Despite being a technology-focused conference, the two most influential talks I attended at CodeMash 2012 had very little to do with technology. Scott Hanselman's "Dealing With Information Overload" and Leon Gersing's "Love" touched upon two areas of my life that could definitely use some restructuring. Scott taught me the importance of being organized and balanced between my personal and professional life, and how self-improvement is one of the most noble goals I could have for myself. Leon touched upon love, life, and the importance of making myself happy, relishing in current
relationships , and the joys of seeking out new relationships.
Okay, so, that was bit of a wordy introduction, but I wrote it to make one point clear: I am starting a bunch of new projects this winter and spring that focus on self-improvement, professional growth, and extending my current and potential new relationships.
Without further ado, here is a partial list of some major projects coming up:
Recipe Library 2
About two years ago I wrote a simple recipe manager for my family and I to use as a means of storing recipes. KISS was the founding principle of the project. This year I will be upgrading the application with new features, including a few social elements and a responsive design for iPad and mobile phone support. Perhaps more importantly, I will be expanding the audience for the application, hoping to get a small user base on the platform.
Photography Support and Services
I am already well-versed in the basics and intermediaries of photography, and I will be snapping pictures of just about everything over the coming months, and come spring and summer, I plan to offer a very basic photography service. While weddings (and similar events) are generally the bread and butter of local photographers, I am never once going to claim that my photography skills are worth thousands of dollars. Instead I plan to offer a cheap $50 to $100 "one-day" service: If you need high-quality photos, I will take those photos with my equipment for a reasonable price. Plain and simple.
Plan a Trip
I will be taking a series of short vacations this summer. One trip will see me going to Washington D.C. (during a primary year? Eek!), another south to visit family and a really huge cave, and a third to go hiking in either southern Ohio or northern Michigan. All three of these trips will require significant planning, all of which I plan to accomplish sometime this spring.
The Blackout
This is less a project and more of an ongoing experiment. Beginning next week, I will have one "technology blackout day," where 100% of my free time outside of work is spent without technology. No computers, no tablets, no mobile phones. I will be reachable via POTS-style voice calls, but that will be about it. I am not entirely sure how I will spend all this free time, but as warmer weather rolls in I am sure I will find plenty to do.
B3 out.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
A Moment Sixteen Years In the Making
Here is a little-known fact about me: in the summer of 1996, leaving the fifth grade and preparing to enter my sixth and final year at Haskins Elementary, I opted to take a basic two-week introduction to photography class at BGSU. This class was geared for young minds and was taught by Jeffery Hall, a local photographer in Haskins. My passing interest in photography was evident enough for my parents to agree to let me take the short class. I set off with my young peers for an hour every day for ten days and snapped pictures all over the BGSU campus. My parents let me borrow their 35mm film camera.
Fast forward to the present day. After fiddling on and off with photography over the past sixteen years, I finally took a major plunge: I bought a Canon EOS Rebel T3i DSLR camera. My interest in photography just got serious.
This is a major leap for me in two major ways.
First is a financial investment. While the camera itself was just about $700, I will be spending closer to $2,000 in accessories and lenses over the course of 2012. I plan on getting a few lenses to cover some of my basic needs (including at least one quality 200mm+ telephoto lens). Cases, SD cards, tripods, filters - I have plenty to stock up on.
Second is a time investment. Photography requires a fairly solid understanding of optics and the technology behind a SLR camera. I have spent countless days, weeks, and months researching and learning everything I need to know to get the most from my camera. I have also been preparing my computer to handle a huge influx of photos. All this is in addition to what is most important: going out and actually taking great photos.
Look for Critically Correct to explode with new images over the coming weeks. My camera arrives tomorrow.
B3 out.
Fast forward to the present day. After fiddling on and off with photography over the past sixteen years, I finally took a major plunge: I bought a Canon EOS Rebel T3i DSLR camera. My interest in photography just got serious.
This is a major leap for me in two major ways.
