Being Dave To

New beginnings with vb.net? January 31st, 2007

Tomorrow I’m beginning a part-time contract opportunity thanks to Erwin at a downtown financial institution. This will help pay the bills but more importantly impart some structure into my week. Having the degree of freedom allowed as an entrepreneur (also spelled unemployed) can be a real test to your commitment and discipline. I’ve had my productive periods where I cranked out Unbias and the early era of BookSprouts (which I like to refer to as the golden age).

But lately, I’ve been in a non-productive funk. Waking up at 11am is the norm. Then lunch, maybe the gym, then it’s late afternoon and I’ve barely checked my email. I always say in my head that I’ll have all night to do work but what really happens is that we just end up in front of the TV. I know that this is really all within my control and I just need to do some proper time management, etc. but having this part-time 9-5 job will hopefully kickstart me into a regular work week. Let’s see how it goes.

By the way, the job is VB.NET programming. I’ll be learning as I go and probably saying WTF a lot. Should be interesting.

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Being Dave To is lacking serious work ethic January 30th, 2007

Been really bad at getting shit done these last few days. I’ve been putting off working on Unbias, BookSprouts, Talkstrata, etc. It might be because of this new macbook. This thing is so damn cool that it’s hindering my productivity. Between that and the TV, my brain is completely distracted. Heroes, 24, and now I’m watching this crazy flick called ‘Train to Venice‘ with early Hugh Grant. It’s whack almost to the point where I’m watching purely to see how much more messed up it can get. They have dobermans eating human corpses!

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Pampered at the Nike Running Lounge January 28th, 2007

This morning we headed out to Coal Harbour to check out the Nike Running Lounge that Ally had found. It’s situated in the middle of million+ dollar condos facing the marina. The place is chock full of high-end macs, salespeople in form-fitting clothes, massage tables, snacks, and of course, nike runners.

Ally tried the iPod Nano plugin along with a pair of demo shoes. It was pretty cool how it kept track of your data for you and the voice that pushes you to run harder is neat. When we got back, we had sports drinks and complimentary massages. Not bad at all. I think it’s a good move for Nike to pair with Apple. The whole place had an Apple store feel. Very pro-consumer. No sell. I think if Nike keeps along this direction, people will overlook the sweatshops and multi-national luthercorp reputation that it has become synonymous with.

BTW. I’ve got Google Page Rank 3 on BeingDaveTo.com! WOOOO!!

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Black Macbook acquired, after much fuss January 27th, 2007

I picked up my Macbook finally tonight by the airport. 6 hours before: Amelia comes over and we decide to head out to one of our favourite local cheap asian places for lunch. I’m worried that the courier will come by to drop off the macbook but throw caution to wind. As we leave, I see a truck that kinda looks like a delivery van through my rear-view mirror. bah. Decide to satiate hunger first. After we return, we find the dreaded post-it note at the front of the building. Pickup Macbook at the depot on Monday, 10am. ARGH! Ally feels bad because she thought the courier wouldn’t come because it was lunch hour, so she makes some phone calls. Purolator calls later in the afternoon, saying that the package has arrived back in Richmond at their HQ. Ally and I head out there, package received, mission complete.

Damn, this macbook is sweet. I’m so glad I spent a little extra to get the black one. Now I just have to figure out OSX. then it’s bye bye windows!

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Our old neighborhood in Toronto as seen by a giant (or from CN tower) January 26th, 2007

Found this pic on the internet today. You can kindof see the corner of our old building. We were facing the white building, which is the Holiday Inn. It was a nice view, especially at night. The bottom-left building with the red sign on top was the Soho hotel. That’s where we stalked celebrities all the time. We saw Usher, Jake Gyllenhaal, and some others. Madonna and Bono both stayed there on their visit to TO, but alas, no sightings.

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Etsy - A very compelling shopping experience January 25th, 2007

Found this site today called Etsy.com. It allows small-time hand-crafters to hock their wares in an online marketplace. Big whoop right? But the interface is so compelling that I ended up spending a fair chunk of time on there. Check out the following pages: Their Geolocator page. I had too much fun throwing around these shops like some global game of curling. Also you can shop by color! that’s something I’ve never done before and really appeals to the user’s sense of curiousity. Makes me want to learn flash or find someone who can do this. Amazing.

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Glico curry is the bomb January 24th, 2007

Had chicken with glico curry for dinner tonight. Damn it was good. Thank you Japan. I think I’m hungry again. Been reading up on Affiliate Marketing and want to give it a shot. It sounds like easy money but I’m sure it’s not (until you’re good that is). However, I’ve got the base skillset (some design, some code, some sysadmin) so it may be easier for me to get into it compared to a tech newbie. The problem I have mostly is that one of the main reasons I’m doing my own thing now is that I can create something that I’m proud of. Affiliate sites are on that slippery slope of internet marketing, spam, made for adsense sites, ie. the junk on the web that everyone including myself bitches about. Next thing you know, I’ll be doing porn! That’s a big jump from Booksprouts.

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want my laptop January 23rd, 2007

As some of you might know, I bought a macbook from the Apple Store last week. I’m getting antsy and want it now now now! What irks me is that the guy on the phone said if I placed the order with him, he’d try to expedite the shipping. That’s obviously not happening. I could’ve just pressed a single submit button and ordered it online (I had all the forms filled out already). Instead I had to go over all my details with him over the phone. *sigh*. I wish he hadn’t raised my expectations like that.

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I wish Canada had the NFL January 22nd, 2007

I’m not a huge sports fanatic by any means. I can talk a bit of Hockey but only at a very high level. Once you get into stats or names of players that don’t play for the Canucks, I’ll usually start drifting off. Actually I think I’m not so much of a sports fan, but more of a playoffs fan. I like watching any sport where the championship is in sight, the fans are in sheer pandemonium, and there’s all that media hoopla. Regular season? meh, who cares. That’s why I spent most of the day watching the NFC and AFC championship games. Americans know how to get it on when it comes to big money sports. It’s like European football, except the fans aren’t all wasted and don’t maul each other. It’s hard not to get caught up in all that. Go Bears! Go Colts!

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slushy poopy snow January 20th, 2007

Had really high expectations for snow conditions today going up to Seymour. The snow report said 49 cm’s new. That’s a shitload of snow. Unfortunately, we found out when we got up there that most of that was slushy poopy snow. The really heavy wet kind that has almost the same texture as a slurpee. big letdown. But on the flipside, we spent more time in the park and I was able to build up some more confidence on rails so it worked out ok.

Tomorrow is going to have to be a workday. I’ve been meaning to get back on booksprouts (especially now that Roy has agreed to help PM it, thanks roy!) and to rebrand unbi.us into unbi.as. I hope that’s more intuitive and less prone to mispronunciation.

In other news, 24 is the shiznit (remember that word?)

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