July 2008 Archives

I was just down in Las Vegas, taking part in Camp Organic (which is another post). When I got back many people asked if I had fun. Well, I'm not exactly sure what "fun" is in Vegas. I know that sounds odd. I had a lot of enjoyable moments, but most of them I could have had anywhere because they weren't related to Vegas itself. I tend to think of fun as with an element of the spontaneous, even if the context has been planned in advance. Sometimes it costs money, sometimes not. In Vegas, nothing happens without a payment. You pay for the opportunity, then you continue to pay for whatever pleasure you're partaking in. When you stop paying, the fluorescents come on, the smiles come off, and they hustle you out of there. Fast.

So I mentioned this to a few friends, and one said that the nature of Vegas is that absolutely every interaction, whether human or goods and services-based, is really a money-driven exchange of some kind. Which makes sense. Nothing is free there, not even the loss-leaders.

Another more sociologically-minded  colleague suggested that Vegas is represents the sub-conscious of America and its unbridled obsession with money, sex and power. Vegas is the one place where you get permission to remove all social niceties about it and revel in the Darwinian exchange of power for sex, money for pleasure. Fridays at the pool at The Palms is a great example: absolutely off the hook hedonism, with cut guys and enhanced girls, plus rich fat guys all around the edges drinking it in. All excess, no apologies.

So if you can stop thinking about the planet, and not expect any kind of actual human experience, then Vegas is in fact kind of fun. I'll remember that for next time.

Now I'm an ex-skate rat, but even so, this has to be mezmerizing for anyone. Shot on a RED Camera at 120 fps.

Whew.  Well, it was a beast, but my first project, the SPARQ site is finally up. Basically our task was to create a hockey program for SPARQ in Canada (where it didn't exist) plus all the content. The video and photography shoots were great learning experiences; it's always inspiring to work with really talented folks, and frankly, a nice change after a few years of no budgets to hire outside talent.

On that subject, here is a new Nike ad to position themselves around the Olympics. Superb, and definitely Nike-style marketing at its best. I also like how they've built an interface around it so you can learn about the athletes.

That said, I'd love to be a fly on the wall in those pitch sessions or reviews: up here in Canada, our client is very literal and pretty conservative when push comes to shove. In other words, very Canadian. I'm having a hard time getting "non-celebs/athletes" into an ad we're doing, let alone hand puppets and medieval drawings. Something to aim for, creatively!

Bedtime at Crawford, stories are done, time for cuddles:

Daddy, I thought Mom was giving me a cuddle first.

She'll be up in a minute Leighton. Anyway, everybody knows that daddy gives the best cuddles!

Yes, I do love your cuddles... but... I actually think I might just like Mom a little better.

Oh. Really? Well.

Sorry, I know that's not really a nice thing to say.

No, that's okay. You're not trying to be mean. And Mom is pretty great. But it does make me a teeny bit sad.

Yes, I know, sorry. I do like you too, because you're funny, but still Mom a bit better.

Fair enough. So how come?

Um... well I guess it's like, you're both really nice, but you get really mad sometimes at bedtime if we're not doing good listening, and Mom gets mad too if we're not doing good listening, but she doesn't get sooo really mad.

I see. And I understand that. I can get pretty grumpy, and I'm a lot bigger too so I guess it's scarier for you.

Yes. But I still like you.

Well that's good. I like you too. Do you want a drink of water?

Yes please. (drinks)

Okay, 'night 'night Leighton. I love you.

I love you too Daddy!
...............

Owee.

But this is just wrong. And not just because the quickest route for divorce for me would be another 10-12 years of a cloned Kola, our high energy, increasingly neurotic border collie cross at our house. Once is enough.

"Your site design is the first thing people see...
Easy to look at with nice navigation,
Can't find what they're looking for, causes frustration"

Go bro! Way to represent!

http://www.theseorapper.com/

So the tankless water heater is in, and the good news is that we have all the hot water we could ever want; it's a pretty nifty little unit I must say. I've been downstairs when the hot water has been turned on and it fires up immediately. You can set the temperature up or down on the outside, simple. So here's the overall review of our experience with Newten and the tankless heater in general.

Hot

Newten's customer service was great, very responsive and professional.

The unit seems really solid and simple, and comes with a ten year warranty.

Overall, given the cost of a new regular tank with installation, not too bad in terms of cost

Hopefully, great energy savings.

No more showers running cold

Installation guys were very nice.

Cold

Hot water takes a little longer to get to the faucet as it's not being warmed in the pipe the same way tank heaters do. Not that significant though.

BUT the installation itself was terrible. The installer, named Barry, said he didn't think he could fit it where the old heater was due to space and venting issues and suggested moving it above the utility sink in the laundry room. Even though I wasn't crazy about it, I took him at his word and agreed. Looking at the great big hole where the old heater was, it's clear that he actually just didn't want to put it in there, as it was a tougher install. So he said he needed to put it above the sink, which would have been okay except:

a) they put it too low, meaning the gas lines and stuff coming out of the bottom of the unit now block the cold water faucet of the sink. So I'll have to move the sink forward or something. It also means I can't really put a counter top over the washer and dryer, which was the original plan. So that sucks.

b) they attached it to the wall so shoddily, just screwed to a couple of planks that looked like they'd been cut with steak knives. Looked like crap on what is a finished room (see photos)

c) because it wasn't where the old heater was, he had to run the gas and water from there to the new location, none of which were secured.

I wrote to Newten to complain about this, and (to his credit) Barry came back the next day to see what he could do. Bottom line is: Not much. He was very nice, but made excuses about why it couldn't have been moved to the other location (which reminds me, and forgive me Jos, I don't mean you here, of programmers I've worked with who make elaborate excuses about why they can't do what you're asking, and the only way get them to do it either tell how it's done, or to find a site where it has been done... then they grudgingly do it). He did agree to fix the crappy wood planks and afix the cables, but frankly, I'm not happy and wish I'd dug my heels in about it when we initially discussed installation. Nice guys finish last with contractors, and that's all there is to it.

So overall, I wouldn't say I'd wholeheartedly recommend Newten, although I wouldn't say avoid them either. If you have a simple install, then go for it. But I'd also look into Enwise for a competitive quote (they look cheaper, although it's hard to know what their "conditions" are) and installation reco.