Putting the focus back on content
UPDATE (September 14, 2011): This blog is now on tumblr which is even better than a redesign. I can choose from thousands of designs with a click and I don’t have to think about the hosting or backend at all. Awesome.
For months now I’ve been meaning to design a new look for this site, but I’ve only ever made partial and half-hearted attempts at actually doing so. I’ve used the “it needs a new design” excuse to stop writing any content because I reasoned that time should be spent on making the new design. Trouble is, that’s silly. Blog content is limited to the web medium and, in fact, I hope you’re reading this via your favorite RSS reader. (Mine is Reeder on the iPad and I would use it for every site on the web if I could.)
So I’ve decided to stop procrastinating a redesign of this blog-o-sphere, use this very nice theme from the talented Jayj and be done with it. From now on, I’m just going to blog. If I find a theme I like then I’ll incorporate it, but I’m not going to waste time on the aspects of the site I don’t care as much about.
What’s been going on?
at work: broadband.com
After much work, we’ve pushed through a broadband.com re-re-re-launch. The new site is much more streamlined, there are less cooks, and it’s a good place to start iterating from. Is it a work in progress? Yes! A website that isn’t is dying. I’ve added a/bingo to the application and we’re getting some good buy-in to the idea of data driven development.
at home: home theater
What? Yes! Yes! My long-time dream of having a real home theater has been realized. An Epson 8700UB projector, a 120” screen (yes, 10 feet on the diagonal), sweet 7.1 sound, a dedicated room with no windows and dark color scheme…my wife and I are gleefully enjoying its entertainment potential.
Yeah, a dark color scheme. I didn’t think it’d make a big difference either and thought that all the folks on the home theater forums were fooling themselves. But think about it: a white wall reflects a ton of the light that hits it. When you’re projecting onto a screen then that screen gets washed out by additional light. Going from white to dark walls had as much of an effect as turning off the lights.
It’s such a fun experience to watch movies on the “big” screen that we’ve never been able to either because they were released before we were born or we just missed in the theater. The new Lord of the Rings blu-ray release is so far the most visually impressive. We can really see the loving attention to detail that Peter Jackson’s team etched into every prop, every set, every shot. Little details like the titles on the books in Bilbo’s study really just sell the entire experience.
True Grit (2010) was the first full movie we watched on it. We are perfectly happy to wait for the disc releases of movies now.
Videogames on the thing…I don’t think I’ve ever really played videogames before. The vistas in Red Dead Redemption or Uncharted 2 are simply stunning.
Of course, I don’t have as much time for videogames as I used to.
at home: our little boy
Being a parent is the best thing ever, and it just keeps getting better. Our little man is just so amazing, I think he’s at least ten times smarter and more insightful than I am. We taught him the word “opaque” and he came up with “o-seen” and “o-clear” as antonyms. He is also quite taken with anything that makes light.
at work: rails
Rails continues to be just a fantastic web technology to work with. Especially Rails 3.1 with its asset pipeline. PHP and Django are but troubling memories.
blurbs
That wraps it up for all the things I can think of, except now I’ve thought of some blurbs.
Google+ is great, grouping people is intuitive and that’s what I really wanted. You can easily find me just by going to [“http://xyzzyb/+”:http://xyzzyb.com/+]
Justified is a really great TV show, watch it.
The Hunger Games series is an addictive read, read it. It peaks about 75% of the way through the first book, but it’s worth it.
If you’re tired of messing with your home wireless network and want it to Just Work, then pick up an Apple Airport Extreme. Worth it, so worth it. I was a doubter, but then I tried it.
