Slow down

My 2 1/2 year old is an amazing boy who reminded me to slow down today. At the grocery store he noticed a couple of potted plants. He gently touched the petals of the flower then leaned forward to smell the flowers. That's right, he stopped to smell the flowers then looked at me with a small smile.

Later in the evening, we started our first fire in the fireplace. We all sat down in front of the fire to enjoy its warmth. I was my usual chatty self until he said, "Mommy be quiet... please." I looked at him and asked, "Why?" His response was a shushing sound. At first I could not figure out why he wanted me to be quiet. Then, when all was quiet I heard it too. The sound of the fire and a soft whooshing sound. It was an amazing realization. I told him that I heard the fire too and he gave me another one of his incredible smiles.

Thank you!

fbFund Competition

I am very sad to say that we lost the fbFund Competition. It is unfortunate. Congratulations to the winners!

We will continue to work hard and Kountr will win the next competition! We have a few speculations as to why we lost:
- It does not have all of the functions of the website yet. We are working as fast as we can to get this completed.
- The application is not very popular yet because we have not published it in the Facebook application list.
- The application was broken for a couple of days but Michael was at work and couldn't fix right away.
- We still don't have the feedback form available on the application.
- We need to make it more sociable, such as notifications.

We have a list of things that we plan on executing next:
- Add all of the functions from the website.
- Add a feedback form on the application.
- Publish the application.
- Continue to market the application.
- Allow users to choose to make some kounts publicly available to all Facebook users.
- Notification when somebody writes a post to a kount.

Michael and I have learned two main things in the process. First, we are a great team. Michael is better at getting us on track at the beginning and I am better at keeping us motivated at the end. Second, we have to continue to market Kountr.

We welcome all feedback on either the Kountr website or Facebook application. You can help us improve Kountr. Let's count the ways to make Kountr better.

Cyclist

On the way home tonight we saw a scene out of a movie. We were in the car stopped at the light. As we waited for the light to change we watched a cyclist. He was riding with his guitar. This is not unusual except he was playing the guitar while he was biking! It reminded me of a scene out of There's Something About Mary or Scrubs. It is one of those moment when I wish I had my camera handy.

fbFund delay

My heart sunk this morning when I checked my email and didn't find one from the fbFund. Then, I looked into who the winners are and found that they are not announcing the winners for round I until Oct. 10th. This means that we have another 17 days to make Kountr a killer application. When the fbFund team reviews Kountr they will notice that we are continuing to enhance Kountr and add features.



We are celebrating Kountr's first visitor birthday by hosting a feature party for the Facebook Kountr application. I am very excited to hear the new ideas and to see them come life on the Kountr application. Just wait fbFund, Kountr will continue to be a unique application that satisfies friends needs and requests!

There is no rest here. We are plowing on to make Kountr a huge success.

Hartland Open House

The Hartland Landfill had an open house on Saturday from 9:30 am to 2:00 pm. We wanted to go first thing in the morning but had other chores to do so, we didn't arrive until 11 am. There were cars lined along the road to the entrance of the landfill! They directed us up the hill to the active part of the landfill where they had a makeshift parking lot. A school bus took us down to the open house. It took 20 minutes to park the car. At the entrance of the open house, they provided free food and drink tickets and asked us where we lived. They were taking a poll and by the time we entered they had admitted 940 people! It was crazy busy! They offered lots of free items, including a free cloth bag if you agree to not to use plastic bags and free photos but the printer broke down. They created a 10' x 10' sandpit with tons of trucks. It was covered with kids. The kids couldn't lift an arm without touching another kid. Needless to say, we didn't participate in the sandpit. Instead, we waited 10 minutes for our eldest to sit on the backhoe. Then, another 10 minutes for the dump truck. There were red tail hawks, a display describing the landfill, a display about recycling and another by CRD water. CRD water asked our eldest what he can do to reduce water consumption. My 2 1/2 year old said "yeah." She gave him a toothbrush. Hahaha... At the Arts & Crafts section, our eldest decorated a miniature recycling box with markers, pom poms and stickers. He enjoyed it. The lineup for the food and landfill tour was at least 30 minutes long. We skipped on both. It would have been nice to do the tour but it was late and both kids were done. Can you believe we had to wait 30 minutes for the bus to take us to our car?! It was fun! We will have to go earlier next year!

