I’ve Finally Converted!…sort of

Well… after several months of not being able to blog due to random Typo errors, I’ve finally made a transition to Mephisto CMS. It was a surprisingly smooth conversion once I found the proper combination of script hacks. There are still a few problems though, unfortunately. Mainly, that pagination seems to have “disappearred” with the newest release – so please, enjoy my most recent 15 entries until I can make this damn plugin work.

On to the update… It’s been about 5 1/2 months since my last post, I was freelancing then – but now I’ve got a real job – Project Manager at MetaSpring, a marketing, design and development startup studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan. And awesomely enough, I primarily get to work with Rails! We just launched our redesigned website and blog so please check them out and leave a comment!

Continue reading “I’ve Finally Converted!…sort of”

No, I’m Not Dead…Just Busy

NOTE: This post was supposed to go up like a month ago, but I’ve been having serious technical difficulties with my blogging software and did not have a chance to fix it all up until now. Update post coming soon, I hope. Here you go…

Hi, how are ya? I’m pretty well. Yeah, I know it’s been a while since you last heard from me, but it’s been a crazy year. I apologize for my absence and promise to remain actively social, at least until grad school…

A rather lengthy update follows the break.

Continue reading “No, I’m Not Dead…Just Busy”

SaveNetRadio.org

Recent government action has dramatically increased (300-1200%) the fees internet radio companies must pay to play the music you enjoy.

This means that sites like Pandora and Last.fm, as well as many other online radio stations, could be shut down due to bankruptcy.

You can help, let your voice be heard. Visit SaveNetRadio.org to see how you can help prevent the death of online radio.

Robert Dempsey & Craig Ambrose – RoR Gurus Interviewed

About a month ago I conducted a couple informational interviews for my Job Search Strategies class.

The first interview was with Robert Dempsey, Project Director of Atlantic Dominion Solutions a Ruby on Rails website and application development firm, and Founder and Director of Rails For All a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of Ruby on Rails to developers and businesses.

My interview with Robert is available in the Interviews section at Rails for All.

The second interview was with Craig Ambrose, a freelance agile web developer specializing in Ruby on Rails. In November, Craig began producing his Freelancing On Rails podcasts which have been a great insight into the world of freelance web development (something I’d like to try full time down the road).

Read on to view my interview with Craig…

Continue reading “Robert Dempsey & Craig Ambrose – RoR Gurus Interviewed”

JulieMarie.net – Overdue Launch Announcement

Well, I’m really not sure why I didn’t do this a month ago, or why it took me this long to think of it, but my new portfolio site is up at JulieMarie.net.

I built the site with Radiant, a simple, Ruby on Rails based content management system and designed the layout myself.

Check it out! Let me know what you think :)

Jewls

Twitter: My More Regularly Updated Mini-Blog

Well, since I don’t really have a lot of time to write more than one blog post per month, I figured I’d link you all to my Twitter page where I have the chance to post once or twice a day.

You can find me at twitter.com/jewlofthelotus. Add me if you’re a Twitter-er (?), too. :)

I don’t tweet too often and I don’t necessarily tweet about what I am doing. But if I have something meaningful to say in less than 140 characters, I’ll tweet about it.

And so I give in to this Twitter thing.

Jewls

Post-grad ideas (and the story of my college career)

Post-graduate plans are something that I’ve been thinking about rather frequently since the beginning of the new year. To really see where I’m coming from, I guess I should tell you how I got to where I am now…

Continue reading “Post-grad ideas (and the story of my college career)”

ExpressiveConnections.com – Alpha Launch

Check it out, kids: ExpressiveConnections.com has finally been announced.

Expressive Connections is a network for creative professionals – aimed at aspiring and accomplished writers and artists who are looking to begin or advance in a career utilizing their talent.

The site is in a sort of alpha-mode right now. We think it’s got a pretty solid start, though – which is why we’re inviting you to take a look around, create an account and let us know what you think – if you’d use it, or what features you’d like to see added, etc. It’s still got some kinks and we’re still working things out here and there. But we’ve got big plans.

