Photos from St. Louis
I’m sure I’ll write or twitter more about this trip, but for now, a few “worthy” photos have made it up to flickr, so go check them out.
Ronaldo, the slave who “earns” $238,000 per week
Arguably the most recognizable athlete worldwide. An amazing footballing talent. Star midfielder and captain for his international team. Superstar of Manchester United - the reigning title holder of both the EPL and Champions League and the most valuable sports brand in the world.
If I was writing this 6 years ago, everyone would know I was speaking of superstar David Beckham, right before he moved from Manchester United to Real Madrid and is now playing for LA Galaxy.
An eerily similar script is unfolding before our eyes today, with Cristiano Ronaldo, the new Beckham. Yes, Ronaldo is flirting with the idea of following in Beck’s footsteps even more by moving to Real Madrid. If you are interested in this, plenty of sports writers are discussing it, check one of them out. To be honest, I couldn’t care less. That’s right, I really don’t care.
What I do care about regarding this situation is the comments that have been made by FIFA head Sepp Blatter. Blatter said that Ronaldo should be free to pursue a transfer to Real Madrid rather than be kept to the contract that he signed 18 months ago. Fine that is all well and good. However the “Mad Blatter” had to continue talking, and in those remarks, he went on to compare poor Ronaldo’s situation to “modern slavery”.
Yes, slavery.
When asked about Blatter’s comments regarding slavery Ronaldo, the portugese international said, “I agree with the statements of [Blatter] … What he said is correct. You know what I said, what I want and what I would like. Now I have to wait and see what happens.”
Wow. Ronaldo who just signed a 5 year contract a mere 18 months ago feels treated like a slave. A contract that pays him a mere $238,000 per week. Yes, I said per week, as in there are 52 of them a year.
To compare this spoiled brat to a slave is an insult to slaves. Ronaldo makes more money than he and his friends and his family could even think of spending. He lives like a king in a great country. He works out and plays a sport he loves 40 weeks of the year, and gets 12 weeks of vacation.
If he doesn’t like it, he can quit, and go into another line of work (unlike slaves). Now there isn’t another line of work that can offer him the limelight that his ego craves or a ludacris salary like that… so if he is complaining that the team that is paying him so much has requested that he not play for a rival team, that doesn’t seem like it is asking too much.
Grow up Cristiano. What little respect I had for you (off the field) has all officially eroded away. I hope Man U “puts you out to pasture” by trading you to Real Madrid and you rot in the Spanish sun like so many others have.
Yobo’s brother kidnapped
During the off-season for the EPL, news of player signings tend to dominate the headlines and tide the fans over until the games start again. Sadly, Everton made the news this week for a tragic reason. Joseph Yobo, one of Everton’s starting defenders, recently confirmed that his brother has been kidnapped in his home country of Nigeria.
Authorities are assuming that this will be like many other kidnapping cases in the impoverished region, wait for the ransom, pay it, and he will be returned. It is hard to imagine that there are cultures where this is commonplace and where it is almost an accepted practice. So sad.
So what did you buy with your Christmas money?
I’ve been debating whether or not to post this as it is far more personal than I usually choose to share in this public forum, but it has just been on my heart, and I wanted to share with the few that read this little blog…
A couple days ago I got a letter from Jackline (a child I sponsor in Kenya through an amazing organization called Compassion International). The letter was fantastic and heartwarming, but when I got to this line I just stopped and thanked God for my ability to help her.
“Thank you for the christmas gift […] I purchased a mattress. Thank you for your support to my life.”
If anyone has ever thought about sponsoring a child, I strongly recommend it. I’ve spent some money over the last 12 months: An iPod Touch, a new iMac, a wii … but by far the best money I’ve spent was on Jackline and I’m thrilled that for the financial cost of a wii and a couple games I can provide the finances for a marked improvement in the quality of life for a child in need. It is humbling that an extra $20 at Christmas buys her a mattress, a luxury I completely take for granted (in fact I have one in my house that sits unused in a guest bedroom).
