maverick's truth

I think I've mentioned to some of you that in order to get business as a webdesigner, you have to get yourself known, and spread via word-of-mouth... and that's where I've been having trouble. I've been considering doing some volunteer work on some simple sites, just to get my name out there, and I think I may have hit a really good one. I can't give details yet, but suffice it to say, I will be doing the design for a site that gets a lot -- a LOT -- of traffic and is on its way up -- way, way up. I wish I could tell y'all how way up.

Yes, it's volunteer. But I'm okay with that. The site itself is not a source of revenue for its owner; it require ads to stay afloat, so it's not that I'm being taken advantage of in any way. It also doesn't look like it will take a terrible amount of work to get the site up to snuff. But the big thing is that this is already a big site, and will grow into being even bigger in probably the near future. It's incredible exposure, because there will be a prominent "Designed By" link at the bottom of each page. If people want their pages designed, they'll know where to come.

I'm excited. But I can't start working on it yet; tomorrow, maybe. Definately Wednesday. But first I have an exam on Hinduism to study for.

I haven't posted many new designs lately, although I have done several. I don't have the time to post them all here, though, since some of them would take a bit of work to get into the proper format. For now, though, I have one new design to showcase: Electric (as always, click for enlargement)



I also redesigned my homepage, so it's at http://www.groundupweb.ca

So this weekend, I actually had a homework assignment, and it was kind of a strange one. The assignment was two parts:

Part A: Go to the mall
Part B: Figure out why we were supposed to go to the mall

Anyways, so tonight I did my "homework" and went to the mall... and I gotta say, the reason he wanted us to go must have been that he wanted us to be poorer when I came out than when I went in. But I got good deals, and some nice spring/summer t-shirts, which I quite desperately needed. Sales are wonderful things. Two shirts were $15 (ie. $7.50 each) and at another place, I found another shirt... this one was $10. As well, I got a pair of jeans which were something like 50% off, and since I needed jeans, that was a good thing.

And theeeennnnn... I had the bestest ice cream in the whole world. Have I told y'all about this before? Bear with me if I had. Homemade ice cream, no preservatives, available in a bazillion flavours. You pick your flavor, and then choose a "mix-in" or two (which can be fresh fruit, or candy, or nuts, etc.) which is mixed into your ice cream before the whole shebang is put into a waffle cone that they also make by hand several times a day (well, technically, with a waffle machine, but you get the idea). For example, this time, I had a raspberry icecream cone with triple-berry mix (raspberries, blackberries and blueberries). J had mango ice cream with peaches and strawberries. Soooooooo good. Last time we went, it was peach ice cream w/ strawberries for me and fudge ice cream w/ skor bits and strawberries for J. My new favorite ice cream place by far. They even had a "birthday cake" ice cream flavor, and I swear it tasted just like the angel food cake icing that we always make. So many creative flavors, and so little time to sample them all. And did I mention they let you take free samples of as many flavors as you want?

Anyways that was our shopping excursion. Oh, we also visited ToysRUs and picked up a game that J has been eyeing for ... well... everytime we go into the place. It's a Lord of the Rings Strategy Board Game, but it is SO cool. We played it this evening, and it is a totally unique game concept. The game board itself is actually build out of puzzle pieces as you need them. Rather than playing a particular character, everyone plays every character, and tries to get as many points as possible. It's more complicated than that to explain, but surprisingly not that complicated to play. And the really cool thing is that the game we got was the Fellowship of the Ring game, but there are also games for The Two Towers and Return of the King, and since all the game boards are built out of "puzzle pieces", they all connect together. To give you an idea of the scope of this game, it took the two of us about 1.5 hours to play the single game we had, and once all of the board was put together, it took up my entire kitchen table. Now imagine it being three times that... it'd be like an epic-game. And J wants to get 'em all... not that I blame her. It's a really neat game/concept.

So that was the result of my wierd homework assignment. Tomorrow is a different kind of shopping... grocery shopping. Ooooooooo. So thrilling.

Well, it's time for my first paper of the Spring semester (that's like Summer Session I for you Lethbridge folk). And I have a grand total of one day in which to do it. Well, technically it was more like a day and a half, since I got it yesterday morning. But given that I was in class all afternoon, and in the evening, *had* to take an hour out to watch American Idol (Go Bo!), I've been left with basically one day to write it. Fortunately it's only three or four pages long; in about an hour, I've been able to collect all my thoughts / research and have written about one third to a half of it. So I should be done in plenty of time, and still have time to watch Idol tonight (Go Bo!). The paper itself is on Charles Leland's 1899 study of Italian witchcraft, entitled Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches. I, of course, decided to do what is probably supposed to be the more difficult question of the three from which we had to choose. It actually is quite interesting, but rather than talking about it here, I'd probably be better served to actually just write it in the paper. Maybe tomorrow when I'm done, I'll put more details. I also have another quiz tomorrow (had one yesterday, too), so it's going to be a busy day. So time to get back to it.

As I sit, there's a slight breeze rustling through the leaves of the trees on its way in through my window. The sky is barely light, the street lights have just come on, and yet I can still hear birds conversing with one another. I've just lit my three triangular oil candles, which are sitting on top of a mirror that reflects the light back up through glass and oil. At the moment, I'm listening the sweeping melodic theme of Smetana's Moldau, and next on my playlist will be the cheerful melody of La Primavera, Allegro from Le Quattro Stagioni -- Spring, from Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. Right now, though, I'm just enjoying the resonance of the Vltava's moody waters.

So that's my evening, how about yours?

The rest of my marks are in, and I got an A+ in Latin and an A+ in my religious studies course. Other than that, not much to report. Worked on Friday and will work again on Tuesday (but Tuesday is only about three hours worth). I also have been invited to attend a conference (held at the University here) on Second Temple Judaism. It's a two day conference; unfortunately, because of my class schedule, I will only be able to attend one day. I'm going to attend the one day that I can though; it's never too early to start getting into the conference scene for your field of choice. In exchange for attending, I may be asked to help with set-up, etc. (rather than pay the registration fee). Definately a good opportunity, I think, and it sounds interesting, too.

Today's big event was an excursion out to the campus bookstore, where I was separated from just over 100 of my hard earned dollars. None of the books I bought were particularly expensive, but there were four of them, only one of which was available used. But they are all required books for my two courses that start in May. I guess I shouldn't be complaining, as when I was in Computer Science, I'd be paying $100-$150 per course. It's surprising how quickly what used to seem like a bargain turns into looking pricey. But my money has departed from me, and I'm officially ready for the next semester... only a week to go. Scary.

On a side note, got my first set of marks in for the Winter session... "A" in CPSC, which is about what I expected, though I was a bit nervous. Still waiting on the other two.

Just a quick note to let y'all know I've applied for yet another job. This one is on campus, which would be really, really good, working customer service at the bookstore. If I hear more, I will, of course, post more "as it happens".