the JCU effect

Hello?

2011-10-26T03:40:00.000-07:00

Is it me you're looking for?

Because, I'm still around. I just rarely update this. I think the last time this was updated was back in 09. I couldn't even really tell you. So yeah. I'm still here. Just ... not.

Really?

2009-04-08T12:44:00.000-07:00

I don't even know what to say about this. As some of you know, I've never been one to get out on a soapbox and proclaim my support for gay marriage. But that's not to say that I don't support it. Quite the opposite, I do support it, and when I see an ad like this, it just makes my blood boil.

I don't understand how some people can live with themselves, knowing that they are denying equal rights to all people. You can't deny it, that's what they're doing. They're getting out there and they are saying "All Americans do NOT deserve equal protection or rights in this country."

Has the gay population become the new African American population? Isolated, shut out, denied certain inalienable rights that should be guaranteed to us because of the person we choose to be with. I mean, I don't mean to say that the gay population's plight is the same as what the African American population had to suffer through years ago, but it's similar.

Why do people feel that they have the right to get out there and tell us what is right and what is wrong? I understand free speech and all, but this is crossing a line! Why must gays and lesbians all across the nation, not to mention the world, feel like we are second class citizens who don't deserve the same sort of protection and rights that straight people get automatically?

Why is this such a big deal to these right-wing conservatives? I just do not get it!

One of the best quotes I read recently is from one of my favorite politicians (yes, I have one), Howard Dean:

"From a religious point of view, if God had thought homosexuality was a sin, he would not have created gay people."

—Howard Dean

I mean - how true is that? If God had thought homosexuality was a sin, he would not have created gay people. It really makes you think.

And that my friends is where I will leave you.
Later!
*JCU*

I'm so excited...

2009-03-18T11:12:00.000-07:00

...and I just can't hide it! :)

Apple, Inc. just released information regarding their newest OS for the iPhone! It's called (this is a genius name for it too) iPhone 3.0. I know, nothing special, but who cares what it's called, what really matters is what it's upgrading/adding to an already kick ass phone!

Some of the features that are being added/upgraded are as follows:

A new Cut/Copy/Paste feature. Why is this cool? Because, we can finally take vital information from one email and/or text message and put it into another one, without having to remember what it is we wanted to copy! Because Lord knows our brains are so filled with information that we can't remember minute details such as your best friend's house number.... or your mom's birthday (because your sister, who emailed you to begin with asking what it was, can't remember it either). So copy/paste/cut, will be an awesome added bonus to the iPhone.
(And this one I'm super exicted for) - SMS becomes Messages. Huh? Oh, wait, you want more? :) SMS becomes MMS!!! What? You're still confused? Ugh. MMS is Multimedia Messaging Service, duh! Are you still lost? Wow. :) MMS enables you to send and receive photos, contact information (using the vCard standard, which will automatically add it to your Contact list), audio files, and locations. YAY! Super excited for this feature. This is the one thing I've missed since switching over to the iPhone. I used to have this on my rinky-dink Verizon phone, and for some reason Apple didn't think to include this in their already awesome phone - so this is definitely something that I know some of my fellow iPhone users will enjoy having on their phone.
AND the last one that stuck out and really grabbed my attention was the addition of a landscape feature for all apps. The Safari (internet) app already has the ability to flip sideways when you tilt your phone to the side, which makes the browser window wider, and gives you a sideways and much easier to use QWERTY keyboard. This feature will be built into all the Key iPhone apps including Mail, Notes, and the built-in messaging client (MMS). I know my life will be a lot easier while texting people once this feature is installed. :-)

If you want, you can read the full article: here. It goes into a bit more detail about some of the other features (there are hundreds, and they don't even cover all of them) that the new iPhone software update will have in it.

And that my friends is the end of me being geeky for today.

*Later*
JCU

In love, In sadness...

