On Google Chrome and This Blog
Today is a momentous occasion! Google Chrome has officially tied Internet Explorer as the most popular browser of choice among people who visit this blog.
Browser stats for July 29, 2010
That's actually pretty impressive. Firefox has a pretty strong showing too, despite the fact that people are beginning to blast it for being "behind the times" (read: not more like Chrome). As a Chrome user myself (at home, anyway), I can definitely see the benefits of Chrome-- and it's different. Google took the features of a typical web browser, pruned them down, revamped the UI, and made it all behave differently, and I like that they took that risk. Oh, and it's very fast.
I still haven't gotten a good chance to get really into the nitty-gritty of Chrome, but maybe in September I'll have more time (ha!).
On Online Consumer Surveys
I do online surveys. Still haven't figured out why, yet, but I do them.
This particular survey was somewhat all over the place on my shopping habits, but it tended to focus on clothes. More than that, it tended to focus on brands. Yay, my favourite topic...
It asked me: what store do you usually buy jeans from?
I answered.
It asked me: what do you like about this store?
I answered: good customer service, decent prices, high quality (for "Made in China" clothes, anyway).
Later, it asked me: what is the one brand you "can't live without"?
I replied: I could live without all brands, period.
Then: why is this "brand" (in quotes because I didn't name a brand) so important to you?
Me: I could live without brands because too often companies use the selling power of their brands to market sub-par goods (and people just follow the brand blindly because they "trust" it).
Hope someone gets some enjoyment later out of my answers.
Advice to First-Year B. IT – IMD Students
I was thinking about this program which I'm in the other day (Bachelor of Information Technology with a major in Interactive Multimedia and Design-- B. IT - IMD for short), and I was remembering the first year I was in it. Now, I had already taken a year of university before joining this program, in a similarly-difficult program (Computer Science), and so I was better prepared than most of my peers, but I still had a rather challenging first year. So I was thinking... why not write up a list of things--advice, if you will-- which I wish I had known in my first year of this program, and which could possibly be passed on to the first-years who are coming in? So here is my list (will be ongoing as I get feedback from other people in this program).
Other contributors to this are denoted by different colours in the text:
- Jesse, a 3rd-year IMD student
- Jamie, a former IMD student
- Chris Joslin, a current IMD professor
- Ali, a 3rd-year IMD student
- Lindsay, a 3rd-year IMD student
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Don't confuse university with high school.
Assignments and exams are suddenly worth A LOT more of your grade than they ever were, and a good deal of classes give you marks for attendance and participation, so show up and take part. Skipping class and slacking are not in your best interest, and will quickly be noticed by both professors and your peers.
2. Show up to all classes!
This includes lectures, labs, discussion groups, and workshops. In B. IT, things move at a very fast pace, and I can think of at least two first year classes for which it is ESSENTIAL you attend, otherwise you will fall behind extremely quickly. I'm thinking specifically of IMD1000 (Intro to IMD) and IMD1004 (Software Tools) (this one had a lot of in-class assignments which needed to be handed in at the end of every class for marks, so if you missed one, it was often really difficult to catch up). Also, BIT1002 (Physics), had mandatory labs-- if you didn't come to the labs, you failed the class! You may be tempted in first year to party hard and enjoy the increased freedom which university affords you. This is fine, but do it after your classes are done for the day! (And after your assignments are done, but that's another story...)
On Personal Limitations II (Follow-Up)
As a follow-up to my first On Personal Limitations post (go and read that one first), I came across this article today on 43 Folders, which perfectly describes what I was explaining in the post.
http://www.43folders.com/2010/05/17/future-proofing-your-passion
In it, Merlin Mann writes: "By starting adult life with an autistically explicit 'goal' that’s never been tested against any kind of real-world experience or reality-in-context, we can paradoxically miss a thousand more useful, lucrative, or organic opportunities that just…what?…pop up. Often these are one-time chances to do amazing and even unique things—opportunities that many of us continue to reject out of hand because it’s 'not what we do'".
