ArleyM.com

The Eighth ArleyM.com

October 22nd, 2008 | Comment | Personal

Today marks the launch of the 8th version of ArleyM.com! It wasn’t too long ago that Phase 7 was launched, but with all that I have learned about CSS and accessibility in the last few months I knew I needed to give the site a bit of a face lift. I was recently enjoying looking at previous installments of my site at http://www.archive.org/ and I will endeavour to restore my old image folders so these work for years to come. Seeing the rocky old sites reminds me of how far I have come. I also get a kick out of the early work I did with divs and layers before it was even hip to do so.

I do owe some thanks to Tim Lum as well as Paul Boag and the Headscape crew all for openning my eyes to tableless development.

Bed

October 18th, 2008 | Comment | Personal

Last week Kristi and I invested in a new bed. We had been previously sleeping on a bed that was found at an estate sale, it was a place to sleep and it was all we could afford at the time. I personally didn’t think it was so bad until we stayed at a friends house, woke up refreshed only to learn it was the cheapest bed she could buy. “Could ours be so far gone?”

The new bed is no comparison. For one thing my 6’4″ body doesn’t hang off the end for the first time in my life. For another, the bed is flat (vs. saggy in the middle) and it’s the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept on.

This is why I thought it so funny at Thanksgiving that as I slept on the best bed ever our other guests slept on the trifecta of infamous guestbeds: a pull out couch, a futon and an inflatable matress.

If you have any doubts as to if you need a new bed remember that you spend an amazing one third of your life there. At the average life span that’s 25 years!

Political Distraction

October 6th, 2008 | Comment | Personal

It sometimes feels like it’s election season all over the world. It’s funny how low-key the Canadian election feels in comparison to our neighbours to the south. I knew about the VP debate well in advance, and learned the next day there had been a Canadian debate at the same time. I’ve never been politically inclined, and I don’t think that’s going to change any time soon. After watching the Canadian debate on youtube I only feel like voting for the most polite candidate. It was annoying to hear so much yelling and interruption. Afterward I needed a distraction; the Beatles on the rooftop did nicely. Enjoy

Change colour and die!

September 22nd, 2008 | 1 Comment | Personal

Autumn is here again; my absolute favourite season of all. It means the return of my favourite jackets and sweaters, the neighbourhood kids are back to school and there’s stuff on TV again. The latter of these reminds me how annoying commercials are; and how watered down North American television feels compared to some of the anime series Kristi and I watched last year (my skeptical friends have no right to roll their eyes, they won’t even give Death Note the time of day)

I also have to brag that this is the first time that I’m making good on my annual declaration to avoid last minute Christmas shopping. I hate malls during the holiday season, and I fear the online shipping deadlines. I’m happy (and a bit overboard) to say that I’ve already got a good start this year.

Even though I just admitted to hating commericals I have to admit I often look up brilliant ones on youtube for inspiration. Go figure. Ikea Lamp is a brilliant ad I first saw a couple years ago:

My new question of the week (to incite some kind of comments) is: What are your favourite 5 video games of all time?

One Cool Year

September 17th, 2008 | Comment | Personal

This is it! One year ago I was painting this room getting ready to move into my first house. This has been a very defining year for me; it has shown me that I have inherited to some extent my fathers work ethic, that I have the capacity to be a handy man, and that a happy life can be mine. We love this home and it’s been a great year. Of all the iterations of my home office setup I can say this is the best and least distracting.

I can also say that I’ve never been so organized. At times I can see how it borders on overboard, but for those who ever saw my old apartment (and especially those who cleaned it for me, heh) a little overboardery might be good.

Here’s to many more happy years!

Late Invoices

September 15th, 2008 | Comment | Personal

Freelancing has its ups and downs. The thing I think I miss most is the predictable paycheque. Now depending on the client I often get paid up to two months after the work is done. The real frustration comes when the payment comes after the 60 day mark.