2009-03-14T07:40:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was a sad day for the Uncles family. We lost our beloved dog, Star. For those of you who don't know, he'd been suffering from Liver Cancer for the last month or so and this week he took a turn for the worse. It's not been easy on us, as you can imagine, but we knew this day would come eventually.

With that said, Rest in Peace little buddy. I know you're in a better place now. :)

Star "Starbuck" "Jelly Bean with Legs" "Turkey" Uncles
1996-2009.

Photo courtesy of Terra Dawn.

New Look and Feel

2009-03-08T17:14:00.000-07:00

I got a facelift!!! Not literally - but web-ally! :) (yes, I made up a word, and I don't care). This is just the start of my life on the web!

Tell me what you think! I am going to work on it some more once I get a copy of Dreamweaver. I have a lot of great ideas for this. This will be in conjunction with giving my website a facelift (www.thejcueffect.com), which it most desperately needs. :)

I guess that's it for now!
*Later*
JCU

Not news.

2009-02-28T13:03:00.000-08:00

I got new pens! It's not *that* exciting. But it made me happy.

It's Nannerpuss!

2009-02-25T14:37:00.001-08:00

2nd Job

2009-02-24T18:40:00.001-08:00

Got a 2nd job today! And I haven't even built one website! A former coworker asked me to do a website for her Cabin in southern VA.

I am noticing a trend. First Rob's website for his condo, now Lynn's website for her cabin. I don't want to be a travel website maker!! HA. But everyone has to start somewhere, right?

In other news...... ummm..... no other news. That's it. :)

*Later*
JCU

First Job!

2009-02-17T16:11:00.000-08:00

So today I got my first "job"! My friend Rob has a website for his condo (http://www.mbcondo4cheap.com/), and it doesn't look all that pretty right now. So he's asked me to help him design a better looking site! I have to say, I'm pretty stoked. We're going to discuss payment for the site soon (w00t!), but during prelim talks, we decided that he'll probably buy me Dreamweaver CS4 (which if you read my last post, you'll know that I do not own said software)!

So not only will I be designing my first website (for money), but I also get the software I need to do it! I am so super excited! It's going to be a lot of fun. He's also asked me to design him a logo as he's hoping to turn this into a sort of side business (renting condos out in Myrtle Beach). So yeah! Totally awesome.

As things progress, I will keep you updated. Though, I'm pretty sure "you" is just Terra right now, but that's ok. :)

*Later*
JCU

PhatFusion Image Map

2009-02-15T08:29:00.001-08:00

I found this really cool way of doing a Navigation menu for your website. The site is http://www.phatfusion.net/imagemenu/. The only issue is, I need Dreamweaver CS4. And I don't even have a version of DW that I can upgrade to CS4. I will need to work on procuring said software.

But, the way they do it is super awesome. And maybe I can figure out the coding behind it and see if I can make it work without CS4. I used to be totally awesome at doing HTML back in the day using Notepad on windows (way before DW was even a mainstream web authoring tool). This is the sort of stuff I want to do for myself, and then maybe do it at work too. Though, it might be harder to do it at work since we are way behind on tools there too. Hell, even I have a better version of Adobe Creative Suite than work does. :)

I think that's it.
*Later*
JCU

Re-invent The Wheel!

2009-02-14T15:16:00.000-08:00

Hello fellow blog world - I am back. For now. Until next month, I'm sure. :)

Where have I been? Well, I could concoct some really amazing story about how I've been on some awesome adventure backpacking through Europe, however, that would be a total lie, and would only come true in my fantasies. So truth be told, I have been here. In front of my computer. Looking at my blog over and over again thinking "wow, this page sucks, and it needs to be better." Because, really, if you look at this page, you might think, "Wait, isn't he a graphic designer and doesn't he do web design for a living? Because his page doesn't really look like it." Well blog-o-sphere, it's true. I am a web/graphics designer, and yet my page looks like poo.

