So What Does This All Mean?

For starters, It means that I’m going to be attempting to move all technical related posts (maybe just the future ones) to the Fresh Blocks Blog.

Secondly, I’m going to do monthly and yearly goals for both Fresh Blocks and myself. Of which, I will be using the blog to document my progress, successes and failures similar to John O’Nolan’s concept.

I plan on separating content into a few broader categories, such as following my Thoughts and my Learnings. I’ll likely keep this page more personal and the Fresh Blocks page more professional.

Hello World

It seems appropriate in a way to start anew. But as we all know, Google never forgets. Some of the things that I am looking to document will be highly related to personal development. Of course, it will also overlap with what Fresh Blocks does, simply because Fresh Blocks is a large part of my development.

I’m going to be going over goals and what was achieved, what was not and why not. I will also go into noting special blog posts from around the web that have in some way contributed to my personal development.

The Year That Was 2009

Last year brought a bunch of changes. In the beginning of the year, I started up a company called Fresh Blocks. It was created to transition my freelance work from my personal name to a more distinguishable brand. The creation of Fresh Blocks also allowed me to learn what it takes to run a business and be a freelancer. I quickly became involved in social media networks such as Twitter and Friendfeed to connect to others in the fields and learn from them.

Another by product of Fresh Blocks was getting into iPhone app development. This of course meant learning a complete new programming language (Objective C) and framework of Cocoa (Touch.) I signed up for a developer’s account and began reading through tons of Apple Documentation, Dave Mark’s Beginning iPhone SDK Development book, and following along with Stanford’s CS193P iTunesU iPhone Programming Course. I also joined various Google Groups, the iPhone Dev SDK forum and Apple’s own Beta forum. I quickly developed 2 internal iPhone apps and 1 that was rejected by Apple’s App Store due to being a purely self-marketing app. All in all, I learned a great deal and am still thoroughly excited about iPhone programming.

On the web design and development end of things, I got my feet wet with some jQuery, seeing as I haven’t done much Javascript since back in 1999, it was quite a breath of fresh air. I also got started with some frameworks such as 960.gs and BlueprintCSS. I started getting down to learning Ruby on Rails and Python. I also introduced myself to Git towards the middle of the year and been working on transitioning from SubVersion over to Git.

And quite possibly, the biggest accomplishment of last year, was my engagement. One that I’m quite proud of and very excited about.

The Books

The following is the list of books that I read as part of my personal development last year.

• The Principles of Successful Freelancing
• Good to Great
• Escape from Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur
• Web Standards Solutions: The Markup and Style Handbook (Pioneering Series)
• Bulletproof Web Design: Improving flexibility and protecting against worst-case scenarios with XHTML and CSS (2nd Edition)
• Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition
• Beginning iPhone SDK Development
• The Principles of Beautiful Web Design
• Learning jQuery: Better Interaction Design and Web Development with Simple JavaScript Techniques
• Designing with Web Standards (2nd Edition)
• CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards Solutions
• iPhone SDK Development (The Pragmatic Programmers)
• Adobe Illustrator CS4 Classroom in a Book
• Free
• Unclutter Your Life in One Week
• The Complete Graphic Designer: A Guide to Understanding Graphics and Visual Communication
• A Designer’s Research Manual: Succeed in Design by Knowing Your Clients and What They Really Need

Where I Am Now

I’ve started my Mobile Programming course at Hawaii Pacific University. The course is centered around Google Android and iPhone OS programming. The class runs until the middle of May. I’ve also got an iPhone app I’ve been working on that I plan on finishing up and submitting it for an Apple Design Award. Hopefully winning one as well. I have a Magento project that I’m also working on.

I’m also in the process of re-arranging content and the overall design of this site. Primarily making it easier for future clients and employers to find information about me and at the same time documenting my personal development growth.

What’s on Deck for 2010

I currently have the following upcoming for the remainder of the year:

1. Getting deeper into Android Development
2. Starting up on iPad SDK Programming and releasing some Beta apps
3. Finishing up some iPhone apps and getting them published on the App Store
4. Getting back into Ruby on Rails and Python/Google App Engine
5. Learning more about ExpressionEngine 2.0
6. Finishing up a Magento eCommerce site client project

And I’m fairly sure I’ll come up with some more goals and such along the way.

The general questions were centered around: The importance of passion.