Exactly.
On My Pseudo-Diet Experiment III
Whoops, I'd nearly forgotten that I hadn't posted my conclusions about this experiment! And the conclusion is... inconclusive. There were too many external factors and circumstances which occured over the week to actually draw accurate conclusions from the experiment, however, I did figure out the following:
1. Perceiving myself as more healthy helped me feel like the experiment was working (even if it wasn't)
2. I really like Jugo Juice
3. The Jugo Juice dude in my building knows me now and suggests new stuff for me to try
4. I had more energy in the afternoons, thanks to all of that fruit sugar
5. Getting over 200% of your daily Vitamin C intake at once can have unpleasant effects on your digestion systems... still haven't figured out if this is due to cleansing or just due to a bad reaction, so proceed with caution
6. A 24oz smoothie is more than enough for a meal replacement
7. If I want a salad, I need to hit the salad bar in this building before 12:30pm. After that, only the more unappetizing stuff is left
Another 'inconclusive conclusion' which I came to is that I did actually lose some fat off my stomach and waist. Not sure how much at this point (I can't measure myself at work), and I'm not sure if it was because of the experiment, or exercise, or the placebo effect from the mind-trick (see #1 in the list), or a combination of all three. But hey, after only a week, that's pretty good progress, no? I'm still drinking Jugo Juice for lunch, but I've downsized to the 14oz so that I can eat other stuff as well. Yay for healthy eating 
.
T
P.S: You may be wondering why there's a picture of a moustache. I have no idea.
On Things Which Make Workdays Better
So I was trying to think of things which I could appreciate about the workday... and didn't get very far. But I did manage to make a list of things which really make the workday better when they occur (which isn't necessarily every day). Here is that list of 21 things which definitely make my workdays more tolerable:
2. Waking up on time
3. Not rushing in the morning
4. Being able to eat a decent breakfast
5. Not missing the bus
6. Getting the window seat on the bus
7. Not falling asleep on the bus
8. Not getting early morning visits from the boss (before 9am)
9. Not falling asleep at my desk
10. Realizing my plant survived the weekend
11. Getting notifications of a cancelled meeting-- which I didn't need to be at anyway
12. Realizing that my afternoon will not be wasted with a needless meeting
14. Realizing I may have a package (or two) waiting for me when I get home
15. Realizing I may see a good friend tonight
16. Actually getting work done
17. Writing good blog posts (counterproductive to #16, above, but oh well)
18. A nice, long lunch hour to spend as I choose
19. Having good, laid-back meetings with the boss
20. Playing around with an otherwise-boring project to make it more fun
21. Having random things happen (like when my boss left his phone alone in his office this morning, and it quacked like a goose every couple of seconds for over 30 minutes ).
On Moo
Just to be clear-- I am not affiliated in any way with Moo or its partners (and the links in this post are not affiliate links), I just happen to have had a very good experience with them that I'd like to share. For those of you who don't know, Moo is actually a British company with a North American base in the U.S., and they make business cards, mini cards, postcards, greeting cards, and much more. You can design your own stuff, or they provide plenty of free templates and ideas to get you started. I myself have only ordered business cards from them, so on the others, I can't make any judgements, but I'm sure they're equally good.
Three words: They Are Awesome. What I really like about them specifically is/are the following:
1. Attitude: Their attitude towards customers and customer service is great. They project a casual, approachable, informal-yet-friendly feel, and they even occasionally manage some well-placed and funny humour. Their business card creation process is intuitive, simple, and streamlined to work well with both experienced users and beginners.
2. Quality: Moo really commits themselves to provide a quality product and experience. Their card quality is excellent, printing quality is fantastic (and for the non-designers, you are not required to worry about things like CMYK or DPI unless you are uploading your own designs... and in that case, you probably know something about it anyway). Shipping is cheap and fast (even to Canada), and they keep you updated on the status of your order throughout (via Little Moo, the print robot 
).
