Everything about this shot amuses me, from the inflatable Ameri-rocket to the crudely-painted sign declaring the sale of fart bombs. I don’t know if people are actually looking for self-exploding flatulence… maybe it’s a hot item this year.
I know you’ve seen them… they lurk on the shelves and stands of nearly every bookstore out there. Bad book covers.
There’s almost no reason for them in any instance, but it is especially puzzling when a notable author like Dean Koontz is displayed with a horribly-designed cover such as this. I mean, come on, I know the guy has written dozens of books, sometimes a couple a year, but a 30-minute Photoshop hack-job slapping a yellow lab on top of a photo of dark woods? Please…
Really, it wouldn’t be as bad without that stupid cropped-out dog on the front with the green outer-glow around it. It’s completely out of place, looking like it was cut and paste out of a shot of a family picnic in an L. L. Bean catalog. Hmm, maybe it’s appropriately scary.
“Has it really been that long?” was the first thought through my head when I was anonymously contact on MySpace by someone whom I’m sure I never even talked to before, requesting my information so a 10-year high school reunion eVite could be sent to me. Come to think of it, I don’t think I talked to 90% of my graduating class, and those who I did make friends or acquaintances with I haven’t even seen, much less commiserated with.
I’m not sure what it is about the past, especially high school years, that gets people all happy and nostalgic. For me, high school was an awkward and socially isolating endeavor made much worse by the fact that I didn’t attend a very large school to begin with. For the three years that I attended Northern Lebanon High School, I can count on one hand the memorable moments that would even make me consider wishing to find myself in the presence of individuals I really couldn’t care less about.
Do I want to know where everyone is now? Or what they’re doing, or who they married or divorced or had kids with? If anyone had any sense, they would have moved far, far away from Central Pennsylvania shortly after graduation and never looked back. Sure, I’m still here, but I could be doing a whole lot worse for myself.
Ten years later, cynical as ever.
Just discovered my cousin’s DeviantArt page… there’s some definite talent there. It’s sort of funny to see family members grow up from a somewhat external view. All of my cousins are hours away from me, this one in particular lives down in Florida, so we don’t get to see each other very often.
I guess that’s why I like the internet so much, it can bring people together in many different ways.
And yea, let us set aside one day each year to celebrate the defending of freedom and winnings of wars with the eating of seared cattle meats and tube-shaped meat on buns.
Actually, that’s just what I’ll be doing, like a lot of other people that I know, and it’s certainly not enough of a thank-you to hundreds of thousands of brave men and women who would sacrifice everything to see that this country remains free and its ideals unchanged. Most of us take that for granted.
So if you know a soldier, thank them. If you know someone in harm’s way, even today, wish them well.
Just a quick update from the hotel room…
We’ve been in Memphis, Tennessee for the past couple days. Actually, as of now, we’re getting ready to leave and drive the nearly 1,000 mile trip back to PA today, into the night. Lots of pictures to post and stories to tell, which will have to wait until later, unfortunately, since we’ve got to head out soon.
I used to live down here in the South (okay, a long time ago, but still) and my most missed thing has got to be the food. Yesterday, we had some barbecue from this little place called Neely’s BBQ (you might have seen them on the Food Network), and ohmygod it was the best pork sandwich I’ve ever had. Ever. And the sweet tea… ooh, it’s like a glucose coma in a glass.
Anyway, got to go, but will update later on our wanderings in the Blues City.
So I snagged a Nikon D40 digital SLR camera from Circuit City on Friday after work and have been messing around with it all weekend. It’s great to have the flexibility of an SLR with the ease of use and instant preview of a digital… now I can see what I’ve been missing out on for so long.
I’ve uploaded some new shots to my Flickr account, in case you were interested.
I know this isn’t really that much of an interesting post, but my car just rolled over to 90,000 miles the other day, meaning that over the past four and a half years of owning this little black Mazda of mine, I have driven the equivalent to the breadth of the United States thirty-five times.
It sort of makes me wonder what I could have accomplished during that time in the car while I was pretty much just sitting there moving a wheel back and forth…
Lately, I’ve been listening to audio books and discovering new bands on XPN while on my daily commutes, since I’d hate to just completely lose that time without at least trying to make it beneficial to me.
What do you, dear readers, usually do on your commutes (provided you have one)?
It’s a little late in posting, but I’ve already passed the 1-year mark since I left my job at D&H and started working at InsuranceNewsNet. That means in one year I have exponentially expanded my skills and experience as a designer through my experiences in a much smaller and faster-moving environment.
While I was working as a (for all intents and purposes) layout production designer last year, there was nothing to aspire to, nowhere to go but where I was. Nothing against the job or the company, it was just the nature of the business, an endless revolving door of product ads and tech.
But at INN, I have taken on the responsibilities that would usually be relegated to 3 or 4 different people:
The list goes on and on, and there’s nowhere to move but up. I count myself lucky and fortunate that my short search for a new job landed me such a great position. I can’t believe it’s already been a year! I can’t wait to see how far it takes me.
