What Am I Doing? (Oct 2008)

Web Languages

As I had posted in the past few entries, I’m teaching myself the relatively basic web programming languages by working on my site, mostly the portfolio section. I’ve conducted a couple experiments to get a better understanding and grip of these languages. Learning Cookies, Ajax, and PHP has been very exciting and has stirred up project ideas.

Every day I wish I would have enough energy after work to work a little bit on my site or an experiment. I could see myself doing this as a career, although I haven’t been with the big kids yet, so troubleshooting one line in the haystack of hundreds that others have written might make me think otherwise. Still, it’s exciting when things work the way you want it to, and that might make it all worth it.

Economy and Job

So the economy’s not doing so well. Just when you think you’re at the bottom, you’re wrong. This isn’t really affecting me as directly as other Americans, since I don’t intend to buy a house or borrow large sums of money in the near future.

But when others suffer, we might, too. I’m talking specifically about companies’ ability (or inability) to keep their finances in the black, which may require them to lay off some employees, employees who might now compete with me in the job market, or employees whose positions that I desire but seize to exist because they’re laid off.

So that makes me reconsider the length of my employment at Peet’s. But then again, if I worry too much, which I probably already have, I won’t get anywhere.

Flush.

Road Trip October 2009?

I think I’m going to combine my cross-country road trip dream (inspired by The Motorcycle Diaries) with my post-graduation trip dream, with going to my first biennial AIGA Design Conference dream in October 2009, as I could spend a week or two and drive to Memphis for the conference and then go all the way to the East Coast and take a different route back.

I thought about naming my cross-country road trip journey “The Prius Diaries,” although that might sound too marketing-y. And I certainly don’t want my car to have the same fate as the motorcycle. And seeing how there’s an environmental concern with flying to places these days, intersected with rising oil prices, driving would be a slightly less harmful and more interesting alternative. (Of course, taking Amtrak or something would be easier and less tiring, but it’s also less fun.)

Just ideas for now.

Flush.