Beginnings...

I love the start of a new month, I absolutely love it.

Every month, I get incredibly jazzed about the brand new stack of days I get to play with. No, this doesn't happen with weeks, only months.

March is especially exciting to me, there are many changes that take place in March. The biggest one being the arrival (hopefully) of spring. Over the past week, I spent a fair amount outside. Enjoying the back yard of a good friend with the best host ever - Autumn, and incredibly spry yet 11 year old dog who loved to leap and bound through the snow during a game of fetch.

During one of our games, even though that week I had seen the most beautiful snow fall of my life, something else something far grander and lovelier caught my eye. What I saw filled me with excitement, promise and hope. I saw several small green buds on a young tree.

It made me happy, I know that this whole white & lifeless bit is on its way out the door. Hello March, nice to see you again.

Time Management Update...Sort of...

Yes, I promised time-management updates. No, I have not kept up with them. I would have to say that things on the time management front are getting better. My prioritizing skills are definitely improving. I have come to make peace with the variables I cannot change and am currently taking action towards attaining the one thing that seems to make time management (at present anyhow) so difficult for me. I am working towards attaining a younger computer that can handle all of the wonders of our digital age, before this digital age goes and completely changes again. That should help things quite a bit.

I have realized though, that in my attempts at managing my allotted 24 hours per day that I may have out-goaled myself. Yes, goals are great, but is there such a thing as too many goals at once? I think so. So, I am overjoyed at accepting and acknowledging that I could be over-goaled as well.

It’s back to the prioritizing board as far as my above explanation goes.
If I can properly manage my priorities, I’ll no doubt manage the 24 hours I am gifted each day.

Me, A Dog, An Invisible Cat & Hardwood Floors.

Certainly, the above title doesn’t do the experience justice at all. Months ago, a good friend of mine asked me to housesit while she took her family out to California for a timely winter escape. I joyfully accepted, as I knew the favor would mean much to them. As the time for their vacation drew near, I began to grow nervous. How would I make it to open lab as I have been when I am residing on the west side for a week, Going to open labs is not easy for me, I despise it and although I have been trying to change it, something within me always stalls getting out of the house. I almost wanted to take back my agreement to do it. Then she bribed me with her sweet computer, fully loaded with all the software I would need to avoid driving across town to be productive. I could remain exactly where I was and get plenty done.

Serenity! That wasn’t the only thing that was great about my little vacation I was alone. People may not know this about me, but I love quality alone time far more than anything else. It was fantastic, being in such a space conducive to creativity and exploration. I enjoyed being productive on my own. Me, a dog, an invisible cat, hardwood floors, and all of my many ideas.

This time alone was productive in many ways, ways that don’t necessarily produce visible results. Inner productivity, the kind of productivity that inspires, creates dreams, encourages change. I spent time in splendor, beautiful wall colors, comforting scents and many hours of new music on Pandora.com. This time got me thinking about my own home, how it feels to me. While it may be no one’s fault, my home doesn’t possess the energy I experienced throughout the week. It got me to thinking about how I need to change that.

Living with roommates can be tough at times. I adore my roommates, but I have a problem when living with people. I end up wanting to socialize or feeling that I “should be” socializing. Really, I should be producing and creating. The television is no doubt on the majority of the time at my home. During my week long “vacation” I didn’t turn the TV on until the 7th day of my stay. Okay, I did turn it on to exercise, but to me that just doesn’t count. I also spent hours in silence, which truly was golden. I was able to get in touch with my inner dialog, think fully and carefully about many things. Mainly, what I want in a space and how to go about getting it.

While I may live with others, friend I adore, friends who have lives and enjoy TV I always have my bedroom ~ something I have taken for granted many times. It will once again become my productivity lair. Although small, in this space the television doesn’t exist, in this space I can take all the learned things with me and enjoy all of the quality alone time I possibly can.

Time Management Training Update

Alright kids, so last week I decided to implement some time management tactics or goals to my daily routine. I would say in some ways I have been unsuccessful and in others quite successful. I am still growing accustomed to the limited amount of time I’m actually allotted each day. So there have been a great many opportunity costs that have gone along with the new implementations. For example, I love exercising when no one is around, when I have the house to myself. It’s just nicer that way then I don’t have to worry about interrupting a roommate’s living room time. Well, my previous workout routine was fantastic, totaling 3-5 sessions per week. Now, with the addition of school, having to commute to a computer that carries all the magic required for webbery, and of course homework I am down to twice per week. No worries, it’s just a little something that needs to be tweaked. Changes lead to real adjustments,

