What do you do to best represent you?

Quick note: I initially wrote this as a submission to another site that was asking people to contribute their thoughts behind the idea of non-graphic (i.e. account management) professionals having a portfolio. At the time, I was still searching for work and put together the post below. However, I didn’t complete the write up in time to be considered, as the site had already selected the post to publish. Given that it’s been over 7 months since I wrote this, I figured it would be OK to publish on my site, with some minor edits. With that being said, here are my thoughts on the subject of having a portfolio.

I suppose the very people who are going to overlook this post are the very people that this is being written for. If you’re a Graphic/Print/Web designer, then this post isn’t really for you, because you already (or should already) know the reasons why you should have one. For everyone else who was not previously mentioned, please follow along.

During the course of working in various advertising agencies, in-house departments and everything in-between, you more than likely worked on a slew of projects that are behind closed doors and locked cages. You contributed blood, sweat and tears into new branding concepts and advertising campaigns, only to lock them down behind barred walls for others to view as they pass by. And you move on as the next new beast comes into your zoo. This cycle continues to repeat itself. Each time some new design was completed and approved that designer(s) quickly took a snapshot for him/herself, because they knew what it meant: Another proof of their mastery and skill. Another proof of their contribution and completed work in taming the beast that was your project. But my question to you is: what about you?

You also contributed to finished designs and helped to guide the final product as well. When you saw something that was amiss, you pointed it out. When a proof was provided to you that didn’t fit with the client’s objectives, you asked for it to be re-done. Yet, as Account Managers/Executives, Proofreaders, Traffickers and etc… why haven’t you also considered sponging a copy for yourself. There are elements of you in that finished layout and it is evidence of your advertising identity.

A portfolio is not only for our better halves (i.e. graphic designers). It’s also for you and I.

Portfolios should show your greatest hits, just like an iPod plays your favorite music. What you put in it represents your style and ability to manage a project to completion. It reflects a commitment to ensure the final piece is accurate and that it was approved as having met the need of the client that it was produced for. It is your history, just as much as it is the person who actually did the design work. When you’re in the interview and the question comes up, “What was the last project you worked on and how did it turn out?”, wouldn’t it be nice to say, “Here, let me show you and explain how it was utilized”. When a client asks for the previous work you’ve done, so that they can discern the truth in your representation of being the best person they should let manage their advertising projects, do you really want to have an empty bag to present your past accomplishments? Even though I have only worked for a few years in this industry, each time that I went out on an interview, I had my portfolio with me. Sure it is short and it doesn’t reflect every bit of work or projects that I’ve been a part of, but it reflects what I consider the very best of my contribution to each of the projects that I am showcasing.

Further, your portfolio is a conversation starter and if presented right, can be very engaging. At the very least, you have the opportunity to deter the enormous amount of questions that are waiting to come your way, while you break down the ice in your interview. It’s a yielding moment that the interviewer provides to you, which allows you to gain more comfort with presenting your past hits and it’s in that moment that you can calm yourself for the remainder of the interview. Nothing is easier, then to discuss past projects as you flip through the pages of your previous work, because, at the heart of it all, you are talking about yourself.

Essentially, a portfolio maintains your zoo.

Stop leaving your successes behind.

Take your snapshots of the tamed projects of your past and lean on them once more to champion you through to that next beast of a project from a client and/or career opportunity.

——-@ds

There and back again…

The weekend of 8/21 finally came and went, and I was able to participate in a mini vacation with friends. We went to Captiva Island, which is on the southwest Florida coastline. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to have a mini vacation (not including the two recent bachelor parties, ;p ), let alone a real one. Although it was only for a day and a half; it’s a start.

While we tried to snorkel (my first time), the water appeared a bit too murky that day to continue doing so. Later, we came back at night to fish, but the mosquitoes won the evening. The next day, before we left, two of the guys went fishing; one needed his beauty sleep (Pablo), and I went for about a 2-mile walk along the beach shore. It was a great time for me to think and reflect on a few things.

