Marcus Hamaker is The Sleepy Geek

Recently Chris Pirillo has been doing a series where he takes submissions from people in the form of a list of the top 10 things to do where you live. I couldn’t resist and so I submitted the Top 10 Things to Do In Montreal.

I am sure that there are a few people from Montreal that will come up with more ideas, so go for it. Add them in a comment. Let’s see if Chris posts a video with my list. Would be cool to see it!

Here is the email I wrote:

Hi Chris! A submission for your top 10 things to do in my city!

I have grown up in Montreal and after reading a submission you used (Maine) and I heavily commented on, I thought it was only natural to do one for my great city. A little piece of Europe in North America by most accounts, people are surprised that it is the 10th largest city by population in North America (even when Mexico City, Havana and Santo Domingo are included).

So here are my top 10 things to do in Montreal -

1. The Montreal Jazz Festival – http://www.montrealjazzfest.com/default-en.aspx
   A world renown Jazz fest that usually occurs near the end of June and beginning of July. If you are planning to visit during the summer then plan to make it here for this. There are plenty of huge names to see and if you are on a budget there are tons of street performers just belting out free shows around the area. Great music! Stevie Wonder opened the show this year.
2. Just For Laughs – http://www.hahaha.com/en/
   If you are a comedy buff then you might want to make it here for the comedy show. All the biggest stand up names in the business make it up for this show and it’s a blast.
3. The underground city – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_City,_Montreal
   We hardly even think about it as citizens but this city has a huge underground that is full of shopping and entertainment. It’s a natural place for us but something to be seen if you have never been to Montreal.
4. Visit Old Montreal – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Montreal
   A small section of the downtown core that i near the water. Wonderful old buildings in this area and a European feel make it for a great place to explore. There is famous church in this area called Notre-Dame Basilica, modeled after one in France. For a little trivia, this is where Celine Dion was married as she is a native of Quebec, the province in which Montreal resides.
5. The Montreal Canadians – http://www.canadiens.com/
   You can’t come to Montreal and not see a hockey game. One of the original 6 teams of the NHL and the oldest hockey team in the NHL (as it was started before the NHL was created). The Habs (as they are known around here) are more of a religion than anything else. GO HABS GO! (I can’t hold it in).
6. Mont-Tremblant – http://www.tremblant.ca/
   Okay… not in Montreal but seeing as it is only a 1.5 hour drive this is a great place to go and visit for a day if you are in town. The sight is famous as a tourist attraction with some good skiing. Not anything that will awe a west-coaster or a European, but for the east cost this is as good as it gets. The village is a great place to walk and they have great hotels for an overnight stay.
7. Mount Royal – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Royal
   The mountain that is on the island of Montreal is a very scenic park that is good for a stroll. A lake and a lot of green area it also makes for good views of the city and fun for mountain biking. An interesting note about Mount Royal is that a lot of the city core is built on the side. So there are a lot of steep hills to negotiate when driving/walking.
8. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts – http://www.mmfa.qc.ca/en/index.html
   This is a world class museum getting some very nice exhibits. I think a lot of us locals take this for granted, myself included. It has been years since I have been but I good visit for sure!
9. Place-Des-Arts – http://laplacedesarts.com/index.en.html
   For more culture, you can see many plays, ballets and MSO (Montreal Symphony Orchestra) presentations at this location. There are a lot of concert halls around Montreal but this is the largest and another world class location.
10. Night Life on St. Laurent Blvd. – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_night_life
    The locals go here. Need I say more? Montrealers are a laid back Euro style group that likes to enjoy a drink on a terrace. We also like a party and so you get a mix of that on St. Laurent. This is more of the trendy area for us to hang out in.

Man was it hard to come up with only 10!!!
Honorable mentions:

1. Olympic Park – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Stadium_%28Montreal%29
   If you’re a bit of a sports buff then you may know that Montreal hosted the 1976 summer Olympics. The stadium still stands and was the home of the Montreal Expos until the team was moved to Washington to become the Nationals. The stadium is a thorn in the side of most of the residents in Montreal. A lot can be read in the Wiki article but to sum up? It’s empty and our taxes are still paying for it!
2. Night life on rue Crescent
   This is a more popular destination with the younger kids coming up from the US. The minimum drinking age in Quebec is 18 years old so it’s not uncommon to see some kids from New England getting a head start.
3. Strip Clubs (may not be appropriate for your audience, I leave you to choose to mention this or not :))
   Famously known for our “ballet” the strip clubs in Montreal are quite popular with tourists.
4. St. Joseph’s Oratory – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Joseph%27s_Oratory
   This is a scenic spot and offers great views if you climb to the top. Work reading about in the wiki.

