Two Cents and a Thousand Words

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 read the blog instead of Collage (or for the people who read everything and are wondering what the heck all these releases are about), I’d like to give you an update on the so-called Justin Russell Network. It’s fairly lengthy, but it’s hopefully at least marginally informative.

Web development

Sephone

I head to a place called Sephone for around 40 hours each week. A majority of my time is doing custom work for area businesses that I unfortunately can rarely share, but my favorite part of the job is what I like to call our content products. These applications and services give people the ability to control their own sites without having to call us up to make changes.

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been really fortunate to have some time to devote to our best-known products, datAvenger and datAvenger lite, and we’ve released a new version of both this week. (I posted about the datAvenger release on our blog.) I’ve also been able to write a podcast management service called SephoneCast that I’m excited to see in use pretty soon.

thinglobe

A couple of weeks ago I released thinglobe.com, a geo-based service for user-generated media. Quite simply it maps where videos, photos, and thoughts were created on a map. I have a ton of stuff that I want to do with it, and as of now I’d call it my flagship project by far. I’m really, really excited to see where it leads, and it’s just a cool service that I like to use myself.

Microreviewer

A week before thinglobe came out I coded up microreviewer.com, a service for giving short (very short) reviews of local businesses via Twitter. Microreviewer was, in short, a way for me to try a few things out, and I’m quite happy just letting it sit for a while. I’d rather focus my attention on other projects (thinglobe).

Collage

And no, I haven’t forgotten about Collage and justinrussell.com. I’d love to switch Collage over to run off of a service like FriendFeed at some point, and the very preliminary stages of a justinrussell.com redesign are in the works. That’s pretty much it for now, though.

Photography

justinrussell.com/photography

I recently released version 2.0 of justinrussell.com/photography, my photography portfolio site (and the winner of the “Did You Know There Was a 1.0″ award). jr/photo has a couple of purposes. First, I have a link to send to people who ask if they can see some of my photos. Second, it boosts my confidence that I occasionally take good photos. Third, it’s a home base for my photography no matter where it ends up going in the future.

But really, if you want to see what I consider to be my best photos, head there. It’s also the home to the snazzy new justinrussell brand logo.

Pine Tree Photography

Remember Pine Tree Photography? PTP is my showcase site for nature and landscape photography. I have big plans (really big, actually) for PTP, but frankly they’re just not on the top of the list right now. At some point I want to build it up, but it’s just not there right now. Still, it’s a good place to explore some of my best photos in my most popular genre as of yet.

flickr.com/justinrussell

In order to make use of the $25/year I pay to Yahoo! for Flickr, I occasionally post photos there as well. To be honest I haven’t taken that many photos lately, but when I do the best ones will most likely end up on Flickr.

Writing

Another New World

Another New World is my passion about technology put into words; you just wouldn’t know it by the frequency of the posts. Out of all of my projects, I’d really like to devote more time to ANW, but I’m just now getting back into a writing mood. (Doing code for forty or more hours a week is sort of draining when it comes to text on a computer screen.) I really hope this picks back up.

Two Cents and a Thousand Words

I’m sort of unsure about the future of Two Cents; everything seems to be covered pretty well by other services (Twitter, individual blogs), so the posts here won’t be very frequent. If you want to stay in touch, I’d really recommend Collage instead.

The Small Steps Podcast

Small Steps is at a standstill. I love doing it, but the interest I was hoping for just wasn’t there. Also, there are a number of other podcasts doing the same kind of thing really well; I’d rather not reinvent the wheel. Search around; there are some great podcasts out there!

Thanks for sticking around. With the new stars of the top three (jr/photo, thinglobe, and Another New World), I’m really looking forward to the future. Be sure to let me know what you think about the current status, too!

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 a new season or a tie back to my childhood, my annual traditions all have special meaning to me.

Here’s a fairly complete list of the events that pop up each year on my calendar. The year links lead to media I’ve created. I’ve been doing “lifetime” traditions for as long as I can remember.

