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In response to this I've started playing EVE Online thereby killing any free time I may have. Perhaps xb95 can give me some pointers?

Meet Optimus Prime and Megatron, my two badass kittens. They're brothers and partners in crime. They spend half their time being cute and the other half being complete bitches. Allow me to illustrate, I have a spare mattress and no where to put it so I prop it against a wall. My kittens apparently decide to be ninjas and start reenacting scenes from Cliffhanger.


( Amazing... )

I know I'm a bit late, but I figured I'd post this anyway for those of you who aren't cool.

Here's a hint

Blah, Mondays. Too much partying this past weekend. Woke up with a headache and a kitten on my face. Proofed the second revision of the Frank mosaic poster and sent that to the press so that'll go into production within the next couple days for those of you who already ordered one. I'm working on graphical shiznitt for LJ all week and some stuff for TypePad as well. I'd really like to get back into making layouts now that I've learned from my mistakes in Cuteness Attack and my knowledge of S2 has increased dramatically. But that's on low priority right now and I've got a bunch more pressing deadlines to meet. I've been working on a new layout for myself whenever I have free time at home. It's going to kick major ass, it'll literally blow your socks off clear across the room and then back on your feet. Literally.

I spent yesterday afternoon studying some css trickery and looking for design inspiration. Trying to experiment with different styles and finding one of my own. I'm trying to create a layout that's unique on LJ, not just some giant anime picture with some grudge brush effects. I've been studying up a lot on industrial design so I can better understand how to reinforce form and function.

It's a rare moment when I actually find the time and the energy to create something that's just for me, so when I do I want everything to be perfect. That's probably why my computer is filled with unfinished projects. I have notebooks filled with ideas and sketches. Hopefully some time in the future I can sit down and actually manifest all the ideas that I have. Some of them I think are quite good, others are just fun things to poke at, and most of them are out of the scope of my ability. But what's important is that I have these ideas and they are genuinely mine and some day I'll have the skills to make them real and I will show them to the world and it will rock. Hard.

Interested in blogging? Are you going to be in the San Francisco Bay Area on September 24-25th? Then maybe you should check out Webzine 2005.

brad, ljkrissy, revmischa, technopatra, and myself will be representing the LJ crew along with some Six Apart folks at the Webzine 2005 conference. brad is going to be one of the panelists there and we'll have our own little table to convert... spread the LJ love. Come meet the LJ staff and get an autograph, although it's probably not worth anything and my signature sucks. We'll have some goodies to share and I think they're serving alcohol at the event as well, so all in all, it's going to be a good time.

Tickets are $22 or $30 at the door for the weekend pass, $13 or $18 at the door for a 1-day pass. Event lasts from Noon to 6PM both days and it's taking place at the Swedish American Hall. It's going to be a grand ole time! Oh yeah, and it's 18 and over, sorry youngins.

We need to stop black babies from dying...silly bus stop advertising.

Legal disclaimer: I do not hate black babies. I, in fact, don't hate any babies in general at all.

Most of you might be too young to remember or actually had a life when you were little, but does anyone remember that show called, "Mathnet"? That show was the shit. It ended in like 1992. I've been trying to remember the name of it for months and I've finally figured it out just now. I'm so stoked. It's about these two detective, Frankly and Monday, who solve crimes using math. Instead of guns they carry calculators and whip them out in times of need to catch would-be criminals. I must find episodes to watch now. Must.

I'm such a nerd.

Anyway, today at la maison de LJ I'm drawing goats, Frank the Goat to be specific. Working with ljkrissy and rynfitz on some stuff to improve the community experience here on LiveJournal. I've been studying up a lot on Frank lately; what his persona is and the image he serves on this site. He's had some ups and downs, but since I've started working here, he's definitely played a more prominent role maybe because of the makeover I gave him. There exists two franks, the classic sideview version you see on the front page all the time and my version when he requires a bit more personality. Frank is a goat with few words, but he makes up for it with his charming smile and his charismatic aura. He bodies the spirit of the "cool guy" in highschool, mysterious and funny, but lovable. I think both versions will always exist on LJ. The classic version because he represents LJ's down to earth nature and open source qualities along with his new look because it represents the fun and enjoyment that can be had on LJ. I've gotten a lot of positive responses for the new version which is a big sigh of relief for me. I'm glad that both Franks can be used interchangeably and people will still love him no matter what.

I hope I'm still around to see Frank evolve, he's grown very dear to me. We're always coming up with new Frank ideas and I love doing them. I may have to introduce some of Frank's friends at some point or maybe a Frank comic strip. All I know is that him and I are like this *crosses fingers*. Where ever you see him, I won't be far behind.

Working from home today which of course means.....no pants!

I'm prepping the Frank Mosaic so we can make prints of it. What are we going to do with these prints? Give em away? Put them up in the gift shop? My guess is we're going to order 3,000 of them and immediately burn them in sacrifice to the almighty LJ God.

I came into the office today and thought to myself, "Pfft? Part-time? Fuck that, I can do better." So I signed the paper work today and starting next month I'll be a full-time employee here at Six Apart. I got a nifty title change from Intern to Junior Designer. *final fantasy level up music* Some day I hope to be an Omega Ultratron Designer. It really doesn't mean much, I mean, I'm working full-time now, but it gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside to know that I'm official. I feel like wearing a badge on my shirt that says, "I rule!" But I won't cause that would be arrogant so instead I'll whisper it and pat myself on the back.

Extra bonus! Check out my dizzesk where all the magic happens and dreams come true.

