Still Estivating... Check Back In 2011

In June this blog unknowingly began its estivation in cyberspace junkyard and it missed the fact that its estivation had expired when autumn set in on September 22 and then doubly expired yesterday on the first of winter.

I'm now trying to summon it back home but it may take a few days, maybe a week or two. I should probably just wait for the new year to start to make sure it's really sick of its extended stay in the cyberspace junkyard.

Just thought I'd let whoever is still out there know I'm trying.

Happy National Doughnut Day!

While at the dentist this morning I was browsing through the newspaper and discovered that today is National Doughnut Day which means... you can pay a visit to Krispie Kreme and get a free doughnut. Dunkin Donuts is also giving out free donuts however you have to by a beverage to get it. And who knows what local bakeries are doing it too!

Portfolio Has Sapped Me Of All Motivation!

That's my excuse at least! I'm trying to work on school but I have really been lacking motivation this week! And just a few minutes ago I found an entirely new way to waste time while trying to write a paper. (That's right - I'm writing a paper - one of 2 or 3 of my entire graphic design education!) Anyway, here's the new distraction I discovered: The Puppy Shuffle!

Journey Behind The Journey

Friday April 16th, 2010 was a big day for me. It was the culmination of 100+ hours (possibly 200+) and a bunch of dollars that were used to produce one little book with a big purpose. The book is my portfolio, the purpose is to attain a job in graphic design! I shouldn't say all those hours and dollars were only put toward one little book. Along with my portfolio, I produced a resume, business card, envelope, leave behind and website. Here's a little sampling of the work I did:

Portfolio Cover

Leave Behind Cover

Business Card - Front Side

Although everything you see looks fairly simplistic, it was anything but that! I started working on all these things a couple of months ago but the majority of the work was done in the last couple of weeks - mostly the last week. On Monday the 5th, I was feeling pretty overwhelmed and not very hopeful that I would be able to get done what was needed.

Things began to change dramatically after Grandma prayed for me and encouraged me to stop, pray and then get a fresh start on my day. All of my work did not magically disappear nor were solutions to my projects instantly popping into my brain and getting translated onto my computer. What changed at that time was my attitude. I was no longer overcome with worry about finishing my work and instead was able to think optimistically about it.

In this past week I've been averaging about 4 hours of sleep a night and about 15 hours of school work a day. I got pretty tired and a little cranky at times but for the most part I was energized, alert, able to focus on one thing at time and have a positive attitude.

On Thursday afternoon I was feeling pretty exhausted and starting to wonder if I would get everything done. While I had hoped to have my portfolio printed and assembled by the last weekend, it didn't happen until Thursday afternoon. Of course, mistakes immediately popped off of the printed page. However, cost and time prevented me from making corrections and reprinting. I have never created a book before and that was my next task. Things eventually got wrapped up around 11:00pm. I wasn't overly excited about my portfolio, business cards and resume but consoled myself with the realization that worse things can happen than my work not looking as good as I'd like, my website not being up and running when I'd like and my portfolio presentation not going as well as I'd hope for.

I managed to get about 6 hours of sleep on Thursday night, woke up to a breakfast made by Courtney on Friday morning and arrived at school in plenty of time. I had everything I needed but was a little disappointed with it. Nonetheless, when the presentations began at 9:00, I was able to talk fairly confidently about my work. I wasn't nervous or tired as I had expected and despite the mistakes I saw in my work, I think it was received pretty well by the reviewers.

I know there were many people praying for me during this process because I most certainly noticed! If you were one of those people, thank you so very much for taking the time to do so!

It was so nice to be able to relax after the presentation was done! Mom and I got to go out for supper at a new (for us) restaurant - The Bosphorus Cafe, enjoy coffee at Calvin Fletcher Coffee Co. and watch Alex & Emma. Overall, it was a fantastic day!

Cream Cooled By Means Of Ice... With Sesame Seeds!

Today I was reading Linda's Refrigerator (I discovered this blog a couple days ago - it is a dream come true!) Anyway... through this blog, I learned about sesame seed ice cream today! It is served at Ichiban on the northeast side of Indianapolis (and all kinds of other places).

After learning about this curious flavor, I was of course itching to go to Ichiban to try it out. But then I came across this recipe for black sesame seed ice cream and am now just anxious to make it myself!

Swagbucks is just so nice.

Sometimes I when I really want some swagbucks but don't really need to search for anything, I start asking the swagbucks search engine questions. Like tonight I just asked if they wanted to give me any more swagbucks. And lo and behold, they did (even when I mispelled their name)! Such a deal!

Haven't You Always Wanted To Be A Swaggernaut?

I spent my spring break in the good old Michiana region. Instead of frying myself on some beach in warm, sunny Florida I decided to go hang out in an office. But not just any office... the iMedia department of Life Action Ministries! Not only did I get to hang out with some great people, I also learned some valuable information that has given me a whole new reason to get addicted to surfing the web! I discovered that while I surf the web to find out all kinds of interesting little tidbits and essential information, I can earn prizes! By simply entering a question, a word or even just a letter I can type my way to electronics, stickers, gift cards and so much more! I hope you all are just dying to know how you can do this too because I am just dying to pass this information along to you!

Here is how you join the excitement - become a member of SWAGBUCKS! But... you should do so by responding to my email message. If you did not receive an email from me, let me know and I'll send you one (I can only send 10 email invites at a time).

Let me give you a brief explanation of how Swagbucks works and why you should be jumping up and down with anticipation to join!

This is what the swagbucks home page looks like:

It's a search engine and so much more! When you join, you will be given 30 swagbucks (sbs). You can earn more sbs by searching, finding codes and putting it into "Gimme," shopping on-line (2 sbs for every $1 spent), playing on-line games, testing products, filling out on-line surveys, asking questions, twittering, inviting friends (when you refer a friend, you receive sbs whenever they do), and who knows how many other ways!

To give you an idea of how much sbs are worth, a $10 Barnes & Noble gift card is 1,250 sbs (this is what I am working toward right now). I'll warn you that swagbucks can be kind of addicting because once you see this image below you will want to see it again and again! (You win sbs randomly when you search, not every time.) And you get to be famous for about a minute every time you win sbs! If you look close enough, you can see my image right below the purple "Shop & Earn" bar.

Are you dying to join yet? If not you should probably call me and I will talk you into it. If you are ready - great! You should do it! And if you want to be really nice, you can do it by joining through the email that I sent! Happy Swaggernauting!