Goodbye Blogger.com

After 4 and a half years and a hair away from 300 posts, I took the very hard decision to move to another Blogging service.

After a lot of searching and trials, I chose Tumblr. This decision was not an easy one. Blogger.com has its perks, but I needed something different for the new year. A new blogging adventure that's much more "content" focused and much more "me" focus as well. The blogging-tools on Tumblr and Tumblr's own philosophies are much more geared towards accomplishing this goal of mine.

New year, new blog, new "image". For this new endeavor, I finally created myself a personal logo. I previewed it in my Christmas wish post.

You can continue following me on...


http://martinbreault.tumblr.com/.

Merry Christmas

Thinking of moving...

After four and a half years here, I'm thinking of moving my blog. I don't know if I can really move my blog a third time, though. I really like Blogger, but another service is attracting me.

I still haven't decided yet. Keep checking until the end of the year to see if I have taken the decision.

Samsung Galaxy S II - Stop USB Connection Drop

I recently got myself up-to-date in Mobility with a new smartphone - Android, of all things. My weapon of choice, the Samsung Galaxy S II.

This phone is not only replacing my old "not-so-smart" phone, but my old iPod Touch as well. Music is an important part of my life and it's so great to be able to carry everything I need in one device. If you are a Samsung Galaxy S II owner, you probably have one little problem: The USB connection likes to drops a for a lot of people (although not everybody). This is especially a problem if you're transferring a lot of data in one go through the traditional method (Plug your phone in, copy files through Explorer... no second thoughts). Yet a very simple fix exists: Don't just plug it in!

Keep This Quote in your Mind

Your purpose in life isn't to arrive at a destination where you find inspiration. Just like the purpose of dancing isn't to end up at a particular spot on the floor. The purpose of dancing and of life is to enjoy every moment and every step, regardless of where you are when the music ends.

---Wayne W. Dyer

Heaven in a cup

Just divine! Iced Chai Tea with a cloud of milk.

Chrome Apps & Kodigen

Today, I made two wonderful discoveries.

First, Google Chrome on one of my workstations updated itself to Chrome 9 (yet, my laptop is still on version 8 and labeled "up-to-date") revealing something hidden or unknown to a few people - Chrome Apps. The Chrome Apps are pretty much a preview to ChromeOS if you really think about it.

[One-day late] Merry Christmas

« The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other. »
---Burton Hillis

See more on Flickr

Edit CSS in Google Docs

Since I changed my email to Google Mail (GMail), I slowly started using the other Google applications. In time, they have become essential to the way I work and I organize my time. Syncing my Google Calendar to my iPod Touch is just awesome.

One of the things I've been using a lot if Google Documents. I love to be able to create a document at the office, perhaps just a brainstorm idea or a draft from something and without managing any files being able to continue from home. I also love the collab. features.

My favorite feature of Google Documents was the ability to edit the style of the document with CSS (Edit CSS).

When Google launched New Google Docs in April, their was an immediate uproar - they removed Edit CSS and Edit HTML. My favorite feature gone.

Recently, I was randomly searching to see if Google was turning back or if they explained why the removed it. Instead, I found a way to revert to the old Google Documents editor which includes the Edit CSS. Here's how to do it

• In Google Documents, in the top-right corner of the screen click on Settings then Documeent Settings.
• Click on the "Editing" tab
• Uncheck "Create new text documents using the latest version of the document editor"
• Save

There you have it. I posted this because it's not widespread knowledge. Some people are still complaining about the fact they can't edit their styles in an efficient way because of the lack of Edit CSS in New Google Docs editor.

Recovery Miracle

Over a week ago, there was an event where I had to take pictures. Nothing complicated. I ended up the event with 96 shots taken throughout the afternoon, but one series of shot (4 shots) was especially important. It was a group picture.

A weekend passed. The following Monday, I came to the office and started sorting through all the pictures. Close to the end, I noticed that I didn't see the group shots. I started looking through everything I sorted, the Recycle Bin... essentially everywhere. They were nowhere to be found.

Could they have been accidentally overwritten by the camera? Were the files truncated/corrupted? So many possibilities, but all with the same result: I did not have the important picture.

Fighting Division, Together

(This post is to make you, and I, think and reflect on ourselves)

Unified diversity
Functioning as one body
Every part encouraged by the other
No one independent of another
---Lyrics from "Beautiful Bride" by Flyleaf

There are two songs I've been listening over and over lately, one has the above as its starting lyrics.

We are divided in so many aspects of our lives, to other people, other groups and even to ourselves. We need to stand up and fight this division. We need to unite within ourselves and unite together. When we all function as one, we accomplish great things.

Tweaked Again

Don't you just love when the titles I use sound strange or bad without context?


I tweaked the blog template again. The box at the bottom of each post had a solid background that made it way too bold against the rest of the design. Background removed, border-top added.

Holy Crap, Bad Habit Again...

I neglected my Blog again. I got a few excuses:

• Busy at work (Board meeting)
• An event leading to worry and stress (no details here)
• Choir
• Crafting a case for my pennywhistles

Take which ever one you like.

I'm not doing a lot of things. I've even pushed aside the infamous commissions I need to work on to work on the whistle case. I'm going to post the process once it's done.

I'm planning on posting a tiny bit more frequently, even if I don't have much to say.

Happy Holidays!

RHA A New Name Contest

The Regional Health Authority A is holding a contest to find a new name for the organization. This new branding will help develop the corporate identity and image of the organization.

Yes, this is a plug.
Contest Information
Facebook Fan Page

Breaking Post Modification

Something that annoyed me (and one of you guys) with the way Breaking Posts (Jump/Read More) was implemented was the anchor (#more) that scrolled the content to the top of the browser frame, which made things a bit hard to read or follow. I modified it so that clicking "Read more" shows the entire post instead of scrolling to the "#more" anchor.

Result: The simple integration and usability without the anchor.

Change of Email

I did something I wanted to do for a little while: change email address and provider (MS is not focusing enough on the mail element, resulting in an incredibly sloppy mail service at times, and it's pissing me off, but that's for another discussion...)

It was a hard decision because I was attached to zsyrinx. But when I had people having a hard time understanding when I was verbally giving them my email, I knew that it was maybe time for me to change.

The new email is a bit more "mature" and professional, and it's much easier to undersand. Of course I'm not going to write it out on this post, but if you know where to look, you'll find it.

There's a lot of work involved in changing emails after almost 10 years. It's not doing the change that's hard and tedious, it's everything else (changing every subscriptions, logins, etc...). I swear I have work for the next 6 months just with these changes!

Another New Blog Layout

I'm not the only one that felt the need for a layout change. Check out Stéphanie's Blog "Pencil Addiction".

New Blog Layout

As you may have noticed, I have again changed my blog layout. If you haven't, I highly recommend you go see an optometrist ASAP.

For a long time I wanted a look that represented what I was about and what I wanted my blog to be. I wanted a clean "design" feel with a "modern grunge" accent and with a much wider real-estate space for both the posts and the right-side column.

I decided to sit down and find a new template or find ways to fully edit the one that was in place. I was lucky enough to find a template that reflected exactly what I had in mind. It's Natural Gloom by Klodian.

There were some tiny bugs with some of the stuff I had implemented in the old layout, but the new look and new features (such as editable top menu) outweighed the little bugs.

Breaking Posts (Jump) in Blogger

Something I've been looking to find out for quite some time, but just didn't have the time to check. I wanted to know if it was possible to break posts in Blogger (Blogspot).

I finally decided to look it up and I found my answer.