inluminent

“Opportunity is missed by most people, because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
– Thomas Edison (1847-1931)
Don’t miss out on an opportunity because it looks like work.

The wife and I took a few minutes this past weekend to drop into the local CompUSA to check out the new G5 and look at the Powerbook options available to us today. I really liked the G5, as it’s a very clean design sitting next to a big Apple flatscreen monitor, but what [...]

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been interviewing candidates for an open position in my organization. I’ve learned a lot as this is my first time to really hire someone into an organization. Here are a few thoughts and suggestions for those looking for a job and interviewing right now:
1. Make sure [...]

I just hate getting sick in the middle of summer, but invariably, I seem to always get sick mid-way though each summer. I almost never have a cold in the winter, but for the past three or four years I can could on getting the flu in late July or early August, when the [...]

“Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going too fast - you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.”
– Eddie Cantor

What a weblog from a non-native Texas might look like:
May 30th: Just moved to Houston. Now this is a city that knows how to live!! Beautiful sunny days and warm balmy evenings. What a place! I watched the sunset from a park lying on a blanket. It was beautiful. I’ve finally found my home. I [...]

Todd Dominey writes about his new ‘old school’ mower in this post. I’m linking to that post, because an old neighbor of mine bought a reel mower for his lawn back when I lived in Fort Worth. When I asked him what was wrong with him when I saw him mowing with it [...]

Anyone remember Buck Rogers?
Close right?
wigi, wigi, wigi, wigi…. (or something like that)

In case you were wondering what you missed by not joining us in Acuna, Mexico a while back, I’ve posted some photos from the trip we made to see Pat Green play at the Corona Club in Acuna:

It’s nice to know I’ve inspired someone a little… welcome to the world of weblogging.

You know that you’re from Texas if you know these things already:

Armadillos sleep in the middle of the road with their feet in the air.
Roadrunners don’t say “Beep Beep”
There are 5,000 types of snakes and 4,998 live inTexas.
There are 10,000 types of spiders. All 10,000 live inTexas, plus a coupleÝno one’s seen before.
Possums will eat [...]

I came home today… exhausted from a short but stressful week so far.
My goal: Be drunk and/or asleep by 9:00 pm, on the couch, in front of the TV watching a good reality show (that’s all that seems to be on TV this summer).
But, my Direct TV unit is having problems. [...]

So, the news is out. We were holding off until our relaunch date of July 1, but we got scooped by a person we considered a friend… such is life.
Look for a few changes with MarketingFix in the coming weeks and months.
following up: Andy Bourland comments

In a bar in Acuna called Mah Crosby’s
I found myself not feeling any pain
I told a Frisco girl I’d come for freedom
She said she’d only come to catch a train
We struck up some idle conversation
Traded all the troubles on our minds
One thing led to another in the evening
And I fell in love again for my [...]

Heading to Acuna, Mexico this weekend to see a little Pat Green.

If a bra is an upper topper titty flopper stopper
and a jock strap is a lower decker pecker checker
and a roll of toilet tissue is a super duper doody pooper scooper,
what do you call a Japanese drummer boy whose father has diarrhea?
A slap happy Jappy with a crap happy pappy.
I told [...]

PhotoStack 1.1 is out… great application. If you’re interested in having a cool, super easy to use photo gallery, download PhotoStack and then say thanks to Noel.

Yesterday, we hit the Guadalupe River in New Braunsfels, Texas, for some fun in the sun. We got up around 9 am, and everyone gathered at our house (there were about 10 of us hitting the river for the day). My buddy Josh made some gourmet breakfast tacos for everyone, and after eating and [...]

For the past week I’ve been pretty busy… here are a few things I’ve read recently and needed to blogmark:
MT Medic [via Pat Berry]
Interesting graph on SARS
Let’s Make a Cell-Phone Deal - I’ve done this. It works. More from ArsTechnica.
Working with Forms in PHP, Part 1 and Part 2. Great information on [...]

We flew into Dallas late last night… Drove home to Austin this morning. Our vacation was fantastic.
I uploaded some photos from our trip here
I’ll post the 7 days of writing from our trip tonight. (posted the past 7 days of writing as if I posted them when they were written — see below — [...]

After arriving in St. Martin today, the wife and I drove around the island, stopping to eat a late lunch, before continuing to circle the island. We took a few photos of the villa we’re staying at, before and after our quick trip around the island.
At dinner time, we talked about having kids, not [...]

So, this weekend was spent preparing for my trip to St. Martin which starts this week. I had a lot to do:
I spent a lot of Saturday and Sunday at the office, so that I could knock out a bunch of things that have to be done sometime before I get back, and I’m [...]

I’m an SBC customer. I’ve been an MCI customer before. I’ve given money to Pacific Bell (now SBC), but thanks to Mr. Nosuch, I’m seriously considering an alternative to the local phone company.
Currently, I’m paying roughly:

$75/month to DirectTV for a satellite TV dish and UltimateTV (think TiVo, but made by the evil [...]

I’m going on vacation soon, for a while week (finally). It’s our 5 year anniversary, and I’m taking the wife to the tiny two nation island of Sint Maarten/St. Martin.
The St. Maarten Reservation Center has helped us plan our trip, and I feel like Ted and JoAnne there are close friends of [...]

Forbes Ranks Austin #1 in “Best Places For Business And Careers”.
Cool.
Very Cool.

