April 10, 2013

How the Gillard and Abbott NBN’s compare globally

There has been a heap of press this week on the back of the Coalition’s NBN policy announcement in a slick launch at the Foxtel Studios yesterday. There were a lot of sarcastic tweets, and a pretty funny Facebook page.

Using Akamai’s “The State of the Internet” report from Q3, 2012 I compared the global average peak connection speeds with what is currently being built by the Gillard government, and what Abbott and Turnbull have proposed. Now I am no network genius and am positive that I am making pretty simplistic assumptions about peak speeds with both models, particularly the Coalition NBN which uses the poorer Fibre To The Node (FTTN) which degrades over distances (apparently).

Regardless of the politics, claims, and counter-claims, the real question is which model will give Australia a competitive advantage?

Based on my analysis, the Abbott NBN barely moves the dial in terms of average peak connection speed by 2016, and gets Australia to a ranking of 2 by 2019 (on 2012 rankings, so I would assume global peak connection speeds will have increased significantly by then) .

Both the 100Mbps and 1Gbps versions of the Gillard NBN get Australia significantly above current global connection speeds which for my $40 billion looks like pretty good value.

NBN’s Compared | Create infographics

March 24, 2013

The new trolls are better than the old trolls

Australian tabloid news show, Today Tonight is crying foul about being trolled by comedian professional troll, Tristan Barker.

An associate of Barker’s told Today Tonight she had been bullied by Barber and the tabloid bought it, running a heavily promoted story about how they had found another victim of Tristan Barker. A Today Tonight executive producer rather huffily complained that the “victim” was nothing but an “attention seeker” and that “We found evidence to suggest that she had been bullied by Tristan Barker…when people are using fake names it gets very difficult to control.”

Clearly research is not a strong point for the Today Tonight team.

This fascinating story highlights how the digital technologies have transformed the media landscape in Australia. Tabloid’s, the traditional trollers par excellence are now out-trolled by a small group of people with nothing more than Facebook and YouTube accounts, thousands of loyal fans, and finely honed social media instincts. The position of tabloids at the top of the trolling trash-heap has been usurped by the members of the digital generation.

Without putting too fine a point on it, this is another sign of how digital technologies are transforming Australia, in this case by democratisating the Australian media.

The tabloids haven’t always been on the defensive. The nineties were the heyday for tabloid media and current affairs shows. They commanded huge audiences and were the great opinion makers for the wider community of red-neck workers home in time to watch Ray Martin or Mike Munro on the telly. The Internet had no real penetration in the home until the very late 1990s and was certainly not a source of news, gossip, information, and opinion. It was more a source of confusion for Australian families as they wondered what it could be used for. Real news came from the Herald Sun or Daily Telegraph in the mornings, and Channel Nine in the evenings.

In 1996, Mike Munro, the public face of Australia’s number one tabloid current affairs show discovered a that brother and sister, Shane and Bindi Paxton from Melbourne’s northern suburbs had been on the dole for a long time. Munro decided that the Paxton’s were emblematic of the general dole bludger problem and to expose them, offered them a job in Hamilton island so they could highlight how dole bludgers didn’t want to work. The most shameful part of the whole episode was that the producers had told the Paxton’s that they wanted to help the family find work.

Compare this story to the story to the story about how the poor Today Tonight producers were duped. One is about how a large and powerful organisation lied to some unemployed kids to sell some ads, and the other is about how some kids lied to a large and powerful organisation to expose them as a being pretty crap at journalism. Both are narcissistic trolls, but the latter has a pretty valid argument. I know which I would prefer to have a beer with.

Public defacing of the Facebook pages dedicated to deceased children aside, digital technologies have given voice to a generation whose parents had to be content with scribbling on walls, tagging trains, and publishing zines. The media landscape consisted of a centralized media dominated by an oligarchy (Murdoch, Packer, Fairfax) and a passive consumer. The Internet has enabled independent voices like Crikey, New Matilda, Grog’s Gamut, Larvatus Prodeo, and Tristan Barker to proliferate and foster the distribution of a diverse set of ideas. At the same time TV and newspaper revenues have been declining significantly with News Ltd, Fairfax, Channels Nine, and Ten all experiencing negative growth in revenue and profit. Things are changing fast and the future of media is flat, digital, and heterogeneous.

