trying to believe

Where have you gone? It seems like only yesterday I was making resolutions. Now, you’re drawing to a close, and I can’t imagine what happened to the time…Happy New Year, everyone. Well, Happy New Year’s Eve anyway. Before I start the obligatory list o’ resolutions for 2007, it would probably be a good idea to recap any progress I made towards my goals this year. And so I shall:

1. Be a better father.If I did one thing right this year, it was this. I spent less time at work to spend more time with my son (and wife). The result? A spoiled one-year-old that cries everytime I leave the room. I can’t complain though. I wouldn’t trade him for the world.
2. Be a better husband.I made moderate progress in this area. Work was always an area of contention between my wife and I, and cutting back a little on my hours has helped our marriage immensely. Now if only I could work more on #3….
3. Lose weight.I actually did lose some weight this year, around 40 lbs to be exact but it didn’t stick. I know this will stay on my list of resolutions for 2007, only I need to get more serious this time. As I grow older it’s going to be harder and hard to shed the weight I have on me.
4. Excercise more.I really need to get on the ball with this. And stop making excuses for myself. Being tired just doesn’t cut it. Not having enough time just doesn’t cut it. I need to get off of my lazy arse and get moving. Or I’ll have heart problems, heart attacks, etc. to look forward to.
5. Grow closer to God.I was baptized in February of this year. Kim and I joined Trinity on the Hill United Methodist Church in June. Tyler was baptized in July. I think I made progress in this area. But I need to dedicate myself to prayer more, and try to get more involved at church.
6. Read through the entire Bible this year.Sadly, I didn’t complete this. I blame #8 on this list. I’m still notorious for procrastination and this is definitely a weakness of mine that needs to be addressed and taken care of. UPDATE: Luckily, the ESV website offers a number of RSS feeds to help with this goal.
7. Finish books I’ve started and not finished.I actually did make it through a number of books this year. I’ve read more than I’ve ever read in quite some time. Honestly, the last time I read this much was because I had to (for school). It’s nice to read for enjoyment and education.
8. Stop procrastinating. (Maybe tomorrow?)I so have to do something about this one. It’s my Achilles heel.
9. Stop being so impulsive.I made some progress in this area this year, but still have some difficulty with it. Especially when it comes to food. I need to hunker down, stop feeling sorry for myself, my weight, etc. and do something about it. If it means not using a checkcard anymore, eating breakfast at home, packing my lunch, etc. I need to do it.

I made some progress this year, but I could have made more. I won’t make excuses for myself. I was lazy, and that’s something that has seriously got to change.

Now onto 2007…

1. Take control of my weight and do something about it.
2. Stop spending money on frivolous crap.
3. Fulfill obligations in a timely manner.
4. Pay off some of my/our debt.

It’s a short list, but a lot of work. I’m looking forward to the coming year, but realize there may be some hardships ahead in trying to achieve the goals I have set forth for myself. Anything worth doing is never easy.

Death comes in threes. First James Brown. Then Gerald Ford. Now, Saddam Hussein. That’s one hell of a group there. An entertainer, a President, and a ruthless dictator. It’s been one heck of a Christmas, hasn’t it?

Just discovered on iTunes that a couple of artists/groups I enjoy just released new albums.

Switchfoot just released “Oh! Gravity.” It features a good mix of tracks. If you were happy with their last release (The Beautiful Letdown), you will not be disappointed at all.

Matisyahu also has a new release, called No Place to Be. It’s basically a few remixes of existing songs that you can find on Youth or Live at Stubb’s, but my favorite new track has to be his cover of The Police’s “Message in a Bottle”.

He loved the holidays, and he loved Augusta. James Brown will be missed.

Testing out YouTube’s blog posting tool… and what better way to do so, than with a video from my friend and coworker, Patrick Rodgers.

UPDATE: The tool writes sucky code, and doesn’t create a post title, but other than that it worked quickly…

From the blog of John Nack:

It’s critical that Adobe help developers get up to speed in updating their plug-ins to run natively on Intel-based Macs, so we’ve posted a Photoshop CS3 mini-SDK that contains the needed info. The SDK, along with the CS and CS2 versions, is a free download once you fill out a simple form.