Captiva has a number of restaurants such as The Mucky Duck (horrible website design, sorry… 8.18.11 as I was updating my website, I visited The Mucky Duck’s site. It has been updated and it’s as mucky as it previously was, ;p) and the Holy Smoke Heavenly BBQ; the two that we went to for dinner. There’s a nice quaint, but eclectic place that we went into, but didn’t dine in called The Bubble Room (yet another website design that makes you wonder why…). This place is filled with pictures of classic era actresses and actors; desserts lined up on both sides of its entrance and an all around carnival-like atmosphere. If I ever return, I will have to take time out to dine at this restaurant.

The Mucky Duck, while reminiscent of an Irish bar has a restaurant within it as well. This place was simply amazing, for one simple fact, it’s a restaurant with a great view of the beach that it sits on. While the food was good, especially their Quack-Quack Shrimp, it was having a table near the window and watching the sun set with an unobstructed view that really set the tone. (Three guys at the table, pictured from left to right are: Pablo, Jason and Seth).

Some of the best BBQ I have had in Florida so far, was at the Holy Smoke Heavenly BBQ. Upon entering, you would think this is one of those locations that charges a lot for their BBQ, while giving very little, but we received a great portion for the price. They serve Angus burgers which look delectable. I almost wish I had gone back just to try that before I left.

On our way out on Sunday morning we stopped off at Sunset Grill (no direct website url, sorry). A small restaurant with great pancakes, omelets and fresh-squeezed orange juice!

I hope to be able to take more vacations in the future and most importantly, internationally, now that I also have my passport (another ‘finally’). It’s also nice to be able to spend this time with friends and simply relax. While my new job (just under 6 months now) brings financial stability, the real freedom came when I was laid off and decided to file for bankruptcy almost 8 months into my unemployment. Most of the credit has gone away, which has only left me with about 6 bills to pay each month. Only two are loans: my car (which will end in a year if I continue paying month to month, or in the next few months if I decide to pay it off early) and my student loans. And, I’m proud to say that I am almost 5 years strong without having to use a single credit card for anything.

The veil has been lifted and my life is slowly gaining steam. Being free of the debt, having a new job and the financial ability has finally come together to allow me the opportunity to take part in these excursions that I always had to decline in the past, even before the lay off.

As I said, it was only a day and a half, but the time spent with friends was unforgettable and the drive down and back was some of the most fun I have had in a while.

Running without condition is taking shape even more than before!

——-@ds

Located below are some additional pics of the trip!

A picture of the pier at the South Seas Island Resort

Another picture from the beach front of The Mucky Duck

Today counts as the first day that I have written a blog post using my new iPhone 4. No, I am not gloating, but I am really enjoying the device and all the functionality that comes with it. I am typing this post using the wordpress app that I just downloaded. I just had to enable an XML feature within my self-hosted WordPress blog and I was off.

The interesting thing that even caused me to question using the WordPress app was the pic that I took when I went out for a morning walk. I saw a puzzle piece on the ground and thought that it looked like a piece of the sky laying on the concrete sidewalk. I walked past it initially, while listening to music on my phone, and then turned around to revisit it. A secondary thought came to mind about how I should take a pic of it and post it to my blog. And that’s when it hit me, I now have a phone that can do all of this. The camera on my previous phones had never been good enough, but that’s all different now. Fact is, I don’t know if I’ll make another post from this phone or not, but it’s nice to have that option now.

——-@ds

Again

All the things that you want out of life, but can not have. Those tender moments that are sometimes so sweet and peculiar that you know you will never experience them again. Or, just the yearning for something that will always outpace you. These are the thoughts that always haunt me. Everyday, it’s the realization of an explicit rule that somewhere along the lines became written without my consent or knowledge. And it strips everything from me. It dangles the possibility in front of me, while pulling it away just far enough for me to know, and yet, never achieve. It’s there and it is everywhere. It’s the sign on my forehead that I can’t read, but bears a foreboding to everyone. I try to scrub it off and attempt to remove it, but it just won’t leave.

