I'm sure it's no secret I'm not and never have been a fan of Apple products despite getting opportunities to casually use the products from time to time. I'm also not a Microsoft fan. I consider myself a get it done effectively and efficiently fan. I find Apple's failure to comply with software standards (much in the same way Microsoft fails to comply with web standards) to be most annoying. Granted there isn't a software standards organization like the W3C for web development, but you'd think Apple would focus more on use than fluff. And the fact Apple fanatics actually glorify Apple for this failure is even more frustrating. To go a step further I find it ironic Apple fanatics go on to hate everyone else so much that they lose sight of the fact that their beloved operating system is actually UNIX and their beloved hardware is actually a PC (we're talking notebooks and desktops atm... we'll get to the iPhone and iPad in a moment). Take it a step further and build an identical PC from HP or Dell compared to an Apple and you'll notice the Apple is significantly more expensive... we're not talking fifty dollars, we're talking hundreds with an "s" more. Is the price difference really justified for what Apple charges for the operating system? An operating system foundation that is actually FREE and over 20 years old (I'm not doggin' UNIX here... it's great stuff, my point is that Apple, like Microsoft before it... ripped off it's operating system)? Rhetorical questions here of course but here's my favorite part of the Apple vs. PC desktop/notebook debate... would you rather have Apple tell you what software you have to use or would you rather choose what software you want to use. Choose an Apple PC and you're third party software options are limited at best. Choose a PC from anyone else and you can do anything you want with your computer. Make a media center for you're home theater, create an audio studio, create a server, even make you're own hommade router... the sky's the limit with a PC. Sure, the Apple interface is pretty, but is it making you as productive and efficient as you could be? Only if you've never used a PC and you're computer illiterate (illiteracy is NOT a bad thing, non-computer people need expensive toys too)... or you're an Apple fanboy.
And on a sidenote. For the idiots who think Photoshop is better on a Mac... think again. Since CS3, Photoshop has run better, faster and more effectively on a PC, and CS4 introduced 64-bit support which goes even faster... but only on a PC! Mac 64-bit support will finally come in CS5. Why the change? The Adobe/Macromedia merge, and Photoshop's a better product today because of it. As a result Mac Photoshop development is behind that of a PC... a whole generation behind. You'll find gaming much the same way... World of Warcraft is a perfect example of this. As a developer myself, I'll vouch that it is difficult and a pain in the butt to write the same software for two seperate platforms. And in most cases development on software for Windows-based PCs [vs. NIX/OSX] will come first. So much for having "state-of-the-art".
And just to bust one more myth while I'm at it, Macs/Apples are no less prone to viruses than any other computer. Your Mac/Apple IS A PC! Get used to it.
Now that brings me to the iPod, iPhone and the iPad (known by me as the iPhail) which was released today. The iPod was a brilliant piece of hardware and has gone down in history as such. The iPhone was simply a reinvention of the iPod with a built-in [crappy] phone (seriously... its an awful phone, but a hell of a glorified iPod (oh and one more thing to misinformed Apple dumbasses again, the iPhone was NOT the first touchscreen phone)). I'm not saying the iPhone isn't cool (in fact it's VERY cool), but the ONLY reason for the iPhone's success was timing. The iPhone was simply lucky enough to be coupled with the instant communication revolution of the latter 2000s and being able to support social networking. Beyond that, the iPhone's still a multipurpose toy. As for the iPad, it's going to be complete utter failure. Why? Apple's trying to reinvent the iPhone which was already a reinvention... which would be ok I guess if there was something that was going to justify the purpose of the large touchscreen. Not only does nothing justify the larger touchscreen, but this is Apple's lame ass attempt at a combo iPhone/e-reader/netbook. It's nothing more than a big iPhone... kinda like those huge remote controls you pickup at the dollar store as a gag gift for your father who's losing his eyesight. Maybe my dad will consider an iPad now instead of the iPhone....

Why oh why does ColdFusion's architecture use anything other than jQuery for it's underlying AJAX framework? I know I can simply not use it, but Adobe would be wise to just get rid of it altogether in my humble opinion. /jots note down for ColdFusion 10 testing. I know Ray Camden hearted Spry in 2006, but I'm hearting jQuery in 2010!

I have Linksys WRT350N router that has been a wonderful piece of equipment to me over the years providing not only wireless N, but also gigabit connections between my workstation and server. I didn't like it at first, but the moment I installed dd-wrt, the product has worked flawlessly. Recently I've begun to have lockup problems while the router was under intense use (each kid was watching a movie over the network on different TVs, my wife and another kid were surfing wirelessly while I was playing a game) which could only be solved by unplugging it for a few minutes. After some research, I found that the problem was that the router was overheating. I found some owners were modding their routers (not my thing) and after some research I'm not too flattered with current routers on the market (decent article on consumer routers in the February 2010 MaximumPC). So, how do you cool a piece of computer equipment? With perferated holes on top of the router for cooling, I looked all over the internet and found a Thermaltake USB fan for about $20 with shipping that I could plugin into the USB storage connection in the back of the router that I wasn't using. Instead, I looked through my stuff and found an old case fan and and old USB 1.1 cable I wasn't using. I cut off the connections from each end, exposed the wire from each, twisted the red wire onto the other red wire and the black wire onto the white wire and created my own ghetto USB powered fan. I was pretty surprised when I plugged it in and it actually worked! I just placed the fan on top of the router and the router has yet to run even warm since my addition (although I started with the fan on top pulling the warm air out of the router, but it seems to get even cooler when I flip the fan to blow air into the router).

So I've managed to make myself disappear for over a year now. After ten years of design, programming and development I was very much on the edge of burnout. My absence was very intentional as I gathered my thoughts and decided what I was going to develop for the years to come or if I was going to develop anything at all. I am now a full time firefighter and have fallen in love with my career change. As a result I now have ample personal time. Of course a good portion of which is spent with my family and I've managed to put in a good amount of time playing Warcraft, but I'm not one to get complacent. The difference now of course is now that I'm no longer freelancing I have a steady income, but I now have an opportunity to develop what I want vesus what someone else wants. So the old website is gone and it's not returning. I've also managed to let go of every single client. I've closed my old business with its old goals and old ways and created Mozus Media, which was always dream company of mine. So now here I am literally doing what I want to do and I'll do whenever I want to do it. I'm sure this comes off wrong, but I'm finding it quite liberating as I'm beginning to wrap up my first project. Granted I'll launch it when I'm good and ready, but for the first time in my career as a developer I feel no pressure and I'm happy about what I'm doing.