I am using Sencha.io Src to deliver the homepage banner and screenshots for my sites and motion. Sencha.io Src is a free service that optimizes images and delivers them according to user’s device. Sencha.io Src is a perfect complement to responsive web design. The implementation is very simple. All you have to do is attaching this url (http://src.sencha.io/) in front of your image source.
Every now and then I get an email asking me how to create a Flash slideshow. Rather than answering the same question over and over again, I just going to post it here and point people to it.
Although I still create a motion piece once in a while, Flash is no longer one of my professional tools. I stopped keeping up with Flash, particularly with ActionScript, many years ago. I use Flash mostly for animation because I am horrible with After Effects. Flash is much simpler for creating quick teasers.
So the frequent question has always been how to learn Flash. In my days there were many great tutorial sites and I am sure they are still many out there, but the only one I know still exist is Flashkit. Flashkit could be quite overwhelming for beginners. Flash was one of the most challenging programs for me to learn at the time and Flash didn’t even come with a whole scripting language then.
I used the Visual QuickStart Guide Series to help me started. Once you get a grip of Flash’s interface, timeline and how to move movie clips around the stage, you can create slideshows. From there on, it’s up to your patience (lots of) and imagination.
Met up with an old buddy yesterday in Eden Center. He’s the only one from high school I still keep in touch with. He hasn’t changed much. Still the same guy I knew more than fifteen years ago. We caught up and reflected on the yesteryears.
Right after high school we took on our own path. We both went to college, but he also joined the US Army. Every time I hear something going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, I think of him. He turns out quite well. All cut and fit. I am now taking on the role of a married man and a father while he’s still enjoying his single life.
At this point of our lives, we seem to have nothing in common, but the thing that we both held on to from the past. No matter how far apart we have grown, I am glad the we still have something that bonded us together. Definitely looking forward to hanging out with my hommie again.
After my 2001 graduation from La Salle University, I thought that I would be done with school for good. Academia was never meant for me. I spent more time learning the things that I wanted to accomplish than sitting in class. Yet a decade later, I enrolled myself into the Master of Science in Information Systems Technology program this coming fall. In less then two months, I will be back in school again.
Is this the right time for schooling? I am not even sure myself since we will be expecting our second baby at the end of the year. I actually applied into the program over two years ago. I sent in my transcripts, letters of recommendation, statement of purpose and resume. I filled out my online application, but couldn’t submitted it. Something went wrong. Before I could go any further, Dao came into my world. I dropped it aside and focused on becoming a parent.
About a month or so ago, I was notified that if I don’t do anything with my application, it will be dropped out of the system. So I called the office to find out what else I needed to do to complete my application. It turned out that I just needed to paid $60 and hit the submit button.
I am actually very excited about MSIST program because it seems like a great enhancement to my professional career. After meeting with the wonderful advisor, I immediately got into two classes that run from 4pm to 6pm from Monday to Thursday. The problem is I won’t be able to pick up Dao from the daycare because he needs to be out by 6pm and it takes me at least an hour to get to his place. Once Dana gives birth to the next baby, she won’t be able to drive for a while so we’re now begging our father-in-law to come help us out as well since my mother-in-law will give us a hand with the new kid.
After we welcome our new baby, our plan is to have Dana stayed home at least three months, which means she won’t be paid. At that time, we’ll depend on just one income; therefore, I hope to pick up more freelance projects to cover the expenses.
The next few months will be quite intense for us, especially for Dana. That is the reason I am still unsure if this is the right time for schooling. Then again, when will it be the right time? If not now then when? So my thought it that: Let’s just do it. Then again, I only have to give up a few things, like blogging, Netflixing, dining out, spending time and money at Costco, sleeping and most importantly wasting time on the Web. I am sure I can handle it as long as I can still keep up with web design and development. I have nothing to lose.
My only thing that I feel extremely bad and discomfort about is that Dana will be carrying most of the burden even though she is very supportive of my decision. I definitely picked an awesome partner even though I take that for grant at times.
The news of Amy Winehouse passed away today at the age of only 27 is heartbreaking but hardly shocking. She had lived the life she sang in her award-winning Back to Black. While the album was blowing up, Winehouse was on the road to self-destruct with drugs and alcohol. In the title track she claimed, “You love blow and I love puff / and life is like a pipe.” Whenever I listened to that two bars, I can’t help thinking of Nas’s “Life’s a Bitch.” Nas was one of Winehouse’s musical heroes. Could Winehouse took Nas’s words a bit too her heart? Who knows, but the chorus seems to describe her troubled lifestyle: “Life’s a bitch and then you die; that’s why we get high / Cause you never know when you’re gonna go.”
