onClick

Ratapatooey!

2008-05-07T15:19:00.000-07:00

I like watching the Food Network, with Iron Chef, Good Eats, Nigela Express, Tyler's Ultimate and Everyday Italian being some of my favourite shows. Infact, me and my wife like it so much that we fall asleep and wake up to it! But alas, after a cowerk of mine shared this link and this here link, things will never be the same again...

"Mommy." (Photo courtesy of TVgasm)

Every Dog Has His Day

2008-05-05T06:41:00.000-07:00

I was just browsing thru my old bookmark archive when I stumbled onto this. Ah yes, the good ol' Apple days... I missed it so much that it inspired me to redraw the entire thing in Illustrator and create an alternate icon for Safari, which in my humble opinion, should have been called Cyberdog just to keep the memories alive.

You can download a copy of the icon here (Leopard-ready of course).

Hurdles

2008-05-02T13:50:00.000-07:00

Usually, when I encounter a job attached to a client who is very ~~uncompromising~~ ~~adamant~~ particular about every single aspect of the design process, a little voice inside my head would tell me to slowly start backing away and then run for the hills. Alas, it seems that I either fail to listen to myself or I have awfully slow reaction times...

I Design

2008-04-22T07:49:00.000-07:00

These past few days, I've been given more and more liberty (and responsibility) to handle the complex design aspects of the company's website and everything else in between. At first I was really ecstatic about the prospect of having this much legroom to stretch out my ideas, but soon enough, reality started sinking in and I began to worry about what to do — second guessing is a big creative no-no, especially during crunch time.

So short of panicking and jumping off a cliff in a desperate attempt to avoid the inevitable, I commenced going through the virtual list in my head of what I needed to get done. And in the process of doing self inventory and soul searching for design ideas and inspirational articles, I came across this one article about Steve Jobs' thought process on designing the next big thing:

We figure out what we want. And I think we're pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too. That's what we get paid to do. "So you can't go out and ask people, you know, what the next big [thing.] There's a great quote by Henry Ford, right? He said, 'If I'd have asked my customers what they wanted, they would have told me "A faster horse." ' " (CNNMoney.com)

The man is right. No, the man is a genius! Before you can go out and please everyone, you have to please yourself first. From that moment on, I decided that every project I take on would have my own personal stamp of approval on it. It would include things that reflects my vision, what aesthetically pleases me as an individual, while incorporating the fact that it is for the company.

If I'm not making any sense, let me put it this way, I'll take the company's ideas and philosophies as my very own, and once I take ownership of it, it will be easier for me to express my creativity — be it in layout, brochure or a simple copywritten tagline — since it is my own. And if I can come up with solutions that I think would bring a creative difference to the project, something I as a consumer would want to see and use, tackling it would be a lot easier as opposed to designing to accomodate someone else's taste first.

Ideas come from a collective pool of thought by everyone in this world, and I think it is the designer's job to step into that pool, tap into it's resources, and then bring back that one elusive idea into this realm. Huh? Ok, a client somehow knows what they want, they just can't put their finger on it. Once a designer learns to hone onto this, to focus on that broad, free floating thought, and be able to put it in a tangible form like a logo, or a layout, or to be able to express those thoughts into words, then their job is done. I may be oversimplifying things, but this rationale always gets me through even the most difficult brainstorming droughts.

One design element at a time I suppose.

Design Is Cheap

2008-04-13T17:01:00.000-07:00

I'm usually not a picky graphic designer when it comes to accepting side work. If I have the free time I'll do it, even if it doesn't really amount to much. But as of late, I have been rethinking my freelance methods and have started to weed out more and more jobs and take the time to separate the duds from a true worthwhile project. And the criteria I mostly base whether I should take the project or not is on what the client is willing to invest in the job (time, thought and effort, not just money, but money is also good).

And speaking of 'working for shits and giggles' and the cheapening of what was once considered as top-pay labor, I'm glad someone (graphicpush) finally had the balls and call it out.

Hmm. Yes, by all means, we want to avoid the time and consideration professional designers offer and go right to the lowest common denominator of grade-school dropouts whose portfolio’s crown jewel is a logo for their dad’s wholesale llama manure clearing house. We definitely do not want any in-depth communication. We do not want any understanding of the company, the brand, or the direction and aspirations of the organization. We definitely do not want any long-term working relationships or any real investment in the single most important public-facing piece of design a company owns. We just want a fucking logo for $250.

