ArleyM.com

New Years Resolutions

January 4th, 2010 | Comment | Personal

Well, Twenty Ten is here. Last year was the shortest perceived year of my life. Twelve months ago my resolution was simply to “Be Better”. This is ridiculously subjective, so at the risk of sounding shady I will call it a success.

This year my resolution is to “Be More”. So far so good.

Included in my mental list is more writing (namely for sixrevisions.com, and other maybe eventually journals in my field) as well as more time away from the computer.

The Fool Proof Guide to Shopping for your Lady

December 15th, 2009 | Comment | Personal

Every year it was the same panic; “what do I get Kristi for _____(insert name of gift-giving worthy event)” . I think this is a fairly familiar story for most guys I know; that dull pain as the memories of every lame gift you’ve ever given comes flooding back. It doesn’t have to be this hard.

I am happy to say that for nearly a year and a half now I have refined a system that makes shopping for the wife a lot easier. You still have to find a fantastic big-gift as the cornerstone; but with a few complimentary gifts to scratch certain itches you’ll have a well rounded thing going on.

I try to get my wife something for each of the following categories:

- Something to entertain her
- Something to feed her spiritually
- Something to challenge her brain
- Something to make her feel pretty or special

Every gal will be different, but when you break it down to a few simple areas shopping becomes a cinch!

Good luck men.

The Onion – (content is king)

December 8th, 2009 | Comment | Personal

It has been said that while all other newspapers are failing and losing readers, The Onion continues to grow. I think the reason is obvious; the content is golden. Some of it is crass, but when they’re good they’re really good. No need for me to wax eloquent about it; here are some favourites from The Onion.

Articles

• ‘The Office’ Ends As Documentary Crew Gets All The Footage It Needs
• Liechtenstein, Andorra Forced To Fight By Larger Countries
• Haiti Makes Bid For 2216 Olympics

Radio

There’s no way to permalink to specific radio posts, so I guess you’ll have to do a search.

• New 2010 Rake Hits Store Shelves Today Mon, Sep 07 2009
• China Recalls Everything Tue, Dec 16 2008
• Sci-Fi Channel Launches Battlestar Galactica: Miami Fri, Oct 17 2008

Video

Domino’s Tests Limits Of What Humans Will Eat

Ninja Parade Slips By Town Unnoticed Once Again

Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Presidency

Spam Crackdown Threatens Koy4Goff’s Penis Enlarger Industry

Volatile India-Pakistan Standoff In 11,680th Day

Experts Agree Giant, Bioengineered Crabs Pose No Threat

Congress Debates Merits Of New Catchphrase

Don’t Get with the Times

November 30th, 2009 | Comment | Personal

It was an XKCD comic that got me thinking about living 5 years behind everyone technologically.

Think about it! At this point, people will practically give you their old technology. What was the coolest phone in 2004? The Motorola Razr was very popular, but today smartphones dominate the market. I would give you my old Razr if you wanted an app-less phone that only does calls and text. What about computer hardware? 2GB of RAM would be a monster in ’04 on your XP machine! All technology from 4 years ago would be dirt cheap, or just given to you.

It doesn’t end there. Five years from now the next-big-thing will be here and people will give you their useless old iPhones or first generation Androids. Technology always grows, and you could be there to swoop in and save a fortune. As if that weren’t enough, you’d also be free of the misery of discovering incompatible drivers and other pitfalls that come with being on the bleeding edge.

Being the nerd I am, I’m not sure that I can make this 5 year lapse commitment; but I really want to know someone who does. I want to see someone take it to the level where they have a Calendar setup listing what media / tech is really big at the moment so they can jump on it in a half decade.

Let me know if it’s you. I’ll give you my old junk.

Big News 5 Years ago in 2004…

1. Half Life 2
2. FireFox
3. MySpace
4. Gmail
5. Spiderman 2
6. Modest Mouse’s Good News
7. LOST

The Meaning of Life

November 24th, 2009 | Comment | Personal

I like trying to break my brain on some big thoughts sometimes. One I used to wrestle with was the ‘Meaning of Life’. It’s like the cliché hard-question. It’s one everyone likely has to deal with themselves, but I have answered it to my satisfaction.

I think whatever it is, the answer has to be as relevant thousands of years ago as it does today. It has to be universal for everyone, regardless of culture or situation.

I have boiled it down simply to three things: Happiness, Love and Knowing God.

Maybe it’s over-simplified, maybe it comes off as preachy; but it’s how I want to live.

