Rodney Mullen. Amazing Skateborder, an Expert. I’m always fascinated in his style, innovation and technicality. There is such an excellent spirit and dedication when I see him skate all the time.

This series of videos about him thought me 2 things.

1. Progress can be due to weird reasons like being tormented by ideas.
2. When doing something complex, focus on just the key things.

Go check out more of his videos on Youtube.

He will always be my Hero.

A wonderful and successful year of the Tiger to one and all!

Work has brought me to many parts of the world. China in 2004, several places in Europe in 2004, China again in 2005, Italy in 2005, Amsterdam in 2007 and now India in 2010.

I’ve always wanted to go to India. To me its one of the most interesting country in the world. With its diversity, the richness in its culture and the rawness of life.

Mumbai being a busy city with lots and lots and lots of people, the traffic is also very colourful. In Singapore, i hardly hear any honking, but in Mumbai, its like the punctuation in driving. I think on average it was about 5 honks per minute or something like that at least from the cab ride that i took. Also cabs are all super tiny and they zip around so quickly and so closely to one another that alot of them fix bumpers.

The cab that i was in actually hit a truck from behind. The driver got out, waved, and everything was good. Cool.

My colleagues fed me ALL SORTS of Indian food. I seriously can’t remember all the names of the food, but “Indian Chinese” would have to be something easy for me to remember.

On this trip, there was some time for me to timeout and i made good use of the TOTO tub. Overall the room in four seasons was wonderful, very comfortable. But the bed was so soft that i sank in. Kinda not use to that.

Just outside my room window, was Mumbai. The zinc roofs, the slums, the reality.

We went up to AER lounge and chilled. Had a Mojito and some Pitas with Indian condiments.

The sun set into the smog and i’m reminded that no matter where i am in the world, we all share the same sun and that there is no such thing as one life being better than the other.

Dear India, i’ll be back.

For those with kids, you will know the challenge of teaching your kid spelling EVERY WEEK!

Clié has a super short attention span and something like spelling is in no way fun. So i thought we could have fun doing a jig saw puzzle version of her spelling list.

It worked!! She enjoys it. I wonder how many weeks can this last.

Developers all know the importance of Data Normalisation and its a key planning activity to ensure data integrity, optimal data warehousing by reducing data redundancy, ease of extending database structure, etc. I really feel web designers need to understand the spirit behind normalisation when planning their designs as well.

A website have many elements, from headers to footers, navigation to utility bars, from page wrappers to content containers. And from within the content container itself there are loads of normal HTML elements such as headings, paragraphs, tabular content, lists, forms, quotes, indents and the list goes on.

So just understanding and using CSS is not enough as a large site needs alot more planning. I feel that having a planning session to determine what ID and CLASS to assign to elements is extremely important. Also keeping in mind that using Content Management Systems mean webmasters (your clients) are most likely going to use something like CKEditor or TinyMCE as their WYSIWYG editor which by default uses the basic HTML tags.

So planing for CSS Styles is actually a CSS Normalisation process in my view. Data Normalisation is about “data relationships” and for CSS its about “cascading styles“. Styles are related by inheritance and these inheritance are the relationship.

Data Normalisation Objectives according to databasedev.co.uk:

1. Arranging data into logical groups such that each group describes a small part of the whole
2. Minimizing the amount of duplicated data stored in a database
3. Building a database in which you can access and manipulate the data quickly and efficiently without compromising the integrity of the data storage
4. Organising the data such that, when you modify it, you make the changes in only one place

So let me try to translate these objectives into CSS Normalisation objectives.

CSS Normalisation Objectives

1. Arranging CSS Styles into logical groups such that each group describes a small part of the whole
2. Minimizing the amount of duplicated CSS Styles stored in the CSS file(s)
3. Building the CSS file(s) in which you can access and edit the CSS Styles quickly and efficiently without compromising the integrity of the whole website
4. Organising the CSS Styles such that, when you modify it, you make the changes in only one place

Agree? Disagree? Do share your views.

ps: If only someone can do up a simple diagram like Natalie Josy’s Standards in a nutshell to visually explain this CSS Normalisation concept, i’ll definitely stick it to this post.

#10yrsIn140Char Blog Curtin Websmart Sansei Clié Punggol Span Cleo Convertium WebSG Career Japan Qais iPhone Taiwan CNL Riverlife IA Love
11:11 PM Dec 30th, 2009

To help myself remember what happened between 2000 – 2009, I think I better write things down.

