young brash hopeful

IOU.

2009-07-10T11:31:00.002-05:00

Apologies for falling behind on blogging and my monthly stats. I've been quite busy these summer months. I work many, many hours throughout the week and the rest of my time has been divided between job hunting and two moves: one for myself next week and one for my mom when she's finally moving to England to join up with my dad. I've been keeping up with my stats on Excel but haven't had the time to put together the presentation part of it. So right now, I owe you stats for May and June, and hopefully I'll be back to blogging once the summer is on the decline. Hopefully employed with a non-seasonal job too.

April 2009.

2009-05-06T22:07:00.003-05:00

The Texas Rangers fan.

2009-04-11T19:29:00.003-05:00

A description of Texas Rangers fans as told by Will Leitch, founder of Deadspin, in his book God Save the Fan:

"Can't figure out why Roger Clemens never signed with them. Liked the younger, skinnier Sammy Sosa better. Confused how that whole "fire Buck Showalter, enjoy World Series title" strategy didn't work. Loves Chuck Norris and would like him to be the mascot."

I'd say that's pretty accurate, wouldn't you?

March 2009.

2009-04-08T09:27:00.001-05:00

Your walk out song.

2009-03-18T15:46:00.003-05:00

Baseball season is upon us and I can't wait. This is easily my favorite time of the year. The weather is gorgeous, the birds are singing, and the Coors Light guy is only a "Hey Beerman!" away. I find it so relaxing to go to a baseball game and just enjoy sights and sounds of the Ballpark. It helps when the Rangers win, but let's not kid ourselves here.

Something I've always found interesting in baseball are walk out songs. For those that are unaware of what that is (even though I'm sure all of my small audience are baseball watchers), the walk out song is played over the stadium sound system when a particular player goes up to bat. Generally players pick about 3 or 4 songs at the beginning of the season that they feel will pump them up as the walk out to the batter's box. Only about the first 10 seconds of the song is played, so they need songs that start out strong, or ones that they find inspirational to their lives.

I often find myself thinking "I wonder what I would use as a walk out song if I were a Major League player?" So, in anticipation of the upcoming season, I pulled together five songs that I think would be great "get psyched" songs for when I step up to the plate. (Hopefully the links will work. If not, feel free to Google them.)

1. "Supermassive Black Hole" -Muse
2. "Cobrastyle" -Teddybears
3. "Icky Thump" -The White Stripes
4. "Empty Like the Ocean" -Midtown
5. "Escape the Nest" -Editors

What songs would you pick to pump you up for your next at-bat? Post your five song playlist in the comments and lets see what psyches everyone up.

The hunt.

2009-03-09T15:02:00.004-05:00

Well, finding a new job is going, but not quickly. So far I have put my resume in over twenty different email inboxes, but have yet to hear back from a single one. Silence is not a good thing to hear during these times.

Here's a quick breakdown of the hunt so far:

-24 applications

-16 cities (Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Chicago, Minneapolis, Denver, Atlanta, Charlotte, Southlake TX, Irvine CA, Bellevue WA, Emeryville CA, Holliston MA, Morristown NJ, West Bridgewater MA, and London)

-10 states (Texas, Illinois, Minnesota, Colorado, Georgia, North Carolina, California, Massachusetts, and New Jersey)

-2 countries (US and England)

-0 responses

Hopefully something will come around soon. I don't think my tax refund will be here in time for my next rent payment.

February 2009.

2009-03-02T13:00:00.000-06:00

A little reminder.

2009-03-01T17:50:00.003-06:00

Today when I was driving home from volunteering in Dallas, I saw an old woman standing on the side of the interstate holding a sign that says "Jesus loves you." During the hard times in life, it's always nice to be reminded of that.

The internet is a terrifying place.

2009-02-27T17:31:00.004-06:00

I googled myself this morning. It's been a couple years since I've last done it, so I had no idea what would come up. Turns out, a lot. As far as I can tell, I'm the only person with my name. Anywhere. So if someone were to do a search on me, they wouldn't have to look very hard.

The search turned up links to a bunch of my online accounts, such as Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm, and this blog. It also pulled out accounts that I haven't used in over a long time. Even my Webshots account made the list, and I haven't used that things since the end of my freshmen year in 2004. I also found items about me that I didn't know were on the web. You can see what awards I won in a few design competitions, what year and and which district I made Eagle Scout, my grandmother's obituary, and even a list of 1984 births for the county in which I was born.

I think we forget how open the internet can be. Since I'm back in full job hunting mode, I wanted to see what kind of stuff a potential employer could find out about me just by using Google. Granted, I'm not a scandalous person by any means. I don't have any arrests or charges to worry about showing up, nor do I present myself online in any way that can be taken in a negative light. But it's best to be safe as far as what you put online, because you don't know when or where it'll turn up again. The internet was made in part to make our lives easier and put the world at our fingertips. You don't want to put too much of yourself at their fingertips, though.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go post a Tweet and update my Facebook status to tell everyone I wrote a new blog entry.

The year so far.

2009-02-22T15:14:00.002-06:00

I'm not really impressed with 2009 so far. Since the year rolled over 53 days ago, not a lot has gone my way. Aside from the small things like people hitting my parked car and my electric meter breaking and recording my electric usage way to high, I've also been hit with two whoppers that have changed a lot of things for me.

The first, chronologically, is that a large part of my life from the last few years is now on the other side of the planet. I think the hardest part of this is the removal of something that's been part of my everyday routine for three years. What do I fill that space with now? It's especially been difficult because I live in another city than everyone I know all by myself. Granted it's still part of the DFW metroplex, I usually only see my friends about three days a week. I used to be content with my time alone at home during the work week because I knew I had something not too far away to look forward to every weekend. But now, I just feel lonely. Even after a fun weekend with my friends, in the end I have to go back to my lonely apartment in Irving and carry on by myself.

