Been almost 2 weeks since my last post!  I had a pretty busy time working on some websites and it’s been taking up a lot of my time.

I have a lot of updates to..update you on (Whoever you are), but for now read on for smaller highlights that will probably never get a post of their own…

What I’m Watching On TV

I’m still enjoying some of the shows from my last ‘tv’ post.  Except the walking dead which is on break for now.

Some extra shows I’ve been into are:

Person Of Interest – Two men make it their duty to protect citizens from unfortunate events, before they happen.
Wheel Of Fortune – Do I have to explain this show?
Beyond Scared Straight – At risk children are taken to spend a day (sometimes night) in prison to get a wake up call about their behavior.  Very interesting to see the attitudes of many of the children as well as the outcome of the experience.  Here is a clip, that is actually funny from one of the episodes where the kids were staying in overnight.

What I’m Up To

I am DJing a wedding next weekend so I’m preparing for that.

annnddd… most importantly I’m playing soccer every Sunday.I set myself a goal of scoring 15 goals in 14 games.  So far I am at 1 goal over 2 games, so I need to step it up.

Oh, I’m also on this twitter thing… I still don’t see myself using it much though.

However, I did have fun thinking of a name to use and making what may be my new branding.

Oh and… follow me! @EdwardTheBrand

Nerdy Stuff

In terms of my nerdy side, I’m pretty very excited that I set up a front end file manager on my webserver.  I can pretty much store whatever I want and create users to access it.  This will be very useful with client when I need to transfer files.  Or *ahem* for my friends who seem to want to download all my music!

Found these some weeks ago after a party. For some reason I love wearing them as I do… anything. I need to get some real ones…that I’ll wear in public.

Today was quite a busy day for me, a lot of running around, and a lot of productive activities. It feels good to get a lot done! Read more about my day…

Website Launch

At 3am, after months of work I finally launched the website for the Employee Assistance Programme of Bermuda. To celebrate here is my favourite internet related song.

A Real G

That’s right…after being up all night, falling asleep at almost 4am, I woke back up at 7, got ready to take my ‘G’ road driving test… and PASSED with flying colours.

Now, I can drive any and everywhere in Canada.

Most importantly I can say I’m a real G.

Or not…

Rolling Out The Samples

By 11 I was back on the computer and working hard on some logo design drafts for startup company, Masterkey Management. When I’m all done, I show ya’ll the results

Giving My Thoughts

In the early part of the afternoon I worked on an article reviwing the Samsung Galaxy Note. I had the phone for about 2 weeks and now am giving my thoughts on the awesome phone. In short, I loved it!

Team Management

At 6:30pm I was at a captains meeting for the football team I just joined. I picked up some waivers (in case somebody breaks thier back… like me), and recieved details that every captain should know. I can’t wait for the season to start this week… I’ve set myself a goal of scoring 15 for my team. Let’s see how I do!

A sausage dinner and some TV rounded out my night! (yeah I took that photo from iphoto)

About The Project

Mike Ferringo is a musician based in Guelph, Ontario. Primarily a guitarist and vocalist, he has played and toured with many bands. He is also an employee of Toyota.

Toyota is hosting a competition called Toyota Quality Idol where entrants must produce a song with an accompanying video that highlights Toyota’s high quality standards.

There are strict requirements that the entries must not use copyrighted material, and must contain a series of key words provided by Toyota. The media must also be submitted in a specific DVD format.

Qualifying songs and videos will be judged by Toyota Canada staff. The top two videos will move on to a North American competition and judged further by upper management. The winner will have their song and video featured in presentations as well as a nationwide commercial.

Goals

1. To assist in the mastering of a song.
2. To create a video that matches the artist style and song.
3. To maintain a simple and straight forward video that can be used in many settings.
4. To produce a finished product in the required format.

DVD Cover

DVD Cover

Audio

Video

Results

Mike Ferringo was very pleased with the final result and proud of his entry. Before the judging period was complete, the song and video attracted a lot of attention within the company. It was the catalyst for recommendations for future commercial projects with Toyota. The final submission was successful in gaining First place for Canada and Second place for North America.

The video and song has also been featured in various Toyota presentations.

