Archive for the 'Fun' Category

Well technically I am staying in Redmond but I liked that title so we shall roll with it.  So after a LONG day of travel (9+ hours of flying gah), I have officially arrived here on the West Coast.  I am super excited to be here since I have never been out this way before and have been wanting to for quite a while.  Between the opportunity to finally visit the Microsoft campus and the opportunity to drink an espresso directly from the source of my favorite roaster…I’m going to have a good week. 

This city is sooo beautiful.  I got a shuttle from the airport with Shuttle Express (nice service) and got to see a bit of the city.  Plus the view when we were coming in for a landing was quite impressive.  I am looking forward to seeing some more of it tomorrow when I don’t feel so sleepy.  

It’s 7:30PM here now but midnight in Amandaland so I will be heading to bed soon.  The beauty of the 4.5 hour timezone difference is that I can 5am in the morning and it will feel like I have slept in. 

Shane put together a little SharePoint Christmas theme that when combined with Todd Bleeker’s snow part and Bil Simser’s theme modification suggestion from this past week – makes a cozy little team site for the holidays. For those of us that are working through the Christmas week, it helps brighten things up a little.

I have just discovered my new best friend for when I am on the road. Normally whenever I hit a new town on a consulting gig, the order of business is A) Locate my hotel and B) Locate nearest Tim Hortons. The order of those tasks may vary depending on a number of items.

Normally I hit msn.com for all the directions to my hotel and then I blindly drive around till I hit a Tims. In Canada it usually doesn’t require more than 15 minutes driving to find one. However I think I have just found a better alternative.

The Tim Hortons website has a mapquest link that will not only provide you with directions for your trip but will also provide a listing of all Tim Hortons locations you will pass along the way. I love it when people put technology to good use.

Check out the Tim Hortons Trip Planner.

I was even able to map my way home from the office with it. Notice the 3 locations within the 5 minute drive.

Actually years ago, I would have ended that sentence with Superhero but these days I tend to be more humble. Last weekend I (along with 100,000 of my closest Atlantic Canadian friends) attended what was the most amazing experience of my life. Shane and I saw the Rolling Stones in what apparently was their largest show for the Bigger Bang tour. It was phenomenal. The show was unlike anything I had ever seen before. In fact, as far as I am concerned now, that was the first and only real concert I have ever attended.

Kudos to the Stones for a great show. Kudos to Mick Jagger for taking the time to acknowledge all the Newfoundlanders, Nova Scotians and Prince Edward Islanders that made the journey to Moncton to see the concert. It would have been easy to strictly pull a “Hello…Moncton” moment but they really proved their professionalism and experience by making the entire audience feel welcome.

Also kudos to the local RCMP for really doing an amazing job at keeping everything in order and controlling the massive crowds while keeping us all safe. Every officer I came in contact was extremely helpful and pleasant which is impressive given the huge crowd and potential madness that could have taken place. Great job guys!

The evening ended with a 5km walk to our car where we were stuck waiting for about 3 hours till we got out of the parking lot and headed back to our hotel. That experience really could have been annoying but the day had been so flawless that I really couldn’t feel like complaining.

As I was sitting there I couldn’t help but think of our brothers and sisters affected by the horrible hurricane. Here I was experiencing the greatest night of my life while many of them were left hungry and waiting for word on just how great their losses from the hurricane were. People have lost family members, friends, jobs, houses and lives. I find it hard not to be affected by this. I feel extremely helpless and struggle with how I can even begin to make a difference or reach out to help. Shane posted about how we can get started. Right now the first step is to reach into our hearts and pockets to give what we can to make a start. It’s easy to sit back and wait to see what the millionaires of the world will offer but there are A LOT of us “average wage” folks out that can offer something as well. A simple donation made by the millions of us that lack the funds to make the major headlines can make a tremendous difference. In the meantime, I offer my thoughts and prayers to those affected by this horrible disaster.

I so could not resist pointing to Greg’s post on an application called Temptation Blocker that lets you lock yourself out of certain applications that may cause distraction during times when complete concentration is required. What cracked me up is the method to unlock a program – it requires you typing a 32 character string into a text box. It is so perfectly thought out. I mean who is going to slack off if it requires such an annoying effort to do so.

