Here are some bowling photos from my birthday party.

The listen widget works again! Thanks Jody! When I listen to any music via iTunes, whatever I am listening to will be posted to the section at right. You can click on the album title to check it out via Amazon.com, or click the band's name to hear more of their stuff via the iTunes Music Store. Enjoy!

How many of you out there have mothers who end instant message conversations with "whoops, got to go, time for Kali's [her long-haired black cat] brazilian ttyl" ? Just one? Hi Co!

Unfortunately, the gillitt.com mail experiment must come to an end. 99% of the time, all it serves as is a spam trap, with no real mail being sent or received. Sorry to deprive you, me and everyone else of such a cool email address, but in the interest of maintaining our internet service contracts, we have to take the mail server down.

So, no longer will I be available via [email protected]. Please address all future correspondence to gillitt (at) gmail.com. Thank you.

Rather than try to show photos of all the dishes we made, I thought it would be interesting to show the pallette of colors of the various dishes.

Really, really bored. The kind of bored where you look at a website you just looked at 5 minutes ago to see if anything has changed. The kind of bored where reorganizing 12,000 font files and checking them for errors sounds like fun, or when you go to the bathroom to sit on the toilet for 30 minutes playing a game on your cell phone.

The kind of bored where you try to look busy for 8 hours a day, and you feel lucky to actually have 20 minutes of work. The kind of bored where you start questioning why you fight traffic 45 minutes each way to sit and do nothing all day long.

I'm not a designer anymore, at least not for this job. As one of my coworkers astutely pointed out, now I am a typist. I'm not doing anything worthwhile with my time. I could be working on something amazing, or at the very least, challenging. But I'm not. I'm just sitting here. Sitting here, looking out the window; gazing around at my coworkers, busy at their desks. Anything that might come my way will be short, mindless, and, really, anyone else could do it as well as I could.

Shut up, you might say, you're getting paid to sit there. Some people don't have it that good.

Yeah, try it, is my response. I'm not getting any younger. I don't want to waste my time, and more importantly, I don't want anyone else wasting it for me.

I spent some time and thought on fixing my RSS and Atom feeds for each of the three sections of the site. Thoughts feeds now have five full entries, not abridged, and the Links feeds' titles now link correctly to the site in question and not a nonexistant page on my site. I still need to work more on the feeds for my photos... so while that is in progress, you may check my Flickr Atom or RSS feeds instead if you are so inclined.

My apologies to all my loyal readers, both of you, for the lapse in updating of this site. As you can see, the links column is well updated, with 10+ new links, and as soon as I can resolve my problems with Flickr, I have a plethora of new photos to post as well. The third component, this column called thoughts, will also no longer be neglected: I intend to get over my feelings of insignificance and post whatever the hell I want to.

JUST YOU WAIT AND SEE!

I have gotten a new fulltime job, and I start Wednesday. It's with a search engine and web advertising company. I am going to be designing interfaces for sites, mostly for clients who purchase advertising from us, rather than the sites that are available to the public (that's someone else's job). I'll also be doing print design for marketing. It's a really exciting opportunity that I think will be a challenge, something I haven't had at work for a while!

It's nice to see some money coming back to the web lately- its not the crazy rush of 2000, but a more considered, steady approach. This company has been around since before the big boom, and has survived by adapting to support the market, and I think they're going to be around for a while.

I went through several rounds of interviews: I met with seven different people before the process was through. The people and the environment seem very inviting and seem to really "get it." The people I met with, and will be working with, are all around my age and have been at the company for a long time, which I think is a good sign. At the same time, they are also hiring quite a few people and seem to be benefitting from the new blood. It's also a very relaxed atmostphere with a big common area, and although I didn't count them all, what seemed to be a choice of at least a dozen different kinds of coffee ready to be drinked!

I think I am going to like working there-- the windows even open! It's also pretty convenient to get to, a bus picks up on my corner and lets off 6 blocks from the office in SF. They're located in this really beautiful converted industrial building, which has all exposed brick and wood beams. It's also 2 blocks from the Giants' park, so I will probably catch more than a few games this summer.

