New York City is truly amazing. Out of all of the “regular” statements that are normally made about the city, the one that always stands out in my head is “New York has everything.” This is true. It may be tricky to find, you may have to travel underground into a back room, or you may have to search around on google for a while, but the city has everything. I’ve compiled a few shots I snapped with my iPhone on my recent trip that represents only a fraction of the well-rounded city.

Columbia University preparing for grad:

Amateur Night at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem:

The Financial District from the Brooklyn Bridge:

A couple on a canoe in Central Park with midtown in the background:

A bull in the Financial District on Wall Street:

Times Square:

Duchamp’s Bicycle Wheel:

Grimaldi’s Pizza, DUBMO (down under the manhattan bridge overpass):

You’re using the best online email service out there, so why not take advantage of all it has to offer? Here I list just a few of my favorite Gmail features and how to integrate them. Enjoy!

Multiple Inboxes:

• Turn on the lab (via the green beaker in the top right hand corner of Gmail)
• If you have a small screen, set it one on top of the other. Otherwise, 17”+, you can put them side by side
• Configure the number of extra inboxes you would like and their respective orientation

On my personal account, I only use one extra inbox. It sits above my main inbox and holds all “starred” emails. I star emails that are either important reminders for the upcoming few weeks or emails that I need to respond to soon. My goal for email is to keep my extra inbox as empty as possible.

In other accounts, I have used up to 3 extra inboxes for different labels, such as ‘ACTION REQ’D’, ‘REPLY REQ’D’, and ‘REMEMBER.’ This worked okay, but it was a bit overwhelming at times and I noticed some overlap between a few of the labels. I believe this is only effective if it is a very specific email account. My Media Director account for the UBC SLC worked in this respect very well, but I would never try it with my personal account as there are just too many types of emails coming through.

Labels:

If you’re like me, you get quite a few emails from Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, and other social media services every day. Of course, you can disable these notifications from the service themselves. But in some cases, it’s nice to have the emails somewhere.

With Filters and Lables, you can have Gmail take these emails, apply a specific label, and move the emails directly to those labels. I check my Facebook messages in a Facebook label once a day. Keeps my inbox clear, but also keeps me on the ball with the information:

• Go to Settings
• Click “Filters”
• Scroll to the bottom and click “Create new Filter”
• Type the name that displays in the emails from the service in the From: field. (eg. “facebook” or “twitter”)

• Configure the filter for the service you would like as seen below. If you haven’t already setup a label for it, you’ll have to click “new label” from the drop down menu.
  
  

Forwarding:

If you have a personal account, as well as other email accounts for work or involvement, it can become quite involved to check all the different inboxes. Of course, sometimes it is necessary if that is how the organization requests you function. In that case, I forward all mail from that other account to my personal Gmail.
Then, to prevent crazy inbox cluttering, I setup a label/filter system as explained in the previous tip to place all that mail automatically in a label without ever entering the inbox.

• Instead of the From: field reading “facebook,” you place your other account’s email address in the To: field (eg. To:nathan.tippe@slc.ubc.ca). That way, any mail that comes through your account that is addressed to that email will go straight to that label and skip the inbox.
• The two main reasons for this are (1) to be able to access your mail from one account should you need to and (2) for security reasons should anything happen to your other account or if it is a temporary account.

Tasks:

Enable tasks (on the left hand side right below Contacts). While many argue that they have far too many tasks to possible use the basic application, it can be useful for remembering simple things and time-bound tasks also synchronize with Google Calendar.

Handy Labs:

As I mentioned, Labs can be enabled from Settings, and then configured by clicking on the green beaker in the top right hand corner. Below are some extremely handy labs currently available - keep checking the Labs page as there are more being added every day!

Message Translation:
Living in a multi-cultural city like Vancouver, I often get messages with certain parts of the text in different languages. Even if it is the “Sent from my iPhone” signature written in Chinese at the bottom, it’s still nice to have the option to translate it. Message translation does exactly this.

Canned Responses:
If you’ve ever needed to handle any administrative tasks at all or communicate with a large number of people, Canned Responses is a lifesaver. To give you an example, I was receiving many emails with the same question for a couple weeks. Rather than setting up an auto-responder for when Gmail believed an email was asking this question (as this is extremely impersonal) I programmed a Canned Response. Then, whenever I received this email, I typed the text “Hey _____” and then inserted the canned response. If the question was more or less specific I would have the option to alter the text slightly, but just having the majority of the text scripted already saved hours of my time.

Undo Send
Saved my life on multiple occasions. An absolute necessity of a lab. ‘nuff said.

