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It’s really interesting for me, being in this business because my husband is also self-employed, as a renovation contractor. Both of us, despite being in completely different fields, share a lot in common (replace the word “renovation, renovator” for “online, project team”):
- Everyone thinks they can do his job…so why does it cost so much? e.g.”What? It’s just a bit of tile!” or “oh, come on, you can build a custom cabinet with legs/hinges/doors/shelves…because I WILL you to” Seriously. That was a home “designer”…with no credentials, just narcissism.
- Rarely do people want to take the time OR money to plan their renovation project scope out, and THEN figure out timing and cost. OR have a budget – and adjust expectations of gutting the whole place and getting *everything* done…for 30K.
- Oh, and “designers” like on HGTV? Please. stop. Honestly. You guys make it really difficult for good, honest renovators to do their job. Holmes on Homes is fantastic…a wonderful man, does everything right…but TV time isn’t real time. There is NO way in the world that a house that’s just been plastered will dry in 8 hours, in the GTA August humidity. Unless you hire 100 kids with blow-dryers (not advised).
- These are the obstacles that Euro Renovations deals with all the time. The best clients? IT project managers – scope, risk and mitigating it, timeline, unforeseen whatever….this is why that my husband and I work well together. We start a project with requirements. If it’s a re-design of the kitchen we bring in Graham, out designer. And then we make a budget….and here’s where the triangle expands. We have a scope, and budget….but we have no timeline.
I wish, wish and wish that everyone who buys a home and has watched a renovation show would re-set their expectations. And honestly, *work* with the renovator to get it. Man, we live together – and we have had to implement a really strong project mgmt system, just to keep us happy.
A friend shared a cool report on fb about teen media use and online habits, and it got me thinking about one observation as a whole:
“Teens are NOT abandoning TV for new media: In fact, they watch more TV than ever, up 6% oveer the past five years in the U.S.”
Huh. Which kind of makes sense, actually. TV is an event, a social activity when you’re that age. Also, seeing a premiere of a tv show or video (do they make videos anymore?) means that you can IM your friends about it…OMG, did u c that? When you’re all watching at the same time.
And, let’s not forget that there’s a lot of teens that don’t have unfettered, unlimited access to the Internet, i.e. away from parents, that would allow them to either watch online (and in Canada…we’re not allowed to watch very much, sadly) or (sshh) download shows.
Lastly, on a personal note, I remember how much time I had when I was a teenager. I didn’t have to fit tv in…it was just a way of passing the time until I could move out of the parental home.  Of course, we also only had, like 30 channels.
where does the flesh-and-bone version of yourself butt up against the LinkedIn/fb/Twitter version…and walk away, disgusted?
believe me…I just considered how Twitterific ™ the title of this post was… and I didn’t change it.
I remember when I used to care, a LOT, about artifice. Now, hopefully, I care more about the flesh-and-bone of life. Metaphorically. 
Baby birds, as we’ve been told in so many Hinterland Moments, tweet or chirp when they need something. Is Twitter just a huge big laugh on all of us? Honest, I didn’t get Twitter when I first heard of it…”what are you doing now? what are you doing now?” For someone like me, the answer, not ironically, would always be: thinking of something cute, smart, funny, trenchant, thought-provoking or whatever, to tweet. Then it was kind of fun – a few very fun colleagues and I were watching each other, and yapping back and forth.
Now, however. I want no part of it. I don’t know…what’s up with the concentration of words? There is finally a president in the US who can speak a full, declarative sentence (nod to J. Cafferty) and the rest of us resort to “ohhh, the beer tap is out”?
it seems like everyone feels the need, through this technology, to share EVERY. SINGLE. MOMENT. of their lives. Why? I really don’t need to know most of the things I know about the people I know the least in the world. Especially those that I really don’t want to know.
Believe me, I fully recognize the hypocrisy in damning tweeting in my own blog. I get it. And I’ve also been prey to the moments where I tweet something, just because. And then I realized, that true writing comes from a collection, internally, of all of those moments…and then you find a theme; and write something decent. Um, it used to be called a journal or diary. And the theme was developed by the author.
Now, the theme/navigation/thought process/concept has been off-shored to the user. thanks. I really wanted to learn a new person’s entire history today.
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