The second and most recent event is when I got laid off. Because you can never be too sure on the internet, I'm not going to go in to details, but I feel I was unfairly let go. And it was so sudden. I was on my way home less than fifteen minutes after I'd been told I'm no longer in their employment. Now, I face a lot of uncertainty as I try to regain my composure. What's next? Where am I going to be? When is this next phase of my life going to come about and what am I going to do until then? I did plan on moving on in the near future, but I counted on it being a transition, not an abrupt end followed by a quick scramble to get back on my feet. This is certainly not a great position to be in and I will be glad when it's over.

Please don't take this as a "woe is me" post. There's just been a lot of turbulence in my life recently and I wanted to get my thoughts down. We're only a few weeks into this new year so who knows? Maybe the remaining 312 days will be more than exceptional and blow away this first bit.

Work in progress.

2009-02-20T15:06:00.001-06:00

Changing up the look a little.

I owe you a post Sunday.

January 2009.

2009-02-02T11:17:00.010-06:00

Statistics.

2009-01-26T15:26:00.012-06:00

Statistics have always been an interest of mine. Maybe not to the degree that I wanted to do math for a living, but when you tie it in to my line of work, you get information graphics. There are so many ways to illustrate any and all types of information. They range from something as simple as a bar graph comparing the number of apples to the number of oranges at the store, to a virtual community representing the "Village of 100 People" statistical breakdown. Statistics themselves don't do it for most people, but when displayed properly through design, the numbers are then given a greater sense of meaning.

One of my favorite groups that creates info graphics is GOOD magazine. I browse around image banks on the internet quite often and whenever I run across a graphical chart that catches my eye, more often than note it came from a GOOD magazine spread. They bring to light a variety of social issues by using information graphics that are otherwise lost in the myriad of numbers that most people don't grasp. One of my favorite graphics they put out was a timeline representation of the all-important first 100 days in office of our last 12 presidents. They say that time frame is a good indication of how the rest of the president's tenure in office will turn out. Factors included in the timeline are major events, what they inherited when coming into office, and popular vote. (Source: http://awesome.goodmagazine.com)

Another chart that I've stumbled across that's amazing when considering the sheer scale of it is Chris Harrison's "Visualizing the Bible." His graph links all the textual cross references found within the Bible, more than 63,000 of them. It wasn't really built to be a functional chart, but the visual impact that it brings is immense. The bar chart along the bottom represents each chapter in the Bible, and the two different tones divide each book. The distance between the two chapters referenced were color coded, giving the chart a rainbow-like effect. This project was quite the undertaking, but the results are beautiful. (Source: http://www.chrisharrison.net)

Really the thing that got me to write this post is the annual reports that Nicholas Felton designs. The twist is, they're not annual reports for some national company. They're annual reports about himself. He painstakingly logs many details about himself throughout the year: the number of miles he's walked, the number of restaurants he's been to, etc. And he's been doing this for a couple years. I decided that I wanted to try this too. Yeah, it may be a lot of trouble, but it'll be a learning experience too. I'm sure I'll find out new things about my habits and personal traits, especially when putting it on a one-year scale. To keep me to it along the way, I'll probably post a spread of a few items each month before compiling a large one at the end of the year. We'll see how it goes, right?

Hello again.

2009-01-19T10:31:00.003-06:00

It's been awhile. I apologize for the absence.

Welp, it's another new year. Almost a new decade too. Have the come up with a name for this last one yet? We had the 80s, the 90s, and then the 2000s? Do we call the next one the 10s?

Anyway, as with 91% of the US population, I've come up with a list of resolutions for the new year. One of them happens to be blogging, which is why I'm suddenly back on the web. Onward with the list:

-Start blogging again. I think I'm going to give myself a fresh start on this. I'm not sure if I want to keep using blogspot because anything with "blogspot.com" in the URL is blocked at work, yet I can still access and use my blogging account at blogger.com because it doesn't share the same domain name. Bizarre, I know. Anyway, I'm debating either this or Wordpress. I'll keep you posted with what's to come.

-Get out of credit card debt. I had to charge a lot to my credit card back during Christmas of '06 because I didn't have any money to give gifts with. Two years later, it's still there. I've made a plan to pay X amount of money from my paycheck every Friday to get out of the red and put it into effect on the 2nd. At this rate, I'll be done by March 14.

-Start saving money. As well as paying off my credit card, I want to be saving money regularly. I have had a savings account set up for a long time, but the money in there slowly depleted throughout college. I did the math, and I've 12% of my income is a reasonable starting point. I think I may also make a large deposit at the end of every month so I don't have an excess amount sitting in my checking.

-Work out regularly again. This is probably the most generic bullet point on everybody's resolution list. It's something I really need to get back into too. Living in Irving by myself, I do a lot of sitting around. When I get home from work, I turn on the tv and watch Wheel of Fortune while I cook dinner, then usually watch whatever Netflix sent me or play video games of some sort. Not a very good habit at all, but that's what I do when I'm bored. And I'm bored a lot. Well to get on track with my resolution, I signed up to be able to swim at the North Lake College natatorium. Their campus is right across the street from my work place, and their membership is very affordable for me ($45 for 9 months as opposed to $45 per month at LA Fitness or 24 Hour Fitness.) I'll be going in every morning to get in a mile-long swim before work. Hopefully soon it'll be refreshing and not tired for the rest of my day.

-Meet new people. I haven't really figured out how to do this one yet. I've lived many places throughout my life, but I've always had to go to school then. That's really how I met people. But now, I'm in the adult working world, so I don't have this common factor that made it easy to get to know people. Everyone I work with is at least a decade older than me, so that one can be crossed off the list. Anyway, I need to get this one figured out before all my current friends move away.

That about sums them up. Hopefully I'll stick to them. And hopefully you stick to yours too.

