This is the personal blog of Drew Matthews, a designer + technologist from Toronto, Canada. While most of this blog will deal with my ranting and raving about, my life, wife, humans, technology, apple computers, flash, skating and bitching. There will be times when brilliance occurs.
if you know me at all, then you know I have a real problem that consumes my life. Day in and day out. What is it you ask? Well I have a hard time saying no to people I like. People that ask me for help usually get it. Somebody needs a blog? I usually host it. Portfolio site? I’m usually building it. Want me to teach you something, I usually will. The one problem with all of this is that my time for myself easily gets left by the wayside, personal projects get put on a backburner that seems to stretch into the distance, never moving up in the que.
I’m struggling to find a way to keep myself and people I care for happy. It’s a tough road but I think from here on out, I need to help myself first, others second. There are plenty of things I wish I would have done by now. Some simple, others requiring my attention for a longer period of time.
What happens now? Whats the plan?
Plan is to take everything that is currently on my plate and get rid of it, finish it. Kill it and bill it so to speak. While this happens I’ll make structured plans to get my personal projects in order so I can accomplish them at a steady pace.
I’ve realized that I’ve done alot for others but not much for myself in the last few years. I need to be greedy and try and make myself happy by doing the things I spend time dreaming about. Making myself happier is the ultimate goal, that happiness fed by the accomplishments I feel I need to do.
Sorry to say that I can’t help you, I need to help me…
is “a new way to fund ideas & endeavors” Its a micro financing site where people can pledge money on different projects that people have set-up. You can pledge as little as 1 dollar and you might even get something in return, most times its a mention in the credits sometimes its a party when the project is launched.
Motivated people have started all kinds of projects, everything from , to getting funding to spend time building an . Project owners can leave updates for everybody about their project, or offer to communicate solely to their backers.
The whole system is neat and clean with the premis that if your financial goal is not met in your set timeframe, dollars to days if you will. Nobodys credit card gets charged. It’s up to the individual project owner to get people interested enough to pledge enough money so the project can move forward before their cut off date.
If you have a project that needs some micro funding I would suggest you head on over to kickstarter and .
So some people have been bugging me, that I’ve let my blogging slide. And while it’s 100% true ( last post was in January ) I’ve not had much to say. Other than complaining which apparently gets you in trubs. That aside I’m going to re-evaluate what it is to blog for me. Most of my stuff is out on twitter which you can find me at twitter.com/regalbear
I’ve really been enjoying tweeting as of late but I’ve come to realize that 140 characters isn’t good for getting quality thoughts out for the handful of people that might read this.
Btw here is a pic of emily cause she’s the greatest kid alive. Bar none!
So we are off to a great start with looking at people I follow on twitter. Honestly there was some backlash from some people about my first choice of 5. Namely that I didnt include some people that were the closest to me. Hopefully this 5er will help solv any trouble I got myself into.
Vol 2.
Jen Matthews –
Yep thats my dear wife, I left her out of the first list, honestly not thinking anybody would care. apparently she did. Shucks. SO yeah she tweets about her love of all things Edward Cullen, people who fart on the train and an assortment of other stuff.. dance related as well as rantings about work. Doesnt tweet that much, but quality I suppose over quantity. I suppose you could follow her if you are friends with her. Tho I dont think most of the people she knows are on twitter, BB messenger maybe but twitter … no… Love ya.
Cheryl McKenzie –
I work with Cheryl, she takes the same trains I complain about all the time. I didnt even know she was on twitter and tweets quite a bit. She likes to make cupcakes and not bring them to work to share. She has also invented her own language and its documentation can be found on want to learn a new language or stuff about cupcakes and the weather then follow her up.
Wil Wheaton –
Yes that Wil Wheaton. Wesley Crusher himself is on the internest and on twitter. If you liked TNG then you should follow him. Do you enjoy reading stories about being a nerd? Follow him. Enjoy play by play commentary about Kings games? Follow him. Nuff said. Engage!
Chris Hardwik –
Chris Hardwick is a musician, television host, stand up comic, and actor. I know him from G4′s Attack of the Show. Where he co-hosts from time to time. One of the funniest people I watch on TV which isnt saying much since I rarely watch something with hosts. He was also the host of PBS’s Wired Science which was an awesome show. Tweets about travelling and general nerdyness. Will converse with Wil Wheaton from time to time about TNG and hockey etc… Generally a fun follow if your up for it and especially if you watch AOTS.
Notorious BIG –
Its biggie speaking to you. Hes alive you know it. Hilarious. One of the premiere tweeters that makes me chuckle constantly. Did you love Juicy in high school. Did you want a shiny ass suit? Did you think MA$E was just crazy. Follow him up.
Well thats it. pretty straight forward. As of this I’m currently following 130 tweeters. Not bad way more that I thought I would. More next week!
So i’ve been meening to do this type of post for a while and thought that I would do it today or rather I would start it today. I’m going to go through my list of who I follow and write a bit on why I follow them, things I’ve learned etc. I’ll link back to their profile so you can check them out if they sound interesting to you. I’ll also rate their tweeting style on a personal level, that relates to me, you might find this interesting or not.
Lets get the Show on the road
Vol – 1.
micah barrett –
Micah is a friend of mine. Brilliant designer and avid seahawks fan, which can be proven by his often tweets “fucking seahawks”. Sometimes I wish he tweeted more so I knew what was going on in Seattle, but maybe it just rains all the time? I value his tweets and his random thoughts, since hes a friend its good to know hes still alive when he does tweet.
veronica belmont –
Veronica is a co host of the revision3 show tekzilla. Honestly bonus points in my book for having a show with “zilla” in it. Smart and whitty she tweets about gadgets (which I like) and other technology things she covers (again I like that) also inserts ramblings about cats (which are funny even tho I’m allergic) and links and updates about the various things shes involved in like tekzilla and posting on her blog. A good follow if your into tech and especially if you enjoy tekzilla.
cobra commander –
Honestly who doesnt love cobra commander. Get insight on how to run your own evil organization. Witness the glory and the luster of having access to weapons that are far superior to that of your enemies. One of the funniest and therefore awesomest twitter accounts to follow and while the updates arent often, this is a good case of quality over quantity. If you are a fan of GI JOE then folow em up.
popeyes chicken –
I have a warm spot in my heart for fried chicken, especially if its popeyes. I found out about this twitter account after twittering about enjoying some popeyes for lunch. Less that 3 hours later I had a personal message from popeyes and they had a follower instantly. The way that popeyes chicken is handling their social media responsibilities is in my book almost without fault. Tweets on brand and just generally great content for its followers, many companies could learn from the likes of these guys. If you enjoy bonafied chicken then follow.
al gore –
Yes this is the “REAL” al gore. At first his twiter account was squatted by and imposter and now the real al gore tweets semi weekly about the environment and things hes doing. Al started twittering shortly after his current interview with digg’s kevin rose. His non so often tweets are a nice break for me from the randomness that comes through my tweet stream. If you enjoy the outdoors and want to know whats going on with al specifically then a follow might be a good idea.
ok so thats it, a quick run down of 5 people I’m following on twitter. Another 5 shortly.
