I actually had the time today to finally finish up Shizucor.com. Boy what a relief it is! I’ve changed the “About” page content as well as added new work samples. I also created an “Asides” page to house my Flickr, Twitter, Last.fm, and del.icio.us feeds. Everything is looking good to me but I’m open to critiques; so please, let me know what you think!

There are still things I need to…

• beautify contact and add comment forms.
• create a better contact form with captcha — any suggestions/tips are appreciated.
• make the “Work” page more consistent.
• add a “sidebar” for the blog.

Easy stuff but I’m done messing with my site for now.

I wish I had time to blog more often; however, I’m not going into why I don’t blog much because I’ve already talked about that. :)

In other news, I’ve been super busy in the past month with website projects and digital painting practice. The one project I’m really excited about is a website for a creative group I belong to called “Cerebellum Squeeze”. It’s a group in Charlotte where the goal is to get as much creatives together to go out and do inspiration generating activities like sketch and gallery crawls and art classes. Anyway, I was more than happy to make a blog with a gallery to share our creative endeavors. Below is a sneak peak of the design.

I’m glad to say the design is coming along swimmingly. I hope to have it done by the end of next week. By the way, if you’re in the Charlotte, NC area visit our website to get information on upcoming events if you’re interested in joining us.

Unfortunately, it’s 2AM in the morning and I’ve got a busy day ahead of me. So, I must end this entry now with a link to a brand new addition to the Freelance Switch family: NETTUTS. It’s a tutorial site for all things web development. The most current article is actually tied to a tutorial found in PSDTUTS.
Create a Sleek, High-End Web Design from Scratch to Build a Sleek Portfolio Site from Scratch

Enjoy and take care everyone!

What I’m thinking of doing is making a new post for each situation and provide my own insight and real examples. I will do my best to take notes of incidents that happen at my workplace and hope to share my experiences with anyone who is in my position. The techniques shouldn’t be restricted to drug stores, though. Employees at grocery stores, department stores, and small shops can benefit from my tips.

I’m no way a “professional cashier” nor do I think what I say is written in stone but I think what I have to say will help others who have no option (except for quitting) but to deal with customers who may be nice or worse, assholes. Feel free to add your own advice.

Look for a post soon! I’ll probably add one tomorrow. Have a great day all!

In other news, I’m all through with the business cards for JOTS but I’ve decided to get an approval before I get it printed. The last thing to worry about is the website. I would definitely like to have the domain and layout up and running when the business cards have been printed. Actually, I’d like to have the content on the website by the time the business cards are printed. That’s probably too much to ask, though. Later today, I’ll add an image of the finished result of the business card design but I’m going to get a layout done (at least started) first.

“That’s certainly fine with me” I say and then he says, he wants the text to be smaller.

“Sure I can definitely do that whatever you want.” I said but then he’s says “Don’t worry about it. I’ll take a look at it again and tell you then”.

I’m still waiting for a response. So, basically, nothing is happening at the moment with the business cards or the form that I sent to him to be approved. But I know he is a busy man so I’m being very patient.

At least I’ve got the site design to work on. He says he has no preference but I just want to make sure the design is what he likes. I thought I had a good layout going but after messing with it a bit more, I realized it wasn’t working for me. I’m currently working on a new layout. But for now, here’s what I have. Very boring in my opinion. I’m thinking of going for a black layout with red as the bold color. I’ll probably have this new layout done tomorrow.

Currently, I’m working on Walker’s Drug Store website. Because Johnny is away, work on JOTS has been put to a halt but I should get back to working on that this coming week.

I’ve found out that my home network is somehow blocking me from my own site. Why would it do this? I don’t get it. I could do tons of research on this subject but alas, I have better things to do right now. I’ve found a new host for me and it seems to be an improvement compared to Brinkster. It’s going to be a troublesome task but I need to get it done within this month.

In other news, Colin and I visited his family in SC last weekend. It’s been a long time since he’s seen them and I’m sure they’ve missed him very much. I must say, I love his family. I feel most comfortable around them. Ooh, Colin got a chance to celebrate Passover with them (I was not able to go because of work :-{ and yes, he is Jewish by ethnicity but it is not his religion). Back in Charlotte, Colin and I have decided to move out of our current apartment to a location much closer to work and school. It’s a slight upgrade and I’m sure pretty sure the area will be safer although where we live now isn’t pretty bad either.

The last thing I’d like to do is apologize to all the people I’ve not talked to in a long time. It seems communication is not my strongest point. The best way to contact me is by e-mail: corid[@]bellsouth.net I’m hoping to be seeing the people I’ve missed for so long. :-)

I’ve finally completed 3 logos for Johnny on the Spot. I’ve show him the logos and am awaiting his decision. When he has chosen a logo, I shall begin work on his website. I am extremely happy with myself and I hope he is too with what I’ve come up with. I’ll post the logo that he chooses as well as the other options. I must say, as confident I am with my work I still think it lacks the professional look but I do need more experience under someone who has been doing this longer than I have…

More importantly, though, I’ve been working on a logo for a client and I must say, I’m not being at all serious in my job but (then again I’ve kind of thrown myself into unfamiliar water). It’s pretty obvious to me that this guy is serious about his business’ new identity so I need to be serious. The problem is, I lack the motivation but I’m going to need that if I’m going to be successful in graphic design. I’ve come up with ideas and I’ve actually completed one logo but I’m thinking I need more than one to show him. It’s a good thing that he doesn’t have any preferences for his logo just which means I can take any direction I want.

I still need schooling in graphic design so I’m just relying on the Design Basics Index by Jim Krause. Still, my lack of knowledge of techniques and not enough practice is limiting me but this experience should help me learn a lot. I do hope I am successful with this job. Then, I won’t do any jobs until I graduate unless of course, I know I can do it on my own…

http://shizucor.com/images/eye_pixel.gif

Pixels aside, I got a request from a co-worker who is a repairman looking to get some web presence. It seems as though I’ll be working on my first serious web design project. I’m very excited! I will definitely post my progress here. I just can’t wait to see how it turns out…

In other news, I’ve updated the look of the links page and added a new section: “Pixel Art”. Yes, it deserves its own section. :-) I will add more links in the very near future. [Edit] Ehh don’t like how it looks, atm. I think I’ll play around with the pixel art section a bit more…but later.