Thanks to American Idol, everyone is a music expert.

So I’ve been doing this whole be a better me thing for a couple months and there were two major obstacles that I found were getting in the way.

1. I’ve learned that I’m not the most open when it comes to expressing feelings
2. I realized that when I feel anxiety, I tend to avoid it by keeping it myself or blocking it out.

To most people, they may seem like small things. To me, they are still small things…

So insignificant, in fact, that I didn’t even realize how it affected me. Every now and then little flags would raise in my head that read ‘misunderstood’ or ‘sad’ but I didn’t notice that those feelings were connected at all.

Expressing Feelings

I would have never believed that simply telling somebody “I feel happy today” or “I don’t like when this happens” could produce such a positive influence. I very rarely did that, mostly because I didn’t think those small feelings were really that important. They weren’t things that would change somebody’s day, they were insignificant. To a certain extent I also felt a bit of anxiety when it came to sharing my feelings. Sometimes I just felt ‘ashamed’ that I would feel a certain way about things.. or I just felt if i showed that I something changed my feelings it would let people know they had an affect on me. I needed to show I was in control.

Because of this, I often found those who were close to me thought I was a very apathetic person. This of course annoyed me because, well, things did matter to me and I started to feel people didn’t get me. You see, when what you feel on the inside doesn’t match what people see on the outside a sort of identity crises can arise… People are convinced you are one way, when you know the truth.

People were not always seeing me even though I was there. I didn’t get that I was ‘showing’ them the image of a guy who really didn’t care, I wasn’t showing me.

Anxiety

A violently tapping thumb, but I’m not playing the gombey beat. An increased heartbeat, but I’m not even moving. I need to get away…FAST! These are just three of the characteristics of what I experience when I get anxious. Imagine a scared little mouse trapped in a corner, breathing quickly and looking for the fastest way out. That’s me when I feel anxious.

I really don’t know where this whole anxiety thing comes from for me, but its been there for a while. I knew I would feel weird in certain situations but for some reason could never put a label on what the feeling was. It sounds really silly now when I look back at it, but it was a very real problem. I probably sound like some timid nutcase, and I’m really not. It’s not like I sat there every day thinking the sky was falling or being paranoid. I am fine in a social setting (despite the fact that I don’t share feelings!), I am a functional human being. However, it took a conversation a few weeks ago with a friend, Andrea, for me to realize the root of some of my problems (I use italics a lot). I was talking about situations where I feel I was being misunderstood and why that may happen. I wish I could remember the exact words she used but she mentioned the different steps of performing an action. It was something like: Feeling, Intent, Action and Effect.

I established that my intentions were always good, but the effects seemed to not work out as planned. The feeling, well, you can’t really change that, so the problem had to be in the action. We looked at the situations that provided an negative effect and studied my actions. In short, it didn’t take long to realize that the action the produces the worst effects involved not being true to myself: I was people pleasing. I would do things to please people and take into account thier feelings, but not taking into account myself. I started to misunderstood which led to a disconnect in my identity and needs as a person.

The more I people-pleased the less I Eddie-pleased. The less happy Eddie was, the worse I felt about Eddie. The less Eddie thinks of himself, the more the ‘bad’ Eddie is reflected on the outside. The more people see the ‘bad’ Eddie, the more Eddie feels he needs to please people and the cycle continues…

I just needed to stop trying to say the ‘right’ thing all the time. The solution sounded simple but the hard thing was that I didn’t even realize I was doing it until it was too late! I needed to find a way to detect it BEFORE it happened.

That’s where the feeling stage comes in. If I could find what feelings triggered the bad actions, I would know before hand that I was going to try to be super pleaser and do whatever it takes to make people happy and get myself out of the situation. Turns out the feeling was anxiety.

The anxiety made situations appear like a big scary dog ready to bite. I just wanted to throw a big juicy steak in its path, make it happy, and run out of the situation. Or I just avoided the situation altogether… say it with me now: “pro-cras-tin-ation”

Everything became so clear. (Even as I write this I smile because well, its so simple now.) I had to accept that we are all human… I’m not always perfect and people don’t bite that often. Then I had to do realize that anxiety is just a flag to let me know there is something I need to deal with, not run from. It didn’t take long to realize that if I dealt with it right away, the anxiety will go faster. However if I ignore it, it will always be there and I will never get past it. Again, it all sounds simple… and it is. I just wish I let myself see that earlier.

