Jerad Bitner

Finally took the old personal blog from d5 to d6 and gave it a face lift. The new Acquia Slate theme is pretty slick, but I wanted to give it just a small bit of uniqueness, so I wrote a little custom function into the theme in order to pull up random photos from one of my Flickr sets. It was fast and fun, made easy with the Flickr module’s API. Here’s a couple quick steps I took:

1. Edited the page-front.tpl.php and inserted a little logic to give the #preface-wrapper a different background-image property.

   <div id="preface-wrapper" class="clearfix" style="background-image: url();">
   

2. Wrote a custom function based off of the flickr_block.module's flickr_block_photoset_random() function. The function returns just the flickr farm url instead of running through the theme functions.

   function acquia_slate_flickr_block_photoset_random($nsid, $show_n, $size, $photoset_id) {
     // Get information about the photoset, including the owner.
     $info = flickr_photoset_get_info($photoset_id);
     if (!$info) {
       return;
     }
   
     // Get a list of "all" the photos in the photoset. This is cached.
     $response = flickr_request('flickr.photosets.getPhotos',
       array(
         'photoset_id' => $photoset_id,
         'per_page' => 500, // get as many images as possible
         'extras' => 'owner',
       )
     );
     if (!$response) {
       return;
     }
   
     // Randomly display $show_n of them
     $photos = $response['photoset']['photo'];
     shuffle($photos);
   
     $output = flickr_photo_img($photos[0], $size);
   
     return $output;
   }
   

3. Set the result of this new function, called with hardcoded arguments, to a theme variable within template.php's phptemplate_preprocess_page() function.

     // get a flickr image for the front page background
     $vars['flickr'] = acquia_slate_flickr_block_photoset_random($nsid, $show_n, $size, $photoset_id);
   

The one thing I couldn’t find was a block setting when looking at the flickr_block.module for the large size picture, which I needed. But looking at how the url is created within flickr.inc’s flickr_photo_img() function and comparing it with an actual large image on Flickr.com, I quickly saw that the size string is simply ‘b_d’ for large.

Fun stuff!

The cold hard rain dripped down my face, erasing the warmth
  only remembrance remained.

So used to the shielding when heat returned
  unnoticed and without all the same.

Then brightness shined, a key was found
  to try that diligent construct; cold hard lock.

Will it fit; turn that intricate mechanism
  surrounding that which has rusted?

I hope.

A couple months ago (right after I made a big move) I started hearing thing about the financial crisis and banks going under. Talking with my friend who travels a lot, I came to hear that when America sneezes, the rest of the world gets a cold. Another friend of mine introduced me to a film called “Zeitgeist”. With the uncertainty of living in a new area, trying to gain respect at a new job, and making new friends, I started worrying. Actually worrying is an understatement, but I’ll not be dramatic.

However, after hearing about Lullabot’s new venture, and especially Ed Sussman’s blog post, “Why Start (Up) Now?” I gained a little hope. Then I got a twitter from Kevin Rose today where he talked about Paul Graham’s post, “Why to Start a Startup in a Bad Economy”. I must say that I’m feeling better. Again an understatement, but dramatics really aren’t my thing.

The thought of having a startup has always appealed to me. I even have friends who have done them. And though I’ve always played it safe by working for corporations, I’ve always wanted to have my own business, startup or consulting, to call my own. It’s looking more and more like now is the time to get my nose to the grindstone. I’m not planning on quitting my job anytime soon, but now is the time to invest.

Dave and I have been in the middle of revitalizing DrupaLMAO (here’s a quick sneak peak) to incorporate the Drupal community into our show by getting feedback from them in the form of voting upon the content on the site (via the Drupal Planet). Hopefully this will help get the community’s involvement in the show as we’ll talk about the things that the readers care about. We’re coming out with a new episode any day now, it’s taped, waiting on our editor ;) and while we wait, we’re redesigning, rethinking and migrating to Drupal 6 (WIN!). Though this may not be startup material, it is nonetheless paramount to have a presence in the community… and it’s just damn good fun!

Another project I’m soon to have underway, came about from the fact that I get contacted by recruiters on a weekly basis looking for Drupal talent. Drupal hackers are in VERY HIGH DEMAND and there are many corporations out there now who are willing to pay top dollar for some of the best Drupal talent. While I may not be up there on the “high talent scale”, I keep a good relationship with these recruiters by offering advice on where to find Drupal talent, and how to go about it. They’re quite often taken by surprise at the amount of resources that are actually out there to help them find who or what they’re looking for, and some are a little discouraged by the advice I give. Especially when I tell them that they may be better off hiring one good Drupal developer who can teach a team of PHP developers how to use Drupal. Sounds like a good consulting strategy too ;) So after talking with endless recruiters, and regurgitating the same advice time and again, I’m convinced that there is a huge need to connect employers, recruiters and Drupal talent. There are no real good solutions out there that have the community backing them so in the next few weeks I’ll be on irc looking for ways to get this going. I’ve got a good idea in the front of my mind (rather then the back) but I want to build something that is going to have the community behind it and hopefully get d.o involved, not just another lame job board.

So if you’re out there looking down, thinking the end is neigh… think again. Read the posts mentioned above, and be inspired.

Drupal, you’ve done it again… become the vector of change in my life by presenting me with opportunities that are seemingly too good to be true. Last year it was New York and Sony BMG. This year it’s San Francisco and a start-up called ParentsClick Network. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any better and that maybe I’ve hit the height of reaching my dreams in life, another one comes within my grasp, and giving in to my free spirit, I jump at the chance to make a dream a reality.

Ted Serbinski is a guy whose progress I’ve followed since that first Lullabot class in Rhode island, less than two years ago (1/15/07) when the world of Drupal really opened up to me. He was a Lullabot at the time, teaching theming and some jQuery. He left Lullabot later that year to start a journey into entrepreneurship (and MothersClick) that has started to pan out nicely. I’ve great respect for his coding skills and believe in his business sense. So when he approached me about a job working with him in San Francisco, a place I’ve always wanted to live, I was very excited.

After a week of vacation, taking time to think about my priorities while spending time with family and friends in PA, and then meeting with Ted’s business partner, Dietrich von Behren who is the Co-founder & Chief Strategy Officer of MothersClick, I felt confident enough to make the jump and reach for a star on the other side of the country.

My last day at Sony BMG is August 7th, 2008. I’ll be heading back to PA to spend some more time with my family and friends and then back to Jersey to take care of getting rid of as much of my worldly possessions as possible. Then the week of the 18th Dave and I will be taking a cross country trip to San Francisco along RT 80. We’re still looking for good places to stop along the way, so if you have any suggestions that would be wonderful! I’m also still looking for a temporary place to crash in San Fran while I get the lay of the land and figure out where it makes sense to park myself for a year (read: sign a lease).

All in all, I’m very optimistic and I really feel this is the right move. Not only because I can live one of my dreams, but also to learn about starting a business, and everything that entails. Not to mention becoming a better programmer under the tutelage of a master! Wish me luck!

Here’s the new one!