Ryan Trembath (dot) Information

Toooo much shi~ on the go for this cowboy.!` OR too much personal pressure? F*cK if I know!`

Making rap music, trying to ‘run a label’ - maintaining 7 myspace accounts, recording/mixing the music, learning/doing PHP, sending press kits, paying for promo, playing shows - running a day job, maintaining a clean space, staying fit, planning a bachelor party, eating well, saving money & still being a good friend who you can have a beer with;:-> is burning my dumb a$s out.

Though, now that I’ve put the b!tch down to the internet I am feeling a little better. While I’m on the ‘cry about the good life’ stint;;;;; Some bullets. that suck:

• the washing machine in my building went up $0.19. It is now impossible to clear the cash off your card completely. smoooth move SmartCard:::>> Card abandonment $crilla on the incline.
• Jumbo Pizza Winnipeg - sent us vegetarians an all meat pizza then refused to admit a mistake.
• The little button on my phone has started to work 68% of time => Cool; if it wasn’t essential to almost every function@!#$%^!
• I’m 26 => talented => and not rich!

These r m@ t3arz. One tidbit of real information 4 u:

One thing that I have noticed about both my sense of humor;; and the DEAFWISH style communique;; is that no one realizes that it is based heavily on the principles of text messaging culture;:> & Neoism?! duh!#

I promise the next post will be more coherent. Thanks for reading.

At my old job, the “Lifestyle Shot” was a topic of hot debate in the boardroom every time a new site was being designed.

Unfamiliar with the term?

It’s used to describe the main photograph, usually involving people smiling and doing something, on the homepage of a site. The “lifestyle shot” is supposed to help your customers feel comfortable and “see themselves” in your site. Check out how happy you are about insurance, or meet a friendly dentist up close and personal.

Get it?

If you’re designing a site with this look/feel, always keep in mind that your users may not perceive the image(s) presented the same way you do.

For example, I worked on this online pharmacy site. The call center staff said that our customers would often ask why we had two gay old men on the front page. From the perspective of the design team, it had just been two friends, healthy and strong, saving on their medications.

Another example is this vegetarian dating site. Some guy grinding a model holding a bowl of uncooked tofu? Seems a bit…lame. Do they really know their audience?

Bottom line here would be: people like to see themselves in your content, just make sure you’re on target with who “they” are or you might be doing more harm than good.

You may have noticed the make your own Simpson’s character fad courtesy of the the Simpson’s Movie page. Guess who’s on the bandwagon?!

Go give it a try. It’s easy to use and walks you through what to do with the picture once it’s generated.

I saw the movie last night at the cheap seats. Since it’s probably been 6 years since I actively tried to watch an episode of the show it was good to see everyone still kicking.

My friend called it “mediocre” but I thought it was pretty funny. There was quite a few little throwbacks to episodes for the Simpson’s geeks out there. What do you want?!

Yeah, this is normally more tech/music oriented, but lets file this post under “Branding”.

My friend Maria was in town a few weeks ago. It was late, we were hungry and the local 222 line put me on hold.

What to do?

I figured I’d help Maria get the most out her Winnipeg experience and indulge in a Porno Pizza, the latest international pizza phenomena.

I called the number, ordered a 2 topping large pizza, and was told it would get to us around an hour.

Let the waiting begin.

Pizza Arrives

Pizza arrives just over an hour after we order. Not sure how long the pizza actually took, the ringer on the apartment phone was off. An annoyed delivery driver called my cell phone to let us know she was out front.

Hot sauce…check. Ranch dressing (for dipping)…check. Greasy porno? I guess we’ll have to seek it out!

Bring Your Pizza Cutter

Business was so busy they couldn’t cut the pizza enough, or they just don’t care. I put Maria in charge of cutting. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad job after all.

What the hey?

What’s this under the pizza? Maria is confused.

Fluffer!?;

The pizza action was cooling down, so I decided to heat things back up. Burnt my hand pulling it out of the stove. HOT ACTION!

There she is

Finally some porn.

They made up for our vegetarian ways by giving us more meat in the picture. Two guys, one girl, many greasy stains.

The picture itself looks like it was laser printed off the internet. A chemical bond between the printer ink and the wax paper under the pizza has formed making the picture scuzzier then it was initially.

How the pizza sliced - Ratings out of 5

Pizza - 1.5
Price is a big factor here. We could have gotten 2 bigger pizza’s from the hotline and tipped the guy 5 bucks instead of this. Wasn’t sliced, was cold and 3 slices made my hungry tummy turn.

Porno - 2.5
I would give the porno three X’s (XXX). It was pretty hardcore. Grease stains don’t turn me on.

