Spinetree

about wordpress sites

2010-04-26T08:38:00.001-07:00

Lesson I've just learned: for a Wordpress site, it's necessary to write into your contract that updates are NOT covered. That is, the client may update the Wordpress system files (like WP prompts you to do) and bork the site because it breaks some customization. They need to know in that situation, it's on them and they pay extra to get anything fixed. Coworker who builds Drupal sites says he always builds monthly maintenance fees in to take care of this. You want CMS? you pay to have it kept up. Helps them remember exactly how much it's worth having to not pay someone everytime they want to change a line of text on the about page.

2010-04-17T15:55:00.000-07:00

It's 1961. Paul Newman is in a bus station. Everyone wears a suit, all the time. You can go into a diner, sit down and have a cuppa black coffee, a cigarette and a donut and none of it's bad for you. You can go into a bar at eight a.m. and it's clean, no cardboard cutouts of bimbos, no televisions and nobody obsessively pecking at a touchscreen video game. You can buy a handgun in a hardware store with no questions asked. Strippers frequently are backed up by live bands. Telephones have rotary dials and there is no such thing as the internet. *sigh*

Overheard@An Event Apart

2009-05-05T14:27:00.001-07:00

"God, I wish IE6 would just die a natural death so we could all move on with our lives." Seconded, though I don't personally care if it's a natural death or a rooftop sniper or what. Maybe we should try and introduce it to a terrible succubus who'll quietly switch its meds after convincing it to buy a lot of life insurance.

2009-05-04T17:42:00.001-07:00

"Redesigns are a bad idea. Nobody wants a redesign but the site owners."

An Event Apart Quotes

2009-05-04T10:08:00.001-07:00

If you're an uber-nerd, these should be hilarious. Otherwise, they will make no sense.

"But it doesn't work in IE. Not that I care."

"Of course, if I have a layout problem, the first place I'm going to look is the TCP/IP stack"

exit hole

2009-01-25T19:41:00.001-08:00

IMG_7870, originally uploaded by Spinetree.org.

Started painting again. And I sure do.

Adios

2009-01-23T12:50:00.001-08:00

Adios, originally uploaded by Generik11.

Right. Freakin. On.

Neil

2009-01-08T20:24:00.001-08:00

Neil, originally uploaded by Spinetree.org.

Neil Young ...from the Live at Vicar St. recording. Done in Corel Painter. First Painter drawing I've done with a piece of paper over the tablet surface...helps immensely.

He's got no words to tell you, just some magic beans to sell you

2008-12-31T13:33:00.001-08:00

He's got no words to tell you, just some magic beans to sell you, originally uploaded by Spinetree.org.

From Jason Webley's song Train Tracks

Check out the song here:
http://www.emusic.com/album/Counterpoint-Counterpoint-MP3-Download/10902628.html

Catherinejoy.com now online!!

2008-12-16T08:53:00.000-08:00

For the last couple weeks some classmates and I have been busy coding the snazzy new Catherinejoy.com - flash music players, litebox js image gallery, DHTML expanding boxes... still a couple of places that need tweaking (like fixing mattes on the nav) but overall, very happy with how it came out.

'Ave a look then!

http://www.catherinejoy.com

eMusic is decadent and depraved.

2008-12-12T10:09:00.001-08:00

Signed up for eMusic awhile ago, actually to get music I couldn't find anywhere else. Last.fm + eMusic = killer combo.

Problem is, with music this cheap, I'm filling up my hard drive fast.....and I don't feel like I can throw it away like I used to.

Just got: new Cat Power, new (2006) Dan Bern, Vampire Weekend (just found 'em), and Alela Diane . Never, except maybe at a record swap or radio station garage sale, would I have bought this much music all at once. I think total cost for all these albums, completely legal and DRM-free, was about $3.00.

the mind-killer

2008-12-08T13:22:00.001-08:00

"I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.”
Frank Herbert

Kill 'em Frank! Hurt 'em now! Good god, help me!

Trust Yr. Self

2008-12-03T08:50:00.001-08:00

trust, originally uploaded by Spinetree.org.

Somewhere along the line, my family got really sketchy. And hairy.

Bye bye, Babbages's

2008-11-26T18:16:00.001-08:00

winder, originally uploaded by Spinetree.org.

Babbages was an incredible place, and my corvid/scavenger side will sorely miss it. Basically it was lots of flannel-clad men and t-shirted high school nerds cobbling together working computer systems from nonworking ones. They had incredible piles of serial port mice, 5.25" disk drives, CRT monitors.... they also operated in an old factory on the top of a hill, and had incredible things unbeknownst in the 21st century, like ashtrays in the bathrooms and giant rooms containing nothing but broken glass and dead birds.

Took many of my favorite photos there. Take a look at 'em here on Flickr

no robots

2008-11-26T17:51:00.001-08:00

no_robots, originally uploaded by Spinetree.org.

One of the best things to do at IT meetings is to take quotes out of context. No disassemble! No robots no follow!

CJ sticker

2008-11-19T20:48:00.001-08:00

CJ sticker, originally uploaded by Spinetree.org.

Just got these from the printers. Soon to be on everything.

In the studio with CJ

2008-11-19T20:24:00.001-08:00

IMG_0367, originally uploaded by Spinetree.org.

CJ at Big Time Studios in Interlaken. Recordings soon to follow.

Big Time

2008-11-19T19:58:00.001-08:00

Big Time, originally uploaded by Spinetree.org.

