I’m proud, relieved, and happy to say the new Ubyssey Student Newspaper Website is now live on the internet. I thought I’d write a little blurb about my experience doing the paper, and tactics used.

Production started in May and wrapped up yesterday. I spent A LOT of time (like an entire month) simply enveloping myself in newspaper sites across the globe. I’d really dissect a page and try to genuinely understand WHY I felt a particular section looked good and worked. I found that it’s really all about the little things. Like, a small 1 pixel border here, or a 3px indent margin there. Sometimes it is hard to quantify (read: justify) not producing tangible work.  It was actually a critical step for me as I found the coding a lot easier.I knew exactly what I wanted to do when coding – down to the pixel.

Understand their business and audience as much as possible. As an entrepreneur myself, i find this part the most interesting, and rewarding when translated to the final website product.

Actual development of the site began in early July when I sat down to a blank page in Coda. Oh boy, that was a daunting sight. Since then it has grown into thousands of lines of code. Looking back – I still can’t believe I actually wrote all that.

The site is build on WordPress 3.0. Each section is coded as a Custom Post Type – with custom permissions set to each such that it gives editors a clear and simple backend management of their roles (only things relevant to them are visible). I used Somadesigns custom post type script (http://somadesign.ca/projects/smarter-custom-post-types/) which greatly enhances the WordPress default: pagination, section fronts, etc, were all possible and much easier with it.

All in all, wordpress is an excellent platform. And it’s actually quite scalable. It’s been a great experience coding themes knowing that if there was ANYTHING I wanted it to do, there was generally an answer somewhere out there, with examples.

Other notable things are: Issuu for PDF archives, great ad management cms, WP Post ratings and Polls, Nextgen for galleries, Google custom search engine.

There’s a lot more to it.. so if you’re interested feel free to ask in the comments. And I’d like to know your feedback on the site!

The Ubyssey Student Newspaper at UBC

http://www.ubyssey.ca

If you’re in the market for a new website, contact me. Maybe I can help.

I’m proud to say my work with Human Kinetics student development this summer as a work learn student has been a great experience, and a success.

www.hkinstudents.ubc.ca is live!

Contact me if you need help with websites.

I faced a dilemma friday night: my family had left whistler after spending a week there at their resort, Club Intrawest. Me, I was diving nearby saturday morning. I weighed two options: drive home then back AGAIN in the morning, and …. find somewhere to camp in the woods for a night. I chose the latter.

It was… interesting. I’ll tell you one thing, getting new batteries for my flashlight was a blessing. It was pitch dark and all I could hear were bears growling (I was in the bush on Rainbow mountain).

I made it alive. Porteau was awesome. It was my first dive there. Visibility was awesome – at about 40 feet. Check out the video I made mixed with Gaia Aisha (Armin’s ASOT).

It’s worth watching in HD here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKQmgVz8dvk or just watch it here (non HD):

On my way out I met a group of freedivers. One of the guys says he has been to 250 feet! I haven’t even been half that deep on a SCUBA tank! Nuts. Anyway, they were cool and offered to teach me a few things sometime. Sounds good to me.

Hey out there…

I went up to whis on Wednesday after work to meet up with my family. The sea to sky highway bloooows me away every time. I could drive that all day. I’ll skip to the meat…

I went rafting, which was, fun. “Fun bouncy waves” as the brochure said. Something a bit more extreme would have been nice, but I actually really enjoyed it as it gave me an opportunity to try my new video camera – the GoPro Hero HD. Excellent camera.

After ziplining I had the opportunity to go on the Eagle Ziptrek tour led by none other than the ziptrek CEO, Charles. Don’t ask me how I know the guy… you probably have a closer relation. But here goes: Sisters, boyfriends, friends, dad, uncles, cousin, who knows him through work. We’re talking a multiple state and country span here. Jesus is likely more closer related!

Enough of my rambling, I’ll let the video speak for itself:

Oh yeah, I also went spearfishing:

But, unfortunately,

No fish

Next time!

Last Thursday, the 15th, I threw a sick party for WCE. With the Party Bus business all but shut down, we were scrambling to find a charter company willing to take a group of kids to a club for a decent price. Alas, I found a company, Vancouver School Bus Charters. I worked it out with Jeff (of VSBC) to give us rides there for a great price. They’re awesome folks – definitely the sort to do business with again!

