Journal
Twenty Eight
31 July 2007 › 32 comments
Be forewarned, this is going to be one of those introspective blog posts.
Today, I turn 28. Granted, the number 28 is not very significant in and of itself. I’m still in my 20’s, and it’s certainly not as bad as thirty. It’s not like the freeing number 16, when you can (legally) drive, 18 when you can (legally) purchase tobacco, vote and/or be drafted into the military, or 21 when you can (legally) consume alcoholic beverages. However, a lot has happened in this past year, and I find myself in a reflective mood.
That and, I guess since I’m in 9rules and it’s a blogging network, I should actually write something to keep my site from utter stagnation.
Last Year
On July 31st 2006, I found myself pretty much alone (explanation), since my wife was doing a stint as a translator back in her home country of Estonia. Luckily, the timing coincided with my little brother living with me during August ’06 while he did an internship in Boise at St. Luke’s for his Doctorate of Physical Therapy. He’s since dun an’ gotten himself married, so it was cool to bond one last time as “bachelors” last summer. He and his wife will both eventually be Dr. Smith (she’s going for an MD). I’m proud of ‘em.
At this time last year, I was working as a web developer at Albertsons, which was bought by the company SuperValu for $17.4 billion. Incidentally, they’re currently looking to hire a Sr. Web Developer. Boise is a great town, and the web guys there are really sharp (Dan, Hugh and Nate). Don’t let the Napoleon Dynamite stigma fool you, Idaho is a beautiful place to live.
New Job
In November of 2006, like a country song played backwards, my wife has came back, and we (fittingly) moved to Texas for my new job as a Front-end Architect with Geniant. Ironically, we were recently acquired by the technology company EMC. So far, so good: Same job, better benefits.
Accolades
So far, Textpattern Solutions has been getting good reviews, with an average rating of 5 stars on Amazon. Myself and the other authors were interviewed recently by Digital Web Magazine, in an article entitled Why Textpattern.
Speaking of magazines, .Net Magazine (not .NET) recently interviewed me for a piece called Best Redesigns for my code work on the Stonebriar site. I was honored to have a pull-quote on the same page as Jesse who was interviewed for his redesign of the ExpressionEngine site. It’s a nice jab at IE6.
Also interviewed were Chris Merritt, who was the designer of the Stonebriar site – and Jason Reynolds, the project manager. Be sure to check out Chris’ write-up on Digital Web, as part of their Working Designer series.
New House
Last week, we moved into our new house. Well, it was built in 1998 but it’s new to us, as first time home owners. We used Ebby Realty and they were great to work with. If you’re looking for a house in the Dallas area, be sure to ask for Sue Nelms. She was recommended to us by my friend John Dyer. She took us under her wing and helped us find exactly what we were looking for:
- Corner lot
- Quiet neighborhood
- Ceramic tile floors throughout (easy on my allergies)
Sue Nelms recommended to us John Bazzell of Integrity Mortgage, who got us set up with a good loan and all that jazz. He walked us through the process, and was there with us at closing, which not many loan officers will do.
One of my favorite aspects of the house is the previous owners made one of the bedrooms into an office. It has smooth, stained and sealed concrete that is great for rolling desk chairs. As awesome as the team is at Geniant EMC, I have to admit to being a bit jealous of work-from-home guys like my friends Cody and Matt who work for Fluid and Weblogs Inc, respectively. I hadn’t really felt that living in an apartment. The ‘burbs have made me soft.
Looking Ahead
Well, I guess that about wraps things up as far as a re-cap of being 27. Hopefully the next year will be just as exciting, but more sedentary.
Discussion + Dissension
Comments closed after 2 weeks.
#1 Damien Buckley
Happy Birthday Nathan. By the way, when you get there, turning 30 isnt all that bad (3 yrs ago for me). My Wife tells me I’m getting better with age and who am I to doubt her ; ) Nice interview in .net too.
#2 José Carlos
Happy birthday!
#3 Jonathan Snook
Congrats on #28! I remember turning 28 and really realizing that I was close to 30. At 27, you’re still basically 25. But at 28, you’re practically 30 and that’s a long way from 20. Rest assured, when you hit 30, it’s all downhill from there. ;)
Glad to hear everything seems to be going well and the pictures of the house look really nice.
#4 Girish
Happy b’thday Nathan. Beautiful house by the way. Congratulations on your new move.
#5 Nate Klaiber
Happy Birthday, Nathan!
It seems like a lot has happened over the past year, even seeing history repeat itself with your jobs and such.
You seem to have come a long way in that past year. More respected work in your portfolio, a respected author of a very well written book, and now a new house.
