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Getting back in shape

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

When January 1st comes along, I never make resolutions because I believe that you shouldn’t wait for a specific day. A resolution should come when you’re fed up with a certain situation.

Like me… right now.

I’m fed up of all the weight I gained over the last few years. It doesn’t “show” that much but I see it every time I step out of the shower and it’s gotta change.

I used to be in shape. I used to be able to run and run and run. Or bike and bike and bike!

So what am I going to do about it?

I’m starting P90X again… but this time, I’m really sticking to it. Actually, my husband is also doing it and we’re really motivated. So… to keep me in the motivated trance, I’ll be posting everyday about it. About what we did last night and how it went. It won’t be a super long post (just a little paragraph) but just something that will make me keep at it.

I figure that if I post it here, I won’t have a choice but to keep going and show progress. HAHA! You guys are my motivators. If I miss a day, promise me you’ll flood me with: “Hey! Get back on that wagon!”

So there it is. Yesterday (Monday), we started the Lean program. So… on to Day 1 :)

p.s. Thanks for reading!

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Vancouver 2010 for me so far

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

I’ll start by saying that I’m a Canadian and a very proud one at that – being born on the 1st of July could have something to do with that – and yes I’m glued to the Vancouver 2010 site and all 4 channels (CTV, TSN, Sportsnet and RDS) showing the Olympics, cheering our athletes on!

Yes, I was jumping in our living room when Alexandre Bilodeau won our very first Olympic Gold medal on Canadian soil a few nights ago in Moguls. I had the same reaction when Maëlle Ricker won last night in Snowboard Cross. I gave some “Woot” and major fists in the air when Mike Robertson, Jennifer Heil and Kristina Groves won their medals as well. I’m extremely happy for athletes who have improved in their performances even tho they couldn’t bring home a medal.

Our Women’s hockey team is kicking ass again. I can’t wait for the U.S.A. vs Canada match-up. As always, it should be a nail-biter.

Our Men’s hockey team finally started last night and had a great solid win over Norway. Again, can’t wait for Sunday’s game against the U.S.A. (and Russian hopefully down the line).

Unlike many people I’ve talked to, I quite liked the opening ceremonies. The effects on the floor were very cool. K.D. Lang’s rendition of Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen gave me chills. Sarah McLachlan’s performance was great as well. I wasn’t overly impressed by Garou signing tho. I think Ginette Reno would have been a better signer for that one, it’s one of her big hits after all, by I guess Garou is more internationally-known than her and that’s why he was chosen. Whatever. The unexpected “Wow” for me was the “We are more!” poem by Shane Koyczan!

The major disappointment for me so far is the constant delays because of the weather. It’s fine that “some” of our athletes are used to it, especially our downhill skiers since most of them train in B.C. (tho even that didn’t help them!) but it must suck big time for those not used to the weird Vancouver weather.

Anyways…

Here’s to better weather for the skiers and great performances by our Canadians.

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Paid forums

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

I remember way back when we started The Web Squeeze, the question of having users PAY to either post a question or view a response never came up because in our minds, that’s just non-sense. Before I left, we were talking about the next version of TWS (and the forum) and someone mentioned that the forum should stay free. If Linda, Jacob and I were all in the same room, we’d probably would have look at each other and say: “Duh! Of course!” The only time a payment option came into the mix was for sections of the forum which would be hidden from the public and Google but only for specific reasons (that I’m not going to elaborate on here).

Making money off a forum is not easy of course so it shouldn’t be a motivational factor when starting one.

I’m writing this because I’ve been searching for a .NET problem and I’m pretty sure I found the solution but I can’t get to it because it’s a forum where you have to pay. How frustrating is that! I have to sign up for a Free 30-day Trial. Really? You know what’s going to happen right now? I’m closing that tab with the site I thought I had found my answer to and going to the next one in the Google results list.

And yes, I’ll remember that site so I won’t waste my time next time I’m looking for something.

Paid forums probably think that they get to ask for your money because they have the “best” people answering your questions. Again… really? I’ve been a member of many forums in my time (Sitepoint and TWS included) and, for free, most members will go to great lengths to help out. And in turn, when googling for something, I get my answer right away. Now, that’s a way to get people to come back and maybe even sign up next time!

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From PSD to WP series – Part II

Monday, October 19th, 2009

It’s finally published.

From Photoshop to Wordpress – Part II – Coding

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… lesson learned. I never thought it would have taken me so long to write it but life comes at you with unexpected road bumps and you just have to deal with it. From now on tho, if I ever do another series, I’ll make sure all the parts are written before publishing the first one.

I’m just so happy that it’s out there and I hope it will help some of you learn how to slice a Photoshop mockup.

Like anything else in Web Design, understand that this is merely one way of doing it. It’s how I’ve done it for the past 10 years and it’s worked great for me.

As for Part III, I’m starting it this week and I hope to publish it in the coming weeks.

Thank you for you patience!

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Mistakes you learn from

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

I’m a firm believer in one must “learn from their mistakes” in order to grow and well… learn. And so I learned that when creating tutorials in parts, ALWAYS do the whole thing before releasing the first part.

eroded-by-time-1

Yep… I’m talking about my tutorial series I started at The Web Squeeze “From Photoshop To Wordpress” where the first one is about Design. Originally, I had planned to do all three (Design, Coding, WP) a month apart. That was the plan. But as I heard once before:  The Devil laughs when one plans ahead.

No kidding!

So why am I so late in releasing Part II – Coding? It’s the age-old excuse: lack of time.

Some of you may think it’s a poor one but that’s the only one I got. Unfortunately, I don’t have all day to write articles and tutorials. I actually have 9-5 job outside of my web design hobby and The Web Squeeze. I have a daughter that’s growing up too fast that I like to spend my time with when I get home from work ’til I put her to bed. I still play soccer and that’s something I doubt I’ll ever stop doing any time soon. And now summer is here and week-ends are spent as far away from the computer as I can.

On top of all that, I have clients that need stuff from me and new ones coming in now and then.

The good news is I’m learning. I’m learning to manage my time better and I’m learning that, like I said above, if you plan on releasing a Series of tutorials, do them all at once.

One more good news is that I’m 90% done with Part II.

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