Robots Don’t Sleep

Lately, I have found that discomfort has been a central theme in my journey in self-discovery… not as an absolute, but rather as a guiding force. To be fair, I must admit that I am still trying to find the right balance between respectful professionalism and a joking sense of humorless non-awareness. There is a reason that I find awkward comedies such as Arrested Development, 30 Rock, and The Office absolutely hysterical — because I know that I have not only been in, but also have the potential to create such awkward fits of self-illusion in my own little maladjusted excuses of a world.

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With MIX09 come and gone, I am back home in California loving the cooler weather. I realize that the kind of lifestyle that I experienced while I was in Vegas was fun, but ultimately I am glad that my stay was only 4 days. Any longer than that, and it would not have been fun anymore. Now, I am eagerly anticipating my first trip to San Francisco next week! I will be there on behalf of my company and Microsoft to show off some multitouch demos with Windows 7. I have been told that I will just be sitting there at a booth, giving demos. I know, I know, that sounds a bit boring, but it’s something that I’ve never done before and it will give me yet another chance to work on my social interaction and networking skills. Additionally, San Francisco will be significantly more low-key than Vegas, which is definitely a plus in my mind.

Oh yeah, yesterday was also my birthday. So, I am now 22 years old. Cue confetti!

This year, my birthday was significantly more laid-back than last year. As of this time last year, I was recovering from a long night with friends crawling bars in Albuquerque. I also had to buy a new phone because I dropped mine into a toilet that I decided was a good place to pass out; definitely memorable, but not something I’d like to relive. This year, I decided that I wanted good sushi, some good sake, and some wine. I got exactly that, plus I caught up on two episodes of Lost. Overall, it was a very relaxing, enjoyable, calm birthday.

On a final note, I just realized today that my blog is the first search result for “Ryan Abreu” on Google. Very interesting. I really need to keep this blog in top form if it is going to come up every time that someone Googles my name. That means no more late-night drunk posting. That means more meaningful content. That means more posts!

So watch out, internet. I may just follow the footsteps of my friend Joshua Arnold and start shaping my online identity. Does that mean I need to completely redesign my blog? Does that mean I need to start geeking out in my posts? What do you think? How does someone reshape their online identity when it’s clear that their personal site is no longer so personal?

I wanted to post a quick update to show off a slightly facelifted blog. I mostly fixed a lot of css issues that I had been meaning to fix, as well as adding a Twitter widget on my sidebar. I was partially inspired by Josh’s recent blog facelift, so thanks Josh for letting me critique your designer skills. Anyway, I need to go to bed. I hate this stupid time change… it’s completely unnecessary and I hate adjusting to it.

“I’ve got knives in my eyes.”
- Brendan Frye, “Brick“

Also, as a not-so-quick aside, I’d like to point out how much I loathe IE CSS hacks. I am also completely disgusted at Microsoft’s decision to give Internet Explorer 8 a “compatibility mode” so that people can continue to view websites the way IE7 rendered them. Super job at trying to push web standards, guys. There is also a recent CoDe Magazine that is entirely dedicated to IE8, and one of the big articles tries to explain their reasons behind making that decision. Honestly, If I had a birdcage, I would line it with that article.

One last thing - IE Developer Toolbar sucks!

That is all.

This isn’t exactly news, but regardless, I am very excited. Please bear with me.

I am well aware that this may not mean anything to anyone that may read this blog, but I have something special to announce. I have waited at least a month to say this, but I am very excited to announce that in less than 2 weeks, I will be making a trip to Las Vegas, Nevada! I was lucky enough to receive a free ticket to MIX, a Microsoft conference that has a strong focus on the correlation between current internet technologies and design. The talks are presented by very high-profile speakers in the industry, and I actually follow a lot of these guys on twitter, or I subscribe to their blogs on Google Reader.

The code that I write is lagely inspired by the things that these people write! I know it’s super nerdy but c’mon!

I am not only excited to make my first trip to the real Vegas, but I am really looking forward to the chance to network with some of these bigwigs in the industry. I can’t believe that this opportunity just fell in my lap out of nowhere. At the same time, however, I am extremely humbled at the fact that I will be representing my company (along with my CEO and boss) at such a huge technology event. I have even considered entering in a Rock Band competition.