SO - over the next few months, I PROMISE I will actually work to make this page 10x better than it is. So it will get a new makeover, AND I will actually do something with my webpage. (wait, he has a webpage? I didn't know that... why doesn't anyone tell me these things?!) My webpage is need of.... well... I would say a facelift, but it needs WAY more than that. It needs CONTENT! So in order to actually provide said content, I will also be creating "mock" webpages for different folks.

For example:

Terra will be getting a mock photography website. So Terra dear, I need some images I can use to make your fake site. K.thx.
TJ will also be getting a mock music website. Which means I need to get some information from him... OH, that also reminds me that I need to create his business cards for him. *jots that down*
And I think Allie will also get a mock event planning website.

That being said, I really feel compelled to do all this, so I will need to be sure I stick with it as I have been super unmotivated lately.

I think that's gonna be it.
*Later*
JCU

FIAL

2008-12-08T14:56:00.000-08:00

I have failed at this blog! I really have. I thought I'd get back into it, but I've just been so not with it when it comes to the blogosphere. And who points it out? My mother. :) Ah, good ol' moms. What would we do without them?

Thanksgiving has come and gone with little to no incident. I made lasagna to share with my family. It was an obvious hit among the Conte side of the family, and a reluctant hit on the Uncles side of the family, but in the end, everyone loved it. Mom's turkey "won" again. My mom and dad always have a "competition" each Thanksgiving. Mom always does the traditional turkey in the oven, with the butter "glaze" and veggies and typical stuffing. She also does the traditional stove top gravy as well. Dad on the other hand will either do a brined turkey, or like this year, a smoked turkey, along with his port wine gravy. Now, dad's food is always tasty, but it's Thanksgiving, so the traditional always tends to win.

I can't believe Christmas is right around the corner. I haven't started asking folks what they want this year. I'm slightly reluctant to ask what with the money situation this year. TJ has already told me not to get him anything, so that's one off my list. I'll of course be getting stuff for the parents and sister, but that may be about it. We'll see.

It is certainly starting to feel like it's Christmas though. We have the house decorated inside and out. It would make my mother proud. :) She taught me right. I'll be going over to their house this coming weekend to help with the family tree. My sister will be home for Winter Break, and it's my dad's 58th birthday, so it'll be a nice weekend.

Not much else to report. Work is good, life is good, everything's good! Pizza is on the way. Yum.

*Later*
JCU

Vlog?

2008-10-18T05:48:00.001-07:00

After my exciting rendition of yesterday's blog post to Terra, it has been decided that I will begin vlogging on occasion. But I will only vlog when I have something really excited to talk about. :-)

That is all. We now return you to your regularly scheduled program, already in progress.

Politico

2008-10-17T15:25:00.001-07:00

All I really have to say is that I'm super energized to see that Virginia actually has a chance to go to the Democrats this year.

Check this out: http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/calculator/

Mind you this is all just based on polls, and could still turn out in McCain's favor, but still! Virginia hasn't gone Blue since 1964 when Lyndon Johnson defeated U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater. So, even though VA is a very conservative state, with a huge republican base, we Dems still have a chance.

I was reading an article today in the Post [link here] that was saying that not only is VA leaning towards Obama, but that the Obama campaign has been campaigning much more heavily than the McCain campaign. It was saying that the Obama campaign offices were so busy that people were spilling out of the storefront into the streets! It went on to compare that to the McCain offices that were so dead you could probably hear a pin drop (my words, not their's, read the article).

Like I said, I'm super energized about this election, and while I am so ready for it to be over, I cannot wait for election day! I really just want to cast my vote to show my support for Barack Obama and the Democratic party!!!

I really don't know what's gotten into me! I've really never been this energized about a presidential election before. Not for Gore v. Bush, and certainly not for Kerry v. Bush. I think because this one is such a MONUMENTAL election (yes, I put that in caps, get over it), it's making a lot of people wake up and pay attention. They're realizing that they need to get their voices heard and to do that they need to VOTE!!!

So be sure to VOTE on NOVEMBER 4th!!!!!

