This weekend being Thanksgiving here in Canada I’ve had a chance to see a lot of friends and family. One topic that came up a couple times was about Facebook and those who choose not to partake in social media. My sister-in-law mentioned that she was far too busy with everything else in her life to get involved with Facebook. She figures that if someone really needs to get a hold of her that they can pick up the phone.

To me this is a rather hardline stance when it comes to social media, and runs totally contrary to the way I live my life. Choosing to completely ignore social media in 2010 and beyond just seems foolhardy to me. We can look back 10-15 years and look at internet adoption. 15 years ago you would have been on the leading edge to have an internet capable PC. 10 years ago PCs started to be more commonplace and dial-up was beginning to be phased out by high-speed internet connections. 5 years ago you were definitely a dinosaur if you didn’t at least have an email address to correspond with people. I know a few people who pretty much chose to forgo internet usage. They check their email at irregular intervals and are just generally difficult to get a hold of. I rarely see these people anymore and the digital divide is definitely the culprit.

I find I’m hardline the other way when it comes to communication. I will do everything possible to avoid picking up the phone. Sure there are times that the phone is the easiest way to communicate, but I’d probably say 90% of the time it’s not. There are so many other, more efficient ways to get a hold of people. To get a hold of me I’d probably say in this order

1. Email – Pretty much where all my info travels. I get notifications from Facebook and Twitter though email.  Everything is labeled and organized. Spam is filtered.
2. Twitter – Great way to have quick back and forth as I check it frequently.  Great way to actually learn and get to know people and what is going on in their lives.
3. MSN, GTalk etc – While not always the coolest way anymore, if I’m at my computer you can probably quite easily get a hold of me this way
4. Facebook – While I typically reply to Facebook via email, it’s still a decent way to get a hold of me and let me know of upcoming events I might be interested in checking out.
5. Phone – Most obtrusive way to contact me.  While I don’t mind talking to certain people on the phone, I find I dislike it as a whole.  I find I only use the phone when I absolutely have to, like phoning the bank or Rogers which is always a pain.
6. Text Message – I hate text messages.  They cost money above and beyond what I pay for data and buying a plan for the few I might send makes no sense.  Grow up and get a Twitter account if you want to message me in 140 characters or less.

I find most of the things I do in life nowadays channels through social media. If I hear about a new restaurant, it’s probably because someone might have shared their experience through checking in on Foursquare.  Or if I check out a social event like Ignite Waterloo or Democamp Guelph it’s because I heard about it on Twitter.

The reality is my life path is definitely traveling a different direction that that of my sister-in-law.  I find that the people who choose not to engage in social media are definitely being left behind.  I think as time goes on people who ignore social media will find their phones ringing less and less and will be baffled that nobody talks to them anymore.  While it may be harsh, it really will be true.  People are going to have to adapt of they will be left behind by society.

It’s been awhile since I blogged, but for that I make no apologies. Life gets busy and inherently stuff like blogging tends to go by the wayside as a biproduct. But during this time I can’t help but feel like something was missing. Inherently blogging is something that is a part of me, something that I’ve done for over 6 years now, so I obviously have lots of time and effort invested in it.

Now really the point of this blog was something that my wife said to me yesterday that kinda cut deep. She said that she had talked with people previously and that they had mentioned how they didn’t really actually know me, or what made me tick. For some reason this bit of information left me unsettled, as it’s not something I’ve ever really considered. Per say I’ve long viewed myself as an open book. I’ve had a blog since 2004 and have used Twitter since 2008, so I felt that I quite often shared good portions of my life with those willing to listen. I know online it’s very easy to editorialize your life and gloss over parts you don’t want to expose while highlighting the good parts. And really I’m only exposing my life to those who wish to follow me through social media and not too much farther.

It just got me thinking that maybe I have editorialized my life a bit too much, to the point that nobody actually knows who I am. I’m a person that is generally well liked, I make friends easily and don’t tend to cause much drama or wish to rock the boat too much. I seem to be at a point in my life where I have million friends, but very few actually close friends. Most people who I would have considered close confidants from my early-20s are gone, either moved away, or having drifted in different directions in life. This change is also a biproduct of getting into a relationship and inherently happens to everyone.

