Anyone who has followed my twitter feed or Facebook status may have wondered why I have been drinking such vast amounts of coffee and soda as of late. The short answer, is that my team has been hard at work to create the newest brand addition to the CBS Interactive Business Family. That said, we have had more sprints then usual – thus my affection for the new coffee makers at CBS offices in San Francisco!
Recently, I enjoyed another fantastic collaboration with Andrew Mager to create a new site identity and blog skin for Roland Lazenby’s “Laker Noise“. Roland is the author or co-author of more than 60 books, most of them about sports. Among his works are several Lakers-related projects, including the bio Mad Game, The NBA Education of Kobe Bryant, and Mind Games, his Phil Jackson biography. Lazenby also teaches journalism at Virginia Tech.
Well, it has been a fair bit since I have posted anything… but I am excited to have taken the entire thanksgiving week off from work. Saturday was a very typically beautiful fall day here in the San Francisco bay area. We spent nearly the entire day outside both around the house and down the street on the hillside along the canal trail. We enjoyed the low 70’s sunshine, the crazy colored leaves on the trees, collecting rocks and using sticks to write our names in the dirt… (Well Brandon just scratched the dirt – he is only 15 months).
Years ago, I began to take an interest in gardening. I lived in an apartment, but was determined to use my limited space to create a bit of a garden paradise, even if only in pots. I was inspired by my travels to the tropics, and wanted to try my hand at growing some of the beautiful plants I had seen while surfing in the islands and mainland Mexico. My neighbor at the time, Jennifer – was an older Asian woman who seemed to be able to grow nearly anything, with fantastic results.
On Sunday, we gathered with my grandma Alma Mendell to celebrate her 100th birthday. Her actual birthday is tomorrow September 23 and I plan to join her for a smaller celebration. Though yesterday, the family were together to eat, joke and marvel at a really special lady. This was the first time I can remember that any mention of her age was allowed at this annual festivity. You see, my grandma has been lying about her age for so long, that my dad could actually be older then she is. (Or says she is) It is all in good fun, but really, how often do you get to go to the balloon section at the florist and ask for the pink one… um ya… number 100 please.
Just before the weekend – Andrew Mager asked if I could generate a new more subtle wordpress skin for his blog. Apparently, he had been having some issues with some of his larger images not fitting in his previous fixed width site, and was also hoping to go for a lighter and more simplified look and feel. At first, I sensed that he was a bit shy about telling me that he had taken the previous design down. But it did not work for him, and my feelings are never hurt by the concept of change. A design system is supposed to be functional, thus if it is getting in the way of serving in the way it is intended – then by all means it needs to be modified or in this case – scrapped all together.
Yesterday Lourdes, Brandon & I went to the Oakland Zoo. I must admit that at first, I was not too excited by the idea. I have always found zoos and animal amusement parks to be a bit sad and often disturbing. While I do think it is awesome for kids to be able to see such exotic animals in person, I usually find myself feeling sad for animals that seem so out of place in such small concrete enclosures. Take for example the orca whales at marine world living in glorified big swimming pools – or polar bears at the San Diego zoo, living in feux ice and cement enclosures.
So this week the CBS purchase of CNET Networks closed and I am now an employee of CBS Interactive. Every company focused on growth as we are, is concerned with maintaining and expanding on the group of people that make that growth possible. Internships are a key method in finding passionate new players to the workforce – as well as an opportunity to give these folks the chance to show and fine tune their skill set in a professional environment.
This week Andrew Mager showed me “CSS For Lunch” – a new site that he had come up with. The goal is to get a group of talented tech producers to author various posts with the tips and tricks that they use on a daily basis. These can be quick rants that offer up an interesting method, yet can be both written or read on ones lunch break.
As of late, I have been pretty prolific in trying new things with CSS / XHTML – weather on my own site, or on a variety of other projects that I have been working on. In the process, there have been many folks who have been super helpful and downright generous with their time in helping me ad to my bag of tricks. A LARGE group of my piers have been there to answer questions, and I thank each of you for your time. However 2 folks in particular have really offered up both answers as well as taken a lot of time to coach me through some concepts that took some repeat questions before I truly grasped!
I am an avid student and evangelist of user-centered design principles - I have created or overhauled some of the world's largest online Business & Technology properties. My focus has always been on building functional design systems that creatively solve business problems. Solutions that convey brand & messaging, but more importantly, are intuitive to maximize the possibilities of an interactive medium. Any thoughts, opinions, or ideas expressed on this website are solely my own and not necessarily representative of those of my employer, CBS Interactive.