Our deer visitor

We live in a beautiful city! We got home tonight at nightfall and discovered a buck standing in our neighbours yard. It was looking the other way then, it turned and watched us. He didn't know what to make of the car. I tried to take a picture but it was too dark. What I would do for a digital SLR...

We sat in the car and watched the buck with our son (our daughter was fast asleep). At first our son was excited then, he seemed scared of the buck. I think he was reacting to Michael's fear of getting the kids out of the car. Michael was worried about the buck attacking us. Michael is afraid of a deer attacking because he spends too much time watching random videos on YouTube, including deer attacks. So, Michael got out of the car and clapped his hands. The buck looked at him then, turned and walked away. Wow! Bucks are majestic.

Virus

I had my first encounter with a virus a couple of nights ago... I want to share my experience so that we can all learn from my lapse in judgement.

On Facebook, I got an email from a friend that had a link and an innocuous one line sentence saying that I should check out a video. The link was long but I clicked on it anyways. The link looked like YouTube. Above the video section, it said that I needed to download the newer version of Flash. I clicked the link and decided not to save it but run it instead. It is not one of the smarter moments in my life. I got an error saying that it could not download the newer version. I thought nothing of it at first but then, my computer started acting funny. On Facebook, the screen kept turning off. For example, while I was typing an email my cursor kept disappearing and the top of the screen would turn to a lighter colour like it was no longer the main screen being used. This is when I got worried so, I automatically disconnected my computer from the Internet. Michael looked at what was running on my computer and researched the funny looking items on the Internet. He discovered that I had downloaded a worm. This worm copies itself and automatically sends an email to the entire friends list in Facebook. He followed the directions on how to remove it and I changed my password on Facebook. We, then, ran an anti-virus software on the computer which took the rest of the evening.

Here are the three top things that we can all do to avoid getting a virus:
1. Use an updated anti-virus software
2. Don't download or run .exe files
3. Don't open any links that look suspicious or ask the person who sent the email if they sent it before opening the link or file.

Say "Cheese"

My brother-in-law came to visit us for a week. It was great to have him stay with us and get to know the kids. During his visit he took many, many pictures with his digital SLR, a Canon EOS Digital Rebel. He took some incredible photos!

It takes me back to my teenage years. During high school, Michael and I used to go and take pictures with our manual, old fashioned SLRs. We fancied ourselves amateur photographers. Amateur is correct! We got some nice photos but they were far and few in-between. When I grew up I envisioned having a black room in my house. I worked at Black's and was skeptical of the new, fandangled, expensive digital cameras. I take it all back.

The bonus of having a digital camera is the ability to take as many photos as you are willing to download and not have to worry about having to pay for the devleopment of the film. I would love to invest in a nice digital SLR. It fits in so well with my scrapbooking.

fbFund

A couple of weeks ago, a user requested a Facebook interface. Michael started looking into creating a Facebook Application and 7 days ago he discovered the fbFund Developer Competition. The fbFund is a competition by Facebook to encourage the creation of "innovative and engaging applications on Facebook Platform." So the countdown has begun...

The fbFund is extra motivation to create the Facebook Application but it does require more work. I think we can win this competition if we can get all of the pieces together and ready by the August 29th deadline. Michael is creating the working prototype and screenshots. I am writing our business plan summary/application, business model and team resume. The kicker will be the 2-3 minute video elevator pitch. Who should be in front of the camera? How can we create an interesting video that will capture the fbFund committee's attention? We have had to make some difficult decisions regarding the direction of our business plan and the look of our interface. We are a great team because we see things in very different ways and complement each other. It is fun to work side-by-side on all aspects of the fbFund application.

Our to do list is enormous so the earliest that either of us has gone to bed is 2am. Most nights I am up until about 4am. Crazy, eh? Coffee has become my best friend. I am not a coffee drinker so, a big mug of mocha at 8pm keeps me going and going! It is an exciting time here at the Kountr headquarters!

Enjoying each moment

I just read ". . . And Motherhood Marches On" and realized that I do not write enough about what is most important to me: my family. Everyday I am amazed at how fast my 9 month old and 2 1/2 year old grow and change.

Just 4 weeks ago I was shocked when we met our friends newborn. She was adorable and a newborn. Until then I still considered my youngest to be a newborn but man, was I wrong. My 8 month old who ate solid food, smiled, rolled around and babbled certainly was not a newborn. It shook my reality. I realized just how fast time flies and that I have to enjoy every fleeting moment. All I can do is take it all in one day at a time to avoid feeling overwhelmed and verklempt. "Talk amongst yourselves. Discuss."