I just did some analysis of my weblogs, and I was surprised to find this:

November 1-15, 2004
Total Pages 3286
Total Visits 1883
Total Unique Sites 746
Total Unique URLs 1103

Even weeding out web spiders and search engines, that is a far greater number than the dozen or so visitors I had been expecting!

I've redone my portfolio, reorganizing it and changing from an HTML to a PDF presentation. Please feel free to click the "Portfolio" link in the toolbar, or if that's too far to move your mouse, you can click here, ya lazy bum. Afterwards, if you're so moved, please leave a comment. Thanks!

The best part about my job is getting to be creative. Duh. Anyone who knows me knows that's how I feel. But I definitely don't get to be creative enough. For the past few days, I have been writing scripts for a new batch of radio commercials. I don't really have the resources to create a major media campaign, but I am pretty sure I can string together some radio spots to create some familiarity for our products and get new customers in the store.

Of the last round of commercials I did, my favorite was my detective genre ad, which featured a confused P.I. who " had got it all wrong... and then I saw her..." As I have said before, my favorite ad campaign right now is the CitiBank Identity Theft series, with people talking with their identity thief's voice coming out of their mouthes. What makes it memorable is the unexpected mixed with humor. I think that campaign was part of the impetus to think about other amusingly inappropriate situations for futons within television cliches.

So we recorded and produced the three best of the spots today, and yesterday the sales offers and store locations were recorded separately. The way they are designed, the spot runs for about 40 seconds of "story" and then the last 20 seconds are offers and locations. Since everything was recorded separately, I have been in the process of mixing them with the appropriate offers and locations-- 4 spots x 4 different offers x 2 sales areas = 32 final mixes!

Okay, enough of my chattering on, here are the three [UPDATE: we are only going to use two] new spots: Futon Hunter and Quiz Show.

Here is the Futon Trek spot that didn't make the cut...and if you must hear it, here is an alternate version of Futon Hunter.

It's been 10 days since I had Lasik eye surgery. All I can say is "Wow!' After wearing glasses since 1978, and basically having a clear field of vision only between 5 and 9 inches from the tip of my nose, now I need no correction, and at my last check-up, I was told I see better than 20/20. As Barbara Walters would say, "That's simpwy wondaful!"

I've already finished my course of antibiotics and soothing eye drops, and now just need the occasional lubrication. No swelling, no pain or discomfort anymore, and the hematomas have almost completely subsided. Not bad for recent serious eye surgery.

And it WAS serious. Although the whole procedure really doesn't take all that long, I have to say, having someone else manipulate my eyes and eyelids is not my idea of fun. The pressure one device exerted while holding my eyeball in place was especially unpleasant, and even though i was sedated and anesthetized (Vicodin and Valium, sure to become Eddie and Patsy's new cocktail of choice any day now), I was aware of what was going on, and could feel a great deal of it. Fortunately, as a wise pseudo-rocker once said, "I'd be really upset right now, if I wasn't so heavily sedated."

I don't want to sound like a whiner, because the whole procedure took less than 3 hours total, and the next morning I could see crystal clear. Philosophically, I suppose I could go on a bit about how my way of viewing the world has changed, and I will never be able to see things the way I once did. But it begs the question, is what I gave up something to be missed? And without much thought, I can easily say yes.

It's difficult to quantify the difference in my vision now. Even though I was used to clear and unobstructed vision through my contact lenses, there is a quality to being able to see clearly, without any assistance, that is impossible to quantify. It's just better than seeing with contacts was, and immeasurably better than seeing with glasses.

So, thanks Ma for the wonderful gift and the amazing opportunity to see clearly. I'm really grateful, and encourage anyone who is eligible for the procedure to consider it. For those that are interested, you can get more information here- I had the IntraLase and the WaveFront procedures. And if you go see Dr. Faktorovich, tell her staff I referred you, and you'll get $300 off your procedure!

Tonight I am going to go see Prince perform, and I am really excited about the show. Unfortunately, something has come up which has diminished my enthusiasm considerably.

I got the tickets this weekend, and on Sunday invited a close friend of mine to come with. I really want to do something special for him to celebrate his graduation. However, lately, he's been less than reliable about meeting up or following through on plans. He told me he was really excited about going to see the concert, and would call me on Monday to make plans about when and where to meet. Monday, no call. Tuesday, no call, even after I called and left some messages.

