and so it is done...

12:40 am.

I'm sitting on a balance ball. My laptop precariously resting on my outstretched leg. Dog next to me, snoring.

Just finished cutting and folding then gathering my semester's work. Something masochistic in me doesn't want to go to sleep just yet. How can I sleep? It's not 2, 3, or 5 am.

This class has been challenging, enjoyable, stressful, sleep-depriving, educational, encouraging, fun. Everyone added something to the experience. See you all around campus.

Why do some people decide to start line/queue right in the obvious flow of foot traffic? Say you go in to a Sbucks and there's only one person in line, ordering at the cash register. You have the choice -- stand right behind the person and cut off foot traffic or stand alongside the pastry case. Why do some people choose the first option? Even when I'm dead tired, I still think 'where do I stand to make sure people can still get through?'

These are the things that drive me crazy. Don't be oblivious!

flash assignment

For fear of not having enough blog entries, i'm posting the link to my flash project. I sent the link to some friends and family who haven't seen me lately because of this class. My dad is not known for being a gushing parent by any means so I accept the smallest of victories. His response was too funny:

Hi Stace:

How much of this are you responsible for? Did you do all the animation and the “balloon” text from scratch? It’s very creative!!!!

It looks good on the screen. Does the music change tempo on purpose? Is that to reflect the spud’s mood?

May I forward this to people?

Dad

I told him he was welcome to send it to anyone but that he might be suffering a bit from the overly proud parent syndrome. Can you imagine? "Look at what my 36 year old daughter did. I'm so proud of her." Oh, that's a laugh.

take infinity +1

ok, i haven't been through that many revisions on paper. my head has tumbled through tons of ideas. this is the winner. I'm not yet done and will be changing things around a bit. Still need to determine if the top page will be the title page or just a cover with the cut out to the title page. (By the way, Michael's didn't have any corrugated paper but I did buy a crimper. Now I don't need it.) Right now my flowers keep showing up on the left side of a page and I want to change that. I decided to add a third color, pink, to avoid monotony of brown and blue, brown and blue, repeat, repeat... These are the first few pages. Hopefully tonight I'll finish it.

And for some reason, the blue got converted to a green in some of the jpgs. The colors are the brown, blue, cream, and pink. No idea what happened with pages 2 and 3. Text is missing and colors are wrong. Not worrying about here -- they're correct in InDesign.

surely i'm not alone...

i need to redo my process design. AGH! this is the last project and still i cannot get over the lack of time allowed for refinement.

after saturday's class i tackled the dotted line thing. I wanted to have a dainty, dotted line leading through the whole booklet. got that under control now -- thanks to mark, casey, and marianna for their guidance and especially to chris for the "just stroke it" advice.

then i moved on to thinkin about images. images? i had thought about images and came to the conclusion that i'd be masochistic to try with this project. take two and i got to thinking about old b&w photos. lots of searching later and found some on istock but not enough variety. i

the photos left me uninspired. maybe the time spent looking at them killed their allure.

then thought if i go retro with photos from the 40s and 50s, i need to go all out. different design elements. the gerbera daisies wouldn't cut it. found a cute background. i was thinking of how to use the B&W photos with this type of theme but still I wasn't really inspired so I went off searching for illustrations.

more searching and I found some to go with the style. mixing and matching, i should be able to put together something cohesive. the illustrations aren't smack you in the face retro. so i think i can take a couple of these illustrations and make a few scenes - graduation, marriage, baby, and one more.

i need to throw together a rough with comps to send off to allison for her input. feel free to put in your 2 cents.

and somehow during this i need to figure out when to do laundry, take the dog for a bath, and pack for two back-to-back trips. at least i'm not planning a wedding! ;)

collections

Here are some more coffee mugs from my so-called collection, including the blue scroll one I took from a lost & found (far left). I'm a sucker for vintage look, even if it's fake. Also love it when mugs are painted inside. About half of my mugs are painted inside.

This comes from Edinburgh, Scotland. I don't use it, but I'll never get rid of it.

Another Starbucks creation. Hard to tell but the rim is silver.

right up my alley

On iedesign.com's mailing list.

