TonyDewan.com

Why I Don't Use Wordpress

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:10:31 -0800

Wordpress is great. It's relatively easy to set up, easy to extend, and allows for quite a bit of customization. So, why didn't I use it?

This begs a much larger question: Why didn't I use any CMS/Blogging Platform/Publishing Engine?

See here's the thing: among other things, I'm a web developer. I build things on the web all the time; I make websites and web applications for a living. I've used most of the CMS's/Blogging Platforms/Publishing Engines to some extent, and they all have one thing in common: They're clunky. More precisely, they're clunky for me. It's frustrating for me to learn the taxonomies and methodologies of a platform, because I often have my own (however invalid) ideas about how they should be implemented. I also have a deeper knowledge of the underlying technologies, so the abstractions inherently built into a given system confuse me more than they might a normal user. They're necessary to present usable task flows for non technical users, but they force me to adjust my mental model of what's going on to fit someone elses. Even worse, they sometimes create weird and unsemantic markup.

So, I don't use one. Well, I kind of use one. I built my own little platform using a popular lightweight PHP framework designed with the MVC approach. It's nothing special, but it allows me to do exactly what I want to do how I want to do.

But here's the downside: I'll end up spending much more time in the long run tweaking, adding on, and managing. I have less front-loaded frustration traded for a potentially long term time sink. I'm okay with that now. We'll see how I feel in six months. Which is why it's okay if you use an off the shelf CMS. You probably value your time more than I do mine.

Why I Might be Bad at Life

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:13:41 -0800

I am easily seduced by tomorrow. This actually stems from an overall struggle with self control that, in this situation, manifests as procrastination. I have this big, amorphous cloud of projects, goals, and tasks that is constantly floating around in my mind. When my mind starts to wander, the cloud descends, and several of the overdue and hyper-necessary tasks seek attention. The interaction usually goes something like this:

Task:: “Hey! I'm important! Remember me? You gotta get me done, or really bad things will happen.”
Me:: “Shit, I know. I really need to get on that. What am I gonna do? When can I get that done? I have all of that other stuff to do too! Now I'm all nervous and worried! I need to distract myself, so I can avoid thinking about how bad this is, and wait to do it tommorrow!”

I then, depending upon my circumstances, turn up NPR, make a phone call, or open up my feed reader, and get lost in the immediateness of sensory and mental input.

There are three reasons that my world does not end as these tasks build:

À la structured procrastination several of them are not as important as my immediate reaction suggests. This analysis usually stems from the fact that I am incredibly and inherently ambitious, and this ambition often creates some of these projects, goals and tasks for the sake of said ambition. This also connects directly with my constant self-analysis.
Every once in awhile I get a burst of cutting-through-the-queue motivation and get some shit done.
Many of these goals are personal or not-connected-to-my-job professional goals, meaning the importance is relative to my own expectations, not others.

But, that is exactly the key. My expectations are the ones that matter, and they are what inform my perspective on my skill at life. Therefore, I think I'm bad at life.

The point?

One of the central struggles of my personal development path is the tug of war between my personal expectations and my ability to meet those expectations.

Realising you have a problem is the first step to recovery...

Indianapolis

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:14:20 -0800

Cultural What?

I think it’s fair statement to say that I live in a pretty cool part of town; If you know me, you probably know that I live and work in the middle of the Mass Ave “Cultural District” in downtown Indianapolis. I’m not sure how they define the neighborhood, or even what a cultural district is, but I’m pretty sure I’m in it. Within walking distance (I define walking distance as a 7 minute stroll) are several great restaurants, pubs, and shops. With a bicycle, the whole of downtown is mine to be had. Even better, I am quite literally 1 block from the best music venue in the city.

Pretty great, right? Sometimes.

Bigger, Better, Faster, Stronger

I’ve grown up with a bigger city at heart. At one point it was NYC; it’s been Chicago, Seattle, Portland. Even the Stockholmss and Lucernes of the world have made the list. Regardless, I have always longed for something bigger, better, cooler. The fact that I always have something “better” in mind means that I’ve often not given Indianapolis a fair shake. I’ve lamented the lackluster music scene, the what’s-a-sidewalk?-spread-out-ness of the city-county, the fuck-your-environment-I’m-driving-to-work public transportation, and the lack of pedestrian life.

