http://www.justinrussell.com/blog Pseudo-random observations and views Sat, 09 Aug 2008 14:22:24 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en (alternate title: "A brief history of my photographic interests") I've often heard a lot of talk about photographers seeing a shot that they'd like to take (usually said when the photographer doesn't have a camera handy). It's happened quite a few times to me. Although I've always loved taking pictures, I ... http://www.justinrussell.com/blog/2008/08/09/seeing-the-shot/ Due to the fact that I'm just short of insane, I've decided to start another blog. This one's pretty simple: the photo blog I've always wanted. If you enjoy my photography and would like to hear a little more about the stories behind the photos, check it out. ... http://www.justinrussell.com/blog/2008/08/04/whats-another-blog-gonna-hurt/ http://www.justinrussell.com/blog/2008/07/15/congratulations-sara-and-greg/ I'd like to apologize to regular and occasional Two Cents readers for my hiatus over the last month and a half. I've been busy (big surprise), and my mind has been in so many places that I just haven't grounded here in a while. For the people who ... http://www.justinrussell.com/blog/2008/07/02/status-report/ With BarCampBoston3 coming up this weekend, I thought it would be a good time to do a little introductory post for anyone who doesn't know me. I'm Justin. I graduated from the University of Maine in 2005 with a major in new media and minors in computer science and psychology. I'm ... http://www.justinrussell.com/blog/2008/05/14/hi-im-justin/ A couple of weekends ago I was home watching a financial report on TV with my parents. (No, that's not typically what I do when I'm home, but we just happened to be sitting on the living room couch as Dad was watching the show.) In any case, we somehow ... http://www.justinrussell.com/blog/2008/03/17/the-bathtub/ Gifford's opens back up for the season on Friday; if you're familiar with my obsession over ice cream, you wouldn't be surprised that I've already started a countdown. Thinking about this new tradition made me realize the other annual observances on my calendar. Whether it's a signal of ... http://www.justinrussell.com/blog/2008/03/12/a-pinch-of-tradition/ I'm not surprised if you're looking at the length of this post and thinking something like, "Oh, great." to yourself. Here's the general idea: I'm launching a new blog called Another New World today. If you'd like more of the backstory, please read on. Otherwise, feel free ... http://www.justinrussell.com/blog/2008/03/08/a-new-world-for-me/ Y'know, I was 3/4 done a post about politics and then I decided to scrap it. It just didn't sound right. This is my second try. I don't enjoy talking about politics in the course of normal discussion. The simple reason is because people are often so closed-minded ... http://www.justinrussell.com/blog/2008/02/09/politics/ I'll admit it: I was planning to let my subscription of Wired run out. This month's Wired cover story features Sarah Silverman helping readers understand why so many parts of the world suck. I'm always impressed by their stories; they're topical, fun, and really comprehensive. This month's issue also includes ... http://www.justinrussell.com/blog/2008/01/20/i-adore-wired-magazine/ The question I'm asked most often is why I'm still in Maine. The answer to this question is a lot more complicated than you might think. First you have to understand why I still do Web development. Although I have some pretty strong complaints and annoyances with this line ... http://www.justinrussell.com/blog/2008/01/13/why-i-do-what-i-do-where-i-do-it/ I've thought a lot today about what I want to include in this post. I realized pretty quickly that I have one encompassing goal for 2008: Less planning, more doing. 2007, in my opinion, was a year spent figuring out who I am, who I want to be, and how I ... http://www.justinrussell.com/blog/2008/01/01/in-2008/ Quite a few years ago, I set an annual goal for myself to complete all the outstanding things I had to do by the end of the year. The reasoning behind the goal was to start out the new year fresh and hopefully stay on top of things throughout ... http://www.justinrussell.com/blog/2007/12/31/a-dash-of-reflection/ We have a lot of traditions in my family, and I enjoy them all: holiday baking, whale watching in the summer, apple picking in the fall, a hike up Mount Battie in Camden in the spring. We've done them for more years than I can remember. Two years ago I ... http://www.justinrussell.com/blog/2007/12/22/the-new-christmas-tradition/ Yes... I'm videoblogging. I made this video right after the big snowstorm, and because my PowerShot SD600, blip.tv, and the Internets in general are awesome, I can share it with you now. Any future videoblogs will, of course, be part of Collage. http://www.justinrussell.com/blog/2007/12/12/watch-me-fullscreen/ I felt like it was time to do some tweaking this morning, so I changed some stuff on my blog and on Collage. Let me say this right off the bat: Subscribe to or bookmark Collage instead of this blog. Collage reads in EVERYTHING I do - not just blog ... http://www.justinrussell.com/blog/2007/11/25/a-collage-and-blog-upgrade/ 60 Minutes did a report on our generation. I read about it at 37signals, where Matt summed it up well: "What a crock of shit." This is the letter I wrote CBS after I read and watched the piece: I'll be bluntly honest: I was offended by your 60 Minutes "Millienials" ... http://www.justinrussell.com/blog/2007/11/24/60-minutes-is-60-minutes-too-long/ A pair of questions for everyone who has interacted with me in any way over an extended period of time: Out of all your interactions with me, when was I the most passionate about something (and what was it)? What would you say I'm the most passionate about in general? I'd ... http://www.justinrussell.com/blog/2007/11/13/passion/ By far my favorite photo project of 2006 was a little effort I coined 30holidays. The idea is quite simple: take one holiday or winter-related photo each day from November 26 through December 25, then upload the photos to Flickr. After the holidays passed, I had been a ... http://www.justinrussell.com/blog/2007/11/10/30holidays-round-2/ http://www.justinrussell.com/blog/2007/11/06/did-you/