They sent this fantastic but almost useless calendar out for '08. Each month is designed by a different person but uses the same color palette. I just went to their website and happily saw they made some designs available for wallpaper.

Happy sigh...

stacey, meet sleep. sleep, this is stacey

my body forced me into a mini-hiatus this weekend. it determined it needed some sort of love after the 5 am bedtime saturday morning.

i took 2 naps over the weekend. mega-naps. 90 minute naps. they felt so good.

sunday morning i laid down an edict for that evening's entertainment. no baseball. no basketball. we must watch a movie. we watched into the wild. we talked about the book in class a couple of weeks ago. it's been about 8 years since i read the book but i am fairly certain the movie makers took some interesting liberties. i don't recommend the movie, especially if you've read the book.

the only good thing about it is i was able to watch it while also fine tuning my flash project.

we were supposed to get some sort of seafood this weekend but that didn't happen and now i'm really hankerin' for some steamed shrimp.

btw, hankerin is one of my favorite words and it always makes me think of the cheese commercial...when your ten gallon hat is feeling five gallons flat, you hanker for a hunka cheese. something like that. i can see the cheese piece with the cowboy hat. random memories

queens revised

my cast of queens revision.

motion graphics - fall 07

in some random ways, i am far removed from tech geekdom. not being sure how to post this flash movie is an example of not being a geek. i took motion graphics last semester. not sure i want to admit it because i doubt it means my project will benefit from knowing it. time. time would be nice.

going to try to show the last project for that class. we had to create a 2-3 minute flash movie with a transaction and call to action about a moving cause.

not sure i'm posting it correctly. turn up your speakers.

it'll be all shiny, new, and pretty

Shipping Monday! I'm so happy! I can't wait!

creative process

My creative process screwed me over tonight! I stayed at work to finish up the comp for tomorrow. The process invaded my soul. I forgot the garage closes at 8.

It's 9:00 pm. Do you know where your car is? Yes, locked up in a garage.

Now I have to wait for my husband to come get me.

On the positive note, it gives me more time to find images for the process assignment. I decided to go with how to make your mom happy. I'm feeling a need to express mucho sarcasm and this would be a perfect outlet.

Well at least this happened at 9 and not 11 pm. :)

whoopie, mom, and car washes

tuesday. today is tuesday. not wednesday. which makes tomorrow wednesday, not thursday. why so difficult for me to grasp today?

thankfully, it's tuesday and not wednesday. gives the illusion of more time than i thought i had. only not, because the only illusion is my head cannot keep the days of the week straight, this week.

project 6. hmph. love the idea of process. technical writing is my schtick so writing a process is not so scary for me. which process though. this project isn't going to be about setting up your email or using an ftp program to transfer files.

my three options, in no particular order (homage to dancing with the stars):

• making whoopie pies - i love whoopie pies and love making them for others to enjoy. they're also the first dessert i was paid to make for someone so they have a special place in my heart. the twist would be making the brochure in the shape of a whoopie pie with a big ole image on the front.
  
• washing your car - the joke is an old family story. step 1 - check the yellow pages...step X, drive to the car wash. step x + 1, pay the attendant.
  
• how to please your mom - appropriate for mother's day and it'd be completely sarcastic

i like all of them. would love to do the car washing thing but i'm not sure i can make 8 pages out of it.

from rough to comps

I've seen some other folks already writing about the current frenetic pace of the class and I wholeheartedly agree. It's hard for me to believe we're getting off easy this semester. OK, we have one less assignment but the schedule is strange. I would give back some of the time during spring break to make it less hectic now. And to think I thought our revisions for the ad campaign were due that Saturday after break.

Yeah, this assignment schedule seems helter-skelter.

I took a step back from the classification project. After trying to find some great photos of red velvet, red robes, and funky photos of playing cards, I remembered I plopped the design onto the page around 1:30 am the night before and I shouldn't be married to it. It was also causing me some content problems because I felt I needed to highlight the theme of cards, when it really has very little to do with the overall piece.

Enter Cate Blanchett in all her Elizabethan-glory and a new working title: screen-worthy queens. I'm not sold on the title but for now, the image and the new title is helping make the copy flow better.

