Postcards From My Life

Dear Reader,

I met Kevlin Henny back in 2007 at the PHPUK Conference in London. (For a year or so I called him Kevin Hennly until I finally got it right) One day out of the blue, Kevlin droped me an email and invites me to participate in a new project he’s working on for O’Reilly, a collaborative book called “97 Things Every Programmer Should Know“. Not being one who is ever short of advice and opinions to give, I gladly submitted two entries that eventually made their way through the editing process and into the final book.
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Dear Reader,

I’m a Guest Blogger

If you know me personally, follow me on twitter, read my blog or attend conferences I’m at, you know that I am never at a loss for an opinion. A couple of weeks ago, “Don” Marco Tabini pinged me on IM and made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. He asked me if I wanted to be a guest blogger for phparch.com. I’m not sure he knew what he was getting into because I wrote one a day for 5 days. Obviously though, he liked at least some of what I had to say because he has posted three of them already.
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Dear Reader,

Well, my first book, php|architect’s Guide to Programming with Zend Framework has officially been released in PDF format. You can order it now or pre-order the dead-tree edition. (Cal is a happy camper)

I would be remiss if I did not say thank you once again to Marco, Elizabeth and Matthew for their help and guidance. Also, a huge thank you to Laura Thomson for writing the forward.

On a related note, the support site for the book, www.zfguide.com is now live. Currently, the only thing there are links to the source code examples but I have plans for posting any errata, discussing different parts of the book and eventually releasing a series of tutorials called “The Missing Chapters”. (because there was a lot I just didn’t get to cover)

Until next time,
(l)(k)(bunny)

Dear Reader,

Those of you who follow me on twitter already know this but I’ve been reticent in blogging this. My latest project is to move all of my poetry to a new site, Cyrano’s Apprentice.

If you are into poetry, well, you probably want to steer clear of it. However, if you didn’t know that I wrote poetry, it’s good for a giggle.

Until next time,
(l)(k)(bunny)
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Dear Reader,

Previously, I mentioned that my article that I wrote in May, PHP: The Power behind Web 2.0, finally got published in Dr. Dobbs . I wasn’t’ sure if it was going to be in the print edition or just in the web version. Well it came today, I was actually in the print edition.

It’s a minor victory but one I’m proud of, This one goes in a stack with a bunch of Visual FoxPro advisor’s and a copy of php|architect.

Until Next time,
(l)(k)(bunny)
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Dear Reader,

Ok, that last post was as close as I’m gonna get to a “year in review” post. I just don’t like looking backwards that much. So let’s take a moment to look forward and set some goals.

• Lose 30 lbs.
  Yeah, I know it’s a cliche but I really want to drop 30 this year. These guys just opened up down the street, I think I’ll give them a try. Aside form the fact that they use ColdFusion for their website, they seem to be pretty cool.
• One blog post per week in 2008.
  Guess what, I’ve got the first week covered. Seriously, I’ve been real lax in posting here for the past year, mainly because most of my writing efforts go to DevZone. However, I do have several ideas that I want to discuss here that revolve around technology but are not necessarily related to PHP.
• Write One new article per month.
  With all the opportiunities I have to write, you would think this is a no brainer but like everything else, I get sidetracked on other projects. So I hope to post or have printed, one new article per month.
• Another Book in 2008.
  Ok, so my first book isn’t officially released yet but even so, it was all written in 2007. I’d like to come up with another idea and sell it to a publisher. I’m guessing my ability to do so is greatly dependent on the sales of my first book. So do me a favor…go order a copy.
• A picture a day in 2008.
  Inspired by people like Chris Wage, Andrei Zmievski, Sebastian Bergmann and Terry Chay, I really want to post one new picture per day in 2008…I’m already behind, this being Janyary 2nd and I’ve yet to post a picture. As soon as I finish this post, I’ll start figuring out what and where to shoot. Note: my goal is not to be as good as any of those four, just to post a new picture every day. I’m shooting for goals I can actually hit.
• Learn a new language
  The Lovely an Talented Kathy and I will be learning French this year.

So those are my goals for the year, only time will tell whether I can hit them. Hey, have you posted your goals for the year? let me know, I’ll link to them.

Until next time,
(l)(k)(bunny)
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Dear Reader,

In 2007 I was privileged to achieve the following in my career as Editor-in-Chief of DevZone.

• Attended 9 conference
• Visited 3 foreign countries
• Attended 2 barCamps
• Spoke at 2 conferences
• Started 2 podcasts
• Started 2 web projects.
• Had 1 article published in php|architect
• Spoke at 1 PHP User Group
• Wrote my first book
• Was Master of Ceremonies at my second PHP conference

So yeah…2007 was good…but 2008 is looking even better.

Until Next Time,
(l)(k)(bunny)
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Dear Reader,

Wow, I wrote this article back in May/June and it finally got published! “PHP: The Power Behind Web 2.0“. This was the very first version of the FNN that I wrote. I used the concept in “Flex and PHP: Party in the Front, Business in the Back“.

Thanks to Andi because I’m sure without his name on the article, they wouldn’t have given me a second glance.

That makes two magazine articles this year and I’ll miss my other goal for the year, a book published, by a month or so.

It’s been a productive year.

Until next time,
(l)(k)(bunny)
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Dear Reader,

w00t! I’m back in print. It’s been a long drought (10 years since my last FoxPro Advisor article?) but I’m BACK BABY!

Everybody reading this blog (both of you) rush right out and buy a copy of php|architect. Then, after an appropriate amount of time, write them and tell them how wonderful the August 2007 issue is. Make sure you compliment them on selecting my Flex and PHP article!

Until next time,
(l)(k)(bunny)
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Dear Reader,

I’m not sure why – maybe it’s because it ends with a Truman Capote quote and I’m currently reading one of his books, maybe it’s because the inner theme hits all too close to home – but I found myself reading and re-reading Tony Long’s “You, To, Can Right Like a Blogger”.

It’s a quick read and an interesting one.

The original Truman Capote quote is “That’s Not writing, that’s typing” and is my second favorite Capote quote. The first being:

Writing stopped being fun when I discovered the difference between good writing and bad and, even more terrifying, the difference between it and true art. And after that, the whip came down.

For a short person, he was pretty deep. One day I want to be able to think as deeply as him…and Fred.

Until next time,
(l)(k)(bunny)
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