• Downtown Countdown (January 1, started in 2006: 2006 2007 2008)
  I (literally) start off the new year in downtown Bangor as a beach ball is thrown off the side of a building. Yes, that’s how we do holidays in Maine.
• Gifford’s opening (mid-March, started in 2007: 2007)
  One of the first sure signs of an oncoming spring is the opening of the Gifford’s Ice Cream stands around Maine. Nothing beats one or two hundred people waiting in line to get (free) ice cream in a nine-degree wind chill as it starts to snow.
• Winter/spring sunrise trip (winter/spring, started in 2004: 2004 2005 2007)
  Each year I take one weekend and head down to southern Maine. I spend Saturday night in a hotel and wake up early enough to catch the sunrise at either Portland Head Light or Old Orchard Beach. Sure it’s cold. Sure the lighthouse is covered with snow and the beach with ice. Does that stop me? Of course not. To be honest, it’s really refreshing to have a place all to yourself with crisp winter air as the sun rises over the Atlantic.
• Mount Battie hike (mid-April, lifetime: 2002 2004 2006)
  My mother has been making the trek up the side of Mount Battie in Camden since she was a child. The tradition was passed down to me early on, and we spend a weekend day each April hiking the side of Battie. I even have a custom-made walking stick for the occasion.
• Dance concerts (late April and mid-December, started in 2004: 2006 2007)
  It should not be a surprise to anyone that I’m a huge fan of dance performances, both for their creativity and the photo opportunities. It’s a great way to welcome in the holiday season or welcome in the summer.
• Independence Day fireworks (July 4, lifetime: 2006 2007)
  My parents and I would always scope out a spot on the hill on the corner of Exchange and Hancock Streets in downtown Bangor when Dad worked at United Bank. Our old spot may now be a construction site, but we still find a place to watch the fireworks over the Penobscot River each year.
• Whale watching (mid-August, lifetime: 2002 2006)
  Mom and I (along with an occasional special guest) head down to Bar Harbor each summer to head out on a Bar Harbor Whale Watch boat into Frenchman’s Bay and the Gulf of Maine. Over the years we’ve seen sunfish, dolphins, right whales, minkes, and humpbacks. Cruising out into the open sea at 35 MPH is worth the chill you cover up with warm layers of clothing. (Why do so many traditions have to do with being cold?)
• American Folk Festival (late August, started in 2003: 2006 2007)
  The AFF is Bangor’s best event, and I’ve attended in 2003, 2005, 2006, and 2007. There’s a good chance you’ll find me running from stage to stage at the yearly three-day music festival. Starting last year, you might also see me volunteering. (You may also spot me eating blooming onions, hot wings from Governor’s, lemonade, donuts, peanut butter cake from River Driver’s, and more.) I’ve discovered some great bands at the Festivals, and it’s been the home to some of my best-ever photos.
• Apple picking (mid-September, lifetime: 2003 2005 2006)
  Right around the start of school each year, my parents and I would head to Winterport to pick our own apples. Lately we’ve continued the tradition in Dixmont, filling up a bucket full of Macintoshes.
• Thanksgiving cornbread (late November, started in 2005)
  When I found my own apartment, I wanted to bring something to the table (literally) for our Thanksgiving trips to each of my grandparents’ houses. I settled on the Homesteader Cornbread at Allrecipes.com. It’s gotten rave reviews each year.
• 30holidays (November 26 through December 25, started in 2006: 2006 2007)
  For two years now, I’ve spent late November through Christmas taking one holiday or winter-related photo each day. I’ve yet to make a complete set, but it’s still a great way to get in the holiday spirit.
• Christmas tree (early December, lifetime: 2002 2005 2006 2007)
  Christmas is in the air as my parents and I head out to Piper Mountain Christmas Tree Farm in Newburgh to choose and cut our Christmas tree. Out of all of the yearly traditions, this may be the most important one; I’ve trudged through snow with strep to have a say in tree selection in the past. When the tree has been chosen, the real fun begins: hot apple cider and donuts in the Piper Mountain gift shop.
• Holiday baking (mid-December, lifetime)
  Although it’s been tougher to schedule since I left the nest, Mom and I always make time to do some holiday cooking each year. The menu doesn’t change that much from year to year: cinnamon rolls, mint-filled sandwich cookies, brownies with mint and hard chocolate toppings, mulled cider, and chocolate bread pudding.
• South Paris and the elk farm (December 24, started in 2005: 2006 2007)
  Who says the Web can’t lead to new friendships? I met Melody online in 2003, I think. After learning that her parents lived in Maine, we started a Christmas Eve tradition in the form of a visit to a local western Maine elk farm. I explained the rest of the story - including the Route 2 Christmas carol sing-along - in a blog post last year.