Another day, another meme. Thanks for the tag, Ben.

• I was born on November 30, and share a birthday with notables such as Mark Twain, Vincent “Bo” Edward Jackson, and *gag* Clay Aiken.
• I failed out of college in 1997. It’s not something I’m proud of. After a return in 2000-2001, I’m a sophomore. But I really should have graduated given all of the courses I’ve already taken. Maybe someday…
• I have Adult Attention Deficit Disorder, or I don’t (if you believe Tom Cruise isn’t insane). I don’t use it as a crutch. It’s just part of who I am.
• I taught myself HTML and CSS, Photoshop, et al. primarily through trial and error, and by analyzing other people’s code. I have no formal training as a designer, and sometimes this is a shortcoming of mine… but for the most part it has not hindered my career at all. It’s not what you’ve learned in school that’s important (though at times, it is important, but more about what you can do with whatever talent you might have.
• I’ve worked as a weedeater operator, frozen food stocker, school portrait photographer, video store clerk, managing editor for a national magazine, a webmaster, a student assistant, an art director, a web architect… Some jobs I loved. Some I hated. (BTW, I worked at Blockbuster Video for a year and a half once upon a time just to get free rentals. I was that into movies at the time…)

And now, to pass the 5Things Baton… I tag…

• Jeremy
• Will
• Scott
• Don
• Andy

I’ve been comfortable coding HTML, CSS, etc. in Notepad for years, but I’ve grown to love Dreamweaver ever since I started working at PowerServe. Tonight, I ran across this Dreamweaver extension for Wordpress that could make life a little bit easier for anyone who uses the popular blogging platform.

Right now, it appears the the extension is compatible with Dreamweaver 8 and Dreamweaver MX 2004. If you’re using an older version, it’s time to upgrade. Seriously.

There are several wizards for using tags with additional parameters they might accept. It’ll help with basic loops, inserting templates, supports Ultimate Tag Warrior, etc. It’s probably a safe bet that if you’re using Dreamweaver and using Wordpress, it’s worth a try.

Over the past year, I’ve become quite a fan of John Hodgman. You probably know him as “PC” from Apple’s Mac vs PC ads. Or maybe you’ve seen him on The Daily Show as a Subject Expert. Or maybe you’ve read articles he’s written in the New York Times. (He’s a busy guy, seriously.)

Well, someone’s been good this year, because Santa convinced Apple to give away Hodgman’s book: “The Areas of My Expertise” for free on iTunes.

If that didn’t convince you to check it out, here’s more about the book:

Audiobook Description: In the great tradition of the American almanac, The Areas of My Expertise is a brilliant and hilarious compendium of handy reference tables, fascinating trivia, and sage wisdom on all topics large and small. Although best sellers such as Poor Richard’s Almanack and The Book of Lists were certainly valuable, they also were largely true. Here is a different kind of handy desk reference, one in which all of the historical oddities and amazing true facts are sifted through the singular, illuminating imagination of John Hodgman, which is the nice way of saying: He made it all up.

What Others Say:

• “One of the funniest and most entertaining books to play on readers’ imaginations in recent memory. Highly recommended.” - Library Journal
• “For the hyper-well-read fans of publications like McSweeney’s this is a treasure trove of twisted absurdist miscellany.” - Publishers Weekly

So go download it already. Or you could go read more about the book here. Or you could read John Hodgman’s blog. Or you could buy the book.

Okay, I’ll stop now.

Is it any wonder people have such a deep sense of loyalty to this brand?

• They just gave me the second half of Season 10 of South Park, because I had bought the first half. I know a lot of people were originally ticked at the decision to split the 10th Season… but Apple made good.
• I lost my iTunes library twice within a couple of months over sheer random acts … Apple made an exception in both cases (after lots of begging) to let me redownload my purchases.

By the way, I visited my first Apple Store this weekend. (It was the one at the Lennox Square Mall in Atlanta, GA.) The store was awesome. I picked up an iPod shuffle while I was there and a Giggles game for Tyler. How could I leave empty-handed? The shuffle is gorgeous. I had a tough time narrowing down what songs I wanted on it… But man oh man, did I mention it’s gorgeous?