I want and am left wanting. I yearn and am left without.

I’ve tried and I’ve failed. And it’s always the same. I’m the one always left watching and I suppose if fate is real, then maybe this was supposed to be my path. I am curious as to why. I question what makes the alternative so much better, or why I desire it. I can’t, for the life of me, understand why this other path is so damn special, or figure it out. But I know I can’t be part of it. I suppose I’ll never know the answers to these specific wonders and maybe that’s the point; it’s not meant for me to know. I wish this wasn’t the case.

There was a lot of things in my life I thought I had accepted, but sometimes the reality of those things come back in full force that no matter how much you want to fight against it, you can’t do anything but sit there and accept it. I’m always at my best when I am in the middle of something terrible. But when the sea is calm, I always feel like a fish without water. Always gasping and straining for something that I can’t attain.

So, I am full circle (again) to where I was a few years ago (no, not the job, that’s fine) and I am having to accept what I thought I had already let go. I guess I didn’t. I suppose I have to.

These are my brief thoughts about a life that is less.

——-@ds

Get In The Game (or out of it?)

As a child of the late 70′s (1977), I was part of the generation that grew up playing video games, both at home and at the arcade. When I think back on my history with this illusory past time, I remember all the fun and excitement that I had with playing them. Yet, at some point in my life I grew past playing video games all the time. I don’t quite recall when the turning point was, but I also know it never fully left. The last console I purchased was the Gamecube Nintendo and that all changed a little over 6 months ago. During a pre-black Friday sale, I bought an Xbox 360. For a brand new system, I paid only 99 dollars. I figured it was a good deal and given the hell of a year it has been, it was the first “gift” to myself in a long time (even before the lay offs). After buying this system, I got it home and opened it up, just to make sure everything was in the box. Then I packed it up and put it in a storage bin where it sat for a little over three weeks. And again, that all changed months ago. So, as of today, I have been actively playing my Xbox 360 and using the Xbox Live service. I’m meeting up with some friends online and meeting some new gamers via the online games that I have. I’m enjoying it a lot and the more I play the more I start remembering the part of me that I left behind, and how I used to be.

Over the past eight years I have had a few skirmishes here and there with playing video games, but even with my new console, I still haven’t scratched the surface of the hours I used to give to my gaming past. In many ways, I am glad that this is the case. However, there has always been, and I suspect always will be, a desire in me to get back into heavy gaming. Even though I have controlled the habit over the years, I still get that persistent itch once in a while and I have given into a few all night sessions. However, after getting back into the groove, I’ve started to reflect upon my memories as a child growing up in Seattle, WA, California and later in Oklahoma and Minnesota; a reflection of how much video games were a part of my life. Another reminder of this fact actually came to me prior to purchasing this Xbox 360 when I watched the movie, “The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters” back in June or August of 2009. Now for me, the arcade game of choice from the classic arcade game era was the fast version of Ms. Pac-man.

I clearly remember being a very young kid, unable to reach the joystick on the system, but wanting to play. Every once in a while, my mom would take me to this BBQ shack that was around the corner from our apartment in Seattle, WA, and she would sometimes provide me with up to five dollars in quarters, put them down on a table and then hold me up to the video game to let me play. I believe this was the juncture for me that started my descent ascent into gaming. As time went on, I was brought up on Nintendo consoles. Through the years, I never swayed from Nintendo, until recently. When I was of age, I also gamed at local video game arcades, comic book shops that, at that time, had arcades in their stores and pretty much anywhere else that I could pop in a quarter. And they were everywhere for me. I swear, the 80′s to early/mid 90′s were a great era for arcade gaming.