What are your yearly traditions?

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 to just check out the new site.

I realize that I’ve been in another one of my blog posting slumps lately. It’s not intentional; I’ve just been trying to figure out which direction I want to pursue now. Over the last few months it’s become clear to me that my next project shouldn’t be a new service, community site, or anything like that; it has to be a place where I can express everything that’s taking up space in my brain.

The problem(s) with Web development

I was doing Web development before I was even connected to the Internet in 1996. I’ve been doing it as my primary occupation for just about five years. The problem with Web development is that it takes quite a bit of time to finish the process that starts with an idea and ends with a new site. There’s brainstorming, design, development, testing, and marketing. To be completely honest, I just don’t have the time.

Even if you discount the time factor, there’s something even more dangerous: Application-ADD. I’m as guilty of this condition as any developer. The forgotten part of the development cycle is the maintenance it takes to sustain and grow a site. By the time you’ve gotten to that point, you often have a new “next big thing” idea. In fact, I’ve had somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 “next big thing” ideas since I started doing Web development. I’ve completed about five of them, but I haven’t followed through. I’m just starting to understand the merits of realizing that they just won’t all be done. (It reduces my stress level quite a bit.)

But wait! I do Web development as a full-time job. When doing Web development in a client-based setting, your time is spent fulfilling the wishes of other people; often those wishes don’t align well with what you think would be best or most effective for them. Application-based development is a bit different. As one of three developers responsible for Hula, our e-commerce product, I had a fairly large amount of input into the features and overall decision-making process for the product.

And finally, there’s burnout. After forty (or more) hours of doing development a week, I often don’t feel up to the task of sitting down and wrangling PHP for 10, 20, or 40 more. I think Google’s 20-percent time rule is one of the biggest business innovations in decades, and it obviously has very rewarding benefits (see Gmail, Google News, Orkut, and others for example). Unfortunately, not all businesses have the ability to incorporate a similar program.

Passion

I read a lot about passion. It seems to be a underlying theme of the current tech boom (and our generation as a whole).

Web development isn’t my passion. I don’t wake up with a “Eureka!” moment in the middle of the night wondering if a certain CSS or PHP trick would solve a nagging problem. My passion is helping people understand what technology enables us to do, and it’s inspiring people to move forward into a new and better world. We have the ability to do so much. The difficult part is moving there.

A lot of people tell me that I’m a quiet person. That’s true, to a point: I enjoy listening to others and thinking a lot more than I enjoy talking. If we’re talking about something I’m passionate about, though, you’ll have a very difficult time getting me to shut up. When I’m passionate about something, I’m anything but quiet.

Something new for me

It would seem, then, that I should talk about topics that interest me more often. How do I combine these all into a single focus?

I found the answer in other blogs. I’ve read Boing Boing for as long as any other blog. Recently I’ve been a somewhat religious reader of John Gruber’s Daring Fireball. The answer was another blog. Writing reduces the time from idea to product, and it’s also a purer way of expressing my thoughts. I really just love writing in general (as evidenced by this post).

Tonight I’m launching Another New World, a blog about how we’ve reached today and what we need to think about before we can reach tomorrow. It will be a combination of essays and links to related information, and it will be the closest representation to date of what takes up space in the ever-changing landscape of my mind.

I invite you to check it out and, as always, tell me what you think.

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 posts. You’ll get all of my pictures from Flickr, any YouTube vids I post, and a ton more. More sources will be added soon-ish. Of course, if you read my posts through Facebook or something like that, it doesn’t really apply to you. I’d love to have you read or subscribe to Collage anyway!

In fact, here are the only links you need: Read Collage | Subscribe to Collage

I wanted to make Collage even more appealing. Two Cents and a Thousand Words has kind of gone by the wayside as far as usefulness is concerned, and I’ve pretty much used it only as an outlet to inject Collage with content that won’t fit anywhere else. You won’t miss a thing if you subscribe to Collage instead of this blog; everything here ends up there. I added a list of sources to each Collage section, and I also added a little description of what each page shows. I think I finally squashed the time bug, too, that’s been showing incorrect times since I moved my site to a different server (in California) this summer. I now understand why lots of Web apps use relative time instead of absolute time.

