Work has been interesting. I’ve been getting very familiar with the various objects and blur of layers in the project I’m on. It’s interesting, I guess. I’m not sure how else to explain that large amount of code that doesn’t do much.

I’ve taken on a small side project of building Jenz a new computer, reusing my workstation from 2 years ago with a new optical drive,  hdd, ram and video card. The hardware went together nicely, and it’s in a mini ATX case, so it’s pretty small compared to the beast of a P4 she’s working on right now.

I’ve almost wrapped up awFlickr development. Last night I realized there might be an issue with my plan of sending data back to Flickr from un-authorized users, which I’ll have to look into. Oh wells.

Things are progressing well.

When we came back from Jamaica (January) the skimmer hadn’t collected much skimmate; not a good sign. I didn’t really have time to investigate the issue, so I made sure I wasn’t over feeding and have been doing the husbandry tasks.

Then I decided to reset the skimmer, and voila! It’s working fantastically! I had been making the mistake of getting my hands inside the reactor, which would deposit natural oil, which had a negative effect on the skimming. User error has been fixed, I think.

I’m so impressed, I don’t believe I’ll get a tank with overflows when we move into a larger place. My skimmer and hang on back refugium is perfect as a large scale “nano” setup.

I’ll think of a better name once I get it out for testing. I’m planning on using this as a base for Spiral’s PHP version, and my tentatively named aw:Mail.

I discovered… a Flickr ID is too large for any web browser JavaScript engine to handle; they rounded up randomly. HTML comments on photos are very annoying from a programmatic point of view. I really like JavaScript.

I used the code base from my portfolio and hacked it up, by taking out the # operations and using events on all the dynamic objects/elements. I also corrected the JSON transportation. Now I’m left with a few visual effects to create, and some misc behavioral changes.

I’m hoping to have v1.0 released this week under the MIT license.

http://flickr.jasonmulligan.com

The full series is available at http://gallery.jasonmulligan.com/winterlude-2010 and will be continually updated while the festival is under way.

I’m also doing the final content edit for Optis wedding album. Client feedback has been great, and we both decided to change 2 spreads slightly so there’s better flow in the story telling. I can’t wait to finish the book, it’s going to look amazing once it’s printed by KISS Wedding Books.

Later today I’m hoping to have enough time to walk through the ice carving that’s going on in Confederation Park, not too far from my home. It’s always fun to see the creative ice sculptures.

This weekend was relaxing, thanks to finally collecting a pay cheque after a couple of months of being unemployed in my primary career. I took Jen to a local pub we frequent that has good burgers & fries, and a nice selection of beer on tap. On Saturday we did a little clothes shopping and I scored a great wool winter jacket that’s more office friendly compared to my (very awesome) Ripzone Trilogy snowboard jacket.

On Sunday I laid out the wedding album for Johnny & Michelle. It took longer than I had originally expected, but it is the first book I’ve done via page spreads. Setting up my template/guides was essential to getting the look I wanted with easy to deploy asset placement. Tonight I might setup a Photoshop action to batch export low resolution .jpg files for them to review, but I might wait until Tuesday when I’m doing a normal 9-5hr work day.

I’m looking forward to getting out with my camera a bit more once it warms up. I’d like to pick up another light stand/strobe for my kit; but my camera gear purchases have been delegated to lowest priority for now. Mid to late summer I should be able to get a bunch of stuff I need / want so I can do more advanced work.

Jen and I went to the national park this morning for a walk in the sun, with cameras in hand. It was very relaxing.

I’ve also spent a little time documenting the “how to” information in our wiki, which is also a first for me. I’m finding that syntax interesting and not very descriptive when writing it. Oh well.

Next week should be more productive, and I’m looking forward to it.

Overall I like the place. The various programmers seem like nice guys, and the management is easy to talk with. I’m looking forward to getting the next iteration of my project complete and anything else I’ll be working on; the projects seem varied and interesting.

It’s a complete 180 from my last long term job.

Shot in Jamaica at a resort wide buffet.

Yesterday I finished processing the photos from Johnny & Michelle Optis’ wedding in Jamaica. Man, what a wonderful couple! They have amazing chemistry, and it really comes across in the pictures. I’ve put a select bunch of the photos in my Weddings sample gallery.

It worked out.

Yesterday I received an official job offer, and I’m extremely excited to start next week. I haven’t felt this good about a job in a very long time (not counting my recent DND contract, that was a good experience).

I was less than impressed with the way my previous long-term client/contract responded to a reference check; replying they didn’t have the “10-15 minutes to write an email”. Thanks guys. I gave you 8 years (10 total on the project), and you can’t spend a few minutes replying to simple questions about my work ethic. The more time passes, the happier I am that I’ve moved on from that job and sorted out my career path with a clear end goal that seems more attainable every month.

Other than that small hiccup, things went forward and I couldn’t be happier.

The trip to Jamaica was fantastic! I’ve never flown internationally so to the various customs lines, airport security checks and everything else that makes flying a pain in the ass really didn’t seem so bad. I think we lucked out big time, because earlier in the week someone tried to hijack a plane in Detroit, and another incident happened a few days after we arrived back in Canada. We fit into the window of awesomeness while it was there!

The body shock of going from -20c to +25c in a few hours was nice and relaxing. On the way home, it was less enjoyable (but what can you do when you live in Canada and it’s the middle of winter?). At the airport in Montego Bay we were pleasantly surprised to find a Sandals suite with a Red Stripe tap. It set the stage for a week of free beer!

The first few days at the resort were beautiful. There was sun, shade, lots of great food & drink, and most importantly there was no loud people. That changed the day following the wedding, when a large amount of young people from the USA arrived and proceeded to act like the resort was some kind of university dorm. One of these new arrivals brought a chest cold with em that hasn’t left me yet; it really sucks.

A few days of rain followed which put a damper on things, but we tried to make the best of it and spent an afternoon in Ocho Rios walking around markets.

The flight back seemed shorter, but we also had obnoxious french children behind us. One of them seemed to be out of control, who kept kicking Jen’s seat until the father switched with the child in an effort to lessen the embarrassment the child was generating.

Overall, I enjoyed myself and I’m looking forward to the next time Jen and I go back to Jamaica.

Tonight I relax with Jenz.