Archive for the ‘My Life’ Category

The kind folks at the Art Institute of CA-San Diego have shined the spotlight on my web development company, EXAMP. In addition to posting our interviews and photo on the school’s Alumni Wall of Fame, they also placed our story in the nationally syndicated alumni newsletter. Nic and I are very thankful for this honor and we’re also excited to be the first “double feature” that the school has posted. This may not be my first time on the wall (I was also featured while working at PINT in 2007), but it certainly means a lot more to me since it is my company name and logo on that wall. Special thanks to Adrienne and the rest of the wonderful staff at the Art Institute.

In case you are interested, the interview text is below.

1. Why did you choose to study at The Art Institute of California – San Diego?
   I chose AiCA-SD because I knew I wanted to do something in the creative industry, and none of the traditional universities I checked out had any classes to fit that ambition. To be specific, I wanted to learn Flash and Actionscript. As classes progressed, I found myself more interested in HTML, CSS and JavaScript. The dynamic course work and small student to faculty ratio proved to be invaluable in my understanding and interest in a given topic.
2. How did you decide to start the company together?
   We saw great potential in one another, as well as the possibilities afforded by combining two skill sets into one service. With his exceptional eye for design and experience in designing for highly-trafficked sites, I knew he would be a great fit as the company’s Creative Director.
3. What are the advantages of having your own business?
   There are so many advantages to having your own business. I am available at almost all times, which is convenient when dealing with both clients that have a full-time job and clients that are wholly-committed to the current project. Another advantage is being able to name my own price. We have been fortunate so far in that we have not needed to do any advertising or promotion, so we have not really needed to sacrifice much as a means to gain new business. Our biggest advantage has got to be in our ability to pick and choose the clients with whom we want to do business. If we do not think it will be a good fit, then we try to refer them to someone who may be better able to help, or we can simply choose to just say “no thanks”.
4. What are some challenges of running your own business?
   We face several challenges running our own business. The first challenge was putting the business together, which will are still doing and will always continue to do. Luckily The Art Institute required both Nic and I to take a Professional Practice course, which helped us tremendously in discovering what we were trying to do and how to express that to potential customers. Another difficult challenge is in creating a positive client experience and maintaining that experience for the project’s lifecycle. We also try to do everything under the guise of “best practices”, so that means we can’t cut corners or hack something together. We need to deliver quality on time, every time – and that’s not always easy.
5. What are some of the primary design/software tools you use?
   I primarily use Adobe software to get the job done. Designs are cutup using a combination of Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and FireFox (enhanced with a collection of useful plugins like Firebug, YSlow, and ColorZilla). We use the Yahoo! User Interface Library (YUI) for any JavaScript widgets that we don’t code in-house. We use Invoice Machine for our project tracking/invoicing, and we use Google Voice for our business telephone.
6. What part of your education provided you the most help with starting your company?
   The Professional Practice course with Sarram, E-commerce Site Design with Secor, and Portfolio I/II with Sandsmark were all crucial to us in developing the materials and portfolio we would need to impress clients and look professional. The project-based nature of each class was essential to us in coming out “guns blazing”, which I believe has undoubtedly contributed to our early success. I see a lot of my friends leaving traditional universities with no idea what they want to do and nothing but grades and a degree to show potential employers.
7. Who was your favorite professor/instructor and why?
   Every WDIM faculty member influenced me in some positive way. Sarram really helped polish my professional abilities. Sandsmark was a breath of fresh air and always got me thinking in new, creative ways. The others were all great too but Kris Secor was my favorite instructor because of his dynamic teaching style. He was very flexible with the course work, and made sure every student was able to take something worthwhile from each class. I always looked forward to his classes and I always learned something new. I also heard he loves to code in PERL, which is impressive.
8. What advice would you give to current students who are looking to be successful in their industry?
   Get out into the field as early as possible. The school can teach you whatever you want to learn, but only you can decide what you truly enjoy doing. Experience is the best way to figure that out. If you are lucky enough to discover what you enjoy early on, then become an expert at that because people want experts. A jack of all traits may bring a little bit of everything to the table, but he also brings a whole lot of nothing.

