back to the grind...and this blog

Okay, I've been seriously slacking on this blog, so with school starting back up it's time to get my ass in gear again. I'm taking Visual and Verbal Rhetoric. The first class went well. The work doesn't seem too heavy (of course now it will wind up that way since I said that) and we got out early, so that put a smile on my face. The class is geared toward the analysis of writing more than actually designing anything, so the fact that i still have some freelance stuff going on should satisfy my appetite for design this semester.

Football!!
I can't even tell you how stoked I am for football this season. I realize my Redskins will probably need a year or two under Zorn to get his offense down (my one buddy predicted 3-6 wins this year), but I love the fall weather and football season, so I'm excited nonetheless.
We had our fantasy draft on Saturday night. I drafted 12th out of 12 teams for the second year in a row, so that blew, but I did keep Adrian Petersen from the prior year, so that helped my first round outlook. With the snaking draft board, it just sucks picking 12, 13, and then having 22 picks between your next two selections. My team looks like this:

We start 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 D, and 1 K.

Drew Brees
Jeff Garcia
Adrian Petersen (keeper)
Jamal Lewis
Edgerrin James
Chris Johnson
Jerious Norwood
Wes Welker
Jerricho Cotchery
Donald Driver
Vincent Jackson
Reggie Williams
Owen Daniels
Ben Watson
Arizona D
Jeff Reed

One thing about my league that I can't fucking stand...guys who draft a few spots before me are always like, "is so-and-so available??", and then they don't pick that guy...who happens to be someone I am eyeing up to draft. That shit is just wrong. First and foremost because now they gave the other idiots ahead of me an idea of who to pick, and second of all because they should be paying attention!! As commissioner, i may have to make some sort of "idiot rule" for next year, or have my IT buddy build a program to show the players who are still available.

...and lastly

I'll try to blog more this semester than what I have been this summer. Of course if I didn't do another one until December, that would still be more, but you catch my drift.

projects; this and that

Projects:
I've been keeping busy this summer without taking classes. I've officially had 3 freelance projects I've been working on, with 2 more on the horizon before the Fall. I'm certainly getting my fill of brochures. Out of the 5 projects, 3 of them are for brochures. The project I'm currently working on is for the Moms Club of Bel Air and their 2nd annual vendor fair to benefit the Casey Cares Foundation (benefits critically ill children). It involves 3 pieces: flyer, brochure, and bookmark. I almost have the flyer finished and just got a great idea for the other pieces last night. Everything is based off of this great image I found of a child opening a holiday gift. Next up is a revision of a shitty....yep, you guessed it...brochure. Practice makes perfect...I just have to find out the best way/printer to get the duplex so the sides match up.

This and That:

1. I just had a revelation this morning that my life will be busy for the next 18 years at least. I guess I always have in the back of my mind that I just need to get through the day so that tomorrow I can relax. Shit...with two kids, projects, home fix-ups, and all the other crap that goes on in life...that's a pipe dream, but I wouldn't trade being busy for the world. I do think it is valuable to stop and smell the roses before I turn around at 50 and wonder where the time went.
2. Kind of related to above, but every once in awhile I get a serious yearn to head out with friends for a few drinks. Once I'm out, I miss my boys at home and get a serious yearn to be home with them. Grass is always greener...never truer words spoken.
3. I'm so looking forward to Fantasy Football this year. Bout time I reclaimed my throne.
4. HAIL TO THE REDSKINS!!!!!
5. I think that the O's need to convert Adam Loewen to a 1st basemen after his latest arm injury. Look, the guy could have been drafted as a hitter or pitcher (ala Nick Markakis) and has said in the past that he likes playing in national league parks because he gets to hit. This is definitely a stretch, and not to say that he'd be another Rick Ankiel, but the guy is big, he's left-handed, and this might be a way for the O's to get a great return on his big contract and for him to save his career. It certainly wouldn't hurt to give the guy some at bats in the minors on his way back from this arm injury. The guy was a great power hitter prior to being drafted...let's see what he has and improve our position-player depth!

logos

Definitely too long since I've posted something, so here are a few images of some logos I was playing around with for a friend's auto-shop:

soccer brochure

Unfortunately I cannot upload my jpeg images because of an internal error. WTF!!!!! Why can't thie damn thing just...um...WORK!!!?

Any suggestions on how to get the images on there? I tried saving as something else, I tried sending to work and uploading from there and either I'm a complete fucking retard, or this damn thing just doesn't like me. :)

SHIT

this and that

I've been really bad about maintaining the blog the last two weeks or so. My apologies to my wide fan base. I have some recent pieces to add to this, but I always forget to follow up on that when I get home at night.

Currently waiting to hear back on a job interview I had. I feel like it went pretty well. The interview was supposed to be 30-45 minutes and it wound up being and hour and 45 minutes. I guess that's a good sign. We'll see ...

Could a "MacGyver" considered an occupation? I mean, I always hear people who pull a MacGyver, so why couldn't that be an occupation? Like if I made a business card, I could put:

Chris Bland
Maverick, Innovator, MacGyver

Even though it's a proper name, the word does indicate a high level of resourcefulness and being able to work with limited tools to accomplish great goals...in some cases this may mean diffusing nuclear warheads with a pack of matches and a staple gun. Thoughts are welcome on this matter.

freelance projects

I have stumbled upon my first 2 freelance projects of the summer. One is a brochure for a soccer camp that started out as a mockery of all that is good in design. This was created by a non-designer who happens to be the husband of this girl I work with. They didn't ask for me to redo it, but i told them i'm going to show them what it should/could look like and basically do it pro bono in case they want me for a later project or can refer me to friends.

The second project, and one that could potentially be quite exciting is for this vendor fair for the Mom's Club of Bel Air, to which my wife belongs. The vendor fair they held last year kind of bombed, so this year they have a sparkplug in charge who has a ton of sponsors lined up, including possible sponsorship by the O's and Ravens. She has promised some great exposure for me and with the sponsors she has, this looks promising. At any rate, the project consists of a brochure and flyer, and they want me to present them with a couple of design ideas based on the concepts they want to incorporate. This will be somewhat daunting as they have a few ideas that all need to be incorporated, namely the charity they are donating to, holiday shopping, and a mom's night out. I have some great concepts already though...stay tuned for those postings!

free at last

This was the first Monday morning I can remember in a long time where I felt rejuvenated and stress-free. Not that I don't have things to occupy my time now that class is over, but being deadline-free is certainly a wonderful thing. My plans for this summer (in no particular order)include:
1. spending time with my boys
2. losing the weight I gained during my wife's pregnancy.
3. redoing my resume/portfolio/looking for a design job
4. yard work/landscaping my backyard
5. reorganizing our basement
6. softball!! :)
7. golf
8. start freelancing