Funny stuff! Now if I could just find something similar for my refrigerator.

I got this from the weblog of a fellow Newfoundlander, John Gushue and thought it was awesome. It reveals the hidden A-Ha fan in us all.

Shane and I have already begun planning for Part II of our vacation schedule for this summer. Part I was dedicated to attending Tech Ed in Orlando (still need to write about how much fun that was) and the next segment will feature a road trip to see the Rolling Stones in Moncton, NB and some relatives in the Pennsylvania / New Jersey area. Anyone have any advice on cool places / things to see en route?

I haven’t been much of a football fan since I was much younger. Although since professional hockey has become extinct this year maybe I should have.

Anyhow I do look forward to SuperBowl every year for the ads – which you can check out online right now at iFilm. Pretty neat. Reminds me of the fun I used to get out of visiting AdCritic before it became crappy a few years ago.

It is so hard to capture your true self through an avatar but here is a pretty cool flash app that can help you out. I found this on the Viral Marketing blog and happen to think it’s pretty neat.

I like following the viral marketing blog because it gives you the run down on all the popular new silly things floating around on the web. I’m a fan of viral marketing as a concept. (As I have mentioned in the past) I like any idea that engages the user enough to want to pass it around to others they know. Isn’t that the perfect scenario for a marketer?

Think you have what it takes to be a star? Do you think you can change the world, one gamer at a time? If so you might want to read this article from IT Vibe.

Remember TV shows such as GamesMaster and Bad Influence? Remember sitting there thinking anyone could do Dominik Diamonds job of running round and hyping up a challenge to complete Sonic in 17 seconds? Now’s your chance?

Gamer.tv has announced the launch of a nationwide search for two new TV presenters to front an all-new computer and videogames TV show.

They are looking for two TV presenters – one male and one female – who are gaming experts and have no problem coping with the excitement of TV production.

Applicants need to have outgoing personalities and an enthusiastic greed for all things computer and video gaming.

And a plus point is previous TV presenting experience is not necessarily needed.

If you think you have what it takes to become a Gamer.tv star, or you know someone who you think has the talent, you need to contact presenters@gamer.tv

They are promising that the new show will be both entertaining and totally credible. Full details will be released later in the year.

Aside from the Infopath good news, I also got this gem in my inbox earlier today:

We appreciate your interest in the Lineage II closed beta test and would like to extend an invitation for you to participate at this time.

I haven’t been in a game beta since Asheron’s Call 2 so I’m interested in seeing what it’s like and providing a little feedback whenever I can (I love any chance I get to do that).

OK I really cracked up reading this post from Chris Sells on why one should probably hide the fact that they are a geek.

Favorite Quotes:

Since it became obvious very early to me that geeks of the #2 sort find it nearly impossible to get girls, I learned in college to hide my geekness in mixed company (mostly : ). For example, I absolutely have to have a cell phone small enough for my front pocket because the Batman utility belt look just doesn’t say “breed with me.”

and

Plus, I’m SICK AND TIRED of fixing people’s printers. My own bloody printer doesn’t even work, and I sure as hell don’t want to spend my time fixing *yours*.

Not to mention the highly effective use of expressions like “Erblm… Futzm”. I dunno maybe the personal relevance is too high but this post really struck me as funny.

I hope I can play hockey this good when I am 43. Oh wait nevermind, I suck at hockey (except on the Xbox). Ok maybe I would just be content to finally see Mess play sometime before he retires.

Bud Light – Making Faces

Man! What a riot we have had using this little app on the Bud Light site. It’s nice to make people say the things that you always wanted them to say.

I love viral marketing schemes so here is my contribution / plug for this one from Bud Light.

Oh and if you would like to see an example just click here.

I was gonna use a picture of Bill saying how I taught him everything he knows and that he loves my weblog but I figured that would just be wrong.

Go to Google and type “miserable failure” and click the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button. Pretty funny.

I’m just glad my pic didn’t come up.

Speaking of annoying email messages – this cracked me up!

Almost as good as the security patches I receive each day from “Microsoft” OR that nice man that keeps emailing me with that exciting investment opportunity.

