Living in the Future

Tag: Ottawhat?

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…
RSS |
iTunes

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…
RSS |
iTunes

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…
RSS |
iTunes
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…
RSS |
iTunes

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…
RSS |
iTunes
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…
RSS |
iTunes

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…
RSS |
iTunes
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…
RSS |
iTunes

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…
RSS |
iTunes
June 10, 2015
Sheldon Cooper and Brew Donkey (Unwind Media | May 28 – June 2)

This week in Unwind Media, things calmed down just a little bit. I finished my first full month of professional writing for Mobile Syrup, which is just such an awesome sentence to have written!
Future Chat has moved from it’s old home at www.futurechat.me, to a new home at UnwindMedia.com/FutureChat! It’s a lot cleaner, and easier to subscribe, so tell your friends! Stay tuned for a lot more cool stuff this summer!

Ottawhat? #54 – Brad Campeau (Brew Donkey)
In this episode, we met up with the founder of Brew Donkey, a beer delivery and local brewery tour company. We learned about why business school convinced…
RSS |
iTunes

Future Chat #60 – Some Sheldon Cooper‑esque Dialogue
In this episode, we discuss our favourite new things from Google I/O, go deeper on bike lanes, and we determine Mike would be a terrible research dictator…
RSS |
iTunes
June 2, 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…
RSS |
iTunes

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…
RSS |
iTunes

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…
RSS |
iTunes
May 26, 2015
Feedback wraps Season 1, and #Taylorette1989 hits Phase 2 (Unwind Media | May 14-20)

‘Twas a busy week on +Unwind Media! We wrapped Season 1 of Feedback, which means Volume 1 of Feedback: The Music can’t be far off! As well as regular episodes of Ottawhat? and Future Chat, the next phase of #Taylorette1989 launched. I’m looking for a video or story about what’s special about my fiancée Julia, and stories about +Taylor Swift! I’d love to hear your favourite memories of Taylor!

Feedback #6 – Wilder Minds
In this final episode of season 1 of Feedback, we discuss YouTube’s role in the fight against music loudness, the new Mumford and Sons album Wilder Mind…
RSS |
iTunes

Ottawhat? #52 – Branden On
This week’s episode features Keegan’s brother Branden On! He’s into all kinds of creative endeavours like acting, playing music, and drawing. We also hear…
RSS |
iTunes

Future Chat #58 – Canadian Problems
This week, are Google cars less safe than human-driven ones, Nick uses his pirate voice several times, and we all lust after $1000 blenders (or do we?)…
RSS |
iTunes
May 19, 2015
SoundCloud, Writing, and #Taylorette1989 heats up. (Unwind Media; May 7-13)

This week we made a couple of substantial changes on Unwind Media, most notably we’re making the transition to hosting audio files on SoundCloud, as opposed to Archive.org. I’m pretty excited for that, and I even wrote a little bit about some of the neat tricks I am using now to get those files to work with podcast clients and on the podcast website while keeping the setup simple.
I also wrote a little more for MobileSyrup, rather than linking to all of them, you can find those stories by using a custom Google Search (for ‘site:mobilesyrup.com “Rob Attrell” ‘)one of the hosts on Unwind Media and my cousin, +Mike Attrell, came up with to find things I’ve written.
In other news, #Taylorette1989 is entering its next phase, as +Taylor Swift begins her world tour and gets ready to launch her latest music video. Look for more on that in the next week! As well, there’s a new episode of Feedback coming before the end of the week, so that means a fun conversation, AND 2 more cover tunes from Damien and BL in the next week or so! Stay tuned!

Ottawhat? #51 – Mark Holst (Ottawa Academy of Martial Arts)
On Ottawhat this week, we met former UFC fighter and Ottawa native Mark “Boots” Holst. He spoke to us about his experiences in the ring, teaching the new…
RSS |
iTunes

Future Chat #57 – What’s Slow About a Bear
In this episode, Tesla goes gangbusters, it’s zeppelins vs. dirigibles, and trucks are driving themselves in Nevada. Get excited, because we’ll be deliver…
RSS |
iTunes
May 13, 2015
I’m A Professional Writer? (Unwind Media; April 30 – May 6)

Some huge news on Unwind Media this week; I got a new job! I’ve officially begun writing for a Canadian technology blog called MobileSyrup, and I’m having so much fun with it! I’m writing for them mostly during the evening and on weekends, starting off pretty slowly. I’ve wanted to write on a professional level for quite some time, and I’m really excited to get the opportunity!
I discuss it a little on Future Chat this week (see below), and you can read my work from the last week here, here and most recently here. Ottawhat? this week was also a lot of fun, we interviewed Lilly Tran, a young woman who writes closed captioning for a cable TV porn station. I definitely did not know that was a thing, and we all learned a lot!

Ottawhat? #50 – Lilly Tran
In this episode, we spoke with Lilly Tran, a closed-captioner for adult films. We discussed some of the weird things Lilly’s heard around her relatively normal office…
RSS |
iTunes

Future Chat #56 – We Don’t Need A Biologist
This week, Rob gets a new job, we discuss Microsoft’s Build conference (much to Nick’s chagrin), Tesla’s big new battery, and how a woolly mammoth burger…
RSS |
iTunes
May 4, 2015
Too many Voicemails, too much Clickbait (Unwind Media; April 22-29)
Guys, this is serious. Whoever is calling me, please stop. I am getting so many calls since I posted my new voicemail message that it can’t be a coincidence. Some fairly big news coming up soon on Unwind Media, so stay tuned.

Ottawhat? Podcast #49 – Darren Shackleton (Canadian Association of Food Service Professionals)
This week on the podcast, we spoke to Darren Shackleton, President of the Ottawa chapter of the Canadian Association of Food Service Professionals. We had…
RSS |
iTunes

Future Chat #55 – Playing Chess with a Pigeon
In this episode, we discuss Google’s new mobile network, Google Fi, the possible “cure” for asthma, and decide whether buying a field Roomba (aka a tractor)…
RSS |
iTunes
April 30, 2015