Actually, it’s not just my teeth that hurt now, it’s my whole head. I had my wisdom teeth out on Friday. All four of them at once, I figured it would be a good idea to get this done while my parents were still supporting me. And the amount of time that they will be doing that can be counted in months now….

Whoa! Breaking news! I have a job offer! More details to follow.

Update:

I am really excited that a business has made me an offer. I will have a lot of decisions pertaining to the future of my life coming up soon. I don’t want to talk about it too much here, potential employers might end up reading this.

It is exciting to think about actually having some financial stability after graduation. It’s hard enough to focus on finishing all of my projects for graduation without the job hunt distracting me further. I don’t know if this will make it harder, or easier to focus. Well, I guess nothing is for certain yet. Speaking of final projects, anyone know where I can find a mannequin to use for a day of taping? Just thought I would throw that out there.

I should also mention that the template for this site is almost working again. Somewhere the wordpress selectors are causing a weird break with the left column in Internet Explorer. This only shows up when my posts are shorter than the menu bar. So I guess to hide the problem I should be more long winded. Or to hide the problem I should probably avoid telling you about it in a post. That might help too. Oh well, I don’t think anyone reads all the way to the end of these anyways.

Alright, back to work.

I do a lot of different video and web projects and I have found that unless I take the time to really set up an organized directory structure it’s easy to get confused and loose files. When working on any multimedia project there are countless source media files from a wide variety of sources that will be combined to produce the final product.

So I have set up a standardized folder hierarchy for my own use that saves me some time in that I just copy the blank folder structure over and rename it every time I start a project. It should also save me some frustration in the future, because now I will know where exactly each type of file should be found and usually I will know exactly where to save files as I work on them. Also, when working in a group it would be wise to make sure that everyone has a copy of the same standard directory structure so that others can look at their files and easily find what they need.

You can take a look at it yourself if you like.

Download Folder Structure Template

The policy I use is that original source files go inside the ’source’ folder and the edited version that I actually take into the final video or web-page are stored in the root of the ‘images’ folder (for example). I like to have separate folders for each type of media file that I used, images, video, sound effects, and music.

If it’s a video project I have folders to hold the original captured footage, the trimmed video clips, and the rendered post-AfterEffects video clips. There are of course folders for images, frame stills, audio effects, background music tracks, and project related documents.

The documents folder holds pretty much anything that does not go directly into the final project, or anything that isn’t media. Its purpose is to hold organizational files. Word documents, spreadsheets, any sort of document that was used to communicate ideas guiding the progress of the project. Outlines, scripts, copy from the editor, use case diagrams, site-maps, style guides, anything of that sort.

In the web project folder I have a folder for each of the five phases of web-site development.

1. Planning
2. Design
3. Production
4. Testing
5. Sign-Off

These come straight from the default phases that are used in PhpCollab, a great open source project management system for teams.

There are a lot of other folders in there that I use some of the time, they are not all necessary, and there may be some gaps where you need many additional directories. I encourage you to create your own folder structure template for projects. If you are like me you will really get a kick out of this sort of standardization. I’m sure that I will change the folder hierarchy as I use it more, but that’s the great thing about it being just folders, its dirt simple to modify.

If you need to get in touch with me right away and can’t wait for me to check my e-mail, just send me an e-mail to sirtimbly through my @gmail.com account, with a subject line of mobile. Your message will immediately be sent to my phone as a text message. Viola!

I was just reading part of Lawrence Lessigs book Free Culture for my comm law paper, and what he says makes sense. My conclusion from his arguments: free speech will no longer take place in the traditional media. I mean, they are still free to say whatever they like, but TV, Radio, and Newspapers are no longer the open forum. The internet is where the open discussion of issues and ideas takes place. No control, no regulation, no laws or market structure to squash anyones voice. Indeed, the internet is where all of the important free speech is going to take place now. Old media is just an opiate for the masses. It’s a source of government messages, corporate interests, and uncontroversial, sterile content. Television is good for nothing other than entertainment now. That would be fine with me, except the masses of the american people are still enthralled by the corporate media, this creates a dilemma for the rest of us. Let’s not even consider if the internet is really an optimal architecture for the free exchange of ideas. Some would say it is unquestionably the best system for free speech, other might disagree. I’m not sure if it’s optimal, but it’s probably the best thing we have right now.

Just got back today from a camping trip. Yeah, it was really cold when we left but fear not, Chris’s parents own an RV. He invited me to go out to Branched Oak with him and his parents for easter weekend since everyone else would be gone. So, yeah, it’s not really what I would call camping, there was a nice kitchen a pull-out sofa bed and TV, DVD player, shower, kitchen table, lights, carpet, heat and A/C, oh and let’s not forget the PS2 that we brought along to play Champions: RTA on. Oh, except for the fact that Chris’s craptacular PlayStation will only load the disc once every decade. So, in a word camping in an RV rocked. It was more like vacation and less like a return to primitive existance.

