So, the past week has brought a lot of interesting events and happenings in Kingston. From PAB, to Doors Open, from Teddy Bears to Music Festivals and from fires…. to, well, bigger fires. I’ve been watching it all very closely on Twitter and trying to keep up.  It’s been hard, though, because while big events (like PAB) have dedicated hashtags, smaller going-ons never do. We chatted about this a bit at the last meetup, too, and are beginning to think of a solution, but I’ve been doing some more thinking on my own, too.

First, I pondered the idea of a single, generic tag that could cover all local events. Something like #kingstonon, or #kngon (to keep it short – on Twitter, every character counts) or something like our airport code #ygk… But none of that seemed right – a sweepstakes at the mall and a parade downtown then share the same tag… And until local events begin to have their own tags, that’s going to get very confusing, very quickly. So I thought we could break up the city in a way that would make sense… And the more I thought about this, the more I realized it was already done – by Canada Post!

The Down-Low on Postal Codes

Ahh, the postal codes – something I’ve been developing more of a personal interest in. The postal code system in Canada is set up with 6 characters, three letters and three numbers, formatted as D1E 2F3. The first three characters are the FSA (Forward Station Area) which break down a specific area of a province or city and the last three are the LDU (Local Delivery Unit) pinpoint a specific area within the FSA such as a street, block or sometimes a single building. Because of the way the FSAs work in Kingston – I decided that breaking the city up along those lines made the most sense. If you want to learn more about postal codes, check Wikipedia.

The Hashtags

So I’m proposing we begin tagging news, events, important updates and similar using the FSA as a hashtag. I’ve set up a rough map showing the rough areas according to the Canada Post map. I’m also providing a list of major landmarks within each hashtag zone, along with a specified suggested colour. Click on the read more link below to read all about the new tag zones for Kingston. Part of the beauty of this system is that it can be easily adapted for use anywhere across the country.

I’d appreciate feedback on the hashtags – the idea is to help bring the community together on this, so redefining them together is alright by me. Also, if I missed any notable landmarks, I’d appreciate knowing those, too.

This is a list of the hashtag zones (As defined by the Canadian FSA map), listed with the city-based ones first in clockwise order starting with the one that touches the northern-most point:

#K7P (Colour: Magenta, RGB Hex #CC33CC) - This zone is located in the north-west corner of the city. Bordered by the 401 along the north, down Sydenham Rd and Gardiners Rd along the west, by Princess St (Between Sydenham and Gardiners Rds) and Taylor-Kidd Bvld along the south, and Wilton Rd (County Rd 6) along the east.

Some notable landmarks:

• Woodbine Community Park (And the BMX track)
• Major Retail (Canadian Tire, Wal-mart, Loblaws)
• Invista Centre
• Cataraqui Town Centre

#K7M (Colour: Red, RGB Hex #FF0000) - This zone is mostly the center of Kingston, along with the south-west corner. It’s northern and eastern borders are a little hard to nail down, but along the north we’ve mostly got the 401, Princess St and Taylor-Kidd Bvld, and along the east we’ve essentially got Sydenham Rd, Gardiners Rd, Safari Dr, Aylmer Cr and the railway tracks. It’s bordered (quite cleanly) by Sir John A MacDonald Bvld along the west, and Lake Ontario to the south.

Some notable landmarks:

• Lemoine Point and Little Cataraqui Creek (South) conservation areas
• Major Retail (Rio-Can Centre)
• Invista
• Norman Rogers Airport
• St Lawrence College
• Via Rail
• Richardson Stadium
• Lake Ontario Park
• Queen’s West Campus

#K7K (Colour: Orange, RGB Hex #FFCC00) - This is the largest geographic zone mostly within city limits and comprises the rest of core Kingston (North of Princess St) as well as all of Kingston East. It’s bordered along the north by the 401, by Abbey Dawn Rd to the east, Lake Ontario to the south and Sir John A MacDonald Bvld along the west.

Some notable landmarks:

• Novellis
• Major Retail (Kings Crossing)
• Memorial Centre
• Grass Creek Park
• Royal Military College
• C.F.B. Kingston
• K-ROCK Centre
• Ravensview Plant

#K7L (Colour: Blue, RGB Hex #0000FF) - The last (and smallest geographically) zone within the actualy city. This is mostly the downtown core and Queen’s Campus. Bordered along the north by Princess St, along the east and south by Lake Ontario and by Sir John A MacDonald Bvld along the west.

