I am a Rochester-based web programmer/UI designer. This is my personal and professional blog.
Posted on June 30, 2011
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The desktop publishing movement set back web development by at least ten years. My esteemed colleague Robert Kostin has recently quoted this mantra in a Facebook group, adding “I think I’m … Read More »
Posted on December 30, 2010
Recent discussions, both in Tweetspace and the Real World, have caused me to think carefully about what behaving “professionally” means when it comes to the industry of web development. Here is a summary. Lovable developer Andy Rutledge has been tweeting … Read More »
Posted on October 13, 2010
After four months of waffling, I’ve finally launched the rebuild of my personal blog site using WordPress. I do realize that I’m a little late to the party, but better late than never. The Technology For the last several years … Read More »
Posted on June 14, 2010
In the past I’ve tended to follow up one big life change with another. In 2007 I got married and then got a new job. In 2010 I had a baby, and now I’ve gotten a new job again. So … Read More »
Posted on May 5, 2010
Announcing Violet Jane Burr, born April 29, 2010, at 11:20PM. She weighed 6 pounds 12 ounces, and measured 18.5 inches long. Those readers that know me and Sarah personally have been aware of our pending “family situation” for the past … Read More »
Posted on December 22, 2009
A lesson well-learned from the Game That Never Was. I just read this great article on Wired about the legendary vaporware Duke Nukem Forever. The author is clear that much of his story is conjecture, however it makes a lot … Read More »
Posted on September 8, 2009
This weekend Sarah and I took another trip out to Lollypop Farm. We met three young cats, and one of them was totally awesome, so we adopted him and brought him home. This time he had no name at the … Read More »
Posted on September 1, 2009
… in Lindy Hop these days, but this clip does it. You two astound me.
Posted on June 30, 2009
Back in our early college days, around the year 1997, my friend Mike had a vision: give everyone on the internet a chance to poke me in the eye. Thus began an adventure from which my reputation has never recovered. … Read More »
Posted on April 28, 2009
You gave us all something wonderful. I don’t think I can find the words to express the profound effect this man has had on my life and the lives of thousands like me. We lost him Monday morning at the … Read More »
Posted on April 24, 2009
My website has been getting old and crusty. After several months of false starts and half-developed ideas, I finally hit upon a new layout I can be comfortable with. Friends and family (and any other improbable return visitors) will notice … Read More »
Posted on March 23, 2009
The fifth season of Lost is half over, so I figured this would be a good time to catch up on my reviewing. So far, so good: It’s the best season yet, but not without its problems. Spoilers! The pace … Read More »
Posted on November 4, 2008
Well I got out and voted this morning before work (fortunately, the lines at my polling place were nonexistent). Here’s hoping we can clean up the mess of the last eight years. To me, the election isn’t about one single … Read More »
Posted on October 31, 2008
Recently I have created rochesterlindyhop.com, a small website featuring a Google calendar and Vanilla forum. I’m hoping to provide a central location for Rochester Lindy Hop and swing dancing discussion and announcements. Historically, Lindy Hop dancers in Rochester have communicated … Read More »
Posted on August 21, 2008
For anyone that reads my web blog via syndication, the URL of my RSS feed has changed. Please redirect your reader to: http://www.alexburr.com/feeds/rss/ In order to spit out thoughts more frequently, I’ve added a Snips section to my website. The … Read More »
Posted on June 3, 2008
Two major events have been dominating my mind for the last couple of weeks: The (very successful) Stompology 2008 weekend, and the astonishing fact that I… have joined a gym. Second thing first: For the last few years I have … Read More »
Posted on May 19, 2008
Okay, maybe the actual number is closer to a dozen than to a thousand. Either way, 2008 is shaping up to be a great summer for popcorn cinema, and I’m glad to be here for it! After The Lord of … Read More »
Posted on April 9, 2008
It’s April, and that means that once again, it’s time for “CSS Naked Day!” I participated in Naked Day last year and it kind of snuck up on me this time. I decided to go ahead with it anyway, mostly … Read More »
Posted on February 20, 2008
I’ve put together a quick graphic that presents a very basic timeline of the various groups that have inhabited the Lost island, as well as a graphic of individuals and their movements within those groups. Spoilers! To start, let me … Read More »
Posted on February 2, 2008
