That Kathryn Girl

Week 1 at home with Kyle - we survived

Nothing like starting your SAHM career with a diagnosis of bronchitis and pneumonia! That was how our Monday started last week but thankfully things improved as the antibiotics did their work. As we hit various play gyms, parks, and did errands I realized:

• Mobile apps are my lifeline. I used to spend hours every day in front of the computer and was always connected. Then, cold turkey, I was off the interwebs, sometimes for 5 or 6 hours in a row. Standing in line or pushing a swing I could easily check email, Facebook, Twitter and feel connected.

• It’s hard to stay hydrated. I pack up Kyle’s snacks and water whenever we leave the house but never think to bring anything for myself.   Four hours later and parched I wonder how many disapproving looks drinking from the sippy cup would earn me.

• I tell a lot of people Kyle’s age. He’d benefit from a shirt or a sign that said, “Yes, I tower over your 2-year old but I’m only 17 months so please adjust your expectations of my behaviour accordingly.”

As we head into week 2 I’m a lot more prepared. I can take deep breathes without coughing up a lung, I’ve joined a local mom’s group, and I’ve found a play centre that provides free coffee.

Big Changes Ahead: From Full-Time Worker to SAHM

About a month ago I made a fairly big (at least to me!) decision to quit full-time work and become a full-time stay at home mom. Not that any mom isn’t a full-time mom, but instead of spending my 9-5 day doing web work I’m going to learn how to finger paint and build forts. (Anyone who knows my lack of artistic and crafty ability is groaning already…I can hear it.)

Obviously lots of factors go into a decision like this and I’m lucky and grateful that Kirk and I are in a position where we think (hope!) we can make it work. I feel really privileged that I’ll be able to spend so much time with Kyle and be such a big part of these early growing years. I’ll also admit to being more than a wee bit apprehensive at the thought of spending my days with a toddler instead of spreadsheets and content management systems. But every challenge I’ve ever taken on has made me a little nervous so I guess that’s a good thing.

I’m not completely leaving the web world. I plan to continue working on a part-time basis and the type of work I do lends itself well to project based freelance stuff. I also have good support from family so can rely on some free hours each week.

Yesterday was my last full-time day at PTO Today and School Family Media and Kyle's last day at daycare, so I’m now officially a SAHM! Scary and exciting all at the same time, but it probably won’t really sink in until Monday morning at 9am when I’m at the playground instead of my desk.

Customer Service Duel: Samsung vs Lexmark

Two VERY different experiences.

Lexmark (faulty printer)

• Friendly customer service rep confirmed the problem quickly
• Sent me a new printer overnight. OVERNIGHT!
• I packed up faulty printer in the same box
• They included the paperwork (already filled out!) that I needed to stick on the box
• I called courier company and they picked it up from my house

Effort involved: finding tape and scissors to seal the box

Samsung (faulty monitor)

• Customer service rep was friendly and helpful enough until I asked if there was any other solution besides me being without a monitor for 3-4 weeks
• Sent me email instructions that includes 5 links that I need to click and read to figure out shipping details. So far I've read enough to establish that I need to figure out shipping details - everything from duty issues of shipping internationally to packaging. Apparently if I don't find an appropriate box and package it to their liking they can void my warranty. Nice.

Effort involved: find/buy a box, buy packing material, figure out which of the shipping options in their instructions apply to me, and get it to UPS. I'm estimating 2 hours of work. Oh, and if I don't get it done in 10 days I have to start the whole process over. Ugh.

I should mention that these two customer service experiences happened about 2 years apart. Wouldn't want you thinking that I'm busting up all the hardware in my office.

Guilting me into charity donations

'tis the season for giving. And with such a tough year for so many people the giving is even more important than usual. I fully support being generous and helping where possible. However, I do take exception to the latest campaign from Princess Margaret Hospital.

