This Is Locomotion - Design, Code, and News

Well I have finally returned after a 2 month trip to South America. Graeme and Nathan have done an excellent job of holding the fort! Thanks guys! The trip was great and I’ve had a lot of opportunity to reflect upon the important things in life like friends and family.

Within a few more days we will be transferring over our existing land line to a new number so stay tuned for that. In the mean time we are reachable as always at (250) 858 9329 or of course by email.

Well it looks like AT&T is sending out some huge bills along with the iPhone. Check out the video below. I am having a difficult time understanding if she’s just placed a ridiculous amount of calls or perhaps it shows you details on your internet usage as well. In any case, why doesn’t AT&T use e-billing? Or at least have the option to have a treeless (emailed) version instead.

Surely in the digital age most people would be fine with receiving a PDF invoice in their email. I can’t believe anybody still sends bills in paper based form these days.

Well it’s an exciting time of the year, and we’ve been very busy working for a large non-profit organization down here in Boston. Both Nathan and Graeme are working steadily from Victoria, and I’m now on site.

I should also take this moment to point out that all inquiries and maintenance requests should be going to Graeme Sheeley (graeme@simplestation.com). He will be more than happy to handle any requests you may have.

Boston is actually considerably warmer than I had really anticipated, and I think I’m just so used to life on the west coast that it’s taking me some time to adjust to the humidity here. All that being said — I am most definitely enjoying the warm weather and the good work.

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Just finished reading a great article from the New York Times on putting energy hogs in the home on a strict low power diet!

Why should you care? Well for a start you’ll save money on your electricity bill, and secondly you will help reduce C0₂ emissions.

I used a Kill A Watt EZ energy meter (available online for about $25) and began measuring. My PC was continuously drawing 134 watts all night.

The more devices I checked, the worse it got. My TiVo digital video recorder was sucking down about 30 watts when it was not playing or recording a show. A Comcast digital cable set-top box made by Motorola that I tested was drawing about 40 watts. My DVD player was drawing 26 watts while idle, and my audio system — which I rarely turned off — was using 47 watts. This was in addition to the numerous power adapters and chargers, each drawing 1 or 2 watts, not to mention several other devices sipping energy to keep clocks running or to be ready to turn on at the push of a button.

… Tweaking can pay off. Annually, my desktop PC is now using 73 percent less energy — saving me $119 a year and depriving the earth of 1,405 more pounds of CO2.

Source: New York Times

The writer recommends downloading an awesome little tool called C0₂ Saver that is a lightweight program that manages your computer’s power usage when it’s idle, saving energy and decreasing the demand on your power utility.

We plan on using it on our PC’s within our office environment. What a great tool!

Having had a few weeks to digest An Event Apart I now have decided rather than detailing the entire event cover to cover, to just focus on the highlights.

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While I am writing up my review of what I found interesting at An Event Apart I thought I’d just touch briefly on an interesting tidbit I picked up today. According to Computer World Web anonymity can sink your job search.

In today’s job market, turning up missing on the Web may not be a fatal flaw, and it’s probably better than having a search result in a photo of you in a hula skirt. But over time, the lack of a Web presence — particularly for IT professionals — may well turn from a neutral to a negative, says Tim Bray, director of Web technologies at Sun Microsystems Inc.

So having your own site can in fact be some kind of employment bonus. Giving your employers a discreet peek at your personal life, what type of individual you are, and whether you seem like a reputable individual. According to Computer World 77 of 100 recruiters said they used search engines to check out job candidates. In a CareerBuilder.com survey of 1,150 hiring managers last year, one in four said they use Internet search engines to research potential employees.

There have of course been negative articles written about people who have overexposed their identity on the Internet. Discretion here I think is the key. If you are publishing something personal about yourself to a live site, don’t post things that employers may be able to either misinterpret or perceive as negative.

With all that being said, I think everyone should have an online portfolio of their work because you just don’t know when someone will find it interesting and offer you a job – and showing some degree of web savvy is always a step in the right direction. Additionally I think it’s always worthwhile getting your own domain name (ie. somename.com). This differentiates your email address from every other Hotmail or Gmail loving candidate out there, and with a catchy domain; it may be enough to help make you stand out from the crowd. To me it just looks more professional. When people hand me their personal business cards with an @gmail.com address on it, I just have to laugh quietly to myself. Obviously they don’t value themselves enough to spend $15 a year on a proper email address.

So to summarize:

1. Get your own domain name
2. Build your own site or get your own blog
3. Only post things that will be an aide to your online identity

Well I just reserved my spot at An Event Apart in Boston. It looks like it’s going to be an awesome conference and having never been to one, I’m really excited. They have an awesome lineup of speakers, including some of my personal favorites: Steve Krug, Dan Cedarholm, and Cameron Moll.

Here’s your hCalendar hookup:

• An Event Apart Boston
  March 26-27th 2007 · Marriott Copley Place, Boston

Boston here I come! If you’re in the area and would like to meet up let me know.

I just watched this great video on Google today of Seth Godin giving a speech at Gel 2006 on marketing mishaps. It’s about a lot of the “do not do’s” of marketing. Enjoy

[gv data="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-4101280286098310645"][/gv]

There will be some routine maintenance performed on our server on January 23rd (today) at 10:00PM that will result in all client sites being down for 20-45 minutes.

Well it’s official. We’re sponsoring the Victoria Underwater Hockey Club. The entire site was produced free of charge for the highly anticipated Pacific Coast Championships that happened over October 19th – 21st. We’re proud to support the “Bottom Buddies” and the first underwater hockey team from Victoria to appear on the international stage in 10 years. The team also won the sportsmanship trophy for the weekend! Way to go team!