First is a financial investment. While the camera itself was just about $700, I will be spending closer to $2,000 in accessories and lenses over the course of 2012. I plan on getting a few lenses to cover some of my basic needs (including at least one quality 200mm+ telephoto lens). Cases, SD cards, tripods, filters - I have plenty to stock up on.
Second is a time investment. Photography requires a fairly solid understanding of optics and the technology behind a SLR camera. I have spent countless days, weeks, and months researching and learning everything I need to know to get the most from my camera. I have also been preparing my computer to handle a huge influx of photos. All this is in addition to what is most important: going out and actually taking great photos.
Look for Critically Correct to explode with new images over the coming weeks. My camera arrives tomorrow.
B3 out.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
CodeMash 2012: Day 2
What a doozy of a day. Let me just get this over.
I was up early this morning and arrived at Kalahari Resort around 6:45am - just in time to make the breakfast buffet. The meal was spectacular as usual: endless scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes, and other food filled me up only as well as a CodeMash breakfast can.
The 8:15am keynote speaker, Ted Newart, was a bit slow to start, but ultimately ramped up into an impressive talk about the virtues of individual programmers remaining in command of their own work, even in the face of a huge enterprise environment.
The first official session block of CodeMash kicked off at 9:45am, and I quickly got settled into "It's the Little Things" by Brad Colbow. The session focused on what makes good UX rather than how to make good UX. He presented lots of example of bad UX and UI, and while I did not learn any direct new knowledge from this session, I do feel like I can judge my own apps' UX much better than before.
The second session, at 11:00am, was "Introduction to Android Development" by Chris Risner. This was literally Android Dev 101, covering the very basics of the Android stack, including Activities, Intents, and Broadcast Receivers. I found the session informative but more of a review of the basics I already know.
Lunch was just after noon, and it too was pretty good, consisting entirely of Mexican-themed food.
The third session, "Hands-On Responsive and Adaptive Web Design" by Ben Callahan at 1:45pm was the highlight of my day. This session dove right into designing proper fluid HTML layouts using little more than clever CSS. I want to become an expert on fluid and reactive web design in 2012, and this session was a fantastic way to kick off this goal.
My fourth session, "Organized JavaScript with Backbone.js" by Joe Fiorini at 3:35pm was an all-code demonstration of how to potentially organized a large JS codebase within the MVC-style framework of Backbone.js. While the content was worthwhile, the speaker did not exactly enthuse or engage the audience. I found myself bored with the presentation pretty quickly, although I stayed for the whole thing just to take in what Backbone.js is all about.
I skipped the fifth session in favor of exploring Kalahari and practicing some of what I learned. I am really pumped about studying and practicing reactive web design.
Dinner was a delicious mix of meats, fish, salad, and dessert. Shortly after dinner, CodeMash's Pecha Kucha sessions fired up and entertained quite well. I hung around afterwards to work on some programming and attempt a few meet and greets, but everyone was pretty well distracted and scattered.
I am looking forward to a short third day of CodeMash. Assuming the weather does not derail my plans, I will be departing Sandusky around 4:00pm tomorrow to return to Perrysburg for a busy night in Toledo.
After that, an emergency Reboot Weekend will be effective Friday night after the concert, as I have a ton of shit to process and ponder. 2012 is off to a fantastic, if somewhat rocky, start. More to come.
B3 out.
I was up early this morning and arrived at Kalahari Resort around 6:45am - just in time to make the breakfast buffet. The meal was spectacular as usual: endless scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes, and other food filled me up only as well as a CodeMash breakfast can.
The 8:15am keynote speaker, Ted Newart, was a bit slow to start, but ultimately ramped up into an impressive talk about the virtues of individual programmers remaining in command of their own work, even in the face of a huge enterprise environment.
The first official session block of CodeMash kicked off at 9:45am, and I quickly got settled into "It's the Little Things" by Brad Colbow. The session focused on what makes good UX rather than how to make good UX. He presented lots of example of bad UX and UI, and while I did not learn any direct new knowledge from this session, I do feel like I can judge my own apps' UX much better than before.
The second session, at 11:00am, was "Introduction to Android Development" by Chris Risner. This was literally Android Dev 101, covering the very basics of the Android stack, including Activities, Intents, and Broadcast Receivers. I found the session informative but more of a review of the basics I already know.
