Jason's Notes About Stuff

Answer: Not very big. Above is a scale map of St. Kitts beside a small area of Toronto. That's right -- driving from one side of the island to another is roughly the same distance as heading up the DVP. Mind you, it could be a bit slower with the winding roads. Or faster if you're comparing to rush hour :) And Toronto certainly doesn't look like this: Either way, it's a great little tropical paradise. Be sure to give us a shout if things get a little cold where you are and you'd like to visit! :)

The first time I sold everything I owned was 2009, when I moved to south Texas for four months as an experiment to see if I could run my consulting business remotely. The second time, Melissa and I knew that we were only staying in Toronto for a year, so we bought things cheap and knew we'd be unloading them soon. This time was a bit different. We had planned to stay in Victoria many years, so we were buying the "good stuff" -- things we planned to keep and enjoy for a long time. That made selling everything a bit more difficult for us. Not to mention, It's always a big inconvenience, of course :) I'm working from a coffee shop today because I sold my work desk and chair yesterday. That said, we've been given an absolutely amazing opportunity that we'd be crazy to turn down, so onward and upwards we go :) Nearly everything has been sold now, and we're counting down the days until our week-long stopover in Kitchener to visit friends and ...

I like seeing people's reactions when I tell them we are going to live in the South of France . People get the impression that we're super-rich . I've got news for you. We aren't. Not in the slightest. So how are we doing it? Well, for one, we've done something this year that few Canadians or Americans do anymore -- we've put money into a savings account. That's right -- we resisted the incredible consumer spending urge and actually put away a few bucks for a rainy day. And how'd we manage that? The biggest savings, by far, came from neither of us owning a car for 14 months.  This Globe & Mail article pegs the annual cost of car ownership between $8,500-$14,000 . Even subtracting TTC passes, tokens, car rentals and ZipCar, we each saved approximately a crapload of money by not driving. This had its drawbacks and inconveniences, of course. But in hindsight, it's a tradeoff I would make again. Meanwhile, our flights to Pari...

As some of you may already know, Melissa and I were recently accepted for a one-year working holiday to France! We had our interview (which we conducted mostly in French) on November 18th, and received our visa in the mail the following week. I've been taking French classes at Alliance Francaise 3 days a week, and Mel has been practicing her French writing her resume and calling up places in France. I will continue to grow my startup, PMRobot , as well as managing consulting projects for Syllogistic Software , working remotely and following 4HWW principles. We're leaving Toronto for Paris on January 8th. After a few days in Paris, we're kicking off the trip with a cross-country of Italy, flying south to Naples on the 13th, then slowing heading north via Rome, Tuscany, Vienna, and Milan. From there we'll go west to Nice, where we'll be planting roots for a whole 3 months. It's been a lifelong dream of mine to live in the south of France, so here co...

With all of the travelling we've done recently, we have the planning down to a science. Step 1: TripAdvisor First we hit up TripAdvisor and check out their "Things to Do" section. Step 2: Google Maps Then we map out everything we want to see and do on a shared Google Map, so we can start grouping things that are close together. Step 3: Google Docs Next, we create a shared Google Doc, start listing the attractions, and figuring out which day to do what. Once we start booking flights, trains, hostels, etc., all the times and confirmations numbers go here. Step 4:  Mobile phone/apps For this trip, I've used the Labs feature in Android Google Maps to download all of London for offline use, in case I don't have a mobile signal. I've also installed two different apps that give live train and tube schedules. Step 5: Paper As great as technology is, it's not quite perfect. Laptops and phones can break or run out of battery power. Before we lea...

Click above for more pictures We've arrived on the small, tropical island of Koh Phangan, Thailand. After a few days, my initial impression is very positive. The Thai people are very polite and clean. Shoes need to be taken off before entering any building. Prices are cheap, but not massively cheap. Our small furnished house, with air conditioning in the bedroom, a living room, a kitchen with gas range, and hot water shower, cost 15,000 baht (about $500) for a month, plus about another 3,000 baht ($100) for water, electricity, and ADSL internet that is probably better than an average Bell connection. A load of laundry can be sent for washing, drying, and folding for 120 baht ($4). That's cheaper than when we did it ourselves at the hostel in Australia. Western (imported) products cost nearly as much as back home. Food-wise, you can get cheaper stuff when it only has Thai writing -- if you can figure out what it is. A 1.5L bottle of drinking water costs 15 baht (...

These days, I'm seeing more and more people who have trouble differentiating between things that are urgent , versus things that are important . I was reminded about this by a recent posting over at Business is Pleasure . Software and devices generally have a "do not disturb" setting that silences them and sends calls to voicemail. Use these features! If you're having lunch with someone and talking to them, don't try to answer emails and texts at the same bloody time! Urgency does not necessarily imply importance! In fact, they can often be inversely correlated. The most important things in your life often have little urgency attached to them, so it's up to you to keep track of them and make sure they don't get smothered and forgotten in the minutia of the day-to-day. So every day, take some time to turn off your cellphone , shut down your email , stop tweeting and twittering, sit down, and do something that's actually important ! Or...

