this is mikel.org

Michael Boyle's weblog

I’m in deep juggler mode

by

at the moment, which is a really fun spot to be in. In theory I’m looking for work as a product/project manager for a web concern or something like that. In fact, I haven’t been looking much – I’ve been waiting by the phone for an offer that I will take. And in the interim – I’m learning, playing, and developing projects at a fever pitch.

I’m doing a lot of playing around with CSS box-properties layouts, which has been good, if a little frustrating. As well, Aaron and Luke pretty much convinced me to roll my own tools to manage content for montrealstories.org (although an interim solution will be deployed sooner) – so I’m playing with XML, PHP and some other stuff to get that going. I have a bit of a background in scripting, though with a different kind of tool, so I’m feeling pretty confident.

As well, though, I’ve just now figured out the next project, which could be pretty neat. I’m not going to say more so I don’t jinx it, but it would be a different sort of thing, and terribly interesting to develop.

Bottom line: what I really need isn’t a job but a patron, sort of like a renaissance-era painter, or maybe a poet in Paris in the 20s. All that said, I am still excited about the job on the horizon too. It’ll just cut into my personal research time

Radio silence is golden

by

. I was away and offline for the weekend, which was even more appreciated in this time of resume chucking and general wonder that every email I receive might be a really cool proposition. I haven’t swung into high gear on my job search yet, preferring to take some time and concentrate on some personal projects that I want to do for the joy of them. But I have received some very exciting nibbles – even though many of the emails I have sent to people were of the “less than 1% chance” variety.

In contrast, the offline-ness of the past few days has been great – and even more, no one I was with really works in the web world, or not primarily anyhow (not many can escape it in some form at work).

Minor changes

by

to mikel.org this morning. First up, I’ve ditched the “cam” link from the main navigation at the top right. It wasn’t really a webcam per se anymore – it was just a popup with a static picture. I’ve replaced it with “msg me” – through which you can send a short message to my cel. I added the cam link on the side, along with a link to the Oh Candy Land weblog I’m having fun with now. I also split off the different categories of links from one another a little bit more – although I didn’t bother to add category text because it seems to me that the differences are more or less self-evident. The first group of links is to projects I’m involved in or things I’ve done on the site. The second set (only two links) are to things I’ve been involved with for some years. And the bulk of the links are to other weblogs.

OK – I need some

by

advice, if possible. I’m thinking of buying a firewire CD-RW this week. Sort of a Christmas present to myself – but also, I’m past due in terms of having a proper way to back up my machine. In the new year I plan on starting some ambitious projects – so I have to deal with that. If anyone has a recommendation I would appreciate it! [use the BlogVoices thingie to the right to make your recommendation]

Michael Boyle Blog