The site started out as a class project for my Interactive Media class. If you’ve read my blog at all, then you have probably heard me speak of it vaguely – referring to it as my first real RoR, HTML, and CSS application. You may have also noticed that I keep referring to “us” and “we,” by that I mean myself and AJ Gorczyca – we are the “team.” Well, once again we find ourselves in the same course – this time it’s TC448 – Scripting Web 2.0. And if you read my very last post, then you would know that this class entails Ruby on Rails, MySQL, and Apache, and other things of the “Web 2.0” nature. Pretty f-ing awesome, basically. Well just like the last course we took together, this one has a group project – that is to develop a web site utilizing the ideas and languages learned in class. Since Expressive Connections already fit into these project requirements, we decided to ask the professor, Kurt Demaagd, if we could continue building onto the project rather than start again from scratch. He agreed and so you can expect to see a lot of new features and changes. Here’s what we’re aiming for:

  • On-site private messaging
  • Member endorsements and letters of recommendation
  • Ability to watch favorite users, see who other users are watching, and see who is watching you
  • User-submitted audio and video content for portfolios

It would just be wrong if a network for creative professionals left out musicians, producers, actors, directors, and everyone in between. So, we’re not going to leave you out.

This is where we stand and these are our plans for the next semester. I think you’ll see some exciting changes along the way. And, hopefully you’ll help us, too – by checking it out, creating a profile, or spreading the word around to others who may be interested.

It’s a work in progress and we want you all to help us in building the most exciting site we can, so any feedback you give would be greatly appreciated.

Jewls

New Semester, New Life

Well, it’s been an entire month since my last post. It’s not that I haven’t had anything to write about – I’ve just been really, really busy. We’re three weeks into the spring semester now and classes are going pretty well. I’m taking:

  • TC448 – Scripting Web 2.0
  • ADV456 – Interactive Advertising
  • REL491 – Is God Dead? Pantheism, Nihilism, and the Pursuit of Divine Knowledge
  • PSY330 – Personality from a Psychoanalytic Perspective
  • CAS380 – Job Search Strategies

Two of my classes are relatively related to my field, Scripting Web 2.0 goes over Ruby on Rails, MySQL, and Apache, and is taught by Kurt Demaagd, co-founder of Slashdot and board member on the Perl Foundation. So, needless to say – I’m pretty excited about that one.

The other class potentially beneficial to my future is Interactive Advertising. The class is centered around a group project in which we have to develop a predominantly online advertising plan for a local business. My group is working with John Kodeski of Relish Culinary Boutique. Now, if you visited that link – you’ll see that the site could use some work and this is where our group comes in with a plan (and also where I come in with my web skills – if he likes our plan, maybe I’d be the one to redesign the site, eh?).

The “Is God Dead?” class, is one of my more enjoyable courses. We’re currently discussing the viewpoints of the Dutch philosopher, Spinoza (Pantheism), and the German philosopher, Jacobi, who argued against Spinoza’s views. It’s pretty interesting stuff, if you’re into deep philosophical thoughts of God and the freedom of man, that is.

Next, there’s Personality from a Psychoanalytic Perspective with Bertram Karon. Pretty smart guy, pretty interesting stuff – however, I had him before in Abnormal Psychology and already I’m hearing the same stories . Still, interesting stuff.

And finally, Job Search Strategies. I’ve gotta do what I’ve gotta do.

Additionally, I’m taking introductory yoga classes at Center for Yoga in East Lansing. Those are pretty nice. Good stress relief.

Between all of these classes, I have been working on the site – which will probably be in some sort of alpha mode within in the next few weeks. Once finalized, I’ll of course post it here. I’ve also been working on a portfolio site for myself, once that is up – I’ll post it here, too. And on the weekends, I spend time with Adam. And that’s pretty much life.

Some other random thoughts over the last month:

  • iPhone is AWESOME.
  • I should have said this back in November but Incubus’ new album – Light Grenades is AWESOME.
  • Going back to Europe in July will be AWESOME.
  • And if you’ve read this far into my post, YOU ARE AWESOME.

I’ll stop now.

Take care now, bye-bye then.
Jewls

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