One thing I did not plan for would be variables. Variables in this instance really mess up a good plan for work time. Today, I experienced a variable I had not planned on. I had confused the Open Lab times for Monday afternoons with that of Tuesday. So, I rushed to school, thinking I could get a computer in the library capable of all the magic I desired, I was wrong. Well, not to fear – an Open Lab would be available in 20 minutes. Yeah, wrong. There wasn’t an open lab Monday afternoon there will be, just not yet. So, back to the library I headed, I had a really hard time not getting upset with the man who I have seen in the library at a Macinstosh many times, a man who sits and looks at realty listings online. Part of me desperately wanted to walk up to him and scream “Hey! Those Pcs over there, they can handle your important work, but they cannot handle mine - GET UP! MOVE IT!” I of course resisted that desire. I just waited and e-mailed a friend on one of the Pcs venting my frustrations, eventually a Mac, fully loaded with all of the magic I need to perform webbery.

It was a nice lesson though, sure one can prioritize all they want but there are some things that one just can’t control, like who happens to be using the one thing you need that doesn’t belong to you. Happy Time Management Y’all!

Time management is just a myth.

That’s right, I said it. Time Management is a total myth ~ pure hogwash. I've never been very good at time management it’s something that has caused me ample frustration for the past 20 years. I thought about it today, recalling the sense of terror I experienced at the age of seven when I just quit doing my homework, I stopped focusing in school, the seeds of procrastination had been planted. The sapling that would later grow roots deep within my mind later constructed limbs that would push tasks away only to leave me completely overwhelmed by the crunch of time. The shadows would move across the landscape, time passing my getting little done. As a seven year old, I was bribed with a permanent orange marker to finish up all my work, and I did. I never again procrastinated so severely as I did as a child, but now I'm finding I really need that bright orange marker.

I decided it was time to learn how to manage time. I Googled ‘Time Management’ finding an interesting article titled “11 Time Management Tips”. This article had me from the get go, part of me rejoiced, I began to dance a bit. The article’s first tip was, ‘realize that time management is a myth’. How exciting, time management isn’t real. That was a relief as I had deemed it impossible. Then, I read on my happy little dance ended when I read: “No matter how organized we are, there are always only 24 hours in a day. Time doesn’t change. All we can actually manage is ourselves and what we do with the time we have”. Oh crap, it is, once again all about me and what I do with my time. I knew it was all too good to be true, but I read on. As I read, I decided that I would place myself on a time management diet, a new regimen of sorts to whip myself up into an organized, well managed productivity machine.

Time is time, I’ve just got to learn how to use it. I have been able to admit many times that I am an easily distracted person, the real problem is that I continue to allow the behavior ~ now, it’s time for a real change. Perhaps this can help you too!

Firstly, as stated above, one must realize that it’s not time that needs to be managed it’s behavior. Time Management Is A Myth.

Secondly, one must find out where they waste their time, Identify Time Wasters. Oh boy, now that one is tricky. For me, I would say I waste the most time cleaning my house, oh how I can get sucked into a cleaning frenzy. I have also known for quite sometime that I unconsciously use housework as a procrastination tool. Additionally, the internet & e-mail help me waste mass amounts of time. I have learned to temper that one a touch.

Then, one must Create Time Management Goals, the article gives a good idea on how to pose these new goals. “I will (goal + performance measure) BY (specific actions)” So, for example, “I will streamline my work schedule by prioritizing what is due when and working at it a little at a time”. Yeah, I really need to do that.

The fourth tip is to Implement A Time Management Plan, create some goals, work on them, keep track of time spent and see if the accomplishments are being made.

Fifth, we have Use Time Management Tools. Wow, I have one of those that I sometimes utilize, sometimes not. Well day planner, get ready for a lot more ink!

Onward, we have Prioritize Ruthlessly. Oh man, that is a challenge but it can be done. Just take a couple of minutes each day and decide when, what and how long your tasks will be. Then simply proceed.

The next step doesn’t really apply to my situation, Learn To Delegate and/or Outsource, now this may work for a small business, but I am one girl with a lot of dreams. I would just restate the above that one must PRIORITIZE. It truly cannot be recommended enough.

Moving forward, Establish Routines & Stick To Them. Whoa, I know all of this sounds so simple but for me routine and consistency have been like dreams to me, but just like any dream one has to work hard to attain it.

Time Management Tip #9, Get In The Habit Of Setting Time Limits For Tasks, one thing I know I often do is over estimate the amount of time something will take. With that over estimation comes overwhelm and further procrastination. So, sitting down and breaking tasks down into workable time periods would really give me a preemptive strike against frustration.

