bphogan.com

I’m on schedule to have my book indexed and ready for one final beta before printing. I’m extremely excited to be almost done. I have some cleanup to do this weekend though. My editor wants me to be a little more assertive. I have no problem with asserting my opinions, but I thought that maybe my readers might. Turns out that’s just want my editor wants me to do, so I’m going through and making things just a little more… well, let’s just say forceful.

The writing process is interesting. It’s like nothing I’ve ever done before, and yet there are a lot of parallels to the rest of the things I do in the computer field. One thing’s for sure… people have no problem telling you what they don’t like!

Reaction to my book is mixed, and I have come to terms with the fact that I’m probably not going to be able to please everyone, and so I’m spending part of my weekend framing the book a little differently.

For now though, it’s time for some sleep. I have a big project day ahead of me tomorrow.

I miss being in shape. I used to work out every day. I’d practice karate, go running with Ana, and do some occasional weight training. It was part of the routine and I felt great. But then Ana started school, my consulting practice picked up, and of course we were blessed with Lisa. I found I had less and less time to get any workout time in.

When I went to RailsConf in May, I was immediately shocked by the way Chad Fowler, one of the conference organizers looked. For those that don’t know, Chad was a pretty big guy, but he must have dropped at least 60 pounds (or more) since I last saw him. He looked so different that I didn’t even recognize him

Chad’s a pretty busy guy. He’s been writing a great book over the last year and basically being an all-around good guy in the Ruby community. It was at that point that i thought “well, now I have no excuse.”

So, I started watching what I eat, and have been working out more, trying to find a good routine. This is going to mean a little less time with some of my other hobbies, but I think it will definitely pay off in the long run. I’m not going to be religious about it, but I am going to get back to the way things used to be by being more active and taking lunches to work instead of eating crappy campus food.

Should be interesting to see what happens next.

My two-year-old DLP television died around April 18th. It’s getting close to a month now and after several phone calls and one failed attempt at at-home service, I am still unable to watch my television. I paid for a service plan which is supposed to cover this kind of stuff, but nowhere was I told that it would be fixed whenever they feel like getting around to me.

I spent a long time on the phone with various agents. The first agent hung up on me. The second decided to send me a new bulb. When Carissa put the new bulb in the TV, it didn’t solve the problem, so we spent another two hours on the phone with Sears product support. We had to wait two weeks for a repairman to come out.

He spent some quality time with our TV but decided that it couldn’t be fixed that day, and that new parts had to be ordered. We ordered a new color wheel and a ballast, and the color wheel arrived broken, so we got another one.

Our next scheduled appointment for service is on May 18th.

Don’t buy service plans from Sears. In fact don’t buy anything from Sears. A five year service plan on a television sounds great, but it’s not worth getting jerked around like this.

I’m tired of crappy service from companies. Protip: If you’re not willing to support the products you have, then don’t sell extended warranties.

First off, apologies to my cousin Kevin and his lovely wife. I’m sure there are lots of things to like about Las Vegas, but I just didn’t enjoy myself in the City of Really Expensive Everything. I went to Vegas for a conference, and luckily enough for me the conference kept me quite busy and mostly away from all of the wonderful distractions the strip has to offer the person who has too much money and time on his or her hands.

The time I did have consisted of me overpaying for everything. You want an idea of how expensive that place is? Buy a Coke. It’ll cost you $3.75. For a 20 ounce bottle. You can guess what beer costs.

Secondly, nobody was happy. I walked around several casinos, walked through several of the shopping centers, and down the main strip, and all I saw were people trying to do exactly what I was doing…

…trying to get the hell out of wherever they had found themselves.

You see, the whole strip is set up to keep you in a constant state of confusion. Casino floors are linked together by shopping malls with winding paths and linear hallways. Everything’s ridiculously huge and a week’s time is not nearly enough to get the lay of the land. To go to the “next casino” you need to be willing to put in some serious time. Like two hours.

Oh, and everything’s broken. The monorail was always down, the trams at the airport were broken, and for some reason I had water leaking into my bathroom from above.