I live a very blessed life, and I thank God for my letters from Jackline as she helps keep me grounded. I also had to smile as she closed the letter with:
“Many people are now planting their crops during this rainy season. Are you planing your crops?”
What easy lives we live…
SEO, Tim Cahill, and Spagnostics
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a curious exercise. In layman’s terms, SEO is the set of best practices that you should follow to get information to register (and rank higher) with search engines, most importantly, with Google. I applied some of my learnings on SEO for the November 11th post Tim Cahill’s World-Class Goal (Everton at Chelsea) and the results have been a little surprising…
According to Google Analytics, over the last 4 weeks, nearly 60% of the traffic to this site came from people searching for tim cahill’s goal chelsea (ranked #1 in google), or tim cahill everton goal chelsea (ranked #3) or some other variation of those words. Kind of cool, I hope everyone finding this site looking for that post finds the post helpful and chooses to stick around. I’m happy just to have you peeking in…
And on a very strange note, Google also seems to think that I am an expert on “spagnostics” as I am the #1 ranked item for that search term as well… I’m not really sure what to make of that fact though.
Merseyside Derby ruined by the ref
Liverpool visited Everton this week. Since both teams are in the same city, the match is refered to as a “derby” (pronounced “darby”). This is the longest standing derby in English football and the heat of the match can be intense.
Sadly a good match of football was heavily marred by the ref making decidedly lopsided calls in favor of Liverpool. Hibbert’s foul on Gerrard looked like a shoulder to shoulder hit, right on the line of the box, but I can see the ref calling that a PK and a yellow. Interestingly enough, you can see the ref pull out the yellow card, and then Gerrard talks him into the red (and Everton goes down to 10). Unreal.
Dirk Kuyt’s PK was good and the game is tied. Dirk then should have been escorted off with a red for his “leg-breaking” tackle (both legs cleats up) against Neville, however after a long talk with the ref, the ref is once again talked into only giving Dirk a yellow. Game should be tied up 1-1 and 10 v 10, but sadly, that is not the case.
In injury time, Neville hands a sure goal off the line and is quite justifiably given a red card for that. Dirk (who shouldn’t be on the field anymore) puts away another PK and the reds go up 2-1.
Even down to 9 men, Everton still managed to push the ball up and Lescott was pulled down on a fantastic scoring opportunity right in front of goal (second time in the game he had been man-handled, but this was the worst). Amazingly enough, not only was there no red card, no PK, there wasn’t even a foul called.
While I know I am biased, check out the video highlights yourself and see what you think… (this video was cut and uploaded by a Liverpool fan and pulled from “redsreview” so don’t claim biased editing or anything.
Nine things to know before you turn 30
Relevant Magazine has an article worth checking out. Jason Boyett wrote 9 things to know before you hit 30, and there seems to be a lot of wisdom (aka - “advanced common sense”) in it. I’m doing ok on most, but could be doing a lot better on some of the others. Looks like I’ve got about 14 months to work on these…
Things extroverts need to know about introverts
I stumbled upon this article by Brian Kim titled “Top 5 things every extrovert should know about introverts“. I have no idea about Brian Kim’s credentials, but this article hit the nail on the head from my (admittedly introverted) perspective. Worth taking a few minutes to read if you want to understand the workings of our sometimes quirky social behavior.
While on this subject, I found an interesting read from USA today a year ago. “Not all successful CEOs are extroverts” discusses the introvert and extrovert division and how it relates to our business leaders. While Steve Jobs is on the extroverted end, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and many others find themselves on the introverted side.
Saltwater as a burnable fuel, could it really be true?
Mark this day. Science seems to have found a way to “burn” sea water. If they can turn this into a viable engine, this could be the answer so many have been craving. We may be able to run cars and other combustable engines off of sea water, the most plentiful resource on the planet. Cross your fingers that this proves to be as promising as it looks right now.
Sports overload?
Wow, I didn’t realize I had 3 soccer (football for the europeans) related posts in a row. I’ll try to be a little more balanced in the future. Its just that time of the year and I’m a bit excited about all that is going on, especially in the Premier League (EPL) right now.
