Doing What I Love

I’ve had the rare or seemingly rare privilege the last few years to be able to work at what I enjoy and support my family. Its a privilege and grace I’ve not taken lightly and one that I’ve thanked God for many times.

A quote that has often been attributed to Confucius rings true:

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.

I’ve experienced that first hand. It happens when I think about my job constantly because I’m excited to solve the next problem. Its when I look forward to Monday because another week of possibility and discovery lie ahead and its being totally satisfied to roll out another project and start on the next.

So why would I change what I do?

In short because a better opportunity has presented itself.

Starting today I become a full time employee of Copyblogger Media specifically working with StudioPress. To say this is an incredible opportunity is an understatement. StudioPress in my opinion is the leading company when it comes to WordPress themes. Other companies may put out more themes or boast of a bigger community but nobody combines a rock solid framework, the quality of themes, and incredible support like StudioPress does.

Through a series of circumstances I had the opportunity to form a relationship with Brian Gardner the founder of StudioPress a couple years ago which led to us collaborating on WordCamp Chicago and several WordPress theme development projects.

I respect Brian immensely as does the WordPress community at large. If you know Brian at all you know what a genuine and good guy he is. To have the opportunity to work with him on a day to day basis is awesome. I owe a lot of my success as a freelance developer and designer to him these past couple of years and I can’t wait to see what we are going to be build in the future.

The team that Copyblogger and StudioPress has put together is incredible as well. To be able to work with talented folks like Nathan Rice and Rafal Tomal and a number of others will not only be a ton of fun but a great learning experience as well.

Thanks to Brian Clark and the other partners at Copyblogger for giving me this opportunity!

What is changing?
I’ll no longer be freelancing and taking on personal projects through my company Red Letters Studio. The blog and portfolio will stay online but for posterity only at this point.

I’ll no longer be selling themes individually but rather making them for StudioPress.

As I posted about yesterday – I’ll be writing more on this blog and looking to share my story and thoughts on a consistent basis.

I’m super excited to finally be able to announce this and I can’t wait to see what the future has in store!

written on October 10, 2011 · 2 Comments

New Beginnings

The season of life that I find myself in is one that is ever changing and bringing new things. For one, its my birthday so its the start of a new year of life. As a family we just made had our first major Vacation and first trip to Disney World.

As I’ll write about Monday I’m starting a new season of work in which I leave behind what I’ve done for the past ten plus years and start down a familiar, but new path.

I’ve also entered a new season in which I’ve decided to make a concentrated effort to write more. For the past few years I’ve written very sporadically on this blog and mostly about family. While that will continue I’ll be purposefully writing more about the books I read, the ministry I participate in, WordPress development, design and about other items which catch my fancy.

I’ll be shutting down my blog at redlettersstudio.com to any new entries and while the content I’ve written in the past will stay there, any new content I write about WordPress or design will live here.

I’m commemorating the occasion with a new design and as I looked back at the previous iterations of this particular blog the design changes have always been met with some sort of major life change.

Lastly, I am a follower of Jesus and my entire life and worldview revolve around that and are seen through the lens of Christianity. I make no apology for that.

I will hold nothing back. What you’ll find here you may not like or agree with but it will always be honest.

I hope you’ll enjoy the new content and join on the conversation as I write.

written on October 5, 2011 · 3 Comments

The Snow Tunnel

For as long as I can remember one of my fondest memories growing up was playing in the snow and building snow tunnels with my dad. In actuality though, I’m not sure how often this occurred and in fact the only real memory I have is based on a photograph that my mom took of the two of us sitting outside a tunnel. So maybe it only happened one time but the memory that the photo provides is good one and something I’ve always enjoyed.

Its probably just part of being a boy but I’ve always loved to build tunnels whether it was the in the sandbox, the dirt by a pine tree or in the snow. So I was excited (kinda) when we got absolutely dumped on last week here in the MidWest. Supposedly it was the worst single snowstorm in a couple decades. We got almost 2 feet of snow at our house, school was closed for two straight days and the company I work for even closed up shop for a day (which never ever happens…).

After the wind had subsided a bit I took Mia outside and we promptly began work on a giant tunnel that would stretch the length of our driveway, have several chambers, and…well, ended up being about 5 feet long because digging snow is hard work – and it was cold out.

