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Holy crap. It’s been two weeks already?!?

June 1, 2011 By 1 Comment

Damn.

I’ve been so busy, I didn’t even realize I hadn’t written about *anything* for the last two weeks. I mean, I’ve got tons of stuff to write about, but it seems like I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had time to sit down and organize my thoughts.

Okay, so I’m gonna get back into the groove and write about stuff. There’s a lot to cover:

  • I went to “Web Directions Unplugged”. That was awesome. I saw so many things and took away so much from the conference that I’ve been somewhat overwhelmed. I’ve got a lot of thoughts about mobile, about the future of mobile, and specifically about the agency’s place in developing mobile presences for clients.
  • Oh, and speaking of the Agency, I’ve been promoted to Vice President of Digital. I’m now overseeing all aspects of LHWH Advertising’s digital efforts, which is one of the reasons I’ve been so busy. I’ve been working a lot on proposals and coordinating a lot of the internal training we’re doing. That’s been really fun. Over the last three weeks I’ve given three different presentations on technology internally that have all been really well received. I love speaking, and it’s really rewarding to be speaking in front of a group that’s as receptive and energetic as the folks I work with.
  • I’m completely addicted to Dreamweaver CS5.5. I got my copy shortly before leaving for Seattle, and that, coupled with the things Greg Rewis showed off at Web Directions have got me so hot to create stuff with Dreamweaver, that I’m really itching to blog some more about the great stuff you can do with it. I mean, holy mackerel, the PhoneGap stuff alone is astonishing. Throw in jQuery Mobile, the HTML/CSS3 stuff… well… it’s just crazy the features they’ve rolled into this release. I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited to be developing web apps. This really is a great time to be a developer.
  • Seattle was spectacular. It was so great to be back “home” and the day I took to drive back up to Whidbey Island was one of the best days I’ve spent in recent memory. Oak Harbor is so much more different than when I left, but deep down, it’s still Oak Harbor and it still leaves me with the same feelings. I love that place and have a really deep attachment to it and the Pacific Northwest. I don’t think you ever really get that out of your system. One of the first things I wanna do is sit down and go through the hundreds of pictures I took and toss a handful of them up here to share. My friend Doug got me back on base, and it really was like stepping into a time capsule.
  • I’m healing up fine from my accident. I’ve been riding on the rollers for the past week and a half or so, and it’s doing a lot to get my legs back in shape. I’m still a little nervous about being out in traffic though. How weird is that? I wouldn’t have thought that I’d have had that reaction, but I’m surprisingly skittish about riding my bike on the street now. I’m sure I’ll get over it soon enough, but it’s strange how much more I prefer riding on rollers over being out on the roads right now.

So yeah. Tons of stuff, all worthy of being blogged about… Like I said, I’ve got a lot to say, I just need to slow down long enough to say it.

Filed Under: Meta, Personal Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Swiper, no swiping!

January 24, 2011 By 1 Comment

I recently ran across a post over on Boing Boing about legendary illustrator/designer Coop’s swipe file on Flickr. I loved it, but even better, I loved the idea… so I swiped it. It gave me an opportunity to try a couple of things I’ve been meaning to try. I’ve had a Flickr account for a long time, but have never really used it for anything beyond photo storage. I’ve always wanted to do something more and “play” with it more, but I haven’t really seen an opportunity that grabbed me. Once I saw what Coop was doing and I took a look at the photos that I’m typically taking with my iPhone, I realized I had sort of been doing the same thing without really knowing what I was doing. I just hadn’t really “formalized” the process.

So I’ve got a blog/website. I’ve got a Flickr account. I’ve got an iPhone with the cool little Flickr app installed. Why not put together a little process that allowed me to spontaneously snap inspirational bits of life, upload ‘em to my Flickr account, and have them automatically populate a page on my site?

Seems easy enough, right? Of course it is… about three minutes, a WordPress plugin, a line of shortcode, and viola! Instant Swipe File.

New menu item, new page… click, enjoy. No rules. If it inspires, for whatever reason, it goes in the swipe file.

Filed Under: Development & Design, Meta, Photos And Video Tagged With: , , , , ,

January 21, 2010

January 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment
I suppose I'm okay with that...

I dumped the RSS feed for the blog into a wordcloud generator just to get a sense of what I was saying. I like it. I can go to sleep at night knowing that's more or less what I choose to write about. I can dig it.

Filed Under: Meta, Personal, Photos And Video Tagged With: , , ,

Once again, the week gets away from me…

August 25, 2010 By Leave a Comment

“It’s Wednesday already?”

The last time I blogged was last Saturday when I was at Wordcamp. The impression might be that I don’t have a lot to say. That’s not entirely true. I actually just don’t have time to get it all down on paper! My head’s still spinning, I’ve got a “to do” list a mile and a half long, I’ve been working furiously on the back end of this site, and I’ve added so many cool features over the last three days I wouldn’t even know where to begin listing them all!

I do know that I’ve got a great blog post swirling around in my head, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to focus on becoming a Genesis Theme Framework expert in the not-too-distant future. I’ve been doing my best Amerigo Vespucci impression and have been dutifully exploring the theme framework for the last week or so, and I’m sold.