Some notable landmarks:

• Downtown Kingston (Including EVERYTHING on Princess St and South)
• City Hall, Market Square and Confedration Basin
• City Park
• ALL THREE hospitals
• Queen’s University
• Major Retail (Downtown shops, Kingston Centre)

#K7N (Colour: Green, RGB Hex #009900) - While much of this zone isn’t residential, and some does fall outside of city limits, it will be included on here for expansion possibility as well as events in Amherstview. Bordered on the north by Woodbine Rd (until it’s end, where a straight line runs to the west border), on the east by the Safari Dr/Aylmer Cr/Railway tracks border of #K7M, along the south by the lake and along the west by Wilton Rd (County Rd 6).

Some notable landmarks:

• Amherstview

While these 5 hashtags will cover much of what goes on in this area, some events will reach outside this section. I’ve got those covered too.

The rural areas surrounding Kingston (Including Wolfe, Howe and Amherst islands), Bath, Picton, Sandbanks Park, Odessa, Sydenham, Tichborne, Sharbot Lake, Westport, Seeley’s Bay, Verona, Joyceville and others will be handled by their FAS of #K0H (Colour: Teal, RGB Hex #66CCCC). Note that this is a LARGE zone, and is not mapped off directly on the map by borders.

In the interest of getting more people in the area involved, I’ve also set up zones for the two nearby twons with dedicated FSAs:

• Napanee to the west can be identified as #K7R (Colour: Grey, RGB Hex #999999). This would include things like the Strathcona Paper Centre.
• Gananoque on the east can be identified as #K7G (Colour: Brown, RGB Hex #663300). This encompasses the Playhouse as well as the casino.

Note that the zones for Napanee and Gananoque are JUST for things within the town and not the outlying rural areas – the oultying areas fall under #K0H.

I really hope these help us all to be able to find out more about what’s going on in the area. Please try to keep them in mind when live-tweeting major happenings, events and news. Remember too, that tags can be on anything, from a tweet, to a blog post to an image upload to a video. I’ll be building a tools soon that will aggregate tweets using these new tags. All feedback to tweak and change these is MORE than welcome. Please comment below.

• Day 1: June 17th – Went for a 25 minute walk alongside my wife and dog. Media captured was a series of images on Flickr.
• Day 2: June 18th – Did walks and runs up the stairs of doom for 15 minutes. Captured (then edited) some video, and tossed it onto YouTube.
• Day 3: June 19th – Went for another walk with my wife today. Media captured? None. Forgot every piece of tech I had at home (Cell phone included). Was kinda nice to unplug.
• Day 4: June 20th – Took today ‘off’ because my legs were still burning – I blamed the stair exercises from Day 2. Spent 5 hours cleaning the house (Including vacuuming and hauling stuff up and down the stairs). I consider this a missed day, though I probably did more of a workout than most of the others.
• Day 5: June 21st – Had originally planned on spending ab hour or more wandering aimlessly around the local conservation area. That didn’t happen. So I spent 40 minutes “Fake DDRing” instead. I used the same song and steps that I used to do daily. Captured the video (Full 40+ minutes) and have it on my computer. Not sure yet what to do with it – speeding it up messes up the music.
• Day 6: June 22nd – I promised myself that I wouldn’t use biking during the #fitin15 challenge – outside of the house, I bike more than I walk. So if I was going to bike, I had to do something extrodinary – a lap around the city, perhaps… Or 15 rides up Fort Henry Hill… Or attaching an extra 15 pounds to the back and going for 15km. I did the later. Why? That’s a long story. Photos of the battery on the bike are on Flickr.

And that brings us today – which will be another post in a little while.

I mentioned yesterday that I’d go more into my secret weight loss challenge – so here goes. Once upon a time, I weight 264 pounds. Those who only knew me as a real young guy may be laughing – I was skin and bones back then. But it’s true. See, I had discovered not long after getting my first part-time job that spending money = my choice of lunch. And that often was poutine. Or pizza. Or burgers. And chocolate milk. Lots of chocolate milk. When I actually gave up my 10-15L weekly intake of chocolate milk, well, it wasn’t pretty.

In any case, shortly after I graduated high school, I decided it was time to do something about the weight. With the help of a dietician I got my food in line, and then I hit the gym arcade. Really, nobody was fooling anyone – I wasn’t going to be found in a gym. Still wouldn’t. But Dance Dance Revolution? That I could do. The regimen was a strict 42 minutes/day at home, (The length of a specific set of songs) 6 days a week, and a 2-hour free-for-all down at the arcade on Sunday nights. The setup was a blast – I got an incredible amount of exercise and got a guaranteed slot of time with my friends. It was a lot of fun getting an audience around too.

