to “go big” this time.

• In terms of blog content, I’d like to start a weekly or every-other-week-ly mailbag feature, which means that I’d really, really appreciate it if you submitted questions for said mailbag via the comments section, Twitter or email (at rtxg@yahoo.com). I’m curious as to what you want to know regarding the Red Wings’ probable draft picks, the team’s restricted free agents, which goaltender you’d prefer the Wings to sign to replace Jimmy Howard, etc.

• Finally, I have some ideas in mind for the inevitable podcast, but podcasts generally work as two-person endeavors, so I’m curious as to whether any of you want to try to convince me that YOU are the best co-host available. Send me your logic, send me your reasoning, send me “demo tapes,” you name it. As this would be a new podcast, we could try different formats as we feel changes or content demand them, and I’m excited about getting in on the ground floor here.

As always, thank you for your time and your readership.