Chris, I hope you get a chance to publish this one. I would hope to see it live but I am planning on leaving for vacation (not sure if you saw my comment on the top 10 Maine things but it’s funny, as that’s where we are off to again this year!). If you do decide to use it then would you be able to shoot me the link when you are done? I would get the email on my Crackberry :)

I am sure you don’t need to hear it, but feel free to give my blog a plug :)
Have a great one,
Geek on!

–
Marcus Hamaker
The Sleepy Geek

This is more of a gush post than anything. In preparation for a trip to Maine with my family, a place I have been going to every summer since I was 3 years old – Google’s Street View helps me locate a missing piece of my memory.

You see; as a family with my parents we would always stay at an apartment rental near the beach which you rent by the week. Due to budgets being a little tighter these past couple of years we were forced to try and find a place we could rent by the night. With success it is still very close to where I am used to but I couldn’t picture the building when I was talking about it with my parents.

GOOGLE MAPS! It pops into my head and off to my laptop I go. This is my first actual real reason for using Street View. I have played around with it to have a look at Central Park, San Fran and a few other things but to actually need to find a building by image so I could remember which on it was – never!

Sure enough the Google car has been down that little street that heads out to the coast and within 30 seconds I was able to exclaim – “Oh, THAT building!”.

It was also nice to take a “drive” down the street to check out all the places that my brothers and I hung around at. The arcade, the Beachcomber corner store, the beach view. I can hardly wait now!

Amazing.

Geek on!

I have been working on this blog for quite some time and there are some plugins that I think that no one can live without. And so here are my favorites.

1. FD Feedburner Plugin
   If you are going to have a successful blog then you will need to have an RSS feed for people to subscribe to. Feedburner offers a lot of statistics that you simply wouldn’t get with using the build in RSS generator from WordPress. This plugin will set all your feed buttons to the feed that you specify. You will have to set up your Feedburner account for this to work.
2. Google Analytics
   Google Analytics is a great service provided by Google for site statistics. Get visitor counts, referring page lists, search word results, etc. This plugin will connect your blog to your Google Analytics account with ease.
3. Google XML Sitemaps
   When you create a sitemap it will allow Google and various other bots to scan your site for content so that they can use that in their search engine. Even though this is labeled as a Google product it makes a sitemaps.org file that is compatible with Yahoo, Ask.com as well as others.
4. WordPress PDA & iPhone
   If you want your site to look half decent on a mobile device then I suggest taking action. I chose to use this plugin and I am very happy I did. It was very simple to install and offers quite a nice interface on all of the phones I have tested it on.
5. WassUp
   This is a nice plugin for real time stats. The Analytics method is very nice to have for a daily email report and it nicely laid out but doesn’t offer any real time information. Step in WassUp to fill that void. This plugin is highly configurable to display exactly what you are looking for. You can remove the scanning bots and the spamming bots to show real user traffic. (requires VStats plugin to gather data)
6. WP Super Edit
   If you feel that the standard WYSIWYG editor is lacking some features then this is for you. It allows for a few more formatting features built right into the editor. Great addition and useful for making your posts seem a little more fancy.
7. TweetMeme Button
   TweetMeme is a Digg.com (I can’t imagine they like that description but it is a good way for you to understand what they are doing) like site that allows people to submit articles or websites to their service by Tweeting them. It them tracks how many times they have been submitted and then ranks them on their page. Great little site and they have this handy plugin that will put an icon at the top of every post for easy Tweeting by your readers. This is a good way to publicize your articles and a nice way for your readers to give you a nod.
8. OpenID
   I think that the OpenID is a good movement and having support for it on your site makes it easier for users to set up an account and login on a regular basis. This plugin enabled support for OpenID right on your login page and is very easy to setup.
9. Bad Behavior
   When I first started The Sleepy Geek last year I was greener than green (embarrassing!). I am a huge geek, that’s obvious – but I didn’t really know a heck of a lot about blogging and setting up a WordPress installation. After a short period of time I started to experience a lot of comments that were just links back to my content. This irked me and so I went searching for a solution. Out comes Bad Behavior to save me.
10. BackUpWordPress
    This is last but certainly not least. This is an important one in my books and this or something like it should be installed for sure. You need a way to back up your site so that if there is a failure or an error you are able to recoup you data. This plugin allows for a backup on a schedule. It is able to save it to different locations and also will email you a file if it is not too large. I like this plugin but do your home work on this one. First make sure to know what you want to backup then find a plugin to meet that criteria.