Business Plan Started

Writing our business plan is such a daunting task. Last night I did the preliminary research on what should be included in a business plan. Then, Michael and I sat down and started to flesh out the major sections of our business plan. I was very overwhelmed by the whole thing. The idea of writing a 20 page document on Kountr in 3 weeks on top of all of the other tasks, both personal and Kountr related, is daunting. After sleeping on it, I realized that writing a business plan is much like a science research paper. For example, the Executive Summary is the Abstract. With that in mind, it feels much more attainable.

I started researching the details for the business plan tonight. Four hours of rummaging through Facebook is enough for one evening. I found that we do not have to complete a formal business plan for the fbFund. Each section is required for the application but in a questionnaire format rather than in one text document.

This is going to be a crazy, tiring week. Oh so exciting. It's a good thing that I am a night owl. The good old days of staying up all night to study and sleeping in the next day! I miss the sleeping in part. LOL Although sleeping in is nothing compared to playing with the kids. Good night all!

I'm back!

It has been way to long since my last post. We have been busy... from sickness to an out-of-town visitor. Kountr was put on the back bench for couple of weeks but we are now back in full force. Michael and I are working towards a developer competition at Facebook. We were already in the process of making a FB application from feedback so this competition is a bonus. It also adds a lot more to the list of things to do. I am working hard at our Business Plan. It is going to be a lot of hard work! I have lots of more to blog about, both personal and Kountr related, but so little time. I'm back!

To Do July 13-20

This week was busy. Migraines, tons of cleaning, kids not sleeping etc. Unfortunately, I was not able to finish everything on my list. I got 7 things done out of 13. Half is not bad. I need to work more consistently though. I am going to skim down how much I expect to do a week. Reality is that I don't have enough time... My goal this week is to complete the list that I started last week.

Here is my Kountr to do list for the week:
- research writing our business plan
- start fleshing out the bones of our business plan
- go through my to do cue cards
- catch up with what Michael has completed
- order books
- learn how to change the text on Kountr

To do list

Life has been crazy. Summer usually is the busiest time in our lives. I feel compelled to be out when it warms up so, when I am home I am busy cleaning. Then, I head out again. It's a little hectic. This week hasn't been great though. The humidity has given me migraines. Two days with migraines is not fun with 2 young children. They are too young to understand that I am out of commission. Unfortunately, this means that I have been dropping the ball when it comes to Kountr. I have lots of catching up to do.

Here is my Kountr to do list for the week:
- research writing our business plan
- start fleshing out the bones of our business plan
- update my kounts (Done. I like to multi-task.)
- start contacting people again
- email my cousin
- go through my to do cue cards
- catch up with what Michael has completed
- order books
- clean so that we can set up a dedicated office
- read blogs
- test the new features
- learn how to change the text on Kountr
- edit the features section of existing features that are now only available to members
- write the features section of all of our new features



I considered adding my personal to do list here too but it would be too daunting for me to look at both lists in one post. What is on your to do list this week?

Michael has been working hard during my "time-off." He managed to get our record high of visitors in one day. We also got our first visitors from Mexico and Ukraine today. Wow! Kudos to my wonderful partner. We are on track to have the highest number of visitors this week.

Twitter Love

We subscribed to lockerhaxor's Twitter Feed because he needed another person to get him over the 50 followers mark. He checked out Kountr and loved the site. Then, to thank us he wrote "I kount, do you?" and created YouTube video called "I kount for fun. How about you?" Wow! We were practically jumping in excitement when we read his blog post and watched the video.

In his blog post he introduced Kountr, provided examples of kounts that he has created and "recommend[s] that you check it out, as [he has] found it to be immensely fun." It is neat to see how he uses and explains Kountr in the video. I like how he discusses Kountr as a community. On the video he promotes Kountr and our Twitter Feed.

We are very grateful for his support! It is very exciting to see others loving Kountr.

Up and up

It's all about numbers going up...

1. Yippee! We have been watching the number of visitors improve over the last three days. It appears that the broken home page attributed to the crash in visitors/users. We are very happy to see the improvement. Thank you to all of you who have been counting on www.kountr.com.