I for one is a bit frustrated these days how the design process is being reduced to some fastfood type menu where everything is under a buck (and oh, on tuesdays you get three designs for the price of none). Guess what? It doesn't work that way! You ALWAYS get what you pay for, especially in design.

Read the entire article here.

Are We There Yet?

2008-04-11T07:10:00.000-07:00

At long last, Friday has arrived and I couldn't be more elated! For starters, this has definitely been a rough week (read: crapshit days), with a very shorthanded staff plugging away at what could only be described as mountains of work that just keeps growing, the weekend is a welcome refuge for this weary web monkey (and everyone else in our team). Additionally, my folks are in town for the weekend, and as infantile as it might sound (frankly I don't give a rat's ass), I miss my mommy! That's right I said it, I miss my mom's company, and this weekend will be a nice way for us and the rest of my folks (dad and sis) to catch up on things. But first things first, me and my wife are planning to start our little weekend R&R this very evening by maybe finding a good movie to watch and then a relaxing late dinner somewhere in the Summerlin/Boca Park area where restaurants offering some of the best dining experiences are just itching to be discovered. After which as a night cap, maybe a quiet evening stroll down at the Town Square Apple Store.

Mmm... A-p-p-l-e...

Pollen Hate

2008-04-06T17:55:00.000-07:00

Over the past week or so, the air in Las Vegas has not been too kind to allergy sufferers, what with the weather being so dry and the trees injecting pollen throughout the city, it's getting really rough out there. On a recent trip outside the safe confines of our home, I noticed upon returning to the car that it was covered in an almost imperceptible blanket of fine yellow dust. And as soon as I came near to open the door, the settled dust came into action and flogged the surrounding area with pollen cloud.

Shit.

That's all it took for me to start coughing and wheezing like a maniac for what seemed like eternity. Stupid sniper pollen! (Although I understand that it's nothing personal and that it's nature, must you really proliferate so much? Why not do the deed in privacy like the rest of us, eh?) Stupid horny plants.

So back to my hack attacks, when the onslaught of what I call rapid-fire coughing does occur (accompanied by itchy watery eyes and stuffy nostrils no less), the only thing my hapless wife could do is to pound my back and chest with multiple karate chop-like massages and watch in horrified pity as I go through the motions of coughing up a lung (or what's left of it). Gah!

I'm really hoping for a heavy downpour one of these days so that all this crap gets washed out before summer hits. I'm also seriously thinking about purchasing one of those Oreck Professional Air Purifiers (is there a cheaper, amature alternative?) for the house, but until then, Clarinex is my best friend.

Ungh!

2008-03-24T15:39:00.000-07:00

Sick. Swamped. Tired.
And not necessarily in that order.

Operation Ti

2008-03-09T21:22:00.000-07:00

Finally, after putting it off for several days, I took the plunge and decided to crack open Christine's Titanium PowerBook in order to replace the pitifully small capacity and aging hard disk drive. Our local CompUSA was closing shop, and during it's final days, I was able to snag a few items that I normaly wouldn't get at full price, including wireless cards, cables and a Seagate 120GB (5400 RPM) ATA laptop drive for only $60. It's amazing what a bigger and faster drive (up from the previous 30GB/4200RPM) can do to an older Mac, it's like the lil' fella got a new lease on life! Finally, that dreaded 'spinning beach ball' seems to be making a lesser appearance.

Serious Shit

2008-02-28T16:45:00.000-08:00

J&D's Bacon Salt, everything should taste like bacon, it says.
And I whole heartedly couldn't agree more.

Wallpaper

2008-02-27T10:21:00.000-08:00

While I'm in this Apple posting binge, please allow me to share with you my newest fave wallpaper for the iPhone (it's a nice homage to the old Sad Macs of yore). Ah, the glory days of System 6, for me, that's where it all started...

PS. Thanks Sekeol ol' chap, for the nice find.

One, Two, Three...

2008-02-26T07:03:00.000-08:00

If you haven't noticed already, today is Tuesday, and Tuesday means new release day for Apple fans. So what does the good folks over at Cupertino have instore for us this week? Well, three actually: hot on the rumormill trail, Apple just announced a refreshed line of MacBook Pros and MacBooks. The updated portable powerhouse(s) mostly addressed CPU speed bumps (sporting the new Penryn Intel chips) and other hardware upgrade niceties (bigger drives, mutli-touch track pads, LED-lit screens, etc.), but no form factor changes like most people were hoping for.

