JewlOfTheLotus.com - Home

I Admit It...I Suck At Blogging

2008-06-12T22:21:00Z

And it’s taken me a whole week to write a post that says I suck at this…

Well, maybe I’ll go for more of a tumble log type setup – that way I can be short, sweet and simple.

Then again… how would that be any different from my Twitter account ?

Well, maybe I’ll post soon… maybe not. I make no promises, but I’ll try harder.

Ciao

Micro-blogging For Businesses

2008-03-04T00:16:00Z

Earlier today I wrote an article for the MetaSpring blog called ‘5 Ways Your Business Can Embrace Micro-blogging’.

In it, I discuss the micro-blogging trend and a few different ways that businesses can take advantage of it. Check it out and let us know how you’ve seen micro-blogging used in the business world.

I've Finally Converted!...sort of

2008-03-01T01:08:00Z

Well… after several months of not being able to blog due to random Typo errors, I’ve finally made a transition to Mephisto CMS. It was a surprisingly smooth conversion once I found the proper combination of script hacks. There are still a few problems though, unfortunately. Mainly, that pagination seems to have “disappearred” with the newest release – so please, enjoy my most recent 15 entries until I can make this damn plugin work.

On to the update… It’s been about 5 1/2 months since my last post, I was freelancing then – but now I’ve got a real job – Project Manager at MetaSpring, a marketing, design and development startup studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan. And awesomely enough, I primarily get to work with Rails! We just launched our redesigned website and blog so please check them out and leave a comment!

Aside from the new job, life’s been normal… Went to California over Thanksgiving with Adam, that was awesome. Christmas, w00t. New Years, woohoo! Work. Work. Work work work. Oh, ..and I’m about to buy a new MacBook (!!!!..sorta..).

This 12” PowerBook G4, God bless its beautiful little form factor, is audible from the opposite end of my apartment. Adam likens the sound of it to that of a dustbuster. And it really is driving me crazy, not to mention it’s way too slow for what I need it to do. So, I have to upgrade. First let me say, I love the MacBook Air body – sleek, sexy, almost weightless. I checked it out in Best Buy last week and it definitely had me salivating…sigh...but it needs more power. So, I’m getting a white MacBook with an upgraded hard drive to match the specs of the default black MacBook (which, by the way, is $100 more than the white with even specs).

If all goes well, I’ll be making that purchase before the end of the weekend :) But now I’m going to bed, and hopefully sleeping off this oncoming cold. Wish me luck!

No, I'm Not Dead...Just Busy

2007-08-16T13:53:00Z

NOTE: This post was supposed to go up like a month ago, but I’ve been having serious technical difficulties with my blogging software and did not have a chance to fix it all up until now. Update post coming soon, I hope. Here you go…

Hi, how are ya? I’m pretty well. Yeah, I know it’s been a while since you last heard from me, but it’s been a crazy year. I apologize for my absence and promise to remain actively social, at least until grad school…

A rather lengthy update follows the break.

My Last Undergrad Semester Ever

Ok, let me start out by saying: 6 classes = 0 social life. I spent most of my final undergrad semester studying for classes, working on projects, freelancing websites, occasionally attending yoga classes, and looking for that “real” post-college job.

My classes were pretty good for the most part, I learned a bit and was even able to extend Expressive Connections for a final project – the site now features OpenID login and Groups (as well as, On-site Messaging and Networks – contributed by my partner, AJ). Expressive Connections went on to take the Best of Show (Web) award in the 2007 DMAT Showcase in the College of Communication Arts & Sciences at MSU.

Back in February, I launched my portfolio site – JulieMarie.net, as well as my current profession – freelance web development (primarily using Ruby On Rails). At the time, I didn’t plan on freelancing becoming my primary career – but as it turns out, on-site Rails jobs in Michigan are slim, competition is high, and I had less than one year of overall web related experience to work with.

