I’m reading the book “Designing With Web Standards” by Jeffery Zeldman (of A List Apart fame) and I have to say that I’m absolutely LOVING this book! I cut my teeth on HTML 4 back in 1997 and the current meme of designing web sites based on web standards has been a bit of a confusing experience for me. I’ve been sifting through the source pages of sites like Simple Bits, among others, but it just hasn’t “clicked” for me. I could see what they did, but I didn’t understand it. It has been a bit like looking at hieroglyphics. I could understand that I was looking at a bird, but I didn’t know what the bird stood for. Well, Zeldman’s book is making it all clear now. I’m two-thirds of the way through the book and it’s totally changed how I create web sites. I wouldn’t call it an epiphany, but I can say that I “see the light.” If you do anything with web design, this book is a MUST read.
Category / random bits
Fun Stuff On A Friday
It’s Friday and all I want to do it go outside and play. Since I can’t, I thought I’d just share some fun stuff with you to help you pass the time until you too can go home and enjoy the weekend too. 😀
Riding The Rails Of My Mind
I’m really opening up my mind to a lot of new ideas and concepts here recently. I’m awash with new prospects and ways of thinking about things. Seeing “The Passion Of The Christ” was a large part of that, but there were things moving in my life shortly before that as well. For some reason I opened myself up to thinking parts of my life differently and because of that new energy is coming in directly related to that. I know this sounds esoteric and somewhat verbose, but my mind is still gelling on these thoughts and I haven’t formed a concrete thought process yet. So I can’t write about it in a clear concise manner. These actions and ideas are still “swirling around the bowl” as it were and I haven’t been able to flush out an easy explanation of what’s going on with me right now. I’m undergoing a change of sorts and I don’t know that I can share with anyone what the change is exactly until I’m done changing.
So right now my mind is just jumping from subject to subject and none of my thoughts this morning can really get around one concrete idea to write about. So, if you’ll permit me, I’ll just sort of do a stream of consciousness entry today and share with you everything that’s running through my mind.
The Starbucks Oracle
Timing is everything. No sooner did I publish my entry yesterday, I received an instant message from a friend of mine with a link to a web site. I clicked on the link and was presented with the “Starbucks Oracle”. The idea is that you enter in your drink order and the “Oracle” tells you something about yourself. I put in my usual drink order, “Venti Coffee Of The Day and a Doppio Espresso”, and was told the following…
Getting Back Into The Swing Of Things
With this being my third entry in three days, it would appear that I’m getting back into the swing of things. As I alluded to in this entry, things have been a bit chaotic for the past month or so. Now that I’m back to my usual writing, I thought I’d take a moment to go into a little more details as to the root of the chaos.
Before the start of the new year, I had a pretty good morning routine down. I would wake up, take Gracie for a quick walk, feed Gracie and myself and write a weblog entry while sipping French Press coffee. By the time I was done with the entry, Gracie was ready to go outside again. We’d go for a longer walk, then I’d hit the showers and get to work. It was a good routine and one that I liked very much. This routine was pushed aside shortly after the start of the new year because of two things: 1) Getting Organized and 2) Dieting.
Why Conspiracy Theories Don’t Work For Me
I had an interesting experience the other morning at the grocery store. I was there to pick up a few things for New England Clam Chowder, which I’m was making for our Sunday dinner. These Sunday dinners are becoming a staple of our week now, and it’s something that I really look forward to doing each week. Last Sunday I fixed Wolfgang Puck’s Barbecue Chicken Enchiladas, which were out of this world, and this week’s menu was Emeril’s New England Clam Chowder. But all of this is beside the point isn’t it? 😛 So as I was saying, I was at the grocery store, Kroger’s to be exact, and I was ready to check out. The cashier asked me if I had a Kroger Plus card I said that I did, but that I didn’t have it on me. The lady who had checked out just before me turned back and said, “Would you like to use mine?” Somewhat stunned and at the same time pleased, I said that I did and the woman handed me her keys. I produced the fob and saved $1.00 off of my $29.00 purchase.
Now you may be asking yourself, “What the heck does this have to do with conspiracy theories?” and I’m glad you asked. 🙂 You see, some people take issue with the whole grocery store discount card idea. Why? Because when you use your discount card, your purchase is recorded and stored in a computer. The fear is that the grocery store, or any other retail establishment, is tracking your purchases and buying habits. For some this may seem like nothing more than rampant paranoia, but there is some validity to the theory.
My New Year’s Resolutions For 2004
With the New Year upon us, we all partake in the common custom of writing New Year’s Resolutions for ourselves. There’s something about a new year that makes us all want to do better than we did the previous year. I’m no stranger to this custom and in years past, I’ve made long lists of things that I would do differently, or new things that I’d learn, or try over the next year. Like most of us I’m sure, I’ve never really kept my resolutions, much less remembered what they were. I want this year to be different. I want to keep my New Year Resolutions and be able to look back in pride at what I’ve accomplished.
The biggest problem that I have with setting resolutions is that I can’t remember what they were 6 months from now. Since I now have a weblog, it’s only natural that I should post them here. This way I have a permanent record in which to refer to. The bonus feature of posting them on a weblog is that I have built in accountability. Posted for all the world to see, I can’t gloss over them like I may have done in past years when only my wife knew what they were.
My Sides Hurt
The other day, I was talking with my buddy Dan about starting his own weblog. Yes, if I like something then I have a tendancy to push it on other people. I admit it. Anyway, we were trying to come up with a domain name and I suggested ChiselMonkey.org. The .com and .net domains were already taken, but when we entered the .net domain into our browsers we both died laughing. I think it’s one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time.
If you don’t mind a little profanity, go to http://www.chiselmonkey.net. Dan and I both want a copy of this as a poster that we can each hang in our offices. It’s just too freakin’ funny.