In other news, TJ's birthday is tomorrow, which means it's time to celebrate. It's going to be a combined birthday/housewarming party. It will be fun celebrating TJ's last year as a Twenty-Something. :) While at the same time realizing that I'm still young and I still have 4 years until I turn 30. You'd think I'd be concerned because it's only 4 years, but then you just think, TJ only has 1 year. So 4 years? Really not so bad. :-) I'm such a bitch.

OK! Time to go make a cake!!!

VOTE!!! YAY!

Vote for McCain!

2008-10-17T15:09:00.001-07:00

Haha - just kidding. Obama/Biden 2008!

I like pudding.

2008-10-14T14:51:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post a video that I always found so uber amusing. Anyone remember Chris Crocker? The "Leave britney alone" guy? Yeah.... I just wanted to have a laugh today, so I decided to share my laughs with you.

Enjoy!

If I must...

2008-10-12T07:16:00.000-07:00

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on the blog.
3. Write six random bookish things about yourself.
4. Tag sixish people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know he or she has been tagged.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

1. I used to hate to read. In fact, in the sixth grade I actually got a "U" in Reading. ("U" being "unsatisfactory" - they didn't give A's, B's, or C's in elementary school) So in essence I failed reading.
2. When I started college, my english professor was a hard core feminist, so we read all these stories about strong leading female characters. It made me gain a better appreciation for the struggles of women.
3. I vowed for the longest time that I would never read Harry Potter. I agreed to see the movies, but the books were just not interesting to me at all. I thought they were juvenile and stupid. It wasn't until Order of the Phoenix (book 5) was coming out that I started to feel left out, so I went back and read the first 4 in a week. And then I was hooked. I've now read all of them more than once, here's a breakdown: I've read OOTP 5 times, and listened to it twice (it's my fave); I've read HBP twice, and listened once; I've read Deathly Hallows twice, and listened twice; and I've read GOF twice, and listened once. (That was a long bookish thing)
4. I used to be into the "Left Behind" series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. At first it was for the Christian content, but over time, it really just became about the writing style and the action going on. I began to skip over the lengthy preachy Christian parts just so I could read the action. After I read the 12th and final book, I decided never to read Christian themed books again.
5. I love books that have a futuristic twist to them. It's fun to imagine what the future could be like, and if I ever wrote a book, it'd be set in the future. In fact, I already have a title, but you don't get to know it.
6. Now I love to read. It's theraputic. :)

Now, I'm not tagging anyone, because I don't have many readers, nor do I read anybody except for Terra, Allie, Serena, and my sister. So. that's done.

So sleepy...

2008-10-11T20:53:00.000-07:00

I do not feel like Twitchy right now. In fact, I feel like the opposite of Twitchy right now. I'm so tired, that the post I had in mind has just flown the coop.

Instead I leave you with the following clips... enjoy.

And finally...

Goodnight!

Thank You

2008-10-09T18:51:00.000-07:00

I just want to say that I have the best friends and family in the world.

I love you all. You all rock and I couldn't imagine my life without you. You guys are what keep me going each and everyday.

Don't worry, I'm not depressed or anything, I just wanted to let you all know how I feel. :)

Thank you. :)

Sneezing Panda.

2008-10-02T19:18:00.001-07:00

Need I say more?

Awareness

2008-10-02T02:44:00.001-07:00

I'm going to write a post later about Breast Cancer awareness.. :) This is just a reminder to myself to actually do so.

I read all the news...

2008-10-01T12:53:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I found this today. It's another "gem" in the ongoing word vomit that is coming out of Sarah Palin's mouth these days. Watch...

Really? You read ALL the news? You really expect Katie Couric and the rest of America to believe that you've read every single American news outlet or source so you can stay current with what's happening in DC? Really?

I wonder if she knows just how many publications there are in America that talk about what's going on in DC, let alone the amount of publications the DC area has itself. And then, when Katie Couric asks her for specifics, she responds with "Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me all these years." All Katie is asking for is a couple of specific names of news sources. She could have named the most obvious choice, the Washington Post... or hell, even the NY Times for that matter.

