Posts Tagged "23 designs"

I worked along side New Uniform Design and the Red Square Agency to create this state of the art web experience. I animated the interface and coded all the flash, asp and html. Check it out.

www.redsquareagency.com

Hello Peeps,

It’s been awhile I know.  I have been experimenting with new ways to show off my work, my website and myself.  I hope you like the new website.  It’s pretty much the direction I am going to go in for now.  I am not 100% on my new logo and it will change here in the next couple of weeks.  I have had a crazy couple of weeks with going out of town partys and fishing and visitors.  Plus I have been busy at work and with freelance.  To add to the craziness, I got a virus on my computer at work and that has put me completely out of commission all week.  All in all it’s been stressfull.

I hope you like the new look.  I will be adding to it slowwly over the next couple of months so keep a lookout.  My download site and picture gallery site have also been under renovation.  Let me know what you think and how everything works.

Dave

In 2008 Indigo Studios was hired to create artwork for a truck that will be used to promote ESPN and Nascar.  This was designed to educate the people about a new product that allows you to drink and watch the race at the same time.  It’s a simple concept that reshapes the cup itself and in doing so, allows you to see.

Originally we were provided basic sketches of the concept art along with vector logos of both ESPN and Nascar.  I have to admit that it is fun to see your artwork plastered all over a truck.  I’m not saying it’s my best work ever, but it’s still fun to see.

I love to smoke.  But I hate that I love to smoke. I have been a smoker for about ten years now. Wow, ten years. It sounds pretty horrible when you say it out loud. I had my first cigarette in the back of my friends car accompanied by a couple of Mickey’s 40s and a winter trip to the river. All I remember was that I wasn’t too excited about drinking, I was more excited about my next cigarette. Now, I didn’t just pick up the habit after one smoke, but I do remember liking my first one. It was bad. Shit, I was a freshmen in high school. That’s what we did. I wouldn’t say I became a real smoker til about my senior year. I was in smokers denial for about six years after that. It was then that I decided to quit. That was three and a half years ago.

For some reason I told myself a long time ago that whan I was 24 was a good time to quit smoking because I was still young and if I got old, it would be impossible to quit. 24 sounded like a good year. So I set up a date and bought some nasty Nicoette, smoked a whole bunch the night before and quit. I hate Nicorette, but it worked.  I was sober for about 5 months. It was great. My roommate at the time quit with me, so it helped alot. Back then I smoked about ten cigarettes a day which is about half a pack. That is on the occasion that I was NOT drinking. My roommate didn’t smoke as much as me, so it was a little bite easier of a transition for her. We held strong.

I don’t know what it was, but for some reason 5 months into not smoking I decided that Black n Mild cigars were not cigarettes and were ok to smoke. Within a couple of weeks I was smoking one whole cigar a day and inhaling “most” of the time. It sucked more than smoking; it tore me up. (But at least they were chocolate flavored) I remember when I bought my first pack of Marlboro Ultra lights after I had quit. I felt like a failure. But I had officially switched from Marlboro Lights to Marlboro Ultra Lights. People with addictions make compromises with themselves to justify their addiction. I’ve found it’s pretty sad. I also found myself doing it in this situation. And I do it again later in this blog post. (Let’s see if you can pick it out.)

Since I started smoking again I don’t smoke that much really. I barely smoke and if I was going to say that I was a full time smoker (which is pushing it) I would be an “extremely light” full time smoker. All in all, I have been up and down over the last four years, but I have never reached the number as I once did smoke. I smoke maybe a cigarette or two a day, but then I will be bad when I drink on the weekend. Today I haven’t had a cigarette in four days. It is an achievement in itself, but I can’t say I will not pick one up again. Lets just say that I try to smoke as little as possible.

I know I need to stop, but I feel I need a really significant reason to stop. (not that I have a long list already) I need something to shove it in my face. Something to make me scared to smoke ever again. The time will come for me to quit. I think what I need to do is just take my own advice: “Suck it up.” I need to suck it up and do it for me.

