This is Jakob Nielsen. He rocks. He approves of TheThousand.net.*
*Ok, he's never seen TheThousand.net, but if he did he would like it. Ok, maybe he wouldn't.
Anyways, I used to despise everything that this man had to say about web design...his remarks about the industry were often blunt and unflattering, and he's still demonized by many web designers, who put him right up there with Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, and Richard Nixon.
But I've changed in the past couple years, and after reading through his site, aesthetically bland as it is, I'm growing to respect him a little more. In particular, his Top Ten Guidelines for Homepage Usability are quite useful and compelling. I have to admit, his interview with Pixelsurgeon softened my stance toward him.
In other news, aaron | asha is a great-looking wedding site created by the groom, aaron, whose site is also pretty spiffy.
Nick Finck is an Oregon-based web designer responsible for Digital Web Magazine, an essential read for any serious web designer. His personal site has that minimalistic aesthetic that I just love.
Anna (anya? I dunno...) has a gorgeous personal site that shows that she put in effort to separate herself from the slew of "teenage girl with attitude and a cracked copy of Photoshop" sites that seem to be cropping up in the hundreds lately.
June 2002 Archives
Note: I've updated this entry two or three times today...scroll down to make sure you haven't missed anything.
'Nuff said.
Thanks to Gaile for the link-back. Much appreciated.
Now, Gaile is engaged to Chris, whose brother Luke just released Elinas Isla. What is Elinas Isla? Dunno. But it sure looks cool, and that's all that matters, right? *wink*
Belated thanks to people who signed my guestmap while my computer was down: Geraldine, Breanna, John, and Jessa. Thanks also to Si, who signed it yesterday.
Cripes. I have 3 AIM screennames: my original name, my current name, and another one I use when I need to access an AIM feature that Trillian lacks. Within 15 seconds of logging on to AIM, I got 2 spam IMs trying to get me to go to adult websites. I don't get spam IMs through Trillian. *appreciates Trillian*
Pledge of Allegiance ruled unconstitutional. You've gotta be kidding me. I'd hardly call myself a hardcore conservative, but I think the liberal court system is starting to get ridiculous.
I called my friend Eric today, whom I haven't seen in 8 or 9 years. We were best buds way back in the 6th grade, before he moved away. Catching up with someone after such a long period of time is surreal and exciting. Hmmm...that was a random link.
Soul Desire: Christian band I found through Gregory. Good stuff. "Don't Say Goodbye" is my personal favorite of the samples they have up.
Digital Bath is Denise's journal. I really love the look of it...it's kind of along the lines of a style I'm thinking about trying out for a site that I maintain...which means I should stop visiting her site to keep myself from the temptation to copy...phooey.
Gaile, already well known in blog/journal circles, finally has the new Femstyle.net up, and looks to share the spotlight with her fiancee, Chris, of Halovision fame. Her journal, Luvlr is also breath-takingly gorgeous. She has a very distinct style, something that's hard to say about a lot of designers these days. I've got a feeling that we'll be seeing a whole lotta copycats in the next couple of months.
andrealand is a delightfully simple yet thoughtful site that reminds me of everything that's good about summer.
bridgetownsteel: I love the urban look of this Flash site. Imagine this: a site that has intuitive navigation and that is not a 2advanced clone. Funky.
I originally found Jenny's old site through my friend Ryan, and randomly ran into her new domain yesterday. Looks awesome.
Patrick Kalyanapu's well-regarded Introversion, one of my all-time favorite sites, is still in transition(the scheduled reboot was May 10). According to a notice he put up in K10K's Kaliber Matchmaker, he's almost done...I've got a feeling this new site is gonna be something good...all he's letting on is some in-depth utilization of XML, which strongly suggests all sorts of interactivity. Nice. Something else that's giving me good vibes: I randomly checked out his Cafe Press store, and he has four new t-shirt designs up, all radically different from anything he's had on introversion2.x.
Random fact: my site comes up as number 29 if you do a Google search on "MTV 'Sorority Life'."