My Top 1000 Days

November 13th, 2009 | Comment | Personal

Time to get a wee bit sappy. 1000 days ago today I married Kristi on a snowy February morning. What followed were the best 1000 days of my life. They’ll be hard to top. My wife is truly awesome. She’s my best friend.

I sometimes invent special occasions, but I feel the 1000 day mark is warranted; triple digits! Happy Kilaversary Kristi!

2010: (Don’t say Poh-taw-toe)

November 11th, 2009 | Comment | Personal

Next year is 2010. For the last year I’ve been trying to tell people how we should say this as a society.

I’m hearing a lot of people say “Two thousand and ten“. I totally understand, you’re adding one to the “nine” at the end of this year; but I think this is a misstep - ”Twenty Ten” sounds cooler, uses less syllables and is what Sci-Fi actors have been saying for years.

The only time I think it’s right to say “Two thousand and ten” is if they were saying “One thousand Nine hundred and ninety nine” a decade ago.

Spread the word.

Wine

November 2nd, 2009 | Comment | Personal

For most of my life I have thought that Wine was a really snobby unapproachable subject. It’s like some heavily over-intellectualized drink for the most unbearably snooty people in the world.

A few months ago a friend introduced me to some Gary Vaynerchuk keynotes on Social Media and self branding, as these are a natural extension to my job of helping people grow their businesses online. This led to me checking out some of his other messages on the subject of business. On his personal site he has a lot of really good thought provoking videos; many in which he uses his on Wine Library TV podcast as an example. I was still a bit skeptical, so I decided to check out his wine podcast to see how he put his money where his mouth is.

Within 2 minutes he had completely removed the negative stigma about wine, and made it totally approachable. Over the last couple months Kristi and I have been sampling some wines here and there and slowly learning about this vast wine world. As a result I find I’ve been enjoying smelling and tasting all food much more! For the first time in my life I’m starting to really enjoy eating.

So far our favourite wine has been a 2005 Masi Costasera Amarone. What’s yours?

Arley, Link it Up

The first Vaynerchuk video I saw on Social Media

Gary Vaynerchuk Personal Website

Wine Library TV – this video is a highlight reel.

Interim

October 14th, 2009 | Comment | Personal

While Kristi and I are transitioning from Kincardine to the GTA we are staying with her folks (speaking of which, wanna buy a house!?) A lot of people ask me what it’s like to live with the in-laws, and the truth is it’s pretty awesome. Mumsy makes me tea from time to time.

The biggest change of course is my office; but with the help of a KVM switch I was able to sabotage their study and make it my new office (I miss my third monitor dearly, but I needed it to stage my desk at home).

But, Kristi and I are loving being close to civilization – food, stores, family and some good friends.

Fainting: The New Sleeping in Church

September 20th, 2009 | Comment | Personal

There was some excitement at church today.

By way of making an illustration about sin, the speaker had a fascinating message about the scientist who discovered the cure for leprosy. His story got a bit detailed around some of the people he studied and their disfigurements. I found it very interesting, and understandably gross. At one point I realized I was feeling pretty nauseous. “Maybe I should step out and get a drink… naw, don’t be a wuss.” after another 5 – 10 minutes I decided i was probably the message that was making me feel sick. Even though he was done his illustration I still felt the need to occupy my mind, so I tried reading some verses in the Bible.

Focusing on the letters is the last thing I remember.

Apparently at this point my wife asked me if I was feeling ok. I looked at her with glazed eyes, sat forward a bit; then passed out! My head went back suddenly and Kristi caught it! “Are you alright?!” I came to and thought I had fallen asleep in church! I was drenched in full-body sweat and realized I had dropped my Bible. I was very confused as to what happened.

Luckily we were sitting toward the back of church (and not at the front laden with a bass guitar as I usually would be), and we were able to quietly duck out. The usher of the day actually had some first aid training and made sure I was ok to leave which was nice. K talked me into going to the hospital and we got to see someone right away (a miracle in Kincardine).

Essentially, the doctor tells me I’m a variation on those guys who faint when they see blood. I can watch all kinds of gorrie movies, and play violent video games; but for some reason when people talk about it I feel gross. I can remember several times watching TV as a kid, or plays in highschool, or being with friends exchanging stories about the origin of scars when I started to feel gross. In all of those instances I was able to change the subject or escape.

Now, a few hours laters I feel 100% physically. Psychologically I feel like a dork for not being able to will myself to tolerate some mildly detailed story about a kids fingers falling off! *THUD*

UPDATES!

In the days following the incident I learned two things:

1. I was actually coming down with a bug on Sunday that would last the next few days leaving me constantly tired. I think this was a huge factor.
2. My Grandmother also faints when hearing about blood and guts.