Category Archives: Personal

Personal thoughts, ideas, etc

Smile launch faster payments

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Smile! (Week 14) by cybertoadChanges are afoot in UK banking. I just received an email from Smile telling me about faster payments.

Dear Callum

At smile we’re always looking at ways we can improve the service we offer you. This is why we’re pleased to tell you about Faster Payments. The Faster Payments Service will speed up the way you make and receive electronic payments. It means, in most cases, the beneficiary will receive the payment in two hours, instead of the usual three working days it takes currently.

In future you will be able to use the Faster Payments Service to make funds transfers, including, future dated transfers, bill payments and standing orders.

The service will be free – and you don’t need to do anything to benefit. All eligible payments will automatically go via the Faster Payments Service once it becomes available for your account.

The official industry launch happened at the end of May 2008. However the Faster Payments Service is one of the most complex services introduced in recent times and we want to make sure it’s fully functional before making it available to our customers. Along with many other banks we will be conducting a phased introduction over several months, so it may not be available until early next year.

Visit http://www.smile.co.uk/faster for more details.

Yours sincerely,

The smile team

The email was also followed with this rather nonsensical disclaimer:

This e-mail is intended solely for the addressee and is strictly confidential. If you are not the addressee, please do not read, print, re-transmit, store or act in reliance on it or any attachments. Instead please e-mail it back to the sender and delete the message from your computer.

As you’ll notice I chose to ignore that! :evil:

Breakfast Raw

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I’m starting to get a tiny bit ill. It’s the same sort of sore throat / slight cough that I’ve had a few times recently. So in a bid to beat it down once and for all, I’m going to overdose on raw food for the next few days! I whipped up to the shops this morning and bought a couple of bagfulls of goodness. Here’s my first raw breakfast:

Raw Breakfast

Meeting Jason Calacanis

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I met Jason Calacanis at the blogger breakfast this morning. Duncan Riley was there, although I didn’t meet him. Somebody said he (Duncan) was a big wig, so I was checking him out online after the meeting. I came across Duncan talking about Jason. Jason originally posted, 37 signals responded (my favourite post of the lot), and finally Jason somewhat retracted.

Personally, the key quote comes from Jason’s follow up post:

My work *is* my life.

That’s in line with my impression of Jason from this morning’s breakfast. He struck me as the typically edgy, always on the go, workaholic, American entrepreneur. He has that craving that so many entrepreneurs have. I think it’s what drives them to achieve greatness. By contrast, I think it’s also what keeps them from being happy.

I met Jason’s wife at the event. If I’d read all this stuff beforehand I’d have been interested to get her opinion.

Personally, Jason epitomises the type of entrepreneur I don’t want to be. I respect his success and his drive, but it’s definitely not how I want to live. I’m much more in line with 37 signals thinking. In any venture, I’d want people to work as little as possible, while still getting the job done. I value my free time more than the money that any business success might bring. I’ll give the workaholics a wide berth.

I don’t have a resume

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I’ve never been a fan of resumes. It always sounded like such a boring job, cataloguing all the things I’ve done, listing all my various endeavours. Seth Godin has an excellent post on why great people don’t have resumes.

People often ask me how I found my current job, how I manage to work and travel, etc, etc. I don’t have a simple answer. I didn’t apply for my current job. I’ve never applied for a job in the traditional sense. I’ve never submitted a resume for a job. I make connections in various ways, and sometimes they lead to work.

Maybe I’ll start a new page with an explanation of why I don’t have a resume instead of actually having a resume.

RIP Bennett Robinson

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This morning I learned that Bennett Robinson passed away about a year ago.

I met Bennett on a flight from Singapore to Bangkok, he gave me the push to actually install Linux on my laptop. He was running it himself (a man in his sixties), and convinced me it was easy to make the switch. We kept in touch. There was talk of working together on a few projects, but nothing materialised on that front.

Bennett was a real open source evangelist. His business was built around open source software. He presented it as a genuine business alternative to commercially licensed software. It was inspiring to see a man of such experience so vibrantly engaging with the concept.