Arcade gaming provided something that console gaming, at the time, never could: community interaction of like mindedness. It also provided the aspect of direct competition and the warrior mentality of wanting to be the best (in a digital world). And this was the life for me. Some of my best times and friendships were made, even if temporarily, with people whom you only saw at the arcade. Hanging out and talking about the newest game or some new, secret path you found in Mario Bros.; or how you demolished a friend at your home on some past night. Standing around, with your quarter on a machine in a line of quarters denoting your spot in the imaginary line that is winding and crunching all around the game as everyone is watching another person(s), play the latest and greatest and being in awe of their mastery. Asking someone how they did a move or sweating in the heat of the moment as you’re accomplishing some new goal on a game that you’ve played over and over again, but at that moment it feels like it is a first time experience. Finding a quarter or a token on the ground, because you knew you didn’t have any more money to play, but if you could find that one coin you could be the best for one more evening (or at least kill more time from having to return home where chores and boredom awaited). Being in an arcade was like being in another world, one in which you rose and fell based on the power of your gaming.

The movie The Wizard, starring Fred Savage (the child actor from “The Wonder Years”), was the movie that you had to see back then. It was the movie for us in the gaming world, even though it was very cheesy (you never admitted it then, because you couldn’t see that aspect. In hindsight, even if it’s a whisper, you have to admit it); it still pressed upon the desire of the inner gamer to be the best at what you play. The song, from Karate Kid, “You’re The Best” by Joe Esposito was informally adopted in my gaming mind (and I suspect many others in the gaming community). I had that song in my mind so many times, even today it sneaks back in, “You’re the best–around–nothing’s gonna ever keep you down… you’re the best–around…” I mean, who didn’t hum that song at least once while destroying a competitor or obtaining that next level unseen before. I know I did.

Now, I am full circle to where I am at today. With a new job and career in tow, and my first new console after skipping a console generation of gaming; I enjoy how powerful this system is and the games that I am playing (Left 4 Dead 2, Borderlands and Army of Two: The 40th Day). Yet, I still find myself longing for more. I’m sure others would disagree or consider it not as important, but that external interaction with others in a sea of machines with the imaginations of their creators displayed for our enjoyment was unlike any experience that a console can currently provide and yet, this disparity will soon diminish as time goes on. As fun as it is for me to play with friends online and with new gamers that are waiting to join up to play the same game, I still feel as if something is missing. What we gain in the online connection of our systems, we lose in that social interaction that was so prevalent at an arcade. Sure we can chat and even video chat online, play the game together and do all the things you could do at an arcade, but it can’t take the place of those times when you would high five someone for doing something great; grabbing the person next to you as someone achieves something unseen before; besting player after playing during Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat and being able to watch them leave in defeat. And yes, even the face to face shit talking. I realize most of this is still able to be done through our consoles, but there’s a unique experience when you’re physically next to others while it is happening. I suspect that gaming may never truly see its way back to an arcade environment again, outside of a few niche areas or some ‘event’ that is taking place, but what a wild ride it was and I wish some of these younger gamers could truly experience what those in my age group grew up with.

——-@ds

The title says it all and to be honest, I’ve been very busy with a few things. I haven’t forgotten about this blog, but I have been neglecting it (can you really neglect a blog?). I’m committed to continue writing and expressing my opinions and thoughts. I’ve had a few of my readers (wow, I actually have a few, that’s awesome!) ask me if I have any more planned content. I can tell you that I have a few posts that are still being written. I know that I want to write about my personal year in review, but when I was laid off, I had an abundance in time. Now that I am working again, having moved, getting my life back together and setting things up on a personal front; the act of writing has taken a back seat.

As of today, I am looking forward with the same perspective I had during my lay off. I want to continue this with a renewed vigor and spirit. I still find how amazing it is that as we stand in the middle of the constant shifting that happens around us, there are still those pocket moments of opportunity that make themselves available at odd moments in our life and allows one to step through to other possibilities. I firmly believe this and I think this is becoming one of those times for me to get back to this blog.

——-@ds

I wanted to take a brief moment and make a new post. I haven’t posted in a while, because I’ve been setting up this blog and trying to mold it into something that I was comfortable with. I’m at a point that I am happy with its current version, but I am just lacking a logo at this point. That will be coming soon. Setting up my own site, installing wordpress (manually), finding and editing themes, installing a comment system,working with plugins; essentially creating the initial building blocks of my personal site has been a great, but trying experience. It’s a useful skill to have and it is something I want to have more experience with.