I use photoshop more than any other program.  I use it at work, I use it for freelance at home, and I use it for personal stuff like this blog.  I use it all the time and I have to say that I’m pretty damn good at using it.  I’m not saying I’m a pro or anything, as there are plenty of things I never use in photoshop that other people use all the time.  I use what I know and I get by with that.  But I know most of it.

So anyway, I always like to get my hands on the new releases of photoshop whenever they come out, which is about once a year nowadays.  This year we got Adobe Photoshop CS4.  I don’t really understand the CS nonsense, but whatever.  Photoshop “Creative Suite” 4 even though it is technically just Photoshop 11, but who’s counting?

I always like to upgrade as soon as I can because I figure I will have to anyway, so I might as well learn the new stuff now before CS 12 comes out and I have to take a class just to catch up.  Plus, I figure if there are new cool features in the new Photoshop, that might just help me in my everyday work flow.

 So I got CS4.  So far it’s not all that great.  I’m not completely downing it just yet, but from what I have seen so far, I’m not about to switch over completely.  The first thing I couldn’t stand was just pure performance.  Maybe I have a bum copy or maybe they just need to put out some updates, but whatever it is, it does not work as smoothly as CS3.  The only other thing I can say negative about the new program, is the new window “docking” aspect of the images.  The way the document you are working on is “docked” on the top of the screen.  Then you get a “tab” for each additional document open.  I theory this sounds great cause you can see all the images that are open all the time, but it makes it extremely difficult to have two documents open and drag one layer from one to the other.  I do this all the time.  Now I am forced to just copy and paste which is similar, but it does give the same freedoms.  OK, I am done giving the negative side.  Lets tackle all the new fun stuff.

First of all the interface got a remake.  It looks awesome.  I have always personally loved it when any programs mix up the their interface because it gives me something new to stare at all day and most of the time it just looks cooler.  Second, the inserted the ability to turn the document you are working on.  Now this doesn’t really effect me all that much, but if I was to draw a picture with my wacom freehand on the computer this feature would be extremely helpful.  Also, the new photoshop has new abilities to incorporate 3D (which I think is pointless, but cool) and it has new windows like the adjustment and mask windows.  Also, it can now zoom in to a ridiculous 3200% using OpenGL.  It’s cool, but most likely unnecessary.  

One giant thing CS4 brings is the ability to utilize 64-bit processing.  This means you can utilize 8 gigs of ram which will help with overall performance.  I have not tested this out, but I’m not gonna lie, I am pretty excited about it.

All in all CS4 is similar to CS3, but with a cooler look and feel. It needs work and needs updates, but maybe I just need a newer computer.  Only time will tell.

So Priscilla and I made our annual trip to Tallahassee, Florida last weekend to watch Florida State take on Clemson University in a College Football shoot out.  Priscilla attended Florida State starting the fall of 1998 and graduated with a degree of Psychology in the spring of 2002.  Priscilla partied most of her College career with her Sorority Delta Gamma while still achieving a grade point average of a 3.5.  Astounding.  So as you can imagine, she has a lot of memories in Tallahassee, and we always have a great time there.  

Also, Priscilla’s fellow DG Michele still lives there with her husband Jake and they are so gracious to take us in every time we visit.  They recently finished building their dream house. Actually they bought an old dairy factory that had been converted into a small commercial building.  At the time they bought it, there were several small businesses running out of it including a small Hindu church. (I stayed away from that room.  Bad karma)  After gutting the entire building and adding state of the art appliances and furniture, the house looks incredible.  I would expect nothing less from Jake, who is the cleanest, most stylish guy I know.  They are great people and always show us a great time. Also, unexpectedly, we had the pleasure of having Michele’s mother visiting from Guam.  She is a great little lady, yet only speaks broken English.  She loves the mall and the Style network.  It was a pleasure to have her around.