Lunch was just after noon, and it too was pretty good, consisting entirely of Mexican-themed food.
The third session, "Hands-On Responsive and Adaptive Web Design" by Ben Callahan at 1:45pm was the highlight of my day. This session dove right into designing proper fluid HTML layouts using little more than clever CSS. I want to become an expert on fluid and reactive web design in 2012, and this session was a fantastic way to kick off this goal.
My fourth session, "Organized JavaScript with Backbone.js" by Joe Fiorini at 3:35pm was an all-code demonstration of how to potentially organized a large JS codebase within the MVC-style framework of Backbone.js. While the content was worthwhile, the speaker did not exactly enthuse or engage the audience. I found myself bored with the presentation pretty quickly, although I stayed for the whole thing just to take in what Backbone.js is all about.
I skipped the fifth session in favor of exploring Kalahari and practicing some of what I learned. I am really pumped about studying and practicing reactive web design.
Dinner was a delicious mix of meats, fish, salad, and dessert. Shortly after dinner, CodeMash's Pecha Kucha sessions fired up and entertained quite well. I hung around afterwards to work on some programming and attempt a few meet and greets, but everyone was pretty well distracted and scattered.
I am looking forward to a short third day of CodeMash. Assuming the weather does not derail my plans, I will be departing Sandusky around 4:00pm tomorrow to return to Perrysburg for a busy night in Toledo.
After that, an emergency Reboot Weekend will be effective Friday night after the concert, as I have a ton of shit to process and ponder. 2012 is off to a fantastic, if somewhat rocky, start. More to come.
B3 out.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
CodeMash 2012: Day 1
I have arrived at CodeMash 2012. Goddamn does it feel good to be back.
I am staying at an offsite hotel (a Hampton Inn in Milan, Ohio), which means I get to commute to Kalahari and work out of my car for the day. This is not as glamorous as having a room at Kalahari, it will have to do.
While it sucks that I was not able to attend today's Pre-Compiler sessions, I still took some time to check out the convention center expansion at Kalahari. To be short: the new space is huge. CodeMash feels infinitely larger than it was last year, and while I roamed empty hallways tonight, I still expect to be shoulder-to-shoulder with 1,200+ other developers tomorrow.
Tonight is the calm before the storm. I will be up a little before six tomorrow morning to shuffle off to Kalahari so I can be first in line for breakfast and the morning keynote. From there my day will spiral into the awesome chaos that is CodeMash: two sessions, lunch, another keynote, three more sessions, and then several after parties, waterpark parties, lightning talks - there is more to do tomorrow than I could possibly do in a week.
Follow me on Twitter (@BrandonMBruno) to keep up with my hourly updates from the floor tomorrow and Friday.
B3 out.
I am staying at an offsite hotel (a Hampton Inn in Milan, Ohio), which means I get to commute to Kalahari and work out of my car for the day. This is not as glamorous as having a room at Kalahari, it will have to do.
While it sucks that I was not able to attend today's Pre-Compiler sessions, I still took some time to check out the convention center expansion at Kalahari. To be short: the new space is huge. CodeMash feels infinitely larger than it was last year, and while I roamed empty hallways tonight, I still expect to be shoulder-to-shoulder with 1,200+ other developers tomorrow.
Tonight is the calm before the storm. I will be up a little before six tomorrow morning to shuffle off to Kalahari so I can be first in line for breakfast and the morning keynote. From there my day will spiral into the awesome chaos that is CodeMash: two sessions, lunch, another keynote, three more sessions, and then several after parties, waterpark parties, lightning talks - there is more to do tomorrow than I could possibly do in a week.
Follow me on Twitter (@BrandonMBruno) to keep up with my hourly updates from the floor tomorrow and Friday.
B3 out.
Sunday, January 08, 2012
Return to Mecca: CodeMash Is Here
Last January I attended a technology conference known as "CodeMash." It was hosted at Kalahari Resort in Sandusky, Ohio. A technology conference with dozens of sessions, multiple keynotes, huge attendance, catered meals, and hosted at a huge indoor waterpark? Sign me up!
