Travels and Decisions

I am back in Salt Lake City after being gone for over a week. I drove to Rexburg with Tim and Bradyn two Sunday's ago, and I got back by getting a ride to Logan (stayed with my brother Sterling for a few days) and then hitch-hiking to Farmington where I took a train to Salt Lake.

In Jackson, WY the weather was perfect, though cold on our first day. I went rafting, mountain biking, and still found time for finishing some website projects. Despite the hardship of staring at a computer for long amounts of time, I really enjoy being involved in website design, structure and maintenance. My clients are also happy with my work too :)

In Jackson I found a job at Dave Hansen Rafting. They need a person to help at the front desk. I accepted it, because, well, I just wanted to be up there this Summer. Now I have to be back in Jackson this weekend, ready to work. I'm taking it because I can work 2 days a week if I want. I'll need the flexibility so I can still freelance. The big down-side of taking this job is it will last until October - so I'll have to postpone a semester of school until January. But maybe this is a good thing because I need the extra time to get out of debt first.

I also really want to work for the Forest Service. I thought about this a lot while in Jackson and really felt good about pursuing a Forest Service job. I just need to volunteer my time with them first, before I can land a paying job with them.

There's a lot of work ahead of me, and I'm trying not to overwhelm myself with too many options and commitments. Between my new Jackson job and website freelancing, I'm also supposed to 1. start day-trading with my 401-K $$, 2. finish my online Calculus class, and 3. volunteer for the Forest Service. Oh yeah, don't forget about some basic recreation in between all of that too! Yeah, it's too much I think. I'm still deciding which thing to let go of. update July 1, 2010 1. I'm not doing any of these three things! I have decided to stick to working at Dave Hansen and building websites. Those two things alone keep me plenty busy. I hope to work for the Forest Service in the Fall. --WBC--

Driving in Idaho

Beards: they grow on you.

just a hint of the view

HTML5 Infographic

What is HTML5?

Click to enlarge...

Just caught my first White Bass!

Location: Utah lake

Gone Fishing :)

Crude Oil

There's a reason BP does not want photojournalists anywhere near the oil spill currently devastating the Gulf of Mexico. If people were to behold the raw effects of this tragedy, they might demand justice against those responsible, namely BP. Being over 5,000 feet below the water's surface, the leak has proven to be difficult to stop, and has resulted in millions of gallons of oil scourging the Gulf waters. Though disasters such as this are rare, it doesn't make the effects of them any less cruel.


AP Photographer Charlie Riedel captured the following photographs off the beach of Louisiana's East Grand Terre Island on Thursday June 3, 2010:

For more information:
New York Times Article
New York Times Multimedia Gallery
Boston.com Article
--WBC--

Resurrecting old skills

I can't believe I'm actually doing it...

I'm bringing back the online portfolio, practicing web development, and subscribing to geeky newsletters again.

Why?

The most obvious reason is lifestyle. I have a passion for the power of the internet and I want to harness it again.

Truth is, I never fully let it go. Even though I stopped keeping an online portfolio and stopped coding on a daily basis, I always kept up to date with the latest in developments, helped friends with websites they were building, and talked about one day returning to it all.


I plan on doing much more this time around: One obvious change will be my approach to web development. I've learned a lot of techniques from watching others and talking about the web. There are far more resources available today than there was even 3 years ago. I'm excited for such a vast field of knowledge at my fingertips.

From here the sky is the limit. A web page can be about anything you want it to be. I'm like a chef in a kitchen with unlimited ingredients. Who knows what will be made next, and how much fun it will be to create.

--WBC--