Another Leaf Turns

I have a lot going on and a lot to discuss, but my family is here (YEAY!) in WA visiting for a few days (although I have work Fri/Sat, BOO!) but i will have a more lengthy update when everything returns to normal schedule.

Happy Turkey Day.

Free DP

Get your free Dr. Pepper, courtesy of Guns n Roses. I tried earlier and it didn't work, but only have today til 6. Go!
On the sidenote, Dr. Pepper's branding is awful, and one day, I will take it upon myself to rebrand it.

Put on your red shoes.

I survived Orientation today. Not really sure what that means, I start training on Saturday. I train for 3 days then have 3 days off and then my first is........Black Friday. Impeccable timing. Wish me luck that one.

Found some new design links to pass time on your Friday:

-40 Indie Film Posters. I think I'm going to start to compile my own list; just think I could have done better than this list, or left some of those out....
-Dark Lord of Logos
-Some interesting collage work by Eva Eun-Sil Han. I need to do more collages.
-Pandora Modular storage
-Typography Served by 25 Professionals
-Graphic Design Spam - Interesting and incitement article from Design Observer
-Typography on the location cards from Quantom Solace. Anyone seen that yet? any good?
-Tom Kundig: Prototypes and Moveable Parts
-Lunch bag art. This will most def. be Mike when he has kids.
-I'm bound and determined that someday, Mike and I will compete at Monday Night Foosball at Pentagram. and reign supreme!
-Probably one of my favs of the week: Visual Movie Reviews

Misc:

-Bid and stay at the house from A Christmas Story. I kind of feel like a complimentary Leg Lamp should be part of the deal, or a BB gun. or both.

-and correction from two days ago, you can buy me this house instead. Only need 895,00 bucks. only.

Orientation

Tomorrow I embark on Target adventures at 11:00. I'm not really scared about the job, more like, scared that my first week of work will involve Black Friday. and I'm keeping my fingers crossed I'm off Tuesday for M83.

And in other news, I was informed today that everyone works Christmas Eve and the day after, so I won't be going anywhere for the holidays. Yay for retail!

Playing the Role of Suzy Homemaker

...As Mike so bluntly put, earlier this evening. This was in response to the fact that I cooked dinner tonight (for everyone), made some cookies (snickerdoodles, yes!), went grocery shopping (w/quite an extensive list), did some laundry, and did some of the dishes. I'm going to miss having the free time though. I feel like I'm in some sort of weird job limbo right now, with the Target thing, still kind of sitting there. I'm supposed to go in sometime this week, but just waiting for them to call me. I've been looking online and there really hasn't been in a new postings in over a week, at least none that I'm qualified for or even seem like I would be remotely suitable for the job.

Here's some mid-week linkage:

-No ban on nudity at Seattle Parks. Kyle sent this to me the other day. A bit frightening.
-Family Guy Grape Stomp. Anyone who is up on classic internet videos, will enjoy this.
-Apple Apples, but not made from Apple
-Points of View. Thus proving once again, I'm a realist, not a pessimist.
-Fan Free Agent. I only post this because it has something to do with the Sonics moving to OKC (which consequently involves where I moved to and from): fan is on a search for a new team to route for, since the Sonics moved.
-Everything's Amazing, Nobody is Happy. Well put Mr. CK.
-Javascript Drum Machine
-A Conversation with Richard Renaldi, who worked on a series involving taking pictures of touching strangers. Interesting.

-And I found my other new house that I will be living in, in Seattle.

And a bit THANK YOU to my family for the package yesterday, which included the following: Star War lego mini pack, General Hawk G.I.Joe, mini LCD videogame, photo album of the great OK Landscape (quite a contrast), candy bar, t-shirt (of this design), Kinder Eggs!, cotton, new pens, and an X-Men dvd. Oh yeah, and my mail, which included in my Print Design Annual (Score). Awesome. Made my week.

And I'm officially adding these to the wishlist:

I got a job (sort of).

