A Client Story: Communication Styles

A key lesson I’ve learned recently — the hard way — when working with clients is to figure out their communication style. Some details have been slightly tweaked to protect the clients. Or to protect me. Or both. There are as many communication style models and descriptions as there are flavors of jellybeans, so for [...]

Saying no, and new books by favorite authors

Finished reading: The Power of a Positive No by William Ury – I wish I had read this book fifteen years ago. If you have a hard time saying “no” to people, definitely read this book! Even just skimming through the first few chapters in Borders was enough to help me in an actual situation [...]

Weekly Update: Back at ‘em

As I predicted last week, my productivity quadrupled (or quintupled?) after I finished reading the Miles Vorkosigan series. Not exactly a perfect week, but still significant! Work was much more productive this week. I’m not exactly working with passion (as one of my main projects is cleaning up code…), but I’m working quickly and steadily. [...]

Announcing Custom Shadow Box

I am very very very excited to announce that my new “side business” is finally opening its virtual doors. VERY. Introducing Custom Shadow Box at www.customshadowbox.com! Business plan? What business plan? The [rather uncreatively named] business is meant to be a side project for me. I enjoy working with my hands, and this is an [...]

Cute cat story.

We carried two kittens out to the living room to cuddle and pet while watching some TV. They were curious and calm, sniffing around and exploring, for about 10 minutes. Then they realized they were nowhere near the others and started crying. Nutmeg, who had come out to eat, came over to investigate and meowed [...]

A Client Story: Teaching Photoshop

On Sunday, I visited a local toy store for some initial consultation. The husband-wife pair, who had taken over the store about a year ago, were going to add a bunch of inventory to their online store and wanted my help. I went in-person to observe their process so that I could see if I [...]

Kitten photos in Flickr

I finally opened a Flickr account (I know, a bit late in the game) to help expedite the uploading of kitten pictures. Here are some of the better ones: Compare ear sizes: July 10 (about two weeks old): (eyes just opening up) July 13: July 21 (three and a half weeks old): We still occasionally [...]

Finishing Vorkosigan Saga books

Finished reading: I’m finally all done with the Vorkosigan Saga, which hopefully means that next week will be much more productive. Miles Errant by Lois McMaster Bujold – Includes the short story Borders of Infinity and the two books Brothers in Arms and Mirror Dance. Borders of Infinity – This was my first time reading [...]

My career path

Yazil asked in a comment: How did you get into becoming a freelance web designer if you majored in mathematics? I’m sorry for all of these questions, but I’m just very interested in web design myself. I have been since I was a freshmen in high school. I will be graduating next year from SJSU [...]

Lazy week update

As I may have mentioned, I’ve been incredibly unmotivated and lazy this week. Nonetheless, some progress was made in different areas… okay, just two areas: Routines went well. Put a post-it on the mirror to remind me of evening routines, played harp every day, went running or walking every day (except today). Checked one more [...]