Posted by Nik on Jan 4, 2010 in
Personal Hey all,
Hope you had a great holiday season, and rang in the new decade with pomp, circumstance and most of all safety! First blog post of the new decade, and I thought I’d look back at the last 10…nothing to do with Salesforce this time – just some good ol’ music talk!
Now, those who know me realize that music plays a large part in my life. I now listen to music almost all the time, but at one point and time I used to write and play music as well. I still do play, just not in a band, and certainly no longer up on stage – my days of that have long since past, much like my hair I used to have back then has gone as well! I spent some time thinking back to the songs that really stood out from the ‘naughties, and I’ve come up with a list of 13 – the top 10, and 3 honourable mentions!
10. Queens of the Stone Age – Song For The Dead
One of the best live bands I have ever seen. Period. (And easy to go see for my wife, as she is drop dead in love with Josh Homme…)
9. Bloc Party – Helicopter
How I wish Bloc Party was still awesome, and didn’t put out their last album of suckitude. I think Q said it best – “Remember when Bloc Party didn’t suck balls?”. Yes…yes I do – and this song is when they didn’t.
8. Postal Service – Such Great Heights
Yes – it’s now a UPS song, which demerits it slightly, but the song (and the album) is super awesome amazing. How they recorded the album is just as amazing too (the band’s name was chosen due to the way in which it produced its songs. Tamborello wrote and performed instrumental tracks and then sent the DATs to Gibbard, who edited the song as he saw fit (adding his vocals along the way), sending them back to Tamborello via the United States Postal Service. - from Wikipedia’s note on the band)
7. Wolf Parade – Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts
A Canadian band from Vancouver and Montreal, this song from their first album sticks out as their best, and also as one of the best of the decade.
6. Johnny Cash – Hurt
One of the top 10 songs of the 90′s becomes one of the top ten songs of the naughties thanks to this haunting cover by a cowboy legend. The video can drive you to tears.
5. Radiohead – Everything In It’s Right Place
So, at the beginning of the decade, OK Computer was still fresh in everyone’s head as one of the albums our generation has to own from the 90′s. Radiohead could have ruled the world. Kid A was announced, and….it completely took a left turn from where OK was, and solidified Radiohead (to me) as a band that can do what they want, and still be absolutely awesome doing it!
4. Interpol – Evil
Not one of their biggest hits, but it has everything in it as to why I love Interpol as a band. The lyrics, the syncopation, the build, and the craziest video I have seen in some time.
3. Arcade Fire – Wake Up
Although they were super-hyped, this band (whom we saw open for U2, and blew me away for the few songs I heard) lived up to it. Although they seem to have fallen off the face of the earth (I believe they were working on a soundtrack or something) their first album is one of the best Canadian albums ever released! (BTW, the lead singer still reminds me of Patrick Roy every time I see him).
2. Muse – Stockholm Syndrome
I am so excited to finally be able to see Muse live in March (in Montreal). This is the song that made me run out and buy every album I could!
1. Arctic Monkeys – I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor
This song just makes me want to jump around, and from the look of the lads who play, they look like they’ve had some fun before recording as well (with a pint or five!). Why is it number one? Just cause I find myself still singing it every once in a while.
So, there is my top ten. As for the extra three – there are three songs that could have been #10, and so I add them as honourable mentions:
Green Day – Holiday (the best Green Day song. ever. period.)
Slipknot – Vermillion Part 1 (Slipknot is a guilty pleasure, but this song has some very powerful lyrics)
Billy Talent – Try Honesty (the first single ever by one of the best Canadian bands of the century…so far!)
So, there you have it – the top 13 of the naughties, in my humblest of opinions. But now, time to get back to work….
Take care all,
Nik
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Tags: Music
Posted by Nik on Jul 16, 2009 in
Personal Wow – two months since my last blog. Apologies folks – for those of you who came back to see if anything was new. Lots is….
Where have I been? Well, it is the summer time, and as a dad, there have been MANY weekends where I have been travelling with my daughter to her Highland Dance competitions (she loves to dance! and is not too bad at it either), which seems to take up a boat load of time. And then there was work, which while starting to slow to a much more manageable level was capital-C crazy for a while. During that crazy time, no blogs – but also, for a wee bit, no tweets either….and while I was gone, man did things change!
It seems that celebrities, media, and even many people I know grabbed onto the twitter bandwagon, and registered. Reading through many tweets when coming back, I found some who loved being able to follow their favourite band (being able to say something back and maybe – just maybe having them read it, let alone reply was an amazing thought!). Companies joined in the fray, using twitter to spread the word on their product or service (albeit sometimes in a spam-like manner). Many used it as a micro-blog on their day (this is not new, more of an increase – including tweeting on the contents of their morning breakfast, business meeting or tea-leaf reading). And others reminisced on a day when twitter was much simpler, and was not filled with celebrities, companies, and other.