Apple also quietly made the 2GB iPod shuffle available (up from their previous coming soon announcement). It's a good thing I was able to return the shuffle I got Christine before the 14-days return policy was up, at least now I can get her the same iPod with twice the capacity! And lastly there's the iPhone/Touch firmware update to 1.1.4. Other than "bug fixes", Apple isn't saying much about this update but I'm sure its prepping our devices for bigger and better things like the upcoming SDK (software developer kit). If you have your iPhone jailbroken and unlocked, the ZiPhone supposedly still works albeit it's author Zibri cautions people to hold off any upgrading until everything is thoroughly checked out.

Personally, I stopped jailbreaking my phone since the v.1.1.2 update. I simply got tired of doing the update-jailbreak dance and figured I'd just wait for Apple's official release of applications through the SDK.

So there, yes, now I'm off to ogle at the new MacBook Pros...

Natch

2008-02-25T19:49:00.000-08:00

As if the iPhone's form factor wasn't sexy enough, some enterprising individual decided to take it up a notch by coating the stock stainless steel bezel and Apple logo in either TiN and/or TiAlN (Titanium-Nitrogen, and Titanium-Aluminum-Nitrogen) through a process known as "plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition" and then (black) hard anodizing the aluminum backplate to complete the transformation. The result (depending on which coat is used) is a stunning combination of gold bling and black or an all-out stealthy black look. The finish is tauted to give the iPhone added durability against scratches from day to day abuse, and let's not forget, that oh so sexy blacked-out finish. Read here for more details regarding the process, then come back to this site and drop two-bills (along with your iPhone) for that ultimate case mod. As for yours truly, I think I'll stick with my $20 Agent18 plastic case until Apple comes out with it's own black iPhone (or $200 magically finds it's way into my wallet).

Yo Mama

2008-02-20T07:11:00.000-08:00

Whenever I see a rerun of that 'Yo Mama' Amp commercial, it never fails to crack me up! So for my own juvenile gratification, I decided to round up my favorites...

Nǐ māma hăo chǒu，ràng yángcōng yě kū le.

(Yo mama is so ugly she made an onion cry!)

你妈妈好丑，让洋葱也哭了。

Yo mama is so fat when she wore a Malcolm X shirt, a helicopter landed on her.

Yo momma so stupid she could trip over a cordless phone!

Yo mamma is so fat she had to get baptized at sea world.

Yo mama is so fat when she walked down the street a policeman said break it up.

Yo momma so poor she can't afford to pay attention!

Must Be Friday

2008-02-15T06:42:00.000-08:00

Oh lazy, lazy internet.

Won't you please heed the help which this distraught designer seeks? I have googled high and low for inspiration, a muse perhaps, that would enlighten the otherwise darkened halls of my creative sense. Many results came afoot, none delighted. I ask not for a handout but rather a thought, the root from which will blossom a web site design so ideal for a certain client that they would want more of it. Thereafter, feelings of generous gratuities (far more than what I had asked for) would be the end result.

Sounds simple enough, yes?

But with so many things going on inside my head, I can't wrap my brain around one single idea (ah, the voices — stop already!). All I need really is a small push to get me over the design slump threshold... Think online merchants. Think credit card machines. Think Vegas. ~~Think Elvis in a Hummer.~~ Think corporate whizbang!

And then, package all that for less than what you would normally charge your mother.

It's not fair.

Crave

2008-02-14T06:10:00.000-08:00

Just a couple of days before her birthday (Valentine's day girl!), we decided to pay our local Honda dealership a visit in hopes of snagging a good deal on a new car purchase. Although Christine's current Honda Accord was still in very good shape, we wanted to trade it in for a mid-size SUV type car while the odds was on our side, and the 2008 CR-V fit the bill. So after some requisite haggling, we finally drove off the dealer lot with the vehicle we exactly wanted: trim level (EX), color (silver), 4WD, and most importantly the payment terms (same as the Accord's). My only regret was that I wasn't more adamant about having the roof rack and side steps thrown in the accessories package, but at least we got the floormats set and custom dash cover for gratis.

