Agenda for the Weekend

Yes, this is terribly off-topic and has nothing to do with the web or design or anything remotely artistic. However, after five days of traveling all across the southern half of Minnesota, something has to be said.

Without further ado, here’s a short collection of things that had to happen this weekend in more or less random order:

• See Chris and Amanda who’d flown from Germany for…
• …Matt and Laura’s wedding, in which I was a groomsman
• Deliver approximately 4000 stuffed envelopes to the mail house for a client’s mailing
• Go to Grandma and Grandpa’s farm with my brother for the holiday
• Stay out of trouble

I’m a shortstat addict. I like to keep an eye on the [paltry] traffic to my site, so I routinely check my shortstats all day long. Today shortly after 4pm, a huge string of referrals from cssdesign.se showed up. A quick click later and I discovered that I’d been singled out for…well, I’m not sure. I don’t know a lick of Swedish. All I know is that my site was posted on cssdesign.se and a whole bunch of people were coming to check it out. Judging from my typical visitation (which is rather pathetic), chances are you’re one of those people. If so, welcome! I’m Joel. Someone in your country decided my site was worth seeing. I’m attempting to fulfill that. Keep reading, please.

I’ve been watching with amusement as the musical baton made it’s way around the “webdev geek circle” these past few days. I kept hoping that some big important guy or gal somewhere would spontaneously pass it to me, but alas, it would not happen. However, a really cool orange frog came through today. I am finally cool…at least until people see what I’m listening to…

As I mentioned two nights ago, I was going to try to add even more items to my portfolio over the weekend. Unfortunately, a friend of mine sent me a link to an incredibly addictive game last night and I wasted a few hours playing that game when I could have been working on this article (this was the only part left of the expansion. Everything else was done). Without further ado, I’d like to introduce the new subsection “ads & direct marketing”.

Note, this is my official endorsement for the Dakota Watch Company…and qualifies as complete and total off-topic commentary.

I put on my watch this morning only to discover that it wasn’t ticking. I had to get to church, though, so I couldn’t remedy the situation right away. (Of course, I wore the watch anyway, because I don’t know what I’d do with an empty left wrist.) This afternoon, I stopped at the mall on my way to the grocery store. I walked into Marshall Field’s, as that’s where this particular watch had been purchased. The woman was very nice as she told me that they send out batteries and the guy who deals with them comes in once a week…on Thursdays. I wouldn’t have my watch back for 11 days! Ugh.

The other woman at the counter pointed me to the Dakota Watch Company’s little stand between Marshall Field’s and Target. I walked over and the woman at the stand asked if it was a battery problem. I responded, “I hope that’s all it is” as I handed her my watch. Barely five minutes later, I’d paid her $8.51 and had a freshly ticking watch on my wrist and a two-year battery guarantee in my pocket. Hot damn. Thank you Dakota Watch Company.

Rather than post this as three individual “Creating:” journal entries, I have decided to combine these three pieces into one entry. All of these stationery packages share a lot of features and characteristics and by discussing them all at once, you the reader can compare and contrast the different solutions and design features employed.

Back when I launched this web site on April 4, I promised a few things. Two of those promises were fulfilled shortly after the launch. Today I am fulfilling a portion of another of the promises. I said that I would be expanding my portfolio and adding several more sections and pieces to it. This is the first part of the expansion and if all goes well, there will be a few additional parts to follow this weekend (perhaps even this evening). The subsection “stationery & identity” is the first to be added.

Curtis Marketing Group specializes in dental marketing for some of the most image-conscious professionals in the dental marketing field. They needed a site that showcased the unique style for which they are known, but that also presented content in an efficient way to convert curious visitors into eager clients.

I spend a lot of time reading web sites these days. I finally climbed upon the RSS bandwagon last fall and haven’t gotten off. I read blog postings that shouldn’t interest me, I follow links I have no intention of reading, I absorb useless facts and interesting information that will likely get filed away, never to be used. In all this random reading, I’ve noticed that a lot of bloggers like to hold little contests on their web sites for the audience to enjoy. I’ve also noticed that the contests are either so bizarre I don’t stand a chance to participate, let alone win, or they are over before I get a chance to visit the site. Usually.