This has changed Twitter’s topography – especially if you look at who follows people, and the tweet levels of searches. Looking at twitterholic.com (a neat little site to keep track of who you are following or being followed by. Here you can see the top Tweeters based on followers (which is important to some). The top 5? Ashton Kutcher, Ellen DeGeneres, Britney Spears, CNN Breaking News and Oprah.
And of course, with change comes sentiment and opinion. Some have left twitter for friendfeed (very popular to early Twitter adopters such as Robert Scoble). Others now send messages to friends or celebrities on hopes of starting a flame war or gaining attention (there are a few examples which popped into my head, but i don’t feel like giving them airtime). Others lurk much more, while many continue to do what they did.
Me? I still tweet, and when I have time I follow what people are saying on Twitter. Those who know me know my love of music, and during Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest, I’ve passed along pics or thoughts, and even heade over to a stage or two after reading other commenting on a hidden gem. I still have my Salesforce search, and will answer questions when people have a query I think I may be able to help. And yes – I am sure you’ve seen a comment or eight about bagpipe sounds, soccer, TV or anything else on my mind. Do I get responses all the time? No – but that’s ok. To paraphrase the Arrogant Worms (a great Canadian band!) Twitter is really, really big. And as a user of this really, really big application, if I don’t like what I see, I can just move on. I’m just happy to be part of the pod.
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Tags: Twitter
Posted by Nik on Apr 15, 2009 in
Personal,
Salesforce Wow – as I look at the calendar today, I realize the importance of the 15th of April… Today, xLerate turns one year old. And with that, I feel very proud. Looking at numbers and statistics (ah, how we love and loathe them all at the same time) people passed on to me when I first started down this venture, the numbers were astonishingly horrific. Thanks to an article in Entrepreneur Weekly, it was stated that 70 to 80 percent of all small businesses fail within the first year. (I would like to add that this magazine is no longer in publication as of today…). That is a massive number, albeit one that I always thought was slightly inflated…
Looking back over the year, I am extremely proud of what has been accomplished. We have been able to :
- assist over 40 companies with their Salesforce.com implementations, with a focus on the small to medium business sector.
- use our experience and expertise with the application to act as advocates in the Ottawa area through the user group and through emails/phone calls from people using the system and just wanting to ask a quick question.
- without much in the way of a marketing budget, been able to piece together a web presence, business collateral and local reputation for getting a quality job done for our clients.
Of course, making enough revenue to pay the bills, and continue to plan for the future also helps, and for that I thank my clientelle.
What’s next? Well, those who know me will let you know that I have a hard time keeping still. And this is the main drive for this year at xLerate. Over the next twelve months, planned actions will occur, to assist xLerate in bringing more quality to both our own clients and Salesforce.com users globally, as well as hopefully allow us as owners, professionals and people to grow as well.
As a first step, xLerate has applied for, and been accepted as a member of the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation, or OCRI as it is known locally. We hope that this membership will increase our visibility in the local business community, and personally, I hope to be able to learn much from executives who have successfully paved their own successes previously. We also will tie our commitment to the Salesforce Foundation through activities to charities that are tied to the Ottawa area (such as OttawaReads).
Of course, other plans are ‘perculating’ … as things become a reality, I will be sure to share them here! Until then, thank you to all of our clients, colleagues, friends and most importantly my wife Stephanie and kids for making this first year such a resolute success!
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Posted by Nik on Jan 16, 2009 in
Personal Morning folks…hopefully you all are keeping warm. Seems like the whole continent needs an electric blanket right now! But, being inside while the weather reads ungodly negative numbers has allowed me to continue to play with my new online fascination – Twitter. Many I have talked to (physically) usually look at me funny when I say the word Twitter, but that response will disappear very soon in my opinion (do you remember the last person who asked what Facebook was???).
What is Twitter (I still ask myself that question!) you ask? Well, it’s a great little community at twitter.com – like any other site, you need to register (name, email) and then you are officially on Twitter. However, it’s much more minimalistic than many other social communities you’ve been to. There are tonnes of great articles/sites/howto’s/videos out there, but usually I put it this way – it’s like communicating with the world through your facebook status. Nice, short, sweet and to the point. Now, the ruse….why?
Reading through the tweets on my screen, and visiting many sites, the reason why people tweet seems to be very personal and diverse. Some like to create a large network of followers. Others market their wares (whether it be a product, service, blog or website), and others are there just to be part of a larger community and learn/mentor/discuss. Why Do I Tweet? Well, let’s answer that…
1) Oooooooh – Shiny!