I received this tote bag in the mail along with a letter and request for a donation. I wish I'd kept the letter so I could quote directly, but we're expedient recyclers in our house. The gist was that Princess Margaret has sent me this "gift" and hopes I'll make a donation. And of course the letter had the usual heartfelt stories from patients who have been helped by the hospital.

My options:

• Make a donation and use the bag feeling good about helping out. With unlimited funds this is a no-brainer but this would divert money away from other places where I contribute (also worthy causes)
• Don't make a donation and use the bag anyway. Pretty sure I'd feel guilty every time I loaded it with groceries.
• Throw the bag out. A perfectly good bag? In the garbage? Um, no.

So here is what will probably happen. I'll throw the bag on the shelf where it will join the others and I'll end up subconsciously avoiding it.

This has nothing to do with Princess Margaret not needing or deserving the funds. It does, but so does every other hospital and charity and they're all good causes. I'd prefer they save their "gifts" for people who  donate and not try to guilt me into a donation.

Christmas shopping as a new mama

I do not like shopping. I especially do not like shopping with large crowds and overly cheery tunes of saccharine joy ringing in my ears. Yeah, I know. Bah. Hum. Bug. Throw a 3 month old infant into the mix and I'm a HumBug with heart palpitations!

That said, I'm not a complete curmudgeon. I do like the festive season - food, friends, family, and yes...I even enjoy exchanging gifts, I just wish the process of getting to the 24th was easier!

In anticipation of this years shopping horror I started early and discovered a few things to make the whole experience easier...

Online shopping - it really doesn't get any better than browsing and shopping in your PJs with coffee in hand. The Bay is charging $8 for delivery which I think is ridiculous but at least I knew exactly what I wanted upon arriving at the store. (Spent $10 in parking so in hindsight that $8 doesn't look so bad)

One of a Kind Show - I've always thought it a bit cheeky for a tradeshow to charge admission so I can shop from its vendors. Now I get it. In one afternoon I shopped a lot of unique stores all in one spot. Since my dear son hates the car seat this saved me from driving all over town with a screaming infant - worth every cent of that $10. Plus the nursing/changing room is pretty darn nice and very convenient. Only a few days left so hurry if you want to hit this show!

Yorkville area - A few specific stores I wanted to hit in the Bay/Yonge/Bloor area. I can't name names (in case family is reading this) but most stores had an elevator so it was easy to maneuver with the stroller. And come lunch time I hit Holt's - the bathroom on the second floor is bright, clean, and has a decent mother's room for nursing and changing.

I'm 90% done with the dreaded shopping and I haven't set foot in a mall. I'll raise my glass of eggnog to that!

Neat Cold FX campaign - I'm Athlete of the Year!

According to BTV I'm athlete of the year! What? You've never heard of BTV? That's because it's a ColdFX news channel. That's right, cold medication is getting into handing out accolades and publishing the news.

Take a look - http://btvnews.ca/#Kathryn_Lagden_Kathryn

I like the creativity of this campaign. It's personal, it's fun, and it's easy to share. I think Cold FX hits just the right balance between the personalized content and incorporating their brand. I'm not hit over the head with obvious and cheesy references to the product in the video.

My favourite line is the reference to me tweeting that I ate a bagel for breakfast. A spoof on the type of mundane tweets I hate the most.

One part I think is lacking and looks like an afterthought are the "Today's Top Stories" that are linked under the video. The content doesn't really make sense once you click through. For example, "12 easy ways to stay healthy this winter" links through to a tool that will help me determine whether I have a cold or the flu. Seems like their could be a better connection between the story text and the link.

I won't be heading to Vancouver for the winter games but ColdFX helped me dream for a moment. Nice.

h/t to Jim who sent me the link to his video (thanks Jim!)

Week 1 for Kyle

Hard to believe that it was just a week ago that Kyle arrived into our lives. I finally got around to uploading a few pix from the last week. He has lots of doting grandparents and aunts/uncles so there is no shortage of photos but finding the time to upload them...well that's another story. Kirk set up my blackberry so it's much easier for me to snap and share quickly now. Still figuring out the apps I need to post directly to twitter and facebook but getting there.

