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Monday, 28 July 2014
Lemon Tilda Card
12 comments:
AWE Jay she's just sooo CUTE!!! I can't wait for my Pink Lemonade collection to arrive!!! You've coloured her so BEAUTIFULLY...as always a phenomenal card!! Love all the layers...all the different dies that you've used are just gorgeous!!ReplyDelete
Take care,
A delightful card which is perfect for our theme this month, thanks so much for joining us at Allsorts challenge.ReplyDelete
B x
Oh dear me Jay, wrong hat on, I did of course mean Stamping Sensations challenge.ReplyDelete
B x
Your card is marvellous! I love all the beautiful embellies and the design is gorgeous, too.ReplyDelete
Thanks for joining our Summer Challenge at Magnolia Mania.
Gorgeous card JayReplyDelete
so beautiful image
hugs Tamara
Gorgeous creation, thanks for joining Stamping Sensations, good luck.ReplyDelete
Happy crafting
Tracy x
This is gorgeous Jay! Your colouring is beautiful and I adore the design!ReplyDelete
Gina x
Gorgeous card. Just Love the design and all the dies you used. Thank you for joining us at Indonesia Magnolia Lovers Challenge. Good luck and we hope to see you again soon.ReplyDelete
Hi Jay a beautiful card love the design and colours chosen. Thank you for joining our challenge this week at Artistic Inspirations.ReplyDelete
Good luck
Fiona dt. x
This is stunning Jay. Full of gorgeous detail and crafting loveliness.ReplyDelete
Thanks for joining us at Marvelous Magnolia.
Hugs xx
Oh Jay, look what you did! Wonderful job!!ReplyDelete
Thanks for sharing this at Indonesia Magnolia Lovers Challenge!
Wish to see you again next time ;)
Hello Jay,ReplyDelete
What a beautiful card love the colors and the new Magnolia stamp is so cute!!
Hugs Marrie
Thank you very much for taking the time to leave me your lovely comments, I read each and every one and they really do make my day!


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FREE Nature Activities at Cochituate State Park for Month of August 2011
FRAMINGHAM, MA - Between the towns of Natick, Wayland and Framingham, MA, Lake Cochituate offer many recreational summer activities including swimming, boating and fishing.
Many locals may not realize that just a few hundred yards east of the Framingham/Natick town line, (on Rt. 30), the beach, picnic area, boat launch, snack bar and canoe/kayak rental shop are in Cochituate State Park, (which is operated by the MA Dept. of Conservation and Recreation).
Below is a list of fun, educational FREE summer activities for kids and families available at the park during the month of August 2011, (Tuesdays-Saturdays).
Most of the activities have a different theme each week, so ...[read more]

subset: commoncrawl


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Newsletter from Scandinavian International University – July 2017
From July 2017 there will be a newsletter coming out every month, shorter in content but now more often. It has also a new name: "Excellence Trainer". Here is the background to the new name.
Mental Training and Excellence
When Uneståhl organized the WorldCongress in Sport Psychology in Copenhagen 1985 he made a proposal to divide ISSP – the International Society for Sport Psychology – into a more theoretical and a more applied part – in the same way as in USA where NASPA (North American Sport Psychology Association) became the theoretical Society and AAASP (American Alliance for Applied Sport Psychology) the applied part.
Formed 1989
It took 4 years to decide but after the ISSP congress in Singapore 1989 an applied society was formed with the name: International Society for Mental Training and Excellence. Even if focus was on Sport it was decided that the society should have 4 applied areas:
- Sport and Performing Arts
- Business and Public Administration
- School and Education
- Health and Wellbeing
World Congresses
It was also decided to have a world congress every four years between the ISSP congresses.
The first congress was held at Örebro University, Sweden 1991, the second at Ottawa University, Canada 1995, third at University of Utah in Salt Lake City 1999 and the fourth at Lesgaft University in St Petersburg 2003.
The next was supposed to be at the National University in Malaysia 2007 but for several reasons it was postponed to 2008 with Beijing as the congress place. At the same time the name of the Congress was changed to World Congress on Excellence.
Excellence became the common concept for the Congress with subconferences about various "Roads to Excellence", like Mental Training, Mindfulness, NLP, Coaching, Developmental Hypnosis, "Asian methods like Yoga, Tái chi, Qi Gong, etc.
The Congresses in Pristina university, Kosovo 2011 and in Chandigarh university in India 2015 has had the same name "World Congress on Excellence". So also the next congress at Gävle University in Sweden 2019 (Preregister at www.wcecongress.com)
The Excellence Concept
The name of the society and the name of the world congresses has created a large interest for Excellence as a vision, as a goal and for a new model of Change (The Excellence model).
It has also stimulated work to define Excellence for various areas like Brain Excellence, Mind Excellence, Muscular Excellence, Recovery Excellence, Sleep Excellence, Immunity Excellence and many more and to work out ways to reach Excellence in these areas.
In future newsletter we will give more examples from this work.
CET- Center of Excellence Training
SIU has been a leader in the development of and the application of the term Excellence, which is rather natural as Uneståhl was the founding President of the ISMTE Society.
SIU has for example developed CET – Center of Excellence Training on 3 places around the world, one in Costa Rica (North-South America) one in Thailand (Asia and Australia) and one in Mallorca, Spain (Europe and Africa). SIU organizes regular trainings in these centers, but the centers are also open for SIU members to use.
Remember to register
As SIU is an open university everyone is welcome to become a member. There is no cost and no duties, just advantages, so there is nothing to lose. This also means that you will automatically get the newsletter every month. Next month we will write more about the Excellence concept and also about the courses that SIU will offer (in Swedish and English) during the fall. Until then, have a nice and refreshing holiday, full of recovery.
Lars-Eric Uneståhl / Jan Lundgren


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-+*Last year, I conducted a small, but revealing, reader survey to see what issues concerned people most. Somewhat surprisingly, the desire to pursue one's dreams while being a caregiver emerged as an important topic for many. As I reflected on this topic further, in light of my current caregiving situation (my 83-year-old father living with us with moderate care needs), …Read More »
Caring for Caregivers
-+*Are you great at being a caregiver but suck at self-care? Me too. Just the other day I made a colorful, varied and healthy lunch for my dad while I ate cold pizza. And, although I am meticulous about making sure that he is clean, odor-free and his clothing and bedding are fresh, I just forget some days to take a …Read More »
What Does a "Typical" Caregiver Look Like? Four Startling Caregiver Facts
-+*I love finding patterns and connecting the dots between pieces of information. It could be a part of why I created this site. When all the students in my statistics class couldn't wait for the nun to stop the pain of a very tough class, I couldn't get enough of it. The same is true for data around caregivers. Nationally, …Read More »
5 Secrets to Gaining Your Physician's Respect
-+*Have you ever felt dismissed or demeaned by a physician? This blog is going to give you five secrets I've uncovered from years of working with physicians, personally and professionally. They, just like us "normal" folk, have varied personalities and preferences. It sounds obvious, but, many times, we expect physicians to be better than "normal." We expect them to have …Read More »
Thinking of Moving a Parent in with You? Four curve balls I wish I had prepared for.
-+*When the skilled nursing facility said that Medicare was done paying for my dad's stay, I knew it was time for Plan B. Plan A would have been that my dad was well enough to go home to live independently, by himself, as he had up until the stroke he had just three months earlier. Plan B was a swirling cloud of ideas …Read More »
Who's Taking Care of Me? Three Q&A to Understanding Your Hospital Care Team
-+*Being admitted to the hospital is confusing and scary enough. There is a flurry of activity to address your medical needs, diagnose and treat your problem, along with administrative tasks. Then, there's getting you settled into a room. Lots of new faces start showing up to poke and prod you, ask you lots of questions and run tests. It can be …Read More »
There's a time to fight and a time for faith
-+*Published: November 2008 PA CAREgiver Magazine As I write, my husband, Scott, has been in the hospital for 70 days straight. Needless to say, it has been a long and arduous stay and I am unclear when it will end. More so than any other of Scott's hospital stays, this one has caused me more frustration and anger, more turmoil …Read More »
What if I died today? The most positive question you can ask yourself.
-+*What if I died today? The thought goes through my head occasionally. It's certainly not unusual when you've seen illness and end of life from such a personal place. No one gets out of life alive, so what if today is my day? It's a shocking thought. I lost my grandfather when I was 16, my mother when I was …Read More »
Four Tips: Making the most of your next doctor's appointment
-+*Do you love your doctor, but hate having to go to doctor appointments? We schedule them out of necessity, duty, or habit, but do you really get what you need from these precious face-to-face interactions with your most trusted health adviser? If you find yourself regularly walking away scratching your head and saying "what just happened?" then your doctor's appointments …Read More »
Why I lost 80 pounds in 9 months (…and how)
-+*There was a time when I weighed 230 pounds. At 5'6 I thought that I could get away with being heavier because I was a little taller. Despite that delusion, my weight triggered chronic health issues that I still struggle with today – high blood pressure and chronic back problems. I was never able to get my weight under control. …Read More »