2. Another number that is on the rise is our number of members. It is great to see people join and create kounts. I love to see if I know the person who created the kount. There will be features that are available only to members who join. Joining is free and easy to do.

3. The number of kounts created has increased too. It is fun to check out the Newest kounts.

4. We are trying to get our first kount 'first to a million' to a million. I have been keeping an eye on this kount and enjoyed watching people click away. It was last clicked today. Click, click, click...

This is starting to sound like a promotion but it is just my excitement! I hope that it is contagious...

Numbers crashed

Our visitor numbers have crashed again. Yikes! We couldn't understand what happened... A few days ago Michael noticed (at work) that Kountr's home page was not loading. We figured that this was the cause of the low numbers including a big fat ZERO one day. When he came home it was loading fine. So, we figured that the problem was a server error that had solved itself. Unfortunately, our numbers didn't improve then on Friday, a user emailed us to let us know that there was a problem and guess what? It was not loading on some computers. The mysterious non loading home page... Michael just solved the problem. It was an error on the server side. That is as much as I am able to explain. If you are more interested in the details visit Michael's blog "Unhandled Exception ." I hope that this is the reason for our low numbers. It's all about numbers... counting... fun... Use Kountr and tell anybody who will listen about the counting fun!

Learning

I love learning! If school didn't cost so much and I didn't get stressed out during exams I would go back to University. I read Anyram's post "trying to stay positive" and was intrigued by the kount that was embedded in the post. I pondered how she did this. It would have been quicker to ask her but I needed a mental challenge. I figured it out. Nicely done Anyram! I am impressed at how much I am learning about the Internet, HTML, and the online social network. It is a whole other dimension.

I created a kount to find out how many new things we are all learning. Click if you learned something new. I like watching the numbers increase. How many new things have we learned since June 11th?



By the way, I have moved some of my kounts from the right column to the post that is directly related to the kount. Thanks for kounting!

I don't...

Is there such a thing as negative feedback? I don't think so. Feedback, in all shapes and forms, is good feedback. Positive feedback is great to hear and we love reading them but in order for Kountr to continue growing we need to hear what needs to be added, improved or changed.

In reply to our question: "What do you think of Kountr?" we have had some people say "I don't get it" or "I don't have anything to kount." In some instances, these statements were followed with an apology. No apology needed! We know that Kountr is in the early stages and not everybody is wants to be part of the early stages of a website. Finding something that is worth kounting can be difficult.

If you fall into the category that doesn't currently use Kountr, what would sway you to kount on Kountr?

Strange(r)

I have crossed the chasm. I twittered two strangers today to let them know about Kountr. I wanted to share and let them know that there is a place where they can keep kount. It is a hard thing to do. I asked Michael to help me edit my posts and I bit my nails as I hit Enter. This will be a hard hill to climb. I am not as outgoing as people think. I am quite shy so, approaching new people is a very difficult thing. I ate ice cream as my reward. Yummy. I hope this will get easier with time.

Email Problems

We were using SquirrelMail version 1.4.5 but it did not satisfy our needs. Mail that was sent looked unprofessional. It is text based instead of HTML. For us laypersons, it looked old school... it used the old school typewriter font and a new line would start part way through sentences.

I had two problems with SquirrelMail in the last 24 hours which forced me to look at alternatives. The first problem was my own fault. I forgot to insert a subject line in a very important email and SquirrelMail didn't point out my mistake. I also noticed that it does not have a spellcheck. Spellcheck is important to me because I tend to send email in the wee hours. Then, when I followed up with a subject line SquirrelMail sent the email twice. Needless to say, I am concerned that the recipient of the email will be unhappy with my correspondence. I hope that this person is understanding and uses Kountr.

My first attempt to fix the problem was to send mail through my personal Gmail account. This looked fine in Gmail however, in Hotmail it says @mykountremail on behalf of @mypersonalemail. This is not sufficient for us. So, I decided to ditch SquirrelMail and create a Gmail account instead.

In my excitement, I changed my email address for this blog to the new kountr email address and removed my personal email address. Now, my profile says that I have been blogging since June 2008 even though I have posts from April 2008. Oops... I didn't realize that this would occur. Fortunately, I don't foresee this being a problem.

