The ol’ gallery has been a little silent in the past few months, but I have been busy:

2006.08.18 – My 28th Birthday

2006.08.25 – Kentucky State Fair

2006.09.04 – Mayor Jerry’s Hike & Bike

2006.10.14 – Huber’s and Holly’s Birthday

The title says it all. While I normally keep work-life out of the blog-life, I’ll make an exception now, on account of the many, many lurkers that frequent this site, many of whom are either former co-workers of mine, or are of the nerdly persuasion.

Power Creative needs web developers, and in a good way. We’ve got plenty of work and we need people (like me) who can walk, talk, chew gum and code in a number of languages. Communication, problem-solving and learning skills might even be more important, and I’ll tell you why: Power Creative is an advertising agency, and the “Interactive” (it’s ad agency speak) department where you’d work is not like the dinosaur-pen or cube-farm to which you might be familiar.

It’s not for everyone, it’s true. You’ll be doing some serious warrior-poet sorta stuff here – a little analysis, a little design, and a good bit of development. You won’t just be “the developer”, but rather someone who works as part of a larger team inside the agency. You want project ownership? You’ll have it. Power’s “Interactive” department is small, but growing and more often than not you’ll be the point-wo(man) on the job at hand.

What is for everyone, however, is the stability of the job, the varied experience and the culture of the place. Power (which has been around since the late 1960′s) is a ridiculously diversified compared to the strictly Interactive agencies. We’ve got photo studios, copywriters, creative designers, set builders, ad buyers, media planners, etc, etc. We service any number of high-profile clients, like GE and Lennox to hometown favorites like Hillerich & Bradsby and Louisville Stoneware. We develop in many languages on many environments (PHP, ASP/VBscript, .NET, Windows, *nix, Mac), and you’ll be sure to expand your skill set. Finally, the culture of the place is excellent. I can’t imagine anywhere else I’d rather work.

Are you interested? Are you up for the challenge? Can you hit a softball while batting switch-handed? Let me know. Drop me a line here: ben{aye-tee}thelocust{deeohtee}org. Full position description after the jump.

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INTERACTIVE ANALYST/DEVELOPER

Power Creative is seeking a versatile and personable interactive analyst/developer with strong technical knowledge and good client-relation skills. Candidate must be completely comfortable working in both Linux and Windows environments, must have extensive experience with XHTML, CSS, XML and Web Standards, must be familiar with installation, configuration and usage of Apache, IIS, MySQL, PostgreSQL and MS SQL Server, and must be able to switch easily between several scripting languages, especially PHP, VBScript and JavaScript (.NET/C#, Java, Ruby, Python, and Perl a plus).
Candidate must also be able to communicate well with clients.

JOB REQUIREMENTS

• Analysis, functional design specification, design, code development, testing, documentation, implementation and maintenance of Web-based applications
• Design and implementation of SQL databases
• Work with clients to analyze, understand and document user requirements for Web-based applications, and suggest solutions to problems and needs
• Perform cost/benefit analysis to determine the feasibility of a requested feature and suggest alternative solutions
• Work with client’s IT staff to implement necessary server configuration for databases and Web applications
• Analyze and resolve coding and scripting errors
• Research new technologies, techniques, trends and best practices in Web-based application development and apply this expertise to client applications
• Supervise development progress of projects

QUALIFICATIONS

• BS in Computer Science (or equivalent experience) preferred
• Solid record of good client interaction
• Proven track record of business process analysis and software design experience
• Proven track record of Web-based software design and development, with a focus on seeing projects through from beginning to end.

OTHER SKILLS

• Excellent troubleshooting skills a must
• Willingness, ability and desire to learn new technologies and techniques a must
• Ability to work as a part of an organic, networked organization
• Ability to creatively apply skills and technologies to achieve client needs
• Gathering of system requirements, mapping of processes and time and effort estimation
• Documentation of preliminary and functional specifications, model analysis, database designs, etc.
• Understanding of print media, page layout, and artistic abilities a plus
• Must be able to hit a softball switch-handed.

