Losing track of days

On the iPod - "Coffee" - Copeland

Hello friends.

Sorry for the long delay. I've been busy with holiday activities, meeting lots of my girlfriend's family and traveling. I've been off since last week and have really enjoyed the time off. I can't remember a time when I've actually awoken and not known what day it was.

This year, I was the recipient of a brand spankin new version of the Adobe Creative Suite 2.3. So far, I'm impressed. I use the same software on my work machine, but since my home PC is far and away more powerful, it's even better.

I've been using the Photoshop program to work on some bad photos of the dog. Next step is a new digital cam for me.

Once upon a dream.

On the iPod - "Pillage the Village - Chin Up, Chin Up

I've got to mention right now that I'm extremely frustrated with blogger at the moment. I'm peeved that I can't seem to find a way to get my archives back up without posting them all by hand. I only had 30 postings on this version of my blog, so it's not that overwhelming, but there are better things I could be doing with my time. For the sake of record keeping, I'll follow through.

I've been working with JavaScript for the first time in a long time the last two days. It has been a nice little exercise. I'm branching out a new menu for work that includes a rotating area for refreshed content. So far, things haven't been a struggle, but things have the tendency to get hairy fairly quickly around here.

I've also been networking with a lot of other Saxotech developers who are planning on attending this year's user conference in St. Pete Beach Fl. The overwhelming topic of interest is Saxotech Online's CCE module.

I hate the holidays.

Holiday designs, reading

On the iPod: "Talk About The Passion" - R.E.M.

With the holidays upon us, we're seeing no shortage of the cookie cutter advertising, images and decorations. But believe you me, there is some interesting stuff out there if you take a little time to look for it. Over the last two years, I've taken a closer look at how holiday ads are designed - from the color schemes to the imagery used.

Editor&Publisher did a nice little piece on the Holiday advertising forecast, but I'd like to focus more on holiday print campaigns. AdCritic, has a host of interesting print campaigns (some holiday, some not) featured on their site at the moment.

A holiday design reading list

I've been doing quite a bit of holiday reading this year as well, here's two books I'd recommend in the design arena.

1. Kurt Andersen, Graydon Carter & George Kalogerakis
Spy, The Funny Years
Miramax, 2006
Part nostalgia, part history lesson, all interesting, "Spy, The Funny Years," explores the famous New York magazine's history, culture and influence on a generation that grew up in the 1980s. Not only is it interesting, it's beautifully designed to boot.

2.Philip Hoare & Chris Heath, editors
Pet Shop Boys Catalogue
Thames & Hudson, 2006
Even if you aren't a fan of the Pet Shop Boys, there is a lot to take in here. It's visually stunning at 336 pages, filled with great photography, anecdotes and the musings of one of pop music's most influential songwriting duos. It would serve as a great coffee table book for any pop music fan this holiday season.

Sorry for the lack of updates. I'm really trying to be better. Really.