Nothing to say

One technique that I have used to stand out from the crowd in my corporate existence has been my goofy side.  I employ acute observation with biting wit and add a left-field perspective.  It worked for the execs and directors, who knew and respected me.  It worked for me, as I gained both responsibility and recognition.

That sort of thing generally isn’t a viable angle, but it worked for me because not only was I surrounded by stiffs and play-it-safers, but I also did a damn good job.  I was and am the get-it-done guy.

In promoting my own business, I am finding it hard to get a bite.  Things are floundering.  It has become very clear that I’m overdue for a new image.

I am in reputation-building mode.  I learned how to use Illustrator in 2 days, and created a couple of images that actually look pretty good.  They’re simple, but if we’re being honest, that was the goal.  I plan to get letterhead and business cards from a local “green” printer, so full glossy color is probably out of the question.  That’s fine.  We can do 4 soyrific colors on a crisp, unbleached, recycled paper.

With a vast many ideas about the design of the site, I’m currently focused on writing, rewriting, obliterating, and then again rewriting the copy.  The problem is that I’ve spent so much time being the guy who can handle whatever is thrown my way that I don’t know how to refine my “product”.  I can make you a website.  I can make it data-driven.  I can write your reports, interpret your data, turn your crap data into usable information.  I can handle healthcare, P&C insurance, EDI, database administration, copywriting, and so many other things that I just don’t consciously think about.

I know my three greatest strengths.  That is currently my starting point.

1. Effective, results-oriented communicator
2. Structurally-minded, with an emphasis on detail
3. Competent with design and typographic concepts

The first skill is really my bread and butter.  Being able to speak with the executives on their level, then meet with IT geeks and talk to them in their terms, then explain everything to a non-technical conceptual thinker.  I can do that.

The second is a solid application of the first.  I handle communication on structural, data-driven projects that require clear communication and understanding, managed expectations, and reasonable goals and budgets.  And I do it well.

The third is just a rare bonus, from what I understand.  It makes it a lot easier to talk to designers and artists when I understand at least the basic concepts of their trade.  I certainly cannot perform at their level, but better than the average bear.

Transcendental CSS cover image

And I’ve been honing that skill in the last few days as I read myriad web sites and articles as well as Transcendental CSS, a brilliant book by Mr. Andy Clarke.  Since yesterday, I’ve covered 3/4 of the book, and it has been immensely helpful.

Now it’s time to get my serious self to bed.  Tomorrow is finishing the book, and a lot of work on the site.  I think I may spend the day at the library.

Seriously yours,

Terry

Ok, I haven’t got much time, but here’s the deal in a nutshell:
I had a buch of things I wanted to get done between last Thursday and Tomorrow (Wednesday). One full week. I’ve gotten several things done, but not nearly the amount that I could’ve if I’d been more diligent.

Today, however, is going quite differently. A lot of that list was just goals; things I wanted to do. There are a few of those items that I realy need to get done. So last night, after spending most of the day learning how to make color swatches (one of the needed things, relating to putting together the company website, so I can create promotional materials, so I can get local clients, so I can make money, so I can survive, etc), I admitted to myself that I need to really buckle down and take care of a few small things.

So I made a list. And I applied a rough timeframe to it. And so far, it’s working surprisingly well! Now I think the next step is applying some sort of personal accountability to it, and since I’m both an extrovert and a bit lazy when it comes to taking care of personal things, I decided to post my lists here with commentary on how well I did.

Boring, right?
I know. That’s why the rest of this post is below the fold. :)
Continue Reading »

I have photos hosted on no less than 4 sites (possibly more). I’m counting my collective hosted websites as one, so personal and wedding sites combined. I’ve been putting a lot of thought into what to do about this mess I have, and while talking it out with a friend, I crafted my plans.

Flickr
This site is brilliant, because they have a well developed community, great functionality, and quick pageloads. The AJAX photo titling and describing is a cinch to use, and they’ve gone the extra mile adding great features like video hosting and geotagging. Now not only do your stalkers know what you’ve been up to, but they know WHERE. And for that, they have great privacy features. All around perfect, right?

Unfortunately, no. There are significant limitations for unpaid members, and my Pro account expired. So I’m limited to 200 photos and 3 sets, no videos, and .. well those are the only limitations. So the membership is only a couple bucks a month, no big deal, but there are other factors. Part of what makes flickr great is what also makes it obnoxious. The community is great for connecting with friends, but it’s also great for connecting with all the bored losers on the internet who really want to appear popular and clever. So they’re always posting ridiculous, stupid, and insanely annoying comments on photos. I’m not the only one bothered by all the “OMG GREAT PHOTO JOIN MY INVITATION ONLY GROUP AND TAG YOUR PHOTO SUPERSPECIALDELUXEGOLDSTAR!!!!!” Um. Your group is lame. Your gold star graphic is annoying. And your compliment is empty. If I am posting a photo for comment, I want to hear what my friends think, or I want constructive criticism from people who can help me take better photos. If not that, then gimme silence. Please.

Zooomr
Zooomr was the brilliant Flickr copycat that I fell in love with when I found it some years ago.  They had geotagging before Flickr even knew what the word meant.  And…. that was all they had.  They didn’t have speed.  The site was so slow for me that I quickly deemed it unusable and just gave up.  I checked in on it today, reset my password, and logged in.  It’s SUPER FAST now!  It also has a pay system, but the limitations are very different.  You can still upload as much as you want, but there are ads, and you’re limited on what you can browse.  You can’t go find random photos.  You can’t browse unknown photos.  You can just flip through the popular ones.  Weird.  Anyway, it doesn’t matter.  The community is cool, but chock full of people who take really nice photos.  Me, I take crappy photos to help me remember things.  I don’t fit in, and I don’t know anyone there, so the “community” benefit is hardly a bonus at all.