Goodness..."breath-takingly gorgeous"..."delightfully simple yet thoughtful"...I sound like a Martha Stewart magazine.
Update: Just checked out MTV's page on Sorority Life, their new reality show that they filmed last quarter in UCD. I swear I have never seen ANY of those girls in my life. You'd think MTV shipped them in or something.
So, over the past couple of months, my computer has been freezing as if it had a will of it's own. The problem seemed to get worse as time progressed, to the point that it seemed to stop if I so much as sneezed, or gave it a dirty look. In particular, I noticed it would freeze if I played a video file for more than four or five minutes, or if I visited websites with processor-intensive Flash files. Like anybody who considers himself at least somewhat knowledgeable about computers, I made the natural assumption.
Blame Microsoft.
So, rather than go through the "hassle" of troubleshooting each piece of my hardware one-by-one, I figured "oh heck, why not reinstall Windows?"
This seemed to work, until Windows 2000 Setup paused while detecting system hardware, and then relegated me to the Blue Screen of Death. Windows 2000 hardly ever gives you a BSD, so if it does, you know you're in trouble. This particular BSD informed me that there was a "Hardware Malfunction" so now the system is halted. That's it. It didn't even tell me WHAT was wrong, just that SOMETHING was wrong. Wonderful. This was Monday.
After countless experiments, I still hadn't fixed the problem by Thursday, when I left for my church's annual retreat. I came back last night and randomly selected components to disable, hoping to find the "hardware malfunction." As it turns out, the problem was resolved when I disabled, of all things, the Soundblaster on my motherboard. This makes no sense to me at all, especially since the sound works just fine right now. Oh well. Praise God...now I can finally work and earn some money to pay my way through summer school.
The church retreat was excellent. We focused on eschatology, the study of "last things," that is, the end of the world. Our pastor and elders did an excellent job of clarifying this particularily difficult part of theology, as well as offering practical applications. For myself, the greatest impact was a serious consideration of how sure I was of my own salvation. There are three questions to test the faith of a believer: doctrinal (what do I believe? is it based on the Bible?), moral (do I live by what I believe?), and love (what do I do for others?).
I'm certain I pass the first test, thanks mostly to the strong teaching that my church offers. I nominally pass the third test, too, though it takes some serious considerations. As a Christian, I believe love isn't so much a feeling (which come and go) as it is action, that is, doing good for others. This leads to another consideration: what is my motive for doing good? Is it to impress others, to please myself (after all, it sure feels good), or is it to glorify God?
The second test is a sticking point. Obviously, no one is perfect, and no one will be until Christ returns. Still, I went through some serious self-examination, looking for patterns of sin that I've not turned from...a sobering exercise, but a good one for anyone serious about their Christian walk. I saw some places where I need to change, and I've been praying through them.
One of my favorite aspects of the retreat is the sense of family...it's hard to imagine that a 400-person church could feel as close as family, but after 4 days of praying, worshipping, learning, teaching, and loving together, that's the sense that I had coming down from the mountain.
Favorite moment: doing my morning devotions on the shore of Lake Tahoe, watching the sun rise over the mountains. Absolutely exhilarating.
I kinda like the fact that I'm not updating this site on a daily basis, since it implies I have better things to do than sit in front of the computer, especially since I'm now on summer break. And in fact, I have been spending most of my time...sitting in front of the computer. *sigh* I'm putting in more hours for work, and doing some serious site maintenance, especially along the lines of configuring my domain to allow for hostees. I already have a couple people set up (to whom I am extremely grateful), and you all will hopefully see their sites announced here just as soon as they're moved in, which should be within the next couple of weeks.
Luke has a sweet blog layout. Nice integration of Flash and what looks like DHTML.
Grace Not Works is a well-designed Christian site with compelling content. Awesome stuff.
Finals are DONE! Unh!
They went better than I expected, but I'm still a tad nervous about my grades...I worked a lot harder this quarter, and I hope it shows.
I ran into a bunch of cool sites before finals started, and I'm finally able to post them.
nineteensix: Australian teen with a talent for integrating stunning graphics in Flash. Awesome site.
