I borrowed the title of this post heavily from my friend, Rene, who lamented on how he was busy but how he had to find time to keep up appearances on his website.  I, too, find myself in the position of being so busy that keeping my site up to date has taken a back seat to actually doing the work.  But please don’t let it sound like I’m complaining.

The past month has seen me busier than ever before.  I expanded my business to include my favourite hobby, home theatre and movies in general, and wouldn’t you know it, my web business blows up.  I’ve released 2 sites already this month and will have another 3 before the July page flips to August.  While it puts stress on the home life, the nature of the beast is such that you must strike while the iron is hot.

Since my biggest project of 2009 so far has now gone gold with only minor updates remaining (niagaragreenbelt.com) I feel it’s time to update the site.

To date I’ve partnered with great creatives like Brock, Rene, Aron and Gabriel and the work seems to be flowing nicely.  The even better news is that I’m very busy at Sears Canada and the work there seems to be rounding me out.  Not only can I code your front end website but I have the ability to do the dirty, SQL back end too.

Let me just close by saying that 3G has finally arrived in Belleville, but it hasn’t reached into Prince Edward County.  Typing on an iPod Touch is not as easy as it is on the Blackberry, and that isn’t easy in the first place (with chubby digits).  I’m now trying to Tweet as much as makes sense but I’m still not paying enough attention to my LinkedIn account.  I still love my PS3 but even more so now that I’m streaming iTunes from my Macbook.  And lastly, why hasn’t Adam Sandler been making kids’ movies all along?

Oh yeah, and I’m an uncle again!  Congrats to my sister Maija, brudder Jonny, niece Lexi and only nephew Jonah Watson Goward (7lbs 5oz).

I have to say that, being raised in a small town I was nervous about living and working in the city.  The general notion is that people in a small town are warm and generous and people in the city are cold and terse.  I’m proud to report that at least one city, Belleville, Ontario, is as kind and as warm as any small town I’ve ever been in.

This weekend was a highlight for me as I got to watch my daughter ‘perform’ in her first figure skating gala.  Since this is her first year her performance was little more than some shuffling of a hula and some circle skating but it was clear to see that she has a knack for the spotlight.  We were also treated to some fantastic displays of showmanship from Peter O’Brien, Shawn Sawyer, and Joannie Rochette.  Suffice it to say that I was impressed with the production quality of the show.  I did feel bad for Joannie and Shawn being put on the spot to comment about the Olympic torch coming to Prince Edward County (they both handled the task admirably).  Oh yeah, and the attendance?  Packed house for both shows.  Great job everyone.

On Sunday I took my Ella to the Sears family Christmas party.  It’s an annual event that Sears puts on for its employees and it reaffirms the reason why I stay here.  While the pay could be better (who doesn’t complain about their pay?) the effort to please the employees is stellar.  My Ella received a gift, was entertained for the morning, watched a movie and played her heart out.  She is already looking forward to next year’s events (there’s a summer party, too).

To top it all off, this morning in the drive-through at Tim Horton’s I was attacked with a random act of kindness.  The woman in front of me must have liked my singing along to the radio because she anonymously paid for my breakfast.  This is the second or third time I’ve received this kind of RAoK and I’ve given it twice and it amazes me each time the rush and the joy it brings to both parties.  If you get a chance, and are feeling adventurous, give it a try.  You’ll spend the rest of the day wondering about the person behind you and how you’ve surprised them.  It puts a smile on your face the whole day through.

Oh yeah, and I saw the Dark Knight on the weekend.  One word – wow.  I’ll never forget the image of Heath Ledger in the nurse’s outfit walking away from the hospital.  Scary.  And the lip-smacking.  Agh!  Ultra creepy.

PS – The happy faces?  Those are the results from the Acid Test 2 in IE 7 (the first image) and Chrome (the second).  What are the good people at Microsoft doing?