Freelance jobs kept popping up and on-site jobs didn’t. I limited my search to the Southeastern Michigan area because grad school at U of M is also on the list of things to do in the near future. In all the chaos of classes and job searching though, there wasn’t really time to establish Michigan residency (saving me from the fortune of out-of-state tuition), write all the application essays, or take the GRE in time for the Fall application deadline which was in early May. Thus, grad school has been pushed back to the Winter term, application deadline – November 1.

So that brings us to the end of my last undergrad semester. I graduated with Honors and a Bachelor of Arts in Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media (or TISM, as it’s more easily referred to) – with a specialization in Digital Media Arts and Technology, focusing on web development.

Post-Grad

With only a week until my lease was up, no on-site job lined up, and therefore no real idea of where to live, I was about this |—-| close to moving to Howell, MI (due to its central location), but instead went to Novi, MI to stay with Adam. While staying there, Adam’s roommate, Matt, got me outrageously addicted to “Battlestar Galactica.” I watched the Mini-Series and all three seasons within about a month and a half. Needless to say, October won’t come soon enough.

I also managed to get some work done in between BSG episodes – created a WordPress Theme (1st time working with PHP) and started work on what currently acts as a CMS designed as a learning aid. I’m fairly excited about the CMS, I was able to build it in Ruby on Rails for the client and I think it turned out really well. Plus if all goes well, it could grow into something pretty cool. Additionally, I took an at-home, part-time job working basically as a User Experience Engineer for a cluster of web hosting sites. The job wasn’t exactly what I was looking for – but it will definitely help out in preparation for grad school

Europe

Yep, I went again. Only for 2 weeks this time. As it so happened, all my talk and excitement about my 6 weeks in Europe last summer excited my mom enough to buy us each a spot on a tour through London, Paris, and Rome (plus Versailles, Assisi, and FLORENCE!). The trip was pretty crazy, a lot of fun, and 12 days to remember. There were nine of us from Chicago, and a group of about thirty from Puerto Rico, and our tour guide, who was from Spain. Ultimately, I think everyone picked up a fair bit of Spanish, a tad bit of French, and a sense of Italian which often came out as a Spanish variant. Click on the city names above to see some of my pictures.

Moving Again

Immediately after my return from Europe, it was time to move again. This time to Farmington Hills, MI – which is right next to Novi. I moved here because my cats, who were staying with a friend while I was in Novi, needed a home and because it’s in an area of high web development activity where I am likely to find some sort of work. Only problem is I don’t yet have internet there, so my freelance business is on hold. On the bright side, I now have time to finally pick up this Beginning PHP and MySQL 5 book.

Future Plans

So what’s next? Well…now that I’ve got my own place I can establish residency, take the GRE, and apply for grad school. If all goes well, I’ll be moving to Ann Arbor in January with my dearest friend and forever roommate, KT. Until then, I’ll continue my freelance work and the search for an on-site job of some kind – preferably working with Rails, of course.

SaveNetRadio.org

2007-04-24T12:36:00Z

Recent government action has dramatically increased (300-1200%) the fees internet radio companies must pay to play the music you enjoy.

This means that sites like Pandora and Last.fm, as well as many other online radio stations, could be shut down due to bankruptcy.

You can help, let your voice be heard. Visit SaveNetRadio.org to see how you can help prevent the death of online radio.

Robert Dempsey & Craig Ambrose - RoR Gurus Interviewed

2007-04-04T07:11:00Z

About a month ago I conducted a couple informational interviews for my Job Search Strategies class.

The first interview was with Robert Dempsey, Project Director of Atlantic Dominion Solutions a Ruby on Rails website and application development firm, and Founder and Director of Rails For All a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of Ruby on Rails to developers and businesses.

My interview with Robert is available in the Interviews section at Rails for All.

The second interview was with Craig Ambrose, a freelance agile web developer specializing in Ruby on Rails. In November, Craig began producing his Freelancing On Rails podcasts which have been a great insight into the world of freelance web development (something I’d like to try full time down the road).

Read on to view my interview with Craig…

1. How did you get into software development, and more specifically, Ruby on Rails? Did you have any university training or were you more self-taught?

