I should be studying

Yes, I should be reading from my textbook. I will, this week it is graphic file formats. I am quite familiar with .jpg, .tif and .png files. Believe it or not, I have not used .gif files very much, though that will no doubt change to a degree. But while viewing the blog on my Droid phone I spotted an older typo that I had accidentally overlooked, so I logged in to make the correction.

Now that fall classes have started I am taking formal training in MS Office, even though I have used some of the suite for a number of years. I'm learning much more than I anticipated, but doing OK. My other class is an upgrade class focusing on building an online portfolio. Since I went live with my web site in June, my portfolio is already functioning, so I am expanding mine, by adding a link to a biographical/profile page that will discuss a bit about myself, and some of my experiences both outside and in graphic design. Part of my reasoning is that at the moment I like my web site design,and want to keep the format for now. My approach will allow me to add or subtract or even delete completely if I choose, the biographical page, without forcing a complete redo of the web site.

Now I need to decide what I want to say about myself. And of course, I don't know what the ending will be like yet.

My web site is up

This week was a big week for me. I launched my first real web site, lawlergraphicdesign.com/ .

In a way this served as a graduation ceremony, in that a year ago I struggled trying to read and understand a Deamweaver text book. But, enrolling in a formal class headed by a very enthusiastic and dedicated instructor payed off.

She is the same instructor that taught the WEB2.0 class that resulted in my blog. I will always thank her for her help and continued support.

Onwards

My spring semester ended two weeks ago, and I am happy to report that I have earned a 4.0 GPA since returning to school to study web design. I am proud of that fact, mainly because so many individuals seem to believe that those of us who would be labeled baby boomers are pretty much dinosaurs. I personally am not ready to accept that point of view, at least not entirely.

I am told a successful blogger focuses on subject matter that they feel passionate about, and that others would find interesting. So often bloggers want to make political statements. I don't care to just become one of so many others. Besides, my political views are not original. In fact I would call them traditional, and not really profound.

Since my WEB105 class has been completed it also means that the original purpose for my beginning my blog has been fulfilled. I have the choice of simply ending it now, or continuing either in the same direction, or to redirect the blog in another direction. For now I think I will simply use it to comment on subjects related to the economy, technology and my thoughts on building a small freelance business. Who knows how long I'll continue.

Podcasting - Another Unexplored Territory

This evening we explored podcasting. For a number of reasons I have not explored this area, partly because I just have not had a reason to look into it, partly because I just have been busy with other responsibilities, and partly because I am not always aware of new technology.

However, by nature I tend to become interested in new things, sometimes unexpectantly. In the case of podcasting, I would be willing to look into it at sometime in the future. As I have mentioned in the past, the main reasons I adopt new technologies, is if I see a practical need for it. But I also admit that unless I take the time to explore something new, I wouldn't know if I have a practical use.

So sometime in the future, I promise to explore and broaden my technical horizons once again.

What’s New in Sites for College Students

This title is misleading, in that just about all the sites that we explored have value far beyond the scope of college students. I would say that at least one site in particular has value for grade school students, higher education students and adults of all ages.

yelp.com
This is a pretty interesting site. yelp.com provides reviews on just about any subject for many cities and regions in the US. The reviews are written and submitted by average people, not necessarily professional reviewers. In addition, the reviews are both positive or negative.

That being said, I think that reviews of any kind can provide helpful guidance, but should be taken with a certain grain of salt. I never know for sure when a review is from a biased individual, who may be submitting a glowing report or a damning review for personal reasons.

www.newseum.org
www.newseum.org is the official website for the Newseum in Washington D.C. This is a real museum dedicated to the subject of news events. Whether it is a historical or current (soon to be historic) event, the Newseum covers it. This is another great tool for school children to learn about our past history, with a high tech 21st century approach. It seems to me that way too many people of all ages have a dislike for history. This is very sad, because the old saying that history can repeat itself is quite true. Not knowing world history guarantees that our society will eventually make the same blunders of our past over and over again.

The Newseum covers serious subjects, announcements for upcoming lecture programs, educational programs, exhibits and even a fun page. Make sure you check out "THE NEWS COMES TO LIFE", featuring the Monty Python like routine of Winston Churchill, F.D.R. and Joe Stalin conversing on a park bench.