What is yet to be proven is if talented digital natives like Tristan Barker can evolve from tabloid trolling to producing serious, insightful, and analytical content. The future of our media is in their hands.

March 6, 2013

Trust, the one thing a subscription business can’t get wrong

In January, after reading a Business Insider article promoting them, I subscribed to the bespoke shirt service from Hall & Madden. They were offering three dress shirts based on Hugo Boss styling and manufacturing for $150. The best thing is that they would deliver three new shirts every three months. As someone who never gets around to buying new shirts this seemed to solve a number of problems, chiefly my sloppy unstylish dressing.

I told the sales manager about what an awesome deal they offered and he dismissed it with a snort, “Mate, go down the road and you can pick up two good shirts for $60 and take them home straight away. Straight away!” The sales guy is a spontaneous buyer who ~~needs~~ demands instant gratification. Subscription buying is just too slow for a proactive sales buyer like him.

For the more laid back buyer like me, subscription businesses like Dollar Shave Club, BeautyArmy, ShoeDazzle, and many others offer an opportunity to passively consume nappies, undies, shoes, cars, holidays, and food. For a hungry startup business, the subscription business offers a nice annuity revenue stream and a sexy way of disrupting traditional retail models.

The key to being successful for a subscription business is keeping subscribers interested with offers that make them happy, costs low, and like any online business in this social world, trust.

Trust is the basis for a subscription relationship. Convincing customers to continue subscribing means they need to be happy with the quality, comfortable with the price, pleasantly surprised by a delivery every month or quarter, and delighted by the convenience. Trust means that you’re straight with me if something is wrong.

Unfortunately for me, Hall & Madden, broke the number one rule, they broke my trust.

I still haven’t received my shirts because “our shirts are sitting in customs still and frustratingly [we] don’t have any control over that process and no one has been able to give us a timeline.” I got this response after emailing them about my missing shirts. A better way to handle it would have been to send me an email apologising and offer me a refund. They could have made it kind of fun.

I am going to ride it out and hope that Hall & Madden can deliver what they promised. Plus, I cannot let the old fashioned sales manager be right.

What do you think?

February 22, 2013

Start today

Bertie Gladwin was 91 when he graduated with distinction with a Masters degree in military intelligence. Having left school at 14, Gladwin started his studies after retiring in the 1980s to keep his mind active and has since completed three degrees.

The tech world is obsessed by the wunderkind, the boy genius who discovers a new way to delight, engage and amaze, and becomes richer than Scrooge McDuck before they turn 26. It can make anyone old bloke in their late thirties (or early forties) feel a little worried about her own chances of ever becoming wealthy enough to buy a small country. Luckily there is still time. History is filled with more spectacularly successful late starters than wunderkinds.

Henry Ford, beacon of twentieth century industrialism, was 45 when the Model T Ford was launched to great publicity in Detroit. He had been trying to launch a successful automobile business since his late thirties and many of his early ventures turned sour.

Geoffrey Rush, academy award winner and nimby spokesman, had a successful Australian theatre and film career before he won an Oscar at 45 for his performance in Shine. Since then he has become one of the most celebrated Australian film and TV actors of his generation.

Celebrated American poet Sharon Olds was 38 when she won the first of many awards. Earlier this year she won became the first female US winner of the prestigious TS Elliot award for her collection Stag’s Leap. Critics note that her style has been consistent since she winning her first award in 1980. Olds herself speaks about how poetry is hard work.

Sigmund Freud, creator of the great incestual romance Psychoanalysis, was 43 when The Interpretation of Dreams was punished in 1899, and didn’t receive popular acclaim for at least 10 years, until the International Association of Psychoanalysts was established, and America became interested in his ideas. Prior to “discovering” psychoanalysis Freud had had a troubled career and was unable to secure the recognition he felt he deserved, both academically and in his medical career. After a late start, he became one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century.

Steve Jobs, who needs no introduction, was a college drop-out, an LSD fan, and a hippie who had spent parts of his twenties travelling around India. He was also dismissed as CEO of Apple in 1985 after the company had performed poorly and didn’t return until 1997 when he was in his early forties. The rest as they say is history.

Ray Croc was 52 and a multi-mixer milkshake machine salesman when he joined the McDonald brothers as a franchise agent. In the next 20 years he built McDonalds into one of the most successful fast food chains in the world. Prior to his joining McDonalds Croc had been a paper cup salesman, pianist, jazz musician, band member, radio DJ, and restaurant employee who worked for room and board to learn the business.