I spent three years at uni (software engineering) but I never finished because I was doing a year of industry placement with a computer games company and got a bit involved in the project and lost interest in going back to uni. So, while I found university invaluable, I did find I was learning more once I left. I’m personally in favour of a more balanced combination of theory and practice. Usually whenever people give me a chance to rant about it I advocate an apprenticeship model for programmers, with a couple of days a week of “trade school”, covering all the theory, and a much heavier programming component that university usually offers, on real projects for real clients, rather than contrived problems.

I started using Rails a couple of years ago when I was at a local industry group (on the subject of design patterns) and pitching about the lack of good object-relational modelling layers in PHP and someone suggested that I try Active Record (and Rails). I tried rewriting a small PHP app I’d written in Rails instead and was surprised by how much faster it came together and how much nicer the code looked.

2. What kind of jobs did you have before freelancing and how did they help prepare you for this work?

I spent about 4 years doing C and C++ programming in a couple of different game development companies, and when the second one downsized, I started doing freelance work as a PHP programmer. After about eighteen months of that I was feeling a bit isolated and stagnant in my learning. At the games companied I’d been part of teams (of about ten programmers) and there were always more senior people to learn from. As a PHP developer I was working with a a couple of other programmers on occasion, but many of them were self-taught, which I don’t have anything against, but they didn’t seem to have much interest in pushing their skills beyond producing spaghetti and calling it programming. Also, I found that I was working more and more for the same client that I ended up being basically an employee.

In the end, I took a job at a .NET firm for a year. The work wasn’t terribly interesting, but I found that my “freelancing mind set” really helped in dealing with management and the companies clients. I was learning more again, but the organisation and technology where very conservative, so obviously I was being left behind. When I finally quit to freelance again (and this time with an intention of having a bigger variety of clients, and working exclusively in rails) I had a bunch of knowledge about what the bigger companies were doing. Still, I don’t think that the experience is entirely necessary, people can start freelancing straight away, providing they have ways of continuing their own learning.

3. What part of your job is the most interesting or rewarding and which is the most challenging or difficult? What motivates you to continue in spite of these difficulties?

The rewarding bit is not working for someone else. It’s good to be able to succeed and fail on my own merits, and make my own decisions about which technologies and development practices are most effective. I enjoy the face to face contact with clients, and the networking and marketting.

The downside is probably cash flow. A single contractor is pretty exposed to the feast and famine income of payments and gaps between projects. It seems to be slowly becoming less of an issue, but it’s probably the single biggest obstacle to freelancing.

4. From your personal experience in this field, what attributes do you think are essential for success?

Confidence. Everything else can be faked if you’ve got confidence. :)

Oh, I guess being able to program helps too, but that just requires practice and a whole lot of books.

JulieMarie.net - Overdue Launch Announcement

2007-03-30T12:58:00Z

Well, I’m really not sure why I didn’t do this a month ago, or why it took me this long to think of it, but my new portfolio site is up at JulieMarie.net.

I built the site with Radiant, a simple, Ruby on Rails based content management system and designed the layout myself.

Check it out! Let me know what you think :)

Jewls

Twitter: My More Regularly Updated Mini-Blog

2007-03-21T15:28:00Z

Well, since I don’t really have a lot of time to write more than one blog post per month, I figured I’d link you all to my Twitter page where I have the chance to post once or twice a day.

You can find me at twitter.com/jewlofthelotus. Add me if you’re a Twitter-er (?), too. :)

I don’t tweet too often and I don’t necessarily tweet about what I am doing. But if I have something meaningful to say in less than 140 characters, I’ll tweet about it.

And so I give in to this Twitter thing.

Jewls

Post-grad ideas (and the story of my college career)

2007-02-20T15:01:00Z

Post-graduate plans are something that I’ve been thinking about rather frequently since the beginning of the new year. To really see where I’m coming from, I guess I should tell you how I got to where I am now…

When I came to MSU, I thought that the music industry was where I belonged. I knew performance was definitely not the path for me, so I took the production route. MSU offers two courses in audio production, both of which I passed with flying colors, but neither of which left me with a strong sense of confidence or inspiration to jump into the business. This was not the fault of the professor. It just turns out that I’d rather just listen to music and appreciate it, than create it on my own and push it into a market that I won’t waste time critiquing at this time.