3. Price: Of course, the clincher. Including shipping, environmentally-friendly cardstock (which is extra), and a 50-set of full-color, double-sided business cards, my total order price was around $33 CAN. EXTREMELY reasonable, especially considering I paid pretty much that same amount last year for utterly sub-par business cards (see last post for the story). Simply amazing. By the way, if anyone has been convinced that Moo is the right choice for their next set of business cards, I have a 15% off coupon for you (which I can't use) if you buy a 50-set of business cards. Oh, and did I mention that you can pay using Paypal? Automatic +25 points in their favour .
4. Customer Service: I submitted a question about referral programs to them through the form on their website, and got a friendly and helpful response within 10 minutes. Now that's customer service!
So that is it. My love of Moo knows no bounds. Use them if you need cards of any type. As a graphic designer, I approve wholeheartedly.
On Personal Limitations
So the other day, I sat down and redesigned my business cards. People in my program at school are encouraged to use them during networking events/client projects/employer opportunities, and it really is a good way to show people that yes, you are a designer and not just a programmer. Last year I threw together a batch of simple cards in a hurry, trying to get them done and printed before a big networking thing.
*Aside: my friend and I spent too much money at the Algonquin College printers to print them, and we both ended up with a stack of poorly-cut and generally botched up cards. We were told to pay a different price than what we were initially quoted, and the people there just didn't seem to care. We learned our lesson-- we won't be getting our business cards done at Algonquin College EVER again. Her and I also wasted additional time having to go through all of our cards and weed out the good ones from the rest. We both ended up having to throw out quite a few.
Anyway. My business card from this batch (2009) had my name, year standing, school, email address, and website address on it. Pretty standard stuff. However, it also had the following: "Web designer/developer- (X)HTML, CSS, Javascript, SQL, PHP". It is true that I do lots of webdesign, in those languages, and that it is a field in which I am looking for work. However, I can also do lots of other things-- logo design, print media, software interfaces, flash design/development, photography, and other programming (Java and C++, to name a few). Not to mention, I also enjoy traditional media like drawing and collage-making. So... why did I limit myself on my own business card to one field?
Because it's what I know best? That's not entirely true; I know quite a bit about other media, too. Because it's what I'm used to? Not necessarily. I think it's because that's what I've seen myself as for a fairly long time. I got into webdesign 9 years ago, and I've been designing (and hopefully improving) ever since. And up until recently I even thought I was going to go into webdesign/development as a career. So I limited myself, albeit unconsciously. It was in my head as "this is the field I want to work in, so this is the only field I'll ever find work in". So I didn't even want to look for other kinds of work (because I thought I'd fail at everything else), and thus my nice, narrow business card description was born.
It is this kind of unconscious conditioned mental limitation which is still following me around as I decide what I want to do as a career. I am toying with the idea of starting my own business, but what would I do? My limitations tell me that pursuing anything other than webdesign will lead to failure, or that I'll never be good enough at anything else, or that I'll never find work otherwise. I suspect many people have been plagued with these kinds of thoughts before, including those people who now run successful businesses, and that is a comforting thought. I think that's the key-- to replace the limitations with goals, and the negativity with optimism. One step at a time.
So when I sat down the other day to make my 2010-2011 cards, what did I put on them? "Web + Print + New Media -- Designer and Developer". Much better. The possibilities are endless .
*Aside #2: This time around, I wised up and used Moo for my cards. Same price, amazing quality. The only downside is you have to wait for your cards to ship (about two weeks for Canada), but it's a small price to pay .
On The HST
Happy Monday everyone! So, I realize that there is way too much going on in Canada right now regarding the new HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) which just came into effect in B.C. and Ontario, so I'm not going to get into the political/economical issues at all. I figure you can read the news and find those things out yourselves. However, I myself have recently had a few run-ins with the HST which I thought I'd share.