Going to do some good ole fashioned paper and pencil revisions. My fluidity and creativity works better when I'm physically writing rather than typing.

Much more comfortable too and I can better focus on the writing. Otherwise, I have baseball scores and stats scrolling around on the screen or get sucked into facebook or an email... it's never good.

doggie bloggie

A friend sent a link to his friend's dog's blog. Read a few entries for some laughs but am disturbed by the count of his 'expressing.'

I signed up to dogster and the cat version a couple of years ago. Your pet can keep a journal/blog there but I hadn't thought about doing this on a grander, more public scale.

For now, I think I'll stick to hoping I capture some of his funnier moments on film. He certainly is a character. If he were to keep a blog, he'd have stories of his own to share. .. you might catch him writing something like...

Last night I was resting on the loveseat when my mom called me from the kitchen. It was one of those magical moments most dogs dream about but never get to experience. Being beckoned from the kitchen after you've been fed? Can it get any better?

In my excitement, I thought about jumping over the back of the loveseat instead of alighting in a manner required of dog of my pedigree. A cackle from my dad brought me back to my senses. But you better believe once my paws hit the ground, I was running into that kitchen. Life is so uncertain. You never know what can happen in a moment's notice.

To my utter surprise and absolute delight, there was a chunk of chicken on the floor. Normally I take offense to the command "clean it up." Really, what is that all about? Do I have Hoover or Dyson written on my name tag and no one told me? Last night was an exception. Clumsy Mom, God love her, dropped half a chicken breast on the floor. It was succulent. It was dressed with, get this, tomatoes, fresh thyme, and, now hold on fellas, real bacon.

Surely had I known there was real bacon, I would've risked bodily injury and jumped over the back of the loveseat. Earlier this week I had some leftover spinach. Not bad at all. OK, yes, it was cooked in bacon grease but I definitely got a full serving of veggies with this one.

Here's why I need to think more about veggies and less about bacon: None of my clothes fit me anymore!

what have i done?

this is my confessional. if i confess, perhaps my burden will be lifted.

i bought a temporary subscription to a clipart site. allow me to share the bad taste:

Flash project (edited from original post)

So I think I'm going way cheesy for the flash project. Using modified clip art, I'll do a story of a potato who's depressed because of all the low carb dieting these days. A steak walks by and says something nice to cheer him up. (Yes, it's perfectly normal for steaks and potatoes to be walking around a city.) The potato takes it the wrong way and becomes obsessed with the steak and starts stalking it. Steak gets fed up with the creepiness and decides to do away with the potato. Exactly how, I'm not sure yet. It'll be set to 'you're just too good to be true. can't take my eyes off of you...'

I think it'll work out and I want to keep the cheese level nice and high the whole time.

Vote on how you'd like to see the ending or post an alternate ending here.

Here's the beginning of my creative process:
After Saturday's class I was thinking quite a bit about Cap'n Crunch as the serial cereal killer. Googled the idea after my husband said "I think something about that's been done before." I didn't read of what I saw but it seems it's not a new concept so I dropped that idea. Then, remembering what Allison did for her project, I thought about telling this story about falling in a puddle in front of a porta-potty. Decided the humor of that story is in the telling of it and I don't want to do any voice recording. The next idea was the story of our clogged kitchen sink back in our old apartment. It became a story over the days it lasted. Two different friends from different circles said it would make a great, silent, B&W film. Eerie. Probably because I had this image of a rat flying atop a geyser of dirty sink water when the plumber sent a shock of forced air through the pipes. (So much yuck and stank came up whenever we tried to unclog it, that I was convinced there'd be dead rat parts floating up at some point.) Decided the story was too simple for 2 minutes but too difficult to capture with my limited illustrator skills.

It's just too much...

It's 12:15 am. I'm still writing copy. Haven't started the design yet. Read about half of the assigned readings.

It's just too much. I haven't futzed around this week. Did I spend every waking and non-working moment on homework? OK, no, but I came close.

I'm going to whine a bit here because, after all, what better thing to do when feeling the time crunch than to waste time whining about not having enough time?