I hope you found some gems in this list. I have enjoyed using them and wanted to give them a mention.

One of the coolest things that I have started using in the newest versions of WordPress is the ability to search and add a new plugin directly from the Admin interface. Simply click on Plugin -> Add New and use the wizard to search and install your desired plugin. Have fun with your blog and happy posting!

Geek on :)

Google has released a new feature today for their Maps app which will allow you to search for multiple locations along your route. This is something that my TomTom GPS has been able to do in the car for quite some time so I think it’s a really good addition to Google Maps.

Their post about the feature is quite simple and has very little detail except to explain a couple of scenarios that would apply. Don’t miss out on it due to the lack of a features list because even though this is a simple feature, it’s a really useful one (I love that combo!).

From their post:

Suppose you would like to drive the famous Road to Hana while you are on vacation on Maui. You search for directions to Hana from where you are staying in Wailea. Since it’s a long drive, you also search for gas stations, so you know where you can fuel up on the way, and supermarkets, so you can pick up snacks for the trip. After the second search, you’ll notice a blue bar at the bottom of the left panel. Click on it to expand the widget, which allows you to turn on both searches as well as your route to Hana. The markers are color-coded, so you can tell which search is which.

If you don’t have a GPS and you rely on Maps for a trip then this is something you should look at using. Map gas stations at the very least. It doesn’t take much time but can save you for fuel or even a pee break!

Geek on!

I came across this while reading this morning and it looks very cool. Handmark has released a new Twitter client for Blackberry that looks very promising. If you have been using another Twitter client up until now (for my it has been TwitterBerry) and have been looking for a change then this is for you.

They have made a really cool video outlining it’s features which I think you should check out. If you are convinced enough to give it a look then head on over to their submission page where you simply have to send a tweet about it, then put in your phone number for an automatic message.

Have fun with it, let me know what you think!

Geek on!

I am sure this is not the first video of it’s kind but I stumbled across the video of the Beastie Boys who have recently canceled some shows in their tour and will have to push back their newest album release due to Adam Yauch finding out he has cancer.

There has always seemed to be a barrier between old media and the internet in my eyes but things like this start to blur the lines and really connect the artists with their fans. Well done on the part of Adam and his group mates.

I hope that Adam is up and running around soon. Kudos to them and all the others who are starting to reach out from the curtain of “stardom” and who are making the effort to connect with the masses on a personal level.

Geek on!

In a blog post this afternoon on their official Blackberry Blog, RIM has announced that a version of the Blackberry Desktop Manager will be released for OS X. A welcome relief for all of us OS X users who up until now have been fighting with a Windows version (you know we all have Windows somewhere cause of these kinds of issues).

From their post they list some features:

Sync your iTunes® playlists, calendars, contacts, notes and tasks

Add/Remove applications

Update your device when new software becomes available

Backup and restore your device data with such features like automatically scheduled backups and optional encryption (security is #1 as always…:) )

Manage multiple devices

Head on over to their post and take a look at some of the screen shots of the new software that is supposed to hit the web in September.

Geek on!

I have been looking at getting a DSRL (or digital single lense reflex) camera for quite some time. The money is really the only thin stopping me because I know that I would love to use one. In the process of making my decision I have done and continue to do a lot of reading about different brands and models. Here are the Top 10 Digital Camera Review And Information Sites that I have found to date.

