2K11 24/7

Doomz tackles a major challenge. A year at a time with daily updates!
 

The 2K11 24/7 CCXLVII: Resume Surgery

In a bad economy, knowing how to write a good resume is a valuable skill. The balance between including all of your skills and keeping the resume concise enough for employers to care is hard to attain, but ever-important in order to make that step from candidate to colleague.

One of the things I find myself doing more and more often on the side is helping people sharpen their resumes enough to get them noticed. I pretty much do for them what I’d do for myself — I put their resumes at the standard I’d expect for mine; this means I watch for spelling, grammar, flow, formatting and consistency. Every little detail matters.

But there are a good deal of things in resumes that I see too often and are simple enough to solve in order to make your resume look more modern:

Read the rest of this post »

Filed under  //   2k11 247   jobs   list   resumes   tips  
Views // Posted September 4, 2011
// 2 Comments
 

The 2K11 24/7 CCXLII: How to Network Sans Jerk

Last night I found myself visiting #devTO — an event described as follows:

You love it, hate it, debug it, dream about it, obsess over it, test it, throw it away… because you don’t just write code.

#devTO, a place for all developers, regardless of age, experience or sex to gather and collaborate on the problems we face as developers. These problems are as broad as our job descriptions, can’t figure out how to get that interface to look good in Chrome and Safari? Not sure how to deploy code to multiple servers with no downtime? What is the best way integrate social media into your projects? I’m sure at some point you’ve all run into something like one of the problems above, so why not share it and benefit from the experience of others.

Though I'm not really a developer, I was going to check it out due to my sheer interest in the world of development. But before I knew it, a text message from my buddy Kevin soon found me taking photographs for the event (which in turn prompted my urges to get my new camera once more, but we'll save that for another post). Of course, I can't really prove I was there through the photos (think about it), but you can catch a glimpse of what went down here:

But one thing I definitely saw a lot of going on before and after the speakers took the floor at the event was networking. A number of developers, and people seeking the assistance of developers, getting out there and talking about what they do, what they'd LIKE to do, and making the connections necessary to enable those ideas.

Read the rest of this post »

Filed under  //   2k11 247   devto   events   lessons   list   tips  
Views // Posted August 30, 2011
// 0 Comments
 

The 2K11 24/7 CCXLI: How to Make the World a Better Place

The world could be a better place, but we just don't care. Or don't care ENOUGH. We act like the homeless don't exist. We put doing for selves as priority one without a second thought. Helping isn't something that's VALUED by the society around us.

Who are we in the world? What is our purpose here on Earth? We constantly search for the meaning of our lives — many of us dying before we figure it out.

But why is this? Why can’t we seem to fill that meaningless void? Why don't we help even when we see people in dire need?

Read the rest of this post »

Filed under  //   lessons   list   manifesto  
Views // Posted August 29, 2011
// 0 Comments
 

The 2K11 24/7 CCXVIII: The Invisible Guest

So my travels have taken me to Montreal this weekend, where a former coworker of Rami's (and a good friend to us both) has been kind enough to let us stay with his family for the weekend. This isn't something to be taken lightly, though - if someone else is going to let you stay where they sleep, there's things you should and shouldn't do in order to be a bud and not a burden.

Read the rest of this post »

Filed under  //   2K11 24/7   list  
Views // Posted August 6, 2011
// 0 Comments
 

The 2K11 24/7 CCVIII: 21 Ways to Improve Your Life

Why even say it when someone's already done it for you? This principle is the reason why we buy greeting cards. Why you had to have been there. Why a picture says a thousand words. Why it's better to hear things straight from the horse's mouth.

Sometimes you have ideas of things you want to write about, but someone else did it better. That's pretty much what happened when I got this in my email today — what started as a chain letter actually proved to be a set of statements on little things you can change in order to make your life a little easier to live. Who'd have thought that they could actually be useful?

Read the rest of this post »

Filed under  //   2k11 247   chain mail   list  
Views // Posted July 27, 2011
// 0 Comments
 

The 2K11 24/7 CLXXI: Getting Back in the Swing of Things

So it's my first full day back on Canadian soil, and my first full day back with no deadlines looming over my head. Feels pretty good. I promise that stories and pictures from the three weeks abroad will be shared, but there were other things that required my more immediate attention.

Unpacking. Organizing the house with all the new stuff we got from the wedding. Starting the laborious task of combining the stuff from my old life at home with those of my new life with Sarah.

This is not a one-day job.