If RailsConf is there next year, I’m gonna be pretty upset.

This site’s theme (and some of its content) hasn’t really changed since 2005, and with everything else going on right now I figured it was high-time I change that. I started by ripping off the theme I did for the Web Design For Developers web site. It’s a nice clean template that I hope will be easier for everyone to read. I’ll be making modifications to this over the next few days, but I have to get some of the other pages up too.

I don’t maintain this blog as much as I should, and the reason has been mostly technical. I goofed up something with my home network which prevented me from accessing the blog at home. I’ve worked around that now so I can publish again. My goal is to have some sort of update about once a week so that family can find out what I’m up to.

Sorry, but I’m really not that into making phone calls.

I am extremely active on Twitter though, so please follow me.

For those of you who watch this blog and wonder what I’m up to, I am a lot more active on Twitter than I am here. Follow me!

The last few months have been interesting to say the least. I’ve recently did some work for Inacom Information Systems, where I helped bring a derailed project back on track. It was great to get to work with my friend Jon, who was swamped and overwhelmed by the workload. Being the only Rails developer at the time, Jon was busy supporting other apps and the deadline for the newest product was looming. I jumped in and helped launch the product. In a little over two weeks, we built something pretty solid.

I also recently taught someone how to program with Rails. In less than three weeks, he launched his first site, http://www.youandcharliewu.com/ which was commissioned by David H. Lawrence, a well-known actor and producer. (You may have seen him on Heroes.) I wrote very little of the code, but I spent quite a lot of time teaching the sole developer about the various technologies involved. It feels great to help someone become successful. A paycheck is nice, but it’s nothing compared to knowing that you’ve made a difference for someone. The site is a novel concept - it’s a fundraising site for an independent film. Their goal is to raise $30,000. Anyone who donates more than $10 can get a referral link they can send their friends. Each person gets 1 point for each dollar they donate, as well as a point for anyone their referrals donate. The people with the most points will get featured in the film’s credits, or in the case of the biggest fundraiser, the executive producer credit. Eventually, they’ll expand the site to allow anyone to create a goal, and I look forward to working on that with them.

Lisa’s doing great. She’s close to walking, and she stands up (while hanging onto the couch or my leg) all the time. Ana’s doing well in school, and she still loves reading, and she seems to enjoy playing the “big sister” role, even though she gets frustrated a lot by the fact that we can’t pay as much attention to her as we could before.

Carissa’s still being the awesome wife and mom, but she’s doing that while balancing two kids, a cranky husband, and her new role as the cookie coordinator for the local Girl Scout chapters. She’s been spending a lot of time working with troopleaders and getting the cookie stuff taken care of. All I care about is the fact that my pantry now has Thin-Mints. That’s a win for me.

Due to scheduling conflicts and the addition of a new chapter, the book’s launch date has been pushed back to June now. I’ve set up a new site for the book at http://www.webdesignfordevelopers.com and I’ll be doing updates there.

That’s all for now…

Lisa turns one year old this Saturday. I can’t believe how fast the first year went. Looking back, we had a pretty lousy year. Six eye surgeries, nine casts, and three pairs of shoes. Not to mention countless bottles and diapers. Lisa’s also a biter, so that can be kinda painful.

It took nearly six months before Lisa would really let me spend alone time with her, and even today she’d rather be with Carissa if she’s within earshot. Lisa and I get to spend some time together quite a bit now that Carissa’s involved with the Girl Scouts.

One of the most frustrating things about the work I do is how much time it requires. I’d rather be spending that with my family, but Carissa needs to stay home to care for Lisa, so that means I gotta pick up work where I can get it. At least most of what I do is fun, although a few things are starting to wear thin.

As for Ana, she’s nine years old now and she just doesn’t get along with her mother at all. She and I get along quite well; she’s still my little buddy. I’m sure that won’t last very long though. She’s going to have her first sleep-over party here this weekend, so if I’m still alive after Sunday I’ll be sure to post how that went over.

