Archive for the 'Personal' Category

by mkeefe on Mar 28th, 2012

My Thoughts on Trayvon Martin Tragedy

While I realize this is a horrible tragedy (the killing of a young man) banning guns and going all “guns are evil” is a knee jerk reaction at best. Furthermore don’t be so quick to judge the man in question without knowing all of the facts first.

I’ve been a firearms enthusiast for years, went through NRA and LTC-required training in the state of Massachusetts in order to receive my license. Between the psych exams, FBI searches and criminal database inquiries (CORI) almost all avenues are covered for lawful acquisition of an LTC/FID.

All these anti-guns proposals do is stop lawful citizens from owning firearms, it doesn’t stop the criminals from going into any city/town and buying one from a trunk of a car. It doesn’t stop crime or even slow it down (aside from accidental injuries). In regards to police being the only ones that should be allowed to carry? I think not.

I witnessed a serious car accident outside my home and it took 4 minutes for a first responder to show up on scene! 4 minutes? I guess you would still be alive if that were a home invasion and the criminal got lost in your house but in reality the police would be filling out reports, not saving you.

Now back to this story. Its hard to come up with a definitive conclusion since we still don’t have all of the facts. Did he pursue? Was he in danger? Was it self defense? I wish the media would shut up for a minute and let the facts speak for once.. but that won’t happen anytime soon.

by mkeefe on Jan 2nd, 2012

Personal Accountability in 2012

I’ve found that when you keep secret goals you are less likely to accomplish them. Of course this isn’t true for everyone but part of success is learning your limits/uniqueness. Me being one of those people I decided to publicly post my 2012 goals list so I can not only keep posted on the progress but also be held accountable for any that I mess up.

Would love to hear others thoughts on public goal lists. For now, here is mine:

2012 Goals List

01. Cook 50 healthy and new meals
02. Lose 25 pounds before wedding
03. Learn Portuguese. Finish Rosetta Stone Level 1
04. Improve my firearm proficiency. Visit range at least 25 times.
05. Continue to grow PixelBit and work with more freelancers.
06. Pay off ALL wedding expenses BEFORE wedding date.
07. Put away more money towards a down payment on a house.
08. Write 50 new engaging articles for Scriptplayground.
09. Learn a new programming language by building something.

As you can see some of these goals are much larger than 2012 but a new year is a perfect time to start new things.

by mkeefe on Jan 3rd, 2011

A look back on 2010

Just as soon as it began 2010 is now in the history books. Let me take a moment to reflect on some notable things that took place in 2010, both professional and personal.

It technically began in 2009 but on New Years eve I went to a Dane Cook show with my now girlfriend and what a show it was.

Fast forward to February which included a vacation to the Caribbean with family and friends where I was unaware at the time I would be doing the majority of my photography for the year. Overall the cruise was a great start to the New Year! I highly recommend you go on one at least once in your life.

The majority of Spring I spent working on various freelance projects and with awesome teams around the world. One notable project I got the opportunity to work on in the Spring was an interactive training module for an oil company, though I can’t speak any specifics on that project I can say it was fun!

Towards the start of summer I was invited to a Red Sox game where i’m almost certain no one remembers the score, but thats how you know it was a great time. As summer marched on I took a small break to Florida to see family and friends for a few days but ended up working on a bunch of projects while there.. kind of typical in the life of a freelancer.

When I returned home in late July I started officially working as a Flash developer with Litl in Boston where I had the opportunity to work on awesome Flash projects for their Litl webbook and other upcoming hardware. This was also the first time I had responded to a cold call from a talent agent, but something about Aquent (their parent) struck me right. I am still enrolled with Aquent and highly recommend them to professionals looking for new work or a new career.

In the Fall I flew out to Vegas for the annual PhotoshopWorld and got to meet a bunch of great people, including some I had spoke with via email/chat for the last few years. Rather than flying back home from Vegas I decided to make a stop in Colorado and spent some time with friends roughing it in the woods and shooting guns, two hobbies of mine.

When I finally returned home from my Vegas/Colorado travels I only had a few short weeks before I was on a plane to attend Adobe MAX for the first time in my life. Looking back I can’t believe I waited so long but I certainly picked the right MAX to attend with all the goodies given away by Google, Motorola, Adobe and even Blackberry. While in LA I also got the opportunity to speak at a mini conference on the subject of Flash mobile, which was a great time and can’t wait to speak again.

After returning home from MAX I decided to work on a few personal goals and in doing so I got my motorcycle permit, took a class and ended up receiving my motorcycle license. I also obtained (after much hoop jumping) my LTC gun permit. Don’t be concerned though, I am not running off to join a motorcycle club/gang.. I just love guns and bikes.

On a strictly personal topic I also celebrated 6 months with my girlfriend, got to spend the holidays together and even celebrated the arrival of 2011 on the Boston waterfront with friends this past weekend.

I also took a 13 day vacation to where else? Florida! I imagine one day I will move there, I guess we’ll see.

In all 2010 was a great year, I progressed my business towards bigger and better projects, checked off personal achievements and got to travel around the country. This of course only means 2011 will be even bigger and I am not wasting any time either. In early 2011 I am launching a bunch of website applications, mobile apps/updates and opening a new company with my good friend Phil whose graphics work you have seen in much of my client work for many years now.

So there you have it, how was your 2010? Lets hear it.. and on to 2011 and all it has in store for us all.

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