Threeblog

Switching to Full Time Work

Threeboy — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:36:27

Some of you may know I made the switch from independent freelancer to full-time with PHXX, a web company. I still work from home and technically I'm still an independent contractor so I still handle my own taxes/expenses but the work is still full-time and it's quite different than freelancing solo.

Here are my thoughts:

Constant work & Constant Money
Freelancing can often be a "feast or famineo" situation. If the work is coming in and you're knocking it out times can be good. If there's a slow month and you're slacking it up things can get tough. Working full-time with a company means I've got a constant influx of new work, and a steady influx of money which really helps with bills and simplifies planning. Neither way is "better" you just gotta make sure you're doing what's appropriate when it's appropriate. I'm basically going from a ebb & flow system to one with more structure. I'm enjoying the change as it's helping me plan easier and not worry about the 'slow' months.

No More Hassles With Clients & Tracking Down Money
Getting paid is awesome - tracking down and getting money people owe you for work done is not that awesome. The majority of my clients are great and I love working for them however a very small percentage of them are tough to work with. Working with a company I don't have to worry about client management and I don't have to waste any energy tracking people down. It basically let's me focus on designing and being creative.

Working As A Team
The best thing about working at a larger company is working with other people. It's the 1 + 1 = 3 paradigm of teamwork at it's finest. I can code XHTML & CSS but I'm not the fastest at it beacuse I insist on doing a through job. I've got the luxury of designing a website and handing it off to a colleague to get it coded into valid XHTML/CSS and then aother to impliment the pages & content. I still jump into XHTML/CSS once in a while but it's in more of an overseeing, tweaking, modification role rather than a "from scratch" role.

Full time work isn't better than freelancing or vice versa but it is a different beast. What's important is making sure you do what is appropriate when it's appropriate and try to work with the strengths so work in your favor.

Live & learn, don't & die.

Windows Vista 64 Late Adopter

Threeboy — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:12:55

A few months ago I got fed up with Windows XP x64 Edition and decided to try out Windows Vista Ultimate 64-Bit. Here are my thoughts & experiences with the often misunderstood Windows Vista operating system:

New Stuff I Like

Smoother Multi-tasking
My system feels like it can handle aggressive multi-tasking a bit better than Windows XP Pro & Windows XP Pro x64 Edition. Since I run three monitors I tend to run a buttload of programs at the same time so a system that seizes & freezes less is a bonus.
Stable-er
Windows XP was more stable than Windows 98, which was more stable than Windows 95... Vista continues that tradition. There's even a handy uptime monitor that lets you trouble shoot crashes and hardware culprits. The stereotype of "Windows crashing all the time" should be put to rest. Then again if your computer is running hardware more than 10 years old and is held together with rubber bands it won't be stable no matter what operating system you put on it.
Live Search Everywhere
Every single window has a search box in the top right that auto searches as you type (aka "Live Search"). Funnily I wished that Windows XP had this feature so I was pleasantly surprised to see it in Vista. Now if only Winamp would add that feature...

Problems & Solutions

User Account Control (UAC)
Everyone latched on UAC and how annoying it was - it was the first thing I turned off. I don't know what the anti-hype was about.
Funky Characters
Maybe 'cause I'm Canadian but everytime I install a Windows OS I get a keyboard selection thing on my task bar that lets me switch between different multi-linguall keyboards. And everyonce in a while it'll go into "funky character mode" and it looks like I'm typing gibberish. It's easy to remedy, just remove the 'extra' keyboards that don't really exist anyway. I'm just gonna pretend I'm American next install.