Bad news for Everton
A day after tying Blackburn in a hard fought game, Everton Football Club (my favorite team) have gotten some bad and potentially devastating news. Early in the preseason we lost forward James Vaughan to a dislocated shoulder. Shortly thereafter, we lost our center midfielder/Australian international Tim Cahill to a foot injury. These two injuries effectively decimated our depth in offensive positions. The speculation over the last 2 weeks has been that Everton was going to buy 2 new players to help with this, Middlesbrough striker Yakubu and Benfica’s Manuel Fernandes. Yakubu is a proven striker in the EPL so the Toffees (Everton’s nickname) were understandably excited, however Fernandes was the one we were most excited about.
Fernandes was on load with Everton for a few months last year and he was special. He was a playmaker, seemed to like the team, and really understand what the manager expects from his club. He made things happen on the field, and was a young and upcoming star. The thought of a midfield with Arteta, Cahill, and Fernandes serving up strikers AJ and Yakubu had most Everton fans salivating.
Well today we all came crashing back to earth. After passing his physical and having all matters of the contract agreed upon (but not signed), transfer fees set, even being the personal guest of the Everton owner at the Blackburn game, Fernandes has decided to do an about face, and sign with Valencia (in the Spanish league). This move came out of nowhere and has stunned all involved.
To make matters worse, Yakubu’s transfer bid is also looking tenuous as he cannot secure a work permit now to “work” for another team in the EPL. There is a rule for foreign players that they cannot play for an EPL team unless they have played in 70% of their country’s international games over the last 2 years. Yakubu, a Nigerian star, has fallen out of favor with the coach of the Nigerian national team, so while he has been a star in the EPL for 5 years, due to a technicality and a political matter, that transfer may be crushed as well. Everton is appealing the work permit issue for Yakubu and should have a final answer on Wednesday.
And the transfer window is closing fast (all teams need to be set by August 30), and won’t open again until January I think. I hope David Moyes can figure something out…
Looks like we won’t be seeing Manuel Fernandes doing this again this season.
Real Estate foreclosures and Richmond
Scared of the “sky is falling” attitude regarding the US economy especially in regards to real estate foreclosures? While there is a real problem, Richmond is actually fairing better than most expected. In fact, according to the article, we are actually the city doing the best right now. Pleasantly surprising news.
Greatest nature photo ever
Wow. I can’t imagine how excited this photographer was when he snapped this shot…
Subject to change
SAJ (aka my day job) has recently started a blog (when we are ready for traffic, I’ll post on here again). So I don’t screw with the production site, I may be testing out things over here, so if you show up one day and it has completely changed, don’t worry, I’m just screwin’ around.
Bourne comes home
I saw the new Bourne movie over the weekend and I loved it. But this is not really about the movie, as much as it is the ad campaign… How interesting is it that they put a 15ft x 50ft billboard saying “Bourne comes home” on the side of Matt Damon’s NYC apartment building (where he literally “comes home” every day). While I’m sure he probably is used to it, how surreal would it be to come home to a 10x life-sized version of you every day.
Chevy Chase Marathon on AMC
I kid you not… Mark your calendars for Sunday, August 5 - AMC is showing a Chevy Chase marathon!
So creative…
This happy new year message from mono is very cool. (hint, click on the facial features to see others)
Fujiya Miyagi
Um, holy cow. This music video is amazing. An animated value study built using colored dice to create a really nice pixelated effect.
“Lifted” by PIXAR
While I’m not exactly a fan of Steve Jobs, I can’t deny that he has been an influential part of two companies that put out some good products - Apple and PIXAR. Lifted is another “short” from PIXAR that has won some awards, I thought it was really cute.
* sidenote - never heard of this “jumpcut.com” site before, but it seems to be yahoo’s competitor to youtube. It is certainly prettier than YouTube (and less cluttered with ads) - but as history tells us, the best product is not necessarily going to win the battle (Virb > MySpace, BetaMax > VHS, OS X > Vista, etc…)
Bear, say it ain’t so
Sadly, Man vs. Wild (aka “one of the greatest shows on tv”) is hasn’t been entirely honest with us. Bear Grylls (the host) is still one awesome dude (while some of this may be overly dramatic, you can’t fake a lot of the stuff he did). Even knowing that his crew would leave him for the night and go to a motel isn’t a big deal… but hearing that on two occassions he may have enjoyed the luxury of a motel bed saddened me. Honestly, if you can’t trust tv, who can you trust?