Starting to worry about getting flaked on again, I spoke with another friend who was more than enthusiastic about going to the concert but didn't have a ticket. I explained the situation to her, and she said that she understood the situation and would love to go with me if my original plans fell through. I told her if I didn't hear back by 10AM or so Wed, I would call her and let her know that she was going.

So Wednesday AM passes, and no call, so I called her and told her that she was going to the show. The rest of the morning passes with no call. I go out to a business lunch, when I finally get a call from someone else (at 1:30, 6 hrs before the concert starts), for him, to ask where and when he should meet me for the show-- apparently he was at a number where he couldn't call me directly, or something like that. I didn't get the full explanation. I explained that I was going to take someone else at this point, and asked that he call me directly so I could explain it to him.

Finally, he calls (still during my business lunch) and I explained to him that I was expecting him to call on Monday to make plans. I didn't want to get caught with no one to go with, and because he has been less than reliable lately, I told him I invited someone else. He seemed pretty hurt by this, brusquely told me he would call me sometime, maybe, and hung up without saying good bye.

So now, I feel badly for letting him down on something he was excited about. And, even if I change my mind, I have no way of getting in touch with him right now to re-invite him. On top of that, I feel let down that he didn't call sooner, when he said he would. I know everyone's life is complicated, and his is no exception, but for an important event like this, with someone as special to him as he claims I am, I don't think it's unreasonable to have expected him to be in contact sooner to confirm our plans.

But, of course, with any decision like this, I am wracked with self-doubt that I didn't give him enough time to get in touch with me, or that it was unkind to take someone else, or any of a million other reasons to doubt my choice. I think I made the right choice; I don't think it is very respectful or considerate to leave someone hanging on plans 2 days after promising to call. But that doesn't make me feel any better about this situation, or his disappointment about not going to the concert.

I really hope I didn't just fuck up a good friendship unnecessarily.

I had a wonderful time last night: a whole bunch of my friends came over for dinner and drinks to celebrate my birthday, which was last Tuesday. I'm a lucky guy to have so many good friends! The hit of the night was definitely the combination bendy straw/drink umbrellas that Michelle brought, but I also really enjoyed the Perrier-Jouet that Andrew brought to toast me with. Clean-up wasn't too painful, kitty didn't freak out, and everyone seemed to have a good time. For those of you who couldn't make it, we can always find time to have our own celebration. Thank you everyone!

Monday was Patriot's Day in Massachusetts, the celebration of "The Shot Heard Around The World." I spent it with Jessica and Kerry, mostly around the Prudential Center, where Jess lives... When I lived in Boston, I lived right on Heartbreak Hill and never got to see the end of the race, except on TV. This time I got to see all sorts of people who have earned my respect... especially since I have no ability to run those sorts of distances. After the race and today, Jess and I took the time to show Kerry around for her first time in Boston, and here are some photos from our explorations...

Well, it looks like I have my new blog up and running. It's taken a while, and a lot of help from Jody, but I think the basics are done. The main templates, the basic structure, and the internal mechanisms are all up and running. The next part is troubleshooting and making it do all the things I want from here on in, and hammering out the last details of the design.

So this weblog will be 3 for the price of one: there are three main sections. This one is called "Thoughts" and will be the repository of whatever detritus flows forth from my mangled brain. "Photos" are images taken with my Nokia 3650 camera phone, and uploaded via the Web. The quality insn't the greatest, but the convenience makes it worth it. "Links" are items of interest that I find as I surf around the Web and want to share with you.

The right-most column has a search function, tells you what music I have been listening to recently, and gives a link for you to listen to and purchase from Amazon.com. Then I have listed some links of sites that I enjoy and recommend.

This is the first site design I have done entirely in CSS. No tables were harmed in the production of this site. Unfortunately, that leaves some of the older browsers out in the cold and unable to access this site, but it gives me greater flexibility to generate RSS, XML, ATOM, and hopefully soon, WAP, so that you can access this site from a phone or PDA. Ah, the 21st Century...

Please feel free to send in your questions, suggestions, criticisms and comments, I am interested in your feedback, and I'm certainly not just doing this for my own benefit...

a.