Overall, this is a novelty. It’s staying power is questionable, but it might survive on the fact that Winnipeg is a tits and ass town and they’re open until 5 AM. Personally, I wouldn’t waste $25 bucks again, but it’s off my list of things I didn’t know I wanted to try.

In case you were wondering, Maria and her room mate ate the remaining pizza the next day and felt ill. I’m sure the pizza people would say she was hung over.

I am a Willie Nelson fan. His laid back, spanish-country guitar style has always impressed me and I truly respect him as a musician and a songwriter.

So, for mother’s day 2007 I got us both a gift; floor seats to yesterday’s Willie & the family show.

It truly was a family affair all around. Willie’s sons (40 points) opened the show and played in his backing band. I, along with other fans and families cheered the band through a steady flow of country favorites.

Admittedly, Willie’s voice isn’t what it used to be, but his personal charm and connection with his guitar made for a memorable musical experience.

As a momento of the night, I paid $25 ($20 of which I borrowed, thanks Mom) for this wonderful bracelet.

But this ain’t no live strong action, it’s a USB device containing a 160kbs mp3 of the show!

The recording was done as a live, 2 track mix off the board by a California company called Aderra. I had a chance to talk with the guy doing the recording and though his business card identified him as Edward, company president, I didn’t get a chance to confirm his identity. The show started while we were talking.

This is an AMAZING concept! Edward told me the biggest problem he’d encountered thus far was having enough bracelets ready at the end of the show & he was right. The line-up was lengthy and one batch was gone before I got to the front of the line.

If you’re still reading think on these:

1. Consumers want a physical product, but is it really a CD?
2. Willie Nelson Rules

So …we’re going through an identity crisis at work. It seems people don’t quite understand what it is manlab does.

In our quest to find out who we are, we got web 2.0 with a survey, I’ve re-read my responses (from my sent box) and decided to post them, as I didn’t write anything for the blog today. Judge me as you will, here’s the Q &:

In 5 words or less…what is Manlab?

Good people doing great work.

As a company, what would you say Manlab values?
- quality work – intuitive answers through technology

- relationship with our clients – we bring them into the ‘family’. It’s not all business, we care about the people as much as we care about their projects.

If Manlab has the potential to be the greatest in the world at something what would that something be?

Geekery worth using. Or ski jumping. We might be versatile enough to be good at both.

When friends ask, you tell them you work at Manlab because….?
Most of my friends quit asking me about my job when I couldn’t answer their “Hey…you work on computers, right?” questions.

But I’m good at the internet I was lucky enough to be asked to work here.

Fill in the blanks. If Manlab were a guy at a party he would talk incessantly about [blank]. He would drink [blank]. He would be the guy that [blank]. You can elaborate if you like.

First off, why is Manlab a guy? But “if” he was…

He would have enough knowledge to talk incessantly about a lot of things so it would depend on the party’s crowd. He would also step back and listen to what you had to say.

He would probably drink light beer or white wine if it was a good night to socialize and he had a designated driver. Otherwise we’d be looking at bottled water or maybe a juice.

He’d be that guy that made you laugh and told you something you didn’t know before you talked to him. He might even give you his card and ask for your number, but it wouldn’t be creepy, you’d hope he called.

What is the best part about your job?
The people I work with and the flexibility to do my own thing while working towards greater internet goodness. The coffee is usually pretty good too!

What are you most passionate about at work?
Search marketing, web stats, automation, what’s gonna happen’ next on the wild web and how we can harness it for practical use.

Enforcing Try New Things Thursday’s.

What are your most passionate about outside of work?
Music. All types from all people happening everywhere.

If I gave you $10,000 tomorrow and you had to spend it on something fun what would you buy?

I wouldn’t buy anything.

I would throw a party.

Location depending on the time of year, theme devised and bands I wanted to play. It would be an eclectic bill and there would be free drinks and vegetarian food. It might be good to have it on a Thursday to ease the terror in the cold cut crowd.

Though I’m thinking that would take care of the cash pretty quick any remaining money could be used for fireworks.

Tell me about your best day you remember at work. What made it great?

I haven’t had my best day at work yet. I hope to never have it or might quit coming.

However, good days have been known to include some good laughs and ice cream. Seeing things we’ve never done before come to fruition is always satisfying. Even if I wasn’t directly involved with a project it’s nice to see the company push out into new territory.

What are you most proud of?

I’ve felt proud when hosting dinners for friends or playing music the way it was intended to be played but to carry those feelings through a day to day routine would probably result in me being conceited. I have a tendency to get lost in things.

Actually let’s simplify.

My kids.

Ryan Trembath
Web Developer

Manlab Internet
http://www.manlab.com