ArleyM.com

Whoa, I’m a Dad.

July 28th, 2010 | Comment | Personal

This is my 400th post on ArleyM.com since 2004; and it’s the most meaningful one ever (meaningfulness has no bearing on writing quality sadly). On Sunday July 18th at 2:18 I became a Dad! Our sweet little daughter was born happy and healthy. OK, not happy; we now have a saying in our family “Unleash the fury.”

This is the single coolest, most profound and monumental thing that’s happened to me in ages. Rather that expound on it in a blog post, I think I’ll just shut down my computer and go spend time with my family.

Blasted Allergies!

July 15th, 2010 | Comment | Personal

I’ve been told that I have had a sensitive stomach since I was a kid. Only recently have I considered that maybe life doesn’t have to always be this way.

In recent years my Dad has done a lot of deep studying into food and nutrition; and he and several other family members have started discovering some pretty big allergies.

This week I followed my father’s suit and I went to Red Paw (don’t mind the website) for electro dermal testing. I wanted to have directly comparable results, so it was no surprise to see so many similar results.

The terrible downside of this is that it looks like I need to cut some seriously favourite foods from my diet. It seems as though I have a strong sensitivity to dairy products (including cheese), wheat products (but not gluten), corn (which is in everything), alcohols (including wine), anything deepfried, and so much more…

As far as allergic reactions go I only have the occasional upset stomach to speak of – however bodies deal with sensitivity in different ways. In the case of an Uncle with similar sensitivities, cutting out corn products and gluten meant going down from something like 12 heart medications to one. Heart disease is just one thing I could realistically be avoiding by changing my diet.

I’m not 100% convinced. I plan to go off these foods for a bit and get a second opinion. For one thing the testing location had a strong presence of cats – something I am allergic to; which could affect other results!

So, I went from a easy-going to “one of those” tricky hard to feed people. It’s pretty discouraging.

It’s been two days, so it’s too soon to say if there’s been a difference definitively. I am pretty sure however that I’m waking up way faster. We’ll see.

I’m including my allergy results here mostly for my own on-the-go reference, but I think this might be of interest to other McBlains who are closely related.

Food Allergies

Chemical Allergies

Environmental Allergies

Food Alphabetically Listed

What the Scores Mean

Water

July 4th, 2010 | Comment | Personal

I miss Kincardine often.

Our house in Kincardine had the best water. It was amazing to drink right out of the tap – heck, even the hose. Once we moved I really got thinking about the affects of water.

We stayed at Kristi’s parents house for several months. Milton’s water is a lot harder, and I think it requires a lot of water softening. This is the kind of water I grew up with; it doesn’t taste fantastic, and in the shower the water feels extra frictionicious. This radical difference in water got me thinking about all the ways we interact with H20.

Water is the primary ingredient in the food we make, it’s thoroughly involved with our clothing, and we bathe in it. Inside and out, the water we use affects everything about us. My theory is that the kind of water that comes out of your tap will affect the way you smell and taste, right down to your breath and the scent of your clothes.

I think the only way to conclusively prove this would be AB testing, but since I wasn’t born a twin, once again humanity loses.

Long time no post!

June 6th, 2010 | 2 Comments | Personal

I like keeping a personal blog, if only to remind myself of what I’ve been up to. I keep pretty organized about it, and actually even have a list of things to write about. The last time I wrote was the end of March. My silence hasn’t signified nothing going on, actually the opposite.

They say the three most stressful things in a man’s life are:

Starting a new job
Moving
Having your first child

I’ve been doing that. My new job at Thrillworks is a blast! It’s very challenging, and I’ve been learning a lot. I get to work with a pretty great team.

The new house in Burlington is wonderful. I’m thankful that my in-laws put us up and were so good to us. I like the shock value of telling people I lived with my wife’s folks for over six months. Reactions are usually pretty great; but in reality I don’t think there are two people who could have been easier to live with. Living on our own again has been great; it’s strange but the thing I missed the most was cleaning my own house. Sick, I know.

