Just in the Nick of Time

Here we sit, the last minutes of the first month of a new year ticking into oblivion.

And here I sit, working on the my first blog entry of said new year. Talk about procrastination.

"New" Year's Resolutions

Although it's probably a bit late to make resolutions for the ~~year~~ 11 months ahead, the entire month of January seemed to be a blur of non-productivity, and therefore, I'm working the resolutions in where I can. And that time is now.

As my roommates already know, I am going to make this year the year that I start taking care of myself again. My first three semesters at school saw my diet decline from healthy foods and milk to cheeseburgers and EVERYTHING THAT EXISTS IN THE ROOM. (Sorry guys…) The month of January saw my introduction of phase I of Operation Stop Being a Fat-ass, where I have worked to stop eating the stuff in our room. Every now and then I still slide back into garbage-disposal mode, but Daniel is always there to remind me of my goal. I really owe him a lot. Thanks.

Phase II, which I started the other day, is to fix my habit of drinking about 27.3 metric tons of sugar per meal (ed. note: there is a margin of error of approximately ±2.3%). So, to correct this, I am stopping drinking all sodas and sweet tea. It's really hard, but necessary. Also, I am slowly starting a "workout" routine. As of yesterday, I now go on brisk walks around campus. They're really tiring; I'm really out of shape.

Phases III through whenever I stop numbering them will extend these reforms to actually modify what I eat at meals, expand my exercising, and hopefully, make me less of a lazy bum. Only time will tell, but for now, I have forever inscribed this resolution in the stone tablets of the internet.

I have no other resolutions: I think what I've set on my plate is plenty.

Website Updates

Despite the dire lack of blog entries, things have not been completely quiet on the website front. The ePortfolio is slowly being fleshed out with actual content (all presented in such a way that all people, including the blind, will be able to read my documents.) I also have some new ideas for the site, as well as some old ideas to continue working on (such as hopefully getting my Salkehatchie-related pet project functional.) Stylesheets for mobile and print have been refined a bit. There's a lot going on, but a lot more that still needs to happen. I hope to have the time.

In conclusion, it's been a whirlwind month. My plan is to manage my time, manage my self, and manage my goals in a manner that allows me to actually do the things I love and the things I need to do, rather than just existing day to day. Wish me luck!

Of Squirrels and Men

Image by Kyle Weems

Logo of CSSquirrel.com

As some of you may have figured out by now, I like to consider myself a web designer. However, up until now, the extent of my online presence has stretched about as far as my bass performance skills have: playing around in front of my family and a couple of friends. Case in point: this website.

As part of my playing around, I follow the postings and thoughts of many notable members of the web design community. One such developer is Kyle Weems, also known by his online persona: CSSquirrel. On Saturday, he posted a blog entry describing how his site's cool animated header works. It was an interesting read, but what stuck out in my mind was how simple the code was.

The Existing Code

As mentioned in his post, the entire code appeared as follows:

$(”#branding”).mousemove(function(e) {
mouseX = e.clientX;
$(”#cloudLayer”).css(”background-position”, Math.floor(mouseX / 4) + “px 0″);
$(”#mountainLayer”).css(”background-position”, Math.floor(mouseX / 3) + “px 0″);
$(”#hillLayer”).css(”background-position”, Math.floor(mouseX / 2) + “px 0″);
$(”#forestLayer”).css(”background-position”, mouseX + “px 0″);
});

The gist of this code (written in jQuery) is that whenever the mouse is located in the main header, the script tracks the mouse's position, and moves the 4 images which make up the header at different speeds. It worked really well, especially given how little code it took. In my view, though, it had one major problem: there was a rather unsightly jump as the mouse entered the frame. The reason for this was that the images are positioned based solely on the mouse's position, with no respect given to the existing position.

Generosity

After returning from fall break, I am amazed by the generosity people have towards others.

First, a little background. I had been wanting to bring my car to school, because walking everywhere has severely limited me in some cases (that 3 mile walk to the church to get an Easter basket last spring nearly killed me). The only problem is, the car has been sitting dead on the driveway for years. With the help of my grandfather and a couple of phone calls to my uncle, we replaced the alternator and fixed the windshield wipers, the two most crucial repairs needed.

To get me all set to head back to school, my parents graciously paid for routine maintenance repairs on the car. All in all, I think every drop of fluid in the car may have been replaced, and with good reason, for they had probably nearly crystalized with all the time spent unused. My family was really looking out for me.

Beyond the Plateau

I know that I haven't mentioned my progression with bass guitar very often in my blog, but it's been coming along well. I've certainly advanced a lot from the buzzes and squeaks which characterized my early songs. My tone has gotten better, I've gotten faster at strumming and can play across the strings with relative ease. The problem is, I've reached a plateau.

At this point, I can sort of play any tablature which gets placed in front of me. It may take a little while to work up, but the basic mechanics of how to play and makes notes come out is there. What I currently lack is the ability to take those notes and really make music.

The other day I bought a gigantic book of music theory for the bass. Looking through it, I got very excited. The things in this book are what I've severely lacked in my own playing: actual music. It's been so long since I had formal music lessons that I had forgotten how important the basics such as scales and chords are. But now, with an actual course of study ahead of me, I might just be able to someday pass myself off as a musician.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch Changes

Alrighty, a large number of changes have now been instituted. All of the pages should now be HTML5. The style sheet has been completely rewritten, most of it from scratch, to accommodate the new markup. Each and every blog post has been edited by hand to adapt its code to the new format. I don't expect you to actually care about this: I just wanted to let you know how hard it was.

Of course, some things are broken: The mobile site is totally busted, the print styles are totally busted, Internet Explorer support is totally busted, and all other events are pending. Sorry, The Lonely Island's Space Olympics just jumped in my head.

In any case, if you see anything else broken, let me know.

Unfinished Thoughts

The Personal Website of William Flake