Beijing Opening Ceremony.

2008-08-11T08:47:00.003-05:00

Found some sweet hi-res pictures from the Olympic opening ceremony. There were a lot of representations of 2008 in it, usually by having that many performers on stage at one time. Check it.

Where have all the bloggers gone?

2008-07-31T14:11:00.001-05:00

My "Blog RSS" bookmark folder has been pretty dead as of late. No one seems to blog anymore. I'm just as guilty. So I will be making a conscious effort at reviving my blog, because work is just as dull as it's always been and I need something to pass the time.

You should consider a blog comeback too. Otherwise Jesus will come get you on his trusty dinosaur.

Texas Rangers #1?

2008-07-16T10:49:00.004-05:00

The Texas Rangers tie with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim as the best team in the MLB, as voted by Yahoo users at 9:04am this morning. This again proves that fans know nothing (see Dustin Predoia over Ian Kinsler as AL Starting Second Baseman in the All Star Game) because we're not that good yet, but it is nice to know that we're finally getting recognized for playing good baseball for once. Thank you Josh Hamilton for being a man-child of God and slugging 28 in one round of the derby.

Hopefully the rest of the season will be just as fruitful as the first half. And maybe during the four day All Star break, our pitchers finally found it within themselves to control the ball better. Then we may actually deserve to be considered the top team.

WALL-E Retro Posters.

2008-06-26T10:02:00.007-05:00

Found these sweet retro posters for WALL-E via Abudzeedo. The movie comes out tomorrow and it should be pretty good. Pixar just has a habit of making good movies.

i can't wait to move...

2008-06-25T08:54:00.003-05:00

so i can get a puppy.

and so i don't have to park anywhere near the idiots across the street who have a tendency to back into cars.

waiting.

2008-06-24T05:08:00.001-05:00

mondays always sucks.

2008-06-23T05:20:00.000-05:00

pizza cake?

2008-06-22T10:58:00.004-05:00

my mom ordered me a pizza cake for my birthday. oddly enough, it tasted pretty good. i have leftovers if you want any.

happy birthday to me.

2008-06-20T08:42:00.003-05:00

you could use some baseball.

2008-06-19T05:24:00.000-05:00

i love going to the ballpark.

don't park on greene avenue.

2008-06-18T07:04:00.003-05:00

apparently people on my street don't exactly know how to check their blind spots when they back out of their driveways. some kid backed into my car on monday and got my back left corner pretty good. this is the second time this has happened to my car while i was parked at home in less than nine months, and i'm ticked.

bowling with jason nix.

2008-06-17T05:18:00.003-05:00

monday mornings.

2008-06-16T05:23:00.003-05:00

can't start the week without some breakfast.

it made me lol.

2008-06-15T22:25:00.002-05:00

sorry folks, i was gone all day today so i'm just putting up a found image.

it's her birthday.

2008-06-14T17:45:00.001-05:00

happy birthday, my love.

the first photo update.

2008-06-13T05:19:00.003-05:00

i'll most likely be updating the daily photo in the mornings before work because i have access to my own computer to download the photo from whatever i took a picture with. most of the pictures will probably be of iphone quality because that's what i usually always have on me.

photoblog

2008-06-12T15:55:00.003-05:00

i've decided today that since i've once again had a poor posting streak on my blog, that i will start uploading a photo a day to maybe get myself started with writing again. we'll see how it goes.

the dieline challenge.

2008-05-22T13:56:00.006-05:00

i frequent a lot of design blogs while i'm at work (because i'm not actually doing work at work. weird, i know.) one of my favorites, the dieline, is a blog on only packaging. well today they put up a post introducing the first dieline contest. the challenge is to create a new 5 liter bag-in-a-box package for a norwegian bottled water company. the idea behind it is that bottled water, while being "healthy" and what not, actually produces a lot of unhealthy waste on the environment. the bag-in-a-box (which reminds me of boxed wine) produces waste that can be recycled easier. the final product should have a new name and design that supports an environmental friendly theme and stand out from the other waters on the shelf. The project is hot; it's due in one week. Judging will then take place, which will be done by two unnamed creative studios. The winner will have their design actually put into production and into the market, and will also be given for a 5 day 4 night trip for two to Norway. Not quite what i had in mind for my first visit to europe, but it'll do. so for the next week, instead of frequenting a lot of design blogs while i'm at work not doing work, i'll be designing a sweet ass package. it'll loaded up here when i'm done. i hope i win.

the commencement speech to end all commencement speeches.

2008-05-19T11:10:00.003-05:00

compiled by the good folks at the morning news. read their stuff when you're bored at work. i do.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you’ll spare me a minute, I’d like to offer a few pieces of advice for today’s graduates…

Ask not, ever. Some people will say your college years are the best of your life—ignore them. I find that, sometimes, when your miss your bus, you can run really fast and catch up to it at the next stop!

Also: Write more letters, especially if you’re in jail. Use a colon after an independent clause to introduce a list of particulars, an appositive, an amplification, or an illustrative quotation. And for God’s sake don’t stomp on flaming paper bags. If you’re bi-curious, experiment now; that window is about to close. Spit only in the bathroom sink. Never let a soprano out in the rain without a hat. Listen without prejudice. And get married as soon as possible.

Don’t make generalizations—they will be wrong more often than not. Make friends with the elderly. How often have I mused that all people from Florida smell like moldy pastrami to then be proved wrong by a Floridian with the musky scent of liquid smoke and ammonia.

Fear God. And never get involved in a land war in Asia.

And remember: The only thing more undignified than having to beg strangers for money and food is being treated like you don’t exist, so even if you can’t give the homeless your money, at least be charitable with eye contact. And always kick racism in the ball-sack!