My book Web Design for Developers is now available in Beta form.

You’ll learn how to design a web site from start to finish, and you’ll use many of the techniques and thought processes you’ve come to rely on as an application developer. You’ll learn some color theory, some typography basics, some XHTML and CSS, and how to incorporate Photoshop and Illustrator into a work flow that works for you, not against you.

You can buy an early copy and then contribute to the feedback cycle to help make this an even better book when it eventually ships. You can purchase the PDF and start reading now, or preorder the printed book which will ship after the beta process finishes up.

Michelle Bachmann (R, MN) is in a bit of trouble for some statements she made on Friday’s editiion of Hardball. This weekend she attempted to defend her comoments by claiming she never said what she said.

“It was reported that I questioned Barack Obama’s patriotism,” Bachmann said. “I did not, nor do I question Barack Obama’s patriotism. He is a patriot and he loves this country just the way everyone in this room does. And I did not say that Barack Obama is anti-American nor do I believe that Barack Obama is anti-American.”

Here’s what she said, and there’s lots of evidence on the internet to back it up.

“Absolutely, I’m very concerned that he may have anti-American views. That’s what the American people are concerned about.”

That’s questioning patriotism. She said it. She should apologize for it or stand up for it.

Then she says this:

“Nor did I call for an investigation of members of Congress for their pro-American or anti-American views,” Bachmann said. “That was not what I said. But, unfortunately we are two weeks away from an election and an echo chamber started. And it’s very difficult to overcome perceptions that are in the media.”

But on Hardball, she said:

“I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out are they pro-America or anti-America. I think people would love to see an expose like that.”"

It’s never about the scandal. It’s about the coverup. A simple search on YouTube can tell you if this happened or not.

But this is worse than a coverup, it’s an attempt to place a wedge between you and your neighbor.

This is dangerous talk. I will concede that Obama has left himself open for his associations. While he has said he does not agree with the statements of Ayres or Wright, and he does not condone their actions, Obama chose to send his kids to church and he chose to work with Ayres.

But look at the whole rather than the parts. To take his middle name, combine that with the Internet-forwarded falsities that he’s really a secret Muslim, to say that that he supports and even “works with terrorists”, and that he has ‘un-American’ views’ is the worst mudslinging I’ve seen, and I think that any elected official who engages in that type of divisive talk should definitely lose their elected office. Bachmann’s statement that people in Congress might have un-patriotic views coupled with Hayes’ recent comments about “Liberials hate real Americans” shows a coordinated effort to once again divide this country.

Now I hear the term “communist” being thrown around again.

I’m actually afraid at this point, and I’m not joking. I think that this type of rhetoric, at the levels it’s been ramping up lately, is dangerous because as the margins widen, and the election gets closer, unstable people may decide to take desperate measures to ensure that Obama never becomes president.

And it will be justified in that person’s mind because all the people he looks up to say that Obama is “anti-American” and thus “anti-America”.

But is it really ‘anti-American?”

Right now, polls show that the majority of Americans like Obama’s views. Logically, that would make them no longer ‘un-American’ views. People who don’t vote don’t get to have an opinion, and so the majority wins and the minority loses. . Socialism may not have been the original destination, but people seem to want that now. After 8 years of unregulated capitalism, people want a change, and people want to feel safe. They can’t worry about terrorists when they file bankruptcy because the have to pay thousands in medical bills. People can’t afford to have their pre-tax deductions become post-tax deductions. People can’t afford to retire this year because their IRA lost 10% in a month.

The “everyone’s special” and “don’t hurt poor Johny’s self-esteem” education we started embracing in the 80s and 90s (and still in effect today has raised a nation of whiny, self-centered people who want Mommy government to do things for them. Why should you have to work hard? Have you not wondered why we have credit problems? People don’t have any personal responsibility anymore.

That’s what ‘pro-American’ views are now, at least if you trust the polls. If McCain were 10 points ahead, you could see it differently. But people want a handout, and Obama’s promising it.

Very well done.