Since my Canadian ass is speaking hockey, I figure I may as well link to a story on a player I have enjoyed tremendously over the past 20 years.THIS guy knows how to be a leader!

Capitals agree to send Jagr to Rangers To quote my nephew…”Ohhhhh Man!” Not a big Jagr fan but then again that’s probably why Sather never calls for my opinion on this stuff. I can grow to like anyone that puts points on the board I guess.

Last week I did some changing to my blog index page to make it a little easier to read (I hope) and to try and freshen things up a bit. For the header, I added a picture of our favorite cook-up/picnic spot. Its one of the many places we enjoyed on this great island of ours this summer. I spent the evening reviewing the hundreds of pictures that we took this summer and now I feel a little sad that the winter has come and therefore fishing, camping, hiking and picnics are at least another 5 months away now.

If you have never been to Newfoundland then I really must insist that you try to visit sometime. No words I could type would even begin to describe the natural beauty that exists here. But if you ever do come to Newfoundland; make sure you let me know so that I can direct you to some of the greatest experiences this place has to offer. Also be sure to bring clothing for all four seasons because you could experience either in the run of a day. Note that the climate here is not one of our greatest selling propositions. However the mountains, whales, birds, icebergs, fishing, and breath-taking sunsets are – so in the end I think its worth it.

Probably the only thing in Newfoundland that surpasses the greatness of its natural beauty is the people that live here. And on that note, I leave you with the following excerpt from an article written by Rick Bell of the Calgary Sun:

The moment you lose your faith in people, I recommend you save up your
pennies and take a trip to Newfoundland. Meet the Newfoundlanders and your
faith will be restored. You will meet total strangers and they will become friends.

Rick Bell,
The Calgary Sun

Ok it’s officially Christmas time – I just watched the original “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and now I am watching “Frosty the Snowman” –

Hmm now all I need is Alvin and the Chipmunks and the black and white version of “A Christmas Carol“.

It was a crappy evening so Shane and I didn’t bother to head out of town for the weekend as was originally planned. We were both wiped after a pretty busy/stressful week so it kind of worked out for the best.

The good news is that it allowed me to actually finish my Christmas shopping. I think this is the first year of my life that I actually finished up early. Its a pretty well known fact amongst those that know me best that I HATE SHOPPING. Therefore I usually put it off till the absolute last minute – thus making the experience all the less enjoyable. The only store I get excited walking into is a bookstore – anything else I typically leave to Shane. Another thing that makes him the perfect companion.

Anyhoo in honour of this tremendous experience of having all my shopping done early, I have compiled the following festive treat:

Twas 2 weeks before Christmas and I had to go shopping,
But reports from my friends told me all stores were hopping.

With the click of a button I was glad to be done.
Not a gift remaining, Now on with the fun!

And on that note…Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!

Malevole – Programming Language Inventor or Serial Killer?
Shane sent me this. I didn’t so well. I was advised not to enter law enforcement and to avoid IT Recruiting. Luckily that shouldn’t be a problem for me.

At least 10 times in the past week I have started to type “infrastructure” and my brain did an autocomplete and I ended up typing the word “infrastruction”. Its really weird but maybe I am on the verge of something genius here. Maybe I invented a word that means instruction on developing infrastructure, or better yet the construction of infrastructure..or maybe I’m just an idiot that types too fast. Or maybe I never did anything new at all.

Note: the google functionality that lets you look up a word by entering “define: yourword” is really cool.

My buddy Jamie just sent me this link and it is awesome. You can do searches on domains and it will bring up old versions of sites. Try some goodies like Microsoft and Yahoo for a bit of fun. For some real fun check out some of the news sites and read the headlines.

So you think YOU”RE tough

OK this put me in the knots

Monster even uses the MBTI Test Its a pretty lame scaled down version though.

Apparently one of these would be my perfect career:

Intellectual property attorney
News analyst
Design engineer
Biomedical researcher
Network integration specialist
Software developer
Psychiatrist
Cardiologist
Freelance writer
Inventor
Media planner
Chief Financial Officer
Webmaster
Architect
Desktop publishing specialist

All the none geeky ones look boring. Also I can’t help but think of Homer Simpson when I see the word “inventor”.