• Started personal news publishing (now known as blogging) with NewsPro and now i’m on Wordpress.
• Went to Curtin for my uni where i got to meet Mark Graber and worked at MG Consulting (now Websmart) as a web designer and that paid for my living expenses while i was in Perth.
• Worked at Sansei full time as the Marketing Manager and travelled across Italy and quite a number of places in Europe.
• Had my first daughter Clié.
• Bought my first house in Punggol.
• Registered my first business, Span Design (which i hardly do anything about now).
• Had my second daughter Cleo.
• Started working and doing serious web work for the first time in Convertium as a Project Manager and got to know lots of wonderful people.
• Got involved with WebSG which i think might be one of the most important group of people in Singapore’s Web Scene.
• Knew for sure my Career would be in web related stuff.
• Went to Japan for a REAL holiday with Pearl.
• Left Convertium as Projects Director and joined Qais.
• Bought an iPhone which changed my online habits totally.
• Went to Taiwan for another REAL holiday with Pearl.
• Left CNL which i’ve been there since 1993 and joined Riverlife in 2009.
• Realised that deep down inside, i’m actually an IA (Information Architect).
• In 2009, the most important thing would be I found out a lot more about Love.

Nobody knows what the next 10 years will bring, but I’ve got plans and hope that things will turn out well. For the next 10 years, there will be the need for strong faith, there will be the need for stamina, there will be the need for balance and more importantly, there will still be the need for Love. <3 <3. Hello 2010.

In the past, famous artists experimented with the materials they were using. Arylic paints, oil paints, wood, stone, clay, glass, metals etc. and in the morden world, plastics, carbon fiber, foam, etc.

I remember how Karim Rashid shared that understanding the intricacies of the manufacturing process would enable the designer the know how on how to go about designing a new product. Also the importance of knowing how to design in an efficient way so as not to compromise on the affordability of the end product.

For the web however everything is digital and there isn’t really a physical “material” that web designers work with. However we work with HTML, CSS, Javascript and the likes. These are what makes up the web. These are the “materials” that we who call ourselves web designers work with.

So in order improve ones understanding and to go to the next level of web design, take a break from photoshop and start your text editors. Start reading up on CSS and experimenting with AJax, start understanding grids, start understanding how some content management systems work, start understanding web infrastructure, start putting yourself in the shoes of webmasters who need to update the website you build daily.

This colleague who shared this with me is not a designer, he is not even design trained, but instead he is an excellent developer, a great observer. Thanks, you know who you are.

Happy birthday to my darling Clié.

This year, she wanted to invite all her school classmate and quite a few of them turned up. Also one of her friend from her neighbourhood tution class came too.

As it was a 10am thingy, so we got up super early to prepare stuff. My wife prepare the food and I did up the decor as usual. The kids however were also busy trying to dress up, which was later re-did totally by mommy.

This group shot was the only decent shot that showed all the kids that were present and i think this picture will bring back fond memories when she grows alot older.

My wife actually wanted to make a Princess cake, but after the first somewhat successful trail a week ago, she decided to get a good cake instead and got a Lana cake.

Its amazing that its been 7 years already. She was just a small baby sleeping on my chest just a few years ago. I remember the love I had for her then and its the same love now, the unconditional love.

Happy birthday my girl. May your days be joyful and filled with people who loves you.

Brought my dear girls to Gallop Stable in Pasir Ris and they loved it. I like the whole idea of getting up early on a Saturday morning and doing something different. I won’t say its so exciting every week, but as parents we try.

It was $10 for a ride and tickets were bought at the nearby office just beside the café.

Clié went first, she was all excited and hopped on quickly. She was born in the year of the horse, so she felt she had some affinity to horses. lol…

Cleo on the other hand was abit fearful. She could not get up on her own, so i carried her up. Once i was grabbing on to her, she did not want to let go. After a few reassuring words, off she went.

The girls enjoyed themselves and the only thing they did not was the smell. lol… They are so not outdoor type. I think i need to expose them more to such stuff. Maybe Sungei Buloh next.

Gallop Stable
61 Pasir Ris Green
Singapopre 518225
Tel : 6583 9665
Fax : 6583 7282
Email : enquiry@gallopstable.com

Passion is like a pre-requisite, a fuel, especially in a fast paced environment. Its not just the creative industry that needs passion, almost every company can thrive if its filled with people filled with passion of what they are doing.

I’ve interviewed people to join my team and they always tell me they are very passionate about the job, passionate about the net, the web, the industry, the lot. But when I asked them how passionate are they, most of the time I get the very cliché answer “I live, eat and breath the net.” *yawn* I believe there is more to it.

So I turned to people whom I know that HAVE passion and started asking a similar question, “How do you quantify passion?”. Some say it’s a feeling, some say you just know it, some say its qualitative and not quantitative.

So the problem I have now is how can I know if one person is more passionate then the other. How can I know if one company is more passionate than another?

Here are some quantifiable things I feel that may put real hard numbers behind the word passion.

• Number of links being shared between colleagues.
• Number of colleagues having their own hosting and domain.
• Number of colleagues having their own website. (contributed by Ben Ho)
• Number of pet projects or experimental projects.
• Number of hours set aside purely for trying out new stuff.
• Number of attendance at web events like websg, barcamp, etc. or event conferences like SXSW or AnEventApart, etc.

If you have more ideas do share and I’ll add to the list.

Note: this post is still a draft.