Sometimes I feel a bit overwhelmed with the amount of stuff that I want to learn. I always read on all of these other people’s blogs on what they are doing in webdesign/development and I really want to do that stuff too, but it has always been hard for me to find a starting place. I think I first need to get very good with HTML/CSS. I ordered a couple books off of Amazon from O’Reilly so that should be good. Then I want to learn the basics of programming in either PHP or Python. This is so I can create the next-gen CMS that I have envisioned, at least for my own purposes. I think I have been sold on Django. I have always liked linux and open source and for that I am drawn to Django because it uses Python. Python has long been a popular Open Source language. Then once I learn at least the basics of those, I need to start learning more about APIs and how they work so I can integrate things into my CMS. So I have a long road ahead, but as long as I stay patient and focus on it, I am sure it can be done. Hopefully I can get a great team together to help create my CMS.
Archive for the 'General' Category
I have to make a decision. I want to start work on creating my own CMS/Blogging system and I am trying to decide between using Django and Ruby on Rails. I have seen many amazing examples of things made on Rails, just look at the creator of Ruby on Rails, 37signals. I was pretty much set on learning Rails because I hadn’t seen any sites using Django that really impressed me until I came across JeffCroft.com. I really like how well he has integrated many external services into his site including Flickr. So now I am back at the start trying to decide which to learn. I may end up learning both, but that will be a ways down the road. I guess for now I should just focus on learning more HTML and CSS and the basics of PHP.
I have been seeing a lot around the ’sphere about the Save The Internet campaign. I had heard a little about it the other day but didn’t really pay it much attention and actually I thought it was kind of cheesy. But the more I read about it, the more concerned I get and eventually decided to sign the petition myself.
I first started reading more about what was going on at the Performancing blog. Aparrently AT&T and Verizon are lobbying Congress to allow sites to pay them more for their website to come up at the top of search lists and open faster and easier. Any site that doesn’t pay them will load slower. As an independent website owner, this would basically cause my site to disappear. It would still be there physically, but good luck finding it and getting it to load.
A great article that sums up what is going on can be found at CopyBlogger. I hope more people will respond to this. To see the latest standings in congress you can visit SaveTheInternet.
With all the attention this is now getting, if this passes, many people and companies will suffer from it, but I think a new Internet would emerge eventually. There is no way that those big companies could keep everyone quiet. New companies would emerge providing their own network access, and eventually everyone would migrate there for freedom of access.
I think I am going to try something new. I shall ask the blogosphere what Smartphone/RIM they would recommend. When I get back from deployment I think I am going to purchase a new Smartphone/RIM. It needs to be compatible with T-mobile as I am still under contract with them. If anyone has any suggestions/links/reviews please leave them in the comments. I have about a month before I get back so that should be plenty of times to gather a few tips. Id like to thank everyone in advance for their help and suggestions.
I know it has been a while since my last post and I was hoping to post a little more often while on deployment. Unfortunately when out to sea the internet has been quite rare and the times that it is up it is very slow. Well, it seems to be working a little faster now and I was able to install the latest version of Performancing into my PortableFirefox. This seems like it will make it a little easier for me to publish some content more often. I am also working on some other blog ideas, that way I can have different blogs for different topics. I am still learning how to use it, but it seems pretty neat. I need to learn how to integrate tags into it and also how to spell check. I am sure I will be able to figure it out though given some time and some reading on the internet.
My first chance since the internet has been up and I had a little spare time to write a post while underway. We just crossed the international date line so losing an entire day was kind of weird. I shaved my head the first day of being underway so I will try and get some pictures so everyone can see. We also pull into Guam in a couple of days and I plan on taking lots of pictures there and hopefully I will be able to upload all of my pictures while we are still there because the ship will be hooked up to a T1 line. Well I will try to post every once in a while during the deployment and I will let you know some of the cool things that are out in the various places we will be visiting and I will take plenty of pictures and put them on my Flickr account. Other than Guam, right now the only other place we are definitely pulling into is Kotakenabaloo. At least I think that is how you spell it. Now it is time to see if I can subscribe to some of my favorite blogs via e-mail for all those times I will be without internet while underway.
I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year! It has been quite a great year and I look forward to this year being even better. I hope everyone had a great New Years Eve and I wish everyone well in the comming year.
