As I started writing for other publications including The Cap Times, Dane101.com and Muck Tech, I focused less on this site.  Still, it’s found new life with some of my more personal stuff, and I still enjoy popping articles I have no other place for here.  Thus, while this website will soon no longer be updated, that does not mean its content will die.

In a move to consolidate some of my webpages and – more importantly – make it easier for people to find my work, this blog will be moving to my main website The-Dean.com.  I am working on a new design for that site based on WordPress, and plan to import all the articles here as part of its relaunch.  Anything new will only appear on that website, not here. Thus, if you enjoy reading this site, you have been warned.

I will post again when the redesign to The-Dean is live.

Then I started reading Christopher Buckley’s ‘Boomsday.’ It’s amazing how a bad book can stop you cold from a great reading streak.

I had read Buckley’s ‘Supreme Courtship’ the month before and enjoyed it.  Thus I was excited to check out this book.  Still, something about it made it impossible for me to read more than a chapter in a sitting.  Maybe it was tired characters.  Maybe a bit of an unrealistic plot.  Every part of me wanted to continue through it, but it took close to two months to complete.

So where do I sit now in September on my two books a month goal? Thanks to the summer surge I am only a book behind.  My current reading list is mostly technical books, which I vowed not to add to this list.  Thus the fall run should be interesting.

1. Here is New York – E.B. White
2. Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion – Gary Vaynerchuk
3. When You Are Engulfed in Flames – David Sedaris
4. Then We Came To an End – Joshua Ferris
5. Twinkie, Deconstructed – Steve Ettlinger
6. Where Have You Gone ’82 Brewers – Tom Haudricourt
7. Noisy Outlaws, Unfriendly Blobs, and Some Other Things That Aren’t Scary… – Edited by Ted Thompson
8. America, The Book – John Stewart
9. God bless you, Mr. Rosewater – Kurt Vonnegut
10. God bless you, Dr. Kevorkian – Kurt Vonnegut
11. Rework – David Heinemeier
12. God is Dead – Ron Currie, Jr.
13. Supreme Courtship – Christopher Buckley
14. How Soccer Explains the World – Franklin Foer
15. You Suck, A Love Story – Christopher Moore
16. Boomsday – Christopher Buckley
17. xxx – yyy (name withheld for my protection)

The offer was extended again this year, and initially I said no.  I have taken on a larger photo project in 2010 – a photo a day for the year.  A day where I just shoot everything I do just seemed like overkill.  Still, I found myself snapping a ton of pictures one day, and decided to give it a go.

So here is my entry for 2010, much different from last year.  To see how others spent their day, head to this Peanut Blossom post.

Then again, if I were where I wanted to be, I would have already read 24 books this year.

One internal debate is if I should count programming books and such towards my goal.  I’m currently making my way through a book on Ruby, and leaning towards not counting it, despite the fact it takes up more of my time.  Still, the goal was to read books that actually interested me, so I will likely avoid adding these to the list.

Since I’m moving soon, I decided it was time to update this list while I still have the books handy.  I still feel like I am forgetting one, but I can always add it later.

Since my last update, my reading list has taken a turn for the worse.  I’ve started multiple books that I have only managed a couple chapters before moving on to something new.  Spook Country by William Gibson (mentioned in a previous post) was one such book.  After starting a few of these books, I realized I had to finish something.  That is the only reason I made it through Twinkie, Deconstructed and the “Award-winning” Then We Came To an End.  The first interesting, but had a hard time holding my attention, while the second was pointless.  After those my selection improved with America, The Book and the short stories combined in Noisy Outlaws, Unfriendly Blobs… With the start of the baseball season, Where Have You Gone ’82 Brewers was also required reading.

So here is the current list for those following along at home, and for my own reference.

1. Here is New York – E.B. White
2. Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion – Gary Vaynerchuk
3. When You Are Engulfed in Flames – David Sedaris
4. Then We Came To an End – Joshua Ferris
5. Twinkie, Deconstructed – Steve Ettlinger
6. Where Have You Gone ’82 Brewers – Tom Haudricourt
7. Noisy Outlaws, Unfriendly Blobs, and Some Other Things That Aren’t Scary… – Edited by Ted Thompson
8. America, The Book – John Stewart
9. (Currently Reading) Women – Charles Bukowski

I am off to a good start so far.  It’s the midway point of January, and I have already completed three books.  My goal is to read 24 – or two per month.  I plan to post every book I read on the list below.