Features

I have come up with features that I would love to use on Kountr. When I mention them to Michael he gives me a look. This looks says, "You are not technically a user!" So, I smile and say that it is just an idea. Wonderfully many of these ideas have been requested and implemented. I can only thank our users for giving us feedback and to humbly request that you keep providing us with feedback. I have a number of other features that I would love to see implemented... if only I could give you a hint.

I am not taking the credit for these great features rather, I am grateful that there are others out there who use Kountr like I do. One of the amazing things about feedback is how it can spawn new uses that I would not have imagined by myself. Kountr is reinforcing the idea that a community is much more imaginative than an individual. My, my... brainstorming does work.

Implementing feedback

When we implement feedback Michael and I sometimes disagree on what the user has requested or on how polished the feature should look. These are not huge disagreements but rather require some discussion. At the end of it all, I am always amazed at how two people can see things so differently. We both want to implement what we think the user wants but it all comes down to how we personally would use the feature if we were the user. I hope that we have and continue to implement the users request as close as possible to what they had in mind. As we are experiencing, everybody has a different picture in their head of the same website.

For polishing the feature it is an ongoing debate. I would like it to look polished and work perfectly. This includes the functionality and appearance. Michael prefers to keep it as basic as possible. Michael doesn't want to spend a lot of time on a feature and then find out that it is not what the user requested. I agree with his sentiment however, I would like him to spend a little more time on things so that it is a little more polished. A good example is the iGoogle Widget. It looks and works great on Firefox but the appearance is not polished on IE7. The user who requested it is satisfied since he uses Firefox so, it has been put on the back burner. In fairness to Michael, he has a lot of work to do on limited time. If only I knew how to program and was able to take on more of the programming load...

KalendarKountUp

This is a perfect example of our users genius. Our newest feature is KalendarKountUp. It automatically kounts up daily until you click Reset. It can be used to follow the Jerry Seinfeld's Goal Chain. The theory states that you need to repeat the same behaviour daily to create a new habit.

My current goal is to get more sleep. This means getting to bed earlier. I will work on getting to bed by 12:30am. Hopefully, this gives me enough time to work on Kountr and get sufficient sleep. KalendarKountUp is great because I have to be accountable to myself and the Kountr community. Unfortunately, I will already have to reset it to zero. Tomorrow night I WILL be in bed by 12:30am!

What habits are you trying to break or start?

Blogger Widget

I love the widgets. Now, you can watch the kounts that I am tracking or using. My latest kount is 'things to do.' It is an iKount so that I can keep track of things that need to be completed. I plan on treating myself whenever it hits zero! Hmm... treats will include chocolate, a manicure and scrapbooking. I will determine what treat I deserve based on how much and how difficult the tasks were. Let's see how often I can get this kount to ZERO!

Perception

Michael wrote a reply to a post and asked me to proof read it. In his post he mentions the idea that we were originally going to implement our features but it changed to feedback features instead. My understanding is that we always had the intention to only implement feedback features. We had features written down to motivate ourselves and discuss whether Kountr was a viable site. Isn't it interesting how two people working together for months can have different realities to Kountr's history?

Update on a Blast from the Past

Well, she didn't contact me directly. So, I took the initiative, found her email address and contacted her. I let her know about my post and that I was hoping we could become friends again. She reciprocated. I must say, I really did miss having her in my life.



Kountr has created a lot of changes in me and my life. I thought we were just starting a website that would hopefully become popular. I didn't realize that in the process it would enhance my life. It has found lost friends and family and helped me grow. I feel a lot more confident from this experience and I can only imagine what will happen next.

This is what work is all about... It's about loving what you are doing and enjoying your work!

Blogs

I spend hours on the computer reading blogs. The topic of the blogs range from parenting tips to entrepreneur blogs. The amount of information that is out there is amazing. It is hard to sort through all of it. I am constantly looking for another blog that I want to follow. I post replies to blogs that I can relate to, whether it is regarding Kountr or home life in general.

A couple of days ago I posted a reply to The Entrepreneur’s Life - Does Reality Bite? Amazingly Aliza visited Kountr and provided us with feedback. The network that the Internet provides continues to surprise me. I am thankful that she visited and provided us with feedback. It is nice to know that bloggers' are reading their comments. The Internet may be faceless but it is becoming less daunting to face.

Excitement

We are getting tons of feedback on Kountr. We are working all hours of the night. Jasmine has contributed a lot to the growth through feedback. Her latest comment on has really gotten me excited.

