Posts filed under 'Site News'
June 14th, 2007
Now, I could start out with a lame joke about meeting Tom Hanks or being sleepless with Meg Ryan or Tom Hanks going to the conference or drinking with Meg Ryan or… you get the point. Let’s just agree not to reference that movie at all in this post.
A week from today, I’ll be attending An Event Apart, a comprehensive 2-day conference with some of the names in our industry. It will be an informative and exciting trip. Plus, I get to see if these people actually know what they’re talking about and probably learn a thing or two.
Being a Seattle newbie, I’m looking forward to exploring this beautiful (and rainy) city. One definite highlight I will not miss is the Pike Place Market, a 9-acre mix of local farmers, craftsmen and merchants overlooking the waterfront. Awesome.
My goals for the conference are simple - learn more stuff, meet more people and have more fun. Learning is definitely covered with the lectures, but there’s also a great wealth of knowledge in the other participants. Which leads me into my second goal - meet more people.
How Design recently had a top 10 list on their site about how to get the most out of your design conference. It’s full of some good advice and items that I’d probably forget to pack. However, I wouldn’t be true to myself if I didn’t point #5, a handy dandy use for your name badge.
To pretend you know someone you’ve never met. Good icebreaker. Just don’t take it too far.
Let’s all imagine how a conversation like that would go. OK, I heard a slight chuckle. Now let’s imagine it after a few drinks. Wait for it. Wait for it. And…there it is. Good icebreaker? Please.
Anyway, I’m not going to promise anything. But I will do my best to post during the conference on the lectures, the people and most of all, the drunk people.
If you have any suggestions about what else to see in Seattle, please let me know. And if you’re going to be there, look me up. I promise I won’t pretend to know you.
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May 22nd, 2007
9 months ago (to the day), I stepped away from the blogging universe with a quote and barely a whisper. At the time, I had too many balls in the air, too many irons in the fire and too many kielbasa on the grill. Too much to do and too little time to do it. Something had to fall and unfortunately, it was this blog.
But, I missed it. And talking about blogs with Burbanked on an almost daily basis made me miss it even more. So after much internal deliberation, I decided to return.
Now, at this point, I could easily fall into a humorous and sarcastic listing of the top 10 things I did on my non-blogging vacation. But I won’t. At least for this first post, I’ll keep it simple and to the point.
For those who have supported me in the past (view | view | view | view | view | view | view | view | view), I hope you return and once again enjoy reading and commenting on my entries as much as I enjoy writing them.
And for the others who may stumble upon this site for the first time, I hope you take away something from my web and interactive design experience and hopefully have a laugh or two in the process.
So now it begins - “Spectorbrain: Season Two” - as the great Gleason began time and time again…
And awaaaaaaaaaaay we go!
Welcome back.
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August 11th, 2006
It seems like just yesterday that I started this blog I called “Spectorbrain”. It all began about 4 months ago.
[cue the daydreaming music and fuzzy transitions]
One day, I think it was a Tuesday, I was innocently avoiding work with some Jib Jab animations on-line when I was interrupted by some energetic ramblings. I turned around to see someone who just seemed to appear out of thin air. Due to his fast-talking and multiple digressions, I didn’t quite understand everything that was being said. But for some reason, the word “blog” keep coming up.
I curiously asked, “What is this blog that you’re speaking of?” He explained the ins and out of blogging and several hours later, I was convinced. At that moment, I knew I must blog. But when I turned around to tell him the good news, he was gone.
After minutes of intense blog training and preparation, I wrote my first post, “Hot Dog Hijinks and Frank’s Fun Facts“. Although this was an entertaining and politically-charged article, I quickly decided to refocus my efforts towards my passion and profession - design.
Now, 50 posts and one site redesign later, I’m proud how this blog has grown and appreciative of everyone who has made it possible. Thank you for your readership, comments, e-mails and support.
And a special thanks to those who have helped drive traffic to Spectorbrain over these last few months including:
Without you, I’d just be writing for the Garfield figurine on my desk. Thank you all.
Epilogue: I recently met up with the mystery blogger at the local mall. He was finishing his second cup of Dippin’ Dots as he approached. He congratulated me on my blog with a solid handshake. We talked for a few minutes before he turned to walk away. “Who are you?” I asked. He replied simply, “You can call me Burbanked.”
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July 23rd, 2006
This week, I took on the grand task of updating the design and layout of this blog, much to the chagrin of all logic and reason. Armed with only lukewarm coffee, MP3s and a vision, I embarked on several extremely late and obsessive nights. Eyes bloodshot and sleep taunting me like a vial beast, I persevered towards that moment when I could claim success.
At last, the moment is upon me. Success, I claim! Success!
What began as a passing thought ended with what you see before you. And I can say with the utmost confidence and pride that it is better than it was before. Sure they’ll be some tweaking. I’m a designer after all. I’ll probably be tweaking it for the rest of my natural life.
I hope you enjoy the new Spectorbrain experience. And, as always, thank you for your support.
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July 13th, 2006
You might have noticed that this site was down for about 10 hours today. Believe me, I did too.
During a routine upgrade to WordPress 2.0.3, I encountered errors on this site that - to put it kindly - completely sent me off of the obsessive deep-end. Luckily, I had the help of some wonderful tech support at Host Gator. They were knowledgeable and extremely patient with my reserved ranting. And now that the site is working perfectly, I am ready to once again entertain and inform the masses.
I appreciate all for your patience during this trying time of uncertainty (at least for me). And, as always, thank you for your continued support.
Look out world, here comes Spectorbrain (again).
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April 29th, 2006
I have always been told that I am a perfectionist, at least when it comes to design. Move that pixel here. Add a little more padding there. Change the background color everywhere (so slightly, I only notice the difference). You know. The “devil in the details” discussion.
So in the never-ending pursuit to tweak this site until my head spins, I have added random-generated header images as well as hundreds of thousands of variations of the original header. Ok, fine. Only ten at this point. But I’m working on it.
Go ahead. Refresh those pages you are reading so intently (f5). Leave a comment (or three) about my thought-provoking posts. Visit often. And most of all, recommend Spectorbrain to all of your friends, family and complete strangers. They are all very important parts of my target demographic, which is everyone.
Thank you for your time and utter devotion to my ramblings.
Your humble pixel-pusher, Spectorbrain.
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About Spectorbrain
Spectorbrain is a stimulating discussion of web & interactive design experiences, techniques, critiques and ramblings with a bit of humor thrown in the mix.
In his other life, Jason Spector is an experienced web and interactive designer who quotes old Tex Avery and Chuck Jones cartoons just a little too much.
Contact Spectorbrain
spector(at)
spectorbrain(dot)com
Spectorbrain heads to Seattle for An Event Apart
