The ab ripper X part is always “Holy crap! I can’t do half this stuff!” but we did our best and hopefully next week we can do more.

I’m really feeling it in the abs this morning. Soccer was a great workout. We only had 1 sub so in 2 30min halves, I only went off for 3 minutes in each half. Not bad.

I can’t remember what’s in store for tonight but I can’t wait! I try not to get on the scale in the morning…. but I still do. I lost 2lbs so far We’ll see what’s the official verdict come Monday morning.

via Signalnoise (James White) on twitter

It destroyed me too!

I forgot how hard that one is at first. All those different push-ups. I suck at those so I have to do the girlie ones where you keep your knees down! HAHA! Yves was doing great!

We still can’t do the Dreya Roll tho! Holy Canoli that’s just nuts! Hopefully I’ll be able to do more than 1, one day!

Tonight is Cardio X which Yves will be doing but I’ll be replacing it with my soccer game. I’ll be working just as hard, don’t worry.

Like me… right now.

I’m fed up of all the weight I gained over the last few years. It doesn’t “show” that much but I see it every time I step out of the shower and it’s gotta change.

I used to be in shape. I used to be able to run and run and run. Or bike and bike and bike!

So what am I going to do about it?

I’m starting P90X again… but this time, I’m really sticking to it. Actually, my husband is also doing it and we’re really motivated. So… to keep me in the motivated trance, I’ll be posting everyday about it. About what we did last night and how it went. It won’t be a super long post (just a little paragraph) but just something that will make me keep at it.

I figure that if I post it here, I won’t have a choice but to keep going and show progress. HAHA! You guys are my motivators. If I miss a day, promise me you’ll flood me with: “Hey! Get back on that wagon!”

So there it is. Yesterday (Monday), we started the Lean program. So… on to Day 1

p.s. Thanks for reading!

via Kitsun Noir – Brand New Tron Legacy Trailer

There are some really great movies coming out this year (IronMan2 really soon) but this one is…. Oh man! Can’t wait!

Unfortunately, my first attempt at freelancing left me unhappy, in debt and desperate. I took several full-time jobs between my last attempt at freelancing and this one to teach me some valuable lessons and make my way out of debt.

I made many mistakes the first time around and, like any good freelancer, I learned from them and now I am a better, stronger worker. In this post, I’ll share some of the mistakes that caused me to fail as a freelancer the first time around.

Read the full article: Why I Failed at Freelancing

This is a really good article on starting out in freelancing without the experience of working for others. Often people ask if they should start freelancing right after school thinking they know everything ’cause they’ve got a few sites under their belt. I’ve always told people not to do that. Go work for someone else, learn the ropes, learn how to DEAL with people; either easy clients or the pain-in-the-ass ones. There are ways of getting rid of those (See Adii’s great article on Pulling The Plug on Bad Customers) but if you’ve never had to be the Boss, it’s hard to show authority and deal with them.

So what’s different now that I’ve left my full-time job again and have been a successful freelancer for a few years?

• Experience. After working full-time in the field for almost five years, I am professional, experienced and can speak with authority in my field.

Today too many blogs are being created, I feel lost in the information and inspiration. There can only be so many different showcases featuring (insert number here) Examples of Brilliant Illustrations. I understand the internet has endless information, and we are just trying to showcase that. I would just like to go to a few destinations to get all the information.

[...]

What I am trying to say is the blogosphere is being over saturated with design blogs. I am writing today to bring up a realistic solution.

Let’s contribute to already established blogs instead of creating new blogs.

Read the rest of the article: Stop Launching Blogs, Start Contributing

Another really good read.

Launching a really good web magazine takes a lot, and I mean A LOT, of work: getting authors to contribute, getting a steady stream of really good, relevant-not-outdated content, etc… It’s a steady job, not one you post to once, sit back and relax. If you decided to open up shop, you must know that you are competing against some really great ones out there.

Before giving John his quote, you ask a little more about the project. After chatting for a few minutes, you ask him about his budget. A fair question, you think. After all, you could approach the project in so many ways. Without knowing the budget, knowing where to begin is impossible. In your mind, building a website is like building a house. Without knowing the budget, you can’t possibly know how many rooms the client can afford or what materials you should use to build.

John, on the other hand, is instantly suspicious. Why would you want to know about his budget? The only reason he can think of is that you want to make sure you don’t charge him less than what he is willing to give. Besides, he doesn’t really know his budget. How the heck is he supposed to know how much a website costs?

Read the rest of this really good article: Is John The Client Dense or Are You Failing Him?

Finally an article that’s not about lists and crap other sites have already discussed! Great article for both the new freelancer and the old. Speak English to your clients! They don’t give a crap about accessibility or web standards. Just give them the site they need.

I should’ve been a little more specific in my tweet. I was talking about designers who don’t have even the most basic HTML and CSS skills to turn a flat design into an actual site. Not people who intentionally choose not to code; those who can’t. And I’m also referring only to front-end code here; of course it’s ridiculous to think that designers should also be amazing back-end programmers (although there are exceptions).

This quote is from Elliot Jay Stock on his post Web designers who can’t code, a debate he started up yesterday morning on twitter. What a great way to start the day!

As Elliot pointed out, it created quite a stir on twitter. My favorite reply is this one by Andy Budd which Elliot has also quoted:

However if you’re designing fairly large scale sites it’s often not desirable, possible or practical to do the coding especially if the complexity of the various components (e.g. complex JS functionality) outweighs your technical ability.

Now, quite a few have opened up their blogs to keep the discussion going:

• Rachel Andrew – Should web designers be able to build their own designs?
• Richard Rutter – Why designers should and shouldn’t code
• Mark Boulton – On Designers writing HTML

Reading all those and the comments are sure to keep you away from doing any work so… beware!