I did this during my spare time when I was laid off and solely as a hobby. Currently, I am employed, but still on a contract basis, however, this project has taken a slight back seat while I re-adjusted to the working life. I didn’t want to get burned out with doing it, or trying to do it quickly, which is why I went slowly. As of now, I am going to move forward with this site and start the process of leaving my other site that was hosted at wordpress.com.

Lastly, I am going to put an end to the “spouting” series. I’ll just stick to regular post titles. Initially, my thought process was to make the “spouting” series a slight deviation of my blog post, although they served the same purpose. The distinction is negligible and thus, unnecessary. It’s quite possible I may find a better blog-post distinction in the future, but for now, I’m just going to take it one step at a time.

I’m enjoying what this is shaping into and I can’t wait to see how it evolves. I implore anyone that has any hobby or knowledge in anything, even if they do not consider it worth sharing, to give it a shot. I’ve met a lot of interesting people through my blog and the small amount of promotion that I’ve done with it, and you never know how many others may share your interest if you do not take that first step forward and put yourself out there.

Thanks for reading and when my logo is complete, I’ll be sending updates to everyone and will continue running without condition with my blogging!

——-@ds

My soon to be self hosted WordPress blog is coming along very well. I’m taking my time with this, so that I understand fully what is involved and how to manage my blog site going forward. As I stated in Spouting 13, I will be using this blog to detail my progress of my self hosting WordPress install and set up. Afterwards, I will transfer everything over to my self-hosted blog and continue blogging from there.

I decided to use a subdomain of my site to do all of my testing, as I learned that it would be very easy to transfer my completed test blog to my main domain when the time is right. As such, I’ve completed the phase 2 of my sight: installing and playing around with plugins. I haven’t installed every plugin that I will need, but the two that I did install contributed to the learning process for me to know how to actually do the installation. The two plugins that I chose to start with is the All in One SEO Pack and Tweetmeme. Both of these plugins installed quite nicely. WordPress offers a great internal installer. And the beauty of all of this is that you do not need to install directly from WordPress if you choose not to. If you’re interested in doing it manually, you simply need to upload your plugins to the plugins folder on your server via FTP. Not that I’m afraid to do it manually, after all, I’m quite proud of having installed WordPress manually. As noted in my first phase, Spouting 13: WordPress Update, the installation was a piece of cake. I really only had to change 8 lines in one file called: wp-config.php and then upload that file with the rest of the WordPress application files to my root server via an FTP client. Now that I understand the manual process, I don’t have a problem with letting WordPress automate it for me. Another nice feature is that WordPress will decompress the .zip file the plugins come in as part of the auto installation process. I simply can not believe how easy this has been. I also installed a different theme. It’s not the one that I will be using, but I also wanted to understand how theme installations were handled. The fact that WordPress is setup to allow the user to search for and install plugins within its own dashboard is wonderful. This prevents the user from having to go to another site. Yet, if the plugin you want to use isn’t available within the dashboard’s plugins page, then you can still simply upload the .zip file and have WordPress take care of the rest!

As of now, Tweetmeme,was the easiest of the two plugins to understand. Although I have the All in One SEO Pack installed, I’m not sure if it’s really working or how to determine if it is or isn’t. I did a test post, but I didn’t see anything beyond the general stuff that appears with a post. This means that I will simply play around with the plugin a bit more, visit the forums and see what I can discern. For those of you reading this and considering the same, some resources that I found to help me out with this part of my installation were:

