andrew dodson

There is snow on the ground right now, and that is a very good thing.  We didn’t end up getting as much as expected in Frankfort, which is a bummer.  I was pretty anxious for the possibility of eight or nine inches of snow.  Oh well.

Snow days seem to be a good day for everyone to catch up with life.  I was just on Facebook and noticed a lot of my friends uploading pictures, videos, changing their profile pictures, and updating their status to the likes of “I didn’t go to work today, so I’m cleaning the house.”  I figured I’d use part of my snow day to post on the ol’ blog.

As of a couple of weeks ago, I am now a full-time freelancer.  After four and a half years, I decided to leave CLS.  I enjoyed my time at CLS, but really felt like it was time to pursue either BADmedia full-time, or see what other web and graphic jobs are out there in the world.  So far, I’ve applied for a few full-time jobs, but haven’t landed anything yet.  If I am offered a job, it will be a tough decision to choose between the security of a full-time job, or the freedom of freelancing.  I have really enjoyed freelancing for the past few weeks, and it’s been amazing to see God’s faithfulness in this time.  Despite leaving a good full-time job, I’ve been able to get by for the month of January, with jobs continuing to line up for February.  God is good.

In a way, every day has become a “snow day” for me.  I am able to set my own hours and do the work when I want.  I can work from coffee shops, restaurants, parks, bookstores, libraries – anywhere with free Wi-Fi.  It also means I no longer have the option of saying, “I’ve been too busy to blog.”  Hopefully that means I’ll be able to post more often, which I will enjoy.  Enjoy your snow day!

How ’bout the new look of the blog? Wordpress.org has revamped their theme directory and I found this one yesterday. I really like the simplicity of it.

So, what have I been up to? I’ve kept up with learning Flash and that’s coming along fairly well. I’m thinking about implementing some Flash on the Josh Martin Band website, but I’m not sure. I’d like to put what I’ve learned into practice in one way or another.

I’ve mainly spent time redesigning a few sites as of late. I continue to get people calling or emailing with interest in having a website done, so that’s been encouraging for BADmedia. I’m hoping to nail down a few more sites by the end of this week.

The Josh Martin Band stepped back on stage this past weekend at the Frankfort Christian Academy. It was good to play again. We’re going to start rehearsing again soon for some upcoming gigs. Josh has written some new material, so we will work on that as well.

I give up. I’m going to learn Flash.

I’ve resisted to this point. Why? Well, it’s not really standards-compliant. Meaning? Not everyone can view flash on websites. By saying “not everyone,” my not-so-scientific percentage would be, maybe, twenty-five percent. Mostly, the type of people that use the web for informational purposes and don’t care to download all the latest, wizz-bang plug-ins and features for their browser. Some might read this as “older folks,” but you didn’t hear me say that. I just don’t like making people that want to view my sites download something to view it correctly. Is that so bad? I’ve always said if the day came that Flash came installed on every browser 100% percent of the time, I’d gladly learn Flash.

It’s been all-the-rage in the internet world for several years now, and the rage continues to grow, it seems. Nearly ever web design job I’ve found on the web requires Flash experience. Everyone wants animation, videos, fade in effects, motion graphics, and other fancy features that only Flash seems capable of producing.

So, it seems I just need to give in and start learning it. I’ve done a few tutorials, and yes, it’s cool. It’s neat. It’s fun. But, it can also be way-overdone on a lot of sites. My hope is to learn to apply Flash – a.) only to sites that require Flash, and b.) in a tasteful way. Okay, I might break rule “a” every now and then.

Bottom line is this – if I’m trying to do web design full-time, I need to constantly learn new things, whether or not I like the new things personally. It’s the only way I can survive as a hopeful freelancer. So, getting BADmedia off the ground is kinda like going back to school at the same time. Except, this time, I’m the teacher and the student, sort of (with some help from the internet and books).

