Apex81

I can’t believe it.  It’s been a bad month for Canadians.  Rogers is  testing a system that lets them embed content on any website they want, that is being navigated to on their network.  Essentially users will get a nice little box of goodies telling them they’ve almost reached their bandwidth limit.  Great, right? WRONG!  What’s next? Ads for rogers, ad campaigns based on statistics gathered from this embedded code?  Who the hell do they think they are?  I can’t wait to get the hell away from rogers.  As soon as my plan is done for my cellphone I’m getting the hell out of there. I hope you all do the same. Rogers can go to hell.

From a web designers perspective, I’m screwed.  I’m going to be getting calls non stop from clients asking me why this is on their website, and how I can remove it.  Great.  They won’t  take no for an answer, and I’ll be left with a big freakin headache that can’t be rectified.  Dear god, please someone with money sue them out of this practice. Google? Microsoft? Apple? ANYONE?  We need some real politicians with balls that will stand up against this shit.  Yeah, I’m looking at you Mr. Minister, if you want my vote in the next election grow a set of balls. You can read the article here

I’ve been done classes for a week now, and I officially have the burnout!  I can’t focus on anything at all, and any time I try to accomplish something my motivation fails me.  I guess it doesn’t help that I am waiting on a number of projects to get started. When I have work to do I can get back into the swing of things super-quickly, but if I have a lull it’s game over.  I seriously hope this week doesn’t go down the tubes.  I have 2 sites to get started on, but I’m waiting on clients.  I have 2 sites in the finishing up phase, and one of the clients has gone MIA, coincidental? I think not.  I also have 4 potential sites on the horizon.  I’m hoping those potentials work out because they’re for fields I’ve never worked in before.  That’s one of the things that I love about web design, it affords me the ability to learn about all kinds of stuff that I wouldn’t normally get involved in.  Fun stuff.  I’m also trying to think of creative ways to advertise on the cheap… anyone have any good ideas?  It’s not that I’m cheap, it’s that I have a hard time spending money on things that don’t guarantee results.  I plan on looking into advertising on the metro system here tomorrow, but out side of that I’m at a loss. Help a brotha out!  Drop me a comment and let me know if you have any ideas.

I thought that I should probably update you all since I’m going to be super swamped in the upcoming month.  Things have been moving really quickly over the last 2 months for me and I’ve been struggling to find the time to update all of you.  Readership for this blog has hit an all time high, but for some reason I am not completely sure that I trust my stats software that is running right now…  But, here is to hopping that it is… Cheers!

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One of the first things I get asked when doing a website for a new company is if I know a great place around town to get business cards, and advertisements printed.  Unfortunately, I don’t know anywhere around town, but I do know of some great resources online.  It turns out that most of these companies offer affordable printing for most your needs. By affordable, I really mean, a hell of a lot cheaper than anything in my neck of the woods.  I’m in the process of  moving all of my needs to one of these companies, but I have heard great things about all of them around the internet.  Check them out if you’re in need of some new business cards. Read the rest of this entry »

A number of sites in the pipes are coming up to their deadlines, and I’ve reached a bottleneck on a number of them. I usually try to design my sites around a content management system, so that these companies employees will be able to update their own sections, but the more I seem to work with these CMS’s the more I hate them. I’m currently creating a multiple user site, that lets a number of users maintain their own sections of the website simultaneously. I chose wordpress mu, for the backend. It does what it’s designed for really well, but it is not very customizable. I mean, god forbid if I want to create extra fields on a couple pages. It’s a whole song and dance for every new field. A major pain in the ass if you ask me. I’ve been considering writing my own CMS system. One for basic websites to begin with. I will be building all my websites on top of it, and a fee will be included in the design prices. I think it will be worth it in the long run. I’ll still use wordpress for my blog, but i think that it’s a little too complicated for average joe user. What kind of price tag do you guys put on the ability to change the content on your website, removing the need to pay for updates? Anyone?

It’s been a while since i’ve gotten up regularly at 7am… I guess that’s what happens when you work for yourself.  But, I have to say that it’s nice being on a schedule again, and I’m seriously enjoying the new found hours during my day.  Even though I’ve filled that time with more work (both school, and design), I feel like I’ve been able to accomplish a lot more.  Who knows, maybe its all in my head, but I’m starting to think that I could become a morning person!  Trust me, if you don’t know me personally, that’s a huge step forward.  Until this point, I usually need a good hour of quite time before I am ready to interact with others.  It’s all turning around!

…But, same bat time, and same bat channel!

I figured that I should learn how to create unique websites based on the content management systems (CMS). Essentially a CMS lets you control your website from the backend. It’s actually a lot easier than I had originally Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been super busy lately. Moving into Jaimie’s has been quite time consuming. Every single time I try to get some work done, I find my self being distracted by unpacking something, or putting something away. But, the apartment has finally been cleaned up and I’m able to get all kinds of work done the last couple of days.

Married life is great… it’s nice finally being at the place in my life where I can see Jaimie every day, and not have to travel every other weekend!

I’ve posted some photo’s from the wedding to my flickr account. You can also see them on facebook. If you want any of them left me know… I have them all on cd.

On the tech front, I’ve adopted some new software that I use on a daily basis. First, I’ve moved away from Firefox and started using a browser called Flock. It’s pretty good, and it’s built from the Firefox engine. I enjoy it. The second application is called Pownce. It’s currently invite only and in alpha, but it has become super addictive. You should check it out. If you want an invite, drop me a comment or an email. I currently have 5 left.

I’ve also been struggling with PostFix on my server. It just randomly stopped working. I’m really starting to hate it. Sadly, I need it working for a website I’m in the middle of developing.

On the web development front I’m in the middle of 5 projects. They all seem to be dragging on. Everything is in limbo. I’m starting to feeling like the businesses are not as committed to getting them done, as I am. I do however have a couple that are also on the go that are pretty cool. I’m looking forward to working on them. But, this takes me full circle to my postfix problem. I’m stuck until I find out what’s going on with it.

Hopefully I figure it out soon… I need to wrap up a couple of these websites.

Oh, and a new alpha-one.ca will be published online soon. So keep checking for that.

So, me and a buddy are doing a new website all on Mac tips. I know…I know… not many of you use a mac.  But if you make the switch, or decide to return from the darkside… check us out at macgasm.net

My midterms are done… thank god!  It was a pretty brutal exam period for me.  Some how my Anthropology exam was harder than my economics exam… and in the worldof Apex81 anything math related should be, hands down, the more difficult of tasks.  Who knows, maybe the tide is turning, or maybe I should have spent more time studying for the easier exam.  Although to my defence: only one question on the entire exam was based on the unit objectives and study questions… how unfair is that.  Last time course objectives are supposed to be the most important concepts of the course… you know… the kind of concepts that find themselves on exams.

Now i just have like 13 assignments and 3 finals to do in the next three weeks! I can’t wait for this semester to be over.  It seems like everything that can go wrong has gone wrong.

I also have two websites I need to start busting my ass off on, clients are starting to get unruly! I’m starting to get in over my head.  Everything is coming to a bulk head, and I have no idea how to even start to work these things out.  Two sites almost down, and two sites to go.