But no matter what you do in life, smile. Smile and the world smiles with you. Make a smile your umbrella. Smile, smiley, smile, smile, smile. Sssssssssmile. But never laugh—nobody likes a jackass.

After all, why would you want to be just a big-toothed fish in a small pond when you could be holding your own among the sharks? Don’t install an Olympic-sized pool if you’re only going to swim the width. And when your life is in the toilet and that blue water is swirling around your head, just remember: The sky is also blue, and as we all know, the sky’s the limit. (It’s important to hope, but vodka does not remove bloodstains from white linen.)

If you instantly regret the entrée you just ordered, you really don’t have to eat it; you can order a second one, and have a nice dinner.

Because success, my friends, is not the measure of a man; height is the measure of a man. Twice in eight years have I soiled myself at work, and I know lots of other people who have too—so when it comes time, remember, you’re not alone. Also, avoid probing stares, enigmatic glances, fixating on the Other’s gaze. The problems of the day are sufficient unto the day…unless you’re Catherine Zeta Jones, who should have many many more. Tonight will be the last night of your life that drinking Everclear will be even remotely excusable; make it count.

And beware of the metaphorical “dark stranger from the east”. He comes baring a long-lost possesion of yours, but something is wrong. Make him show you where he found it. Then tell him to meet you at the Havel bridge at midnight. If he shows up, then you will know whom he really works for. Metaphorically, that is.

(Several dry martinis will silence the raging screams, the cacophony of inner voices. Stars are made of dust. And gas. On fire.)

And not everyone needs a blog—I’m just saying. In high school, a fellow I worked with mowing lawns said to me, “If you have mastered the art of tai chi, they won’t let you in the Olympics. Because if a tai-chi master is close enough, he can suck all the energy out of your body and incorporate it into his. No sir, you never want to be in a foot race with a tai-chi master.”

However, if you’re going to binge drink, wear practical shoes. It’s better to throw up when you’re still drunk than to wait until the following afternoon. And never let your passport expire. When you go out into the world, remember that you will stumble, you will fall, you will get up, you may fall again—but you will still get up, because you are first a graduate of this University, and second a debtor to Fannie Mae—and you will never be able to afford not to work. For those who are interested, there are Capitol One Visa applications available in the rotunda.

What I’m saying is: When offered your first job, argue for more salary and stand your ground. You’re worth it. And keep extra pants in your desk at work for that emergency I mentioned before. And if you don’t know the difference between Philips head and flat head screwdrivers, learn; it will impress the plumbers. And two last points: Buy good coffee beans instead of Starbucks lattés—at the end of the year, you’ll have saved enough money to take a vacation to Ireland. And never eat at any restaurant that offers free balloons. Seriously.

And, finally, never smoke anything with a “crypto” prefix in the name. And avoid the toll road when going home tonight. A tractor trailer flipped over on the interstate and traffic is backed up to the Occaquon. Everything is bumper to bumper on south past I-95.

It’s a mess out there people.

pure awesomeness.

2008-05-13T11:41:00.004-05:00

images of a lightning storm directly over the chaiten volcano that is currently erupting in eastern chile.

my mother wouldn't stand for this.

2008-05-09T12:04:00.002-05:00

kid wore brett favre jersey for over four years.

on a side note, does any body else kind of laugh to themselves when they show the clip of brett "favor" getting drafted to the falcons?

oh ron washington.

2008-05-09T09:39:00.002-05:00

in the fourth inning of the rangers game last night, mariners first baseman richie sexson decided he was tired of sucking at life and wanted to put a little excitement into it. so he charged the mound* after rangers pitcher kason gabbard threw a ball that was a bit high, but nowhere near the batter's box. the 6 foot 8 first baseman then charged the mound and threw his helmet into gabbard's back, who only wanted to get the ball back. it was not by any means an intentionally threatening pitch, but i guess the mariners were looking for any reason to stir some life back into their game, you know, after going run-less for 22 innings straight.

post game, rangers manager ron washington said, “i thought that was bull! how tall is he, 6-13? then you go out there on a little guy and throw a helmet?” oh ron, not only do you always look like you have no idea what's going on, but you're not quite the brightest crayon in the box either.

*youtube link to come after i leave my place of work, home of the internet nazis.

full sail ahead.

2008-05-06T16:41:00.002-05:00

two weeks ago, i went beer shopping at central market and came across some sweet packaging for full sail brewing company from hood river, oregon. now i don't make as many trips to the beer aisle as i'd like, but last time i was there, i recall the full sail beers having a label that looked something like this:

boring, unimpressionable, and forgettable.

however, this time around when i once again stumbled upon it, i wanted to buy it solely because of the packaging. turned out the beer inside the bottle is quite tasty as well.

the packaging was updated by a design firm in portland called sandstrom partners, which turns out has quite a roll call of clients, including converse, levi's jeans, miller beer, tazo tea, and portland's very own trailblazers, who selected sam bowie over michael jordan in the 1984 nba draft. shame.

back to things that matter (which does not include basketball), the much needed redesign really boosts the appeal of the product. the wood grain background helps give the feel of a small 47-man brewery in the woodlands of oregon, while the thin line art seems to me to highlight the brewery's uniqueness. i think my favorite aspect of the new look lies within the new logo.

it's awesome that sandstrom took the sail from the original logo and freshened it up. in my opinion, that's the best part of the new one – the simple white sail full of wind with a slight drop shadow behind it. i'm also a fan of the font used for the name. it looks like they made the font themselves by combining the top half of a sans serif with the bottom of a german calligraphic font.

all things considered, this is one of my favorite beer designs, along with the shiner 98 (which i hear won some awards for packaging), and the rahr summertime wheat (available this month!) check out the rest of the set in sandstrom's portfolio. and if i ever find myself in oregon, i'm definitely making a point to stop at the full sail brewery.

houses with a view.