Webmastah

2008-02-04T22:27:00.000-08:00

It's been a quiet blog around here lately, and that's because I spend most of my time doing webmaster duties for two other (busy) websites, namely bessiebadilla.com and queenbessie.com. Hopefully, with the Carnaval (São Paulo, Brasil) coming to a close last weekend, things will get back to a more manageable level.

By the way, congrats to Ate Bessie (and Escola de Samba Vai Vai) for clinching the title as 2008 Carnaval Champions! Celebratory drinks are in order!

MacHeist Bundle

2008-01-21T09:48:00.000-08:00

It's that time of the year again when the good folks at MacHeist unleash to the masses their wildly popular collection of apps (14 total!) bundled into a singular and affordable price! This sale only lasts for two weeks, so head on over and get your hands on the best Mac software deal before it ends on the 23rd!!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T18:15:00.000-08:00

If you find yourself in the Las Vegas area next year to ring in the new year, instead of heading out to Las Vegas Boulevard to get a glimpse of the fireworks show, you might want to try heading west-bound instead and park your car around Spring Mountain and Tenaya. Most locals (in-the-know) wanting to get a full panoramic and unobstructed view of the fireworks extravaganza sans chaos of being at The Strip go this route. Be sure to bundle up and bring warm blankets!

The Office

2007-12-20T13:39:00.000-08:00

Earlier today, I got called into a midday meeting. Unexpected and having no clue as to what the agenda was, I came into it a bit apprehensive, but came out of it with an undeniably huge smile on my face accompanied with pats on the back from upper management. With the new responsibilities, I was also given my own digs to boot!

Despite the exhausting task of transplanting my entire work space today, I still managed to get things up and running before the end of the day (and our company Christmas party). Still settling-in though...

Revisiting The M8

2007-12-19T10:24:00.000-08:00

An insight to James Russell and his Leica M8

I love cameras that are strange and force me to see the world just a little bit differently than I did yesterday, because that’s what photography is all about, seeing the world just a little bit differently. (Leica M8 Revisited by James Russell via Daring Fireball)

Now if I can only afford a $5K+ German-made camera (sans lens!) and become a decent photographer in the process, but since I'm neither, I think I'll just stick to daydreaming and my little Nikon point-and-shooter.

Morning Break

2007-12-14T09:34:00.000-08:00

While walking towards the break room vicinity, I noticed several of my cowerks, mulling around the kitchen. Curiosity in check, I doubled back to see for myself what the commotion was about...

Me: Um, what's goin' on?

Cowerk 1: We're out of coffee! (shivers)

Cowerk 2: And, I think the water cooler is leaking (proceeds to mop the floor with handfuls of paper towels).

Me: Ah, that's because it prolly had too much to drink!

Me: Ha-ha!

Everyone: *silence*

Buon Appetito

2007-12-02T23:40:00.000-08:00

So this weekend (together with Alex and birthday boy Jay), we decided to tag along with my wife for her teacher appreciation luncheon hosted by the St. Joseph's Husband of Mary faculty. The event was held at a quaint sports bar slash family restaurant located in the middle of the posh Summerlin area called Carmine's Little Italy. And as you guessed it, the place was frequented largely by Italian patrons, which to me, is a good sign that the place serves authentic Italian cuisine. But what stuck in my head throughout most of the day (aside from the good eats) was the pun adorning the license plate number frame of the enormous Lincoln Towncar, which apparently belongs to the priest hosting the occassion (as my wife pointed it out):

Italians never die, they just pasta away.

Amen to that father.

Mmm... Tuuuurkeeey

2007-11-21T12:50:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy short week, with even a much shorter day this Wednesday. And on that note, the big bosses gave us an early time off today until Friday to enjoy the holidays (and of course pillage the outlets come black friday). Have a great Thanksgiving weekend everyone!

Death By Butter

2007-11-19T15:16:00.000-08:00

I like my butter as much as the next guy. I mean, butter makes everything taste great, even broccoli. But sometimes you encounter a dish that just either makes you go wow or how, and Paula Deen (Food Network's queen of southern cuisine) managed to do just that. Just imagine: butter and cream cheese (mixed and formed into little individual balls), battered up with seasoned bread crumbs, and then dropped into the deep-fryer! Oh my, that sounds like a coronary waiting to happen, or, a really yummy midnight snack. Oof! (link via Serious Eats)