All these late life bloomers are a lesson in never giving up, and always keeping the dream alive. Success is often proceeded by many failures, and many lessons some learnt painfully. The important thing is to start today. Warren Buffet commented in an interview with Jay-Z that he had an advantage with investing because he started early – at seven years old! Being young is a great advantage. Starting is an even better one.

As I reflect on turning 41, I am looking forward not back, forward to the next adventure, the next lesson, and continually learning. What are you looking forward to?

Note: The featured image is of Kimani Maruge, a Kenyan man who decided to learn how to read in his eighties. He didn’t have the opportunity in his youth and was a very enthusiastic student.

February 3, 2013

Latest Reads: 3 Feb 2013

Here’s a few things online that inspired, delighted, and interested me.

Holy Grail of eCommerce Conversion Optimization – 91 Point Checklist and Infographic

Despite continuing the trend of very very long lists as link-bait, this is an impressive list of optimisation tactics for ecommerce websites.

Whether you’re selling pajamas, concert tickets, shoes or shaving blades; e-commerce today has evolved and humanized beyond just convenience shopping . It is therefore imperative that you stop seeing people who land on your store as ‘traffic’; but as real human visitors. People come to your store and engage at various levels (let’s call these levels ‘touch points’). With each word that visitors read and with each media pixel they view at these touch points, they form a picture of your business in their minds. And based on whether or not they like the final picture, they make a decision about buying from your store or your competitors.

Social Media Overcrowding Is LinkedIn’s Opportunity

This Huffington Post article contends that LinkedIn is the most successful social network whose growth will continue to grow because it focuses on authentic connections and “more steak and less sizzle.”

How many social networks do you belong to? How many devices do you have connected to those channels? How many apps, websites and services have you granted “permission” to access your data on those networks? How many friends, acquaintances and colleagues have you grouped, circled and filtered?

10 ways to create a great content campaign

Some great beginners tips on where to find inspiration inspiration when creating a content campaign.

Google and the future of search: Amit Singhal and the Knowledge Graph

Just days after Facebook launched the Search Graph, Google launched the Knowledge Graph. What’s fascinating to me is that the chief engineer responsible for making sure Google knows you in an intimate and slightly creepy way, Amit Singhal, used proto-post-modernist Ludwig Wittgenstein to inform how he refined the technology – words are informed by context.

What’s so great about Google+ Communities?

A Google+ fan writes that Google+ Communities promises to create the potential for thousands of interests.

Communities solves Google+’s undeserved reputation as a place only for geeks and photographers. I’ve said from the beginning that every interest is represented on Google+. Now, Communities creates explicit spaces where thousands of interests can be easily discovered.

Why The Fuck?

Solve health issues using your techno-skills not social monetisation and dating.

Why the fuck are the greatest minds of our generation toiling away in the Googleplex, harnessing the greatest computing resources in history, trying to figure out how to get Scott Hanselman to click on ads?

2013 Annual Letter from Bill Gates

In his 2013 Annual Letter Bill Gates writes about the importance of measuring outcomes. I find his philanthropy truly inspiring.

But in the past year I have been struck again and again by how important measurement is to improving the human condition. You can achieve amazing progress if you set a clear goal and find a measure that will drive progress toward that goal-in a feedback loop similar to the one Rosen describes. This may seem pretty basic, but it is amazing to me how often it is not done and how hard it is to get right.

January 31, 2013

Monday

Some fiction about the anxieties of Monday

You know how it works. You wake, get in the shower, brush your teeth, chuck on some clothes, grab some toast and your bag, and rush out the door. It’s like any other Monday.

At the train station there is a man you don’t recognise from the normal 7.13 commuter crew, smoking at the end of the platform. Despite the weather he is wearing a heavy coat and has curious slicked-back hair that is thinning. The slick-back is a statement of defiance. Fuck you baldness. I’m proud. The acrid smoke stings your nostrils and you cough, half-delighted as your long forgotten nicotine receptors are prodded, and disgusted because, well, smoking is disgusting.

He looks at you.

You look at him and turn away. Focus on your iPad or iPhone, or god forbid, your Phablet.

He continues to stare. You know he’s staring because you can feel it. Your neck is getting hot. Don’t stare back. Don’t look up.