Here's the thing. Reading, researching, writing, and designing all within 1 week is simply too much. Oh, and picking a suitable publication.

Sunday - read the reserved reading. Decided on my topics of queens and how I could tie it into today's world. Started looking for a good publication. Well, that's a big piece. If you don't read any that fit this topic, it can be difficult to find the right publication. But how can you know if your story fits in well with a publication you don't read? Not only topic wise but format? If I pick up Esquire for this month, how can I possibly know if it's normal for them to have a 2 spread story? Or maybe this is the month when it's all about men's spring fashions and normally they might have a story aimed at educating the mind...

Catch my drift? Why do we need a supporting publication? Why can't we say "i see this running in an entertainment magazine..."

I spent a couple of hours on Sunday reading through a catalog of magazines. Not that I'd necessarily be able to find one in real life if the summary sounded about right.

Monday I started my research. I can't imagine someone picking this topic without knowing a fair amount about sovereign history. Maybe I picked something too intricate.

Tuesday I read some of hale and some of S&W.

Wednesday I went magazine shopping. Finished S&W. Read through the 6 magazines I bought.

Thursday I stole time during the workday to buy more magazines. Picked back up on the writing I started on Sunday as I researched. Read through the two more magazines I had. Looked to see if I could find a PDF archive of ACCeSS DirecTV magazine. Nope.

Friday... I'm still writing and no design.

I am not so self-centered to think I'm the only one in this boat right now.

It's just too much. Give us more time for phase 2 or lighten up on the reading. Something.

To have something researched and well-developed enough to get crit within a week's time is not getting me at my best. With phase 3 being right around the corner, I never have time to truly criticize my own work and polish it. So it's like the whole time I'm just trying to polish a turd, and that's not my personal style.

Back to some dandy kings and be nice to me when you see my draft design!

Late out of the gate

I realize I'm posting this too late and that most of us go blog hunting on Friday night but I can always change my design if someone offers a great suggestion.

Having a hard time picking a publication for the classification assignment. I'm classifying queens.

Using an intro about scandal and recent releases about monarchs (The Other Boleyn Girl, The Tudors, Elizabeth, The Queen), I'm presenting 4 categories of queens. Mostly this focuses on 13th - 15th century. The categories are - discarded queens, queen of hearts, queens trump all, and kings who would be queens. Still need a catchy, card reference for that one.

So I need a publication where a story about scandal, history, and entertainment can cross. Despite quality time spent at B&N last night and even looking online at a magazine database, I'm sorta stuck. Well, I ended up the same place as I did Sunday and that was thinking my two best bets are Vanity Fair or Urbanite. Only Vanity Fair doesn't do 4-page articles; they have one pagers or 10 pagers. Urbanite tends to focus on Baltimore stories except for their one pagers where they review movies, books, etc.

Any ideas???

Sex takes 3 to 13 minutes

Love it when they come out with this stuff. One of my favorite parts is the bullet point "Researcher hopes to ease minds of those who think they "should last forever." Translates to we spent a lot of money to make men feel better about their sexual performance.

As evidenced by my previous post, my revisions for this week are finito! That's not to say I won't have another round to go with them. In the meantime, what can I tell you?

I went off in search for my school's alumni magazine. Oddly, they haven't yet caught up with me since moving in June. I wasn't searching to read it, I was curious how they handle their web presence. Do they PDF the magazine and plop it up as a link? My heart was warmed to see they don't. OK, that's not going to make me think twice about not giving money but still, I'm happy to see they don't make that mistake.

Happier still when I read the lead story, which mentioned someone I used to hang out with. Those were the days of devoting hours to a dark, basement dry bar--it wasn't always dry--listening to live jazz, pining over this trumpet player or that bass player, and pretending to do homework. The Hatch. What a place! I'd love to see what's become of it but I know I can never recapture it's impact on me.

