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

I’m happy to announce the Beast-Blog theme has exceeded the 10,000 downloads mark — and that’s just from my site. There are also download mirrors such as the Themes.WordPress site (where it’s been downloaded over 2200 times), plus it comes in different languages. It’s really nice to see that this thing was/is so well received. It was voted by users the number one two-column theme and the number two of all themes for a long time, but about a week after I found out about it some dude gave it a crappy grade for an include error that really wasn’t even my fault so that shot that all to hell. Oh, well, that’s the way it goes. The download number says a lot more than its current rank anyway… people seem to enjoy it.

Continue reading “Beast-Blog Reaches 10,000 Downloads” »

This article is based on my experiences working with web design clients. It may be subjective in nature and not reflect your experiences. Nevertheless, I wanted to share. I have found that sometimes web design clients don’t realize or understand that building a successful web site doesn’t fall solely on the shoulders of the developer. Rather I find — and they must realize — that the best possible results will come by way of a partnership of sorts. It’s a team effort. The client needs the developer’s help, but the developer needs the client’s help, too.

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For my wife’s birthday I bought her a (pre-owned, 2004) Dodge Ram 1500 pick-up truck. Her last vehicle was a Nissan Pathfinder and it was over ten years old. She lets me drive her new truck now and then and I made an observation when driving it the other night: The automobile industry has come a long, long way since Henry Ford said of his Model T: “You can have in any color you like so long as it’s black.” I made this observation because I got into her truck, adjusted the seat, popped open the cup-holder tray to set down my drink, tilted the wheel, set the air conditioning, figured out the onboard navigational computer, found my favorite radio station, opened the windows, turned on the lights, and few other not-very-exciting tasks. And not once during any of this did I need to consult the instruction manual.

Continue reading “Web’s Future and the Automobile Industry” »

I recently had a customer interaction that made clear to me the negative side to web-based terminology. The client asked me to make a Web 2.0-like site template. They also stated they wanted it accessible and standards-compliant. That was about it in regards to their site requirements. I asked for more details regarding the look, layout, and whatnot, but this led to client confusion. They didn’t really know but would know it when they saw it. Risky I say, but no problem, I made them an accessible, standards-complaint liquid site template and delivered the product. They didn’t like it and said I failed to give them the Web 2.0 look. But what is a Web 2.0 look? I know it has nothing to do with how a site looks, and it doesn’t mean standards-compliant nor does it mean accessible, even though the latter will help a great deal.

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It’s been raining here in New Hampshire like crazy for the past several days. There’s a lot of flooding, small scale local stuff mostly. My house’s sump pump is running, but that’s no big deal. The woods by my house are flooded. Nasty out. And, today, Mother’s day, right down the road a bridge washes out. Check out the images →

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Actually found some time for life this weekend and I went on a short four-wheeling adventure with my son. This post is here simply as a way to share a couple of photos we took during the day. It was a great day and the photos will never do it justice but…

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So, in a nutshell, my blog serves me in four ways

Yep, there I was, minding my own business, when all of a sudden I got an email from a student doing research. The student’s name was Tyler and he wanted to know specifically why I was a blog writer.

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In my early twenties I lived in northern Italy. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I spent three years in that country and had many adventures during that time. This story is about one day during that period. It’s not a story about Italy, the culture or the people. Nope, it’s a story about the dog I had when I was over there, Ryder, and an adventured we shared. This is a true story.

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I’ve had my coffee and a nice hot shower. Warm food is next.

Just in case you were wondering, where’s Mike?… my family and I have been without good old fashioned ee-lek-tricity for the past 24 hours. It sucked royally, let me share:

Life as we know it comes to a screeching halt without the shock-juice. Thus we haven’t done anything but try to stay warm — it’s well below freezing here. No heat, no water, no toilet, no freakin’ coffee. Tried especially hard, I did, to keep the fingers of my right hand warm mindful of my occasional voyages outside in the icy wind.

Continue reading “A long, cold 24 hours” »