In the Boagworld podcast, there were quite a few thoughts and options to the questions since it was an interview with the Clearleft crew. So, you got the perspective of not only Paul Boag and Marcus Lillington from Headscape, but also Andy Budd and Jeremy Keith. The discussion centered mostly on how one finds the time to keep up with new trends, technologies, etc in the web design industry. The general consensus being that there’s a very blurry line between the work-life balance when it comes to this kind of thing. One of the important takeaways from listening to Andy talk about it, was that if it’s not making you all jumpy and gitty to want to know what’s changing, what the new hot trend is, or what new technologies are coming out, that it raises a red flag and you should really take a step back and re-evaluate if this is really your passion. Of course, you could just be burnt out. As Paul mentioned that he does the majority of his RSS feeds reading in bed on his own time, it’s important to remember, most of us would be doing this anyway because it’s what we love to do.

Although, not exactly the same question, the same topic was brought up in a different manner on the StackOverflow podcast. This time in regards to what technology to choose to learn for future profit. Specifically, the listener was not interested in coding in Objective-C for the rest of his life, yet concerned if Ruby on Rails would still be a viable way to make a living in the area he currently lives in. To this question, both Jeff Atwood and Joel Spolsky answered similarly with:

• “Joel and I concur: it probably doesn’t matter what language and toolchain you use, as long as it has a certain level of critical mass. What you should be more concerned about is the product you’re creating.
• If you’re happy with your current tool chain, then there’s no reason you need to switch. However, if you can’t list five things you hate about your favorite programming language, then I argue you don’t know it well enough yet to judge. It’s good to be aware of the alternatives, and have a healthy critical eye for whatever it is you’re using.
• Most programming languages don’t evolve particularly well over time. They’re usually replaced by other languages rather than new iterations of themselves. Why? What languages would you point to as the best example of growing and evolving in useful, relevant ways?”

While neither Joel or Jeff mentioned anything along the lines of picking something because it’ll make you a lot of money. I can’t imagine either of them would even come close to making any suggestion like that to anyone. Picking something just because it’s the new “money pot” or pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, is just asking for short term gain and potentially, long term unhappiness.

In the End

It’s my own opinion that you should not do or choose a path just because it has the potential to make you a lot of money if it doesn’t interest you at all. More so, if you have some inner hatred for Objective-C and think you should just suck it up and make something for the iPhone because it can net you a lot money. It’s not my recommendation, but do as you will.

What are your thoughts on Doing for the Money vs Doing for the Love?

Happy Earth Day!

Disney has gone green and launched Disney Nature (on April 21, 2008). Today is the release of the much anticipated movie Earth.  The movie is narrated by James Earl Jones and Produced by Alastair Fothergill of Planet Earth and Blue Planet fame.

Disney Nature has 6 more projects lined up for release through 2012.

• The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos – Co-directed by Matthew Aeberhard and Leander Ward, and produced by Paul Webster (Kudos Pictures), this film will take viewers to mysterious lives of flamingos. Worldwide roll-out begins December 2008

• Oceans — Nearly three-quarters of the earth’s surface is covered by oceans. French co-directors Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud have set out to capture the full expanse of these waters that have played such a crucial and constant role in the history and sustenance of man. The deep and abundant oceans are places of great mysteries and dangers that this film will dare to explore. Domestic release 2010

• Orangutans: One Minute to Midnight – Directed by Charlie Hamilton James and produced by Frédéric Fougea, this film tells the true story of a six-year-old male orangutan and his little sister, who must take an incredible journey to find a home and a family. Worldwide release 2010

• Big Cats – Audiences will get to meet three mothers – a lioness, a leopard and a cheetah – as they explore their world on the great plains of Africa. Co-directed by Keith Scholey and Alastair Fothergill and produced by Alix Tidmarsh, this film will show how these magnificent animals survive on their power and their cunning, while they protect and teach their cubs the ways of the wild. Worldwide release 2011

• Naked Beauty: A Love Story that Feeds the Earth – In this film, nature is ready for its close-up … a very close-up, as exacting macro photography takes us to the realm of flowers and their pollinators. Acclaimed filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg introduces us to a bat, a hummingbird, a butterfly and a bumblebee, demonstrating their intricate interdependence and how life on earth depends on the success of these determined, diminutive creatures. Naked Beauty is produced by Blacklight Films and Alix Tidmarsh. Worldwide release 2011

• Chimpanzee — Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield co-direct this intimate look at the world of chimpanzees, with Christophe Boesch, head of the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation, serving as principal consultant and Alix Tidmarshas producer. To be shot over three years in the tropical jungles of the Ivory Coast and Uganda, Chimpanzee will help us better understand this exceptionally intelligent species. Worldwide release 2012.

Press Release in PDF

Are you going to see the film?

Once getting into Hawaii Kai, it was a very beautiful way to see the scenery and the overlook of the Hawaii Kai marina. Coming into the end of the run, it was very nice to see the sun overlooking the Waialea Beach Park from the top of the mountain hill. Around the half mile left mark, you can start to see the Finish line.