I took the advice from my dad and brother and decided to venture into getting a part-time job at the very close Target. I had an interview on Thursday, and it looks like they're going to bring me aboard. It's not official quite yet, supposed to go sometime this week to start all that business: orientation, etc. Although I'm looking forward to staying busy, having a paycheck, interacting with real people, there's still a little itch on the back of my head that bothers me. Mostly due to the fact that I've taken another step backwards, but hopefully another step back that will eventually lead me forward. The last 2.5 months have been all about stepping out of my comfort zone, and this is no different. But it will be an adventure to some degree, and maybe I'll meet some people along the way.

I was going to make an end of the week post last week, but it has somehow turned into a Monday post. Here's some late internet happenings:

-Culture Bus. I'm deeming this logo of the year, Pentagram proving once again why they're the premier design group.
-House Industries Exhibit. I want to go, but I don't live in LA.
-The Die Line. Another package design site to add to the blogroll.
-Obama might increase the chances of World Cup coming to the USA again. YES.
-Make Your Own Muppet (and purchase it). Not sure why you would want to, but it's there now.
-IKEA Interactive Closet. You can upload your own music to effect the movement of the characters. Via Mike
-Highlighter redesign, allowing 3 different marks. Nice.
-And if you haven't already, a new Watchmen trailer is out. I've noticed they have yet to use any original music for their trailers. First half of the new one is straight from Koyannisquatsi, which I guess is actually used in the movie.

Art Contests

Failed to mention this earlier this week, but my sister got first place at her art contest at my former college this past week. Congrats Sis!

The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same

-It seems everyone is embarking on new adventures, mostly in the marital sense and/or popping out babies. And my adventures....are just beginning. I can't even imagine what it's like at that stage of life, nor do I want to think about it.....It's been 2.5 months since we left the desolate lands of Oklahoma - free of the bible belt, wind, 90+ degree weather, and who knows what else...and not much has changed in that time. I'm still struggling in the job category, as it seems the task is much more difficult than I imagined. It isn't the only thing that I've been dealing with. Living in a very tight space with a family that opened their space to us, yet there is still a level of uncomfortability to me. I feel the weight coming down on me. I'm slowly coming to terms of stepping out (even more) of my comfort zone, but everyday has been a struggle to get out of bed.

-I'm anxiously awaiting a time when I'll have my own space back, and I won't have to go searching through a labyrinth of boxes to find the simpliest of things (as 75% of our stuff is still in boxes). I am grateful for what I have now, but there are certain elements to my life that are really starting to close in on me. I will spare you the details, as even this brief synopsis is a bit far for the general public.

-These factors will eventually rise and I can move on to figuring out other problems in my life, but it's not easy. It's never easy. This jobless time hasn't been totally useless, as it seems I have been able to explore and develop other projects I've been wanting to work on (avantcore, ie cards, etc). I have also been in the dark about another project that I will be producing, but trying to work out a lot of issues with it (as with everything else, nothing is easy) before I actually release it into the wild.

-Along with everything else, I've been in huge debate over my decisions on what to do this coming holiday season. As it seems, I am not employed, the idea of coming home (Oklahoma) is not too far fetched (despite the costs). But I'm quite concerned if I get offered a job before then, the fact I will not be here for a few days might effect that outcome. A bit of a catch 22.

Nothing seems to have a clear answer right now.

End of the Week Round-Up.

-Vader Toaster
-How many Spidermans can fit in a Jamba Juice? It's an old clip from Letterman, but new to me. The fat spiderman makes it funny.
-Batman Meets Superman
-10 Computer Ads from the 80s

-Spielberg and Smith are in talks of remaking Old Boy, which I think is the dumbest cinematic idea. IWatchStuff sums it up:
"If you haven't seen Oldboy, it's really good, and don't get me wrong, I still like Steven Spielberg despite the Indiana Jones incident, but this like somebody saying, steak is really good, and I really like milkshakes, so I'm going to make a steak milkshake (starring Will Smith)."

And to also demonstrate how unfitting the idea is, my good friend Shannon made a nice photoshop for us.