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1.0 collection of personal information
G&M Stationery are the sole owners of the information collected on www.gmstationery.com.au . We collect information from our users at several different points on our Web sites.
We request information from the client on our order forms. A client must provide contact information (such as name, email, and shipping address) and financial information (such as credit card number, expiration date). This information is used for billing purposes and to fill customers' orders. If we have trouble processing an order, the information is used to contact the user.
2.0 the way personal information is used
The information we collect may be used to provide you with tailored solutions. We may also use this information to contact you regarding issues related to accounts, sales or technical support.
On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email.
3.0 disclosure of personal information
We regard all information obtained from you as strictly confidential and therefore unless consent is provided we do not share your information with other third parties, with the following exception: this site may contain a small number of links to other sites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such Web sites.
4.0 the way to modify and update personal information
If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as postcode, phone, email or postal address), or if a user no longer desires our service, we provide a way to correct, update or delete/deactivate users' personally identifiable information. This can usually be done by emailing our customer support group or, contact us by postal mail.
5.0 individual's privacy when entering information
We may use cookies to keep track and record your preferences and activities on our sites.
A cookie is a piece of data stored on the user's computer tied to information about the user. For instance we record IP addresses when you make a purchase to ensure your transaction is not fraudulent.
It is optional to allow cookies and they can be disabled using your web browser. If users reject or disable the cookies, they may still access most of our websites.
6.0 security of personal information collected
This Web site takes every precaution to protect our users' information. When users submit sensitive information via the Web site, their information is protected both online and off-line.
When our order forms ask users to enter sensitive information (such as a credit card number), that information is encrypted and is protected with the best encryption software in the industry - SSL. While on a secure page, such as our order forms, the lock icon on the bottom of Web browsers such as Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer becomes locked, as opposed to un-locked, or open, when users are just 'surfing'.
While we use 128-bit SSL encryption to protect sensitive information online, we also do everything in our power to protect user-information off-line. All of our users' information, not just the sensitive information mentioned above, is restricted in our offices. Only employees who need the information to perform a specific job (for example, our billing clerk or a customer service representative) are granted access to personally identifiable information. Our employees must use password-protected screen-savers when they leave their desk. When they return, they must re-enter their password to re-gain access to user information. Furthermore, ALL employees are kept up-to-date on our security and privacy practices. Any time new policies are added, our employees are notified and reminded about the importance we place on privacy, and what they can do to ensure our users' information is protected. Finally, the servers that store personally identifiable information are kept in a secure environment.
If users have any questions about the security of our Web site, users can send an email to email@example.com
7.0 your consent to this agreement
By using our website, you consent to the above mentioned privacy statement. We may review and change the privacy statement from time to time, and we will publish the updated statement on our website


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Visit 1000booksbeforekindergarten.org for more information. This program is supported in part by the Mohawk Valley Library System.
No need to register for this program! There is no set start date and no forms to fill out. Just start reading!
Weekly themed storytime for ages 5 and under. Local singer/storyteller Gary VanSlyke performs the third Tuesday of each month. Supported in part by the Friends of the Johnstown Public Library.
Tuesdays at 10:30a
Kids' Events and Programs
1000 Books Before Kindergarten
38 South Market Street / Johnstown NY 12095 (518) 762-8317


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This morning when I woke up the first time (at 3:15, ugh!) I knew I was going to be tired today. I decided while I waited to fall back to sleep that I would try a different kind of slice today- a list of all the slices I could have written today, just based on me trying to pay close attention to the stories I see in one day, so here goes:
- The jarring alarm at 5:15 (I was in a deep sleep then)
- The cat on the pillow next to my head
- How happy my cat gets when I get out of bed
- Purring- does it really not show a cat's happiness?
- My kitchen smells like brownies (how I have a habit of saying "yes", so last night was baking brownies for the Care Club at school to have a bake sale today- nothing to do with me, I just have a hard time saying"no")
- "Wet" kitchens in Malaysia- explaining how most kitchens in Malaysia are in two sections, so my wet kitchen is behind a door, so smells linger there- for better and worse.
- My morning routines- including eating my overnight oatmeal at school
- P's big yawn- you know others are tired too when our team collaborative planning time started with our math coordinator letting out a huge yawn
- "Give me fat and salt"- another funny quote Ellen called out when we were talking about her general dislike for sweets other than chocolate (as she ate a Kit Kat)
- Learning vs busy- a discussion at collab time about looking for learning and how we know that students are learning
- My words bouncing back to me- hearing some of my frequent phrases being used by my students (a reminder that I have to always watch what I say)
- S's survey- during our afterschool activity, Book Love, a student wlaked around asking questions we could only answer yes or no to (one question was "What is your favorite color?" My answer was "yes" and she later remarked that me and the other teacher were the only ones that got that question right- I gave the other teacher the answer)
- J's survey-also during our ASA Jake surveyed people on their favorite all time book- it was fun to see what a few former students picked
- Watching the U11 basketball teams play and being told I was the only spectator who was not a family member to only come
Realistically I could have stretched any of these into a slice and there were many other moments that I edited out of my list. It is a good reminder to me that I need to notice more as I try to live a more writerly life. There are many Tuesdays that I sit down sure that I have no idea what to write- what I am really saying is that I did not take note.


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IEA-Electricity Access Database
From Open Energy Information
"In a continuing effort to improve our understanding of the electrification process, we have updated, for the fifth time, the database on electrification rates that we first built for WEO-2002. The database shows detailed data on urban and rural electrification collected from industry, national surveys and international sources. Based on this updated analysis, we estimate that in 2009 the number of people without access to electricity was 1.3 billion or almost 20% of the world's population. "
Click here to download data set


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A running discussion on the Cincinnati Reds and everything else in the baseball universe.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Getting a Feel for Jocketty and A Confirmation on Dusty
I'm still trying to get a feel for the predilections of Walt Jocketty. Admittedly, I didn't follow his every player personnel move with the Cardinals, but he seems to have made a number of solid moves, got lucky with Albert Pujols, and made one terrible trade for Mark Mulder.
Still, it's difficult to imagine what he was thinking when he hired Cam Bonifay and Bill Bavasi as special assistants to the General Manager. In fact, it's difficult to see it as anything other than a black mark against Jocketty, as Cam and Bill are two of the worst general managers in the history of Major League Baseball. In fact, Cam and Bill were listed #6 and #8 respectively on Jonah Keri's worst General Managers in the history of professional sports.
Cam Bonifay was the general manager of Pirates and made some of the biggest headscratcher moves imaginable. He gave hefty multi-year contracts to Kevin Young, Mike Benjamin, and one of the worst contracts in recent memory when he signed the mediocre Pat Meares. Not to mention, he topped it all off with a six year deal worth $60M for Jason Kendall. In addition, the Pirates constantly frittered away their top draft picks and never had a farm system of note.
As for Bavasi, he cut a swath of destruction up and down the west coast, first as the General Manager of the California/Anaheim Angels and then later with the Seattle Mariners. The list of mistakes is long and distinguished, including signing Mo Vaughn, Richie Sexson, Carlos Silva, and trading the entire farm system away for Erik Bedard.
Now, I can certainly understand that some people are quality baseball minds, but are just ill-suited for the role of general manager. In that category, I could see including Dan O'Brien, who suffered from paralysis by analysis as a GM, but seemed to have a knack for building a farm system. Unfortunately, I find it impossible to include Bonifay and Bavasi in that category, as neither seems to have the slightest clue about player valuation, building up a farm system, or any other aspect of front office work.
Jocketty may have a solid track record with the Cardinals, but he's not exactly building a 21st century version of the "best and the brightest" for his advisers. In fact, it's difficult to conceive what kind of advice of value either Bonifay or Bavasi could even offer.
Now that we have shed no additional light on the mystery that is Walt Jocketty, it's time to turn our attention to one Johnnie B. Baker Jr. And, while we all know the reputation of Dusty Baker, is it actually true? How does Dusty manage the game? And, who better to measure the tendencies of MLB managers than Bill James?
The 2009 Bill James Handbook includes a section that tracks the tendencies of managers. Unfortunately, since it's a relatively new metric, there is no baseline for comparison. Even so, there are things to be revealed from the career of Dusty.
First and most obviously, Dusty works his starting pitchers harder than most. Dusty's managerial career is notable for his tendency to allow his pitchers to work "long outings" and using a "slow hook." Slow hooks are calculated by by adding the number of pitches plus 10 times the number of Runs Allowed. The top 25% of the scores in the league are considered Slow Hooks. Dusty led the league with 63 slow hooks.
"Long outings" are defined as an outing in which the starting pitcher throws more than 110 pitches. In 2008, Dusty had 39 long outings. In addition, Dusty has frequently led the league in Pitch Outs. In 2008, Dusty had good success utilizing the intentional base on balls. He called for four wide ones 40 times and of those 28 had a "good" result and 12 were "not good." Of the 12 "not good," 4 of those were a "bomb."
So, it's pretty clear that Dusty lived up to his reputation, as he likes to work his starters hard and gives them a lot of rope. However, I think it's just as interesting to see how Dusty handles the bullpen.
One of the more interesting new baseball statistics is the Leverage Index, which is the amount of swing in the possible change in win probability, compared to the average swing in all situations. The average swing value, by definition, is indexed to 1.00. If the score is 14-1, then the possible changes in win probability will be very close to negligible. Whether the pitcher gives up a home run or gets a double play ball, it doesn't really change the outcome of the game. However, in the late innings of a close game, the change in win probability among the various events will have rather wild swings. With a runner on first, two outs, down by one, and in the bottom of the ninth, the game can hinge on one swing of that bat. A home run and an out will both end the game, but with different outcomes for the teams involved.
So, given all of that, it's clear that you want to use your best relievers in the high leverage situations. When the game is on the line and the pitches are the most valuable, those are the pitches you want to be thrown by your best relievers. So, how did Dusty stack up?
In 2008, the leverage index was as follows for the Reds relievers:
Francisco Cordero - 1.8
David Weathers - 1.3
Jared Burton - 1.1
Jeremy Affeldt - 0.6
Mike Lincoln - 1.0
So, in the crucial moments, Dusty relied heavily on Cordero and Weathers. However, it's difficult to argue that Jared Burton was not the most effective reliever on the team and yet he rarely pitched in high leverage situations. In addition, Jeremy Affeldt was very effective, but he was used mostly as a mop-up man.
Now, you can certainly make the "chicken-and-the-egg" argument on Affeldt. Was he effective solely because he was used in mop-up situations or would he have been equally as effective in the high leverage situations?
Whatever the explanation, it will be key to the Reds chances for success in 2009 for Jared Burton to work significantly more high leverage innings. Given their talent, the Reds don't have the margin of error necessary to be successful without using their best relievers in key situations.
It's too soon to be drawing any conclusions, but it seems clear that Dusty needs to handle the bullpen better in 2009.
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Vans Childrens Old Skool Velcro - Black / White
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Shop the Vans Old Skool Velcro Childrens in Black & White online
Vans have recreated their iconic skate sneaker for little feet with the Old Skool Velcro Childrens. Constructed from a mix of suede & canvas in the upper with contrast stripe, the mini, vulcanised model is fastened by two hook and loop Velcro enclosures while it is comforted by a synthetic leather lining and textile insoles. Cop these before they sell out with West Brothers.
- Mix Suede & Canvas upper
- Velcro Strap Enclosure
- Synthetic Lining
- Vulcanised Midsole
- Product code: vn-0vhe6bt.blktrwht