Unfortunately, I injured my right foot around the 11 mile marker and was forced to limp the remaining part of the marathon. While it was disheartening, I did finish and have fun participating in the event. I completed both of my goals for this marathon. Perhaps next time I will be able to run the entire marathon and post a better time.

My official results can be seen at the Honolulu Marathon website.

[Show as slideshow]

I’ve always had goals. And one of them happen to be running in a marathon. I’ll be doing that this Sunday, December 14th. It’s going to be my first marathon. And I won’t be alone. Zen Habit’s  Leo Babauta is also running the same exact marathon, as is Boston Red Sox Pitcher Hideki Okajima. As the title says, we’ll be doing the 36th Annual Honolulu Marathon.

You can track our progress online at the Sportstats website. I am runner #9061, Leo is runner #8482, and Okajima is #37. The race starts at 5:00AM Hawaii Time. There will be just shy of 27,000 participants.

I have been following a Runner’s World training routine as I needed to train on my own time. Others have been following the Honolulu Marathon Clinic. A free clinic that gets together on Sunday mornings. Highly recommended if you’re interesting in pursuing running the Honolulu Marathon.

I have 2 goals for this weekend’s marathon.

1. Have fun
2. Finish

I’m very excited for it and I’m feeling very good. I believe I will be able to accomplish both of those goals. I have set aside all of my running items (ipod, shirt, shorts, shoes, socks, gels, powerbars, water bottle, etc.) I have no completion time goal and that should make it easier to take it easy if I need to.

I am also planning on stopping at every water aid station (every 2-3 miles) to drink water/gatorade slowly and walk a little bit after taking the water before running again.

While Leo won’t be carrying a cell phone during the race, I will be. Would there be any interest in getting Twitter updates as I get past checkpoints? I had wanted to carry a small camera to take pictures as I went along, but that doesn’t seem like a good idea anymore. Although, I will write a follow-up post with my experience running the race.

Have you run a marathon? Got any last minute advice? Good luck wishes?

I recently purchased the new unibody Apple MacBook Pro. I also commute to various places at times. So I wanted something to protect my laptop while I carry it. It only seemed fitting that I get a Tom Bihn Vertical Brain Cell since I use a Tom Bihn Brain Bag to carry all my stuff in anyways. Though, just about any other laptop sleeve would probably do the job just fine. And there are quite a few good ones out there. For example, Booq and Waterfield. Anyways, it arrived last week and I have been testing it out with the bag and as a case on it’s own. Here’s my experience with it so far.

The Packaging

First thing I noticed right away was the packaging. Kind of obvious I get. The box it comes in has a nice Tom Bihn logo. USPS must have had a blast with my package because this is what it looked like when I got it.

Though, I wasn’t too concerned with it as it’s a bag inside the box, it was a bit disheartening. Inside the box was also a Tom Bihn sticker. I’m not quite sure why they come with them, but I always welcome stickers. The last one ended up on one of my Moleskine notebooks. Free advertising for them I suppose. But hey, I like their products so it’s a decent way to recommend them.

The Brain Cell

The Brain Cell I ordered is the Vertical model. This was because the Horizontal version does not fit in the Brain Bag. Oops, let’s restate that. The Horizontal does fit, just not in the way it’s intended to protect your laptop. I’ll trust their judgment. They designed it of course. I do also have a Horizontal Brain Cell that houses my Lenovo T61 laptop that I use that to do my .Net coding.

The case does a great job at protecting the laptop. There is a lot of protection for the top and bottom of the laptop. I wish the sides and bottom of the Brain Cell had a bit more cushion to protect it, but that’s also carried over from all Brain Cells. It does fit like a glove around the laptop, so it doesn’t move around inside of the Brain Cell. That’s definitely a plus. I have found it to fit inside very nicely and completely safe. Here’s a picture of that.

Vertical vs Horizontal

The Vertical Brain Cell has 2 pockets compared to the Horizontal version having 1 large pocket with 2 buttons. Also, using the Vertical version, I cannot fit the Snake Charmer on top of the Brain Cell, which I can with the Horizontal. Can’t really complain about that as the MacBook Pro is quite a bit bigger than the T61. Another plus of the Brain Cells, they give you the option of adding a Shoulder Strap to carry them on their own. As I mentioned before, it does close via Velcro. And Velcro is quite noisy. It doesn’t bother me, but it does bother some. Those who prefer zipper closure, sorry.

Conclusion

Overall, I am really enjoying the Brain Cell and highly recommend it. It does a great job at what it’s for and complements the Brain Bag very well. If you’re using the Empire Builder, I believe the Horizontal is the way to go.

What do you use to carry your MacBook Pro or other laptop?

