#calvinbushor.com

[calvinbushor]

My New #NODE Web App

I just launched the new CalvinBushor.com! I rebuilt it using Nodejs, expressjs, LESS App, @stubbornella's OOCSS Techniques, #RWD, and a couple custom jQuery plugins I wrote.

I deployed the new CalvinBushor.com on nodejitsu using their command line tool jitsu which, by the way, is awesome. It is easy to set up and deploying is a synch, just type "jitsu deploy" from the root directory of your app once you have jitsu installed and linked to your account.

I also got to experiment with nodejitsu's custom domain implementation. I found a great post explaining how to obtain nodejitsu's current IPs so that you can point your A-Record to their servers. All of the configuration for defining the custom domain go into your Package.json file. It could not be easier.

CalvinBushor.com is officially part of Devtroit, an up and coming developer association in Detroit founded by @yodasw16. If you build websites or are affiliated with web technology in Detroit, grab a badge from their site and submit your name to join the group and support technology in the D.

Calvin Out!

[calvinbushor]

So Close to Finishing

I have been working on the redesign of my site, calvinbushor.com, for a few weeks now. I have gone through four or five different designs, tried two different MVC frameworks, wrote and rewrote markup and css, and, I have experimented with various techniques and technologies. What's remaining is a couple of content pages and a lot of touch ups but below are some sneak peaks of the soon to come, final product.

Homepage > 850px:

Homepage < 768px:

So, as you can see, my site is going to be built responsively. I used the HTML5 boilerplate 2.0 as the underlying foundation. The big change in 1.0 to 2.0 was its' mobile first approach, which was sort of challenging to wrap my head around. The big trick that helped me out a lot was, make your browser smaller and develop as if it were a small screen. It will help you build your containers correctly and you will make less mistakes.

I am excited to launch my new design and I think I should be able to get it done in the next week.

Hope you enjoyed the behind the scenes look into my work.

Calvin

[calvinbushor]

6 Month Recap

It has been a long time since I have written a post, minus posting pictures from the day in the life, so here is a short recap of the last 6 months.

Went to An Event Apart Boston with @yodasw16 and had my mind blown.

Created a TypeKit and an About.me account.

Bought a MacBook Air two months before they just released the new ones (ouch).

Wrote an unpublished jQuery plugin.

Created a GIT account and uploaded my Alpha of my plugin.

Started working on JavaScript MVC with @pleonasm. (mind still blowing)

Went to London for a week with @princesskt. #awesome

Started rebuilding my personal site using Kohana instead of Tumblr and Wordpress (I needz to learn PHP better). Tumblr will still host my blog.

Finished the CottageInn.com website with @motownpaul.

Went to the Gold Cup to watch the boat races on Belle Isle, Detroit, MI.

Signed another year lease to live downtown Detroit once again.

Leveled up my ping pong skills attributes +2600 (4 levels) #totallyjustmadethatstatup

Went to my first Brazilian Steakhouse, Texas De Brazil in Detroit, and their manager Patrick was #awesome. (so was their food)

Ordered my MSU football season tickets.

And I ran a 5k.

There is probably some things I missed in there but that covers most of it.

I plan on writing about some of the more geeky things in the list sooner rather than later, but hopefully I get my new site off the ground and these posts written on a more regular basis.