Adding to my shame, my parents called shenanigans on this show well before I was willing to believe it.
Number 5 is Alive
The classic 80’s movie Short Circuit superstar robot “Johnny 5″ is going to be auctioned off for a mere 6 figures in August… Just don’t try to “disassemble.”
Uncle Rick = Brian Williams
We had a lot of family in town this weekend to celebrate the 40th anniversary of my aunt and uncle. While much of my family lives in the area, there is one uncle in particular (Rick) who lives in New Hampshire that we don’t get to see as often as we like.
For those of you who don’t know him, check out this clip I saw on the Daily show that reminds me of him. Who knew that Rick and Brian Williams of NBC news are twins separated at birth - personality, sense of humor, mannerisms, and even looks (Brian is probably a tad more attractive, but Rick can certainly hold his own…)
Two Sidenotes:
- I would watch the ‘Nightly News’ if Brian Williams would show an ounce of his real personality instead of his boring “anchor” personality
- Nice to see someone be able to take it and dish it back out with Jon Stewart. He obviously likes/respects Brian a lot more than the Crossfire guys (this clip was the death knell for the now cancelled Crossfire).
Soccer in the US
In case you haven’t heard, David Beckham had his debut with the LA Galaxy last night in an exhibition game against Chelsea of the EPL. For the first time in a long time, a US soccer story led Sportscenter … pretty cool.
Of more interest to me however was another EPL vs. MLS game last night played under a lot less fanfare - Everton vs. Real Salt Lake. Everton is my favorite EPL team, so I was very curious how they did.
Knowing that Sportscenter wouldn’t cover it, I went straight to ESPN.com. And I found a match report. Yeah, a match report of Real Salt Lake vs. “Chelsea”. Unreal… why report on a game if you can’t even get something as basic as the teams right.
On a side note, looks like Everton didn’t do too hot, so I am glad I didn’t see it.
cnn.com redesign
Andy Rutledge has done a great job verbalizing many of my thoughts about CNN’s redesign. I can definitely get behind his term “Quiet Structure.”
Here’s to the crazy ones.
The misfits.The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They push the human race forward.
And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.
Hucka-who?
I hate politics. I am a conservative but NOT a republican. While I don’t think he stands a chance to get out of the primaries, Mike Huckabee has caught my attention. He isn’t the typical republican puppet - I am hearing “new” ideas from him vs the same old drivel from the rest. From the little I know (heard a few interviews and read through his site), I like the thought of our country in his hands…
iSmoke
This just about made me cry. Our friends over at “Will it blend” have taken on the latest pop culture icon, the iPhone.
INFJ
Introverted INtuitive Feeling Judging - yeah, I can see how I would be pegged as such:
- Rarest personality type; estimated 2% of population
- private
- sensitive
- quiet leaders
- great depth of personality - intricately and deeply woven, mysterious, and highly complex, sometimes puzzling even themselves
- introverted
- sometimes seen by others as cold and hard on the outside
- may find it easier to express their deepest feelings and sentiments non-verbally or in writing
- abhor evil or injustice, especially that directed towards the innocent or helpless
- are sometimes looked upon by others as naive, mostly due to our idealism
- aren’t terribly career-minded
- love quotes/quotations and are often “philosophers” or “theologists”
- give advice, though usually more subtly than most other Directors.
- “Mute withdrawal is a major INFJ defense.”
- abstract in communicating
- live in a world of hidden meanings and possibilities - part of an unusually rich inner life
- artistic (and natural affinity for art), creative, and easily inspired
- very independent
- orderly view towards the world but within themself arranged in a chaotic, complex way only they could understand
INFJs value their integrity a great deal. They have high expectations of themselves and need to live their lives in accordance with what they feel is right. They do this through total trust of their intuition.
INFJs are proud of their authenticity, respectful of their benevolence, confident of their empathy.