From '90-94, if school was in session, you could almost always find us there on a Monday night, occupying a table filled with open notebooks and textbooks. "Us" was the three of us: Becky, Megan, and me. Our reasons for being there were not always innocent but we veiled it well by getting through our work for the night. Over 14 years later and the images are still clear in my head--the director snapping his fingers and the exact movement of his head, the tunes they played and the ones I'd put down my pen for, the ridiculous faces the sometimes-present guitar player made, and the feeling in my gut caused by certain trumpet notes.

A few years after I graduated I went to check out The Hatch. I had different friends with me and I didn't know people involved with the jazz band. (One does not know Jeff Holmes, one simply escapes his wrath.) My intention was not to recreate what once was, rather I wanted to share a meaningful experience with different friends. Only later did I appreciate that the original experience, though drawn out over four years, was made meaningful by those specific friends.

This revelation stunned me. During these evenings, we didn't talk much. It wasn't possible to talk easily over the sound of the band. You could talk during breaks but we usually hunkered down over our books then because, truthfully, it was almost impossible to read/write/calculate/memorize/comprehend with music that loud. I questioned what kept me coming back to this place, Monday after Monday for four years if it wasn't the music, the love of jazz, the lust of one musician or another. Why, then, would it matter who was at the table?

I never equated those evenings with friendship or relationship building. Had I, I probably wouldn't have been game for them since I stink at both. Eventually I realized the draw was one of the few things I truly cherish about friendship--that shared comfort which allows you to sit for hours and share few words, yet go home feeling as if you had a night out together. Those friendships don't come along every day and, sadly, they don't always stick.

You will probably never find the three of us together again and certainly not at The Hatch for the jazz band. Though two of us live less than 1 hour away we almost never make the time to get together. Our lives and priorities are so very different from each other that even when we do, it can be painfully awkward. The third friend, Megan, lives in Denve and married one of those guys from the band. Good for her! During school she had a big crush on him. About 7 years after we graduated, they were both living in Denver and eventually a romance--not a midnight booty call, mind you--began. An unfortunate series of circumstances led to us not being on talking terms.

Last year I drove through UMass on my way to Vermont to meet up with my husband and in-laws for a family vacation. The drive through brought back many memories. Some day I might have enough time to visit and walk to some of the memorable places. Like the hardscaped area outside the library where Megan once got me real good when she asked "Guess who asked me about you? Come on, just guess. You have to guess. No, you're never going to get it." Like a little kid being teased with a wrapped gift I peppered her with "who? WHO? WHO?!" The climax hilarious, but heartbreaking, "Nobody, cuz you're a loser!" (I used that one for months on everyone I knew, hoping they hadn't heard it yet.)

I spent 10 years of my life in that area, most of it as a student or employee of UMass. I'd love to move back some day but struggle with the idea. Though I hesitate to quantify my reappearance at The Hatch, I wonder if moving back would uncover similar sentiments.

How much of our experience is shaped by the people we share it with? Are the people the experience and the remaining superfluous? If relationships are the experience, where does it leave someone like me: a self-admitted relationship failure?

Campaign, take 2

The personal crit from Alison and Stephanie went OK but I missed the class feedback. Alison liked my wavy lines. Relief. Stephanie, not so much but, Alison's the design person, right? (No offense, Stephanie.)

I changed some things up. New image for the postcard. Yay, I have my diversity back. Moved the black eye girl to the poster, since she's the more impactful image. Changed the copy quite a bit. Went with a story telling approach. Kept my curvy lines and treated all images the same with the curves.

Enough talking (I should be working anyway). Here are the new pieces.

By the way, I've decided I don't like Blogger's interface for images. It's nice you can put the images here for free and not host them elsewhere, but the html is horrendously ugly.

Punchy

The newscaster just said, "Someone's targeting moving cars with unsuspecting motorists."

I sure hope so! A lot of people should target cars if being driven by unsuspecting motorists. What's the crime in that?

This reminds me of a hilarious "stupid" video.

My shows are back!

And my grades will show it! ;)

LIVE...it's Dancing With the Stars and Top Chef Chicago.

I used to record DWTS and watch a bunch in a row because I can't stand the wait from week to week. That stopped when people I liked started getting kicked off. My votes do count, darn it.

