Summer break

After a spring filled with varying degrees of turmoil, summer is finally here. And with that, my friends, comes my break from development, blogging and any other computer-related activity.

The next three months, June, July and August, I’m going to spend full-time with my wonderful daughters Emilia (turning 4 in August) and Filippa (a year and a half old). Except for having the fantastic opportunity to take the time to do such a thing, it is also great for me personally to get some balance and perspective about what’s important in life.

A picture of Emilia and Filippa

Circumstances

People passing away

Within the first three months this year, two persons I really liked passed away, and with that at the back of my mind, I can see no better way to spend my life than with my loved ones, cherishing life as much as I can.

Work

I don’t want to go into details, but certain things at work has made me lose the lust for the moment, hence a break is so very well needed. My hope is that I’ll come back more motivated this fall, and that some factors have changed a little. Only time can tell.

Blogging

To be honest, I’ve been quite pleased with my blogging these last months. Bringing up interesting topics and good discussions, and it just goes to tell how important blogging is to me. Please go through the Archives of all posts to find out more.

While I’m happy with almost everyone of them, I’d personally say that, for now, my favorite blog posts and code releases this year are:

Jaded and tired

As most of you know, I’ve put a lot of work into DOMAssistant. I’ll be completely honest and say that that has left me with three general feelings:

  • I’m quite happy with he results we have accomplished!
  • I’m very grateful to have gotten to know such talented and dedicated developers.
  • I am bitter (true honesty now, right?) that if someone like John Resig would have released it, it would’ve had about 500 000 downloads by now (and no hard feelings about John, he’s a true genius and a nice bloke; what I mean here is rather getting the exposure, PR etc).

I’ve made a couple of comments because of that last bullet, which I don’t really like, since I’m normally all about people’s free will and being friends with everyone, so turning into a jealous developer is not something I’m proud of. Don’t worry. that’s gone now, for sure.

A picture of Filippa, covering her face

My blogging and constructive coding as of lately, though, especially releasing dLite, made me get my passion back in regards to developing because it’s FUN! πŸ™‚

Being at home

Writing this, I have actually had two weeks at home with the kids already. I’ve kept on blogging and releasing things, since there were a number of ideas and code I wanted to get off my chest before my leave; and since I refuse to use the computer when anyone else in the family is awake, it has been quite a few long nights as of lately. I am currently the poster boy for sleep deprivation… πŸ™‚

During these two last weeks I’ve learned that, when being out on excursions with the daughters, as soon as we say hi to a complete stranger, wave to someone driving by or something similar, the conversation with Emilia (the oldest) almost always goes like this:

– Dad, what’s his name?
– I’m sorry honey, I have no idea.
– I’ll ask mom; she knows.

If mom indeed does know the name of every man stranger where we live, I think mom and I need to have a little talk… πŸ˜‰

Learning to say your own name

Filippa’s vocabulary has just exploded, and one of the things she’s struggling hard to learn is saying her own name. For some time it was just “‘pa”, but now it has evolved into “pippa”. Cute, but the problem is that “pippa” is the Swedish slang for “shag”, so it’s a bit interesting when she walks up to people, points to herself and says: “PIPPA”…

Man, I sure hope that behavior wears off before she becomes a teenager…

Spending time with Fredrika

Fredrika is working full time now, but I do hope that we also get to spend some time together this summer:

A picture of Fredrika with a monkey on her shoulder

Yes, Fredrika’s an amazon, and I’m a monkey. Really.

Till September

Since I won’t be publishing any more blog posts during the summer, if you want to reach me, I’ll be reading blog comments and e-mail for a couple more days, but after that, consider me unreachable till September. To be sure when I’m back again, please subscribe to my RSS feed.

Also, let me appreciate my gratitude to you for reading. You mean a lot to me, really!

Read through the Archives if you like my writing style and topics, and also, if you’re interested, please try out some of my latest code:

Have a great summer!

Ok, time to stop rambling, and move on to a computer-free living! Have a great summer!

A picture of me leaning against a palm tree, drinking out of a coconut

16 Comments

  • Deborah says:

    Hope you enjoy your summer with the family Robert! Over the past few years, I've come to know your work and treasure your sharing your thoughts, knowledge, and wonderful code with the web professional community. I know how much you enjoy this time with your family.

    I will miss your writing, and updates. As I will miss Roger's. It's going to be a long summer….

    Catch up with you in September!

  • Dave Child says:

    Have a great break, Robert πŸ™‚

  • Ole says:

    Enjoy your time with your kids! I did it for a duration of 6 months (about one year ago), but to be honest, i was missing my computer sometimes… πŸ˜‰

    I'll stay tuned and wait til your connected to the world again…

  • Neovov says:

    Have some nice holidays !

    Take care πŸ™‚ !

  • Ceriak says:

    Have a nice holiday!

  • André L says:

    Hey, Rob! You really don't have to explain in such great lengths, but it was nice of you to do so. It really shows through your writing how much they mean to you. It's touching. πŸ˜‰

    Go ahead, have a wonderful time with your family, without any distractions, and we'll meet you on the other end. πŸ™‚ Have fun!

  • We all need to take a break now and again! I hope you have a great summer. And thanks for all the interesting and fun blogposts so far this year!

    Take care!

  • Robert Nyman says:

    Thanks everyone! πŸ™‚

  • Same to you young Robert; it looks as though you might need to go on a "summer diet" as that tree that is propping you up seems to be leaning quite a lot. πŸ˜‰

  • Robert Nyman says:

    Robert Wellock,

    Ha ha, thanks. πŸ™‚

  • Magda says:

    Have a whale of a time! Cheers.

  • Alex says:

    Happy Holidays!

    I didn't really see your "jealous developer" comments, but I can certainly understand them. I've made a few things which haven't gained any attention (things which I have since given up on).

    I blame myself, however, for their lack of success. I think that, had I pushed harder, had I advertised the projects more, they would definitely have become something.

    As it is, I'm envious of your DOMAssistant; John Resig may seem big to you, but you seem big to me. It is all relative, I suppose.

    By the way, did you know that your site redirects robertnyman.com/ to http://www.robertnyman.com/ ?

    I know there can be practical reasons for the www sub-domain; however, I still argue, KILL www.

    Alex

  • Enjoy great break, Robert πŸ˜‰

  • Robert Nyman says:

    Magda,

    Thanks!

    Alex,

    Well, it wasn't too gruesome, but some comments weren't just respectful enough. And thanks for the compliments. πŸ™‚

    In regards to domains, that is done automatically by my hosting company and I haven't really bothered to look into it. My stance is that both www and no www-addresses should work; how it's seen to is of less importance to me.

    Nashville SEO,

    Thanks!

  • Stephen Hill says:

    Hi Robert,

    Was just passing by and saw that you had jazzed up your website design and I like it πŸ™‚

    Keep up the good work and look forward to reading your posts again after you very long summer break.

    Stephen

  • Robert Nyman says:

    Hey Stephen,

    Thanks! πŸ™‚

    Soon, now, very soon. πŸ™‚

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