This is a great site that I highly recommend to everyone, and I will be visiting it many times in the future.

ispeech.org
Do you want a way to convert text files into the audio spoken word? ispeach.org can help you. This is not a free service, but it does provide a niche service for those who have a need of aids for individuals with vision impairment or for podcasting.

officelive.com and yousendit.com
officelive.com provides a free service for off site storage and file sharing of up to 5GB of information. This is a convenient way to send files to clients who do not have an FTP sits, or have e-mail file size restrictions. Just be careful what you upload, because Microsoft will also have access to the information.

yousendit.com provides a similar service as officelive.com and while it is free in a limited "Lite" version (100MB file limit) for individuals, there are business level accounts offered for professionals and corporations.

It all depends on what an individual needs. Ironically, I became aware of yousendit.com not long ago, while working on a freelance assignment. We had problems sending large photo files due to email limits. I had even tried setting up a wiki as a file transfer aid to the client, but they had firewall difficulties with their IT. In any event my contact mentioned it, which is how I became aware. Perhaps officelive.co or yousendit.com could have solved our problems.

I am getting Googled out

As much as we seem surrounded by Google sites, not just the search engine or their variants of the social networking/chat/communication services, but there is even more to offer.

Last week we looked into 3 of their additional offerings, Google Translate, Google Finance, and Google Maps.

Google Translate
I had a opportunity not long ago to chat with a friend in Europe. In the process I decided to look for some online translation aids. I found an educational site that actually grouped a number of similar offerings from different providers, all on the same page, that the user could choose from. Google Translate was one. I tried a few of the others, but I thought that the Google version was the easiest to use and understand

The user simply chooses the 2 languages that they want to translate from and into, type or paste in the words or sentences that they want translated, and click to proceed. Once the first sentence has been completed, all the following is done automatically. There is a feature to allow reverse translating, for online conferences. It is a great aid for those of us who did not have an opportunity to learn a second or third language, and may need help from time to time. This is especially true these days with the www. connecting the whole world together instantly.

This system is not foolproof, but it is functional. My buddy told me that some of my translations where not entirely correct in the chosen language, so as a test I tried translating the same material back and forth between languages. Sometimes the results where pretty funny. So as a word of advice, double check your work when possible to avoid problems in international diplomacy.

Google Finance
I am a dummy in reading and understanding financial calculations, growth charts and reports. That's one reason I have stuck with the same financial counselor for a great number of years. Not only is Bill a great person to do business with, but he takes time to help explain to the lay person what is what. Every time I visit him at his office, he has MSNBC on with the business stock ticker running. Its amazing that he understands all the codes figures.

For me, I have learned enough so that every month when we get our IRA investment statements, I can go right to the bottom line and see what we are worth from last month to this month. I'm sure that Bill would know exactly how to use Google Finance efficiently to enhance his job. For me the lay person, I might use it to get a sense as to the stability of XYZ company before investing in it or its business sector. Or if I had an opportunity to work for or do business with a firm, to do research ahead of time.

Google Maps
Up to now I have used only Map Quest to map out directions to destinations that I am unfamiliar with. Google Maps goes even better. It can provide directions, by car, public transit, walking and bicycle to just about any local destination you need. In addition, through GPS, satellite imaging, and street level photo coverage, Google Maps allow the user to visit just about any well known location around the world. We looked at the Taj Majal, Mt. Everest, Niagara Falls, Vt. Vernon, VA, and 221b Baker Street, London.

Google Maps can provide not only travel directions, but as an educational aid, a way to visit famous geographical and historical locations. I wish I had had access to this aid when I was a grade school student. I am a history enthusiast, and I think my knowledge would have been enriched even more, and my grades much improved.

Some requests are beyond the capabilities of Google Maps though. Just for fun, I tried to get a map and public transportation instructions from Chicago, Illinois, USA to Bucharesti, Romania. Google Maps could not help me. At least not yet.

Google Chrome

This past week in class we explored the Google Chrome internet browser. While generally it is just another browser, in the limited time I have worked with Google Chrome, it has been pretty stable on my main home computer. Of course my computer of choice is an Apple Imac, so perhaps that helps add to my sense of stability.

