refrain
I finally sent out the notification e-mail for our new design business. No interest yet (not that I was expecting any after two days), but only very sweet e-mails from Mom and Mrs. Wall. I picked up our business cards a couple of days ago too, and that, to me, was the most exciting part of it–having something physical and tangible, as opposed to the quasi-virtual environment of the web and even print design, makes the whole endeavor seem more real. Not only that, but it motivates me to really invest and be diligent in doing the things I need to do to make sure this gets off the ground.
I’ve been learning PHP at work and home. It’s a very powerful and flexible web programming language that allows you to make interactive websites, and not just static “brochures.” Many, many online forums, e-commerce sites, blogs and news pages are programmed using it. I’ve just started, but already it’s a lot of fun to be able to create forms and such that output differently based on user input. Learning it, I have to restrain myself, slow down, code by hand, do little self-generated exercises and really absorb the language. I figure if I spend an hour every day working on learning it, and after PHP, MySQL (database language), then before long I’ll have the ability to make full-fledged e-commerce sites for people. That will be a nice tool to have in my belt. Yes, as a male, that’s really how I see these things.
I finished the Soviet SST book. It was well-written overall, though there were many passages that smacked of redundancy from earlier paragraphs. Having been written in 1989, before the fall of the Soviet Union, it was a little dated, but I enjoyed doing research to fill in the book’s speculation over now-revealed aspects of the Tu-144’s development and service life.
This is next on the reading list. I’ve started it, and already I’m impressed with the sheer scope of Edwards’ knowledge. He writes about insects, rainbows, theology, philosophy and among other things, a subject I always find compelling, aesthetics. His examination of what makes something intrinsically beautiful, excellent, right and pleasant is fascinating to a designer who is very much concerned with creating things that elicit an aesthetic response. Contrary to popular perception, very little of design is arbitrary, never mind the specific concentration (graphic, web, industrial). There’s a reason and a worldview fragment behind every almost every decision, every line and curve. So much of our lives is multidisciplinary in nature, and while the older philosophers, scientists and theologians seemed to see this, I wonder if we haven’t lost something in the fragmentation of expertise so prevalent nowadays. I really do want to know as much as possible about everything, and I feel utterly safe in that desire knowing that a good, rational, transcendent God created and sustains the universe. That foundation undergirds and ties everything together. How could anyone approach the pursuit of knowledge consistently and, dare I say it, honestly without that foundation? Goodness… There are volumes I could write on this, but for now suffice it to say that I’m very much enjoying Jonathan Edwards.