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In a time when the market is both full of opportunity and challenges, the question continues to be where will tech turn next? As a developer you should always be striving to not only expand upon what you know but also picking up new tools to add to your skill set. Now the question is what should I do next?

Flash:
Definitely not a dead technology, not seeing any signs of declining or is it? There’s plenty of talk about the future of Flash as it relates to AJAX, HTML 5 and CSS 3 but how fast will these technologies knock down the current king of rich content on the web. I’m not going to go to far with this because there are far better sources of discussion on the topic.

As it relates to me, I’ve been on a path of full focused Flash / ActionScript development over the past several years. While I definitely advanced my skills considerable, my concerns are at this point is being a straight up Flash Developer really a path to longevity in this field. Obviously this is my primary focus since currently my day job is 100% Flash and ActionScript. It will continue to be as well, but I’m more concerned with adding to my skill set so I’ll bring this discussion back to that.

iPhone:
iPhone development doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon. Even if rumors aren’t true, the field will only grow, especially if when the language expands to future devices, such as the rumored tablet / slate device. This is an area I’ve dabbled with. I have my app idea, its just a matter of focusing on it.

The question here is how does one decide that this is an area I want to explore? It’s great hearing that people are making big bucks on apps that just happen to break through on the store. Is that a reality? With the number of apps on the store, I’m pretty sure that unless happen to have a moment of genius, there will be less stories of weekend warriors making 6 figures off a game they programmed in their spare time.

Still this is definitely an area to be focusing on and one that I’ll be attempting to dive back into. I’d be silly not to.

Android:
Like iPhone, Android is just waiting for it’s moment, it’s off to a slow start compared to iPhone I think but it’s going to have a strong following and many opportunities. iPhone generates a buzz and has companies scrambling to get their app together for that. Clients hear iPhone and want to know how to get into that market, whether they should be there or not. It may happen that Android could do this also.

webOS (Palm):
The Pre is a cool phone. Honestly if want to get into a growing market maybe this would be a great place to focus. Will it get to the point of the iPhone app store? Not likely. Something to look into? Sure, why not, you may just happen to find yourself in a position that you have a skill that may have a limited demand.

Server Side:
I keep coming back to the idea that I should be focusing on learning some sort of server side language, PHP, JSP, .NET, but I never seem to put much focus into it. I keep hoping one will click and I’ll learn enough that I’ll feel comfortable selling my services in one of these areas. Currently I’m exploring PHP with the Zend Framework and will probably dabble with it more in the near future. Is there a market for professional PHP development?

HTML/CSS/AJAX/jQuery:
My roots are HTML & CSS and these are skills that I’ll continue to expand on. There is quite a bit going on in the HTML realm and plenty to keep learning. HTML 5 may change the rules and cause a bit of a shake up. Throw in CSS 3, AJAX and jQuery, that’s a full year of things to learn. I see plenty of my free time coming back to basics and brushing up on how people are using the new HTML 5 tags. This is an area that’s not going anywhere.

In Conclusion:
Did you read all of that? Really? Thanks. Basically this post is more for me than for anyone else. Isn’t that what blogs are for anyway? To babble as if your the center of the universe?

The list above shakes out this way, Flash (it’s my job, it pays my bills and it’s still quite fun), HTML (basic foundation of all web developers skills), iPhone (why not try to tap into this market, plus I work for an ad agency, thinking our clients won’t want iPhone apps is not setting myself up for job security), Android, Server-Side.

WebOS is something I’ll look into just to see what’s involved. Also, if you’re an app creator why limit yourself to just one market. If you have an iPhone app, port it to Android and webOS if it’s not overly involved.

Months later, here I am, once again looking at the state of this site. Progress is null. I wish I could say that it’s because I’ve been focusing on all the exciting projects that are keeping me busy. Truthfully it’s just that I’m still figuring things out for this site. I think the move to WP has helped me refocus the site. I like the structure of the info. The “temporary” template is serving the purpose, I’ve even received a few compliments on it, which is funny and sad all at the same time.

