Living in the Future

Tag: Unwind

A Big Day
It only makes sense that exactly three years (to the day) after doing my very first video on YouTube, I would cross the threshold of actually earning real money from Google. Let me tell you the story.
For a little over a year, starting on July 4, 2011, I had been writing on my blog (which still exists to this day). December 1st, 2012, I made my first YouTube video, a Google+ Hangout live chat with my good friend, Carolyn Higman. You can go watch it, the quality of the video is relatively embarrassing, and a lot has changed since then.
The first time I exposed my face to the world, three years ago to the day.
As a point of comparison, here is the latest episode of Future Chat, recorded this past weekend:

Over the years, a lot has changed. But one thing that hasn’t changed is that I still love teaching, helping, writing, and learning about technology. Here’s a brief timeline of my milestones on the internet.
July 4, 2011 – I start Living In The Future, my blog, on my birthday. I published the first post the following day.
December 1, 2012 – My first Google+ Hangout on Air.
January 14, 2013 – I agree to begin work with Sons of Pluto, a band with my friends. Work includes recording their practices, shows, building their website, making promo videos, and running their social media accounts. Those guys are now working on an EP!
February 7, 2014 – The first Future Tech Chat takes place. This is the spiritual successor to the first Hangout on Air from 2012, and the podcast continues on a weekly basis to this day under the more general “Future Chat“.
March 27, 2014 – I make the first Attrell Update video. My sister and I go on to exchange videos on a weekly (or almost weekly) basis until December of 2014.
May 20, 2014 – The first episode of Ottawhat is released, after Keegan, Amaan and I decide we should start an Ottawa-themed podcast about people.
December 14-16, 2014 – East Meets West and Feedback debut, also marking the formal launch of UnwindMedia.com, a media network that is the home of my Internet-related work so far.
November 5, 2015 – Ottawhat News, a satirical look at events around Ottawa, has it’s first viral post. In just a few days, over 65,000 people read about Peter Hayes and the Bier Markt.
December 1, 2015 (Today) – In an inevitability of time, math, and fortune, Unwind Media finally passes the threshold for being paid real money for ads on the sites I run. It is now just a matter of time now until a cheque from Google arrives. It’s not a lot of money, but it feels extremely good to hit that threshold.
I really love making things, and being creative. I’ve been doing it for over 4 years and I’m more excited now than I ever have been. I’m looking really hard for a job right now, and the stuff I do on the side is the only thing keeping me sane at the moment, as it’s one creative outlet I have amidst filling out applications and writing cover letters.
December 1, 2015
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:

Ottawhat? 68 – Mayfair Theatre (Josh Stafford & Mel Boyer)
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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Future Chat 69 – Malicious Friends of Friends
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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iTunes
September 3, 2015
New Polished Chrome
That’s fancy!
Well, it’s finally here. The new look for UnwindMedia.com is ready to go, and you can go and take a look now! I am really happy with how it’s turned out, and it is now quite a bit easier to see information about the shows on the network.
I’m getting married this weekend, and going on a honeymoon the week after, so if this blog goes dark for a few weeks, please don’t be surprised. Episode 67 of Future Chat is the last one until I get back in late August, but we are doing our best the next few days to prepare new episodes of Ottawhat? to come out while I’m gone. Hope you’re having a great summer!

Ottawhat? 61 – Zoe Georgaras
We spoke to fire dancer and actor Zoe Georgaras this week on the show. We learned how she got introduced to fire dancing, how fire safety and good insurance…
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Future Chat 67 – Cars Are Driving Over Your Internet
In this episode, we discuss the possible coming shortage of medical isotopes and decay rates, we learn a little about Nick’s work with gold, and we can’t…
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July 21, 2015
Website 2.0 is in Private Beta!
Unwindmedia.com 2.0 is almost upon us!
As I mentioned yesterday on Facebook and Twitter, there’s a medium/big re-skin of UnwindMedia.com coming very soon. I’ve been researching podcast network websites and taking cues from some of my favourites, and there’s also some brand new custom code pulling strings behind the scene to make adding new shows and hosts much easier should that ever be a thing that needs to happen. These changes would also make moving websites much more straightforward, in case THAT is a thing that ever needs to happen.
Below, you’ll find links to Future Chat and Ottawhat as always, and if you’ve been waiting patiently for Feedback: The Music (I know I have), we want to take some time to really get it right. Hopefully there will be more to share soon!