The realization I’ve had is that it really is true. Very few people actually know me and actually understand what makes me tick. I think the reality of the situation is that I’ve rarely in the last 5-10 years put out the effort required to forge lasting friendships with people. Making friends was so easy that I’d typically just make more friends instead of putting the effort at maintaining friendships, which only compounds the problem. Having lots of friends is great, but it tends to spread you too thin. Instead of spending quality time with people I find I’ll get together in group situations where you get to see lots of friends. And every time I hang out with friends I haven’t seen in awhile there is always that pang of guilt at the fact I don’t get to see them more often and spend actual quality time.

Ideally I think everyone in this world wishes they had more free time, more flexibility and the ability to hang out with friends more often. The problem is that as people move forward in life their lives get more insular. I recall this phenomena from when I was a teenager. We used to always pile into a buddy’s parents car to go places. There were always rules and restrictions on the car, be it a curfew or where you could drive to. I recall saying, and I paraphrase “When I get a car we’ll go everywhere, do everything. It’ll be awesome!”. But what happens is you and your friends start getting their own cars and everyone wants to drive themselves. It becomes the opposite of the teenage dream, you now have the freedom to go anywhere, but now you own a car and worry about the wear and tear of having all your friends in the car. And now you have a car payment, insurance and gas to worry about, so you don’t have the freedom you once thought you’d have. The exact same pattern happens as you move out of your parents house into a rental, or buy your own house. The freedom you envisioned to have parties all the time is tempered by all the costs of being self sufficient and living independently.

This all just makes me wonder, have I been doing it wrong? Have I been making friends, but not actually making friends? Am I just someone that people like to have around, but not someone who is of any consequence to their lives? Questions I myself don’t have answers for.

I hate writing woe is me kind of blog posts, but I just felt the need for some brutal honesty. Honesty I’m not sure I’ve often let myself show online.

Via: Term Life Insurance

I’m finally getting around to writing a long overdue blog post about what’s been going on in my life lately.  Why my life has been so hectic is that I took a new full time position as a web designer for a local Cambridge company.  I choose not to divulge where here, but if you really need to know IM me or ask me in person. I was hired on a couple weeks ago and started last Tuesday.

So you might think to yourself, well if James took a new job, where does that leave my company SlideawayMedia?  And if you’re that on the ball with your questions, I commend you.  Basically what is happening with Slideaway is it is being moved to the back burner.  I have a few projects still in the air that I am attempting to finish off at the moment.  I intend on continuing doing freelance work, but at a decidedly scaled back level.  I have a a few personal projects that I’d love to spend some more time on as well that will factor into things.  But more then anything I’d like to find some time to enjoy my summer.

For roughly the last year freelancing I’ve learned a lot about myself and the world as a whole.  Taking this new job was definitely a difficult choice for me.  It essentially meant giving up the freedom and flexibility of the freelance world for the more structured life of being back in the corporate world.  Tipping the scales to the other side in many ways was the convenience of a steady paycheque versus hustling to bring in new clients and worrying about whether the job I invoiced for will be paid in time to pay my bills.  After almost a year of it I decided I wanted stability.  All along I had said if the right opportunity came along that I would jump at it.  During that year I sent out 3 resumés to companies that interested me, got 2 interviews and 1 job out of it.

So at this point my life has taken a turn in a new direction.  I’m looking forward to the new challenges that this job will offer.  I’ve worked at my new company for a week and a half and I’m already feeling like I made the right decision.  Lots of good talented people excited about the company and what they do.  Having co-workers again and not having my own office has taken some getting used to, but it definitely brings a positive energy to the work day for sure.

Here’s the unboxing video that a few people had wanted me to do when I got my iPad. I did some editing to the video, as it took me forever to unwrap the bubble wrap with one hand.  I think the back design by Colorware looks gorgeous with the matte finish and everything.  Thanks so much to Digg, TapTapTap and Colorware for this very excellent prize.