One of the features that we looked at the most was the map reference. There is both Google Maps, and Google World. Using both is fun, but with the integration of GPS features, and satellite photo coverage, they can be useful not only for simple way finding, or as a teaching aid in school. I think both history and geography instruction would be benefit greatly. When I was a young student, we read and learned about George Washington and his famous home. It would have been really fun and interesting to be able to see Mount Vernon via Google Wave. Or what about the Pyramids, or to climb Mount Everest, in the morning before lunch period?

I am sure some instructors are using the new technology, but many more should also start working with it. History may be history, but learning about it can be fun and interesting.

One interesting point that was made in class is that the map features have been at the base of international controversy over national security. Some countries do not like, or openly oppose the availability of satellite images of their territories. I suppose that is quite understandable. Yet today I came across a news item that The City of Chicago has a larger installed interconnected camera surveillance system than any city in the United States? That includes both private installations and public, including traffic intersections. So if it OK for big brother to watch us, who monitors big brother? And that brings us back to who owns private Internet property rights?

One other related news item that I stumbled on was from Investors.com

On Tuesday, a Washington, D.C., Circuit Court unanimously squashed the current administration's attempts to control the Internet. The court "unanimously made it clear the government has no business interfering with Internet providers' network management".

"Government would love to get its hands on cyberspace. And it wants eventually to tax it, of course...... But cyberspace is also where millions exchange information and viewpoints — some of them hostile to those in power".

Google, Kansas

About a week ago we had a fun in-class assignment to come up with a quick marketing plan to promote the temporary name change of  Topeka, Kansas to Google, Kansas. Apparently, The city management did not follow through effectively with the idea, therefore loosing a valuable marketing edge.

This is the brief dialog that I had with a fellow student regarding the Google, Kansas social networking campaign:

Student:
So... Google, Kansas. What are your ideas for broadcasting it?

Besides the facebook fan page and adding everyone within the city limits, I was thinking about getting a twitter account.

Me:
And don't forget LinkedIn.

Student:
Great idea! Do you see a value in providing in an incentive for businesses that change their name for the length of the campaign?

Me:
Perhaps, as long as someone is helping them select a name. Otherwise there might be a lot of clunky or borderline appropriate names floating out there

Student:
I agree there would probably have to be a marketing division set up within the city government to help focus and run t he campaign.

Me:
Or a consulting contractor. Especially if this was to be a limited run. the cost would probably be better managed using an outside consultant or firm. Topeka Kansas probably already has a PR agency of some sort.

Student:
Good point! If the city already had a social networking person they might have to be temporarily refocused to work solely on this project.

The Technology Challenged Embrace Web 2.0 (And she doesn't know It)

I am referring to my wife. While she is very good at her job, a wonderful gardener, and a great cook, when she sits in front of her PC she more often than not is very challenged, even after having her own computer for over 5 years.

In my wife's case, it was the recent purchase of an up-to-date mobile phone that was a trigger.  After attending a free phone orientation class at her service providers store, she came home and immediately sequestered herself in her computer room for the remainder of the day. I didn't hear from her until early evening.

The next thing I heard was her calling from the lower floor that she needed my help in accessing a new account on Facebook.  It's a brave new world when my wife takes this kind of step forward.

It turns out that her orientation class demonstrated all the features that was now offered on her phone and the the opportunity and fun of making contact with old and new friends served as a platform for her be more involved in new technology. Being a social person it was something she felt she could understand and desired.

As it is with so many of us it took an outside influence to spark her interest in learning more. For me it was my interest in airbrush illustration, followed by the introduction of Adobe Photoshop 1.0 as a graphic design aid, that drove me to want to understand more about computers as a tool and eventually grasp desktop publishing. Again, a practical need for the technology is the key.

More on Google Buzz

As it turns out there was a  new story about both Google Wave and Google Buzz on the March 16 cnet news.  While both  Wave and Buzz are similar they each address slightly different audiences.