At the same time, I didn’t want to lose all faith in the blog. If you’re coming to comment on a post or if you just find the blog in a search engine, I’ve scaled down the number of categories I use to be more content-driven than topic-driven. In other words, if you want to see my “photoblog” (stories and events that revolve around the photos I take), check out the Photography category. For project updates, check My Work. I may go back and re-associate everything, but don’t hold your breath. You’re on your own for older posts. I almost have 700 blog posts, after all.

Questions or comments? Get in touch with me. More to come soon, of course.

I enjoy keeping my friends and family in the loop about up-and-coming technologies. In that spirit, learn about three in this week’s Edge tekk article, Groups, Tweets, and Avatars.

If you follow my Collage, you may have noticed that photos have been strangely absent from my work lately. Tonight I uploaded a few photos I took downtown today along the Kenduskeag Stream. It was hard to capture the magnitude of the water level in photos.

What the heck is del.icio.us and why should you use it?

Sounds like a great topic for an Edge tekk article to me.

By the way - if you enjoy reading what I write, I may have a new venue or two coming up soon. More details later, if they work out.

Up for a read on the future of mobile phones? You guessed it - it’s another column in The Maine Edge.

Do you remember the days before your cell phone? Do you remember the time before you had your first MP3 or CD player? Mobile technology advances at a quick pace, and it’s tough to keep up with the latest gadgets.

Read iEverything now (and get a free bonus pic of my pants!).

Business cards are a big thing for me. I’ve had many in my lifetime: Russell Recycling Center, Russell’s Shoppe, the JRHO Railroad, Justin’s Detective Agency, and the perennial favorite, Justin’s Library. (Have I mentioned my lifelong entrepreneurial spirit lately?)

Well, it’s time for me to create some (real) business cards. After BarCamp Manchester, I really found that business cards can be a good thing to have on hand. I felt as though handing out my Sephone ones alone wasn’t enough (especially because I wasn’t representing Sephone at BCM). I’ve always wanted to have a personal business card to cover my other interests - most notably my photography and my personal site. I also wanted a card that could lead people to find out all of the basics about me… and that’s what I believe that justinrussell.com now does.

BCM attendee Dave Seah detailed the creation of his personal business card on his blog. (I made a point to grab one from him at BarCamp.) I still contend that IANAD (I am not a designer), but I’ve created something that I think fits with the general motif of justinrussell.com:

Comments, as always, are welcome.

For those interested, the follow-up to my Your Media - Your Way article in The Maine Edge last week is now available. The title is (creatively) Your Media - Your Way, Part II. Go read it now or pick up a paper in the Bangor area this week.

I suggested podcasts that I believe everyone should see or hear at least once. In fact many of the ones I recommended are the ones from my Podcast Update entry in November. If you’d like more local (Maine) podcasts, fellow Maine Web dev guy Jason Clarke posted an entry to his blog listing some by-Mainer-for-Mainer podcasts - including one he does with another Maine Web dev, Lance Dutson.

Full disclosure: I love co-opetition. Mitch explains that a bit in a podcast interview (around 9:40).

So what was all of that Virginia schwag about, anyway? Well, last month I was contacted by the Virginia Tourism Corporation to ask for permission to use a few of my images from the Folk Festival last year. They’re doing a new project down there to promote the Crooked Road. You can go to the site and have a customized song delivered to your friends based on some options you select on the site.

And best of all, it’s performed by none other than No Speed Limit and sung by the wonderfully talented Amber Collins. The melody sounds strikingly familiar to the title track of their latest CD, Sweet Virginia. I really can’t say enough about both No Speed Limit and Amber herself; the band gave one of the best musical performances I’ve seen last year, and Amber has such power and range in her voice. There’s a reason why they’re one of my favorite bands.

So if you have a few spare minutes, check out the Build-a-Lyric Song Generator; Amber will sing a song for you. While you’re there, you can learn about one of the richest musical regions in the country. One of my favorite songs was first recorded down that way around 1923 about a now-famous Virginia train wreck.

Great job to everyone who worked on the site - I’m glad I could help with a small part of it.