Nine months ago I simply stopped blogging. I’m not really sure why, although I suspect I just needed a break from writing for a while so I could take some time to gather my thoughts. I’d been blogging since early 2003, and I simply didn’t have anything else to say.
Since the last time I wrote, a few things have happened. First off, I quit my job last September to co-found my first startup, Foleeo. We’ve been keeping our eyes on the web and watching what’s been going on. We’ve been looking at the successful players, and have learned from them. We’ve been listening to thoughts and ideas from many people in the blogosphere to get a sense of not only what some of the existing problems are, but also how people want them to be solved. We’re working on some really cool stuff and I really hope that people are as stoked about this stuff as I am when we start pushing out the cool parts of our roadmap.
Geoffrey and I have released SimplePie Beta 3, and are trying to polish off our 1.0 release. SimplePie has really started to take off in popularity, garnering a TON of praise from the community. We couldn’t be more thrilled. It’s amazing to see how this little side project within a project has grown into a major player in the RSS/Atom space. This success would never have been possible without the community that has gathered around it to give feedback, submit patches, and make it better.
As a substitute for blogging (and as a simple showcase for SimplePie), I launched RyanParman.com a few months ago as a way to show the world the things I was interested in without having to blog about them. The site keeps itself up-to-date by tapping into things I’m already doing — adding bookmarks, listening to iTunes, renting DVDs from Netflix, uploading photos to Flickr, watching funny videos on YouTube, and of course Twittering.
Since this is my first official “comeback” post, I’ll be integrating this blog’s posts into that site as well. Lastly, I recently had a friend pass away at the age of 29. I have the quite unfortunate knowledge that she made the conscious decision to reject a relationship with the Lord, meaning that she hasn’t actually gone to a better place like we’d all hoped. If so, I’d be throwing a party for that lucky girl because she got there before I did! Instead, I find myself mourning in the very depths of my soul.
But it got me thinking. If I was visited by an angel who told me I had 30 days to live, how would I spend today? I know the setup might sound a little odd, but let me put it into perspective: If an angel came and told me, it’s not like I could argue about it — I would know it was coming. If I’ve got 30 days, it leaves me with enough time to do a little planning so I don’t have to panic and try to cram everything into today. And if I knew I didn’t have much time left, what would I spend those precious few moments doing? Who would I spend them with? Would I stay angry at those people? Would I still be afraid to call that old friend I had a falling-out with a few years ago? Would I make long-distance friendships a greater priority? It’s really had me thinking, and I’ve been making changes to my life and my schedule appropriately.
Anyways, welcome back into the life of Ryan Parman. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep it interesting. :)
