Author Archive for Brooks Van Norman
I value good design, growth, effectiveness, simplicity, profitability, lots of sleep, tons of laughter and above all, freedom. If it makes money - it's a business. If it doesn't make money - it's a hobby. Period.
Boston in October
If you asked me to name one of my favorite places to visit - it HAS to be Boston. We had never been there before and this place is fantastic!
History, culture, great food, architecture and lots to do. It’s a good thing we walked a lot, because we ate and drank a lot.
We stayed at [...]
Web Video University Review
Recently I completed the full course developed by Dave Kaminski, called Web Video University. The course is delivered entirely online and is expected to take you about 4 weeks to complete. It took me more like 8 weeks to complete as my existing commitments kept getting in the way [...]
Mountain Bikes on the Kettle Valley Railway
There are some outdoor experiences that start out a little dicey. A little sketchy. You wonder if you made the right decision to be with mother nature.
Today was one of those days. We made the decision to take in one of the last nice days before the cool weather really settles in here in [...]
How I Dealt with a Massive Pain the Neck
The information in this post is something I wish I’d read ten years ago…when my neck really started to bother me. And I mean - REALLY BOTHER ME.
This is a post about how I dealt with the pain of a long term sports injury in my neck through exercise, stretching, strengthening and supplementation.
It all [...]
A Beautiful Wedding In Montreal
Last weekend we had the privilege of attending the wedding of some old friends. We combined the visit to Montreal with some vacation time.
Truth be known however, this trip was really about the wedding, despite our best efforts to sneak in some shopping and relaxing.
And what a wedding it was.
Having been to many weddings and [...]
Dealing with Time Famine
Despite my best efforts to better manage my time. I still feel short of it. Everyone that I work with or talk to feels the same way.
Wasn’t technology supposed to make things easier? Didn’t we all have the future planned for leisurely pursuits while technology did all the heavy lifting?
Heck no! In fact, the [...]
So You Want to Become a Billionaire?
This is the first lottery that I have ever heard of which will pay out ONE BILLION dollars. Actually - it is going to paid out in Euros, which makes the prize even more incredible.
It is a website called billionairio.com
Here’s what that number looks like €1,000,000,000.
Billionairio claims to have better odds than any other [...]
Cacao Nibs - Could this be the best food I eat?
For the past year, I’ve been snacking on cacao nibs…I don’t remember where I read about them…but if you pressed me for an answer…I think it was my friend John Berardi out east.
I am always looking for natural ways to help my body deal with stress, recover from my crazy workouts and simply get more [...]
Keeping Depression Out of My Life
One in five people suffer from major depression at some point in their lives according to American Medical Association. I have been one of those people and have developed some great strategies to keep depression out of my life.
It is postulated that many of those people who suffer from depression, suffer their entire lives without [...]
How I am getting better at time management
Being a knowledge worker can be complicated. Whether you are the CEO, or an inside sales rep…most of the same time suckers are chomping at your heels for attention, I have concluded.
Having been in the tech space now for 15 years, I can say that the influences competing for my mindshare are getting stronger and [...]
Eliminate Keyword Research with Keyword Spy
Here’s a service that I like. Keyword Spy is an online service that you can use to see what key words and ad variations your competition is using to drive traffic to their site and what the most profitable ones are.
Plain and simple, the value proposition for me is that you can take advantage of [...]
Amazon Launches Page Recommender Widget
Finally. This widget is something that makes a lot of sense and it one of the better contextual ad products I’ve seen in a while. I like it because it works with each of the pages that is loaded, rather than just keywords within only the site itself.
Microsoft Tricks People Into Confessions about Vista
While at the same time creating some pretty good video content for their site called the Mojave Experiment. Users are asked to candidly rate Vista, whether they would upgrade to it, etc., and the responses are overwhelmingly negative.
The End of the Newspaper Industry
Newspaper publishers are not doing a very good job of fighting the trends killing their business. Disruptive technology (like micropublishing) and the eco-movement are making it very hard to sell hard copy print. Newspaperdeathwatch.com is a great resource [...]
