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Mar292013

Checking out a lot of new web development technology

So with the job hunt comes a nice little Web project to stretch my front-end Web development legs a little.  As I’ve mentioned I’m redesigning this blog.  I am developing a theme

Here’s some stuff I am working with that I came across in the last two days:

Mar282013

Redesigning this thing

Designing my own WordPress theme at https://github.com/tonytopper/nosce-te-ipsum-ii which I am building on https://github.com/tonytopper/html5_boilerplate_wp_compass

Hoping to have a launch-able version soon.  The theme is going to use Compass and Susy.

Mar282012

JavaScript headache and code forensics

Mixing modernizr with cufón produces sadness for IE8 on Windows XP.  More specifically cufón 1.09i and modernizr 2.5.3 create a combination that produces weird double lettering.

I reported the issue to the cufón dev, https://github.com/sorccu/cufon/issues/239

Found the relevant issue on the modernizr project, https://github.com/Modernizr/Modernizr/issues/534

And followed it to the root issue on the html5shiv, https://github.com/aFarkas/html5shiv/issues/54

From there I went to https://github.com/aFarkas/html5shiv/commit/9aa5bcdca367fd86ec5d5b73ca4d95e032a0f502#diff-1 and figured out what exactly I would need to fix the problem.

Thinking I could ditch modernizr and just use the most up to date html5shiv at http://code.google.com/p/html5shiv/

Mar272012

CrossFit Open completed

My first CrossFit competition, the CrossFit Games Open,  is over; it was worth the $20 registration fee.  I had a good time.  And it got me to push myself harder than I normally would.

How did I finish?  Right about where I expected to.  Out of the mid-Alantic region competitors that finished all the workouts about 76% did better than me.  Check out my CrossFit Open profile to see.

I’ll do it again next year for sure.  Maybe then I can bust into that 50th to 75th percentile range.

Dec62011

JS Loading is Pretty Sweet

I’ve begun working with http://headjs.com to do JS loading.  Why do JS loading?  See: http://headjs.com/#theory

There is a somewhat broken, but easily fixed, WordPress plugin to use it.   Drupal’s got a plugin for it here.   Haven’t tried the Drupal plugin yet but it’s on my list.  Even without a plugin the API seems simple and intuitive.

Nov92011

Words to Combat Frustration

One word that comes to mind is bikeshedding. If you don’t know what it means, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson%27s_Law_of_Triviality

I am often frustrated by the amount of discussion that happens surrounding details that should just be left to the person doing the actual work on a project. Words that sum up more complex concepts are great for combating frustration. Teach people words like bikeshedding and the word becomes a warning. A warning that protects me from frustration.

A different decision making hurdle I am also frustrated by is some leader’s inability to delegate decision making to the people with the actual ability, skill, and competency to make a good decision.   Is there a word that sums up this concept?  As an aside, It’s not that when I am working on a project I don’t want insight or feedback from all stakeholders. I do.

How can leaders delegate decisions better while still offering their leaderly guidance? My suggestions, ask questions instead of giving commands. Like, “Have you considered … “. Or “I’d like for you to try this and tell me what you think”. Anybody got other suggestions?

Sep152011

Started Hosting on a Podcast

I’ve started podcasting with some friends of mine.  It’s about tabletop games like board games, card games, rpgs, etc …

The website is http://www.thesecretcabal.com

I’d love to hear about what you all think of podcasting in general.  If you do it, what programs you use, etc …

Jun302011

Taking Maatkit for a spin

First command I am diving into is the mk-variable-adviser. I’ve done similar tuning with MONyog, but this is free. This is a pretty basic start but it doesn’t look like my predecessor was too concerned about system performance. But hey you don’t know what you don’t know.

May32011

11-05-03 wod

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Apr302011

11-04-30 wod

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