As I’ve started to do more work through BADmedia, I’ve started eating through my cell phone’s monthly anytime minutes. I’m a Verizon carrier (one of the few and proud in Frankfort), and I love them. I don’t quite understand most of Frankfort’s love for Sprint. For iPhone carriers, I can understand the need for AT&T (plus, my dad works for them, so I don’t guess I can bash them too much).

I carried Sprint for a while and hated it. Dropped calls all the time. Bad service in some areas of Kentucky. I’ve never used AT&T/Cingular/whatever-they’re-calling-themselves-these-days, so I can’t speak for them. Anyway, I digress…

I just changed plans in a matter of five minutes. I doubled my anytime minutes, now have unlimited text messaging and it’s not going to cost one red penny more. In fact, because of the texting plan, it will likely be cheaper each month.

(By the way… and for the record…. in the span of about five years of carrying a Verizon phone, I can only recall a dropped call being my phone’s fault a couple of times. Their service is rock solid.)

At last!

After months of kicking around design ideas and finding time design a site for BADmedia, the task is finally complete.  If anyone out there needs design work, recording, or the like, please head over to the site and contact me!

> Visit the BADmedia site

I’m often asked what type of software I use to create my websites, logos and the like.  Everyone knows I’m a Mac guy, and they assume I use the Adobe Creative Suite.  Not so fast!  Assumptions can sometimes be wrong.

Yes, I’m a Mac guy.  Love ‘em.  Used a PC for years before finally using a Mac at work.  Hands down, Macs are far better machines.  Trust me.  PC users are scared to switch because they’re afraid a Mac can’t do what a PC does.  Wrong.  Not only can it do everything a PC does, it can do it better and you won’t be pulling your hair out all the time.

Anyway… on to the real topic.  What software do I use?  My general rule of thumb is easy – find something that does what I want for free.  The glory of humanity is this – there are people willing to donate their time and effort and ability to create a nice software package for free.  This is called Open Source.  When I simply can’t find a good open-source (free) program, I find one for cheap.  I try to keep my overhead as low as possible.

General Graphic Art

For my general designs, this is where I don’t skimp.  I use Adobe Illustrator a lot.  I’m currently looking into open source programs (Inkscape), or cheap programs (Vector Designer) for my vector art needs.  Until I decide if those programs are viable, I’ll use Illustrator.

Photo Editing / Raster Graphics

Photoshop?  No.  I use Gimp.  It’s a wonderful, free program.  For all of you out there using pirated versions of Photoshop because you can’t afford to buy it yourself – please try Gimp.  There IS a learning curve, but it can do everything Photoshop can do.  I’m very impressed with it.  Not to mention, it’s more streamlined that PS and runs much faster on my computers.

Web Editing – HTML

These days, I don’t do a whole heck of a lot with HTML.  When I absolutely have to code something with HTML, I use Nvu (there is also a version called Kompozer).  It gets the job done and is free.

Web Editing – PHP, XML, General Coding

I’ve fallen in love with Smultron.  A free, powerful text editor that plays nicely with PHP, XML, CSS, and HTML files.  A nice, multi-purpose program.

Web Editing – CSS

There is a free solution here that some people might enjoy.  Simple CSS.  I’ve tried it and it does get the job done.  But, it has some quirks that I don’t like.  So, I use CSSEdit.  It’s not a free program, but is in the “affordable” bracket.  It’s a pretty slick program.

Wordpress

These days, I design all of my sites around Wordpress.  I love the ability to maintain my sites from any computer with an internet connection.  There is a learning curve to designing custom themes, but once you figure it out, it’s a breeze.

Word Processing

Sometimes, clients send me Word documents with their content.  Mac does have a version of Microsoft Office, but it’s not cheap.  So, I use NeoOffice to read Word & Excel files and more.  A truly wonderful, free word processing program.  They are constantly updating it and improving its features.

So, there you have it.  If you’re looking to save some money, but still be productive, I strongly suggest looking into open source options.  Small businesses, schools, churches, governments, civic groups and non-profits could benefit greatly from saving money and using these types of programs.  You should at least look into them and give them a chance.

