An interesting meme

A.) Go to musicoutfitters.com
B.) Enter the year you graduated from high school in the search function and get the list of 100 most popular songs of that year
C.) Bold the songs you like, strike through the ones you hate and underline your favorite. Do nothing to the ones you don’t remember (or don’t care about)

Note: I’m bolding songs I would sing to on the Radio, which means they were catchy but not necessarily full of artistic merit. Also I was 18.

1. Believe, Cher
2. No Scrubs, TLC
3. Angel Of Mine, Monica
4. Heartbreak Hotel, Whitney Houston
5. …Baby One More Time, Britney Spears
6. Kiss Me, Sixpence None The Richer
7. Genie In A Bottle, Christina Aguilera
8. Every Morning, Sugar Ray
9. Nobody’s Supposed To Be Here, Deborah Cox
10. Livin’ La Vida Loca, Ricky Martin
11. Where My Girls At?, 702
12. If You Had My Love, Jennifer Lopez
13. Slide, Goo Goo Dolls
14. Have You Ever?, Brandy
15. I Want It That Way, Backstreet Boys but I would also sing along to this because it was on the radio all the god damn time
16. I’m Your Angel, R. Kelly and Celine Dion
17. All Star, Smash Mouth
18. Angel, Sarah McLachlan
19. Smooth, Santana Featuring Rob Thomas
20. Unpretty, TLC
21. Bills, Bills, Bills, Destiny’s Child
22. Save Tonight, Eagle-Eye Cherry
23. Last Kiss, Pearl Jam
24. Fortunate, Maxwell
25. All I Have To Give, Backstreet Boys
26. Bailamos, Enrique Iglesias
27. What’s It Gonna Be?!, Busta Rhymes Featuring Janet
28. What It’s Like, Everlast
29. Fly Away, Lenny Kravitz
30. Someday, Sugar Ray
31. Lately, Divine
32. That Don’t Impress Me Much, Shania Twain
33. Wild Wild West, Will Smith Featuring Dru Hill and Kool Moe Dee
34. Scar Tissue, Red Hot Chili Peppers
35. Heartbreaker, Mariah Carey Featuring Jay-Z
36. I Still Believe, Mariah Carey
37. The Hardest Thing, 98 Degrees
38. Summer Girls, LFO
39. Can I Get A…, Jay-Z Featuring Amil (Of Major Coinz) and Ja
40. Jumper, Third Eye Blind
41. Doo Wop (That Thing), Lauryn Hill
42. Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit Of…), Lou Bega
43. Sweet Lady, Tyrese
44. It’s Not Right But It’s Okay, Whitney Houston
45. (God Must Have Spent) A Little More Time On You, ‘N Sync
46. Lullaby, Shawn Mullins
47. Anywhere, 112 Featuring Lil’Z
48. Tell Me It’s Real, K-Ci and JoJo
49. Back 2 Good, Matchbox 20
50. 808, Blaque
51. She’s So High, Tal Bachman
52. She’s All I Ever Had, Ricky Martin
53. Miami, Will Smith
54. Hands, Jewel
55. Who Dat, JT Money Featuring Sole
56. Please Remember Me, Tim McGraw
57. From This Moment On, Shania Twain
58. Love Like This, Faith Evans
59. You, Jesse Powell
60. Trippin’, Total Featuring Missy Elliott
61. If You (Lovin’ Me), Silk
62. Ex-Factor, Lauryn Hill
63. Give It To You, Jordan Knight
64. Black Balloon, Goo Goo Dolls
65. Spend My Life With You, Eric Benet Featuring Tamia
66. These Are The Times, Dru Hill
67. I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing, Mark Chesnutt
68. I Do (Cherish You), 98 Degrees
69. Because Of You, 98 Degrees
70. I Will Remember You (Live), Sarah McLachlan
71. Chante’s Got A Man, Chante Moore
72. Happily Ever After, Case
73. My Love Is Your Love, Whitney Houston
74. All Night Long, Faith Evans Featuring Puff Daddy
75. Back That Thang Up, Juvenile Featuring Mannie Fresh and Lil’ Wayne
76. Almost Doesn’t Count, Brandy
77. Man! I Feel Like A Woman!, Shania Twain
78. Steal My Sunshine, Len
79. I Need To Know, Marc Anthony
80. So Anxious, Ginuwine
81. Faded Pictures, Case and Joe
82. Back At One, Brian McKnight
83. When A Woman’s Fed Up, R. Kelly
84. How Forever Feels, Kenny Chesney
85. Amazed, Lonestar
86. Sometimes, Britney Spears
87. Ghetto Cowboy, Mo Thugs Family Featuring Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
88. Out Of My Head, Fastball
89. Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem), Jay-Z
90. Jamboree, Naughty By Nature Featuring Zhane
91. Take Me There, BLACKstreet and Mya Featuring Mase and Blinky Blink
92. Stay The Same, Joey McIntyre
93. Lesson In Leavin’, Jo Dee Messina
94. Iris, Goo Goo Dolls
95. Satisfy You, Puff Daddy Featuring R. Kelly
96. Better Days (And The Bottom Drops Out), Citizen King
97. Music Of My Heart, ‘N Sync and Gloria Estefan
98. Write This Down, George Strait
99. When You Believe, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey
100. God Must Have Spent A Little More Time On You, Alabama Featuring ‘N Sync

Damn you electronics!

