BrewGuy.ca

Follow me on Twitter

2009-09-16T19:08:38Z

I have pretty much given up updating this site, thanks to Twitter. If you're on Twitter, please follow me at @BrewGuy - all my updates happen there now. I'd love to hear from you!

I will do something decent with this site at some point. When is anybody's guess.

I have not updated in forever

2009-03-10T16:58:15Z

Lots has happened since this last update. I'm no longer with Organic, but I'm with a new company called Cossette - I'm in their interactive division, called Fjord. Been here about a month - its busy but fun. I'm enjoying it. Organic laid me off in early December, so I took a couple of months off to rest and relax over the holidays. It was great. Really enjoyed it.

I'll try to update more, promise. I got to meet Marc Crawford, Kelly Hrudey, and PJ Stock the other day and got my picture taken with them - they came to the office to pimp Hockey Night in Canada. Hrudey and Stock were needling each other the whole time - you see Stock trying to push Hrudey out of the picture there. They were having a lot of fun. Very very cool to meet them, they're all great guys, and do a really good job on HNIC. Shaking Crawford's hand and just speaking to him for a really quick second was a bit surreal. Not every day you meet a Stanley Cup and Jack Adams Trophy-winning NHL coach. Super stuff.

The latest n' greatest.

2008-11-24T17:40:41Z

I have a new nephew! My sister had her 2nd kid, a boy named Ben who rocked the scales at almost 10 pounds. He's about six weeks old now, and everybody's doing great. Zach is as funny as ever, he's a blast to play with. Eric is doing great too - still can't believe how big he's getting. He's in the top 3% for height for his age now. At this rate he'll be in the NBA.

Not too much new to report really. Other than I'm back playing a lot of Warcraft again. We weren't going to get involved in Wrath of the Lich King, but it slowly and surely drew us in until we're all back playing again. At least we're not as hardcore as we used to be. Those days are definitely over. But at least we can still have fun and enjoy each other's compan, and that's what it's all about.

Been thinking about maybe taking a week's leave of absense from work. I'm out of holidays, but I feel like I just need a week off to chill out. Maybe around Christmas time - we'll see how it goes.

Hope all is well with you!

When YouTube Was Young

2008-10-20T20:43:38Z

This is just a great home-made video. It reminded me of the "old" days of YouTube, when it was filled with just silly videos from people posting silly things that they were doing. Most were pretty bad, but occasionally, a diamond in the rough appears, just like this one. I challenge you to watch this video and not feel pretty good afterwards.

Jack is Back!

2008-09-16T20:33:57Z

Thanks to the writer's strike, I've had to wait almost two years for 24 to come back. And now, the time is upon us.

On November 23rd, Fox will air a 2-hour special called "24: Redemption" as a setup for the coming new season in January. And, as usual, it looks pretty great. Check it out:

Breakfast with Zack

2008-08-31T12:53:10Z

Now that I have my iPhone, I've set up a photos page. I had breakfast with Mom, Dad, and Zack yesterday, and I brought the iPhone to show it off and take some pictures.

Check 'em out!

iDid it

2008-08-22T15:07:56Z

Yeah, I did. I bought an iPhone. I wasn't planning on doing it at all. I was sincere when I told Chris that it would be a very long time before I bought one. Yet, here I am, the newest owner of an iPhone. Well, I guess I'm not an owner yet - Rogers said it'll take a max of 10 business days to get to me, but for the most part they have been getting them delivered quicker than that, so I'm hope to get it next week

I will now outline how this came about, mostly to make myself feel better for taking the plunge.

As you may have heard, after Rogers abysmal data plan prices were release (well before the actual release of the iPhone), it was met with great disdain from the Canadian community. The rates were absolutely astronomical, especially when compared to the rates our US counterparts were playing. It got so bad, it even made Apple angry, and there were major rumours that they were going to cut back on the amount of iPhones sent to Canada.

All of this pressure from Apple and from their customers caused Rogers to cave - sorta. They came up with a limited time offer of a 6 Gig data plan (which is more data than I think anybody could possibly use) for $30 a month. Compared to what their prices were gonna be (400MB for $60, 750MB for $75, 1GB for $100 and 2GB for $115 - PLUS, you had to sign a three-year contract), this is a major improvement - much more in line with US rates. The catch? This offer is only available until August 31st. After that, the prices will change - not to their original horrid numbers, but to something not even remotely as good.

So, I called Rogers to see if my phone was going to be eligible for an upgrade. My assumption is that I was not going to be eligible. Upon first discussions with the rep, I was right - it was going to cost me $400 to get out of my current Blackberry contract. No way was I paying THAT, so I assumed I was dead in the water. I guess I sounded pretty down, because the rep said "hold on a second" and put me on hold. A couple minutes later, he comes back and says "good news!" It turns out there were some sort of "special provisions" set up for people who recently upgraded their phones, and they could do the upgrade without me having to pay any penalties - the caveat being that I can't do another phone upgrade for either 6 months or a year - I can't remember which - I didn't care, because the chance of me trading in this thing in under a year is exactly zero. I suppose you could say "Yeah, that's what you said about the Blackberry", but hey - c'mon - this is an iPhone we're talking about here. The only thing left to upgrade to is a chip in my head that answers the phone whenever I stick out my tongue.

Then, in an added bonus, the guy was even able to knock $50 off the price for me, which will show up on my bill! Sweet! Rogers loves me! Probably because I have all my services with them, and thus give them a pretty sweet chunk of cash on a monthly basis, but hey, if this is buying me a little iPhone love, then I'm down with it.

The rep said the official amount of time for me to get it is "within 10 business days", but apparently they are usually shipped way faster. Some guys at work who have them predicted I may even get it by next Monday. Either way, I am very, very excited to get this thing. I predict I'll be using it for a very long time.

If you're not quite aware of what the iPhone is capable of, I would highly recommend watching the Guided Tour that Apple has on their site. It is awesome.

Oh, I've also cut down the service on my home line to almost nothing. Basically, it now only exists so I can open the door to the condo building for visitors. I plan on using my iPhone as my main source of communication. I'll try to spread the word to those whom I know as much as possible as soon as I get the iPhone and its up and running. I also will probably be changing my main e-mail address to my Mac address, which i've given out to almost nobody. I'll send out that info at the same time. In the meantime, I await my iPhone with bated breath!

One other thing - This is all this is all Chris' fault.

Back in Business

2008-07-22T15:20:05Z

So, after getting hacked for the third time, I'd had enough. That was WordPress's third strike, so it's out, and MoveableType is in. We'll see how things go.

Kinda nice to get a fresh start, I guess, although it sucks losing everything I had in there before. Oh well. What can you do?

Just got back from a terrific time in Columbus as usual. Big thanks to Mike and Mo for being awesome hosts as always. Had a ton of fun seeing everybody, catching a few movies (If you're ever down there, you have to go to the Movie Tavern - it is an amazing way to watch movies. I got a big 1 litre glass stein from there that I brought home. It is amazing.

So, here's hoping hackers leave me the heck along from now on. I still can't understand why they would bother hacking MY site. I mean, it's a personal blogging site. It's not like I'm friggin' Google or something. Oh well. What can you do?