2008-05-01T15:22:00.005-05:00

houses with a view.

driving annoyances.

2008-04-22T10:03:00.019-05:00

*i actually wrote this last week but due to internet difficulties, it sat in my drafts folder for a bit.

since being gainfully employed in dallas, i've been doing a lot of driving to and from work. with gas as expensive as it is, i don't do it every day; i make sure to take the train at least twice a week (but i'm about to up it to three times after last week's sudden jump in gas prices.) i spend at least an hour and forty five minutes on the road the days i do drive to work, and in doing so, i encounter a lot of bad/annoying/jerk drivers. now, i've always had some pet peeves about other drivers, like those that make their entire 184 mile trip only in the left lane and those that can't quite grasp the concept of a four way stop. but with all the quality time i've spent in my car these past few months, i've found something else that irritates me: people who don't use their turn signal when changing lanes. it never really bothered me before; this developed mostly due to the fact that most of my driving is done during high density traffic times. with less personal space, i find myself suddenly cut off without warning (i.e. turn signal) a lot more than i did on long stretches of highway, and it ticks me off. i want to tell them how ticked i am, but they're in their own car with their windows rolled up listening to some crappy music. so i took it upon myself to make a sign that i can use.

nothing spectacular, but it gets the point across. and in the event that the offender remains in front of my car, i've developed another sign that's legible in the rearview mirror. it'll be printed on the backside to conserve paper, of course.

that'll show them.

the star wars super rock band.

2008-04-17T12:02:00.004-05:00

found this while baroozing the internet today. totally awesome.

wish i knew who to give credit to for this amazing image.

i miss you.

2008-04-16T08:41:00.005-05:00

dear blogger,
remember when we would kill time together while i was at work? those were the days. it's not that i've been busier, it's just that the content blocker has come between us. i've been trying to fill the void you left with other things, like going to cnn.com every half hour and building paper clip chains, but it's just not the same. i miss you.
love,
me.

inspiration for this first of april.

2008-04-01T12:43:00.002-05:00

i hate ashton kutcher, but this guy is alright in my book.

black guy asks nation for change.

2008-03-28T16:22:00.000-05:00

the onion is great.

dammit!

2008-03-24T10:59:00.003-05:00

so now for some reason, sites ending with blogspot.com are now blocked. i can't access my own blog now, which sucks because that's one of the few things to keep me busy when i'm not busy. yet blogger.com is not blocked and i'm still able to write this post. i'm p.o.'d.

today will be a good day.

2008-03-20T08:14:00.002-05:00

and do you know why i believe that? because on my way to work this mornng, i saw a midget driving a ford f150. awesome.

god's eye view.

2008-03-18T10:24:00.007-05:00

adam & eve in eden.

noah's ark on the mountains of ararat.

parting of the red sea.

the crucifixion.

via the glue society.

happy saint patty's.

2008-03-17T11:50:00.006-05:00

what a good day. i have leftover grilled salmon and jalapenos stuffed with crab and goat cheese for lunch, leftover steak and honey glazed grilled peaches in the fridge for dinner, new episodes (finally!) of how i met your mother and the big bang theory tonight, and i can actually celebrate saint patrick's day this year as opposed to the previous two when i had the flu. now if there were only something i could do about today's weather.

update 3/19/08: it wasn't a good day.

march 29.

2008-03-13T12:10:00.006-05:00

after heavy crunching of finances, extensive research, and my own personal investigation, i have decided that in 16 days, i am going to make the commitment and purchase an iphone.

war is hell.

2008-03-11T15:30:00.006-05:00

And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
-King Henry V, Shakespeare's Henry V, Act IV, Scene III

this weekend, i finished watching the hbo series "band of brothers" that i borrowed from my parents' house. stephen spielberg and tom hanks produced the series, so it has that "saving private ryan" feel to it. the show takes place during world war ii and follows easy company from the 101st airborne from basic training and throughout their entire european tour. the company lived and fought together throughout numerous bouts in five different countries, and although many of were lost, they ultimately got to go home at the end of the war. it's a powerful series and i highly recommend it.

showtime.

2008-03-07T11:19:00.012-06:00

the dallas society of visual communication student show and conference committee finally announced what pieces they've deemed worthy to be in their show. our very own tcu graphic design program had a total of 24 accepted entries from 12 different students. i'm very excited to say that i account for 4 of those entries. i really feel that my work from my last semester at tcu really stepped up from what i had previously done, in regards to both quality of design and branching out from my norms. it looks like i'm not the only one that thinks so, considering three of them are from this last spring. maybe if i'm really lucky, i'll win an award too. but i won't get my hopes up. just being in the show is good enough for me.

if you have a lot of money lying around.

2008-03-06T08:30:00.005-06:00

On March 15 and 16, the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas is hosting the Pugliese Pop Culture Collection Auction. Anything you can think of from 20th century movies, films, and history, they probably are auctioning off. Jack Ruby's Colt Cobra revolver that killed Lee Harvery Oswald? Check. John Lennon's Abbey Road suit? Check. Indiana Jones' Bull Whip? Check. So yeah, if you're really into that sort of thing and have an extra couple hundred thousand dollars in the bank, go to Sin City and bid on Christopher Reeves' Superman costume for me.

harder better faster stronger.

2008-03-02T22:02:00.008-06:00

i don't remember how i came across this video; i don't even listen to daft punk. but it's cool how these two girls wrote the words of the song on their bodies and made a routine out of it.

exercise your right to vote.

