• UX guidelines
• Resonant Frequency: Permission to Avalanche
• In Which I Fix My Girlfriend’s Grandparents’ WiFi and Am Hailed as a Conquering Hero.
• Love your devices: adaptive web design with media queries, viewport and more
• The True Story of Audion
• Steven Frank: Notes
• A technical examination of SOPA and PROTECT IP
• An Important Time for Design
• Fragmentation Is Not the End of Android
• Lettered Department Store Logos

Here’s the text and a video to inspire you to go buy it:

Oh, the Paces You’ll Go

By Dr. Seuss

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.

You’ll look up and down streets. Look ‘em over with care.
About some you will say, “I don’t choose to go there.”
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you’re too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

And you may not find any you’ll want to go down.
In that case, of course, you’ll head straight out of town.

It’s opener there
in the wide open air.

Out there things can happen and frequently do
to people as brainy and footsy as you.

And then things start to happen, don’t worry. Don’t stew.
Just go right along. You’ll start happening too.

OH!
THE PLACES YOU’LL GO!

You’ll be on y our way up! You’ll be seeing great sights!
You’ll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.

You won’t lag behind, because you’ll have the speed.
You’ll pass the whole gang and you’ll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you’ll be best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don’t.
Because, sometimes, you won’t.

I’m sorry to say so but, sadly, it’s true
that Bang-ups and Hang-ups can happen to you.

You can get all hung up in a prickle-ly perch.
And your gang will fly on. You’ll be left in a Lurch.

You’ll come down from the Lurch with an unpleasant bump.
And the chances are, then, that you’ll be in a Slump.

And when you’re in a Slump, you’re not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself is not easily done.

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.
Some windows are lighted. But mostly they’re darked.
A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin!
Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?
How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And IF you go in, should you turn left or right…
or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite?
Or go around back and sneak in from behind?
Simple it’s not, I’m afraid you will find,
for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.

You can get so confused
that you’ll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles cross weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.

The Waiting Place…for people just waiting.

Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or the waiting around for a Yes or No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for the wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.

NO! That’s not for you!

Somehow you’ll escape all that waiting and staying
You’ll find the bright places where Boom Bands are playing.

With banner flip-flapping, once more you’ll ride high!
Ready for anything under the sky. Ready because you’re that kind of a guy!

Oh, the places you’ll go! There is fun to be done!
There are points to be scored. There are games to be won.
And the magical things you can do with that ball
will make you the winning-est winner of all.
Fame! You’ll be as famous as famous can be,
with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

Except when they don’t
Because, sometimes they won’t.

I’m afraid that some times you’ll play lonely games too.
Games you can’t win ’cause you’ll play against you.

All Alone! Whether you like it or not,
Alone will be something you’ll be quite a lot.

And when you’re alone, there’s a very good chance
you’ll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.
There are some, down the road between hither and yon,
that can scare you so much you won’t want to go on.

But on you will go though the weather be foul.
On you will go though your enemies prowl.
On you will go though the Hakken-Kraks howl.
Onward up many a frightening creek,
though your arms may get sore and your sneakers may leak.

On and on you will hike. And I know you’ll hike far
and face up to your problems whatever they are.

You’ll get mixed up, of course, as you already know.
You’ll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act.
Just never foget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

KID, YOU’LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

So…be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O’Shea,
You’re off the Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So…get on your way!

For a bit more fun, the same, presented by the people of Burning Man:

One day I want to go to Burning Man.

Me (going to sit down in a meeting): Who’s bag is this?

Co-worker: Oh, that’s mine. Sorry, I’ll move it.

Me: Oh No, that’s OK. I was asking because it’s really nice. I like it a lot.

Co-worker: Oh, well ya. It’s a Filson.

We then proceeded to disrupt the meeting with talk of bags, brand names, shopping locals and style selection. Not a very manly-man conversation—it drew some jeers from other male attendees—but in my defence it was a really nice bag.

I’ve been searching for the right bag to carry all my work related notes and gadgets. I typically have my MacBook, iPad, a small notebook, a few pens and a couple other mobile devices (iPod, iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, etc.). Maybe a book I’m reviewing. That’s about it. There’s not much else so I don’t need anything too big and bulky. I’ve recently reduced the heft of my MacBook from a big heavy 17″ MacBook Pro to a very slim, light, and awesome 13″ MacBook Air so it was time to start hunting for a decent messenger style bag.

I’ve tried various messenger bags over the years. Some very cheap, others not so much, but none have had a lasting impression for either durability or performance. For my perfect carry-everywhere-I-go-bag I am looking for something that is comfortable, durable and stylish (perhaps a conversation piece). I was thinking something vintage looking, maybe made of waxed canvas, or another heavy waterproof fabric—with a nice leather strap and brass fittings. Something that looks like it’s been around for awhile but will still last many, many years. The Filson bags fill these requirement’s perfectly, specifically the classic briefcase as it’s the perfect size for what I want to carry:

The company itself even has a great history (and well done promotional video). It would only be better if they were Canadian:

Now I just have to figure out how to afford one.