Last spring, after finishing both audio classes, I spent a lot of time worrying that I was headed down the wrong road. As I finished up my last audio class, I watched my boyfriend, Adam, code away and make websites. I liked his freedom and I liked that he was making something that people could use. With music, people can absorb it – listen to it, dance to it, appreciate it. With the internet, you can interact – with people and with applications. It only became clear to me recently, but interaction has always intrigued me. I guess this comes from my fascination with determinism – I enjoy observing interactions and the effects of those interactions. Human interaction is particularly interesting. In my interactions with people, I’ve always liked to play a mutual role – lots of different groups of friends, never taking sides in a fight. I’ve also always enjoyed entertaining people – throwing parties is one of my specialties, you know. I like a lot of different types of people, I don’t like fighting, and I like to make people happy. Plus, I enjoy interaction. So, how do I make a career of this? Well, I had a whole summer to figure things out. So, I headed to Europe and forgot about the future. I also signed up for a few web-related classes before I left.

As you may have heard, Europe was incredible and completely life-altering. I came back to Michigan eager to do something enjoyable with my life (as well as, return promptly back to Italy). So, I gave into Adam’s praise of Ruby on Rails and spent the rest of my summer working through RoR tutorials and reading Agile Web Development with Rails. When school started back up, I had a Computer-Mediated Communications class as well as an Interactive Media class. From there, I built ExpressiveConnections.com for my Interactive Media class, and learned a lot about online interaction in the CMC class. It was a good semester.

My Scripting Web 2.0 class this semester is great. My “Is God Dead?” class has allowed me to explore determinism among other things more. And the other classes are, well, okay.

So, I’m enjoying the internet. I really enjoyed making Expressive Connections. I want to learn more, and I want to be really good at it all one day. I’ve only been doing this web thing for eight months, though. So, I feel like I have a ways to go. I also feel like I missed out on a lot during the first three years of college….I could have been taking programming courses and database classes. (It especially irks me that when I was in high school making websites for rock bands (the faces of greenwheel) and templates for Diary-x journals, or Freshman year of college when I made an online portfolio, that I didn’t recognize my interest in the web then. I guess I can excuse myself in high school since the characteristics of today’s “Web 2.0” (like interaction, participation, customization, and collaboration), weren’t quite there yet. I didn’t see the full potential of the web, then. And, I guess I can excuse myself for Freshman year because I built my portfolio site using Adobe GoLive and it was a frustrating experience, to say the least. However, looking at the old source code today gives me a good laugh.)

So now I’m going to graduate and need to figure out what I’m going to do with myself after that. I think I’ve almost come to some sort of clear rational decision, but I’m not there yet. Here are some things I’ve been thinking about:

Grad School – Human-Computer Interaction at U of M
Freelancing…
A real job somewhere…

I like freelancing because I can be my own boss and work on my own hours. I’m hesitant about getting a “real job” mostly because I have only been doing this 8 months. I barely have a relevant resume. And, I feel like there’s a lot more that I should know before going for a “real job.” Finally, there’s grad school. Honestly, this program at U of M sounds perfect. And applying is 90% positively in my near future, however, before I apply – I need to get Michigan residency. No more of these Out-of-State fees, thank you. When I am able to get residency, though, will determine which semester I am able to apply for. If I wait to get a place in Ann Arbor after graduation and then get residency, the soonest I could apply for is Winter admission. So, then I’d need to find something to do on a full-time basis between May and January. Whether that would be freelancing or a job or an internship – I have NO IDEA.

Sigh. But that is where I am now. Trying to make decisions. Excited about the future, unsure of how I’m getting there. I’m good at planning, though. So, hopefully it will all come together soon.

If you read this far, please leave a comment so I can bake you a cake.

