xybermatthew

• day 3 into the job and finally got my system set up to start compiling and deploying projects; 1st one a success #
• heading home for the day — my night to watch the kids #

• sandy rocks! @s thanks for keeping my life in order #
• first day at the new office and was given a desk by a window in the corner of the room — very nice #
• finally the sun is out here in downtown denver #

• Off to cicis pizza with the family #
• Friday + pizza + beer + family = fun #

• 10AM and still trying to get my day going — about to do some html + css + js wizardry for the company #
• finally inbox = 0 #

• running on fumes right now, about, ready, to, pass, out #

• ahh I’m in twitter withdrawal — the 48 hour cold turkey approach doesn’t work; I can’t stop. #
• any rally racers out there? #
• @SaraD have a fun and safe trip, wish I was going #
• today is an awesome day in Colorado, it’s fantasic outside about 70 deg. and just two days ago there was snow, I love Colorado! #

There’s a new coffee shop in my Littleton neighborhood called Solid Grounds and it’s an awesome place.

Great coffee (serving Kalidi Brothers Coffee, a great tasting bean), free wifi, very comfortable seating, quality and knowledgeable staff.

The shop is a bit hidden from the main street (S. Broadway), which is good for sitting on the deck and drinking peacefully in the afternoon sun but bad because it’s not noticeable from the street — it’s part of an old strip mall thats currently being renovated.

Pictures of the inside:

Address (click for a map and driving directions)

6560 S Broadway, Littleton, CO 80121

Phone

Unknown at this time — I’ll find out

Okay, so it’s not new, to many of my friends and family members, that I’m always coming up with new ideas for a business. Some good, some bad, and some really really bad. Nonetheless, at some point one of them will become a success — I just know it.

With that thought, here is my latest business idea:

Create an online start-up that benefits the less fortunate.

For example, how fun would it be to get a a group of talented people (i.e., web designers, web developers, software programmers, marketing experts, content experts, copywriters, venture capitalists, lawyers, accounts, etc.) together and create a start-up (much like what you would do at startup weekend) that generates a profit. However unlike startup weekend the goal would be to turn the project over to a person or a family that could benefit from it.

Think about it. How would it help or change the life of those that have been recently disabled or that family member who can no longer hold a regular "on-site" job due to an illness in the family?

Maybe even call it "Extreme Makeover — The Income Edition"

There could be an application process using letters, getting nominations, videos, etc. and have the public vote on who should get the new business. There could also be a system for others to assist in managing that new business — charity hours could be credited for those who help improve the business.

Thoughts, comments, general feedback?

So here’s the news, my days as a Technical Web Producer / Technical Project Manager for Arrow Electronics, Inc. will come to an end on Friday, April 25th, 2008.

Why you ask? Well because I’ve taken a new position as a UI Engineer for a very cool company called Local Matters, Inc..

I know what some of you are thinking, why a step backwards into a full "head-on" development position when your career path has been moving forward towards a Management role?

Glad you asked. There’s a few reasons. First it’s my foot in the preverbal door for a growing company. Second, I need to work in the trenches a bit more for a few reasons in itself; to gain credibility as a web coder / programmer, to learn more about web application development cycles — in this case an agile environment, and to improve my skill set (you can never learn enough). Third, to actual work for a company that is web based — no more of this web stuff because "everyone else is doing it" and "we don’t put much focus on the web because we don’t need to" (layperson terms: we don’t understand crap about it <cough>Arrow</cough> and thus we won’t spend a dime on it to make it better).

So for those of you considering the open requisition that will soon be available to fill my position here at Arrow (link coming soon that is if the company approves the cost) consider this, Arrow doesn’t understand the need for web nor what’s involved with building web sites and thus they will not pay you very well! Furthermore, Arrow has a vary "old school" approach to, and framework for, building web sites (e.g., waterfall development style, Java Application team don’t care or respect web standards nor the web geeks that do, the content management systems are out of date as well as very very very restrictive — thus making it practically imposable to get any new web concepts to market, etc.).

Now I know that sounds a lot like a rant, and to a certain degree it is, but Arrow has been good to me and the time here has been rewarding (minus the income — which I thought wouldn’t have been an issue after a couple years here and the lack of support for web technologies). I’ve been able to work with an awesome team (Sean King, Christine Murray, Jon Aron, Noel Willis, Amy Davis, and Michela Brooks, build some high-profile sites (e.g., arrownac.com, lighting.arrow.com, arrowne.com, arrowuk.com, and arrownordic.com), and come up with some very interesting and innovative solutions to get around the archaic frameworks/environments.

Besides, if you’re trying to break into the field of web development and/or you’re just out of college then this could be a great place to start. Not only is it a great place to gnash your teeth on but the very small web team as well as the employee benefits rock!

• back in the office today; still recovering from a massive migraine attack that had me captive for the last two days #
• oh joy, my day will be spent fixing styling issues for an application that’s built with nested tables & crap code #
• @mrwarren what about corn fritters (e.g. white fence farm)? #
• @freshbooks table vs div; table = data & div = layout! no ifs ands or buts! #
• @mrwarren only one vice? @xybermatthew vices = @coffee, @wine, @beer, @sci-fi tv+movies #
• @hm24co that sounds interesting BSDesign? #
• heading home for the day #