Freelance web design is something I fell into courtesy of a friend named Phil. It is not something I ever planned on doing. When he referred my first client to me over three years ago he unwittingly changed my path in life. That one chance circumstance taught me three things: that it was possible to work for myself, that the client / provider relationship is more satisfying and egalitarian than the employee / employer relationship, and that if I could work hard and provide something people needed I could live without depending on a “boss” or anyone else for that matter. For that I will always be indebted to him.
11
Apr 05
Sore as hell and 5 lbs lighter
Jody and I spent the weekend moving. It was hard work. All I can say is that I’m glad it’s over. I think I’ll pay for movers next time. It’s just too much work, especially since my plan to get rid of anything non-essential was a colossal failure.
I’m excited about the new location, but I’ll miss a lot of things about the old neighborhood like the greenery, the quietness, and the proximity to Barton Springs Pool where I love to swim.
07
Apr 05
Beautiful science
From a fascinating article, Life’s top 10 greatest inventions:
On the evolution of language:
In a sense, language is the last word in biological evolution. That’s because this particular evolutionary innovation allows those who possess it to move beyond the realms of the purely biological. With language, our ancestors were able to create their own environment – we now call it culture – and adapt to it without the need for genetic changes.
On parasitism:
From viruses to tapeworms, barnacles to birds, parasites are among the most successful organisms on the planet, taking merciless advantage of every known creature. Take the tapeworm. This streamlined parasite is little more than gonads and a head full of hooks, having dispensed with a gut in favour of bathing in the nutrient-rich depths of its host’s digestive system. In its average 18-year lifespan, a human tapeworm can generate 10 billion eggs.
03
Apr 05
Hey, I found one of your turtles.
Saturday I officially turned 28 years old. Thank you to everyone who helped me celebrate. I was surprised and humbled that so many people remembered. I’m very lucky to know such great and caring people. I hope I can return the favor.
01
Apr 05
New del.icio.us features
Some cool new things are happening to del.icio.us since Josh turned it into a full-time job. Del.icio.us is the most important thing that has happened to the web in the last year. It’s more important that Flickr or podcasting, for example. Flickr is awesome, but it is not revolutionary. Podcasting is just a fad whereas del.icio.us completely changes how you use the Web, especially when used in conjunction with del.icio.us Firefox extensions. Del.ici.ous allows you to personalize and classify the web. It streamlines how you find information that is relevant to you. It allows you to organize information very easily. Here are some of the new features:
28
Mar 05
Marketing, marketing, marketing
I’ve been reading this book about marketing techniques since I am in the process of designing an actual, finished website for the business. I’ve been putting it off somewhat because I want to do a good job on it. Before I can start work on the website, I need to determine what I’m trying to communicate and how to go about it. I’ve learned some useful tips and information that I’d like to share with you.
28
Mar 05
Books for young people
I was talking with Jody about books we had read as kids, and I thought it might make a good post.
- The Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. This was a good series, which I remember little about, except for its good description of pioneer living, like living in a sod house, for example.
- The Great Brain series by John Fitzgerald. I read these in my fifth grade class. When you finished your work you could read from the bookshelf in the classroom. That’s where I discovered this series. The stories revolve around these brothers as they get into mischief and solve mysteries.
- Flinx Series by Alan Dean Foster. This is a good sci-fi series about an orphan, Pip, and his pet flying snake, Flynx.
- The Oz books by L. Frank Baum. These were essentially fantasy books, before fantasy was a genre. There’s a lot going on in the Oz books. Magic, witches, and other assorted craziness. I never really understood the whole Ozma / Pip situation.
24
Mar 05
On BoingBoing
Glassdog had a spot-on ribbing of Boing Boing this morning (via Waxy.org). It’s essentially a shot at BoingBoing’s relative shamelessness when it comes to their advertising / business strategy. I have written at length about this before on at least three occasions (“More on Wired / Gawker media: Wired Conflicts of Interest”, “What’s with BoingBoing?”, and “The trend toward commercial blogs”). In all honesty, I think BoingBoing’s biggest shortcoming is their eye-bleeding design. It is easier to overlook a lot of things when ads don’t hit you in the face.
24
Mar 05
Change of address
- I’m moving to north Austin near the Arboretum soon. I’m very familiar with the location since it was my route area for 3 years when I worked at Fedex. I took some pictures of the new apartment and I will post them soon enough when I get a chance. It is suprisingly difficult to find one bedroom apartments with washer / dryer connections that are affordable enough, but I think I did really well tracking one down.
- I generally don’t use locators because they make higher referral fees for promoting less desirable apartments. What I did do this time was sit down with a sheet of paper and the telephone, open up Google maps to my city, and then click “local search”. You need to click “local search” from Google maps rather than using Google Local. Just drag the map around with your cursor until you find the areas you are interested in living in. When you find a desired area, just type in “apartments”, then clear the “where” input field and hit the “Search” button. This will search for “apartments” in the area you have shown on the screen. Then you just use the map flags to get the phone number and address and call the complex to ask about their prices. Here’s a screenshot.
- You can change your address online. I have done this before, but it may be news to you.
- Something else I learned, Uhaul charges different rates for different types of the same vehicle. For example, if you’re moving in town, be sure to ask for the in-town only vehicle, which amounts to a $10 price difference in most cases. They charge a rate of $19.99 for the 14ft truck in town for a 24 hour period plus mileage. It is helpful to know that the mileage rate is $.59 per mile Sunday – Thursday, and $.89 per mile Friday – Saturday, so if you need the truck to move on a Friday try to make your reservation for Thursday evening so you lock in the $.59 per mile rate instead of the $.89 per mile rate.
