The Blog Archive
The sacred and the profound: surrealism in Mexico
Mexico will always hold a special place in my heart. It was the first country I travelled to on my own, and I did so rather impetuously, at a time when I was an emotional basket case on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I showed up late at night carrying only a vague address of a woman who didn’t seem aware I was coming, carrying nothing but a little kid’s backpack and a knowledge of Spanish far more rustic than I have now (which isn’t saying a much). I had a hand full of fresh new stitches and nerve damage. Everyone who knew me was pretty convinced I’d either come back dead or land myself...
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Breaking rules and busting heads
In the past twelve hours, I’ve booked two flight itineraries for six different flights to be taken in the next three weeks. In December and January, I’ll have visited around eleven different cities (possibly more), in five different countries, on two different continents. In February, I’ll be adding even more countries and cities to my list. By the time I return to Canada in the summer, I’ll have lived in seven different countries in four continents. I am, without question, a vagabond. Booking a flight can make my heart race. The feeling of landing in a strange city, lost and confused, gives me great...
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Five tricks for staying sane as a long-term nomad
A little more than a month into my Grand World Tour, and I’m still utterly thrilled by it. My sense of time is all skewed—it feels as though I’ve been away from my “home” and the people I love so much longer, but it doesn’t feel like I’ve been living in México for a month. I’ve been absorbing, learning, and changing so much, and I don’t think I have, for even a single moment, yet regretted my decision to undertake this grand venture. It’s pretty intense what I’m doing, and I often find myself overly emotional—not in a negative or positive way really, but I think it’s my way...
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“Isn’t that dangerous?”
All the way to Mexico, that’s all people asked me. The US customs officer, before I’d even left Halifax, looked at me like I was insane when I said I wasn’t staying in San Diego, but was just planning to meander across the border. (Technically a lie, as I stayed in San Diego the first night, but I have such rotten luck with customs officers that I find it’s best to give them the simplest answer possible, and they’re often confused enough by my vagabond ways.) “You’re going to Mexico?” he asked. “Near the border? By yourself? Don’t you know how dangerous it is down there?” I’ll admit...
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Getting scared: on becoming a nomad
Okay, I’ll admit it. Sometimes, I get terrified. Tomorrow morning, I hop on a plane bound for San Diego. From there, I’ll walk across the border and take a bus from Tijuana to Ensenada, where I’ll be living for the next couple of months (assuming I find somewhere to live). After that, I’ll head up to LA, and fly over to Hong Kong for New Years’. I’ll spend a few months flitting around Southeast Asia, living mostly in Thailand and Vietnam, depending on how the visas all play out. Come spring, I’ll hop over to Spain, and finally get to tour around—ideally visiting Morocco, Portugal, and...
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How a motorcycle made me a better businessperson
Last weekend was my birthday. (I won’t tell you how old I turned, but I am now officially starting to feel old. If you’re really interested, I’m sure a quick Google search will turn up something that’s not yet a lie.) As a present, a friend took me on what can best be described as a “whirlwind trip”: we rode his motorcycle 3000 kilometers to New York City, and back, in four days. It wasn’t until we’d hit Bangor, Maine on the second day that I realized just how insane of an idea that was. For starters, when I say “motorcycle”, I don’t mean a cushy touring bike with backrests, stereo speakers,...
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5 strategies for coping with the summer slump
I have sent out so many estimates in the past couple of months, it would make your head spin. This week alone, I have three open estimates floating about, and another couple of leads to follow up on. I hate writing estimates. It takes a lot longer than invoicing and feels much less rewarding. It’s always a tiny little bit nerve-wracking waiting for the response back: will we be making beautiful things together? I don’t know if it’s something I’m doing wrong, but I haven’t heard a single yes in all this time. I’ve been doing my regular client work, and I’ve been taking on little...
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The Seven Deadly Sins of Websites
Forgive me father, for I have sinned. Actually, I haven’t, but you probably have. I don’t mean gluttony, lust, et. al. Honestly, some of those really have their time and place. I’m talking about the things that I see over and over, on websites big and small, that absolutely drive me insane. I make websites for a living. If I can’t use yours, or get frustrated by it and leave, there’s a good chance that your target market (unless they’re more technically-inclined than I am, which they’re probably not) is having an even worse time. Lucky for you, I’ll tell you about it! (Just ask about the time...
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Five things I’ve learned during five years in business
Every year, I have the best intentions to celebrate my business’ birthday in some fashion. Every year, I remember two weeks too late. Triggers & Sparks is basically my neglected child. I suppose that might explain why every now and again, it throws temper tantrums. There are a number of anniversaries I could celebrate—the day I left my full-time job, or the day I was first paid for work, but this one falls nicely in the middle and is simple enough to remember: by sheer coincidence, the date on my official business registration is 06.06.06. While I’m neither religious or satanistic, I do believe in serendipity, and thought...
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Saying goodbye to South America
Three months in South America turned into five months, and I was still sad when it came time to come home. Somewhere in the JFK airport, exhausted from my eleven-hour flight and an hour and a half of standing in line, waiting for US customs to harass me for flying through a country I had no time to step outside in, I started to get horribly depressed. It was cold and grey. Everyone around me was speaking English again. Everything looked so familiar, too perfect and sterile. Luckily, by the time I got to Halifax (and another long wait at customs while they inspected every single...
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6 tips to get the most out of your website redesign
So, you’ve decided it’s time for a redesign. All the signs are there, and you’re ready to take the plunge. But where do you start? I’ve seen too many people launch into a website redesign without serious consideration first, and unfortunately this can often mean that they’re not getting everything they should be from their redesign. A redesign is an investment on your part—both in time and money—and can be a great opportunity to turn your business around. 1. Get strategic. Before doing anything else, you need to sit down and figure out what you want out of your website. The more clearly defined...
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How to know when it’s time to redesign
I’ve recently been working on a slight redesign of this site. Now, when I say “slight”, I actually do mean “mostly so subtle, the vast majority of people won’t notice the difference”, so you may or may not see anything changing as I work on it. (I got very brave and uploaded the new design midway through working on it, so there might be some kinks here and there.) But I’m a crazy obsessive detail-oriented freak. A redesign for me is basically a perpetually ongoing process, consisting of tiny little adjustments every day. The last time I redesigned (admittedly, it was a much larger redesign than this one!) took a few...
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