mattpat.net

If there’s just one thing I’ve learned from having to write Mr. Lawrence’s one-page essays, it’s that it takes a lot of effort to sum a complex concept up into a short space. The results have the potential to be beautifully simple, though, and that is always what I strive for. Thus, I present to you my opinion of 2007, and my expectation for 2008, in one (longish) paragraph each.

I’m not sure if it’s the same for other people, but in my recollection, I hit the ground sprinting in 2007— what a work load there was! And what intense confusion: relationships were a mess in the beginning, both with friends and with more, but they ironed out eventually. There wasn’t much coasting until about mid-year,... (more...)

Once upon a time, Apple had a poem on their website called Here’s to the Crazy Ones — in short, a salute to those who look at things differently, as Apple always professed to do.

The poem was taken down sometime in 2004, much to my deep sadness. I thought that Apple had lost the dream, forgotten where they came from.

One of the nice parts about the new version of Mac OS X, Leopard, however, is that all icons are incredibly high-resolution — 512x512. On a whim, I thought I’d take a look at the full resolution icon for TextEdit, their default text editor. Imagine my surprise when I saw this.

Well waddaya’ know.

After two years of work on Tux CMS in total (a year and a half of “official” work), I’ve learned a lot, both about life, and about software development. That little penguin friend of mine has taught me more than I ever thought possible, and for anyone interested out there, I thought I’d share what I’ve learned with you. (more...)

It’s amazing how much people change over the years. Things that we wouldn’t give a second thought to years ago are now the most important things in our lives, and vice versa. So, my goal is to create a series of articles and comments to look back at what’s changed in our lives. I’ll start it off.

In elementary school, every homework assignment was a life-or-death mission. I can remember one time going in half an hour early and sitting in the library to finish a silly little worksheet I had left at school, petrified that I wouldn’t be able to turn it in on time. Now, in high school, a homework assignment is just one of hundreds— if you miss one, it’s no big deal.

Good... (more...)

Rant removed because it offended people.

Look, this was a rant. It was meant as a way for me to blow off steam after a long day. It was not meant to be any type of authoritative history review of the last 2 and a half years. It was not meant to be taken seriously. And most importantly, it was not meant to upset anyone.

I’d like to apologize, particularly to Girl E and Boy M, wherever facts were skewed, or you felt that I portrayed you unfavorably. I realize my rant had a bias, because I was tired and cranky. I do not wish to insult you, or hurt you in any way, I promise. I truly apologize.

Anyway, as for the rest of ya’… I hope you enjoyed reading the rant, and I sincerely hope that this is the end of it.