A few years ago, just after my first daughter was born, I packed up my camping equipment and headed off on an adventure into Northern Ontario with some of my family. I’m an experienced camper but this was as far away from “normal” civilization that I had ventured–it was well worth it.

Now, with all credit going to my cousin Richard, we have a great record that everyone can share in:

“A short documentary about the honorable history of Sambells Lake and the journey of a family to re-connect with the life of a fallen brother. Edited and Directed by Richard Sambells, with commentary by various family members about the first trek through the slender Black Spruce and virgin forrest of Northern Ontario.”

I quickly walked home, barely containing my excitement and laughing at how it was even possible that I now had this in my possession. A week ago I had almost given up. I’d rummaged around everywhere, searching high and low, making phone calls, trying to find the remains of this little treasure. But now, I held the riches in my hands and couldn’t wait to open it. With my wife looking on–rather confused by my excitement–I opened it to find three plain looking silver discs. I chuckled at the irony of what they contained. But before I reveal what they are let me give you a bit of the back story…

A couple months ago, like today, I took a stroll over to the mailbox to check the mail. On that particular day, I received one of my quarterly royalty checks–a token reminder amongst the bills that, yes, I’m an author. What was peculiar however was that it suddenly reminded me of my Dad, a Commodore 64, a fish aquarium, the early 80′s, Radio Shack electronic kits and super glue, which might seem odd but made total sense in my head.

Back in the 80′s I was just a little kid, absorbed by any activity that involved connecting colour coded wires with springs. It was a time before the social networks, cell phones and the internet. I remember our trusty mailman would deliver our mail daily–right to our door–where it would slowly pile up atop the oak finished fish aquarium in our foyer. I would sort though the pile of publishers clearing house give-aways (I was always convinced that I’d actually win that one day) and new issues of World magazine looking for the odd envelope for my Dad. Like Me, he too received token royalty checks now and again. They were nothing too special, and would usually end up as a night out for dinner or some other fun family activity.

One thing that did come as a result of these checks was our family’s very first computer, a glorious Commodore 64 with all it’s majestic 80′s charm. I remember being quite excited when my dad brought it home. We pulled all the parts out of the box and quickly began to assemble it. There was the boxy looking TV for a monitor, the keyboard the size of a typewriter, the disk drive with those huge floppy disks and a steel case with the mysterious CPU and whatever else was in there. “Booting” it up required my young brain to memorize a series of keystrokes such as LOAD "*",8,1, not really understanding what it did, but it was always fun typing something similar to

1 PRINT "Jeff is cool"
2 GOTO 1

to show my sister how cool I was…

But this brings me back to my reminiscing by the mailbox while holding my royalty check a few months ago. It made me remember an obscure 1983 TV show called “Bits and Bytes”, produced by the Ontario Educational Communications Authority (now TVOntario). It was an almost laughable technology show, that ran only 12 episodes in 1983, and focused on using these new things called “Computers” to do all sorts of “neat” stuff. In the last of the 12 episodes, entitled “What’s Next”, my Dad made a short appearance to discuss using computers as an educational tool. It was this appearance that sent the mailman to deliver those royalty checks to my Dad, which lead to our first “computer” and ultimately pointing me onto the path I’m on today.

Fast-forward 25 years and things have come along way. As I walked home with my royalty check, reminded of this show, I pulled out my iPhone and tried searching the internet using Google and YouTube for any remnants of Bits and Bytes. I figured It must exist somewhere. But despite the fact that my keychain contains more processing power than that old Commodor (though 25 years later the monitor still works as a TV), Google was little help, revealing only the episode list and a few short clips among the billions of bits and bytes on the internet. After contacting TVO directly, I was informed that the show in question was removed from their archives in 1993–never to be seen again.

But today, hand delivered to my mailbox by the trusty old mail carrier, are three plain silver DVD’s in a manilla envelope. All twelve episodes of Bits & Bytes. It took me awhile but through searching and querying I eventually found an equally obscure gentleman who actually had original video tape recordings he’d converted to DVD format. He was kind enough to send me a copy so, for your viewing pleasure, I present to you my Dad from 1983′s Bits And Bytes, Season 1, Episode 12 “What Next?” (including opening and closing credits for nostalgia sake, he’s at about 2:15 into the clip):

Wow, how “retro” is that? I’m now about the same age as my Dad was then and I’m typing this blog post in WordPress on my 17″ MacBook Pro, connected wirelessly to high-speed internet, while my iPhone buzzes to tell me I have new messages on Facebook and Twitter. Times sure have changed but It only makes me wonder more about what my daughter will experience when she’s my age and what she’ll be reminiscing about when she walks to her mailbox to check the mail 25 years from now.

Editor’s Note: There are actually a few other segments where my Dad appeared as well but I figure the one clip is embarrassing enough :)

Just a few decades ago, people had low expectations and worked hard to make living. They did not know free and never expected it. Now, the opposite trend is happening, with free becoming expected online. Will the new generation, the one that expects something for nothing, work as hard to maintain the high standards of living that we created?

