Tag: Daily

  • Applying for a Job (January 6)

    Applying for a Job (January 6)

    Some days, you spend hours with your face right in front of a computer monitor, but at least there are ends-of-day like today that make it mostly worth it. I would love a job where my Chemistry, science and technology skills and knowledge are required, but my job search focus right now is in communications and media.

    Below is why I think I would be a good candidate for a media/communications focused job. If you know somebody who is hiring that might be looking for somebody like me, please share this with them, I would REALLY appreciate it! Thanks!

    This letter is in reference to the job posting at [REDACTED] for [REDACTED]. I am submitting this letter because I think that I, Rob Attrell, am an excellent candidate for the position. The combination of my experience and education will show that I have the requirements needed to excel in the role.

    Going to university, I wasn’t aware how important communications would end up being to me. I studied Chemistry at the University of Ottawa from 2006 to 2011, completing Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. On its own, that doesn’t qualify me for the position, but it was a formative and necessary experience.

    I learned many important skills during my studies and research that lend themselves to work in communications. First and foremost, my projects over the course of these degrees have given me a lifelong appreciation for the time and detail that goes into professional work. While preparing my Master’s thesis, I wrote and edited several major documents for both print and electronic media. That includes a textbook chapter, several academic papers, and two thesis documents. This work typically took many weeks or months of planning and working with colleagues to come up with a polished final product.

    Of course, in addition to the tangible work done during my degree, there are many other important skills I learned and improved at while in graduate school. Time management, self-motivation, problem-solving, and multitasking were critical to my success in class and in the lab. To this day, I apply those same attributes in all of my work, both at NSERC in my last full-time position as a planning analyst in Corporate Planning and Policy, and with my extra-curricular and freelance activities. I am constantly adapting my skill-set and looking for new and interesting things to learn, and projects and problems to tackle.

    For the last 4+ years, since the end of my degree, I have been devoting a whole lot of my free time to learning the principles of communications. I write regularly for my own interest on a personal blog, and I been creating more varied media like video and podcasts for the last 2 years as well. I am very involved in social media, and I’m always quick to try out the newest social medium or technology. I have been studying and learning web design, user interface/experience principles, and programming to maintain all the sites I’ve been managing since 2011 as well.

    I have spent a lot of time in the last few years working on strategies to gain traction in social media, as well as coming up with consistent branding and developing high-quality content. I also currently write freelance every weekday morning for a Canadian technology website called MobileSyrup, which enables me to keep up with technology and writing, while also working on ongoing projects and developing my skills.


    Thank you.
  • Preparing Soylent for best results (January 5)

    Preparing Soylent for best results (January 5)

    I have a serving of Soylent most days, and I’ve gotten the consistency of making it properly down pat. If you’re considering trying it out, or you have tried it and don’t like it, give this method a shot and let me know what you think. The taste may not be for everyone, but it’s been super beneficial for my health and I’ve never thought it tasted *bad*. Enjoy!

  • Future Chat 83 | You’re Just Buying A Bucket (January 4)

    Future Chat 83 | You’re Just Buying A Bucket (January 4)

    This week’s show was a smorgasbord of tangents and divergences. We talked about water, coffee, cell phone data plans, and hockey.

  • More than I can chew? Nah… (January 2)

    More than I can chew? Nah… (January 2)

    One of the first things that happens when you start a big project with repeating deadlines, like a challenge to make something online every day for a year, is realizing just how much work it’s going to be. Yeah, I can write something on January 1st, and hit publish, but Day 1 is literally going to be the easiest day.

    If I want this year-long project to be remotely interesting, I’m going to have to lay some groundwork. This is going to take work on some days that doesn’t pay off right away. For instance, today I recorded a podcast and a bunch of music for my podcast Feedback. It’s going to take several hours of work to put together any of the pieces of what I recorded, and that recording itself took about 3 hours all told.

    Recording this month’s episode of Feedback with my musical friends.

    Another thing that will make this project a failure is if I can’t live my life at all while I’m doing it. I want to spend time with my friends and my family too. But I will have to make sacrifices. I’m writing this right now while my friends are spending time together, because my commitment to this project is important to me.