You look at the electronic display to see when the train is coming. Two minutes.

He’s still staring.

Fuck.

Was his coat dirty? It looked dirty. He probably slept at the station and collected cigarette butts to roll up a giant second hand cigarette. That’s why it smells so fucking horrible. You hate smokers.

You look back. You can’t help it.

He is staring past you at the electronic display.

Ok.

The train ride is uneventful except for some bloke sitting next to you when the carriage is empty. Right next to you. There are 36 empty seats and he has to plonk his arse right next to yours. You can smell his hair product. It’s cheap. You put on your sunglasses to fix the situation. No one talks to a commuter with sunglasses and headphones. No one. Fuck the quiet carriages, there should be a carriage for people with sunglasses and headphones. No headphones or sunnies? Get to the front of the fucking train.

At the office the coffee machine is broken so you grab a coffee from the Italian place up the road. You’re sure that the name means squealing pig in Italian. Either that or giant fraud. Gianni, the barista speaks in an Italian accent but you’re positive you heard him say, no worries mate in an accent as broad as a Bob Katter loving Queenslander. Or maybe he didn’t. Better to be charitable. Ciao you tell him as you walk out with your coffee, wincing slightly.

Only wankers say Ciao.

On Facebook some chick you went to school with has posted a motivational picture of a whale and its calf with a message about how true love is motherhood and being free….blah blah blah. You really should unfriend her. And get off Facebook. It’s so middle-aged. All the cool kids are on Instagram, engaging in a different type of techno-narcissism with selfies and food. Somehow it’s ok to take a picture of a beer and a glass in a different bar at 6pm every day and not be called an alcoholic. If you said, I have a beer every day at 6 o’clock to someone they would think you were an alcoholic. On Instagram it is ok to be an alcoholic. Possibly mandatory.

Back to the beige desk. Some clown from level 15 wants a simple job that they could do themselves done. After debating whether you should send them a snarky passive-aggressive reply that they can do it themselves and were they at training, you do it. Snark is so much work.

The day passes. Monday.

After work you work out to Justin Timberlake’s new album. Or that’s what you think it must be. He hasn’t been around for ages and looks like he is going bald. Sucked in clever-boy. That’s what you get for humiliating the homeless in LA. Baldness. You make a mental note to buy a Big Issue from that morbidly obese lady who sells them near Flinders Street. Rich good looking people are fucked.

The dinner is cold when you get home but you thank your house mate for leaving you some. Bitch. Doesn’t she remember the mushroom risotto you lovingly made and then waited to eat with her. She stays in her room and you look for cowboy boots online while watching Django Unchained. Your brother in law downloaded it last week and gave you a copy. It’s probably stealing but, well, who cares. You’re surprised to see John Jarratt in one of the last scenes. His Australian accent is incongruous amidst the southern drawl you heard in the movies first six hours.

Just another Monday. Time for bed.

January 29, 2013

A blog will change your life

I recently had a twitter conversation with Australian blogging royalty, Trevor Young. He reminded me that in the 1990s blogging was called journalling, which evokes images of hormonally confused teenage girls writing about boys and bitchy girls.

It is an important distinction. Journalling implies something deeply personal, something from the heart written with integrity, authenticity and for an audience of one. Blogging on the other hand can be something deeply personal or not it is entirely up to the writer. A blog is written for an audience, of one, one hundred, or one thousand. The best blogs are written with an audience in mind but without pandering to that audience. They are written to say something important to the writer and hopefully interesting or challenging to the reader.

What’s important here is the notion of integrity and authenticity. Often in the leap from journal to blog the threat of the audience impedes creativity and expression, leaving a pale and soulless piece of writing that offers nothing except some pixels on a page. Something written with integrity and authenticity matters, anything else is likely to read like a dull Linked In profile. I’m awesome, read some comments from my friends and then hire me. A journal is rarely inauthentic.

In the 1990′s I had a digital diary that is now (thankfully) long lost. It was an early experiment in using the Internet to publish, communicate, delight, and terrify. Unfortunately, I published poetry about drinking in bars that won a few fans from America and the land of lovers of bad vodka soaked poetry. What felt transgressive then – the sharing of personal stuff in public, is now common. Everyday millions of people log in and share their innermost feelings, photos, and gifs of kittens without blinking. Some of these feelings would be best left unshared, left for a drunken conversation in a bar rather than preserved online for eternity, or for as long as Facebook is a viable business.

