Lately I’ve been working on preparing myself to take the Adobe Flex 2 Certification exam. I’ve always thought of myself as a Flash, not Flex developer, so this one was a bit of a challenge for me. For as much as I use it, there’s still a lot of things that I still don’t quite get.

So for the last few weeks leading up to my exam appointment, I’ve been cramming like crazy, and writing a lot of Flex code trying to learn and get as much studying in as I can.

Apparently, it paid off. I didn’t get as high of a score on the test as I had wanted to, but the important thing is that I passed. Plus, I now know a lot more about Flex 2 than I think I had ever initially planned on knowing. Of course, doing this reminded me that I never renewed my Flash MX2004 certifications for Flash 8 or CS3, so I think I’m going start working on those now…

The last project I had the privilege of working on while at Footnote.com launched earlier today.

Interactive Vietnam Veterans Memorial

You can view the entire wall, and do more than just view the names of the men killed in the war - you learn about these men.

Initially, the info provided about these guys is just the basics - birth/death, military info, etc., however, as time goes on, and more content is added, you’ll be able to see photos, and read histories of these men. Much of this content will be user-contributed, by the friends and family of the men memorialized by this monument.

Working on this project was great - it was a chance to stretch my talents, and see what I could do as a Flash developer, but it also gave me a greater appreciation for the lives these men gave. I wasn’t alive during this time period, and so I can’t pretend to understand the full impact of the Vietnam War, or the impact that had on the lives of the people that lived it, but working on this project at least made a bit of history feel a bit more “real” to me.

Sure, it’s a few days late, but so was she… (one week overdue)

Friday evening we had the first little addition to our family. Brooklynn Jennifer Buhler was born around 6:00 PM on Feb. 9. She weighed in at 6 lbs 3 oz. and 19 1/2 inches long. The general opinion is that she was blessed with mom’s good looks, but unfortunately cursed with dad’s big feet.

We were able to bring her home Sunday afternoon, and she seems to be adjusting well. Though, she’s definitely showing us who the boss is around here. As I’m writing this during a break in trying to catch up with work, I just might fall asleep face first into keyboard agai;alfsndgaggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg

Brooklynn is also the first grandchild on both sides of the family, so she’s being well taken care of. Both Mom & baby are doing well, and our cat seems to be pretty interested in the baby, until she starts crying - then the cat bolts down the hall and disappears for a while.

As I’m still stuck in the dark ages of photography, we’ll have to wait for the film to come back from the lab to share some photos, but for now, we have a few that Grandpa shot with his digital. I’m obviously biased here, but she’s the prettiest little baby girl you’ll ever see. (Even if newborns are always just a little goofy looking sometimes. At least her head isn’t so football-shaped anymore.)

UPDATE: Read the press release

At least, that’s what we believe at Footnote. You can either read a transcript of notes from the Continental Congress, or, you can view them yourself. View a collection of Civil War photos. Or, browse one of my favorite collections so far, the Investigative Case Files of the Bureau of Investigation 1908-1922, where you can learn about Albert Miller’s arrest in 1917, and subsequent fine of one dollar, for practicing medicine without a license.

Many of the records that we’re offering have never been available online before now. Now you can view high-res scans of documents available from various sources, including The National Archives. Many of these documents have been indexed and are searchable - you won’t have to read every page to find what you’re looking for - search, and be taken to the relevant image. You’ll be able to dig pretty deep into history - both American and your own.

Earlier this year, the development team did a series of “van trips” to various parts of the country to visit with people and show them early builds of the site, and to get feedback on how to improve it. We learned a lot on that trip, and made some significant improvements to our site. While on one of these trips, a few of the people we were visiting with did some searching and were able to pull up some Civil War records that had to do with their ancestors. It was a pretty exciting moment - because something we made had become more than just another website for that person - it was now something that they could use to learn more about their own personal history.

Another important feature is the ability to upload your own content to our site. While we have millions of records & documents already available, if you have content of your own that you would like to share with others, go ahead and upload it. You’ll be able to write articles about various topics, linking to documents & images you’ve uploaded, and the existing content on our site. You’ll be able to write your Wikipedia articles, and point to the original document as a source for your info.

I left mediaRAIN in September of last year to work on the Footnote project because it was something that sounded like a fun Flash project to build. However, the more I started to get into it, and really understand the scope of our site, it became something more. I had been feeling kind of burnt out, and not really all that excited about Flash development, and I saw this as a nice change of pace. It was still Flash, but it was going to be a change for me going to an actual product that could be steadily improved, as opposed to a one-off site for a client. It’s definitely been a challenge to get the image viewer I made online in just a few months, but it’s been a lot of fun. For the first time in a long time, I’ve enjoyed coming in to work again each day.

The site is online, and we’re proud of it. The entire Footnote team has done a great job - pretty much everyone at the company has contributed to the site in one way or another. There’s still some room for improvement, and we know it. The site will be constantly evolving as we learn what works, what doesn’t work, and what could work better. But when you want your product to be the best it can be, you need to recognize that there’s always room for improvement. Like any big project, we had tons of ideas that just didn’t have time to be implemented. So, stay tuned, because what we have now is just the beginning.