This year I am returning to CodeMash and could not be more excited. This whole week will be one for the record books. I am leaving for Sandusky, Ohio Wednesday night and settling into a Hampton Inn near Milan. I was unable to secure a room at Kalahari this year, but a hotel ten minutes away is far better than commuting from Perrysburg both days.
Thursday is the first day of full sessions, a day that begins at 5:30am and ends around 1:00am the next day. I will be going all-out: speaker sessions, Open Spaces, free food, after-parties, the post-10pm waterpark party - not to mention the usual Kalahari amenities such as the ice cream bar and arcade. I have no idea how I will survive Thursday.
Friday will be interesting. I will begin the day by nursing an almost-too-obvious hangover from whatever I get myself into the night before. Sessions run all day, although it is very likely that I will not make it through the last session around 6:00pm. I will also miss the new after-party Friday night. I plan to be back in Perrysburg - Levis Commons more specifically - around six or seven to be at the Dirk Manning book signing. Once I get some meet-and-greet out of the way and chill with some relatively awesome book-loving nerds, I am immediately heading to downtown Toledo to see The Trews play at Frankies. Just as I did with the Silversun Pickups in 2007, I get to see a recently-discovered band play in a small, intimate environment. CodeMash, Dirk Manning, and The Trews all in one day? Truly a day to look forward to.
My extra-busy work week begins tomorrow at 5:30am. Lots of work and planning will be followed by two days of sheer chaos. I fucking love it.
B3 out.
This year I am returning to CodeMash and could not be more excited. This whole week will be one for the record books. I am leaving for Sandusky, Ohio Wednesday night and settling into a Hampton Inn near Milan. I was unable to secure a room at Kalahari this year, but a hotel ten minutes away is far better than commuting from Perrysburg both days.
Thursday is the first day of full sessions, a day that begins at 5:30am and ends around 1:00am the next day. I will be going all-out: speaker sessions, Open Spaces, free food, after-parties, the post-10pm waterpark party - not to mention the usual Kalahari amenities such as the ice cream bar and arcade. I have no idea how I will survive Thursday.
Friday will be interesting. I will begin the day by nursing an almost-too-obvious hangover from whatever I get myself into the night before. Sessions run all day, although it is very likely that I will not make it through the last session around 6:00pm. I will also miss the new after-party Friday night. I plan to be back in Perrysburg - Levis Commons more specifically - around six or seven to be at the Dirk Manning book signing. Once I get some meet-and-greet out of the way and chill with some relatively awesome book-loving nerds, I am immediately heading to downtown Toledo to see The Trews play at Frankies. Just as I did with the Silversun Pickups in 2007, I get to see a recently-discovered band play in a small, intimate environment. CodeMash, Dirk Manning, and The Trews all in one day? Truly a day to look forward to.
My extra-busy work week begins tomorrow at 5:30am. Lots of work and planning will be followed by two days of sheer chaos. I fucking love it.
B3 out.
Monday, January 02, 2012
All The Things I Said: Goals For 2012
2011 was the first year that I set specific goals for me to accomplish over the course of the year. I started the year strong and was well above and beyond most of my goals by June. The last six months of the year were much slower, and I actually ended 2011 with two of my eight goals unfinished, but well underway.
I have rolled up a new set of goals for 2012, although unlike last year's goals, these goals are a bit more vague and much harder to break into measurable chunks.
Find Creative Inspiration
The fundamental source of my creative writing problems in the last four years boils down to one problem: nothing inspires me. While I do have a random burst of creativity from time to time, I generally do not have enough motivation or creative drive to work on my fiction. This is a huge shame, because throughout high school and college I had hundreds of short story ideas that I wanted to tackle but never wrote down in any capacity.