The 1960′s catch-cry “The personal is political” has changed to “The personal is now public”. Every utterance is logged, deconstructed and used to hone a marketing message based on a profile. Jonothan likes cats, the Internet, and Mexican food. Tracey likes dancing, Asos, and casual racism.

Nothing is hidden.

The Internet and the personal spaces we create in its networks are what French philosopher Michel Foucault calls heterotopias. A heterotopia is a “a kind of effectively enacted utopia in which the real sites, all the other real sites that can be found within the culture, are simultaneously represented, contested, and inverted”. On the Internet we present ourselves in a simultaneously real and mythical way. It is a mirror of how we want to see ourselves and how we want others to see us.

Only by disassembling the stream of status updates, searching, poking, posturing, and instagramming (or is that flickring?) into a blog can the inherent anxieties of a digital life be expressed and released. A blog, or a journal is a way of contesting and inverting the self created by the presence or absence of any membership in the myriad of social platforms. It is a map that allows a topology of meaning to be articulated and understood or misunderstood depending on the goals of the writer.

Having a personal blog is a free expression of what you are and how you matter unencumbered by the commercial concerns of marketers looking to gather, graph, and sell. It is the one piece of virtual space you can own; in your own words. It is a place where any inauthentic grab for fame and glory will be quickly recognised and dismissed. A blog is a place just for you – and a billion potential readers.

Creating a blog and updating it regularly insides creativity and makes you smarter. There is a technique called Artist Pages, or Morning Pages, where every morning you sit down and write a stream of unedited words, totaling three pages. The idea is to get out any angst, drama, or blockages and create a space for ideas to flow for the rest of the day. I don’t recommend a blog be used for a stream of consciousness dump, unless you want to, but a blog works the same way for framing ideas and concepts in a thoughtful and meaningful way. Blogging is self-help for your brain.

Be yourself and get a blog. It will change your life.

January 23, 2013

Random default thumbnails for Yet Another Related Posts Plugin

I installed the Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP) and was frustrated by the stripey default thumbnail that was displayed if a post didn’t have a featured image. Unfortunately for me, this was quite a few. So what I ended up with was:

Pretty ugly.

So I did some pretty basic hacking and created a pretty awesome (just ask me) way of displaying random thumbnails if there isn’t a featured image associated with a post. Here’s what it looks like:

Before I continue I need to offer a disclaimer – I am no coder so if you find anything here that could be improved please let me know.

First I created a bunch of 120px x 120px thumbnails that featured people I think have made a difference in the world. Yes, even Prof. Freud.

I uploaded these to a directory wp-content/uploads/default-yarpp/.

Next I added a basic function to related-functions.php which is located in the YARPP plugin directory.

function getRandomDefaultThumb() {
$blogurl = get_bloginfo('url');
$thumbsDir = 'wp-content/uploads/default-yarpp/';
$thumbs = glob($thumbsDir . '*.{jpg,jpeg,png,gif}', GLOB_BRACE);

 if ( $thumbs != '' ) 
 {
 $randomThumb = $blogurl . '/' . $thumbs[array_rand($thumbs)]; 
 }

 return $randomThumb;
}

Then, I copied yarpp-template-thumbnail.php into my theme directory and chose custom PHP in the YARPP options. I modified this by changing the following:

$output .= '<span><img src="' . esc_url($thumbnails_default) . '"/></span>';

$output .= '<span><img src="' . esc_url(getRandomDefaultThumb()) . '"/></span>';

All done.

It could be enhanced by somehow reading the tags of the posts and then selecting a random image which has that same tag in the filename, but, well that would be a lot of work and as I said, I am no coder. Having said that, being creative and solving problems is a lot of fun.

January 20, 2013

What I read last week

My reading was a mixed bag last week covering digital, business, and inspirational. Here’s some of it:

The Dunbar Number, From the Guru of Social Networks – Businessweek

Evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar studied how the English sent Christmas cards and discovered that humans can only maintain meaningful relationships with a maximum of 150 people.

So You Want to Find a Coder… | Hartley Brody

“Anyone who knows me knows that I love building stuff. And not only that, I subscribe strongly to the ‘do things, tell people’ mantra, constantly sharing my projects with the world.”

