Please Comment On This Post

August 16, 2009 By Tommy

Hello!

I’m experimenting with IntenseDebate for the comments on my blog and need a whole bunch of comments, tweets and so on to test it out.

If you can come over to this post on my site and leave a comment, that’d be great. You can do it anonymously, just leave your name OR you can sign in with ID, Facebook or Twitter to identify yourself.

Please pass this along, too – the more comments, the more I can test this thing out and see how it works.

Thanks.

Update: Thanks for the help on this. Due to excess spam, I’m closing off comments on this post now.

Filed Under: Site Announcements

Managing Facebook: A World Divided

August 14, 2009 By Tommy 2 Comments

So, over the past week, my Facebook privacy settings have been the subject of conversation in a few places: In person at dinner, then again at a breakfast…On Twitter… On my blog comments and of course, on Facebook itself.

Facebook has always been an odd place for me. It’s the only place, really, where my ‘online’ and ‘offline’ worlds collide. Sure, some people I know from my ‘offline’ life are now on Twitter, or have connected through LinkedIn, but for the most part, Facebook is the place where those people are interacting with me. And I love that. It’s nice to have a place where my ‘offline’ world can gather and interact – pictures, wall posts, notes and everything. All of the people who I get together with for dinners, who my wife and I double-date with… who we go out with and have over… Plus past co-workers from my pre-web life… and old high school friends… It’s my spot for all of that.

But it’s also where a lot of my ‘online’ friends gather, too. While we’re all over Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube, FriendFeed and who knows how many other networks, we’re in Facebook, too – so it’s expected that I’d be there for this type of activity, too. And this leaves Facebook right in the middle.

Now, several of my friends are stuck in this same boat… And to the best I can tell, there are three solutions. You either split your list by creating a second profile, you simply accept that the worlds are going to collide, or you try to manage it all under one profile using privacy settings. I chose to do the later and did so using friend ‘groups’. Here’s how:

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Filed Under: Facebook, Methods, Social Media

25 Random Things About Me

August 13, 2009 By Tommy 2 Comments

So, if you’ve got a Facebook account, you’ve probably seen the ’25 things’ post before. The deal is pretty simple: You write a note, include 25 things about you, then tag 25 people to do the same.

Well, this isn’t being published in Facebook, and I’m not tagging anyone… But I turn 25 today – so what a better day to do post this?