We’re near the end, 10th on the list would be to Be Sure Your Systems Are Organized, oh yes this is something I could pat myself on the back for. I am fairly organized, everything has a place and that place is stored in my gray matter easily retrieved. So, maybe check out your filing system, I think I may just to be safe.

Lastly, Don’t Waste Time Waiting, any time you have to wait for something you can do something else to assist you in any goals or tasks. It’s true! I went in for an oil change last week, I brought my concept book, and a magazine loaded with fresh designs to inspire me just in case my mind needed to wander.

So, there you have it. There are some great ways to manage your behavior out there. I don’t know about you, perhaps you are especially gifted in this area, but as for me I think I am going to start with time management goals. And go from there. This will be a new personal project, I’ll be updating my blog weekly letting you know of my progress. I wish you luck in your pursuits of Time Management, I can’t wait to master myself, which will result in my mastering time!

Alpha To Omega Or, Alpha To Alpha?

So, where does something begin and where does it end? In Photoshop, for me, as a user I would have to say that an image both starts and ends with Channels, and the middle would be all about Alpha Channels. Yes, the channels palette in Photoshop is one of the most important tools when it comes to color correcting, well aside from various techniques, effects, and tools. Where would one begin in color correction? The same place one would end, (Alpha) Channels. To the right, you'll see the Channels palette for the images above it. The color changes in the far right image were aided very much so by the use of Alpha Channels.

Channels are incredibly useful things. Every document you create or open in Photoshop guaranteed has three to four channels already made. This number is of course dependent on your color mode; one would notice four channels if they were working in CMYK, and three when working in RGB or LAB. (yes, there are actually a couple of uses for LAB color out there). So, consider those channels to be gifts, in a sense they are! If you have an image and need to make a difficult selection, for example, a selection of hair – take a look into each color channel (this works a heck of a lot better in RGB, it’s not hopeless in CMYK, just not as obvious). Often one of the channels will help you out allowing you to easily isolate something based on it’s color channel.

So that explains channels, sort of. Well, you might now be wondering what about this Alpha channel business you speak of? Well, an alpha channel is an additional channel to the 3-4 already existing. You of course get the chance to name your own, for simplicity I recommend you do. One cannot feel completely aware of what they are doing if they look over to the right (or wherever you house your palettes) and see and endless list of Alpha 1, Alpha 2, Alpha 3, and so on. Just like the layers palette, you really want to keep it organized. What do you do with these alphas? They save and store your selections!

Selections are very important as well when working in Photoshop if you are color correcting, or even just fiddling. Actually, just going to put this out there, most things of regularly use in Photoshop are important. Let’s say you have a perfect path around a bicycle wheel, spokes and all. Now, you want to change the color of tires to hot pink without affecting the spokes at all but your path includes all of them. WHOA. No, no “whoaing” alpha channels can & will help you accomplish this. Take your beautifully constructed path, which you have of course named and saved and select it!
(command+ click on Mac) You have a selection, of course you just want the tires, there are a few things you can do to reach this goal. I would say the easiest by far would be Quick Mask!

Oh Quick Mask, what a good friend! While you have your selection marching-ants away on your screen, hit “Q” on your keyboard. Welcome to Quick Mask my friend! Notice how your channels palette has added Quick Mask and that everything outside of your path has been masked away. Now you can use your Eraser Tool, or your Brush to mask away the areas you don’t want affected by what you’ll do next, which is create a brand new Alpha Channel of your beautiful path without all those spokes you slaved over. So go ahead, depending on what you are masking you may want a hard edge or a soft edge on your Brush/Eraser.

So, you have a Quick Mask you are happy with – great! Now select that Quick Mask (command+click for Mac), head up to Select and click Save Selection, now choose a name for your new Alpha Channel and there you have it, a brand new Alpha just for you.
Now you are free to alter the color of that wheel while maintaining the natural luster of your spokes! Guess what? You can also use this channel in combination with your path to alter the spokes as well, that my friends - will be for another time.

I hope you have enjoyed my long rant/quasi-tutorial on the importance of Channels and creating Alpha Channels, I think you’ll agree that they are most helpful when color correcting.

In The Skies, In The Skies!

Oh, the heavens. A source of much fascination for me all throughout my life, to sit and watch the wonders of the universe, to experience the show of stars, the turbulent shifting of clouds in severe weather, or just enjoying the pleasant contrast between land & sky. Well, many of these beloved phenomena are nowhere to be seen during the dead of winter. Gee, could be a contributing factor to my annual bout of disdain. Being a Wisconsin native I certainly must work on that.

