Flood Relief Donation Info

Posted on January 14, 2011 by

When I got tired of hearing "oh, just send cash, not goods" I got super stoked to hear that there’s someone here in Perth that’s organising to ship tangible goods to help out for not just the Queensland Flood Relief, but also help for the Gascoyne River Floods up near Carnarvon and also south of Perth to the victims of those horrible arson Bushfires in Lake Clifton.

His name is Cam Wilkie, his outfit is Cambuild, and he actually packs more awesome than a roundhouse kick from Chuck Norris.

From information from his website (for those of you too lazy to click):

Thank you very much for offering your much-needed assistance. Here’s a list of useful essentials that will be transported to the Queensland Flood Appeal over east.

• Tinned food/Pet food
• Toothpaste
• Toothbrush
• Soap/Shower gel
• Shampoo/Conditioner
• Deodorant
• Detergent
• Baby formula
• Nappies
• Battery operated radios
• Sanitary products
• Shoes/boots		 • Camp beds
• Pillows
• Sleeping bags/blankets
• Towels
• Mosquito nets/repellents
• Lanterns
• Torches
• Batteries
• Tools
• Tarpaulin
• Plastic cups, plates, cutlery
• Veterinary supplies


Please box your donations and label them (on the side of the box) to assist in locating and distributing items.

The first truck will be leaving Friday 14th January in the afternoon. This will be the first of a number of trucks which will leave over the next couple of weeks.

Please deliver your items to:

Cambuild, 1/5 Leeway Court, Osborne Park, WA 6017

If you have any other queries please feel free to contact the Cambuild office on

(08) 9244 8522.

cam@cambuild.com.au

When a wonderful gal in my family asked about a dropoff point South of the River here in Perth, I said that if there wasn’t one, I’d put my hand up to run one.

*raises hand*

I’ll run one!  I’m in Langford, so email me for an address (judd AT jexanalytics.com).

I’m planning on making a run to Osborne Park next Friday afternoon, so try and get stuff here before then.

Here’s the best part too, the part I know you’ve been waiting for, this guy Cam rang me and explained that this isn’t just a truckload of your second-hand crap getting dumped on the streets of Brisbane.  This is a corporate-level organised effort involving Salvos and the Red Cross to sort, box, ship, store and eventually distribute items that are relatively non-perishable and are going to be sorely needed in the coming weeks and months.  He did it for the Victoria Bushfires and he’s doing it now.

Yes, the Queensland Government would rather money, who wouldn’t?  For those of us that want to do more than just punch in some credit card numbers and feel smug while we sip our latte and marvel at how dry our feet are, this is right up our alley.

Cam’s got a crew of volunteers sorting things and they will send you home if you try to dump junk.  Bring good items, usable items, that can survive being sorted, packed, shipped and stored.  Do your best to sort them beforehand and I’ll do some sorting here.

When wondering what to donate, the best way I thought of it was to remember what I was after when our house flooded during the huge storm here in Perth last March.

Yes, Salvo’s has heaps of clothing, so keep it, and when I was flooded I was happy enough to dry a t-shirt out, but boots and shoes get wet, armpits stink, mozzies bite, and when all that shits pouring down and wearing you down nothing on this earth feels as good as a nice shower and getting clean again.  Particularly after you’re digging out the wet and mouldy fuzzy slippers from under your bed.

Also the battery-powered/windup radio thing.  One of the most comforting things that got us through a long and lonely, wet, candlelit night was hearing "the world" out there.  Even if it was just some DJ reporting things and playing Bon Jovi for the 17th time that day.  It’s nice to hear from others in your community.

So there you go.  There are going to be pallets of stuff headed for the areas that need this stuff.  It won’t get there tomorrow but it WILL BE THERE when they need it, and that’s awesome.

Email or ring me and we’ll rock from there.

Category: Latest News | 2 Comments

Google Analytics Accounts for Web Peeps

Posted on January 10, 2011 by

A friend/colleague was asking about timezones in his Google Analtyics setups and wondering why he couldn’t apply a timezone for each website instead of just for his account.

To the best of my knowledge, you can’t really change this, and even if Google is getting better at their Customer Service (meaning they reply to my emails now… even if it’s not always helpful) I don’t see this one being fixed up.

Best idea is to follow the Best Practices that I use, which is probably why I consider them "best" and maybe not you.  But you’re not me and if you were I’d be pissed off that you were wearing my favourite underwear.

Google Analytics Account Setup Methods:

  1. You do it as them – If possible, sign up for a Google Account for the client using an email that they actively check.  Get them to verify the account and then log in, as them, and sign up for that sweet, sweet tracking code.  Once you’ve got it, go into the "User Manager" and add yourself as an admin.  BANG, you’re set and can now do almost everything from your account.  Big benefit of this one is that this website profile doesn’t count against the Google-imposed limit of 25.
  2. You pretend to be them – For non-tech-savvy clients, or one’s you simply don’t like to talk to, if you’re the website manager, set up an email alias for them.  annoyingclient@yourdomain.com.au can be a Google login, and have that email addy forward to yours.  Then follow the method above and rock like socks.
  3. Get them to do it – AAAAUGH!  Fraught with peril, but still doable.  Walk them through it if you can, and don’t forget that all-important step where they add you to their "User Manager".
  4. Get someone, ANYONE, to do it - Worst-case scenario is actually something I did the other day.  Emailed client’s web people (the ones that don’t like to give access to anything other than their crappy CMS that won’t even let you change page titles and menu titles separately) and gave them links to "Setting up Google Analytics Tracking Code".  Worst-case is that they only give you "view" access and you can’t set goals or anything cool, but still.

Have YOUR websites as YOURS – Try to limit setting up what really amounts to website profiles inside your own account.

