I received a new telephone directory the other day and thought it might be a good idea to see what the listings under Web Design had to offer. My approach wasn’t entirely scientific, nor were my results very conclusive, but that’s no fault of my own. Honest.

I invented two projects:

• A real-estate website requiring a CMS to list homes for sale complete with property details and the option of a photo walkthrough.
• A travel blog for daily entries while on trips and separate photo galleries for each trip.

I planned to ask for quotes for those two independent projects from each designer, but I had to do some pruning first. I removed one listing due to distance. I wanted businesses or designers I would consider local to Jamestown, and if I included Irving, NY, I may as well go all the way to Buffalo. I removed a second because the designer did not list web design as one of her primary services. It was mentioned under a “can do” list, but it didn’t inspire confidence. A third was removed due to a very negative review and its association with another group of websites that screamed “Scam”.

I began looking for websites associated with the remaining five listings. I couldn’t find anything for The Graduate, Inc., or Mirror Images Web Services. If information exists, I can usually find it. It just wasn’t there. The telephone numbers for both companies were out of service as well. They don’t seem to exist.

Spann Enterprises, LLC., actually sells fire-proof safes. While the woman who answered the phone mentioned that she used to do web design, she said she doesn’t do much any more. She also explained that she doesn’t know how to build shopping carts for eCommerce or work with streaming video.

The number for ThinkPlayDesign went to a personal voicemail box. I didn’t leave a message, but his website is the best of the lot. I didn’t check prices, but he most closely meets my standards for quality and competence.

Lastly, the number for The Maytum Company was answered as Star Media Group, which is a division of the Toronto Star Newspaper, Ltd. This was the only listing to whom I could actually pitch my two projects. They might get back to me in a few days, but I’m not counting on it.

Follow-Up — December 2, 2009: Star Media Group never did get back to me with a quote.

Overall, I wasn’t very impressed. My goal was to get an idea of pricing in the area and to see if it’s capable of sustaining designers. I still can’t decide if I want to try seriously freelancing around Jamestown, and I feel I need to do a little more research. It doesn’t look promising.

A website is a long-term investment. As a client you are investing in your company image and a global presence. Handled properly you can extend your target audience to an area much greater than what you could achieve through any other multimedia or print marketing campaign, and it will cost much less than trying to reach that audience through any other medium. Why is it, then, that small town businesses think $250 – $500 is a suitable price for a website?

As a designer, I also make a large investment in every website I create—no less than 40 hours of my time. Additionally I have four years of schooling, ten years of experience, and thousands of dollars of equipment and software. Oh, and I need to eat. I also wouldn’t mind living in a place of my own again. A car would be nice, too.

I can’t afford any of this on the $250 a week businesses expect me to work for. In fact, if I were an employee at a business—without any overhead for things like equipment, supplies, services, and anything else required for me to do what I do—I would be paid more. I would be paid more flipping burgers. So why is it that businesses expect me, an individual with marketable skills providing a service they desire, to work for less than minimum wage?

Ignorance is the best explanation I can come up with. Your average small business website can start around $5,000 and only goes up from there. Expect to pay more if you’re looking to hire a company. Some freelancers even turn down contracts less than $15,000.

Sure, you can find some kid to throw together a website in FrontPage for $250, but remember this: you get what you pay for. If you’re not willing to invest in your designer, don’t expect your designer to invest in you.

I missed my post yesterday, thus breaking a two-day streak of new material. Hey, quit complaining. With this entry I’m already up 300% over last year.

Excuses, excuses. I’ve come down with a sinus infection and was distracted by Fable II yesterday. I decided to complete the storyline mission and spent some hours today playing with additional quests. It’s almost inspired me to finish Fallout 3, but I know there’s no gameplay once the main questline is finished. These are the problems I face.

Nearly every job post I’ve reviewed today was in the UK. None of them interested me. It’s not that I’m against leaving the US, but it would need to be something special. Oh, and relocation assistance would be a must. Can’t afford a plane ticket right now, so even an apartment would be out of the question. Then there’s the bit where I figure out how to get all of my belongings.

I’d rather stay near home anyways. That whole family thing, y’know. An hour or so travel time is ideal so I could say “Know what? I wanna go give mom a hard time today.” And so I will.

