bphogan.com

Teddy Bear from Brian Hogan on Vimeo.

Here’s a cute video of Lisa and Ana doing the “Teddy Bear” song that Lisa learned from her talking teddy bear toy.

Reading my book, just received from the printers.

I just received my copies of my book today, and that brings this chapter of my life to a close. Three years of work, two rewrites, a lot of frustration, and close to 3000 copies sold so far. I’m pretty proud of this book, and while there are a ton of things I’d do differently, I am glad I don’t have to do a third rewrite.

However, I’m not done writing. I’ve started something new, and I’ll let you all know more about that very very soon.

I got a new toy for my birthday this year, and have been spending a little time getting to know how it works.

Shuffling on the Kaossilator from Brian Hogan on Vimeo.

The Korg Kaossilator is a really simple device with only a few buttons and a touchpad. It’s a blast to play with and easy enough that anyone can make some cool stuff with it.

This was actually me testing out some video equipment in preparation for a podcast i am planning to do, but my external camera won’t stay on unless I am actually recording something – using it as a firewire camera doesn’t work for more than 5 minutes at a time. I need to get something else to mount over my desk. If anyone has any ideas, let me know. I plan to capture the camera and the computer screen at the same time for this podcast, as I’ll be showing how to compose music with Reason, and I want to give my viewers the chance to see the MIDI controller and keyboard during the screencast.

Well, almost. But today she decided to start really putting effort into it. She stood up and took quite a few steps. In this video, she’s falling a bit, but she still keeps making a huge effort and finally gets it at the end.

Lisa walking from Brian Hogan on Vimeo.

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.