It's probably worth mentioning that I live in Alberta at the moment, but I go to school in Ottawa (Ontario), so I knew I'd have to deal with the 13% HST monster eventually, I just didn't think it would be before September. (Alberta is a great province, tax-wise-- we don't have PST (Provincial Sales Tax), and so we only pay the 5% GST (General Sales Tax) on things which are charged tax )
Firstly, I ordered some books from Amazon last month. When they came in, I was astonished to find out that I was charged HST on my order! There were a couple of problems with this-- one, the HST hadn't even officially come into effect yet, and two, the books were shipped to an Albertan in Alberta! I checked both my billing and shipping addresses on Amazon, and they were both Alberta addresses. I later discovered that Amazon had mistakenly applied the HST to ALL Canadian orders, regardless of province... tut tut, Amazon. They did fix this, but only after I'd already been charged $0.90 on my order in HST. Not a big deal for me, but people with bigger orders must have been pretty darn ticked off.
Secondly, I was reading my cell phone bill the other day, and my jaw fell open when I reached the "Taxes" section of the bill-- $8.50 in tax! (My phone has an Ontario number and plan, so I knew it was subject to HST... but jeesh!) What's even more confusing was the fact that some of the components of my plan are apparently subject to GST and not PST, while others are subject to PST and not GST (don't ask me how this works, I would still like to call them and find out specifically which things are charged which tax), and others are subject to both (HST). So I was charged GST and PST and HST, all seperately! It was definitely a bit crazy.
EDIT: As Grahame (from the Ontario Ministry of Revenue) pointed out in the comments, this is actually due to the fact that my bill spans two months (i.e.: June 15 to July 15), and so I was charged GST and PST for the portion of my bill which occurred before the HST came into effect (on July 1), and HST for the portion after July 1. The total tax I paid was still 13%. Thanks, Grahame!
I'm not looking forwards to the HST when I go back to Ottawa in September. As an Alberta resident, I was already cringing at the "high" taxes I was paying there on food and supplies. Now, even though the total tax has not gone up (it's still 13%), some things which were not taxed either by PST or GST (or both) before, are now taxed. Sigh. At least school tuition is not subject to the HST (otherwise I'd be paying an additional $850 (roughly) more in taxes ON TOP OF the already-expensive tuition!). Thank goodness that that is not the case.
So in the meantime, I'll enjoy my Alberta-ness for another month and a half, and try not to think about my incoming taxes. (As a point of interest-- I don't believe I'm eligible for the HST refunds, since I'm not a true resident of Ontario. However, I do qualify for the GST refunds, so maybe (hopefully), that money will offset the extra PST I will not be compensated for).
Postage
Commentage
- K on On Google Chrome and This Blog
- Advice to First-Year B.IT – IMD Students | BIT Blog on Advice to First-Year B. IT – IMD Students
- K on On Topics Which I Am Currently Interested In
Snapshot
Categories
- Fall 2009 (21)
- Lyrics (16)
- Anberlin (1)
- Brand New (1)
- Green Day (1)
- Lifehouse (1)
- Metric (1)
- Moneen (1)
- New Found Glory (1)
- New Order (2)
- OneRepublic (1)
- Owl City (1)
- Sarah Slean (1)
- Story of the Year (1)
- The Fray (1)
- Thriving Ivory (1)
- Train (1)
- Summer 2009 (3)
- Summer 2010 (21)
- Winter 2010 (5)
Listening To
- Broken Bells – October
- Broken Bells – October
- Broken Bells – October
- Broken Bells – October
- Michael Bublé – Haven't Met You Yet
- Michael Bublé – Haven't Met You Yet
- Michael Bublé – Haven't Met You Yet
- Jonathan Coulton – Still Alive
- Jonathan Coulton – Still Alive
- Jonathan Coulton – Still Alive
I Support...
- (Product) RED
- CFS: No Means No
- ECPAT International
- Etsy
- GEEKWARE (Edmonton)
- Intel's Small Things Challenge
- Octopus Books (Ottawa)
- Slingshot! Collective (CA)
- Stop the Traffik
- Ten Thousand Villages
- To Write Love On Her Arms
- TransFair Canada