This weekend I am moving to a new home in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood. I have never lived in this area before, so this evening I was doing some basic Internet research to learn about the history of the neighborhood. I discovered that in 1849, my neighborhood did not even exist. It was part of Yerba Buena Cove in San Francisco Bay! In between then and the 1906 earthquake, the cove was filled in and developed. The South of Market area was mostly industrial then. The destruction... Read→
Designing and developing for the web is a constant learning process, which is fun! Technology evolves at a rapid rate. New standards evolve making old ways of doing things irrelevant or just plain wrong. So staying relevant means keeping up with what’s going on. This makes time-management an essential creative skill. When it comes to code, it is counterproductive to reinvent the wheel for every project. So I try to write solid code that works and validates the first time. Then I know I can use... Read→
There are many interesting and unexpected sights in San Francisco. In fact, the local economy practically depends on starry-eyed visitors coming from around the world to gawk at and photograph our local sights and frights. Our spectacular geography, famous fog, historic and modern architecture, and neighborhood freak shows create a gestalt only approachable in a few other places on the planet. In short, when you come to San Francisco, you get a feeling you’re not in Kansas anymore. It’s really... Read→
Growing up in the Midwest, lightning and thunder were frequent occurrences. The sound of a storm approaching came up as a low rumble over the horizon, growing louder as it approached. I’ve had many nights’ sleep interrupted by it, to the point it became a soothing, comforting experience. When I moved to California as a teenager, I left that pleasant experience behind along with colorful autumn leaf displays, cold snowy winters, and stormy spring tornado seasons. I’ve always missed the thunderstorms,... Read→
I spent the past few days upgrading my Mac operating system to the latest release 10.6, dubbed “Snow Leopard”. It was the easiest OS upgrade ever, featuring mainly under-the-hood improvements that speed up processes taking advantage of the advanced hardware used by Apple computers. The speed difference is noticeable. At $29 it seems like money well-spent. The only hitch came when I tried to copy files stored on my Time Capsule. My Time Capsule backup files are fine, but I had other valuable files... Read→