Things I Din't Like

64-Bit Drivers
This was the main reason I switched to Vista64 from Windows XP Pro x64 Edition. Hardware vendors had 64 bit drives for Vista since it was better supported than Windows XP x64. These days most hardware vendors provide a 64-bit driver but the early days were rough. I eventually just replaced some of my older hardware that was due for an upgrade anyway. Yeah, I know if I "Got a Mac" I wouldn't have to deal with finding new drivers but I'd have to replace all my hardware anyway and I wouldn't be able to play games...
Vista "Ultimate Extras" Are Useless.
There's no reason to get "Ultimate" edition really other than a black skin and some extra wallpapers. The only reason I got Ultimate is because I'm a nut and I bought a cheap OEM version. I could have easily made due with the home premium or business variants of Vista.
Interface, Animations & Shit
I like to keep my operating systems visually clean. It might be because I've used computers for a while and mostly for work related purposes. Even with Windows XP I disabled the "Fisher Price" skin and rocked the Windows 98 look. I also find fades, slides, zooms and other animations annoying as hell. When I click a menu I want it to pop open as fast as possible - no delays, no time wasted. I probably lasted about a month with Windows Vista before I disabled all unnecessary animations/fades. The interface is still a little "fat" to my liking but without animations it's much better and I won't go on a rampage.
Flip 3D Is Useless
Speaking of animations the much hyped "Flip 3D" feature is completely useless. The improved Alt+Tab is nice though - much like the power toy they had for XP.
Lazy Programmers / 16-bit Installers
Most 32-Bit programs work in a 64-bit system except however some programs won't install because programmer was lazy and used a 16-bit installer to cut corners or something. I've managed to find open source replacements for many of the older utility programs I used and they're usually good at keeping that stuff up to date.

I know I got into the Vista game very late (Windows7 is already getting buzz) and I know started with Vista Service Pack 2 which remedied many bugs people had on the first day so I probably didn't get to experience the worst problems. I just wanted to see what the fuss was about firsthand. Turns out there's no fuss unless you want there to be.

If you look hard enough you'll find what you're looking for in anything.

Goals 2009

Threeboy — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 01:23:09

I don't do new years resolutions (they don't work) but I do have a bunch of goals I'm progressing constantly.

Let's see where I am since last year:

Web

Threeboy Design
I didn't get around to developing a new portfolio but it's less of a priority since I made the switch to a full time job. I'm now planning re-purpose my site to more of a work showcase and keep it current with work. Goal updated.
TrueNuff TV!
Didn't get around to a new site but have made developing a new site a priority. This year with the economy we're seeing video sites die here and there - but we're still standing so I guess that's good . We lost a member last year so we have been re-focusing on content and I believe that'll be our main focus for this year as well. We did get some shirts made but the sales are very slow and discouraging. Our DVD plans are coming together and are on the drawing board for this year but with our priority being new content I'm not sure if it'll materialize. Goal updated - we originally wanted to get to "the next level" but we're all pretty happy with the current level we're at.
TrueNuff Comic
Similar outcome to TrueNuff TV! No new site yet, but making it a priority. Did shirts and sales were bunk. Made some progress on developing the book and it's a priority this year along with new comics. Goals still in progress.
Shirts & Merchandise / SpendMore.ca
This has been put on hold. The shirt sales over at TrueNuff been so few and far between that I'm not sure if it's a good idea to plunk time into developing a full blown store. Goal on hold - will revisit at a later date if things pick up.

Life

Continue Eating Decent
Still eating as many veggies as I can and banned boxed foods as much as I could. Stomach feels better these days. Goal in progress.
Keep on Walking
Cut down on walks but upped the regular exercise - gotta figure a way to fold this back into the routine as it's enjoyable. Goal in progress.
Keep It Regular!
I've been keeping a regular sleeping & working pattern and flexing it when I'm in a crunch. This year I'm hoping to integrate exercise into my routine better. What I found is if I put exercise at the end of the day I'm too likely to skip it or something else will bump it out of the schedule. If I put it at the start of the day I finish it and I'm charged/focused and ready to get through the rest of the day.
Move!
Jess & I moved so I guess this goal was completed - the next goal is to "move up" and buy a place. With the way things are going I'm thinking that 2010 is more likely, but 2009 would be nice.
Learn, Learn, Learn
Been reading but I need to be reading more! Goal in progress