We are now six weeks away from having our little bundle of joy. Kristi’s enormous! She’s constantly hungry, tired and uncomfortable. It’s adorable. This week was the first time my daughter kicked me in the face. I don’t expect it will be the last.

All this to say life has been way busier than it’s ever been, but it’s pretty amazing. At the end of the day I’m less inclined to work on the computer on my own stuff! I’m guessing this will be the year of blogging less.

Norton Antivirus Sucks

March 27th, 2010 | 4 Comments | Personal

I’ve often thought there should be a User-Generated site for sharing terrible experiences with brands. Here’s my tale of why I hate Symantec’s Norton Anti Virus.

In 2006 I was using a Dell P4 computer. I bought a copy of Norton Antivirus for it, and felt good for going beyond the simple open source titles. Later in 2007 I bought a new computer which came packaged with another AV title, and the old P4 fell into disuse.

In 2009 I was shocked and outraged to see that I had been charged somewhere in the area of $50 for a subscription update (and had presumably, but not noticed the years before). I somehow got a hold of Norton and asked them to stop charging me. I wanted a refund, but it was too hard without the serial number I had long since lost, and the spokes person I spoke with had unintelligible English speaking skills. I gave up and took it as an expensive lesson never to use their software again.

Today I discovered that I had been charged AGAIN! I instantly felt about as irate as I get. I went to the Norton site and tried to contact them. What I found was the worst user experience on a site I have ever seen.

After clicking Contact Us in the footer, then Customer Service on the following page, THEN the hidden Contact Us link on the following page, I was directed to a page with a few terrible choices

First I tried the email form. Horrendous. There are so many mandatory fields – including the serial number (which I don’t have) that it’s unusable.

This is how I contacted them last year. I remember going to a torrent site and getting a keygen to pass this. I shared this with Symantec hoping they’d make their form usable for people in my situation. I guess they didn’t.

Next I tried the chat. Here you the user are invited to input your personal information so you can view your complaint on an uninteractive blue window. Nice touch.

Finally I gave in and tried to phone. I’m not a “phone person”, and last year when I spoke with them I had to struggle to understand the broken English. After jumping through more phone hoops I was shown another screen:

I called, and was greeted with what felt like a 20 minute diatribe about their products or website or something. When I finally entered my so-called Priority ID I the phone went through about 20 rings, and then they told me my ID was wrong.

Goodbye $53.31. Goodbye Symantec. I’m calling my bank and cancelling that credit card.

The really ironic thing is today I’m supposed to buy new Anti Virus software for my desktop. I’m now leaning towards Vipre. Let me plug them.

Top5 Tracks for the week of 03/24/2010

March 24th, 2010 | Comment | Top5

Gorillaz – Stylo
Shad – Random Flow
OK GO – This too shall pass
Al Green – Let’s Stay Together
Ray Charles – I got a Woman
Guilty Pleasure – Edward Khil` – Vocalize

Friday Mixtape

March 24th, 2010 | Comment | Personal

With the new job and the move and the soon to arrive baby it can be hard to make time to blog, let alone form any sort of routine. Life is good.

I might start making mini ten-song mixtapes. My first one is folk rocky. Not sure if the videos are any good, I just open in another tab and listen.

Enjoy.

Top5 Tracks for the week of 02/28/2010

February 28th, 2010 | Comment | Top5

Port O’Brien – I Woke Up Today
The Editors – The Weight of the World
Spoon – Stay don’t go
The Xx – infinity
Jandek – Nancy Sings

I’m going to be a Thrill worker!

February 12th, 2010 | 5 Comments | Personal

As I mentioned before, I am no longer going to be freelancing. This wasn’t an easy decision to make, but it was an awesome one.

I began freelance / contract work out of a need – there were no web related jobs in the Kincardine area. I have learned so much through Debut Creative. One of the most important lessons is that I hate being an accountant, and wearing several other hats that a one-man-operation requires.

When we moved back to the GTA at the end of last year I began to keep my ears open for job opportunities. I was in a very privileged position to be picky with the kinds of jobs I would apply for. I want to make high end websites that challenge me – and sites that are actually used and seen. During some mild mannered Googling I discovered Thrillworks in Burlington. The job ad for “Web Designer” sounded too good to be true!