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It's been quite some time since I have really challenged myself. Now that I think about it, the last time I really did was back in school. My High School was full of overachievers, so I was forced to challenge myself just to keep up with everyone. However, nowadays, as a man with a stable career and a family, it's almost as if I don't have time to challenge myself. But I know that isn't the case; there is always time, you just have to find it: and you might not like the truth about where you find the time).
The reason I bring this topic to light is that I recently decided that I would try to improve my racquetball skills by entering myself into a league at my gym. My initial thought was that I will enroll into the lowest league and see how well I do. I guess the plan was to move on to the next league after I start to slaughter everyone else on a regular basis. But, last week, I was notified of a snag in my plan: they weren't going to play on the days that fit my schedule. At this point, my options were:
1) Withdraw my registration
2) Sign up in the next league up
So, after some hesitation, I realized that I should just bite the bullet and sign up for the next league higher. I'm not exactly a beginner at racqetball, but I'm certainly not an expert either, so maybe it does fit. However, I started to think: what's the worst that will happen if I do sign up for the next league up? Well, probably I will lose every game. Big deal. What will I gain by every loss? Everything. I will learn by playing other players and other styles on a regular basis. I can ask other people questions about their game if I see something that is questionable.
The bottom line is that even if I lose every game in the higher league, I can only get better by playing people who are better at the sport than I current am.
Just remember, whenever something comes up that seems to be beyond your current capabilities, you so much more to gain by trying and failing than by not trying at all. And to think, I had almost forgotten this lesson.


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Promotion and Additions
October 27, 2014 | By Admin | No Comments
It's official! We promoted Paula Gilmour to Senior Associate and hired Steve Nowaczyk and Alex Mann as Associates.
Gilmour recently managed the construction administration of the Madison Valley Stormwater Storage Project and Rainier Beach Community Center and will take on management of the firm's ongoing work on the Sound Transit East Link Extension.
Nowaczyk joined Nakano Associates with five years of experience as a project manager and designer in the Bay Area and received a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from Michigan State University. He is working on East Link and the new Seattle City Light Training Center.
Mann has five years of landscape design and neighborhood connectivity planning experience and holds a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from Washington State University. He is working on the College Instruction Center at Olympic College, East Link and Plaza Roberto Maestas.
Spread the word with this unlocked Daily Journal of Commerce story:


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What is AI, why is it essential, and what does it have to do with marketing?
Do you remember the late 90s, when simple websites hit the market? At the time I tried to convince leaders how these simple sites could transform their business.
A few years later, e-commerce was the new kid in the town. I still remember the surprised look on the face of the customer service representative when I told her I had gone online to order a pizza with custom toppings. She couldn't believe that the internet could support that kind of request!
Since then, technology's growth has brought many innovations that we're used to the next one. I can't imagine the same service rep was half as surprised when people started using their virtual assistants to order Deliveroo.
And that is precisely the meaning of innovation. It has to do with a change as it's defined in the dictionary (Merriam Webster Dictionary, 2015): 'To make changes: do something in a new way.'
Since the 90s, the fundamental drivers of economic growth have been technological innovations. Applications of digital technology are reshaping our daily life, and most of us aren't fazed by the change.
Artificial Intelligence will emerge at the centre of this change as it challenges and augments human knowledge.
But what is AI and why is so important nowadays?
Merriam-Webster defines artificial intelligence in two ways:
"1. A branch of computer science dealing with the simulation of intelligent behaviour in Computers.
2. The capability of a machine to imitate intelligent human behaviour."
In practice, AI is the ability for computers to learn, understand data and take decisions
based on patterns of cognition.
Another approach this time from Harvard Business Review showcases the importance of AI:
'The most important general-purpose technology of our era is artificial intelligence, particularly machine learning (ML) — that is, the machine's ability to keep improving its performance without humans having to explain exactly how to accomplish all the tasks it's given. Within just the past few years machine learning has become far more effective and widely available. We can now build systems that learn how to perform tasks on their own."
IBM's CEO, Ginni Rometty, explained at an investor's meeting that Machine Learning is at the heart of the $2 trillion market.
But are we informed about AI? Do we have examples of contemporary applications of AI or is it a notion that only really appears in 70s sci-fi novels? According to a Sage survey, 43% of respondents in the United States and 46% of respondents in the United Kingdom admitted that they have 'no idea what AI is all about.' (Business Insider, 2017).
Below are just a few examples of how AI is performs today. No doubt these give a glimpse into an exciting future driven by AI:
- Image recognition (i.e. Facebook uses AI to recognise faces.)
- Chatbots (i.e. Pizza is in the oven and will soon be ready for you)
- Online stores (i.e. Recommendations from Amazon.co.uk)
- Spam e-mails
- Personal assistants (Siri, Alexa, Google assistant)
- Online customer support
- Banking and Finance alerts
It is more than certain that in the near future AI will shape the future of marketing. Here are a few tools that will empower marketers and leaders to take better decisions and improve the positioning in the market:
1. Predictive analytics
Marketers can integrate across tools, datasets and platforms and make a data-driven decision.
Currently, on Facebook, you may target a keyword, and the platform suggests similar keywords that will improve the performance of your advertisement. During the campaign, the platform presents you an ad inventory and you edit, adjust or iterate it by either responding or not responding to whatever media is served. As a result, marketers can improve the performance of their campaigns with minimal intervention.
2. AI generated content
Top-down broadcasting is not as efficient as it used to be. Customers interact with messages that are relevant to them and tend to be indifferent to everything else. Moreover, a constant bombardment of messages, advertisements and suggestion makes them sceptical and highly selective. Content optimisation and curation help deliver the correct personalised message to each customer at the right moment.
3. Dynamic pricing
Artificial Intelligence can build a propensity model which pairs buying behaviour with personal characteristics to trigger an individually targeted offer. It can be an offer for a product that matches your preferences or a voucher for your favourite travel destination. The logic here is that bespoke proposals always convert at a higher rate.
4. Chatbots
Chatbots are a quick, direct and easy way to provide customers with a first level of service. Intelligent digital agents are the answer for providing replies to common questions and save the need for human support workers. Through chat bots, companies can also collect all queries or complaints instantly and view how people interact with their brand in real time.
5. Data-driven intelligent 360° customer view
Companies that pull the data together into a single view are more efficient. They are able to build a better strategy by developing customer segmentation based on actual purchases, customer behaviour and value. This means they're far better equipped to understand what marketing activity is working, and what can be scrapped. And doubling down on what's working quicker than any of your competitors is a sure-fire way to lead the market.
Nikos Kokkinos
Digital Marketing & Branding Expert


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|GCAA Hall of Fame
In 1980, the GCAA began inducting outstanding college golf coaches into the Hall of Fame. Since then, the hall has grown to include more tha 135 members. To be selected to the Hall of Fame, a coach must be nominated by his peers, and then selected by the GCAA Hall of Fame Committee. Selection criteria not only include a coach's record on the golf course, but his contributions to the game, student-athletes and school.
Living members of the Hall of Fame are eligible to receive the GCAA's highest coaching honor, the Honor Award. The Honor Award is presented, in cooperation with the College Golf Foundation as Associate Presenting Sponsor, to coaches who during their careers, competed at a high level and greatly impacted collegiate golf.
In January 2002, the late Karsten Solheim, founder of PING golf equipment and Karsten Manufacturing became the first non-coach to be accepted into the Hall of Fame. Solheim was honored posthumously with the inaugural GCAA Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding contributions to college golf and its student athletes. Other honorees include Byron Nelson, recipient in 2004, Arnold Palmer (2007), Jack Nicklaus (2008), Friends of Golf (2010), Jim Awtrey (2015), and Jim Nantz (2016).
GCAA Hall of Fame


