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Wow, organizing a web portfolio of my work since 1997 has been a big job. I finally opted to just upload some pics to my Flickr account in an effort to get this moving. This is a work in progress, but check it out: Christian’s selected web portfolio 1997-2007

So far, this has been a busy year. To name some of the things that have been going on with Fab Apps:

• We launched a lively Socially Responsible Investing Jobs Board on the Social Investment Forum’s website, in addition to enabling e-commerce on the Forum’s website to power online donations, publications orders, and online events registration.
• We’ve launched our first Facebook app, an “I Voted” sticker for your profile page.
• We helped the Environmental Working Group distribute their first viral Flash widget for their campaign website, PetsForTheEnvironment.org.
• We are just weeks from launching a web design and total web content rewrite for the OMI USA’s Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation effort.
• We have located our office at Affinity Lab, a fabulous shared office space in Adams Morgan, full-time.
• But the biggest news is that our free tool for word discovery, Wordage.info, will be ready for the world in just a few weeks!

In addition to my work with Fab Apps, I have been continuing to work with web design firms Digital Division and Unison Agency.

There you have a good bunch of work news. In my personal life, Jim and I have moved from Northern Virginia to Washington, DC. I have grudgingly given up on kung fu classes for now, because the school isn’t near where I live anymore. But I have been drawing a lot, nearly every day, and experimenting more with the charcoal techniques I learned in a drawing class earlier this year. Good times!

Welcome to 2008! The year where I officially acknowledge that the 2000’s are nearly over. The winter weather here in Washington, DC is the new status quo — balmy days and April showers. After having a great holiday season, I’m enjoying being back to work.

Already this month, I wrapped up a large front-end HTML/CSS/JavaScript page build project for Voice of America News with Digital Division. The project was very challenging, and involved developing web templates that will work in more than 40 languages, including languages that read right-to-left like Farsi, and targeted browsers as old is Internet Explorer 5.5 (released in 2000) for older computers in the developing world. This project had been ongoing since at least summer of 2007, and was a coordinated effort between me (the technical lead and project manager), two other web coders, quality assurance testers, and VOA’s in-house design team. I learned a lot from the project, and I’m happy with the results, too! When the full website launches this year, I’ll be sure to post about it.

I also started a new Fab Apps strategic web redesign project for a faith-based social justice and environmentalist group, Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation Office. This group lobbies for many important global issues here in DC and elsewhere, and works particularly on affordable heath care, international debt relief, climate change, and others. We will be creating a more effective, friendly, and easily-updated website over the next two months.

In addition to this and other client work, I’m still working on creating software-as-service web applications. The pace on this stuff is admittedly slow, because it’s self-funded by my client work. I look forward to saying more about this publicly within another month, and hope to speed up the overall development time on these projects as they gain momentum this year.

Writing this post, I’m reminded that I also need to update my outdated resume and portfolio. Stay tuned!

A shout out to Steven: One thing I’ve enjoyed about starting Fab Apps, my growing web-based software firm, has been working closely again with Steven Waters, a colleague and friend of mine since 1999. Steven works with Fab Apps as an interactive media developer, and leads a double life promoting urbanism and walkability in his adopted hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina. Here’s a link to a video interview that Steven recently gave to the News & Observer newspaper — check it out if you’re interested in learning more about Steven’s work and his vision for cities that are designed for people, not cars.

Besides that fact that Steven and I have a great history as friends and colleagues, I’m especially proud that he works for Fab Apps because of his vision to revitalize America’s sprawling, car-centered cities. Fab Apps offers its web development services only to green businesses, nonprofits, and indy media — so having a expert programmer with an important cause is fabulous. Find out more about Steven and his work at his website, livingstreets.com.

Meanwhile, here in the DC area: While I’m on the topic of promoting urbanism and fighting sprawl, I want to also mention the work that my father, Patrick MacAuley, has been doing to fight sprawl in Prince William County, Virginia, a largely rural but developing suburb of Washington, DC. He’s the Chairman of Voters to Stop Sprawl, Prince William County and is also active with a group called Advocates for the Rural Crescent. Voters to Stop Sprawl recently worked hard to put anti-sprawl candidates into the County Board of Supervisors, and their top candidate for Chairman won County elections this November. Congratulations to my dad, his associates, and to Prince William County for a job well done!

I’m glad to say that October was a fairly quiet month. I did some client work for Digital Division, Co-op America, Multi-Media Training Institute, and some others, and made some progress on the Fab Apps software we’ve been grinding away at.

Outside of work, I finally tested for and received my yellow belt in kung fu, which means I’m really starting to know enough to hurt myself. I’m also drawing more than ever and writing a fair amount. I wasn’t able to get into a drawing class that fit my schedule, so I’m doing it on my own.

