I’ve been involved in a lot of E-Commerce development recently. This has lead me to do a lot of research on pending California privacy legislation and PCI compliance. I’ve since come to the conclusion that people have a skewed view of how susceptible people are to credit card fraud and identity theft. I’m sure my dad will be thrilled to find out that I have now confirmed he is a genius, and I am going to follow in his footsteps by taking an action he took many years back when he began to make on-line purchases. I think since I’m so immersed in the “Industry” it is sometimes hard to be objective. At the time, I thought he was a bit paranoid when he told me his plan for making purchases on-line. His plan was to get a new credit card and only use it for on-line purchases. Guess what, this is a great idea… and I recommend it to all!
One of the last major decisions I made in 2007 was whether or not to attend my 10 year high school reunion. After much thought, I decided as always it was a good excuse to return home to San Francisco - and see old friends. It was a very fun, yet a rather unusual experience. I now actually have proof that I showed up to the party.
Evan, Bryan, Christine, myself.
Ally Wolfe, myself, Katy Claypool
Well 2008 finally rolled around. The www.icecreamman.com website launched so make sure you drop by for a visit. It also looks like 2008 has many new exciting changes to come including a new career [more to come].
So ever since I moved to southern California after the dot-com crash, I’ve (had to) make some changes. I modified the hairstyle a bit, changed favorite watch brands (needed the surfer feel), revised the wardrobe and also gained taste in different artists. Two artists that I was introduced to were Dave Kinsey of Kinsey Visual and BLK/MRKT and Shepard Fairey of Obey.
Long story short, I finally acquired a print I’d been searching for over the past few years. It’s the 2002 Lebowskifest print that was designed to promote the (2002) annual gathering and celebration of the 1998 movie The Big Lewboski featuring Jeff Bridges (which has has rather large cult following). The print by Shepard Fairey is based on the Oliver Atkins 1970 photograph of Richard Nixon. A copy of the newest edition to my collection is below.
2002 Obey Lebowski Fest (mission finally accomplished, great way to end 2007!)
Another favorite picee of my collection is the 2005 Monkey Pod. This print is based on a tree in Hawaii and was commissioned by The Contemporary Museum in Honolulu.
Lastly, I can’t get enough of my 2006 Guns and Roses print. Not only a great band, but a great political statement. This print is based on a 1970’s propaganda piece put out by the Chinese Central Art Academy that included text which translates in English to “Government is Established Through Guns!”
Markdown is a “text to HTML conversion tool” developed by Jon Gruber. In 2004 Milan Negovan originally ported Markdown to ASP.NET (c#), however there hasn’t been much movement on the project since then. When recently implementing the library in a new content management system I noticed there was an issue with generating hyperlinks (anchors) targeted to new windows (target=”_blank”). I made some updates to the library so it now works with external links as well as giving it a boost to the .NET 2.0 Framework. Feel free to download the revised library here.
Below is an example of the syntax to capture both internal and external links:
[This would link to the contact page of my site](/contact)
[This opens a new window to Google](http://www.google.com)+
Friday night I had the pleasure of seeing cake at the Orpheum in Los Angeles. My good pal Victor celebrated his last day at Juxt Interactive so we thought it would be a good way to celebrate new beginnings. I have to say the acoustics and sound at the venue was by far the best I’ve heard in years. If you haven’t picked up their latest release of B-Sides do so, and catch the Unlimited Sunshine tour in a town near you.
This is my newest tech gadget. The new Apple Aluminum Keyboard. I have to say, its not only “elegant” as advertised, but its extremely soft on your fingers. A rather powerful, ergonomic device. Five stars.
I will be doing two presentations the second week of January. The first one will be Jan. 9th in El Segundo for the Los Angeles Java User Group (LAJUG) and the second one will be Jan 11th in Irvine for the Orange County Java User Group (OCJUG). Both presentations will be on the topic of Groovy and Grails and the experience of using emerging technologies in a “Web 2.0″ Startup.
Well, After a lot of traveling I am finally back at home. Rather busy with work at the moment, but I wanted to share the souvenir/gift I received while in New York. I happened to be in the city at the same time as the Ice Cream Man, and he stopped by the conference I was attending to give away free ice cream and to drop off some goodies for me that he had found in the city. I think these two pieces of memorabilia were meant to describe the yin and yang of my work life. Either way, great artwork from the 80’s and much cooler than a miniature “Brian” bicycle license plate.
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