So far I’ve had the device for a day and my impressions are pretty mixed.  Here’s a quick run down of my thoughts

What I like

• Very snappy device.  Makes my iPhone look like chop liver with regards to speed
• The iPhone games are actually better on the iPad.  I find I’ve played games I didn’t really bother with previously because of the cramped controls on the iPhone
• The screen looks gorgeous under the right lighting conditions
• Downloaded Air Video application and it streams my media flawlessly over my network.  Saves converting my media to another format which is a total pain.  Definitely looking forward to watching stuff while I cook as we don’t have a TV on our main floor.

Here’s what I didn’t like

• No iBooks available in Canada.  Since Apple hasn’t actually launched the book selling features in Canada they have held back the iBooks app from the Canadian iTunes store.  I had a bunch of ePub books I bought in anticipation of receiving my iPad and the only free solution that I found was using Stanza, which is still iPhone only
• While the games convert well to iPad, the apps like Facebook, Stanza etc. look really crappy when blown up on the big screen.  I know this problem will be resolved when more devs get their iPad compatible versions of the apps out.
• As I know many have complained about, the smudgy screen.  As soon as you’re anywhere with sun exposure the problem becomes pretty apparent
• Since Apple hasn’t launched the iPad enabled iTunes store in Canada there is really no way of finding top iPad apps or anything.  Some apps are available through iTunes, but not really organized at all.  You can’t even download apps from the device yet for this reason, which is a pain.
• Seems odd Apple omitted a silent switch.  Have to turn the volume all the way down. Having my iPhone, iPad and iMac all notify of the same email is a bit annoying

Since my iPad is a Wifi only version and Apple saw fit to keep the device from data tethering with my iPhone. Luckily since iPhone is jailbroken I was able to buy the app MyWi and create a local wireless network to give my iPad data on the go.  Gave it a spin last night and it seemed to work pretty well, though given my iPhone is in need of a new battery I’m not sure how viable that method is for a long usage period.

I found almost instantly that all the features I miss from my iPhone are the jailbreak customizations I’ve made to my phone.  The biggest is GriP, which enables Growl style notifications for the iPhone.  Seriously I don’t know how a regular iPhone users cope without it.  Makes me wonder how long I’ll hold out before I jailbreak my iPad.

I’d say so far I like the device, but don’t love it yet.  Probably once the full app store is available to us Canucks later this month I’ll be happier with the functionality it offers.

I know I’m getting old and all, but this to me seems shocking.  Almost without question the definitive song of the 1990′s and the Grunge era as a whole is Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit.  The Google bar suggests possible popular searches that might be what you’re looking for, so the fact that out of the 10 results not a single one is the actual name of the song just astounds me.  It’s not the first time I’ve heard this misnomer before, but I am just shocked how prevalent it is given these results.  And given Google’s search algorithm is smart they also just send you to results for Smells Like Teen Spirit, what the person was actually looking for.

I understand there’s now a whole generation of kids who weren’t even alive when that song came out, or even get the reference it was making.  When Kurt Cobain wrote the song he was referencing a brand of deodorant that was being marketed towards teenage girls in the early 1990′s called Teen Spirit.  I believe it was written about an ex-girlfriend who wore the stuff.  I know this because I read the biography Heavier Then Heaven, but I also know this because I totally remember the commercials.  Being 11 years old I did watch my fair share of MuchMusic.  And now that everything old is new again given the advent of YouTube, here is that iconic commercial.

Infomercials have long been something that have amused me quite a bit. I always found it hilarious it was watching how inept the people in the commercial were at the given task this new miracle device being shilled would magically solved.  All set to the sounds of The Beatles HELP!

The playoffs kick off tonight with my Senators playing the defending champs, the Pittsburgh Penguins. I’m so looking forward to the Sens kicking some Penguin butt. All year watching the standings I was hoping the Sens would get a crack at the champs in the playoffs.

Many of the series previews I’ve read point to the ill fated 2008 playoff matchup where the Senators were skunked 4-0 in their Conference Quarterfinal matchup. The problem with using this as a gauge is that the Senators were a mess at that point. Daniel Alfredsson had received a concussion by Mark Bell of the Maple Leafs in the second to last game of the season. The team had been on a swoon pretty much the whole calendar of 2008 after a torrid start to the season. John Paddock, their coach to start the season had been canned with with less then 20 games to go in the season. The dressing room was mess, with many personal player rifts and rumours of drug issues. The reality is this team was sinking fast and probably wouldn’t have made the playoffs had the season extended another week. Every team in the Eastern Conference wanted to play the Sens in the first round. So much so that the Penguins actually threw the last game of the year to assure themselves a matchup with the Sens.