In time, that technique brought me down over 50 pounds. I nearly passed the 200 mark once, but didn’t quite make it, and eventually seemed to settle atound 210. That’s yo-yo’d between 205 and 220, but I’ve yet to see 199 since… thinking about it now… Considering I graduated in 03.. It’s probably been 7 or 8 years.

That’s coming to and end this year. More on the goals and such another time. For now, here’s me making an idiot of myself running and walking up and down the stairs.

So I commented on Bob’s post that I’d been secretly trying to lose weight and get healthier for a while now, and that this would be a great way to go public about it. My current goal is 199lbs – a weight I haven’t seen in nearly a decade, and I’m using everything at my disposal to get there. More on that, though, another day.

I also thought it would be a great way to help me blog more regularly. So this is my day 1 Fit In 15 post. I may not post daily. Tonight, I went for a 25 minute walk with my wife and dog. About half-way through, she took a few pictures of me walking (and jogging) to publish. Click on the picture to see today’s full set.

That’s it for now!

PS – If you haven’t wandered by the site in a while, I’ve got a bit of a new look. I’m still tweaking a few things and will make a more formal post about it when it’s done.

In celebration of PodCamp London happening this weekend, I’m sending my #followfriday picks out to @billdeys and @picard102.

Bill and I first met hanging out at ‘The Slip’, the lounge at the Holiday Inn at PAB ‘06. We got in touch again shortly thereafter and have kept in touch ever since. We cross paths mostly via Skype, uStream and Podcasts – and toss the occasional hotel party into the mix for fun.

John, PodCamp London’s designer, and I met for the first time at PCTO09, but we’ve communicated via Twitter earlier. I’m a HUGE fan of his design work and haven’t seen a piece of his work yet that I haven’t enjoyed.

That’s it for now!

February 20th: @markfox – I’ve only met Mark once, though we’ve said we’re going to arrange another meeting soon. I gave him my first reccomendation for two reasons: A) He’d recently lost his job and thought I could make him smile with it, and B) Though he doesn’t blog regulary, he DOES have a “bowling” category… Which rocks. It also helped that he was local.

February 27th (Ok, 28th): @kingstonist – Harvey and I had been working like crazy on the new Kingstonist site, and he’d held out from joining Twitter for so long that I HAD to give him the plug once he singed up. If you haven’t checked out the K’ist yet, you should.

March 20th: @sarahamil and @gongshowj – My first DOUBLE reccomendation! Not something you’ll see often, I’d imagine. Sara and Jeremy regularly make the trip in for the monthly LNMG meetups. Sara drives – Jeremy drinks. It seems to work. It’s great to see them make the trip in, even through snow and ice, for a drink and some chat. I threatened Sara that I’d start a #unfollowsara meme. Sorry Sara – I lied.

So – that brings me to this week’s picks… And I’m back to a single – but with a twist! My wife’s been sick the last week or so, and I thought it might be nice to let her do the picking… So this week’s choice is:

March 27th: @lilyjmills – The story of my wife, Lily and I is actually pretty “small world”-ish. At PAB08, I was talking with someone about my wife and how she grew up in Simcoe, Ontario. Lily, at the next table over, asked me to repeat what I’d said as she grew up there too. Well, moments later, we discover that Lily actually grew up practically next door to my wife, knew her (and her family) and was close friends with my sister-in-law. It was surreal.

So that’s it! Follow all five of them to complete the collection!

So, slowly but surely, new online media stuff in Kingston is starting to grab hold. There are still [mostly] monthly meetups taking place to talk web technology and social networking, there are radio stations, newspapers and hockey teams on Twitter, and there’s a killer blog that’s starting to gain momentum. The last, oh, 6 months or so have seen an EXPLOSIVE amount of locals on Twitter, likely in a growth rate that rival’s the main site, and I thought it was time to do something with it.

So about 2 months ago, sitting alone in a hotel room, I created @limestonetweets. It’s a twitter account devoted entirely to the local Tweet scene and those involved in it. Beyond that, though, it’s been an experiment for me on multiple fronts:

1. @limestonetweets is a directory, more than it is a soap box. The account follows(*) only people in (and around) Kingston, making it a perfect “first stop” for people in the city to find, and connect with, other locals. Sure, I use it occasionally to gather feedback, or announce a meetup, but it’s “following” list is a directory first and foremost.
2. It’s also a chat room. Any DM sent to the account is broadcasted to the world – giving locals a chance to announce where they are to the whole community at once, and allowing for completely impromptu meetups to happen. Yes, similar COULD happen using something like BrightKite… but that’s not where the masses are.
3. The account has also served as the test of my own abilities to manage multiple accounts. Verdict? Still out. For a while, I was really good at followbacks – that’s been tricky recently, but doable.
4. It’s also been interesting to watch how the account has shifted from me working like mad to find locals, to other people finding it through friends. I spent hours combing the Twitterverse in serach of people from Kingston Ontario – as apposed to the Kingstons in Nova Scotia, Jamaica or the UK – to follow. These days? Not so much.

