Tag Archive for 'Design'

So, hows school, Mike?

Published by -MiKe- on October 27, 2007 in College. 1 Comment

Wow, I am so glad you asked.

It’s hot and cold actually.

In one corner you have Intro to Algebra, which is a crap course. As a matter of fact, its SU’s fault I’m even in a math course (mine for what I chose…). Basically, NESCom needed me to get another Math credit, and I wasn’t about putting a whole lot of effort into something I didn’t really need to, plus, it fit with my schedule…

In the world of bad choices… Yeah. For those of you out there looking to head into college in the relatively near future, don’t simply pick easy courses. They lead you down the wonderful roads of self-mutilation, and earnest quests towards suicide…

Then you’ve got Copywriting, which, unlike Copyrighting, has a “W” in it, and falls in the “writing intensive” category.

Actually, for all its faults, it’s actually a great class (when I decide to write). Much better than Marketing, which falls dead betwixt the two (primarily the fault of the teacher IMHO). The class I can put hours into, and fail in comparison to those who bullshit moments before class…

So you have got those three on one side, with and Graphic Design I, Web Design I, and Scene Study one the other end, doing all they can to maintain the very foundation of my sanity. Continue reading ‘So, hows school, Mike?’

And we’re back.

Published by -MiKe- on April 20, 2007 in Personal. 1 Comment

So, looks like summer decided to get off its fat ass and show up…

The first shot is from two weeks ago, but really, it looked the same up until last Friday. There was snow on the ground until just a few days ago…

Husson a few weeks ago...

And this one is of the exact same branch, at the same angle at the same focal length… This afternoon… It was like 70+ degrees out… Well, actually, I guess I was a little closer in the second shot, but whatever…

Oh what a beautiful day...

It is about damn time…

I have a SHIT ton of work to do this weekend. I have a business plan to write up by 5 this afternoon… Did you catch that? :-( I have a video to finish by April 10th… I have a video to shoot by next Tuesday. I have a research paper to write by Monday. I have commercial product shots to shoot by Tuesday. I have two sites to design by Monday. I am shooting the hypnotist this evening, and I need to set up at 8:30. And to top it ALLLLLL off, it is Jen and I’s 6 month. Well, it was the 16th, but we agreed to celebrate this weekend…

Wow… It seems like an awfull lot of work when I writ it out like that… Gah…

Tims are no good for rain…

Published by -MiKe- on April 16, 2007 in College. 1 Comment

If you know me, you’ll probably know I have a nice pair of red suede Timberlands that I just adore. You’d know this because I wear them alot, and they kind of look like a set of clown shoes…

Well, come to find, although such things are marketed by Timberland as “boots” they actually serve no such functionality at all. And when faced with even a mild shower, such as the one we are receiving today, they like to let your feet get in on the fun too.

Gah! Some weather. At least what we are getting now is more in tune with the whole “April showers bring May flowers” thing. Its just a bit cooler, and comes accompanied with a dash or two of snow…

So, I’m in Digital Imaging for the Web I right now… Some kind of crap class…

Shady Acres - full

Shady Acres - skyscraperShady Acres - squareOur last project was to design six animated gifs, and now we have to design two splash pages and three content pages for our final project. Our final project is to pick one of each and make a “functional” web page. I quote functional because I suppose its up for interpretation. If your idea of “functional” is a page that meets minimum design requirements for 1998, then your set to sit in this class…

Shady Acres - half

The pages we are to create are essentially just sliced up Photoshop documents, exported to HTML. Which is hokey-poky, HTML 1.0, table crap. And the kids in my class act like it’s the end of the world…

My company (fictional, and if there is any likeness to ANY site on the net, it’s an act of God) is Shady Acres, Assisted Living for old People. These flashy things are my animated gifs… Hope you have a seizure…

I already threw together the design I am going to use for my final project. You can find that here. As for my splash page, give me a minute… I am sure it won’t be hard…

I’m going to throw a few “templates” together in the next few moments, wish me luck… ;-)

Embedding Music in your Blog…

Published by -MiKe- on April 7, 2007 in Blogging and Design. 5 Comments

You may have noticed -no steam shovel- has a bit of a sound-track now. Not just that same damn song, over and over. Some variety…

It took some time, but my quest for embedded blog music has come to an end with FineTune. Check the MORE link for more on the topic, and why I chose them over the competition…

For a good long while I have been looking in to embedded music for blogs to no real avail… I found a good number of embedded solutions, but none seemed to work the way I wanted them to.

Below you will find a few of our options, not really in any order, as well as a description and the pros and cons of each. As you may know, I hate paying for things, so all of these are free, and most importantly, legal. I believe I am about done adding content to this, so there shouldn’t be any more updates unless anyone has anything I should add to the subject.

In this post I will take a look at divShare, FineTune, last.fm, Radio.Blog.Club, Music Video Base, Sonific, the Streampad Widget and the Traditional Embed method for adding music to your blog…

[Note: Now updated with iMeem!]

Continue reading ‘Embedding Music in your Blog…’

A Thought on Raising the Dead…

Published by -MiKe- on April 5, 2007 in Blogging, College and Design. 1 Comment

Is there a particular method to coming back from the dead? I like to think not. First, it’s a fantastical occurrence (doesn’t happen… often…), and thing like that don’t really have methods. And second, when I wake up from a bad dream, as I would venture to assume death seams, I sit square up in my bed ready for action… I don’t just lay there in a lazy stupor, like I do most mornings…

This in mind, I suppose running right back in to blogging after over a months hiatus is similar to hastily frying up some eggs at 2am after waking with a start from a truly terrifying dream… Or something like that…

I’m game… I’m back from the dead… I just want readers.