Power Creative

11701 Commonwealth Dr

Louisville, KY 40299

www.powercreative.com

email: opportunities{AT}powercreative{DOT}com

Jackson, Medina, Kelly and I went to see Wilco last night at the gloriously re-vamped Iroquois Amphitheatre here in Louisville. I had never seen Wilco live, though I really fell in love with them on our honeymoon back in 2002, shortly after their now-classic Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was released. I was extremely excited to see them, as was Kelly. Together, we are big fans.

The Iroquois Amphitheatre is located in the South End of Louisville. In a classic display of just how little Louisville hipsters have reason to visit the South End, Jackson and Medina met Kelly and I at one of the few reasons to venture south – the incredible edible Vietnam Kitchen – and it was packed to the rafters with hipsters! You’d be hard-pressed for a ‘Ville indie dude to give you the name of another restaurant in the ZIP code, so I guess it was only natural for the Wilco crowd to flashmob the joint.

We finished up there and headed down to the venue, which is just inside of Iroquois Park, the “Yellowstone of Louisville”. The amphitheatre was recently renovated, and I had never been inside of it before or after the renovation. It is just absolutely magnificent, and judging by the oohs-and-ahhs heard from the crowd as they entered, I’d assume that the local rock crowd will be clamoring for more shows to be held here. Call in your Vietnam Kitchen reservations now, scenesters!

The Early Day Miners opened for Wilco with no less than 5 guitarists and two drum kits and proceeded to blast out some AYWKUBTTOD / Explosions in the Sky-esque instrumental jams that came to an absolutely crushing end. Must be something about that Texas/Louisiana area that makes people want to elevate their rock to orchestral heights!

Wilco was excellent, and Jeff Tweedy was a jubilant and engaging frontman. At one point during “Hummingbird” he had panties thrown at him while he was hamming it up at the lip of the stage. Later, he would claim to wish that he was David Lee Roth, which was immediately followed by a qualification of “David Lee Roth from, like, 30 years ago”. Wilco’s music and lineup over the years has evolved in any number of different ways, but at the very core of it has always been Tweedy with his lyrical and rhythmic ventures, which have never strayed too far into the bizarre. Undoubtedly catchy hooks in his songs linger on my mind for days at a time, like a pop song, but with a lyrical depth that somehow strikes deeper.

The crowd was intense, with Wilco coming back for 2 encores. I overheard a photographer (whom I assume to be travelling with the band) remark that “these last two crowds were really great” (the other being a show at Michigan State) and I can’t argue with that. Wilco is one of few bands with a decade’s worth of work that is equally adored by fans – and judging by the wide, wide age range in the audience, they are at once retaining old fans and making new ones as they continue.

After the show wrapped, we walked back to the cars and I saw a sign that said “HONG KONG FAST FOOD”. Thanks to the curvature of the window on Jackson’s car, I managed to read that as “HONK HONK FAST POODLE” instead. That, Kelly decided, would be the name of her production company. Mine? Well, it would clearly be “Ferret with a Hat“.

Oh man, it’s that time again! Fall isn’t here yet, but it’s right around the corner and you know what fall is – CHILI SEASON. And let me tell you, it’s ON this year with a capital “O”.

Last year, I helped to organize a Chili Battle at work and we raised some $500 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the Light the Night Walk. We had a dozen chilis and 60 eaters compete and we had a ball doing so. I ended up taking 3rd place and Interactive Department colleague Shareen took 2nd. We were both bested by a GE Team-entered white chili! We vowed then to take back the coveted chili trophy!

This year, we have expanded the competition to include 4 categories: Traditional (meat and tomato-based), White (not tomato), Hot and Other (veggie, ethnic, etc). There will still be a Grand Prize winner, which we have termed “the Best of Bowl”. Today at lunch, I made flyer for the 2006 Chili Battle – and I really like it.

As far as my chili this year goes, I’m not sure what I’m going to cook. I’ve flirted with a Thai-style chili as well as a Greek-style chili, but I’m thinking of sticking closer to last year with another dark chicken chili. But this year, after much soul-searching and demographic investigation, I think I have just the thing to sway the Power people into my camp!