I attribute my former creativity to a lifestyle filled with constant change. The drive of college, the crunch of fitting in school, work, my friends, and alone time, spring breaks, summer breaks - my life was always on the move and I was constantly exposed to new sources of inspiration. While I have been enormously successfully financially and professionally since college, I have otherwise let my mind grow comfortable in a relatively stale routine. In 2012 I am going to find new ways to stimulate my imagination. This most immediately boils down to putting myself in new places with short road trips, lots of hiking, and eventually, a true summer vacation that will see me leaving the country, if everything goes according to plan.
Be Exponentially More Social
While I have made a priority of my job, related studies, and personal projects, I have given up plenty of time with my friends in the last year. In 2012 I will make a very focused effort to spend more time with my immediate friends, old friends, and hopefully all the new friends I intend to make as I travel about to different tech conferences, gatherings, and hiking trips.
Follow Weekly and Monthly Routines
My life is at its best when it is organized, and this applies even more so when I am on some sort of schedule or routine. I plan to follow a somewhat pre-planned weekly schedule as well as an overall monthly schedule that balances the time I spent programming, writing, gaming, and seeing my friends.
Write On a Regular Basis
My first goal (way above) and my previous goal (directly above) are really catalyst for this one: I want to return to writing on a regular basis in 2012. While I do not have overly grand ambitions, I do plan on writing fiction or creative nonfiction several times a week with the intent to build up to a short story or two.
As I said before, my 2012 goals are few in number but very important to me. I plan to get started on these goals right after next week's orgasm that is CodeMash.
B3 out.
I have rolled up a new set of goals for 2012, although unlike last year's goals, these goals are a bit more vague and much harder to break into measurable chunks.
Find Creative Inspiration
The fundamental source of my creative writing problems in the last four years boils down to one problem: nothing inspires me. While I do have a random burst of creativity from time to time, I generally do not have enough motivation or creative drive to work on my fiction. This is a huge shame, because throughout high school and college I had hundreds of short story ideas that I wanted to tackle but never wrote down in any capacity.
I attribute my former creativity to a lifestyle filled with constant change. The drive of college, the crunch of fitting in school, work, my friends, and alone time, spring breaks, summer breaks - my life was always on the move and I was constantly exposed to new sources of inspiration. While I have been enormously successfully financially and professionally since college, I have otherwise let my mind grow comfortable in a relatively stale routine. In 2012 I am going to find new ways to stimulate my imagination. This most immediately boils down to putting myself in new places with short road trips, lots of hiking, and eventually, a true summer vacation that will see me leaving the country, if everything goes according to plan.
Be Exponentially More Social
While I have made a priority of my job, related studies, and personal projects, I have given up plenty of time with my friends in the last year. In 2012 I will make a very focused effort to spend more time with my immediate friends, old friends, and hopefully all the new friends I intend to make as I travel about to different tech conferences, gatherings, and hiking trips.
Follow Weekly and Monthly Routines
My life is at its best when it is organized, and this applies even more so when I am on some sort of schedule or routine. I plan to follow a somewhat pre-planned weekly schedule as well as an overall monthly schedule that balances the time I spent programming, writing, gaming, and seeing my friends.
Write On a Regular Basis
My first goal (way above) and my previous goal (directly above) are really catalyst for this one: I want to return to writing on a regular basis in 2012. While I do not have overly grand ambitions, I do plan on writing fiction or creative nonfiction several times a week with the intent to build up to a short story or two.
As I said before, my 2012 goals are few in number but very important to me. I plan to get started on these goals right after next week's orgasm that is CodeMash.
B3 out.
Sunday, January 01, 2012
Micro Reviews For 2012
The new year is starting with a lot of new games pouring my way, and there is no better way to kick of 2012 than with a few micro-reviews!
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Easily the most hyped game of 2011, Skyrim actually delivers in almost everything it sets out to do. Unlike Morrowind's vague goals or Oblivion's awkward setting and level scaling, Skyrim feels like a genuine blockbuster tuned to casual and hardcore players alike. The story is front and center and easy to follow, but as always, entirely optional. Technologically solid, Skyrim oozes beauty and wonder around every new corner. Quests are plentiful and generally interesting. Combat is competent and at times exciting, but fundamentally unchanged since Morrowind. Dodge, block, attack, repeat.