One tactic I have toyed with is making creative and memorable invoices; the logic being if the invoices are fun and memorable, paying me will be top-of-mind. It sometimes works. Below are a collection of my more creative late invoices.

Vacated!

September 8th, 2008 | Comment | Personal

Kristi and I are back from our week of holidays. Swimming, sailing, hiking, canoeing, kayaking, reading, visiting family, vintage gaming, and visiting the Clark Communications Agency (formerly Benjamin James) – it’s been a very full week. My brother is going back to Alberta soon and he has left us with an extensive video game collection. My wife hasn’t put down Need for Speed since Friday.

While time off is very nice I have to say I’ve been looking forward to coming back to work, catching up on emails and trying this Google Chrome that the net is abuzz with.

Be sure to check out my excellent recipe as shown in the above photo as well.

Things that I love

August 19th, 2008 | Comment | Personal

On November 2nd 2004 I made a blog post about my G1 expiring. Well have no fears friends, I have my G2 now, at the age of 27 the government now holds me to be responsible enough to drive on my own.

Driving isn’t something I enjoy doing, but lucky for me there are many other lovely things in my life. Here are three:

PORTALS
I’m a long time video gamer, and FPS is likely my favourite genre. I beat Portals in what seemed like a heartbeat, but it is still for me the absolute best FPS and Puzzle game I have ever played. Though short, it’s just short and sweet. It’s remarkably hilarious too. See the trailer below! I got so pumped by playing this that I have insisted that my wife play (as she is at the time of writing this) and I shall insist you get the demo if nothing else.

HOT TEA
Since getting a loose leaf pot and teas for Christmas Kristi and I haven’t looked back. To me there’s no better drink than a nice cup of tea. At this moment I am enjoying a nice cup of Spearmint tea from adagio. After a couple cups of looseleaf I can really tell the difference. Another favourite would be Fit Active from Teaopia.

BEING OUTSIDE?!
While it’s a well documented fact that I am indoorsy by nature, but this summer seems so different. First of all doing yard work on a yard one owns is much more rewarding. I have also enjoyed working on the laptop on the deck, and taking bike trips. Who knows what the future may hold.

And now the wonderful Portals trailer as narrated by GlaDos, the perky guide through the game.

Back to work!

July 21st, 2008 | Comment | Personal

I’m back from a week of lovely vacationing with Kristi. We had many adventures: Cottaging, familying, clarinetting, puzzling, gaming, travelling, shopping, hiking, gardening, and visiting. Kristi learned to operate a double-clutch trailer, and turns out to be an incredible clarinetist (though she would point out that she played it for a semester 15 years ago). It was nice to be off the computer for a while, and it’s certainly nice to be back too. Tim was here on the weekend and we shot some video. I will post when he gets it all together.

We went to London to do a bit of shopping, and I thought I should share some good customer service stories since my last post was about boycots. We were at Leon’s ready to go to customer-service war over some kits that were overlooked when furniture was delivered 6 months ago. The person at the desk just gave us what we needed with no questions asked or hassle. We were flabberghasted. Good service always catches me off guard.

Back to work!

A Late Apology

July 2nd, 2008 | Comment | Personal

The Canada Day long-weekend has come and gone. We spent time with my wife’s family and I had a tremendous ego boost as I was told how my fairly simple Photoshop work was “unbelievable”.

I was also reminded of my youth, in a bad way. We took in the fireworks at Station Beach in Kincardine and it seemed the whole town was there. We sat near some local teenagers, I didn’t know if I should laugh or flip one. I guess it wasn’t so long ago that I would have carelessly carried on a great length, at any volume I chose with colourful language about my (effing) hat too. (Isn’t it ironic that rebellious youth always conform to the same pattern?)

Anyways, for those who had to put up with me during my teenage years I would just like to apologize now.

Recently Radiohead had a remix contest for their latest single “nude”. I really liked the approach of this song, using old hardware to emulate the sound (song doesn’t really start til about 1:25).

Big Ideas (don’t get any) from James Houston on Vimeo.