program247365

That's awesome! I've been playing with D3 lately. Want to post some about visualizations soon.

http://program247365.github.io/iosengineerlist/

Many more resources to come. Lot of great stuff out there for iOS devs. I welcome contributions (project is a jekyll site on github).

Shameless plug: http://theriseoffrontendengineering.com

For beginners/designers to the whole precompiling CSS scene, setting up Ruby for the SASS/Compass toolchain could possibly be daunting. Although there are nice GUI alternatives: http://mac.appstorm.net/roundups/internet-roundup/5-mac-apps...

However I agree with other comments that it seems there are more tools/frameworks built on SASS (with Compass), that make it more appealing to me.

https://developers.google.com/speed/docs/best-practices/rend...

See Github's slide deck on CSS performance, and what they gained by being smart about refactoring, and how they use selectors:

https://speakerdeck.com/jonrohan/githubs-css-performance

1. Large web applications will eventually demand this of you to break the large solution into smaller chunks (components/modules).

See this methodology: http://coding.smashingmagazine.com/2012/04/16/a-new-front-en...

SASS will help you follow whatever standard/methodology your team may be following.

2. And having multiple files will ease development on a large team. Having multiple frontend developers checking in code, it helps to organize, and alleviate one developer stepping on another when checking in SASS files into source control. No conflicts, if developer A is working on the footer, and developer B is working on the header, which are separate SASS files.

I don't agree that it slows down refactoring, and would argue it speeds it up. In the end, the multiple SASS files will probably (depending on how you do it, and your situation), compile down into one file. SASS also has options that allow you to say what the output looks like too (nested, expanded, compressed).

Great resource for what you're looking for. Including downloadable Photoshop actions to make it all easier.

A great pay-for resource is http://www.pluralsight-training.net. They have beginner courses for ASP.NET and everything surrounding it: http://www.pluralsight-training.net/microsoft/Courses/TableO...

Wow, thanks everyone! Some great advice.

I wasn't expecting such a solid response, and was almost afraid I was going to get bombarded by early twenty-somethings working at startups asking why I was dirtying their site, with my silly old-man fodder. :)

Great to hear other hacker-fathers in the same position as I am. All in all, I'm taking the advice of trying to go to bed when the boy does, and get up early to get work done in the morning before the rest of the house gets up. While trying to stay sane at my regular job, and making sure I exercise, and get enough sleep to make it all work, and discuss with my spouse what I'm doing, and make sure we're still all good in the hood, with our relationship, and doing what's best for our young family.

I've recently started running again. Can you believe I did a half-marathon in high school? God that was a long time ago, but I want to get back there, fitness-wise, and I'm trying to commit to this. I definitely feel better when I exercise. I did today, and I just think clearer, you know?

For now, seems like the side projects are going to the back-burner, and the real concern is to just get a consistent freelance gig, to make ends meet better. I love my family, and I'm trying to get advice on making this all work. Thanks for your feedback.

I love that feeling, and may find myself trying that out again, seems like several people have echoed the same timeframe.

Great post! Thanks so much for sharing.

> Is that what I really want? Admit defeat without even try hard enough? Then what is the lesson I am teaching my son here? How am I supposed to tell him that you can be all that you want to be as long as you work hard enough? What kind of example I am setting for him?

That is exactly my worst fear. I'm talented, and I know I can succeed, and I know I can be a good father while doing it. That's what I'm going to strive for. Thanks so much for the inspiration!

Yeah I attempted that many months ago. My body told me a definitive, "NO." I listened. :)

I'm taking this advice right now, as far as the debt reduction. But need to really get a consistent freelance gig going to get that kind of savings. Honestly, we've been cutting costs everywhere and it really does help in the long run.

I'm ok with waiting a few years for this to happen, and that's probably the more likely reality for me.

Thanks!

I may have to try the "early bird" thing. That may end up what happens for now, before numero two is born. :)

> Then I wake up early, like 4am early. The benefit is you're fresh and hopefully have 2-3 hours before your oldest wakes up.