Sender Time Zone
If you every correspond with people in other areas of the world and get confused for a brief second when you receive a lot of emails at 5am, it’s probably because of the time zone. Sender Time Zone reminds you of the state of the location the sender is in when you check the email at 9am and go to give them a phone call. Oops, it’s 3am in their location. Good thing …
 
Standalone Program:
Hands down, one of the best programs to run Gmail on your computer is MailPlane (Mac only). It is dedicated to improving the functionality of Gmail and saving your browser space. Just constantly leave it open on a space on your Mac.

I would argue that Chrome is the best browser to run Gmail. While it still has many problems with Flash and YouTube, the overall interface is intuitive and it will just keep getting better.

That covers most of it! Play around with different labs and settings when you have a few spare moments - you might discover something you never thought was possible with conventional email! Happy gmailing :)

"The mind is the ruler of the immeasurable."

— I jotted this down during a Social Studies in Grade 8. Either I was thinking really abstractly at the time or just trying to justify my lack of interest in the subject that day. Either way, it stuck with me!

The dizzying lights of the club ran across the faces of 700 people. Colors from all aspects of the rainbow were present, spinning, rotating, and hopping around the venue. For those in attendance, just there for a good time, there was nothing extremely special about this Saturday night.

The intensity of the tracks being spun was slowly increasing, subsequently causing the atmosphere to do so as well. Everyone could feel the punchy bass pounding in their hearts, altering their own heartbeats to the monotonous 130 beats per minute of the heavy house tunes. The beat was steady, and the melody was rather basic, revealing nothing, but indicating there was something powerful on its way.

Behind the stage, however, life was not quite so simple. R-Sun was a newcomer to the club scene, and had never actually mixed for a live audience before. His numerous studio mixtapes had been huge hits, and he was quietly rumored across the country to be the next Deadmau5. This night was going to be his first night on the stage. The first night actually playing tracks that would reflect the mood of the crowd. In his mind, it was the first night of his life.

The DJ currently mixing was increasing the tempo, settling around 135. Incorporated now were a vast array of instruments, both live and recorded. There was a violinist on stage, playing along to the melody of the studio synthesizer. Those in attendance could feel the harmony, and knew there was no more speculation. Contrary to the previous nothing, everything was now being revealed. Track by track, instrument by instrument, note by note, the whole proceedings of the night were foreshadowed.

R-Sun was not happy with the atmosphere. It was climbing too quickly, and to follow up with a congruent mood would be extremely difficult. He was rapidly losing confidence in the tracks he had brought with him for his set. While they meshed together, they were in accordance with a much slower pace, or at least, the pace that currently existed. With a whole hour to go until his cue, he ran through his performance another time in his head. “You got this,” he told himself, attempting to remain calm. “You got this.”

Unfortunately for R-Sun, the tempo was being raised yet again. Now establishing itself at 140, everything was on the table. The current DJ was bringing all he had, including live vocals mixed over his brilliantly re-mixed and re-fixed tracks. He was beginning to set a precedence all his own, and he was simply the opening act. The crowd had completely forgotten that R-Sun was due to play soon, as they were simply lost in the sounds of the opener.

The melody suddenly dipped, bursting out into a river of strings and acoustic guitar. The crowd pulsated with apprehension of the approaching climax.

Losing control of his emotions, R-Sun sat down on a piece of stray staging. Face in his hands, he couldn’t take the suspense. He could not sit there for another 15 minutes while he predecessor completely washed any opinion of himself from the minds of his fans. He had worked so hard to achieve the reputation he had achieved, but as his manager said, he had to start playing live shows to go any further with his career. He knew it was true.

The acoustic riff was escalating, and a live cello was added on stage. Amplified with the utmost precision, it sounded beautiful amongst the sonance. Beautifully orchestrated, yet it created a strong sense of trepidation. The audience now completely knew what was approaching. Then everything faded out, leaving just the screaming sounds of the crowd.

R-Sun could not even think. He was white with fear and unable to contemplate how he was going to begin to follow such an act.

The beat landed. After such a stunning riff, the pounding sounds of the kick landed all throughout the venue.

R-Sun stood up. His blood began to pulsate through his veins. He could feel it. The beat that landed was one he had listened to since he had first started. There was no doubt in his mind now. Feeling at home, he pounded fists with the security guard as he walked under the stage. He had dreamed of this night for so long. There was no way he would let an over-aggressive opening act take that dream away.

At the end of the song, the DJ let the beat echo out. The audience roared. He left the stage, and the MC boldly reminded the people of R-Sun’s mixtape sales and hit tracks.

Now hiding beneath the entrance to the stage, R-Sun was the embodiment of self- confidence. Even if this did not go well, he would make it through. This was his element. It was a risk, but it could amount to such great things he knew the regret of backing out would be greater than the feeling of failure.

As the hydraulic lift of the stage mechanism rose high above the crowd with R-Sun and his gear upon it, the lights went to black. Then suddenly, luminance resonated behind the lift, creating an amazing silhouette of the impending performer.

Screaming voices, arms raised high and the scent of anticipation were all R-Sun was conscious of before he hit ‘play’.