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This year, I have done several weddings amongst numerous corporate events but i have not been able to blog. It's been a busy season for Tek Productions Services and we thank the Almighty God for the blessings.
On the blog today is Conso & Nato. I had the privilege of shooting this wedding at SamDove in Karen and the photo-shoot at Mamba Village.
Below are some of the best images;


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Price and description are subject to availability at Montaz Shop in Chambéry, La Ravoire (Savoy).
Prices are inclusive of all taxes (including VAT)
Produit disponible
BARTS Latti Hat W /Dusty Pink€29.99
Sizes stock 61
HERMAN Grant /Noir€19.99
Sizes stock 57 61
HERMAN James /Naturel€12.00
Sizes stock L
BARTS Aveloz Hat /Natural€29.99
Sizes stock M
BARTS Parsley Hat /Natural€39.99
Sizes stock 59 61
HERMAN Taibu /Beige€41.90
Produit disponible
BARTS Baxt Hat One Size /Black€29.99
Sizes stock L
BARTS Sunford Hat /Natural€29.99
Sizes stock 57
HERMAN Grant /Beige€14.99
Produit disponible
BARTS Gamble Hat /Wheat€34.99
Produit disponible
BARTS Gamble Hat /Dark Celadon€34.99
Produit disponible
BARTS Latti Hat W /Dusty Pink€29.99
Produit disponible
BARTS Tour Hat /Cream€29.99
Your item doesn't fit you? No problem! You have 60 days to change your mind.
Exchange Policy
You can return an item for an exchange of size or model within 60 days. Go into your account, click on "my orders" and then once on the order, you can ask for an exchange (option only available if we have other sizes in stock). The return costs are at your expense and we will take care of the shipping costs to send the new item to you.
Refund Policy
You can return an item for a refund within 60 days. Go into your account, click on "my orders" and then once on the order, you can ask for a refund. The return costs are at your expense. After receiving your item, Montaz will reimburse the total amount of your order (product(s) and shipping costs) except if you ordered several items and decided not to return all of them. Once we have received your parcel, it will be refunded to the card (or PayPal account) used to place the order within 2 to 3 days.
If you wish to return an item:
- Go into your account, click on "my orders" and then once on the order, you can ask for an exchange or a refund within 60 days. The return costs are at your expense.
- Put a copy of the confirmation e-mail of exchange or refund in your parcel.
- On your parcel, write the order number («MON*****»).
- Items must be returned : clean, unworn and unused with original tags and packaging.
- Shoes must be returned with their original boxes in a new parcel (do not send the box without protection).
- If you return all of your order, you must return all the items you received, including goodies and gifts we may have offered to you (example : ski bags for skis).
- Returns must use the postal services of your country.
- You can purchase a prepaid shipping label from us for 7 euros, whatever you return to us. To do so, just type the reference 155732 on our search engine on www.montaz.com or click on this link, add it to your basket and place your order. You will receive your prepaid label by email within a few minutes (it can take up to several hours).
- Once you have asked for an exchange or refund, you have 10 days to return the item(s).
Your return must be sent to:
Retour Web + (number of your order MON*****)
255 rue Sébastien Charléty
73490 La Ravoire
Any return not in compliance with the previous statement may be refused by our returns department.


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Monday, September 06, 2010
Waving The Terrible Towel For Steelers Babes
The Pittsburgh Steelers kick off the 2010 regular season on Sunday, which makes it a perfect time to once again celebrate Steelers Babes. If you have photos you'd like to submit for the 2010 Steelers Babes collection, email them to email@example.com and they'll appear in an upcoming post.
To get things rolling I'm featuring this delectable creature...
Needless to say, I'm waving The Terrible Towel for Steelers Babes! Here we go, Steelers, here we go... Here we go, Steelers, here we go... Can I get a HELL YEAH?!?
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Ariat 10029680 Womens Tailgate Western Boots Weathered Rust
Brand : Ariat
JCWesternwear.com Pricing is Only Valid when Purchasing Online. Not Valid at our Retail Stores. Certain Products are Available Online Only. Please Call for IN-STORE Availability.
Ariat 10029680 Womens Tailgate Western Boots Weathered Rust
Ariat 10029680 Womens Tailgate Western Boots Weathered Rust - From the game to the dance floor, these boots are a fan favorite.
- Premium full-grain leather foot and upper
- 11 inch shaft heigh
- Snip (X) Toes
- Goodyear® leather welt construction
- Leather Lining
- 4LR technology for support & cushioning
- Hand-nailed, scoured, and distressed leather outsole, can be re-soled
- Sizes: B (5.5-10,11)
- 1002 9680
About Ariat®
Ariat International® is a premium performance footwear, apparel and accessories brand for equestrian sports and other outdoor activities, located in Union City, California. Ariat was founded by Beth Cross and Pam Parker in 1992.
Ariat Sponsorship
Ariat promotes its products through sponsorship agreements with the world's top riders, teams, and global events.
Ariat is the official footwear sponsor of Professional Bull Riding (the PBR), the fastest growing sport on US television. It is also a strong sport in Brazil, and is launching in China in 2016. Ariat is the official footwear, and apparel supplier of World Series of Team Roping (WSTR), the largest adult community of roping athletes, and the official footwear sponsor of National High School Rodeo Association (NHSRA).
Ariat is the official footwear supplier of the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF), and a sponsor of the Winter Equestrian Festival, Central Park Horse Show, Tryon Park Equestrian Center, and Washington International Horse Shows.
mens waterproof boot, Men's Ariat Leather Work Boot, man construction industrial work boot, men's Ariat non-slip boots, oil resistance sole boot, men's Ariat Western Work boot, closeout boots, clearance work boots, Cowboy cheap boots, Sale boots, Deal boot, Ariat Closeout Western Boots
- If you are not 100% satisfied with your online order, JCWesternWear.com always accepts return for a refund or exchange within 30 days of delivery.
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- All return and exchange items are subject to inspection.
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- All return and exchange items must be accompanied by store receipt or online order Packing Slip.
- Please be advised that original shipping charges on your order are non-refundable.
- All return items are subject to a 10% handling and restocking fee.
- When returning an item purchased online using a credit card; a credit will be issued in the amount of the original purchase, less the 10% handling and restocking fee.
- When returning an item purchased online using a Gift Certificate, a new Gift Certificate will be issued in the amount of the original purchase, less a 10% handling and restocking fee.
- Custom Made items, Special Order items, Final Sale items, Clearance items, altered and/or monogrammed or engraved items will not be accepted for return or exchange.
- Please note, the time frame for exchanged products varies. We will provide you with a timeline for your exchange within 5-10 business days.
- To begin your return, CLICK HERE
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If there is a JC Western retail store near you we will happily process your return or exchange in one of our stores provided you bring the internet email receipt and packing slip to the store.
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National Geographic Ultimate Explorer returns to "the land down under" to visit the Koorana Crocodile Farm in Queensland, Australia, for the nesting season, and the natives are growing restless. Every duty here is approached with caution when the job is raising crocodiles.
Farmer John Lever and his son Jason manage 3,000 crocs on their Koorana farm. About 60 of the crocs are pregnant, and the nesting season is about to begin full swing. Ultimate Explorer follows a new assistant in her first week during this testy time for the crocodiles.
Nature asks much of the crocodile. A pregnant female must aggressively battle for prime nesting territory, work diligently to build her nest and then display a careful touch when laying her fragile eggs. Few would imagine that such an enormous creature could exhibit delicacy in any form. But intrude on any of these protective mothers at your own risk!
The Levers collect the valuable eggs from the croc nests and place them in an incubator to increase their survival rate. It's a process that is crucial to the success of the farm, butavoiding the snapping jaws of the mother crocs can be difficult.
Ultimate Explorer joins the Levers on these risky excursions into the lairs of mother crocodiles where timing is everything.


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Ladies Night
Horseplay with Your Mares
During this fun-filled, 2-hour evening, you and your girlfriends will have a blast with our horses! Learning and Laughing your way through the night, you will be guided through ground-only exercises, that will have you connecting with your girlfriends like never before!
More Info...
Our Ladies Nights activities focus on FUN! Sure, you will learn tons of new things but we are mainly focused on having a great time. You and your herd of mares will be guided through many fun exercises that will involve getting our horses to perform certain activities. This night will have you and your girlfriends returning month after month to enjoy all of our exercises.
Not a 'horsey' person? Even better! You'll have a blast interacting with both our herd and your friends