Priscilla, Meghann, her boyfriend Nick, Holly, her boyfriend Petey all decided to caravan the Southeastern trek packed into one Lexus SUV.  So after a long six hour drive and a couple of 40’s, a 22oz Steal Reserve,d a 22oz of this nasty stuff called Schlitz Malt Liquor and an interesting drink called “The JOOCE” we arrived at their house ready to party.  We were greeted by a bunch of Priscilla’s old friends.  I made it til about 10:30pm.  I was tired from the long trip.

The next day we made our way to the Tail Gate and were greeted by more of Priscilla’s college buddies and their boyfriends and husbands. (all those that were not 9 months pregnant)  We enjoyed more beer and hot dogs.  The weather was incredible and fans were out with a force. Florida State beat Clemson 41 to 27.  It was a great game and was exciting til the very end.  We made our way back to the Tailgate only to realize I had lost my cell phone somewhere in the Arena.  After a few phone calls and the help from my buddy Tim in California, I found the people that found my phone, but it was a pain in the ass.  After a few beers at the local bar, we made our way home only to be greeted with more food from Michelle’s wonderful mother.  We watched a little Friday the 13th part 8 and went to bed.

The next day we got up early and were pleasantly surprised to a full Asian breakfast complete with “Breakfast noodles” and coffee.  It was spicy good, and delicious.  We hung out and later went to eat at the local “hangover place” Gordo’s.  It wasn’t that great and took forever to get our food, but the memories were priceless.  We piled back in the car, drove by the Delta Gamma house, then made our way home. (Damn that drive sucks)  Tallahassee is a great place and always a fun road trip.  I can’t wait to go back next year.

I have always liked coloring book.  I mean, who doesn’t.  Some genius of a guy thought of an idea to create these books with pictures in them.  Books of all shapes and sizes with these great pictures of all your favorite cartoon characters.  AND THEN they had this brilliant plan to leave the pictures colorless.  How awesome is that?  So now you get to color in your Saturday Morning pals with any number of color combinations you want.  I don’t know about you, but I loved it.

I have one memory that sticks out from all the rest.  I remember vacationing at my families cabin up in the California  mountains.  As a family we would vacation quite a bit up at our cabin as it was close to Lake Tahoe and a short hour and a half drive from home in Sacramento.  I remember sitting with my Aunt Nancy coloring some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle coloring books, trying to stay in the lines and get the colors right best I could.  I remember realizing when my Aunt sat down to help just how much I enjoyed coloring.  I think it was that moment I knew I wanted to be an artist.  I wanted to color.

I wouldn’t say it was the actual colors I love the most.  No, and I don’t think it is the “staying in the lines” part either.  I’m gonna say the thing I like the most id the simplicity of the whole concept.  I mean think about it.  Even if you pick the exact wrong color and pick the most horrible picture to color in, as long as you finish each shape with full on precision, then you come off with a respectable piece of artwork. No matter what.  All you have to do is sit back and work at it.  There is no problem solving, no stress about what the client will think or about if it will sell in the gallery.  There is a finish and an end.  You just keep in those lines, and your home free.  And every time I did, I felt some sort of accomplishment.  

I think that same concept holds true in my line of work today.  I work in a creative field, yet I’m not sure just how creative it is.  I pick some colors and stay inside those lines and I feel accomplished.  Now whether that’s a form of creativity, I’m not sure, but I love it anyway.

I’ve been to New York about five times in my life and I loved every trip. I love it so much that I considered moving there at one point in my life.  That was about five years back when I was right out of school and looking to start a new chapter in my life.  Not to mention that my whole group of friends was either moving there or some other big city to find a really cool big city job.  I’m not going to lie, I was too scared to do it at the time.  I was happy where I was in my little city I call the ATL.  Well, it’s not all that little.

Anyway, I considered moving there because I love the vibe of New York.  The crazy smells and the strange people around every turn.   The fact that if you make it in New York, you can make it anywhere.  The movie stars.  The award shows and movie premieres.  The fact that New York is the setting for so many big movies and story plot lines. The Broadway shows and millions of tourists.  The business culture and all the young professionals trying to make it big.  The Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty.   I love New York because it is the biggest city in the world.  It’s unlike anyplace else and it’s a  world all it’s own.