I’ll be back in Bangkok in a month, so I dropped Bennett an email. It bounced. I tracked him down online to the American Chamber of Commerce in Thailand. They kindly informed me of his passing. He was skiing in Japan when he suffered a heart attack they said.

Bennett left a wife and young children, my condolences to them. Bennett my friend, rest in peace.

I finally joined Flickr

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Somewhat begrudgingly, I have finally joined flickr. I was delighted to discover that I got the url flickr.com/photos/chmac – my usual username. It’s somewhat confusing, I log into flickr with my yahoo account callum_macdonald then my flickr username is callummacdonald (no underscore) and my url is chmac. Oh well, the chmac part is the important bit!

Here’s my first flickr photo…

Callum

Cape Town Geek Dinner

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I was at the 6th Cape Town Geek Dinner last night (wine kindly sponsored by Stormhoek). It was interesting to meet some local Capetonian geeks. Naturally, some were more geeky than others. Warm thanks to Jonathan for the generous lift there and back. Public transport in Cape Town is sorely lacking, so I wouldn’t have made it were it not for Jonathan’s generosity.

The event took place at Sloppy Sams restaurant. It was an interesting venue for the presentations / speeches. There’s a raised balcony area, which is where I sat. It meant if the speakers were any less than completely engaging, it was easy to tune out (which I did on ocassion).

Undoubtedly, the best presentation of the evening was Tania’s powerpoint karaoke. Powerpoint karaoke is where a speaker presents from slides they have never seen before. Tania’s presentation was on lesser known deities and was wonderfully amusing.

Overall, the evening was very enjoyable. We rounded it off with a quick visit to a bloggers party at Long Street Cafe. I met the blogger behind Wots for lunch. I’m considering starting a blog network, so it was interesting to meet some of South Africa’s bloggers.

Rice Krispies and water

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In my continuing efforts to escape the plague that is dairy, I’ve started taking my breakfast cereal (Rice Krispies this week) with water. It took a day or two to adapt, but it’s working out rather well now. It has a plainer, simpler feeling to it. Rather like drinking hot water instead of tea.

I figure rice, soy or oat milk is probably better than the real thing, but can they really be good for you? Apparently too much processed soy is bad for you. What isn’t bad for you these days? I reckon water’s probably not, so water it is.  :)

First impressions of Cape Town

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I began my journey from New York to Cape Town on Tuesday night, around 3am (technically Wednesday morning!) and I finally arrived in Cape Town on Friday morning around 11am. It was quite a journey!

Naturally, a little celebration was in order on Friday night, after a little sleeping. It turned out to be rather a lot of celebration actually, as we chased the party into the wee small hours of the morning.

Saturday night saw a little poker tournament at a friend’s place. The Scottish charm worked a treat and I walked away as the champion of the evening. Viva Scotland!

Then Sunday morning I watched while some friends took a morning swim in the ocean. It was a pretty beautiful spot.

South Africa Cape Town Good morning swim

Safety in South Africa

I’d heard stories that Cape Town was dangerous, although not as dangerous as Johannesburg. Every house I’ve been in has bars on the windows, and tall, locked gates. There are signs on many houses advertising that they are protected by an armed response service.

So it’s clear that crime is a problem here, or at least a perceived problem. However, I haven’t felt unsafe on the streets at any point. I’ve spoken to people in lots of different places, on the local minibuses, on the train, on the streets, in bars, and I haven’t felt unsafe with anyone I’ve met.

I have heard stories of muggings and robbery though, so it’s clear that there is a danger. I’ve been told, and I believe, that if you keep your wits about you, use common sense, and avoid certain dangerous situations, Cape Town can be enjoyed in safety.

Weather

It’s nice to be back in a warm country. The weather is very pleasant indeed. Warm sunshine, a cooling breeze, and cooler at night without being desperately cold. A light jacket and a tshirt is enough at night, so long as you have something to break the wind.

Rolling with GPS

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I finally fired up my TomTom navigator connected to my Palm Treo 680. Unfortunately it only came with UK maps, so I had to get hold of a USA / Canada map which I have now installed. It’s awesome. I think it’s the coolest gadget I’ve gotten in forever!

