As many of you know I lost both my father and his youngest brother in a period of 5 days. Both passed away after long health battles and the last month has been so stressful and trying on my family.

The last month I have not done much besides help in my Dad’s care in his declining health. It has been hard and trying at times. So hard that a put most other things on hold. Now I am trying to get going and re-look at what I have to do.

One of the things I am working on is launching 3 new blogs in areas of interest of mine that are not technology based. I was hoping to have them launched by now but the first one will be launched on Friday morning and the other 2 after that.

I am busy working on trying to get my new business going and I am going to strive hard to make this a success. Their is no substitute for hard work.

I will be updating my Twitter page, parts of my blog and more as time goes on. I have made a decision that I need to get my head wrapped around Linkedin. This will become a project sooner then later.

My Ebook on Backup Strategies has gone on hold my I am about to go back at that as well. I have most of the work roughed out, now just to work on the content.

I will be returning to my regular Sunday morning this week in review video cast. Stay tuned for Sunday’s

In this all, my family is and always will be number one. I will support them and help in anyway I can. They mean the world to me.

Rob

Almost a year ago I fired my phone company. That is right, I decided I did not need a conventional phone line and I went to using a
Magic Jack. Well now I am about to fire my cable company. Yes that is right, by the end of this month I will be no longer be on Rogers cable.

Why would i do that you might ask. Because of two reasons: A. I am tired of paying what I can get for free and B. Cable TV is bloat ware. Let me explain both of these ideas to you so you can get a better idea of what I mean.

A. I am tired of paying for what I can get for free

In Canada we now pay an extra charge for having local tv stations on our cable systems. It is absurd that we we have to subsidize them. I can pick all of these stations up using an HD antenna without paying for them. Not only do I get my local stations for free but the HD quality is better over the air instead of over the cable since the signal is not compressed.

B. Why is Cable TV Bloat Ware?

In the world of Digital Cable TV, I am forced to take all kinds of bundled in channels which I really do not want. When we analyzed the Non Sports programming that we were watching, we have realized most of our tv watching is on a handful of stations. So why do I need to pay for all these stations? So the cable company can make more money – no thanks.

These are the two big reasons I am going to fire my cable company. Later this week I am going to write a follow-up post that explains how technically I am making this happen. I thought I would start of with the reasons why. I have a tough time paying $80 dollars a month for things I do not use.

Have you considered firing your cable company?

On my blog I post on the right hand side a list of all the applications I use. I use Wakoopa to track real time what I am using.

I thought I will do something different and analyze the top 10 programs I use and what surprises me/does not surprise me.

My Top 10 as iI write this article is as follows:

1. Google Chrome – This is my prime web browser.

2. Thunderbird – This is my prime email program.

3. Tweetdeck – This used to be my primary Twitter client. It is no longer so this application will drop as time goes on.

4. Windows Explorer - This is the main program to explore files built into the operating system.

5. Skype – My prime VOIP application on my laptop.

6. Itunes – The program I use to manage my IPhone/IPod and for playing music/audio books/podcasts.

7. HootSuite – My current Twitter client that is browser based.

8. Google Search- Google’s Search – my primary search engine.

9. Twitter – The Twitter Web Site.

10. Microsoft Excel – This one will drop since I am gradually switching to Open Office.

The above list is an interesting mix. What it does show is that I spend a lot of time online and that I use a lot of social network sites.

What do you use?

I use at home what I called the Open Source/Cloud/Paid Software Mix. You might ask what this is? What this is a mix between open source/Free software, Cloud computing strategies and paid software strategy. The big reasons for going this route are cost, support, usability and flexibility.

Besides my Hardware I have fully licensed versions of Windows 7 Home Premium and Office 2007. The only reason I am using Office 2007 is I had a license but I am starting to transition away from it. The reality is Office is starting to become bloat ware. I do prefer Windows over Linux and in past I have run both. It recognizes drivers easily and most of my clients are running a Windows environment. That all said I also have a Linux box at home.

Now you night ask what applications to I use open source/free software for? The answer to that is pretty much everything besides my primary operating system. Why would I put all the critical tasks I do in the hands of open source/free applications. The reasons are as follows:

1. Cost.
2. Support – Open source and free software often have better support then paid applications.
3. Usability – typically these applications are made for the end user by end user.
4. Acceptance – Many open source/free applications are better accepted then commercial ones.
5. Quality – Some open source/free applications are tops in their class. WordPress and FileZilla come to mind.
6. Versatility – most open source/free applications are the same look and feel regardless of which operating system they are run on.
7. Updates – These applications are updated more often then their commercial counterparts.

