Charles Gallant

It’s been a quick July.  I’ve made some changes.

I’m using Twitter all the time now, and I’m enjoying it.  It’s tough to explain, but contrary to it’s apparent lack of purpose, it’s quite valuable.  The question most people struggle with is “why would I want to post about myself.”  If you’re asking that, you need to stop thinking about yourself.  It’s less about you, and more about everyone, all at once.  It’s a customized conversation that you can hand curate to be just what you want.  People around you are talking, and they want to engage with you.  It’s as simple as that.

I’ve added all my shared stories from Google Reader above.  If you’re not using Google Reader yet, and you don’t read RSS feeds, you should!  Here’s a write up I did last year on how to get started.
Also, there’s no more big flash header on the site.  Yep, killed it.  Something else will be up there, but for now, straight HTML purity.

Finally, I’ve recently launched a little experiment called quickplayasong.com.  I made it for a number of reasons.  First, I wanted to design something for the iPhone.  Second, I wanted to learn jQuery.  Third, I wanted to build a useful single serving site.  And finally (and most importantly), I wanted to make something that could help musicians.  I learned much of what I know about guitar on the internet, and I owe it something in return.  Hopefully, this helps in one form or another.  Check it out!

…and a little re-design, too.  It’s about time.  I’ve decided that with the turn of the seasons, I should give this site a spin around the block.  On my list of things to change are:

- The number of feeds this site collects / displays
- The way that this site handles feedback / comments
- The way the flash header looks / feels
- The css that mobile users are served
- The frequency and manner in which I write posts

I’d really like to start recording things more efficiently.  I’ll want to look back on this in a few years and see something that I can learn from.  After all, soon everything will connect to everything.  The walled gardens of data will fall, and every digital device will exchange information through standardized data formats.  The analysis of those complicated and overlapping trends will be amazing tools for learning about ourselves.  Imagine an efficient / meaningful / insightful way to look at the last 5 years.  How bout any number of years.  What’s important to me now is leaving a meaningful and robust set of information to gather.  By the time we can really use it, I’ll probably wish I wrote more.
One of my greatest fears is unknowingly repeating the same mistakes every day, because I don’t have enough perspective to see and correct myself.  Having a blog seems like a great way towards getting the type of insights I’m looking for.  Maybe it’ll change the way I see time passing.