Have no fear fellow watchers of the great dome above, winter can still yield some fascinating sites. Surely, there are a great many constellations to appreciate year round. In fact many of the biggest & boldest constellations are visible this time of year. Whether or not you are familiar with the well-known constellation Orion, this is the time of year to really get to know it, it is certainly at its brightest. Orion contains seven bright well-known stars, one of which being Betelgeuse, which represents “The Hunter” Orion’s right shoulder. Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star, it’s celestially ruddy complexion can be viewed by the naked eye this time of year. This is the 12th brightest star in the sky, oftentimes mistaken for a higher position on the list of the brightest 25 stars. The reason for the confusion is that due to old age & the end of life approaching, this stars’ size morphs fairly regularly, when Betelgeuse pulsates, it can become the size of planet Mars’ orbit!

Speaking of Mars, the planet will be the closest to the Earth its orbit will take it until 2014. And tonight, January 27th – one should be able to see this lovely red celestial body clearly in the sky. According to National Geographic, the planet will pass within 61 million miles of our gorgeous Earth. In August of 2003, Mars came within 35 million miles of Earth, the closest it has been in nearly 60,000 years. Surely we’re not that close, but it is said that tonight – even with a pair of binoculars one can view Mars as not a star, but rather a disc shape. Additionally, one can view the surface of Mars’ rocky terrain and ice caps with a 6in telescope at the least.

Winter apparently means red this year, take a look outside towards the east and you should pick up on red planet Mars passing along its orbit to the other side of the sun, or look around for Orion, his red superstar Betelgeuse will surely give you a show and perhaps teach you a little something.

If Astronomy interests you, check out the link below for a listing of weekly celestial events gracing our heavens. Enjoy!
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/home/82407167.html

Smarticles.

So I have this simple joy in life, combining two words into a new non-word I may or may not make a part of my vocabulary. Most recently I made up the non-word "aswayzing” while viewing the film Dirty Dancing. I am pretty sure one can figure out why, he was after all pretty great.

So today, I made up the new non-word “smarticles”, this word describes what I feel would be smart articles. They were smart to me in the sense that they brought up a lot of questions for me, provoked many thoughts things I truly need to consider while embarking on a journey through the wonderful world of web page design.

I walked away learning just how much one has to consider when putting together a website. Whether taking information away from the dissection of a simple website format in Web Design Layout Principles, or taking information on the ever so sarcastic How NOT To Display Your Artwork On The Web I learned once again that less is typically more. There are reasons web designers have streamlined the sites we visit each and everyday, because they work for the user. That may be a lot to consider but it makes sense to me.

Looks like my non-words just aren’t going to fly. Or could they? Now that’s something to consider.

A Beautiful Beginning, A Wonderful Start...

So, we’ve got this brand spanking new-year. 365 new days labeled 2010, well I guess 354 new days. My views on new years are always sprinkled with dreams and doused in optimism, I have grown fairly optimistic in the past three years, I have to say it makes life a heck of a lot better. All the lovely clichés, “you reap what you sow” and the like are in a sense correct, if you believe in good, you’ll see good.

Thus far, I have seen a lot of good. Knowing that 354 more brand new days await me, I think this trend of good days will continue. Last year like many people in my field I lost my job. I have, for the past nine months enjoyed what has been referred to as “funemployment” ~ I know about 30 other folks who’ve experienced the same thing. Sure, it’s fun. There is another side to it all though, the side that begs, “hey, what in the hell are ya going to do now?” Ah, yeah that side. It’s a question I haven’t heard once, I have heard it everyday for the past nine months – sometimes multiple times a day. I know I am not alone in that one. Surprisingly, losing my job did the exact opposite of what most thought it would do, it inspired me, it made me look beyond the job I thought I would have for a few years, it made me look at what I really want to do. I want to create.

I was working in pre-press, it certainly was fun ~ in fact, I loved it. I was learning so much all of the time, adjusting images, photographic products. But, I wasn’t creating I was altering. I want to create. Creating is a blast, in creating ~ for me anyway ~ it gets a little tough somewhere around that lack of a real deadline and managing my time. But, I’m learning.

So with this new month of January, this new year colored 2010 and this new decade I say it’s time to create, it’s time to learn. Surely, I am bringing in a plethora of ideas and creations with me from 2009 ~ but they feel brand new. I am creating art, experience and love sweet love. With the addition of web design classes I am creating new connections in my brain (AWESOME!) as well as a new set of skills to add to my ever-growing arsenal of tools.

However late it may be Happy New Year! Now do what I am going to do and get off of your butt and create. Create something new, no matter what it is. Make it happen.
Most of all enjoy the process, the process is half the fun.