Devon Hillard's Personal Blog

Awesome!

Devon — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 14:30:42 +0000

I received this great color changing LED light for my birthday that I’m using as bias lighting behind my monitor. The effect is even more impressive when it’s dark, but is still pretty cool during the day. Check it out here:

Video of the color changing bias lighting

It’s my Birthday

Devon — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:40:52 +0000

Today I turn 30 years old, which is a pretty big milestone. Stepping past my 20s seems pretty intimidating.

Ignoring the fact that I’m actually a pretty down to earth responsible working guy, the 20s to me are associated with youth, dancing at clubs, being wild and reckless, making fun a priority, college escapades, etc… The 30s seem to scream living in the suburbs and going to bed by midnight (yes, I know I live in the suburbs, don’t rub it in). I know there’s no rules about what you can and can’t do, but it just seems like a pretty big shift.

So this is all I can say about turning 30:

Semicolon Usage

Devon — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:35:06 +0000

This is too awesome to not post:

Cambridge, MA – Winter 2009

Devon — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 01:38:39 +0000

I walked around the Harvard Square area a bit with Christian and shot some photos. I haven’t been shooting much since I moved back East from Seattle, so it was good to get out and take some pictures, although the pictures don’t really capture how COLD it was:)

Saturday Morning Chores

Devon — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 01:31:51 +0000

This Saturday I finally tackled a chore that had been waiting for a week: cleaning some guns:

Pumpkins!

Devon — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:10:53 +0000

Photos of our pumpkins from Halloween of this year:

Plumbing

Devon — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:13:10 +0000

A chronically annoying hot water tap in the downstairs bathroom finally gave up any pretense of actually shutting off the water. Unfortunately the under-sink shut off valve was also corroded to the point where it wouldn’t shut off the water either. So we had a steady stream of hot water coming out of the sink.

Emma found a new faucet/tap set and picked up some new shut off valves. I turned off the water main, cut off the old shut off valves, installed the new ones, and replaced the sink hardware. It went pretty well overall, although I did get one skinned knuckle, and ended up soaked head to toe once (note to self: don’t accidentally loosen a compression fitting on a shut off valve, when you’re trying to tighten it, when the whole system is pressurized).

Some photos of the results:

East Coast Starbucks

Devon — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 14:06:32 +0000

I think I’ve figured one reason that Starbucks has not caught out here in the Boston area like it has on the West Coast.

The Starbucks out here don’t run smoothly. People pay cash, the employees don’t really have a good working system, there’s a lot of confusion.

If you want to see Starbucks as it is meant to be, go to Redmond Town Center. The store is setup to flow. There is an In door and an Out door with the line, ordering and payment area, then the pickup area with some waiting room, then the exit. The staff is the epitome of a well oiled machine.

Cake Bastards

Devon — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 01:44:02 +0000

So The Lemur and I came up with a new TV show we’re going to pitch to the studios.

Cake Bastards

Taking into account America’s love cake related TV shows AND the love of the suffering of strangers, the premise is this:

The Lemur and I will find some special person who’s having a birthday.
We’ll bake them the most amazing, perfect, delicious cake.
We’ll eat the cake in front of them, describing in detail how great it is, but they can’t have any.

The Lemur: “It’s little Suzy’s 8th birthday, and since her parents are both trapped in an igloo surrounded by bears, we wanted to cheer her up by making her the best birthday cake ever!”

Devon: “Right! So we asked Suzy, and she said she liked chocolate and unicorns, so we make this cake!” — pans to amazing cake.

The Lemur: “We tracked down the last unicorn, milked it, and made the only Unicorn Milk Chocolate ever! Unfortunately the unicorn was shot by animal control officers, so there will never be any more Unicorn Milk Chocolate. Ever.”

Devon: “So let’s see how it tastes!” — Devon and The Lemur whip out forks

The Lemur: “OMG! This Unicorn Milk Chocolate is the best thing ever!!! This is like heaven in food form!”

Devon: “Nomm nosh mummble crumbs! Happy Birthday Suzy!!” — pans to hungry sobbing Suzy

– pans to empty cake tray, and The Lemur and Devon licking frosting off their lips and holding their bellies.

– Fin.

Back from vacation

Devon — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:16:50 +0000

I’m back from a week in Puerto Rico. It was amazing. Sunny beaches, body surfing, tasty food, great hotel, hiking in the rain forrest, seeing cute iguanas, and more.

Having a little culture shock settling back into real life. Over 2,000 e-mail were waiting for me. Jeez.

Had a GREAT time on vacation!!!! We’ll be posting photos and stuff later!