The fourth season premiere for Lost was quite a good episode—not quite the unexpected bang of the previous two openings, but with some great things happening, some of which I’d been expecting for quite some time. Spoilers! The survivors finally … Read More »
Posted on January 22, 2008
I heard the news just before leaving work tonight: Heath Ledger was found dead in his apartment at 28. I’m very saddened by the news. I always thought Heath was talented and I enjoyed all his movies immensely. I’ve looked … Read More »
Posted on January 3, 2008
The new year is here, and to celebrate I’ve launched the redesign of my website that I’ve been working on. This site has been a long time in development, longer than any other design I’ve done in the past ten … Read More »
Posted on December 7, 2007
Tomorrow will be exactly thirty days since my last blog entry. How disappointed I am in myself! But I can’t really blame myself, since everything has been pretty much work work work. In addition to URMC, there are some outside … Read More »
Posted on November 8, 2007
Yes, I am bad. I started blogging in the hope of providing insightful, informative commentary to the world at large. Instead, I shirk and procrastinate and lose focus and just plain forget. I feel slightly vindicated, though, in knowing I’m … Read More »
Posted on October 12, 2007
Well, lucky me… today I turn 30! So far so good. I’m not really one to make a big deal out of birthdays, but I figured since 30 is kind of a milestone, I should at least blog my thoughts … Read More »
Posted on September 27, 2007
There’s a couple of tiny edits I’ve made to my website: A bigger change is that the “Projects” section has been removed. I don’t really feel the collection is indicative of my current skill set, plus the Cazbah section should … Read More »
Posted on September 7, 2007
There’s been a big gap since my most recent blog post, and I apologize to all my friends. I do plan to continue blogging our honeymoon adventures, but my energy has been diverted for the past couple of weeks. And … Read More »
Posted on August 10, 2007
This is the quick version. I’ve created a Flickr set for the second day, in Gent. I’m working on sorting the third day pictures. The first day, traveling, was fairly uneventful. Flew Rochester to DC, DC to London, London to … Read More »
Posted on August 8, 2007
We’ve returned! First day back at work feels like a Monday. Yes, we had a great wedding. Yes, we had a great honeymoon. Yes, there will be pictures. Yes, there will be blogging. We kept a journal while we were … Read More »
Posted on July 28, 2007
Well, this is it. The last few short hours of bachelorhood. My next blog post should be post-Europe. Here’s hoping the weather holds out today! …
Posted on July 10, 2007
Well, I saw Transformers last Wednesday. I have to say two things about the movie: One, it was one of the cheesiest, most badly-written messes of a film that I’ve ever seen. Two, I absolutely loved it. In fact, I’m … Read More »
Posted on June 29, 2007
First Genesis, then The Police… and now, at long last, the Spice Girls! W00t, I say.
Posted on June 15, 2007
It’s been awhile since I posted any kind of semi-entertaining retail hell story, so I figured I’d make an attempt out of last week’s eye-roller. Hopefully I may provide someone out there with some light amusement. I was on register … Read More »
Posted on June 13, 2007
Well, Stompology has come and gone once again. Overall it was a great weekend, and once again we’ve had good vibes from the students and teachers. We’ve also learned a few more things this time around, and I’m looking forward … Read More »
Posted on June 6, 2007
I haven’t blogged much on wedding plans, mostly because I figure most people don’t care to read about them. But I’ve posted some photos of trips we took to our ceremony and reception sites: My Flickr collections …
Posted on May 7, 2007
Well, it’s official: ‘Lost’ will end in 2010. According to the article from USA Today, there will be three more seasons of the show… kind of. The truth is, they will be 16-episode “mini-seasons” beginning in February and running through … Read More »
Posted on April 27, 2007
So AOL has a new homepage for their website. If you’ve read this story you’ll know that it’s identical to the Yahoo homepage. Come on, guys. I mean, I know web portals are going to look similar in many cases… … Read More »
Posted on April 5, 2007
It’s time for another “CSS Naked Day!” What is it, and what’s the point? CSS Naked Day was created by a fellow named Dustin Diaz, a web guy with an interest in standards, semantics and accessibility. The idea is that … Read More »
Posted on March 13, 2007
This weekend Sarah did something we haven’t done so much recently: viewed a couple of movies. First up was “Little Miss Sunshine” courtesy of Netflix, then came “300” courtesy of our local Regal. “Sunshine” was cute. It was very well … Read More »
Posted on March 7, 2007
