A Personal Blog
Archive for July, 2006
My New Laptop
Jul 26th
Okay, finally got past the issues in my previous post. How? By buying from another seller. Cost me an extra 75$ but ah well, at least the laptop’s on the way!
So, what’d I get?
Here’s the Sony page on it.
As always, here’s some logic behidn what I was looking for.
First, I wanted a computer with enough power to run Vista when it comes out. So a dual core was a must. 2GB of RAM was must (in this case I’ll upgrade it as soon as it gets here).
Beyond that, I was looking for some key features:
- EVDO / EDGE integration: I travel so much, that the laptop’ll practically pay for itself in not paying airport and hotel WiFi fees - Decent graphics card: I don’t game a lot, but I wanted the option. In fact, this laptop has both a graphics card AND an onboard one. So I can use the onboard one (to save power) when I’m not gaming. - DVD burner - Under 5 pounds - camera - finger print scanner - 100GB+ HDD
And all for under 2500$ (all in (shipping and taxes)). The problem is that while I’m partial to Vaio’s, I couldn’t actaully find a system out there that met these requirements outside of the SZ series from Sony. I looked. Several Future Shop, Best Buy’s, Staples later. Nada.
Once I get the laptop I’ll be upgrading its RAM, getting a new laptop mouse, bag and headset (this one has blue tooth, w00t!) and probably getting a docking station for it.
All in all it’ll come in around my original budget, but I’m getting a hell of a lot of machine for my buck. Fingers crossed, it’ll be here Friday or Monday.
Take My Money!!!
Jul 26th
GARRRRRH!!
Warning, useless rant ahead, who’s only purpose is to vent.
So, I find the perfect laptop on Ebay. It only ships to the US. I’m fine with that, and fairly used to it. I change my Ebay address to my US address and click Buy It Now. The seller has blocked payments from non-US registered PayPal accounts.
Okay, that’s his right, so I shoot them an email asking how to pay (to be fair, the listing said they accepted international payments, just wouldn’t ship internationally). They say Western Union. Cool, no worries.
I hop over to Western Union. Wait in line for an hour (3 people working, only one machine). Get there, and they require ID. Okay, that’s my fault. Run home and get it. Come back. Oh, they don’t take Visa. Or debit. Oh, and they can’t tell me what the total charge is since they can’t calculate exchange rates (laptop’s 1650$ US, I need to know how much to take out CDN).
Go to the bank. First bank didn’t have enough money in the machine. Second bank, I realize my daily cash withdrawal is only 1000$. So I take that out. Why not, right?
I go to Western Union’s site. Oh, I can send money from there. Oh, it’s only 500$ daily limit. Call them up. Oh, none of the agents take visa or debit. Only cash.
@#&%
I’ve sent using Visa before (3 times). Is this a new policy? No, apparently some stores used to break it, but it’s a firm policy now.
So now I’ve got the perfect damn laptop. 1000$ in cash. Lots of money on my Visa. The ability to pay via PayPal and NO WAY TO PAY FOR IT.
#@!%$@#*%#!@#!@$(!@$!@$ !@$ !@$*&#@%# @!$!@$@!$ !@$ !@$ !@$ !@$ !@$!@#$$% !!!!!!!!
Y’know?
Like one of those days where something that should be so simple (normally I pay for Ebay transactions in under 5 minutes) ends up being the biggest pain in the ass and ruining my whole day (not to mention taking up 2 HOURS of my time).
@#%#%!!!!!
Back of the Napkin Business Plan Contest
Jul 24th
Sean has a great little article in the Globe & Mail about back of the napkin business plans.
ick Segal, a Partner at J.L. Albright Venture Partners, states that “Having a great diagram allows the Entrepreneur to have one ‘cheat sheet’ that let’s her tell the story with a compelling visual.” Segal’s statement was proven at a SpeedDating for Capital™ event that I hosted last fall, at which 11 Companies, met with 10 VCs for 9 minutes each.
Those that had BoNDs in hand were able to employ accuracy and celerity when answering questions posed by the VCs, such as:
What they were doing? Why they were doing it? Who benefited from it? Who paid for it?
All questions you need to answer if you are pitching a VC for investment.
Sean’s asking for submissions. And the best submissions. A copy of Blog Marketing to you! ;-)
Now’s your chance. Send Wise Words your best BoND and the the top submissions will receive a complimentary copy of Blog Marketing, by Canadian online guru Jeremy Wright. Send our jpeg or pdf images to Sean Wise at WiseWords@WiseMentorCapital.com
Fox Acquiring YouTube?
Jul 22nd
No inside knowledge here. Just hearing rumblings. A few disconnected things, really. Not sure I want to get into it (since I’m supposed to be offline), but there are a half dozen things I could point to as evidence of, if nothing else, YouTube thinking of selling.
I’ll let this sit for a week, maybe have a better idea then :)
Shining Waters Inn, Cavendish, PEI
Jul 22nd
I’m taking a weekend off in beautiful PEI. Specifically Cavendish, staying at the Shining Waters Inn.
For a variety of reasons, this was about the only chance I had to take some time off for the next 3 months or so, so I jumped at the chance. I still have to do a couple of hours of work a day, but it’s so close to “real” time off that I’m relishing it.
The irony is that in deciding to go to PEI, I just wanted to stay away from Anne of Green Gables stuff. I didn’t really look up where “Anne of Green Gables stuff” might be located, but I figured if I picked somewhere pretty remote I’d be fairly safe.
Yeah, so Cavendish? The home of Anne of Green Gables. @#$&@ ;-) It’s okay though. It’s not too in your face, and there aren’t too many tourists around this weekend so it’s alright.
I spent 3 hours on a 12km bike ride today along the coast and through some forests. Last night I went for a 2 hour walk to grab some food (an hour each way). Raining the whole time. Like torrential rains and 60km/h wind. It was awesome. I spent about 20 minutes yelling into the rain. It’s an incredibly freeing experience to just forget the world existed and to let loose a little bit.
Course it took me 20 minutes to get up the courage, but we’ll keep that our little secret ;-)
Tonight I’m planning to go to a clam bake and then just hang out on the beach listening to the surf.
Anyways, back I go to being offline. Have a great weekend :)
