Blog.Treo

Mid-Summer Here I Come!

I’ve got a short break from school right now, perfect timing to get some projects around the house done – to get some design projects done – to get some development projects done right here at TreoBenny.com

The last couple weeks I’ve been trying to settle in on an orchestra of mobile-minded social networking tools. I started out with Twitter, but then realized the good stuff Twitter was doing could be taken further. I started looking around at other tools like Brightkite and Dodgeball. Of course, in the end Twitter will no doubt engulf all of them, (or whenever they team up with Google.) I forsee myself being settled in on my tools of choice in a week or so, at which time I’ll begin really crankin’ on my next design project. School will be back soon after that, but with only one class to worry about, I should still have time for lots of ‘playin’.

All my play will need to end by mid-Aug. when I go back to work full time. It would be great if I could secure a full-time job in design by then, I’m keeping my fingers crossed. But, in the meantime, it’s late June and life is good! Be prepared for an overload of updates as I get ready to go to my first NASCAR race in a couple weeks.

Whew!

I spent the majority of yesterday working towards the new looks here & on the homepage. I’m very pleased with how everything is looking right now, but of course, I still have work to do. The biggest change here are the new pages for ITZ and the Twitter badge. Of course, just as I was finishing up last night I discovered that there’s a WordPress plug-in for Twitter. I might get around to that tonight. You should definitely subscribe to the RSS feed, I’ve got several ways to post now so updates should be the most frequent since…well…ever

Taking a Break…

Week 1 of ITZ volleyball went well, except for me being late. My team lost all 3 games but I think we did well for our first game together as a unit. Getting to the subject of this post, this is my last week of class for this term. We have some extra days to submit our assignments so instead of trying to complete an assignment over the weekend I’m taking a break. Being out in the sun all morning for the first time this season has definitely taken its toll on me. (If my face isn’t burned I’ll be surprised, I’m getting the itchy-pricky’s already)

It’s 5:30pm on a Saturday but I doubt I leave the house again. The beauty to playing sports, for me anyway, is the fact I can exert myself and be genuinely tired at the end of the day. I miss that…Going to work makes me tired, but it’s a different kind of tired…more of a stir-crazy, rat-race kind of tired. I prefer the athletic kind of tired, it makes the night’s rest more enjoyable. I’ll watch the NASCAR Nationwide race tonight and maybe throw a burger or two on the grill.

Oh, almost forgot…what’s that Laker fans? You cried about the officials, then accused Paul Pierce of faking…you got DID on your home floor and the Celtics really didn’t even play a good game. I’m not so much a Celtics fan, but I am a big fan of KG and Ray Allen. I’m not particularly a fan of Paul Pierce, but it seems many of the things I didn’t like about his game have been remedied with more talent around him.

Beach Volleyball – The Crown Jewel of Summer

I would have preferred to write this post from a PC so I could include images and all that, but this is a good use of my train ride. However, I just learned of one drawback to blogging via mobile device…that Devil we all know as…text messages…LOL!

I don’t think I’ve mentioned anything about my sports life in the 2008 edition of this blog. Since I’m typing with my thumbs I’ll try to be brief:

For a little more than the last calendar year (several more sport seasons) I’ve played recreational sports with In The Zone, LLC. (ITZ) Visit them here:

http://officialinthezone.com

I started with bowling quickly followed by 12″ softball. I’m an avid bowler and I have to sometimes remind myself to have fun. Conversely, I’m real gree at softball, but I’m now taking a blue-collar approach to it since I’m returning from an injury it caused. After my first bowling and softball season, the clouds parted and a ray of sunshine shone down on me called beach volleyball. I had the most fun in a summer I can recall since adulthood playing on the beach last year.

Tomorrow is the first game of this year’s beach season with ITZ. Last year I was a rookie team captain/player with a mostly rookie team. This year I’m playing on a team, but instead of team manager I’m interim League Manager. As I write I’m on the EL headed to the southside to meet a co-worker and shop for refreshments.

I have much more to say but it’ll have to wait, my thumbs have had enough.

A Quick Test

I primarily configured email blogging so I can post from my Treo. I set up everything up yesterday (I think) so here goes!

Definition of a Designer

I imagine every person that finally finds their best fit for a career or lifestyle endeavor, has the same epiphany as I’m about to describe:

It started back in high school (over 15 years ago) with a DTP class and a part-time gig as a Graphic Editor for a youth newspaper. I didn’t revisit any of my creative skills (or so I thought) until just a few years ago when I started doing basic Web edits and some publication design at work.

Things started very slowly, but finally in the last few months I’ve made leaps and bounds towards a career in (and lifestyle of) design. I sold my first design a little over a month ago…in my mind, this was the point of no return. I’m no longer a guy that designs, I’m now and forever will be, a designer. The more I think of myself as a designer, the more I can recognize that I’ve always been a designer. My definition of a designer follows. It has changed a bit over the last year and I hope it will continue to evolve as long as I pursue design.

A designer recognizes that the senses shape thoughts and applies this concept through various channels of communication.