Looking toward 2010…

Keeping with tradition, I’m hoping that 2010 will see a new design and a bit more focus on getting this site rolling again. Also on my list are the following:

• ebonypaws.com
• pauluscreative.com

Both sites have designs but just need to be further flushed out and built.

Stay Tuned…

As you can see, I haven’t made any progress on tweaking this theme. Oh, I changed the logo but that’s about it. I’d like to say that it’s because I’m super busy, but that would be stretching the truth a bit. I think mostly I’m back to not knowing what I want to do with this site and being super critical of pretty much anything i start working on.

Anyway, enough babbling. I’m going home.

Added a quick theme that I found, it’s a decent one, I adjusted the categories and notices what’s either a bug in WP or in the theme. Basically WP wouldn’t show any category names after “uncategorized” alphabetically. Has to be the theme. No way that bug has lasted this long.

I’ve moved hosting and converted to WordPress. So now I just need to either spend some time converting my MoveableType template over or design a new site. Neither seem much fun but hell I need to get used to working with WordPress.

So it looks like this will be the first post of 2009. I’ll try not to let you down.
Where have I been? What have I been up to?
Things are flying by at a pace that’s just unbelievable. It’s already near the end of February. What have I been doing? Well. Let’s see.
Work
Work is good, I’m employed and these days that’s by far the most important thing. Regarding work I spent most of January working on another AS3 site. Good stuff, refined a few things from previous projects and am continuing to love being Flash only.
I’m going to have to get some of my work from here up into the portfolio section. I’ll put that on my list.
WOW
Sticking with the “W” theme, so have I been playing much? Well lets just say that because of the fact that we seem to get a new CC every other week because some company can’t guard their data. I didn’t realize that my account wasn’t active for a good part of January. So no not playing much WOW these days and you’ll see why in a few…
Back to the Gym…
Keeping with the tradition of new years resolutions, we’re back to the gym. This is nothing new for us, we’re usually very motivated the first few months of the year, right up until we start hitting the weekly BBQs. It’s going well so far. Actually I should say that we’re sticking with it pretty well, not sure how much of an effect it’s having. It will pay off eventually…I hope.
Guitars
In the basement getting dusty.
Music
Started listening to a cool band Kataklysm. Picked up “In the Arms of Devastation”, “Prevail” and “Shadows and Dust” from iTunes. Good stuff. Otherwise I’m just letting my iPod play on shuffle. Also have a strange fascination with the song from Devildriver – “I Dream I Died” not sure why, just a great track.
Other
Picked up pauluscreative.com, just because, not sure how it’s going to fit in with the current domains or if I really needed it. I guess it’s the curse of cheap domains from goDaddy.com.
iPod Touch
Did I mention I picked up an iPod Touch? Oh well no one reads this anyway. Seriously wish I would have just ditched Sprint and went for the iPhone. This thing is amazing, a great replacement for my 3rd gen iPod that had to be hard reset every week. A few nit-picky little things but overall well worth the investment. Plus it opens up a whole new line of technology that I need to dabble with.
My favorite apps:
TapDefense – Seriously addicting Tower Defense game ( I just can’t seem to beat medium )
Lose It – Going with the gym theme really great way to keep track of calories
iFitness – Decent workout app, updated really frequently, not too heavy of a download and pretty flexible and worth the $2
MySpace and Facebook – I actually check these now
Hero of Sparta – amazing game, should really play it more.
gotta run, see you in a few months…

