From the site:

HTML5 and CSS3 are the future of web development, but you don’t have to wait to start using them. Even though the specification is still in development, many modern browsers and mobile devices already support HTML5 and CSS3. This book gets you up to speed on the new HTML5 elements and CSS3 features you can use right now, and backwards compatible solutions ensure that you don’t leave users of older browsers behind.

I am having a blast working on this book, and I’ve had great support from the publisher and my technical reviewers. If you haven’t considered writing a book before, you really should give it some thought. It’s a very difficult but rewarding journey.

Obviously the first thing you could do is just ask someone who currently works there what you should wear for an interview. Don’t ask directly, but perhaps inquire during the phone screen what the dress code is, and then dress a bit higher than that.

Another great piece of advice I’ve heard is that you should “dress like you’re going on a first date.” I like how that one sounds.

But another thing you could do, which I did, is just turn it over to Twitter. I asked my followers what our peers are wearing to job interviews, and I got some great replies.

So, how do you think you should dress for your next interview?

P.S. Thanks to everyone for chiming in!

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.

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.

Lisa walking from Brian Hogan on Vimeo.

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.

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.

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.

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.