Now, as much as I love New York, I didn’t move there and I won’t ever move there.  I could, but I wont.  First of all Priscilla wouldn’t let me (I mean us) move there.  Plus, I would have to sell pretty much everything I own.  Next, I would have to go from a spacious two bedroom condo to a meager 700 square foot room four floors up.  Not to mention that my shower would be in my kitchen.  (I’ve seen it)  I don’t think Priscilla could handle that one.

On top of all that I like where I’m at.  Atlanta is my home (For now) and I have no reason to leave it.  New York is a great place to visit and I will always think of it as one of my favorite places I’ve been  But, unfortunately, I will never live there.

I recently finished a website for JWT Team Detroit. They are actually a branch of JWT here in Atlanta with an interesting name.  The website is for Georgia Saturdays which is a collaboration with the University of Georgia football head coach Mark Richt and Ford.  Anyway, I constructed all the flash and helped in the design. I did all the animations and coding throughout. I added a form on the back end and included simple downloads on the download page. Here is the link: http://www.indigostudios.com/georgiasaturdays

The thought since I have almost never added artwork to this blog, I should start.  I haven’t done anything that cool lately, so I will add this one.  I did this job for Indigo Studios and Function here in Altanta.  Just some of my retouching skills at work. 

OK, so I know it’s wrong.  I know it’s technically stealing.  I know that it’s probably not the smartest thing to be writing about in this blog, but I’m going to because it’s real.  People do it.  I love to download.  I have been a downloader since I could run a computer.  But I ALWAYS buy the software or music before I downloaded anything.  Because if I didn’t, it would really be stealing.

It all started back in 1997.

I remember downloading my first mp3 ever.   Given this was back when artist gave them out for free on their own websites.  Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn”.  Yep an instant classic.  Now that song will forever be etched in my memory.  Torn was the first with many to follow.  After I got a taste, I was hooked.  Me and my best friend Joe somehow figured this shit out.  See, back in 96′ there was no Napster, no Kazaa, no Bit Torrent to make peer to peer transfers though an open source network.  No, we had to do it the old fashion way.  We used backend America Online chat rooms to download hundreds of files that were almost like puzzle pieces. Once we have all the pieces downloaded, we use another program to piece them all together. This became a extremely frustrating process because if you spent three days downloading a hundred files and then realized you were missing one.  The game wouldn’t work. It was fun though, and I did it a lot.  Most of the time the shit didn’t even work, but I loved the hunt.  I used to sit and just scan though giant lists of files I knew I could have if I wanted.

But then, there was an upgrade.  Napster.  Oh, how we all loved Napster.  The one thing about Napster was that everyone found out about it and honestly, the program sucked.  I used Kazaa and that sucked too.   But the thing that it did bring was attention.  Now, you might think that this is a bad thing, but it was the opposite.  Downloading hit mainstream running. Music artist complained, record execs tried to shut it all down.  There were ads about piracy everywhere.  The funny thing about the whole thing is, is all the press just made people realize that they could download stuff. It started a revolution.

So then the next phase of downloading came.  The death of Napster.  It got so much press it was ridiculous.  Man, I guess we will all have to start buying music again.  Um, no.  Actually the funniest thing about the fall of Napster, is that all the Napster clones were alive and kicking and by for more superior to napster when it died.  Even funnier still, was they were already obsolete, because the next phase had already begun.

Bit Torrent.  I’m not going to say much about it, but it’s awesome. It’s an open source Peer to Peer network that uses separate address files to connect your computer to several others and download at your convince.  It’s by far the best way to go.  And the crazy thing is, is that it will one day be obsolete and there will be a “Next Phase”.  It’s only a matter of time.

Can someone explaing to me why Plaid Shorts are cool.  Please.  I am the owner of three pairs now and still don’t really get it.  I’m not saying they don’t look good.  I’m just saying they are pretty much the opposite of cool when I was in highschool.  I know trends cycle and change over time, so I guess I’m just getting old.  I could bet money that Plaid Pants will be in style soon and I can borrow my grandpas old golf pants to fit in.  He would be so proud.

