General

Wow, it’s hard to believe, but it’s been almost a year since I became an uncle (and subsequently Godfather) to the cute Helena Murielle Meyer! On Friday, April 13th, she’ll be one year old! So how exactly has all this changed me, you might wonder? Well, on the global scheme, I’d have to say that it hasn’t really changed me too much, but it has certainly added a bit of extra joy in my life! Of course, the group of you who have already jumped into parenthood are no doubt fully aware of this concept of new joy, but for a guy like me, well it’s a new experience. Anywho, to learn more about my thoughts and experiences one year into this gig, read on.

When Helena first arrived, I’m not sure what I was expecting. I suppose I thought that right away, I’d have a little niece to play with and be entertained by. Well, that really isn’t the case for the first few months. Each time I would go and visit Helena, invariably, it would basically just be a visit with Andrea and Patrick while Helena slept. The nice part about that was that Helena wasn’t too noisy or fussy. She was quite content to sleep away the time. She also wasn’t exactly growing at a very rapid pace. For quite a while, she stayed tiny, which had her mom and dad a little concerned. They had her on a rigourous diet, having her eat all the time pretty much. She started putting on a little weight, but was still at the bottom of the charts as far as size was concerned. But really, does that surprise anyone? Have a look at both parents, and tell me what you think?!

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.

You know, winter wouldn’t be complete anymore without a hike down to Jim Doucette’s cabin for a good old-fashioned winter poker night in Calabogie! That’s exactly what we did the first weekend I was back from the Dominican Republic. The notice wasn’t totally last minute, but it was a bit rushed for me to make up my mind about going or not. As such, I decided this time around that I would only go out for supper and the games, and head back into town later the same night. After all, I had some pretty intense training to go to the next morning, and I knew that if I stayed over, it would mean only one thing… too much partying with the boys. So sets the stage for the second winter invitational poker tournament at the cabin. This post will give you a little colour around this fun event.