September 20th, 2011
What A Summer!
September is here and autumn is well on the way but man… that was a great summer!
Firstly, I spent the months of June and July touring on my bicycle. This is something I have been wanting to do for some time so when the opportunity presented itself, I went for it. I started by cycling around the southern end of Vancouver Island, on a route called the Pacific Marine Loop. If you have a few days, and don't mind a couple of steep grades, I highly recommend it. Beautiful beaches, great camping - it can't be beat.
I then made my way to the Mainland (Vancouver via Saltspring Island) and followed the Crowsnest Highway all the way to my 'hometown' of Lethbridge Alberta. I'll spare you the details but, suffice it to say, I had quite the adventure. I rode about 1500 km or so and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Just thinking about it makes me a bit nostalgic. I'm already making plans for next summer.
From Lethbridge, it was off to Las Vegas. It had been a while since my Mother had had a good vacation so we did it up in style: Four nights at Caesars Palace, Cirque du Soleil's aquatic themed production 'O', martinis at the Stratosphere. We even took a walk through the old Sahara (in the midst of liquidation - very surreal). There was so much to see and do that we didn't have enough time to take it all in. We're already talking about our next visit.
Immediately after getting back from Vegas - the very next day in fact - it was off to the South Country Fair. I had an awesome time camping and reconnecting with friends. Thanks to Marian and Daryl for having me at their campsite and everyone else that make South Country what it is. I haven't had that much fun in years.
So, where am I now? Well, I've enjoyed being back in Southern Alberta so much that I've decided to extend my stay. Although the past 15 years on the West Coast have been very good to me, I'm looking forward to being closer to my family. I'll truly miss all my great friends and clients on the Island. I'll be back though - I'm only a flight away.
I've taken a little space in downtown Lethbridge and will be actively seeking new clients over the next couple of months. As always, I will be taking care of my clients on the West Coast (and elsewhere around the globe). Please feel free to stop by and say hi if you find yourself in the area - the coffee's always on.
In other news:
- Phase 2 of mavrikmarine.com is ready to go live. Mavrik Marine is one of the Pacific Northwest's leading boat manufactures. Creative Director Christine Lavdovsky has done an amazing job with this design and it's this very sort of thing that sets them apart from the competition. It's always a pleasure working with the folks at Mavrik.
- I'm happy to be working with the creative talent at Carreiro The Studio once again. Award winning hair stylist John Carreiro has asked that some new functionality be incorporated into the website. In addition to porting the site over to the Zend Framework, we'll be revamping the 'What's New' and 'Products' sections and adding a custom administration panel. You can look forward to seeing these new features online very soon.
And that's about it. All in all, it's been excellent year so far. Although I have enjoyed my time away from the 'lab', I am truly happy to be back at work and looking forward to some big projects. Please pass on my contact info to anyone who you might think in need of my services.
Cheers :)
* A special shout-out to Rick at Abstract Alloy MFG. As I was coming into Abbotsford, my rear pannier rack gave out. Rick was kind enough to hand fabricate some stainless-steel stanchions that are still holding firm. Thanks Rick - I owe you one.
** Oh, and another shout-out to Craig at Missing Link School. I had some problems with my back wheel in Hope and Craig was kind enough to walk me through the repair. It was also Craig who gave me my bicycle in exchange for some work on his website. Best bit of contra I've ever been apart of.
January 27th, 2011
Out With The Old And In With The New (Year)
Happy New Year everyone!
By the looks of things so far, 2011 is shaping up to be a great one :)
I recently had the opportunity of working with local designer Christine Lavdovsky. Christine is extremely talented and has one of the keenest eyes I've ever come across. Concept, branding, font treatment – she does it all (and she does it well at that).
Mavrik Marine (a Bellingham, Washington based boat manufacture) needed a revamp of their flagship site. Christine asked if I'd come on board to manage the templating and implementation.
I think Christine really outdid herself. Just take a look for yourself:
I've also been working with Craig Montgomery of StudioIMI and Imotion Marketting Inc. over the past few months or so. Craig has years of experience in the industry and a reputation for providing solid solutions for a reasonable fee. If you're looking for someone to help you build your brand from the ground up, Craig's your man.
May 11th, 2010
Ch-ch-ch-changes...
Spring is finally here and that means it's time for a little spring cleaning. I recently moved (same city, different neighbourhood) and took the opportunity to get rid of a lot of those possessions that I rarely (or infrequently) use. Well, I am happy to report that the mission was a success. It's funny how so much of what we think we need are things we'd really be better off without.
In other news:
- I was in Vancouver with Gray Line of Victoria over the course of the 2010 Winter Olympics. As always, I had a lot of fun hanging out with the Gray Line crew – especially in the off hours. However, as a result of my being away from "the lab", I was unable to get as much client work finished as I would have liked. My apologies to those of you inconvenienced by my absence.
- Phase 2 of Missing Link School's new website has been completed and instructor/operator Craig Toker and I are very pleased with the results. After looking at some of the more standard e-commerce options available, I decided to go with a custom built solution. For the storefront, shopping cart and administration panel I used PHP5, MySQLi and Javascript/Jquery with PayPal serving as the checkout. Take a tour of Missing Link School's Tool Store and let us know what you think!
- My friend Paul Mitchell (of Bluebrain Multimedia) recently introduced me to Michael Linton, the creator of the LETS. Michael and I have decided to join forces to see if we can come up with a set of freely available, open source tools to help bring LETS to the greater online community. This should be a fun and exciting project and I am looking forward to our collaboration.
- There seems to be some confusion as to my availability. As I am no longer under contract, I am available for freelance work. If you have any projects that you think I might be interested in or would like to take a look at some of my more recent work, please feel free to give me a call or drop me a line or two. I'm always up for a new challenge.
- After much deliberation, I have decided to adopt Zend as my primary PHP framework. In the past, I have shied away from the use of some of the more popular frameworks as I found the trade-offs too much to bear. I won't go into all the reasons as to why I think Zend is so grand but so far, I am very pleased with what Zend has to offer.
Cheers :)