According to the story, Wave is supposed to be "designed around making users more productive in their work lives as a collaboration tool", in other words a work related tool.  Buzz is "more about social sharing and passive sharing with people who are interested in what you think." In other words a social networking tool.

Google apparently wants the general public to use both technologies for an unspecified time, and based on feed back Google would then decide which technology survives or if a merger of the two might occur.

The writers add that the major downside to this approach is that there might be a perception that Google is being indecisive and is guessing at which technology will really work the best. Ultimately any companies considering partnering with Google could become confused with which project Google is really committed to following through with.

My opinion is still why are two such similar products being released by one company so close together? Sure, it does appear confusing. But to me it also seems counter productive.  One company having two development teams working on similar projects sounds like a lot of duplicated effort, and not cost effective. I personally only adopt new technology if  I see a personal need for it.  If Google Buzz was released alone, but also offered work related productivity benefits, then sure, why not try it?  If it is really another social networking tool, then I don't think I am interested.  Linkedin is more to my liking, thanks.

The World of Wikis

Last week in class we participated as a group in creating and using a wiki.  The weird thing for me was conducting an online discussion with someone who was sitting 20 feet away from me.

The purpose of the exercise was to familiarize the class with this particular technology and to explore the possibilities.  We discussed a current event related to technology, in this case a pending law suit by Apple Computer about copyright infringement on their telephone technology. After an bit of an awkward start my wiki partner and I had a fun discussion.  I am not always up to date on all technology current events, but we both made interesting observations that followed our individual points of view.

My point of view was based mostly on the practical need for the Apple product, and what their litigation really meant to me. In a nutshell my opinion is that the law suit would no doubt be settled out of trial, simply because technology these days seem to become outdated in about a years time, then companies are on to the next generation of product.  I have other opinions, but they are not important at the moment.

My need for a practical use for any new technology seems to take the high priority over just accepting or adopting a technology because it is new. Generally I view something new from a comfortable distance, deciding in time if it is for me or not.  In the case of wikis, my experience last year was positive, in that we used it to communicate together on our ideas for a group web design project including the sharing of graphics files. This to me served a more practical use, then simply posting of ideas.

I would continue to use the wiki that we started last week, provided there was a need for it in the class.  Outside of this class, I would probably use new wikis on an as needed basis, perhaps as a way to communicate with a future client on a web site, where we needed to share files when an FTP site is not available.

Our Childhood in Black and White

According to statistics, people in the 55-65 year age group are quitting facebook.com. I am including this short anonymous essay, as it parallels some of our class discussion about how older people, even though many embraced new computer technology in the 1980s and 90's, some are now seeking to simplify their lives 20 years later. 

I received this short anonymous essay from a cousin of my wife over the weekend. In a way it reminded me that new technology isn’t always the best or the most satisfying to our well being.

Our Childhood in Black and White
(Under age 40? You won't understand.)
 

You could hardly see for all the snow, spread the rabbit ears as far as they go. 
Pull a chair up to the TV set, 'Good Night, David. Good Night, Chet.' 

My mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread mayo on the same cutting board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't seem to get food poisoning. 
 
My mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter AND I used to eat it raw sometimes, too. Our school sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper in a brown paper bag, not in ice-pack coolers, but I can't remember getting e.coli. 

Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake instead of a pristine pool (talk about boring)-- no beach closures then. 

The term cell phone would have conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a pager was the school PA system. 

We all took gym, not PE, and risked permanent injury with a pair of high top Ked's (only worn in gym) instead of having cross-training athletic shoes with air cushion soles and built in light reflectors. I can't recall any injuries, but they must have happened because they tell us how much safer we are now. 

Flunking gym was not an option, even for stupid kids! I guess PE must be much harder than gym. 

Speaking of school, we all said prayers and sang the national anthem, and staying in detention after school caught all sorts of negative attention. 

We must have had horribly damaged psyches. What an archaic health system we had then. Remember school nurses? Ours wore a hat and everything. 

I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed to be proud of myself. 

I just can't recall how bored we were without computers, Play Station, Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital TV cable stations. 

Oh yeah ... and where was the Benadryl and sterilization kit when I got that bee sting? I could have been killed! 