Ottawhat? 60 – Megan Honey
On this episode, we sat down with Megan Honey, an up-and-coming standup comedian who will be competing this summer in a couple of comedy contests at Absol…
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Future Chat 66 – We Might Need A Couple Moose
In this episode, we discussed T-Mobile’s new Uncarrier US-Canada-Mexico roaming plans, Sweden buying trash from Norway, and Mike doesn’t believe you could…
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July 14, 2015
Taylorette1989 is Over, and What is a Podcast?
#Taylorette1989 is done. No, we weren’t able to get Julia into Taylor’s inner circle (although this did happen), but I think both Julia and myself learned a lot about life, love, and what’s important to us in the last 6 months or so of trying. I’ll be writing a bit in the near future about my experiences trying to capture the attention of probably the most widely recognizable entity in the world at the moment.
Pictured: 6 months of hard work and dedication, and we get some pixels hosted on taylorswift.com!
There are a couple of really interesting secret things I had been doing for Taylorette that I’m excited to share in the coming weeks, but for now, I’m looking to the future. I have some big plans once the summer is done and all the wedding and honeymoon craziness is behind us. I miss making videos every week, and it’s obvious to me that I haven’t done enough to let my friends in on what I’m working on these days, so I’ll be trying to do more of that too.
Another fun project that I think it might help me to talk about is sharing some of the things on the internet that entertain me on a regular basis. Most people I talk to bounce around viral videos and things that pop into their Facebook feeds, whereas I tend to follow the work of individuals and groups of creative people on the Internet, keeping track of what they’re up to on a regular basis. I’m excited to talk about those people and what I’m able to learn from them, and I hope you’ll enjoy it.
I’m still going through my week’s supply of Soylent. As expected, it isn’t something I think I can realistically have to replace ALL of my meals. That being said, I do like it (minus the artificial sweetener) and I have been able to not bring lunch to work for the last 2 weeks and get along just fine.
In the meantime, Ottawhat? and Future Chat continue to soldier on with their usual episodes, you can subscribe to them and listen to the latest episodes down below. It has come to my attention that even people who are close to me are not aware that Future Chat is a podcast. First of all, it seems like those people probably just don’t actually know what a podcast is (really any episodic video or audio conversation or documentary could be considered a podcast). Second of all, if it’s been a while, I would encourage you to check out one of these two shows, we have a lot of fun making them and really try hard to put together something anybody can enjoy.

Ottawhat? 59 – Jessica Dubois
This week, we sat down with training librarian and new mom Jessica Dubois. She told us all about her experiences with part-time online learning, her…
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Future Chat 65 – A Leap Second Issue
This week on the show, we discuss all the latest goings on around Pluto, the ramifications of the leap second, and how you might not get Windows 10 for a…
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July 8, 2015
East Meets West Returns Triumphantly, And Other Such Things

On UnwindMedia.com this week, I finally managed to convince Nick to sit down with me for another East Meets West! Thank goodness beer exists to help make that happen! We also had great episodes of Future Chat and Ottawhat? as you’d expect, and those were no slouches either. I should note that in Future Chat, we spontaneously decided to do a moment of silence, which worked surprisingly well until Nick burst out laughing 5 seconds after.
I spent a lot of time on this blog talking about Soylent, the food product that is literally just a powder you mix with water. I really like it except for the sweetener taste, but I won’t discuss that in any more detail now, you can find out exactly what I think so far here.

East Meets West 8 – Wild Tundra and Poutine
Today on East Meets West, Nick and Rob discuss the NHL draft, polling for the fall’s federal election, the mass exodus of cabinet ministers and what that…
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Ottawhat? 58 – Jacques Breau (End Grain Woodworks)
In this episode, we chatted with Jacques Breau. Jacques is a woodworker and a vinyl collector, and you can find him all over Ottawa this summer on his tru…
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Future Chat 64 – Moment Of Silence For Falcon 9
This week, the latest Falcon 9 launch is unsuccessful, Rob talks all about his week on Soylent, and we revisit mobile phone corner. We also try a moment o…
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June 30, 2015
Startups and Summertime (June 18-23)

Not a whole lots to say this week, except that my order of Soylent has made it to Ottawa, and is waiting for me at the Canada Post office by my house for pickup. I am excited to give it a try, and hope to write and talk about it a whole bunch very soon!
Here are the shows on +Unwind Media this week, we had a very popular episode of Ottawhat where we talked about startups, and Nick missed +Future Chat but we had fun anyways! Don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a show!

