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I must say this winter has been very nice to us here in the New River Valley.   Epic snowfalls have been limited.  The weather hasn’t been frigid for weeks on end.  It has been a very different landscape than the one that was painted last year.

I’m looking to take the next step in my passion of mixing.  Fortunately DJ LiL Fos is providing me with a lot of critical knowledge and opportunity to pursue this goal.

I’m actually looking into more contract work as well this year.  It never hurts to put back a little cash for a rainy day.  It also never hurts to be creative in your field of work outside of your day job.

There’s my small update for the season.   Hope the times are treating you all well!

Always proud of my day job!    Interesting article from the Roanoke Times - a look at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute and the world renowned scientists it is attracting:

• Read the article at http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/273491

Around the world there are many parties being set up and held celebrating the release of Drupal 7.  I’ve personally enjoyed the beta thus far, however will be looking into doing much more testing before I adopt it as my Drupal version of choice.  Looks like I’ll still be rockin’ version 6 for awhile at least = ).

Just thought I’d pass thing along - LSNet will be hosting a Drupal 7 release party in Galax, VA tomorrow.

• More information - http://groups.drupal.org/node/117214

Hard to believe 2011 is already here.  We’re met with a new-look congress, birds and fish dying rapidly, and not so much of a bitter winter as we experienced this time last year.  All in all, it hasn’t deterred my hopes for what I hope to accomplish this year.

I thought about writing about my goals and what I hope to accomplish.  However by writing those down I will probably just sentence them to an early doom.  May the best come to each of you in 2011 - I know I’m going to seek out what this year has to offer!

The new Michael Jackson album "Michael" is a nice effort - however would have been pleasant to see MJ show up on the album more though.

Updated 12/16/2010 after further review:

I’ve personally been wanting to see it since 2005.  Year after year I was disappointed though as not one single ounce of new Michael Jackson material was released.  I was fortunate however in 2007 when the 25th anniversary of Thriller was released.  There were a few remixes and an unreleased track included - however not the NEW material I was wanting to see.

Here we are three years later in the year 2010 - finally with new material.  However I’m saddened to say we are looking at this material without the artist himself - in life and in art.

It is common knowledge that Michael Jackson passed away in June of 2009.  His estate secured material so that in the future albums could be released.  “Michael” is the first of what should be many based off of those ‘lost’ recordings.

The album contains ten singles, nine of them “previously unreleased vocal tracks performed by Michael Jackson”.  Wait, what?  Ten singles and only NINE of them feature Michael Jackson’s vocals?  That should be your first clue that something isn’t quite right with this release.  As one reads through the copyright/credits in the album booklet it becomes obvious that something isn’t what it seems.  Michael Jackson’s voice isn’t credited on all tracks (and only truly credited for lead vocals on (I Can’t Make It) Another Day and Behind the Mask). It is credited for background vocals on many of the tracks which leads one to wonder - “Who is the lead singer imitating Jackson?”

Aside from the game of vocal who-is-it (pun intended), the album is not a bad listen.  For the commercial/casual listener that did not enjoy or hear “Invincible“, “Michael” should be a breath of fresh air.  There are notable tracks that take you back to Michael Jackson.  “(I Like) The Way You Love Me” is very touching with its intro of a voice recording of Michael dictating the tempo and drums.  “Behind the Mask” is easily the standout track of the album with its soaring saxophone solos and infectious uptempo groove.  Teddy Riley also adds his “dangerous” production touches to “Hollywood Tonight“, “Monster“, and “Breaking News” you will feel as though you are listening to a real Michael Jackson track - even if the instrumental is the closest you’ll get to it.

Track Highlights

• “Hold My Hand”
• “(I Can’t Make It) Another Day“
• Behind the Mask
• Hollywood Tonight
• (I LIke) The Way You Love Me.
  

Ah yes, it is that time of year again when my office is gearing up for their annual holiday party.  One of the key elements of the party every year is our annual auctions we hold to raise money for the Virginia Tech rescue squad.  Each year that I’ve been an employee at VT, I’ve assisted with this process and I must say that it is an enjoyable experience.  Thank you everyone for all of the time and effort you put into this.  From donating items, soliciting gift certificates, decorating, everything - you are working for a great cause!

Currently I’m working with:

• 7 different Drupal Projects
• 2 static web sites
• various information models

I sure know how to keep busy!

However, I still feel I’m not as busy as my good friend Chris Pund.  He was recently quoted in a Forbes article.  Go read it!

I recently came across the story of Trevor Clark via the web site of Michael Aleo, a designer from Washington D.C.  Trevor’s story involves living in a van, traveling and living through challenges to start a business.  I truly admire entrepreneurship and Trevor’s story is full of it.

Be sure to check out his portfolio and follow the blog - you’ll simply be amazed at what he has accomplished / experienced in the past two years:

• Trevor Clark Photography - http://www.trevorclarkphoto.com/

It’s been a good long while since I’ve blogged on this site.  As you may notice I threw up a temporary home page redesign.  It’s not finished.  Sadly - that’s how most of my own personal projects go.

Things have been extremely busy on my end work and personal wise.  Can’t complain!

Resources have been a key focus in the growth of the world wide web.  The more users engaging on a specific web service means that the service will use more resources.  With that theory in mind, one of the many techniques to reduce HTTP requests to speed up the load of a page is the CSS sprite technique.  To summarize the technique, rather than have a plethora of individual background images, you would combine all of the images into a single image and use CSS to access those portions of the image that are needed.

But on to the meat of this post, I’m plugging a recent article at Smashing Magazine that looks at the technique and discusses potential hardships the technique may cause for some designers.

• Continue on to read “CSS Sprites: Useful Technique, or Potential Nuisance?”
  http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/03/26/css-sprites-useful-technique-or-potential-nuisance/