Web Design

Twinklebox from Aaron Bradbury on Vimeo.

Several months ago my brother-in-law showed up at a celebration with a musicbox for his mother. What a wonderful whimsical gift. A modern version with no key just a small electrical motor still the simple tunes bring a smile to our faces each time we hear it.

Stepping outside what we normally do can give us fresh insights into what we do and how we do it. I have just completed the Level 3 Occupational First Aid course. 70 hours in the classroom. Many more hours spent poring over a massive textbook. Learning. There were several moments when I wanted to chuck the course and come back to my computer and web design. But I realized that not only was there First Aid skill building going on I was learning.

Stepping outside what we normally do can give us fresh insights into what we do and how we do it. I have just completed the Level 3 Occupational First Aid course. 70 hours in the classroom. Many more hours spent poring over a massive textbook. Learning. There were several moments when I wanted to chuck the course and come back to my computer and web design. But I realized that not only was there First Aid skill building going on I was learning.

Stepping outside what we normally do can give us fresh insights into what we do and how we do it. I have just completed the Level 3 Occupational First Aid course. 70 hours in the classroom. Many more hours spent poring over a massive textbook. Learning. There were several moments when I wanted to chuck the course and come back to my computer and web design. But I realized that not only was there First Aid skill building going on I was learning.

This presentation is now up on http://www.slideshare.net/apratt/watertortureupgrades

Have you been dreading the upgrade from Drupal 5 to Drupal 6? Torture by water droplet? Have you heard the nightmare stories? Have you heard the quiet hallway whispers "theme upgrading doesn't work"? Then this session is for you. Develop an awareness of where the pitfalls are and how to avoid them.

This morning I ran across Adobe's new product - Business Catalyst . My first thought was "This is it. This is the product. It has finally arrived." And I am not scared.

Five years ago I sat in a small cramped room in Yaletown for the demo of a new product. It did what I did - building a website with incredible functionality. But it did it with a few cllicks of the mouse.  I walked out scared. Like Pogo in the famous cartoon strip "We met the enemy and he is us"

As I was sitting thinking this morning, drifting through some reading, blogs, journals, I came across an article that made me realize again that there is new thinking. In the past I have often referred to the "arrogance of science." Often science and scientists are unwilling to admit that there is another way of thinking about something. Blinders, same old same old - are all symptoms of the same kind of thing.

Many folks know of the KISS principle - Keep It Simple, Silly. But how do you implement that in your work life? Really how do you implement it in your life in general?

Leo Babauta takes on this question in an article on ZenHabits.net entitled "13 small things to simplify your workday" Lovely piece of work. Here is the list and my thoughts on how I'm doing on it and where I could improve.

I have wondered for awhile if focussing on a particular niche was the way to go with Drupal. I have a good friend who is working hard on the "Drupal in a Box" concept. Part of the concept involved having templates for lawyers and others in small business that want a bit more than the blog or cookie cutter world offers.

Sometimes you see something so simple and you whack your head.

High Performance = (Skill + Commitment) - Distraction

As I was reading about the US Sailing Team's major advances this little formula in the article caught my eye. And while I was tempted to make some connection to the Olympics currently occuring in Vancouver, my neck of the woods, I resisted out of fear of the IOC tracking me down like they did Verizon and Red Bull.