March 2007 Archives

After three months of laboring in relative silence, I'm able to explain publicly why the activity on this site has diminished so much. I'm writing a book.

Now, before anyone gets too excited, I should specify that I am writing a book on how to use the jQuery JavaScript library to enhance interaction design on websites. The book is an extension of the blog I've been running, Learning jQuery. When a publisher contacted me in November about the possibility of writing a book, I jumped at the chance.

Actually, I told them I would jump if they let me write it with a colleague of mine, Jonathan Chaffer, who is a much more skilled programmer than I am. They said that was fine, so Jonathan and I started writing. It turns out that Jonathan is also a talented technical writer as well.

The writing is progressing well. We're hoping for a publication date sometime this summer. Soon the publisher will have a page on their website with details about date, price, and so on. When they do, I'll post a link to it here, just in case anyone is interested. In the meantime, feel free to read the announcement at jquery.com.

Thanks to my family and close friends who have kept this a secret. Thanks to everyone for being patient while the English Rules site remains dormant.

Since none of my own words are worthy of blogging these days, I thought I'd at least give you an idea of what Ben and Lucy have been saying. They're a lot more entertaining than I am, that's for sure.

A couple weeks ago Ben explained to his mom why he likes to watch Pokémon:

Mom, do you know why I like Pokemon so much? Because it has so much violence in it. I really like violence.

And why he doesn't like Barney:

Barney, unlike the Wiggles, is a foul git.

After playing a computer game called Nanosaur with me and Ben, Lucy had this idea, based on the game:

I think for my birthday I'd like to have a "burst of speed" party.

She also offered reassuring words to me one day while we were doing a little craft together:

Daddy, you did a fine job with your first snowflake!

Wanting to be able to gloat to Lucy about his experience without having to suffer the consequences, Ben devised a plan:

Ben: I'm going to tell Lucy I went to McDonalds for lunch.
Mom: Oh, Ben, don't. Let's not make her feel bad.
Ben: It's okay. I'm going to tell her I had a horrible time.

Over the weekend, Ben's fourth baby tooth fell out. Apparently, I was more excited about it than he was:

Me: Ben! You lost another tooth! How cool!
Ben: Oh no! Now everybody is going to worship me. I don't want everybody to worship me!

At some point in my life I had this one memorized; it felt good having it rattle around in my head. It's one of my favorites from Seamus Heaney—more tender than most of his poems, but still infused with his working-class vigor.

Read more about Seamus Heaney at the Poetry Archive.