Sorry for the Hiatus

I'm back... and I can honestly say that I'll probably be back to regular blogging again. I had no idea how much work planning a wedding, doing a wedding, going on honeymoon and pitching new business at work would be. Needless to say, it was quite a ride. But now that weddings, Vita's medical boards, and a lot of other drama is behind me, I can get back to my cynical take on life, marketing and the web.



A reader recently asked me why I don't have a blog roll. I guess I've just never been a huge fan of them. I don't go seeking too much traffic with this site, and really maintain my URL to maintain a good snapshot of who I am on the web. I posted about that very topic a while back. But, thanks to the encouragement of some friends who also maintain blogs, I've been considering getting back into the regular foray and may endorse a few blogs that I frequent.

So, look for more topics, more stuff and more fun.

Also, if you want to read some thoughts from someone I've been reading lately, check out Ken Burbary's blog on web business. The handful of posts I've read so far are intelligent and well written.

Thanks for putting up with my constant absence from this space. Stay tuned folks, there's lots of changes on the horizon. Oh, and if you do care, the wedding was lovely. Here's a photo.

I guess we're really doing it.

On the iPod: "Black and White Town" - The Doves

So. I suppose that I know have to get married for sure. The wife-to-be created a wedding page on theknot.com. It's officially, official now.

The templates the knot offers seem to be heavily bride-focused, catering to the pastel pinks, oranges and greens that dominate the MySpace set. I haven't seen all of the templates just yet, but I think the finance picked a decent template, even if I'm not a huge fan of vertical stripes.

We also put the deposit down on our wedding site and are fairly confident that we have a few other pieces decided. Thankfully, we get to be a little dormant for a while in regard to the planning, allowing her to focus on her studies and finish up her last three months of medical school before she returns home to the Mitten for rotations.

I'm not sure if I ever mentioned that my fiancé is in medical school. I'd have to look back through previous posts.

At any rate, here's what's been determined for sure:

• The Date: June 1, 2008


• The Location: Waldenwoods (Heartland, MI)


• The Format: Non-religious and outdoors

Anyway, I have more rants to talk about. For my fellow wine fans, I have three new wines I reviewed over the weekend. See the wine journal to your right.

The anticipation has got me blue

On the iPod: "Expo '86" - Death Cab For Cutie

They say if you don't have anything nice to say, you shouldn't be speaking at all, hence the silence the last few days. But I'll brake it momentarily to talk about my best friend's wedding (no, not the movie). My buddy Andy got married on Saturday to his lovely (and absolutely perfect for him) new bride Amy.

It was a fine afternoon. I stood in the wedding party and also acted as chauffer from the church to the reception and reception to hotel. Andy and Amy had the sort of wedding I would hope to have. They shared these intimate moments. There were whispers, smiles and touches that made me wish I was acting in the capacity of photographer. While I think their photographer did a fine job, I would have been stealing those private little moments, because those private little moments are what are burned into my thoughts of that day.

And seeing those moments made me realize what a special talent and gift photography really is. There are all these basic rules that need be followed, but at the same time, the process is totally subjective. I find it fascinating to learn about why a shooter might decide to open up to f 2.8 in a bright light setting or why depth of field is so distorted for a certain shot.

For me, (and this probably comes from dating a woman for the better part of three years who shot in this fashion) full frame photography is incredibly impressive. So few shooters do it well. In fact, many books seem to avoid teaching good full-frame shooting practices. They focus more on developing the shot into the rule of thirds as opposed to finding the way to best use the negative space.

Maybe digital is slowly killing off the need to shoot in full frame, which I think is a shame. You can really get the most out of your shots, digital or otherwise, when you know how to properly frame a moment. It requires the shooter to be more thoughtful, more creative – to be an artist. So many "photographers" today aren't artists. They know how to make a picture, but not how to work in the medium of photography. So many of today's shooters seem to be better with Photoshop and not so great with the camera itself.

On being tired.

On the iPod "Time Bomb" - The Dismemberment Plan

I'm not feeling very well at all. I honestly just feel completely sapped of energy. This week, I've had a lot of responsibilities to my fiance's family, wedding planning, the Catholic church, our dog and to work. That hasn't really left much time for taking care of myself. It's starting to show. I'm looking a bit like a zombie, can't seem to stop my body from aching and all my head can think of is my rapidly depleting bank account. Pretty soon, I'm sure the other shoe will drop and I'll just crash. I'm looking forward to a little sleep and a few hours where I don't have someplace I need to be; some time that doesn't have to be spent talking about how we're hurting other people's feelings for wanting to have a wedding done our way, and some time when we're not talking about a wedding, a location or items associated with a wedding, period.

