This weekend’s adventure was extra fun as we added a new member to our design team. Rather than the just Laura and I visiting the Interior Design Show in Toronto we were joined by our new arrival, Anna. We thought it was a natural fit given her natural sense of aesthetic design and the fact that we couldn’t exactly leave her at home. When we arrived at the Metro Toronto Convention center we decided to escort little Anna around in her stroller. There were a few highlights for us at the show and we took some pictures of some interesting things we saw. So let me introduce all the members of our design team. 1. Anna Puopolo – the newest addition to our design team. She likes soft things and textures. Gets upset when things get soggy namely her own clothing (therefore best to stay away from water features. Only operates on a full stomach. You can connect with her @AnnaPuopolo 2. Laura Puopolo – She is the glue to the entire operation and has been a part of the team for over 10 years. She has eclectic tastes, likes traditional designs and forms. She likes clean simple lines, and uncluttered design. When it comes to our relationship she is the sober Ying to my drunken Yang in terms of form over function. You can connect with her @LauraPuopolo 3. Joseph Puopolo – I am the dreamer of the group. Always looking to make projects bigger and crazier. I like fusion of both modern and traditional. I am actively looking for new projects after the completion of my latest work which, I call “upstairs baby room number 1”. I have my eye on the future and upcoming designs for new space our ever growing design team. I can be contacted as always @jpuopolo 1. Cool Tulip Arrangement The first thing we came across was this interesting composition of flowers. I this would be a great way to display flowers at a head table. Seeing that I planted over 700 bulbs around the property, this display might come in handy. 2. A Duo of Lovely Fireplaces We are always looking for new ways to warm space. We stumbled across these two fireplaces that we thought would be great for a cottage or a new home. Anna is already thinking of ways to incorporate one into her new room, while Laura is looking to integrate into into a potential new Master Bath. 3. When Form Runs Amok over Function The entire design team were aghast when we stumbled by this next display. This was the ultimate example of when ego ruins design. The booth...
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Joseph and Laura (Dyck) Puopolo are thrilled to announce the arrival of their first child, Anna Katherine Puopolo,on January 9, 2011 at North York General Hospital, weighing 7 lbs. 2 oz.Proud grandparents are Paul and Louise Puopolo of Waterloo,ON and Ken and Judy Dyck of Kitchener, ON. New aunt Kristen Dyck and uncles Bryan Dyck and Michael Puopolo are very...
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The holiday season is a feast for the senses. A split-second exposure to the scents of baking gingerbread or fresh pine can send us back to the child-like rush of anticipation and excitement that always seemed to surround Christmas. Similarly, the shimmer of Christmas lights on fresh-fallen snow, with breath rising in frozen clouds to a star-scattered sky always fills me with wonder. My analytical adult mind could easily be distracted with thoughts of electrical safety and wondering how much the hydro bill is going to go up, but that never seems to happen. We all build holiday traditions around these sensory inputs. All of these smells, sights and sounds work together to make the season special. We continue traditions begun by our ancestors before us, and we make new traditions as lifestyles and technology evolve. Movies are a relatively recent addition to the cultural repertoire, but many have already become engrained as “holiday classics”. However, this is a bit of a debated topic. It seems that everyone has their own ideas of what constitutes the “perfect” holiday movie. With that said, Joseph and I have our own ideas about which movies truly are holiday classics. So, without further ado, here is our list: The Muppet Christmas Carol – most people seem to put some version of Charles Dickens’ classic Christmas story somewhere on their list of holiday movie classics. Whether it be the Alistair Sims’ black and white version, or the technologically-driven Jim Carrey edition, this tale of redemption and Christmas spirit strikes a chord in many of us. I, personally, absolutely love the 1992 Jim Henson edition, with Michael Caine as Scrooge. I think that the humour and songs really add to Dickens’ storytelling, and in my family, it’s not truly Christmas until we’ve seen this together. A Charlie Brown Christmas – this one is Joseph’s favourite. The true messages of Christmas (love and salvation) shine through the rudimentary animation and simple dialogue and songs. Although short in length, this movie really does have a lot of Christmas spirit. I know that the soundtrack also ranks highly on many people’s lists of “Christmas favourites”. Die Hard – this may not make most people’s lists of “Holiday classics”, but Joseph and his brother have a standing date every Christmas Eve with the couch, a bowl of popcorn and Bruce Willis. While it may seem a little strange to go from a group of charming animated characters singing around a small, sad little Christmas tree to “Yippee-ki-yay motherfuckers”, it is just this kind of tradition that makes Christmas celebrations special and unique to each family. So although I don’t...