Most people initially think I’m crazy for not voting.  Throughout history Americans have been fighting for the right to have their voice heard in their own government, to be a part of and to give their personal opinion on how their government is dictated.  I mean it’s my right to vote so I should respect that right by exercising that right, right?  I’m not convinced.   There are a couple of things that I am skeptical on.  First of all, how much is my opinion really worth?  Would my vote really count?  Second, what am I really voting for? Do these people ever really follow through with what they claim they are going to follow through on?  And is this just a popularity contest at it’s highest level?  And last and most importantly, I don’t feel anyone should vote unless they know exactly what they are really voting for.  Most people have no clue.

OK, so how much does our individual vote really count?  Is it worth anything at all?  Out of all the people voting all over the nation, how can one vote be worth anything.  It seems to me that Al Gore won the election a few years back.  America sat back and let it happen and we get four more years of Bush and four more years of war.  But maybe it’s just Florida’s votes that don’t count.  Either way, if the government counts the votes, don’t they have the power to accidentally miscount to favor a certain candidate.  It seems to me that the more computers run the world, the easier this will become for our government.  The only reason one would believe our individual vote would count towards anything is because our government says so.  And I can’t say I trust them to begin with.

I caught a small portion of Republican VP candidate Palin talking to the masses at her Republican Convention, and all I could think of was, “This is all bullshit.”  She is up there running her mouth about how much better she is then her democratic competition.  Then pauses.  Then the crowd cheers.  She could say anything, then pause, and the crowd would cheer. Then Obama gets quoted saying ”You can put lipstick on a pig,” while the crowd cheers “It’s still a pig.” (referencing a remark made earlier from Palin.)  Then McCain publishes an ad claiming Obama wants to teach sex ed to kindergarten kids.  It says: ”Learning about sex before learning to read?  Barack Obama. Wrong on education. Wrong for your family.”  (this was a total misquote from McCain.  Obama specifically mentioned teaching Sex Ed to appropriate age groups.)  This is a joke and it amazes me that people don’t see it.   It is one low blow after another used only to discredit the competition.   This election is a true popularity contest at it’s best. It’s sad.

But honestly the main reason I don’t vote is because I just don’t REALLY know the facts.  Truly I don’t think anyone really knows.  A lot of people vote because of someones skin color or gender or where they are from or the way the talk.  Some people vote for their political party which boils down to conservatives and liberals.  The thing I don’t get is that people don’t care enough to really look at what each person represents.  I may want Obama cause he is “for” freedom of choice, but what I don’t know is that he is “for” higher taxes.  All I care about is freedom of choice so I vote for Obama, yet if I really knew all the things he represented, I might have chosen differently.  People are naive (including myself).  It seems to me that the government wants America to be naive.  Vote for Plain!  She’s cute. (for a pig with lipstick)

Priscilla and I just got back from another wonderful trip to Jacksonville, Florida.  Jacksonville has always been a fun trip because it’s only a meager 5 hours away from Atlanta and it’s got water.  Jacksonville is cut in two by the St. Johns River and is butted up against the Atlantic Ocean.  It is the United States largest city in actually land mass.  It is located in north eastern Florida only  2 hours from Savannah, Georgia and twenty minutes to the South Georgia border.

We were in Florida visiting Priscilla’s sister Ashley, her husband Jay, their 3 year old Kent and they’re new addition, 3 month old Elle.  Ashley and Jay have recently remodeled their home by adding an extra guest room (for us), a full outside patio with a built in grill, and a full on theater with a 105 inch HD Projection TV.  Awesome.  So it was a fun filled trip full of babies, babies and giant TVs.

One of the things that really makes Jacksonville so enticing to me, is the water element.  It seems like every time we visit Jay takes us out on his boat.  Honestly it’s super convienent because he has it docked just two blocks away from his house at his sister’s boat dock.  We usually just take a couple of hours to cruise around Jacksonville past Alltell Stadium, the Maxwell house factory and the Landing. 

