Marcus Hamaker is The Sleepy Geek

I have often told myself that I don’t want to be bothered at the cottage. In case of emergency I have my cell phone that if standing on the right corner of the deck does just fine. Cell service has improved quite a bit in the last few years and at some level that even bothers me.

Red Bud Macro St. Donat Lac Croche

In the past year I have been really concentrating on this blog, getting involved in some start up podcast ideas with a buddy so really focusing on what I am doing with my online time. It is in this spirit that I am starting to ache for an internets connection when I am away from home. Most places we visit are connected but the cottage is obviously not. All my articles about the cottage in the past talk about a quiet place away from the internets but I am not ‘feeling it’ as much anymore. I want to make sure that I can keep up to date.

I have thought about getting high speed up there, but I don’t think that would work. Basically having high speed up there means that anyone coming up can use it and then the cottage loses something. There is something about a place where we can all go and be connected to each other without distraction.

As I write this I still am in a struggle. I want to argue both sides of the debate but it would sound like a crazy man talking to himself. I think what I need is a device that is better for web applications than my Blackberry but is not a full computer. Some would say the 3G iPad would be the answer but I would argue that it’s not. It might work in this case but I am not looking for a device that would work there but have no real personal benefit apart from there.

Perhaps a more advanced smart phone. I wonder if something would change if webkit were already active on the BB. My buddy uses Opera on the BB which is leaps better than the original browser but the iPhone and Android browsers are better. I know I am picky buy feh… if I don’t have fun using it, then I get bored quickly. Ramble, ramble, ramble…

In any case I think that the internets hard wired into the cottage is still out for me. There is no escape with connection. It would end up that people would bring their laptops to the cottage and then we would end up spending time with our machines instead of with each other. My wife would most likely bring up her machine to check her work email. That would just change the whole feeling.

How do you deal with this sort of thing? Is there a place where you go to disconnect – literally?

Geek on!

This weekend we were away at my father-in-law’s cottage. When we went up last weekend we noticed, and I was told that the toilet needed to go. I am into DIY and so I don’t usually back out of home improvements and given the chance at the cottage I always do it.

The project was simple – replace the toilet. When you start thinking about what it is you’re doing and you watch as many DIY shows as I do then you know that’s also the best time to do your floor. Budget being a factor and the cottage being the location we went for something very inexpensive and easy to install – peel and stick vinyl floor tiles.

So toilet out and floor tiles down we decided to go the whole way and replace the sink at the same time. The shower in the cottage is a very simple stand up shower but it suits our needs really. The sink however was probably the original and with a new toilet would have looked out of place.

I ended up in a mess with a couple of things. One was the new toilet didn’t sit quite as low as the old one and so I had to get crafty with the wax ring. That caused me some major heartache. I didn’t want to have the dirty side of a toilet leaking – that’s for sure! I customized the ring and got it installed after a delay. Then I finished up the floor and it looks quite good.

The next morning I went to the hardware store and bought some parts for the vanity. That installation went quite well until I had to join the drain pipe to the trap. I was missing about 6″ from the pipe so some customization started. My buddy and i got it to within an inch by letting out some of the pipe from the basement but it wasn’t enough. After some swearing and some looking around we were ready to head back to the village hardware store when I took a last ditch look in the box of tricks that I have and found an extension. w00t!

It’s amazing, I had a great time – it’s done and I am happy with it. This isn’t going to go into the hall of fame for the top 10 bathrooms, but it’s a great upgrade for the cottage. I have a little trim work to do and it will be great!

The geekiest part of this was the fact that when taking pictures of this I could just hit the upload to Facebook button and share my weekend with my friends. If you had told me I would be doing that 20 years ago I would have told you to fly a kite!

Geek on!

We are back from vacation! It was a great week weather wise which is important to me as we like to spend time outside at the beach both in Maine and at our cottage.

We started our week at 4am on Saturday morning leaving our house in Montreal for Wells Maine. This is a trip we have done many times and somewhere I have been going since I was about 3 years old. It’s so nice to now share the trip with my wife and kids so they can have the same great memories that I did. Things like going to the corner store for candy, playing in the waves and dad digging a big hole while waiting for the tide to wash it away – of course while waiting inside! The beach is wonderful so I thought I would share a couple of pictures from my trip!

On Wednesday we had to come back to Montreal and we are lucky enough to have my father-in-law’s cottage up north to go to as well. We took time to unpack our beach stuff and pack up our cottage stuff and head up north on Thursday morning. The weather was soooo nice that we couldn’t help ourselves and we only left around 8pm to arrive home at around 10:00pm. Not much time to prepare for our return to work.

Little sunburned and tired but it was well worth it!

I hope you ‘Geek’ed On’ while I was away!

Vacation at the cottage is over :( Sad to be over, but glad to be home. It was nice to unplug from the world for a while, spending a lot of time with the family. It was a blast to just relax with the kids and my wife all day.

All that being said, it’s nice to be home. Glad to see my house and glad to see my own bed. I have a pinched nerve in my back and I think it’s mostly to do with sleeping in another bed. DOH! What do you want for cottage paradise?

Hey everyone! I am packing up and heading to the cottage for the weekend. See you all on Monday for more witty banter :)

I have been waiting for Chris to release his new social media theme called WicketPixie for a couple of weeks and it looks like he might have to put that off for a bit while he helps out his folks. So try and get something working that looks a little nicer than the plain one I had installed, I went searching :)

I came across a theme called CorporateID and the basic colours made me look twice. So I have taken that and made a few minor changes to make it something more me. I have put back the TheSleepyGeek picture at the top, a shot from the balcony at the cottage. Then I removed some images that are the background of the sidebar titles. They were too flashy for me.

So there you have it. Until Chris has the time to work on the final versions of his theme, I think we are sticking with this.

Comments?

I have had a hard and fast rule about disconnecting when going to the cottage in the past. We are lucky enough to be able to go up when we like as my father-in-law doesn’t go up very often. It’s a summer place and we try to spend as many weekends up there and I try to remind myself how lucky I am to have that privilege.

Technology and computers have been work for me for quite some time. I have been in IT and before that in break and fix. The cottage for me was always a place to refresh my geek batteries by totally disconnecting. I even go to the extreme of taking off my watch as soon as I arrive so as to do whatever I feel like, whenever I feel like it.

I find my writing for TheSleepyGeek a more and more rewarding and enjoyable experience. I am challenged to conceive of a meaningful topic daily and then write useful content for it. It’s been fun since I have put a real effort into it and I am trying to make sure that I have at least one article per day.

So what’s the dilemma you ask? Simple… I actually want to be connected at the cottage now. I am very sensitive to the possibilities that might open up. My wife is a hard worker and likes to check her email to keep on top of things for her job. I understand why; if you get an email about a problem today and answer today, the problem is easily fixed. Wait until Monday and then you have a headache. But I still feel that the disconnection from work is very important.

I think that wireless data (I mean through cellular companies) is still too expensive. I have seen a corporate deal through one of the Canadian providers at around $100 unlimited. Never mind a one person show.

Possibly one day I will go that route and pursue a sponsorship.
I will see you all on Tuesday. Monday is a holiday here in Canada.
Have a great weekend!