I start Tuesday.

I wanted to share how this came about; getting a job can sometimes be a remarkable journey.

I want to be a Thrill Worker

For the average person applying for a job means sending a resume. Being in the creative industry doesn’t allow for anything average. I’ll admit there were several instances of simply chucking a resume to a prospective employer, but in hindsight those jobs didn’t really grab my eye. None did – until I found Thrillworks.

When I saw the job posting for Web Designer at Thrillworks I was super excited. It wouldn’t be fair to simply send a resume – I’d never wanted a job so badly, so my application should reflect this.

As with any project the first step is research. I read the ENTIRE Thrillworks website. I memorized the names of everyone working there, and thoroughly investigated the work they do and how they talk about it. I even waded through code on several client sites.

Using my research I was able to pick a good tone that would not only get their attention, but would reflect the values they have. Their website paints the portrait of a fun loving, creative and extroverted team environment. This tone plays to my strengths as these are terms that could be used to describe me.

I did some writing, recorded some videos (for the personal touch), and did some designs that I hoped would help me be top of mind in their search for an employee.

My goal was simple: I wanted an interview.

This was my application: “i want to be a thrill worker dot com!”

As this was a web job, I also made sure my code wasn’t an embarrassment (well, there were some shortcuts I took, but I made sure to make quirky remarks about it throughout). Instead of naming the sections of the design like “Header”, “Footer” etc., I used the names of the employees there! Even my CSS had the call to action:

I heard back from Thrillworks almost right away – I got the interview! This was no time to rest though; I spent the following week brushing up on my ASP and did research on some of the specific software they mentioned using (as well as all that pesky “work” I had!).

I then prepared some print materials including my references and a tent card leave-behind piece (my rationale was I wanted something that would take up space on a desk that would make them think of me the following day).

My experience in working in agencies in the past suggested that some people who may have no say in the hiring process may be asked to review the work of applicants, so I also made some cheesy “Guerrilla HR” materials catering to them.

the result

My interview was scheduled for 4pm on a Wednesday afternoon. I was pretty nervous; though I actually love job interviews. They are a meeting to talk about ME. I am the world’s leading authority on the subject, so I was confident that I would be able to represent myself well.

I prepared an interview page on the i want to be a thrillworker site complete with links of some work examples I wanted to talk about. You can see the interview page here.

I was introduced to the team, and some seemed impressed that I knew the names of everyone there. I was pretty excited that they all knew me as well – my application had circulated, and I felt like a bit of a celebrity!

Oddly enough it wasn’t a job interview however; apparently I had the job before I even woke up that day! I was told that barring any “creepy serial killer” vibes, I was in. Quite a few had applied for the job – but only one was even considered for the interview.

Needless to say, this made my day.

“how does this apply to me?!”

Obviously this kind of obnoxious approach won’t work just anywhere, or by just anyone! Also, if everyone applied in this way it would quickly lose what makes it stand out from the crowd.

Using creativity you can create a resume that will not only stand out, but that will

Capture your personality, and play up your strengths
Speak in a tone that the employer will respond to
Be memorable.

If you’re thinking ahead to applying for a job at the end of school that’s awesome. Treat this as you would any other project in Graphics. Start with your keywords, then start collecting various resources that capture not only different moods, but different sides of you.

Doing this prep work well in advance is a great head start – when the dream job appears your prompt application will show your interest (that said it shouldn’t sound like a template!).

The Speed of Life

February 4th, 2010 | Comment | Personal

To say that 2010 has been a blur so far would be a complete understatement.

In the wee span between January 15th – 30th Kristi and I:

Moved back in with the inlaws
Bought a car
Heard our unborn child’s heart beat
Dealt with aggravating issues with our old car
Sold our house
Dealt with a heart-rending family tragedy
Bought a new house
I found my dream job
I got the interview

Since the 30th I had the interview – and I got the job! (I expounded about this in more detail).

2010 has certainly made it’s mark on us, and has been a brainful. We would be content for some routine and boredom at this point. I hope the year isn’t setting us up for this pace.

More about the new job soon.