Toluu

leftwise

I'm Derek. This is my blog.

Happy New YearJanuary 5

I would tell you one of my resolutions is to post more, but I’d be lying. Suffice it to say that I’ll do my best.

Still AliveJuly 1 2008

I haven’t posted in a while, because life has been busy! Aside from all the usual work stuff, over the past few months I’ve been wrapping up some long-term personal goals in the form of buying a house. I’m very happy to announce that as of yesterday, I’m a homeowner. Huge success.

A couple years ago I set the goal for myself of buying a house “soon”, within the next couple years. This was a pretty arduous process that included monitoring my credit, saving money, and getting my professional life in a more stable place than where Lijit was at the time (which was the six of us in an office working very late nights trying to get the first iteration of our website out the door; and it did a totally different thing then from what it does now). We didn’t even know if we’d still be around in another year, so making a long term commitment, especially financially, was an iffy procedure.

Many people helped me throughout this process, answering my incessant (and probably, to them, very obvious) questions and listening to me being neurotic about pretty much everything. If you’re reading this blog post, you know who you are, and I thank you for being patient with me and helping me along.

Over the next month, the tumult from buying and moving should die down, and I hope to start posting more then; but if history has shown me anything, it’s not to hold your breath for the next post. I do have some things I wanted to blog about - new product impress

Self-promotionApril 17 2008

Tara asked me to try to do some guest posting. As she gets pulled into conferences and other community catalyst (it’s her title!) type tasks, it’s nice to have some blog posts “in reserve”. I decided to do a small and very basic series on website optimization. You can find the first post here and the second here.

LolitaApril 1 2008

I recently read this book, by Vladimir Nabokov, originally published in 1955. Spoilers will follow. If you haven’t read the book and don’t want the plot spoiled for you, don’t continue reading. It’s a really old book, but lately I feel like I’ve been using my blog more just to write stuff I want to get down (and practice writing), so in that vein, here’s the post.

This book is one of the most interesting I’ve read. I don’t know that I’ve ever read a fiction novel more well-written than Lolita. It’s simultaneously witty, funny, horrifying and tragic. The author uses the English language in a wonderfully skilled way, with highly detailed prose and clever use of pacing and timing. On the other hand, the protagonist of the book, Humbert Humbert, is a man of profound evil, willing to go to through many mental contortions to rationalize his obsession with Lolita, a child. You’ll read a sentence, long and winding and indirect, laughing at the intricate connections between the words, and as you finally parse it, you realize it’s Humbert describing his lust for a 12-year-old girl he intends to possess and sexually ravish. This is a man who is willing to go to great lengths to hide from himself how much of a monster he really is, and you will sometimes find yourself forgetting that fact, only to be reminded of it a page or two later. He’s essentially willing to psychologically traumatize a child, who has no real escape, in the pursuit of his fantasy

Zolar: the Extreme Sports MovieMarch 24 2008

As Tara kindly put it:

You’re guest posting now?

Yes, yes I am. I tend to write overly sarcastically when I’m trying to be funny. So hopefully you don’t mind sarcasm. Holler at ya boy: Flixflops reviews Zolar: the Extreme Sports Movie. This review is a joint effort by Jay and I. Feedback is always appreciated.