Hello friends, are you on Netflix? If so, please friend Selena and I by using this address:

http://www.netflix.com/BeMyFriend/PB1XxNWogrGGgAP3MwgE

Thanks so much,

Greg

PS. I think it’s ridiculous that a major Internet competitor like Netflix does not have a friending system that would let you search for people you ... [ more ]]]>

Friend us on Netflix

Hello friends, are you on Netflix? If so, please friend Selena and I by using this address:

http://www.netflix.com/BeMyFriend/PB1XxNWogrGGgAP3MwgE

Thanks so much,

Greg

PS. I think it’s ridiculous that a major Internet competitor like Netflix does not have a friending system that would let you search for people you know by either importing your addressbook or just typing in their name. The fact that you have to take friending out of their site and into a separate media (like blogging or emailing) is a colossal misstep on Netflix part, and leaves a major hole for a new competitor to come in and offer a better experience. Okay, getting off the soapbox now. To conclude, it’s asinine that we have to request this via our blog instead of on the Netflix site, but please friend us on Netflix.

The winning tee-shirt for Greg is:

nominated by Jacy While the humor is very subtle (you really have to know Flight of the Conchords to really even ... [ more ]]]> The Hippo Hunting Tee-Shirt Outlet contest is closed the judges (Selena and myself) have voted and here are the results.

The winning tee-shirt for Greg is:

New Zealand, it’s not part of Australia

nominated by Jacy
While the humor is very subtle (you really have to know Flight of the Conchords to really even realize there’s a joke here), the shirt can stand on it’s own if you don’t get the pop cultural reference. And it ties to Greg and Selena’s aspiration to eventually go to New Zealand (and Australia).
Honorable mentions to Barbie for Bomb Squad and Kitty for Overly Caucasian.

The winning tee-shirt for Selena is:

How to make a S’more

nominated by Stef
Selena surprised a lot of people by not choosing Comic Sans Sucks (primarily because it was not actually written in Comic Sans and was “awkwardly typeset”) and going with the Smores shirt. She loved the design and the subject matter and how the two went together in this shirt the most. She does still support the movement to Ban Comic Sans.
Honorable mention to Kristy and Dani both for Don’t Ever Turn Your Back on a Cactus.

Jacy and Stef will be contacted individually to get their shirt requests so we can order them all. Thanks again to everyone who participated in this contest and helped us find the best tee-shirts. Thanks too to our friends at SmartHippo.com who provided the gift certificate to tshirtoutlet.com which made this all possible.

It’s CSS Naked Day today. That means web geeks like me go under the hood of our websites and strip off all the ... [ more ]]]> I ripped it off the site, no more green and brown, no more G and S logo, it’s all gone… forever, actually not forever, for 24 hours.

It’s CSS Naked Day today. That means web geeks like me go under the hood of our websites and strip off all the styling. The idea is that if you built the site well, then the content should remain completely accessible even though the look and branding of the site are gone. It’s only for a day. Tomorrow the familiar branding and images will be back.

UPDATE 4/10: CSS Naked Day has come and gone and the site is back to the fully styled version.

1. The article about New Year’s in Canada that I wrote last year is now the #5 result for ... [ more ]]]> When you put yourself out there, like we do on this blog, you cannot always control or predict what will happen with your web content. Two interesting things I stumbled upon today:

1. The article about New Year’s in Canada that I wrote last year is now the #5 result for the terms “Quebec New Years” on canfind.ca (the search engine for the Best of Canada online). It follows two travel agents and two event planners.

2. Remember the YouTube video of the proposal at the Delaware Shakespeare Festival? Here’s a snapshot from it:

Take a look at the area labeled “Views”. This video has now been viewed 1,604 times. I can not fathom who all is watching this, but I do know it’s possible, because for whatever reason, this video is now in wide distribution. The video was picked up by:

• grind.com,
• cienconstruccion.com,
• searchthetube.com,
• spone.com,
• hq-cars.com, and
• videolar.biz.

I’m not going to link to these sites, because I don’t want to promote them. I suspect few if any of them have legitimate deals with YouTube to repurpose content, and most likely they just rip off the feed of new videos and claim it as their own.

We also love your photos. Many of you have shared your ... [ more ]]]> We love our photos, and are excited to once again have the Photos page of this blog up and running. You can find our photos by clicking the Photos link in the top right corner of the blog.

We also love your photos. Many of you have shared your photos of our wedding or banquet with us, and we thank you. We would like for you to be able to display your photos of times we’ve shared together in the gregandselena site photos section as well. And we have set things up to make it very easy to do so, all you need to do is have your photos on Flickr.com.

If you are not on Flickr already, I would recommend giving it a try. It has all the features of Picasa or Kodak or PhotoBucket or Snapfish, but provides so many more opportunities to share your photos with your friends and family. It is through one of these sharing features that you can add your photos to our site.

Once you have your photos on Flickr, go to the Groups section and look for a group called Greg and Selena. Join the group and add any photos containing the two of us to that group, and presto, automagically they will appear on this site as well.

This is because this site is pulling in the feed of the Greg and Selena Flickr group, so if you add your photos to the group, they are added to the feed, and they are displayed on this site. Isn’t technology cool?

Following the three marvelous symphonies, in the talk-back session, a patron asked Mr. Thibeadet how he possibly finds time to practice ... [ more ]]]> I went with Selena to see the National Symphony Orchestra last night. They featured one of Selena’s favorite pianists Jean-Yves Thibaudet, (and yes, I’ve already exhausted all the “pianists” puns).

Following the three marvelous symphonies, in the talk-back session, a patron asked Mr. Thibeadet how he possibly finds time to practice and get that good. His response was “there’s no excuse for not practicing, you can always find a piano”.

He went on to speak of how growing up when he was done his piano lesson, instead of going “downstairs and playing with a… balloon” he’d stay at the piano and improvise and explore and just enjoy his craft. (The whole audience gave a bit of a “huh?” at the balloon line, it sounded like he was reaching to try to recall what others did for fun as children).

This reminded me of this post I recently read from Seth Godin exploring the difference between a workaholic and someone who is passionate about their work. To paraphrase Godin, a workaholic is motivated by fear: of underperforming, of being laid off, of being a failure. Someone passionate about their work is okay with skipping the newest reality TV show to update their website design or seizing the opportunity of the long Metro to write blog posts (as I am doing right now).

I like the idea that I found an industry, web design, that allows me to be that passionate about what I do. I have too many friends that can not fathom the idea of having to think about their work after hours. Yet, I shouldn’t go patting myself on the back too hard, I am far from the epitome of passionate web designers, I still enjoy “playing with the balloon” a bit too much, but I sure am impressed by people who can throw themselves completely into their work, people like pianist Jean-Yves Thibeadet.

I hit “submit” ... [ more ]]]> I am setting up a Facebook account, because (mark my words) it just redefined itself to become the next HUGE thing online. I am setting up my profile. When I set my status to “engaged” and a new field appears labeled “to…”, I type in “Selena Kang”

I hit “submit” and the next screen displays Selena’s (albeit empty) Facebook profile with the option to “Add as Fiancee”.

Why is this alarming? Because I can add anyone as my fiancée just by knowing their name.

Circle back, I typed in Selena’s name, it sought out her profile, and gave me the option to add her as my fiancée. The same option would have popped up should I have typed in any one of your names. Do you have a say in this? Nope. Do you have any recourse if my profile states I am engaged to you? Nada. This is a scary little loophole in the Facebook setup system.