    I will get better at this. I will put in work in the next few weeks to get out ahead of the project, so if I have a busy day where nothing I’m working on will be done, there will be something I can put up.

    I can’t always put out my Titanic, but I promise that I will do everything I can to at least be interesting each day. I will try to give you something to think about, to consider. I’m really excited.

    The skills I’ve learned over the last 2-3 years make me incredibly happy, and I can wait to share new things with you. Now, I’m going to head back to my friends, and to go and see Star Wars (finally). Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

  • Making More of 2016 (January 1)

    Making More of 2016 (January 1)

    The last few years of my life have been the best so far by a wide margin. On its own, 2015 was an incredible year for me, and I’m lucky to have been able to ring in the new year with *many* of my very good friends!

    A video posted by Rob Attrell (@robattrell) on Jan 1, 2016 at 1:04pm PST

    I’ve made a lot of different things for the Internet, starting around 2011, but this past year might have been my most prolific. Writing for my own blog, making podcasts with my network, Unwind Media, and videos for Sons of Pluto, and most recently, starting to write for MobileSyrup, has kept me in love with being creative and making things.

    In addition to the things I made this year, I also got married, and I weigh 35 pounds less than I did at the beginning of last year. The first ~6 months of marriage has been a supremely fun and enjoyable time, and I’m reassured every day that I made the right choice.

    My friends are also a huge part of my life, and I’m so thankful that they’re around for all the ups and downs life throws at each of us. I am supremely lucky to have met so many incredible people, and to get the chance to spend as much time with them as I get.

    For 2016, I have been mulling over a goal (as we all do this time of year), and since I’ve had so much success sharing my goals online, I’m going to do the same this year. I considered delaying the start of this challenge until my life stabilized a little bit, but that would defeat the whole purpose.

    Starting today, with this blog post, I am challenging myself to make something EVERY SINGLE DAY, for a year, or for as long as I can or feel I need to. Some days, it will be a video. Others, probably a podcast episode. On a day like today, it will be a written blog entry like this (even though each day’s creation will be logged here on robattrell.com).

    I thought this morning about the arbitrary nature of starting the year on January 1st, and thought that in light of recording an episode of Feedback tomorrow, and Future Chat the day after, and Ottawhat on the 5th, maybe I could just wait and start next week. But this whole project is going to be about not making any excuses.

    There’s always an excuse, and I’ve made a lot of them to myself. Part of this project is also going to be about finding employment. I plan to showcase some of the skills I’ve learned in the last few years, and perhaps even highlight and discuss in more detail why I think I would make a good addition to any company or organization.

    Some days, I may address, answer, or discuss a question or topic, but in general I will just be sharing some of my thoughts and feelings about the world and my place in it. There is a lot of bad and a lot of good in the world, and I want to make the good better, and the bad less so.

    This is going to be all over the place. I’m excited. Follow along on my journey by subscribing to this blog, to any of my podcasts at unwindmedia.com, or just follow me on Twitter @RobAttrell.

  • Milestones! Gains! Losses!

    Milestones! Gains! Losses!

    That’s a lot of views (I’m just one man)!

    It’s been far too long since I last wrote something on here, and given that a whole heck of a lot has happened in the last month! First up, around the time of the writing of this post, my blog is going to pass another base 10 milestone, racking up a total of 50000 views! This isn’t a big milestone, but I still consider myself as just getting started, so I’m pretty pleased with it.

    As well, in a follow up to my piece about weight loss/overall health, I’m pleased to announce that although my wedding and three-week vacation caused me to gain back a significant amount of the weight I had lost, as of today I will get back to a new all-time** low weight (**least I’ve weighed in over 2 years). I have been working really hard, and I wouldn’t have been able to get to where I am now without my bike, my Soylent, and the willpower to not go nuts eating snack foods. I’ve also effectively eliminated traditional meals from my diet, relying on snacking and smaller portions throughout the day, which has also been nice for me.

    During your wedding/honeymoon, you may experience mysterious weight gain paired with a complete loss of data.

