Kyle Thomas

The Website of Kyle Thomas (KyleWith)

Place in my head

The last day or two, I haven’t been able to focus properly at work. Not that I’m not enjoying it. I actually really am, but I think the lack of hydration mixed with the back I never seen the sun is getting to me and giving me headaches.

Today at 3pm I couldn’t handle it anymore and needed to get out. So I picked my tiny laptop and headed to Patch Java. For some reason Coffee Shop sooth me. I enjoy the atmosphere and the hustle.

Luckily, a lot of my work can be done form anywhere. Even if I need to chat with a co-worker, we use Google Talk (I use iChat) to communicate when someone isn’t in the office.

So here I sit in the coffee shop writing up some outline information on an upcoming Social Media Workshop we will be putting on.

Cheers.

A Coffee Shop For You

Like the two other towns I have lived in I have found my coffee shop. And by “my coffee shop” I mean a coffee shop in which I feel comfortable sitting and spending time in. In Yellowknife it was, obviously, Gourmet Cup, but I didn’t mind Javaroma either and in Dawson Creek it was Cafe Europa. Both were nice, relatively small and the owners were delightful to deal with.

Now I have found that here in Fort St John at a little shop called Patch Java. The shop was called Cosmic Grounds before new owner Devon Wrigglesworth reopened the space as Patch Java in May of 2010.

I admire owners like Devon, not to say the other coffee shop owners in town are different, I just haven’t met them yet. He is the type of owner that is at the forefront. Always working on the front line, serving customers, socializing and making sure that everyone is satisfied.

With a different lunch special everyday of the week, I don’t think I’m going to get bored of this place. Oh and did I mention the free WiFi, yeah that is good too.

The problem with me and coffee shops is I have the overwhelming urge to get behind the counter and make drinks. Not to boost or anything, but I make a damn good latte and with the proper jug I can even style it with some fancy latte art.

But I digress I’m am glad I have the skills but happy at with where I am currently. Although I do intent to start writing down all the drink special I have in my head. Muddy Snowman, Kyle’s Choc Chip Frozen Mocha, Haystack Latte, and so on.

Hobbies Far Away

There are many things that I currently like. Or hobbies I guess you could say. Writing, Yellowknife, Building WordPress Websites, Camping, Snowmobiling, Photography and Media, are just a few. Which there in lies the problem. It seems, to me anyway, that I’m always complaining there is not enough time in the day to do some of these things. Most of these things, writing (Blogging), wordpress stuff, and photography, are things I want to improve on as they may or may not potentially be careers. I have some skills, but they are limited. So lets break it down.

Writing: I would love to be able to write a good authentic article. I believe I would probably do well writing on something from the north or Yellowknife, because that is where my passion lies. I don’t know why I find writing so enjoyable, maybe it is the false hope that someone is actually reading it. It calms me and allows me to get out what I want to say. Actually it is more of a love-hate relationship. I do enjoy it, but struggle with it immensely. I rarely seem to be able to get a continued flow in my writing. I constantly go back and reread what I have written or forget where I wanted to go with that thought. It is a pain in the ass when you’re trying to get something done. I use to think I was an excellent typist, alas I am far from it. So when my thoughts get ahead of my fingers it all goes downhill. I have contemplated getting MacSpeech (Dragon Dictate), but the cost has always stopped me. The final issue I have with my own writing is, my lack of grammar and spelling skills. Trust me it drives me nuts!

WordPress: I have a fairly strong knowledge base of wordpress and how it works. I actually consider myself pretty smart when it comes to this CMS. The one thing I wish to improve on is my code skills. It would be lovely to properly know how to customize wordpress themes and understand how things work together.

Photography: This is something I picked up 2 years ago and then bought my first DSLR a year and a half or so ago. I always have the best intentions of learning a knew skill and slowly I have. I think photography and writing go hand in hand; I often meet or hear of photographers who are also freelance writers. Writing about Yellowknife all the time I often need photos to go with it. So learning how to take a beautiful photo of something happening around town is something I am really wanting to do. I try to keep my camera on a manual mode, but often get over whelmed with the little time I have to take the photo and put it onto a preset setting. I can’t seem to get it down, how to properly use the camera while out and about.

There you have it, the negatives of the things I want to do better at. The reason I wanted to point these out is so I could see them in writing. The solution to all of these is rather simple, and I even know it. It is time. All I need is time, or at least that’s what I believe. Five days a week I work five hours a day at a coffee shop and for the rest of the day I am responding to e-mails, writing the next days post, working on the back end of the site or dealing with something to do with the business. I end up getting into this routine around 1:30 and then I go until 8pm with a break for supper, it is none stop. My feed reader is constantly packed with over 900 unread blog post, my tweeting has slowed and so have posts on this blog. One solution to gain more time would be to leave the coffee shop but it is currently my only source of income and I depend on it to pay the bills and my school debt. I’m probably over exaggerating things, but I blame that on the lack of income in my business. If only I could start to get a little income to take some of the pressure off, then maybe I would be able to try and learn more about the things mentioned above.

