So here we are again. It’s May 11th (Mother’s Day) and I haven’t posted since January. Honestly doesn’t feel like that long. So here goes, an accumulated update that hopefully will be halfway interesting.
The Job Front
On February 7th, I attended an Atlanta PHP meeting as usual. This night there were a couple guys from a company called Spunlogic who were scouting for PHP developers. I spoke to them afterwards, exchanging info about our respective employers, and I made a joke that we (Cool Blue Interactive) were their competition. As it turns out, we weren’t. Spunlogic already had probably 25 developers, and a total staff of 80+.Â
So I went home kinda feeling like I’d been slapped upside the head, and the conversation kind of haunted me. I contacted them the next day and we started the employment flirting game. I had a total of three interviews with them in less than two weeks. They ended up offering me a job and I accepted.Â
So as of March 24th, I’m a Senior CSS Developer with Spunlogic. Actually, four days after coming on board, their name changed after being acquired by an even bigger firm. So I actually work for Engauge Digital now. So I’ve been there about a month and a half now, and I have to say I absolutely love it. It’s exactly what I’d envisioned a successful web firm to be. Exactly where I saw myself, only I wish it didn’t take 11 years to get here. Â
Oh, and in the time I’ve been there, we’ve already worked on GMAC Insurance, Chick-Fil-A, and a big chain of steak houses called Ruth’s Chris Steak House. Coming up is work for a dog food brand being created by a popular celebrity. Will say who it is when I can 
See some photos of the offices.
As for Brenda, she quit her job at the drug clinic a couple months ago. It’s a thankless job that’s crazy stressful and to make things worse, the management was not easy to work with, to say the least.Â
So right now she’s working part-time at a local Jo-Ann Fabrics while still looking for some things in her field. But she also is looking at design school at one of the local colleges. And she’s also back to working on jewelry and accessories. Her site can be found here, and she’ll be selling some things online at this website soon.Â
The Animals
Overall, the pets are doing very well. A few months ago, Aticus had to have medicine for some kind of thing in his eye that made them all cloudy. And just recently, we had Sasha at the vet a couple times. While she was boarded for Christmas, they saw she had a problem with a tooth, but the couldn’t pull it because she had some heart weirdness. So all the bloodwork and tests was kind of expensive so we had to let it go for the time being. Then a couple weeks ago she started having spells that looked like mini-seizures and she’d lost a lot of weight. We just thought it had something to do with the tooth and she wasn’t eating.
Turns out she has hyper-thyroidism, so we’ll have to give her a pill every day forever. But we were able to get the tooth pulled and the seizures have stopped, so I think we’re back to normal. Crazy animals.
Baseball
Yes, I’m WAY into baseball this year. Specifically the Braves, of course. We’ve been to three games so far, and are going to another this Saturday. And I make sure to watch every game we’re not attending on TV. Brenda still thinks my body has been possessed by an alien because I now know all the players’ names and their positions. Â They’ve been doing really well lately, so hopefully that will continue.
I’m A “Speaker” Now
I’m going to be a speaker at this year’s Spring Break web developer conference at Ohio University in June. On my birthday, to be precise. I’ll be giving two talks, both related to CSS and/or javascript. What’s even better, one of my idols in the field, Eric Meyer, will be the keynote speaker. I’m totally excited and terrified at the same time. I’ll be speaking about a topic about which this guy literally wrote the book on (I have three of his books). So no stress whatsoever.
Miscellaneous
Still loving Atlanta. Pollen count is high as usual, but not as bad as last year, since we’re getting some rain. I had sushi for the first time recently, and really quite liked it. Â Traffic is still a pain, but I get to my new job earlier, and get to leave earlier, so it doesn’t seem quite as bad as before. Still in the car 90 minutes a day, though.
Saw Iron Man…..twice. Yes, it’s that good. If you haven’t seen it, stop reading this and go do it. All I have to say is that Batman and Indiana Jones really have their work cut out for them. That said, Indy 4 is only 11 days away! Just hoping Spielberg and Lucas don’t completely destroy this like Lucas killed Star Wars.
So that’s all I can think of for now. I may add to this as I remember anything noteworthy. Will try to post more often.Â