Archive for April, 2008 « Previous Entries

ProTip: An Ounce Of Research Prevention

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

I am currently in a situation where I have to go back and re-survey a population almost a full year after the last time I contacted them. It’s difficult enough to nail down a decent sized population for an initial study but its even more difficult to go back and look at a similar population [...]

Can Technological Innovation in Clean Technology Save Canada’s Sovreignty?

Monday, April 28th, 2008

Many a pundit of late has declared that the era of fighting over oil is over and that the new hotness is going to be water. Less than 1% of the water in the world is potable and available (ie. not frozen solid in a glacier or deep underground) but Canada has almost 10% of [...]

The Day Telus Cut Me A Cheque

Sunday, April 27th, 2008

I checked my mail this morning and much to my surprize, something that looked like a cheque from Telus flashed before my eyes. My heart quickened. My pulse raced. Visions of rounding errors and villas in Mexico ran through my head. As I tore the envelop asunder, I found this:

$1.23??? Seriously?
Here’s the back-story: I ditched [...]

Famine-Proofing Your Consulting Business

Friday, April 25th, 2008

Like all self-employed individuals, consultants have slow seasons and they have busy seasons. For me, it’s the Summer that’s typically slow. The old adage is typically true - consulting is a “feast or famine” business. At the end of 2007, I found myself low on client projects in the sales pipeline and running out of [...]

Twitter - I Feel Like I Just Discovered Pogs Now

Thursday, April 24th, 2008

If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you might have noticed that I recently added a Twitter feed to my Wordpress sidebar. I have always been a huge nerd but Twitter (along with World of Warcraft) are things that I’ve managed to aschew. I’m still not playing WoW but I felt like I was [...]

Four Reasons Why I F*cking Love Jigsaw

Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008

I have recently started using a new research tool - Jigsaw. Jigsaw is essentially a DIY contact list builders. Before Jigsaw, if you wanted to pull together a list of say… Business Analysts in North America, you would either have to try and dig up those contacts using a clever combination of Google and LinkedIn [...]

Trapped in an Elevator for 41 Hours

Monday, April 21st, 2008

I can’t believe how rational this guy stayed. If that had been me, I would have gone all Lord of the Flies by hour 30.

Backstory:
This man was working late in a building and after going outside for a cigarette break, tried to take the elevator back up to his office and got stuck for 41 [...]

Can Your Massive Book Collection Help the Environment?

Monday, April 21st, 2008

Boing Boing had a great posting yesterday about the environmental benefit of lining any walls that are exterior walls with book cases. Their argument, in a nutshell, is that the insulating properties of books stacked up against the wall is bigger than you might assume. As a book lover, I’m enthralled by the idea. As [...]

Entrepreneurialism North and South of the Border

Friday, April 18th, 2008

There is no doubt in the minds of most Canadians that the last 15-20 years has seen a radical shift in the cultures and economies of Canada and the US - a shift away from one another. To the north, Canada is seen by the US as a largely Socialist enclave (not really true) and [...]

Could A Ban On Cell Phones On Transit Increase GHG Emissions?

Thursday, April 17th, 2008

Unless you’re new to this blog, you already know I’m a consultant. You might also have guessed that I work with folks in the high tech industry. That being the case, you might understand why I am opposed to legislation like that recently introduced in Austria which makes it illegal to talk on a cell [...]

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