Web


  • Canterbury Tales Literary Festival 2010

    Canterbury Tales Literary Festival 2010

    CTLF Screen Shot 2010-10-09

    My version of the site is no longer used. The new website is .


  • NewSongFM.com Website

    NewSongFM.com Website

    (Site since updated / defunct)

    NewSong FM Screen Shot 2011-10-09

  • HomeTeamSports.ca

    HomeTeamSports.ca

    HTS Screen Shot

  • Urban Renewal Saint John (Book Website)

    Urban Renewal Saint John (Book Website)

    URSJ.ca Screenshot

    Created for Brenda McDermott to promote and sample her book on the Urban Renewal period of Saint John. The website can still be found at http://www.ursj.ca.


  • Does council not care about protocol

    Does council not care about protocol

    This week I went to the council to see the debate and decision on Peel Plaza/North of Union project. That particular topic is so revolting in so many ways that it needs not mention here.

    But what is even more inexcusable is the state of the decorations in the Council chamber. I have attached a photo that demonstrates the three worst violations.

    1. The Queen’s Photo

    This item really bugged me most of the night it is not noticeable on TV or the web feed but the photos are crooked. In the chamber, it was the Philip photo that looked wrong but upon review in PhotoShop , it is actually the Queen’s photo that is eleven degrees clockwise crooked.

    2. The New Brunswick Flag

    This one is not as noticeable as the others but the flag is a good decimeter down the shaft from the top making it lower than the other flags.

    3. The Acadian Banner/Flag

    In this case , you don’t even see it because it has no base and is leaning against the Canadian flag.

    Bonus: Flag Order

    The flags are positioned incorrectly. They are positioned left to right: Union Jack, New Brunswick, Canada, Acadian. By official precedence with 4 flags the Canadian flag should be on the left, followed by the flag of a sovereign state (Union Jack), Provincial Flag in order of confederation (NB), then historical flags (Acadian). Then an optional second Canadian flag could be on the right.


  • What a year this has been!

    I started writing this on December 29th but researching the links has taken some time, in fact much longer than I thought to find all the links. I have defiantly accomplished a lot this year, looking back this has been the best year in a while. Of the things that stand out as my holy crap moment of the year was standing at the window in the Vancouver airport with the setting sun breaking a bit through the clouds. That was the moment it rang true to me that mountains were more than just really big hills.

    One of the biggest events that kicked off the year was the 2009 Atlantic Major Midget Regionals at the LBR. This one event not only was my first time writing for sports, but I also learned what makes up a shot on goal in a hockey game was. In addition, actually pulling off the live feed was amazing. That and meeting Don Mabee for the first time.

    The next moment of this year, happened when I attended to Faces of Fusion dinner in May. That is where I ran into Ian Finley from East Coast Connected. It was from that meeting that I ran into him again on my annual birthday trip to Toronto, that I learned about the monthly East Coast Army nights at Gracie’s.

    During that trip, I had the privilege of attending my very first WordCamp in Toronto. It was amazing to see all the interest of all the web community in a town so driven by media. It was there that I met some very interesting people who I hope to never forget such as Jeremy Clarke, Brendan Sera-Shriar, Accordion Guy, Alexa Clark, Erin Blaskie and George O’Neill. But even better from there it leads me on the path to attending WordCamp Montreal where it was there in that little town (humour people!) of Montreal. The place was amazing when during the very early dawn morning that I got to walk through the Montreal Jazz festival that made me realize I was so wrong about Montreal and its many misconceptions. Then meeting folks like Kim Valee, Matt Mullenweg, Jane Wells, Eva Blue and many others.

    And then there was Victoria, where at WordCamp Victoria I ran into many more amazing people. I kind of really like BC, despite only seeing it for 2 days. Perhaps I can find a way to go back sometime this or next year.


  • Fox, Time Warner Cable reach deal to avoid blackout – Yahoo! Canada News

    Fox, Time Warner Cable reach deal to avoid blackout – Yahoo! Canada News

    In the view of what may be in line for Canada over the next year in the camps of the Fee-for-carriage debate between “Save Local” and “Stop the TV Tax.” Although this seems unfathomable in the current landscape, the near future will see broadcast, cable, and satellite a thing of the past to internet based distribution methods.

