One of my high school teachers told me this:

“Write an essay like a woman’s dress – long enough to cover everything, but short enough to keep things interesting…”

That has stuck with me for years.  In everything I write, be it blog posts or emails, thank yous or letters, I try to adhere to that principle.  Writing clearly and succinctly is a challenge, but the reader will thank you for it.

Peggy Noonan warns British politician, David Cameron, on the danger of leadership rhetoric:

You can today go to any office of any great leader in America and Britain – business leader, church leader, political leader – and you will find the great topic of conversation, the great focus of attention, the object of daily obsession, is NOT the mission (making money, spreading faith, leading an anxious citizenry in the right direction) but how the mission is playing in the media. It’s all they talk about.

Wow.

Read her full op-ed here.

Tom Nicon, one of the top male models in the fashion industry, jumped from a fourth floor apartment in Milan and killed himself.  According to this article, suicides are trending in the fashion world.  In November, a Chanel model hung herself, followed by another hanging in April, and in May, a London model tried a lethal cocktail of pills and alcohol and survived.

These people have good looks, money, are well-traveled, and relatively famous.  Yet, they feel despondent and hopeless enough to end their own life.  What’s wrong here?  Why are models killing themselves?  They have everything the world has esteemed worthy and yet somehow these people aren’t happy.

What’s wrong with the human condition?  Why?

Below are some photos from our wedding.  Our photographer, Austin Gros, was kind enough to reshoot some portraits post-wedding, post-flood.  More pics to come, these were just a few.

I am really, really looking forward to this:

(premieres June 18th at 10pm on CMT)

Comic Book Version

TED Presentation

I’ve been thinking about what to write, what pictures to post, and how I would tell the story of our wedding.

It’s a long story and probably best told in person; so, I’ll spare the details and say the venue was supposed to look like this, but instead looked like this.

We’re married and I’m thankful.  I’m thankful, that the people that made it were able to come, enjoy themselves, and return home safely.  For the people that couldn’t or didn’t come and wrote us kind letters and sent us gifts, we are grateful.  I’m thankful our apartment and belongings were spared and not destroyed in the flood.  I’m thankful for both Rachel’s family and my family; they’ve been extremely supportive and we’re lucky for solid Christian parents.  I’m thankful for great friends and groomsmen – men who I look up to and love.  I’m thankful for mentors, you know who you are.  I’m thankful for church family and pastoral leadership – “I will you get you married today.”  And I’m thankful for a wonderful wife.  For marrying me despite my flaws and inconsistencies, my mess-ups and my pride, and for loving me and respecting me – I’m excited to spend the next 50+ years with this wonderful woman.

To be continued…

I know a lot of web designers who are familiar with XHTML/CSS and possess no programming skills.  It’s easy for these people to edit a WordPress theme or build a simple 4 page site, but anything beyond that is way too technical.  This post is for those people – because learning a programming language is NOT that hard.  It takes time and a willingness to learn.

I’m no Rails expert, but I remember what it’s like to make the leap from front-end development to database driven development and I know it’s frustrating to just get started.

Here are a list of resources that I’ve found to be helpful and if you really want to learn Rails, are the most helpful.  I’ve starred the must-haves; if you only pick up those three resources, you’ll be in good shape.

Books

1. *Agile Web Development with Rails, 3rd Ed. (if you only buy one book, this is the one you should buy)
2. Learning to Program (builds familiarity with basic programming concepts)
3. why’s poignant guide to ruby (you’ll either love it or hate it)

Posts

1. *RailsGuides (official documentation on how to get started)
2. My Rails tags on del.icio.us Rails (tons o’links)

Screencasts / Podcasts

1. *PeepCode (buy Rails from Scratch Pt. 1 & Pt. 2, Git Source Code Control, and Meet jQuery)
2. The Ruby Show (the latest and greatest Rails news)
3. RailsCasts (good for learning about specific topics)

For the other Rails devs I know, what helped you get started?

Last week I moved into the new place that Rachel and I will share for the first few years of our marriage.  In looking for an apartment, we both wanted something with character, plenty of natural sunlight, and something close to people.  So we settled on this little joint in Hillsboro Village.  The place, or Hogwarts as I like to call it, is walking distance to Vanderbilt, SATCO, Fido, Pancake Pantry, and Jackson’s, my favorite hangout spot.

The building was built in 1920 and was originally fitted as a nurses dorm for Vanderbilt hospital.  The last picture I took dates the building.  The iron doors you see are drop boxes for milk and meat packages – pretty cool!

If you want to drop by and say hey or send us some snail mail, our address is:

1901 Capers Avenue, Ste. 200, Nashville, TN 37212