Yep, Twitter is the big thing people seem to be talking about on the Internet these days. Just as when Facebook broke out, there seems to be a tonne of new users joining the latest trend, and that’s ok! I am one of them. I love to try and keep up to date with as many as new communities, applications and developments on the net. Twitter is one of them. Like many others I know, I signed up over a year ago, wrote a couple of tweets (the page is quite simple – you have a form up top, with a simple question to answer … “What Are You Doing?”) and then it sat there, as i really hadn’t been able to figure out what to do with it. Then in November, I used it to pass along info about the Dreamforce keynotes to friends back in Ottawa (meeting a couple of people via Twitter along the way), and I’ve continued to play with since. And the big reason why is Twitter still excites me like a shiny playtoy. Something new always strikes me about it, and I am back messing around in it. Also helping is applications for Twitter on both my iPhone and on my desktop (right now, I like Tweetie on the iPhone and TweetDeck on the laptop). After over a year of daily facebook time, Twitter is taking over as my community du jour….
2) Hello World…
It sounds like a marketing schtick, but it’s true. We live in a global community know, no longer divided by land and sea. Looking at my followers and followees list (this is the equivilant of friends in Twitter – you can follow people you think are interesting, and other people can follow you), I am surprised to see how geographically diverse the group is. I’ve met and chatted with people from Hawaii, Dallas, New York City (I really need to take Steph one of these years), South America, New Zealand, England, Japan, Russia, Norway…I could likely name more places but I think you get my point. And these just aren’t online friends anymore. One of the first people I followed was a Tweeter named geekycyberdad (real name – Shawn). While getting ready for Dreamforce 08, I had begun searching Twitter for Dreamforce chatter, and stumbled upon his name. We followed each other, and slowly got to know each other through our updates. Since then, we have become Internet friends, joking back and forth about sports, politics, and temperatures (I’m sorry, Shawn, but you really should let me go to Miami for you!). Shawn is one example I have…there are many others. Without twitter I would not have been able to meet (and keep up with) some absolutely fabulous people.
3) This Just In…
I’m sure you’ve all heard about Flight 1549 by now…it’s been all over the net. Well, a neat thing happened while I worked yesterday (while it happened). I use TweetDeck (an Air app that you can use to chat and view Twitter), and all of a sudden, the updates started to come fast and furious. Quickly looking, I see that many I follow are talking about the plane that is floating in the Hudson. This all within 5 minutes of the plane landing in the water! No CNN or MSNBC coverage yet, just Twitter. A couple of minutes later, I knew the flight number, where it was going, what happened, where in the Hudson it was, and had access to pictures of the rescue effort. Later in the evening, Steph and I were discussing what Twitter had done with this event. What we concluded was that Twitter (and other communities like it) are now the news breakers for our generation, while the TV stations of the world have become like newspapers of old – it may be a little slower, but they put together a nice little informative package for you (well….most times…). Not a new concept, but it is so much fun to see in real life!
4. (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding
Like most people in the world, I love to help when I can. And what better place to do it then when I am speaking with the world (or at least the subset that knows me so far…). If you didn’t know from the sidebar, I run a Salesforce.com consulting firm here in Ottawa. I’d also like to think that we here know a little bit about Salesforce.com as well (although on certain days before coffee kicks in I may disagree) and as such, I will ping people who tweet out with a “Yelp! My salesforce…” message. Done this a few times, and had three people ping me back. Two took ten minutes, and another one 30 minutes. And with that, a good deed for the day was done. No bills, no charge, no requirement whatsoever (I do love a thank you though, and gotten it three times!). I love what I do, and make good money doing it already. If i can help others who happen to be in a bind, then I have had a good day.
Other ways people help is by forwarding URLs to new stories or information portals, many of which I would miss (I love to surf, but not that much! ). The stories that I find extremely interesting and teach me something I retweet (think of pressing the forward button on the email client, and that is retweet!). I don’t have the ability to read all of them, but what an amazing way to help, just by sharing.
How far can this help go? Many many stories and assistance has come through the net – David Armano spearheded a touching call for help just after Christmas to help a family in need, and what was done made me happy to be human.
—
So, there you go…why I tweet. It’s new and interesting, it’s global, it’s real time and it is caring. For those on twitter and don’t follow me, there’s a link to the right – would love to see you on there. And for those not yet on, why not give it a try?