So back to why I smiled yesterday..

Yesterday I had some feelings I wanted to express. I almost didn’t say anything because I feared upsetting the person I wanted to tell. Then inside my head, a tiny red flag with the word “anxiety’ flew up into the air. I took a breath, and shared how I felt. Within the blink of an eye my outside self reflected the inner Eddie and I was being understood for who I am and the flag dropped back down. Seconds later another flag came up. It read ‘happiness’… so I smiled.

We don’t like them there beaver kind round ‘ere too much

About The Project

Mobilenorth.ca is a blog based website with the sole purpose of reporting on mobile technology specifically in Canada.  By releasing breaking news, commenting on trends and giving first hand reviews of new products, the website serves as a reliable and knowledge source in this industry.

Mobilenorth.ca requires a website that gives its visitor a lot of information in an easy to read manner.

Initially mobilenorth.ca began as a sub section of a larger blog.  It has since outgrown itself and a new dedicated website is required.

Goals

1. To provide a potential large amount of news to be given with minimal ‘digging’.
2. To allow for reviews and commentary to presented.
3. To maintain a “layman’s” approach to tech news.
4. Ability to ‘share’ stories to various social networks.

Screen shots

Header and Features
The header remains simple giving focus to the featured articles on the website.

Review Page
Articles hold focus as additional information on the right help guide the reader throughout the site.

Footer
The footer briefly describes the purpose of the site as well as gives archive links.

Social
Each article contains an array of social links to allow for easy sharing.

Results

Aesthetically, mobilenorth.ca maintains a simple vertical layout and color palate.  The color scheme of red and white take cues from the Canadian flag.  The repetitive use of “Image and title” for each article provides consistency as well as a quick way to determine what each story is about.   Additionally, the option to share each article is provided by use of simple buttons corresponding to various social networks.

Throughout the site, there is space for advertisements which serve as a primary source of revenue. On the main page, there exists an area to display feature posts so that the most important items do not get lost as new news comes in.  The combination of these features allow for a dynamic site, without losing its integrity  as a source for important information.

The back end allows for easy manipulation of the site content.  Featured items can be selected with the click of a button,  articles can be edited with ease and there is support for multiple users to work on stories simultaneously.

Example of rotating banner used on the website.

About The Project

Panacea Virtual Administration is a company aimed at making life easier for both small and large businesses. In short, they handle the tedious tasks that may get in the way focusing on business growth. They offer a wide range of services from event planning, to staffing, to marketing for an affordable price.

Panacea requires a web presence that can can serve as both an online brochure and avenue for communication for potential clients.

They are a new start up and currently do not currently have a website. From an online perspective, Panacea’s footprint only extends as far as social media sites.

Goals

1. Educate potential clients about the concept of virtual administration.
2. Provide information about the services available to potential clients.
3. Provide the ability to communicate as a potential client or an affiliate.
4. Provide custom email accounts.

Results

From an aesthetic perspective, the finished website took a simplistic approach. Panacea aims to portray a streamlined, uncluttered professional image and the website reflects this with its basic color scheme, soft lines and modest typeface. A rotating banner, creative images enclosed borders and a styled footer effortlessly add elements of style.

Taking cues from the front-end of the site, the Panacea website is powered by a clean back end which gives administrators exceptional control over the site without sacrificing the potential of breaking things. All text can be edited without fear of disrupting the format of each page. Also, the back end provides the ability for site administrators to view submissions via the various contact forms, both online and via email.

Home Page
A rotating banner and supporting images set the tone for the home page.

Sub Page
A clean layout for a sub page includes a graphic navigation

Logo
Two color schemes for the logo.

Web Form
A simple form allows direct communication between client and Panacea

16 minutes ago I launched Panaceava.com. A portal for a Virtual Administration Service in Bermuda. After some much needed rest, I will be doing an indepth summary of what features I incorporated in this project. For now, click the logo to take a peek at the shiny new site!