Picasa
Picasa is great and fine.  They have the software and the online hosting.  They work really well together.  I have 2 albums on my picasa account, because flickr was blocked at work.  I just used it for viewing at work.  Now I don’t use it at all, and am quite at peace with that.  One awesome thing I have to give Picasa props for, though, is reading RAW images.  For a quality photo organization program with an integrated database, and RAW capabilities … you’re paying for it.  Except with Picasa.  Awesome.  That said, I use something else.  Next!

Gallery
This is the first photo gallery I used on my site.  It’s literally called Gallery, because they wanted to make themselves difficult to search for online.  That’s the only logical reason they’d choose such an … innovative name, right?  Anyway, it’s slow as molasses.  Apparently, you can customize it and cut out some of the components that slow it down, like Print ordering (as if I’d ever need that), but doing such things is a total hassle.  And then I found….

Zenphoto
This is what I use now, and I love it. There are templates, there is AJAX functionality for editing titles and descriptions, like in Flickr. It totally spanks Gallery in speed and size. It’s a very lean installation. It caches the files so people are loading static HTML files from the server instead of dynamically creating them all the time. You can force an update of cached files if you update anything and the automatic update doesn’t work or happen fact enough (it always works, though, but it’s nice to know you COULD force it if you ever needed to).

I already pay hosting, regardless of how much I use this, and I have space galore on the server, so it’s effectively free. The only real downside is that there isn’t a community or “friend” system. I can’t make a photo friends only. My friends won’t see my photos in their friends updates. But it DOES have an RSS feature, so friends can add me to their google reader, Firefox, or whatever RSS reader they use. Sure, most people don’t use an RSS reader, so that’s kind of irrelevant, but for my geekier friends, it’s a nice feature.

And so it’s decided. I’m not going to migrate all of my other photos and albums to Zenphoto, but I will continue to use it going forward. I’m going to keep my free Flickr account for keeping up with my friends, and will probably occasionally post the odd image there, such as the color swatch I did today.

What do you think? What do you use? If you look at my photos, what are your viewing preferences?

This story popped in my head out of nowhere.

In high school, I played some bit roles in a couple high school plays and musicals.  A walk-on role here, and then a part in the chorus.  I was never (and still am not) a particularly good actor or singer, but it was nice for a dork like me to have something to do.

This story is during rehearsal for On the Town, a musical about a group of sailors on shore leave in NYC and the antics that are sure to follow.  Hyuk, yuk.

In the Museum of Natural History, one of the sailors accidentally destroys a complete dinosaur skeleton.  If you’ve ever played a part in a small budget stage number, either on-stage or off, your first thought may be “Holy crap how did they pull that off?”

Well, the crew was equally stumped.  We knocked around a few ideas but mostly came up empty until I remembered a small wood dinosaur skeleton model that I had a home.  I suggested that I bring it in and do a large-scale construction of it.  We had some massive triple-ply cardboard that we were using for other set pieces, so I suggested laying out the parts on a projector, tracing them on the cardboard, and cutting them out with a utility knife.  A sparse spray of white paint to give them that bony color, and we’d be good to go.

My only oversight was the ultimate destruction of the piece, and the fact that we had two shows to do.  Several joints were pretty severely damaged in the first collapse, and it would no longer stand after the first show.  I was proud of my original idea, but of very little help on the repairs that were needed before before the following evening.  Fortunately, it was all sorted out and the skeleton rose to the occasion.  Hyuk.

I kept one side of the head as a souvenir.  It’s still in my old closet at my father’s house, likely playing host to an entire colony of silverfish.  :)

Funny: When I was looking for an image to use in this post, I first googled “balsa dinosaur”.  The first hit was a blog post on a tool blog where someone did the same thing, but with plywood.  It looks very difficult to topple indeed.

The photo I ultimately used was stolen “courtesy of” Amazon. Click image to see product.

This morning, I got up at 7:30am when my alarm went off.  It was amazing.  I decided to take advantage of the early start, ignored everything I wanted to waste time on, and was out the door by 8 on my way to Boulder Reservoir, where my wife and I run sometimes.  There is of course a reservoir there, and boating and swimming, plus a great running/biking/walking trail, and lots of other things.  Admission is $6 per person for the day unless you park in the front lot to go jogging or biking.

Today I found out just how wrong I was about that…  We’ve been there half a dozen times or more, and the above has proven true each time.  Today I was stopped by a lady informing me that there was an admission fee for everyone.  I don’t carry my wallet when I run (not to potential muggers: steal my car keys and go get it yourself) so I had to go back to the car to get the money.

Fortunately, that walk gave me enough time to consider the option of paying $6 to jog when I could jog for free and buy a delicious latte and cookie afterwards with that money.  So I got in the car and left.

The bummer is that the reservoir has a lovely gravel path that is great for the repetitive impact of jogging.  Concrete is much harder, so your feet, knees, and hips absorb more of that impact.  Blacktop asphault is a nice compromise, and if I were smart and committed, I would’ve gone running on the asphault streets in our neighborhood, but I am not and didn’t.  I came home and futzed around the house doing this and that until after noon when the library was open.  Then I went to the library.

The moral of the story is I need to find a new running path.  And get my bike fixed so I can cycle instead.