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Well, somehow I dropped off the face of the blog for what, over a week? Sorry about that! The end of Reading Break was jam packed with activities, then once I was back at school it was go, go, go all week with assignments and midterms. And to be honest – I just didn't have the writing mojo going on to write up a whole post for you. But now I have the time, and the desire to write, so let's get on with things, shall we?
I was again lucky enough to be invited back to The Wellness Show as a member of the media (which I still think is cool, being considered part of the media). This time though, I made sure to bring my camera and do my best to document my experience as I wandered around the show. Being a food blogger, I was naturally more drawn to the food product booths, so most of what you will see here is focused on that. I'll leave the new-age healing and whatnot to someone else to recap 🙂
It was an absolutely gorgeous day on Friday to head downtown to the new Vancouver Convention Centre. I had to stop and take some photos looking out towards the North Shore.
Sadly, I had to head indoors in order to enjoy the show.
The layout was pretty standard – rows of booths for the exhibitors, with various demo stages and seminar areas around the perimeter.
I first decide to wander up and down the rows, just to scope out what looked the most interesting. And by interesting, I mean tasty. Gotta pace yourself for all the foods to be sampled!
Once I completed that, it was time to interact with the exhibitors and try out some delicious eats! Side note – you don't know how many exhibitors said "Hi Media" like it was my first name when I came up to their booth. And yet, only one asked me what media I was involved in. Seemed odd.
But I digress – lets take a look at the food 🙂
Humm! Hummus. Total yummus. That was so lame.
A raw food chef's booth. I wish I still had her card, but I lost it. Oops!
Anderssen's Life Flax Rolls. I actually didn't try the Ginger Coconut Yam roll picture, but it was the only one left when I got the chance to take the photo. I think I had the Roasted Red Pepper Hummus? Whichever it was, it was delicious!
Denman Island Chocolate. Mmmm, mmm good. Local company, making delicious, organic (and soon to be fair trade) dark chocolate bars in flavours such as Toasted Hazelnut, Zesty Orange, and Espresso Chunk (to name a few).
Crudessence Kombucha. I love that we have a Canadian kombucha product out there, and love even more that it tastes delicious.
SaviSeed. A tasty little seed that eats like a nut, available in Oh Natural, Karemlized, and Cocoa Kissed.
My favourites were the Oh Natural and the Karmelized. Although the chocolate was good, I found it overpowered the flavour of the nut…I mean seed.
Luna Bar. I don't think I'd ever had one before the show, which is crazy, because they've been around for awhile. They are alright, but not really my thing.
And then there was the Choices Market pavilion. One stop here will cure all of your hunger. I tried pretty much everything they had to offer. Sadly, I only documented a few of the samples.
Vitala dairy products. Very yummy, but I was sad they didn't have a plain yogurt, as I don't really ever buy flavoured yogurts.
I tasted a selection of oils.
And enjoyed some vegan tomato soup. The secret ingredient – coconut milk!
Eventually I was stuffed, so I sat down at one of the booths doing skin care product demos, and had some magic worked on my hands.
Can you actually see the difference between my hands?
The one on the left (sans hair elastic) was the one being treated, while the one on the right had nothing. It did make it very smooth, and sloughed off some dead skin. Sadly, I also found it kind of burned my skin later on. Definitely not worth the $200+ price tag for their kit as far as I'm concerned.
With a full belly and tingling hand, I decided it was time to hit the road. I did stop and take some photos of the giant glowing earth that rotates in the convention centre lobby.
It looks really spectacular all lit up at night.
Back at home, I took stock of the loot I collected. There was of course the swag bag and free samples gathered at the show.
And I may have made a few select purchases while I was there.
Like kombucha…
…and chocolate…
…and even a little freeze dried fruit.
I'm just proud I didn't go overboard on the purchasing. I'm working with a student budget, remember.
All in all, I was impressed with the Wellness Show. I wished I'd had some more time to hang around and catch some of the cooking demos on Saturday, but sometimes things just aren't meant to be. I can always look forward to next year.
If you were at the show, I'd love to hear what you thought of it!


