Tuesday, July 30, 2002

This Blog Needs More Pictures! Man, I've got so much digital media going on in my life now, and I'm hardly sharing any of it on my blog... ugh!  I've got to start using more pictures on this site. 5:25:35 PM

So, What Is My Community? I'm now asking myself, "What is my community?" It has to do with where I work, what I do in my work, what I do with my time outside my work, where do my interests lie, what groups do I have affinity for, etc. I have a wonderful partner, lover, wife, friend, colleague, and confidant, Teresa McCoy. I'm a software designer at Rockwell Automation.  I've designed and developed major parts of RSLogix 5000. I love all aspects of Interaction Design, and designing products that people love to use.  I can code, but prefer to design things that other people code.  I lead teams to develop wonderful things. I own a house that I'm constantly upgrading (much more often than my computer).  I love our house, and our garden, but I'm getting a bit tired of the weather in Cleveland (although the summer has been good!). I like coffee, micro-brews, wine, ethnic foods, and fruit.  I'm a vegetarian who eats eggs, dairy products, and fish.  But pizza is wrong without pepperoni. I like science fiction, particularly short stories.  I like literature, including contemporary authors like Toni Morrison.  I like science biography and science writing in general.  I miss Stephen J. Gould. I love movies, but can't stand most big Hollywood flicks - unless Teresa is away and I need a distraction from my disfunction. I loved British heavy metal in high school.  Now, I like all kinds of music.  Even some country, R&B, and hip hop.  I still like heavy stuff, though.  Tool, Nine Inch Nails, and White Zombie for example.  In contrasting example, though, I love Diana Krall and Tom Waits. I have a nice computer system at home that I use for almost anything but work.  I have a digital video camera, a digital snapshot camera, and a couple of games I occasionally fiddle with.  I love broadband connections, but I hate broadband companies.  Google rules. We have good friends in South Africa, and Cape Town is one of my favorite places in the world. Of course, there is more.  What part of my community do you share? 1:13:22 PM

Oh, man, I made Scripting News.  I hope some people find something interesting on my two sites.  <biting my nails> 12:57:28 PM

Awesome 6 Mega-Pixel Nikon Digital Camera Review Just posted! Full Nikon D100 Review. [Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)] I've currently got a simple, low-end consumer grade digital camera.  The Kodak DC215.  I like it, but when the prices come down to 1/2 to 1/3 of current levels, I'm going to get me a digital SLR like this Nikon.  The review is incredible, and you learn a ton about digital photography just from reading it.  The site seems to be a really good one too! 12:12:49 PM

Where is My Blog Flow? I figured out the primary reason for my lack of "blog flow."  None of my close friends are bloggers.  And I'm outside any active blog community. I have a number of friends who read my JarrettInteractionDesign web site when I post something new, but they aren't bloggers.  In fact, hardly any of them have web sites at all. I read a number of other blogs semi-regularly.  Particularly Scripting News, although I'm more fond of the longer, more thoughtful DaveNets.  However, I am not a member of the web-technology community, nor of the Silicon Valley community. I've been trying to turn a number of my friends into "bloggers," and build my own community.  However, most of the examples of blogs out there are not of interest to my community, except as curiosity. So, my mission is to find blogs that my community might be interested in, demonstrate the power and interest of blogging, and build a new blog community. I'll first start with finding one other friend to participate.  An achievable goal.  (I think.) 9:21:13 AM