Think.
full archivesI think a lot—some say too much. Behold the results… a collection of my random, scattered thoughts. Pardon the dust, I'm tinkering with the layout in my spare time.
The above tilt-shift video, The Sandpit, is neither video nor tilt-shift.
This is simply fantastic and gorgeously done.
In a couple of hours, I’m gonna charge up this baby and see what she can do.
Funny, I was just married by a minister from the Universal Life Church. Awesome.
Oh, yea, btw… I got married last week.
Funny thing is this isn’t from our official wedding photos from our mega-rad photographer. This is a snap from my mega-rad sister, who just happened to be shadowing our photographer. :D
Scary part is how vividly I remember staring at that box every morning, and how I can still hear “Carnation Instant Breeeeakfaaaaaaaaaaast: you’re gonna love it in an instant!” I used to mix CIB, milk and ice in my blender for my precursor to the Frappacino.
Kind of want some now. Damn it.
The data suggests that people who are Tea Party supporters have a higher probability”—25 percent, to be exact—”of being racially resentful than those who are not Tea Party supporters—Christopher Parker, who directed a study on the teabaggers for by the University of Washington’s Institute for the Study of Ethnicity, Race & Sexuality. Full results. (via jimray)
(Remembered by raspberrytart)
Shows how long it’s been since I really paid attention to a bag of M&Ms—I thought they were still there.
Dick move
From Jackson Fish Market’s blog post about their own Jenny Lam winning Best Startup Designer at this year’s Seattle 2.0 Awards:
While there were some talented and intelligent folks also nominated in the designer category, from what I can tell, none of those folks actually are software designers. Perhaps there needs to be a separate category for user-experience focused program/product managers. Wouldn’t it be nice if for next year’s awards, all the people nominated in the software designer category actually were software designers.
From what you can tell, eh? Paying attention and actually following links to portfolios must not be part of the author’s skillset. I’ll admit, the award title is rather ambiguous (though it’s not too hard to imply that they are saying “Best Designer at a Start-Up Company”), and yes, some of the folks nominated seem to have graduated to different titles. But to make such a broad assertion is a giant Fuck You™ to every finalist.
Yes, that includes me.
I’m happy for Jenny. It’s a great honour to win a peer award like an S2A, and I never considered myself in the running (I have terrible self-confidence, I’ll admit). I hope she continues to create great things, and I’m glad these aren’t her words. However, our dear linked author, where do you come off making such an assertion? I can’t speak for the rest of the design finalists, and lord knows I’ll never grasp the nomination and selection process of the Seattle 2.0 Awards, but stating the rest of the field were miscategorised, when your local favourite already won the award? That is either a case of serious brass cojones or speaking without putting an ounce of thought into it beforehand.
How, pray tell, would you justify saying that I am not a designer? Is it because I also have to write the front-end markup for our web-app? If so, you’ve obviously missed out on the concept of designers that code.
If not that, then, is it that I have “UX” in my title? Should designers, especially those on 8 person teams, abscond themselves from User Experience tasks? I should say not! If a designer (and yes, this has always been a dangerously ambiguous term) has no dealings or understanding of UX or interaction in a tech startup, are they more than a simple visual artist? I’ll admit that the term UX is an overused buzzword, and has been slapped on every title possible in tech, but does that make me any less of a designer?
It is an affront to my career, my achievements and my abilities to so simply write me off (and my co-finalists as well!) as not a designer because the nature of my workplace requires me to do more than just open Photoshop to build comps. When I’m teaching others how to utilise said software, I often joke about when I learned of the addition of LAYERS to the software years back. I have a strong mastery of Photoshop and Illustrator, and have had for years.
What then? How is it that, in at very least my case, you feel that I am not a designer? Might a propose the answer, to save you the time slapping together a foolhardy response? How about this: you made a broad generalisation, based solely on the listed titles and minute write-ups presented on the S2A voting ballot (which we had no role in writing ourselves), with no actual attempt at backing your comments up with any research into the work of your targets. If you feel as though I still don’t match your definition, you might want to reconsider your definition.
UPDATE: The author, Hillel, (sorry, there is no full name provided) backpedalled and apologised to Aviel and I for calling us less than designers. This was not, however, before posting a rather condescending retort to Daryn’s comment, more or less saying that his definition of “software designer” is the most accurate (though never defining it). I’ll accept the apology (we all say really stupid things online from time to time), but hope our dear author will in the future spend a little more time proofing a blog post meant to tout the bright spots of a company, instead of firing off one that makes the entire company look bad.
UPDATEx2: Hillel has recanted his statement and apologised personally. Un-dickmove-ified.
When you start talking about TMNT pies, that deserves comments.—Ash Dash, in regard to my lack of a comment system on this here tumblog. Wait til after my wedding, and maybe I’ll have the spare time to integrate Disqus.
I have a horrible guilty pleasure: those pudding pies you usually see at truck stops, gas stations and (unfortunately) Safeway. As a kid, especially, I was keen on making sure my snack on road trips would be a chocolate pudding pie, usually, if memory serves, purchased at the Flying-J in Snowville, UT.
I recall losing my shit when TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLE pies (see above) came out. Of course, I was caught up in watching our heros in a half-shell, like every kid my age, and this was a whole new level of bliss. I mean, VANILLA PUDDING pies with a GREEN COATING OF SUGAR AND CARNUBA WAX?! You bet your ass I loved it, Skippy!
When I moved to Seattle a few years ago, I recall one of my first few trips to a Safeway by my work. I was new to the city, so I’d sooner shop at the only familiar place than explore and end up in the wrong part of town (or worse, at a Red Apple). I had just left my then-girlfriend (now soon to be wife) behind in Utah, and I needed cheering up, so I trolled the sweets. Nothing struck me, so I headed for baked goods, when I saw a rack of the iconic fruit-filled pies. During my childhood I noticed that the choco-pies were vanishing, yet the horrid jammy pies remained. I figured this was the same deal, until I noticed one of the wrappers.
It was brown.
I grabbed the prefab gluttony, threw wads of cash at the checkout chick and ran home. I popped a Dr Pepper (guilt pleasure numero dos) and giddily tore into the chocolate pie.
It was terrible. Needless to say, my fond memories of pudding smiles gasped for air, so much was the vacuum of joy. I still long for them, but every time I give in (always, it seems, at a Safeway), my mouth is filled with vile brown sludge.
While we’re on the topic of shudder-inducing food items purported to be of a chocolate flavour, my dear future-wife stumbled on an ad for Pudding Roll-Ups. I won’t go into it much, but I can smell and taste them now, just by mention. It’s a terrifying recollection. I’ll probably have nightmares about them tonight.