The Bike Specs:
Weight: 25.74 lbs.
Speeds: 7
Folded Size: 33 x 64 x 81 cm (13″ x 25″ x 32″)
Tire Size: 20″

I have been commuting about 3 miles during weekdays. I have taken the bike out for a longer run of 8 miles and the ride was still quite comfortable. It is a bit challenging on the steep hills when compared to a standard 26″ mountain bike.

In the past month, I have run into a few problems with the bike.

• Every now and then, the quick-release for the handle-bar will loosen.
• In addition to that, the handle-bar post loosened as well. The latter is much harder to adjust without the appropriate tools. The quick-releases are quite easy to tighten, so that’s not too bad.
• There is a wheel magnet that aids in holding the bike together when folded. The magnet sometimes would either fall out or come out when unfolding the bike. Again, this can be remedied by applying superglue.
• The elastic bands on the back rack lose stretchiness fairly quick. It can be adjusted, but replacements cannot be purchased.
• It is very hard to mount a water bottle on the bike. But it can be done.

All said, there is quite a list of great things to say about the bike.

• The bike folds very small. It’s small enough to fit under my cubicle desk at work.
• The bike is fairly light. You can carry it on the bus if you’d like. Dahon does have other lighter bikes also.
• The small wheels allow you to accelerate fairly quickly.
• The rack on the back of the bike is very handy. (Some models do not come with this. It is a separate accessory.)
• It is a great conversation starter. You will get a lot of people inquiring about it.

Dahon has a Flickr group where you can meet other Dahon bike owners and also see various pictures. On their own website, Dahon has a forum and picture gallery which you can contribute to.

This is a wonderful bike to start commuting to work and zipping around town. There are special baskets that fit perfectly on the front of the bike for going to a farmer’s market. I highly reccommend this bike. If you’re looking for something a little lighter, I would take a look at the Mariner. It’s essentially the same bike as the Speed D7, but comes with a tire pump built into the seat and is made of Aluminum (making the bike rust-resistant NOT rust-proof!!!)

After observing some PC switchers at a local Apple Store, there are a bunch of things that I noticed bugged the average PC (Windows) user trying to switch to a Mac to no end.

1. No “Home, End, Pg Up, Pg Down” buttons. Not sure why this is, but that’s the way it was designed for better or worse.
2. No “Delete” button – ok, ok. Technically there is a “Delete” button, but to a Windows user, that translates to “Backspace.”
3. No “Insert” button – I haven’t figured this one out myself yet.
4. Tapping the trackpad does nothing! This seemed to be a big one. Especially with the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros. You have to physically press down on the trackpad to click a link in Safari. This seemed to drive some of the users nuts. Go figure.
5. No “Right-Click” button. Simple enough to understand that a PC user is used to having a 2-button trackpad. As soon as the Apple Genius told them that they needed to just press with 2 fingers, the users seemed ok. Though, still confused as to why not just put 2 buttons there.

Of course, these annoyances are easily overcome once the user has gone through the learning curve or a workshop.

Were you a switcher? What growing pains did you go through?

Some of them are actually good and have some really interesting features. Such as: attaching pictures to a tweet (Twitxr), GPS location posting and seeing if anyone is near-by (Twinkle), and searching + add to following list (Twittelator).

But all that said, I’ve found my favorite Twitter app for the iPhone in Yahoo’s oneConnect. It’s a free app and it has a nice UI that is very user friendly.

Yahoo! oneConnect doesn’t currently allow you to search for new people and “follow” them, yet. Nor does it the location-aware features of the iPhone just yet. This is of course, a preview version of the application. So it’s still in beta. Then again, just about all of Google is in Beta forever.

It does have some other features which won me over as well. Particularly, it’s integration with Flickr. Being able to quickly see any new Flickr uploads of my Flickr friends is just great. I don’t have to wonder if anyone posted new pictures.

oneConnect also ties into Facebook, which is just perfect since I have friends who don’t use Twitter, but do use Facebook to update their status, pictures, etc.

oneConnect can also tie into your Bebo, Dopplr, Last.fm, MySpace and Youtube. I don’t have accounts on those yet, but it’s nice to have 1 app for all these.

Of course there are some cons of oneConnect.

1. You have to have a Yahoo account. (Accounts are free. And most people have one anyways. Plus, Yahoo has push mail for the iPhone, so why not?)
2. The Contacts tab of the application does not tie into the iPhone’s address book. Instead it uses the Yahoo’s contacts from your mail account. Albeit this doesn’t really bother or impact me at all.

Not to say this doesn’t change. And Yahoo has stated that they are going to be adding in new application tie-ins also.

Here’s the phobos (iTunes) link to download the app.

So, what’s your favorite Twitter iPhone app? Why?