christian ross

I Code in Tables

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My Work-flow

I’ve been meaning to do this for a while now but just hadn’t taken the time. Productivity is a huge word this day in age. I’m not sure if it stems from the problem that our attention spans have grown so short or the fact that we’ve filled our lives with so many distractions; but we know have thousands of resources at our fingertips to help us learn how to once again focus and block out distractions.

I am by no means immune to this conundrum. I am as easily, if not more, distracted than anybody else out there but I can say that slowly I think I am getting better at it. I’ve been blessed to work for myself now for almost five years and in that time frame I have been able to refine some of my processes over and over again to help aid my work-flow and hopefully allow me to get a little quicker/better at what I do so I can spend more time with the distractions that I really love.

The following is a list of software (both local and web-based) that I use almost daily for what I do. Of course some of it is directly related to my profession so you’ll probably have no need for a few but maybe you’ll find an item or two that might help you along as well. (more…)

The Art Of The Shower

Crossing the line

I’ve never seen an episode of The Hills and can only recently name two characters from the entire cast. In fact, I can’t even be sure there is a “cast” cause I don’t actually know if it is reality TV or an actual actor-driven sitcom. I am hardly qualified to speak about any of it all together.

With the introduction of the iPad this week, I was reminded that we live in an era that’s seen more technological advances in the last twenty years than we’ve probably had total in the last two millenniums. Medical advances, TVs, mobile devices, computers, the Internet and so much more. While the improvements in technology are a fantastic thing to watch for nerds like myself, they aren’t without their drawbacks.

Devices that have been created to help us connect with each other often do just the opposite and break down the lines of communication with those we care about most; our fancy tools can be used against us to feed the machine that is greed and lack of contentment; and sadly, the advancements have also encouraged a sense of entitlement for many people and given them a platform to share their views with everyone else. It’s been said before but these days, everyone has a microphone. And to be brutally honest, not all of us are deserving of one.

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Jury Summons: Your Civic Duty

Everything I know about legal proceedings, I learned on TV. Whether it was reruns of Perry Mason during my childhood or watching Jack Nicholson let us know that we can’t handle the truth, my understanding of what happened in the courtroom was carefully crafted by Hollywood directors.

I’ve heard horror stories from friends-of-friends about getting selected for week-long trials and have been informed many times over on the ins and outs of how to avoid getting selected. From what I gather, leaning as far as you can one way or another on your beliefs seems to be your most plausible way of getting the axe.

I have to wonder though, why is it we pride ourselves as a nation of the just – willing to spout off our views on the rights to a fair trial for everyone – when we wholeheartedly make every effort possible to avoid helping when our name is called? Don’t get me wrong, the thought of spending days (or worse) losing billable hours is not high on my list; but in an hour’s time in the jury room today, I came to a small realization that it is my civic duty and a responsibility I shouldn’t take light-hearted or desire to avoid. I decided that the most responsible thing I could do for my government was to answer wholeheartedly and honestly as possible. Much less, I owed it to the person on trial my best effort to give them a fair shake and could only hope that if [heaven-forbid] I were in a similar situation I would get the same.

The following is my account of my first ever jury summons and appearance. And if you’d prefer the abridged version, yes, I was selected. (more…)

2010: The Setup

In an effort to be a little more consistent in my writings, I signed up for Project52 about a month ago pledging my efforts to at least write once a week. I can easily pump out content consisting of funny videos, fashion finds and new music but this is more of committed effort to write something of substance. Hopefully in a year’s time I will be a little better in my abilities, learn ways to overcome writers block and possibly make a better connection with you.

There’s no guarantee and I’m sure that some weeks I just wont be feeling it, but by signing up there’s some accountability to be had.

Since it is still early in the new decade, I figured I’d do the standard and offer up a few things I’d like to accomplish over the next 357 days. Innovative and ground-breaking, I know. Similar to Joshua, these aren’t actual resolutions due to the fact that when 2010 ends I don’t necessarily want to leave things unresolved. Aspirations, if you will. (more…)