Yay! I'm a "published" "artist"!

A few weeks ago, Matt Madeiro sent out a call on Twitter asking for artists to contribute to his next free e-book: Happiness Is. I was ecstatic about the idea of doing some art and it just so happened that I had a bit of time on my hands one evening, so I picked an idea off of his list and got started with some sketches.

Don't mind the math...I was concerned about the environment and reusing paper...or something like that.

Anyway, this has been a fantastic experience! From start to finish, I really enjoyed getting back into drawing and getting a bit out of my comfort zone. It's also pretty cool to be included amongst some really great artists in the book!

Below is my original drawing, and I sent him a very slightly revised version that faded nicely into a white background.

I was fairly pleased with myself, and thought I had done a decent job! Then, last night, Matt sent out an e-mail to say thank you, and provide us with a preview copy of the book. The other art work was so good! My dreams of becoming a true artist were dashed!

Okay...so not really. I don't even really have dreams of becoming an artist, but I did realize that my work wasn't as great as it could have been, and I felt compelled to spend a bit more time with it.

I sat down and started cleaning up some edges in Photoshop, and began coloring all of the different pieces. I figured this process would take me an hour or so, and then I'd move on with my day. I was only half-wrong; it took about two hours, but it was a fun two hours :-)

So, below I give you the final product!

I am really grateful to Matt for putting together such an awesome project and allowing us to be a part of it! His work is top-notch, and the book is an excellent read! The art is wonderful, and the text is comical and yet so true.

So please take a moment to go experience this awesome creation and to say thanks for reminding us of the little things that make us happy!

Coming Soon: Something...Primal

photo by scottjlowe

Right now is a very exciting time for me!

I'm starting to embrace a more primal lifestyle all around. From food and health, to how I view the world around me, I'm trying to bring out the primate in myself.

I'm also working on redesigning my blog via "live updates" meaning that what you see is the current state. I'm working on the redesign, though, because I'm getting ready to launch a new site (and eventually a series of sites) and I want them to look similar enough that users don't feel lost when switching between the two.

But I'm most excited about this: I had a fantastic software product idea on Tuesday morning around 2:45 am when I couldn't sleep. I won't go into the details, but suffice it to say that you should be getting the primal picture by reading this very primal post. It should be coming very soon.

I'm super excited to get the ball rolling with this! But I need your help!

The Problem: I'm going to use LaunchRock to get some feedback about interest and get some super early beta testers to help me launch via a very iterative process. Unfortunately, LaunchRock is still in beta too!

The Solution: I need you to click this link to help me get a beta invite. That's really it! Just click it and help me out!

If you're interested in creating your own launch page, then signing up for a beta invite will also help me out. If you do, leave a comment, and I'll help you get started in whatever way I can!

Thanks for the help guys and gals!

Primate-in-Training
Topher

Lessons Learned From a Failed Job Interview

The latest US labor statistics show that nearly 14,000,000 Americans are currently unemployed and looking for jobs. If we assume that 25% are actively looking for jobs, and doing roughly 1.5 interviews per week, that means that there are roughly 5,250,000 interviews in any given week.

Have you ever had an interview that didn't go quite as you expected?

This past Wednesday, I had an interview that felt doomed from the start. Like a lone Chihuahua pitted against an army of German Shepherds; I didn't do as well as I had hoped.

But even with the sadness and disappointment that comes from such a massive lack of performance, I still had a great time and enjoyed the overall trip. And I even learned a few lessons along the way.

Click to read more ...

A Long Time Ago...

Photo Courtesy of Galileo55

Have you ever started a project, then looked back months or even years later to realize that you hadn't ever finished that project?

I fear that has been the fate of this blog.

I started with such good and noble intentions of multiple posts per week; engaging content; awesome pictures; and anything else that would make this site outstanding.

Then life hit me like a Mack truck travelling 100 miles per hour.

So what do you do?

Keep on Trucking

If there's one thing that I've learned from Nerd Fitness, it's to never give up. Always level up your life a little bit each day.

Even though my blog has fallen by the wayside, I've been advancing my skills in coding, management, and business by what I would consider leaps and bounds. I've been learning so much, and attempting to be useful to others in ways I haven't had much time to do (such as open source projects).

Due to some of these attempts, I've apparently been noticed...

I'm ecstatic to announce that I will be travelling to California next week for an interview at a fairly large company (no not that one)! I'm not sure what will come of it, but I'm extremely excited for the potential, and very grateful for the opportunity.

Level Up Each Day

So, in the spirit of new beginnings, I'm going to do my best to start posting more regularly to my blog. Look for tons of pictures next week! I can't wait to see San Francisco!

I intend to create a separate blog for my coding-related posts, so this blog will focus mainly on my own personal experiences and life lessons.

I hope that you will join me on my journey, and I hope that I can make a positive impact on your life.

So I'll leave you with the following question: How can I do it? How can I make a positive impact upon your life?

Leave a comment below!

P.S. If any of you are in the San Francisco area, I'd love to meet up with you next week! Just use my contact form to shoot me an e-mail and I'll get back to you ASAP!

Work Work, Zug Zug

Just wanted to throw a quick update out for those following my blog so you know what's up...and so that I don't feel like I'm ignoring you quite so much.

Work Work

After my fairly large screw up at work, I've been putting in a lot more hours in an attempt to fix the mess and make things right. So I haven't had as much time to focus on other activities. Work has been really interesting and I'm looking forward to where we are headed. I predict good things in our future.

Marnie has also been working a lot recently. Her most steady employer (she is a substitute) just hired her every day for the entire month of April, so she's been busy as well.

Zug Zug

My sister is currently days from popping out her first child and my second nephew. I am totally excited and can't wait to see him! We'll probably head up there the weekend after he is born (assuming he isn't born on the weekend) since Marnie and I both have full time jobs. But rest assured, we'll get our butts up there to spend some time with him.

If you've been following my weight-loss at all, then I'm sad to inform you that I jumped back up a bit this last month. I currently have about 7-8 pounds to lose to get back to my lowest weight (240 lbs) and about one week to do it. I'm planning on joining in the The Greatest Contest in the History of the World which starts on April 11th and I'd like to start at what I was before this past month. Now that the weather is getting warmer, I don't think I'll have a problem getting out to exercise.

That's all I have for now, but I have a few things up my sleeve that should be coming soon, so keep an eye out!