Chris Bowler

Pray with Your Books Closed

2012-02-23T15:51:41+00:00

A great reminder from Jonathan Parnell on the Desiring God site.

The aim of our study is to know God, not merely things about him.

Wise words, ones I need to remember from time to time.

Siri on the Mac

2012-02-21T15:59:38+00:00

I would love to see Siri come to the Mac. It was one of the major reasons I upgraded to the 4S.

The problem is, I, like others, rarely use it. It’s a combination of layers of friction: it requires forming new habits, the service is often down, and Siri often doesn’t understand what I say (my wife knows how Siri feels). Those three items on their own might be easy to overcome, but when you put them together, it’s been frustrating enough that I never think to use the service.

Having Siri available on the Mac would help me to force myself to make changes, simply due to the amount of time I spend on OS X.

Iconic with Jack Cheng

2012-02-20T16:14:58+00:00

Episode 30 of Creatiplicity is out today, with guest Jack Cheng. Jack has written two of my favourite online pieces in recent years: In Praise of Lo-fi and Habit Fields, so it was fantastic to be able to talk with him one-on-one and see where he’s at in these areas.

Give it a listen.

InVision Prototyping Tool - Weekly Sponsor

2012-02-17T22:54:11+00:00

The UI prototyping phase of the design process is crucial to get right. It’s about figuring out how your product will work, and ensuring everyone is aligned before moving into building.

InVision is a web-based prototyping tool that lets you paint an accurate and realistic picture that anyone can understand.

InVision lets you share single screens or full projects with the click of a button. InVision creates a short URL link that you can easily send to others where they can add comments directly on the screen.

As a special offer for our readers, InVision is offering a 30 day free trial along with a special discount for the first six months.

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A big thank you to InVision for sponsoring the feed this week.

Doing What You (Don’t) Love

2012-02-14T15:42:09+00:00

Four years ago, I started down the path of moving from working in IT to doing something I loved. Web design was where my heart was, but I started writing a blog first because I felt there was a better opportunity to earn an income there. I had no design experience. And so I started The Weekly Review.

That year was amazing. I wrote a lot, met new people online, and eventually, started Fusion Ads with Michael Mistretta. 18 months after publishing my first blog post, I was able to quit my job and work for myself full time.

Full Circle

Last November, after we sold Fusion, I was at a crossroads and unsure of what was next. There were a few options available, but I wanted to make sure that I was moving down the path to doing what I loved (front end web design). My time at Fusion was amazing, and I enjoyed a lot of my tasks and responsibilities, but it wasn’t what I loved. Now that there was some money in the bank, I wanted to start on the ‘next thing’.

One of my available options came out of nowhere. Some of my former employers heard I had sold my company and may be available for work. A day later, I had three offers come across my desk. This was completely unexpected and they certainly weren’t options I would have pursued. Go back to working around the corporate environment? Get involved in the politics of government funded healthcare? Work on Windows powered equipment? No thanks.

A funny thing happened though. It turns out the opportunities were contracts, not positions. Working for myself rather than working for the man. Since November, I had been praying and asking my Father to help me be open to whatever He might have in store for me. And so I couldn’t ignore any opportunity, including one that wasn’t my first choice.

The Cost

The benefits of doing what you love are widely touted. It’s the golden carrot of our web-enabled age. But when you consider what to do for a living, you also have to weigh the cost of doing what you love, every day.

To clarify, doing what you love doesn’t mean you love every single aspect of a profession. Every job has drudgery. When I say doing what you love, I mean you wake up in the morning looking forward to going to do whatever it is you do to provide for yourself [and your family]. And you feel that way 9 days out of 10.

Back to the cost then. It’s simply this: when you do what you love, it can often lead to being all that you do. It’s what you think about when you wake up, when you’re in the shower, in the moments of peace and quiet, and as you close your eyes at the end of the day.

As far as work is concerned, that’s not a bad thing. But you have to realize that other areas of your life will pay the cost. There may be hobbies like woodworking, gardening or cycling that interest you, but you never get around to picking up. There are the missed family events. Or, even worse, you’re present in body only, your mind on the ‘thing you love’.

Being a spouse, a parent, a congregrant — these things all take time and energy. Doing what you love for a job so easily takes over your thought life, everything else can get lip service only.

Both

So I’m spending the next year working part time on what I enjoy, but not love (project management), and working part time building the next dumb idea (which involves doing what I love). This scenario comes with two benefits: a) it pays the bills and b) it’s a bit of an experiment to see if I can stop paying lip service to certain priorities and actually treat them like the priorities they are.

New PatternTap (Beta)

2012-02-13T16:09:51+00:00

I love Pattern Tap as a resource. Like Dribbble, I use Pattern Tap when I need inspiration, usually for a particular UI element. The redesign of this app has been a good while coming, but I like what I see.

Tweetbot for iPad

2012-02-09T16:02:25+00:00

Paul and Mark have otherworldly talent. My gosh.

It almost makes me want to access Twitter from my iOS devices again.

kooaba Shortcut - Weekly Sponsor

2012-02-08T16:44:08+00:00

kooaba Shortcut is a shortcut between real life and the Internet. Take a picture of what you are reading in a newspaper or magazine and instantly get connected to the digital version.

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With Shortcut you no longer need to type links into your phone, google for information, or cut out articles - Just take a picture instead!

Shortcut is available for iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone 7.

A big thank you to kooaba for sponsoring the feed this week.

How to Approach a Responsive Design

2012-02-06T16:58:18+00:00

Tito Bottitta gives one of the best overviews I’ve read on building a design responsively. He gives great insight into their team’s entire approach, from step one right to the end. Along with Trent Walton’s candid look at his own process, this piece resonated, identifying a few of the pain points I’ve come across on my own (on a much smaller scale).

Rhythm in Life

2012-02-06T16:53:50+00:00

I quoted this piece in a recent contribution to the Read & Trust newsletter. In it, Seth Cain shares some great thoughts on work and rest.