Blog – Chris J Powell

What Would You Do with a Million Dollars – Part 1

May 15, 2017

A couple of years ago I put a lot of thought into what I would do if someone handed me a Million Dollars and said spend it all within one month on the things you want…not what you need. This exercise was interesting and a bit of a challenge as I have always had relatively simple tastes as I strive to live within my means. When I wrote that series though, I was in a very different place than I am in today so I figured it was time for a revisit of this little fantasy. As I look at all that I have, for the most part I feel satisfied that I have what I need, but if I was ever to be lucky enough to be given the opportunity to blow through a Million Dollars on the stuff I want…I think that I could actually successfully complete the task. This time around I am going to be relatively selfish but at the same time, knowing that once the money is gone, it will be up to me to … Read more

Grounded, but Still Lost

May 11, 2017

I have been thinking long and hard about what this particular site will be as I move forward in my digital life and I have opened this post page at least a dozen times without being able to even begin to type anything. The words just wouldn’t come. I have this sense that my life is in this constant state of flux right now and while I am able to put focus towards most aspects of my existence I find myself struggling to make any real attempt at building out the new version of this site, its purpose and its future. I feel myself at times spinning out of control when it comes to organizing my thoughts so that I can really put some effort into building this out. I know that I should dive back in and reconnect the images and content and do a massive clean up of broken links to restore this site to its former glory. It needs a redesign too so maybe it is just the amount of effort that it will take to reconstruct … Read more

Upgrading Krispy's Tech

April 8, 2017

Here we are into April already and I sit here plotting the upgrades in my life as I always seem to do this time of the year. So far this year I have done a couple upgrades already with a new phone (upgraded my LG G3 to the new Huawei Nova Plus) and a new Tablet. The phone upgrade was really because it was time, I did an early upgrade as the battery on my G3 was more than a little flakey. The tablet though…may seem like a strange choice in a world that is constantly looking to be bigger and better as I got myself a diminutive Acer Iconia One Android Tablet that is not much bigger than my phone…but acts primarily as a ebook reader. In the coming weeks and months though, I am really looking at doing a monster upgrade of the tech and services that I am connected to. The first upgrade will be happening in a couple of weeks with a massive step up to a new ISP (Internet Service Provider) with some monster upgrades … Read more

A Long Look at Technology and My Life

March 26, 2017

Technology has had an hold on me for a long time, ever since I had the pleasure of sitting in a computer lab during my days of high school but it did not take a hold of me until much later in my life when everything I did started to revolve around the love hate relationship that I have with computers and devices. The way that solving a problem by applying logic and code is something that has for a very long time taken me down some very different paths than what my life I thought I would live would be. I am the person that employers, friends and family turn to when they are having a “tech dilemma” and this has for a very long time intrigued me but only recently has technology made my life both more fulfilling and more difficult. For many years I saw my love affair with the latest kit and language or process was a benefit but then came a new stage in my life. The world that I had lived in, was not … Read more

Long Goodbyes…Farewell Mother

February 7, 2017

This will be my second official attempt at putting my thoughts about my mother onto the screen for the world to see. The first attempt at this was done just 2 weeks after her passing on November 1, 2016 but because of some technical issues with my web host, I lost much of the work that I had put in to this site in 2016. I have restored the files as best I can and I I think back to the 2 1/2 months that I have had to live my life without the woman who was so key in making me what I am today (both good and bad) I have a vastly different perspective on her life. You see, my mother was a very strong woman, she gave birth to 5 boys and raised us while working full time and in our teenage years started her own business at a time when it was almost unheard of for a woman to be in business alone. We all worked for her at Powell Printing over the years and I … Read more

Life Hands You a Lemon…What do You Do???

September 13, 2016September 24, 2017

Life can be a cruel and fickle task master some times and the past 32 days has proven that life is not all rosy, in fact this past month has been by far the most challenging that I have experienced. The amount of loss that I am experiencing right now, at this moment is almost too much to bear…and that is what has landed me firmly in the hands of a Mental Health In Patient Facility! For anyone who may feel that there is no where to turn, and that life has you to the darkest depths of you own existence, reach out…to whom ever will listen. Ask and Ask and Ask again until someone listens. For many years, I pushed down the deep and powerful feeling that I had no business being here anymore and the world would be better off without me. I choked that feeling down, chewing and stewing as I went. That pit and ball of anxiety and depression bubbling up from time to time that left me a little more broken. In July of 2015 … Read more

Against All Odds…BE A DAD

August 24, 2016

There are many things in life that make us wonder what the next step is. I have taken on many new and unforeseen responsibilities in the past year and while many of these things make me scratch my head and wonder if it is all worth it, at the end of the day I have no doubt that it is. For any Father, Dad or Male Role Model out there, if you are going to step up to impregnate, act as a father or be a dad…this job is for life!!! REALIZE THAT AND DON’T DO IT IF YOU CAN’T MAN UP!!! I find myself faced with the challenge of being a Father and a Dad to my own child but through the blessing of finding my one true love after 44 years, I have inherited two other children whose own fathers/dads have seen fit to decide that the job was either too difficult or not worth the reward! Well I call BULL SHIT on that one. If any male is man enough to impregnate a woman…than they should be … Read more

A Broken Heart…Not Easily Mended

August 12, 2016

Loss is something that hits all many times in our lives. That loss can come from relationship breakdowns, separation from family, financial ruin or the unplanned career changes. The worst and personally most difficult to deal with is the loss of a family member. I have had experience with this type of loss in the past. It has not been easy…it has been painful. The hardest to deal with though is when it is not a member of your direct family…but when someone you love deeply looses someone, I find it doubly difficult to adapt, cope and deal with all the emotions and turmoil. Most recently, a great man left us. He had many challenges that in his 7 decades of life he was not able to fully overcome. His actions always spoke volumes for the man he was though and even though part of the legacy that he will leave is memories and challenges, he will be deeply missed. This great man, while not related to me by blood or by marriage (just 29 days until I could call … Read more

A New Browser – and More???

July 25, 2016

So every once in a while I will get a random request for me to look at a piece of software, application or service. Most of the time I look quickly at the request and then glance at the proposal and move on…not having much interest in doing that type of review work…but recently as my time and energy are being summarily pulled in many different directions, I realized that maybe I should actually take a closer look at these request. The lead developer on a project called BriskBard reached out to me and in the email said: I developed BriskBard and I’m looking for help getting the word out about it. I would appreciate any mention you can make, either on your website or elsewhere. Ok…not a major ask and I do tend to look over these types of requests and just because of time constraints don’t do much about them. But there was something interesting about this concept, one that I remember from back in the original Browser Battle Days of Netscape vs Internet Explorer and then in … Read more

Wedding Bells are Sounding

July 24, 2016

This week has been a bit of a wild ride for me. Both my full time job and my fledgling part time business are really starting to take off and my focus has been on further developing the skills I need to succeed at both endeavours. The reality is that much of my waking day is spent learning, developing and implementing technology improvements and design elements into the things that I do. To top things off, this week I crossed a bridge that I really didn’t think would happen…less than 50 days until I get married to the most amazing woman I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. We will be transforming our back yard into an “eat, drink and be married” theme that really focuses on the blending of our two families. With a small guest list of just over 50, the stress and anxiety from planning this has weighed heavily on both my fiance and myself but we seem to be adjusting well to this new reality. Stay tuned as a new website will be going up … Read more

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