Jewls

ExpressiveConnections.com - Alpha Launch

2007-02-01T23:20:00Z

Check it out, kids: ExpressiveConnections.com has finally been announced.

Expressive Connections is a network for creative professionals – aimed at aspiring and accomplished writers and artists who are looking to begin or advance in a career utilizing their talent.

The site is in a sort of alpha-mode right now. We think it’s got a pretty solid start, though – which is why we’re inviting you to take a look around, create an account and let us know what you think – if you’d use it, or what features you’d like to see added, etc. It’s still got some kinks and we’re still working things out here and there. But we’ve got big plans.

The site started out as a class project for my Interactive Media class. If you’ve read my blog at all, then you have probably heard me speak of it vaguely – referring to it as my first real RoR, HTML, and CSS application. You may have also noticed that I keep referring to “us” and “we,” by that I mean myself and AJ Gorczyca – we are the “team.” Well, once again we find ourselves in the same course – this time it’s TC448 – Scripting Web 2.0. And if you read my very last post, then you would know that this class entails Ruby on Rails, MySQL, and Apache, and other things of the “Web 2.0” nature. Pretty f-ing awesome, basically. Well just like the last course we took together, this one has a group project – that is to develop a web site utilizing the ideas and languages learned in class. Since Expressive Connections already fit into these project requirements, we decided to ask the professor, Kurt Demaagd, if we could continue building onto the project rather than start again from scratch. He agreed and so you can expect to see a lot of new features and changes. Here’s what we’re aiming for:

On-site private messaging
Member endorsements and letters of recommendation
Ability to watch favorite users, see who other users are watching, and see who is watching you
User-submitted audio and video content for portfolios

It would just be wrong if a network for creative professionals left out musicians, producers, actors, directors, and everyone in between. So, we’re not going to leave you out.

This is where we stand and these are our plans for the next semester. I think you’ll see some exciting changes along the way. And, hopefully you’ll help us, too – by checking it out, creating a profile, or spreading the word around to others who may be interested.

It’s a work in progress and we want you all to help us in building the most exciting site we can, so any feedback you give would be greatly appreciated.

Jewls

New Semester, New Life

2007-01-26T12:45:00Z

Well, it’s been an entire month since my last post. It’s not that I haven’t had anything to write about – I’ve just been really, really busy. We’re three weeks into the spring semester now and classes are going pretty well. I’m taking:

TC448 – Scripting Web 2.0
ADV456 – Interactive Advertising
REL491 – Is God Dead? Pantheism, Nihilism, and the Pursuit of Divine Knowledge
PSY330 – Personality from a Psychoanalytic Perspective
CAS380 – Job Search Strategies

Two of my classes are relatively related to my field, Scripting Web 2.0 goes over Ruby on Rails, MySQL, and Apache, and is taught by Kurt Demaagd, co-founder of Slashdot and board member on the Perl Foundation. So, needless to say – I’m pretty excited about that one.

The other class potentially beneficial to my future is Interactive Advertising. The class is centered around a group project in which we have to develop a predominantly online advertising plan for a local business. My group is working with John Kodeski of Relish Culinary Boutique. Now, if you visited that link – you’ll see that the site could use some work and this is where our group comes in with a plan (and also where I come in with my web skills – if he likes our plan, maybe I’d be the one to redesign the site, eh?).

The “Is God Dead?” class, is one of my more enjoyable courses. We’re currently discussing the viewpoints of the Dutch philosopher, Spinoza (Pantheism), and the German philosopher, Jacobi, who argued against Spinoza’s views. It’s pretty interesting stuff, if you’re into deep philosophical thoughts of God and the freedom of man, that is.

Next, there’s Personality from a Psychoanalytic Perspective with Bertram Karon. Pretty smart guy, pretty interesting stuff – however, I had him before in Abnormal Psychology and already I’m hearing the same stories . Still, interesting stuff.

And finally, Job Search Strategies. I’ve gotta do what I’ve gotta do.

Additionally, I’m taking introductory yoga classes at Center for Yoga in East Lansing. Those are pretty nice. Good stress relief.