“For the last week its been my life long dream to be an inventor”

The online version of the MBTI test is more fun and pretty spot on.

Probably my only remaining addiction (other than cool geek toys) is coffee. But today, for about the first time in I expect 10 years, I didn’t have a coffee…till now. My day went something like this:

*** Wake up to silence…hmm strange no alarm went off. Must be early…nope not early, must be Saturday….AHHH #*&@ its not Saturday either, we just slept in. And I have a 9:00am meeting.

*** Trip over dog sleeping outside our door. Mutter some comments under breath.

*** Let dog out

*** Need coffee! Must make some. Only takes 2.5 minutes to brew. Hmm tap filter is broken. Must use water from water cooler. Ahh excellent its empty.

*** Fight with dog to come back in house

*** Crazy mad rush to get ready for work. Funny how it hurts so much to move yet I am moving so slooooooow. Hairdryer goes on…hairdryer gives off weird groan…hairdryer goes off. More grumbling and not so lady like comments.

*** Need Coffee! Check pace across town to see if we can drive thru Tims.

*** Pace bad – no time for coffee – meeting starts in 10 minutes

*** Get to work barely on time. Open Outlook to discover that meeting was rescheduled. More grumbling.

And that pretty much set the pace for the day. I didn’t have one coffee all day and by the time I left the office this evening my head was POUNDING. We get home (after stopping by grocery store and picking up some things for a bbq this evening) and realize we forgot to get more water. Argh. But no wait…silly me there is a bottle of water here in the fridge. Sweet I think to myself as I run to coffee brewer. I reach in cupboard and grab our coffee canister. Not a bean to be seen. No wait, there is some yucky old ground up stuff here that is several weeks old. Not much but enough to make 2 pathetic servings. That will do just fine.

So now I sit here with a cup of coffee that I would never normally even look at and I have to say it?s the most beautiful thing I have seen all day.

This was sent to me from a co-worker. Really funny. I hope I don’t need to put a disclaimer on this entry in order to share.

Had a hard day at the office? Imagine coming home to this. Now if they could come up with a way to play Xbox too.

It took some looking…but Shane and I finally found the perfect new home that matched our budget. Check it out!!

This is pretty cool! Its short little stories about some of the world’s greatest mistakes.

Makes me wonder if the person that came up with peanut butter and banana sandwiches meant to do something else

I just did a free online IQ test. I am not sure how accurate it was but of the 2 I did, my score varied by 1 point. So I conclude that either they were both very accurate or everybody gets the same score. Personally I expect that everyone gets the same score.

Here is a link to the second one I did. I scored 136 on this one. I attribute the single point loss to me getting sick of answering questions by the end of this one. I bet I would have really done well if I had used a calculator hehe. Computers are ruined my ability to…

Anyways let me know if anyone gets same score. I am convinced online ones like this are rigged. I wouldn’t mind doing a real one for fun.

1. You start to realize that you don’t know what half of your good friends look like in real life.

OK good now let?s work on other half.

2. You suddenly realize your diet consists mainly of coffee, hyper-caffeinated soft drinks, take out food, coffee, and vending machine foods. Did I mention coffee?

This one kind of sucks but one can always use Photoshop to improve thyself.

3. Spam

Spam is indeed evil however maybe there are people who want to receive 100 messages on how to get out of debt every day and increase their component size. For those of us who don’t I always fancied this story.

4. Newbies

It is true that it can be frustrating to walk someone through a seemingly simple process that has no clue what you are talking about. It is even more frustrating when this person starts to cuss you out because they DO NOT have a start button in the bottom left of their screen and never had. (Mind you its there) However let?s face it; there are bad drivers, bad dressers, bad singers and bad skaters in this world. Logically there are those that just don?t get it when it comes to computers and should probably stay away.

5. 1337 People

On the opposite end of the spectrum, it is very unpleasant to be around those that still continue relish that small bit (no pun) of information they know over the rest of the population and vow to not only fight evil monsters (Microsoft) and adopt a complete open source, windows free, unix driven world but constantly blab in my ear about it. If you don?t like it?don?t use it. Just don?t jump down the throat of anyone who acknowledges a way in which they can improve their job or life by using an MS product.

