OK, I promised myself that I wouldn't be writing another of those "man, it's been a long time since I've written, but I've been so busy..." kinds of posts.
Man, it's been a long time since I've written...did I mention how busy I've been?
I've noticed that when I get remotely busy and have a lot of email writing to do, I blog less. And I also notice that when I blog regularly, I email less frequently. But seriously, is anyone going to believe that I've been so busy and had so many emails to write that I couldn't have done anything since August 28th? So here's what I've been up to:
1. Redesigned and deployed two new web sites: www.frcs.org and www.aspengrovechurch.org. The first is our infamous school. Originally I wasn't going to directly link to it...but I decided we can always use the traffic. There's a whole post coming describing the re-write. It's comical. The second is for our church...and it too turned out nice. Both were done using Rapidweaver (www.realmacsoftware.com), quite possibly the finest example of an easy to use/powerful web design tool. It allows me to do what I want to do and takes care of the rest. I'm also using a fantastic content management system called WebYep (www.obdev.at). It's a PHP based CMS setup that is perfect for these small sites. Add in the fantastic RW plugin Blocks, from www.yourhead.com and this setup is a smash.
2. Didn't get the gig at the Apple store. More details to follow but I was in a serious funk after that. Still haven't set foot in an Apple store since.....
3. Been working some on the school play. We're at T-minus 3 weeks and now my job really begins. Gotta pull together the set...I've already modelled it in 1:48 scale. Now I have to deal with the sound stuff and some other political type things... Kelly is doing better as assistant director...now she feels like she has something to do and Sharon is relying on her more. Allie is doing a great job on stage...I just wish she wasn't always copping such a major 'tude....
4. A little light house stuff: finishing refinishing the back deck (before the first snow falls) and I did manage to get my car in the garage for the first time in over a year. Still haven't finished my wood floor...but did manage to move the 75 or so boxes out of the garage and into the basement. They'll be good and seasoned...
5. Really starting to bone up on all my web development knowledge. Trying to help Nicholas (www.nczonline.net) get his 2nd edition Javascript book out. Plus re-reading his AJAX book, and Eric Meyer CSS book and my trusty old Javascript Objects book. I get the feeling that this gig here at work won't be a long term one...so I need to get my game up to par with my legend I guess. I'm seriously contemplating throwing my resume at Google...they're looking for an AJAX/Web stud, and that's what I want to be when I grow up....
6. Things are really slow at work, so I've been working fairly extensively in GWT...finally. Doing some fun things that I'll talk about soon.
7. Found some old Alphafilter articles that I wanted to save...my pal Jared (www.forgetfoo.com) hooked up a nice backdoor to scrape my old content off of there and I put them in their original form on this blog. They were written in 2004 so it was a fun trip in the way back machine to be sure. I'm still working on finding all the examples, so right now all the links are busted. Soon...very soon they'll be all better...
8. Thinking about buying another car. The girls really "need" one and the Accord was always slated for them. I really want a truck but I'm not too psyched about having 3 car payments. Wouldn't spend any more than eight grand for anything, but it's still a payment for 3 years. My dad was thinking about selling the old white Accord, that would be a great car...even though it's a 5 speed (what the hell was I thinking back in 1990...a five speed?).
That's about all for now.
Man, it's been a long time since I've written...did I mention how busy I've been?
I've noticed that when I get remotely busy and have a lot of email writing to do, I blog less. And I also notice that when I blog regularly, I email less frequently. But seriously, is anyone going to believe that I've been so busy and had so many emails to write that I couldn't have done anything since August 28th? So here's what I've been up to:
1. Redesigned and deployed two new web sites: www.frcs.org and www.aspengrovechurch.org. The first is our infamous school. Originally I wasn't going to directly link to it...but I decided we can always use the traffic. There's a whole post coming describing the re-write. It's comical. The second is for our church...and it too turned out nice. Both were done using Rapidweaver (www.realmacsoftware.com), quite possibly the finest example of an easy to use/powerful web design tool. It allows me to do what I want to do and takes care of the rest. I'm also using a fantastic content management system called WebYep (www.obdev.at). It's a PHP based CMS setup that is perfect for these small sites. Add in the fantastic RW plugin Blocks, from www.yourhead.com and this setup is a smash.
2. Didn't get the gig at the Apple store. More details to follow but I was in a serious funk after that. Still haven't set foot in an Apple store since.....
3. Been working some on the school play. We're at T-minus 3 weeks and now my job really begins. Gotta pull together the set...I've already modelled it in 1:48 scale. Now I have to deal with the sound stuff and some other political type things... Kelly is doing better as assistant director...now she feels like she has something to do and Sharon is relying on her more. Allie is doing a great job on stage...I just wish she wasn't always copping such a major 'tude....
4. A little light house stuff: finishing refinishing the back deck (before the first snow falls) and I did manage to get my car in the garage for the first time in over a year. Still haven't finished my wood floor...but did manage to move the 75 or so boxes out of the garage and into the basement. They'll be good and seasoned...
5. Really starting to bone up on all my web development knowledge. Trying to help Nicholas (www.nczonline.net) get his 2nd edition Javascript book out. Plus re-reading his AJAX book, and Eric Meyer CSS book and my trusty old Javascript Objects book. I get the feeling that this gig here at work won't be a long term one...so I need to get my game up to par with my legend I guess. I'm seriously contemplating throwing my resume at Google...they're looking for an AJAX/Web stud, and that's what I want to be when I grow up....
6. Things are really slow at work, so I've been working fairly extensively in GWT...finally. Doing some fun things that I'll talk about soon.
7. Found some old Alphafilter articles that I wanted to save...my pal Jared (www.forgetfoo.com) hooked up a nice backdoor to scrape my old content off of there and I put them in their original form on this blog. They were written in 2004 so it was a fun trip in the way back machine to be sure. I'm still working on finding all the examples, so right now all the links are busted. Soon...very soon they'll be all better...
8. Thinking about buying another car. The girls really "need" one and the Accord was always slated for them. I really want a truck but I'm not too psyched about having 3 car payments. Wouldn't spend any more than eight grand for anything, but it's still a payment for 3 years. My dad was thinking about selling the old white Accord, that would be a great car...even though it's a 5 speed (what the hell was I thinking back in 1990...a five speed?).
That's about all for now.