Between all of these classes, I have been working on the site – which will probably be in some sort of alpha mode within in the next few weeks. Once finalized, I’ll of course post it here. I’ve also been working on a portfolio site for myself, once that is up – I’ll post it here, too. And on the weekends, I spend time with Adam. And that’s pretty much life.

Some other random thoughts over the last month:

iPhone is AWESOME.
I should have said this back in November but Incubus’ new album – Light Grenades is AWESOME.
Going back to Europe in July will be AWESOME.
And if you’ve read this far into my post, YOU ARE AWESOME.

I’ll stop now.

Take care now, bye-bye then. Jewls

It's Official, I <3 RoR (& Merry Christmas, too!)

2006-12-25T01:20:00Z

Sigh. Wow. I’ve just successfully created a Ruby on Rails forum for the site that you’ve all been eagerly awaiting (don’t worry, it’ll be public soon – just a few more weeks!). It’s pretty simple thus far. I spent the last two days just working on basic functionality. Nothing fancy…yet. ;)

This forum is the first major RoR feature that I’ve done almost entirely on my own. It’s my baby. And, I can’t believe it only took me two days – yeah Rails!

Having no programming experience behind me, learning Ruby on Rails started out as quite the challenge. However, this experience has definitely turned me into a lover of the language. I often have trouble stopping myself from working into the night.

So thanks to Adam for inspiring me to give Rails a try! :)

Oh yeah, one last thing… Happy Holidays!

Jewls

Winter Break, Here I Come!

2006-12-12T17:06:00Z

My apologies for the downtime. Over a long weekend of unsuccessfully attempting to launch my Rails app on Dreamhost, I managed to also break my JewloftheLotus site. Well now that my final (..my one and only final) is over, I had a chance to sit down and fix the problem. So, I’m back!

Coming VERY soon – My First Rails App :)

What NOT to do if you're the MPAA

2006-11-28T08:49:00Z

This is a satirical article posted on BBSpot that had WAY too many of us fooled…

To sum it up:

The MPAA defines a home theater as any home with a television larger than 29” with stereo sound and at least two comfortable chairs, couch, or futon. Anyone with a home theater would need to pay a $50 registration fee with the MPAA or face fines up to $500,000 per movie shown…

The bill would require that any hardware manufactured in the future contain technology that tells the MPAA directly of what is being shown and specific details on the audience. The data would be gathered using various motion sensors and biometric technology…

‘Just because you buy a DVD to watch at home doesn’t give you the right to invite friends over to watch it too. That’s a violation of copyright and denies us the revenue that would be generated from DVD sales to your friends,’ said Glickman.

mcatrage’s digg comment explains why we were so easily fooled:

Sad part is would you really put it past the MPAA to actually try and do this?

...man, I was REALLY pissed off for a second there.

Student tasered multiple times at UCLA library for not having his ID

2006-11-16T07:37:00Z

Remember a few days ago, when we saw LAPD officers repeatedly punching an arrested man in the face before cuffing him? Well, that video prompted an FBI investigation.

Here’s a new video, taken by a student’s camera phone, displaying similar police brutality, again, in Los Angelas. The student was asked to leave the library when he could not produce an ID. As the student was headed towards the doors, an officer grabbed his arm (I would assume to “escort” him out) at which point the student began yelling “Get off me!” A second officer approached and it was at this point when the student was tased for the first time… Let’s hope that this video can generate enough attention to prompt another FBI investigation in LA.

In an article on Yahoo! about the first instance, it is said that:

Legal observers said the public has become somewhat desensitized to questionable police tactics caught on tape because such videos have become more prevalent since the King beating. In many cases, officers have been exonerated.

“The first reaction by people is one of outrage,” said Eugene O’Donnell, a professor of police studies at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. “But the more you see police officers using force on tape, the more you get used to it.”

I sincerely hope that people don’t just “get used” to seeing this sort of thing. It should make you sick to your stomach, and if it doesn’t – I would wonder if you’re really human.