So my Powerbook power cord blew again.  And in the middle of working so I had to drive the hour to the Apple Store and buy a new one. meh.

Now the light on the latch that indicates sleep is either constantly on while the computer is awake or blinking erratically.  Awesome!  No word on how to fix that, I googled  but all I seem to find is a possible loose connection of the ambient light sensor to the logic board. I don’t know how to solder. meh.

The Wii is also broken. Chris thinks the laser arm is stuck because it will only read some discs some of the time, other times it freezes. Nintendo would like $82.50 for the privilege of fixing this. I think we might crack it open and see if something is catching first. The nice Nintendo of America lady said it would be $82.50 either way so why the heck not try doing it ourselves first.

I did repair my mid-century ottoman today which was terrific. I know, it isn’t an electronic device but still it has been needing repair for months. One of the metal plates that the legs attach to was corroded and broke so I went ahead and replaced all four of them. Good as new!

Haven’t been up to too much lately. Looking for full-time work is my main purpose at the moment, hopefully I’ll have some good luck soon with that soon.

A Marriage made in History

For some reason this news story just tickled me. Maybe it’s because of that episode of the office…

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080704/ap_on_fe_st/odd_revolutionary_marriage

As a commercial artist…

…what is the most important thing for us to achieve? Designs that look beautiful or Designs that incorporate everything the client wants (“could you put some more text in to fill up that empty white space over there?”) but don’t look so great. I know everyone answers “both” but, to put it bluntly, that is bullshit.

I’m not down on clients. They pay our wages. And the thing of it is, they know their business best. Sometimes you do need that extra little logo, or text, or whatever to be pertinent to their audience.

On the other hand they have hired an artist to make it professional, to make it look nice. At what point do we start doing a disservice to our clients by letting them keep adding and changing and slowly wrecking a design. And how do we distinguish that from just being too attached to our designs and not wanting to change them and not listening to what the client wants?

I think that sometimes I want to please the client at all costs. Sure the designs are good, but I think maybe if I had fought a little bit harder for my point of view it could have been a great design. But you don’t want to be the prima donna designer either. It is this delicate balance where I feel like I’m on a debate team but also back in my customer service job days. The customer is always right! Except when they’re wrong.

Ramblings of a designer who has been doing frustrating work all day.

I am not good at eating

At least not without spilling, toppling or otherwise dishshelving my food and environs.

Once at a diner I shook a bottle of ketchup to mix it up only to have the cap fly off and tomatoey goodness splatter all over me, the wall, and the lovely plexi glass divider between the booths. That was awesome.

I also stood up to leave from a table and pulled the tablecloth somehow and spilled all the glasses that were still filled with water. At least I was leaving so it wasn’t my problem.

Today I was eating alone at Panera Bread. I don’t like people to watch me eat when I am by myself (mild social anxiety directed eyeroll) so I choose a seat in the front of the restaurant where no one ever sits thinking that would be safe. But then these two upper crusty types ( I know they couldn’t have been that upper crusty if they are eating in a Panera Bread, but what evs) sit down at the table RIGHT FREAKING NEXT TO ME, LOOKING AT ME, WTF!! Anyway whatever I get over it. I’m eating soup that has these croutons in it. And there is this one that is the Queen of all croutons. Seriously, it was being fed by all the worker croutons and achieved a massive size. Now I don’t want to attract attention by shoving this entire GIGANTIC crouton in my mouth, I am sure the upper crusties will judge me. So I decide to chop it up with my spoon. Do you know how hard it is to chop up a really big crouton with a soup spoon? Really Hard. While trying to chop up this crouton so as not to make an ass of myself the spoon slipped and bright red soup went flying everywhere. Did I mention the soup was bright red? Oh yeah. Freaking bright red soup all over the warm yellow walls of Panera.  Way to go!

The soup was really good though.  Next time I eat lunch I will take it back to my office.

Powerbook cured… for now

My ebay purchased adapter seems to be doing the trick and the Powerbook is powering on with no problems. And no weird cord contortions either. It seems that this plug thing is more snug fitting than the last one. It is also a used/refurbished OEM adapter which may be why it fits better. I always thought the non OEM stuff was just as good, especially factoring in the fact that Mac products tend to be crazy expensive. I seem to have been proved wrong by this adapter, and may be hesitant about purchasing a non-OEM next time the rabbits eat my power cord.