And well, in 2 years you can write the ‘Thirty’ post :) Hope you have a great day!
#6 Jason Beaird
Happy Birthday Nathan! Sounds like it was quite a crazy year. As much as I appreciate your pull-quote from .Net, at least we don’t have to code for IE 5.5 anymore. Oh, and here’s my 2 cents about working from home: It’s great when you’re already established in the city you’ll be working in and have friends to go out and do stuff with. I started working from home while we were living in Florida and kept the job as we moved to South Carolina. While the job/company/work was great, I missed the office environment – Starbuck’s breaks, going out for lunch, office tomfoolery… Believe it or not, that was the main reason why I switched jobs. :)
#7 Jonathan E
Happy Birthday Nathan!
Congrats on the house too, it looks really nice from the picture above. Home ownership is a lot more work, but it’s awesome.
#8 Mike Robinson
Happy birthday Nathan :)
That house looks wonderful! Any interior pics?
#9 Chris Merritt
Happy Birthday!
May you live all the days of your life.
#10 Robert Evans
Happy Birthday Nathan!
#11 David Brooks
Happy birthday! Good to hear that things are going well. It also sounds like some congratulations on the writings and interviews are in order. Oh yeah, and the house! Good thing for you that you aren’t buying it in Wilmore. It would have cost a million dollars more and they would have chopped it in half and made you share it with another family. =)
#12 Josh Read
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Congrats Nate on everything going on in your life. No wonder your skype has said busy for the past month!
#13 David Russell
Happy Birthday, Nathan!
#14 Terry Apodaca
Happy Birthday Nathan!
#15 David Sutoyo
One year closer to 30, but one year wiser. Happy Birthday. House looks nice, wish we can get into something like that here in CA.
#16 Jeff Ludwig
Happy birthday Nathan! The Lord’s blessings on you, Olga, and all that you do. You’re making a difference in “making the ‘net a bit nicer” :-)
#17 Jared Christensen
Congrats on the house! Very cool. Incidentally, 30 is not as bad as it’s made out to be. Actually, life begins at 30.
#18 Christopher Lund
Happy birthday, Nathan!
#19 Jon Christopher
Happy Birthday, Nathan! What a gorgeous house! Congratulations on all you’ve done and all you’ve got left to do. It sounds like things are going completely great for you, and I hope that remains true for a long time to come. Again, happy birthday, Nathan.
#20 Ben G.
Happy Birthday! We’re the same age now, weird.
#21 Vladimir Agafonkin
Happy Birthday Nathan!
28 is a great age, so is 30 – don’t listen to the folks who rant about it as if they are already 80.
#22 beth
Congrats on the new house and happy birthday!
#23 Michael Montgomery
Yer all young pups, I say!
Happy birthday, Nathan.
And congrats on the first house.
God bless you & your family,
#24 Mark Priestap
Happy 28th and congrats on your beautiful new home!
#25 Nathan Smith
@All: Thanks for all the well-wishing!
@Jason Baird: Thanks for the words of wisdom, good advise.
For those who are interested, here are more house photos:
http://flickr.com/photos/nathansmith/966845683/
#26 Deborah
Happy birthday Nathan! I agree with Mike Montgomery – you’re all young pups!
Congratulations on the new house – it’s a beautiful house and the photos are wonderful. Any plans for additional landscaping in the backyard – shrubs, perennials, trees? A vegetable garden?
#27 Nathan Logan
Thanks for the props, bro – and happy 28th. I’m almost exactly a year behind you, but I’ll catch up one of these days…
#28 Nathan Smith
@Deborah: We’re planning on removing some of the shrubs, which are currently plagued by parasitic bugs, and replacing them with more hearty shrubs. Not much will change with the landscaping. My wife is planning on starting a garden though.
@Nate Logan: Something tells me, when it comes to age, you’ll always be eating my dust. I ain’t slowing down, just so you can catch up!
#29 Erik Sagen
Happy, Happy Birthday Nathan!
All of the above (your post and comments prior to this one and more to come) is further proof of how awesome you are.
Keep rockin’ and rollin’ my friend!
#30 Larry Tomlinson
Looks like I’m totally late to the game…. But regardless, happy birthday!!! I’m only a mere 3 years behind, but like Mr Logan, I too shall catch up with you one of these days… mark my words!
#31 cody lindley
Happy B-day! And nice Pad!
#32 Your Bretheren
Happy birthday, brother. I was reminiscing of our time in Boise when Hana and I were hanging out in Idaho this weekend. It was good times and great oldies. Can’t wait until we get to come visit and hunt geckos.
Love,
Andrew