Analog2Digital -- A Primer on Bill Pena

I now have a weblog on the O'Reilly Network ! I'll be using this as my forum for technology opinions and commentary now, as it ties in to the books I'm writing and work I'm doing at O'Reilly. Check in periodically to see what we're thinking about at O'Reilly ...

posted 10:52:01 AM

Nuptials Updates:

We've moved the date of the wedding to Saturday, June 1st, 2002. It's going to be held at Mary's parent's house, on the edges of the woods near the coast. Outdoors. Niiiiice.

We've been making lists, checking them twice to remember people's *real* *full* names. We're not up to the address stage yet. Mary called "the tent people," which reminds me of nothing but the movie Very Bad Things. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing ... hey, it was funny, I've got it on video.

I'm crafting and etching copper boxes as part of the wedding. More on that, later.

posted 3:04:01 PM

So, I'm writing two books. What's the second? It's official as of today, I'm co-authoring the second edition of Designing with JavaScript from O'Reilly & Associates. I was asked today by a co-worker, after I was listing of the bevy of shit I'm working on ... "WHEN DO YOU SLEEP?!?"

posted 8:30:03 PM

I'm working on a couple of books now; one's signed, and it's called "Webcasting" (with MP3 and RealAudio), and the other is still in development, but is design-oreinted and very cool.

When I was thinking about the concept of writing a book, what that would mean to my self-image &em; a professional author! to think! &em; my career prospects, etc., I actually found myself wondering whether I'd use my own name on the book. I actually considered publishing under an alias, ala Jacob Nape or Creon or Alonso Quijano. I was promptly smacked around by everyone so I'd realize what an idiot I was.

I was actually afraid of pinning my name to potential failure, to something I'd never done before, but couldn't run from. Then I started writing ... and it was good. So I signed on the dotted line ... Bill Peña. I'm still scared, but, hey, most people never get the opportunity to fail, especially at 22. I got more in me.

posted 7:06:43 PM

"Fuck Fame; I'll shoot a hole in a fifty-cent piece
To test my aim.
How dare you call my name in vain?
Not knowing the seriousness of this and why I came
To Earth, feet first."

- the GZA

posted 11:43:03 AM

I've decided I'm going to start posting here more frequently.

I was thinking about the concept of "seeing straight" last night. What do we mean when we say "I couldn't even see straight?" It's a coarse qualification we're making, just talking about our immediate vision, as conceived by our eyes. However, being able to see straight, walk straight, think straight, encompasses a complex coordination between senses, the layer of perception, and interpretation to create a cognitive map of our physical and metaphysical space. For example, we know if we're unable to hear, we lose a "sense of direction" that we often can't describe, but is the very sense of hearing that helps localize. There is another sense - it's a fact, we have more than five - called bodily kinesthesis, which is the ability to localize your own body in space without looking; this is the sense cops test with the "close your eyes and touch your nose" test. In effect, clumsy people are akin to blind people!

My point is, Seeing is a distinct and powerful thing, a concept that extends to our mapping of relationships between ourselves and the world, and which, at it's purity, erases that distinction so we understand that we are part of the world.

Sometimes I can hardly see see straight. That's why I wear glasses. But I can still See, so I'm doin' alright.

posted 11:11:18 AM

[[ Bill Peña & Mary Smith Destroy the World ]]

posted 6:15:06 PM

I give you ... Safari. It's the project I was first hired for at O'Reilly, and it's in preview release, so check it out. A whole company's books online, in XML, searchable, annotated, and with previews of every section for guests, it's pretty snazzy. I am the designer on the project, and now it's got a cute icon 'cause of me:

posted 1:05:48 PM

We Set a Date!

Mary and I are getting married - May 18th, 2002. Yes there's reasoning behind the date; she'll have graduated, Spring will have the flowers blooming, and afterwards we'll have a great time Eurailing Europe in May-June. Awwwwwww yeah =)

posted 5:40:20 PM

It's My Birthday.

posted 4:39:05 PM

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