This morning on my way home from dropping Evan off at the babysitter’s house I decided to stop by my bank and deposit a few checks. I knew Washington Mutual got bought by Chase and I also realized my local branch was going to close – but I thought it was going to be in March and not in Feb. I pulled up to the bank and it was completely empty – sign off and all. It is not every day I see banks closing – but I am sure I will see a lot more in the next few months. Long live the great WaMu (I really liked working with them).
Archive for February, 2009
All posts written in February, 2009.
Feb
24
2009
Lego Business Card
OK – I seem to be on a LEGO kick so as soon as I saw this – I had to share. Check out the official LEGO business cards! I have been trying to come up with something cool for my own business cards. Not like I will ever come up with something as cool as that LEGO business card, but at least this has me thinking…
Feb
20
2009
Jappler Recommends: jQuery
If you ever wanted to do something cool (slideshow, lightbox, accordion, pagination, table sorting, drop down menus etc) – please do yourself a favor and look at jQuery and all the great jQuery plugins that are available. About a year or two ago I really liked some of the different javascript libraries (YUI, prototype, etc) but over the last several months 99% of all my projects have required some sort of functionality that made me look at and then use jQuery.
Why jQuery? Unlike some of the other libraries, jQuery is very lightweight and does not suffer from a lot of bloat. You can also find a number of well documented plugins to do just about anything. You also have a great deal of UI controls and widgets that are available by using jQuery UI. Did I mention the documentation – it is really great. The learning curve is not steep – and once you do a few smaller projects – your comfort level with jQuery will skyrocket.
So next time you decide to do something to add some extra pizazz into your web site – remember, take a look at jQuery first!
Feb
19
2009
Long Days…
Me too...
Feb
17
2009
Minimizing Interruptions
Lately I have felt like I have been doing the never fun “suicides” that I did in high school during basketball practice. Running to one spot, running back, running to the next stop, running back, etc. There have been way too many tasks at hand and instead of finishing one and moving on – I have been in a rut of moving from one task to another, then back, then on to another and back…and I blame interruptions (email, phone, IM).
For the next few days-weeks I am going to limit myself with email, phone calls, and IM while I am working. I will respond or be available, but only at times I am taking a break from work or taking time to respond to incoming communication so I can regain some focus (and get caught up without working these manic 12-14 hour days).
If you need something – email me. If you want to chat – I will most likely be online after lunch or after dinner.
Feb
16
2009
Favorite Presidential Quotes
Since it is Presidents Day – I thought I would share some of my favorite presidential quotes.
George Washington:
It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.
Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble.
Abraham Lincoln:
Perhaps a man’s character was like a tree, and his reputation like its shadow; the shadow is what we think of it, the tree is the real thing.
Leave nothing for tomorrow which can be done today.
Lyndon Baines Johnson:
If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read: “President Can’t Swim.”
Any jackass can kick down a barn but it takes a good carpenter to build one.
Feb
13
2009
Jappler Recommends: LEGO Digital Designer
Thanks to a fellow Zelazny who commented on my recent LEGO post – I am going to spend my weekend creating my own LEGO set and you can too: ldd.lego.com. Within moments, I created a LEGO man with an oxygen tank, and placed some bricks to get the feel for it. How cool is this? *If you are wondering what is right in front of my LEGO guy – it is a metal arm. I thought I would reconstruct one of the final T2 scenes.
LEGOS!
Feb
11
2009
Jappler Recommends: Makeshift Wii Fit
I have always thought walking/running on the treadmill was boring. It was ever so slightly more exciting at the gym because you could get some good people watching in – but even that gets boring. The last few days I have decided to kick it up a notch by distracting myself with some Nintendo Wii action.
I was excited to get the Wii Fit when that came out – but sometimes I get bored with that too so I recently decided to put together a makeshift Wii Fit….treadmill + Wii games. Please note – you need to have good focus and balance so this is not for everyone.
I get walking at a decent pace (somewhere between 3.5-4 mph) then start bowling, golfing, and play some tennis. (Bowling and golfing are the easiest to do while walking) When I need to run – I use the Wii to read news and surf to my favorite web sites. Tomorrow I am going to try out walking slower but throwing in some boxing.
Feb
10
2009
Remove Button and Image Outlines
Ever wonder how to get rid of the nasty outline that Firefox puts around some images/buttons?
Add this little bit of code to your CSS that controls the button or image and you will no longer see these ugly outlines:
outline:none;
Outlined
Not Outlined
Feb
09
2009
Side Projects
Between normal day to day work, maintaining a house, spending time with the family and pets, exercise, relaxing, and enjoying life…there is not too much time for fun side projects these days. I have been trying to complete a few really cool things over the last few months without much luck…but I think March will be a big release month. I have some cool WordPress plugins, templates, and an interesting little project in the works – so assuming I can get some time…look out! Stay tuned…