Goodbye, Amy.
Bitches Brew is one of those albums that keeps me grooving as well as relaxing. Not sure why many people are having a hard time enjoying it. If you listen to Bitches Brew for the first time, I recommend starting with “Miles Runs the Voodoo Down.” If you don’t like that track, one of my personal favorites, don’t even bother with the double album. Here are two awesome live performances to get started:
October 27, 1969: Teatro Sistina (Rome, Italy)
August 18, 1970: Tanglewood (Lenox, MA)
The ladies put on one of the finest World Cup matches I have seen. They certainly made the men at the 2010 final game (Netherlands vs. Spain) look like bitches. Both USA and Japan gave their all.
The US women fought hard and they were clearly leading the game. I am very proud of my US girls. The Japanese girls, on the other side, worked hard and persistent, but patience is what made them the champion. They came back at the last minutes of the game. They were just phenomenon. The US girls just need be more precise in scoring and practice their penalty shots.
Truth be told, I couldn’t favor one team over the other. On one hand, I had to root for the home team. On another, I had mad love for my Asian sisters. In addition, Japan had gone through one of the worst natural catastrophes of all time. In my view, they were both winners.
The Sienna’s cracked windshield was replaced today by Auto Glass Express, not the Glass Doctor recommended by our insurance. Glass Doctor was suppose to do the job on Friday, but I received the call on the the same day telling me that the vendor didn’t have the windshield even though I made an appointment a week in advanced. The lady from the office told me to either wait until next week or find another shop. I took the second option. Even after reading the negative reviews about Glass Doctor, I didn’t want to back out because the appointment was set and the shop has the stamp of approval from our insurance, but they just it so easy for me to make the decision.
I looked online and found Auto Glass Express with two positive reviews on Yahoo. (Yahoo had been quite a reliable source for services like these in the past). I called at 7:54am and didn’t realized that they open at 8am. Six minutes later a guy called me back even though I didn’t leave a message. He said that they have the windshield in stock and would be able to replace it in the afternoon on Friday.
Unfortunately my windshield required heated glass and they had both regular and heated glass in their van, but the heated one had some scratches. So they told me they would return the next morning to do it. They came back the next morning and installed the glass that is the same as the original from Toyota. I am happy with their speedy, professional service
Yes, it’s the hot, humid weather that shuts down my brain. The worst part of day is taking the Metro home. Squeezing into the smelly crowd (myself included) and bumping on one another as the driver slammed on the brake give me a headache everyday after work.
I have no energy left by the time I get home. I don’t want to do anything including blogging. After having dinner, getting Duke to bed and preparing for the next morning, I just want to sit back and Netflixing. That has been pretty much how my days went.
Change is gonna come later this year when I have other commitment and the arrival of a new baby. Blogging will be spared then. Not that the blog is all that active now since I don’t have anything interesting to write. I am getting bored with music reviews and my life isn’t all that exciting anyway. Although my posts will be infrequent, I will keep the blog running to post quick things when I have a moment or if I have new work to show. It will once again server as a portfolio more than a blog.
Spent quite a bit of time with Ben Webster lately. His tender tone combined with his lyrical phrasing is damn irresistible. Furthermore, he has such a distinctive sound on the tenor that one could tantalizing and idolizing all day long. I enjoy listening to Ben Webster while driving. Here are some of my favorite Ben Webster albums to hit the road with:
Soulville. Backing up by the sensational rhythm section, guitarist Herb Ellis, bassist Ray Brown, and drummer Stan Levey, Ben Webster digs deep down into the blues in the title track and plays the heck out of ballads like “Lover Come Back to Me.” He also displays his “Boogie Woogie” chops on the piano.
Stormy Weather. He plays the title track and “My Romance” as if he wears his heart on his horn.
Art Tatum/Ben Webster Quartet. The contrast between Art Tatum’s keyboard improvisation behind Ben Webster’s straight melody playing is quite intriguing. Check out the lovely “My One and Only Love.”
Ben Webster Meets Oscar Peterson. From “The Touch of Your Lips” to “This Can’t Be Love,” this is a fine collection of after-hours ballads played by two jazz giants.
Coleman Hawkins Encounters Ben Webster. Bean and Brute on the same records? Need I say more?