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It’s 5:45 am on a winter morning, and I’m standing at a TTC bus stop, anxiously awaiting the bus. It arrives, full of other commuters making their way downtown to begin their work days. Like many Torontonians, Joseph and I live outside the downtown core. We love our home and our neighbourhood (Don Mills), but living outside the downtown core means that having a car is a necessity. In an effort to be frugal and environmentally conscious, we share one vehicle. This means that one of us is often using the TTC. That said, it was with dismay that we heard about Rob Ford’s immediate decision to scrap the Transit City project on his first day as mayor. We had been eagerly looking forward to the planned Don Mills and Eglinton crosstown LRT lines, as our only current connection to the subway is a series of buses that are often overcrowded and running late. Ford’s move to cancel the Transit City LRT plan (a plan that has been in the works for years) and instead build a much smaller new subway line (at a much greater cost) seems shortsighted at best, and downright foolish at worst. Toronto is one of the 10 largest cities in North America, and is recognized as being a major world city. Our multicultural city and its many internationally known events (TIFF, anyone?) offer much to tourists. However, when compared to other international cities, our transit system is severely lacking. I have had the opportunity to use public transit in New York, London, and Berlin, all of which have significantly better-developed subway and rail systems in comparison to Toronto. In this age of enhanced environmental awareness, Ford seems to have forgotten that Torontonians living to the east, west and north of the downtown core often have limited access (at best!) to public transit. He has declared the Transit City plan a “war on cars”. Should we not have a “war on cars”, knowing what we do about the importance of reducing our carbon emissions? This is important from a public health standpoint as well as from an environmental standpoint. While we certainly agree that the ideal solution (as Ford has proposed) is a much more extensive subway network, it certainly doesn’t seem financially feasible at this juncture. Although LRT does have its cons (yes, it does share the same road space as cars – but wouldn’t the purpose of LRT be to help get more people out of their cars and on to public transit?), we desperately need to push forward with a transit solution to help the “out of downtown” population move around the...
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Christmas soon approaches and we are all getting our holiday decorations ready. I truly know Christmas is right around the corner when it is time for us to get our tree. My wife and I moved out of our parents’ homes over 7 years ago, and going out to find a tree each year is one of our favourite traditions. Although, I will say that as much as we love getting a tree, there have been many times when the set-up of said tree has led some some very “animated discussions”. Animated discussions aside, we have so much fun doing it and love seeing the final product. Now to the issue at hand, real tree or fake tree? I have always advocated for a real tree over a fake tree. Now the question? Why one over the other? 1. I like the smell of a real tree There is nothing quite like the smell of a real tree. Christmas, in my opinion, is always about senses, whether it be the smell of cookies baking, the sight of lights twinkling, the sound of singing, or a hug from someone you haven’t seen in a long time. As I write this blog, I am smelling the a beautiful real tree and it brings back memories of Christmases past. 2. Real Trees are better for the environment There is a lot of conflicting information on this, but when I look at the facts I can’t see how fake trees are better for the environment. Now, without this devolving into a point for point discussion of the pros and cons of why real trees are better, I will make a few quick points. First, anything made in nature versus in a factory will likely be better for the environment. Nature is pretty amazing at making things, whether it be food or trees for Christmas. I can’t see how we could make it more efficiently than nature could. There is something about shipping a man-made tree half way across the world in a cargo container that just seems wrong. 3. The experience of going out to get a tree For those that know me, I am really big on experience. I do like the destination but I really love the journey. Going out to get a Christmas tree is always a fun experience. Whenever I pick out a Christmas tree with my wife we turn into discerning experts. Like a expert jeweler evaluating a fine jewel or a wine lover swirling a glass of wine around, we are serious about our trees. Realistically though, that all goes out of the window when we see a tree and our...