At first Mia didn’t quite comprehend what was going on – she was just excited to be not in school and outside playing with her dad. But when I finally broke through and connected the two ends at which I had been digging her face stretched into a wide look of disbelief – you would have thought we had dug through to China she was so excited she could see me on the other side. So that was pretty cool.

The first tunnel ended up getting somewhat filled in from clearing the massive driveway but a couple days later we dug the tunnel out again and that night received some freezing rain ensuring that it will be there until June. At least we’ll have time to build those other chambers…

written on December 15, 2009 · no comments

Bedtime Stories

Mia has reached another milestone in her short life – the ability to listen to a longer book with chapters.

About a year ago we tried to read Charlotte’s Web one chapter a night and while she loved to read it every night she didn’t always remember what had happened the previous night or seemed interested in seeing the story progress. More often than not she wanted to go back and re-read bits that we had already read.

boxcar-childrenSo, while perusing the library a little over a week ago I found myself in the older children’s section and noticed that the library had several books sitting on top of the shelf that were being featured for the week. One of the books was The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner. I don’t remember the first time I read this book but I loved it. I always had a fantasy about going out and living on my own, making cool and useful things out of common objects and who wouldn’t want to build their own swimming pool?

I checked the book out and told Mia I had a special story to read her that night. We got home, Mia got ready for bed and we settled into our big comfy recliner and started the book. And from the first page she was enthralled. She was so interested to know where the children had come from, what was going to happen at the bakery, and why they didn’t buy any donuts…

As we neared the end of the first chapter I was very curious to see her reaction when I stopped reading and it was exactly what I had hoped for. She was very disappointed that we had to be done for the night but she was excited that we would get to continue the story the next night. This also served for her as a very good motivator to get ready for bed quickly because we wouldn’t read until everything was done.

Well, Mia loved the book and we ended up finishing it in about a week (Mickie read a couple chapters during the day when Mia couldn’t wait to see what would happen next). So now I am really excited to be able to share some of my favorite stories with her – the only question is what story will be next? I’m thinking of Matilda by Roald Dahl but we’ll have to see.

written on October 15, 2009 · no comments

Putting Up the Pool

Summer time is here and it was time to put up the pool. My awesome bargain hunting wife upgraded our pool last fall to a 12′ wide, 36″ deep, 1800 gallon, container of joy. The pool’s original price was over $100 and she got it for $15. Score! Unfortunately it was missing the pump and filter so the good deal has turned into a bit of a hassle but hopefully we’ll get it resolved. Read More

written on June 10, 2009 · no comments

Passing the Torch

We find Mia born circa 2004 enjoying a video game 17 years her senior. Like a good parent I have introduced her to the the finer games like Punch Out (unfortunately not featuring Iron Mike). Video is after the jump. Read More

written on May 4, 2009 · no comments

For the Boys

Mia and I were watching Hannah Montana this morning and a commercial came on for a show on Disney’s new network (XD) which is primarily aimed at boys.

Before the commercial was over Mia turned to me and said with disdain in her voice, “Dad, would you watch that movie?”
I said, “Sure.”
“Well, I wouldn’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because its for boys.” And she emphasized the word boys like the evil disgusting creatures we are.

Kudos to the Disney marketing group.

written on February 21, 2009 · no comments

Valentines Day 2009

I love Valentines day and I really dislike Valentines day.

First, why do I dislike it?  I really can’t stand the fact that we (guys – and to some extent girls) are pressured into expressing some sort of mega-love and affection on one particular day.  I always feel that if we don’t do something spectacular or if I don’t come up with the world’s most creative date then somehow I have failed.  I guess I also feel a little guilty because I know I should be expressing the mega kind of love on a regular basis. Read More

written on February 17, 2009 · no comments

Mr. Mom

It shouldn’t come as a surprise but I wanted to get it on the record.  My wife is awesome.

I love my kids but I am not wired to stay at home and do all the mom stuff on a day-to-day basis. Read More

written on December 6, 2008 · no comments

Date Night

A couple weeks ago me and one of my good friends were hanging out early in the morning during our weekly accountability session and we wanted an easy way to be able to date our wives.

Its so important that you continue to date your wife after you’re married but with kids and responsibilities it becomes almost impossible.  So we committed to work it out.  We got together with one more friend and formed a co-op of sorts to help each other out. Read More

written on December 5, 2008 · 2 Comments