  1. I once owned a full-sized arcade cabinet. I can’t remember which game it was – it wasn’t very good. I saved up 40,000 tickets at the arcade for it, though. Then I sold it to buy a Wii.
  2. Speaking of which, I’ve never owned a non-Nintendo console. Portable or home, all of my systems have come from them and I don’t picture that changing any time soon.
  3. I often relax by folding origami… And have done so for years. I don’t memorize models, but love the activity of folding them. I just started work on a big project, too.
  4. I’m a Disney fan – and that applies pretty much across the board. My iTunes has specific playlists for Disney music and my DVDs were (and will likely be again) sorted Disney-first for the longest time.
  5. Pixar comes before Disney. While they’re the same company now… they weren’t always. I’ve seen almost every pixar in theatres – most of those on opening day… Some of them several times.
  6. I also adore board games. A night of Monopoly, Blokus, Scene It, Bohnanza and Reversi trump a night out at a bar any day.
  7. Though I’m very much a dog person – I considered owning a cat for a brief period after I left school. I was working a hectic schedule, and didn’t feel I’d have time for proper dog care… but missed the companionship. The ‘no pets’ rule where I was living quashed that plan, anyway.
  8. I built my first personal computer in 2001 using a bunch of parts I was given, and $5.40 for a power cable. It ran for 4 years as my desktop and is still in use today (Though, with new hard drives and a new case) as my home theatre PC.
  9. Through high school, I was much of a “shutter bug”  and ALWAYS kept a camera around. I ended up with hundreds of pictures… mostly of floors, ceilings and fingers… And no longer carry a camera most of the time.
  10. I did go to college for four months – then left with a smile on my face. After speaking with the professors and dean, I realized that I already knew much of was was going to be taught to me… And concluded that simply paying in time and money for a piece of paper was silly.
  11. I’ve known my wife since we were both young. We met at the campground our parents had sites at and saw each other every summer until my family stopped camping there. Her parents are still there, and we make it back up the the campground every summer now.
  12. I’m a regular blood donor and a volunteer with Canadian Blood Services. One of my best friends got me interested in donating blood just after my 17th birthday.
  13. I recently committed to running the triathlon in August of next year, though will be falling back on a duathlon if I can’t nail the swimming bit.
  14. I really like making people smile. It brings me nothing but pleasure to know – even if someone won’t admit it – that I’ve brightened up their day… or even just a part of it. I want to do this more often.
  15. My music tastes very WILDLY. So much so that iTunes shuffle simply doesn’t work. Country and techno are among the top genres in the collection… But I’ve got everything from acapella to musicals to Disney (see #4) in it too.
  16. I am an Olympics nut – but not for the sports… I love the spirit of the games. The thought of wars, battle and fights pausing for a few weeks so that every nationality can come together in peace to play appeals greatly to me. I actually have an Olympic flag I’ll ‘fly’ in some form during the games, and used to have the Olympic anthem as my cell ring tone.
  17. Speaking of cell phones – I hate them. That’ll surprise some people, given how long I’ve owned one. I love being connected to people, places and the web all of the time… but hate that pretty much every phone I’ve owned is a pain to setup or use.And I ALWAYS forget to charge them.
  18. I swam in the Atlantic ocean during my honeymoon and intend to swim in the Pacific someday. While on the subject of travel goals, I want to see all 14 of our capital cities. Ideally, from both the ground… and the air.
  19. I once weighed 265 pounds, and worked off 65 of those with Dance Dance Revolution, a steady (Same thing daily) diet, and the help of a dietitian. I’ve bounced back up a little, but am working on it again.
  20. That said, if you want to win me over with food? Chicken fingers, plum sauce, poutine and beer. Unless I’m staying sober that night… Then it’s root beer.
  21. I have a strange thing about my hair. I like to use it… almost as an identity. It’s been various colours, lengths and styles through the years, and I change it up periodically… But only after an insane amount of thought has gone into it.
  22. I really enjoy pet fish. I was given my first ones from a co-worker years ago, and have almost always had fish around ever since. As a result, while I enjoy the sport and people aspect of fishing, I would much rather throw every fish caught back than eat them.
  23. I -LOVE- getting personal mail. Not email, actual go-through-the-system-and-arrive-at-the-door mail. Especially postcards.
  24. Speaking of cards – a card is often the part of the gift that matters most to me. And, as such, I would much rather get JUST a well thought out, well selected card… Than a post-it note on a really cool gift.
  25. I don’t like being the centre of attention, really, and though I take my birthday in good humour now – I used to absolutely HATE my birthday. I was surprised with a birthday party when my hatred for my birthday was just about to hit it’s tipping point, and have been more OK with it ever since. My web connections are making it easier, too.

That’s it! Do any of these apply to you?

Filed Under: Personal

Crowdsourcing Glasses

August 10, 2009 By Tommy 3 Comments

So, it’s been eight years since I’ve owned a new pair of glasses. Eight. Freaking. Years. That is WAY too long. So, while I’m in need of new glasses, I thought I’d try a bit of an experiment.

I recently discovered an online glasses (and contact lens) store that I’m keen on ordering from, but I can’t make up my mind.

A list of all of their men’s frames can be found here and I’m attaching a recent (rather grumpy, apparently) picture to this post.

Your mission is to pick a (few) pair(s) of glasses, then comment on this post to let me know which you like. While I (And, let’s be honest, my wife) retain veto rights, I’m pretty open to anything, so the pair that seems to gather the most attention has a darn good shot of being my new pair. Also, while I’m not going to say ‘money isn’t an object’, I do have benefits that’ll be covering the purchase.

