Category: Miscellaneous
The 10 Commandments of the PC Tech
Author BradPosted on Categories Digital art, Miscellaneous LearnKey recently posted a video on YouTube and their blog called “The 10 Commandments of a PC Tech”. The video is an unused segment we shot during the filming of the A+ Certification training with Mike Meyers back in September 2009. It was decided that the segment needed finished and released as a promotional item, so my coworker Steve has been working on it tirelessly for the last little while. When I moved to the Salt Lake office I was conscripted for the video, so viewers playing close attention (and not so close attention) can see my mug sprinkled throughout.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBI7srCSpd0&playnext=1&videos=TXUhWTniwmQ
All Settled In
Author BradPosted on Categories Miscellaneous Well, we finally got all settled into our new apartment on Saturday. I guess I shouldn’t say we’re all settled in as we are just living out of boxes right now and can’t even find our food, but everything is in our new apartment. Now comes the long task of figuring out where everything is and where everything goes…
My new job is going great! We had Tom Carpenter in town a couple of weeks ago to film a CWSP training and an update to a CWNA training we built a year or so ago. I designed the CWNA headshot background to mimic the original headshot background, and I also got to do all the keying in AfterEffects. We’ve also been working on an A+ promo (I get to be the model), and we’re beginning filming on Office 2010 this week. Steve said he’ll teach me how to run the camera this week, so that will be cool.
New Job Starting April 16th
Author BradPosted on Categories Miscellaneous On Monday, I received news of a change at my company that has been in the wraps for a little while. I was offered a new position at the filming studio. Instead of the Design Team Lead, I will be the Instructional Design Assistant/Creative Team Liaison at the studio. I’m not sure if that will be my official title as it’s a brand new position, but that’s basically what I will be. I have had the opportunity to temporarily fill this role in the past, but starting April 16th it will be an actual full-time position. I won’t actually start until April 19th, since the 16th is a Friday.
What this means for me is I will be able to be more involved in the creative process when a project is just beginning, instead of waiting until the filming is done before having any input. I will also be in constant contact with the Design Team so the Flash creation process can start at an earlier stage in the process. I will have direct contact with the author and director during every shoot, so I will be able to help the Design Team create more accurate graphics for the Flash content than they have in the past. I will also be able to help with set design and hopefully do a little camera work and video editing. Overall, this should be a good change for both me and the company.
Master of Architecture
Author BradPosted on Categories Miscellaneous I met with a counselor at the University of Utah yesterday to discuss entering the Master of Architecture program offered there. I’ve been thinking about pursuing my Master degree for a little while, but it wasn’t until a couple of weeks ago that I decided to look into an architectural program. Since I already have a Bachelor degree in something other than architecture, I would be required to enter the 3+ years graduate program instead of the 2-year program.
Since the application deadline was in January, I can’t enter the program until Summer 2011, which actually works out great because I have to take a semester of Calculus and two semesters of Physics before I can enter the program. I wasn’t required to take them for my Bachelor degree. I am also planning to take a course in drawing, and maybe a few others that will help me in this degree. I have never taken a course in drawing since I mostly do my artistic work on the computer, but the counselor said that hand drawings are weighed more heavily than digital art during the acceptance process.
I’ve also been researching other universities which offer this degree and some of them require me to take the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), so I guess I will be taking that sometime in the next year also.
Now I just need to figure out how to pay for all this…
Browser Cross-Platform Compatibility Issues
Author BradPosted on Categories Miscellaneous, Web design I came across a post today on LearnKey’s blog titled Why Web Browser Updates are Necessary. For anyone designing Web sites, especially corporate Web sites, I consider this a must-read. As a Web Designer, I have ran into cross-platform compatibility issues more times than I can count. Since I design mainly on a Mac, I also have the issue of difficulty testing sites in Internet Explorer, especially now that Microsoft no longer makes a Mac version of IE. Usually, if a site works in Firefox and Safari, it will work in just about any browser, but IE frequently throws little curve balls into the mix.
Increasing Blog Activity
Author BradPosted on Categories Miscellaneous I have been thinking about this for a while, and I have decided to add to the scope of this blog. I have decided to begin a series of design tips and tricks. Hopefully this will help me post more often and make my posts more relevant. Since I am most familiar with Flash and Photoshop the majority of these posts will be about them, but I may post about other programs also.
My blog and Twitter
Author BradPosted on Categories Miscellaneous As anyone who has been reading this blog knows, I’ve been trying to get my Web site “out there” more. A couple weeks ago I joined Facebook, and last night I joined Twitter. I just found a cool tool called Twitterfeed, which is supposed to post my blog posts on Twitter. Supposedly, I can also link my Twitter account to Facebook so I can change my Facebook status through Twitter. I tried to set that up last night, but I don’t think it really worked. I’ll have to mess with it more, I guess. I also found a cool tool called AddThis which I’ve added to my blog.
Comments Now Allowed
Author BradPosted on Categories Miscellaneous I decided a couple of days ago to allow users to comment on my blog. In an effort to maintain the integrity of my blog, comments can only be added by registered users and comments are reviewed by myself before being posted. Inappropriate, irrelevant, obscene, or offensive comments will not be approved.
SEO and Facebook
Author BradPosted on Categories Miscellaneous, Web design In an effort to get my web site “out there” more, I have spent the last week researching Search Engine Optimization. I submitted a sitemap to Google, and I also created a Facebook fan page for my site. This required me to actually join Facebook, which I’ve been a little resistant to. My wife is pleased.
New Design Went Live
Author BradPosted on Categories Miscellaneous, Web design My new Web site design went online early Friday morning, July 30th. Since then, I have discovered a few issues that need resolved, so I suppose it is still a work in progress. I have also been reading about Search Engine Optimization, so I’m working on an xml Sitemap to submit to Google, as well as a couple of other things to make my site more search engine friendly.