I've re-discovered things that were at the bottom of boxes, that were at the back of cabinets - I've likely never been as organized as I am right now. Ever. And yet my thoughts couldn't be more discombobulated.

One is never truly ready for the changes that life will have in store for them, but even if they don't know it, they are always adequately equipped.

Over the coming days, I'll be going through all the notes I made while travelling, as a day wouldn't pass by without me scribbling SOMETHING in the notebook that's definitely seen better days.

But this day, there's not much I can enlighten you with. Here's a sampling of what I learned today, and I hope it helps you in life:

* The farther you get from a city's downtown, the more the signage on the front is inaccurate - for example, the hours of operation
* Toronto will never be better than Paris for pastries. But where possible, find patisseries in Toronto owned by Parisians. It's as good as you're gonna get.
* If "gourmet" is in a store's description, it's code for "triple the regular price"
* All chores are easier when you're listening to an iPod
* A place for everything and everything in its place. If neither of these apply, get rid of the thing
* Whenever possible, don't rush. You'll miss so much along the way.
* Never reply to something faster than the other person in a conversation. You'll only frustrate yourself.
* The amount of time you've been gone is inversely proportional to how much the little things that used to bother you about your hometown will do so upon your return

And with that, I'm off to see Thor. Planning a wedding doesn't really give you a moment to get out to the movie theatre.

Ciao, bambinos!

--Casey E. Palmer

171/365

Filed under  //   2K11 247   list   random  
Views // Posted June 20, 2011
// 0 Comments
 

The 2K11 24/7 CXLVII: How to Live Your Damn Life

Since I'm getting married tomorrow, I figured I should write something epic that truly captures where my mind's at right now, since it may never be the same again. So here's a premise to start with:

LIVE YOUR LIFE.

Read the rest of this post »

Filed under  //   2k11 247   list   manifesto   tips  
Views // Posted May 27, 2011
// 4 Comments
 

The 2K11 24/7 CXXXVII: To Infinity and Beyond

We are only limited by ourselves. Our fears and worries, our abilities and ambitions — these are only examples of the things that govern how far we can get in our lives.

However, truly being the masters of our destinies is far from an easy task. I feel like I'm burning the candle at more ends than I actually have, but also know that there's so much more that I want to accomplish. I'm sure the same goes for so many of you out there.

We can get so lost so easily. How do we find ourselves when we get lost in a sea of thoughts or let other things take precedence over our time, leaving what might have once been our driving forces fall to the wayside?

I can offer a few suggestions…

Read the rest of this post »

Filed under  //   2k11 247   list   tips   video   youtube  
Views // Posted May 17, 2011
// 0 Comments
 

The 2K11 24/7 CXXXII: Of Bachelor Parties, Trust and Tips

I'm starting to get the idea that a bachelor party is just a well-orchestrated consensual abduction (in most cases).

Mine's this weekend. I don't know too much, but from what I do know:

  • it'll be in Montreal
  • it'll be 7 dudes, 4 days, 3 nights
  • I will have no access to electronics whatsoever

I guess not being able to tweet, Facebook or email for a few days will be good practice for the honeymoon.

Read the rest of this post »

Filed under  //   2k11 247   list   trust  
Views // Posted May 12, 2011
// 0 Comments
 

The 2K11 24/7 LX: The February Wrap-up

It occurs to me today that I should've posted this yesterday, but hey - you live, you learn. 

February wrap-up - what did we learn in the shortest month of the year?

All this and more! Feel free to go back and check if you don't believe me :)

I've been looking at making the blog less theoretical and giving more tips that you can apply more readily to your lives - small changes that'll improve your lives if you make them habits. As I collect ideas, I aim to get more of those types of posts out. 

Examples include:

  • From "Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda" to "Will": Changing How We Approach Opportunity
  • Posts on Practical Personal Finance
  • Posts on How to Improve Your Interactions with Others
  • Etiquette in the oddest of places (such as bathrooms and threesomes — oh yes, I went there)
  • And of course, more of just trying to live life a little better with each passing day!

So there's a lot more where all that came from (i.e. my brain), and tons to look forward to! We're 16.7% through the year (rounded up and inaccurate since the year doesn't cleanly divide into 12 equally-sized months), leaving 83.3% for getting up on the good foot!

Get those shoes ready — lots coming your way!

Happy March, guys!

--case p.

60/365

Filed under  //   2k11 247   list   wrap-up  
Views // Posted March 1, 2011
// 0 Comments