Borrowed words…

(The previously linked YouTube video no longer exists)

It’s so captivatingly haunting…

Goodnight.

Baby steps into the WebDev world…

I’ve decided to document my research and work as I explore the world of web development. There are a number of reasons for why I’ve decided to do this:

1. I’d like to be able to logically follow the trail of my studying and research. Bookmarks of webpages may show me the sources that I draw from, but they don’t do a good job of showing my train of thought.
2. Not only does it document my trail, but articulating what I need to learn also forces me to organize the process itself.
3. I’m sure there are other folks who are wondering where to start and might like a few tips. It’ll be a learning experience for everyone!
4. I’ve always been amazed by the free resources all over the internet; just imagine that everything I’ve learned about design and scripting so far has been without spending a dime on the actual information. I feel like the best way to show my appreciation is to talk about them.

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Journey Through Time: The makings of a geek

My computer programming background has mostly been self-taught, with me learning from online references and experimenting until things worked. Because I learned on whatever system was available while growing up, my main development platforms were 1) MS-DOS/Windows machines and 2) TI graphing calculators (TI-85 and TI-89, mostly). It’s true. My first real PC apps were Pong in DOS and Tetris for Win3.1/95, assuming you don’t count Tic-Tac-Toe using QBasic. For some idea of the immensity of my dorkitude, these were all before or in the midsts of puberty…

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Caught between Iraq and a hard place

I don’t much like to talk about politics in public, as I feel like once you say anything at all, somebody out there will disagree with you, and further, you have absolute no way of making amends with them short of saying “forget it.” If you argue your case, then the rift between you and the other person grows until you are adversaries. If you ponder the issue a little, you might decide that you are wrong and amend your views. But then the opposing side will probably call you wishy-washy, and those folks with whom you formerly agreed suddenly have their sights on you.

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Melancholy, Art, and the Creative Process

Most of my friends know that John Keats is one of my favorite western poets, writing such beautiful works as “Endymion” and “Ode on a Grecian Urn.” Most extraordinary to me is probably his resolve and good cheer in an atmosphere of such gloom: imagine a man whose entire family was plagued with tuberculosis, who would die at the age of 25 from that very same disease.

Then imagine the kind of poetry that you yourself would write in the face of such depressing circumstances. I don’t know about you, but I would be nearly paralyzed with my grief and anxiety. What meaning could there possibly be in life when your father, then your mother, then your own brother just die off, one by one?

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Escaping life with your ego intact

You would think that a Buddhist would kind of have his ego in check, and philosophically, I suppose I do. I know what the ego is from any number of perspectives ranging from the Freudian to the Nietzschian, having used that knowledge to argue my way to victory in many battles of rhetoric and wit.

But therein lies the problem, as my labeling and subsequent disregard for the ever-lurking beast has bitten me on my rhetorical butt. See, once you pretend that you know exactly what the ego is, when you pretend that you have it completely neutralized, that’s the moment when your own ego goes into cruise-control. That’s why those who seek to make themselves humble servants or martyrs to a cause tend to have the most hubris of all.

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Howdy doo

So I’ve officially entered the REAL blogosphere. It’s nice.