What else is happening? Becca is still in Israel, she will be gone until next weekend. I’ve called her twice this last week using Skype it only costs like 4 Eurocents per minute to call there, which is really nice. I don’t think Ive gotten a really fair sample of Skype’s quality but the calls have been a little buggy. Actually they worked fine the first time, the second time it kept dropping my signal. I could hear Becca fine, she just had trouble hearing every 3rd word I said. Hopefully when I call her tomorrow our connection is better. Apparently you can buy services that turn your skype account into a regular land-line phone account with Voicemail and a local calling number for many city’s in the US.

I have my 12-15 page paper due Friday in Communications Law. I have barely even started it. But, I did get a lot of reading done this weekend while I was away, so now I can really start just letting the ideas flow. Becca wrote a similar paper for her comm law class a couple years ago, so I plan on using a lot of the information she gathered for her paper. I will probably not take the same stance that she did, I’ve always been a bit of a trouble maker with issues like copyright infringement on the web.

The snow is coming down outside. Yesterday it rained constantly, this morning it changed to snow. March is almost over and I had hoped that we had all seen the last of snow. Where are my 70 degree days? Currently the weather somewhat fits my mood. Becca is gone for a couple weeks. She is on her way to Israel, I don’t think she has actually left the country at this particular point, but tomorrow she will be in Jerusalem. This trip is pretty cool, touring the holy land during easter will certainly be exciting but it’s kinda sad for us because it’s been almost a year since we have been apart for this long. We might be apart for this amount of time sometimes this summer before the wedding, but it’s still hard, especially with the added worry of international travel.

Yeah, most of the month has passes since I last posted. I have spent most of that time working on homework and applying for jobs. I have applied for several jobs every week since Christmas break, and just last week I got my first positive action in this process. I have been in contact with a recruiter and he hooked me up with an interview in Omaha on Friday. It was pretty cool to actually get excited about the professional career field. And now another company sent me an e-mail saying I was in the top choices for different position. I’m sure I will have a lot of stress getting my job situation figured out, just like I did deciding on an internship last year.

Good news is that 2 big deadlines that I thought were this week have been pushed back another week. I’ll still probably try to get my commercial for electronic imaging finished up this week, I just need to have that done. My comm law paper on internet copyright issues is pretty well stalled. I barely have the motivation to work on that paper.

I wonder if when I graduate and enter the professional world things will get simpler. Somehow I doubt it, but the idea of having to worry about only a few projects from just one place sounds quite good to me.

Lets see what else has happened…. oh, for our 2 year anniversary Becca and I got each other space pens, I ordered a chrome bullet pen for her and she got me the matte black bullet. I also got her a moleskine, and I think she’s planning on finding some sort of souvenier for me in Israel. Oh, yes speaking of that again, I downloaded and signed up for Skype which should allow me to make cheap international phone calls to her. We’ll see if it works on the university network.

You never close your eyes anymore when I kiss your lips,

and theres no tenderness like before in you fingertips,

you’re trying hard not to show it,

but baby, baby I know it,

you’ve lost that loving feeling,

whaoa that loving feeling,

you’ve los that loving feeling,

now it’s gone gone gone,

whoaoaaoa

Do I really need an excuse to break out into song?

The growth of blogs in my news feeder is a little frightening. Along with Aaron, I’ve started to become hooked on Gettng Things Done. The biggest downside is that I spend so much time learning how to get things done, that I rarely get those things done. I suspect that the only reason that I am interested in all of these Getting Things Done blogs is that I like the cool technologies and the neat gadgets that go along with them. (oooh, space-pen!)

So, while cruising around these web-sites I start running into numerous blogs about business practices. Including some really cool information about how to go into an interview. This lady says that interviewees should have just as many questions for their interviewer. It shows that you are an interested employee and that you actually care about what type of job they might have to offer. Essentially you shouldn’t appear to be a wet blanket that will take whatever offer they are willing to throw your way. Instead it’s important to let them know that you care about what type of business you would work for and are considering if you even belong at the business you are interviewing for. Crafty, eh.

*Ugh, I swear if the Jeopardy theme song comes up one more time on shuffle… I’ll snap!

Sorry, venting. Umm, what else is going on? Oh, I’m currently working on a large research paper for Communication Law. Just finished up an exploratory essay that’s due this afternoon. I’m kinda excited to get this paper done. I am covering the issue of copyright law online. There is so much information and so many different ways to approach the topic that I’m betting it will be difficult to focus the topic appropriately. This Comm Law class has really enlightened me to the ways that the US legal system funcitons. And the professor for it is actually pretty cool, her classes are always some of the most interesting. I also get some consistently bad grades in her classes, but that’s because I can be pretty lazy for some of these things.

*Gagh!!!! The Jeopardy theme song just came up agian!!!! What is the deal with this iPod!??!!? Hulk angry!

Back to the project management things I was talking about earlier. There were a few very interesting articles on ALA that discuss use-cases and determining the scope of a project with a client before you get too far into it. You know me, I’m all about the organizational diagramming, so I really dig the idea of mapping out the goals and actors in any given project. When I learn about stuff like this it convinces me more than ever that there should be a project management class offered here at UNK for multimedia majors. Seriously, this is stuff that will take me a long time to learn on my own out in the real world. Why not provide training in some basic project management and planning techniques for multimedia students. It’s like I always say, anything really worth learning is best learned on your own.