The solution is in sight but far away. AHHHHHHH! Frustrating.

I shall write for you, about me

Well now that I have found a place to sit, I shall write for you. I shall write for you today something more personal, instead of some topical article. I shall write for you because I haven’t in sometime and I feel it has been to long. The main reason I shall write for you today, is because I would like to share something with you. It will most likely be something to do with my life. So now that you understand I shall be writing for you today, I shall begin.

I’m in an odd place in my life, well I always seem to be. I have been searching for the last 2 years. For what, I don’t know. For who, I don’t know. My hope is I find it and them soon.  I will try to explain this as best as I can.

I write a website that is growing and becoming more and more recognized, and I know tons of people in this town (Yellowknife) but still I am missing something. Now the reason for this post is not for pity (I don’t like pity), but it is more to explain how I feel when I’m alone. I know an amazing bunch of people, but the only issue is (I don’t know how to explain this properly) I don’t share that bond that good friends share (You’re all awesome by the way, please don’t take offense to this). I long for someone who shares my passion of things, someone who has an interest in Yellowknife and its community events, understands my passion for social media and maybe most important to me is someone that is relatively close to my own age.  That is a lot, to even imagine, but did you know I can almost guarantee the people and friends I will meet will be at least 10 years older than me. It is bizarre.

Like I said this is not a pity cry, I just wanted to get this down on words. I also understand my problem. It is me! Most of the time my mind is wondering how to do something or how I can make that work or where to find this and that, it never stops. From the second I wake up to the moment I fall asleep, I’m thinking about websites, design, social media, marketing, profiting, how-to’s or scheming how to make back money spent. If I could shut it off for a couple hours a day I would, because I know it affects the people I’m around. I barely have an interest in anything else, except for maybe my vehicles. But on the flip side, I wont push myself to fix my own problems. I say I want to go see live music at the bar or coffee shop but I don’t have anyone to go with, so I won’t go. Which is ultimately like stabbing myself in the foot, if I never go I will never meet anyone like that. Part of that, in my mind anyways, is that I don’t drink, so I rarely ever see the need to go out – or something like that.

I hope some of this makes sense. Maybe I am making this a lot more dramatic than it really is, but this is my blog and I can write want I feel.

No that I have written for you, you should write too. As you are doing that, I am going to go try the French Onion Soup and BLT combo from Tim Hortons.

This Week, Last. Today, Tomorrow.

I did not proofread this post nor do I think it makes sense. Thanks for reading.

I have decided to try and do at least a weekly post here in this little coffee shop I have started to come to. Unfortunately I still cannot get WiFi in here which is really disappointing but I will live for now. A bonus to not having Internet while in here is that it helps me focus on writing these journal entries.

So lets look at the week past. It was the “Official” start to school but we really did not get into any material therefore I would just class it as an icebreaker week. I think I am going to really enjoy it. Throughout my five classes there are only about five other students and only one other male in these classes. Whether or not a good thing I think it has already been established that I am the most out going in the class. Generally being the first to speak and engage a discussion. I don’t mind this but I also don’t want to be seen as the student who knows it all.

This week because of school I didn’t really focus on any work here online but as I get in a routine everything will work its self out. Another routine that I can’t wait to start, will be biking to school rather than driving the truck. I decided to bring the truck to town at the start of the week so I could use it for the first week of school as I didn’t know how much stuff I would have and how rushed I might be. As the week has gone by now I can see that nothing will be rushed unless I stop looking at the clock so I will start using my bike on Tuesday.

I guess I should mention what I was up to last weekend as well. I ended up out at East Pine again. Went quading with a friend and some coworkers who showed us the area. We were also on the look out for moose as it is a goal of my friend to get at least a moose, deer, or elk this fall. As we were out riding around in the hot dry weather the dust was everywhere and throughout the day I guess it was collecting, collecting on my face. Upon returning to the house I looked in the mirror and barely recognized myself, I had a thick layer of dirt on my face, in my nose, under my eyelids and in my mouth. A picture was taken of this monster but I have yet to see the picture. When I do I will be sure to post it up for everyone to see the horror.

On to this weekend, which I don’t think will be as exciting but just as fun. Saturday morning I will be heading to Grande Prairie for a day trip (I love living south sometimes). There I will be picking up a new laser printer as my old one hit the floor, literally. While traveling south at the end of July it came loose in the camper and crashed to the floor from 5 feet up. This new printer will also serve for business purposes as well as for school. I am also going to be picking up an external hard drive for back-up purposes. Future Shop has a good deal on a 1TB drive for $99.

Sunday I will be spending here in Dawson for once working and exploring the town, hopefully. Sunday night or Monday morning I will head out to East Pine to get rid of the truck and that will start next week.

Man I love this Café….