Yes, the party… lots of fun. Everyone had a blast. Check out the promo poster (I’m starting to get good with photoshop!)

Spearfishing with a SCUBA tank is not the same as on your own lung power. As I calmly glide prone over the surface of the water… a certain weightlessness overcomes me as the wetsuit keeps me buoyant on the water. Time moves slow. Sound is slowly numbed from me by the pressure of the water on my hood.

A calculated kick of the fins propels me underwater, and the thought of every kick further as another kick back to air – and life …  does not concern me. Hours pass that felt like minutes.

Here are a few pictures of my adventures at Alta Lake. Taken by Max McLaughlin

Jeff Blake spearfishing at Alta Lake in Whistler

About eight months ago I decided I wanted to spice up some SCUBA hobby.. with what, I wasn’t sure. That’s when I learned of spearfishing. However, it wasn’t until recently that I finally made the plunge.

I ordered a JBL 38 Northwest Special and off I went last night to Copper Cove to try her out.

Sightings were slim. I was getting impatient. Then finally a giant lingcod appears, excitement builds, as I slowly stalk the fish into position. Aim… fire… a bare miss. I think I need to practice how to shoot the thing before I go for the real deal again. With no sights, or guides, you just have to get used to where the spear goes.

Til next time!

On behalf of White Chocolate Entertainment, I’d like to to thank everyone that attended the Black and White Party at The Barcelona Night Club, and the co-club owner, Matt Schmidt for hosting our event.

As the promoter for the UBC branch,

It started wednesday afternoon – tickets to sell, running around the UBC campus. With a few hours  to go, ticket sales exploded and we sold out completely – about 115 sold.

Donning my black pinstripe pants, matching hat, suspenders and button v-neck white shirt, it was time to enjoy the party. (Jeff Blake photos soon!).

Much of the party attendees were Irish – and rallying them up to party early is a challenge. So with a bottle of Vodka, Lanny and I went around giving out shots while sneakily leading them all to the party bus. Trick worked, bus full, party on its way to barcelona…

Get to the club. Club is sick! Barcelona really has done well with the place during its makeover from its previously known venue as “Crush”. My bosses Rishi Sharma and Duncan Lanoville welcome me to the ‘club’ and introduce me to the owner, Matt Schmidt. Matt’s a very nice guy and hooked us up with drinks, comp tickets, and a VIP booth and bottle service.

White Chocolate will be back soon with another HIT party. Stay tuned!

I have taken on two new jobs recently of which I am excited to be a part of.

First, I am recently the newly elected Internet Coordinator for the AquaSoc Scuba Diving club. Working alongside an awesome exec, I will be working closely to enhance our online presence – hopefully in the effect to expose more people to the wonders of diving, and also to strengthen the diving community here at UBC. lAs I bonus, I get free gear rentals! So expect posts on some crazy scuba adventures. Our website is www.diveubc.com and the facebook group is here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2228843697&ref=ts

Also, I have been hired as the new Webmaster for the UBC newspaper, the Ubyssey. What started as a simple role – has now expanded to a summer long project to do a complete redesign and overhaul of the website. I am very excited – it will be a great growth experience for me – as well to give the paper a much needed rebranding of our online presence. Stay tuned!

Weather is a significant factor in ones mood, and emotion.

As an “Pacific North-westerner” raised, but not born, overcast days cloud much of our seasons. I have a theory as to why these days bring about a gloomy mood.

When we think about why sun makes our lives brighter, and happier – we generally attribute it to the warmth, color. But there is another reason that we may not directly notice. Shadows. Shadows have a beautiful effect. Think about the last sunset, or ray of sun penetrating your living room. It creates a shadow. Think about your kitten curled up on the carpet in a direct patch of sunlight – surrounded by shadow. Shadow adds emphasis… to the right places. It acts as a spotlight – highlighting the especially glorious things.

And that’s it. On overcast days there are NO shadows! The outside is bright – I often wear my sunglasses on these days – but everything looks … unimportant.

An overcast day is like a bad video game.