What a Difference 3 Blocks Makes

We’ve been in the new place about a week now, and I’m amazed at the difference 3 blocks makes. Seriously, from 2700 block of 31st to the 2900 block of 30th.

All week, there’s been kids riding bikes, shooting hoops, and we’ve met half our neighbors. Rock on.

Speaking of rocks. We’re deep into the road construction. Both streets have been stripped of their asphalt, and there’s some pretty big machines sprinkled up and down the street.

Yea, Cooper’s loving the new place. Lots of space to roll around on the carpet and do this weird crawling thing he’s doing right now. Here, you can practice at home:

  1. Get down on your hands and knees
  2. Flatten your feet against the floor and straighten your legs
  3. Fall forward
  4. Repeat

What’s the Browser Matter?

I’ve been pondering a redesign of this website for a while now. As it should be, it’s way down the bottom of my Things To Do, but it’s there.

I’m writing this in MarsEdit, I’ll read it in NetNewsWire. According to my server logs, some of you are reading this within your Google homepage, Newsgator account, email client, or something altogether different.

So, who would I be redesigning the site for?

Robots? They don’t appreciate interesting typography or color choices.

This is why the default WordPress theme is so popular – the value isn’t in the CSS. The value of a website is in it’s reception.

I’ve half-joked about rebuilding Amazon.com to make it friendlier to my Treo. Using their E-Commerce Service – it’d be a decent effort, but not outrageous. Completely do-able.

37Signals recently opened up the Basecamp API to developers.

ProgrammableWeb’s Mashup Matrix says there are 89 other APIs available.

If I can get the data from those services within applications I’m already using and comfortable with – what does it matter what their website looks like? I won’t see it.

Let’s say, you loaded up this page and found just a link to the RSS feed. Let’s say we got really real and just released the API of a web application. Leaving the interface design to the customers.

UPDATE 11 May 2006:

“The browser will explode into a thousand fragments, will spawn a thousand specialized offspring” – Stowe Boyd

Reorganizing Apophenia

For those of you reading this via RSS, I’ve redesigned the site. Tweaking and torquing Scott Wallick’s VeryPlainTxt theme.

I’ve also re-org’d the sections, and generally make the site more extendible, while also pulling in my writing from other sites into the sidebar.

One of those sites being my account on Flickr. In the sidebar of garrickvanburen.com, I’m pulling in 2 randomly selected photos. I think it makes for a fun diptych and a nice way to dance with apophenia.

Cars Shouldn’t Smoke. I’m Sure of That.

Last Thursday, as I come to the end of the exit ramp off Hwy 100, the Neon started smoking.

Knowing this is generally a bad sign, I called up Stinson Auto and they sent over a tow truck. The tow truck driver took one whiff of the car and frantically disconnected the battery.

“I don’t want it bursting into flame on me.”

Guess I should grab my laptop from the passenger seat then.

Early Friday morning, Matt from Stinson Auto calls – says the driver’s side front brake line collapsed. End result – brakes could be applied, just not released. The smoke was the wheel fighting with the brake when I hit the accelerator.

On the plus side – the Neon and it’s lack of hauling capacity was out of the way during the move.

American Children Helping Uganda’s Invisible Children

Jen found out about the horrid plight of Uganda’s night walking children via Daily Candy featuring The Name Campaign.

Hell yea we supported the effort – and got the dog tags to prove it. Mine reads:

Yakobo Atidi
Age 12

To raise more aid money and expose this global atrocity to more Americans, our own children will become night walkers this Saturday, April 29th.

Tim Stay’s 12 year-old son gets it. That’s important.

Might be the most effective use of MySpace I’ve seen.