    Finally, I went almost a month without recording a single podcast, but I’ve been back at work on them now (Ottawhat did have an episode every week while I was on my honeymoon though, so you’ll have to go and catch up on those). Last week on Ottawhat, we interviewed my beautiful new wife, Julia, and Mike and I have been getting into some great conversations on Future Chat. On Ottawhat this week, we talked to the owner and manager (2 people) of a local 1-screen cinema, the Mayfair. It was a really great conversation and you should go and check out their podcast too! Links to the episodes can be found below:

    This week on the show, we met with Josh and Mel from the Mayfair Theatre. These diehard movie buffs told us all about the origins of the theatre, why they…
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    On this week’s show, we agree non-Celiac gluten sensitivity probably isn’t a real thing, electric, self-driving cars will be all over our roads soon, and…
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  • Soylent Friday: Day 3

    Soylent Friday: Day 3

    Wow, the last three days have been crazy. Here are my live-blogs from Day 1 and Day 2. Follow the Day 3 story below:

    5:40 PM Fri.: Going to see a movie tonight! I will probably get something like pizza or a hotdog, but I usually get both. I am pretty hungry, but I’m “saving” calories for dinner by holding out for a while. This will likely be my last update today, but check back tomorrow to see how weekend days go!


    3:15 PM Fri.: Hmmmmm, I have a little bit of a headache and I’m not sure why. Friday afternoons are always hard for me because I really appreciate my weekends. I’m going to hold out on eating more until I get home, and I might not eat great tonight as I’m going to see Inside Out tonight, but I’m interested to see how the weekend on Soylent goes. I will probably keep up the 50% of calories idea, and I’ll definitely have a batch ready to go for +Future Chat at 12:30 on Sunday.


    2:00 PM Fri.: 

    Becca: I wonder if this would be a more nutritious and cost effective option? Im also wondering about fibre and roughage? The same issue arises when people juice everything…. Aren’t you missing out on the fibre?? 

    My answer: That’s a great question Becca, I’ll give you the same link I gave yesterday… https://faq.soylent.com/…/sections/200307055-About-Soylent 

    In particular, to answer the fibre question, yes…there is plenty of fibre. I can confirm this is not an issue. See this link: https://faq.soylent.com/hc/en-us/articles/200789985-Do-you-poop-on-Soylent-Yes

    12:30 PM Fri.: Doing just fine, getting ready to have the usual 1.5 scoops for lunch. Here’s another question:

    Brian: Are there any cost savings if one switches over from regular groceries/produce to Soylent? 

    My answer: It really depends what you buy. If you go all out, it’s about $2-$2.50 a meal for Soylent. It would definitely be cheaper for me, but I know people who (allegedly) spend almost nothing on food… 

    Brian also asked some great questions I answered in the comments below this post.

    10:45 AM Fri.: Some really great questions and discussion already on Facebook!

    Lisa: Food and cooking is a part of our culture, I don’t think I could get on board with giving that up but I am curious to know why you are doing this! Just for weight loss or like a get-healthy-and-all-the-nutrients-your-body-needs blitz? I can see how it would be really good for people hiking and camping and going on long expeditions where they might not have access to fresh food.

    My answer: I’m trying it for a week because I’ve been so curious since it first came out. I don’t know that I could replace everything ever, but it’s been a really eye-opening experience really knowing exactly how much I’m eating in a day, how many calories I need to feel full. I’m also not replacing EVERYTHING, just about half the calories.

    It’s not weight loss specifically, but I could certainly lose a little weight with this in combination with being more active. I generally eat WAY too many calories in a day because I just bored-eat, whereas if I know I’m only getting calories from this, I know how much I’m supposed to have for a given time, and I can KNOW objectively that I don’t need more. It also helps to not bring any food to work, so to not eat only this I’d have to cave and find a restaurant, and it hasn’t come close to that.

    I love food, but I think this would be OK sometimes.

    Anna: It can be the cure for world hunger! But also, I think some more third party info would be interesting to read. I don’t want all my questions about Soylent being answered by Soylent. I’m curious to see whether humans can actually get all of their nutrition from Soylent as it is!