We played 'king of the hill' on piles of gravel left on vacant construction sites, and when we got hurt, Mom pulled out the 48-cent bottle of Mercurochrome (kids liked it better because it didn't sting like iodine did) and then we got our butt spanked.
  
Now it's a trip to the emergency room, followed by a 10-day dose of a $49 bottle of antibiotics, and then Mom calls the attorney to sue the contractor for leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such a threat. 

We didn't act up at the neighbor's house either because if we did, we got our butt spanked there and then and we got butt spanked again when we got home. 

I recall Donny Reynolds from next door com ing over and doing his tricks on the front step, just before he fell off. Little did his Mom know that she could have owned our house. Instead, she picked him up and swatted him for being such a goof. It was a neighborhood run amuck. 

To top it off, not a single person I knew had ever been told that they were from a dysfunctional family. How could we possibly have known that? 

We needed to get into group therapy and anger management classes? We were obviously so duped by so many societal ills that we didn't even notice that the entire country wasn't taking Prozac! How did we ever survive?  

Love to all of us who shared this era, and to all who didn't; sorry for what you missed. 
I wouldn't trade it for anything.

The Case of the "Lost" Laptop

The school district accused of spying on a student by remotely activating a school owned laptops camera has been ordered to cease the practice. It appears that both the media and the public are viewing the school officials as the bad guy in this instance. I tend to agree with that general opinion.

While there is a lot of unanswered questions and vagueness in the details, in an official statement the school district superintendant admitted that in instances where a laptop is reported missing or stolen, the school could turn on the camera remotely. In this case the camera recorded the student consuming what the officials identified as drugs. That was their version. The student claimed that he was eating candy drops that had the appearance of drugs. That’s his version. Is it the school's responsibility to police the student on his time in the evening at his parents home?

To me the real questions are these. If they where tracking a missing laptop, was this particular unit really missing? Did the student or his parents report it missing? Was the laptop overdue for return, and if so, was the family contacted first? If it wasn't missing, then why did the school administrator turn on the camera? That seems a violation of their stated policy.

OK, the school district is nervous and paranoid that a student may be trying to rip off their laptop. I understand that concern. But I would suggest that their established procedure to check out a laptop be revised. Since laptops might cost from $500 to $1000, the student’s parents should be made financially responsible for the loss if their child gets careless. A cash deposit and / or credit card should be presented for security before a computer can be checked out, just like any other rental programs. Anything is better than adopting a practice that could be misused by violating the right to privacy of the individual. And as far as I am concerned that is what is at issue here.

Maybe we should be able turn on the school administrators laptop cams remotely as well. It might be interesting to know what they do on their time. I would like to hear their thoughts on that suggestion.

chacha.com, cuil.com, zillow.com

We where introduced to three web sites offering very different services, to very different degrees of usefulness.

chacha.com - Offers multitudes of answers to multitudes of subjects. They supposedly have college students providing the answers. It sounds a little gimmicky to me, though it is providing some employment opportunity. Sort of like ask.com (Ask Jeeves-like circa five years ago). Not really a new idea, just another service competitor. I tried it, I asked where the best hot dog stands where in the Aurora Illinois area, but chacha.com didn't know. It seems to me that a search engine service such as this needs to have a very high success rate of percentage of questions answered, and it has to be a wide range of questions. I don't see a real need for this service. I am trying to understand what really unique niche this service offers that I would have long term use for.

cuil.com - Internet search engine.
Welcome to Cuil—the world’s biggest search engine. Maybe it is the biggest, maybe even the best. That's what they claim. Maybe they are right. I'll try it and in time I will know if it is better than Google, if not the best.

zillow.com - Real estate research and pricing guide.
Its possible that the information offered is current and somewhat accurate, but I would hesitate to swear to that. I think that at best this service should be used as an initial guide to real estate prices, but not to be used exclusive of alternative and better-proven resources. Lets face it, real estate transactions can be pretty intimidating for most of us. Its still best to work with an experienced agent found through personal recommendation. We don't know who runs zillow.com, do we? We do not know how accurate their real estate data is, how impartial they are, or who they represent. For the simple reason that when it comes to personal finances, I think the average person needs to be sure that their best interests are looked after by someone they know, not an anonymous Internet advisor.