    Why pay for 100’s of channels that you do not watch? Why can the creators of the content not just distribute themselves? With devices like the Roku player, Apple TV, PS3, Xbox 360, and many others, we can feasibly get HD to your TV. Problems with getting broadband will als be a thing of the past soon as 4G LTE cellular networks with 51 mb/s connections will make getting fast internet to people easier and cheaper. Even more so in less that 5 years with 5G

    “In the last 12 months talks between cable operators and program providers have become even more tense. Programmers have been seeking better affiliate fees as they have seen advertising revenue hurt by the U.S. economic downturn and remain uncertain about the future of TV advertising as more marketers turn to the Web.”  Yinka Adegoke for Reuters.

    Fox, Time Warner Cable reach deal to avoid blackout – Yahoo! Canada News.


  • A drop in the bucket… err… table

    A drop in the bucket… err… table

    Who is left to tell the tail abount the drop. This may be just a little drop of coffee on the table, but who will tell the world.

    It was interesting to learn the only part of CBC during these layoffs are the CBC.ca department.

    The web seems to now finally be changing the directon of media. The idea that you don’t need huge television systems, broadcast transmitters, and printing presses to the people. To those ends there is now not a need for the content to suffe either.

    The question however is how will interactive benefit the telling of the news? Can the local not be lost to a global voice? Can the web emerge as a primary source for news rather than current methods as regurgitation of the news reported by old media sour we and techniques?


  • Keeping up with the times.

    With the recent water bans an the lack of news coverage in the wee hours of the evening I was pondering if there was a better way for the City of Saint John to post urgent notices. And I had thought of using the technology of today, and an approach of making it easier to opt-in to these methods.

    Part 1: Electronic Internet

    Provide an RSS feed with no longer than a text message sized message detailing the urgent message. This would allow people the opportunity to place a box on the most common web portals that 60% of people use as home pages.

    Secondly allow people to register their e-mail addresses to an urgent message list. This would allow people to get it by e-mail or text message as people can put in cellnumber@pcs.rogers.com or cellnumber@txt.aliant.net and have it sent to your cell (great for parking bans.)

    Step 2: Phone

    Have an Advisory line like the parking one and have a cheep automated text to voice system to read the RSS feed messages.


  • Again another post and another year!

    While since it is a new year it just seems different. 2006 was a very bad year as I posted a year ago now that I look back at the posts I made and 2007 went by without many successes or failures. But, now it ’tis 2008. I can’t wait this looks to be the year that every thing seems to be heading to.

    This spring there is another one of those municipal elections. Not to say that I would run again seeing as how things are going, but who knows what will happen.

    On the political side of things I don’t see me doing much this year as there is still uncertainty as to where I will be come the end of it.

    I’m, along with Tony Tompkins are working on a web cast series titled “The Badger Hunter” the editing of the pilot episode is almost done on that and is slated for release on February 29th. We are currently about to begin filming of the second episode.

    I’ve been going over some of the code for my photo gallery and seem to have it fixed despite the unknown reason that the background of the main section disappears on FireFox or Safari. So I’m gonna get to adding the few new photos I have taken lately. I might even take more photos soon, need reason to get more active.

    I have decided that the Crushed Beautifully series has come to an end, there will not be a third film in the series.


  • The foggy path to…?

    It is very peculiar how many opportunities pose themselves all at once and yet you need to make a decision is this the right road, do you go aimlessly strait or do you sit and wait on the trail for a better option to come around then doing nothing.

    If you wait that opportunity might come or you might be on a deserted foggy road just waiting to be rained on. Like the old saying “When it rains, it pours.” Is it time to take the diversion from the path and when you do it is always a massive suffocating web, a web so sometimes scary that it is often overwhelming not only in size but in magnitude (I always wanted to use that word in a post).

    Right now I am approaching that there are 4 options to the future. All diversions could be challenging, costly, very risky and possible overwhelming, but in the end (I love that phrase too) it could be so overwhelmingly rewarding that words could not describe.

    Earlier this week, and last week too I saw “The Nanny Diaries” (CEFM Rating: 4.5/5) which I must recommend as a very rewarding film to see. It is basically the age old story about “Who am I, Really?” and taking a break to dig deep and figure our you destiny. It has now been 5 years and 11 jobs since I decided to take this break, now I am at the point where I feel comfortable and am yet troubled by the yearning to decide in the screenplay that has become my life what comes next. If I were in a book this would be a chapter end point, or maybe the conclusion of the intermission in a great Broadway musical.