Besides the fact that I haven’t worked with very many web-based technologies as of late, I still believe that I have an interest in where a lot of the current trends are going. For example, I have been doing Silverlight 2 work on and off, as well as giving talks at SoCal Code Camps and participating in Silverlight labs in Irvine. Most of the talks that I am planning on attending are either Silverlight 3 or Expression Blend related, and I have been advocating on the behalf of Silverlight almost nonstop since it was released a few months ago.

It’s time to switch to the dark side, Actionscript Nazis!

Wow… haha. But seriously, all joking aside, I think that this year’s MIX Conference will be extremely rewarding and I’m very lucky to be given the chance to attend such an event so early on in my career.  To make this blog post that much more boring, here are some of the sessions that I am planning on attending:

• What’s New in Microsoft Silverlight 3
• Integrating Microsoft Expression Blend with Adobe Creative Suite
• How’d they do it?  Real App.  Real Code.  Two Weeks.  Nothing but .NET (Scott Hanselman!!!)
• From Concept to Production: Microsoft Expression Blend
• User Experience Design Patterns for Business Applications with Microsoft Silverlight 3
• Consuming Web Services in Microsoft Silverlight 3
• Deep Zoom++ : Build Dynamic Deep Zoom application with Open Source
• Touch and Gesture Computing, What You Haven’t Heard (Joseph Fletcher!!!)

I’d like to add that almost all my former classmates from school do web-based work with their companies, while I have done hardly any web-based work so far at all.

So… yeah, it’ll be nice to rub it in their faces when I get to meet a lot of these famous Microsoft people face-to-face.

Haaaaah, it’ll be great.

I apologize for not updating more frequently in 2009. I don’t really have an excuse, but I will say that I will be posting much more in the coming months, especially when I make my first ever trip to Las Vegas, Nevada for MIX 2009! I am very excited about this opportunity and I can’t wait.

I am kind of questioning what to do with this blog… If I should keep it more personal or technical or some weird mix of the two. I’ll let you know what I decide.

Also, I wrote this post from my iPod Touch using the Wordpress app. It’s actually really nice and I hope that this will make me post a little more often.

I had this strange realization this evening… I woke up from a nap on the couch and I stumbled around groggily for a little bit and I realized that I have been extremely blessed this year. So, I spent a little bit of time going over my entries from this year and I decided that these are my personal top 5 biggest moments of 2008:

1. Graduating Magna Cum Laude from Neumont University with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science.
2. Moving to Carlsbad, California and working for an amazing company doing work that I love.
3. Voting for my first presidential candidate.
4. Turning 21.
5. Adapting a more active lifestyle.

It only recently started getting “cold” here in California. A couple weeks ago I was wearing shorts. Hell, even last week I didn’t need much more than a light zip-up hoodie. This is in stark contrast to the weather I’ve grown used to in my time living in Utah and New Mexico (yes, it definitely gets cold at 6,400 feet, even in NM). I have a closet full of heavy jackets and thick hoodies, and I haven’t really had to use them until this week. Even then, it doesn’t feel like winter here - it’s more like a mild autumn than anything.

In packing for my Christmas vacation (I actually am supposed to be leaving to the airport in 5 hours…), I was both ecstatic and apprehensive looking forward at the coming 10 days with my family and friends, neither of whom I have seen in a while. I was ecstatic because I am always excited to be around friends, especially now that I am living on my own without any real friends of my own. I was ecstatic because Christmas with my family is always such a big thing, and I can’t imagine spending it anywhere else, really.

However, I was apprehensitve mostly because I remembered how often I get excited to go home only to be disappointed. Vegas has a weird way of doing that to me. There isn’t much to do, and even though friends are in town, without a car it’s hard to see anyone. Even if you do get to spend time with friends, it always somehow feels short-lived. Also, it’s always weird to transition from living on your own without any restrictions to suddenly sleeping in your old room on a bunk bed. I still haven’t gotten used to that.

Regardless, this Christmas break is well-deserved and I am looking forward to the chance to relax and spend some time away from work. I’m even looking forward to freezing my ass off. There’s one thing I am not looking forward to, however, and that is the anxiety that I’ve set my expectations too high. I don’t care if this Christmas break is life-changing. No, I just want to feel like I’m back home - a little closer to the way things used to be with the friends and family that shares that same goal with me.