So don’t fret. Don’t fear. I still have much to do, and will be trying my best to get as much of it blogged for posterity’s sake as I can. Just know that Ground Control here at Planet Jeff is working furiously behind the scenes to bring you even more space-monkey madness!

Filed Under: Meta, Personal Tagged With: , ,

Will there be marshmallow roasting and s’mores?

August 17, 2010 By 3 Comments

This Thursday I’m leaving for WordCamp in Savannah, GA and I couldn’t be more excited. I’ve been to a lot of conferences. Design conferences, programming conferences, product conferences, but this is one I’m genuinely curious about. I’ve been using WordPress for a little while (I started with Blogger and LiveJournal, picking up on WordPress in the last year or so), and with the release of version 3.0 and my recent foray into the Genesis Theme Framework (not to mention the well-timed jump from ColdFusion to PHP… serendipity and all that), I’ve really started to get into the potential this whole platform has. Plus, I’m  looking forward to mingling with some like-minded fellow geeks and picking some of the brains in attendance.

Why all the WordPress love? Let me use an analogy.

I’m a programmer (well, that’s how I’d have to describe myself if you held a gun to my head). Now, there’s a lot you can do with programming. If apps were cars (just go with me here) you pretty much have a lot of the same opportunities. You could design cars. You have a lot of terrific technical expertise to bring to bear and could design new cars that solve new problems. With a little tweak to your skillset, you could build cars. You know, buy raw materials, learn a bit of welding & fabricating, and out of thin air create something that maybe someone else has put some time and energy into designing. Some guys, however, enjoy chopping cars. Taking cars someone else has built, and chopping them up, reworking them, slapping on some hella paint job and delivering a whole new experience, albeit one that’s based on a solid, proven foundation. Heck, you could be a wunderkind and do it all. Design cars, build cars, and customize cars like a maestro. Those guys are out there, for sure, but it’s been my experience that the guys who focus on one part of that process do exceptionally well in the end.

Right now, I’m thoroughly enjoying building customs.

I like all the work they (WordPress) have done building a stable, expandable, open platform. I like that I don’t have to invent any wheels (but if I wanted to, I could, very easily). I like that the hooks and inner workings that are exposed to me are crystal clear, and all I have to do now is bring my skillset to the party and knock out the fun part. The creative part. The rewarding part (at least for me, at this stage in my life/career). I’m absolutely convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the framework these guys have built will suit the needs of about 99.9% of the businesses out there, and for about 75% of you, it’s WAY more than enough. Need a calendar? There’s a plugin for that. Need some crazy Flash doo-hicky or a whiz bang photo gallery? There’s a plugin for that (probably several). Wanna add a contact form? Oh yeah, plugin. Wanna hook your site up to the bazillion social services out there? Plugin, plugin, plugin. Need something but there’s no plugin? Write a plugin for it. Heck, find something someone else hasn’t done and write one just to get your name out there.

And that’s just the technical widgetry. I haven’t even gotten into the CSS do-goodery! Go get a theme. Shit, go get a theme framework. They have frameworks for themes that plug into a framework that’s a blogging platform. Go ahead, wrap your head around that one if you can. You get best practices coding, SEO, ease of use, an easily administrable back end… and more.

All I have to do it toss you the keys when I’m done and you’re all set. But don’t take my word for it. Look at some of the companies that have discovered this shit. Starbucks, CNN, Wired, The New York Times. They’ve all figured out that when you remove all the discussion about implementation and execution, you can focus on all the important stuff, like getting your site to do what it’s supposed to be doing.

So I’m really looking forward to going down to Savannah this weekend, taking along a great designer from my agency, and spending a few days immersed in all things WordPress. If anybody who’s reading this is planning on going down to Savannah, drop me a line, I’m staying at the Sheraton Four Points, and I would love to talk geekery!

Filed Under: Development & Design, Meta Tagged With: , , , ,

Let’s get this party started…

July 12, 2010 By 3 Comments

Okay, so it’s a whole new blog, a whole new domain, a whole new host. New languages, new tools, new everything, basically.

Why the change? Well, there’s your answer right there.

Change.

It’s really easy to be safe. It’s easy to sit back, rest on laurels, and let your life get away from you. I’ve been doing this for what seems like an eternity, but for the last few years I don’t know if I’ve enjoyed it very much. When I took a long, deep look at myself and asked myself, “what do I like about doing this?” the answer invariably became some version of, “I like to be challenged”. Learning is a challenge. Doing something you’ve never done before is a challenge. Picking up new skills and new tools is a challenge. Being comfortable isn’t much of a challenge, and let’s face it, I was entirely too comfortable. If there’s anything I’ve learned over the last year or so it’s that I can do pretty much whatever I set my mind to. A lesson that’s too easily forgotten.

So it’s time to remind myself, right? Time to jump feet first in the icy waters of discomfort. Time to strap on some new tools, learn some new skills and move forward with momentum and thrust and purpose. Now is NOT the time to sit around watching the future unfold and seeing other people doing exactly what you got into this in the first place to do. Create cool shit.

So I’ve got myself a little MySQL account. I get a handful of databases. I have a spot to drop some PHP and a blog that I can customize to my heart’s content. I am master of my domain. Literally.

So sit back, enjoy the ride. This rocket’s about to take off.

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