And don’t get me started on Connecting AdWords to Analytics properly.  Uffda.

Category: Analytics | No Comments

Refilling ink cartridges – Canon MP160

Posted on November 10, 2010 by

Okay, here’s the deal.  I absolutely REBEL against the idea that two cartridges cost more than my printer.  I know, I know, that’s how they make their money, but still.  Henry Ford said about his cars, "If I could be guaranteed people would buy all their parts from me, I’d give ‘em away!"  So there you go.  Rampant consumerism and Planned Obselesence.

*steps down off soapbox*

So I’ve got an old Canon Pixma MP160.  It does what I need and what I need isn’t much.  When it ran out of ink, I got sad, and then I bought some ink squeezy shooter things, and I wasn’t sad any more.

I took the cartridges out, filled ‘em back up with ink with the ink squeezers, and then popped ‘em back in.

Printer fired up, then "E5" is flashing.  Well, rather, "E" then "5" and then "E" again.  I assumed it was "E5" instead of "E5E5E5" which would mean "light grey" in hexidecimal speak.

I Googled and Googled and banged my head against the desk repeatedly, mostly because the instructions didn’t work and also because the printer is under my desk and I couldn’t reach it, so BANG every time I tried to hit buttons.

Here’s what I had to do every time, and because I keep forgetting it and finding completely inane and/or incomplete instructions on Googs, I’m listing it here, so that the next time I have to do it and I Google "resetting MP160" or "refilling ink cartridges MP160 E5 error" I’ll find some good instructions.

Here goes:

  1. Unplug printer.  Leave it while you whistle a tune or make tea.
  2. Plug it back in.  Plug it into your computer too.
  3. Press and hold the "Stop/Reset" button and then press the "Power" button.  As soon as the "Power" button lights green, release the "Stop/Reset" button and then press it twice.
  4. Things will start happening.  The "Alarm" light will blink intermittenly and your printer will sound like it’s booting up.  Hit the "Stop/Reset" button sometime during this, only once, and when the printer’s done doing its thing, it’ll show "0" in the counter thingie.  If you don’t hit "Stop/Reset" during this, then the little "0" never appears.  Nobody told me this.
  5. NOW hit "Stop/Reset" 4 times, which will alternate the "Alarm" and "Power" buttons lighting up.  The "Power" button should be the one that’s lit when you’re done counting.
  6. Now press "Power" once, twice.  Things will blink like it’s saying "Thank You".
  7. Now hit "Power" again to turn it off.
  8. Now say a silent prayer to the Gods of Cheapassery, and turn it back on.
  9. Now print stuff and revel in the $13 you spent on ink instead of the $63 you spent on new cartridges.

Screw you Henry Ford!

Category: Resources | 2 Comments

What reporting data are you after?

Posted on September 16, 2010 by

I was at a friend’s office today discussing the different types of reports that we send to clients and the automated SEO traffic and rankings stuff that I’ve built as well as the stuff that he puts together manually for each client based off their Google Analytics data and his own insights.

At the end of it, what he’d told me was essentially what I’d known all along but had taken some very (comparitively) large steps towards simplifying what I’d created.

"That’s a LOT mate.  There’s simply too much there."

The data gathered from reporting on website stuff is like a great novel to me, I get as much of it as I can and don’t stop until I’ve figured it all out.  Not everybody’s like that though.

I realise this, and have really tried to separate out what I thought was important VS. what’s actually readable and understandable by a client.

It’s still too much.

I even went so far as to build something that measures what you spent VS. what you made via your website.

But then the brick-and-mortar business, that aren’t e-commerce websites, throw a spanner in the works by being so bold as to conduct business offline, where I can’t measure and track their leads and business and ensuing dollars.

So I’m putting it out there and inviting feedback on it: What would you look for in a weekly report?

You!  With the one-person operation!  You who were, and probably still are, utterly perplexed by the data in the reports that I send you… what are YOU after?  What do YOU want to see every week?

I know I’ve asked before and you didn’t have anything to compare it to so you just shrugged, but now that you’ve been at this a while and you’ve gotten a feel for what your website should be doing for you… then lay it on me.

Tell me what you’re after, and I’ll do my best to make it happen.

Category: Around the Web | 2 Comments

Stone Soup – A Great Tale

Posted on September 1, 2010 by

Not long ago, an idea hit me.  I was thinking of ways to make The Web a better place, even if only a little bit.

See, I know all these designers and developers and content writers and usability experts and all-around seriously smart people, ALL of whom are quite good at whatever Web Thing it is that they do.  Some blog, some don’t, but most don’t blog a lot, or are writing at least intermittently enough that I miss out on much of their stuff because I forget to check back.

So, I have all of these smart people, most in different areas of Web Awesomeness, most of whom like to write already… hmmm…

You see where I’m going with this?

So I sent an email with a reference to the Story of Stone Soup.  If you’re unfamiliar with it, give it a quick read.  If you hate links, it’s about some Ye Olde Worlde folks passing through a town, who dupe the townspeople into creating a huge and wonderful meal, just by combining their meagre resources.

The main lesson being someone gave everyone a starting point with really no fixed direction past that other than a decent meal.

I hadn’t even named it yet, but after that email I went out got it registered straightaway.  One of my favourite folks, the lovely and talented Patrick Templeman Twells (a web designer and developer in Mandurah) offered to design it and even gave me the HTML and CSS for it!  Grabbed a quick deal on hosting, installed WordPress, slapped in a theme, and…

Stone Soup – Recipes for a Better Web was born!

I’ve got a brilliant smattering of folks signing into it too, and some are even writing already.

I reckon it’s time to start promoting this thing!  I think it’s going to get quite popular.

Category: Latest News | No Comments

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