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After watching Scott Pilgrim over the weekend I came to an interesting conclusion: video games used to be more fun. As I was watching Pilgrim, I listened to those beautiful 8-bit sound effects that filled my childhood. They brilliantly spliced these sounds into the movie to help set a mood circa the 1980’s. To be truthful, they really won me over right from the start when they had the 8-bit midi intro of the Universal logo. Watching the movie I realized that video games had been part of my life for over 25+ years, and it seems like they used to be a lot more fun. Watching Pilgrim, I experienced a sort of nostalgia for the days of playing games for the first time. Whether it a puzzle game, RPG (role playing game) or an action adventure, I truly enjoyed the experience. Although the limited graphics and sounds left something to be desired, it was more than anything fun. We have now had a generation of people playing video games and over 5 generations of video game consoles. For some reason I feel less connected to video games than ever in my life. This on the heels of renewing a Starcraft addiction, Starcraft 2 to be specific. As an aside I almost didn’t make it through first year university because of that game. One might simply dismiss this by saying that I am getting older, I have other priorities in my life or that the thrill of accomplishing something in a game pales to completing something in real life. While those are all contributing factors, I think part of the reason is that simple games are just more fun. As much as I like belting out my favorite songs on Rock Band, it still lacks something. Many game designers have put a lot of their focus on making games more realistic, but realism doesn’t necessarily make the games better. This has been reflected by the wave of games from Wii and on the iPhone trying to bring gaming to the masses. While there have been attempts to reach out to the masses with console games, the Wii fad appears to be waning. In that time, Apple has quietly emerged as a serious contender in the gaming space. That said, as much as Angry Birds strives to fill my this void it doesn’t quite cut it. Facebook is another emerging platform for games. However, it feels more like a casino, as very clever gamers try and extract far more than a traditional game via micro transactions. I fell victim to a certain game where I ended up spending 40 dollars on...
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I just came home from another heart breaking loss for the Buffalo Bills at the hands of the Chicago Bears. The Bills are now winless (0-8) this season. This game was all part of an ongoing experiment to bring the Bills to Toronto for one game a year. After getting my heart pulled from my chest yet again, I reflect on the possibility of the Bills moving to Toronto from Buffalo. Before I deliver my verdict, I wanted to review the pros and cons of the Buffalo Bills moving to Toronto: Pro – Toronto will have a team in all major sports leagues The NFL is the last major North American sports league not represented in Toronto. By getting an NFL franchise, Toronto would essentially complete its set.Toronto already have an NHL (Maple Leafs), NBA (Raptors) MLB (Blue Jays) and MLS (TFC) franchise. Like a kid collecting stickers, I can’t help but want them all. By the way, if you are looking for stickers check out StickerYou for ready-made and custom stickers (shameless plug, I know). Seriously speaking though, having all major sports franchises would cement Toronto as a sports powerhouse. Even the UFC is about to plan a major event in Toronto. Does Toronto necessary need the NFL? The answer is no. That said, bringing another major sports franchise to Toronto would continue raise the profile of the city in the eyes of sports fans. There are only 13 cities with all 4 major sports franchises. Toronto could be number 14. Con – Potential Impact on the CFL The CFL is a Canadian institution. Bringing the NFL to Toronto may threaten this institution. While bringing the NFL to Toronto doesn’t necessarily spell instant doom for the CFL, it will probably not help in the long-term. The Argos fanbase would likely take offense to having to share with their Toronto NFL counterpart. The NFL will push hard and likely trump requests by the Argos. The question then becomes whether Toronto can really support two football teams. If it can’t, it might have long-lasting negative impact to the CFL. The Argos has one of the biggest fan bases of all CFL franchises. If Toronto happily accepts an NFL team and the CFL fails, it will only give Canadians another reason to “love” Toronto. Pro – Financial Impact This is a no brainer from a economics perspective; the NFL will bring big dollars to Toronto. While there are only 8 home games, the financial impact would be profound. NFL fans are some of the most loyal. They will travel thousands of miles (most NFL fans wouldn’t use kilometers) to watch their team. That said it...
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In today’s world of online marketing, you need a framework or approach to string together all the activities that are seemingly countless of theories are approaches. This is a theory or approach I have pulled together after years of marketing. This is a combination of both strategy and tactics. What is pulse marketing? Well, think of it like a body. No matter what the size of the body, it needs a pulse to give it life. After designing countless large websites, something occurred to me. We would be building these large bodies, but not creating a system or mechanism to generate or maintain a pulse. What is “Pulse” ? Pulse is the regular activity or updates you do to evolve or change your website. Why is Pulse important? Whether you have a large site or not, “Pulse” is important because you need a steady stream of information kept up-to-date for both users and search engines. Creating new content for users makes obvious sense. Users are looking for new information when they come to the site. Static sties without a “Pulse” have a tendency to have lower return rates of traffic. Unless your intent is to put up the equivalent of an online sign, you need to evolve. Therefore, creating content on a regular basis is the equivalent of maintaining a regular “Pulse” for your site. The second element of the equation is creating regular content for search engines. This can be a highly contentious issue for marketers. I would totally agree that creating content exclusively for search engines is a bad idea. However, I would say to the horde of people who are not optimizing for search engines that they are missing an opportunity. Regular content updates are one of the mechanisms Google and other search engines use to determine how relevant your site is. To the uninitiated, search engines, such as Google, send spiders to your site to see what is new. Based upon how regular your “pulse” is they send more spiders to your site to make sure their indexes are up to date. Part of the Google algorithm is based around the age of that content, simply meaning that the newer it is the better chance you have of getting it listed higher. This also feeds into big picture of how Google ranks the relevance of your site. Why Use Pulse ? There are countless analogies I could use as to why acting like a smaller or more nimble creature will help you to win in the long run. I will spare you the metaphors and get to the meat and potatoes. Here are a few reasons why one should use “Pulse”....