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Hi devs,
This blog has moved. I'm now over at debuggerdotbreak.judahgabriel.com.
See you there,
Coding? Take a break and gain some software wisdom
Hi devs,
This blog has moved. I'm now over at debuggerdotbreak.judahgabriel.com.
See you there,
Summary: A modern dev stack for modern web apps. See how I built a new web app using RavenDB, Angular, Bootstrap and TypeScript. Why these tools are an excellent choice for modern web dev.
Twin Cities Code Camp (TCCC) is the biggest developer event in Minnesota. I've written about it before: it's a free event where 500 developers descend on the University of Minnesota to attend talks on software dev, learn new stuff, have fun, and become better at the software craft.
I help run the event and this April, we are hosting our 20th event. 20 events in 10 years. Yes, we've been putting on Code Camps for a decade! That's practically an eternity in internet years.
For the 20th event, we thought it was time to renovate the website. Our old website had been around since about 2006 – a decade old – and the old site was showing its age:
It got the job done, but admittedly it's not a modern site. Rather plain Jane; it didn't reflect the awesome event that Code Camp is. We wanted something fresh and new for our 20th event.
On the dev side, everything on the old site was hard-coded – no database – meaning every time we wanted to host a new event, add speakers or talks or bios, we had to write code and add new HTML pages. We wanted something modern, where events and talks and speakers and bios are all stored in a database that drives the whole site.
Taking at stab at rewriting the TCCC websiite, I wanted to really make it a web app. That is, I want it database-driven, I want some dynamic client-side functionality; things like letting speakers upload their slides, letting attendees vote on talks, having admins login to add new talks, etc. This requires something more than a set of static web pages.
Additionally, most of the people attending Code Camp will be looking at this site on their phone or tablet. I want to build a site that looks great on mobile.
To build amazing web apps, I turn to my favorite web dev stack:
$(".contentWrapper.container").attr("data-item-text", "zanzibar");
into this:
this.itemText = "zanzibar";
I find these tools super helpful and awesome and I'm pretty darn productive with them. I've used this exact stack to build all kinds of apps, both professional and personal:
And a bunch of internal apps at my current employer, 3M, use this same stack internally. I find this stack lets me get stuff done quickly without much ceremony and I want to tell you why this stack works so well for me in this post.
I'm at the point in my career that I don't put up with friction. If there is friction in my workflow, it slows me down and I don't get stuff done.
RavenDB is a friction remover.
My old workflow, when I was a young and naïve developer, went like this:
This went on and on. It wasn't until I tried RavenDB did I see that all this friction is not needed.
SQL databases were built for a different era in which disk space was at a premium; hence normalization and varchar and manual indexes. This comes at a cost: big joins, manual denormalization for speed. Often times on big projects, we have DBAs building giant stored procedures with all kinds of temp tables and weird optimization hacks to make shit fast.
Forget all that.
With Raven, you just store your stuff. Here's how I store a C# object that contains a list of strings:
Notice I didn't have to create tables. Notice I didn't have to create foreign key relationships. Notice I didn't have to create columns with types in tables. Notice I didn't have to tell it how to map codeCampTalk.Tags – a list of strings – to the database.
Raven just stores it.
And when we're ready to query, it looks like this:
db.Query<Talk>().Where(t => t.Author == "Jon Skeet");
Notice I didn't have to do any joins; unlike SQL, Raven supports encapsulation. Whether that's a list of strings, a single object inside another object, or a full list of objects. Honey Badger Raven don't care.
And notice I didn't have to create any indexes. Raven is smart about this: it creates an index for every query automatically. Then it uses machine learning – a kind of AI for your database – to optimize the ones you use the most. If I'm querying for Talks by .Author, Raven keeps that index hot for me. But if I query for Talks by .Bio infrequently, Raven will devote server resources – RAM and CPU and disk – to more important things.
It's self optimizing. And it's friggin' amazing.
The end result is your app remains fast, because Raven is responding to how it's being used and optimizing for that.
And I didn't have to do anything make that happen. I just used it.
Zero friction. I love RavenDB.
If you're doing .NET, there really is no reason you shouldn't be using it. Having built about 10 apps in the last 2 years, both professional and side projects, I have not found a case where Raven is a bad fit. I've stopped defaulting to crappy defaults. I've stopped defaulting to SQL and Entity Framework. It's not 1970 anymore. Welcome to modern, flexible, fast databases that work with you, reduce friction, work with object oriented languages and optimize for today's read-heavy web apps.
In the bad ol' days, we'd write front-end code like this:
Then, we discovered JQuery, which was awesome. We realized that the browser was fully programmable and JQuery made it a joy to program it. So instead of doing postbacks and having static pages, we could just update the DOM, and the user would see the new email address:
And that was good for users, because the page just instantly updated. Like apps do. No postback and full page refresh; they click the button and instantly see the results.
This was well and good. Until our code was pretty ugly. I mean, look at it. DOM manipulation isn't fun and it's error prone. Did I mention it was ugly?
What if we could do something like this:
Whoa! Now anytime we update a JavaScript variable, .emailAddress, the DOM instantly changes! Magic!
No ugly DOM manipulation, we just change variables and the browser UI updates instantly.
This is data-binding, and when we discovered it in the browser, all kinds of frameworks popped up that let you do this data-binding. KnockoutJS, Ember, Backbone, and more.
This was all well and good until we realized that while data-binding is great, it kind of sucks that we still have full page reloads when moving from page to page. The whole app context is gone when the page reloads.
What if we could wrap up the whole time a user is using our web app into a cohesive set of views which the user navigates to without losing context. And instead of a mess of JavaScript, what if we made each view have its own class. That class has variables in it, and the view data-binds to those variables. And that class, we'll call it a controller, loads data from the server using classes called services. Now we're organized and cooking with gas.
Enter AngularJS. Angular makes it a breeze to build web apps with:
Angular also add structure. You load data using service classes. Those services classes are automatically injected into your controllers. Your controllers tell the service classes to fetch data. When the data returns, you set the variable in your controller, and the UI automatically updates to show the data:
Nice clean separation of concerns. Makes building dynamic apps – apps where the data changes at runtime and the UI automatically shows the new data – a breeze.
JavaScript is a powerful but messy language. Conceived in a weekend of wild coding in the late '90s, it was built for a different era when web apps didn't exist.
TypeScript fixes this. TypeScript is just JavaScript + optional types + features from the future. Where features from the future = ES6, ES7, and future proposals – things that will eventually be added to JavaScript, but you won't be able to use for 5, 10, 15 years. You can use them right now in TypeScript.
So instead of writing ugly JavaScript like this:
We can instead write concise and clean, intellisense-enabled TypeScript like this:
Ahhh…lambdas, classes, properties. Beautiful. All with intellisense, refactoring, error detection. I love TypeScript.
There are few reasons to write plain JavaScript today. It's beginning to feel a lot like writing assembly by hand; ain't nobody got time for that. Use modern language features, use powerful tooling to help you write correct code and find errors before your users do.
You don't need to drink $15 Frappamochachino Grandes to design elegant UIs.
We've got code at our disposal that gives us a nice set of defaults, using well-known UI concepts and components to build great interfaces on the web.
Bootstrap, with almost no effort, makes plain old HTML into something more beautiful.
Add a Bootstrap class to the <table> and it's suddenly looking respectable:
A plain HTML button:
Add one of a few button classes and things start looking quite good:
Bootstrap gives you a default theme, but you can tweak the existing theme or use some pre-built themes, like those at Bootswatch. For TwinCitiesCodeCamp.com, I used the free Superhero theme and then tweaked it to my liking.
Bootstrap also gives you components, pieces of combined UI to build common UI patterns. For example, here is a Bootstrap split-button with drop-down, a common UI pattern:
Bootstrap enables these components using plain HTML with some additional CSS classes. Super easy to use.
Bootstrap also makes it easy to build responsive websites: sites that look good on small phones, medium tablets, and large desktops.
Add a few classes to your HTML, and now your web app looks great on any device. For TwinCitiesCodeCamp, we wanted to make sure the app looks great on phones and tablets, as many of our attendees will be using their mobile devices at the event.
Here's TwinCitiesCodeCamp.com on multiple devices:
And on iPhone 6 and small phones:
This is all accomplished by adding a few extra CSS classes to my HTML. The classes are Bootstrap responsive classes that adjust the layout of your elements based on available screen real-estate.
RavenDB, AngularJS, TypeScript, Bootstrap,. It's a beautiful stack for building modern web apps.
TwinCitiesCodeCamp code is on GitHub.
Last week I sent the dreaded, "I'm going out of business" email to clients of my BitShuva Radio startup:
A few years ago, I wrote a piece of software to solve a niche problem: the Messianic Jewish religious community had a lot of great music, but no online services were playing that music. I wrote a Pandora-like music service that played Messianic Jewish music, Chavah Messianic Radio was born, and it's been great. (Chavah is still doing very well to this day; Google Analytics tells me it's had 5,874 unique listeners this month – not bad at all!)
After creating Chavah, I wrote a programming article about the software: How to Build a Pandora Clone in Silverlight 4. (At the time, Silverlight was the hotness! I've since ported Chavah to HTML5, but I digress.)
Once that article was published, several people emailed me asking if I'd build a radio station for them. One after another. Turns out there many underserved music niches. Nigerian music. West African soul. Egyptian Coptic chants. Indie artists. Instrumentals. Ethiopian pop. A marketplace for beats. Local bands from central Illinois. All these clients came out of the woodwork, asking me to build clones of my radio station for their communities.
After these clients approached me – with no marketing or sales pitches on my part – it looked like a good business opportunity. I founded BitShuva Radio and got to work for these clients. I had founded a startup.
But after almost 2 years, making less than $100/month on recurring monthly fees, and spending hours every week working for peanuts, I've decided to fold the startup. It wasn't worth my time, it was eating into my family life, preventing me from working on things I really wanted to work on. So this week, I cut the cord.
Along the way, I learned so much! Maybe this will help the next person who does their first startup.
Here's what I learned:
When I acquired my first client, I had no idea how much to charge. For me, the work involved forking an existing codebase, swapping out some logos and colors, and deploying to a web server. A few hours of work.
I dared to ask for the hefty sum of $75.
Yes, I asked for SEVENTY-FIVE WHOLE DOLLARS! I remember saying that figure to the man on the other end of the phone – what a thrill! – $75 for forking a codebase, ha! To my surprise, he agreed to this exorbitant charge.
In my startup newbie mind, $75 seemed totally reasonable for forking a codebase and tweaking some CSS. After all, it's not that much work.
What I didn't understand was, you charge not for how much work it is for you. You charge how much the service is worth. A custom Pandora-like radio station, with thumb-up and –down functionality, song requests, user registration, playing native web audio with fallbacks to Flash for old browsers – creating a community around a niche genre of music – that's what you charge for. That's the value being created here. The client doesn't care if it's just forking a codebase and tweaking CSS – to him, it's a brand new piece of software with his branding and content. He doesn't know what code, repo forking, or CSS is. All he knows is he's getting a custom piece of software doing exactly what he wants. And that's worth a lot more than $75.
It took me several clients to figure this out. My next client, I tried charging $100. He went for it. The next client $250. The next client $500. Then $1000.
I kept charging more and more until finally 3 clients all turned down my $2000 fee. So I lowered the price back to $1000.
Money is just business. It's not insulting to ask for a lot of money. Change as much as you can. Had I knew this when I started, I'd have several thousand dollars more in my pocket right now.
Don't drown!
When I built my first the first radio software, Silverlight seemed like a reasonable choice. HTML5 audio was nascent, Firefox didn't support native MP3 audio, IE9 was still a thing. So I turned to plugins.
Over time, plugins like Silverlight fell out of favor, particularly due to the mobile explosion. Suddenly, everyone's trying to run my radio software on phones and tablets, and plugins don't work there, so I had to act.
I ported my radio software code to HTML5, with Flash fallbacks for old browsers. KnockoutJS was the the new hotness, so I moved all our Silverlight code to HTML5+CSS3+KnockoutJS.
As the software grew in complexity, it became apparent you really need something more than data-binding, but Knockout was just data-binding. Single Page Application (SPA) frameworks became the new hotness, and I ported our code over to DurandalJS.
Soon, Durandal was abandoned by its creator, and said creator joined the AngularJS team at Google. Not wanting to be left on a dying technology, I ported the code to Angular 1.x.
Shortly after, the Durandal author left the Angular team over issues with the Angular vNext design, and founded Aurelia.
If I was continuing my startup today, I'd be looking at riding that wave and moving to Aurelia or Angular 2.
What am I saying? Staying on top of the technology wave is a balancing act: stand still and you'll be dead within a year, but move to every new hotness, and you'll be forever porting your code and never adding new features. My advice is to be fiscally pragmatic about it: if your paying clients have a need for new technology, migrate. Otherwise, use caution and a wait-and-see approach.
Applying this wisdom in hindsight to my startup, it was wise to move from Silverlight to HTML5 (my paying clients needed that to run on mobile). However, jumping around from Knockout to Durandal to Angular did little for my clients. I should have used more caution and used a wait-and-see approach.
My startup grew out of clients asking for custom versions of my radio software. "Oh, you have a Pandora clone? Can you make one for my music niche?"
Naturally, I spent most of my time building custom software. They pay me a nice up-front sum ($1000 in the latter days), and we go our merry way, right?
Turns out, it's a terrible business model. Here's why:
Clients continually want more features, bug fixes, more customization. I charged that $1000 up-front fee to build a custom station, but then would spend many hours every week responding to customer complaints, customer requests, bug fixes, performance fixes, new features. And I didn't charge a dime for that. (After all, the client's perspective was, "I already paid you!")
In hindsight, I should have built a customizable platform, ala WordPress, in which potential radio clients could go to my website, bitshuva.com, spin up a new radio station (mystation.bitshuva.com), customize it in-browser, let them use the whole damn thing for free, and when they reach a limit of songs or bandwidth, bring up a PayPal prompt. All of that is automated, it doesn't require my intervention, and it's not "custom" software, it's software that the client themselves can customize to their OCDified heart's content.
Had I done that, my startup probably would be making more money today, maybe even sustainably so.
Bottom line: Unless a client is paying for 25% of your annual salary, don't go follow the "I'll build a custom version just for you, dear client" business model. It's a fool's errand.
I'm a people-pleaser. So, when a person pays me money, I amplify that people pleasing by 10.
"Hey, Judah, can you add XYZ to my radio station this week?"
"Judah! Buddy! Did you fix that one thing with the logins?"
"How's it going, Judah! Where is that new feature we talked about?"
"Hey Judah, hope it's going well. When are you going to finish my radio station features? I thought we were on for last week."
I wanted to please my precious clients. So of course I said "yes". I said yes, yes, yes, until I had no time left for myself, my sanity, my family.
A turning point for me for over late December, at my in-laws. I was upstairs working, rather than spending the holidays with my kids, my wife. "What the hell am I doing?" The amount of money I was making was small beans, why am I blowing my very limited time on this earth doing *this*?
You see why folks in the YCombinator / Silicon Valley startup clique put so much emphasis on, "You should be young, single, work exclusively on your startup, all-in committal." I can totally see why, but I also completely don't want that lifestyle.
Maybe if I had followed YCombinator-level devotion to my startup, it would have grown. But the reality is, I value things outside of software, too. 🙂 I like to chill and watch shows and eat ice cream. I like to relax on the couch with my wife. I like to teach my son how to drive. I like to play My Little Ponies with my daughter. I like to play music on the guitar. I like to work on tech pet projects (like Chavah, MessianicChords, EtzMitzvot).
The startup chipped away at all that, leaving me with precious little time outside of the startup.
On a more positive note, running a startup taught me all kinds of things I would have never learned as a plain old programmer.
When I launched my startup, I was mostly a Windows desktop app developer (i.e. dead in the water). I didn't know how to run websites in IIS, how to work with DNS, how to scale things, didn't understand web development. I didn't know how to market software, how to talk to clients, what prices to charge, didn't have an eye for "ooh, I could monetize that…"
Building a useful piece of software — a radio station used by a few thousand people — forces you to learn all this crap and become proficient and building useful things.
In the end, getting all retrospective and and hindsight-y here, I'm glad I took the plunge and did a startup, even if it didn't work out financially, because I learned so much and am a more rounded technological individual for it. Armed with all this knowledge, I believe I will try my hand at a startup again in the future. For now, I'm going to enjoy my temporary freedom. 🙂
Thanks for reading.
Summary: The web is evolving. Fast. The default reaction is framework fatigue: "Another JS framework to learn? Ugh!" But there's a hidden upside to the rapid evolution in front-end web dev, and it benefits your happiness, your mind, and your wallet.
We're seeing rapid evolution in the web development space. Not only is JavaScript and HTML evolving for today's needs, but numerous frameworks are popping up to leverage the new bits and help you build better web apps.
This fast-paced evolution can be difficult for web developers. There's a never-ending stream of new things to learn, and that gets overwhelming.
My experience In the last 2 years testifies to this: I've built web apps with plain old jQuery, then Knockout, then Durandal, then Angular. And with today's announcement, I'll probably write my next one with Aurelia. That's 5 different libraries/frameworks in just 2 years! Web devleopment is a beautiful soup.
But this does lead to developer framework fatigue. On Hacker News today, for instance,
Having to learn new stuff all the time and trying to keep up is fatiguing and can be overwhelming.
But there's another side of this to consider. Rapid evolution leads to better ideas, keeps your mind fresh and your job more interesting. It gives developers an opportunity to stand out with new skills and make more money.
Make no mistake: web development has improved by leaps and bounds in the last decade. Rapid library and framework evolution are to thank.
(If a crotchety developer pining away about "the good ol' days" tells you otherwise, he's not telling the truth. Those old days were not good. They were littered with browser incompatibilities, unmaintainable apps, no concern for architecture or testing. It was truly the wild west of coding, and it sucked.)
This was like the Visual Basic era: put everything into a single file, maybe even a single giant function! We didn't care about maintainability, testing, separation of concerns.
It was a simpler time, yes, but it was also the time when web development and JavaScript received ugly reputations that persisted until only recently.
Back in the bad ol' days, web apps themselves generally sucked, too, as a reflection of the code underneath. Great web apps like Gmail, DropBox, Evernote, Pandora…these didn't exist because building web apps was hard. (Pandora existed…but as a plugin-based Flash app back then!)
Since then, things have vastly improved. How?
Instead of a spaghetti mess of $("#someVal").parent().adjacent("<div>"+ someVar + "</div>"), we're doing nice and clean logic on variables. Through the magic of data-binding, those variables will be displayed in the UI automatically. The code is modular: simple HTML pages data-bind to controllers containing logic. Controllers wire up to services to load data from the server. The code is arranged in modules with single responsibility, well-defined application architecture, easy to test, easy to modify and extend. This results in better web apps with fewer bugs.
I actually like the fact that I must keep learning.
It's true; web development can be overwhelming with all the new technologies and JavaScript frameworks released almost monthly. (If you're overwhelmed, remember: you don't have to learn them all.)
But at the same time, I like learning. It keeps my mind fresh. It keeps my job interesting. I like building things, and learning new and better ways to build things is intellectually stimulating.
Consider the alternative. In a space with slow evolution, such as mainframes, there'd be practically no moving technology forward; we'd be doing the same thing for decades, over and over again. See something that sucks about your dev stack? Too bad, you can't change it.
As a developer and entrepreneur, I want to be doing new things, interesting things, moving the software craft forward. It is a little ego-stoking to think that moving software forward actually moves technology and civilization forward, even if in a small way.
I don't believe there's a world in which my skills go stagnant and I still enjoy building technology. It would get old, I would grow tired of my work, become demotivated. My job would become only a means to pay the bills.
I don't want that career. I like a career that remains fresh, regularly infused with new knowledge. That new knowledge can then be used outside of the professional realm to build your own projects of value to you, personally. (I've done this with Chavah, MessianicChords, and EtzMitzvot.)
Knowledge is power. The more I consume, the more powerful (and valuable) I become. Therefore, I am actually grateful to be in a career that requires knowledge growth.
My last 2 gigs as an independent consultant were aided by my knowledge of a single JavaScript framework. And my hack-at-night job gives me money because I know another JavaScript framework. And my startup exists because of the new knowledge I've learned in the last two years.
Rapid evolution demands me to acquire more knowledge to remain relevant. I'd be hard-pressed to find work if I was still building web apps like it was 1998, or worse, building desktop apps like it was 1995. (Goodbye, CListViewCtrl. No tears.)
By continually learning, not only am I intellectually stimulated, I grow in professional value. Corporations pay a lot of money to the niche few who keep their skills relevant. They stand in awe and fork over the dollars by the truckload for the magical wizards who pound on the keyboard and produce revenue-generating, business-critical apps.
So yeah, Yet Another JS Framework was announced today. And I'm OK with that.
Check it out! Awesome success story here: my last project, ysnmn.org, is live! It's a place for homeless youth to find beds and services in Minnesota. Also, we made it to the front page of Hacker News!
I'm a big fan of helping people, and I think this project really does that.
Imagine you're a homeless 16 year old. You need food, you need a bed to sleep in. Somewhere to shower. Cheap clothing. Maybe you need medical care or counseling. Or help with parenting your child. Maybe you're looking for a way to finish your education and get back on your feet and off the streets.
Enter ysnmn.org. You pull out your phone, go to the website. Instantly you can see shelters nearest you:
What buses to take from your current location to get to a drop-in center:
What food shelves are opened and what they serve:
What phone numbers to call, where to get medical help:
Where to find a warm bed for the night:
Or maybe you just need to be notified when a bed for a female 16 year old becomes available:
It was such a pleasure building this thing! Working with people who are actually doing good in the world through helping homeless youth is a big win. It's so satisfying building something for goodness, rather than just for business. The most memorable moment on the project was testing the app with youth ambassadors; I remember one of the kids turning to me and saying, "I wish I had this when I was homeless." Big smile right there on yours truly.
Technologically, I had a blast building the app as the lone developer! This was a nice change from my previous gig. I had quit my consulting day job to take this project – working as independent consultant in the process – and being the lone developer, I was able to architect the app as I saw fit. We were required to use the Microsoft stack, seeing as how they funded development. But I was cool with that – C# is a great language, Azure is increasingly a solid platform, and TypeScript on the client was a pure joy. I would have preferred to use RavenDB over MS SQL, but aside from that, the freedom of architecture was quite liberating from previous projects working as a cog in a bigger corporate team.
It was my first stab at using AngularJS. I had built Knockout, Durandal, and classic MVC apps in the past, but this was my first stab with Angular. I liked it enough that I've adopted it for most of my side projects.
Many shout outs to Microsoft and their Azure group, and particularly Adam Grocholski who not only facilitated this, but also helped us secure some additional credits and put out a few fires during development, and his wife Ann Marie Grocholski who heads up one of the local youth shelters. You guys rock!
A big thank you to the Target Foundation, who helped fund this project with a generous grant.
A big shout out to DevJam in Minneapolis. They approached me to build this project, paid me a nice sum, provide great working environment, and are generally very cool people. I had a great time working with them. Special thanks to Matt Bjornson who worked with me and the shelters the whole time, came up with some great mockups for the UI, and saw this thing to completion. Special thanks to Susan Greve for recruiting me onto this project. So glad I took it!
A shout out to Twilio, particularly Kevin Whinnery, who helped us get started with Twilio and gave us a bunch of free credits. We are putting them to good use, using them to text homeless youth of available beds. Winning!
A shout out to SendGrid and their social network people. I showed them an early prototype of this app, told them I intended to use SendGrid for emailing homeless youth when beds became available. Their reaction? A big account with lots of free credits, plus a t-shirt for yours truly!
This was a great project. I hope to work on more like it.
Looking to get started building ASP.NET MVC apps with RavenDB? Check out RavenDB.ModernMvcStarterKit. It's an MVC template that lets users register on your site, verify their registration via email, and allows them to opt-in to two-factor authentication via email or SMS.
Modern websites need a robust identity system, where users can login, confirm their registration via email, and optionally enable two-factor authentication.
Doing this with the .NET + RavenDB stack has had some friction:
To remove this friction, I created RavenDB.ModernMvcStarterKit.
In a nutshell, it's an MVC sample project that uses RavenDB as the backend, supports user registration and confirmation via email (SendGrid), and optionally supports Two-Factor Authentication via email (SendGrid) or SMS (Twilio).
This project provides:
Bottom line: this is a nice way to build a modern MVC app with RavenDB. It's all about removing friction. Check out the project on GitHub.
My talk out at RavenDB Days in Malmo, Sweden. A fun, lighthearted talk on why Raven is an excellent choice for modern apps.
Had a blast giving this talk! Some great interactions with the audience, some great feedback afterwards. I think the audience enjoyed.
p.s. If you're in Minnesota, Twin Cities Code Camp takes place this weekend, I'll be giving a talk – also My Little Pony-infused — at Code Camp, so stop by and check it out, I think you'll be entertained and might learn a few things along the way.


