Blah, blah, blah… I’ve been busy. I’ve been writing lessons for the class (which is going swimmingly so far), working on a new top secret personal project, a top secret work project, and throwing my shoulder out of socket (no idea how or when I did it, but man, does it hurt).\
Life is good, and I can’t wait for Thanksgiving. The California Contingent is in town, and it’s been a lot of fun seeing Samantha with Max and Brian. We stood Brian up to her the other night, and they’re the same height. Brian is six months, and Sam’s a year. I don’t know how we do it, but Jen and I make big babies.\
I’ve got lots to talk about, really I do. I just need to find time to write it all, and right now, there just doesn’t seem to be enough time to go around.
Beautiful Font For FREE!
Goodness, it’s purdy. I may just use it for nefarious purposes: Typeface Of The Year
Proud Like a Parent
One of my the students in my class has set up Movable Type on her own domain and is now blogging!! I’m so proud… I feel like my kid has just started riding his bike without training wheels or something. Ok, without further ado, here she is: ..:WabeSabe:... Godspeed, little blogger!
Winston the Badass
We went to the National Firearms Museum (it’s weird) on Saturday. I knew Winston Churchill was cool and all, but a badass? I never knew!
Free or Rich
I was reading The True Story of Audion this morning, and this quote just leapt out at me:
The lesson? It seems you can either be free to do anything you want, to create anything you dream of without answering to anyone, or you can be rich. You’re not likely to be both.
I’m not sure why it did, but it has the ring of truth. I don’t really relate to working for myself, since I’ve worked for the Giant Triangle for my entire adult life (it’ll be a decade in May). But, I do understand freedom. I’ve carved out a nice little spot for myself here, and have a lot more freedom that other folks I know who do the same thing. I can inject myself in interesting projects or just do what’s expected (not that I ever do that).
For example, I can get away with things like the pirate organization (which is going very well, I might add). I can get away with being in the W3C. I don’t know exactly how I did it, or I’d tell you.
I answer to a lot of people, yet I still feel free. Why?
This Man Has A Secret
I don’t know what his secret is, but it makes me laugh… long, and hard until tears squirt out the sides of my eyes, and boogers roll out of my nose. Yes, it’s booger-rollin’ funny.
New Favorite Song: Bonnie & Clyde
I have a new favorite song: Bonnie & Clyde from Luna‘s Penthouse. The “Wooo-hooo-hooo” bits just make me smile, the beat, violins and cooler-than-thou sultry French lyrics (about Bonnie & Clyde, and Jesse James being dead) are just heaven to my ears.
Luna is a recent discovery, and they’re just peachy. They’re jangly, punchy and poppy, without overdoing any of it. They strike the right balance (with few exceptions) between pop and moody alternative. The lyrics are fun without being overly introspective, and the beats are always toe-tapping. If you’ve never heard of them, go pick up Bewitched, Penthouse or Romantica. You won’t regret it.
And completely unrelated to anything, someone found my site today while searching for “dudepants”. What did they find? They found one of my all-time favorite posts: Captain KangerDude. I love finding stuff I’ve written that I’d totally forgotten about…
Waiting is the Hardest Part
The hardest part is the waiting. I’m giving a presentation on web standards (and revealing a pirate redesign of one of AOL’s big products) in 30 minutes. I’m sitting here in this empty conference room, which I got to an hour early to make sure all the equipment worked and that I could get the projector to do 1024×768. It all does, which I figured out in about ten minutes. That left me fifty minutes to sit here, by myself and get nervous.
The thing is, I shouldn’t be nervous. I know this stuff inside and out. I’ve been standing on my soapbox for years now trying to get people to see the benefits of using web standards instead of “old school” tables, spacer gifs and non-breaking spaces. I could give this presentation in my sleep (and if you ask Jen, I probably have).
I don’t know why I’m nervous, or if playing Morcheeba over the conference room sound system is helping (but it is kinda fun). I’ll let you know how it goes…
I’m Going, Are You?
I just asked for approval from work to attend SXSW next year. Are you goin’? I am (I hope).
Blogging With Movable Type
The first class has been posted, and the domain name is live. I’m so excited. I’m teaching a class (starting tomorrow, so register soon!) on Movable Type over at Eclectic Academy. If you’ve ever want to try out MT, and haven’t been able to install it, or have it installed and don’t know what to do with it now, then this class should help. The first class is all about installing it on your local computer to give you a functional sandbox so you can “practice” with the product before replacing a current blog, or getting appropriate hosting for it.
So, if you’re interested, please go sign up. I’d appreciate it and stuff.