Keefer Madness

Set Up Timed Playlists & Non-Intrusive Distractions to Stay Focused and Productive at Work

// January 26th, 2012 // No Comments » // Productivity, Work

I feel like I do a pretty damn good job of staying focused most days at work, along with managing multitasking. I definitely subscribe to the Lifehacker article suggestion below to the suggestions related to a good pair of noise canceling headphones.

The other couple of suggestions are great too. Good tips and ways to keep focused and productive during work hours.

Set Up Timed Playlists and Non-Intrusive Distractions to Stay Focused and Productive at Work

New Chapter Tomorrow

// January 12th, 2011 // No Comments » // Personal Crap, Work

So while I don’t like to make it a habit to job hop, an opportunity came up that made sense for me to jump from iContact after only nine months. I’d say the job market is starting to pick up here in Triangle of North Carolina. I’ve been getting a lot of calls and inquiries about web developer positions.

But the one I jumped at was working with my best friend. We’ve worked before together and meshed really well. Looking forward to that, and in more of an agency setting again.

More info on this in a bit… Thanks for everyone’s support in the past, in he present and in the future.

Odd Jobs for Carl

// November 13th, 2008 // No Comments » // Funny Stuff, Work

Check out the first of several videos to come in the next couple weeks about Carl’s job hunt. Funny stuff and I think the production value of the whole thing is freakin’ great.

Search Engine Optimization – My Take

// September 22nd, 2008 // No Comments » // Internet / Web, Work

There is a whole industry related to search engine optimization and whether you’re a web developer, web designer, or just a blogger, search engine optimization is something you and/or your clients will have at least some interest in, and spend some time on. Search engine optimization is all about making your web sites show up close to the top of the lists for relevant keywords to your site.

Many companies out there charge big bucks for the basics and common sense I’m spelling out in this article. Despite how their marketing and sales pitch may argue otherwise, there is no quick fix, nor a magic bullet to make your web site appear at the top of Google’s list (or any search engine for that matter. The article below I’ve composed based on my own personal experiences building web sites over the years both personally and professionally.

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Hellaious Week Near Its End

// April 16th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // Personal Crap, Work

So it’s been a full week’s stress and headaches rolled into only three days. Luckily, it’s worked out where my friends, Bret and Tina are getting married Saturday. I had the forethought to take Friday off for the rehearsal, pick up my tux, etc. and am really thanking my lucky stars. Amanda’s been slow at work and it’s looking like she’ll be off now on Friday too.

I start building a new web site at work tomorrow, but hoping I can make big progress on that without too many outside interruptions. The hope is to have the homepage built by lunch time and get an internal page “template” setup by days end. Regardless, the real stress should be behind. *fingers crossed*

I’ve also got my third race of the week coming on Sunday. There’s always some anxious energy and a bit of health nervousness spawning from that. Wish me luck on that one.

New Hardware at Work

// April 7th, 2008 // No Comments » // Apple, Computers, Personal Crap, Work

So we all finally got a much-needed hardware upgrade at work. I went from a PowerMac G5 single 1.8 Ghz (read: the original G5 machine) to a souped up, dual quad-core (8 freaking processors) 3.0 Ghz Mac Pro with 8GB of RAM. It was absolutely phenomenal how much faster it was! We’re talking night and day. A Photoshop document that before took me 10 minutes to open (literally – I’d go to the bathroom, get a drink, come back and it still would have a progress bar up), now opens without a hiccup or progress bar at all!

I had a hell of a time slowing this machine down. The only thing that seemed to tax it was Parallels. I didn’t play around with that much at all.

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Up Late Working

// March 31st, 2008 // No Comments » // Personal Crap, Work

Damn! I was real close to missing my post for the day. It’s like 3 minutes before midnight!

Anyway, work’s been crazy busy. I’ve got more web sites to build than there are hours in the day. On one hand, it’s great – job security galore. On the other hand, it’s been stressful and I can’t keep going at this pace without some down time.

I’ve got basically two sites due tomorrow. I’m doing one during regular business hours, and this other I’ve been busting my butt on here at home. Luckily, I’m getting bonus cash for doing this one at home. All the time spent this evening on it has been pretty productive. I’d say I’m around 75% done with the site, though I’ve avoided one problem area with the site.

I’m not too tired as midnight approaches, but my throat it getting sore. I sure hope I’m not getting sick. Regardless, it’s bed time. Tomorrow will be another crazy busy and long day. I’ll have no reservations about leaving early as the week progresses though.

Work's in High Gear, But So Are My Goals Outside of Work

// March 18th, 2008 // No Comments » // Personal Crap, Work

So work has shifted into high gear – with three sites needing to be built this week. For those who don’t know, I’m a pseudo-web developer, specializing in front end web technologies and the like – acronyms like HTML, CSS, SEO and PHP. Anyway, my work comes in waves and I’ve got a tsunami right now. I’m not complaining, as the days and weeks just fly by, but it’s definitely more stressful and I feel like I’m barely keeping my head above water.

I’ve got a fair amount of job security, as I’ve got web site builds scheduled for the next two months solid. I have been getting overwhelmed and stressed, but I think most of both of those are self-inflicted. I pride myself on working well without much need for direction or prodding. I work efficiently and quickly most of the time, and have been recognized as such.

But whatever happens this year, I’m not letting all my hard work outside of work go to waste. I’ve done a ton of training and conditioning in the off season, and have started to see and feel those results. Last year, my team did sprint practices every Wednesday afternoon. I missed pretty much every single one of those, except a few right around our team sponsored race. Not this year. Regardless of the workload, I’m making the majority of those practices. I’m working to live, not the other way around.

I'm Tired

// January 29th, 2008 // No Comments » // Personal Crap, Work

I woke up this morning with ten hours of sleep behind me, fully rested. But I’m tired.

I’m tired of people being difficult and mean to each other. I’m tired of seeing good people being treated poorly. I’m tired of disorganization and having to do things multiple times because of the disorganization and the lack of the planning. I’m tired of the thought, “a lack of planning on your part, does not constitute and emergency on my part” popping into my head. But most of all, I’m just tired of people failing to recognize that they’re part of the problem.

Do You Have Job Burnout

// June 13th, 2007 // Comments Off // General Posts, Work

I think Amanda and I are both experiencing this, along with most of my office.

Do You Have Job Burnout