Twenty-eight
Be forewarned, this is going to be one of those introspective blog posts.
Today, I turn 28. Granted, the number 28 is not very significant in and of itself. I'm still in my 20's, and it's certainly not as bad as thirty. It's not like the freeing number 16, when you can (legally) drive, 18 when you can (legally) purchase tobacco, vote and/or be drafted into the military, or 21 when you can (legally) consume alcoholic beverages. However, a lot has happened in this past year, and I find myself in a reflective mood.
That and, I guess since I'm in 9rules and it's a blogging network, I should actually write something to keep my site from utter stagnation.
Last Year
On July 31st 2006, I found myself pretty much alone (explanation), since my wife was doing a stint as a translator back in her home country of Estonia. Luckily, the timing coincided with my little brother living with me during August '06 while he did an internship in Boise at St. Luke's for his Doctorate of Physical Therapy. He's since dun an' gotten himself married, so it was cool to bond one last time as "bachelors" last summer. He and his wife will both eventually be Dr. Smith (she's going for an MD). I'm proud of 'em.
At this time last year, I was working as a web developer at Albertsons, which was bought by the company SuperValu for $17.4 billion. Incidentally, they're currently looking to hire a Sr. Web Developer. Boise is a great town, and the web guys there are really sharp (Dan, Hugh and Nate). Don't let the Napoleon Dynamite stigma fool you, Idaho is a beautiful place to live.
New Job
In November of 2006, like a country song played backwards, my wife has came back, and we (fittingly) moved to Texas for my new job as a Front-end Architect with Geniant. Ironically, we were recently acquired by the technology company EMC. So far, so good: Same job, better benefits.
Accolades
So far, Textpattern Solutions has been getting good reviews, with an average rating of 5 stars on Amazon. Myself and the other authors were interviewed recently by Digital Web Magazine, in an article entitled Why Textpattern.
Speaking of magazines, .Net Magazine (not .NET) recently interviewed me for a piece called Best Redesigns for my code work on the Stonebriar site. I was honored to have a pull-quote on the same page as Jesse who was interviewed for his redesign of the ExpressionEngine site. It's a nice jab at IE6.
Also interviewed were Chris Merritt, who was the designer of the Stonebriar site - and Jason Reynolds, the project manager. Be sure to check out Chris' write-up on Digital Web, as part of their Working Designer series.
New House
Last week, we moved into our new house. Well, it was built in 1998 but it's new to us, as first time home owners. We used Ebby Realty and they were great to work with. If you're looking for a house in the Dallas area, be sure to ask for Sue Nelms. She was recommended to us by my friend John Dyer. She took us under her wing and helped us find exactly what we were looking for:
- Corner lot
- Quiet neighborhood
- Ceramic tile floors throughout (easy on my allergies)
Sue Nelms recommended to us John Bazzell of Integrity Mortgage, who got us set up with a good loan and all that jazz. He walked us through the process, and was there with us at closing, which not many loan officers will do.
One of my favorite aspects of the house is the previous owners made one of the bedrooms into an office. It has smooth, stained and sealed concrete that is great for rolling desk chairs. As awesome as the team is at Geniant EMC, I have to admit to being a bit jealous of work-from-home guys like my friends Cody and Matt who work for Fluid and Weblogs Inc, respectively. I hadn't really felt that living in an apartment. The 'burbs have made me soft.
Looking Ahead
Well, I guess that about wraps things up as far as a re-cap of being 27. Hopefully the next year will be just as exciting, but more sedentary.