I’m looking at this site, cause I’m bored. I’m realizing that it’s old, outdated but it’s working, easy (enough) to update (it’s a blog).
Do I design and build a new site?
Sure I should. It’s a pretty low priority since I’ve got a dozen other projects I should be dealing with, but it still needs to be done.
Cracking the code I see that, with the help of Moveable type, the HTML is fairly well organized and table-less. It should help to restyle the site.
I think many of the categories are still valid. I may drop a few or add a few but in general they seem relevant.
Do I go flash?
Since I’m so focused on Flash development these days, do I go flash? I’m thinking not. Then again who knows. I guess technology will come out of what I come up with for a design.
Do I give in and go with the latest modern site designs ideas?
This site was designed when everything had rounded corners, gradients, gel buttons and reflections. Strange, that’s pretty much what’s still in style. Hmm…Oh well. again I’ll have to see what comes out of that blank Photoshop file when I get started.
Anyway, babbling a bit today, nothing is really kicking off until next week and I’m not feeling particularly motivated today.

So it took all of about 5 minutes to increase the width of this site. Sure some of the graphics are actually repeating instead of being a nice full width but in general I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out. It only took 4+ months for me to do.

It’s that time again. Christmas is right around the corner and tradition states that it’s time to brew. This year I’ve once again stayed with Beer-Wine.com (Beer & Wine Hobby) recipes:

• Celtic Red Ale
• German Wheat

I brewed Saturday, November 29, 2008. I had a beautiful day for November. I had the first batch (Celtic Red) boiling by 9a.m and was finished and had both batches pitched by 4p.m.
I think both batches seemed to go off without too much of an issue. I think that I’ve really got my process down. One thing I need to concentrate on though is cleaning and sanitizing. I’ve been pretty successful with both up to this point but as I’m listening to the Basic Brewing Podcast I’m finding that there’s places I can fix a few things. One episode that I listened to talked about the proper amount of BTF sanitizer to use. I’m so glad I listened and can’t wait to apply what I heard.
One thing I want to look into is that the recipes for both of these batches had different processes than what I’ve done in the past. Neither used the standard “steep grains for 30 min, add extracts, bring to a boil and start hop additions” that I’m used to. The red had me steeping the grains along with the first hop addition, removing the grains, boiling, then adding the extracts during the last 15 minutes of the boil. The wheat actually had me boil the wheat grains for the first X amount of time. This one I’m most concerned about, this just seems very strange. Anyway I’ll see what happens.
Happy brewing…

Once again it seems that blogging has fallen off the radar for me. It appears that it’s not the only thing that I’ve been taking a break from. I just realized how long it’s been since I’ve listened to any podcasts. A year and a half ago I was listening to several podcasts ranging from Web Design and Development to World of Warcraft. At some point it stopped. I think it started when I kicked the serious WOW addiction I was fighting last year. To be fair I haven’t kicked it so much as just managed to get it under control.
Anyway, the past month…Here’s what’s going on.
Work
Loving the new job. Just finished up the majority of the development of my 2nd AS3 project. A sitelet that will be going live soon. I’ll post as soon as it happens.
Flex
I’ve finally been dabbling with Flex. I know it’s quite overdue but I’m finally diving in and starting to really ramp up on Adobe Flex. So far it’s amazing. I’m really looking forward to getting an opportunity to use it for a project.
Other Projects
I still have a few projects going on. Nothing to much to report there. Decided I’ll never let myself get involved in another ecommerce site build again. It’s just more than I have time for in as a “few hours a night” freelancer.
Music
There’s been some great new music out lately. Rise Against, Amon Amarth, All That Remains, Trivium, Dragonforce, Slipknot…to name a few that I picked up. Nothing really disappointing. I even picked up the latest B.B. King album a few months back, trying to broaden my musical tastes. Rather than trying to do something radical, I’m thinking Blues guitar greats might be a good start for me.
Guitar
Um…damn they are getting dusty again…
TV
Oh way too much of this in my life. Though it helps me out cause I can play WOW while we hang out watching TV.
Anyway, I’m outta here, I seem to be using Twitter much more than blogging it seems to be much easier to throw a few random thoughts out on Twitter than dealing with a formal blog post.