Character leveling is incredibly natural and meaningful this time around. Instead of choosing a distinct class at the beginning of the game, players are given the freedom to use whatever areas of combat interests them, and as those skills level up, so does their character.
Skyrim rectifies just about everything that was wrong in Morrowind and Oblivion and stands tall as a landmark in the gaming industry. Skyrim will be talked about well-beyond 2011.
SkyDrift
Hydro Thunder + Mario Kart + airplanes = SkyDrift.
The above equation is the perfect summary of SkyDrift, an XBLA, PS3, and PC arcade racer that satisfies the need for speed on several levels. Chaotic Hydro Thunder-style level design meets the item bashing antics of Mario Kart (without the annoying balancing issues). Add in the vertical freedom that airplane-style racing brings and SkyDrift ends up being one of the best $15 purchases that could be made for fans of the genre.
Mario Kart 7
The Mario Kart series has been a staple in gaming since 1993 and has found a home on every Nintendo system since then (minus the Virtual Boy). This is with good reason: the games sell millions - if not tens of millions - of copies each generation. Mario Kart 7 - the latest iteration for the Nintendo 3DS - is exactly as Mario Kart has been for the last ten years: formulaic. A decent variety of characters, new and old tracks, drifting, and coins make up this iteration. Additions include short flying and underwater sections, but these are not revolutionary additions to the game and add very little to the overall experience. Rubber-banding AI has been toned down, although the infamous Blue Shell and other leader-destroying items still rain chaos in the most annoying ways possible. Online play is a highlight, being extremely balanced, well-populated, and fair.
Nintendo has been playing it safe with Mario Kart for too long, however, and Mario Kart 7 is proof that fundamental change needs to come to this series. While it is a solid entry into the series, it is the same game we have played for the last decade.
B3 out.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Easily the most hyped game of 2011, Skyrim actually delivers in almost everything it sets out to do. Unlike Morrowind's vague goals or Oblivion's awkward setting and level scaling, Skyrim feels like a genuine blockbuster tuned to casual and hardcore players alike. The story is front and center and easy to follow, but as always, entirely optional. Technologically solid, Skyrim oozes beauty and wonder around every new corner. Quests are plentiful and generally interesting. Combat is competent and at times exciting, but fundamentally unchanged since Morrowind. Dodge, block, attack, repeat.
Character leveling is incredibly natural and meaningful this time around. Instead of choosing a distinct class at the beginning of the game, players are given the freedom to use whatever areas of combat interests them, and as those skills level up, so does their character.
Skyrim rectifies just about everything that was wrong in Morrowind and Oblivion and stands tall as a landmark in the gaming industry. Skyrim will be talked about well-beyond 2011.
SkyDrift
Hydro Thunder + Mario Kart + airplanes = SkyDrift.
The above equation is the perfect summary of SkyDrift, an XBLA, PS3, and PC arcade racer that satisfies the need for speed on several levels. Chaotic Hydro Thunder-style level design meets the item bashing antics of Mario Kart (without the annoying balancing issues). Add in the vertical freedom that airplane-style racing brings and SkyDrift ends up being one of the best $15 purchases that could be made for fans of the genre.
Mario Kart 7
The Mario Kart series has been a staple in gaming since 1993 and has found a home on every Nintendo system since then (minus the Virtual Boy). This is with good reason: the games sell millions - if not tens of millions - of copies each generation. Mario Kart 7 - the latest iteration for the Nintendo 3DS - is exactly as Mario Kart has been for the last ten years: formulaic. A decent variety of characters, new and old tracks, drifting, and coins make up this iteration. Additions include short flying and underwater sections, but these are not revolutionary additions to the game and add very little to the overall experience. Rubber-banding AI has been toned down, although the infamous Blue Shell and other leader-destroying items still rain chaos in the most annoying ways possible. Online play is a highlight, being extremely balanced, well-populated, and fair.
Nintendo has been playing it safe with Mario Kart for too long, however, and Mario Kart 7 is proof that fundamental change needs to come to this series. While it is a solid entry into the series, it is the same game we have played for the last decade.
B3 out.
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