-Li Wei Photography: interesting work, as he does not use any photoshop in his photos.
-I also ran into this flickr the other day: Esanatha. Nice minimalist and abstract work. Love the colors and compositions.

-Change.gov. Presidential blog of sorts, and nicely done as well.
-700 Obama Headlines
-Next graphic showing what presidents did on their first 100 days.

-Liking some of the work of Timothy Lims, especially the Spiderman.
-Whiteboard Pong
-Streewithaview. "introduces fiction, both subtle and spectacular, into the doppelganger world of Google Street View."
-Photoshop: As real as it gets...

Tillman Project

As a friend and contributor, I'm going to promote Clint Reid's new shirt line. He has been ferverously working on his business, The Tillman Project, based out of Red River, NM. He will be soon be printing his first run of shirts at the end of this month and would encourage everyone to check it out and bug him to buy one. The Tillman shirts will be sold exclusively through Clint's shop in NM, but I'm sure if you drop him a line, he can work some mailorder out for you. I put up the mock ups below (click for larger image) as well as the design I contributed. So let one of us know if you're interested...

Autumn Kills

-That's an old moniker I haven't heard in a while.
-Anyways, this week is slow moving. Even though it hasn't been the greatest month, it's nice to be in a place that resembles Fall: leaves on the ground, different colors and chilly weather. I am here Washington, here for the taking.

and the week begins...

In another evening of trying to apply for some jobs, I kept encountering errors (as seen below). The second one was halfway through a Target app. Looks like I'll be starting all over in the morning. Thanks. and the blogger error was a result of me trying to upload the error photos - Coincidence? I think not.



In the most unpatriotic actions, I'm not voting today. and I probably should. But it feels more like a popularity contest or picking the 'lesser of two evils.' Which I believe shouldn't be the reason why I'm voting. I just want that feeling of knowing that I'm doing my country a favor. It still kind of baffles me that there are just two choices, like the ever going Coke vs. Pepsi. What if I want my Jones? I don't really feel like going on a political rant, as I'm not really too knowledgable in that area. But it's politics. Just never been a fan, and don't feel strongly enough with either candidate or party to really make my 'voice' be heard. But if you feel strongly towards either side, go for it.

-Political link: Best Political Buttons 08
-Rubitone. I'm pretty sure if I had the money, I would start a Rubik's cube collection.
-Plus Bike. Although I don't particular enjoy the overall aesthetic of the bike, I really think having the built in lights is a great idea.
-My new favorite blog this month: LovelyPackage
-Speaking of packaging, Amazon is doing something that should have been done a long time ago, and trying to do away with the horrible plastic packaging we always complain about, as explained in an open letter from the CEO on the front page about "Wrap Rage." Thanks Amazon.

-Found this lecture from Chip Kidd at the University of Michigan. Overall-somewhat informative, but entertaining. If your a graphic designer, it's a must watch. And it's free on iTunes. Can't beat that.

Some news has come to my attention, regarding some good friends being either pregnant or engaged or married. And just would like to say Congrats to all. This has most definately been a crazy year.....and makes me think babies are falling from the sky.

Back Online.

I've oh so aggravated the last few days, as it seems that I was not able to access my website. This means, I wasn't able to view my site, access my FTP, or publish my blog. Frustrating. On Friday, I called my ISP, talked to Tech Support for about 30 mins, where he had me pretty much go through steps that I already determined weren't the problem. And then he concluded that he wasn't able to do anything, had to submit a ticket for someone higher up to look at the problem. I get a call Saturday morning/early afternoon from the Internet, and the guy explained me the situation. Had nothing to do with me or them, rather the situation between Sprint and Cogent. I'm not really sure what happened, but it's Sunday night and I'm finally back. That was quickly resolved, or maybe it's just temporary. Either way, makes me somewhat relieved that it's back.

The job hunt seems to be going nowhere, where I'm averaging an interview a month. and the Economy is pretty much the worst it's been in years and years. Great timing Chris. Anyways, the search must go on, as my moral and my job expectations seem to be lowering.

I will be updating more this week, as it seems this is actually working.