Stuck in Atlanta.
Damn weather blew in right as I left a meeting for the airport (if I’d have gotten to the airport 30 minutes earlier, I’d have caught a flight back to Austin early) and right after I checked in, I heard that fateful announcement:
“ATTENTION: THE AIRPORT IS NOW CLOSED DUE TO BAD WEATHER. [...]

In Adam Kalsey’s latest post, The Agenda of Professional Blogs, I’m reminded of why I started weblogging, and realize that I’ve gotten away from it.
Why do you blog?

This weekend was packed with out of town visitors… and yard work… lots of yard work.
“Each success only buys an admission ticket to a more difficult problem.”
– Henry Kissinger
Scoble: “The Web is killing publishing.” I’d argue that the web is killing ‘traditional’ publishing, just as TV ‘killed’ radio at one point in history. [...]

“If you can’t sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there and worrying. It’s the worry that gets you, not the loss of sleep.” — Dale Carnegie

I’m braindead today:
Billboard: Apple Music Service Trumpets Ease Of Use
MacCentral: WSJ: Apple signs Eagles, No Doubt for music service
McMinute: WSJ: Apple signs exclusive artists for music service
Forbes: Thoughts On Apple’s Music Plans
Reuters: Apple CEO ducks questions on music strategy
SpyMac: Anonymous Crystal Ball Friday (telling us of Apple branded multi-button mice [...]

Dixie Chicks bare bodies and souls
Hubba, hubba…

Still busier than shit:
Google and Advertising
PHPNuke is so easy to upgrade when neccessary… just thought I’d point that out.
A plea for Full RSS Feeds (which I’ve made before).
Elegant Hack - cool site
Matrix sequel marks Imax first from the BBC
Textbox is coming folks… hold on to your seats.
Accomodating - I really enjoy reading John Gruber’s writing, [...]

Look no further than quiXoap. They just got a round of funding… pretty decently sized too, at 6.5 million dollars (from Austin Ventures).

This is just a quick update for all of my readers. We’re soliciting feedback from our readers over on MarketingFix. If you’ve missed the post, please go leave a bit of feedback for us… it’ll only help us make it better.
Oh, and we just added a new category: Jobs. It’s a little [...]

Can’t wait to see this when it comes to town:

Can’t wait!

Norah Jones is amazing. I just picked up her CD “Come Away with Me” and I love it. Especially, this track:
Feelin’ the Same Way
If you like that track, you’ll love the rest of the album… most of the other songs are a little more mellow, but her voice is amazing.
Pick up Come Away [...]

Remember playing MASH when you were a kid?
Play it again, online.
I love these little online games:
You will live in Apartment.
You will drive a Yellow Passat.
You will marry Tara and have 5 kids.
You will be a Newscaster in Paris, France.
[ps. it doesn't work with Mozilla on Mac OS X 10.2.5, had to use IE]

Still busier than shit at work… got home tonight and cooked dinner while cleaning the pool and drinking a few beers. Here are a few links from the week:
Keith has gathered a bunch of links on URL/URI design and implementation.
The Fine Art of Sucking Up
Rewiring Afghanistan - Is this really needed?
Cute little “icon story” [...]

I’ve been working 13+ hour days for what feels like an eternity lately, and thus, this is just a dump of links that I either wanted to write about, or at the least bookmarked for some reason:
Here’s a quick article that everyone that owns a home (or will in the future) should read about home [...]

CEO’s get richer…
…that’s just fucked up.

Play Nunlander
[via Gretchen]

Cool Article on Kuro5hin about how to make sushi.

Misha says:
As of today, I have been alive for 7,785 days.
Assuming I take 1.2 poops a day, that’s 9,342 poops taken.
Assuming each poo is about 5″ in total length, that’s 46,710 inches of poop that has come out of me.
Or 3,892.5 feet. Or about a three-quarters of a mile.
Or, to put things visually, I’d have [...]

I’ve been researching some material for a segment of a class I’m giving tomorrow at work. The audience is a great audience, and I’m aiming at having an interactive talking session. I’m speaking to 25 or so employees that are primarily print advertising sales people about managing their customer’s expectations about online advertising.
I’ve [...]

Today we visited the central Austin location of the Bicycle Sport Shop.
We looked at a few bikes, but mainly just got a feel for the price of bikes and talked to a sales rep about what we should really be looking at buying. We haven’t really ridden bikes since we were in grade-school, so [...]

How are your picks for the NCAA Tournament? I’ve picked 39 of the games as of Friday… I’m actually enjoying this tournament this year… I’m an Aggie, but can’t help but root for the Longhorns this time around (besides Basketball really doesn’t count as a sport in most parts of Texas).
I’m leading the [...]

I just stumbled across Blogshares, a fictional stock market type game where people can invest in weblogs with play money. (its nicely done might I add)
This game looks like a worthwhile diversion.
inluminent/weblog is worth $1,139 and the per-share price is $1.21. I think I’m going to sign up and play, as hopefully [...]

Alexis TrÈpanier
Just click the link, and sit back and enjoy… fantastic resume eh?

Just landed in Minneapolis after a quick layover in Denver. We’re lucky to be in Minneapolis as they closed the Denver Airport two planes after us due to the snow… Wish me well on the client visit tomorrow morning.

Ugh, I’m so overwhelmed by things to do, I have to try writing it all down:
1. Prepare 8 proposals for clients by Monday evening. All proposals are in various states of disrepair at this point
2. Fly to a client on Tuesday (don’t remember when the flight is right now) and return on Wednesday evening, [...]