    My answer: I think there’s less third-party stuff simply because it’s so new. They’re working with a lot of data from historical nutrition research, it’s not like they’re guessing and hoping. I agree it’ll take a while until it pans out, and I really don’t like the taste of sucralose, so that’s kind of annoying. But overall, there are a lot of people who can really benefit from something like this! I’m also very curious about all of this stuff! 

    9:38 AM Friday: It’s the start of Day 3 on Soylent as a partial food replacement. We learned a lot yesterday, and that tradition continues today. I just finished preparing my first 1.5 scoops for the day, and I’ve made it to the 2nd pouch. This morning, I tried the preparation method I discussed yesterday, mixing a little hot water with the powder before mixing fully and topping up with cold water. It worked PERFECTLY and now it’s not chunky at all. AWESOME!

    I feel good this morning, I think I had a more average breakfast this morning, so I wasn’t hungry until about 9:30 AM. I really notice that even after only 2 days, my appetite is changing. It’s interesting being aware of your nutrition down to the minute level, I’m a lot more aware now, and I find I eat less when I know I don’t have food I like to look forward to. Not that this is bad tasting, but it’s not a “treat” in the traditional sense like a burger would be.

    I decided that today I’m going to take some questions, so if you have anything you’re wondering about Soylent, let me know! I’ll be taking questions all day, and I might even make a video about my experiences this weekend! That will depend on your questions.

  • Day 2 Of My Soylent Adventure

    Day 2 Of My Soylent Adventure

    For some context, yesterday was the first day I tried the futuristic food product called Soylent. It is a food product, not a supplement, so you can survive off this stuff. You can check out my experiences on Day 1 right here, and below, you’ll find my thoughts and feelings, and calorie math about Day 2.

    9:30 PM Thurs.: I probably ate a little more today than I would have, but I have also been really active this week. I definitely feel like Soylent has helped my appetite quite a bit, but we’ll see what tomorrow brings. In 2 days, I got a little under half my calories from Soylent, and I have used a little under 1 pouch.

    See you tomorrow!


    2:45 PM Thurs.: Getting a little bit hungry again. I might be done for the day with Soylent, I’ll probably have some solid food when I get home. Nothing against the liquid diet in particular, but it is going to take some getting used to. We also have groceries at home that need eating, so I have to consider that.


    1:15 PM Thurs.: Lunch was good, although I think I need more water again. I’m definitely not hungry despite the relatively small calorie intake. One issue that seems to keep coming up in these 1.5 scoop batches is that I end up not being able to mix the powder in completely. I’m going to try to address this by mixing a little bit of hot water with the powder first, hopefully dissolving more before topping the mixture up with cold water, which they recommend to improve the taste. I haven’t had any of this stuff at home yet, but I think a blender would make this whole process a lot easier.

    Anyhow, now that I’m done with lunch I probably won’t be eating again for a while. I’ll leave you with some Soylent-related reading to do if you have any weird questions or concerns about the nutritional value. I’m not saying take their word for it, I’m just saying they’ve looked into many things and work with nutritional experts to formulate this food. Check it all out here: https://faq.soylent.com/hc/en-us/sections/200307055-About-Soylent


    12:15 PM Thurs.: I’m going to be having another ~1.5 scoops, bringing me to ~750 calories plus cereal for the day so far. It’s noon and I’ve had very little food today but I feel fine (other than being a little hungry). I would attribute this more to being very aware of what I’m eating and that I’m not eating very often than to Soylent in particular, but it’s still interesting. When you know “exactly” how many calories you’re ingesting, it’s a lot easier to look at food and think “that’s way too much”.


    11:15 AM Thurs.: Doing fine, I’m sure I can make it to lunch today. I decided I should answer of the questions everybody asks, “What is Soylent?”. I’m surprised you haven’t all already heard of it, but to answer the question, I’m just going to tell you what’s IN Soylent…this is from their website, and it tells you what you’ll get in every serving (2 scoops) of Soylent. Basically, it’s everything your body needs to sustain itself. See for yourself below, or on their website!