Top Chef takes mercy on me and kicks someone off at the end of each show. And I love the head judge, Tom Colicchio. You could serve him up with a side of anything, any day of the week...

Speaking of spicy numbers, what's up with Maxim (not that I read it), naming Sarah Jessica Parker the unsexiest woman? Another inexplicable honoree on that list is Sandra Oh. The list was rounded out by Amy Winehouse, Madonna, and Britney. From the inception of Maxim, I've always been a skeptic, thinking it was one thread shy of being an actual porn magazine. Now I know they're morons also.

As my husband said, "Right, find me an average guy who would not want to sleep with those women if given the chance."

Good or bad, here are my comps for proj3. Glad they're done but not happy with how they look.

Finding the right photos was difficult and my basic skills with PhotoShop don't allow me much flexibility. Saturday and Sunday I made an awful decision and wasted massive time and paid for it the rest of the week. Benetton produced an ad for domestic violence with a bruised woman wearing a purple shawl. It was perfect---shawl shape was the same as the ribbon. Couldn't use that same photo though, right? Decided I'd put the head of another woman on the photo. Difficult because the hair of the original model was long and cascaded onto her torso. Had to edit the torso out and make a shirt. Ugh. You can imagine how all of this went badly and wasted huge amounts of time. I didn't step back and say 'this is too time consuming, think of something else.'

Made another similar mistake with taking a photo of a woman with sleep bags under her eyes and accentuating them to appear as black eyes. Neither of these photos made it into these pieces. In fact, the postcard girl was a last minute decision yesterday. I'd found her earlier in the week but kept her on the back burner. But by picking her, I lost some of my ethnic diversity.

The only thing I really like about the photos is I wanted to go for a progressive emotion to parallel the stages represented by the headlines. Silence = bruised and head down. Words = improvement. Empowers = confronting the camera.

Haven't even fussed about my design elements! I had a very basic, straight layout. Wasn't happy, but the intended audience is a workplace so they need to have a professional look. Had something going Wednesday night but got off track and ended up with a bad execution of ribbons running through the design.

Grabbed an Urbanite for inspiration. Saw an ad for Hamden. Top was solid color interrupted by another solid color--the shape of a straight bullhorn--and bottom was solid color. All straight lines. Got me to the curvy, softer look you see here. Rough going and I don't love it.

Lessons learned: if something is taking a long time, reassess it's worth; don't spend too much time trying to find the perfect image--if you can't find it within an hour, it doesn't exist; don't leave your laptop security key with your husband.

More stock photos

The other week in class, I wanted to offer my stock photo find but couldn't remember the name. 123RF has become my friend when istock doesn't have what I need. Some of the other places--shutterstock is the only one coming to mind right now--have overlap with istock. Haven't run into that as much with 123rf.

• Their smallest credit package is $15 for 15 credits. You get more credits for your dollar if you buy more at a time.
• From what I've seen, the photos are consistently 'priced' with credits. All print quality photos cost 2 credits. I think istock charges more for certain photos.
• Also has lightboxes, zooms photos on the thumbnail screen, and allows you to add a photo to your lightbox from the thumbnail screen. Nice if you want to flick through a bunch quickly and later come back to study a smaller group of photos.

Another option if people are looking for something different.

hot off the presses...

Copy for Proj 3 - Campaign

Silence Hurts.
Imagine someone telling you a co-worker was murdered last night by her boyfriend. Now imagine you suspected she was being abused but, unsure of what to do, you said nothing. No one is saying it would be an easy conversation, but it could be a life-saving one.

Small changes made by every day people can have a big impact for victims of domestic violence. Make it your business to end abuse by creating a supportive environment, where victims will be comfortable to open up and reach out for help.


Words Heal.
A little kindness goes a long way, especially for someone treated like dirt by the one who supposedly loves her. When domestic violence victims go to work, so do their scars left by the physical and emotional abuse. Expressing your concern for a co-worker’s well being may be all she needs to start believing in a better future.

Small changes made by every day people can have a big impact for victims of domestic violence. Make it your business to end abuse by creating a supportive environment, where victims will be comfortable to open up and reach out for help.