They are activists there for the cause, not for the power, fantasize about getting revenge on those who victimize the defenseless, and put a lot of energy into identifying the best system for getting things done.
An INFJ is often hard to get to know. They are selective about their friends, but such a friendship is a symbiotic bond that transcends mere words… They hunger for deep and meaningful relationships, provide spiritual intimacy for their mates, and can only be emotionally intimate and fulfilled with a chosen few from among their long-term friends, family, or obvious “soul mates.” In such relationships, they strive for mutuality, don’t believe in compromising their ideals, and can understand and deal with complex issues and people.
It can be difficult for an INFJ to articulate their deepest and most convoluted feelings to others. They tend to be secretive by holding back and protecting part of themselves, thus creating hidden sides to their personality. They are choosy of what and when to share things and tend to only truly do so with those they trust.
Strong empathic abilities, an unusually strong desire to contribute to the welfare of others while pointing out human potentials
They are often leaders who go unnoticed, quietly exerting their influence behind the scenes. When working with others, they are very sensitive to conflict and cannot tolerate it very well. They will prevent/avoid it at all costs.
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp
Thanks INFJ.org for the info…
So for those of you who know me, think it fits?
Interesting side note - other INFJs: Dostoevsky, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Teresa, Oprah, Jimmy Carter and Billy Crystal.
extreme instability
One of the things I would like to do before I die is see a tornado (and hopefully even get a good shot or two of it). I have always loved weather, especially thunderstorms. The power and beauty are both so amazing in a good storm.
Mike, the guy behind extremeinstability.com (his flickr page) lives on the edge, but I think I would really enjoy that for a couple weeks …
Tattooing your laptop
Here are some interesting photos of macbook pro’s (or powerbooks) that have been laser engraved. I think the homage to Magritte is my favorite.
Hitchhiking gone high tech…
Mix together some hitchhikers, pan-handling, photography, blogging, life-casting, lot’s o’ gasoline, gps tracking, and a helmet mounted camera and you end up with this unique way to spend a summer - summerrideshare.com
This guy is offering to pick anyone up and drop them off where ever they want (looks like he is in atlanta right now), as payment, they need to pay for half the gas and share their stories with him. He is even documenting every purchase he is making and others can “support” him by picking up the tab for anything he does (through paypal).
What a great way to spend a summer. I wish I had thought of this while I was in college - I would have done it in a second. Talk about some memories …
Picked up by the A.P.?
My copywriter and I celebrated a truly unexpected victory this afternoon as one of our recent SAJ polls (designed as a fun poll with no real value) actually got picked up by the associated press today and has filtered down to the Houston Chronicle, Forbes, and a few others!
Sidenote - I still think we should have listed Jon Heder’s job as “egg gatherer” instead of “farmhand” - he would have won in a landslide then.
Lalas, are you kidding me?
As many of you know, I am a soccer (football) fan. I love it. Alexi Lalas (the former USA defender better known for his red hair and goatee than anything he did on the field) has suggested that the MLS is everybit as good as the EPL. I hope this is just a PR move to highlight the fact that David Beckham is making his way over here (finally), but it is a truly remarkable statement. Hopefully the MLS will consider the backlash (and laughter) this will get internationally.
Consider the guantlet laid and hopefully MLS is ready to backup such a statement. So far this season I haven’t seen anything that resembled the level of play in the EPL, but you better believe a whole lot of people around the world are going to be tuning in over the next few weeks to see if Lalas was an idiot (or a PR genius) as well as just watching what Beckham can do… should be fun.
Gremlin Baby Blog
While most of you don’t know my college friend James, he recently had a kid and has decided to start blogging about it, from his kid’s point of view. It is hysterical - it is a strange amalgam of his sense of humor mixed with Stewie from family guy… good stuff.
And I thought snipshot was cool …
This will likely blow it away. Adobe is going to put Photoshop online!!! That will save me some $ if it is any good.
Google’s April Fool’s jokes are the best
For the less geeky who check this blog, Google has gained a bit of a following due to the fact that they play an April Fools joke on the internet every year. This year’s TiSP is pretty impressive.