The Landing is a downtown square that includes several restaurants and bars and is located right off the St Johns River.  It’s a cool little area that pertains mostly to tourists and business lunch meetings, but is always a fun place to visit in the boat.

Jacksonville is smaller than Atlanta, but not in a bad way.  It actually reminds me a lot of Sacramento, in that it has a river, is smaller in size and is not directly adjacent to the ocean.  It also has an extremely high property value which is also similar to Sacramento. 

All in all, I would definitely move to Jacksonville.  It most likely would be number one on my list if I had a choice on where to move.  But the main reason is that Ashely and Jay are there.  Plus, when P and I are ready to have kids, our kids will be able to have a relationship with their cousins just as I did with mine.  It definitely is something to consider.

It took me awhile to get started on the whole peer to peer thing. I was just like everyone else when it came to this stuff.  It took an old intern at Indigo to finally get me in, and when I got in there was no turning back.  Now, I started with MySpace as most people do.  It’s easy and fun and once you start customizing, it’s over.  You are hooked.  Then you find your friends from high school, old jobs, kindergarten, then your Mom joins.  Wow.   Anyway Peer to Peer networks are the best thing since the internet.

OK, like I had said, I started on MySpace.  I dug MySpace for a really long time before I even considered joining Facebook.  I felt that if I stuck with the most popular network, then the other one would eventually fade away.  I was wrong.  Plus, you can’t have Pepsi without Coke right?  So I joined Facebook and ended up finding all the people I couldn’t seem to find on MySpace.  The other half of the world.  I also found that this Facebook thing might not be fading at all.  It might be MySpace that will be doing the fading.  Or at least transitioning.

Ok, I like MySpace.  It’s easy, functional, easy to find people you know, and everyone, I MEAN EVERYONE, has a MySpace.  This is because it is so easy to use.  But from what I have learned this is also it’s downfall.  You can update, customize, change, modify, and pretty much do anything to your MySpace page.  You can change your entire page to not even remotely resemble anything close to MySpace page and that’s ok.  There are no restrictions.  This lets all those teenyboppers and crazy kids that have no idea what they are doing pt tons of crap all over their page.  They add songs and galleries and widgets and applications and on and on and on.  It get so bad that you don’t even want to visit their page cause it’s just annoying.  All in all, MySpace is good, but it’s too easily customizable.

Now, Facebook isn’t perfect either.  I still don’t really understand it, but the one thing I like is that you can’t mix up the look of the pages.  I mean, you can add widgets and applications, but none of that ever effects your viewer.  I mean, you can read someone’s app’s but you don’t have to if you want to write them a message.  It’s simple and i like that.  On the other hand, it’s straight ugly.  The newest update has done wonders for it, but it still needs some work.  The worst thing about Facebook is it’s horrible user interface.  Frankly, it’s too hard.  The layout is confusing and retared.  I swear it takes me five minutes to find my notifications half the time.  The Instant Messenger thing is cool, but why is it at the bottom of the screen?  The inbox is great, but too hard to find and not clear enough when you have a new message.

If I had to suggest either MySpace or Facebook, I would have to say both.  There are a ton of different people on both.  I believe though that MySpace will soon evolve to where it began.  Bands.  It will soon only be bands and Facebook will be for everyone else.  If I had to bet though, I think that there will be a new Peer2Peer network that will come out and blow them both away.  There are too many things fixable on both.  MySpace needs to ton down and facebook needs to function better.  The problem is is that they already started and now they can’t make that drastic change in order to progress.  (Sounds like our government)

Check out my MySpace here 

Check out my Facebook here

There has been movies made about it, countless books have been published about it, and a million people talk about it everyday, yet no one REALLY knows the truth.  What is the truth?  It’s all a conspiracy.  And it’s all about the money.

I’m not the smartest guy in the world and I most likely don’t know what I’m talking about, but I do know that everything in the world revolves around money.  It’s the one thing everyone wants and every business is after.  No matter what.

So I have thought up three major problems with three major entities in the world.  But honestly I think this same idea runs through ALL major corporations.  But maybe I’m wrong.

