Activesteve.com is Born…

Howdy all! Well, this past week, I attended a conference in Toronto called ICE ’07 (Interactive Content Exchange) as part of my new role in which I am doing research on New Media. This conference was a relatively small affair with about 440 attendees, most of which were owners and/or high-level company officials form some of Canada’s cutting edge New Media companies. It was a great networking opportunity, and I met many interesting people with whom to chat about technology, shilfts in consumer behaviours, and web trends. The bulk of the conference was panel discussions, not straight presentations, which I think was actually better. Of course, it meant I had to take a lot of notes myself, but it sparked some interesting debates. This was also an opportunity to learn more about some of the latest web properties fighting for eyeballs in the vast emptiness of what we know as the Internet. This has prompted me to step back a bit and re-examine my online presence and the tools I’ve been using to promote me. As you are all well aware, it consists mainly of this site, as well as all my pictures up on Flickr. Not a great Web 2.0 presence, is it? Well, read on for some of my thoughts on where to go next.

Well, it looks like it’s been a while since I wrote anything in the ole blog-sphere, so I figured I’d dash off a few paragraphs of random neuron firing. With the weather finally starting to come around, I’ve been as busy as ever, with lots of training focus, spending time outside running, and working away in the basement at getting the bar done, just in time for summer. What’s that? This was supposed to be a winter project? So that people could enjoy cold nights with cocktails and entertainment? Bah! I make no excuses, I’ve done my best. On that front, things are really finally ‘coming together’, pun intended. Last night marked the official first building steps of the bar. I was burning the candle at both ends last week, getting up early to stain and varnish, and staying up late to do the same. Persistence paid off, and the final two panels were finished Sunday morning. As such, I started putting the framing together last night, and will hopefully have some pictures up soon.

But I digress, the bar is not the focus this time around. Obesity is one of my topics du jour. They say that obesity is almost a national epidemic. If not obesity, then certainly at least being over-weight. How can this possibly be, asks me? Well, I think I got an inkling of an idea why. On my Saturday run, of a relatively short 13km, I passed directly in front of 3 McDonalds! A 4th McDonalds was just 200m off my route as well! Not to mention the countless pizza joints, and various other speedy, junky food options. Now I’m certainly not condemning the Golden Arches. Quite the contrary, those who know me are well aware that I had no problem watching “Super Size Me”, then heading to Ronnie’s house the next day for a delicious Quarter Pounder meal (check out the nutrition calculator)! Quite the opposite, I personally would have stopped in for a bite had I not been in the middle of a run and not had any money on me!

Welcome back to the ongoing tales of excitement from my life! It’s been a few weeks since my last post, and I know that I’m due, as usual. Sorry to keep you all waiting, but it’s been an exciting few weeks for us over here. I’ve actually been doing some travel for work, as well as having a nice long Easter weekend. Instead of going anywhere far away, Jody and I opted to stay in the area, and do touristy things in our own neck of the woods. The picture you see to your right shows you one such little event. This shot is from the famous Diefenbunker, , Canada’s cold war museum. I’ve been wanting to go there for quite some time, and Easter Friday was finally the time for it. We actually had a 2-for-1 coupon from the Ottawa entertainment book, which made it even more of a reason to head out. If you don’t know what the Diefenbunker is all about, head over to the website and read up on it. Or read on for a bit more from me.