My blogging lately has been pretty sparse. And as many of you know, when the blogging goes down, the amount of other stuff is going up. So, here’s a quick update, and some big news:

I’m the process (again) of some fairly major repairs on my Bronco. The timing chain cover cracked, opening up a hole about three inches long, and big enough to stick your fingers in. Luckily, it was only the cover that broke, but this was enough to knock the fan loose, causing it to take out my radiator. So, while not the best thing that could have happened, it definitely could’ve been much worse. With winter coming, I need to get that thing out of my garage quick, so I can put the commuter cars back in before the snow comes. I love this truck, and while I was going to sell it, I’ve since decided to keep it, so that I can have at least one hobby that doesn’t involve a computer or video games.

Another big change, is that after three and a half years of working at mediaRAIN, I’ve decided it’s time to move on. As I mentioned to mediaRAIN folks when I left, it was an easy decision, but at the same time a hard one. I enjoyed my time at mediaRAIN, did some cool stuff, made some great friends, and had fun. But, there comes a time when sometimes you need to make a change in your life, and this was the time to make that change. I’m now employed by iArchives, in Lindon, Utah and though I’ve only been here for a couple of days, it’s been a lot of fun. I’ll still be doing Flash development there, and we’re working on some cool stuff. When it’s ready, I’ll show it here.

The final, and biggest announcement to make, is that I’m gonna be a daddy. By far, my most ambitious project yet. My wife is now five months pregnant, and we’re due to have a little girl on February 2nd. This will be our first, and while the thought of having a child scares the ever-living crap out of me, I’m still pretty excited. Though, now that we’ve found out that it’s going to be a girl, I’m even more worried. But at least she shouldn’t be dating for a good 25 years or so.
As a result of the baby, that means that I’m being evicted. My wife has staked a claim on my current office for the baby’s nursery, which means that I’ve been sent to the basement. So, anytime not spent on my truck, some freelance work, uFlash stuff, or taking care of the missus, is spent in the basement building an office. I’m looking forward to getting that thing done. It’s framed, and has at least a first coat of mud on the drywall. Hopefully it can be done in the next couple of months or so.

So, in a nutshell, that’s my life right now. It’s kinda fun being so busy, but I’m looking forward to a vacation. ‘Cause come Febrary, I’m not going to get to relax for a long time…

I got tired of the last design for my site pretty quick, so I thought I’d try again. This new one still has a few quirks that need to be worked out, but I’m pretty happy with it so far. This new version also has a few new features that will be creeping into action over the next little while. As I finish each one, I’ll mention it here.

What do you think so far?

(Only 3 hours to go!)

Here’s number 3 for you, Keith…

uFlash is a new user group dedicated to the Flash Platform for Utah-based developers. Hence the name, Utah Flash Platform Developers Group. We’ve been working on getting things setup for this for a while, and our first meeting is happening tomorrow night.

Our goal is to provide a group where you’ll be able to learn about developing for the Flash Platform, in all it’s different forms, and other topics related to Flash development.

Topics discussed will include, but not be limited to:

• Actionscript 2.0 & 3.0
• Flex
• Mobile content using FlashLite
• Server interactions: Remoting, Flash Media Server, Web Services, etc.

Our focus will primarily be on development, but don’t let that stop you from coming if you don’t consider yourself a developer! The end goal is to help people learn about the technologies available. If you’re trying to learn Flash development, this is going to be a great resource for you.

We meet at the mediaRAIN offices located at:

255 S. Orem Blvd
Orem, Utah 84065

We’re located directly behind (west) the Pep Boys on State Street in Orem. The meetings are free, and occur on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of each month, from 6:00 - 8:00 PM.

Our first meeting will happen tomorrow night, June 13, at 6:00 PM. Jacob Wright will be giving us an overview of ActionScript 3.0.

With the big news about Macromedia.com now redirecting to Adobe.com, and the news of Team Macromedia becoming Adobe Community Experts, I thought I’d add one more bit: I’m now an Adobe Certified Professional.

Previously, I was a Macromedia Certified Flash Developer, but after receiving a call from the Adobe Certification folks last week, my certifications have now been transferred to Adobe ones, which means that the logos at the bottom of my page have changed as well. So, I still officially know what I’m doing, but now it has a different title.

I’d expect that if you’ve previously certified with Macromedia, you should be receiving similar info on transferring your stuff to Adobe certifications as well soon, if you haven’t yet.

Just a quick note to say that I’ve upgraded my blog to Wordpress 2.0. I only mention this so that I can apologize in advance if I end up spamming the aggregators due to my feeds being updated.

So, if it happens, I’m sorry.

Also, I changed the look of my site. I’m not a great designer, but I’m pretty happy with it so far, and it may keep changing as I get different ideas. Let me know what you think.

I’ve been slowly working on getting an actual college degree for a while now. My wife introduced me to the Multimedia Communcation Technology progam at UVSC back when we were dating. The main reason I switched from being a Comp. Sci. major at another school was mostly due to her homework being a lot more fun than mine ever was.

Fast forward to a few years later, and I’ve finally earned my Associates Degree in Multimedia Communications. Or so I thought.
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