Here's some pix - http://www.flickr.com/photos/10531718@N08/tags/kyle/

Is Password Masking Poor Usability?

My friend Dave C over at Djinn Software forwarded me Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox for today and it got me thinking. Since I can't comment on the Alertbox directly (hate that!) I figured it was worth a blog post.

Jakob Nielsen contends that password masking is poor usability. You know when you enter your password and get the little asterisk symbols instead of being able to see what you're actually typing? That's what he means by password masking. I disagree.

Jakob Nielsen writes:

"Generally, I recommend adhering to conventions. Do what users expect, and they can concentrate their brainpower on understanding your products and offers instead of struggling with the user interface.

But password masking and Reset buttons are not something users actively seek out. Losing these features won't cause confusion, nor will their replacements: the new features will simply be clear text (in the first case)..."

Why do I disagree? Password masking might not be necessary from a security perspective but it IS what users expect. And to remove the masking and make the password visible...well I think that would raise concerns from all sorts of people questioning whether the site was secure.

I have occasionally seen sites/applications give the user the option of displaying real characters instead of asterisks. But the default is always to mask the password and let the user decide.

I can see the issue with password error on mobile devices. The iPod Touch does a good job of briefly showing you the character and then converting it to an asterisk. So you know if you've made a mistake before you hit enter.

The Alertbox seems to indicate that even on desktops users make mistakes and that leads to feeling less confident, using simple passwords, or cutting/pasting passwords from a file. If I could comment directly on the article I'd ask if that conclusion is from actual user testing or not. It seems to me that password masking is so commonplace the majority of people know exactly what it means and how to use it. 

It's an interesting Alertbox but at this point I won't be recommending any changes to password masking on sites I work on.

Found my post baby 'get back in shape' goal

I still have months to go before I'm anywhere near ready to run again. But at 6.5 months pregnant I'm already anticipating the day I can climb a flight of stairs without gasping for breath at the top. So when I read about this half marathon (happening today) I decided to get it in the calendar for next year and make it my post baby 'get back in shape' goal.

Why this race? Water stations staffed by firefighters and a chocolate aid station. Need I say more?

Hot guys and chocolate aside for a moment, I like the reason they started a women's race,

"Competitive female runners tend to feel that they are the “chase” group. An all women’s race lets them experience the rush of being first across the finish line instead of being the first woman across the finish line."

I'm nowhere near a competitive runner but in my triathlon days I once participated in a race that had the womens age groups start and finish before the mens. It was kinda neat being at the lead of the race instead of way at the back which happens when you're in the 3rd or 4th last wave to start.

Car rental companies - It's time to put customers first

I generally don't like to make broad generalizations. However, after talking to 4 car rental companies, all with the same policy that puts the company needs ahead of the customers I'm making an exception.

As part of our temporary living arrangements in the 'burbs (about an hour outside of Toronto) I've had to get used to living in car culture. Since Kirk is using our one car to head into the wilderness for a boys camping trip this weekend I decided to rent a car.

The pain point is that many rental agencies close early on Sunday, if they're open at all. I figured I could drop the car off late afternoon and put the keys in a drop box. Some of them do have this option. However, and here's the rub, they'll still charge me as if I had the car until they reopen Monday morning. WTF?

I understand it might not be profitable to stay open until 6pm on Sunday. However, just because they're not open, and therefore can't rent the car to someone else, I don't see why the customer should have to carry that cost.

Finding a way to make this drop-off policy work seems like an opportunity for a car rental place to differentiate itself. Enterprise is so focused on customer service I'm kind of surprised they haven't already done this (they were on my list of 4 that I called).

It was easy enough for me to re-jig my plans so I don't end up paying for about 14 hours of car rental I don't need. But I still find it infuriating.