Chalk it up to pre-mid-life crises if you will, but I recently have been enjoying biking quite a bit. I bought my first “real” bike a few months back (a Kona Smoke) for commuting purposes, and it has served me very well. Kelly and I rode Mayor Jerry’s Hike & Bike on Labor day and while there I noticed folks in KY Mountain Biking Association jerseys. I guess I never really considered trail riding until that moment. I knew such things existed around town, considering our excellent Metro Parks system, and generally hilly terrain. My bike is essentially a converted mountain bike frame with slicker wheels, but would still be up to the task. Why not?!

Tuesday evening, with no one to play soccer with at the park, I decided to check out the Wilderness Trail Loop, a well-maintained beginner-level trail just south of Seneca Park on Old Cannons Lane. Not really knowing if my bike – or even I were up to it, I climbed up the trailhead and started on my merry way.

If there was a squirrel watching me as I flew down the trail, he’d have seen a man eyes wide with wonderment and a smile to match. It’s been a long time since I had this much fun on a bike.

Remember how I said I was going to make a large catapult and call it THE POWER OF LOVE? Well, I did it! It took me only a handful of hours to complete over the 4th of July weekend, and at M@ and Sara’s 4th of July Party, it made it’s debut!

M@ was kind enough to video the thing in action (firing incendiaries) and put it up on YouTube:

Behold the Power of Love!

Got a call from my younger brother Nick yesterday (which is a little unusual), but he was all excited on the other end of the line, so I figured something was up. He was at the Best of Louisville awards where his restaurant, Seviche just won a “Best New Restaurant” award! Head chef Anthony Lamas was out-of-town in France, and so Nick (one of two sous chefs) accepted the award from host Terry Meiners.

I’ve eaten at Seviche a couple of times, and it has always been fantastic, and not just because my lil’ brother is cooking. It’s been a long road, but he’s really stuck with cooking – and I couldn’t be more proud of him. Congrats, Nick!

Yesterday, I gave blood for the first time. I’m glad I did it, though it certainly knocked me for a loop! It took me a few hours to “get right” again. For my troubles, though, I did get a snappy “vintage Red Cross ballcap”, which I like very much.

Haven’t given blood before? It’s really not that bad. There is a very slight pain when the needle goes in (“the old familiar sting” in NIN parlance), but other than that, you lie there and drink some orange juice and squeeze a ball in your hand. The people running the show in the travelling truck that visited us were very nice.

As previously reported, Kelly and I were on The Great Prius Hunt, and as of last night, that hunt came to a satisfying close!

We got a call from Jim Parker over at GreenTree Toyota to let us know that the car was in and that we could seal the deal that evening. After a little wait for the financing lady to finish up with some other folks, we signed our lives away, and rolled on out the door.

This morning, I put the Prius to the real test, which was this: Can it fit all my sailplane stuff in the rear?. The answer to that most critical of questions is Yes, and handily.

One package is a charred oaken barren filled with corn squeezins’ and let sit for a decade. The other is a crude, yet effective attempt at medieval artillery fashioned out of bits and pieces from a local hardware store. Either is glorious!

It just so happens that I have photo galleriess of both such glories: 2006.05.04 – Taste of Oak and 2006.05.19 – Trebuchets.

The “Taste of Oak” thing was a fundraiser for the Easter Seals. Normally held during August, they moved the event to before the Derby (in fact near Oaks Day). The event involves a bourbon tasting and food from many different vendors, though the bourbon is the main attraction. Most of the major distilleries in Kentucky show up and are more than happy to give you all the bourbon you want in their custom glassware. Meanwhile, the Six Million Dollar Man and that Dead Guy From Lost Who Is Related to Tom Cruise wow the audience with their presence.

The trebuchet (treb-you-shay) thing started I-don’t-know-when, but suffice it to say any man with sufficient space at one point or another at least considers building a catapult. Last year, you may remember that some folks from our crue built potato guns for the Fourth of July. This year, we intend to keep up the sciency challenge with the building of catapults out of readily available materials. Rules and regulations are still in the works, but today (as witnessed by the photos and video) I put my small trebuchet through it’s paces with the help of Charlie Dillon. In the end we semi-reliably flung a golf ball about 60-75 feet. Glorious! This small model (named Cheap Plastic Artillery #1, aka CPA One) will be scaled up into a larger contraption that I have named THE POWER OF LOVE