So spread the word and help me go shopping!

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Filed Under: Personal, Projects, Social Media

10-and-a-half Webapps I Use Regularly (And 4 that don’t quite make it)

August 5, 2009 By Tommy Leave a Comment

So, the other day I was talking about desktop apps – and why I couldn’t yet get rid of some. Today, I want to look at the other side and focus on the webapps I use. Some of these are used daily, others weekly, but they’re all playing a vital rolw in my cloud-based living mantra.

  1. Gmail – Bar none, the absolute most important app I use. Period. I have dozens of email addresses and a handful of domains pointing to it, all being handled by a horde of filters and labels. Really, if it’s not in here – I’m not likely to see it…
  2. Google Calendar – Unless, of course, it’s on here. Seventeen calendars call this place home – all colour-coded and sorted by priority and what segment of my life they apply to. My calendar pretty much runs my life including everything from client work to garbage night.
  3. Toodledo – My calendar’s evil partner in crime. I’ll admit, I’m only JUST discovering the power and potential of this task app, but it does tie into Google Calendar, lets me prioritize items by date or importance AND will let me recur items every 9 days (Something VITAL to my operation) – so it’s on the list.
  4. Twitter – Yeah, this one should probably go without saying – especially since I listed Seesmic in the other list… But Twitter IS a webapp first and fore-most, and I do seem to have a tab open to it most of the day – particularly to search
  5. Meebo – Oh Meebo, how I <3 thee. Meebo is, as of this weekend, the ONLY IM platform I use. If it isn’t supported by Meebo, I’m not using it. Period.
  6. Google Reader – Yep, the big G gets another spot on the list for the RSS reader. What I use this one for should be pretty obvious. :)
  7. CastRoller – CastRoller has ‘replaced’ the podcast section of iTunes for me. I listen to my episodes online most of the time – and use the single feed to sync my iPod and Blackberry when I’m on the go. Plus, I’ve found lots of cool new shows thanks to it’s sharing features
  8. Facebook – Oh, Facebook, how I </3 thee. Facebook and I have an odd relationship. I’m there – mostly because it’s expected of me – but I haven’t figured out how best to actually USE it yet.
  9. Delicious – I KNOW I should be sharing bookmarks. I know that. But I’m not. I AM using Delicious though, and the day my thousands of bookmarks saved over 10 years are cleaned through, they’ll all go public. I promise.
  10. FreshBooks – I’m not always using freshbooks – but this one IS my invoicing app and I love it. :)
  11. Flickr & Youtube – These guys half make the list. I use them to host my pictures and video… But I’m REALLY not using them to their fullest… or regularly. Half a point each.

So that’s the list! But unlike the desktop side, I’m ALWAYS playing with other applications on the web. Here are 4 others that I use less frequently but so still use occasionally or am currently experimenting:

  1. Netvibes – Netvibes was once the glue that held everything together for me, and my browser could never be found without a tab open to it. I still do use it… but not nearly as often.
  2. WordPress – WP makes the list in this section… Because while I DO use it daily I’m not 100% sure it fits the ‘webapp’ model. It’s web-based though, so I’ve put it on here.
  3. Web-based Docs – This is a two-for-one. On one side you’ve got Google Docs, on the other you’ve got Zoho. Both are awesome. Both are things I should be using more. Google Docs slightly out-ranks Zoho because of the gmail integration.
  4. Last.fm – This is the app I’m working on ‘replacing’ the rest of my iTunes with. I’ve been playing with it off and on over the last while and DO like it… But it hasn’t made it’s way into my regular rotation yet.

And that’s this list! I’m always on the hunt for new apps, too – so if you know of something that out-ranks one of the ones I’m using, I’m all ears!

Filed Under: Methods, Webapps
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