Meh, I have to go back to school in less than 2 weeks. That sucks majorly. I've got fine art painting and some other boring classes. Wonderful, not exactly my style, but I'm all about learning new skills. My internship officially ends the beginning of September but I'll be sticking around and working part time indefinitely, hooray! That means another internship may be opening up to fill in the hours I can't work. Either way, the internship this summer has certainly been a rewarding experience, I've gotten a lot of much needed hands on experience and a feel for what to expect and not to expect in this industry. And most importantly, I've learned a lot about the measure of my skills and my weaknesses in a work environment.

School is going to be a breeze this semester, if there's anything I've learned from the internship, it's how to multi-task and come up with ideas/solutions quickly. There's still a lot to be learned in school, as much as I hate it, and I'm very excited to see how my skills will compare with my peers and especially my teachers (who some I feel are somewhat under qualified to be teaching what I need to know). I consider myself very lucky to have had the opportunity to learn here at Six Apart and the knowledge gained will definitely give me a jumpstart into this upcoming school year. Even though the Summer is winding down, the work flow certainly hasn't. We've still got some really cool projects that I'd preferably like to get done before I start school.

I'd like to take the opportunity though to thank everyone for being so awesome and supporting me, especially those who have been around with me since day one. I've met a lot of cool and, how should I say... "interesting people". I never really considered myself as being popular on LJ, but you guys have certainly made me feel really special and that's just a testament to how strong LJ's userbase is and lends to the fact that it's you, the user, that makes LJ such a vibrant melting pot of people and an awesome place to be. I'm very proud to be working here and look forward to learning more and working hard to improve your experience on the most kickass site on the web.

The entire LJ team is together for the very first time ever! We're having a fancy dinner right now.

riffraff IM'd me yesterday with a great style feature idea. Friend groups are a great way to organize your friends page if you've got a butt load of friends, but right now they're kind of a pain in the ass to use because you either have to bookmark your friends group or navigate to the friends group page. So riffraff asked if there was a way to integrate friend groups into your journal. So I'm experimenting with the idea right now. If you hover over my Friends link you'll notice that my friend groups will show up in a side menu, you can click to view any of the filters or just click on the Friends link to view them all.

Any S2 experts know if there's a way to get a user's group info? Right now it's just a customization option where you enter in the title and url of the friend group.

Woo! I can post from my phone!

The LiveJournal team was up at 6AM PST this morning doing a code push to add new features to LJ so everyone give them props. Some really awesome changes that you should check out like Manage -> Payments and the new Gift Shop, I won't give out any details yet until the news post is done, but feel free to discover on your own. I need to tweak the graphics in the Gift Shop a little bit so it doesn't look like the thumbs up dude is flipping people off along with various other small changes. There's also another surprise if you view someone else's user info. Can you find all the new features?

Also, be sure to check out ljkrissy's new project, lj_spotlight which showcases the cool things people are doing with LJ and feedback where you can answer polls and leave suggestions about what you'd like to see.

And lastly, since we've hit our 8 million user account mark, let's go for an even 10 million now. Know anyone that doesn't have an LJ? Well get them one! Get one for your friends, family, pet, grandma, rock, potato, whatever! Spread the LJ love. Show 'em how to use communities and friends and why blogging is so cool.

I made a little LiveJournal badge if anyone is so inclined to using it:

Paste the html code below into your Journal, sidebar, profile, website, forum, or anywhere that accepts html really.
<a href="http://www.livejournal.com"><img src="http://stat.livejournal.com/img/ljbadge.png"></a>

You like? Should I make more? I've become ever so good at drawing Frank the Goat lately.

Over 8,000,000 accounts have now been created on LiveJournal! Hooray! In celebration of this octo-rific number I've created a cool little graphic that you'll see soon. But until then, let's do some math! (Boo) 


LiveJournal has been around for roughly 6 years now.
That's 365 (Days in a year) X 6 (Years) + 1 (Leap Year day) = 2,191 Days.
2,191 (Days) x 24 (Hours in a day) = 52,584 (Total Hours)
52,584 (Hours) X 60 (Minutes in an hour) = 3,155,040 Minutes
3,155,040 (Minutes) X 60 (Seconds in a minute) = 189,302,400 Seconds
Whew.
Next let's divide 8,000,000 (Accounts) by 189,302,400 (Seconds) which equals rougly .04 (Accounts per second)
Finally, let's get rid of that ugly decimal by multiplying .04 (Accounts per second) times 25 (Seconds).

Now, using my superior intellectual prowess, I can deduce this amazing fact:

*A LiveJournal account is created every 25 seconds.

Doesn't that just make your monocle pop out? I know mine did.

I'd like to thank my 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Gold, for teaching me math with big numbers although I think this is the first time I actually needed it.

*Fact based on average over 6 years. Maybe 2 accounts are created every 25 seconds and no accounts are created the following 25 seconds. It just sounds cooler when it's simplified to absolutes. Why are you reading this? Stop looking at me in that tone of voice.

Using the Bloggish layout, you can now port over designs from TypePad (This is TypePad's Beckett Theme). That's way cool. It's a little rough around the edges but the concept is cool. Way to go Brad!

In other news, I'm a little behind on LJ work this past month, sorry guys. I've been so caught up in other work that LJ themes from me fell through the cracks this month. But I've reprioritized and I'm more determined than ever before so that means the next release will be even more awesome.

I'm always up for suggestions or concerns so hit me up if you're bored or have something to say. Peace out.