Thanks to Tom Brown for helping me change some parts of the blog layout today. I found an avatar I used years ago just the other day, and wanted to use it because it looks a lot like me. In 15 minutes he redrew it in Adobe Illustrator (so it could be vectorized and resized, retaining scale quality). Size it to the right height and poof, there I am in the top left corner. I also made a favicon and added a background gradient so the site feels a little more 3d than just the flat color it came with. I like this. I plan to make some more visual changes when I get some more free time.

Go here to see more of Tom Brown’s work or here to see Kevin’s personal site.

From Wikipedia:

Every business requires teamwork. It doesn’t matter what field you are in. Music, medical, law, military, web development, even marriage. Nothing is successful without the mutual backing of each other toward the end goal. Support comes from respect, not the requirement thereof based on a job title. Command it, don’t demand it. It starts with you!

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While we’re a bit late on a ‘2008 is Here’ type post, Inclind is busy firing on all cylinders and moving full steam ahead. All staff are visibly refreshed and enthusiastic after a holiday break and good times at Shaun and Jessica’s wedding. We’ve hired two new employees, and even the interns dropped by a time or two to see whats up (sorry, not currently accepting challenges to my Wii Sports champion title).

What can we say, this is the place to work. Only we do what we do. Inclind has grown into a strong collective unit, tackling projects left and right. We’re much more fine tuned than we were this time last year, even more aware of our individual (and group) strengths and how to work as a team instead of code cowboys. Since I hopped on this train in 2005 it had just left the station, and now theres no stop or end in site to what can be achieved.

Individually, we’re all really coming into our own. Pete and I are a pretty tight unit, and are developing very creative solutions and enhancements for all Inclind products / applications. Tom’s been knocking designs out of the park on the first try, and the managers are keeping everyone happy.

2008 is going to be very good for all involved with Inclind one way or another.

I’ve blown through ~20 books in the last 2 months, many years ago I was a voracious reader and now it’s hit me again. I’ve wrote a little bit about what I have been reading over at my site.

www.kevinquillen.com

I am waiting on a few more books to come in. I now have roughly 3 on order every 2 weeks. I should be getting in ‘No Country for Old Men’, and ‘Slash’ this week.

A point of light has no depth, no width, no length. It is thus without dimension.

A line, looked at from the right perspective, looks like this point of light; rotated, it is a line stretching forever. It has length. It is one dimension. Rotating perspective again, the line, stretching to infinity in two directions, becomes a plane; two dimensions, length and width. Rotating again, the plane takes on a new dimension; its infinite length and width are added to the new measure of depth. A universe is born; three dimensions, ready to be inhabited, but still, empty.

Time is the next dimension; in time, our new universe is given the capacity to support perception and understanding. Time moves with us, the universal snapshot is entered and left. Behind time is past; inaccessible to understanding and perception, yet still existing; it must still exist, else time would not have meaning. The fourth dimension, time, is followed by a fifth, choice.

Choice decides which time path each of us individually and separately ride. We are faced with infinite choices and forks and decisions; each creates a new and infinite set of universes in our wakes; we ride the waves of time, selecting the time wave, in the universal space (three dimensional) we see as this existence. This dimension, choice, is followed by a sixth, creation.

Each choice creates a new instant. In each instant, a new universe is born. As there are a plethora of choices in a multitude of moments, each having infinite potential, infinite universes are born; universes spring for each of the possible paths. This dimension is the place of energy, of power, of love. The dimension of creation is followed by the seventh dimension, being.

To be, to exist, to know, to live, all the previous dimensions are required. Height, width, length, time, choice, creation… We have found ourselves in space and in time; we face and make choices; we create what we choose. Then, we simply exist in that which we have created.

The more we simply allow these truths to be accepted, the more we are at peace in our ultimate place of destiny, quite simply, to be.

I see the point of light
Shifting perception, a line is formed
Shifting again, a new plane
Once more, infinite space

In space, time is needed to bridge the gap of understanding (I see)
In time, choices are made (I will)
Choosing the path, creation blooms (I can)
In creation, existence flows (I am)

As a continuation of the post I created a couple days ago, I’d like to share this article with you written by the folks over at mint.com which reinforces some of the basic concepts I stated in my post. Like I said, protecting your online privacy is very important and should be taken seriously by newbies or veterans of the internet when you submit any information on the web.

From mint.com:

According to a recent report by the San Jose Mercury News, Sophos, a Boston-based Internet security company, was able to acquire highly personal information from 40% of the nearly 200 Facebook users who chose to add “Freddi Staur” as a friend in their Facebook accounts. Freddi Staur doesn’t exist, except as a toy on the desk of some Sophos employee. The company created a fictional person on Facebook to illustrate how vulnerable people can be when using social networks.

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