junhopark.com

I’m getting one year older in just a few short weeks and like many of my friends, I’m finding that the older I get I find myself becoming less & less voluntarily-open about disclosing my age (unless I happen to be around a bunch of old fogies… in which case I’m more than thrilled to share my age).  This has led me to (again, like many of my friends) revealing only my birth date and not the birth year on my Facebook account.  I decided to reveal my birth date since it alerts my Facebook friends when it’s my birthday, which then causes a whole great number of my friends to write a brief message on my Wall wishing me a happy birthday, which then causes various sorts of warm & fuzzy feelings to take place inside of me.

Nothing wrong with warm & fuzzies.

With that said, I’ve noticed there’s gotta be some sort of a relatively mild-to-major bug with Facebook when you view Facebook on your mobile browser.  Well, this issue is, at the very least, apparent with the native browser on my BlackBerry, which tells me that this issue is most likely apparent for a great number of people.  It may very well affect you.

I’ll try to keep the gist of this bug short.

To see this bug in action, open up the browser on your mobile phone (again, I have no clue exactly how wide-spread this bug is) and go to www.facebook.com.  After the page loads, if any of your friends’ birthday is today then it will remind you in the notification section towards the top of the page.  If only a small number (2? maybe 3?) of your friends’ birthday is today then it simply displays your friends’ names which are hyperlinked to their Facebook profile page.  However, once that number exceeds a certain threshold, Facebook will render yet another link whereby if you click on it, you’re taken to a Today’s Birthdays page whereby you can see ALL of your friends whose birthday is today.  And when you click the link to take a look at this page, you will see  just how old each of your friend is.  The annoying/bad/scary-for-some-of-us is that I know for a fact that Facebook will reveal your age even if you specifically tell Facebook to ‘Show only month & day in my profile’ in your Profile Edit page.  See a picture of this in action below (I’ve blurred out the profile pictures and the names so that my friends will still continue to be friends with me):

Facebook - can you please tell me how old my friends are?

So what can you do if you don’t want your age revealed on Facebook?  Well, no guarantees this would work but my guess is that in your Profile Edit page, if you specify ‘Don’t show my birthday in my profile’ then Facebook will (probably) not remind any of your friends when it’s your birthday even on their mobile browsers.

Another option?  Change your birth year to some ridiculous number, which is what I have decided to do.  I would think this trick would work since no one sane would then believe how old you are.

As of today I am over 100 years old, at least according to Facebook.

***EDIT***: Even if you don’t have a mobile device to try this on, you can see this in action by going to http://m.facebook.com

**2nd EDIT (3/23/2011)**: It looks like Facebook finally got around to fixing this issue.  Sadly as a result, however, this blog post has now become completely irrelevant.

The aftermath of the Great Chicago Blizzard of 2011 which occurred on Tuesday, 2/1/2011.

Welcome to February, everyone.

post-blizzard snow

more snow.

my poor car…

I’ve never witnessed snowfall like this in my life.  And as inconvenience as it was (left work early on Tuesday and didn’t go back into the office until Friday) I’m glad it lived up to its hype.  I would’ve been extremely disappointed otherwise.

I’ve been wanting to convert my site to a single-page design and after working on this on & off for the last several weeks, I’m glad to have the site finally d-o-n-e.

Check it out: http://www.junhopark.com/

It’s mostly made up of Google Web Fonts and free icons I found on the web, with a tiny bit of touch-up jobs on some of the images using GIMP.  And coded in Eclipse.  Thank God for free software.

And lastly, I waved goodbye to RimuHosting and said hello to LithiumHosting.  I’ll have to wait and see just how reliable their service is but I found their $10/year for 1.5 GB storage & 30 GB of monthly bandwidth such a g-r-e-a-t deal.  I don’t remember coming across anything better.  I really liked RimuHosting (they have an amazing support system in place, IMO) but for the amount of time I (do not) spend tinkering around on their server, I couldn’t justify shelling out what I’ve been paying them.

Well, as always, if you have any feedback regarding the new site I would LOVE to hear from you!

Live at last:  www.dotomborirestaurant.com

If you’ve got any thoughts on the new site, I would absolutely love to hear from you.  Simplicity and clean presentation were what I was trying to achieve with this project.  As I was nearing completion, I came across a number of amazingly well-designed single page websites (there’s a whole bunch of ‘em for you to take a look at by going to here) and I really wish I had came upon such websites sooner.  I think it would’ve been perfect for this project (except for maybe their menu page, which is just ginormous IMO).

One of my aspirations for 2011 is to take on more of such projects and improve upon my webdesign skills.