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Travel is in my blood; I have been doing so since I was a small child. I was lucky that my parents would take me on every trip they went on, so I would see other cultures and how people lived. I must say that it helped me to both appreciate what I have and make it easier to me to relate to people of different cultures. Since I have grown up (some may question whether I have) I have continued this traveling streak by visiting many continents. I have so far visited 4 continents with at least another 3 on the horizon in the near future. When I met my wife Laura, I was pleased to see she had traveled and shared my traveling nature and became an excellent travel partner. We have travelled apart but most enjoy traveling together due to our adventurous streak to want to enjoy the local cuisine and culture. I have compiled a list of 8 interesting places we have visited: 1. San Francisco / Pacific Coast Highway I travel quite often to San Francisco on business, but I absolutely love visiting for pleasure. San Francisco is one of the few true pedestrian friendly cities in the US. We once walked over 29km in one day around the city. While our legs were exhausted, we saw many of the sights that made me fall in love with this place. The city has an excellent cuisine and an energy to it that I can’t describe. One of my favorite things to do in the city is walk or run along the Embarcadero and then go the Ferry Market building. They have a fantastic farmers market and lovely boutique shops that I could live at. The city has a lot of things to do if you are interested in food, the arts or nature. I love how San Francisco combines all of those elements but is still has some of the “big city” feel. Although I have never been a fan of walking up a long hill for an extended period of time there is just so much to do in San Francisco that you barely notice. Here is a list of some of my favorite places in the city The Pacific Coast Highway in California was a side trip we took. I have traveled the highway a few times, but the trip that stands out in my head is when we rented a gold Cadillac to drive from San Francisco through Big Sur on our way to Las Vegas. This is probably one of my favorite drives ever. The view is fantastic and there are many delightful...
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As we approach Halloween, many discuss the dead rising up in zombie form to terrorize the living. I feel sometimes we are walking among zombies. There are far too many trigger happy journalists or bloggers (if you still distinguish the two from each other) who are ready to close the coffin on a technology, a website or even the Web itself. That’s right, even the Web was pronounced dead earlier this year by Wired (The Web is Dead. Long Live the Internet). I found that particularly amusing. Isn’t a physical magazine a medium that is supposed to be akin to carving words into stone tablets? What is driving this ongoing trend of calling things dead? Are these things truly zombies? Mashable addressed this a few months ago after the Wired “Web is Dead” article came to light. I was personally set off this morning by this article stating that “SEO Is Dead, And The New King Is ‘SMO’” by Ben Elowitz. It wasn’t just the title of the article, but it was a universal declaration that an entire tactic was dead, which it isn’t by the way. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is not dead. The trend of calling something dead before it is really dead has officially “Jumped the Shark” in my eyes. Urban Dictionary Reference – Jumped the Shark Delightful YouTube Video of – Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzerelli – Actually “Jumping the Shark” I could spend my time arguing the merits of Ben’s article, but I will not. I could argue that in my opinion he is overstating the trajectory of certain social media trends. I don’t want to even broach that topic because it doesn’t tackle the real issue. The question I want to answer is why everyone is so trigger happy to call something dead? Here are a few scenarios I have considered, please feel free to add your own: 1. Pageviews + Controversy = Money – The race to zero is in full swing. One of the most obvious things to point to is that shock value sells. In the days of 140 character snipes or news snippets we have to get people’s attention fast. We try to convert them to a unique visitor and hopefully get them to click the banner or call to action. After all, their business is an ad model. It is their job to drive those actions. Pageviews drive advertising dollars and controversy always sells. This, in my opinion, is the type of journalism that if Edward R. Murrow was still alive (yes it is safe to say he is dead, I think) he would come after you with facts and details...
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