October 2006 Archives

We're batting .500 in our marriage when it comes to remembering daylight savings (or the return from it). This year was one of those that we forgot. As I look back at the timing of things, Maria was up at 5(6) something, I got up at 6(7) something, all so we could leave the house to be somewhere at 8:00(9:00). I made the comment, “Not too many people out today.” That was the point that I thought to myself… “Wasn't daylight savings time going to end here pretty soon? Was that today? I should get out my cell phone and check the time.” and Maria said, “Ohhhhhhhh, dangit!” We drove around for the next hour, not wanting to be early, and not wanting to go home (otherwise we would have just wanted to go to bed). To celebrate the change, we did the whole day (as close as we could) to the previous time, and just acted like Daylight Savings Time ended on Monday. It was nice to get an extra hour of sleep… albeit a day late. Those chumps in Arizona & Hawaii don't know what they're missing… until spring shows up. Grrrr…

Twice in the past week have I visited a fast food "restaurant". The workers I fully respect. For the most part they do a job I'm not willing to do for equal wages (I'll let you know when I think of the exception to that). I come to relate a story from those two instances, both showing why I might have issues in working with individuals of an equal level of competency.

Don't let one experience define your life. Nothing should be able to narrow your frame of reference so much that everything else you experience must be compared to that one thing.

• "Oh, well… when I worked at (whatever company) we used to…"
• "Well in (some country) the people there do…"
• "This is nothin' compared to when I (some extreme sport), because…"
• And so on…

The only way that one experience, or a set of experiences becomes the apex of your existence is that you continue to focus on your past as you move forward.

The Longbored Surfer redesign is slowly progressing in my mind. I'm really taking a lot of time to look at various sources of inspiration. Among them:

• I saw/bought some postcards while in Hawaii that had some great colors, and I liked their vintage look. I'll be curious as to how this fits in with the next bullet.
• Some of the artwork for The Incredibles is perfect, and even do-able by me. I'm not really gifted when it comes to drawing, but their approach at using geometry for art was slick. They used lots of basic geometric figures, overlapped (with varying opacity) to show shapes, figures, scenery, and people.
• I was going through some old art prints I had saved for various reasons, and found more colors and thematic elements I liked.
• The whole surfing theme in general is great. I've spent a lot of time looking at surf boards, since they're designed wonderfully, and have the ocean theme already built in. I'm not sure of the degree to which I should try to incorporate their shape into the site at various places.
• Lots of money is already spent on design for surfing, so maybe I'll stop by some websites for those type of companies, and look at some of their products for a bit more inspiration.
• A slight problem I might encounter is in deciding whether to follow a surfing theme in general, or branch out to the islands overall. If that's the case, is it just Hawaii, or do I go for Polynesia in general? I saw some indigenous art I really liked from New Zealand (Aotearoa/Moari art).

There seems to be various surfing themes. When I think of surfing, I think of the beach as well as the ocean towns/cities. You've got the peers, and the fishing/festivities there. You've got the "great" shopping, and the fashion-oriented people. Of all the things I can think of though, I enjoy the laid-back attitude that comes with the surfer people, and the ones who enjoy the ocean for what it is. The camaraderie of the people seems to be palpable as is their respect for and love of the ocean, waves, and nature.

My fear or problem with the redesign is trying to get computers/the internet to work in with an ocean/surfing theme. I'm really trying to stay clear of the Web 2.0 look/feel, but I don't want anything super complicated. Realizing more and more that I'm not a great designer, I don't want to try to make this site a design masterpiece. It will have spectacular code behind it, but it doesn't have to be visually ground-breaking. I like the cleanliness of many blogs out there, but I still want mine to be different enough to keep the attention of a visitor. During the redesign I'll stick to one theme (instead of the three I currently have), and make sure I add/create a printable css to go along with the screen theme. That way, whenever somebody decides to print, it'll automatically format itself correctly and cut out the extra stuff.

With all of these thoughts in my head I suppose it'll just be . I'll put together a few different ideas/themes in Fireworks and see if they strike my fancy. Wish me luck.

When you fit into an old pair of pants that used to be too small, then find $30 in the back pocket. Rockin'!

An article at Rands in Repose called Trickle Theory was very well written. Recently I had been thinking about something similar and thought the article was well worth the read. With that train of thought, I've been making efforts to tie up loose ends all over the place. This is all unrelated to an email I received from my mother about finding inner peace:

Dr. Phil proclaimed:

"The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you've started and never finished." So, I looked around my house to see all the things I started and hadn't finished, and before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of White Zinfandel, a bottle of Bailey's Irish Cream, a bottle of Kahlua, a package of Oreos, the remainder of my old Prozac prescription, the rest of the cheesecake, some Doritos, and a box of chocolates.

You have no idea how freaking good I feel!

It could be something petty but nagging, or it could be a years-old problem that you've chosen to ignore. For me, it's always most difficult to start. For me, it goes back to physics in the comparison between static vs. kinetic friction. It's tougher to start than it is to keep it going. It's not necessarily easy to do, but after you get over that initial hump, it's smooth sailing.

Recently I went to the circus. Sure, Cecilia had a great time, but that's not the point here. I wish to address the origin of the acts. Similar to my previous discussion about Snakes on a Plane, I can only imagine that some of the circus acts were created in the same way.