Wow.

Hey, few remaining readers. It's been a while. About two years to be exact. Ironically, despite my last post promising near-daily updates, the post count has stayed firmly at the same number.

When I first posted, I was eight years old (or was it seven?), was in fourth grade, and lived in North Carolina. Since, then I have gotten four years older, moved to Italy, moved to Los Angeles, and became a freelance web developer. I originally started this blog because, well, blogs were cool and I was bored. I think it's clear now (after a two-year hiatus) that will not be posting again.

There were fun times though, such as the various trolls:

GAY!!!!!

hey your smart but your a kid so have fun but still be smart! i know this girl about your age who thinks she has to be smart and trys but then when she does she misses out on fun things that kids do. you dont want to miss out on things so you should be smart but still be a kid and have fun!
frome:someone who cares

And now I have email spammers:

hey Kid, It's cool to be young and talented but that's not you. I can feel that you think being an 11 years old and can do all these "crappy" design makes you really cool. Be humble my friend, the minute you start thinking you are better than any other 11 years old, then you are not that different from them.

It's always nice to see some intelligent, coherent commentary on the internet from someone who can't grasp basic grammar.

We shared some great times together, like my rant on the idiocy of my old school's reading policy. At least at my current school, I can read (hell, I can even surf the web) during recess, though the trade-off included being given piles of useless homework.

It's somewhat interesting (and embarrassing) looking back at lengthy descriptions of things so mundane, such as flying in a plane, which are now condensed into a single tweet or wall post. My "Things I Found On Google" series, featuring reviews of sites I found while searching Google, can now be stripped down to a tweet of a link and a five word description.

Back then, I had no sense of design, choosing an annoying stock design from Blogger, filling it up with flash widgets, hit counters, 80x15 images of things I liked; even putting Google ads up which eventually earned me a whopping $1.20 in revenue. Now I'm a web developer who deals with WordPress, who critiques any website for doing anything as small as using a table without tabular data.

In my profile, where it used to say "The Incredibles" under favorite movies, it would now say "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut." Where it said "Spongebob Squarepants," it would now read "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."

I no longer blog. I tweet. I facebook (I know that's not a verb).

Blogs are a dying medium, it pains me to say. Your average teenager no longer hops on Myspace to tell everyone about their social life, they vlog about it on YouTube, post about it on Facebook, or tweet to all their friends about it.

The bottom line is this: I've moved on. No more posts on this blog.

Goodbye, rants about school policies and homework.

Hello, life.

You can see my work here. You can follow me on twitter here. You can friend me on facebook here.

Almost the New Year!

It's almost 2008! Just 6 more minutes here. Can't wait!
In 2008, I will try to post at least once per day, but not on weekends.
Only 4 more minutes now!

Binary

Unclear Design

Gigglebytes

Another product making money off the Google brand.

Camp

I'm currently posting from a tech camp, where I'm learning Scheme (which I do during the school year), doing logic puzzles, and building electronic stuff. The week before, I did another tech camp, where I learned Flash Animation. Before that, I did the free camps that Apple offers. I know everything they teach, but I do them because I get free stuff and get to hang out with the people who work at Apple. I'll post more later.

Harry Potter!

I'm currently at a Barnes & Noble, waiting for the final Harry Potter book to come out at 12:01. I'm posting this from directly outside of the store, where my dad is napping. I've got a lot of photos that I'll post later. In case you're wondering, I'm posting this from my new iPhone! I came at 10:00 am to get a wristband and a ticket. So far, I have a lot of free stuff. Later!

iPhone!!!!

I got my iPhone a couple days ago! It is so cool! I got the 8 gb version. I'll post more about it later, but I took hundreds of photos (yes, I'm insane) of the unboxing. I also took screenshots of every step of the activation process. Favorite feature? Being able to browse the web while I'm in long lines or car rides. If only AT&T's Edge network was faster and had better coverage. Here's a couple photos of the unboxing:

Summer!

It's summer! So far, I've taken swimming lessons and went to a horrible camp that I'll post about later. Today, we're about to go on a trip to Italy! I'll post if I can when we get to the airport. I'll also post about the last day of school.

In other news, the iPhone's coming out on the 29th! I'm going to get the 8 GB model when we get back from our trip to Italy, because we're going to be there on the 29th. I also can't wait for when Leopard comes out in October. I was reading a live-blog of the WWDC keynote a while ago and there are some really cool features that will be in Leopard.

Anyways, I'll post at the airport if I can. It's going to be an overnight flight!

Google and Apple!

A month ago, while we were in California, I went to Google and Apple! I drove by Google and took photos (and 2 rocks, a twig, and 5 dead flowers), and afterwards went to the Apple Company Store and took photos of the Apple headquarters. It was the best day of my life!
The rocks, twig, and flowers are part of my little Google shrine in my room.

Here are some photos from Google:

A Google sign.


Another sign.


Another sign!


Getting closer to the buildings...


The exterior of one of the Googleplex's buildings.


Another of the Googleplex's many buildings.


Apparently, Google is installing solar panels!


A sign for the visitor lobby.


Another shot of the Googleplex's buildings.


You can see a security guard under an umbrella on the right.


A shot of another one of the Googleplex's buildings as we were driving away.


When I went to the Apple Company Store, I got:

• A black t-shirt with the silver text "I visited the Mothership." on the front, and the Apple logo in white on the back.
• A black t-shirt with the Apple logo in white on the front, and the text "apple.com" in white on the back.
• A light silver/gray t-shirt with the Apple logo in white on the front, and the text "apple.com" in white on the back.
• A pale gray t-shirt with a small gray Apple logo on the front, and nothing on the back.
• A white t-shirt with the Apple logo in gray on the front, and the text "apple.com" in gray on the back.
• A black hat with the Apple logo in silver on it.
• A silver notepad (with pen) with the Apple logo on the front.
• A pen set, with a pen, pencil, and another pen.
• A white click pen with the Apple logo in gray on the front.
• A red click pen with the Apple logo in white on the front.
• A blue click pen with the Apple logo in white on the front.

Here are some photos of Apple I took with my NEW (more details later) camera!


A shot of Apple's exterior.


Inside the Apple Company Store.


Over here there was mainly cups/mugs and pens.


A shot of another corner of the store, with the Apple TV demo and a iPod commercial playing.


A shot of a software display. Behind here was a row of computers and more software.


The entrance to Apple's headquarters.


Here's the sign for the Apple Company Store.


Here's their funny men's room sign.


And here's the women's room sign.


Last but not least, the Apple Campus sign.

I'll post more about the rest of our trip around California later if I have enough time.