What Do You Want to Do?

At the same time, I wonder what a larger city might offer that I would even take advantage of. Aside from more varied (or well known) professional opportunities, I’m not sure what. Save for a good rock show, I’m not much into night life. I like a good restaurant for sure, but I much prefer to cook for myself. I get all of my news and mediated entertainment through the web ¹. I love a good movie theatre experience; But like most things, even that is cheaper and probably easier here than in a bigger city. And except for one major exception, the shopping isn’t half bad either.

Happy

The one really great thing about Indianapolis has nothing to do with amenities, population, or public services. It’s that most of the people I want to be around are here. That’s what probably keeps most people where they are, I would suspect.

And I guess that’ll do for now.

An aside: I don’t even have a TV, and the only kind of programming I hate more than Dancing with the Stars is local news.

Masala Chai

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 22:55:28 -0800

This Christmas, my girlfriend got me the most wonderful gift: a basketful of all of the ingredients I would need to make my own masala chai. Masala chai is essentially an Indian spiced tea. It’s something you’ll find called simply Chai at most coffee shops and cafes here in the States. However, most of these drinks are made with a powdered, sealed, preserved additive, rather than freshly ground whole spices. There’s nothing quite like the real thing…

Recipes

There is no single definitive recipe for Masala Chai, as it depends greatly on region, family and what’s available. A quick search provides many many different recipes, but they all include a tea (usually black), a milk (I use soy), and various mixes of spices. Here is the recipe I currently use, but it has been, and will continue to be, iterative.

4 green cardamom pods
1 cinnamon stick
pinch of cloves (4-6)
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 anise star
2 tbsp sugar
½ cup soy milk (vanilla flavored)
2 tbsp darjeeling tea
1 tsp ground ginger (fresh is best)

Grind cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, anise, black pepper ¹ ². Bring to boil 3 cups filtered water. ³ Add spices, remove from heat, cover for 5 minutes ⁴. Add milk and sugar, boil again. Remove from heat, add tea, steep covered for 3 minutes. Strain into serving container (like a teapot ⁵ .)

Notes

I make my chai using whole spices and loose leaf tea
I grind the spices by hand with a mortar and pestle
I prepare the elixir on the stove, as seems to be traditional
I heat the ground spices separately to elicit more flavor
I use a japanese style cast iron teapot

Art Directed

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:14:20 -0800

In my professional life, I work primarily as I developer. I spend my days in text editors and fixed-width fonts. Of course, I’ve often got Photoshop running, working from a comp designed by an art director. All of that is to say this: I don’t really consider myself a designer professionally.

Now this may be self-deprecating or unfair, as I spent a large part of my past professional endeavors doing design work. In fact, while not up to par with a real graphic design program, my undergraduate included a strong foundation in design fundamentals. In many shops, including those I’ve worked in the past, situations require this kind of cross-disciplinary ability. That’s great and all, but I’ve always been of the mindset that it takes a very special kind of person to be a good designer and developer. (In fact, I can only think of a few people I would truly consider good at both.) I’ve also always been mindful of what I now understand as the creative gap between taste and ability. That is, my design work rarely meets my expectations.

This is my fault of course, as I’ve been focused on the finer aspects of web development, invariably leaving my skills as a web designer withering. But, today that (hopfully) changes (a little bit.) Today, I plan to start art-directing individual articles on this site. This idea is inspired by Jason Santa Maria, Khoi Vinh and Liz Danzico, among others. This will give me the opportunity to explore the finer points of content-focused layout and design for the web. It’s a stress-free environment for me, where the pressures of professional quality requirements are excitingly absent. I don’t necessarily plan on doing custom work for every article. But, the framework is now in place, both technically and psychologically, to make it happen when I want.

Now to see if I can manage to take good advantage of it…