The past few months, though, have seen a real steep decline in the “real-world” gatherings of local people… And that saddens me. The local meetups were something that brought together three things I enjoy: Kingston, the web and meeting people. The meetups, from day one, were always planned to be social, for-fun gatherings and I think most people who attended had a good time. So a few friends of mine, and I, are going to start to get them going again.

I regularly say that one of the things I find most rewarding in this new digital web media space is building connections between two people. Watching partnerships, ideas, friendships and even relationships bloom as a result of a simple introduction tweet, email or phone call is a lot of fun. It’s even more fun when you can do that on a larger scale. So a few weeks ago I created the @limestonetweets account. It’s serving, right now, as a directory of local Twitterers, but will likely be used for announcements and such as time goes on. It’s my hope that it will help unite more people and build some connections between folks with similar interests.

But back to the meetups. I mentioned we’re getting them going again, and we are: The firs local meetup/tweetup/gathering will be helpd tomorrow, February 9th, at 7:00pm, at The Merchant Taphouse. This keeps it on it’s original schedule of the second monday of the month, and at our regular location. Come out for dinner, come out for drinks, or come out just to say hello! We’ll be there. I’ll be in a bright shirt, and the sig with the LNMG logo will be on the table. (We’re usually in and around to the left). If you can, give me an RSVP (here, twitter, email, wherever) so that I can hold a big enough table.

See you tomorrow!

As someone who has played with the idea of being a freelance web developer for some time now, I’ve always gotten bothered by a simple little part: The hourly rate. Now, the status quo is that a better developer charges more then a crappy developer. A developer with a better reputation, and a more experienced history gets to charge more that a new developer entering the field. I’m fine with that – it makes sense to me. What has always bothered me is that so many people charge a 1-hour minimum. I know a lot of folks who will bill a full hour for a 30, 15 or even 5 minut job. And I’ve always thought that was a little silly.

So this past Monday I launched Wordpress Development project I’m calling Wordpress By The Minute which, as you might expect, breaks that minumum 1-hour charge mold.

The idea is simple and the pricing model is simple… But getting the ball rolling has been rough. So – I’d like to ask for your help. If you could post this idea (with a trackback) or tweet it a few times, I’d be highly appreciative. And of course, if you know anyone looking for work done, hand them my name? I have some testimonials on the site now, and will be building that list as time goes on. It’s an idea that I think has legs – if it could only find some ground to grab hold of.

Thanks for your help.

For the past couple of weeks I have been SUPER excited. Not long after my last post, I got a call from a friend in the new media space that I’d seen a couple of times at events. We actually had a nice long talk about a few different topics at PAB this year and have kept in touch (fairly) regularly since. He called to ask about having me help him out on a couple of projects of his and I ended the call with the biggest smile on my face I think I’d ever had. And the closer I got to my start date, the more excited I became.

My New Gig

I am totally thrilled to finally announce that as of today I’m joining Marko to help out with both pets.ca and photography.ca!

I don’t have an “official” title over there yet… Though I’ll come up with one soon enough… But I’ll be helping out with both the website development and makeover, as well as online community building and development. It’s very much a hybrid of what I was doing with the team at TalkShoe, mixed with what I was doing on the side and the fit couldn’t be better. My first tasks will be with the pet site, and we’re going to expand my roles from there.

Sharing Pages

Part of the reason that I’m so excited about this role is that Marko and I see very eye-to-eye on a lot of things. We’ve spent a great number of hours since our initial call a few weeks ago talking about the site, where it is, where it’s been and where it’s going – and we’re both looking at the same possibilities. It seems that every time him or I have a question for the other, we almost already know the answer before we ask it because the answer is generally exactly what we would hope it to be.

The site already has a vibrant community on it’s message boards, so that’s where I’m starting. My first role is to work with the community – and Marko, of course – to develop a new look, feel and style for the site.

So that’s my new role! I’ve turned down the other offer that had me breaking out in a sweat, and am smiles all over to be starting this one. Marko’s a fantastic, community-focused, down to earth guy and I couldn’t be happier to work with him.