Support Empowers.
No one is asking you to stop a fist in midair, take a bullet, or knock a knife out of his hand. Yet the support you offer a co-worker suffering domestic violence could have the same effect.

Support starts with awareness of a problem and this problem touches everyone. In one year, Maryland recorded over 22,000 domestic violence crimes with an estimated 5500 going undocumented. When one of these victims goes to work, so does her physical and emotional scars. Maybe she’s sleep deprived after spending the night awake, worrying if this set of bruises will be covered by makeup. Throughout the work day, her abuser could still make his presence known through harassing phone calls or emails. A powerful reminder that even from a distance, he can keep her down. Towards the end of the day, she may be consumed by fear about going home. Meanwhile, she still has a job to do while she’s at work.

What support can you offer a co-worker suffering this degradation? Become familiar with signs of a victim or an abuser. Learn about resources available for a victim. Understand policies about domestic violence and the workplace. All of these are simple steps everyone can take to end abuse.

Small changes made by every day people can have a big impact. Make it your business to end abuse by creating a supportive environment, where victims will be comfortable to open up and reach out for help.

Call To Action:
Make It Your Business to End Abuse
Domestic Violence and the Workplace
What can you do to help? Visit www.ubalt.edu/endabuse

Potty?

fun yet freaky series of these little people. i love the feet positions.

this is from koun on istock.

Do you miss me?

My office moved across the street from Brewer's Art back in January. Since then I've been once. That singular visit ended with a singular beer.

I wonder if the taps miss me as much as I miss them?

All alone?

Gee, no one's kickin it with me in the graphics labs?

;)

Rougher writing week

Stephanie sent her comments to me for the profile draft. This assignment was more difficult for me and, again, the tension about the assignment ended up on the page. More specifically, I need focus.

There is much I want to say about the subject. The small group crit helped me realize I was unfocused. I thought I tightened it up but it's still ...meh.

Time to edit again. Might be time for me to wipe the slate clean. Identify my story and start from there, as opposed to starting from the draft.

A funny thing happened on my way to putting my copy into my design. My copy had subjeadings. I took them out in the design. In her comments about my (original) copy, Stephanie said 'nice job on the subheadings.' Ooops. : )

Much better Friday night.

Don't know about the rest of yas (hee hee), but this Friday night has been better than last. Were you thrown for a loop last week by having 2 weeks? Felt like we had all the time in the world to get the stuff together.

It's official: my home printer has gone belly up! Argh.

Enjoying the Lanham (?) readings. It's one thing to read about mistakes as in Hale. I like the example of the paramedic method for revising.

Loved the LARD FACTOR formula. My husband does not understand why I laughed at the formula.

Friday night challenges

Wow. I stink at cutting mat board!

Seriously, 250 words?

My writing is wordy. I know this about myself and am content to live my life this way. Telling a friend's story in less than 250 words is way restrictive!

I'm not trained as a writer or a designer and, to some extent, feel a bit out of my element. Yet writing has played a large part of my professional career. The more I challenge myself, the better I get. But a part of my personality is being an "informer." (No, not informant.) When I tell a story, I want my listener's experience to as close as possible to mine. This means giving context.

This latest assignment is challenging for the informer in me. In fact, it's turning out very different from my initial vision.

I'll accept this as another path towards improvement. In all honesty, telling someone's significant story in 250 words does not do the story justice.

"Done"

Well, one part of proj1 is finished. For now. Just sent my content to Stephanie. The content underwent major edits after the draft posted below. Upon closer review, I noticed my angst of contrasting two oranges came out in the tone and style. The navel orange piece was light-hearted and playful. By contrast (ha!), the blood orange piece sounded more serious and, well, unfun.

Did anyone else find it difficult to limit your content to under 200 words? After researching both oranges I wanted to share all the tidbits.

For the 'seeing' part of the assignment, I was surprised it was difficult to find decent photos of navel oranges. In the end, I'm happy that all of the photos I used and the color palette used by the store, all go very nicely together. Ended up using a gourmet store called Balducci's. Their logo works better with the type of design I had in mind.

Looking forward to seeing everyone else's finished product this Saturday.