Also, I have some travel plans I’m looking forward to — a weekend trip to Philadelphia this weekend, and five days in Las Vegas next month! I even found a place we can get vegetarian cheese steaks in Philly, and Jim got us tickets to Tom Jones in Vegas! I can’t wait.

I’m very happy to say that the Social Investment Forum’s website has officially launched! This is a web project I’ve been working on for over four months, which was designed, managed, and built by Fab Apps (my web firm). The new design is clean, vibrant, and easy to use for key audiences. It features an expanded News section, an updated Member Directory, a Members-Only section, and more than a hundred pages of updated and reorganized web content.

SIF was a truly enjoyable client to work with and I even got big props on the their email list! (Wow, thanks!!) Check out the new website at www.socialinvest.org.

Wow! It’s September. It’s been a busy couple of weeks but we are well along with the new website for the Social Investment Forum and the other projects I’m working on for Digital Division are swimming along.

I’ve also been working more on pencil drawing (will post some here someday, I promise!), short short writing, and I’m making slow but steady progress with kung fu and plan to focus more on tai chi later in the year. I think I’m going to start a drawing class in October, assuming I’m not horribly busy with other things, which would be awesome because I’d learn more about charcoal drawing and similar techniques.

I have more or less given myself a license to slack on some of my other blogs, because I feel like what I’m doing with most of my time is pretty well on what I want to be doing. Sorry if you were quaking in your boots for more updates.

Oh, and although summer is almost over, I am enjoying what’s left a whole lot! On Sunday, I went to King’s Dominion and rode the most horrifying roller coaster I’ve even ridden, Hypersonic XLC, which is probably the closest I’ll ever get to space travel. And Jim and I plan to take another trapeze lesson before trapeze school closes for the year.

Well that’s about it for the news. So as to continue this conversation, what’s the scariest thing you did this summer? I hope you’re glad you did it :-)

Well, I’ve been busy with a lot of various projects, redesigning the Social Investment Forum’s website, doing a lot of work with Digital Division, planning my mom’s 60th birthday party with my family, and trying to have a great time!

Since I don’t have any other brilliant new creations to share at the moment, I wanted to share my twin sister Sheridan’s haiku blog project, where she’s posting a new haiku every day. Here is a fun one:

Thinking in haiku
Can be a beautiful thing
If you have a pen

Sheridan also recently sent me a super cute baby picture of us, where Sheridan is the princess, one of my grandmothers is looking sharp, my mom is apparently a pregnant nun (?), and I’m a lion.

A fellow twin I know has the theory that, as twins, we have every right to gush over our own baby pictures. We’re just that cute :-)

Time to post another quick update. The past week has (finally) featured the launch of a new website for my web firm and web-based software company, Fab Apps! The website is pretty fun and dynamic, plus it has a lot more to say about the company than the temporary one-page site that Fab Apps previously had. Still I have lots to add, including some case studies and more news about the upcoming software launch.

Sign up for the Fab Apps email newsletter to get updates about what’s going on with Fab Apps!

I haven’t updated lately, so I just wanted to post a quick post to say hello. What have I been up to lately? Um, I redesigned my business card for Fab Apps and am almost ready to (finally!) launch the new fabapps.com website. If you’re not in the know, no worries — Fab Apps is my mini web design and application firm.

I’m also working on some web projects with Digital Division and Unison that are taking up some of my time. The after school multi-media training program I’ve been teaching for is winding down next week (for me — I’m not teaching classes this summer). I’m also working on comps for a medium-sized web redesign that Fab Apps will be launching in September. And I wrote some fifty-five word stories and submitted them to the 55 Fiction contest.

On the kung fu front, I unfortunately still don’t have my yellow belt, but I’ve nearly mastered ten short forms (featuring the jumping double kick!), ten sparring techniques (grab and jumping knee chop!), and ten self-defense moves (you’re going down!). Yes, I am definitely a physical threat at this point. To myself. There is a gash in my leg to prove it.

Among other things! I will post back soon, probably next week when the new fabapps.com is live and kickin’.

I’m back from a killer visiting tour with friends and loved ones in Chicago and San Francisco! We also went camping in Big Sur, which has one of the most beautiful coast lines I’ve ever seen. It looks sort of how I vaguely thought parts of New Zealand looked, but I never realized we had that right in California. Wow.

Yes, I took lots of pictures. No, I haven’t yet posted any. Stay tuned, though!

Now I’m back and have finalized the launch of a small website for a local green builder — probably the first in Virginia — GreenSource Builders. If you’re interested in Green Building, there are a lot of interesting links on the Green Building page.

Also, the audio/visual training program for at-risk youth here in DC that I’m working on (teaching the web design program and doing most of the webmastering) is having a pretty cool fundraiser on Monday. It will be both a film premiere and a dinner cruise on the Anacostia, so if that sounds fun to you, check it out.

Also, consider signing up for MMTI’s e-newsletter if you’re interested in hearing news about our TV show and other film, theater, and music projects.