If you would like to read one book at the same time as me and discuss (like an actual book club), let me know.  I’ll try and post the next couple of books I plan to read as well.

1. Here is New York – E.B. White
2. Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion – Gary Vaynerchuk
3. When You Are Engulfed in Flames – David Sedaris
4. (Starting Next) Spook Country – William Gibson

Rather than focus on one of these challenges, I figured why not combine a bit of them all?  Therein lies my challenge for the new year.

Each day I will engage in at least one creative act – either in design, writing or photography.  I hope to do the Project365 most days at bare minimum.  Some months will have themes, while others (like January) will be more random.  Now that I have additional time on my hands, the early months should be easy running.

I will occasionally post some aspects of the Year of Creativity (YoC) on this page, although if you want to follow my progress, here are some better resources to do so.

Flickr photostream for my Project365 images

My twitter account

My Facebook fan page

Planning any creative projects for the New Year?  Post them in the comments below.

By late afternoon I was part of the statistic.

Working in new media I assumed my job was safer than most.  With the changing nomenclature of the industry, journalists with a technological background are in high demand.  When the company decided to eliminate the entire multimedia team yesterday, I was a bit stunned.  Still, I worked for one of the few remaining newspapers that treats technology and the web as a  nuisance rather than embracing the potential.

That is why today I begin my life as an unemployed journalist.  

Still, I am not worried about my fate.  I plan to work on some multimedia projects I had little time for in the past.  I also plan to freelance and get my side business started.   Look for lots of changes in the coming weeks.

I decided last week that 2010 would be “The year of The Dean.”  I am even more passionate about that goal now then I was then.  This has the potential to be the start of something big.

What: It’s as easy as 1-2-3

1. Copy & paste this note and tag friends you want to participate.
2. Create a 24-hour digital photo journal documenting an average weekday in your life. Share your photos through a FB album.
3. Enjoy getting to know your friends as you look through their pictures.

When: Monday, May 11 – Thursday, May 14

Why: This annual event is intended to help you really get to know your friends through an intimate peek into their “Normal Everyday Lives.” We challenge you to find beauty in the color of your office stapler or the pattern of chaos at your kitchen table after having lunch with your toddler.

It’s an exercise in taking notice of and appreciating the many small things that make up our lives through the eyes of creative photography.

Guidelines
• Document 24 hours of your everyday life on an average WEEKDAY. This is not a competition to see who leads an exciting weekend existence; please limit your photo journal to a date between Monday and Thursday.
• Shoot, shoot, shoot! Collections should have an absolute minimum of 30 photos (that’s just about 2 per waking hour of any given day).
• Post your photos and share. After your 24 hours frenzy is up, edit and select your top 30-60 photos to load into a FB photo album no later than Sunday, May 17.

Well, I decided to give it a go.  The results are below.

For the complete photo set (with additional images), check out my Flickr stream.

Songs about that “special feeling” of love are prominent in our culture.  Some are cheesy, some reflective, and others have memories associated with them.  They are the songs that shape and influance us.

As John Cusack’s character in High Fidelity points asks, “Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable, or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?”

So what are your favorite love songs?  Which ones move you — maybe bringing a tear to your eye or at least a warm feeling to your heart?  I’m looking for some favorites other than my own for a project I am working on which will eventually be revealed on this page. Please list your favorites in the comments.

MIdwesternBoy.com has successfully been moved to a new server, which means images and videos should work again.  Huzzah!  You may notice some other changes with the move:

• If you’ve bookmarked any storyies from this page, the links have changed.  I switched to smart URL’s which incorporate the date and post title.
• Upgrading to the latest version of WordPress gives me more options for the layout, which you should start seeing almost immediately.
• New categories as I venture into video game reviews and more.
• A new layout is on the way.  Really!  If nothing else I might just change to another completed template because I’m bored with this one.
• As previously mentioned, summer is at an end, which more articles are on the way.  Try to control your excitement.

Check back often or add the MidwesternBoy RSS feed to your favorite feed reader.