I may try 5am. Once upon a time, I'd wake up early and go running, and such. Now maybe I can get back into the habit, and get some freelancing done.

Yes. I realize this, and as far as I can tell, there is no way around this, unless you have a stay-in nanny, which is probably reserved for the reality TV stars. :) I will not fall into the trap of thinking, "yeah, I'll still be able to get side work done.", I know this go-around that's not possible, and the kids are only this tiny once. :)

Thanks! I will enjoy it. :)

Yeah, I've fallen into the trap many months ago, thinking I could go with less sleep. Doesn't work. Zombie daddy is not a good thing for anyone. Now, I make sure I get my rest.

> On top that you're facing turning 30. Take a step back and tell yourself that you are a good parent and provider. A good job and a healthy family is plenty to ask for.

Great advice.

I definitely have a Moleskine "idea book" (or three), and constantly fill them, as I have "idea-rrhea". :)

Grandma gets to watch the boy, and spend some quality time with him, while Mommy and Daddy get some one-on-one time.

I love my wife very much, she's great, and a great mother. I try to show her I appreciate her as often as I can.

I'm trying to keep everything in perspective, and realize I'll have more time for things down the road, but at the moment, it'd be nice to have one solid freelance gig, that could make ends meet better, and I guess that's the real driver now. My ambitions of being my own boss completely and all that jazz, are probably down the road, or have passed me by, and that's ok.

Just trying to live and learn, and take care of my family first, and foremost.

Thanks so much.

I enjoyed that video a lot as well. Thank you for your thoughts, I don't think you came across as didactic, as you might have feared, just trying to show me what's really important, and I do take that to heart.

I lost my father at a very young age, and I always told myself that I would be there for my kids, and I'm going to stick to that, no matter what. I love my boy, and my soon-to-be-here boy or girl, and I truly want the best for them.

I realize that, after reading all the responses, I probably framed the question poorly. Here's some better context, I hope:

I work full-time during the day, my wife watches the boy during the day, and then when I get home, we have ~30 minutes together, and then she goes to work till about 11pm (3 - 5 days/week depending on her schedule), as I take care of our son in the evening, so I focus on that, until he goes to sleep between 8:30 - 9:30pm. Money is tight for us, and I'm bring to get additional freelance work to supplement our income to better make ends meet, and hopefully allow my wife to tapper off of work (as she gets further in her pregnancy).

All in all, trying to work when he's asleep in the evening, or in the morning is tough, as it's tiring. :) But perhaps I just need to suck it up. :)

I really like the idea of a "Bootstrap for HTML" emails. :) Maybe you can ding @mdo or @fat on Twitter and see if they'd be willing to throw in some "here's how twitter does email" templates into github, like they did with Twitter Bootstrap?

I see the iOS devices (iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad), as just the beginning. Apple has made astounding progress on these mobile devices where their competitors haven't really caught up to yet:

1) The display, amazingly higher-res than HDTVs now (2048-by-1536-pixel resolution at 264 pixels per inch (ppi))

2) Connectivity (Wifi/multiple carriers/LTE even)

3) Battery life to weight ratio (9hrs using cellular network, at 1.46lbs)*

4) Graphics/Processor punch (Dual A5X processor with quad-core graphics)

5) An ecosystem of applications that are on the whole, of good quality, and generate a lot of revenue (25 Billion apps sold [2])

When I say "just the beginning", I really mean that. And I don't mean that Apple will always be at the top, probably not by a long shot. What I want to ask, and I wonder why everyone else isn't asking is, what's next? Apple won't be at the tippy top forever, so won't the next generation of innovators please stand up?

[1] Anyone remember lugging around their 8+ lbs Dell laptop, that had a battery that lasted maybe 2 hours in 2005? I do. My back still hurts.

[2] http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2012/03/05Apples-App-Store-D...