Monthly Archives: July 2009

Zoe Running on the Beach

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Zoe was a little young for the beach last year, but we’ve managed to take her a few times this year, and she’s always very excited. She loves playing in the sand and even (with a bit of coaxing) splashing in the creek — though she refuses to touch the actual ocean, and when it gets too windy she wants us to hold her the whole time.

After one trip to the beach, I knew it had made a big impression when she started telling me one night about her plans: “I go to the beach! I play in the sand! I put my feet in the ocean! I splash Mama!” (this last was accompanied by uproarious laughter.)

This video is of Zoe running back to where Annie’s lying in the sand after I tried to get her to walk into the ocean. You can tell she’s having a great time because she’s so excited that every few feet, she runs back and forth and flops into the sand.

Key Takeaways from An Event Apart

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Zeldman on Choosing Clients

I’ve attended An Event Apart four years running now. It is, hands-down, the finest web conference around, and if you work on the web at all, whether you’re a designer, developer, copywriter, or client-services, I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Reviewing my notes from previous conferences, I noticed that there were some running themes. Each year, I’ve come to expect that Jeffrey Zeldman will discuss how to manage relationships with clients who sometimes have little or no respect for what we do. Eric Meyer will talk about a currently hot topic in the CSS arena (usually one he is at the forefront of), and a bevvy of talented designers, copywriters, usability experts and other roles will share their insights.

So, here is my take on the running themes of the conference, as well as my individual key takeaways from each year. Naturally, these reflect my interest in front-end code, so you might have gotten more from different speakers than I did, but I think it will still help give you an idea of what you can expect from An Event Apart. Continue reading →

Neil Gaiman on Meeting Kevin Smith

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my appearance on Kevin Smith’s list of the five coolest people I’ve met at the San Diego Comic-Con put me in mind of the time I encountered Kevin Smith. It was round the back of the San Diego Convention Centre, near the loading bay. I was on my way to a panel when a gentleman with a kerchief-mask covering his lower face, holding a brace of pistols and wearing a rakish tricorn hat leapt out and demanded my wallet, and to dance a measure with my female companions. Obviously, I was having none of it, and with a cry of “Never, miscreant!” I stumbled into the fray. During our struggle the kerchief-mask slipped and I was shocked to see that our attacker was in fact director, writer and raconteur Kevin Smith himself. He fled, dropping my wallet and also several of the original Graphitti Buddy Christ and Jay & Silent Bob toys.

I can only presume that Mr Smith’s description of me in EW as “a sweetheart” was due to the fact that I did not turn him in that day to the San Diego magistrates that day to be hanged and gibbeted as a common highwayman or footpad.
– Neil Gaiman

Zoe is an Observer

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Zoe on the Big Slide - part 2

If we take Zoe to the park for a half-hour, she will spend 20 minutes of that time watching what all the other kids are doing. It’s not that she’s shy, really. She loves other kids, and will happily play with them — once she’s watched them for a bit.

This particular photo was taken after she triumphantly climbed to the top of the slide. She had grabbed my hand and dragged me clear across the park to go down this particular slide. Once we got there, a bunch of older boys were playing on the slide. The boys were being polite, and would have let Zoe climb up to take a turn, but despite my encouragement, she wouldn’t budge from my side. She wouldn’t leave, either. In the end, she stood there watching the boys play, and waited over ten minutes for them to clear off the slide, and then after they left, she happily took over.

How to Convert from Community Server 2007 to WordPress

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It’s safe to say that no one at Pop Art was ever really happy with Community Server. We selected it as a platform for a variety of reasons, some of which turned out to be based on faulty assumptions. Once we finally made the decision to switch to WordPress, the conversion was a huge pain, but ultimately worth the effort. Continue reading →