But oh, that's right, she's a Republican. The Post and the Times are so controlled by the liberal democrats that if she reads those, it's like reading something the devil has written. Well, maybe not that extreme, but that is how a lot of Republicans think (you can disagree with me all you want, but it's true). I will agree that a lot of the media is very liberal when it comes to politics, and yeah, sometimes things are slanted in Democratic favor, however, that still doesn't give Sarah Palin an excuse. NOW... I am NOT saying that she hasn't read them, for all I know, the Times could be one of her favorite news outlets (next to Moose Hunters Weekly and Hockey Moms of America), but to not be able to NAME one or two news sources to just kind of, you know, back up your claims as being ready to lead in Washington????

This woman scares me people. I am seriously worried for our country. If McCain is elected, she's #2 folks. There's nothing we can do about it. If the old man dies in office, she's #1! And to think, this woman, who up until a month ago had never been heard of by anyone in America (except for her fellow Alaskians), would be in charge of our country? A woman with little to no national experience, clearly no foreign policy experience (unless you count saying Hi to Putin and going through Canada to get to the lower 48), doesn't know what the Bush Doctrine is, and who keeps contradicting things that her grandfath.... excuse me, her running mate says.. I mean, is this really who we want as #2?

I was arguing (yes, arguing) with a coworker yesterday about this topic. I told him I trust Senator Obama to do a good job of running our country. Yeah, he has no governing experience, but neither does John McCain. McCain has been a senator for 20+ years, does that qualify him to be president? Clearly it does. So why not Obama? Oh, because Obama has only been in the Senate for what, 4 years now? So 4 years in the Senate is less qualifying to be president? BUT, Sarah Palin, who, as we all know, was a Mayor of a town of 9,000 people, and then went on to become Governor of a state that's not very populated (683,478 (2007 est.) versus Rhode Island which has 1,057,832 people in it (and RI is SMALLER than AK)), gives her MORE qualifications to be second-in-command, potentially President of the US? Why? Why does this make her more qualified to run our country, should that ever happen? Because she has gubernatorial experience? I'm sorry, I think I'll take my chances with Obama and Biden. Hell, I'd even take my chances with the Governor of RI. At least he's got 400,000 more people to govern than she does.

You know what? Fuck all of this, I'm moving to Canada. No really. I'm done with all of America's politics. Or can I just go live under a rock and come back out in 4 years? Please? No? I can't? I have to stay here? WHAT? I can't even move to Canada? Why? I want to though! Ugh.. Fine.

I'll be a big boy and suck it up. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to speak my mind!!!!!!!!

Sharing is caring!

2008-09-28T08:52:00.000-07:00

Terra shared this with me, so I shall share it with you all.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Titles are so overrated...

2008-09-28T07:35:00.000-07:00

I ended up being only quasi-productive yesterday afternoon. And I probably wouldn't even go all the way and say I was quasi, more like quasi-quasi-productive. Really, then only thing I did was make my blog look nice. I still want to figure out how to make it publish to my website, but I haven't gone to look it up to see how to do so.

I did go shopping with 3 of my ladies last night. We went to Fair Oaks, and I bought a cover for my iPhone and a charger for the car, and bought a new outfit at H&M. I branched out in my choices of shirts, I got one with purple in it. *gasp* But it looks really nice, and I bought a pair of slacks/dress pants to go along with said shirt. I'm gonna look sexy on Monday at work! w00t! But that requires I go get a haircut today. And really, the only thing I have enough energy to make happen is to take my parents' dog home and go to Staples to buy envelopes. Maybe I will go and get said haircut after work on Tuesday. I can stand the shaggy hair a couple more days. I do need to shave though.

Right, now that I've bored you with my inward grooming dillemma.....

Things that will happen this week (brought to you by our good friend, The List!):

Swimming on Monday and Friday
Cardio on Wednesday
Weights Tuesday and/or Thursday
Haircut
Laundry (towels, sheets, etc.)
Get blinds for my bedroom (have curtains, but need to cut down on the light a lot more, it's way too bright in my room).
Take pictures of the house because I realize nobody has seen it yet, except for Terra, and Steph, and Rebecca, and my parents.