1. Digital Photography Review – http://www.dpreview.com/
   This is a great website – one of the best in my opinion. The content is very good and the product tests are extremely detailed. It is quite easy to find the information you are looking for.
2. DV Views – http://www.dcviews.com
   Great site. They don’t do their own reviews but they are an aggregator  of articles. They have a good search engine that will allow you to drill down to a model and then from that page link to the specific article from each of the sites. Well laid out.
3. Steve’ s DigiCams – http://www.steves-digicams.com
   Very good reviews. The website feels a bit clunky but if you are looking for a review on a specific model then be persistent. Great site for a 2nd opinion. Don’t be fooled – there are a ton of reviews on here!
4. Digital Camera HQ – http://www.digitalcamera-hq.com
   Has a great feature for grading cameras. They have a letter grade for cameras which makes it quick to find things that you want to read more about. If you have no idea which model you want to read about, this is a good place to start.
5. Imaging Resource – http://www.imaging-resource.com/
   Good all around site. Has good information and it’s easy to find.
6. Digital Camera Review – http://www.digitalcamerareview.com
   Good reviews on this website but it seems to bring you down the path of price links before the reviews. If you can get to the reviews the content is good.
7. Digital Camera Resource – http://www.dcresource.com
   Good reviews on this site. They have a nice search to find a list of what fits your needs which means that you don’t need to be looking at a particular model before you get there, you can simply search a price range if you like. Once you get to the review the advise is solid.
8. Camera Labs – http://www.cameralabs.com/
   You should actually click on the word reviews at the top rather than clicking on a type. It will bring you to a list with many more models. Good review information and clean look in the articles.
9. DigitalCameraInfo.com – http://www.digitalcamerainfo.com/
   Good information. Another that might take a little work to find what you are looking for but the articles that I read were informative.
10. Epinions.com – http://www.epinions.com/Digital_Cameras
    Don’t forget about what others are saying about a model you are thinking about. As with any review site that is published with user generated content, take it with a grain of salt. Sometimes a good practice is to look for what the average rating is. People are very passionate so you will find lovers and haters. Look for constructive criticism.

In the end I think that if I had the money I would buy a Nikon camera. Totally a personal decision but from what I can see they have the best DSLRs on the market. As for what model? That’s a question of features. The more money you can spend the more features you get. My goal right now is a D60, but I would love to get a D90 or D5000. Ahh – to dream!

In the past I have made a post to my blog when I see something that I really like or that I think deserves sharing with my readers. That practice is a bit of a two sided coin. On one hand there will be a few people that appreciate the notice about news or an article but on the other hand people may get ticked off at the re-posting of others content.

It’s funny because I don’t want to re-write an article idea that someone else came up with because it feels like I am stealing their idea. So I did some looking around. Most of my reading is done inside of Google Reader (even though I tried to drop it some time ago in favour of going directly to the publisher’s site).

If you want to share articles with people but not make them a post then a widget comes to mind. One of the great things about WordPress is the ability to add a text widget and therefore any code as a widget. Google has provided a javascript to add your shared items in a nice box on your site. To access the code log into Google Reader, click on sharing settings on the left side then scroll to the bottom of the window and click on Add a clip.

Sharing Settings

Add a clip

Choose the options you would like for your widget then simply copy the text provided into a text widget in WordPress.

I really think that this is a good way to share the content that you like from other sites with the people who read your site. I hope that this has added value on my page and I look forward to any comments.

I have been writing this blog for quite a while and now it’s time to really get some feedback. To date I have very few comments from my posts and to be honest the readership is quite low. I really feel strange asking you to come on over and give me information but I really do write this blog for you and would like to make sure it’s of value to you.

These are the kinds of things that I am curious about:

1. Do you read The Sleepy Geek because of the personal point of view articles I write or for the technical articles that I write?
2. Do you think that I post too often or not often enough?
3. What topics would you like to see covered more often?
4. What topics would you like to see me drop all together?
5. What would make you feel the need to comment on the posts?
6. Do you subscribe to the RSS Feed (preferably through Feedburner)?

On top of those questions I would really just like to start a dialogue. More than anything I would like to almost make the site more of a conversation than my own personal soap box.

So come one, come all… post your ideas and comments. I would love to hear them!