    Click to enlarge. Complete nutrition facts available here.

    10:00 AM Thurs.: About to go into a meeting, headache has subsided, so I guess the calories have helped 🙂 . Goooooooo Soylent!


    9:00 AM Thurs.: Downed an ice cold 1.5 scoops of delicious Soylent this morning. I think adding just a little more water will help me mix things up a little better, but I have also taken to just swishing some water around at the end of the “meal” to clean the bottle and get any bits that might be stuck to the bottom of the bottle.

    I’m a little concerned about hunger today because I still have a bit of a headache, and I don’t have any food with me. But I’m going to do my best to keep hydrated, we’ll see if I can last another 3 hours until lunch on only about 500 calories, but it will be tough.


    7:46 AM Thursday: It’s a lovely morning. I had some more cereal (another smaller portion today). I brought another pouch with me on the bike again, although I might not get to it because I still have quite a bit of pouch #1 from yesterday. I’m feeling pretty hungry already, but I think I’ll get to preparing my first portion around 8:30 again. This time, I’m going to put extra effort into getting it mixed up really well. I’m going to try to give you guys some interesting facts about Soylent throughout the day, so stay tuned for that!


  • My Bus Driver Rocks

    My Bus Driver Rocks

    Your typical, run-of-the-mill OC Transpo bus.

    I couldn’t start the day off right without telling this story. Obviously, everybody has bad experiences with bus drivers sometimes. This isn’t unique to Ottawa, or Canada. Sometimes you catch somebody in a bad mood, and there are probably drivers who revel in the fact that people get upset when they JUST miss their bus. I’m not saying all bus drivers are saints, and similarly, not all people are saints.

    All that said, I had a GREAT experience this morning with OC Transpo, and it’s all thanks to my friendly neighbourhood bus driver. I know a nice story to start your morning isn’t the best way to drive pageviews, but this is just something I have to commend. I catch the downtown-bound 12 every morning, rain or shine, at around 6:40 AM on Montreal Road. I’ve had a few bus drivers in the nearly 18 months I’ve taken this bus, and the latest one is there every weekday. Bus drivers are like offensive linemen, in that the best ones often get NO recognition for having done a perfect job.

    This driver is like this, and today he went just a little out of his way, but made me so grateful. Here’s the situation: every day I leave my house right around 6:35 AM to catch the bus. This particular morning, as I’m about 2 minutes away from the stop, I checked the map on the Transit app (which is great on Android and iOS by the way, you should check it out). It says that I have about 3 minutes, but it also showed the bus was way closer than it should normally be at that time. I like to think the bus was actually a couple of minutes earlier than it normally is, but it’s possible I was running just a tad late as well, but I digress. As I walk up to the intersection where I catch the bus (I have to cross Montreal Rd to get to the stop), I see the bus about 5 seconds from pulling up. This is a pretty long light; I’m not going to catch this bus.

    This isn’t the first time this has happened, so I immediately start thinking about checking when the other buses near me are coming so I can try to hop on one of those and make it to work without being more than a few minutes late. As I’m doing this though, I look over at the bus I’m in the process of missing, and he’s just sitting there with the doors open, waving me over. What?! That is awesome. It’s about 12 seconds before the light finally changes, and I hustle across the street and onto the bus. The bus driver absolutely did not have to do this, but I am so grateful that he did. He obviously knows his route and his passengers well, and he recognized me enough to be able to take that few seconds to let me get on his bus.

    I should mention that on Tuesdays I carry a travel suitcase with me to work, so I was towing about 40 pounds between my bag and that suitcase. This made my day start off so great, and I’m so happy to be able to share a great story with you about this man doing small things to make the world a better place.

    If anybody knows management at OC Transpo, please pass this along to them. This bus driver is doing things right. It’s the #12 – Rideau Centre, and I get on at stop #8738 at around 6:38 AM on weekdays. I’m submitting this to OC Transpo customer feedback, but I don’t know if that actually gets read.

    Anyway, take the time out of your day to really show appreciation for people who do nice things for you. It’s worth it!