I experienced a powerful dream last night. Everything started out normal in this dream, which is unusual in itself. Some friends and I were walking up a hill towards my car, but we were having trouble finding it. I had just come from school or something, so I had a few bags with me. The bags contained things that I did not want to give up: keys, documents, clothes, some beers and my phone. In addition to my overly-stuffed luggage, there was something strange about the hill we were climbing up. The hill was steep, so steep in fact that the sidewalks were wrapped with cars that had all rolled into each other single file, like shopping carts.

I walked in front of the group, the first to discover just how steep this hill was turning out to be. Before long, the bags I was carrying began to weigh me down, but I was not about to let go of the things that were so dear to me. My car keys were in the bag and we definitely needed those to get out of that place, if we ever could find my car. Each step up the hill became increasingly difficult. The incline was almost vertical. I was using my hands now to grapple myself up the slope, inch by inch. The load was unbearable. My arms were weakened from the bags hanging from each hand, and it was too late to try to lighten the load. I just hoped that it would even out soon, and told myself over and over again that we would reach the top any second. The incline just got worse, and my arms began to lose feeling.

Then I let go. I didn’t want to, but it was just too much weight for me to take. That was when the miraculous occurred. I did not fall, nor descend even an inch. I felt a pressure under my feet, a push from friends and family who were now driving me upward. I felt like the angels had lifted me. With them behind me, I found a new hope and resumed my crawl towards the hilltop.

With my friends and family pushing the bottom of my feet upward, I reached the top and immediately rolled over onto my back. I had never been so exhausted in my life. I ripped off the jacket and jeans I was wearing, and for the first time enjoyed a cool breeze and some rest for my tired arms and legs. I had conquered the myth of Sisphyus, and the feeling of relief was overwhelming.

Then I woke up, soaked with sweat. Time to climb the hill all over again.

Attention iPhone users, Apple will be unveiling their new OS3.0 tomorrow, so be sure to check it out!

http://apple.com/iPhone

1. Fitted button-up dress shirts (16.5 34/35)
   
2. Dress Shoes (10.5)
3. Steve Madden Driving Mocs
4. PS3
5. Starcraft II (Will this freaking come out already?)
6. iphone radio adapter

Saw this on flickr and thought it was hilarious. Then I thought it was depressing. Now I don’t know what the heck to think. It’s dark humor, right?

In This Economy
If I hear the phrase in this economy anywhere in a sentence one more time I am going ballistic.

An Historic
It’s a historic people, look it up! I had never even heard this phrase before election weekend and now everyone wants to keep saying it.

I was recently considering canceling my Netflix account as I have noticed a decrease in return time and lack of good movies to watch instantly. I love watching a movie right before bed on my 22″ Samsung monitor, but lately I’ve been noticing that there just isn’t anything to watch except documentaries and lame TV series’. The delay in movie return time (supposed to be 1 day first class, but it’s repeatedly taken 2-3 days for a few months) probably isn’t their fault anyway – it’s probably USPS that is dropping the ball on that one. I found out today that Netflix has now partnered with Starz Entertainment, bringing a whole new set of quality movies into the ‘Watch Instantly’ realm.

Not only does this deal add another 2,500 or so movies to Netflix’s existing streaming library of roughly 12,000 films and TV shows, but it also adds some sorely-need, recent A-list titles, such as No Country for Old Men, Superbad, and Spiderman 3. Most of the movies are older titles and classics, but they represent a noticeable step up from the rather non-Hollywood-based titles that have been the main fodder on Netflix’s Watch Instantly feature until now.

Read the full article ».

I guess I’ll stick around for another month and see what happens. Vietnam war flicks, here I come!

We had a blast skating at a local middle school today. We brought out a rail and even busted some roof gaps. Pictures are below.