January 2007
One reason I’m excited about WDN
January 31, 2007, 10:21 PM | 2 Comments
One reason I’m excited about Web Directions North next week:
It’s been a little cold here lately.
Super Bowl Prediction(s)
January 30, 2007, 8:19 PM | 8 Comments
Wow, does anyone else feel like it’s been an awfully long two weeks? Everything that the Colts and Bears have worked for this season all comes down to this. Sunday in Miami, the Colts and Bears will face off in Super Bowl XLI in what is bound to be the potential defining moment in Peyton Manning’s career.
First, I’d like to get a few things off my chest. Over the past several weeks I’ve read and heard various sports writers talk about Manning not being able to win the “big one” and how he’s a choke artist in the playoffs. To me, Manning shed that title after leading his team to a comeback victory over the Patriots in the AFC Championship game 2 weeks ago. Unfortunately for Manning, if he doesn’t win XLI this Sunday, none of that will matter and that gorilla that was on his back before that spectacular AFC Championship game will hop right back on according to most of the sports media.
I Need Your Help!
January 26, 2007, 10:53 AM | 8 Comments
Over the past several months I’ve been putting off re-writing the back-end of my site. As some of you may know, everything on this site I’ve built from scratch and the main purpose for doing that was to learn. The problem I’ve been experiencing lately is that I just don’t have the time to re-write my custom CMS and continue to publish content on a regular basis. There are only so many hours in the day and I just can’t do both.
Obviously, the most important thing about a site is the content - regardless of what methods are used to publish that content. My current setup has served me well over the past year and a half, but it’s starting to show some cracks and is in need of an update. In essence, the back-end of this site is still the same as what I started developing in June of 2005. Sure, it’s seen a few tweaks here and there to accommodate some of the features that I added to the site along the way, but most of those were fairly minor. Some features I haven’t gotten around to adding administrative features for and have actually been modifying the database by hand (through phpMyAdmin) to accomplish.
NFL Conference Championship Predictions
January 16, 2007, 9:13 PM | 2 Comments
Last week’s divisional matches were as good as they come. All 4 games were both exciting and entertaining… and I picked 3 of the 4 correctly! I should’ve known not to pick against the Patriots in the post-season though. I wonder if I’ll learn my lesson…
This week brings us 2 great match-ups between 3 teams that were expected to be here when the season began, and one team that has emerged has “America’s new team” in the New Orleans Saints. One thing is for sure though, you couldn’t ask for better match-ups than the ones we’ll see take place on Sunday afternoon to determine who will be in Miami on February 4th.
Switch Journal: Software
January 12, 2007, 12:40 AM | 1 Comment
In some cases, one of the biggest differences between the Mac and PC is the software applications created for each environment. Although more and more programs are being developed to be cross platform, the majority of really good niche apps (such as text editors, instant messaging software, FTP clients, etc.) are only available for a specific platform.
My switch to Mac has been made easier by the fact that a lot of the major applications I use on a day-to-day basis are available for the Mac platform. Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office, and Mozilla Firefox are all great examples of major applications that are available on both. With that said, there are still a lot of programs that I used every day on my PC that aren’t available for the Mac, so I had to go out and find alternatives.
NFL Divisional Predictions
January 9, 2007, 5:59 PM | 16 Comments
As I’m writing this I’m watching the BCS Championship match-up between Ohio State and Florida and so far it’s been more exciting than 3 of the Wild Card games were this past weekend. Even though it wasn’t nearly as exciting as it could have been, last week I ended up picking the games a perfect 4-0 to start the playoffs.
Looking at the way the match-ups have shaken out, this week won’t be nearly as easy to pick as it was last week, but there should be a lot more excitement. A number of interesting scenarios will play out this week, but the number one thing I’ll be watching is whether or not the teams that had a first round bye are going to be better of after having that break.
It’s De-lurking Time!
January 8, 2007, 11:10 AM | 3 Comments
It’s De-lurking time! I kind of missed the boat on this last year, but I thought it was a great idea and was determined to make sure I took part this year. I first heard about “de-lurking week” at Veerle’s blog, but the idea it seems was originally started at Papernapkin.
What is “lurking” you ask? Well, it’s a term that describes the actions (or lack thereof) of people that join chat rooms, newsgroups, forums, read blogs, etc. and don’t comment. This usually either happens because they don’t feel they have anything to add to the topic, or because someone else already said what they wanted to.
Switch Journal: First Impressions
January 6, 2007, 10:44 AM | 4 Comments
Well, here it is, part one of the recently announced Switch Journal. I promised that my first entry to this series would be all about my first impressions of the MacBook Pro and my “switch” experience, so that’s what this post will be all about. Experienced Mac users will probably have heard most of these thoughts (or thought them themselves) before, but feel free to add your input to the mix.
My first real experiences with Apple products (not including the time I spent working on them during high school, the OS 9 days) came because of the iPod. About 2 years ago I bought my wife an iPod Mini for her birthday and it was then that I started to develop an appreciation for Apple and their brand. I’ve always been one to notice little details - whether it’s a little phrase in a song that stood out to me, or tiny things in the background of a scene of video - so Apple’s attention to detail is always something I’ve both noticed and appreciated.
Home or Homeless?
January 3, 2007, 10:00 PM | 4 Comments
Earlier this week a few colleagues and I were discussing the merits of having (or not having) a “home” link in a site’s main navigation. More specifically we discussed whether or not the now standard practice of linking a website’s logo back to the home page is a good enough substitute for not having a specifically labeled home link. We ended up having a fairly good dialogue in which several opinions and points were raised, but I thought I’d take it one step further and open up the topic for discussion here.
Until that conversation I’d honestly never given the matter much thought, but I’ve almost always included a home link by force of habit. After discussing it for a little while, I discovered my feelings on the issue are somewhat indifferent. If forced to make an actual decision on the matter though, I’d have to say that I think that a site’s navigation is better and easier to use with a distinct link to the home page than without.
NFL Wild Card Predictions
January 2, 2007, 8:19 AM | 8 Comments
Welcome to the New Year and its new beginnings! There are now 12 teams that are in the hunt for the NFL’s ultimate prize, and this weekend 4 of them will drop out of the running. Nothing that the teams have done up to this point really matters anymore, except for the momentum (or lack thereof) they have going into the “second season.”
Last week was another fairly unpredictable week in the NFL, as the trend has been all season long. I faired pretty well though, again grabing 11 correct picks to finish the regular season with a 160-96 total record (or .625). Compared to this point last season, that was only 3 games behind where I finished. When compared with the experts over at ESPN.com, I really held my own this season finishing only 1 pick behind the leading expert (Mike Golic) and beating out every other expert including ESPN’s “Accuscore” automated prediction system. ESPN, I’ll be waiting for your calls. ;)