2008-02-27T14:46:00.005-06:00

2008 marks the 30th anniversary of the bookseller's diagram prize. the bookseller, a british magazine, began running a poll in 1978 for the "oddest book title of the year." the first ever winner of the prize was a book called "proceedings of the second international workshop on nude mice." a must-read, i'm sure.

and without further ado, this year's nominees are:

"i was tortured by the pygmy love queen" by jasper mccutcheon

"how to write a how to write book" by brian paddock

"are women human? and other international dialogues" by catharine a. mackinnon

"cheese problems solved" by p.l.h. mcsweeney

"if you want closure in your relationship, start with your legs" by big boom

"people who mattered in southend and beyond: from king canute to doctor feelgood" by dee gordon

the winner will be announced march 28 so hurry up and vote.

clearly an expert on the subject.

2008-02-26T14:15:00.005-06:00

poor kyle kendrick.

2008-02-26T10:07:00.011-06:00

there's a lot of free time during major league baseball spring training. that's why almost the entire philidelphia phillies organization pulled an elaborate prank on 2nd-year pitcher kyle kendrick. they got everyone involved from the phillies' manager, to sports media, and even kendrick's agent. the synopsis is that kendrick gets called into manager charlie manuel's office and is told that he's being traded to japan's yomiuri giants for a player named kobayashi iwamura and that he's leaving tomorrow. kendrick is pretty much just in shocked silence for most of the video. i think the best part about the whole thing is despite the sheer number of people involved, no one gives it away. it's pretty amazing.

the world is my canvas.

2008-02-21T08:48:00.004-06:00

i stumbled on a website via the serif about a quarky guy named stavros that creates what he calls "position art." what happens is he walks around with his gps enabled nokia phone and tracks where he's going. the path he walks creates a single line, and with this he can create simple images on the world. i don't even know how he came up with this, but it's pretty interesting. check it out at www.theworldismycanvas.com

a retrospective of my life through google maps.

2008-02-19T09:39:00.011-06:00

more free time at work.

2008-02-15T16:38:00.001-06:00

the rarest items in the world, by category.

logo evolution.

2008-02-13T10:11:00.002-06:00

the evolution of tech companies' logos.

it's not like i've been doing anything with my time.

2008-02-05T14:38:00.003-06:00

damn, i missed the entire month of january on this thing. oh well, it's not like this is a "real" post anyway. more like a bulleted list of happening things.

-tomorrow i start my first salary job at harper house in dallas. it'll be interesting for sure.
-hooray! the patriots did not win the super bowl! i hate sports teams and fans from boston.
-my current engaged friends/married friends count on facebook is 43 engaged and 64 married.
-i had a job at uno's pizza in downtown fort worth for a few weeks. it wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either.
-super smash bros brawl comes out for the wii on march 9. yes, i'm stoked. yes, i'm a nerd. and yes, i reserved it at gamestop.
-the new animal planet logo sucks.
-because of this effin writer's strike going on, i need a suggestion for a new tv show to start watching from season 1. i'm considering house, 30 rock, and weeds right now.
-speaking of the strike, this is a pretty good ad.
-i updated the links on the right-hand side of your screen.

yeah, that's about it for now. hopefully i'll pick up blogging fairly regularly again.

those crazy norwegian kids.

2007-12-27T09:24:00.002-06:00

it's that time of year again.

2007-12-22T13:57:00.001-06:00

my 2007 top ten albums:

10. "i'm only a man" -emery

9. "neon bible" -the arcade fire

8. "chase this light" -jimmy eat world

7. "rodrigo y gabriela" -rodrigo y gabriela

6. "sounds of salvation" -cassino

5. "resolution" -hidden in plain view

4. "the alchemy index vols. I & II fire & water" -thrice

3. "cartel" -cartel

2. "everything starts where it ends" -lovedrug

1. "cities" -anberlin

all engines go.

2007-12-08T14:04:00.001-06:00

i updated my portfolio website. check it out at http://stuwww.tcu.edu/krzamzow i'm going to research web hosting so hopefully soon i can have a dotcom address, because i don't know how long tcu will keep my stuff on their server.

DeLorean not included.

2007-12-05T11:38:00.001-06:00

All I want for Christmas is a flux capacitor.

a vail of hope and a vail of pain.

2007-11-11T23:56:00.001-06:00

the arcade fire "neon bible" interactive site.

find the objects that look most alike.

2007-11-07T16:16:00.001-06:00

the big event.

2007-11-06T11:09:00.002-06:00

tcu graphic design senior show
december 3, 7pm

eye candy.

2007-11-02T19:39:00.002-05:00

a new look for my faithful few readers.

copycats.

2007-10-29T21:46:00.001-05:00

i was at blockbuster last night with sarah and i came across a new release movie called "transmorphers." i don't know anything about the plot, but the reason i noticed it was because the cover looked strikingly similar to the new "transformers" cover, which it was right next to on the shelf.

although it's a little darker, the "transmorphers" cover mimics the blue-orange-white-orange-black gradient found on the "transformers" cover. it also reminded me of an interesting article i read this summer called "dark and fleshy: the color of top grossing movies."

just thought i'd share my recent observations.

business as usual.

2007-10-10T17:58:00.001-05:00

well, i now find myself in the last half of my last semester as a college student. i know, it's hard to believe. but just like any other semester, the last two months are stock full of projects, not to mention prep for the senior show. but it'll all turn out well.

yeah, this post isn't much. my primary purpose is to let my few readers now that i'm currently in the process of creating the website for the tcu graphic design senior show. more to come on that in the next week or so. until then, ciao.

ps, my secondary purpose for this post is that i write a blog entry on my wii. come by some time and we can play mario soccer.

it's here! it's here!

2007-10-08T17:38:00.002-05:00

after 30 days and 4 phone calls to campustech.com, i finally received the newest creative suite in the mail.

right now i'm uploading it on my ibook while i watch blue planet on animal planet in my living room. what a good day.

believe.