Ottawhat? 57 – Franco Varriano (Startup Grind Ottawa/Hack to Start/etc.)
This episode features our conversation with Franco Varriano. He helps organize and run networking events for young entrepreneurs all over the city. He’s w…
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Future Chat 63 – Maybe I Like Selling Myself
This week, storing electricity like plants do, we try DuckDuckGo, and no more trans fats. And, find out how Mike trying FlexDelivery has gone so far, and…
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June 23, 2015
Soylent, Apple Watch and #DistractinglySexy

The entire Unwind Media library is now available on SoundCloud. We did it! Anyhow, now that the transformation of all the shows is complete, a lot more time just opened up for interesting new things…who knows what this summer will bring?
Today, I ordered a 7-day supply of Soylent from a California company called Rosa Labs. It’s a nutritional replacement with all the essential carbs, proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals a human needs to survive. It comes in a powder that you mix with water and consume over the course of a day. I’m not sure I’ll like it, but I’m really excited about what it will be like. I’ve been asked to document it, so I’ll definitely be trying this. It just recently started shipping to Canada.
In a little sadder news, though Apple Watch is now available for in-store pickup, I won’t be getting one this summer. Real life wins again 🙁
Anyhow, here are the shows from Unwind Media this week. I sincerely hope you enjoy them if you choose to listen! We had a great chat on Future Chat about the #DistractinglySexy hashtag and the sexism that seems to keep popping up in science. Subscribe if you do so you’ll be able to keep apprised of new episodes without this weekly post!

Ottawhat? #56 – Evan Nip & Shane Hunter (Alpaca Party Productions)
This week, we spoke to Evan and Shane from Alpaca Party Productions. They do a weekly podcast and a web series called A Mouthful of Shane. We talked about…
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Future Chat 62 – Can Technology Cure Stupid?
This week, we talk sexiness in science labs, really old dinosaur blood cells, and so so much space news…
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June 18, 2015
Licensing Issues for Feedback…hmmm (Unwind Media | June 3 – 9)

This week, I finished moving Future Chat to SoundCloud, and by next week the entire Unwind Media back library will be over there!
Feedback: The Music Volume I is nearing the date I said it would be out. I’m currently debating options for release, and trying to navigate doing it in as legal as way as possible, but without also spending too much money just to release it. Stay tuned, and if you know anything about this murky legal area or have released covers before, please do let me know!

Ottawhat? #55 – Jenni Beharry
In this episode, we spoke to culinary nutrition expert Jenni Beharry. She’s trained in human geography, television broadcasting, and nutrition, and she’s…
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Future Chat 61 – Nick’s Liberal Agenda
In this episode, we talk about the newly discovered link between the brain and the immune system, give a look ahead to WWDC this week, and find out about…
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June 10, 2015
#ABpoli, Orange Crush, and Archives (Unwind Media | May 20-27)

It was another full week on Unwind Media, and I’m happy to let you know we finally recorded another episode of East Meets West, discussing, among other things, the recent NDP sweep of the Albertan Provincial government.
If you still haven’t gotten your #Taylorette1989 videos out, or at the very least shared your stories, now would be the time to do so! Taylorette itself is a little under 6 weeks away!
On a final, new note about Unwind Media, I’ve been working hard to bring you show archives, so you can now find those if you go to any of the show pages below. I have no idea if any of you will find that useful, but it was one of those fun learning experiences getting the code working properly, and it seemed worth it to me!

East Meets West #7 – Verba Difficiles Sunt
Rob and Nick are joined by special guest and Future Chat co-host Mike Attrell to discuss the outcome of the recent Alberta election, and the NDP Crushing…
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Ottawhat? #53 – Alexis Scott (Vacant House Theatre)
This week on Ottawhat, we sat down with Alexis Scott. She’s one of the co-founders of Vacant House Theatre, a company that is putting on a production of F…
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Future Chat #59 – Don Quixote Syndrome Took Over
This week, we talk Let’s Talk Science funding, wind turbines with no blades, and look forward to Google I/O later in the week…
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May 26, 2015