My personal favorite was a couple years ago when they realized that people were looking for the joke, they announced GMail on april fools, and no one believed them thinking it was just another joke…
success
I stumbled upon this drawing and it illustrated a big part of my concept of success.
SAJ on wiki
Just made my first Wikipedia edit …
A better crop circle
Looks like someone outside Portland is promoting a better browser by whatever means he can …
Form Design by Luke W.
Here is an extensive presentation on form design and usability. While most around here will have no interest in this presentation, my friends over at my old job may want to check this out. I still haven’t made it all the way through it, but around slide 15 it gets pretty practical…
joost
Anyone have a joost account that wants to invite me? I’d love to peek in on the beta here and see how things are going.
I pity the fool
When you can’t seem to find just the right words to express your love for your mum, let Mr. T do it for you! Sadly I didn’t find this in time for Mother’s Day…
Snag on TV
We have some upcoming TV spots for those who may want to keep an eye out for them…
Comedy Central - 16th @7:15AM and 12:23PM
ESPN2 - 15th @ 7:37AM and 12:21PM, the 16th @2:25AM, and the 17th @12:42PM
During this week, we are also advertising on BET, FX, TBS, TNT, and USA, but I’m not going to type out all those spots … pretty cool!
Good Job Toffees
This year I became a BIG English Premier League (aka “EPL” - the top professional football/soccer league in England). To make it fun, I gave myself 2 weeks to familiarize myself with the clubs, then I had to adopt a club as my own. Just as everyone here hates the Yankees, I decided I just couldn’t choose either Manchester United or Chelsea. In fact, choosing any of the “Big 4″ seemed less interesting to me than choosing a team that would really have to “earn it”. You see, the big 4 (ManU, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Liverpool) are always at the top of the EPL, they spend more on their teams than anyone else, and have many of the all stars from around the world on their rosters. Except when they play each other, those 4 are almost always the favored team in every match they enter.
As someone who loves rooting for the underdog, this didn’t seem as much fun for me, so I knew I ruled them out. For various reasons, I weeded out some other clubs, and then chose the one I “liked” the most out of the rest - which lead me to Everton FC.
Everton’s arch rivals are crosstown foes Liverpool and when I say “crosstown”, literally, the stadiums are a few hundred yards apart (or meters since it is in England)!
So today was the last day of the season and Everton gave me a fun ride - some ups and downs, some tough injuries, hard loses, and wonderful wins. They finished in 5th place this year. While most of the time people don’t cheer for 5th place, it was a better finish than most predicted, and left Everton with the title of “Best of the Rest” (since the Big 4 predictably finished in the top 4) and earned a spot in the UEFA Champions League.
Good job boys, I look forward to next year.
Pastafarians and spagnostics
In an example of the internet directly affecting real life - this is just a guy who just desperately wants attention…
For those of you who are not aware, the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) is an internet joke used to test limits of free speech and freedom of religion. While no one believes it is actually TRUE, many athiests and agnostics have adopted its use to counter any point - typically pushing to an absurd proportion. Unlike traditional faiths that believe their view is truth and thus would like to convince others of the truth - the pastafarians simply try to convince all parties that ALL beliefs (theirs included) are ridiculous.
What do these things have in common?
- Beer Kegs
- Driving ranges
- Ropes Courses
- Flip Cup games
- Volleyball
- Inflatable Boxing
- Miniature Golf
- Football
- Batting cages
- Cookouts
They are all things we got to partake in on company time and on the company’s dime in the last week. Not too shabby.
Web design survey
For those of you in the field, take a couple minutes and take this survey from ALA. 
I wish I could describe Him to you …
My youth minister introduced me to this message given by the late S.M. Lockridge back when I was in high school. The background music could have been mixed better (too loud at times) but the original message still rings loud and clear. (here is the sermon text in case you would like to read it)
y6joy6jo
6jtgjlyu
A couple of music recommendations
Pete, my college roommate, is the most gifted musician I have ever met. He helped shape many aspects of my life, not the least of which was helping develop and refine my taste and appreciation of music. Having previously turned me on to such gems as Supertramp, Brahms, Galactic, Rush, Peter Gabriel, and Spock’s Beard – when he talks, I listen, and am generally very glad I did. However, when he recently told me that his favorite musician for a while now has been Sarah Groves, I was stunned.
