AntoineRJWright.com

A Blessing to Be Thankful For
I have to say that today was a day wheree I both received and was able to be a blessing. First I received a blessing from my friend Emilie (see the photos for her) when she gave to me her old computer. I haven't put things together yet, but I shall be able to get back into web dev on a computer soon and that does excite me.

Then I weent to visit my mom at work where she is about to retire (end of week). She has worked for Verizon longer than I have been alive and is most definitely deserving of a break. Go mom!!!

Then I went to visit my friends Matt and Jeanna (pics in the gallery of them too) and saw their son and 3month old daughter. They are really a beautiful family and God really has taken care of them thru some rough times. It was great to spend time with them and then play with Zeke, the 2 (or 3) yr old dino lover :-)

That was a great day I do have to say. Thanks be to God for blessings all over the place.
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Tis Another Day
Tis another day, another day doing the job searchy thing, and another day to kinda rest some. The presentation went well last nite (at least I hope so). And then I also learned a good bit too.

On the way to making sure that the rest of this day is in right standing with God. Tis another day, but another blessed one.
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Looking Forward
I have been working on a presentation for tomorrow and have to say that I am both excited and nervous about it. It will be at Howard County Community College where I will be talking about the mobile and accesible web. Not too sure of the audience, but for me I can get excited about this stuff.

Now, a link to the presentation will be from the main page (well maybe the portfolio drop down here too). Once I load it onto the Treo and give it a good run thru, I will upload it via Dragon Edit. That will be kinda kool.

Right now though, a bit of rest and a video or two. I need to finish my HTML resume for my day tomorrow, as well as continue to prep for the presentation. I am looking forward to what can be the best day yet of life after my old job. And at the same time, today has been a blessing that I am very grateful for.
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A Sunday Morning Thought
I know, I need to be in bed now. And before I picked Kyera up from work, I was. But I had a thought some time ago and I better get it down now while it is that I am thinking about it.

I don't want to get into bad mouthing my previous work experrience here. Not to say that this is my site and I have every right to do so. But it is not fair to the many people who put up with me, and those people who do appreciate me. To them, I want to make sure that I am speaking those things that are honorable, as well as truthful. No names ever get mentioned here, at least I hope that I have not been so low to do so. And at the same time, I do express silently what it is that I am dealing with here at times.

So in short, if I spoke about you and offened you, I apologize. Tis not my intent to use this site as a backhanded place to speak.

Off to bed now. Kids to adults to young adults is my day. Tis a long one, and now I have some fresh batteries to go with me.
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I gotta take a live item off of my portfolio link seeing what was done to the site. Wow, when you leave a place, people sure to make sure to make sure that you look like trash. Unfortunately, I still have my copies of the original site, and so things won't look so bad once I get to put them on my server here. Until then, the PGC Expo site link is dead here.Read More

Out But In
I walked out of work today. Not so much because I was tired of it, but because I was fatigued from all that has been going on. And I know, its borderline legal to talk about your job on your personal blog. And I am not at all on here to grill anyone or anything. But the processes there are more than what I have been able to bear for sometime. And regardless of the current issues (and my own physical ones), this was something that I needed to just do.

And so I am out. Out of a job. Last time it was a long time before getting another one. I have no idea how long it will be this time. But I have nothing to do but rely on God. He gave me this Treo, and for that I am working on it as best I can to make something happen. Who knows, maybe the computing revolution that Mobile Ministry Magazine is will once again break into me a lot more. It's already happened with the lack of a laptop. And now I get to press in a lot more. Gotta love that I am not a European, but using this tech in a very European way.

And in. Into His face. Into His heart. Into my own heart. This is not one of those I am right and they are wrong. My character is at trial, and many questions have not been answered well. Tis ok. I am growing and learning, and when I know, I answer with what I know I have been given. That's the only way that I know to be; out of the norm, but in to the flow.
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A New Begining of Sorts
So, if you are coming here then you can see that I have started the process of creating the new site and taking that which was personal and pushing it to the back. I struggled with the idea of whetheer I would get rid of e entire Blogger site or not, but in the end to have a personal site that I can come to and have as my own is most definitely needed.

So, what do you think of the color scheme and other doodles here. Its a close image to what the main site will be looking like - at least in colors.

