Month: December 2008

  • December 31, 2008

    Do or Do Not. There is no Try.

    That is one of my favorite quotes (and not just because it’s in Star Wars, or Yoda said it). It has a lot of meaning to me. And this quote, I suppose, is the theme of my Year in Review post. In the past I’ve said, “This is a benchmark year, blah blah blah,” and then listed things of note that happened to me that year. 2007 was particularly good. But 2008 I feel, was a year of almosts.

    I almost signed that big client or launched that project. I almost got an A, I almost met that goal, I almost said what I really wanted to say. This really goes against the quote that is the thesis of this post, and one I’ve been trying to live by since high school. To me, almost is trying and failing. So for 2009, I’m going to do or do not. I’ve set a business plan for my business and it will be a good year. I just need to follow through instead of just thinking about it or saying I’m too busy. I’ve also set some personal goals for myself, which I will also follow through with.

    So I guess the quote is also my New Year’s resolution. Here’s to 2009. I want to leave you with another 2008 Year in Review post I just read over at SimpleBits. It’s very pithy, to the point, and also holds true for me.

  • December 27, 2008

    Mileage as a Tax Write Off

    money

    It’s not quite that time of the year, though this week (or at least part it) I will be fixing my books up to submit to my accountant. December 31st marks the end of the first official fiscal year for my business. That means I’ll be going over what I have documented, checking my receipts, and finding last minute expenses and write-offs to lower my bottom line and try to reduce the magic number I’m going to owe Uncle Sam. One thing I hadn’t realized until late in the year was that mileage on your car is a write off.

    Since I did find that out, I’ve been keeping a notebook of everywhere I drive and the mileage it took to get there and back. But to backtrack and make sure I’m including all of my meetings, trips to the bank and stores, etc., Google came to the rescue. I looked over Google Calendar to check for meetings I attended and then put the addresses in Google Maps to get a approximate mileage to document. I also looked at bank slips for dates I took those trips, and dates on old receipts to document trips to the store. Turns out I will have a nice little deduction now.

    This helpful tip also helped me to start thinking of other things I might not think of as write offs. Remember, anything that you use for your business can be considered tax deductible- mileage and gas, tolls you might pay, cell phone, books, etc. If you’re thinking about starting a business, or just starting, it’s definitely worth talking to an accountant to get you on track.

    PS- Soon I’mstarting a new blog called, “Freelancing the Net.” I’ll be talking about how I got my start and providing helpful tips and resources for freelancers just starting out, so keep a look out for that in early 2009!

  • December 7, 2008

    Google Web Toolkit

    gwt logo

    After I got back from Google I/O, I mentioned Google Web Toolkit was something they showed off that I was very impressed by. It allows you to build complete AJAX applications using Java. In one of my grad classes this semester, we had the opportunity to use Google Web Toolkit (GWT) on a semester long project. After using it I’ve come to the conclusion that is it great, but I’m not sure I would use it for a normal web design project.

    First, here is a sample GWT project I made called “The Decider.” It allows you to add items to a list and then the program will randomly select one for you. This is all done completely asynchronously. I was able to implement it completely in Java (which I think is easier than javascript) and then build the HTML around it using GWT’s ‘Widget’ classes. Again, you’re using Java to build the interface (without using Java Swing). This takes a little getting used to, but you can pick up pretty quickly after reading GWT’s documentation. A nice thing about the widgets is they all have their own CSS class assigned to them, and there are methods that allow you to add, remove, and override CSS classes. You can also build an HTML page with your own CSS id’s and dynamically add things to them with GWT.

    GWT is great is you’re unfamiliar with web design and you want to showcase some project your doing on the web. Google’s default styles look nice and you can really focus on the functionality, especially if the scope of the project didn’t include a web based implementation. It’s also good if you want to roll out a completely asynchronous UI relatively quickly. With The Decider, I didn’t have to worry about the advanced javascript stuff, using something like Dojo or JQuery, etc. I just wrote in Java, which I am pretty comfortable with. However, if from the outset you know you want to make a web app, I’d recommend doing it the traditional way. Writing your own HTML and CSS is semantically correct and less bloated than a GWT project. But of-course, I’m a web developer first, and I just have my feet wet with GWT. I’m willing to bet with a little extra time, due to the freedom you have with GWT you can make that lightweight, semantically correct (tableless!) interface you want with the power of Java behind it. And you can probably get rid of some of the bloat before deploying your app.

    All-in-all, GWT is really powerful and I think it will be a game changer. Next semester, another grad class I’m taking will be using it and I can’t wait to really get under the hood now that I have an understanding of how things work.