Yesterday, I attended a luncheon hosted by the American Marketing Association. It was great! There was excellant food, I talked with extraordinary people, and we got to listen to a pretty good speaker on market segmentation. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. This is the only photo I managed to snap with my cell phone. Forgive the low quality.
This is the crystal ballroom of the Benson Hotel in downtown Portland.
To start out, I'll tell you to click the "Read More..." link to see my graphics.
I'm trying for something a little simpler than the crowd banner you see on my professional website. I want to go with the unknown perfect customer theme, but I wanted to do it with something small. It should be black and white, small enough to be used as an icon on a business card, but still catching enough to convey the meaning I want to get across. Click the link to see the two pictures I've started working with.
This first graphic I drew freehand and then cleaned up on my computer. I like the proportions, but the question mark is a little "blah" in my mind. I want something with a little more character and flare.
This one has more of the character in the question mark because it's an actual font on my computer. Only two problems:
So what does everyone think? Do you have suggestions for how I can have a jazzy question mark without losing control of the image? Ideas on how I can just spice up the first freehanded graphic? I'm just looking for a little validation on my design. And no, I will not be using this until after I move and need to get a new batch of cards to reflect my change in address. I will probably continue to use the crowd banner on my website but will add this graphic throughout later.
My dad and I have a vegetable garden outside. He grows lettuce, radishes, zucchini, potatoes, and big red tomatoes. I grow jalapenos, cilantro, onions, and roma tomatoes. His veggies are just for miscellaneous enjoyment; mine are part of a salsa recipe that I've been dying to make from my own ingredients. As a matter of fact, I tried it the other day ... but I had a few problems:
But in all, the salsa turned out OK. I learned my lesson with the jalapeno and will only use 1/4 of a pepper next time. (The recipe called for 4; I only used one and a half and it was STILL hot!)
We also sliced up some tomatoes to make BLTs the other day. They were spectacular! Besides that, my mom's been frying the zucchini and we've been slicing the tomatoes for pizza. The rest of the veggies have had their run (no more potatoes, lettuce, or radishes) but we're optimistic for next year.
I wanted to show you the fruits of our labor, so I took a photo with my cell phone before slicing a few tomatoes for pizza. I'm very proud of my romas. I started them from seeds on my window sill a few months ago and now have 3-4 ripe tomatoes a day!
I was rummaging around on one of my old web servers today and I found an interesting poem that I wrote. I remember writing it for some kind of scholarship (that I didn't win). I read back through it and still think it's pretty good. Let me know what you think. The title is "Amazing, isn't it?"
It's amazing how productive laziness can be.
Just sitting around,
carelessly
no interruptions,
relazing the moments awayYour mind is capable of so much more
than the expected
tedium
and pointlessness
of the everyday.It's amazing how productive laziness can be to a child;
playthings,
imaginary friends,
a five year old's self-education.It doesn't take money to satisfy a child,
just an imagination.
Singing
or pretending
to be doing whatever it is you really want to.It's amazing how productive laziness can be
to a student
"studying" ...
or procrastinating,
resting now as to work with more ease later.The simplest assingment can take forever
to complete well.
Research
and forethought;
lack of progress precedes greatness sometimes, too.It's amazing how productive laziness can be.
Take Professor Einstein's
contemplations
and thought-experiments -
the silence before the storms.Some of the greatest things in the world came from him,
a C-student:
computers
digital television.
What would the world be like without those?It's amazing how productive laziness can be
sitting here with you
arguing
after dinner.
Because now, dear, it's too dark to mow the lawn.
I had to say goodbye to Suzie last night. She's my girlfriend's cat and it was time to send her off to New York. I set up a reservation with Delta Airlines and started getting everything ready. This involved a trip to the veterinarian to certify that she was in good health and to get her up-to-date on all the necessary vaccination. Veterinarians are expensive, by the way, I might be in the wrong line of work.
After that, I took her to the airport (keep in mind I'm compressing a week of work and worrying about paperwork and procedure into the words "after that.") and set her up withe Delta Air Logistics. We were early for her check in, so we sat on the hood of my car and watched airplanes take off and land for a bit. It was fun.
The niftiest things about Delta was the paperwork. I had to fill out the "No, I'm not a terrorist" form, the "No, my package is not a bomb" form, the "Yes, you may search my package to prove it's not a bomb" form, the "Yes, you can actually ship my package" form, and the air waybill. In graduate school, we studied international trade and talked about waybills, but I had never actually seen one. Last night, though, I actually got to fill one out!
I feel very accomplished, and the kitty is safely in New York playing in her new apartment. But my puppy is still here and I'm sure they're both very confused about why they no longer have a playmate.