Episode 11 of Lost Season 3, “Enter 77″, airs tonight. So far my feelings on the season have been mixed. Overall it’s been far less cool than Season 2, but still not nearly as bad as it could have been. … Read More »
Posted on February 7, 2007
Since the last episode of Lost, “I Do”, aired on November 8, 2006, there have been a few changes in the world. As I gear up for tonight’s new episode, “Not in Portland”, I am keen to reflect on some … Read More »
Posted on December 27, 2006
Well my last blog post, Widescreen vs. Fullscreen, got a few comments on it from various friends. This is by far the most successful blog post I’ve had to date. Some digging through my Textpattern Visitor Logs showed that the … Read More »
Posted on December 11, 2006
Since I work in a video store, I am often required to explain things to confused customers. Thankfully I have at least a general working knowledge of both our products and the technologies on which they depend. One area of … Read More »
Posted on October 19, 2006
The third episode of Lost’s third season aired last night. My feelings on it are mixed. While I’m glad they’ve made a return to focusing on the Button-men, very few questions were answered, and as usual many more were raised. … Read More »
Posted on October 10, 2006
I’ve spent the last few days in misery. Late last week I developed a sore throat, which over the weekend ballooned into all-out Sonic Death Disease. My throat feels like I botched a flaming-sword-swallowing act, and my chest feels like … Read More »
Posted on October 5, 2006
The season premiere of Lost has come and gone, and I am a better person for having seen it. Despite being head-poundingly sick throughout the broadcast, I was riveted, and am genuinely pleased with what was shown and what wasn’t. … Read More »
Posted on September 22, 2006
On Tuesday night, Cori and taught the first week of our current Intro to Swing class for Groove Juice Swing. The class moved a little bit too slowly (which may have been my fault), so we didn’t get through much, … Read More »
Posted on September 14, 2006
Sarah and I finally set a date! We will be getting married on July 28, 2007. …
Posted on August 14, 2006
Well, we finally decided to stick with the name Satch for our cat. This weekend was his first trip to the veterinarian, where he received a fairly clean bill of health.
Posted on August 7, 2006
On Friday night Sarah and I visted Lollypop Farm and adopted a new, sweet kitten. We saw a few different cats at first that we might like, but the first that we actually selected for a “Meet and Greet” was … Read More »
Posted on July 17, 2006
I just want to take a moment to offer congratulations to my good friends Art and Jess. I’m very excited and happy for them. One lucky Future American is going to be part of a fantastic family. …
Posted on July 5, 2006
I did see Superman Returns last Friday night. It’s hard to really summarize my feelings for the movie, but I guess I can roughly sum them all up as: HOLY MOLY. This film has instantly jumped to the top of … Read More »
Posted on June 19, 2006
It’s been a hell of a month. So far, moving has been the biggest hassle, what with the actual move, and buying new furniture, and unpacking, and buying new supplies, and cleaning, and painting, and putting things away, and trying … Read More »
Posted on June 6, 2006
In case anyone is wondering: Yes, I saw The Last Stand on opening weekend. I’ve been slow to write a review, mostly due to having moved into a new apartment and not yet having an internet connection at home. At … Read More »
Posted on May 26, 2006
The second season finale of Lost was, IMHO, probably one of the best episodes in the history of the show. Spoilers! Firstly, I totally dig the revelation that Desmond may have been directly responsible for the crash. While we do … Read More »
Posted on May 16, 2006
Well, in lieu of actually participating in the CSS Reboot this May 1, I did a little realign of my site to be a little more straightforward. In general I’m happy with it, with some small issues. I may decrease … Read More »
Posted on May 1, 2006
I just love this stuff – and no, I’m not talking about caramel ice cream topping, although I love that too. I’m talking about the latest issue of Astonishing X-Men, which possibly should be called seX-Men because everybody’s gettin’ biz-zay. … Read More »
Posted on April 25, 2006
So, you may or may not have heard about Stompology. Here’s the deal: Rochester will be host to the first workshop for Lindy Hoppers and swing dancers specifically focusing on solo Authentic Jazz dance movement. We’re bringing in three instructors … Read More »
Posted on April 17, 2006
Well, I’ve finally found an RSS feed reader that I like: A Firefox extension called Wizz RSS. It solves a lot of the annoyances that come from using an external application (until recently I was using Feedreader), and it is … Read More »
Posted on April 5, 2006
Today is CSS Naked Day, when web designers strip their CSS styles from websites for one day. Visitors will see only a basic HTML file with whatever structure the author has given it via true document semantics. I’ve decided to … Read More »