OPINION: WHO IS AT THE BLEEDING EDGE OF SOCIAL IN AUSTRALIA?

An interview with Pete Williams, Chief Edge Officer at Deloitte’s Centre for the Edge Australia.

“But there is a long way to go for most organisations and the key thing to understand is that it isn’t going away even if you want to ignore it.”

Outgrow.me: Easily track success of crowdfunded projects

A new web tool which lets funders and sports fans follows the progress of crowd funded projects in a visually attractive way.

“There’s a certain sense of wonder and excitement that arises when keeping tabs on the latest and greatest Kickstarter and Indiegogo projects. Browsing those marketplaces, I often ask myself, ‘Will they stay, or will they go?’”

Digital marketing Australia: 50+ stats you probably didn’t know

Some awesome statistics about digital marketing in Australia from Econsultancy including the concerning fact that 71% of online consumers check their email first thing in the morning.

The Importance of Big Data, Integrity, and Security in Enterprise SEO

“The phrase Big Data is everywhere. Not a day passes without the release of another report that describes the extent to which Big Data is influencing how we do business.”

A New Method to Track Keyword Ranking using Google Analytics

A pretty awesome way of tracking keyword ranking using Google Analytics. Whilst being very cool, sadly it doesn’t solve the lack of data from secure searches.

January 1, 2013

Bring on 2013

Last year, instead of doing the normal drunken new years resolutions forgotten as soon as the hangover fog disappears, I reviewed 2011 and looked at how I wanted 2012 to be different. The problem with some of my resolutions or goals was that they were not SMART. By SMART I mean Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. Dave Eccles, in his entertaining blog, Ruck You Mate has pointed out that 83% of resolutions fail most likely because they are not realistic and backed by a plan.

With that in mind I have created a set of personal objectives that are SMART and when achieved will enrich my life.

I have two ears and one mouth for a reason
I love expressing my own opinion and often do so at the expense of listening to what others have to say. I’m sure this is pretty annoying to my friends, family, and colleagues. This year I will interrupt less, and because this is pretty are to measure, I will get in training my meditating once a day for at least 15 minutes. This will quieten the mind and help me listen more.

Get off the tobacco merry-go-round
I smoked less in 2012 than I have since I was 14, or to put it another way, since the last millennium. I’m pretty happy with that achievement but this year nothing less than total abstemious behaviour will satisfy me. This is pretty easy to measure: no smokes!

Be a great Dad
This is a life goal rather than a simple goal for 2013, but the kids need more from me than they had in 2012. They need more understanding and communication and less snapping. They need more intimacy. I’m going to measure this by reading to the kids at least three times a week, and having an excursion with them once a week. That’s 52 excursions a year, and at least 150 book readings.

Enrich my creative soul
I got into non-fiction in 2012 which enriched my mind and taught me heaps. I plan to keep this up in 2013 but need to add some sugar to this diet. Measuring is not easy but I will see a movie once per month, and read a novel a month. That’s 12 movies and 12 novels a year. If I manage to finish reading In Search of Lost Time, I will buy myself a massive present next Christmas.

It doesn’t grow on trees, so save it
By the end of 2013 I want to owe less money than I do now. That includes mortgage, credit cards, personal loans, the lot. I also want to add $100k in annual income.

Finish the goddam ensuite
So I started renovating and we had two kids and I never moved on. In 2013, the ensuite will be finished, the balcony will be fixed and made safe, and the wall downstairs removed. Easy!

Grow my own veggies
I love that we own shares in a cow and get glorious milk from it but am sick of having buy non-organic veggies. Four 2.4 metre beds will be installed in the bottom of the garden next to some chickens. By the end of this year we will be getting at least one food item a day from the veggie garden. This will make us healthy and help save the planet.

Move it or lose it
My exercise routine is either frenetic, or non-existent. As I get older it is more important that I move my bones and muscles, and eat well. This means I will work out at least twice a week which is at least 104 workouts for 2013.

Launch it
There are a couple of personal projects I have been working on which need to be launched. In 2013 I will launch two of these projects.

Love, love, Love
The hardest thing about having a busy career, two children, and a long commute is having enough intimate time with my wife. This means time without kids, family, money-talk, domestic tasks, or television. This year we will have a date night once a month and travel away for a night once a quarter.

I hope your 2013 is amazingly great.

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