I believe that is all I will blog about today. Oh, I went to the gym this morning and burned 320 calories. Just so it's on record. And I've lost 4lbs since I started working out 3 weeks ago. Yay! Total of 24lbs since March.

Later.

Productivity

2008-09-27T12:19:00.000-07:00

I hate it when I have an entire day to myself and I don't do anything productive.

I was supposed to go to the DC Book festival with Terra today, but she canceled so she could stay home and work on her book - which is fine, I'm not complaining that she canceled (really, canceled only has one L in it? I thought it had two...weird), it's just that with the book festival on the agenda, it meant I had plans, and now, I've done absolutely nothing all day. I should have come up with some tasks for me to do as a backup in case we did not go downtown.

Some things I could have done instead of sitting on my ass being lazy:

Worked on my website - by creating graphics, designing the layout, coming up with a logo for thejcueffect - right now I just have a page that says "Coming soon." Ooo... thejcueffect.com
Worked in the yard - by pulling out the ugly plants that surround the house, or by getting a lawn mower and mowing since it actually got sunny outside, so it would have been a perfect day to do yard work
Get some of the ideas out of my head that I have for a book (Terra has inspired me)

But alas, I did none of these things. But tomorrow is another day, so I suppose I could do some tomorrow -- or I could work on some of it NOW. Hmm.. what do you think?

Templates?

2008-09-27T05:09:00.001-07:00

Given the fact that I do web design for a living, and can make bunches of websites for customers on a near daily basis and can do things web related with no issues (typically) you would think that I should know how to search for custom templates online and upload them onto my blog here. Is that the case? Nope.

I've always been rather retarded when it's come down to me customizing my blog the way I want, and this dates back all the way to the days of LiveJournal. Terra always had a fully customized looking LJ when she used to use it (albeit, her html skills were a little not so good, so the LJ never looked good, hehe) while my LJ was always just one of the basic templates. Yeah, that's real exciting.

And now her blog is awesome looking (see it here). And mine - well - mine is just a simple template again. So someone should help me make mine look awesome! I did get a cool banner at the top. But that's as far as it's going. I would eventually like it to post somewhere on my website (the not constructed thejcueffect.com) - like post here and have it show up there... Gotta figure out how to do that... I'm sure there's a way. It might not be through blogger though... Hmm.

Anyways. Any help would be appreciated.

Just my two cents...

2008-09-25T13:49:00.000-07:00

I don't like to get political on my blog (those of you who know me, know I get political on Facebook or in person) - but I just wanted to share these two videos I found. One is a portion of Katie Couric's interview with Sarah Palin, and the other is Sharon Osbourne's feelings on the selection of Sarah Palin.

From the blog I found this on:
"Wow. Certainly a disastrous 24 hours for the McCain campaign.

Katie Couric's interview with Sarah Palin reveals exactly why they've been keeping her from the media. She doesn't know what she's talking about. Whether she is or not, this interview makes her look like she's in way over her head."

And my thoughts:

I tend to agree with the blogger, after watching it, she doesn't cite anything specific, she generalizes EVERY answer or rewords the question INTO an answer. And this is who we want for our VP? Really? I don't know guys... Listen to her last line and tell me that's who you want being our second-in-command.

Just a thought! :)

-----------------------

Sharon Osbourne tells Ellen her thoughts:

That's all!

WDW 2008 Seattle

2008-07-21T11:18:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update. I'm sitting in the Web Design World Conference waiting for the next session to start. So far it's been pretty good. We've only had two speakers thus far. The first was Heather Champ, Director of Community at Flicker (link) and the other was Jared Spool, Founding Partner, User Interface Engineering.