First flight: November 5, 2009 Obtained PPL: July 10, 2010 Total Duration: 8 months Flying hours: 70.7 total Learning to fly. What an amazing adventure. I have to admit, I originally thought it would just be a fun little hobby, but rest assured, it takes a good bit of time, money, and determination. My initial estimate was to complete my training in 5 months, finishing in March. This was extended due to two major holidays and a nasty flu bug near the end. A very important consideration in flying is the concept of "currency" or "recency". In fact, for your flying license to be valid, you must have flown a certain number of hours within a certain amount of time. This varies from country to country. It's amazing how quickly you can forget things. Even taking a week off from flying can set you back a lesson or two. If you want to learn to fly in the least amount of time possible, it's important that you don't have large breaks between y...

It seems like only yesterday that I quit my job in Atlanta, Georgia and moved back to Canada to start my custom software development company, Syllogistic Software Inc. As it turns out, that was actually about seven years ago! In 2008, at the 5-year mark, I did some research about how long typical startups last.  I found the following heavily referenced article , claiming 55%, 60%, and 63% failure/closure rates in years 5, 6 and 7, respectively. These numbers aren't exact, but give a pretty good idea of how long typical businesses last.  Running your own business is not easy.  It requires good planning, great execution, awesome support from your friends and family, and just a little bit of luck . I was fortunate to have all of the above, but that still doesn't mean that it was smooth sailing the whole way.  There were lots of bumps, and a few times I was ready to toss in the towel and close up shop. I've put together a brief timeline of some of the major ...

I return most  business phone calls (and all personal ones).  However -- There is a type of messages that I don't reply to anymore.  It goes something like this: "Hi, this is John Doe from Acme Corp. I've tried calling you several times but was unable to reach you. Could you please give me a call at 123-4567 x890.  That's John Doe at  1 2 3 - 4 5 6 7  x 8 9 0 . Look forward to speaking with you then.  Thanks! " This seems to be a standard template for a sales "cold call."   It's made to sound like it might be a potential client or other important call, but over the years, I've learned that most worthwhile messages include the reason for the call. When I return messages like the above, it is always some random provider trying to sell me something. What I don't understand is why they don't mention the product or service they're trying to sell in the message. Do they think they're being sneaky ?  Do they think they...

In 2005, I had a big decision to make. I had saved up a decent amount of money with my consulting business, and my current car was just about out of warranty. So should I spend my savings on a  new BMW , or going back to school ? Now, in theory, the "smart" choice was obvious. Pros for Car: Fun! Flashy! Cons for Car: Expensive. High depreciation. Pros for Education: Knowledge = Power! Cons for Education: Hard work. So I went ahead and took a year off doing a full-time MBA program at Wilfrid Laurier . It's nearly five years later.   Did I make the right decision? From a financial standpoint, it's not entirely clear.  Let's say, to make it simple, my savings were $100 . Ignoring inflation, the car would have been worth about $40 today, whereas the education money is completely gone = $0 . Also, had I bought the car, I would have earned my regular income that year (let's say $100 again) instead of the reduced amount while taking full-ti...

I just started my private pilot's licence (PPL) training here in New Zealand. Flying a plane is something I've wanted to do for a long time, but never seemed to manage to have both the necessary time and money simultaneously. So besides the obvious fun factor, why would anyone want to get a PPL? Well, just like a driver's license gives you the basic freedom to rent or own a car and drive it on public roads, a pilot's license gives you the freedom to rent or own a plane, and fly it in controlled airspace. Instead of driving to a vacation destination, you can head to an airport or flight club, and rent a plane for the weekend.  In addition to being faster, it can also be a more scenic, and possibly even less stressful mode of transportation. As a bonus, my New Zealand PPL will be easily transferable to a Canadian license when I return.

It's official! All of the paperwork for a one-year working holiday trip to New Zealand is now complete. Melissa and I will be leaving September 1st, and returning August 2010. I'll be continuing to operate my web development company -- Syllogistic Software Inc. -- while I'm there. We have invested a huge amount of time and effort into "virtualizing" the company. With clients in Toronto, London (Ontario), Vancouver, and Waterloo, plus employees in Kitchener, Montreal, and elsewhere, communication is paramount . Our infrastructure spans the Internet, including a full virtual PBX phone system with multiple extensions and IVR via Trixbox . All company email, shared calendars, and documents are hosted on Google Apps . Source code is managed by Subversion . The heart and soul of the operation is handled by an internal application we wrote, called simply the "Project Management System" ( Update 2011-07-13: This is now called PMRobot ). This allow...

For $2,000, I could buy: One LG 47" LCD TV : http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0770HDS0010121815 Or, all of the following: Flight from Toronto to Los Angeles Flight from Los Angeles to Fiji 4 days/3 nights in a resort in Fiji Flight from Fiji to Auckland, New Zealand 13 months of world-wide health insurance (excluding USA) That's right, everything above totaled only $1998.19 , including all taxes, fees, etc. That seems like a really good deal somehow.