In a similar vein, it seems as though winter has risen from the ashes as well. I woke this morning to find just about a foot of snow covering everything. Not something I like to see five days in to April, or in April at all for that matter. What the hell is going on? And I hear rumors of more on the way… Not a happy camper.

So I took pictures… :-D

Isn't it Supposed to be SPRING!?

2007-04-05 at 10-11-36.jpg2007-04-05 at 10-13-14.jpg2007-04-05 at 10-41-18.jpg2007-04-05 at 10-41-36.jpg2007-04-05 at 10-43-08.jpg2007-04-05 at 10-47-16.jpg2007-04-05 at 13-51-46.jpg

Meg AllisonSteve ByrneOn another note, more of my posters got approved during the Student Government Social Committee meeting this afternoon. Now Pam has no excuse to not use them.

Also, come to find out, she doesn’t really like anybody, and nobody really likes her.

Glad to hear I’m not the only one…

It had to snow…

Published by -MiKe- on April 3, 2007 in Personal. 0 Comments

It’s freakin’ APRIL! Gah… It’s been nearly shorts-weather for the past week, few weeks, and now its just as white outside as February… Ew… It’s not even cold enough! It’s still kind of warm out…

Whatever.

I feel I owe you, dear reader, an apology.

It seems my “update” yesterday was more of a rant than an honest, all encompassing, update. And I am sorry…

Sure, some bad stuff has gone down, but things have been on the up ‘n up too. And here’s where I get to boast…

Continue reading ‘It had to snow…’

Getting ready… Already sick of it all.

Published by -MiKe- on January 24, 2007 in Personal and Work. 0 Comments

So I am finishing up packing… Heading to Vegas momentarily, but I need to vent real quick, you know, assuming I’m not being censored or anything…

Really, as excited as I am to be going to Vegas over this next week and shooting Miss America, and as much fun as I know I am going to have (well, pretty sure at least), I’m just about ready for it to be over already… I mean really, just how excited can one be to spend the week with chaps that wholly feel that:

“So stay tuned, if you know whats good for you. In the same fashion as last year, I will be posting nearly every step of the way, so expect something up at around 6pm tomorrow evening…”

(offending material)

needs be censored? Thats not my kind of crowd… Sorry…

I know, I know. Its a stupid little thing, but I assure you, its just the beginning. There’s going to be a whole SLEW of nitpicky things that one unnamed soul with stop at no ends to point out and command be rectified.

I honestly believe that, in todays society, all of this uptightedness is just one big misunderstanding. I can’t imagine that people honestly are as anal retentive as they think everybody else thinks they ought to be and are because of it. I mean, how can a person function like that?

Whatever, I’m going, and I am going to have a great time of it, and thats that. I’ll be blogging about it both here, and at the Miss Maine website. Also, photos will be up at some point, but I shall not disclose their location… yet. Check back later for such juicy details.

Peace!

AH-HA! I won!

Published by -MiKe- on January 22, 2007 in Blogging. 0 Comments

So, one bit of fallout of getting the new MacBook Pro is that I am actually organizing my life a bit with iCal. I did this back at Susquehanna University, and it seemed to help, so I am trying it. I don’t suppose you could call this a bad thing in and of its self, but I (and your going to get lost here) just got this new plug-in for Apple Aperture, and the author’s site got me back into thinking about customizing my blog a bit.

Confused yet?

So I set out to set up Event Calendar 3 (a plug-in for WordPress), and that is where the trouble began.

Long story short, Event Calendar 3 and K2 (the template I am using) do not get along, and practically destroyed my WordPress install. But I prevailed, and with a little wizardry, I got thing working again.

This is all, goodnight.

Jen’s Midterms

Published by -MiKe- on November 9, 2006 in College. 0 Comments

So yeah, Jen’s midterms just came in. She’s kicking my ass right now…

Course Name Mid-Term Exam Mid-Term Grade
Speech A+ A
College Algebra A+ A
General Psychology A+ A
Chemistry I B B
Chemistry Lab I n/a A-

I suppose its my own fault. Skipping classes, handing in late papers… I mean, Jen skips some too, but she gets her work in on time. But then again… I wouldn’t be a guy if I didn’t. Its part of my charm. ;-)

So Jen’s birthday is this weekend. As of Saturday night Jen will be one year closer to not quite 21. Then, Sunday morning, just a year out… HA!!! Still not 21!

I kid… I’m really crying inside…

So, for her birthday I am getting her one, and only one presant. I’m going to fix her laptop. Shhhhh, don’t tell…. ;-)

No no no. I’m going to get something, something good too… I just… Don’t know yet… :-/ Well, I do. I have a list, and I will be checking it twice on Friday, while she’s out with the gurlz.

WTF!? What IS a “Girls Night?!” All I know is I’m not involved… Which is a good change from previous relationships, where “Girls Nights” were virtually non-existent… Gets the woman out of my hair for a night… I’m kidding. She’s even offered to stay a night out of my hair before… Actually, I take quite a bit of flack from Caleb for not taking her up on the offer. But if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. :-D

Jen just got elected to take over the Husson Writing Center website. Did I ever tell you she’s perfect?

Other news. Tomorrow night Caleb, Danny Boy, and Myself will be checking out the place where we’re going to live next semester. I’ll take pictures and post them tomorrow evening. The rent is going to be super cheap. Like $350 a month a piece cheap.

For those of you playing along at home, that $200 a month cheaper than living on campus. That, with a part-time job, will get me a shiny new MacBook Pro some time this December… Thats my plan anyway.

Also, Jen and I are going to go swing dancing this Sunday (hopefully), and maybe we’ll get my laundry done some time before then too… Before it eats me.

And for those of you wondering. Rechecked the wedding audio on one of the SL1’s, and the sound is perfect. I’ll start on that tomorrow.

PEACE!

-MiKe-