I opened up the old cord to see if it was broken and indeed it was! One of the wires connecting to the plug into the computer end had come unsoldered and made the inside of the power cord all black and burned looking. Very exciting. Let this be a lesson in not contorting and pulling on your power cord too much.

In other news I will be working a full day tomorrow freelance for pay that doesn’t suck at all. I’m really looking forward to it. And it is down the shoreline so Chris and I are going to commute together! Also I have an interview this week for a full time gig so hopefully that will go well.

Signing off.

Why does my Powerbook hate me?

As I blogged about earlier I recently fixed the random shutting down of my 15″ Powerbook G4 and that has been great. Unfortunately just before I fixed the powerbook the power jack started getting all wierd. At first I would notice the battery wasn’t charging or it wasn’t noticing it was plugged in at all. I would jiggle the cord a little and Voila! it would be functional again. Then it started to need me to pull the cord in such a way to make the connection. First looped up and secured behind the screen, then pulled taut in front of the screen, pulled through the gap between the screen and the bottom part of the laptop and secured by leaning the screen back to keep the cord tight. Annoying.

And now nothing works. It will simply not recognize that it is plugged in. It is now asleep after running out of battery. I think the cord may have finally given out because it looks like the plastic cracked near the plug-in part of the jack. However what I’m really afraid of is that the internal part of the jack has cracked off the power board since it is only held together with a bit of solder. And that is too big of a project for me to attempt on my own since you have to take out the logic board to get at the separate power board and then re-putty the heat sink etc… all stuff I don’t want to do. (says the woman who forcibly removed a part of her powerbook, SDER)

I haven’t read good things about this problem, just that it happens to laptops all the time and it sucks. I’ve ordered a new cord off ebay and will attempt to get it going with that. If that doesn’t work I guess I’m off to the certified Mac repair shop. 

It goes on

Well now I am 27.

I have decided to start my search for a full time design job. I thought freelancing was the way to go for awhile, but I just don’t think it is for me. Too much book keeping, quote making, client hand holding, not enough creative or design. Unfortunately it seems there are very few jobs on the market right now, but I’m just going to keep on keeping on and see what happens. I have a few freelance clients in the works that I am excited about so I will continue on in those jobs, but I’m not sure how much new business I’ll be taking on.

In more exciting news my wonderful husband gave me an iPhone for my birthday and it is awesome!! I can surf the internet and send emails from my phone!!! I know people have been doing this for a long time but I still can’t believe it. Also there is a google map and when you push a button it shows you where you are. It actually talks to the satellite and gives your position on a map. How freaking cool is that! I remember when I thought it was so awesome that my 200mhz computer could play CDs. This is a computer that fits in my pocket and tells me where I am while sending emails! And did I mention it has an iPod in it too? And a 2 megapixel camera? No video camera yet, but I hear it is in the works. sweet.

the iPhone has restored my faith in Apple products.

On the eve of my 27th Birthday

I thought I might reflect a bit about what has happened during my 26th year.

1) Graduated from my BFA program

2) Got Married

3) Got my first big client for my freelance business

4) Adopted the baby bunnies Henri Monique Picard Quatorze and
Basil Saxon King’s Meadow Thames

5) Got laid off from my job that I loved

6) Was financially comfortable for the first time in my life (between graduating and getting laid off)

7) Fixed my computer by myself successfully

8 ) Learned to cook Indian food

9) Started to endurance train successfully, although that is really only at the tail end of the year, 6 weeks in now.

10) Went to Canada for the first time, eh.

11) Switched from contacts to glasses.

12) Sorted out all of my old debts to make room for my new student loan debts and so I can become a member of the land owning class soon.

13) Discovered that I do in fact like Gin and Tonics

14) Haven’t been to a doctor for being sick at all!

15) Half-ass redecorated my office, kitchen and living room

Okay that’s it for now. Onto the next year!

Those F-ing Lean Cuisine Commercials.

They make me nuts! First you have two women either lamenting how they have to diet, even thought they are thin thin thin they want to be thin thin thin thin I guess? or are afraid of becoming ZOMG FAT because the obesity epidemic is eating thin people and making them fat? Or the two women are talking about how “bad” they are for wanting delicious food. The the morally superior/smarter woman comes in and describes in almost erotic detail the lean cuisine she is eating/ate/about to eat. Lean Cuisine – the smart/good choice.

First they are telling women they should hate food, should always be dieting, are bad for wanting certain food, and then practically give them an erotic massage with the Lean Cuisine. What kind of mind game is that.

Second, Lean cuisine is the smart choice? Its full of salt and coagulants and things. And they taste like plastic. (I, too, have fallen prey to a “low calorie at any cost” mindset) If you want low calorie/low fat eat a freaking apple. Or if you’re hungry and you want a philly cheese steak eat a freaking philly cheese steak.

Meh – this is a pet peeve of mine.