New Goals

Kill Debt / Save Money
I plan to get rid of my car this year. Working from home means I don't really need one - it's just a luxury really. My car broke down a few months ago and I just shared Jess' and things worked out fine. It kind of showed me that we could get by with a single car. It's also better for the environment - the environment of my wallet!
Sell My Old Videogames
I've got a hearty collection of NES/SNES/N64/GameCube games that I barely play. There are some games I do want to play through but most of them I've got for nostalgic reasons and that's really just taking up closet space. I don't know if I'll sell all my old games but I definately want to thin the heard, free up closet space, and get some drinking money.
Update This Website (Threeboy Network)
Along with updating Threeboy Design, I want to update this website and re-purpose it more into a blog/hub and keep it updated with new content - and hopefully some of it will be useful

So I've got only a few completions but I'm not discouraged as these goals are pretty general and more of an overall view. I will break these down into sub-tasks and use the Action Method to complete those sub-tasks so we'll see how I progress next year

Step by step - ooh baby.

New Years!

Threeboy — Wed, 31 Dec 2009 18:48:55

Happy New Years (eve)!

You might see some drunken messages on my twitter throughout the night.

In other twitter news SpawnPoint has a new twitter for some liveblogging they plan to do for CES 2009. I kind of work for them now - I'll explain it in an upcoming blog post.

Party hard, party safe.

Games, Games, Games!

Threeboy — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 10:47:17

I finally got a Wii and have been slowly getting back into PC games (as far as I'm concerned computers are the only platform to play first person shooters).

Here's what I've been playing lately:

Wii Games

Wii Sports - I dabbled in this briefly at friends places when the Wii came out and now that I have it myself I've been playing it more than I thought I would. It's just tons of fun. I managed to get pro status in bowling, tennis and real close in boxing. I doubt I'll master golf & baseball, but it's still fun fun fun.

Mario Kart Wii / Super Smash Bros. Brawl - I rented these two and they're exactly what I expected: Updated versions of the GameCube counterparts. That's not a bad thing as the previous games in the series was lots of fun but it also means I'm not clamoring to rush out and buy them anytime soon - I'll wait for a sale

Bomberman Blast (WiiWare) - I downloaded Bomberman Blast and it's a Blast! (hur hur hur). It's a multiplayer modernized semi-retro Bomberman that you can play 4 people locally or 8 people online. It's the standard fast paced bomb-based action that's a ton of fun. It also turned Jess into a Bomberman addict.

Wii bottom line: it's fun.

Computer Games

World of Goo - For an indie game it's damn good. It's a combination of lemmings & bridge builder if you can imagine it. It's somewhat short but it's only $20 so the price is perfect. It hurts to hear that the game has a 90% piracy rate especially when the game was created by two people. They have families and they should be getting more for their innovation & hard work.

Dark Messiah - I downloaded the demo when this came out and enjoyed it but didn't want to fork out full price so I waited until it was available on Steam for $10. I've really enjoyed it. The combat can get annoying at times but I still enjoy the level of control you get. With World of WarCraft for instance you just kinda click and your character performs the stuff automatically - with Dark Messiah you actually have to go kick goblins off of ledges, pick up and throw objects or snipe people with arrows. The gameplay is similar to Oblivion but it's smaller & more linear. Free roaming sandbox gaming is nice but sometimes I'm in the mood for a level based game with a straight up storyline that I can just finish and get it over with.

Left 4 Dead - When the demo came out I had a ton of fun but doubted the replay factor because the game seemed limited. Some friends & I decided to spit a $150 "Four Pack" ($37 each!) and I'm glad we did the game is tons of fun, especially when we play together. The developers really nailed the "oh shit! oh shit! zombies!" feeling in this game. The reviews criticize the simplicity but to me that's why it's so good.

Zombies Suck.

I'll be selling my old NES/SNES/N64 games in the new year - I'll post a note here when I start putting them on eBay - sign up to the mailing list if you wanna get a note when I start.

Looks like I got a few of new games for Christmas...

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

Threeboy — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 09:23:46

Merry Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and anything else you celebrate this holiday season from your pals at TrueNuff!