You see, Sarah Groves is the kind of music that is played on contemporary Christian radio. As someone who LOVES rock music (far more than I could ever hope to) I thought Pete shared my distain for anything that has the label “contemporary Christian” on it. Thankfully, Pete doesn’t let labels get in the way of his appreciation of music, and helped me open my eyes. Sarah Groves’ music is remarkable. She has an angelic voice, honest and vulnerable lyrics, and chord progressions and grooves uncharacteristic in the world of contemporary Christian “music”. Check out her new album Add to the Beauty.
The other band I have very recently fallen in love with is Future of Forestry. A relatively new rock band whose sound is more melodic than grunge, many of their songs have an the epic emotionally building sound - similar to Explosions in the Sky or Sigor Ros. Check out Twilight.
For the adrenaline junkie
You heliskiied. You bungee jumped. You ran with the bulls and swam with sharks. When skydiving lost its thrill, you picked up basejumping … but it still wasn’t enough. For you my friend, you need to check out “Speed Gliding” (combining heliskiing with basejumping and kitesurfing).
(Keep watching for the part where the “slope” just drops off into an enourmous cliff - insane!)
silverstripe?
A friend and I have been toying around with the idea of customizing wordpress (which powers chriswho) to turn it into a custom CMS that we could then turn around and use for freelance purposes. This weekend I came across Silverstripe though, and I’m wondering if we really need to do all that work - this could be what we are looking for. Has anyone ever heard of this (or anything like it) and have any recommendations or words of warning? I think I may try silverstripe out pretty soon. And being open source, we could still customize it as we want … If anyone has thoughts on this, I’d love to hear them.
Oh, and on the freelance side of things, sidejobtrack could be pretty cool.
Speaking of “NAPP”y
I would like to thank Don Imus for his idiotic comments and the mainstream media for their enthusiastic dead-horse beating … if it weren’t for them, I may have forgotten to let you all know that I have just recently joined my first “professional association” - the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (or NAPP).
That’s right ladies and gents, I’m unionized, so watch out! Well it isn’t a union, it is an organization dedicated to training its community about the my favorite program, Adobe Photoshop. Now that I am finally in a job where design work is a primary responsibility of mine (and not a little side project), I figured it was time to get serious about staying up to date on the latest with the program, as well as the thousands of tips and tricks from other users (and magazine subscriptions, etc).
I attended a training seminar put on by NAPP this week and it was EXCELLENT (and only $99!!!). I am very excited about taking my understanding of this tool to the next level.
The Machine is Us/ing us
This is an interesting video commentary on my professional field - a great overview, as well as an intriguing commentary on what this means for our culture/future.
Maybe I’m just too private or old fashioned, but things like this make me think about topics like microformats… I’m a firm believer in seperating content from presentation, however I (right now) have no interest in making it easier for machines to index any sort of personal info about me or anyone else … if the machines are going to take over, I’m not going to make it any easier for them.
(I honestly have no fear of SkyNet happening …)
Athlete of the month
My cousin just received the honor of being the athlete of the month for his college. He is a great tennis player, and it is cool to see him grab some honors like this. Congrats Robbie!
West “Virgina” … huh?
There is a debate every year about the 2 post season college basketball tournaments, the NCAA and the NIT. The NCAA selects the best (and all the automatic bids), and then the NIT gets to take it’s pick of the “best of the rest”. A second rate tourney… minimal TV coverage, and rarely any of the really good teams. The best the NIT hopes for is a big name program to have a bad year, bad enough that the NCAA’s won’t want them, and then the NIT can have them (like Syracuse this year).
Anyway, if the NIT ever hopes to be seen as legit, they may want to treat their champions better. The West VirginIa Mountaineers won the title, and were given these wonderful t-shirts to celebrate in. Anyone notice anything funny about the shirts? Way to go N_T.