6. Pop Up Ads

Have you ever opened your front door and had a flyer jump out of your mailbox and hit you in the face? If not, me neither. If so, I bet you found it annoying and that is pretty much the same level of violation I consider pop up ads to operate on.

7. Your computer cannot pick out your clothes for you.

Well at least most can?t. *wink* But I do dream of a day when your house can be occupied with enough technology to have my clothes laid out for me, coffee brewed and shower heated to prefect at the same time my alarm clock goes off.

8. Size does matter.

In the computer world size is a very important concept and sometimes somewhat contradictory. Monitor screens must be larger but the thickness and amount of space it occupies should be minimal so in actual fact smaller. Laptops should be thin and light but with big screens, wide screens or small screens depending on user. Input devices should be small enough so that they can be considered sleek and stylish but big enough to actually operate efficiently.

9. Flame Throwers / Parasites

They hang out in news groups, chat rooms and other dark corners of the Internet, waiting for new prey. These people remain silent (generally having nothing useful to add) until some poor soul makes the unfortunate mistake of a typo or grammatical error. One could speculate that these people offer an element of order in a world overridden with shorthand, geek speak and slang. Personally I just think they lack anything original to offer so therefore are left to grab wildly at the obvious.

10. Email Top Ten Lists

Because everyone knows that blog lists are better.

I certainly hope so. From what I can tell, this is going to be a LONG winter so the more steam I can blow off now the better. Plus I really enjoy the time I get to spend with my big guy. Not to mention my big bro and his wife. I really dig the fact that I am so close with both of my brothers. Too bad all families can’t be so lucky.

So far the weather is looking good so let’s hope it stays that way.

My Boss, Steve sent me his personality description from doing the Jung Test that has been pointed to on a few blogs recently. After doing it I found out I was a INTJ. After reading the description I have to say its pretty spot on. I tried to get Shane to do it last night but he lost interest after question #43 or so. But even his came out pretty close in the end.

I never really considered myself an Introvert But I guess when it comes to my free relax time I am more inclined to go grab a book or kick back with a few close friends than hit a place where I know 100 people will be.

Do the test!! Its pretty cool.

Finally home after a few days camping. It was a GREAT time. I got to spend some fun and relaxation time with Shane, My bro and his family. We spent Friday and Saturday night at Backside Pond Park in Green’s Harbour. Then we spent a night with Shane’s mother and boyfriend in their cabin.

It was probably our last camping trip for the summer. However who knows when we might be able to squeeze in another overnighter in next couple of weeks.

Shane just sent me this. I am still laughing!!

DO YOU FALL ASLEEP DURING MEETINGS OR SEMINARS?

Do you keep falling asleep in meetings and seminars? Here’s a way to
change all that.

1. Before your next meeting, seminar, or conference call, prepare
yourself by drawing a square. I find that 5″x 5″ is a good size.
Divide the card into columns – five across and five down. That will
give you 25 one-inch blocks.

2. Write one of the following words/phrases in each block:
* synergy
* strategic fit
* core competencies
* best practice
* bottom line
* revisit
* take that off-line
* 24/7
* out of the loop
* benchmark
* value-added
* proactive
* win-win
* think outside the box
* fast track
* result-driven
* empower (or empowerment)
* knowledge base
* at the end of the day
* touch base
* mind set
* incentive
* realign
* game plan
* leverage

3. With your square neatly prepared, get ready to play “BULLSHIT BINGO”.

Check off the appropriate block when you hear one of those words/phrases

spoken by the speaker.

4. When you get five blocks horizontally, vertically, or diagonally,
stand up and shout…”BULLSHIT!”

My New Desktop

I asked Shane to hook me up with a desktop background since he is always doing cool stuff for other people and meanwhile my desktop still had the default windows background from my last install.

He said he would do me some custom designs for the tablet so that I can really show off with style. When he gets them done I will post here to share with anyone who wants one.

Its Regatta Day here in the city. A holiday and probably one of the more social events of the year. Its held on the first Wednesday in August (weather permitting) and is North America?s oldest continuing sporting event. The Regatta began officially in 1825 and has run the first Wednesday in August every since.

