The Extend Project

Crumplers I've Known and Loved

There's this quirky little company that makes these amazing bags with funny names and even funnier followers. I've turned a few people on to the brand since I was introduced to them whilst living in Melbourne - and since purchased my new little (not really - its huge) bag, The Cashmere Blazer. Its large enough to hold my MacBook Pro 15 (and 17" if you are so inclined), my Moleskines, Leica DLux3, an accounting textbook, some manga, an iPod and even a weekends worth of clothing.
Yep, believe it or bot I think I may have found my holy grail of Crumplers.
This weekend I'm testing it out on a trip to Montreal and Los Angeles. I'll update and let you know how it goes when I return.

Air Canada launching more self-service options

I read in the Globe the other day, Airlines want to help you help yourself, about Air Canada's move to include baggage tags at their self-serve kiosks. Being in a relationship with someone who is very closely tied to the airline industry tends to give me a bit of early warning on these trends, indeed Montie Brewer, CEO of Air Canada, has noted this change in one of his letters in enRoute magazine, Air Canada's in-flight magazine.

I think that while this move could be a bit of a gamble in terms of customer service, I'm pretty sure that most Canadian travellers will actually welcome the option to help themselves manage this kind of service. The same people who use ATM's, make use of the self-serve checkout lines at Loblaws, purchase books online instead of at the retail outlet - these people are the ones who are going to benefit most from this change. The overseas group travellers who have 18 mounds of boxes and bags they're bringing with them back to wherever they came from - these are not the target market for this service.

Harry Gow, co-founder of consumer advocacy group Transport 2000, has a big problem with this service - and I do call it a service whereas he would more likely prefer to call it a non-service. His concerns seem to stem from the fact that the airlines are reducing manned service stations in favour of machines, a move which appears to him to reduce services for travellers as opposed to helping them. Frankly, I couldn't disagree more. For the experienced traveller, holiding an e-Ticket, printing my own boarding pass and luggage tags amounts to nothing more than a reduction of the two plus hours I'd have to normally wait in the queue just to drop off luggage. In this time-is-money society, that two hours just cost me a relaxing pre-boarding experience. That time that could be better spent shopping for duty-free or having a nice sit-down meal - or trying to find free wireless...

Last Day of the First

Tonight will mark the last day of my first semester at Ryerson. All the tests, quizzes, assignments, discussions will culminate in the final exam for Marketing 100. My final assignment was submitted yesterday and hopefully I'll do well enough that my final grade starts me off on the right foot.

It will all be over by about 7pm this evening - then I'm having a well deserved mojito.

UPDATE: So, I wrote the exam. After a bit of a panic when my crappy DLink wireless router decided to go on strike which necessitated a speedy re-route on my Mac Mini, I managed to complete it with about 20 minutes to spare. Result? a very respectable 56/60 with a 30% weight, improved my mid-term score by one mark while I was at it. Not too shabby if I do say so myself. Now that the semester is over, I can start to think about the holidays and the complete commercialism and what this means for branding.... Nah! I'm going shopping! ;-)

iPod Games

I'm one of these people who drank the Kool-Aid and bought one of the very first Apple iPod models. The 5GB white version with the black and white display and mechanical buttons and a physically rotating wheel on the front. It was heavy and scratched easily and ran down battery life pretty damn fast - and I loved it more than my best friend. I traveled with the little guy from Toronto to Taipei to Sydney and back again - then all over North America and then back to Australia and to Japan and then finally, about three years after I got him - he died. Perhaps he'd been dropped on the ground once too many times. Perhaps it was just his time to go, we'll never really know.

What I do know is that it took me a long time to get another one - so long, in fact, that I'd completely forgotten how freeing it was to have music available so readily and so pervasively. I got one of the new iPod shuffles that looked like a piece of Lego and even made that same kind of clicking noise when the cap went on it. Again, he lasted a LONG time - at least until he ran through the wash in a pair of Gap jeans.

Heartbroken once again, I decided that it was not yet time for me to consider another replacement - I was waiting for something new, something cool, something interesting, something I'd not seen before. And then the NEW iPod Shuffle came out (which I purchased with express delivery to be able to have it ASAP) and then the NEW iPod Nano came out (in Product (red) no less!) and the new NEW NEW iPod Nano came out with VIDEO! and then the piece de resistance - the iPhone!! And then the iPod Touch!!! And... and... and...

I'm spent. Literally and figuratively. I've owned one iPod 5GB, one 512MB Shuffle, one 1GB Shuffle, one 4GB Nano, another 4GB Nano and an 8GB Touch - and I'd have the iPhone too if Rogers and Apple could ever stop playing "My cojones are bigger than yours!" for 15 minutes and decide to make some money off the pent up Canadian market.

The point being, I'm an innovator cum early adopter cum mass market junkie. I can't stand to be on the trailing edge of all things iPod - and I doubt I'm the only one.

Now back to my new iPod Nano game, Brain Challenge.

A New Path

A good friend of mine asked my advice a few months back, "If I wanted to learn about photography would it be better to go to Henry's Camera or to Ryerson University?" I honestly didn't know what to advise her - so being the native researcher and web monkey I am, I looked them up. I got back to her with my answer (take the course at Henry's to see if it was what she was looking for, then sign up for Ryerson if it met her needs) but that didn't stop my own curiousity from being slightly piqued.

I suddenly had to take a look at my own qualifications and my background and really figure out if the path I was on was going to get me to where I wanted to be. I've been down a few career paths already (at the age of 34 I have been an accountant, a tax collection officer for the Canadian government, an IT team manager, a network engineer, a software product manager, a marketing assistant, an agency-side CPG account co-ordinator and now am an account manager in a different agency having worked in both CPG, promotions and some strategy) and was going down the route of food media (styling, chef training and writing being part of my curriculum doing the Chef Training program and the Food and the Media Certificate at George Brown College). While each has been somewhat fulfilling in their own rights, none of them have fully expanded or even (haha!) extended my reach to match my grasp.

Perhaps another kick at the cat would do the trick? I wondered, I consulted, I fretted and finally made the move to enroll at Ryerson University in the Marketing Management program.

I've started down the road of the Marketing Management Certificate, leading to a Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing. I'm making plans for the next 8 - 10 years but one step at a time, n'est-ce pas?

What is the Extend Project?

The Extend Project is just that - a project meant to extend my reach to match my grasp - perhaps to inspire others to do the same, and present progressive methods of marketing, communications, education, strategy and community.

Here you will find my experience as a marketer, a student and an insatiable appetite for information and stimulation. I'll be reading, writing, discussing, promoting and dispelling as needed - but more than anything I'll be sharing my passions.

I've blogged before about various topics (Zen Buddhism, my trivial life, food writing, book clubs) but its time to get moving on to the next level. The focus here is not on the trivial details (how many coffees I've bought from Starbucks) its on the larger topics (is Starbucks a company worthy of my dollars and why?)

I tend to use a lot of foul language in person but since I'm setting the rules for this little community, I'll abide by them as well.

1. No foul language.
2. Make a point and defend it - no general statements here. If you don't, be prepared to be questioned.
3. Lurk if you like, but send me an email if you want to say something privately. I don't bite, promise.
4. That's it - too many rules are a total turn off.