My daughter does indeed show her happy face!

If there is anything we can learn from our children, it is that perspective makes a world of difference. Isn’t it amazing how different a given situation can appear between observing it from the outside and actually experiencing it? This concept has taken on a new level of application in our household with the adoption of our youngest child’s “Happy Face”.

This representation of jubilation is quite accurately portrayed in the picture above, but it typically comes only after a prompting of, “Where is your Happy Face?” Interestingly enough, the perspective of which I speak is well suited to this very expression of joy. You see, as a two year old, she has not yet come to grips with the fact that simply announcing her happiness or pasting a smile on her face does not convince mom and dad that she is indeed happy.
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Another Christmas is here, and through all the hustle and bustle, I’ve been really challenged as to remembrance of the true meaning of this favorite of holidays. Rather than trying to write up something witty in a blog post, I thought the following would suffice. I hope you all have a great day!

Christmas morn is here at last,
And my wallet is stripped of cash.
The presents ‘neath the tree await
My children’s early morning bash.

As paper flies and boxes are opened,
Little eyes light up with joy.
But through it all, we oft forget
The birth of a little baby boy.

This humble birth we recognize
While stories we read and carols sing,
Yet we lose the meaning of the nativity
As the virgin birth of Christ the King!

So, this year, midst all the stuff,
As presents are opened and children play,
Remember God’s precious gift to us:
The birth of Christ that first Christmas day.

As with much of what I do, the publishing of my new article, covering a definition and study of simulation games, was somewhat delayed, but it is now live. I have the privilege to work with a great managing editor for this, my first article on Bright Hub. Why was it delayed? Well, partially due to the fact I was overly cautious about length (keeping it short enough) and ended up leaving out a few details that really helped the whole article gel a little better. After some encouragement from my editor, I basically ignored the word limit on which we had previously agreed and ended up 20% longer than planned. While the length was variable, the final product was something upon which we both agreed was much more coherent and comprehensive than before. While I still had plenty more I wanted to say about the topic, I am quite pleased with how the article turned out. See it for yourself here: From Planes to Pets to People: The Growth and Breadth of Simulation Games.

While the post may be a little delayed in coming, the sentiment is still the same. What reminds us of those things for which we have to be thankful more than spending time with friends and family? Over the holiday weekend, my family was blessed to have been inundated with friends and family – and more turkey than one should eat in a year. On Thursday, after a rather hectic morning I won’t get into at this time, we had the privilege of spending the afternoon and evening at our pastor’s house with several other families from the church. We ate, talked, laughed, ate, played some games and ate some more. All in all, it was your typical Thanksgiving day, but this was only the start to our weekend.
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As many of you are well aware, writing is something that has been on my mind for years, and though I have been told I have a proficiency at it (when I put my mind to it), I had not spent much time actually pursuing any writing opportunities – until now. First, as I wrote about earlier this year, I had an opportunity to write a little blurb for Kotaku and try to win a chance to help them cover E3 this year. While I did win that contest (though I can’t sneeze at placing third), it ignited my desire to write again, and I have put a little more effort into it recently. Predominantly, I have just put a little more thought and proofing into my blog posts, since that is really the only place I could send prospective editors for published work, but this seems to have started generating a little interest.
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Something has been bothering me for some time, and I finally took the time to resolve the issue once and for all – relatively speaking. As mentioned in my previous post, I have had opportunity to work with multiple different JavaScript libraries, and I often find myself running behind on the newest bug fixes for a given module. Many of the library development teams offer a nightly build available to checkout via SVN or Git (usually by way of GitHub), and I devised a way to automatically update my shared repositories among all the domains on my server. While not rocket science, nor an entirely new idea to most of you, it is quite helpful to me, and I thought I’d share my method here.

There are actually four steps involved with this update, so I apologize in advance if this gets too long.

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Often I have been asked which JavaScript library I prefer over all other, and the answer is not as easily orated as one might expect. Occasionally, I actually find someone willing to spend the time and thought involved with seeing the answer through to its conclusion. To avoid any undue future banter, I thought I would put my thoughts concerning the matter down in writing and simply reference this post when the topic is breached.

No, this will not be a comprehensive discussion and review of all available JavaScript libraries, but hopefully it will be sufficient to drive people to view the topic with a bit more of an open mind. Also, I must alert those who have come looking for a definitive answer from me: you will not receive a single library of choice here, but rather you will be given some insight to different perspectives requiring careful consideration when each library is being reviewed.
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One of the most amazing things in the history of technology must be the ability of working remotely. Take a moment and consider what the ramifications of this step in employment progress. To anyone who has worked a regular office job for any length of time, the enticement of being able to work from home is quite alluring. However, having some moderate experience with this phenomenon myself, I realize that beneath the shiny facade, all is not ponies and rainbows.

For those that are not aware, let me first quickly share my experience with you. Having worked on various freelance and contract projects for about three years, I began my professional career as a lead web developer in the educational realm where I never even considered working remotely as an option. Simply adjusting to the life of the desk dweller was enough to keep me busy for the three years I was there.
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In gaming, the challenge always seems to be bigger, bolder and badder when it comes to graphics, but why hasn’t anyone really tapped the PC market with full multi-panel display support? This question came to mind again today when I saw this amazing 43″ curved display. I can only imagine the satisfaction of playing a flight simulator or racing game with two of these bad boys side by side providing a true panoramic display.
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Interestingly enough, we have been contacted recently for a possible West Coast Guam Reunion sometime now that we are out here, and I have to say I’m rather excited about the possibilities. For one thing, it will require me brushing the dust off of the guamreunion.com domain and actually coming up with a theme and content that will be useful and usable. Part of that step, though, will be coming up with a basic WordPress theme that will be functional and easily maintained, and that is where I’m hoping my reader base will come in.

I have the know-how to create a WP theme, but in the realm of graphic design, a guru I am not. I’m hoping that some of you may have some experience and ideas on how best to capture a good design for this type of site and may be willing to pass your ideas along to me (preferably in the form of a PSD). So, Brade, Danny, Kammer (et all), I hope you are reading this!
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