I’m hiring a car on Friday (woohoo, first time ever) and going on a little American road trip. Down to San Diego, then Tijuana, Los Angeles and then San Francisco. All guided by my delightful little TomTom navigator! :)

What are you running away from?

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When one embarks on a journey, it is often asked, “What are you running away from?” I wonder if they asked Christopher Columbus the same question.

Is it not the potential prize that is of greater appeal than the current circumstance? Personally, I never felt like I was running away, if anything, I was running towards. Running towards adventure, exploration, self discovery, broader horizons.

I wonder if the question speaks more about the asker than the asked.

Risen to Number 2

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In a scroogle search for “Callum” I have risen from the mirky depths of around 15 to second place! For the past few weeks I’ve been on a concerted effort to litter the web with my calling card as simply “Callum” instead of my full name. The aim was to increase my exposure to the single search term. It seems to be working.

I can almost taste the victory… :-p

Simple Writing

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I read a fascinating post about Amazon’s new text stats today (thanks Seth). Amazon provide some cool statistics comparing the sentence length, word complexity and even words per dollar of books.

It’s interesting to note that in Steven’s (admittedly unscientific) comparison, the more popular books have fewer words per sentence and less complex words. I’m reassured that I’m not the only person who prefers simpler texts.

I didn’t make it past the first page of my brother’s dissertation because of the academic style. I realise it’s what’s expected, even required, of academic writing, but personally, I find it unbearable. Apparently the numbers agree, simplicity sells!

Canadian Pricing

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Camera Canon SD1000I’m considering buying a Canon SD1000 (IXUS 70). I saw it in a shop today for $279 CAD plus tax ($318). I decided to resist the impulse purchase, do some reading, and check the price online. Dell USA sells the camera for $165.99 USD while Dell Canada sells exactly the same product for $299 CAD.

Has nobody told Dell the Canadian dollar is worth more than the American dollar? The camera is 45% cheaper in the USA! I’m only 2 hours from the border! It’s outrageous.

Needless to say, I’ll be buying it in the states if at all.

Smart Dressers in Montreal

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There seem to be very few smart dressers in Montreal. Most people are dressed more functionally, slightly dowdy even. I see few young executives wearing sharp suits and brightly polished shoes. Few bright shirts and dynamic ties.

It’s a completely subjective statement, perhaps the sharp dressers drive to work, or take the metro at different times to me (I try to avoid peak times). But so far, my impression of the average Montrealer is someone dressed fairly averagely. A nondescript, functional dresser wearing warm clothing and sensible shoes.

Is a nation less obsessed with fashion a good thing? In my view, probably.

Dirty, Dirty Apple

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My bro got a couple of iPhones today. He told me that the headphone jack is recessed so only headphones with a very thin plug (like the apple headphones) fit into the jack. A regular set of headphones won’t fit.

Apple have also released a firmware update which bricks an unlocked iPhone. This means if you circumvented Apple’s network locking, and then update your phone, it stops working.

Apple repeatedly play these dirty, dirty tricks on customers. Yet we still buy their products. I say no more. F$#& them. I’m going to get rid of my iPod and replace it with something else. No MacBook for me.

Montreal Police

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I had my first run in with the Montreal police force last night. I was pulled over for jay walking! I resisted the urge to get into a debate about freedoms with the officer, instead I played the dumb tourist card, rather successfully. Although he couldn’t believe we don’t have jay walking laws in Scotland, he let me off without a ticket.

I learned my lesson. I now check for police before I jay walk. ;-)

Canadian Cell Phones

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I was expecting to arrive in a communication nirvana. Dirt cheap, ubiquitous wireless access of all sorts. I figured they’d be giving away data cards and other wireless devices by the roadside. “Welcome to wireless utopia”.

I was sadly disappointed.

You pay to receive calls on your cell phone (mobile), long distance calling (outside the immediate area) costs a fortune, you pay $30 to $60 just to buy a SIM card. It’s outrageously expensive. Bah.