Good question! As a new father this is an issues I’ve already pondered and questioned. How I will raise my child to values and respect the same things I do? It’s a question I have yet to answer.

But, as a web developer I see “FREE” happening almost every day. Customer’s endlessly question paying for our services and expect that most things should be done for free, or at extremely cheap rates. The articles points to a number of factors why the “FREE expectation” has been taking hold however one thing not discussed is the perception of the internet. Many people still see the internet as a “toy”, or perhaps some “computer thing” that their eight year old niece is “really good at”. They don’t understand that anyone can use the internet and do interesting things but it takes professionals, people who’ve been educated, trained and work in the industry, to advance it and make it better. Those professional have earned and deserve the same respect that any other professional deserves and shouldn’t be compared to someone who isn’t qualified. How many times have you heard something like:

“Oh, well my son says he can code my business’s web site in a few hours so why are you going to take weeks and charge me all this money?”

Well, I could build you a small house in a few days out of scrap wood but would you really want to live in it? Probably not. I’m not a building professional, the same way some kid is not a web professional. It takes experience, effort and a lot of sweat and tears to make all those “FREE” things happen and it’s frustrating that most people fail to understand that. How would you like it if everyone expected your talents and hard work for free?

“What are all the words to the Cookie Monster’s “C” is for cookie song?”

I started singing “C is for cookie, that’s good enough for me…” but then we realized that was the only verse we remembered. I instantly popped up a browser window, “googled” for “C is for cookie”, clicked the first hit which was a link to a YouTube video and about 10 seconds after the question was posed, my daughter was giggling to the original Sesame Street recording…

That’s just cool. Instance access to almost any information, available on demand, whenever you need it. It sounds like a tale of science-fiction but it’s something I take for granted all the time. Need a recipe? info on a movie or a trailer? phone number? driving directions? Those and many more things are at our fingertips whenever we want them. I can only imagine what will be available tomorrow!

Now, I wonder what I would “google” to find a good place to hide for hide-and-seek?

A few great improvements are:

• Cross Site XMLHttpRequest so we can finally get rid of ugly script tag hacks.
• The ‘display’ property’s inline-block and inline-table values are now implemented—finally.
• rgba() support for ‘color’—which along with Safari’s support is a big step to eliminating all those solid colour translucent PNG images (are you listening Internet Explorer?).
• window.getComputedStyle() now supports all CSS properties.

Obviously, we can’t all just jump on translucent color and cross site XMLHttpRequests until all the major browsers implement the same features but at least this might help push some to move a little faster. We can only hope.

First I tackled time management for all the emergent “little things” on my daily todo lists. Time tracking is just boring and I’ve never found an on-line or software solution that worked well over an extended period of time. As I mentioned earlier I stumbled across the Printable CEO series and it’s solved this problem perfectly. I can’t stress how great it is. For me, you can’t beast a pen in hand and a piece of paper casually sitting on your desk. Ink on paper is the easiest and most comforting solution to recording tasks. Not only do these forms keep me on-top of my todo list and keep me focused on what’s important, they’re also fun to fill out. Colouring in all those little bubbles reminds me of the relaxing evenings I spend colouring with my daughter and her crayons.

Next up was long term planning. I considered a few project management packages such as Microsoft Project or Omni Plan but decided they were overkill for what I needed. Besides, I want planning to improve my time, not take more of it away. I only need to keep track of a few large projects with just a few people so a simple shared calendar would do. Exploring my hard drive iCal seemed to be a perfect fit. Since I just installed Leopard, the todo’s and calendar combination also proved extremely useful, especially with all the tight integration with Mail.

My only new issue now was keeping things in sync across my personal and work computers. Copying files across the net or on memory sticks was a pain so I finally took the plunge and signed up for the .mac service that’s always been prodding me on my Mac. For a small fee, Apple keeps all my computers in sync for me and I only have to sit back and relax. It also includes a bunch of additional bonuses such as online a file storage as well as bookmark, email, calendar and system component syncing. Maybe now I’ll send my Mom an Apple iCard for christmas.

Lastly, I needed to update a lot of my professional skills. I keep myself up-to-date with all the web related technologies and trends but my overall business and professional techniques are a little stale. After getting through the organizational changes I mentioned above, I also realize I had little time left to devote to self-improvement. Really the only “free time” I had left was the two hours a day I spend in the car commuting to work. I figured I could use that a little more wisely so I fired up iTunes and loaded up my iPod with some great podcasts including:

• The Design View Show – Andy Rutledge at his best.
• Freelance Radio – Aimed at freelancers but the talk and discussion applies to everyone.
• Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing – Improve your writing.
• boagworld.com: web design podcast – One of the most popular web professional podcasts.
• and a bunch of stuff from iTunes U (while I was there I even picked up the Little Kids Rock guitar lessons so I can finally learn to play along with my daughter’s songs).

So now I’m managing my time wisely, keeping on top of my tasks and picking up more knowledge and skills while I drive to work. Not bad considering it was only a slight change in my daily routine. Now I just have to mark off half an hour for “Blogging” on my Emergent Task Planner…