Category Archives: life

life, web design

Great Geek Job

I had seen a recent article about 8 things intelligent people, geeks and nerds need to work and I began to realize that my job has nearly all of them.  They’re pretty flexible as long as you get your work done, they have good benefits, most of us share our iTunes (legally on the local network) so we can jam while we work – though some of my co-worker’s collections are questionable, they let us work from home when we need to – the big winter storms we had for example, and they dress code is pretty lax.  Plus it’s a small company, so you pretty much know everyone else and I can’t name one person that I don’t like.

So if you’re a developer looking for a great company, feel free to come on over.  We could use the help and we’re definitely going places.  You won’t be sorry you did.

Random Tidbit:  I found an interesting article about how Microsoft is dead after fighting with a Vista box that wouldn’t behave (or maybe it was and the behavior it’s supposed to have is illogical, who know’s right now.)  This article takes a different slant than others in that they still make a lot of money, but they’re no longer the big scary monster they used to be – Google is – and the only way to get back up there is to acquire a lot of the top quality startups.  Pretty interesting.

life

Unplanned Hiatus

I realized after my last post that I had sort of taken a long, unplanned hiatus from my blog.  I apologize for that.  Between work and my personal life, I was just not feeling creative enough to provide content that I thought was of value for the topics I usually contribute to.  Work has been going good, I have finally become a full fledged member of the Helium team, and we have a lot of exciting things coming up.  I can’t talk too much about them, but I’m proud to be part of the team.  I’m learning a great deal and though I definitely feel like a junior member of the team I hope to increase my contributions as time goes on.

One thing I have been reading more into is mash-ups and pipes.  I hope to have more interesting thoughts and ideas on that in the coming week to ten days.  I’m still trying to find if there are any legal problems with this type of site – I’m assuming if I have no ads and no income generated from it, likely not, which is how I plan mine to be – but I want to research it a little more.  If you have any knowledge on this, please feel free to let me know.

I have also, as I mentioned, stumbled into the wall of providing unique and interesting content on a regular basis.  Unlike most blogs, I don’t see this as a sort of diary.  It’s purpose is more as a guide to web design from a beginner to intermediate level with tips, ideas and thoughts on css, accessibility, web standards and search engine optimization.  I have been thinking of changing or merging it with interested writers in like subjects to form a more well rounded and more frequently updated information source.  The same sort of people you would find on a development team – database gurus, development (php, ruby on rails, cold fusion, etc), and possibly even a graphic designer viewpoint.  I’m not sure if there is the interest out there or even if my audience constituents those types of people, but I’m curious to see if that might be a better solution and provide a better product.  Otherwise I may have to consider scrapping my blog and simply using my articles as content on my site – which I look to be updating and expanding again soon.

Random Tidbit: I found a blog containing an interesting look at different brand name logos redesigned with a web 2.0 feel.  Very interesting.

life

More Random Tidbits

I have been very busy with my new job and an update for my website – so I have not thought of anything interesting to say.  I have however, found some interesting links that I felt like sharing:

I have more that I’ll share in future blogs, but I had a backlog of them available.  Enjoy.

life, web design

Gainfully Employed

I am proud to say I have now joined the team of Helium.com and hope that I can live up to their expectations and my own.  I think this is an excellent opportunity to grow my skills, expand my knowledge base and learn from people who are on the cutting edge of both web standards and web 2.0.  The experience I gain will be invaluable.

This does mean, however, that my posts will become even more infrequent.  I know this will disappoint my faithful readers – all 8 of you – but in order for me to achieve my goals I must prioritize my activities.

I hope that if you are a regular reader of my blog, you have – and will continue to get – something useful out of it.  Have a happy and safe new year.

books, life, science fiction

Don’t Panic

I’ve been reading an excellent book recently that I saw on a list of the 5 books every geek should read and wanted to recommend it as the best on the list. It is also one of the few books I would actually recommend that you see the movie first – simply because of how odd the book is. It is the 6 books of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy – better known as the The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide.

Be forewarned that it can be odd and seemingly pointless at times, but if you get it, it can be one of funnier books that you will read. It also has some interesting bits of philosophy in it – mostly poking fun at or exploring the oddity that is life.

I have read 4 of the other books and would recommend them as well. Neuromancer seems to be where they get a lot of the ideas for the Shadowrun books. Ringworld also seems to be an idea well for several other series. Finally, Asimov was always a good science fiction writer.

Enjoy. And remember – don’t panic.

Random Tidbit: It’s always important to remember The Ten Commandments of Web Design.