"Wohoo! Glad you like my ideas. You know what's funny? Last night I lay awake for awhile with my mind reeling on what other sort of things I'd like to see on Kountr LOL. More feedback soon to come! And I'll keep telling people :)"

When Michael and I first started working on Kountr I just sort of tagged along. Then, the idea really started forming in my head. It started with short conversations about how it will work then, I started thinking about new features and the site layout all the time. There is one incident that sticks out in my mind. I was taking a shower and thought of a potential feature. (I can't remember what the feature was...) I didn't want to forget so, I yelled for Michael and told him my idea right away. He was on the phone. After he left the bathroom I heard him tell the person on the phone how wonderful and excited he is about Kountr. Especially now that I, too, am just as excited. It's true. I became invested, even obsessed. I was glad that Michael loved my ideas but didn't understand why he was so stoked that I was thinking about Kountr so much. Now, I understand. While reading Jasmines feedback and post I could feel my excitement bubbling inside. It's a wonderful feeling!

User drop on Kountr

The number of users visiting Kountr has dropped. I am trying to figure out how to get more users to Kountr. How do I get the attention of people who are not personal friends or family? I read blogs and comment on those of interest but that does not seem to bring new, consistent users.

Any ideas? I'm at a loss...

Icon

Michael, Sakro and I worked on Kountr's icon tonight. Earlier in the day I sketched a couple of ideas but didn't show them to Michael. Later in the evening, Sakro showed Michael his idea. I entered the conversation late and showed them one of the icons I thought of earlier. Ironically, it was identical to Sakro's! We decided that it was not sufficient and continued to brainstorm other ideas. Michael's ideas, of course, were far fetched at first but then he hit upon a great icon. We added to his original idea and Sakro, with his visual genius, created the icon. I love it! We are going to sleep on it and talk again tomorrow. So, you are going to have to wait for the unveil of Kountr's icon.

Any guesses on what it will be?

Feedback

We have been getting lots of great feedback for Kountr lately. What an adrenaline rush! It's amazing to watch Kountr unfold. Michael has been working crazy hours to get the ideas functioning and loving every second of it. At the beginning of Kountr, we brainstormed features that we thought Kountr would eventually include and yet we didn't think of half of the wonderful ideas that have been implemented. It just goes to show that the user knows best!

What do you think of Kountr's enhancements? Do you have feedback that will make Kountr better?

Learning

I am amazed everyday at how quickly kids learn things. My youngest is just turning 6 months and she loves to babble. She makes eye contact with me, smiles and just starts talking. I know she is trying to share her world with me.

My eldest is 2 years old and his vocabulary and sentences have just exploded. He went from barely saying one word at a time to 3 word sentences. I love talking with him and learning about what he sees in our world. Every morning I ask him, "Did you dream?" I don't think he knows what a 'dream' is but he answers me everyday. He dreams about butterflies a lot. This morning, before I could ask him he told me, "I dreamed butterflies!" It made my heart melt. He was so excited and proud of himself. I cherish these days.

Can you imagine if we continued to learn new things at such an accelerated rate? Oh, the things we could do!

A blast from the past

Promoting Kountr has had some interesting side effects. The first was seeing who has added or wants to add me as a friend on Facebook. I resisted joining but did to help promote Kountr. People I haven't talked to since high school and even strangers have asked to be my 'friend.' The great thing is that I have reconnected with some of my extended family whom I haven't seen or talked to in years. It is nice to hear from then and know that they are happy and healthy.

The latest surprise is a feedback email I got today. An old friend discovered Kountr through Anyram's blog and, though sceptical at first, is hooked on Kountr. She ends the email saying that she hopes we are doing well. Her email brought a smile to my face. I, too, have been thinking about her and how she is doing. We had some great times together and I would like to think that we are older and wiser today. Old friendships can never be the same but they can get better. We'll see where this all goes... So, old friend, if you are reading this, get in touch again. I would love to hear from you.

Michael and Kountr are teaching me that just when you think you know where life is leading you, it gives you other options.

Snow

I can't believe it. There is a good 3 inches of snow on the ground! I would not be too surprised with this weather in Toronto but Victoria? We went outside and played in the very wet snow. It was great fun. L was soaked by the time we came inside. The best thing after playing in the snow is hot chocolate. Mmmm...

