2008 - Christmas On Mars - Trailer from Irreversibility on Vimeo.

Been waiting a long time for this. I’m such a nerd.

After about six months of goofing off online pretty much every night after my kids go to bed, I’m actually getting kind of sick of the Web. I’ve exhausted YouTube’s selection of classic punk rock performances. I’ve followed the elections religiously through newsfeed after newsfeed. I’ve done a ton of tutorials on using Django to build a Web site (and I still don’t get it). I’ve even played around with some online dating sites. Sure there’s porn, but is there anything really left to see.

After all this mindless surfing, I’ve decided that what I really need in my life is more human interaction and maybe to watch TV occasionally. That’s what has been so great about potlucks lately. I get to spend a few hours with people I genuinely like and care about, enjoy some good food, and no carpal tunnel syndrome.

That being said, this is how I make my living - designing Web sites, so I can’t let myself get too cynical, but I’m making a conscious effort to spend less time in front of the monitor and more time out in the real world. Of course, I’ll still be blogging about everything I do in the real world at my other site, http://www.breakfastfordinner.com, so it’s really not much of an effort, now is it?

I’m happy to announce that one of my hair-brained ideas is finally seeing the light of day. BreakfastForDinner.net is my new site/blog about issues relating to single dads. I looked around and couldn’t find the type of site that would appeal to me as a single father, so I’m creating one. Hopefully, it will be a fun place for others like me to get some ideas, pancake recipes, or just waste some time and get their mind off the daily grind of meals, dishes, and laundry.

I got back yesterday evening from a one-day whirlwind trip to the Texas Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors Conference in Austin, Texas where I gave a presentation with Brooks Bennett from Round Rock, Texas and Dave Kuhn from Garland. I’d like to take a moment to thank my co-worker Clark for telling Brooks I have a mancrush on him. (What can I say he’s dreamy when he talks about PHP and bitrates) They tell me the presentation should be available some time for download at http://www.tatoa.org/reference.html#presentations. I think the presentation went really well, and I had a great time meeting everyone.

I flew into Austin Thursday around lunchtime and flew back Friday at 5 p.m. I packed a lot into those few hours in the state capitol. It was great spending some time with Jake Starkey from Missouri City (formerly of Denton) who I hadn’t seen in a couple years. It was also a lot of fun meeting people from around the state. Thursday was a night of pretty heavy drinking and debauchery as usual when I get together with Keith, Felix and company.

The flight back Friday was a truly harrowing experience. The plane had a cabin pressure problem that made the 30-minute flight excruciatingly painful. During the landing, many of us were fighting to stay conscious as the pressure was unbearable. Then after making a somewhat bumpy but safe landing at DFW Airport, the flight attendant announced that they were sorry for the pain and dizziness we all experienced, but they all experienced it too including the pilots. That’s exactly what I wanted to hear. I hope I don’t have to fly again for a very long time.

Thanks to everyone who attended our presentation or helped me feel like more than the token web guy in a party for video pros.