Overheard in My House

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/ is the site I mentioned in class. Some hilarious reading on there. It's not all G-rated. Wait, almost none of it is g-rated!

Who needs to go to New York to overhear something funny? My mom was visiting yesterday. This is part of her quote:

Mom: I'm game! I LOVE sausages!

WWF Smackdown - Navel vs. Blood

We ran out of time during our small group review. I'm posting my content drafts here. Please feel free to comment on them. Thanks for any suggestions you can provide!

I chose to compare/contrast the navel orange with/to the blood orange. My originals weighed in around 230 words so I reworked them a bit. Without the consumer info at the bottom, they're around 195.

Washington Navel Orange
Why does this orange have a belly button? After peeling one of these sweet, seedless oranges, have you sat staring at the mini-segments wondering, “Am I supposed to eat them?”

The unique appearance stems from an underdeveloped conjoined twin, a mutation existing since the mid-1800s. The mutation does not outshine the simple truth about this fruit: cold or room temperature, sliced or peeled, solo or paired with chocolate yogurt, this peel-and-eat, travels-well fruit is the best orange to eat fresh.

Navel oranges aren’t the only in the orange family whose name calls to mind the human body. Another orange from the sweet orange variety is the blood orange, so named for its blood-red flesh. With the same peel and eat allure, the blood orange is known for its sweet taste. Some people may pause at the names, then the appearance, but all would do well to grab either for a refreshing, citrus taste packed with Vitamin C.

With a similar growing season (late fall through early spring), the navel and blood oranges are interchangeable in recipes calling for orange rind, flesh, or slices for garnishes. Experiment with throwing a medley of both in a salad with vinaigrette.

How to Select: As with other oranges, a good navel orange should feel heavy for its size. The rind should be shiny. Avoid oranges that feel puffy.
Price: $1/each
Health Benefits: Vitamin C


Blood Orange
As one of the most popular table fruits in Italy, the blood orange has a sweet, deep orange flavor with hints of raspberry.

A member of the sweet orange family, the red flesh sets the blood orange apart from other oranges, in more than one way. Oranges are known for their vitamin c content and a navel orange is a quick way to get your daily dose. If it’s antioxidants you want and the highest vitamin c content or all oranges, put down the navel and pick up the blood orange.

The combination of the sweet and colorful flesh makes for a more versatile ingredient in recipes. While the navel is restricted to garnishes, zesting, and flavorful accompaniments, the blood orange is out adding visual appeal and stronger flavors to a wider variety of dishes and drinks. Unlike the navel orange’s juice, which must be used quickly before it turns bitter, juice from a blood orange can be used in cocktails or enjoyed alone. Go for a new taste experience by adding it to chutneys or on roasted meats. Find simple ways to enhance the visual appeal of salads and drinks. Let its taste and color inspire you. Enjoy it as a stand-alone snack for a more interesting flavor profile than the common navel orange.

How to Select: As with other oranges, a good navel orange should feel heavy for its size. The rind should be shiny. Avoid oranges that feel puffy.
Price: $1.69/each
Health Benefits: Antioxidants, Vitamin C

This makes me want to say "Ceci n'est pas une pipe."
This is not a blood orange. This is a picture of a blood orange.

Which one of these is not like the other?

Was that one of the games in "Highlights?"

As I do research on navel (also known as Washington Navel and Bahia) and blood oranges, my mind is wandering into the world of compare and contrast. Not too far in to Proj 1 and I have myself playing a mind game.

How can you compare without contrasting? If I write "the flesh of a navel orange is in segments, just as a blood orange," is it not natural to start wondering what makes them different? If you write only about the similarities of two items, does your reader yearn to know why they are different?

It will all be straightened out as I draft my fruit cards. For tonight, I'll stop my research with this thought: if by comparing two items you silently lead someone to want to know the contrasts, can you ever compare without any contrast?

what's exotic?

So one definition for coconut suggests it's a fruit:

The fruit of the coconut palm, consisting of a fibrous husk surrounding a large seed.

Wondering if coconut is exotic enough? One of my favorite dishes is sticky rice with coconut milk and bananas. Great combination.