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Tags: Personal, Twitter
Posted by Nik on Dec 29, 2008 in
Children,
Personal,
Salesforce Hello all,
Well, we find ourselves at the end of one year, and awaiting the birth of a new one. This is typically the time of year we traditionally reflect, and being to make resolutions and plans for the next year. I must admit, I have never been good at either, usually living too much in the moment to worry about the past or the future at a personal level. However, this year has been a good year, and maybe it’s the age creeping up on me, but it is nice to sit back and remember sometimes, no?
What happened this year??? Well…
1) My children have continue to amaze and bedazzle me – Jordan is now up to my shoulders at the age of 10, and is enjoying (and winning lots of medals) with highland dance. William as a six year old has enjoyed his time on the ice playing hockey, and has finally decided he wants to take power skating.
2) Steph, my lovely wife, was quite frightened in September. William was heading into Grade 1, and we have been lucky enough to have Steph be home with both kids during the kindergarten years. The seperation was scary, but she made it through, as did William. Also, in a move to look at heading back ito the work force, She took a Financial Accounting course, and completely aced it, ending up with 96 percent as her end mark!
3) Work wise, I left the realm of employee, and became employer. xLerate Consulting was borne in May, and has been very successful given it’s humble beginnings. Starting with a laptop, a home made website, and some faith from the men and women from salesforce.com, the business has been steadily increasing, with more and more clients…greater and greater challenges with each month. I am happy to say that I surpassed my expectations for the first seven months, and look forward to continue to grow the business over 2009.
Which brings us to that wonderful resolutions part of the end of a year. Well, how bout this. We could play the detail game, and get into weight, smoking, riches…goals to me are something that need to be set, but it is a personal matter. Now, don’t get me wrong – I will be making goals for xLerate (and all 18…and growing… of our clients can be happy with the fact that the number one goal is to continue to to give the highest level of customer and professional services, so that we may succeed with them). and these will be made public, but what is the likelyhood that those new years resolutions to cut out a glass of shiraz a week, and lose those 10 pounds is really going to be relevant. My main goal in life is my resolution. My resolution is to make a better mark on the world, both personally and professionally, then I have in the past. For those of you who make resolutions, I wish you all the best. And for those who don’t, there’s lots of room on my wagon…maybe with enough people we actually could make a large difference!
Take care all, and keep safe.
N
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Tags: New Years, xLerate
Posted by Nik on Nov 21, 2008 in
Personal Hey all,
Apple has posted an update for iPhone, to version 2.2. Apple states the following enhancements:
iPhone 2.2 Software Update
This update contains many bug fixes and improvements, including the following:
• Enhancements to Maps
- Google Street View
- public transit and walking directions
- display address of dropped pins
- share location via email
• Enhancements to Mail
- resolved isolated issues with scheduled fetching of email
- improved formatting of wide HTML email
• Improved stability and performance of Safari
• Podcasts are now available for download in iTunes application (over Wi-Fi and cellular network)
• Decrease in call set-up failures and call drops
• Improved sound quality of visual voicemail messages
• Pressing the Home button from any Home screen takes you to the first Home screen
• Preference to turn on/off auto-correction in Keyboard Settings
Doing the upgrade as I speak – will let you know what issues arise after the upgrade. Having issues fetching my gmail, so i am hoping this alleviates my pain…
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Posted by Nik on Nov 18, 2008 in
Personal,
Salesforce Hello all…
Well, yet another blog in this place we call the Internet. In between all these things we do as humans – eat, sleep, work being three bigs ones – the third one was always an interesting battle for me. I am slightly opinionated (which is much akin to saying that Greenland gets chilly in the winter time…), and it seems that I always felt that the direction the company I was working for was either heading down a direction that I thought was wrong, or we were losing sight of the real focus of any Company – our clients.
Thus, in May of 2008, xLerate was borne…and now the devil I know is the devil in charge. Heaven help me…
So, with everything else, why start a blog? Well, for one – what the heck! There are many times I wish to parlay new ifnormation, or little tidbits about Salesforce.com (the CRM we surround ourselves with, both as users and implementation partners) that I want to pass along to others. There are times where I just want to blurt out something slightly silly, crazy, or just outright wierd about the world we live in. I have had other blogs, some named, some anonymous – I thought it was time to amalgamate.
Also, with my new toy – the iPhone (after 8 longs years as a blackberry user, I made the switch this week as the Blackberry Storm would not be released on the Rogers network here in Canada for the forseeable future), they have a WordPress app (the blog app of choice with me) so, while in the middle of travel and such, I figure I can post thoughts as well). So, we’ll see how this works out.
No major news today – just an introduction post. Keep safe all, and Carpe Diem!
Nik
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Tags: Blackberry, iPhone, Personal