My Google seach string for the “must have” plugins for a WordPress blog

WordPress Plugins Page

How To Make My Blog’s 18 Most Downloaded Plugins Ever

Thesis Theme Plugins Customization

Quick Online Tips’ Must Have WordPress Plugins

Business 2 Press’ 30 Must Have WordPress Plugins

Most of the information is repeated in the above links, but I put them in the order that I found them to be most useful. With regards to the Thesis theme, I’m not sure if I will be going this route. It’s a highly customizable theme for WordPress with a very clean structure. If you like to control everything and have the time to invest, then this is the theme for you! My personal opinion, and I could be wrong, but it’s really for those that are more high end users. I’m keeping my eye out on it, maybe one day, but I really like more visually laid out themes, like Elegant Themes, and while I’m still on the fence about which direction I’ll take my blog, I am leaning more towards Elegant Themes. That being said, I will be saving my theme of choice to the very end. As far as plugins are concerned, I would enjoy reading anyone’s suggestions on any other plugins that I should consider using, whether they are on the lists noted by the url’s above or not. I make no promises, but to check them out!

——-@ds

This is going to be quick. I haven’t posted for a while, because I’ve been working since Saturday, September 19, 2009 with setting up my own hosting service for my already purchased domain: runningwithoutcondition.com. I purchased the domain back in May and now am actively working to become acquainted with my own hosting service (which is setup) and the self-hosted version of WordPress (I’m currently testing it out). I want to say that I not only successfully installed it without a problem, but I did it entirely manually. I was only able to do it this way, because I installed it on a subdomain of my main site, while the main domain is still forwarding to this site: laid0ff.wordpress.com. All in all, I’m quite proud to have done it manually, and after it’s been all said and done; it was not difficult at all. I may even do it again, just to make sure I understand the process (OK, maybe not, ;p)

That’s it for now. I’m going to hold of any of my new posts for my new site when it becomes ready. I’ll post status updates here about my progress or any difficulty I may be happening and maybe anyone that has experience could lend some assistance!

I want to thank Adria Richards and Kikolani for all the advice and answers they’ve provided on Twitter/Facebook. You can find these awesome Geek Girls at: (Adria) askadria.com or butyoureagirl.com, and Kikolani at kikolani.com

I also want to thank the following website: howtomakemyblog.com for providing a kickass step by step process, in a non-cluttered way.

Also, WordPress.org for making such a powerful program for free and so extensible!!!

——-@ds

While doing my daily perusing of a few internet sites, I came across a post on Digg.com about a guy who saw an image of a flock of birds sitting on electrical wires. Now, there really isn’t anything truly unique about this picture on its surface as I’m sure we’ve all seen similar scenes in our lives. Yet, it was his interpretation of that image that really piqued my curiosity. Whereas many people see that and just think of a bunch of birds dropping bombs; Jarbas Agnelli, from São Paulo, Brazil, viewed the image as musical notes.

On his vimeo page, he posted a video called Birds on the Wires. This video details the arrangement of the notes and shows how he interlaid the notes over the birds positions on the five electrical wires. You also are shown, while the music is playing, the original image that he saw when he was reading his newspaper that prompted this musical interpretation. Personally, the music is beautiful. It’s not very long, just under 2-minutes. It seems to start off with a very young and curious ambiance. My thoughts were “childish” in nature, but in a positive sense. As the music starts to grow, it blossoms into this very open, yet uplifting arrangement that teeters on the edge of wonder. It is as if the listener is being playfully teased with something that is as close as a whisper, but is never revealed. I find myself in awe each time I have listened to it. What a wonderful piece of music that makes me feel a bit better then I was before, for having listened to it.

Thank you, Jarbas Agnelli, for sharing this with everyone. His local newspaper, (the entire site is in Portugese, so unless you speak the language, which I do not, you’ll have to have it translated) Estadao, has a write up on their site, under their Cidades (Translation: City) tab entitled, “Foto de pássaros no fio publicada no ‘Estado’ vira música” (Rough translation: Stock photo of birds on the wire published in ‘State’ newspaper turns into music). It seems that Jarbas is very talented and creative, as he has other videos on vimeo that displays his other creations. I hope that more sites, readers and people pick this up and pass it along for others to experience.

It’s an oddity how nature continues to find ways to position itself in such manners that leave it open for interpretation and yet, translates so well.

——-@ds

*translations done by wordmonkey.info via iGoogle.