First up, the pharmaceutical companies.  All I’m going to say is this:  If there is a company that sells headache medicine and they make billions of dollars a year on that product, do they want the magic pill that cures headaches?  Does the Cancer Society want a cure for cancer?  How many jobs will be lost and how many rich people will go broke if this magic cure is found?  Is there an answer?

Next up, the oil companies.  If there are billions upon billions of dollars made on oil every year in the oil industry, what happens when we find the secret formula to an alternate power like Antimatter?  They say that you can power the earth with one drop of this shit is they can figure out how to harness it.  My point is that if there is a better fuel solution out there, wouldn’t the oil companies pay billions of dollars to prevent it from surfacing?  If they didn’t, wouldn’t millions of rich people all over the world be broke?

OK, I could go on forever about this but I have one last “company” that has to be called out.  Our government is full to the brim with politicians.  We trust them with our lives everyday.  We trust that they do the right thing and make the right decisions with our money, our homes, and our well-being.  Yet, these are the people that will do anything to get to the top.  I mean, if I was a farmer in Oklahoma that gives McCain five million dollars for his campaign to become president, then wouldn’t he side with that farmer when it came to tax cuts.  It’s like “I scratch your back and you scratch mine”.  So how does that make it fair for anyone else.  Politicians are funded by companies.  Companies want money.  It’s always all about the money.

The only reason I wanted to write this, is because I can’t think of one solution to the whole mess.  It’s like a circle that will never end.  And the only one who suffers is us.  I don’t blame the corporations or the government for doing what they are doing, because I am in business just like them.  I am just like them; I am all about the money too.  But it sucks to think that the world is going to have to wait til we find that answer before we can progress.  Before we can figure out when we should do something right, and when we should do something for the money.

I didn’t go to college. I couldn’t take it, so I went to the next best thing. Art School. Now, I was nineteen and had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, but I knew I loved art. And I knew I hated school, so I started asking around about what Art School options were out there.

My Dad ended up setting me up with an interview with the people down at a local Design Agency in Downtown Sacramento. Two of the guys there told me that they moved to Atlanta to attend a small design school called Portfolio Center and that one of them had actually taught there for a short time. Now, at this point I was looking at all my options. I had looked into schools in Oakland and San Fransisco, but none of those schools really sparked my interest.  Plus, they were 4 year degrees, and PC was a two year specialized school.  In other words, you get a certificate and they help you get a job. Sounded good to me.

I moved to Atlanta in March of 2001.  I grew up pretty fast there as all my friends were four years older then me.  You see, most kids at Portfolio Center actually go to a normal college first.  They then graduate and decide they want spend more money on school.  But really, most people use PC as a graduate school, or finishing school.  I was the baby, yet most people I came across claimed they wished they had done what I had done and skipped regular college.  I guess I just knew what I wanted.  I just like to draw pictures.

So after being at PC for a while, I realized that I am one of about ten Illustrators.  Portfolio Center is a very small school made up of about 300 kids.  I would say over half are designers, a quarter photographers, and the rest are made up of Art Directors, New Media, and then Illustrators.  It was strange, but I ended up liking the fact that I was in the minority.  Plus, the designers were put through hell, and all we did was paint and draw all day.  I was a 19 year old stoner from California; I loved it.

Most of my friends were designers.  They were all very talented but had a lot more work then me.  I got the nickname “Danger” because I was such a bad influence on my overworked designer friends.  Now don’t get me wrong, I did work.  It was just that I was so talented, that I didn’t need to work that hard.  (sarcasm)  But really, I did learn a lot about drawing and painting.  Plus, I did take my first classes in After Effects, Flash, and Lightwave which I use on an everyday basis now.  PC was a great starting point for my career, and I loved every moment I was there.

Portfolio Center, with the help of my Illustrator instructor Gary Weiss, got me my first opportunity in the real word.  They set me up with an internship at Indigo Studios.  I have worked there ever since.  PC gave me the knowledge and professionalize that I needed to get a job in the real world and succeed at that job. 

