A few baby names you might want to avoid

July 23, 2009

Our dear friends are expecting a baby, and they think it’s going to be a boy. When they were in town a couple weeks ago, we chatted a bit about possible names for the kid. And that made me wonder: What are some boy names that parents should avoid? Here are a few that I came up with after almost no reflection on the matter:

  1. Adolf
  2. Lucifer
  3. Goliath
  4. Genghis
  5. Onan

Did I miss any obvious ones? Let me know in the comments. Who knows? If we get enough of a list going, it could be a real public service.

In other news, I finally updated the rickety old blog software that runs this site. It was a painstaking process, and I’m not sure it was completely successful, so if you run into any problems, please let me know. For now the site is using a barely modified canned theme for its design. It feels a bit too “corporate” for my taste, but I wanted to make sure things worked before I started trying to dress it up again.

Posted in friends and neighbors | 7 Comments

Music I Like: Josh Rouse

April 4, 2009

For the past couple years I’ve been meaning to write a roundup of music that I’ve been listening to and particularly enjoy, but as is painfully clear, I never got around to it. So, instead of coming up with a huge list, I thought I’d post little bite-size morsels.

The first musician in my series of “Music I Like” is Josh Rouse. I’ve never met a Josh Rouse album that I didn’t like, but my favorites are “Nashville” and “Subtitulo.” He’s an amazing songwriter with a smooth voice and pop hooks that are extraordinary for how close they come to being cheesy without crossing that line.

Here are the Josh Rouse albums I listen to regularly, in rough order of preference:

Nashville Subtitulo Dressed Up Like Nebraska Country Mouse City House Home

Posted in music | 5 Comments

Crickets and Cobwebs

March 24, 2009

This little blog has been terribly quiet lately, some parts of it more than others. The writing guide section has been the most neglected, not having seen a new entry in two and a half years. A few of the entries have been fairly active with comments—some related to the entries, some not—but I haven’t had any time to respond to the comments or answer questions or do anything else with it. So I shut it down. The entries are still available, but I’m not going to write any more and I’m no longer allowing comments from others.

I’m still debating whether to shut down the word of the day officially or to keep it going with a random new word from time to time as guilt overtakes me.

The site as a whole feels like an old jalopy to me now. Most of it is running on an old, outdated version of a blog publishing platform that hasn’t kept up with the times. I’ll probably update the software within the next month or two, rather than switch to a snazzier new engine, because I’m afraid I’d lose most of what’s already here. Regardless, things will break, even if I stick with the same software and just do a version upgrade. Things always break. Once I have the infrastructure in place, I’ll start thinking about a new design. I’d like to say that I’ll start posting entries more regularly, too, but I don’t want to set unreasonable goals for myself.

In Other News

Learning jQuery 1.3 book cover

Lately, when I’m not contemplating the sorry state of this blog, I’m usually immersed in web development work of one form or another, much to the chagrin of my non-technical Facebook Friends who have suffered the onslaught of my esoteric Twitter posts, which are then automatically posted to my Facebook status, where they are invariably mocked, but all in good fun, I’m sure. My buddy Jonathan and I just had the second edition of our book published. The publisher gave it a new title, just to confuse people. It’s now called Learning jQuery 1.3. Overall, I’m very pleased with the way it turned out, and I’m quite relieved by the first few reviews of it on amazon.com, which seem just as complimentary as those of the first book. In May I’ll be conducting a three-day training workshop on jQuery, which should be fun and stressful.

So much for getting a good night’s sleep tonight. If I had a brain, I would have stopped this nonsense hours ago. But I knew if I didn’t finish this and post it tonight, it would probably sit in draft mode for another couple months (like the seven or eight other entries I’ve started but haven’t finished). Good night.

Posted in technology | 2 Comments

Monday through Thursday

February 10, 2009

When I put myself on a diet two years ago this month, I had no idea I’d still be on it today. In fact, the only thing I cared about was making it to the weekend. It’s all I’ve cared about ever since. The place where I was working had bowls full of chocolates everywhere I turned. Each time I passed by them, I felt obliged to stuff my face with at least one. No willpower.

So, I made up a rule for myself: No eating sweets, Monday through Thursday. On Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays I could eat whatever I wanted. And I did. And I do. Surprisingly, though, I don’t eat any more junk food on the weekends than I did pre-diet.

Admittedly, it’s not much of a diet, and it’s not about losing weight, which is a good thing, because I haven’t lost any. It’s not even about willpower, though. Maybe it was in the beginning, but now it’s more about something else.

Did I mention I have a sweet tooth?

This little non-diet is ultimately about having one less decision to occupy my mind four days of the week. Before two years ago, the mere sight of candy would spark an internal battle. And I’d usually lose. Or win, depending on how you look at it. But however I looked at it, I ate the stupid candy.

Now there is no struggle because there is no decision to be made. Every Monday through Thursday the decision has already been made. And it’s a huge relief. The other relief comes each Friday when I can eat whatever I want without perseverating over it or feeling guilty about it. If I didn’t have the eat-free weekends, I wouldn’t have made it past week two.

Sure, I’ve “cheated” a few times, but it doesn’t matter, because I’m not a slave to it and I can still count the number of times I’ve “cheated” on my fingers. Also, holidays (the ones I celebrate) and vacations are exempt from the M-Th rule, as they should be. Otherwise, it’s four days on, three days off. Rinse and repeat.

Something there is inside me that doesn’t love a variable, which is why at least 200 out of the 365 days of the year I eat the same Clif Bar for breakfast, the same mix of nuts and raisins for snack, and the same turkey sandwich for lunch. And it’s why my brain feels just a little less cluttered when sweets are out of the equation.

Who knows how much longer this will last? I don’t. But I don’t feel the need to stop any time soon.