Hoping & aiming for marked improvements in my design abilities in these next 12 months…

It sure has been a long time since the last time I updated my blog.  Here are the different things that have been occupying me in these last couple of months:

Work: Been busy at work along with the rest of the engineering team as we get ready to launch the next release of our software.  I’ve been able to get my hands on doing a lot of front-end work.  In fact, I would guess that in these last 10 months of working here, I’ve dealt with as much front-end work (Javascript, JSP, HTML, CSS) as I have in all my years prior to joining this company.  The fact that I’ve been able to get my hands on both front and back-end (well, anything “below” the front-end) development has definitely been a major plus of working here.  I can’t wait to see the new features get shipped out to our clients and getting their feedback.

Ministry: I’ve been spending some time helping another brother at church become acclimated with leading worship.  He has a great voice and has been serving in various worship ministry for a number of years, but has never taken the plunge to lead–until now.  It’s been such a rewarding experience to say the least.  I believe the church is always in need of faithful servants and likewise, the church is always in need of faithful worship leaders who love the Lord, love people, love music, and are skilled musicians.  It’s been a privilege meeting up with him to help him become the best worship leader that he can be and I have surely been encouraged by his willingness and ability to learn.  There’s no better way to learn than to teach someone and I’m finding that out for myself.  Exciting times for this brother!

Freelance: I started working on a website for a local Japanese restaurant.  For now, I will just say that while I enjoy design work immensely, it is also most definitely challenging.  I’m hoping to get it launched in < 2 weeks.  I’m planning on picking up more of these kinds of gigs.

Vacation: I spent a few days in San Diego with some of my closest friends about a month and a half ago and my gosh, I absolutely *love* this part of the country.  I love the weather, the food (ate a ton of Mexican food), the beaches, and people seem to be a little bit nicer out there.  :)  I have promised myself that I will, one day, live somewhere in California.

Rest of the Year…: I can’t believe there’s less than 3 months left of 2010.  Crazy!  I’m already looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Do you like to play basketball?  Are you free on Saturday, 8/14?  Do you like helping people raise money for a good cause?  If so, you MUST read on.

I’ve been helping out with organizing a 3-on-3 basketball tournament for my church (Lakeview Church) and we’re looking for teams to sign up!

We have a men’s retreat coming up in September and thought that holding a 3-on-3 tournament would be an excellent way to raise some funds for the retreat.  Here are the details:

When? Saturday, 8/14/2010 – Starts at 10 AM

Where? Christian Liberty Academy (502 W. Euclid Ave. Arlington Heights, IL  60004)

Who can participate? High school & Older

How much will it cost? $40 per team.  You can have up to 4 players per team.

How do I register? Click here to print out the registration form.  Fill it out along with a NON-REFUNDABLE check for $40 to Lakeview Church (65 E. Palatine Rd. #313  Prospect Heights, IL  60070).

When do I need to send in my registration by? Sunday, 8/8/2010

What do I get if I win? $$ + Bragging rights

Sign up TODAY!  Please let me know if you have any questions!

One of the things I’ve been enjoying about work since I made the switch last November is being able to get my hands dirty with front-end web development and being able to work on things that directly impact the usability of the application.  It’s been fun designing and writing code that will allow our clients to have an easy & efficient way of interacting with our software.  It’s been challenging as well–such as trying to make the front-end behave the way I want it to in IE 6.  I can’t believe some (a whole lot) people still use IE 6 but there’s not much I/we can do about it, at least for the moment.

Anyhow, with the resurgence of my interest in UI-related work, I decided to pick up a copy of Steve Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think (2nd Edition).  If you haven’t read this book and have any sort of interest in web usability, I highly recommend you pick up a copy of it.  I’ve read about 2/3 of it thus far and it’s given me some really good things to think about and consider as I do my own front-end development work.  As the title of the book suggests, Krug’s big emphasis throughout his book is this:  Allow the end-users of  your website/web application to use the least amount of brain power to perform their desired tasks.  Don’t make them think. While usability issues are not always black or white and that they sometimes do come down to a matter of preference, I really like the fact that Krug gives some excellent, concrete guidelines that help readers to be able to distinguish between a usable website versus a not-so-usable website.  Even though the fact that our company’s software is a subscription-based web application with a very limited audience in mind (pharmaceutical professionals) means that not everything in this book is directly applicable, I think there’s a lot of UI-related gems to be gleaned from reading this book.

Once I finish this book (hopefully by today) I’ll definitely be looking to get my hands on some other UI-related books.  Any recommendations?

By the way, here’s the link to Krug’s book on amazon.

For some time now I’ve been really interested in going overseas for the purposes of doing missional philanthropic work.  And by “missional philanthropy” I am specifically including the following 2 components:

1. Vocational Training: In my case, I’d like to teach software development–anything from teaching students how to write programs consisting of nothing more than simple algebraic expressions all the way to full-blown applications that people can utilize to solve everyday problems.  This will be my focus in this blog post.