Why am I at home then curled up with a tablet pc and reading The Killing Hour? Frankly because a day away from the office seems better spent for me this year with my feet up spending time with my family, than catching sun stroke in the beer tent with a few thousand of my closest friends. Not that I would have always made that choice mind you.

Maybe later this evening we will pop down to watch championship race.

This is a long weekend for me so I am going to try and not spend too much time in front of the screen. Just long enough to keep up with my mail and read a few blogs. Which gets me to thinking about how cool it would be if Outlook and blog posting and an RSS aggregator built in for blog feeds. I think it would be sweet.

I finally posted some of our pics from our trip a couple of weeks ago. I was waiting for Shane to do something up with them since he is the Photoshop/web guru but unfortunately he’s been too busy. So my lazy Photoshop auto-gallery will have to do for now.

This weekend I will be helping my big bro move. But hopefully the weekend after that we will get a little more camping and outdoors time in. Its been so hectic since we got back that we have resorted to being tied to our computer desks but I am determined to put a stop to that. I generally find the more I make myself get outdoors and enjoy the fresh air and sun, the more clarity and focus I obtain for the other aspects of life.

Well I actually managed to get all my work done today and I am ready to go camping for a week with my man. However after all the packing and prep work tonight I almost wish I could sleep in tomorrow. Not really, I am actually quite pumped.

Last weekend we had a trial run with some of our gear to make sure it was all up to our standards. Those standards being the “make life as easy as possible” kind. Our tent is pretty cool. It has an air mattress for a floor and takes 60 seconds to put up.

We went to 5 parks before finding a vacancy and the last place we went was somewhat out of the way. But it was VERY much worth it. The name of the place is “Backside Pond Park” and borders both a pond and the ocean. We had a blast. Great spot for scenery, quiet and some fishing.

So off we go to tackle some adventure and fun. We are taking our digital video and still cams so that we can take lots of footage. Expect a photoblog upon our return in about a week.

A young man named Mike applied for an engineering position at a Newfoundland firm based in St. Johns. A mainlander applied for the same job and both applicants, having the same qualifications, were asked to take a test by the department manager.

Upon completion of the test, both men had only missed one of the questions. The manager went to Mike and said, “Thank you for your interest, but we’ve decided to give the mainlander the job.”

“And why would ya be doin somthin that? asked Mike. “We both got nine questions correct! This being da rock and me being a Newfoundlander, I should get the job!”

We have made our decision, not on the correct answers, but on the question you missed.”

“And just how would one incorrect answer be better than the other?”

“Simple,” replied the manager. “On question # 5, the Mainlander put down, ‘I don’t know.’ You put down ‘Needer do I.’”

I haven’t. In fact with the exception of a brief round of Golf last weekend, I have not played in months. I think I need to go buy some new games and the Live kit or go seek some good counseling.

Got up at 5am to go on daily fishing excursion. The weather is calling for high winds so we are not going to go. Now what to do when you are wide awake at 5am on a Saturday….

Looks like we should have been just fishing in our own backyard all along. There are goldfish in there that are bigger than some of the trout I have caught so far this year.

I’ve been a slacker this past while. Actually its been quite the opposite. Why is it when you have the most worth posting you also have the least time to do it? The days have been hardcore at work and the evenings have been all about the great outdoors . Rainman has been collecting all our snaps and video from the past couple of weeks and they will eventually be all online for your viewing pleasure. He’s da man! Thats him kicking it back. We actually caught a bunch this week Mr. C!!

Also a quick congrads to my lil bro for scoring awesome grades in school this past week and getting fully accepted for the para program this summer.

Well its great that the snow is finally gone and the sun is starting to appear. Its been a fabulous week for us. We have spent almost every evening this week in a park or by a pond. I’m actually starting to believe that there is life beyond this screen afterall…..

Here is a pic of me stretched out just an hour after leaving the office. Of course Rainman decided to get funny with photoshop. The duck was a nice touch. Its his birthday tomorrow so I will give him a break

Actually 5 minutes……

Caught my first fish yesterday. He wasn’t large but at least I have the first one over with. Great evening. Got home kinda late and slept like a log.

Why do people say slept like a baby? Don’t babies wake up screaming every couple of hours?