Juli & Brian

Juli and I got engaged back in July and in an attempt to make things easier for us and all our friends and family, I did what I normally do…I made a website. This is simply to take some of the load off of Juli and myself with having to answer the same questions all the time. This way, we can simply tell everyone that all the information we have right now is on the website and as we figure more things out, we will update the site.

So if you want to, stop over at http://juliandbrian.com and see what the latest news is with the wedding.

Bittersweet Purchase

Well it is a bittersweet purchase I just made. I broke down and I am getting a 2012 Ford Focus Titanium. I am really excited about it even thought it is going to take about 2-3 months to arrive. I am kind of bummed about that. But it will give me 1 last summer to enjoy my car and say goodbye to it.

On the way to work today, I was sitting at a stop light and just started to look around my car, my beloved 2002 Acura RSX Type-S and realized just how much I am going to miss it. I think the hardest part will be handing over the keys to the new owner. I am going to have to take it out for one last drive when the new owner comes to pick it up so I can drop it from 4th down to 3rd and listen to the V-TEC kick in. It really sounds like an Indy car when that happens. I have a lot of great memories driving down back country roads [Tear].

The good news is that the new owner was found on ClubRSX.com so I know that it will have a good home and will be treated as well as I have treated it these past years. But still, I will miss it.

WordPress Membership Directory

When most people think of WordPress they think simply a blogging platform. But with the use of Plugins, there are so many things you can do with it. A new project I am starting to work on is using WordPress as a Membership Directory. Users can sign up and edit/update their own information.

Everyone from large companies to the Boy Scouts of America could use this for a public (or private) facing Membership Directory. As I do more work on it, I will keep updating my progress as well as talk about how I am doing this.

New Camera = More Photography

I finally broke down and bought a new camera. I was going to get a Canon EOS 5D Mark II (from here after int this post referred to as the 5D) but then comparing that with the Canon EOS 7D, it didn’t make much sense. The 5Ddoesn’t have a built in flash so I would have to carry one with me at all times. Also, it seems that since the EOS 7D model is a few years newer, many of the best functions that the 5D had was brought to the EOS 7D.

I remember in my Intro to Photography class, sophomore year of college, the first thing my professor told the class was

I truly believe this since I have seen absolutely amazing photos taken with cheap disposable cameras. It is all about makes sure the composition of the photograph is good to begin with. Then in Adobe Photoshop and LightRoom, you can do almost anything.

I will be greatly expanding the Photography section of this site in the coming future. I might actually just create a new gallery dedicated solely to my Photography and just keep a small sample here on this site.

WordPress

I finally had time to convert my site to WordPress. Still working through the changeover. There are a couple small tweaks that need to be done but overall I am very happy.

Since it seems that the internet is continuously becoming more and more mobile, I am also working on a mobile framework specifically for WordPress. I am going to be doing a lot work on it in the next couple weeks but once done, I will be able to offer it to all the clients I work with. If you want to view what I have done so far, just view my site on any mobile phone (iPhone, Android or WebOS).

Starting A New Project

So after about 2 years working with a software program for Laser Products Industries, I am starting to redo the entire GUI (Graphical User Interface). This is going to be a challenging project but I think it will be fulfilling. It will let me get back to what I love doing more than anything. Designing.

The hardest part will be that I need to remember that most of the people using this are not computer savy to say the least. This software package, married with the laser used to template counter tops and cabinets is mostly used by people with little to no college experience. It is meant to be the easiest form of a CAD program while still containing it’s CAD functionality. Combining ease of use and CAD are not 2 things that go hand and hand but it was done once. Now I just need to make it look more pretty.

Something Big In The Works

So there is something big that could possibly happen in the near future. I don’t want to jinx it because it is nowhere near a sure thing. But if it happens, I will be sure to let you know.

In other news, I finished up the site layout this past week. For some reason the LightBox feature on the web design images isn’t working and images are loading intermittently. I am going to be trying to figure out what is happening there in the next day or so.

I also finished a website for Ingenium Partners LLC this past week. Go take a look.

Thoughts

So I have decided that not only will this blog talk aboutthe projects I am currently working on but it will also be where I will be talking about my thoughts on different topics. These are going to be wide ranging but I think that after a few, everyone will get a good sense of the kind of person I am. So stay tuned.

So Much Work

So I finally have the blog up and running. But now I am having problems finding time to actually use it. I have been getting so much freelance work as well as work from my real full time job. I thought that I would have much more time to make some quality posts.

I am currently finishing up on a site for a horse racing handicapper. Next I have a small school out in Plano that wants a website done for them. I am also just starting to redo my company’s website (Laser Products Industries) which includes re-branding the entire company. I have our logo, business cards, promotional DVD’s, catalogs and fliers done. The website is just taking me a while to find the time in the work day to do it. I might just have to do some of it on my own time.

To top it all off, I still have to finish my portfolio as well.  I thought I was going to have that done, then get the blog done, but the blog happened a lot quicker than I planned so now things are all backwards. I have had a really weird work flow the past month or so with doing things when I have the time to. So…I guess we’ll see what happens.

New Blog / Hold Your Horses

So I just got the blog set up, I am still working on the final design of the overall site. Once thatis completed, I will be converting it into a WordPress theme to use for this blog. Currently I am using the Pyrmont V2 theme by motta just because I like it and I needed something besides the classic theme which really sucks. I am expecting it to all be done by the end of this year. Hopefully, I can stay focused and don’t get side tracked by too many other projects.

For now, hold your horses.

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