Joel Oliveira

Has it really been (well over) a year since I last posted a single thing on this weblog? It goes without saying that that is a crying shame. Woefully neglected is too soft a phrase to use when it comes to signifying how little I’ve done with joeloliveira.com in the past year and a half. This site turned into an abandoned wasteland - deserted and stagnant.

Why? It borders on cliche, and could probably be filed within the “cop out” category, but for me it begins and ends with my not having the energy or motivation to write for my own website when I got home from work. I probably could have written a paragraph or two while from work, but never felt that was fair to my employers. What about those hours outside of work? Surely there are moments I could steal past 5 or 6ish to write something? Absolutely! But then the question still remains -

What to write about? There are numerous topics I ponder in the course of a day but for months - no one single target subject. I’ve usually just posted whatever events I’ve attended, fun nights out with friends, stupid miscellanea found on the internet - nothing of consequence for the majority of folks on the internet. To my friends and family - of course I know it’s interesting to YOU, but to communicate over the internet in such a blanket manner feels a bit too detached.

What now? Well things have changed - drastically! A little over a month ago I left my job at Molecular, an internet consultancy. The company I’ve left to work for is a very small and fledgling little operation - my own company. After months of preparation, nerve-wracked second guessing and laying groundwork with hopes I could pull this off I actually did it. As difficult as it was to leave such a great group of people at Molecular and all the opportunity they’ve allowed me in the past three years I decided that it was the right time to make this next big step.

So far, so good. I’m excited. I am already engaged with a local ad agency helping them with a handful of their (immense) interactive clients. This site is going to evolve into my portfolio for anyone looking for a resource to bang out nice, clean, rich interfaces with XHTML, CSS, javascript, and other interesting and challenging web-based technologies.

To give you an idea as to what types of things I’m involved with - The past year and change I’ve actually been encouraging and helping Sara with her own weblog. Have I not told you about it yet? For shame! Go visit and take a look at the wonderful work she’s been doing. In addition to playing occasional tech-support and copy editor for Sara I’ve been putting in most spare hours working on my own project(s). Instead of writing about it - I’ve been trying to DO it. Think it’s difficult to post on a blog every day? Try doing it when you’re attempting to master new tools in addition to supporting the users who are helping drive your new project. It’s not easy.

The ultimate end-game will be to afford myself the time to work on those few previously mentioned projects that have grown over the past few years to something I’m hoping could blossom into something beyond “pet project” status. Once I’m a little more comfortable with their status I will post announcements here.

In the meantime, this site will very occasionally feature commentary on the things I find interesting about what’s going on in my industry, maybe some personal anecdotes, and hopefully some useful original content. Let’s just hope it’s not another 16 or 17 months until I write another post.