Praizing the Praized

Praize 'n Raize is gaining ground. It was started by some guys in Montreal, one of which is my blogger friend, Harry, an ideas guy. I recently decided to try my hand at this app, now nicely integrated into Facebook, cool graphics and all. It's a way to bookmark your favorite hot spots around town, and share this information with other users... Kind of a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" review, of sorts.

Out of Words?

Well, I've run into a busy time in my life as a graphic designer: the month of March. You see, it's year-end for my biggest client, the federal government. They want to use up their budgets now, so they are accorded again next year. A dream come true, in many ways, except that I don't have time for much else, at the moment... So, I'm afraid the schedule of my posts may be spotty for the next month or so.

All the more fitting for this particular piece I found: John Stossel's commentary on how 20/20 has not done a single piece on graphic design in the 27 years of its existance. As such, I thought this clip deserved air time.

Getting Tanked

According to this guy (I think his name is Mero Pyaro... it's hard to tell), here's a drawing of one of the world's first tanks. Apparently, it was to be built large, so that many men could hold it over themselves, as they ran, in step, toward the enemy.

In his article about the evolution of military tanks, Strange Tanks, he discusses the weirdness of tank design, over the years... and weird, it is.

What's in a Link?

Well, it depends on whether it works or not. In the case of my (new) blog, many (most) of the links don't work, at this time. I am struggling to figure out the software that I was promised "any fool can make work".

Links, both electronic and human, are the underlying social and non-social connections we make every day. They infuse our lives with anecdotes, ranging in importance from the utmost greatness to "not important at all"... and yes, like so many that came before me, I have grandiose visions of sharing my thoughts with millions of fascinated readers around the globe... but this will not happen without functional links, I realize.

And so, I resolve to fix the broken links on my blog page, today.

... And Just Like That, I Was a Blogger

One day, I was was a graphic designer at a local software company. The next, I was self-employed, re-inventing myself once again. A daunting, yet exciting task, if ever there was one.

Then, I had a conversation with a blogger friend of mine, Harry. He convinced me that I, too, should blog. "But what am I to talk about?", I asked. He told me to just pick different things that interest me, and start talking about them. Making woolen hats. My dog, Pixel. Graphic design. Portfolios. Art, art, art and more art. Knitting (yes, knitting). Other peoples' dogs. Gardening...

"There are just so many things out there that I love to do!"
"Ah," said Harry, "that is why you should write about them."
And so it goes... Welcome to my first blog post.

Harry, here's to you! Let's hope I have the self-discipline to keep this up!