new year, new bookmark bar

This year I’m trying something new. I’m going to start over somewhere I spend a majority of my time, in my browser.

For years I’ve been accumulating shortcuts in my bookmark bar to make life more efficient or easier; and mostly it has. Blogs, social networks, online accounts, hackernews, uncrate, etc . All right there. One click away. Ready to distract me from whatever it is I probably should be working on.

Not this year. This year I want to be more deliberate about the time I spend starring at a monitor and less time wondering how I got to whatever random corner of the Internet I’ve stumbled upon.. So I’m cleaning house of my carefully crafted bookmark bar of years past. This morning I took all my old bookmarks and threw them in a 2014 folder hidden, out of site.

All My Old Bookmarks: 2014

My 1st goal of 2015 is to write more both personally and professionally. Step 1 is to start a new blog. Something simple so I won’t get distracted– Medium, Posthaven, or Svbtle. After trying them all out, the minimal interface of Svbtle wins. Set up a free account. No need for a fancy domain name. Pick an accent color, upload a profile pic, and I’m up and running.

Bookmark 1: blog

Where I need to improve personally this year is in keeping touch with friends/family. This is always an area of improvement for me but last year was particularly bad at times. Especially in the email department I was AWFUL about keeping up on my personal inbox. To anyone whose email I did not return in 2014, I whole-heartedly apologize. Nothing personal, and you’re certainly not alone. This year, I resolve to be much better about email correspondence with friends & family. Plus I really l like the new Google Inbox Interface. So Google Inbox is bookmark 2.

Bookmark 2: inbox

Next up is work. As some of you may already know I was recently
let go from my post as Director of Programs at Socialwhirled. A change that’s launched me into freelancing again. So for at least for the next few months I’m available-to-hire for web-development, IT consulting, yardwork, dog sitting, whatever. My rates are between $50-$150/hr depending on the work (if you’re interested). Presently I’m working on some projects for my friend Candies agency so that has to be the next bookmark:

Bookmark 3: envida

Envida Group a social media marketing agency based in Scottsdale. They also provide SEO and Brochure Designs (according to Google)

Side note- I’m actually really excited to be freelancing again. I absolutely love the work I usually do at a Product/Project/Program level, but writing code in the era of cloud computing and modern frameworks is awesome. I can easily say that every day I learn something new and am constantly challenged writing code. Plus, it’s never been easier or cheaper to build something amazing, big or small. Going into 2015 some of my favorite dev stacks include:

Angular.JS Ruby on Rails
Bootstrap.CSS MaterialDesign.CSS
Famous.JS D3.JS
Firebase Parse
Google Cloud AWS

Bookmark 4: job prospects

This folder is for leads. Freelancing prospects, job boards, craigslist, whatever.

This is also where I’m accumulating my “dream jobs”. Bookmarks for places I’ll likely apply when the time comes. And actually, there’s some really cool stuff out there I might have a slim chance in hell at:

Bookmark 5: talkingmarriage

My Hollywood friend Ryan has a wildly successful YouTube TV Show called “Talking Marriage with Ryan Bailey”. Literally tens of people on the internet watch it daily. It’s produced in his garage and features guests you’ve never heard of. Sometimes its even funny. I help with the internet stuff. Website, IMDB, GIFs, Reddit, whatever. It’s a fun project and is helping me with my technical writing. Check it out. Season 2 finale this week!

Bookmark 6: goodreads

And finally, less browser, more books in 2015. That’s the goal. Last year I started a lot of books but did a terrible job finishing them. Goodreads is a site/app for managing books you’re reading. I’m hoping it will help keep me on task this year.

1st book I’m reading this year is F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Tender is the Night” followed by “Things a Little Bird Told Me” which I still have a few chapters left from last year. Recommendations welcome.

So that’s my start to 2015. A new set of bookmarks. A blog. A re commitment to my inbox. Some freelancing work. Maybe a dream job. More writing. Some fun projects. And some great books. The rest I’ll figure out along the way.

Cheers!
Shawn

 
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