So, this was originally written back in 2008, and last updated in 2012. I think this makes it kind of historic, so I leave it as is for now…just to look back with a chuckle.
Who am I? Well, as you can guess, my name is Nik, and I’m the crazy dude who keeps this blog up to date. Live in Ottawa, Ontario (Canada’s Capital!) and when I started this blog, I ran a small Salesforce consulting firm called xLerate. In March of 2012, xLerate merged with Force By Design – which I am now Senior Director. When I am not trying to drive my clients or employees crazy, I can usually be found playing with a new application or widget on the net, figuring out how to get the most bang out of my iPhone, or figuring out how to run everything off a MacBook with ease.
Besides the work stuff, I am married to a beautiful woman named Steph for the past 11 years, and we have two crazy kids – Jordan and William. They are into Highland Dance (Jordan is…), Hockey, Soccer, and all sorts of other messy and interesting hobbies. Between work and children, when my wife and I have more than 13 seconds together, we try to keep up on some TV shows we like to watch, go and see a movie with a higher rating than PG-13, or simply say hello while doing crossword puzzles or backgammon.
Why name the blog “News From The Basement”? Well, this has been a long standing joke with some friends, and collegues of mine. As I began my company with very modest beginnings, my office was in the basement of my home (I have since upgraded to an actual room within the house!). As this was seen and taken as a derogatory stance by some in the industry (Ottawa is a very conservative town, and companies are to have offices, not home offices), it made me chuckle…so many successful industry leaders had hatched from basements, garages and apartments, such as salesforce.com, Apple, Hewlett Packard…and here I was being portrayed it that same light (whether the intention of such a wonderful compliment was wished remains to be seen)! I take the title of “Guy in the Basement” proudly, and as such, have even named the blog about it!
So, will everything here be about salesforce.com? Highly doubtful. You’ll find me referencing music quite a bit – music truly does make the world go around! Along with that, I’ll likely make a post about hockey, my kids, who knows…the wallpaper in my kitchen may get a write up …
Want to read more? Feel free to follow me on Twitter (my handle is nikpanter), or look me up on Facebook! Until next time – enjoy!
One Comment
Just found your blog and love it! I too am quite the advanced SFDC Admin and often find it hard to find anything new and interesting out there…but some of the stuff you posted on is quite cool. I especially like what you wrote about Dreamforce…I have been working on Salesforce for 8 years and have never been 🙁 Hopefully next year I will be able to make it out. Keep on blogging!