Posted on March 31, 2006
Tonight I finally took that Big Step, and Sarah once again made me glad to be me. …
Posted on March 28, 2006
This past weekend I made a small shift in the layout of my website. I’ve attempted to move it from a fixed width to something slightly more fluid, but I’m not sure if I really am pleased with the results … Read More »
Posted on March 20, 2006
This weekend I saw “V for Vendetta” with Sarah and Ryan. I am not qualified to review the movie as an adaptation since I’ve only begun reading the GN last night, however I thought the film itself was mighty cool. … Read More »
Posted on March 14, 2006
If anyone, for any reason, has to go into a retail job at some point in his or her life, I have some tips to offer up when dealing with customers. I’ve had retail jobs in some flavor for about … Read More »
Posted on March 3, 2006
There is a reason I got back into comics recently. I don’t know precisely what that reason is, but Astonishing X-Men has a lot to do with it. It’s been a long wait, but any wait is worth it for … Read More »
Posted on February 20, 2006
This weekend Sarah and I (and many others) hit Toronto for Steve and Caitlin’s wedding celebration. Or is it Caitlin and Steve’s wedding celebration? Well, either way. Also we had a fantastic dinner for which I paid far too much. … Read More »
Posted on February 14, 2006
Some interesting things happening lately. To start, there were two deaths recently at the Seneca Park Zoo: first the baby elephant that had been due for two years now died in delivery. Then the adult male orangutan mysteriously dropped dead. … Read More »
Posted on February 3, 2006
I haven’t had a blog post in a while. It’s been a long and very busy week on more than one front. I’m looking forward to it being Saturday. …
Posted on January 24, 2006
Well, it’s a little later than I promised, but I’m a busy man. The 10th Anniversary Cheese-A-Thon was great! Ryan and Mike put some video clips together commemorating the movies and people of Cheese-A-Thons past, and I helped with printing … Read More »
Posted on January 20, 2006
This weekend marks the 10th anniversary of the Somewhat-Annual Cheese-A-Thon – and I am super super super super super super psyched. For those that aren’t familiar: Cheese-A-Thon is an event begun by my friends and I in college when we … Read More »
Posted on December 21, 2005
Not too much going on lately. The job at the entertainment store has been taking pretty much all of my free time (I’m working from 8am til 11pm three days this week), but apparently that will be going away December … Read More »
Posted on November 28, 2005
The last couple of weekends, Sarah and I have been to the movies twice. Last weekend it was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I really enjoyed it. So far I think it was the best of the Potter … Read More »
Posted on November 22, 2005
Do you ever wake up with a song in your head? How about a completely random song that you haven’t heard any time in recent memory, with no obvious connections to anything and no real reason for it being there? … Read More »
Posted on November 17, 2005
Last night was my first night at the new part-time job. On the surface, I instant liked it better than the party store. I’m working in the movies department, so right away I derive more pleasure from helping customers search … Read More »
Posted on November 14, 2005
This past weekend was Rochester’s eighth annual Steven and Virginie Lindy Hop workshop. Although I sat out for a lot of the classes, I do have to say Steven got me excited about dancing again. Saturday evening was a great … Read More »
Posted on November 4, 2005
Finally, a weekend with no work commitment. I somehow got off from the party store this weekend, so I have Friday night, Saturday and Sunday all free for the first time in months! I finally managed to find the 2-disc … Read More »
Posted on October 7, 2005
Last weekend I picked up a copy of X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse for my GameCube. I’m nowhere near finished of cousre, since I’m a particularly slow game player, but my overall impression is that the game is very … Read More »
Posted on September 29, 2005
I know this is a couple of weeks old, but I keep coming back to this story and laughing. So I had to share it with my friends. Quark recently paid a lot of money to a design firm called … Read More »
Posted on September 27, 2005
Groove Juice Swing celebrates its first year tonight with a dance party at Tango Cafe Dance Studio starting at 7pm. Admission is $3. Rochester dancers come out and help celebrate! You’ll get cake…
Posted on August 15, 2005
Who would imagine that a late-night weekend excursion to Montreal, of all places, would turn out to be some of the most dance-fun I’ve had in a long time? We left at 7pm on Saturday, arrived at around 1am, danced … Read More »