Brian Oppenlander

Crazy week; dog drama, grad student orientation

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 05:04:59 +0000

This has been a very crazy week! My dog and best friend of 12 years has been sick and has a hard time keeping down any food. I had scheduled her to be put to sleep this weekend. As a family we thought it was best. BUT, we have since re-evaluated the decision and are going to try a few more alternatives. She still seems happy and active, and until she is visibly suffering, we will keep trying to keep her nourished. She has already lost over 10 pounds!

I’ve tried all kinds of diets, scoured the internet for information, and have been unsuccessful. Our theory is that she has some kind of growth internally that is restricting her digestion system. We don’t want to put her through any surgeries, she’s had an X-ray, and blood taken, but nothing was found. Hopefully we will discover something new this weekend as we are going to talk with our vet.

For the 3 or 4 days that I thought it was going to be her last week, it was very difficult for all of the Oppenlander’s. Here is a very sad blog post my sister wrote which put us all in tears.

I’ve had grad student orientation for the last few days, I’m ready to jump in. I will be an AI (associate instructor) for I101 (the introductory informatics course). Just a few semesters ago, I was sitting in the same class as an undergrad. It will be interesting to be on another side of the spectrum. Thank you Indiana University and the School of Informatics & Computing for this opportunity!

Btownapartments.com

admin — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:41:01 +0000

I created btownapartments so that my parents would have a place to advertise their rental properties online. This site saves my parents time by providing potential renters with all the information that is usually asked over the phone and email. Potential renters can also fill out an online application made with formstack.

Raidious internship coming to a close

admin — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:27:01 +0000

Things are starting to wind down for me here, the Fall semester is quickly approaching! I feel fortunate for the opportunity to work for such a great bunch. My official “title” when I started was “user experience intern”, but this has been so much more than that! This is my first internship, and I am the first Intern to be hired at Raidious. I discovered some interesting challenges figuring out the different software and tools that Raidious uses. I’ve also been getting some hands-on experience using tools such as Wordpress, Formstack, Flash, Photoshop, Litmus, Basecamp, ExactTarget, Mailchimp, and so much more… Not only do I learn about different tools to get the job done, but I have also acquired practical business experience. With a smaller sized company with a lot on their plate, you really get to be part of the action. Even though I am just the intern, I still feel a part of projects each step of the way. I won’t dive into too much detail on the projects though, top secret (ha ha). I celebrated my 22nd at work and guys took me out to MacNiven’s for some fish and chips, thanks!

What is it like at Raidious? Raidious has a laid back atmosphere, your creativity is unrestricted, and the work is fast-paced and challenging. All in all, this has been an excellent experience. Would gladly do it all again.

Thank you Taulbee, Brian W, Brian C, Matt, PJ and Ryan!

Preparation for Fall 2010

admin — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:05:18 +0000

August is quickly approaching as I enjoy the rest of my summer and internship at Raidious. I will be attending an orientation soon and classes will begin at the end of August. I am currently busy helping out the family with their rental properties; lots of manual hard labor! Things are going according to plan, I feel like I am on track with my career and life in general.

We have already been assigned reading! (Not mandatory of course)

The book is Change by Design – Tim Brown

Book synopsis:

The myth of innovation is that brilliant ideas leap fully formed from the minds of geniuses. The reality is that most innovations come from a process of rigorous examination through which great ideas are identified and developed before being realized as new offerings and capabilities.

This book introduces the idea of design thinking‚ the collaborative process by which the designer′s sensibilities and methods are employed to match people′s needs not only with what is technically feasible and a viable business strategy. In short‚ design thinking converts need into demand. It′s a human−centered approach to problem solving that helps people and organizations become more innovative and more creative.

Design thinking is not just applicable to so−called creative industries or people who work in the design field. It′s a methodology that has been used by organizations such as Kaiser Permanente to icnrease the quality of patient care by re−examining the ways that their nurses manage shift change‚ or Kraft to rethink supply chain management. This is not a book by designers for designers; this is a book for creative leaders seeking to infuse design thinking into every level of an organization‚ product‚ or service to drive new alternatives for business and society.

Don’t make me think

admin — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 19:57:36 +0000

By Steve Krug.

Web pages, or any piece of software in general, should be self explanatory. You shouldn’t have to read instructions or be taught how to do something. It should be automatic, brainless, common sense. How can you tell if something is making you think? Are you asking questions about the site? Such as: What do I do first? What is that? Do these mean the same thing? Am I supposed to click this? Is this a link? Is this the navigation?…. etc.

Another thing that makes us think, as mentioned by Steve: “Cute or clever names, marketing induced names, company-specific names, and unfamiliar technical names.” There should be a common ground, where people that have no previous experience with the site or company, would be able to know what something is. No one should be forced to spend even a second figuring out or thinking about what “job-o-rama listings” is supposed to mean.

Thank you Steve Krug for this common sense approach to web usability.

Raidious Internship

admin — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 02:00:19 +0000

Today was my first day interning at Raidious. First of all, let me say the first day was awesome and I expect to have a great time working with these guys, I will learn a ton. I spent the first few hours getting hazed familiar with the systems used in the office, and getting accounts set up for email, basecamp, gtalk, skype, etc. and tried to catch up a bit on the projects that they are working on. I also played with the new Wordpress, version 3.0. I set up a test file structure, the database, modified the configuration file, and the .htaccess file.

I was treated with lunch and coffee! It was tasty. Matt (or someone) was sneaky enough to snap a picture of me while I was reading Rework, and Matt wrote a blog post about me. They gave me a stack of books to read in my free time, and I already read one of them: “REWORK” by the founders of 37 signals. Let me tell you, it is a great book and a quick read (finished in a few hours)! If you are at all into business in today’s day and age, you should read this book! It offers a very straightforward and insightful approach to running a business.