Another really cool article covered the Pickle Jar Time Management Theory. This is a time management theory that I had actually heard about years ago. When a friend presented this at church as a way of setting priorities in your life. You take a Pickle Jar (or acquarium) and fill it with the biggest rocks first. Then you pour in pea gravel, then you pour in sand, then you pour in water. If you tried to fill up the acquarium in reverse order you would not be able to get everything in. This is what happens if you dont put your higher priorities first in your day. After you get the big important things in then you can fill in all the spaces with the lower priority tasks. The point, back when I first heard about this from Randy was that God needs to be our biggest rock, he’s the one thing that we need to make sure that we get taken care of first in our days. After that it’s easy to fill in with all the littler things. This doctrine goes completely opposite to the college lifestyle. Me, and most people that I know fill up their day and then try to cram in some big high-priority project at the end of the day, usually around midnight. This leads to long nights working on projects and total sleep deprivation.

Just writing this down has really cemented in my mind that I need to take this more seriously. My big electronic imaging projects need to take higher priority earlier than the night before. And my devotional time with God definately needs to become a big priority for me, I’m going to move it to a time slot right away when I wake up in the morning, then I wont have to worry about it the rest of the day.

Wow, this blog post was really convicting for me, and probably disorganized and non-sensical to the rest of you.

I think you have all had enough of the brain eating. Everyone keeps calling me, angry about the fact that I ate their brains, well I’m sorry, that’s just what zombies do! Some people have no appreciation for the trails of being a modern zombie. Gran Tourismo 4 rocks. In fact, it rocks so much, I think I’m gonna go play some right now… sorry, I really did mean to write a full rant, but I mean…. c’mon, it’s grand tourismo!

This link is intensely interesting. I found this off a random post on a forum. I just felt like sharing the love a little bit. Enjoy your brain.

My iPod is new again. I had my iPod replaced by Apple support a few weeks ago when it quit working. Now my iPod earbuds broke and I had to beg Aaron to give me a spare pair of ear buds he had laying around. So now I pretty much have a brand new replacement iPod. Pretty cool, but dissapointing because of this device’s short life. I had kinda expected my iPod to be a device that lasts for years and that I have to replace with a bigger and better model in a few years. Now I am not so sure. I’m pretty hard on my gadgets, I go through a cell phone at least once a year. In fact, just recently, for the first time ever, I have replaced a properly functioning cell phone with a new model (camera phone). So my point is, are gadgets just not rugged enough to last, or are my pockets a particularly hositle environment for electronics?

My first MP3 player was a Rio 500, and it only lasted one year before crapping out. Not long after that I got my iPaq, strangely that iPaq 3600 series hast lasted longer than anything else. I only had to replace the battery on that, even though it’s looking pretty rough around the seams, and the screen occasionally looses it’s calibration. My iPod only lasted for 5 months, my cell-phones last an average of 10 months. My PDA has miraculously survived for 3 and a half years. If I am counting correctly, I am on the 5th cell phone in 4 years.

What’s up with my gadgets? One theory is that the manufacturers want them to break after a certain amount of time to force the purchase of the latest models, I’ve heard people propose the same is true of car manufacturers. It’s probably more likely that there is just a certain statistical probability of mechanical failure for any consumer device that is built for a reasonable price point. That makes me feel less guilty about buying these things.

Would I pay more to get a device that was the same dimensions and abilities as regular consumer models, but has built to higher specifications and out of higher quality materials? Perhaps I would. Or perhaps I should just sacrifice the pocket room and start using protective cases for my gadgets. Something even more protective than the sock maybe?

My Name:

Tim

My Occupation:

Web-Designer

My Joy:

God, Becca

Where I Am:

Colorado Springs, CO

Where I Am Going:

To a career, a family. Essentially, adult life.

Why this site exists:

This blog gives me a place to vent any idea that are bouncing around half formed in my mind. Putting them into written words gives me an opportunity to organize the important thoughts that I need to use, and get rid of the strange and distracting thoughts that I would be dwelling on otherwise. In other words, I get to talk about all the stuff that I want to talk about but would not neccessarily subject those around me to in a regular conversation. Sometimes the things I write here make sense, sometimes they don’t, sometimes they are relevent, sometimes not, you get the idea.

Constant Thorn in my Side

Nyffeler (but it’s ok, he’s apologized)

How to contact me

AIM timinfront

Skype sirtimbly

Or youcan just leave a comment on this site, I read them all.

I got this by way of Rodney, originally from ebaums world. This is actually worth posting. Here’s the story behind these pictures:

“The story goes that a lady owns a cat. She moved to a new state and called her new Vet asking to get a “LINE” cut. A line cut is where you cut off all the fur on the belly of the cat so it doesn’t become matted and full of knots in taller grass. The Vet said, “Of course we do “LION” cuts.” They both agreed thinking they were saying the same thing. Here is what happened to her poor cat.”