Back in action

After a short sabbatical from blogging, I am finally ready to start writing again.  It’s been a rainy and busy winter here.  The weather is finally beginning to change with the promise of many spring/summer days ahead.  Over the last few months, I’ve been trying to decide exactly what to do with my blog and what direction I should take. I’ve been struggling with trying to find a way to blog about technology and still maintain a personal side to the blog.  I’m not sure I’ve figured this out but think I can safely mix the two topics here.

Many of you have been wondering what I’ve been doing during my “free time”.  Well, I’ve been busy working with some Santa Cruz Geeks and a few select others to launch the 12seconds.tv website.  You can read more about 12seconds.tv by going to the website or reading our blog.   It’s been a fun process to see the site go from idea to implementation and will blog more about my experiences working on it.  The framework for this site is the Drupal CMS handling user authentication, friend invites, private beta, and content.  I’ve implemented several Drupal websites before and this process has only added to my Drupal experience.  I know many struggle with the steep learning curve for Drupal, but once you get past that things start to fall in place quite nicely.

My goals for this blog in the near future are:

1. Convert site to Drupal 6.x from WordPress 2.x
2. Update frequently at least 2 or 3 times a week
3. Balance personal commentary with technology information
4. Update the design

To accomplish goal number one, I will most likely be working on upgrading a Drupal 5.x module to import from WordPress 2.x to Drupal 6.x.  This will not be an easy undertaking, but will allow me to contribute back to the Drupal community and gain some experience with upgrading modules. I’m looking forward to writing again and keeping everyone updated on what’s going on.  If you want an invitation to 12seconds.tv, just send me your email.

For those that are curious, here’s an example of a 12second video.  I’m having sound issues on my Mac, but this will give you a general idea.  Once I fix the sound issues, I will post a new 12second video.  Also, you can check out what others are recording by going to http://12seconds.tv/channel. 

How long is 12seconds? take2 on 12seconds.tv

Great weekend!

I have to say that after having a really crappy day on Friday, the weekend made up for it.  I had a number of things on my list of goals for the weekend.  While I didn’t do all of them, I was able to cross of some major ones.  I slept in really late on Saturday (let’s just say past Noon and then some).  I think I actually needed the sleep to recover from my weird schedule the prior week.

I managed to go biking which I haven’t done in almost 2 years.  I had forgotten how centering and how enjoyable biking is.  I only went about 3 miles on Saturday and then another 2.5 on Sunday.  However, tomorrow I plan to start biking to work.  My goal is to bike to work every day, but I also recongize there will be days where I don’t bike to work.

I ended up going into the office to finish up a project this afternoon.  My internet connection at home was slow.  I went to one coffee shop and they didn’t take credit cards (I had no cash in my wallet at the time).  I ended up at LuLu’s but they didn’t have wireless working which lead me to the office.  I actually am finding that I like working in the office much better than at home.

I anticipate a lot of stress this week, but I’m hoping with biking to work and taking control of my day I can keep the amount stress down.

Why I go to work

This is just one of the many reasons why I enjoy going to work every day.

The Office

I’ve been busy the last few months with work. I love what I’m doing and the people I’m working with, but I’ve been ignoring my personal life for way too long. The good news is that I’m going back to DC for a week to visit with Family and my best friends. I miss DC, but am glad that I made the decision to move out here. I can’t imagine the business going in the direction its going without being in the office every day. I thought I would share a few things about what happens in a typical day at “The Office”. Although, “typical” is probably not right word to use.

• Baby Splooge - We have a 4 month old (a very good 4 month old) that likes to hang out with us in the office on a daily basis. I have to say that spending time with said baby is the highlight of my day. I believe he feels the same way, because he loves to spit-up every now and then. The most recent incident for me was when Rob was walking me over to meet Ben. I was holding said baby and after we got to Ben’s, Rob looked at me and said “You might want to walk back to the office now.” Yep, I had been splooged. But I’ve learned. I had a clean shirt in the car.
• Sports - We often have off-the-wall discussions. This one happened to be when it was just the boys in the main office. We had a discussion about how gay relationships and straight relationships compare in regards to making it to “X Base”. I was explaining to the straight boys how I don’t think the base methodology can be applied to the gay world. Rob then decided that it must be like swimming. Basically, saying that we can dip our foot in and make sure the water is the right temperature and then we dive right in. Maybe that’s not totally accurate, but it definitely could be applied to some of my previous “relationships”.
• Sports Follow-Up - In regards to the sports discussion above, one of our co-workers came in to the office during the middle of it and then left. She reported back that the conversation was very interesting in the other office. She said, “They are having a conversation about bases from the perspective a single straight man, a married straight man, and a gay man”. Yep, I think we had all the bases covered.
• Friday Pow-Wow - One of my favorite times in the office is Friday evennings when we talk about where the company is going and how we are going to get there.
• Client work - This is where I spend (or try to spend) most of my time. Sometimes it’s fun projects other times it can be rather boring. Overal though, we get to work on exciting projects that help promote the client.

I have fun in the office, but I’m going to try this week to be more efficient and not spend 10 - 12 hours in the office each day. I leave Thursday night for DC which will be a welcomed break. I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to do for a week while I am back in DC, but I’m sure it will go by quickly.