Yes, you’re missing out on 72 days of my journey, so here’s a brief summary of what I’ve been up to:

• Reviewing no fewer than six new job opportunities daily.
• Sorting out my resume, references, and writing cover letters.
• Being chewed on by a puppy.
• Staying up later, and sleeping in later, than I should.
• Playing World of Warcraft, Fallout 3, Fable II, and Left4Dead.
• Inventing all sorts of delicious sandwiches in my head.

I’ve learned a few things during these months of unemployment. The most important of which is that I’m not interested in many jobs. As I detailed in my long-overdue update, interest and passion for work is somewhat of a necessity for me. I really don’t care about insurance agencies or law firms, and I wouldn’t be passionate about working for them. As a result, my work for such employers would be sub-par.

I really need to work for a special company. Not only do I need to care about the work, but the environment needs to be casual. Comfort is another factor in quality of work. Jeans and t-shirts make up most of my wardrobe. They’re what I’m comfortable working in. Now, in most lines of work that doesn’t really matter. You’re up, moving around, and interacting with people. Not to say graphic design is more difficult than whatever it is that you do, but I have trouble being creative when I’m being forced into an image of somebody I’m not.

Just my two cents.

I am still alive.

It’s been more than a year since my last completed blog post. Sure, I began writing a few during the last twelve months, but they never made it very far. I’d lose my train of thought, decide that my topic of choice wasn’t interesting after a few paragraphs, or come to the realization that nobody reads my blog so it’s not worth the time I was putting into it.

I have a lot more time now. I was laid off in the first week of November and am finding that the job market sucks right now. There just aren’t many jobs I’m interested in. Sure, I sift through a dozen or two job postings each day, but I’ve only found one that made me say “Wow, I want to work there!” Let’s be honest; as a graphic designer, one needs to be passionate about their work. If my heart isn’t behind it, it’s not my best work. I just can’t settle for that.

Perhaps I’ll chronicle my job search…

We are still alive.

Last week brought us a historic event. Barack H. Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. Some people might argue the significance of this, believing that it’s no big deal or that he’s going to do more damage than George W. Bush. Let’s be honest: You can’t predict the future, and neither can I. Give up on McCain already. He’s the one who lost, and he’s handling it better than half of the people who supported him.

Breaking it down: Barack Obama is not a Muslim.
Obama is one letter off from Osama, but it doesn’t make him a terrorist. (Consider: Santa is just one juxtoposition off from Satan)
His middle name of Hussein was given to him (1961) before Saddam Hussein gained power in Iraq (1979). This means there’s no connection.

Still Alive

Rock on, GLaDOS. Rock on.

One year ago I made an entry bidding farewell to two-thousand and six. As I had hoped, I managed to drift through 2007. In fact, not much changed within me. Sure, I now work full time. But that’s little more than a replacement for school as something to do. I still, generally, live life vicariously. I fear it’s going to take somebody new to break me out of this shell. Here’s to you, whoever you are.

Looking back at that old blog entry, I made a few predictions for 2007. Amidst a product shortage, Nintendo has managed to sell near 500,000 more units of their Wii console than Microsoft’s Xbox 360. Of which I have contributed one purchase to each. Sony’s PlayStation 3 is still more than five million units behind both Nintendo and Microsoft. I’ll mark that as a prediction come true.

I also predicted that music would experience a revolution. It did not. In my opinion there were no notable releases in the past year. I am, however, looking forward to at least three 2008 releases: Disturbed, Slipknot, and Ra.

With Apple’s release of a new generation of iPods, the iPhone, and Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard), they are more in the spotlight than ever. Combine that with the flop that is Windows Vista driving customers away from Microsoft… I’ll give myself this one as well.
In fact, I’ve gone as far as to purchase a Macintosh for myself. To add more to that shock, after moving in early December I have yet to bring my Windows desktop to the new place.

The last real prediction I made was that there would be scientific breakthroughs in the medical field. While I’ve not followed this closely, I remember hearing of a way to create stem-cell-like cells without using embryos. I figure that’s fairly significant. I’ll mark that as true.

Three out of four isn’t bad. Now, I’m not going to make any predictions about 2008. Anything I could consider is so unstable it’s not worth the effort.

Good luck to all of you in 2008, I certainly hope it’s better than last year. At least for my sake.

I have stated before that Facebook took a turn for the worst. Anybody who knows the least bit about me should realize I find the Applications idiotic. I have, in the past, also mentioned that current generations have little regard for their privacy. Perhaps it’s ignorance, perhaps indifference. Honestly, it’s annoying.