2. Gospel: Proclaiming the great news of the Gospel–perhaps most eloquently summarized in john 3:16–primarily through music, preaching, and the sharing of testimonies.

My reasons for wanting to teach software development in this context are numerous but in a nutshell, it is as follows:  While I, like most people around me, can get sometimes get into the habit of complaining about the things that I do not have in my life, when it’s all said and done I have been blessed with so much and perhaps more importantly, with so much to give.  I’ve been blessed with a good education, a  job that I enjoy, and in software development a skill set that is not only valuable in today’s marketplace but one that will only grow in its demands in the foreseeable future.  I would love to be able to share this skill set with those who may not be fortunate enough to have even the opportunity to learn this truly enjoyable (at least for some) and valuable skill set.

I am in a completely brainstorming mode here, but this is what I’ve been thinking of as it relates to actually carrying out this little dream of mine:

*Funds and Materials Needed: Plane tickets.  Lodging.  Room/building rentals to hold classes in.  Teaching materials.  Student materials (such as notebooks, writing utensils, etc).  Food for the students and myself (as well as any others who may join me).  LCD Projector.  Laptops/Netbooks (to be given away to students at the conclusion of the trip).  Backpacks.

*Fund Raiser: While I’d most definitely be willing to spend my own money to carry out this task, since I’m not looking to make even a single penny off of this endeavor, I think it would be perfectly right to attempt to raise all of the necessary funds through various fundraising activities.  I’m thinking some kind of a benefit concert/coffee house.  Musical skills can come in handy at times.

*Duration: 2 weeks.  I’d need to use my own vacation time to do this, which means it can’t be too long.  Once I arrive at my destination, classes would run from morning until early evening with free lunch and dinner.  Night time activities would consist of music as well as various forms of gospel proclamations.

QUESTIONS:

Here are some questions I have floating around in my head:

-Location? Where to?  To make the trip as cost efficient as possible, I’d like to stay as close home as possible.  Somewhere between the western edges of North America and eastern edges South America seems like a good candidate.  Haiti is one of the countries I’ve been thinking of, but I’m sure there would be plenty of other good candidates as well.

-Why overseas? To be honest, I’m not so sure I can answer this clearly.  I know that there are despicably impoverished places in my own country.  Not having to travel overseas would mean that the trip would be cheaper.  It would certainly be more convenient as my money, language, appliances, and cellphone would all work just fine.  I think when it comes down to it, though, wanting to go overseas is more of a personal, perhaps somewhat selfish motive of mine.  I feel that by traveling overseas to carry out this task, it would somehow enrich my experience and help me attain a better  understanding of what it’s like to do missional philanthropic work.

-The Gospel? Do I need to include the Gospel?  There’s a part of me that would prefer that this missional philanthropic endeavor simply be a philanthropic endeavor.  It would be easier.  I wouldn’t have to deal with anyone accusing me of carrying out some sort of a bait and switch scheme or a feeble attempt at proselytization.  And while I do not think it would be wrong for me to not include the Gospel (and am slightly open to the idea) I am a bit disturbed by the fact that if my purpose is to go help people why not go the extra mile and share with the people what is most helpful?  More helpful than knowing how to write code… more helpful than any practical skill set one can attain… something they can have and hold onto when they have absolutely nothing to hold onto?

-Why not simply give $$?  Why not work harder, make more money, and give to the expert philanthropists who are already involved in doing this sort of work?  Perhaps wanting to carry out this endeavor myself stems from somewhat of a selfish motive… however, I think most people will agree with me that giving money can get, well, a little bit boring.  I want to get my own two hands dirty in this kind of experience if I have the opportunity to do so.  Being able to carrying out this kind of task from start to end is a thrill that I only hope I will get to experience sooner than later.

This is all I have to say for now.  I would most certainly welcome your feedback either via this website, Twitter, Facebook, or email!  If, by any chance, you are even remotely interested in partnering up with me on this in any sort of capacity, please do let me know.

I took a trip out to Hawaii (Oahu) for the very first time and just returned home last week.  What an absolutely beautiful place it is out there!  A close friend of mine got married out there which gave me an excellent excuse to not only to make the trip but to turn it into a vacation.  Of all the weddings I’ve played at, I have to say that the Moli’i Garden in Hawaii was the very best venue ever.  Hands down.

Anyhow, here are some (among many) pictures I took while I was out there.  Enjoy!

This is one of the songs I sang at church this past Sunday and I liked the sound of it… so I thought I’d record it.  This song is definitely a Matt Redman classic.

[soundcloud url="http://soundcloud.com/junhopark/let-my-words-be-few"]

After listening to it, just in case you’re curious here are some of the chords I’m using (capo on the 4th fret):

024100

034100

2×2200

4×4440

…some of my favorite chords.