The other part of this new begining is that bible study tonite talking about the sovergnity of God. I gotta tell you, tis a powerrful concept and one that makes me reevaluate all that I do. In some ways, makes me want to drop everything; and in others makes me want to pick everything up. God is in control, tis the beginning of my thoughts at the end of this nite.
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So Who Am I
No, really. This is something that just ran thru my mind as I was reading this guy Om Malik's blog (sorry, no link, I just wanna write). You see, the thing I noticed is that in the time that he has been given, he has really helped to point the direction towards where media is looking towards the next big thing (in terms of the Internet and broadband). And even still, to that end he is taking the step into launching a new startup that is supposed to be his personality plus.

I looked at that and said really quietly, "who am I?" I am a writer. Have been doing it for BargainPDA/Brighthand for over three years. I have started and unstarted doing freelance webdeisgn, and then there is MMM. I really cannot say that I have done something to change the world (at least I do not think so), and so I start AntoineRJWright.com again soon with a refined focus and maybe some tricks (pending me getting the time to do them all, or ask for the help in those areas). This is who I am in some respect, yet I wonder if whom I am is what is needed, or something else (all my knowledgable folks will say "Jesus" and so I agree).

No, my site will not be like his. I will be like the previously (double mentioned) Accessites and somehing like a Engadget/PalmAddict/MMM thing. But it will be different, and to a group that is already well formed in knowing how to create, just not how the Creator fits in there. I know that this is something different that I bring to the table, but I do have to ask, "who am I to do it?"
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Sometimes They Just Don't Get It
Yesterday, I wrote about a new site that I found called Accessites. One of those things that really impressed me was the very passion that came across in their design and content towards those things accessible, usable, and pretty. I really wish that I had a client like that, or even to a larger extent an employer whom I'd be able to speak and design like that towards.

One of the things that I am noticing though isn't the lack of passion the make something usable and accessible, but the fact that it is so hard to sell it to people until they themselves are effected. I think often about how to present the amount of content that people want to see, and at the same time make it fluid enough that it would be something worth looking at before the visual and audio gimicks come into play (speaking of shading, sparkling, blinking, scrolling and fading). There is so much to design that when it is done that it is really simple, and that makes for a much, much better experience of a website, than just getting the informaiton because it is there.

This is also, of course, one of those things that is going thru my mind now as I consider this site's redeisgn. Not so much the how, bceause I know it will be a CSS driven piece. But, moreso the ability of AntoineRJWright.com to convince and fully express to those that do not know, the passion of making something that nearly everyone can enjoy. Sure, as an artist you have to have that brain of doing it because you like it, but it really does mean more when it is something so designed that it can really elevate someone else's abilities and perceptions of how God is working things out for them.

Tis a shame that this is something that many governments and companies just do not get.
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Getting There, Accessites.org
Ok, so I am not as far along in the new design as I wanted to be. And part of that is because some moments I have been flat out uninspired. But that tends to happen here and there. And where I used to have a game of NBA Live that would spark me, now I just have to pray it out and see what happens.

The other part of that is the beta web dev software I am testing on my Treo had not been working. It was only about a half hour ago when I figured out why, and so now I can play with a nearly Dreamweaver-like environment on my PDA. Now I know, some of you say DW is a kiddie wweb dev tool, but its usability is hands down the best out there. This program being developed for PalmOS PDAs will be just as well done, and made for mobile devices.

Found a neat site via the CSS Weblog called Accessites. While at first I thought it was just an accessilbity site, it was a lot more as I began reading. It was a showcase of really well done accessible sites. Accessites has this grading system, that seems pretty strigent, as to what and how they rate sites. I tell you, even with the PGC Expo site that I have just done thinking that it was accessible enough and well designed, this site showed me a few things. Check it out and get sparked on something accessible and beautiful at the same time.
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Chillin and Mobile
Here at FedEx Kinkos, but not on the tabletPC as I am here with Kyera. I realzied though that even without the wifi, I can sit here and nail out a lot of emails and posts. MMM just got a few of them that werer really good.

I had been wanting to start with working more on the redesign this weekend, but in trying the new beta of Dragon Edit on my Treo, I was getting an error message, and so I had to take it off of my device for now. So when a new version of that beta comes out that is nice and stable, I will go ahead and get started again. It will be neat to see what new changes are there, as I haven't been able to pay as much attention to the forum posting about it at 1src.

I sometimes wonder how much I really need a laptop, and then I go view sites that I have designed and they look horrible on this mobile browser. If there were a way to improve the CSS/HTML support on this browser, that would be great.