Family and Friends

This is a very broad topic but one that is very close to my heart. There are so many songs and sayings that talk about how lonely we can be even though we are surrounded by friends and family. It is easy to feel isolated whether it is for geographical or emotional reasons. Then, family and friends find a way to connect again.

I am ecstatic about the support we are getting from our friends and family for Kountr. Michael and I have been feeding off of each other for energy to keep going but now, our friends and family have stepped up and re-energized me. I feel very lucky. Yes, I'm a sap... a proud sap.

Thank you all!

Copy and Paste 2

I am still up... I couldn't sleep so, I sat down in front of the computer and wrote the post. Done! It turns out that I can edit the notes underneath the link so, I deleted the the notification saying the site is down. Oops.

Copy and Paste

I am annoyed. I wrote a great reply to a friend on Facebook but the link to Kountr kept bringing up a notification saying that the site is down. I copied the post so that I could go back later and try again. Of course, I forgot and copied something else. Oh snap! I know it's my fault. I should have pasted it somewhere or just posted it with the notification. I'm too tired to write... I'll try again tomorrow.

Collaborating

This is a short post because I need to get some sleep. My daughter has decided to start waking up 2 hours earlier and my son is not sleeping through the night. Despite these setbacks Michael and I have been working tirelessly at Kountr. There are 3 new features that we are excited about: Your Kounts, Your Recent and KountDown. The wonderful thing about these features is the way Michael and I collaborated.

These collaborations were great because we did it without any tension. We are both tired and have been a little less patient with each other. Your Kounts and Your Recent was formed from my inability to keep track of my kounts and my friends kounts. I blame this on baby brain. So, we discussed how we could figure out a solution without logins. The idea is completely Michael's but I pushed him in the direction. KountDown is more of a collaboration. We couldn't figure out how to do a KountDown without needing a second server. In short, Michael came up the idea of starting the kount as a negative value so that the kount counts down as it is incremented. This makes the back end of a KountDown the same as a KountUp. I suggested we display the absolute values so that users are not confused by the negative signs. It was great to see Michael getting more and more excited about the solution as we continued to talk.

I cherish these talks because it is a conversation that we both are able to contribute to and be excited about. I sometimes feel like we are living different lives with me as an at-home mom and Michael at work but that is another post for another day.

Blogs

I'm new to this blogging thing. It is very daunting... not only to blog but to find and read blogs that may be of interest. As part of our marketing strategy, we are reading blogs and responding to anything interesting. Michael has found many great new ideas, trends and tools by reading his blogs.

On Friday, he mentioned that we have to set up a blog reader for me. I had no idea what he was talking about. Nor, did I realize the amount of time this would require. Setting up the blog reader took no time but the amount of reading that I need to do is enormous. It is also difficult to determine which blogs I can relate to or which ones I will want to read.

So, I am trying out the Google Reader. I searched for "mom" and "entrepreneur" and added 23 subscriptions. I will not be able to read all of these blogs but I will scan them and read the ones that sound interesting. After some time I can weed out the blogs that I am not interested in reading and likely, add to the list.

The real question is: When will I have the time to read all of these blogs?

Tick-tock

Time keeps ticking while I try to prioritize my life.

The original version of this post was negative then, I read "How-To Start a Company and Family at the Same Time" by Ben Yoskovitz. I realized that I need to change my perspective so, the new goal is to re-energize myself and look at the positive side of things. Here is were I stand and what I need to do:

Kountr:
Last week I worked on Kountr until the wee hours of the morning but found that I was too tired the next day. This week I am trying to work on Kountr during the day instead. I am ironing out the kinks in this adjustment.

Children:
Now that I am sleeping at night my energy level has increased so, I am running around with them and having fun. I will continue to enjoy getting sleep!

Husband:
Hmm... we need to find some time together that is for us.

Me:
I am starting a fitness class next week with my friends. And I am looking forward to our friends visiting from out of town. Maybe I should slot some time for my hobbies...

The Beginning

This is my first personal blog. It is a big step for me. I am a private person and this is very unnerving.

At first I wanted to start blogging to advertise for Kountr. Now, I realize I am doing this as an outlet for me and anybody who wants to listen. I am an at-home mom with 2 kids and I am working with my husband, Michael, to 'make Kountr kount.' I am not the entrepreneurial type but Michael certainly is and he is helping me break out of my shell.

Kountr is a website that simply keeps kounts. We have made the website as simple as possible and are adding features based on user feedback.