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University Communications and Marketing
Modern workforce issues addressed at conference next week
May 15, 2008
Kim Gillan, College of Professional Studies and Lifelong Learning, 896-5878
Dan Carter, University Relations, 657-2269
MSU Billings co-hosts two-day event in Downtown Billing
MSU BILLINGS NEWS SERVICES — With the Montana economy rolling along at a steady 4 percent growth rate and continuing demands on employers to address training and education needs, new strategies need to be in place for workforce growth and development, according to organizers for the 2008 Governor's Workforce Conference scheduled for next week in Billings.
Montana State University Billings is assisting the governor's office on the two-day event that will address a myriad of issues related to the state's vibrant and diverse economy.
The governor's workforce conference titled "Meeting the Challenge: Montana's Workforce on the Move," will be held Wednesday and Thursday, May 21-22 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Downtown Billings. It will feature discussions on dealing with an intergenerational workforce; helping employers train new workers; developing partnerships between labor and education; and building Montana's "green collar" workforce.
The cost is $35 for the two days and includes a Wednesday evening reception. Space is still available and there is still time to register, organizers said.
Kim Gillan, workforce development coordinator with the MSU Billings College of Professional Studies and Lifelong Learning, is helping with implementation of the conference. She said the goal of the event is to help employers and state officials make new connections that can help keep Montana growing.
"The idea is to help 'grow' employees so that they will be of value no matter where they go to work," said Gillan.
Unemployment rates in Montana continue to hover around 3.5 percent. Meanwhile, economists with the University of Montana's Bureau of Business and Economic Research predict that growth with continue at about 4 percent a year in the foreseeable future. That means employers need to find new ways to deal with workforce issues.
One of those is tapping into resources available through the state Office of Labor and Industry, said Andy Poole, assistant director who will lead a panel discussion about training new workers at the conference.
"There are many resources out there that many people aren't aware of," said Poole.
One of those resource areas, he said, is a pool of dollars that companies can use to expand into Montana and train new workers. That new worker training program, given funding of $4 million by the 2007 Legislature, is a tool that Montana can use to attract new businesses, Poole said.
"It doesn't matter if it is for one or 20 employees," he said. "It is open to all companies that are expanding here," he said.
Gillan and Poole said that many other resources that are available for businesses will also be discussed during the conference, including linking Montana's education and industry partners and developing the state's "green collar" workforce.
Those issues and others to be addressed at the conference can be found through registration can be done through the university's web site (www.msubillings.edu) and clicking on the "Meeting the Challenge" ad on the home page.
The agenda for the conference is below:
Wednesday May 21 / Crowne Plaza Hotel
1-1:15 p.m.: Welcome
1:15-2 p.m.: Opening Remarks by Gov. Brian Schweitzer
2-33 p.m.: Opening Plenary - "Culture Clash": Managing the Intergenerational Workplace
3-3:15 p.m.: Break
3:15-5 p.m.: Concurrent Workshops
- An Economic Study of Montana's Early Childhood Industry — Building A Ready Workforce
for Tomorrow
Moderator: Mike Halligan, Executive Director, Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation
- New Partnerships in Apprenticeship: Labor – Education – Business
Moderator: Mark Maki, State Director of Apprenticeship, Montana Department of Labor and Industry
- Helping Employers Train New Workers
Moderator: Andy Poole, Deputy Director, Montana Department of Commerce
- Montana's Twenty-first Century Workforce
Moderator: Dore Schwinden, Deputy Commissioner Montana Department of Labor and Industry
5:30-7 p.m.: Sponsored Reception
Thursday May 22 / Crowne Plaza Hotel
7:30-9 a.m.: Policymakers Breakfast
- Keith Kelly, Commissioner, Department of Labor and Industry
- Linda McCulloch, Superintendent, Office of Public Instruction
- Tony Preite, Director, Department of Commerce
- Sheila Stearns, Commissioner, Office of Higher Education
- Dan Miles, Chair, State Workforce Investment Board
9-10:30 a.m.: Concurrent Workshops
- Connecting the Dots: Services through Montana's DLI
Moderator: Keith Kelly, Commissioner, Montana Department of Labor and Industry
- Bringing Montana Workers Home
Moderator: Chris Aageson, Governor's Office of Economic Development
- Linking Education and Industry -- Assessing and Certifying Work Skills
Moderator: Tommy Thompson, Executive Director WIN
- Montana's Green Collar Workforce: What We've Started
Moderator: Hal Harper, Chief Policy Advisor, Governor's Office
10:30-10:45 Break
10:45-Noon: Closing Plenary - Center for State Innovation: Growing Montana's Workforce
12:30-2:30 Local Industry Educational Sites.
For more information, see the link at www.msubillings.edu. Gillan can be reached at 896-5878.