So what more about accessiblity and design comes to mind. One of the things for me is CMS, or content management systems. Its really hard to do a website nowadays without one. There is sometimes too much that goes on with webpages that means for making dynamic webpages that just need to be easy to update. Add to that I don't think that people want to do a lot of coding, shoot, I don't, and so that need for a system that faclitates that is needed. If a new CMS that I have been privy to comes off really well, then it might be that this site, as well as MMM and many future sites that I do, would be run with it. Here's hoping that accessiblity happens in that respect too.
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The Joy Fellowship Brings
I have to say that I am somewhat happy, even though it is nearing midnight and I am tired yet still awake. That reason is for the fellowship that bible study tonite brought. It wasn't that I really waasnt for going, but I really considered taking the night off and not driving as much. But per the usual as what it seems my Wednesdays are now, God used my tiredness and the opportunity of His word to speak to me things that I needed to hear. Its for that reason that I can say that fellowship tonite gave some joy.

Now of course, I am sitting here afterwards and looking to ease down from the drive home so that I can rest. But that is ok. I am usually a bit wired after a drive.

Had a good conversation today about MS and Google and where each were. The other side of the convo stated that Google has a lot to do to ursurp MS. I disagreeed stating that common assertition that a market leader that coppies the up and comer usually means that dominance is shifting. Google has a really interesting stragety and it just might be something that really works well for them in the long term. They are willing to take chances, and willing yet to beta test, while at the same time making something that people will want to use. Tis a good idea if I ever made one.

Well, tis all for now. As you can tell, I am still in transistion of this site to a more techie web dev site, than one that just speaks about me. I hope to do something big soon, as I am falling behind a bit in terrms of development. But who knows, maybe a new computer will come and I will be able to make something a lot faster. LOL
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The site has not changed yet, but I have been just twiddling today with the idea of how to go about things via the Treo. I like what sites such as StopDesign have done in terms of making a very friendly mobile layout. And that is something that is in my head from the get go. At the same time, I want the mobile version to be more content functional, not just pretty. That part is hard in terms of how I want to really do this design. I don't even have a layout just yet, and the layouts that I have been playing with are too normal.

All the fun that goes into changing a site, gotta love it.Read More

Early Morning Thoughts
While it is the early morning and I fought thru the rain to go to and come back from PA Friday nite, I can say that for the most part that I am pleased with this week. As I was on the phone with a friend I realized that being content does not really mean that I am lax about where I am, but I am active in knowing what I am to do or at least getting into Dad's face about what to do. This has been relieving for me, as work and life have been some weird curveballs.

I meant to swap out this design today, and nearly did so. Until I forgot that I have things setup as this site being a container for the blog area. Of course, I changed the template and things did not go, and I was only left to have a good laugh at myself. This is of course why I want to change the site, to make it easy to make those kinds of changes, versus what I do now in redoing everything (content and design). The goal is a CSS Zen Garden approach where the content can stay the same and I can play with those things in a design side of things. Tis more fun that way.

I figure that I will get a chance today to start some coding for the new site. I have a logo in mind, but not able to really do it on the Treo just yet. I don't know how to at this time. I will figure something out, because this site will have to been a vine out to others to encourage and teach them as well.

Keep praying for your teachers and pastors. They need encocuragement from everywhere, not always to give to everyone else.

Tis all for now. A bit more web then the bed for me. My RSS reads are getting biggeer and bigger and I like that there is just so much out there.

New Yahoo website, go check it out. The Yahoo Tech site is also pretty sweet too.

Peace.
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Now Outa Work to Post Some
I have to say that I am finally somewhat happy after a day of work. First time in a few weeks that I have been able to be so busy that I cannot say that I have bee bored. This is a good thing, and while I did spend the better part of the day doing documentation and setting up projects, I did get in some development and homework and ran across more than a few new sites - all of which I have added to my RSS listing that I use to view sites on my Treo.

The first of those sites was probably the most impressive. I came across it while just doing some reading at The Vitamin. The site is called Stop Design and talks a lot about the upper edges of website design, accessiblity, and usability. The way that this site conveys its message is very well done, and the person that runs the sight seems to be very well spoken as well. He mentioned on his site that he had been contracted by Google for a while and is now working full time with them. I noticed in his portfolio that he worked on Blogger's redesign as well as some other sites that I have recently found. Very, very kool.

The other websites I won't speak so much about now. There will be time to do that later. Right now, I will enjoy the cake and tea I have here at the tea cafe, and just enjoy the fact that I can rest some. Even if it still is on a computer and still posting here and there.
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