Taylored Minds

Rock out at work? I can dig it.

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 15:22:37 -0400

Rock out at work? I can dig it.

I’ve been on a Daniel Merriweather kick lately, and I...

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 10:50:12 -0400

I’ve been on a Daniel Merriweather kick lately, and I don’t regret it at all.

Awesome afternoon motivation to get some work done.

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 14:24:11 -0400

Awesome afternoon motivation to get some work done.

Just give it a listen - you’d be surprised how catchy it...

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 15:15:35 -0400

Just give it a listen - you’d be surprised how catchy it is.

If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your...

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 11:41:15 -0400

If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life. This just makes it better.

This song always makes me feel productive… once I get back...

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 19:11:56 -0400

This song always makes me feel productive… once I get back in my chair.

PhoneGap 2.0 Released

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 13:34:37 -0400

PhoneGap 2.0 Released:

Super exciting for all us mobile web developers. Woots all around.

"I divide my officers into four groups. There are clever, diligent, stupid, and lazy officers...."

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 16:40:55 -0400

““I divide my officers into four groups. There are clever, diligent, stupid, and lazy officers. Usually two characteristics are combined. Some are clever and diligent — their place is the General Staff. The next lot are stupid and lazy — they make up 90 percent of every army and are suited to routine duties. Anyone who is both clever and lazy is qualified for the highest leadership duties, because he possesses the intellectual clarity and the composure necessary for difficult decisions. One must beware of anyone who is stupid and diligent — he must not be entrusted with any responsibility because he will always cause only mischief.” Kurt von Hammerstein-Equordn (German General)”

- http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_von_Hammerstein-Equord

Building Secure Web Applications

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 23:47:53 -0400

Building Secure Web Applications :

With my course concentration over network security while in school, I found this really interesting.

visualoop:

Via

Hm. Maybe I should start learning to use Python.

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 21:46:53 -0400

Hm. Maybe I should start learning to use Python.

World's first 'tax' on IE7

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 15:19:00 -0400

World's first 'tax' on IE7:

Couldn’t agree more. We need more companies in the world like them.

Hosted a table for the Interactive Session at the APTA Rails...

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 16:19:33 -0400

Hosted a table for the Interactive Session at the APTA Rails Conference 2012 with my colleague, Brett McCormick, showcasing some software we’re working on. We actually received a lot of useful feedback and received a lot of support and interest in our project. It really gives us a lot of hope that this project will turn out to be something useful and necessary in the transportation industry, especially to those who cannot afford the expensive standard systems.

Heading to the Rails Conference in Dallas tomorrow to show off...

Sun, 03 Jun 2012 20:15:33 -0400

Heading to the Rails Conference in Dallas tomorrow to show off our tracking software. This means we’re legit, right?

Hanging out at the LevelTen Interactive booth at Big (D)esign...

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 11:47:56 -0400

Hanging out at the LevelTen Interactive booth at Big (D)esign Dallas.

LevelTen Internship

Fri, 18 May 2012 20:37:01 -0400

So today was my first day as an intern at LevelTen Interactive in Dallas, Texas. I think my official title is Drupal Developer Intern. LevelTen has been around since 1999 and they’ve become known for their extensive Drupal developing experience. It’s actual feels great to be around people who love their job and watching how professional they are working with clients and on projects really motivates me to do my best.

It’s actually a really unique place to work. In their main lobby, they have a wall with colorful tags of all the things they do and aim to achieve with each client they work with. It makes it a very creative environment to be, and I’m glad they picked me to be part of their team. I’m eager to get started on the meatier work they have for me, but I know it’ll come all in good time.

Give me all the Reese’s!

Thu, 17 May 2012 20:49:48 -0400

Give me all the Reese’s!

This is the original audio ad played by Pandora when I proposed.

Tue, 15 May 2012 03:43:00 -0400

This is the original audio ad played by Pandora when I proposed.

Making the love happen on Pandora

Mon, 14 May 2012 23:47:00 -0400

For the past 5 months, I have been working with a team of secret agents at Pandora to help me create one of the most unique marriage proposals ever.

Concept
My girlfriend and I have been together almost 6 years, so I figured it’s about time to get the ball rolling. I feel I’m a pretty creative person, so I wanted to do something really unique. I saw that guy propose through Portal and the one with the internet memes, and I knew I had to do something along those lines, but meaning something important to the both of us. Then bam, she goes out and buys a new Hyundai Veloster with the Pandora app built in… what a genius idea. I fired off a general support request to Pandora to see if it was possible, and what an overwhelming response of help did they want to offer.

Process
I started to work with the team at Pandora and they told me this has never been done before, so they would be more than happy to help… that’s when I knew this was going to be it. After working with the creative and technical teams to figure out the best medium, getting passed to their audio advertising team to get a script together and recorded by an awesome voice actress, and once it was finalized it went back to ad trafficking to test out my ad and see if it worked. Of course, it worked out perfectly. (Throughout this whole process, I had to lock down my email account and step out for “unexpected” phone calls a lot - luckily I’m a planning ninja.)

The Day
A week prior to this point, I still hadn’t figured out “when” to do it. I was graduating from college from the University of North Texas, projects and finals were due, and she had to go out of town the weekend before. My mom kept calling me and asking if I was going to have a graduation dinner after graduating, and what family would be there… That’s it! I’ll do it graduation night! I picked up the ring from the jeweler and had my best friend set up the ad credentials while I walked the stage.

The Moment
After leaving my graduation, we headed towards Lewisville from Denton to go to the restaurant. I picked this particular restaurant because it was the perfect distance and time away so I can have the right number of songs play before my ad came up. I told her I made a “Midnight City” by M83 station and I wanted her to hear some of the songs that played on it. I started counting the number of songs that played in my head as we got closer to the restaurant. Right when I got on the service road, the ad fired off. I was the most calm and collected person up until that point. My knees became shaky, my voice felt weak, and I had forgotten everything I thought I was going to say. She heard her name, and then heard it again, and she started picking up things in the car because she thought I was playing a joke on her… then she realized that this was actually happening and she just looked at me in awe with a smile on her face. When the ad ended with a pause I said, “I know this isn’t the most traditional proposal, but Maggie, will you marry me?”

Of course, she said “yes” and was still in a bit of a shock. We pulled into the restaurant and walked in to find both of our families sitting there already knowing the news, waiting to congratulate the both of us. I am pleased to say, Maggie had no idea how I was proposing and she said she couldn’t have been more surprised and it couldn’t have been executed any more perfectly. You can listen to the original audio ad in my other posting.

Even though we just got engaged, Maggie had been planning our wedding for a while and now she’s finally putting it all down on paper. We have a date of June 13th (which is our current anniversary), but we’re still figuring out the year. That will be all in good time though.

I would just like to thank the entire Pandora team and every single person who worked on it to make it such an incredible night in such a unique way. First live streaming radio proposal? I think so. I’m glad that we kicked off our relationship in such a fresh and modern way, and Pandora helped us make that happen.

Look at that handsome man, right there. Finally, gettin’...

Mon, 14 May 2012 14:34:52 -0400

Look at that handsome man, right there. Finally, gettin’ my degree on. Thanks for the good times, UNT.