Beast-Blog.com
Mike Cherim's Professional and Personal Web Log

What’s your town like? I probably know of your online home. Hell, I’ve probably even viewed your source, but what I don’t know is what it’s like where you physically live. So, tell me.

First, though, fair is fair, I’ll go first. I live and work in Nottingham, New Hampshire (NH). For those who don’t know where New Hampshire is, it’s in “New England” — in the northeastern part of the United States. If you still don’t know where I’m talking about, here’s a site all about New England and another one all about New Hampshire. Okay, now that you know, let’s get back to the Town of Nottingham (map).

Continue reading “My Hometown: Nottingham, New Hampshire” »

It really saddens me when I read some of the spam that passes though my inbox on its way to Deleteville. It makes me think that society is really more f’ck’d up than it should be. I do try to put it all into perspective, though. I remind myself that what I see is all crap and that it represents the thinking of an inconsequential percentage of the world’s population (or so I hope). But still, when you see enough of it — in concentrated doses — it’s sort of pathetic. In this post I will share two spams I see a lot and I will try to set the record straight, at least as I see it.

Continue reading “How About a Little Spam-Busting?” »

Ever since I have been flying the web developer pennant in my occupational corner I have been trying to develop my own best practices based on existing web standards and accessibility requirements, and then applying them consistently. My goal is to gain the ability to perform a task the same way time and time again without having to think about it, meanwhile ensuring my works conform to standardized usability practices to guarantee at least satisfactory experiences for my site’s users. Consistency, after all, can be a very good thing for everyone. Let me explain.

Continue reading “The Joys of Consistent Web Practices” »

In case you might not have noticed, I completely rebooted my my site’s main pages. The styling didn’t really change — I may do some tweaks in that department soon — but the underlying markup changed dramatically. I also completely rewrote all the scripting used to make the thing easier to upkeep. A complete rebuild, yet still a standalone as it always has been (the site is pre-blog), but now it’s tapped into the power of my blog’s style sheet as I did borrow the structure, throwing in a couple of new styles where needed. I think it was a sound decision.

Continue reading “Green-Beast.com v5: An Atypical Reboot” »

Imagine how you, as the customer, would feel about what you’re contemplating.

Inspired by a print magazine article I could relate to closely, I wrote another similar article on my company’s Bug Blog called “What Business Experience Do You Give?” In a nutshell it offers a couple of customer-business relationship experiences — with me being the customer — that went bad, why they went bad, and a little advice to prevent it happening with your business. After all, creating ill-will isn’t that good for a business’s long-term future. Moreover, it just isn’t right.

Continue reading “Doing Business Unto Others…” »

I have several remote controls throughout my house. Televisions, cable boxes, a DVD player, satellite radio, air conditioner, and more. It’s crazy. They’re all over the place (maybe I need a holster with a universal remote). Most have a multitude of buttons. This thought occurred to me the other day: All those buttons, yet I only use four, or seven, or ten — a fraction of what’s available — I have to wonder, is this an indication of poor design, or is it just me while the rest of the world uses these devices to their maximum potential.

Continue reading “How Many Buttons Do You Use?” »

So, you want to have a web site. Hmm. Now what? Do you have the basics of web organization and size? Do you understand the way a web site works in terms of web-specific features? Linking for example, this is something you can now do. It needs to be considered. Have you? I find that many people know that they want a web site, but they really don’t know where to begin. Thus, I offer this article.

Continue reading “Web Site Planning 101” »

This is an off-the-wall post for me — a recipe of all things — but I do want to share this with my readers since I’m a graduate of the University of Diversity and a gastronomic guru. Long before “fusion cuisine” was a buzzword in culinary circles, I had written and published a recipe that married the influence of a special Japanese recipe and American backyard grilling. You see, I learned a lot about Japanese cooking having lived there: three years in Tokyo, and one year in Wakkanai.

Continue reading “Japanese Style Smoky Grilled Beef” »

Well, today’s the day. My forty-fifth birthday. If I live to ninety — which I think is unlikely due to my wild and woolly past — my life is half over. Will the next forty-five years be as good as the last forty-five? I can only imagine how they could be. I hope all goes well. I still have some good times to look forward to provided something doesn’t come along to ruin my fun. If you’ll indulge me, I’m going to wax retrospectively and offer insight. Time to share.

Continue reading “Forty Freakin’ Five” »