Both have had a lot of interesting stuff to say, and I can't wait for the rest of the day to transpire. I will definitely keep you all apprised of the goings ons as I'm sure you'll find it just as interesting as I do. :-)

Later!
*JCU*

Jump Start

2008-07-18T21:43:00.000-07:00

On Sunday I leave for Seattle for 4 days. I'm very excited to be going. One: because I've never been to Seattle. Two: because I'm going for an totally awesome conference.

I get to go and be a part of the Web Design World Conference (link)! It's going to be 3 days of Web Design and Graphic Design seminars and workshops! I get to learn all about different emerging and new trends in the web world, as well as take part in an entire day of Adobe workshops - ranging from topics on Dreamweaver all the way to Photoshop.

I really feel that this is going to be the jump start I need to get my web site built and my mind back into designing graphics and web sites in my spare time (which I have tons of these days). I'm hoping that while I'm there I can also do some major networking with folks, that way I can gain a sort of support system out there that I can bounce ideas off of and get hints, tips, tricks, and advice when it comes to designing graphics, web sites, and possibly getting what could potentially be a decent business off the ground.

So yeah - it should be a great time. I of course will be doing all the touristy stuff while there, like going to the Space Needle (my hotel is 2 blocks from it, I better go see it!) and going to Pike's Place Marketplace to see the ORIGINAL Starbucks (who wants a bag of coffee?)!

Alright, well my bed is calling to me, and I have to be up tomorrow to pack for my trip.

*Peace*
JCU

Getting back on the web....

2008-07-11T13:26:00.000-07:00

So I made the first step towards becoming a contributing member of the World Wide Web again. And no I'm talking about this blog... :-)

No - I have finally registered a new domain name for what I hope will become a nice side web/graphic design business. The new website is http://www.thejcueffect.com. There's nothing there yet, as it was just registered today, but I hope in the next month, I will begin working on designing it and making logos and such for the website.

I will definitely keep you all posted!

*Peace*
JCU

Creative Slump

2008-05-24T12:28:00.000-07:00

I feel as if I have hit a creative slump in my life. I haven't been using my graphic design skills nearly as much as I would like to be using them. Yeah, I use them at work everyday, but that's for government stuff. It's not as if I can do anything really awesome and have it be applauded by my managers. I mean, I do awesome stuff there, it's just not at the creative level that it would be at if I were working private sector, you know?

I really feel that I need to continue working my graphical skills outside of work, that way I can maintain my sanity, and maintain the skills that I know I have, as well as improving on them. But I feel like that in order to do that, I need motivation. So I'm calling on you all - motivate me! Come up with some stuff for me to make graphics for! I can create willy nilly things all day but they'd have no meaning. If you have an event that is coming up, let me know, I'll make a graphic for it. Just anything really. :-) Keep me motivated! Isn't that what friends are for?? :-P

In other news, life is pretty tame right now. I'm loving being single, and I like where I'm at in my life at this point. Come August I will be leaving South Riding and moving to good ol' Manassas, VA. My buddy TJ is buying a place, so I will be moving in with him. It should be good times! I'm really looking forward to it. Also, in September, I will be starting to look for a new job. I know, I know, I just started this one in September last year, but, I know I can go elsewhere, retain my clearance, do what I do now, AND make more money while I'm at it. I love my job, and I love the people I work with, but as a graphic designer on a web team, I don't feel as if I can get the money and/or respect I deserve staying in this position. So, after I get my yearly review/increase, I will begin the job hunt, unless of course they give me more money. If not, well...

Anyways, I think that about covers everything.
Later!
JCU

Fail blog?

2008-04-21T18:18:00.001-07:00

So - clearly I fail at updating a blog. I've been super busy lately with work and life and just haven't had the time.

So in an effort to actually update this more, I have decided that I will spend an hour each week devoted to this blog, and hopefully will be able to get things out there for you.

Take care!

I'm not Spam!!

2008-03-26T14:53:00.001-07:00

Ok - so this post is going in here so Blogger doesn't think I have a spam blog.

I'll be using this blog pretty often, I swear. :)

-JCU-