Ember.js vs Backbone.js, Responsive Grid Systems, Kinect for Windows, Barbell Club!!

So I spent most of 2 days working through trying to figure out Ember.js. (I know previously I said I was going to focus on Backbone, but I wanted to stick with Ember one more day and try to see it through.)  Granted, I’m totally new to this whole MV* side of JavaScript.  I had decided that Ember was just the way to go.  Sadly, after 2 full days of playing around I’ve given up (for now) and decided to start focusing on Backbone.js. There are 2 main reasons for this.  First, the conventions being used in Ember sort of rub me the wrong way. I know they are trying to get rid of as much boilerplate as possible, but the conventions just made it all seem a little too confusing (again, for me a noob in this area).  Second, the documentation and support is a little too sparse.  I searched high and low and only found a few actual “tutorials” on creating an Ember app –  versus the tons of information available for Backbone. I know this is something that I *need* to do, but it’s super frustrating when I’m trying hard to actually do it and seem to be constantly met with opposition (whether its lack of support, confusing or just wrong tutorials, poor/lacking documentation, etc).

Finally (embarrassed to say) spent some time looking into the various Grid Systems and had a somewhat epiphany on how that whole world works.  After some research we decided to adopt the Gridpak system which is very flexible and allows us to build the layout with semantic classes that we want.  We also decided to pick a handful of “base” sizes for each column and name them ahead of time, so that the rest of the team has a base “vocabulary” to work from when actually laying out content.

Just ordered the Kinect for Windows from Amazon, so we’re excited to start playing around with that right after the new year!

Discussed with a friend and decided that we are going to join the Barbell Club at Crossfit (starts in January)!  I am VERY excited about this, as it fits perfectly in with my plan and the timing of the classes is perfect.  Will also allow me to easily add an extra day to my weekly routine for Crossfit.  The Barbell Club lasts 8 years and is 2x/week.

Hit 149lbs!  The heaviest I’ve ever weighed!  I also joined a beard contest at work for the new year.  I have a terrible facial-hair line so that should be interesting!