Well, after a few false starts and some serious tweaking, Digg labs went live this morning. Mike and I architected the whole visualization system and I built the underlying framework for both pieces. Stack is my take on real-time digg activity, and swarm was built by Aaron, our summer intern.

So far the response has been tremendous; the only complaints of any significance are coming from angry Linux users who can't run either piece because Flash 8 isn't available for their OS yet. Stack should be capable of running in 7 very soon, which should assuage most of the criticism we've received so far. In general, though, people seem pretty pleased. Somebody's even already decompiled the controller swf and discovered what he thought to be a hidden message relating to the whole Ted Stevens "series of tubes" meme. (Check out the Daily Show segment if you've no idea what I'm talking about.) I'm glad people are getting a kick out of that.

Anyway, sorry I haven't been updating very regularly lately. July has been a crazy month so far, and I've been lacking serious sleep for a very long time. But before I pass out on the couch tonight, I must do the following: laundry, make some panzanella, drink a glass or three of wine, and start to watch a movie. I deserve it, dammit.

Now Feeling: accomplished

I wish I didn't sweat so much. It's not that I stink or anything, but I just don't really like being all soggy when I get into work. Of course, I'm riding about 4 miles each way every day (that's at least 40 miles a week—woo-hoo!), so I guess a little perspiration is to be expected.

I always thought that office showers were kinda creepy. Now, not so much.

Now Feeling: hot

It's funny how things seem to just work out sometimes. Just a couple of days I was all down and worried about all sorts of shit, and now I'm just stoked about pretty much everything. Got paid, sent out an invoice for over a month's worth of work (which will end up paying for 2.5 months' rent, woot!), and met with Stamen again today. Finally met the guy who's writing the checks, and he's fucking rad. Stocky little dude, totally personable and down-to-earth, but he left our meeting to have dinner with the Army Chief of Staff. Crazy connections. Walked away from that meeting more excited about work than I've ever been. I simply can't overstate how thrilled I am to be working on something that will finally challenge and engage me. And it's refreshing to be surrounded by people that are as excited about it as I am.

And Burning Man. Eric and I talked a lot about it before the meeting, about how it's best not to have too many expectations. This is typically difficult for me because I'm generally such an optimistic person, but this time I think it'll work. I expect nothing more than to be out in the desert for a week, enjoy the company of my fantastic friends, play a couple of gigs, and passively observe lots of crazy shit. If I feel like participating, I will. If I'm in the right headspace to just go totally nuts, I will. But none of that has to happen. At the very least, it's a one-week vacation, and vacations are rarely a bad thing. It's also reassuring to know that even if I don't have everything I need, my friends will be there to help me out.

3 more days to prepare, both physically and mentally. Lots of shopping, some work distractions, and maybe a night out with some friends who I won't be seeing for the next week or so. Crunch time, baby.

I know it's going to be a good day when I've crossed off half of my to-do list by 9am. Fuck yeah. I'm trying out coffee again, to prepare myself for working at Stamen. Those guys drink it like water. Ugh.

Record selection for Burning Man is coming along nicely. The only hard parts are figuring out what's too precious too bring (they could all melt or be ruined by playa dust), and limiting myself to what I'll actually play. Out with the Ola Bergman, Paradroid, Robag on Vakant, and Reinhard Voigt; in with S-Max, the Hallucination Limited, some long-forgotten Perlon tracks, Krikor, i-f, Richard Davis, 2 Dollar Egg, and Brian Aneurysm.

These records may have been underwhelming on THC's weak setup at 5am under the 280, but I think they'll go over well on the FnF soundsystem at 1am, in the middle of the desert. Just 4 more days...

Now Feeling: excited

I got so much done today—quite possibly one of the most productive days in my freelance career (if you can even call it that). Tomorrow morning I've got a 7:30 conference call with a bunch of Bulgarian developers who apparently don't feel like reading any of the documentation I wrote up for them. Just two more days of this, though, and I'm done. Well, not really done... I'll probably have to do some email support at some point, but at least I can do that on my own time and round up to the hour when I'm billing.

Ah, it's going to be fucking awesome not having to harrass people for money. And working on fun shit, with cool people, somewhere other than my apartment in the dismal Sunset. Steady paycheck, new technology, sunlight... Things are looking up.

I'm going to Burning Man, dammit. Even if I have to drive out alone, with no bike, and I kill my car doing it. In 5 days I'm going to be in the middle of the desert with some of my best friends. I'll be dirty, smelly, and delerious. I'm going to see and experience some amazing things, and hopefully take some great photos. And no matter what happens, I'm going to make the best of it, because this pessimism shit is for the birds. I can be cynical without being negative. And I can have a good time even when everything in my life isn't exactly five by five. Just gotta get through these next couple of stressful, under-financed days, then I'm home free.

Something good's gonna happen, mmm mmm...

Now Feeling: optimistic

Because it looks like people are shrugging off this whole Retrograde business and getting shit done.

I, for one, have been comfortably busy with contract work lately. I hate the job, but the money's great. And what's better yet is that things with Stamen are ramping up and I'll soon be able to ditch this gig for a 3-month stint on the ground-up design, architecture, development and implementation of a seriously cool web application. Today I had my first real brainstorm with Mike and Eric, and I'm much more excited about it now that I know what it's all about. Basically, this client of theirs is a self-proclaimed "innovation consultant" who helps companies integrate technology into their workflows. What we're going to build for him is a crazy application that fuses together so-called "web 2.0" technologies (such as Wiki and RSS), with the aim of creating a self-perpetuating collaborative information sharing environment. I could tell you more, but then I'd have to kill you.

Just got my cameras back from George and Lydia's, and there are some interesting photos to share...

( More behind the cut )

Now Feeling: satisfied

I love that my friends can text message me at 2am and demand that I bring them food across the bridge, and I seriously consider doing it. Working 9-5 again some day actually scares me.

Now Feeling: amused