text:
"Home grown, experienced, and calibrated to excel, Target Builders offer a rare combination of local knowledge, unmatched customer service, and proven performance in construction management. Whenever a project calls for professional commitment, technical skill, and a capacity for teamwork at the highest level, Target Builders has demonstrated the ability to get the job done."
Target Builders Construction Management, Inc. was founded in 1992 in Fort Myers, Florida and has consistently delivered projects on time and on budget throughout its history. Target Builders combines outstanding professionalism and technical expertise with an unrivaled knowledge of the unique conditions created by growth and development in the Southwest Florida market. This heightened sensitivity and a willingness to perform above and beyond the capacity of ordinary firms creates a distinct competitive advantage, elevating Target Builders to an elite status among construction management firms in the area. but the commitment of Target Builders goes far beyond its performance in the office and in the field, the company is an excellent builder of relationships among clients, partners in the industry, and the community where it operates. this is reflected in the high percentage of repeat business from long-term clients, the reliability and consistent performance of subcontractors, and acts of service the company performs every year for non-profit and charitable organizations in the Fort Myers area.
Target Builders Construction Management, Inc. License CGC1519189


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We awoke to some fog around the hotel but it wasn't until breakfast time that the fog lifted to reveal blue skies and some sunshine for our final day of skiing. Also as a bonus there was another earthquake at the same location as last nights two but we didn't feel this mornings as it was only a 2.9 magnitude.
Everyone's legs and joints are getting weary so the plan today was to head back to Hakuba47 / Goryu and get a morning ticket (Y3980 each), catch the shuttle bus back at 130pm, walk to the Hakuba Ski Jump and have a look then return the skis and enjoy the rest of the night.
Arriving at Goryu, it was bluebird conditions and even though the temperature was only 4C, it felt like 10C or more and we were working up sweats. At the gondola entrance the Ski Patrol were trying to discourage anyone that was not an expert skier from going to the summit due to icy conditions. We convinced him we were experts and headed up.
It didn't look too bad at the top but we took it easy heading down looking for these icy conditions but all we found was groomed corduroy with some loose powder on the surface. This would be a good day in Australia and we figured if it wasn't at least 3cm of powder then it must be considered icy. It was good for a while as there wasn't a lot of people up here but the locals soon realised that conditions were not all that treacherous and headed up too.
We left the summit and Goryu and managed to jag a new slope just as the rope went down then headed over to Hakuba47 to ski the rest of the time we had on the lift ticket. Down and on the 130pm shuttle bus and we were back at the hotel in 10 minutes, well Jenny, Rachael and I were. Bradley was still somewhere at the ski field. Found out he was still skiing and missed the bus. He wasnt too interested in going to the ski jump anyway.
A quick shower and we started walking through some snow paths to the Hakuba Ski Jump. This was built for the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics and is an impressive structure. It consists of 2 jumps, a small one and a large one. You catch a ski lift up to the start building, then an elevator to a number of floors.
The top floor is the main observation deck which overlooks the 2 runs. Going down one floor and you can then venture outside to the start position of the large jump. There are great views from here of the jump as well as the surrounding Hakuba Valley. Venture down a few more floors and you can go out to the start of smaller jump. The gantry going out is mesh and you are looking down over a big drop to the ground. Rachael was not impressed by this. The large jump hugs the topography so the distance to the ground underfoot is not that bad. The final floor you get to have a look at holds all the memorabilia including a set of the medals for the 1998 Nagano Olympic Games. If you are in town it is worth a visit, if not for the jumps and the history but for the views that are afforded from the top.
After walking back to the hotel, we grabbed our skis and commandeered a shuttle bus which had finished his run at our hotel. We asked if he was heading back to base camp and if he could take us and he said "sure". Our ski rental place was opposite base camp. Another task off the list.
There were no buses heading up the hill so it was a 1.2 km walk back to the hotel. It wasn't long before Bradley and I were soaking in the onsen. We had it to ourselves but as we were getting out after 35 minutes of soaking, others started to make their way in.
Tonight's dinner would be our final so the choice was for Japanese Italian at Pension Syo Restaurant. It was like walking into someones home with a big eating area. The meals and service were great and the prices were reasonable. Just as we started walking back to the hotel, it started to rain but was only light.
A good final days skiing with 15 runs for 21.35km. A lot of walking today but feel good for it with 13579 steps for the day.
Tomorrow we catch the Snow Shuttle for a 6 hour bus ride back to Tokyo.