    Why am I here…? Where am I going…? Shouldn’t you be dragging me kicking and screaming…?


  • The Trails of Champlain Heights

    The Trails of Champlain Heights

    Walking Guide

    Today in the mail I received another advertisement from another Real Estate agent that is trying to promote themselves by creating a community web page for the Champlain Heights/Eastwood Area at www.champlain-eastwood.com.

    Now that website got me thinking that the two neighbourhoods are only separated by a small wood with a set of trails, some better than others so I went to Google Earth and grabbed a satellite shot of the area. Luckily, I’m in a part of Saint John that actually has better resolution than most of the central area of Saint John. Then in Photoshop I added all the trails in green, yellow, orange, and red based on their pass-ability.


  • I need a new phone!

    Okay so my phone is dying, a very slow death and it is time in my budget to finally get a new one. I’ve been looking for one for that last year it is now been 3 months since my current contract expired. And my battery life is now well under 24 hours. 🙁

    Anyways I think I found one that actually does what I need in a phone, e-mail, excel, browse the web, and make phone calls. This one I like because it is easier to type on. The Blackberry Pearl Red.

    Also with one of these I could even post to this blog easier than I could with my current phone the Nokia 6620. And I have not been able to find a new battery. The only thing is that I will have to probably wait until September.

    The only thing that is not good is that it looks like my very first Cell Phone from back in 2003 the Motorola c333, with the red and silver Roots Face-plate that I had to return in under a week, for an even worse phone the Motorola v66.

    I guess that is it for now, seeing that I need to go to work tonight.

    Leave comments I really love to read them and wished at times that I would get more of them. If you are reading a RSS of this on Facebook you can leave a reply there too!


  • Probe as web shows stunt gone wrong – Yahoo! News UK

    Probe as web shows stunt gone wrong – Yahoo! News UK

    Wow! this reminds me of the episode of the Simpsons there they tied Milhouse to the spiny thing and used the school bus to fly him off that is really freaky.


  • Various Branding

    Various Branding

    After my employment with Johnny’s Coupons ended, CEFM Webgroup (my company) was contracted to do the publication design work for the 2006 Saint John Edition. Here are some coloured logos that I had created for this book. As well there are logos I created for a website I was planning on making but never did, and political logos I have made over the past years.

    The images above may not be reproduced on any site other than cefm.ca


  • CPCSJEDA and John Wallace Election Sites
    ,

    CPCSJEDA and John Wallace Election Sites

    These are screenshots of two web sites I designed for the Conservative EDA. These were templates on a Mambo Core. I have also designed the current site that operates on a Joomla Core.


  • Johnny’s Coupons Website

    Johnny’s Coupons Website

    While employed with Johnny’s Coupons I redesigned johnnyscoupons.com that included about 50 pages of content and an SSL OSCommerce shopping cart. This site includes a CSS table and PHP includes for the menu and footers.


  • QuizFarm.com :: Which Absurd Cat are you?

    You scored as Couch Potato Cat. Decorative pillow? No, that’d be you sitting on the couch, even still. Hmm. . . I’m guessing you have Web TV.

    Couch Potato Cat

    100%

    Nerd Cat

    83%

    Drunk Cat

    75%

    Love Machine Cat

    58%

    Pissed at the World Cat

    50%

    Derranged Cat

    25%

    Ninja Cat

    17%

    Which Absurd Cat are you?
    created with QuizFarm.com


  • June Callwood

    Because I was in class during the time, the June Callwood was speaking in the Ted Daigle Auditorium at St. Thomas University I was originally not going to bother with this assignment. When I went to class, I started hearing all the other stories on this particular guest speaker I decided to do it anyway.

    On the evening of November 1st, I sat down and listened to the rebroadcast lecture on the program “Ideas” on CBC Radio One. I turned on the radio to listen but there was very poor reception on my little cheap radio. After spending about five minutes trying to clear up the reception I gave up. Then later I had an insight that I could pick up the signal on CBC Radio One’s web broadcast so after missing fifteen minutes of the broadcast I began listening. Once I first heard the words coming out I became intrigued. I started to take notes but shortly stopped in awe of the remarkable voice of inspiration and experience. I cannot recall anything in part that she said but the words all appeared well-chosen and magical.