I’ve been giving this TextMate Blogging Bundle a try. I have to hand it to Brad Choate… this is one heck of a bundle that decreases a LOT of painful work.
If you want to be l33t like me… okay, I take that back.
If you want to be nerdy like me, and be able to post to your blog every 30 seconds with ease, this screencast will definitely help you along.
Sidnote: Yes, this is another feed I am subscribed to.
I knew that there was a way to create links in TextMate using a single keystroke. I found it in the docs, which brings me to the fact that I still need to learn so much more.
The idea of linking to images and uploading them through TextMate… that is amazing. Here’s an example… (if it actually finally works… Okay, it didn’t, so I had to manually fix it…)
One last thing: Looks like I’m going to have to upgrade to Wordpress 2.1 soon. As soon as I make sure that all my important plug-ins work, then I’ll move to the new version.
Coding Horror: How To Become a Better Programmer by Not Programming
Sidenote: Derek, this is one of the many RSS feeds I read.
If you don’t have a subscription (RSS) to Jeff Atwood’s blog, get one. I love what he has to say. His reading list is superb… too bad I’ve never fully read any of those books. I can say I’ve at least touched half of the books on the list.
One thing I have to add to what he wrote:
You won’t– you cannot– become a better programmer through sheer force of programming alone. You can only complement and enhance your existing programming skills by branching out. Learn about your users. Learn about the industry. Learn about your business.
The more things you are interested in, the better your work will be.
My efforts of trying to learn this programming language or that web framework is worthless, unless I realize why I’m doing it. This is why my focus is going to change back again to just creating.
I’ve been obsessing over preparation: Preparing through learning, through researching. I guess I could have also been preparing through doing, but that wasn’t the case. If I had actually been preparing through doing, I would have quickly gone past the preparation stage into the action stage.
In the end, what I’m trying to say is that while I have all these great ideas of creating a web application, I won’t get anywhere just by sitting back and passively learning. I gotta learn to walk the talk.
I’ve told some people that programming is slowly becoming a chore: I think this should be the case with a lot of programmers in general. I know what I want the computer to do. I know the quantifiable steps required to make this Turing complete contraption do what I want it to do. But all these syntax… bureaucracy… complexes…
Eh. I just gotta suck it up. And Dew it. I mean, do it.
Goodness, I miss caffeine.
I need to get better at this content creation thing. I set my standard for an actual post so high that I can never really write one from start to finish. Sorry, but you’re going to get another retarded personal entry.
Yes. So this is indeed my vacation #1 of 2007. Coming to Cincinnati was definitely the right thing to do… seeing friends… rethinking the future… almost a career “retreat”. Anyway, here comes the meat.
Truth be told, I don’t normally choose to be a jerk. But I think what happened with this project that Alex and Chris had, wigdets… I wanted the project to be something more… more than what it was. I actually wasn’t too sure of the project to begin with, and one of the main reasons for coming on board was just to be a part of a project that friends would partake in. I had a wonderful time the one meeting I got to sit down with the founders of the project, as I heard about their motivations in structuring this project. I was, at one time, excited at what it had to offer.
But… I’m not really sure what happened, but I lost interest. Fast. The things that I was going to do for the project… I never really followed through. I guess I could partially blame laziness for this one, but I have a feeling that there was a larger issue at play: wigdets wasn’t my project. I never felt like I could be at equal with these other guys. Also, wigdets wasn’t something I conceived. Heck, I didn’t fully understand the technologies required to build such a system, nor did I feel comfortable enough to preach on the features of the system.
I apologize publicly that I didn’t come to this realization fast enough. But I have a feeling, Chris and Alex are and will be okay without me.
As for me, the game is afoot. I’m glad I’m learning a bit more about myself…
Tomorrow is another day. Rock rock rock.
This is definitely not the post I wanted to make. I’m still writing a post on why home doesn’t feel like home anymore… but I was sidetracked with one heck of a fun night with the Nerds here in Cincinnati.Nerdworld 2007, as Argo so affectionately called it. And man… it was definitely a world of nerds (But I don’t think we should start calling it that… that’s kinda… nerdy… oh… wow… supressing… recursive… joke…). There was the obligatory video gaming (brought to you by the Wii), then some Mega Monopoly (yeap, I lost… and I’m going to say it again: I had no chance of winning when I started). But this time, things were a little different. We had a full blown discussion on technology and start-ups for a couple of hours. I’d say about 2 and a half hours or so on subjects from YouTube clips to DirectX 10 (which I was happily not a part of) to career choices. I think this might be the record time spent on talking about some serious topics. Alas, in the end, the entire thing just broke down to watching clips of SNL Digital Shorts and listening to Weird Al. Wow… okay, next paragraph.
I’m not sure why I didn’t see this before, but everyone, except me, are graduates of Miami; one with a Masters in CS, and the other three with BS’s in CS. I wonder how things would have turned out if I didn’t step out of state to go to UIUC and if I stuck with CS. I’m much to tired to even start thinking about the possibilities…
In all seriousness, though, I’m beginning to believe that there are even more people in my group of friends that would want to join me in my quest to shape the world. I guess I don’t really have to venture out too far to find the right “team”.
Lots to think and pray about. Hmm…
And yes. I’m trying to keep that daily post promise. It really freaking is 4:10 AM… oh geez. I swear… I made some horrible spelling and grammatical mistakes the first time through this post.