The remainder of my week will be fairly jam-packed.  I have a lot to get done before I leave for Seattle at the break of dawn on Saturday.  Just to fill you in (since I know you’re on the edge of your seat), and to wrap my head around what I have to do, here’s a breakdown:

Life at CLS

After a slow January, work is picking up at CLS.  A couple of days last week were fairly busy, and today got a little more hectic as the day went on.  I’m hoping to have a really productive day tomorrow to stay on top of things.  Not only do I need to stay on top of things, but I also need to get ahead, since I’ll be gone all of next week.  To top it off, I need to post over thirty new t-shirts designs to our Got The Shirt site, as we try to finally get that project off the ground.

Life at The Point

I’ll be missing the Sunday service at TPCC for the first time in a very long while.  I really don’t remember the last time I missed.  Tomorrow night, I’ll go to the Habakkuk bible study, but then I get to go home.  I won’t have to stay for praise band rehearsal since I won’t be there on Sunday.  This actually helps, even though I hate to miss.  Not having to go to rehearsal will give me an extra couple of hours to get some things done.  One of those things being preparing for my PCG on Thursday night (and cleaning my apartment!).

Life at BADmedia

My goal by the end of this week is to have completely finished rough mixes for the Polston recording I did a couple of months ago.  I still need to get with a couple of groups to do overdubs, but I hope to have the project completed in the next few weeks.  With moving and everything else, it’s taken me longer than usual to get around to mixing, but I’ve finally found the time.  I hope to use my free time tomorrow evening to mix down a couple of the group’s performances.

On the website side of the business, I did a quick site update tonight.  My only real issue is The Point’s media site, which has been down for two weeks.  iPower is working on the issue, but it’s out of my hands – very frustrating!  I hope the issue is solved by the time I return from Seattle – hopefully sooner!

Other

I’m really excited about the Seattle trip.  It’s funny – a few weeks ago, we were all wishing it would hurry up and get here.  Now, it’s finally here and I wish I had another week!  A lot to do in very little time, it seems.

I finally got my internet up-and-running at my apartment tonight.  Since I have a wireless network, I went into my router settings and restricted access to only my computers.  This is my first time living in an apartment building, so I haven’t had the need to do this before.  But, I also don’t want people leeching off my connection.

In my quest to blog more often, I’m considering a schedule of some kind.  Like, Saturday would be YouTube video day, Sunday would be blog link day (linking to stories on other blogs – some people call this a blog carnival), Friday would be PCG Notes day…you get the idea.  I’m also considering have guest bloggers from time to time.  Anyone got any other ideas?

Here’s a rundown of a few random things:

• Jerry Falwell passed away today.  Shane did a short write up, and Challies chimed in as well.  I don’t know much about him, but I know that you either love him or hate him, judging by society’s opinion of him.  Not long ago, I watched a sermon of his on television, and actually took notes.  I have to admit that I didn’t agree with a lot of what he said in that sermon.
• I ended up leaving work at five.  I figured if I waited around and the system didn’t get fixed, I would’ve wasted my evening.  Instead, I’m enjoying a night at home.  I’ll just need to buckle down and be efficient tomorrow to catch up.
• I officially canceled my Verizon account today.  For the past several months, I’ve carried a Sprint Treo, but the cost to cancel my Verizon contract was more than it took to just pay the bill each month until the contract ran out.  I was pleasantly surprised that the call took less than five minutes.  They were extremely nice and didn’t question me at all.  No transfers to retention departments.  Easy as pie.

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I’ve created a new logo for my business – BADmedia. Actually, it’s the first logo for BADmedia.

I spent this evening updating the Distinct Impressions website. My client had sent me several email updates and a CD of pictures. The real work was transferring the site over to a GoLive CS format (the site was originally created in FrontPage). It didn’t take as long as I thought it would. For anyone out there looking for a great web design program, I can’t recommend GoLive enough. For that matter, I can’t recommend any Adobe product enough.