2007-09-27T13:05:00.003-05:00

on the subject of well-made commercials, i found this 90 second commercial for halo 3. they created a giant diorama of a battle scene and then filmed it. it's pretty intense how much detail went into it. i also enjoy the use of shallow depth of field to focus on one point and blur the rest, giving it a better sense of a single moment. after i watched it, i found a behind the scenes video, however, it's told from the point of view whereas the battle had already taken place and they're making the diorama as a commemorative in a museum. that in itself is pretty creative.

leave nothing.

2007-09-18T23:42:00.002-05:00

i'm not a big nike guy at all, but i really like this new commercial they have for this nfl season. the continuity through the different scenes as shawne merriman and steven jackson progress down the field is pretty amazing, even when their uniforms change. and the ending is just plain hardcore.

fixed!

2007-09-16T21:06:00.002-05:00

it's been a long time coming.

2007-09-04T11:43:00.001-05:00

i finally get to take my car in to have it fixed!
i'll once again be able to use my driver's side door!
i don't have to pay a dime!
hooray!

but on the downside, i'll be car-less for a while.

labor-less weekend.

2007-09-03T10:58:00.001-05:00

the at&t guy came in friday morning, so we now have cable and internet through at&t u-verse. it's a pretty cool deal. we got two cable boxes, one of them with dv-r capabilites in which we can record up to four shows at once. we can also set up the box through the internet to record shows by signing into our account. and if we missed a show, we can find out if someone we know that has u-verse caught it and they can send it from their box to ours. but here's the kicker that had us sold: free installation. unfortunately our cable outlet in the living room is pretty old and needs to be rewired, but our landlord doesn't want to spend the money to get it fixed. that makes our cable and internet cut out sometimes and it's especially annoying when it goes out in the middle of a show.

anyway, it's labor day weekend and i've done a bunch of nothing. friday i worked at the pool for a few afternoon hours then came home and played with the u-verse for the rest of the evening then turned in early, as seems to be the trend with my sleeping habits lately.
saturday was a bit more exciting because college football was back! i worked for time and a half at the pool, came home and ate some grilled ribs, went to the tcu-baylor game, and then to the roustabouts show at the aardvark. after that everyone came back to our house since we're right around the corner from the aardvark. i just sat on the couch and waited for them all to get bored and leave because i was ready to sleep.
sunday involved nothing beyond getting milkshakes from sonic, watching the discovery channel, the science channel, and a fantasy football draft.
however today, it's probably nose to the grindstone time. what mostly needs to get done is a need to pick up the house from saturday. and i really should work on my graphics projects, but we'll see if that happens.

capless

2007-08-29T00:28:00.002-05:00

someone stole the end caps that go on the air valves on my bike tires and it really pisses me off that people are that willing to be jackasses.

offline.

2007-08-26T12:00:00.001-05:00

my house is still currently without internet. dave and i signed up for at&t u-verse and the installation guy should be coming on the morning of the 31st. once we're connected, hopefully i'll be posting more regularly. until then, i have a link that i hope will suffice. i found it on the espn website following the rangers trouncing of the orioles last wednesday (the final score was 30-3 if you hadn't heard.) the article is a list of the 100 greatest beatdowns in history. read through it, it's pretty entertaining.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=schoenfield/070823
items of note: #10, #20, #27, #44, #58, #62, #65, #74, #82, #90.

king of the keytar.

2007-08-15T19:07:00.001-05:00

Create Your Own PaloozaHead - Visit Lollapalooza.com

props to johnny and lindsey.

$20,000 in my hand.

2007-08-03T13:56:00.001-05:00

dallas cowboys 1992 super bowl ring.

i was giddy like a little girl.

re-vamp.

2007-07-26T15:17:00.001-05:00

i decided to give my blog a new look to it. maybe it'll inspire me to write more (even though i've done a fairly decent job recently.)

great balls of fire.

2007-07-25T10:37:00.001-05:00

i was on my way to work at range this morning when I heard a loud explosions and felt my car shake. apparently a natural gas plant exploded. i was right there when it happened and it scared the piss out of me.

holy crap!

f u, reliant.

2007-07-23T15:32:00.001-05:00

i'm trying to set up electricity for my new house through reliant, and i keep getting this screen:

i'm even trying to be a good person and sign up for wind energy only. but it's all only frustrating.

sigh.

really i will.

2007-07-18T14:54:00.002-05:00

i know, i know. it's been awhile since i've posted. i'll get to it, i promise. i have a whole list of topics to talk about. i may even give my blog a new look as inspiration to write more.

until then, go to simpsonizeme.com and turn yourself into a simpsons character. i did myself earlier today.

stomp out loud.

2007-05-29T23:33:00.002-05:00

if stomp were to ever come to the dfw area, i'd definitely go see them.

panoramic.

2007-05-16T22:48:00.001-05:00

a guy at work showed me this video yesterday. there's an autistic artist named stephen wiltshire that will draw an almost perfect panorama of a city after flying over it in a helicopter once. it's pretty nuts.

Autistic Man Draws Near-Perfect Panorama of Rome

i also dug a little deeper and found a video on his tokyo panorama too.

Autistic man draws Tokyo from memory

check out the full panoramas. they're pretty spectacular.

move out.