Sorry we didn't pull anything Christmas-y this year but we're working on some new stuff for y'alls that shall drop shortly. Check out our previous TrueNuff Comic Christmas stuff if you're in the mood:

Ho Ho Hoes!

Mac vs PC

Threeboy — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 16:44:05

I know in the past I was a bit of a jerk when it came down to the Mac vs PC debate. In my older age I've updated my stance to: who cares. They are both computers. If a PC can help you achieve your goals, good! If a Mac can too - great!

TrueNuff TV! now has the Mac Spoof videos in High Quality!

Hammers are better than screwdrivers! Yes, with nails, but with screws you're screwed (PUN!) unless you use a screwdriver. Macs, PCs and computers in general are just tools - learn to use both for maximum benefit.

There's plenty of things to be proud about (within' reason). Your favorite sports team, favorite videogames, hell even your favorite country if you're patriotic - but computers? Come on. You're just giving free advertising to companies with far too much money.

For my main computer I use a PC because I play games - however my next laptop might be a Mac so I can cross-platform test websites.

Stay flexible, stay learning, stay living.

I Gots Wii!

Threeboy — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 23:17:40

I finally got a Nintendo Wii and it only took me two years!

The store I bought it from harassed me to buy a warranty about five times telling me that the Wii has "known issues" and that things can go wrong. I don't understand the sales tactic of telling people what you're selling is outright crappy. I decided against a warranty because I don't think I need one. I've never had a problem with any Nintendo machine I've owned and I've had them all (with the exception of the Virtual Boy that thing sucked goats). I've had to send in my niece & nephews DS's for repairs but they're kids, naturally they're gonna be a bit rougher with their stuff. I live by Nintendo Canada so repairs & returns are easy - I set 'em up on the phone and do a walk in repair. If it's under warranty they'll do a replacement and if it's out of warranty you get an option for a factory replacement/refurbished model.

I didn't get any games yet so I just rent and borrow them. I recently ordered Okami & Monkey Ball for $10 each on Amazon during their black friday deals. I'm gonna be on the lookout for other good deals, and used games to try and beef up the library. I'm a firm beliver in good games now will be good games a few years from now and I don't have to get them the day they come out. I used to obsess over that stuff but it was just a waste of money.

One thing I made sure to pick up were some rechargeable batteries for the Wiimotes. A four pack of batteries is about $10, and a four pack of rechargeable batteries is about $15 but you can re-use them a few hundred times. Rechargables are like most good things in life, more expensive upfront but much, much cheaper over time.

I've decided I'll be selling my old NES/SNES/N64/GameCube games too. I could use the space (and drinking money) - I'll post a note when I get around to putting the on ebay.

Patience pays!

Font Overload

Threeboy — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 16:48:43

A few weeks ago I thought it would be a good idea to import a few thousand fonts into my system. This was extremely stupid because installed fonts are stored in your memory. Even with 4GB of RAM my system responded very sluggish and Photoshop would stall every few seconds.

Mo' Fonts Mo' Problems

If you want to utilize a few thousand fonts without sluggin' your system you gotta get a type manager. A type manager lets you install and uninstall sets of fonts with a few clicks when you need them for projects and let's you disable them for when you don't need them. Another bonus is they give you a preview of your fonts at a glance. The free Font Xplorer is decent, but I've been using the pay program FontExpert for the past couple weeks and it's got better features. I'll most likely order it for reals when the trial expires.

Obsolete Fonts?

Before TrueType and OpenType fonts there were "Type 1" fonts. Type 1 fonts are being rendered obsolete because modern operating systems aren't supporting them anymore. I have many Type 1 fonts that I still want to use so I downloaded the program CrossFont which let's you convert fonts between the different formats.

Bonus Font Trivia!

The designer of the Gill Sans typeface sexually assaulted his children, f*cked his sister and the family dog too.

What the font!?

New Spawnpoint Header

Threeboy — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 12:57:28

A couple weeks ago I got to re-vamp the "header" or the top graphic of of the SpawnPoint gaming community.

Before (click image for larger view...)

After (click image for larger view...)

I go into more detail more over @ my SpawnPoint blog.