All posts in Life

Junior year is finishing up (this semester is shorter than the rest I think, right?) and has been… busy. Was selected for a web peer review awhile back to discuss the redesign of the Colby-Sawyer College website. Shortly after, I started a freelance job for Calypso Communications rebranding the R.E. Prescott Co., Inc. logo and creating a company brochure.

Summer’s almost here and the internship search is still on. We’ll see what happens.

Major acceptance portfolios were due last week. Not sure when I hear back about the results.

………..new WP theme for the blog, will hopefully have time to play with colors later.

Peter Steese, philosophy professor, gave us our first assignment which was to go to the college library and see how many volumes of books were available. 10,000, we found out. The next class, he pointed out that if we read a book a day for the rest of our lives, we would never be able to read every book, and that’s just one library. For the books you do read, choose wisely.

That was Fall of 2004. This past Thanksgiving break, it was clear to me that the same principles could be applied to nearly all that we do. Something as simple as thoughts and the amount of time and effort we devote to a given subject should be chosen as carefully as the books of a library. Spending too much time worrying will not only thwart productivity but is unhealthy and detracts from the time we could be solving the issue, rather than fretting over it.

Time is a funny thing; you can take it, spend it, even give it, but you’ll never be able to stop it. The best we can do is make the most of what time we do have and enjoy it.

Lately, writing has meant plugging in some headphones to drown the background and cover the sound of clacking keystrokes, but tonight I can’t find a song to match the tune of my thoughts. I’ve been back at school for a couple weeks now. Weekdays are pretty repetitive with just enough time to receive class work but never enough time to complete it. That’s where the weekend comes in, two days of reading, writing, and watching movies for mental breathers.

I’m already bored talking about this, never mind having to start it all over again tomorrow. I’ve left a summer of web design in an atmosphere that trusted me to get shit done. I’d spend 3 hours on the road driving to Hatchling for no pay because at the end of every single day, I left knowing more than I did that morning. The summer kept my mind occupied and I loved it. Tomorrow I’ll probably go to breakfast and hear more of how I “don’t know much” because I may not have taken the same courses at the kid next to me.

My father called today, I guess that’s where I was going with this. Just hearing his voice brings back so much; it’s funny how a 30 second call can remind you of a lifetime. My family, my past, who I am and plan to be, I’m proud of it all. I’m going to bed for now, taken for granted by some, and thought of by the ones who care.

Yep, today was mountiain day. Hardest part was finding the mountain; climbing’s the easy part. Good time, numerous almost-falls, which are often better than the successful face plant. Windmilling limbs, a school girl shriek, and final freezing save in some stance even a ninja couldn’t think up. Can’t pay for better amusement than that.

Snuffleupagus owns.

I got a pair of black on black Converse sneakers for a going away present before returning to school. So far, nothing has topped the shoes.

The usual remains: classes are classes, plenty of new faces, and terrible food. Of more importance, the gym still has heavy things to move, so that’s good. Lifting is an everyday joy and one of the few that I can count on. Aside from that, it’s hotter than hell in my room right now and I was informed today that the two, not one, internships I’ve already completed before graduation, do not meet my major requirements. Despite having more experience and a larger portfolio than most seniors, I’m still a moron by college standards and yes, will get to do yet another internship next summer. As Bruce Campbell would put it, “Groovy.”

More to come.

Hatchling is keeping me busy. I’m usually the first one here and last to leave; the hours fly by. My whole goal before school ended was to secure an internship position that would a) allow me to learn and expand my web experience and b) end up with a product, something I can slap on my resume and say, “look, I did that. Check it out.”

It’s been less than two weeks and I already have a handful of webpages I can do just that with. Some sites were already created by Hatchling and I simply made maintence edits. Other times I’ve taken a layout that a colleague may have created and then populated the entire site, which entails all the code work. My proudest feat thus far is the redesign of Seacoastyoung which will be cropped, populated, and live within the next couple of weeks.

The guys are great here. The idea of what a “team” is and how it functions really comes to life amongst this group of talented, knowledgable, yet laid back individuals and I’m not just saying that for the heck of it. At other companies I’ve worked for, it often felt as though everyone knew their one task and that was it, the cubicle walls blocked them from the rest. It’s not like that here.

Anyway, this is running long and though my web skills grow each day, writing a program to stop time is something I still need to learn Take it easy. -A

Hey, real quick, just wanted to let everyone know Hatchling’s great, couldn’t ask for more. Own desk, computer loaded with the latest and greatest. Got here the first day and am working on redoing a current client website… no lame introductions, everyone dresses however they want; it’s a laid back atmosphere with the expectation that you’ll be cranking the work out. And they do, trust me, these guys are good.

I’ll write more when I can. Can’t express how kick ass this is. Surrounded by knowledgable web geeks and dabbling with flash; must’ve done something right.

later.