With the advent of applications, what little privacy Facebook lent its users has flown out the window. Each one requires the user to authorize the application to access certain information in their profile. Just what information is accessed is unknown. If it is stated somewhere, it is where only a law student would be able to find it. Knowing law students, I’m well aware they haven’t bothered to look. In fact, the only people who would bother looking for, and reading, a privacy policy are a select few obsessive compulsives and the paranoid schizophrenic.

The following article summaries are courtesy of Slashdot.org [/.].

The Implications of Facebook on Society

“The site Switched.com is taking a look at the slow death of privacy at the hands of social media sites such as Facebook and MySpace with a link to a report on the creepy practice of Facebook employees monitoring what pages you look at and a thought-provoking video interview with social media expert Clay Shirky — who says that social networks are profoundly changing our ability to keep our private lives private. ‘Eventually, Shirky theorizes, society will have to create a space that’s implicitly private even though it’s technically public, not unlike a personal conversation held on a public street. Otherwise, our ability to keep our lives private will be forever destroyed. Of course, that might already be the case.’”

The New Facebook Ads – Another Privacy Debacle?

“Facebook recently announced a new advertising scheme called ‘Social Ads.’ Instead of using celebrities to hawk products, it will use pictures of Facebook users. Facebook might be entering into another privacy debacle. The site assumes that if people rate products highly or write good things about a product then they consent to being used in an advertisement for it. Facebook doesn’t understand that privacy amounts to much more than keeping secrets — it involves controlling accessibility to personal data. ‘The use of a person’s name or image in an advertisement without that person’s consent might constitute a violation of the appropriation of name or likeness tort. According to the Restatement (Second) of Torts 652C: “One who appropriates to his own use or benefit the name or likeness of another is subject to liability to the other for invasion of his privacy.”"

Facebook Users Complain of New Ad Based Tracking

Tech.Luver noted a story about facebook users complaining over ads where their shopping habits are shared with their friends as if they are endorsing products. The neatest part is that you can opt out- if you click a box that disappears after 20 seconds… wait to long, and they assume you are totally fine with it.

As always, this is just something to take into consideration. I really don’t expect it to change anything, but… knowledge is power.

Sure, the title is misleading… but I bet it got a few more of you to click on it.

It’s no secret that I dislike Social Networking websites. I’ve watched as the fad moved from Live Journal to MySpace and then Facebook. I’ve registered with each to keep track of the few friends for whom I give a damn.

It was with intrigue that I registered with Facebook. Restricted to persons with .edu email accounts, it seemed geared towards true social networking rather than a place for the dumb masses to make the trivial events of their meaningless lives a soap opera for the public. It was simple to navigate, wasn’t overwhelmed with meaningless information, and lacked the feature of both Live Journal and MySpace that I loathe: Customization.
Face it, you’re not a web designer. Chances are you lack any visual artistic ability. Your profile is heinous.

The change was slow, but it happened. Facebook has slipped down the slope slick from shit and will never climb out. Instead, it will suffocate in methane and die a horrible death snorting fart. It all started when Facebook opened to the public. While this upset many people, it was a step forward… but in the wrong direction. The Facebook population exploded, as did the demand for senseless features. Then… they started to appear.

It started with a few invitations to add this application or that every week. But, it wasn’t long before that became five or more a day… I’m a Pirate! I’m a Vampire! I’m a Werewolf! I’m a Zombie… all at once! Are you one of my top friends? Wanna get Leid? Answer my question! Are we so goddamn the same we’re like twins?

This rant has been turning in my mind for months, but tonight is when I lost it. I found an IM from Facebook notifying me of my friend’s status update. I figured I might have mis-clicked this morning and opted in to that feature… but I was wrong. Instead, my friend had imported his buddy list — this was out of my control. I found no way to opt out of messages from the Facebook website.
My solution? Facebook has been added to my long list of blocked AIM accounts.

Spam is one of the most annoying side-effects of the Internet. However, nothing annoys me more than IM spam. Sure, the Textile Import spams I get on Yahoo! are entertaining, since you can actually end up talking to a human… they’re great to fuck with. That’s the end of the entertainment value IM spam holds.

Yeah, I’m pissed. Just one more of the holy-fuck-stupid features to be added lately. Just one more step closer to my account ceasing to exist.
Strange that the only social networking site I don’t mind is the one that doesn’t bug the shit out of me. Perhaps the rest of them could take lessons from Deviant Art… it has purpose, true entertainment value, and is beneficial to both those who submit and browse.