Bathed in black, the night engulfs all,
Seemingly infinite, only to enthrall
Everything good, as they cannot co-exist;
Darkness cannot have light in its’ midst
And any felon of this law, darkness shall erase.

The unlighted world creates conflicts amass,
That neither Satan nor Lucifer could easily surpass,
And humans unlock their deepest desires.
While the universe aligns its infernal fires,
The effulgence rises slowly, eminent with grace.

Now completely discernible and recognized by all,
The contentions’ tenor began to readily fall.
Burning through vapor, and calamity all the same;
An emotional window; elation lacking a frame.
Light beginning to reveal its indubitable face.

Breathtaking euphoria, zestful beauty,
The fluorescence radiates with loyal duty,
Lifting upwards, the world in totality,
Towards the paradise of flourishing vitality,
Luminance ascends all into their blissful place,
Defeating the dark and conceiving the embrace.

I stumbled upon this story last night while clicking around the web. Very inspirational and reminded me that we’re not here on this earth to help ourselves and move our own lives forward, but rather, to help others. This is a classic example of selflessness.

One night, at 11:30 PM, an older African American woman was standing on the side of an Alabama highway trying to endure a lashing rain storm. Her car had broken down and she desperately needed a ride. Soaking wet, she decided to flag down the next car. A young white man stopped to help her - generally unheard of in those conflict-filled 1960s. The man took her to safety, helped her get assistance and put her into a taxi cab. She seemed to be in a big hurry! She wrote down his address, thanked him and drove away.

 Seven days went by and a knock came on the man’s door. To his surprise, a giant console color TV was delivered to his home. A special note was attached. It read: “Thank you so much for assisting me on the highway the other night. The rain drenched not only my clothes but my spirits. Then you came along. Because of you, I was able to make it to my dying husband’s bedside just before he passed away. God bless you for helping me and unselfishly serving others.”

Source: http://www.inspireme.net/

An old story, but definitely very applicable. It’s the small choices that really make a difference!

I tweeted my frustration with this a while back but didn’t have a chance to write about it. My HR Prof went over the midterm in class a few weeks ago. She decided to explain to us that the midterm was going to be the hardest of all of the assignments we would have to complete. It was the first mark we had received for the class. Still outstanding was the bargaining simulation (which is a union v management negotiation simulation) and the final exam. 

Now, if the class had done quite poorly overall on the exam, that would be one thing. But the class average on the midterm was around 79%! Naturally, once she explained the lack of difficulty of future assignments, the class breathed a sign of relief. If a class average of 79% could be attained on the midterm without trying overly hard, why continue to try in the class? In other words, why even take the class seriously anymore? 

I used to disagree with professors that instilled fear within their classes. Professors that made students scared to write the midterm and encouraged them to “bring oxygen to the exam - you’re going to need it” (Professor Gateman). But over this past year I’ve started to realize that while those classes were definitely a source of a lot of stress and bookworm-ing, I did much better, and more importantly, actually learned something. And of course, in the end, the exams ended up being do-able simply because I had studied so hard for the exam I expected to be absolutely brutal.

Profs need to motivate students. Students need to be intrinsically motivated by the desire to do well in the course, and that desire needs to be directly connected to the amount of work they are planning to put in. That doesn’t mean profs need to encourage an oxygen tank in the exam room, rather, they need to push students to do the best they can on their assignments. They should NOT tell the students that they don’t need to try for the rest of the term. Because let’s be honest, if the prof says that, it must be true.

“I’m goin’ to california, gonna live the life …”

Photo credit: szeke

Last night I had the privilege of attending Billy Bishop goes to War at The Arts Club with my good friend Raul Pacheco (who I thank very much for the tickets!). I love theatre, but I really don’t get to check out enough performances in Vancouver. As such, I really didn’t know what to expect from the performance.

Honestly, I was hooked after the first few lines. Ryan Beil was brilliant, and while he portrayed the serious story very well, he was able to keep me laughing along with the witty script throughout. To compliment Beil, Zachary Gray had a solid performance as well, working with Beil to keep the audience engaged.

Everyone who knows me well knows that I love production (lighting, sound, video, everything). In terms of the production, the show was appropriately simple. However, the artistic team did an incredible job of incorporating the props in a creative way that really drew me into the performance without the use of extensive audio-visual equipment. It was very impressive! To see what I mean, you’ll have to check it out for yourself. Never seen anything like it and it certainly wasn’t expected.

At times the show could have benefitted from some sound amplification as I did find it a tad difficult to catch the voices over the music during a few songs. I’m sure this will be improved in later performances.

All in all, a great performance that I would highly recommend. If you do head down, take the time to go early to check out the beautiful Backstage Lounge - for an evening show, you’ll catch a beautiful view of downtown Vancouver!

"You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new."

— Steve Jobs