Posted in self-indulgence | 2 Comments

Resolutions

January 3, 2009

Ben told me yesterday that his new year’s resolution was “to hope that the economics improve.” It was a sweet statement, but I couldn’t help notice that it involved no work on his part—unless you count as work worrying about something over which you have no control.

My resolution is less noble, and it also requires no work: I will not engage in any wingsuit base jumping. Watch this video to find out why:

[wingsuit base jumping on Vimeo]

How about you? Have you made any good new year’s resolutions this year?

Posted in miscellany | 7 Comments

Early Christmas

December 10, 2008

When I got home from work this evening, a package was waiting for me on my desk. I sat down, tore off one end of the padded envelope, and pulled out a book written in Korean. Of course I can’t read a word of Korean, and the cover is a little beaten up, but I was absolutely thrilled, nonetheless, to receive it. It’s a translation of Learning jQuery, the book I wrote last year with my friend Jonathan Chaffer.

Learning jQuery Korean edition

Crazy.

Posted in self-indulgence | 9 Comments

Election Day in New York City

November 22, 2008

In mid-October I received an email from a friend of mine, asking if I could fill in for him at the Future of Web Design conference in New York City. He was scheduled to lead a workshop on November 3 and give a presentation the next day, Election Day.

Of course, I jumped at the chance. And, of course, I panicked soon thereafter. The workshop (3 1/2 hours) and presentation (30 minutes) required a lot of preparation in a short amount of time. But somehow I managed, and the workshop went better than I could have hoped. The presentation didn’t go quite as well, but that’s okay. Without going into too much detail, I’ll just say that it was a terrific learning experience (and if you’re really interested, you can read all about it on my techie blog, Learning jQuery).

After Tuesday’s conference, I was too exhausted to join the rest of the speakers and attendees at the “after-party,” so I took a long walk back to my hotel, checked out early, and took the F train to Queens, where I stayed overnight with my dear friends Nicole and Julian and baby Dash and watched the election results come in. It was such a treat to be able to unwind with friends and share this amazing moment in our nation’s history with them. It couldn’t match spending that time with my family, but it was the next best thing.

Here are a few pictures I took during my brief visit. Click on them to see a larger version.

Nicole and Julian and Dash New York Buildings Inside the Roseland Ballroom Neon Lights in New York City Traffic Outside the Apple Store Stairs to the Apple Store Inside the Apple Store The Bentley Hotel Roseland Ballroom
Posted in friends and neighbors, photography | 2 Comments

America’s Greenest City

October 21, 2008

Can you guess what America’s “greenest city” is, according to an article in the October 2008 issue of Fast Company magazine? Hint: it’s not San Francisco or Portland or Seattle.

Give up? It’s Grand Rapids, Michigan, the city where I live. According to the article, “Grand Rapids leads the nation in the number of LEED-certified buildings per capita. In 2005, Mayor George Heartwell pledged that more than 20% of the city’s power would come from renewable sources by 2008; it hit that target a year early… And here, in the heart of the Rust Belt, manufacturers are leading the greenification charge. Office-furniture heavyweights Herman Miller and Steelcase both have LEED-certified buildings in the area, as do industrial firms such as Cascade Engineering. ” It’s nice to see that Grand Rapids is doing so well in this area, and it’s gratifying to read something positive about this place from a national publication.

Posted in society | 2 Comments

The Candidate Who Shall Not Be Named

September 14, 2008
Nader/Gonzales 08

If it weren’t for my father-in-law, I’d have no idea that Ralph Nader is running for President of the United States. That’s right, folks: Nader is running again, he’s on the ballot in 45 states, and my father-in-law is a supporter. After reviewing the Vote Nader web site, reading about his views on a number of issues, and watching a handful of videos of him speaking, I have to admit that Nader almost has my vote. He at least has me thinking more about some of the issues that I care about, such as civil liberties, education, healthcare, and opposition to “preventive” war. That’s more than I can say about the two major-party candidates, who either speak in platitudes or try to peddle fear and lies.

Don’t get me wrong. I admire Barack Obama and am generally supportive of the general themes of his campaign, at least what I’ve been able to ascertain through the media filter. But I was deeply disappointed that he chose to vote for the FISA legislation granting “retroactive immunity” for telecommunications companies who broke the law on the government’s behest—after he had said he would support a filibuster of it. And I respect what John McCain did for the country 30-some years ago (in Vietnam as a soldier, not afterwards when he traded in his first wife for an uninjured model). But I’m not impressed with his voting record over the past eight years, and I don’t respect his sleazy, lying campaign ads, and I’m not interested in having four more years of a fear-mongering, bellicose president in office.

So, how is it that Ralph Nader, who has gained enough supporters to be placed on the ballot in nearly every state in the country gets absolutely no press coverage at all? Why did the mainstream media completely ignore Nader’s 3,000+ rally during the Democratic Convention but still manage to mention Ron Paul’s gathering? Why won’t the two major parties allow him to participate in the presidential debates? Nader calls it “political bigotry,” and I’m inclined to agree with him.

For those who like to claim that a vote for Nader is a “wasted vote” or that Nader is responsible for Gore’s loss in the 2000 election, you ought to watch this (running time 2:45).

Posted in family | 15 Comments

Sara Is Dining with Squirrels

September 7, 2008

Last year I bought a little gift for my wife, Sara: a domain name and free web development services. Two days ago she used it for the first time, writing about the kids going off to school in her brand-new blog, Dining with Squirrels. It was well worth the wait.

Sara has the enviable gift of being able to write with the effortless grace of a figure skater. There is nothing forced, nothing strained in her prose. I could read it for hours without growing tired. And that’s not just because she’s my wife.

Read Don

Posted in family | 2 Comments