How does cloud computing fall into this mix you might ask? The answer is real easy – versatility and portability. My data can be accessed wherever I am via any common web browser. That makes my life much better since I am always on the go. I even use Jungle Disk to back up my data to the Cloud. Applications like Drop Box and even Evernote I could not see myself ever doing without. They are such a part of my day to day computing life.

If you use a combination of open source/free software, cloud computing and paid software your day to day software experience will be much better. What do you use?

I hope everyone is having a great week. As you may have noticed I have changed my blog around and the format a bit. I have some more features I will be adding and hopefully I will have time to do these this weekend.

I wanted to let everyone know that I have not quit blogging. I am just really slowed down due to my Dad being back in the hospital. I have been spending time in the hospital trying to help and take the stress off my mom. I want to thank all my friends for their kind words of support and their prayers. They have meant so much to mu family and I can not even put it into words.

I will be posting my video review on the Kodak digital video camera I purchased this weekend as well I have a new blog site that is being launched on July 15th. Please watch for it and I hope you enjoy it.

Rob

A lot of people have asked me lately what I use when I blog and why do I choose to use certain blogging tools. I thought I would take some time and explain which tools I use to make my blog and site what it really is.

The best blogging software is open source and free. Their is no question that WordPress is the best blogging software on the market and it is free. When WordPress says their install takes five minutes they mean it.

For a long time I used many free themes to define the look and style of my blog. About six months ago I decided to use a great premium theme called Headway. Headway is an amazing theme that really makes the design of your blog look crisp.

I am purchased a new Headway skin called the Workplace skin. Over the next week you will start to see layout changes to my blog.

I really do not like the way WordPress manages comments for blogs. As a result I use a third party comment system called Disqus
. Disqus does a great job helping manage comment and avoiding spam.

A couple of pluggins I really like is the Tweet Me retweet button and the addthis bar. Tweet Me puts a re tweet button on your blog so you can re tweet posts. Add this allows to cross post the b log post to any number of other services including Facebook, Tumblr and more.

I use other services like Picasa online, Vimio and You Tube to store my content for my blog. These services allow me to make pictures and video readily available.

What do you use when you blog?

Two nights ago I stopped in the Shopper’s Drug Mart which is 5 minutes from my home. For those of who who do not know, Shoppers Drug Mart is a large pharmacy chain with generally huge stores and they are open till midnight. I went in needing a few 8 x 10 envelopes.

I go into the store and then I decide to go to the back and get envelopes. It is late at night so they only have one cash open. I wait 15 minutes in line and then I have a casher tell me that she can not sell me these envelopes. They are part of the post office and we do not sell post office supplies at the main cash. To add to this even more the post office closes at 9pm.

I then say their is no sign, the area is not roped off and the items are in plain view? What would you say? I proceeded to ask for the manager.

I managed to get a manager who really did not care about customer service. I told her these kinds of issues are one reason I already do not use the pharmacy in this store. Her comment was we are not that bad not how can we make it better? or how can we improve? This manager really did not care what I had to say or how I felt.

Needless to say I am boycotting the Shopper’s Drug Mart at Morningside Crossing until their idea of customer service changes.

Have you had similar expereinces?

As many of you may or may not know I was let go from my full time job last month. I have basically been on a two month plan to take care of myself, get my family life and house back into order and worry about the future. One of the things I have been looking at is where I want to go and I want to do. I have done so much thinking my head hurts but the finally think I know where I am headed. I thought I would take some time to share my goals thought process and experiences.

A couple of things about me:

1. I know I am a structured hard driving person that expects a lot out of other but even more out of myself.

2. I like to be flexible in what I do.

3. I like to have the ability to dictate my own works hours.

4. I am a technology junkie.

5. I am good at what I do.

6. I always strive to learn more.

What an interesting mix when you look at it. So I have been thinking a lot and trying to decide what to do. I spent a long time in a situation I was not happy in. I think you need to be happy and passionate about what you do in life. Their is no question about that.

So what do I plan to do you might ask? Well I am on semi imposed vacation right at this point in time dabbling in a few contracts and trying to close some deals. So the short term plan is to make a go of it and work for myself. This way I will have the flexibility I need to full fill my needs and I keep learning what truly interests me not what I have to do.

It has been a long and hard out decision. I welcome your thought’s and comments as always.