And plus, if I hadn’t gone to PC, then I wouldn’t be here in Atlanta, and I would never have meet my beautiful wife Priscilla.  I can’t deny that PC was one of the best decisions I have ever made and It was a major turning point in my life.  I suggest that if anyone out there wants to be a designer, or wants to work in the creative advertising business, then Portfolio Center is the way to go.

I got a Wii.  It’s awesome and you should get one.  Yeah, I like video games as much as the average 12 year old.  But, I don’t care.  I still got a smoking hot wife.

I also have a chip in my Wii.  It’s better then awesome.  It’s called the Wiikey and you can legally buy it on the internet for $39.95.  You can even install it legally yourself.  So this is NOT something illegal.  It specifically says Wiikey is used to play back bought games.  So you can duplicate your games and play the duplicate copies so your original ones stay silky and smooth.  It’s all a bunch of BS though.  Most people use Wiikey to download games off the internet, burn them to DVD and play them.  I don’t do that because that would be stealing.

However,  I do own over a hundred “copies of games”.  I get every game there is to have. Most of the time,  I download them and play them once and move on to the next.  Don’t get me wrong, I still invest in the Wii franchise.  I have all the controllers (which are extremely overpriced)  I have a dance pad, a guitar for Guitar Hero, two Wii remotes with a charging station, two Wii Numchuks,  a Classic Controller and a gun.  I’m going to get the Wii Fit pad too, but it’s a little hard to find these days.

So after saying all that, I do have to say though, that as good as the Wii is, it has a way to go on it’s quality of games.  I mean there are literally maybe five super good games for the Wii.  They are: Zelda, Mario Sunshine, Smash Brothers Brawl, Mario Kart Wii, and Guitar Hero 3.

I need a PS3, but as of right now there is no chip for the new Playstation.  Yo better believe I’ll have been when they do.

So if you didn’t already know, I’m getting married on July 19, 2008 to the beautiful Priscilla Henson at Park Tavern in Downtown Atlanta, Georgia.  We are having around 200 guest.  This is going to be a big wedding.  It’s going to be a lot of time, money and organization to pull everything off with out a hitch.

Honestly, when I first contemplated the idea of marriage I had no idea what wedding planning really  involved.  Originally I had the “Take the money and run” idea, which basically means taking all the money her parents were going to use on the wedding and use it as a down payment on a new house.  Well, as you can imagine, Priscilla had other plans.  She wanted the big wedding.  She wanted the sparklers, the limos, the big church, the soloists, the extravagant flowers, and she wanted me to be there the whole way through.

Now when it comes to the average groom’s part in planning a wedding, they usually sit back and watch as the stressed out bride makes all the decisions and never asks for the grooms opinion. That is because they really don’t want it in the first place.  Well Priscilla would have no part in that.  Priscilla has a little problem with making big decisions by herself.  I was at the meeting with the florist.  I was at the meeting with the church director.  I was at the meeting with the church music director, in which I specifically remember him say, “Wow, we don’t get many grooms in here!”.  I was at all of these meetings and gave me full opinion every time.  (not that anyone listened to my opinion)  I was there for Priscilla the entire time and honestly, I am glad that I did.

I see it like this:  It’s my wedding too.  My family and friends are traveling 2,500 miles to be here in Atlanta for me.  To support me and Priscilla  and watch us take the big plunge into the unknown.  I am truly gratefully for all the money they all have to spend for the sole reason I decided to move to the East Coast.  I want to  show these people the absolute best time ever.  And as it’s looking right now, we are going to get pretty damn close to that mark.

So as I am writing this, we still have a lot to do.  Actually, we have more than that.  We have a shit load to do.  But mostly now we have a lot to manage.  We set up the rehearsal dinner.  We set up the reception with the dj, the florist, the food, the limos, and all the rest I can’t think of.  Now we have to make sure they all mesh together and fall into place when and where they are supposed to.  And I have all the confidence that they will, but I will still worry.  Priscilla has taught me well on how to worry. She will worry more.

Here is a link to our wedding website:

http://www.daveandpriscilla.com