So luckily for Ottawa much of what ailed the team at that point has been resolved. Bryan Murray shipped out much of the negative dressing room elements and built a much more gritty, hard nosed team for the 2010 edition of the Senators. This also isn’t the same Penguins team that Ottawa faced in 2008. Now this is a still young, but now experienced group of players looking to get the their third consecutive Stanley Cup finals appearance.

It’s going to be an uphill battle, but I think the Senators have it in them to beat the Pens. After watching this team tear off 11 and 6 game winning streaks toward the end of the season I’m inclined to believe this team definitely has another gear to their game. They no longer rely as heavily on their first line as they once did, now getting contributions from their top 3 lines on a regular basis. While on these streaks the team was winning by playing a total team game and doing all the little stuff well. This was exactly the type of hockey the Sens played during their 2007 playoff run. The 2007 Senators were unheralded as well, with many analysts picking the up and coming Penguins to pull the upset in the first round.

What the Sens really need to win this series is solid goaltending. Ottawa is pinning their hopes on rookie Brian Elliott to pull them through. While I think every Sens fan wishes they had a tender with playoff experience, obviously we don’t have that luxury. Looking at Elliott’s stats as compared to Marc-Andre Fleury’s, Elliott actually has a better save percentage and goals against average then Fleury this year.

The Sens have done a good job neutralizing Sidney Crosby over his career. With the shutdown pairing of Phillips and Volchenkov the Sens should be able to contain Sid The Kid. That just means their other pairings have to contain Malkin, who is just back from an injury and the rest of the Pens lineup. This does seem quite possible. The Sens and Pens split their season series, with both teams getting a blowout win and each picking up a 4-1 win along the way. It’ll be an interesting series as neither team has actually played a close scoring game against the other, as it typically the case with playoff hockey.

My Pick
Senators in 6

Just makes me wonder how he actually thought this was a good idea to upload this to the internet.

Today has been a pretty lucky day for myself.  Earlier today I won a bowling party at Frederick Lanes in Kitchener.  This was quite funny because I had just dropped my business card off 2 days earlier, after attending a free bowling party that a Twitter friend had won and invited me to.  This is a party with free bowling for up to 25 people, which is pretty awesome.  I think on any other day I would have been content with winning a bowling party and call it my lucky day.

As it turns out that was just the first thing I won.  At roughly 4pm I receive a direct message from @taptaptap telling me I won an iPad.

My first reaction to this was to source out whether this was in fact a scammer just trying to pull one over on me.  Checked the Twitter account, definitely legit.  I had entered the contest through TapTapTap to win an iPad. It was one of those follow this account, then tweet this message to win types of contests that are so popular on Twitter these days.  I entered once on the first day, then probably would have forgotten to enter any of the other days.  The contest was to promote the new Digg iPhone app that launched this week.

I’m not 100% sure whether it’s a case or some type of skin, but the iPad comes with a custom, individually numbered Colorware exterior which looks fantastic.  I’ve been a daily Digg user since 2005, so this will be quite the awesome item to own.

Once I got that DM from TapTapTap things just pretty much became a flurry of emails and activity.  They had announced that I was the first winner over Twitter, so basically my username got broadcast out to 70,000+ Twitter users.  At this point I started getting a deluge of congratulations from kindly Twitter users about my win, lots of friendly jibes about how jealous people were and how they were going to win one of the other 13 iPads that were up for grabs.  I started getting a deluge of notifications as people started following me on Twitter.  Up to this point I have roughly 40 new followers, which is pretty crazy.

I wrote a blog awhile back addressing some of the perceived shortcomings of the iPad, but never did I anticipate I’d actually end up getting one.  I kinda figured I’d wait until the second generation when the price dropped a bit.  As it is I’ve still got at least a month of painful waiting for my new iPad to arrive.  They told me it’ll be roughly 3-6 weeks after the promotion ends, which means since I won on day 1 it’ll be 5-8 weeks wait.  They have to wait to get the iPads from Apple, then they need time to do the customization, then send it out.