Christmas Letter 2010
/Help Fight Diabetes
/Now I've only been diabetic for a few years now, but every day (or meal, or test) I am reminded of it's impact on my life. Please help the fight to end diabetes by sponsoring this Microsoft programmer dude I admire.
Thanks!
This Blog Is Not Dead!
/Okay, it's been a long time since I've blogged anything. My recent foray into Facebook and Twitter have stolen focus from a lot of things I would have put in the blog. Additionally, I've been neglecting the photo albums. I need to retire some old ones, and put some new ones up.
Recently I finished Rework by the guys who started 37signals. I read it on my iPhone and Kindle for PC, which was an interesting but overall pleasant experience. Putting my phone down at night, and then opening up the PC app at work during lunch the next day and having it go right to the page I was on is amazingly awesome.
Anyway, reading it inspired me to build some sort of software thing in my spare time. So I have been putting some hours into an idea from a friend and coworker, Allen Monroe. He is a bottomless "idea-guy" resource, which is great and inspiring in it's own way. We also had some of our internet offerings go viral in the same week. He created a parody of Google's super bowl ad, and I submitted a story and some code to The DailyWTF.
It's been fun, but it hasn't moved me toward my personal 2010 goal of contributing something to a Open Source Software project. I've been reading a fair amount of code lately, trying to find something to contribute to. If anyone has any ideas, please post in the comments.
Recently at home we've been trying to focus on getting more exercise. We bought a nice NordicTrack elliptical and set it up in the basement. I'm finding that changing one's lifelong habits is a difficult thing. Especially with so much TV to watch :)
With the weather oscillating tantalizingly between Spring and Winter, Jakki and I are very excited to do some camping this year, especially since we now have a big truck and can pack ridiculous amounts of Glamper paraphernalia. The next stop is Trailerville!
The band I'm in (I hesitate to say 'my band' since I did not form it), has been having a lot of fun, and with Spring coming on, we are looking forward to many opportunities to play. I'm also working on getting them set up with some kind of blog thing so we can communicate with our fans better.
So to wrap up this quarterly update (and to try to motivate myself to do a better job of posting regularly): please stay tuned and keep in touch; I will endeavor to do the same.
Good Show But I'm Getting Old
/My band, Fairmount Chase, played a benefit gig last night. We rented a room in a local tavern downtown and had some bins for the local food bank. Lots of work people and friends of band the band showed up. We played three sets and had dancers a-plenty. At the end of the night, we had to tear everything down and load it all out. A five-piece band has a lot of gear! Driving home, my feet were killing me. Today, I feel like I have been run over. And we still had to unload our stuff into our practice space in the basement of the VFW. It's a lot of fun to play with these guys, and we draw fun and engaging crowds, but I wish we could hire some roadies. I suppose gigging in the future will be a lot easier: a band will just use the transporter (a la Star Trek) to beam there gear to the venue and back. Hopefully I will live that long.
Unfortunately, Jakki had to work, and my parents had a dancing engagement, so I don't have any photos of the gig to the post. I'm thinking that I might need to ask Santa for a video camera, so I can begin building up a video library of the band to put on youtube for potential venue owners to look at.