From a recording at Big Time Studios in Interlaken. Went to visit these guys last week and came away with an awesome recording (we only have the rough...but still awesome.)

Left Behind

2008-11-19T19:57:00.001-08:00

Left Behind, originally uploaded by Spinetree.org.

It don't pay to think too much on things you leave behind. -Townes Van Zandt

Falconers

2008-11-19T19:56:00.003-08:00

Falconers, originally uploaded by Spinetree.org.

These are the people from the NY state falconry association meeting. Funny, hotel conventions all are relatively similar, regardless of what they're about. All filled with FREAKING GIANT LIZARDS.

16

2008-11-19T19:56:00.001-08:00

16, originally uploaded by Spinetree.org.

Just started my 16th moleskine book. That means I'm a 17th level hipster.

2008-11-18T08:55:00.001-08:00

Rumi is the freakin' man. Somewhere between Buddha and Bukowski.

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I will meet you there." -Rumi

"The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you; Don't go back to sleep. You must ask for what you really want; Don't go back to sleep. People are going back and forth across the doorsill where the two worlds touch. The door is round and open. Don't go back to sleep." -Rumi

Maguire Megaboard

2008-11-14T12:08:00.001-08:00

Maguire Megaboard, originally uploaded by Spinetree.org.

Done for Maguire Chevrolet in Ithaca. With print, usually it's a fight to not have so much content. With chalk, I usually like to have a log of content to put in a piece.

Web design is not graphic design.

2008-11-12T11:52:00.001-08:00

It's amazing how many people who learn to code HTML suddenly decide that they're graphic designers and are qualified to design a logo, a brocure, etc. Mother of God.

True, if you're a good programmer, you have an understanding of information hierarchy; that is, you can bite data off into chunks people can digest. This is primo important in design.

But this is a world of difference from understanding colors, textures and the emotional and logical psychology behind a good logo.

A good logo pops. It has emotional appeal. A person can look it and instantly gets a feel for it. They can tell you what it would smell like, what it would feel like to touch. This isn't hippie crap. This is emotional appeal, and it's how you get people to pay attention. A graffiti artist who's never touched a computer is likely to have a much better grasp of how to do this than someone who's a kickass Java programmer and can write object-oriented programs with nothing more than a text editor.

Props to you, web developers - without you the interweb would just be a glorified collection of word docs. But just 'cause you can plug in a toaster doesn't mean you're an electrician.

2008-11-12T08:50:00.001-08:00

How come Last.fm and emusic both seem to want to keep giving me more and more amorphous hipster crap music?

There's some good stuff in there amongst the musical tapioca pudding....I got Neutral Milk Hotel and Fruit Bats and Whiskeytown through Last.fm, but for the love of god, otherwise it seems like a neverending stream of ironic guitar crap. Like in High Fidelity, when he talked about wanting music he could ignore...this is it, baby.

It comes on, I shut it off and play Townes Van Zandt.

2008-11-11T16:54:00.001-08:00

Well, looks like we've got a full web 2.0 circlejerk going. Twitter now goes onto my Facebook and myspace pages, Flickr goes onto the blog and facebook and my portfolio. One step closer to satori.

mindkiller

2008-11-05T18:42:00.001-08:00

mindkiller, originally uploaded by Spinetree.org.

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.

bukowski

2008-11-05T18:10:00.001-08:00

bukowski, originally uploaded by Spinetree.org.

Was just looking through old photos and found this. At the time I was up to four or five glasses of whiskey a night, most of a pack of cigarettes, a dozen or so chicken wings and half a pizza. Still, was a skinny little bastard because I worked eight hours in a kitchen every night.

fullcircle

2008-11-04T21:37:00.001-08:00

fullcircle, originally uploaded by Spinetree.org.

dockthingy

2008-11-04T21:36:00.001-08:00

dockthingy, originally uploaded by Spinetree.org.

this was a structure in the water outside out hut thingy. Maybe when you live on tropical islands and eat fish all day you just sorta build modern art in the water for the hell of it.

plane

2008-11-04T21:29:00.001-08:00

plane, originally uploaded by Spinetree.org.

This plane was part of a tiny airline that flew us to a little island from the mainland. Unfortunately, our pilot seemed to be having his road test...the other guy was pointing and waving at controls waaaay too much. But we didn't die, so.....whatever.

2008-11-04T21:22:00.001-08:00

simic

2008-11-04T21:21:00.001-08:00

simic
Originally uploaded by Spinetree.org

"Your life is like a movie you've seen too many times" -Charles Simic.

lonliness

2008-11-04T21:17:00.001-08:00

lonliness
Originally uploaded by Spinetree.org

That's not really true. Emotionally unavailable is what's that's called.

lightshadow

2008-11-04T21:15:00.001-08:00

lightshadow
Originally uploaded by Spinetree.org

Never rings more true than today.

huntersafety2

2008-11-04T21:14:00.001-08:00

huntersafety2
Originally uploaded by Spinetree.org

These are the men who want to teach you about firearm safety. The one in the middle reminded me of Lois' father from Family Guy. I drew him too young-looking. Shan't happen again.

huntersafety3

2008-11-04T21:13:00.001-08:00

huntersafety3
Originally uploaded by Spinetree.org

Nothing like a fun evening spent hearing cops lecture you about firearms safety.

2008-11-04T21:07:00.003-08:00

Oh thank god.