2007-05-11T11:52:00.001-05:00

packing sucks.

good news

2007-05-05T10:28:00.001-05:00

i finally got an internship for the summer.
i'll be working for a design firm called range.

here's their website:
www.rangeus.com

and here's what my daily commute will look like:

gross.

new site

2007-05-02T12:56:00.001-05:00

new folio site!
check it!

ps: matt and i ended up not participating in the insomnia photo contest because we came to the realization that we don't have a lot of spare time. in hind sight, it was a good decision because my work load has let me only get six hours of sleep since monday at 7am. sorry to disappoint you if you were really looking forward to seeing a photo.

insomnia

2007-04-27T18:01:00.001-05:00

the assignment is to shoot a photo that best represents the word “GROWTH.”

submission soon to follow.

summer internships

2007-04-23T01:04:00.001-05:00

so i've been interviewing around for internships and here's where i've hit so far:
warren douglas
range
2c design

also, my uncle scott called me the other day and said "he knows a guy" and is trying to get me to internship up in milwaukee. there are plenty of pros and cons with this situation. the pluses are that the guy told scott they'll pay me 12-15 dollars an hour, and while i'm there i'd be living with either scott and meg or my grandparents which means free lodging and food. on the flipside, the place he wants me to intern at turns out to actually be a printing press called burton & mayer inc. i haven't actually talked to the guy yet, but on first impression from their website and the type of company they are, i don't think it's what i'm looking for. also, what would i do with myself for three months during those times when i'm not at work besides go to summerfest and a lot of brewers games? what are your thoughts?

and if there are any other places i should check out for an internship, please, let me know.

the tale of the island party shirt.

2007-04-13T12:09:00.001-05:00

island party is an annual outreach event put on by my fraternity, brothers under christ, and is going to be held on april 21. i am currently the t-shirt design chair and i run a committee of five guys. so naturally with a big event like island party, we need soemthing to sell to the masses. this being my last semester to design t-shirts for byx, i decided to do this design solo without the rest of the committee. after sketching out many concepts, i came up with this sketch and presented it to the officers on april 1st to make sure it's kosher to put on a shirt.

they freakin loved it and said go for it. it's a rendering of jesus to look like one of those hula things you put on your dashboard. and it fits perfectly for an event like island party. it's a fun event and the shirt needs to reflect that, as well as showing that contrary to stereotypes, christians don't have a "no fun allowed" attitude on life. so the officers told me to go ahead and finish it and get it to the guy that usually prints our shirts asap. so i did so. i came up with a final front and back image and sent it to joey on the morning of the 10th. these are the finished designs:

ok, awesome. i'm done.

not quite. on wednesday night on my way back from a texas rangers loss at the ballpark, i get a call from the officers. they tell me they don't want to use the front design for the island party shirts anymore because it is a negative portrayal of jesus. really? a flowered hawaiian shirt and a ukelele create a negative image? i don't really see it. well they go on to explain that a few people have gone to them and said it's not the way jesus should be illustrated because it's not going get people to want to seek a personal relationship with him. the term marijuana was also brought up in describing the picture.

first off, it's completely unprofessional and ridiculous that they okayed the design and then changed their mind a week and a half later and after the design was already sent in. i work for free and spent a good twelve to fourteen hours on the project. doing what they did is no way to treat someone who's working pro bono. if they had any second thoughts about the design, they should have killed it back in the draft stages, not after the design is completely finished, and certainly not after it's been sent to the printer who's running a business.

second, there is no way the image i created generates a negative portrayal of jesus. it's a cartoon based illustration with a ukelele and a huge smile. how does that create negative thoughts in anyone? and just because he has long hair and a beard, that doesn't mean he's a doobie-smoking hipster. google search images of jesus and all of them show a long haired and bearded man.

i sat there and thought about it for a bit and i sketched out an image of what seems to be really portrayed in my original design:

they both look awfully alike, don't they?

anyway, they had cancelled all the orders from joey, which he had already started printing. so now byx is out of an amount of money equal to 200 t-shirts. they then called me thursday morning and said they want to keep the back design but want me to come up with a new front one by friday. i told them no, they need to find someone else to make the shirts and that they may not use my back design. and that was that. later that day they sent out a mass email to all the byx members with the new shirt designs:

yeah, that shirt's going to make a lot of people seek a personal relationship with jesus. as my roommate dave specha described it "that new shirt ranks about a 1.5 on the one through ten scale of good shirt designs" and he's a pre-med major and knows not much about design.

utterly ridiculous.

the calm.

2007-03-10T00:55:00.001-06:00

peace out, hombres!

as i walk through the valley.

2007-02-27T02:17:00.001-06:00

spring break is 11 days away.
unfortunately i have to go through hell to get to it.

-publication design editorial spread
-corporate identity sketchbook
-art history critical synopsis
-publication design sketchbook
-corporate identity letterhead package
-art history midterm
-screenprint #2
-screenprint #3
-publication design magazine cover
-portfolio for dsvc conference
-rec center design
-byx intramural tshirt design

v-day.

2007-02-14T17:58:00.002-06:00

happy valentine's day.

the art of versions.

2007-02-10T10:46:00.001-06:00

i was browsing the apple homepage this morning and found an article in which two guys named neal ashby and matthew curry designed the cd packaging for a band called the thievery corporation influenced by the black and white line drawings of the beatles' revolver album.

they built a site dedicated to the art of the new cd package for the thievery corporation's new cd versions. it's pretty amazing what they did. check it.

cold turkey.

2007-02-07T01:15:00.001-06:00

i found an article today that stated most women prefer new clothes over sex. the average woman would be willing to give up sex for 15 months for a new wardrobe. i wasn't aware that those two subjects could be comparable. are women really that intense about clothes, or did they randomly poll the wrong 1000 women? granted i'm no expert on either subject, but the poll results just seemed a little odd to me. i kinda feel like asking the girls i know what they think about it, but that might not be any of my business.

a followup to yesterday's post.

2007-01-25T14:04:00.002-06:00

voila.

slacker to the max.

2007-01-24T01:17:00.001-06:00

it's only post number four on this new blog thing and i'm already sucking at keeping up with it.

this past weekend i went to the senior conference that tcu put on. the goal of it was to help the graduating seniors figure out what to do in that transition between college and "the real world." it was informative, but geez i'm not looking forward to it. i would much rather stay oblivious to the world in college.

in other news, my room is a mess and desperately needs to be cleaned.

welcome back.

2007-01-16T08:48:00.002-06:00

unfortunately, today is back to school day. we'll have to see how the classes will turn out.