Ninjai: The Little Ninja: I have been waiting several months for this site to launch the first chapter of their epic. Mind-boggling Flash animation, beautiful graphics, decent voice-overs...almost as good as Saturday morning cartoons. Almost. Pretty violent, though.
designed by rob: remarkably minimalistic site. rob manages to pull off pleasing effects with elements most designers tend to ignore, including visible table borders.
Who's We Design Studios: Not much content, but one heckuva sense of humor. The broadband version of the site has all sorts of nifty gimmicks.
simpleskies.net: Tiffany's personal site. I like the layout...simple yet elegant, with good integration of photos.
Brian linked what is quite possibly the funniest Flash movie I've ever seen.
Happy Birthday Netscape 4.0. Now please go away.
Alright, gonna head off and catch up on some sleep.
I wonder at the human urge to chronicle daily life in writing, especially when a writer perceives momentous times, or the whispers of some great adventure.
Perhaps this is why I write these words even now. Not an hour ago, I arrived here in a remote region of the Literary Republic of Shields Libraria. My possessions are naught but the clothes I wear and what I can carry on my back. I come in self-imposed exile, spurred by the growing shadow of Finals.
I know not what to expect in the long days ahead, yet even in my drab surroundings I sense a story to tell, if not an adventure.
Thus begins my chronicle of my stay.
My arrival was all but ignored by the locals, most of whom offered little more than disinterested glances before returning to their business. They are a rugged people, fiercely independent, speaking few words. Yet...an unspoken camaraderie binds us as we all seek solace in silence and isolation.
My accomodations are bare, yet adequate. A few chairs, a table. The area even has electricity, though I found to my dismay that the sockets are incompatible with my SoulPlayer. I have batteries, thank goodness, but I may be forced to more traveled parts of Shields Libraria should they run out.
Still, for the time time I have music, one of my few comforts. I brought along a good collection as well, one that should suffice until the end of my exile. I am currently listening to the Finale from Dragonheart.
Modern communication in this place is lacking. The only telephones are located in the capital, Main Lobbyston, a significant journey from my current locale. The local landscape prevents proper functioning of mobile telephones as well, though I am not troubled as I do not have one. I can be reached by e-mail, which is delivered sporadically by an amicable old man on a mule-drawn cart. The Librarian government strictly prohibits the use of e-mail (except in designated facilities in Main Lobbyston), so it is with great stealth that I receive word from the outside world.
In fact, the Librarian government even prohibits the importation of foodstuffs, a policy enforced by regular patrols by the elite Librarian Security Guards. Thus, I keep my provisions in a hidden cache.
The time has come, I believe, to rendezvous with the e-mail man. Adieu, dear reader.
Quarter's almost over. Gotta study for finals. No, I'm not depressed...this is just the coolest song.
Why does my heart
Feel so bad?
Why does my soul
Feel so bad?
These open doors
~moby, "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?"
:)
I'm not the sort of person to bring partisan arguments into this blog, but it's about time I stand up and say a little about where I stand. *takes a deep breath*
Go Kings!
Hehe. Yeah, I jumped on the bandwagon a couple seasons ago when the Sacramento Kings actually became a good team, but now I'm a genuine fan, albeit a casually devoted one. I think they've proved themselves more dominant than the Lakers for the Western Conference finals, and it's only by luck that LA is hung on for a deciding seventh game. Hopefully the Kings can decisivel finish it off tomorrow night in Arco Arena.
Speaking of basketball, I often follow games using the live webcast on NBA.com. However, I find the live matchcast for the World Cup at the official site of the 2002 Fifa World Cup far more interesting. On the NBA site, you might find commentary as dry as "Bryant Jump Shot: Missed Block: Christie," while the FIFA site treats you to such play-by-play commentary as "Ireland are battling with spirit and bottle, probing desperately for a winner" and "A wonderful match full of passion and grace...a draw is an even result." Good stuff.
Be sure to check out Angela and Sarah, who have both redesigned their sites.
