Ran across this quote this AM….

The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he’s working or playing. To him he’s always doing both.

- James Michener

To me it seems pretty close to one of the keys to happiness - if you can be totally engaged in the present, doing the best you can do at the time (pursuing excellence), you lose the baggage of the past and are freed from fear / fantasies of the future.

During those moments when we are engaged and doing our best - aren’t we happy?

For years I have been looking for an excuse/justification to get down to SXSW to listen to some good music and have a few days/nights of fun. With the emergence of SXSW Interactive, it may not only be justified, but possibly a good career move - who knows maybe even work-sponsored. I may just have to let it develop a couple more years the way it sounds - or just go for the music

A very funny, well written summary of the state of SXSW Interactive

Might be time for a replacement…

If I did more presentations, or had a reason to use mac’s “front row” tool more I would definetely scrap my apple issued remote and get one of these. Maybe when I get my Apple TV

SiK Remote

Post-worthy simply because its a great design - why didn’t apple think of this?

Greetings, new readers. My name is Austin and I’m a developer here at ArcStone. Most frequently I develop in PHP, but I have also done web application development in Java, Ruby [on Rails], Perl, Python, and other sorts of development in C#, C, C++, and Tcl/Tk. This series of articles will attempt to explain the technically complex (and thus often misunderstood) parts of my job for the non-technical or less-technical readers. This is a good place to start if you’re curious about what web application development is like, and more importantly, what it’s like to work with ArcStone to develop your web application. (more…)

I know you’re wondering - ArcStonians and visitors alike - why bother?

If we are going to translate technology for our clients, we have to do more than just speak the language. The best translators understand the nuances of the culture they translate. They know about the best places to visit. They tell stories to help you understand the history and context of what you’re experiencing. They’ll also tell where you shouldn’t order the shellfish.

Bottom line - good translators understand the language so well because they actively participate in the culture - they live it.

At ArcStone we have been translating technology for the past ten years. We help our clients, friends and families profit and enjoy using the Internet and related technologies.

With this blog we’re expanding our circle - collectively shining some light on the tech we use and the culture we (for the most part) love here in South Minneapolis.

This blog is our public forum for shining that light and spreading the word.

Welcome to Technology Translated.