Before I dive into this, allow me to make a few things clear. I’m an omnivore. If you choose not to eat meat, good for you. I’ll have an extra burger, hot dog, steak, or slab of ribs on your behalf. If you’re overly conscious about being green and go out of your way to negate your carbon footprint, congratulations. If I were to attempt that, I’d head out into the middle of nowhere and live off the land. Instead, I’m going to rant about it and change nothing. Why? Because nobody reads this. My opinion isn’t going to mean shit.

On with the ramble!

Every now and again I look around and see just how much we humans destroy everything we encounter. It’s to a point where many believe we have changed the climate across the globe. We shape rivers and streams in order to direct them where we need them, or to get them out of our way. We dam them up to produce electricity, reservoirs, and inhabitable land. If that’s not an option, we simply relocate enough earth to create a new lake.
We do this for convenience.

We level entire forests for building materials, fuel, or simply because it’s in our way. We destroy the habitats of thousands of creatures simply… for our convenience. We tunnel through mountains because we don’t want to go over or around. We detonate whole regions to collect hardened chunks of carbon. We drill holes and suck wells dry.
We do this for our convenience.

We hunt creatures until they no longer exist because we desire their muscle, flesh, and fur. We do this after we have eaten our fill for entertainment and vanity.

There are few creatures in the world who actually shape their environment. Fewer who do it simply because they can. But, it’s what we do. We research, we develop new technologies, we examine every quark of our surroundings — all for our convenience. Automobiles, natural gas heating, air conditioning, television, radio, Internet… these aren’t necessities, these are conveniences of modern technology.

Some have claimed that we will terraform Mars within the century so we can begin to settle there. A clean slate, a new world to destroy.

Don’t get me wrong, I love modern technology. It’s my hobby, my vocation, and my passion. I enjoy the luxuries technology provides. The ease of transportation and communication, and the various forms of entertainment provided by the same technologies. I’m not about to throw everything I enjoy away, and I’m not asking anybody else to do it either. But, some nights I sit outside and think about the world around me. I look at the sky and the stars, and think about how miraculous and beautiful it all is. I look at everything around me — the plants, animals, life in general — and think about how improbable it all is. This is nature, pure and simple, not a god. We haven’t pissed anything off, we’ve simply changed nature — and unless we do something about it, we’ll have changed it enough that it may no longer support human life. At least not at its current capacity.

Think about it. Go outside on a clear night and look up at the sky. Ponder how far away those points of light are. Consider how unnatural the red and blue flashes are as planes fly over head. Stare in awe as bats, blind as they are, track down mosquitoes — just as the mosquitoes are drawn to the carbon-dioxide you exhale, how they siphon your blood to continue their existence just as we change the world to make ours more convenient.

Think about it.
I don’t ask you to change anything, just think about it.

I started working for Digitell, Inc. this week. I sent an email stating I’m finished with school and am looking for work in Jamestown related to my field. A few days later I was asked to come in for an interview – very surprising, as I had no knowledge they needed help. In fact, the need for new personnel hadn’t even been announced. So, I came in last Thursday.

As usual, I was strangely calm in a situation where I should have been stressed. I worried before, I worried after, but I set that aside at the time. There were no other interviews for the position, and it ended with “We’ll see you Monday.”

Crap… I’m still living in Findley Lake. My internship hours aren’t turned in yet, though I have them completed. I have a job in Jamestown starting in a few days. I’m hungry… so much to do in very little time. This doesn’t even include work I have for other clients. So, I started with the obvious. Move back to Jamestown.

It’s strange being back home. As has been the case for the past two years, most of my time there is spent sleeping –but it’s home once again. It’s essentially come down to home being wherever my computer is. Hopefully that doesn’t become too confusing once I have a laptop, which I estimate to be two to three months.

Now, about work…
For the first few days it wasn’t too exciting. Just learning how things are run, moving from workstation to workstation because I don’t have my own and need to use whatever is free, and doing whatever is asked of me. Oh, and my usual habit of picking up on things rather quickly. I just don’t know what I’m going to do Monday once everybody is supposed to be back in the office.
I keep mentioning that I have no problems working on a Macintosh. Nice big G5… shiny. That thing puts out a lot of heat.

Aside from having to wake up at 7 AM again, the only real change in the past week is that I drink coffee a little more often. Caffeine is a good thing, and if it’s strong enough to burn more than vodka you can’t really tell it tastes like dirt.

Things don’t seem too bad any more.