We're having fun right?

On Wedding Designs.

On the iPod: "So Lonely" - The Police

My wife to be and I went with our mothers to a bridal show at Waldenwoods in Hartland, MI yesterday. Aside from being the only person with a penis in the room that wasn't attached to a wedding-related booth, it was somewhat educational. It also confirmed my belief that this whole wedding thing is quite the racket.

While there, we saw about 17 different options for a table setting, hundreds of different color pallets and wedding photos of all kinds. What I did like was getting a good look at the various ways you can design a tablescape, decorate a room or create an invitation. Admittedly, I'm not as interested in what will be happening at the ceremony as I am in some of the things that precede it. I'm talking font choices for invitations, web sites favors. This stuff is what has been keeping me interested in this thing, as I'm generally of the opinion that this entire event will continue to be stressful and financially taxing up until the day I wait for that beautiful finance of mine to walk down the aisle and instantly make me a better person through association.

So, we're fairly confident that Waldenwoods will be the site. I'll keep you posted on the rest of the journey.

7 more days

On the iPod "Umm..." - Onelinedrawing

When significant events get close, sometimes I think it makes the waiting that much harder.

March is oddly enough shaping up to be a really important month for me. My best friend is getting married, my wife to be is coming home so our parents can meet for the first time and I have a few other things that are totally up in the air. I can't remember a time when I believe I've been more in flux in my life.

It's strange to think about marriage. It's a scary thing. It's like diving off the edge of a building. There really isn't any turning back from a dive like that. It immediately changes everything - just like our swan dive. Bones are going to break, there is going to be pain, but it might just put everything else into an entirely different light.

The thing about marriage is that it effects everything, your interaction with your immediate family, your responsibilities, your financial situation, how you see yourself and how you see yourself among others. It's not just about you anymore, it's about your family unit. It's been an interesting thing to see how my mind has totally warped since being engaged. The first thing I think of in the morning right now is what shape her hair would be making on the pillow next to me if she were there, then it goes directly to the plan. How are we going to pay for this? How are our families going to handle that? What would she think about this kind of bread? How pissed is she going to be that I'm eating this sodium laden pickle?

Nothing is really about me... and I don't think it will ever be that way again. It has suddenly become us, the family. And for the first time, I believe I have real love. You can't design it, put it on paper or code it in any way. It just exists, exclusive of any real definition. It exists.

7 more days.

On Wedding Web sites.

On iTunes - "In the Sun" - Michael Stipe

I've been subjected to a lot of "wedding" stuff lately. My best friend is getting married here in Detroit at the end of March, and I'll be in the wedding party. I suppose this is also just as good a forum as any to let any of the rest of you who don't already know - I will be getting married in 2008. I proposed to my wife to be on the 20th of January. If you feel offended for not knowing sooner, don't. I'm just keeping a low profile these days and am trying to stay focused on other things.

But back to the topic at hand.

I should first point out that I think weddings are a racket. But despite my thoughts on this, I've been subjected to viewing many of the "popular" online wedding destinations.

First up: theknot.com.



Yes, I know every woman loves this Web site for "how easy" it makes planning the big day. Still, let's take a good hard look at this design and what it is attempting to convey.

The problem with the Knot is that it's trying to cram way too much information into one space. It's sensory overload. Newspaper sites like The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal have similar problems. The "My Knot Tools" area along the left hand navigational bar should really be moved to the top. I always praise top navigation sites, but if the site's designers are insistent on using the left navigation, they should move those to the upper left. The current navigation on the top is more for bridal searches. If you need a gown, place etc. That is the stuff that should really be in the left.

I come to this conclusion because most users are using theknot.com for building a wedding web page. Yes, it's used for planning, shopping, etc. but the overwhelming use seems to be for building individual pages like the one belonging to the aforementioned best friend.

I like some of the features, but am of the opinion that the knot's design sort of sucks. Solution: I will build my own wedding announcement Web site via danieleizans.com.

Next: brides.com



Now this site is more of what I think a well designed, thought out Web site should be. Brides.com has a nice, eye-catching graphic in the upper left landing space that immediately grabs the attention of the user. They have navigation running not only across the top, but across that attention grabbing image. There are numerous ways to get to the key areas of the site and the information is organized into logical dhtml tabs that expand upon mouseover. It also has planning functionality and numerous tools for the busy bride to be.

So far, I prefer the look and feel of brides.com. But thankfully, I don't have to do too much of that upkeep. I'll write more about these wedding sites in the coming months and as I become exposed to them. I'll also provide a sneak peak to my own wedding page when I get closer on the color palette and font choices.

That's all for now.