I guess my comments above reveal my favorite and most promising choice is cuil.com more because it seems less gimmicky than the other two. It seems as though Google.com is considered the search engine of choice, and perhaps it rates that high measure. However, competition is a healthy thing. I remember the early days of my web surfing, in which other search engine services where at the forefront. Google didn't even exist. My point is that everything, especially web services, evolves over time.

Too Much Too Often

Last week in class a large part of the discussion was about Google Buzz and a bit about Microsoft Outlook Social Connector, the Office plug-in that is being introduced for Windows. Now, I am a Mac person, so most of the time I don't care what Microsoft does. You see, I use Office 2008 for Mac, because it is the standard in office software, and I need to use Word almost daily for both school and work. Beyond that I have a more or less love-hate attitude about Microsoft. When possible I try not to use their products.

Anyway, it seems like social networking software is all the rage again these days. I say that because a number of years ago I recall ICQ was the hot item. These days I think it is all but forgotten. Which brings me around to asking two questions.

1. How much of the current news on social networking is driven by fad rather than a necessity that we all must be connected before we are left in the dust?

2. Do we have to be so connected that our privacy threatens to be compromised?

My choice is based on what is most beneficial for me and my needs. I prefer to belong to LinkedIn, (I care not for using it with a new Microsoft plug-in) because it is more business oriented in nature, and I can more easily choose what information I want to share with the rest of the world. Any other systems that i might consider in the future would be chosen using the same prerequisites.

My privacy is more important to me than being socially connected to everyone all the time.

Threat of Cyberterrorism…

Every generation lives with some looming fear. When I was a kid it was fear that the cold war with the Soviets would turn into WW3. In this first decade of the 21st century we now live in fear of another terrorist attack. NPR presented a story recently titled "Assessing The Threat of Cyberterrorism".

While this does need to be a concern that we should not ignore, we need to be careful that our response is measured equal to the threat. Once again, our government needs to learn to deal with these issues logically, without developing another layer of confusing, redundant rules that everyone has to conform too. Lets hope this does not become another misuse of the Patriot Act.

Senior Adviser on Innovation…

What a great title. To me it also a little ambiguous. It's the job title of Alec Ross, who was named to the position to assist Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, after working on the Obama election campaign. He is known for his entrepreneurial spirit and aggressive drive, having launched his non-profit organization One Economy out of a basement.

I like entrepreneurs, having worked for two of them in my life, I know it can be exciting at times. Interestingly, I identify entrepreneurs with conservatives, since they are often responsible for new business growth. In his new role, Mr. Ross is responsible for figuring out ways to use new technology for problem solving; for example, to warn of natural disasters, to harness social networking to unite the youth of warring tribes, and to to make broadband and information technology a key part of policymaking.

I would be concerned about the line being crossed that allows technological problem solving to push us closer to a "big brother is watching" government run society. Right now that is my biggest concern. I think there is a strong tendency right now for government to want to involve itself in our private lives way too much.

One Other Reinvention? Watch This Video!

I believe that recalling my past experiences can only enrich my future efforts. For about 5 years I was a motorcycle enthusiast, belonging to an informal group named "THE POETS MC". One summer I rode along with a friend to Arkansas and back on motorcycles, and the following year I traveled solo from Illinois to Niagara Falls and back. The following slide show video documents of some of my travels during that time. I gave up bikes after being hit by a motorist in an auto, and landing in the hospital with a badly broken left leg and fractured spine. I understand the definition of pain, and thank God that I was not killed that day.

Creative at Home

A few years ago, before I decided it was necessary to return to school, I was spending a lot of my time doing woodwork for my home. Its really another extension of my creative nature, but I have always enjoyed trying new or more challenging things. In this case it became a necessity because of the expense involved in owning an old house. More on that another time.

My wife needed a nice cabinet for our dinning room. The image at left is the result. It is based on an early project done on the program "The New Yankee Workshop". I am still trying to master a number of wood working skills, but I am at the moment facing other priorities. I believe I can develop my skills further than where I am now.

For the moment though my main priority is to learn more about web technology, especially understanding blogs and related technology, and how they might aid me in marketing my freelance business and have fun in the process.

