A Ghost of Daisies

I had one other free domain listing with my 1and1 Linux Home Package. While I have an idea for a domain I want in the future, I decided to stick to the pratical and went with www.amandagoodman.com. Right now it is set to refer viewers to godaisies.I figure I should own my own name.

My new toy: Microsoft’s Photosynth. It is hard to explain what Photosynth is, so I’ll invite you to go take a look yourself. Now onto the unpleasant part. You’re not going to get to enjoy Photosynth without working for it.

I had to download Firefox 3 (my current favorite browser being Opera despite a lot of recent unsatisfactory changes) after installing Photosynth in order to even view the synths. Next I had to create a username with Microsoft Live, then create a profile on the main Photosynth website. From there I went back into the synth software I had installed on my computer and clicked. Now I could login. But whoops! I can’t upload any photos yet to try out the new toy because the servers are overwhelmed. This is to be expected, like when Cuil was introduced. I’ll be updating when I finally get my first synth made. Now to dig out those attempted panaroma shots from atop Hatteras Lighthouse.

I am trying to make some headway on getting my portfolio website up and running. For a few hours today I worked on the index mock-up to get the sizes just right. Then I tried to create a quick .swf to upload onto my main webpage. I got the button working, but when I inserted the .swf into the .html via Dreamweaver then uploaded it to the website; no dice.

I kept the Javascript in the folder Dreamweaver had made for it called Scripts. From there I uploaded the .html and .swf into the main root. I got a big white flash box appear on the page. When I moved the script into the root directory, the box disappered.

Back to the drawing board now I suppose. Or maybe I should go ahead and start coding with html and CSS. The second question is what should the mysterious third box be on my index page? If I had an online store it would be perfect there. Since I do not, I guess I’ll stick with a resume section.

Below is a list of websites I am using to learn how to freelance, connect with others, and further my education in new media.
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This is for my website portfolio, Ghost of Daisies. I’m personally fond of the green which turned out to be a happy accident. I spent about 2 hours working on the black & white and the green mock-ups. I tried the regular square edges in Photoshop but was very unimpressed with the results.

Made with Adobe Photoshop CS3.

I’m also a seamstress. About a month ago I finished up an ankle-length coat. When I remember, I’ll post a photo of the coat. Hancock Fabrics was having a sell on Butterick patterns so I went and picked up five new designs. Then at Walmart I purchased fabric to make a skirt and a suit.

On Wednesday, J, W, and I met with our clients, Downtown. Their myspace is available here. W designed the site while I have embedded the videos I made.

The guys were impressed with the video editing I done. It’s long clocking in right under 18 minutes, but it was made to the client’s specifications on what to add to further their vision. I’m still disappointed with youtube’s limiting capacity for producing clear video sharing. When I get my portfolio site up on here, I will be hosting my own videos so hopefully my videos will not suffer the same fate.

My part of the project was as follows:

• take detailed notes from client meetings
• email these notes to J & W
• made mock-ups for the album covers and inserts
• film part of the footage
• edit footage in both a short and long format
• called the client to discuss improvements to videos
• try out different compression techniques for web useability
• uploaded videos to my server to share with J & W
• revised video
• presented the final video to clients with copies

Links to my final videos: here and here

Total time for this project: 50+ hours

The bulk of my time was learning Adobe Premiere CS3 which I was unfamiliar with prior to this undertaking. I’m a Final Cut Pro girl at heart. The second part was arguring with youtube on compression.

Or rather, the lack of going back.

This is the first fall since 1990 that I’m not out buying a new five subject notebook and getting a poor night’s sleep due to first-day-of-school anxiety. I still live in the district of my old high school and yesterday I saw a bus dropping kids off at my old bus stop as I headed to work. I was hit with a flash of nostaglia. I could almost feel the brown vinyl seat covers, the groves running down the center of the ailse, and the heat of too many bodies in no air conditioning. My car’s a/c was running while I watched the kids in the rearview mirror.

Further back I can see back to eighth grade, standing on those church steps in the middle of winter. It was not strictly my bus stop, but all my friends would trudge to the same stop to be together before school. I went out one morning with my hair still wet and it froze to my head. As an expirement I tried to see if it would snap off. It did. Senior year, only two of us still rode the bus together. We sat in the back and would sing country songs to the ire of the younger riders. We did not care. We had worked our way up to being the oldest kids on the bus.

I’m surprised at how much I miss riding a school bus after having completed four years of college. Those four years were highly disconnected and lacked the feel of community like high school did. From an outside perspectative, I’m suppose to be grown up since I’ve been supporting myself for years now, have a car in my own name, and have a job–no matter how crappy the pay is–I’m a grown up. Yet…I retired my high school backpack as a college freshman. That old purple bag held up for four years of rough and tumble high school life. I finally threw it away this summer.

I miss those brown vinyl seats, walking unsteadily down the bus ailse when the driver takes off too soon. Then I realize that part of my life is over. I’m stuck in the now; quickly approaching my mid-twenties. For the life of me I just cannot fathom the same enthusiam as I did for waiting back then.

Here are 36 resume designs that are suppose to help you get noticed by job recruiters. My resume is pretty bland and boring. I’ve posted it over on Razumes to have it annoymously edited and reviewed. One person has already reviewed it for me.

I wish that my teachers had been half-way interested in teaching us any real world skills such as job hunting, resumes, cover letters, etc. Mr. Delacruz had us do a little leg work in looking up job posting websites but that was all. It’s definitely a learning experience that once I get that job, I will be able to pass on my knowledge on how to get a job.

Next week I have an appointment with the career center for a mock-interview. My skills arsnel, they be growing!