matt hackmann - web developer - artist - nerd

So, it would seem that I have already completed my first week at Winnercomm. I'm currently suffering from what I can best describe as culture shock. A good many things are polar opposite from how they were at Griffin. There's no phones ringing all the time, no boss interrupting every ten minutes and also it is very, very quiet. Like, I haven't really spoken to anybody all week and it seems (from where I sit) that there are no other impromptu coworker conversations breaking out. That part I kind of miss, but the quiet certainly does lend well to productivity.

I cannot say, however, that I still don't find the calm a little unnerving. Seeing how I've lived in a house with a lot of people for nearly my entire life, I've grown accustomed to the noise that comes with it. So much so, it seems, that whereas most people would notice the abundance of noise, I am keenly aware of its absence. But it's something I'd best get used to because I'll be endeavoring out on my own in just a couple of short months.

Yes, my own place. Something I've daydreamed about for quite some time (and still am doing as the time draws near). Thinking about how I'll arrange things, what kind of furniture and wall adornments I'd like, extra-house activities I can take part in, etc. It's certainly an exciting time, but also one that carries a bit of somber weight. Certainly, I've done this "moving away from home" thing before, but last time came with a fair certainty that I would be returning for some time. This time is it. The true closing of this chapter of my life and the opening of a new one with all the experiences that will come with. Like hitting the dating scene. That will certainly bring both some interesting, awesome and probably incredibly awkward moments.

And now for something completely different.

As you may or may not be aware (which would be sad if you weren't), Japan got hit by a big ol' quake yesterday. Now, usually I don't really "feel" much when these natural disasters strike. It's not that I'm cold and heartless (or maybe I am), but things Katrina, Sri Lanka or Haiti really only elicited an "oh, well that kinda sucks" feeling from me. I believe this probably stems from the fact that I have no real connection to any of these places or people (Louisiana even). But, through all the games, manga and anime I've consumed over the last few years, I've developed a deep respect for Japan, its people and its culture and I think that is why this disaster has touched me more than the others. That all said, my thoughts will be with these fine people as they pull themselves back together. I've no qualm in my mind that they will do so admirably.

As some of you may be aware, my time at Griffin New Media and the glamorous world of television is over. I will be moving on to bigger and better things at Winnercomm, doing web work for the Outdoor Channel it seems. At least it comes with a significant raise and the title of "web developer."

To commemorate the event, I thought I'd do a small photo montage to my old job as captured by my iPhone's camera.

I have managed to deprive people of my VisualBasic code for two weeks now and it looks like I'm not reversing that trend any time soon. Instead, today I'm going to present to you some things I've doodled at various points while at work. Sadly, some of my more epic doodles are in a different notepad and will not be presented here today, and seeing as I'm on vacation for the next week I can't just wait until Monday to write this. But, enough said. The artwork is after the break.

I should hardly have to mention anymore my glorious walk for free vacation time. The graph has been sitting there up at the top of my blog page slowly counting up to the grand total of 750,000. And today, one week before deadline, I have hit that total. This little exercise has added quite a bit to my life, from friendly competition with co-workers to some much needed think time. Now, to celebrate this achievement, I give you some more photos of my journeys.

As I'd briefly touched upon in an earlier post, my place of employ is currently having a little fitness competition: can you walk 10,000 steps a day for 75 days? If you reach the grand and glorious total of 750,000, you are awarded two free days of vacation. Everybody was provided with company branded pedometers to keep track of our steppings and left to our devices.

Now, I'm never one to turn down an opportunity to make money for nothing, so I'm doing my best to make a firm effort and accomplish this goal. If you take a look at the blog main page, you'll see that there is a graph with my current progress on this mission (assuming you're using an HTML5 compliant browser). As you may well notice, I'm a few thousand steps shy of my quota for this week (shame on myself).

Now, that's the boring part. The cool part (and the reason I'm posting) is the really the graph itself. Back in December I switched the site codebase over to HTML5. Now, this was mostly a change in semantics, using new tags such as <article> and <section>. I'd not done anything special with CSS3 or some of the newer, funner tags such as <video> or <audio>. One major thing I'd really not looked too much into was the new <canvas> tag, with the ability to draw images in the browser on the fly.

That all said, I needed some place to test this exciting new functionality, and making the graph was just the place. To update update said graph, all I do is modify a JSON data file with my step information, and HTML5/JS takes care of the rest. Of course, this leaves people using IE in the dust, but this site was never designed for them anyways.

So, there you have it. A fitness contest spurned my thirst for learning. Now, if IE9 could speed along and summarily obliterate the install base of all previous versions before it, life would be a joy of canvasy win!