Class Activity Tonight
We had a guest speaker tonight, Jami, a fellow member of last semesters classes, who is an experienced blogger. An English major, she has moved into web design now, and has a wide range to talents. One of the things I was impressed with was that she started blogging while in the military, and her subject matter was what she was most familiar with at the time, the military. It made me recall the comments of a Marketing/Salesmanship instructor I had in college many years ago. He said that "successful salespeople are those who really know and believe in their product". This holds true for artists, designers, and writers. Whatever the subject matter of a blog, the author must have a passion for and believe in the subject he or she has picked as the focus of their blog if it is to be successful. Otherwise it is just a shell, and thin at best.

I also liked Jami's opening comments in her talk.  She presented classic comments and quotes from clients from hell.  Regardless of how sophisticated our technology might be, some client comments always seem the same.

New Life for my Zip Drive

When I upgraded my operating system last fall, I discovered that my old 100MB zip disks had become read only. No information from the Iomega home page (100MB technology isn't really supported directly any longer). I was about to get rid of my drive and all the disks, many new, but when I tried reformatting one of them before discarding it I realized that the disk was again read and write accessible.

I'm back to using my zip disks for temporary archive back ups of work in progress or offline storage until I have enough material for a CD or DVD backup.

Verification Post

Among other projects, I'm in the process of verifying the ownership of my new blog for the purpose of listing it on blog search engines. This is all new to me, so I hope I know what I am doing. Wish me luck.

Z5AU5XGRJRAV

Linkedin

I just updated my profile at Linkedin.

I'm spending a little time this weekend just contemplating ideas for the theme graphics for a nursing annual report I am beginning working on. I'll conference with the writer this coming week, share some ideas.

It's More Than Just Designing

I only have a few clients at the moment, but to a degree my work has picked up a little lately. One thing I must do now is better balance my homework, with regular work. Like so many other families these days we need the additional revenue at home.

I had the opportunity to write 3 cost estimate proposals since new years, one in fact came from a potential new client. A designer has to figure in a reasonable rate for his or hers time, plus balance possible changes and unforeseen costs into a fair cost estimate. My experience though is that new clients who are inexperienced in working with designers have a poor concept of the real costs involved in producing graphic design. Usually my estimates are accepted, so if I loose one once in a while I shouldn't take it personal. It does happen sometimes.

This week I will also be working on income tax, how exciting, but how necessary. True to my "do it myself" personality, I'll be using my tax preparation software to make it less traumatic.

pure-mac.com

Just about all my work has been done on Macintosh computers. Just about all my family and in laws use PC computers, so I am definitely in the minority. However, most of the time when they are having computer trouble, mine keeps running fine.

Anyway, I want to share this site with anyone who uses Macs, and want a reliable resource for freeware and shareware. Take a look at http://www.pure-mac.com, a site I found by accident years ago.

What Do I Name This Blog? (second attempt)

One reason why this is my second attempt is I couldn't decide what I wanted to name the blog. At first I wanted to call it "SaltyD's Blog", because for years now I have used "Saltydog" as a secondary e-mail address name. It's a reference to my early enlistment in the US Navy. So for 24 hours it was SaltyD's Blog.



Unfortunately, I noticed that other people use similar names and after running across some bogus posted material elsewhere on the Internet, I thought it better to find a title more appropriate for my purpose.



Because I have more or less survived as a graphic designer and been able to remain flexible to changing technology for so many years, I decided that "Ed Lawler Reinvented Again" is more to my liking, at least for the moment.



A second reason for repeated attempts to start a blog was whether or not I should use the logo graphic I picked for my freelance business. For the one day that I was SaltyD, I used a quickly altered graphic with a similar look. But for the sake of effective and consistent branding, it is better to use my own logo. So there it is, my "L", and my first official post.



What I will talk about is my experience in WEB105 class studying Web 2.0 Technologies in business. I'll also add my thoughts on trying to restart a freelance graphic design business from my home after working for 15 years for one employer, and my experiences in expanding my skills from print design, into becoming a web designer as well. From time to time I may comment on how I apply my graphics training into projects here at home.