Filed under "Professional"
Sparks
The summer of 1997 was a turning point. After wandering down various roads, unsure of what I was supposed to do with my life, I had recently finished all the college I was willing to take. Hopeful that my aptitude for a newfound love of 3D modeling and animation was enough, I had applied for a job with the only gaming company that I knew of in my home state of Texas: id Software, makers of such classics as Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Quake.
I never heard back, but something else happened that summer that changed my life forever.
Wherein I Shamelessly Pimp My New Employer's Service.
As I post this, I am about to enjoy a 10-minute commute to a brand new job. I have joined the team of energetic and passionate folks at Viewzi…
Refresh Dallas.
Refresh Dallas was originally the brainchild of designer Eris Free. It is an effort to form a face-to-face community of web standards-oriented individuals working and living in the greater Dallas/Forth Worth area. After a long hiatus, the group is back in the swing of things and has organized a meeting!
The Low-Down
- When: November 10th at 7:30 pm
- Where: Christopher Parr Library, Plano TX
- What’s going on: Garrett Dimon and Stephen Anderson of Bright Corner will be discussing current trends in Information Architecture including folksonomies, faceted classifications, site maps, wireframes, page description diagrams, HTML rapid prototyping, and more.
- Who’s invited: Anyone interested in smart design and web standards in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
Refresh is in need of many individual volunteers to organize, plan, and execute the functions of the organization. A strong community needs strong activity, so show up and participate!
P.S. – There will be free pizza. That is all.
SXSW: The Recap.
Not much to report on regarding today’s road trip to the SXSW Trade Show + Exhibition. It was really a lot smaller that I expected. Having never been before, however, my expectations of a Sigraph-scale event may have been a bit ambitious. We got there around noon and perused all the booths, picking up a free doodad here and there. When I passed by the Barnes & Noble table, I thought I saw someone familiar sitting behind it, but I thought “Nah.” But a timely retreat to the table revealed that, yes, it was Mr. Zeldman doing a booksigning. I suddenly got nervous, and I’m sure I came off as a total dork. Oh, well. At least he recognized my logo from my namebadge. Joe Clark was there, too. It was a brief encounter, but a good one.
And being in Austin, we had to hit the Apple store. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a store where I pretty much wanted everything in it. It was everything I hoped it would be: clean, metal-clad and organized. I’m such a nerd.
I regret having to miss all the really cool stuff like the Design Eye for the Idea Guy panel, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles. At least I got to get out to one event.
Catching Up.
The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity. WARNING: The following article contains no Textpattern tips, CSS-related discussion or recipes for chocolate cake.
Gittin’ Some ADDY® Love
Saturday, February 19th marked G2E’s foray into the world of design competition. It was also our first year attending the San Antonio ADDY® Awards, and we did so in style. The limo picked us up and we proceeded to drive 2 blocks to the Convention Center. Actually, the Convention Center is 2 blocks away, but we drove around a bit and took shots at predicting how we would do that evening. As it turns out, we did better than we expected. Out of 12 entries, we won seven awards. Most notable for me were Gold ADDY® awards for the Blue Star Ointment website and our own G2E website. We also won a Special Judges Award for the Blue Star site, which was quite flattering. The 10th District ADDY® Awards are here in San Antonio on April 10th, and both of our Gold winning sites will advance to that event. Exciting!
The Dynasty Continues
It’s been about 3 weeks since Jessica and I decided to go down to the pet store and fill our empty cage with two warm and fuzzy baby rats. We named them Digger and Speedy, based on their most entertaining attributes. And since I am surely the last blogger on earth to own a digital camera, you will have to wait until I paint a fresco on the side of my cave to see just how cute my baby rats are.
Freelancing Bonanza!
I’ve been swamped with work outside of work, ifyaknowwhatimean. From quick ‘n’ dirty graphics work to working with some pretty cool designers, the month of February has kept my mouse in double-click heaven. No doubt a more informative article will follow shortly with all the juicy details that can’t be dished right now.
G to tha Exciting
On top of all this, we have some pretty snazzy work coming out of our little company right now (dare I say 2006 ADDY® award-winning material, hmmm?). A portfolio upgrade is in the near future, methinks.
All in all, I’m a happy camper. Busy is the way I like my work schedule, and it’s just gravy when the projects are creatively freeing and interesting.