I learned way more than I want to know about "Digital Asset Management". And yet I still don't feel like my files are safe enough.

I've learned how to beat VS.net into submission. Sort of. Give me another week...

I learned not to underestimate myself.

i have learned that doing design work for my new client, the cookie lady, is the best time ever.

I learned — and this is an ongoing lesson — that I need to listen to my wife.

As I scarily, eagerly and paranoially prepare for a talk I'm giving next week at this conference I learnt — upon the aforementioned wife's probing — that you must rehearse for a talk… unless you want to make a complete fool of yourself. Which I would have done, had I not given in to Bryony's advice.

> the cookie lady

I want a cookie lady-client!

my colleagues learned that even though it may not look like i'm doing anything, my energy field/aura is hard a work on that project.

I learned how horrible credit cards can be. :)

I learned that the nursery rhyme "Sing a song of six pence" was originally a coded message from Blackbeard's pirates to recruit new members. (Blackbird - Blackbeard) - six pence was what he paid his crew members, and a pocket full of rye wsa a small bag of alchohol also rationed to them. Look it up !

I learn something new with QuarkXPress all the time. Yesterday I discovered that you can set how big Quark makes the fake small caps. Next week we are installing InDesign, so I get to learn all kinds of new things.

1) that holding shift while using the eye dropper in illustrator samples the color of raster graphics

2) my girlfriend thinks i'm cheating, or somthing equally nefarious

This stuck with me from a Sunday sermon "Choose acheivment over affirmation".

I did learn something this week.

For those of you that are soccer/football fans, you're probably aware that the European championships are under way. The other day someone asked me why I care about it so much. Why do I take it as seriously as I do? Why do I enjoy sport in general?

What I find to be most intellectually stimulating is working in systematic, formulaic (and limiting) systems and searching for innovative and creative solutions (i.e. problem solving) - hence, my interests in graphic design and engineering.

I'm probably pretty late in picking up on this, but it just it occured to me that sport is exaclty that. Soccer is just a physical/athletic and very pure manifestation of that process. There are rules and procedures which limit your domain of action, and your task is to work within that system with your body and teamates in order to solve the system and put the ball in the back of the net. It's a beautiful thing.

Well...that, and I just like kicking things.

That's what I learned this week. I'm a dork. Cheers.

Mirror, mirror on the wall,

what have I learned from it all?

Key commands galore,

short-cuts for here and there,

and

renaming fantasies have come alive.

Many are the differences,

from one TV to the next.

The same applies from one

Camera to the next.

And don’t forget that a CD player,

Is unique to the next.

None so useful so as to change my life,

just enough to keep me on my toes,

as copy changes and image updates,

come to rest on my desk.

Myself, I've been learning a little about packaging: small boxes and things (thanks Tan), and I know I'm going to learn a lot more in the next couple of weeks.

I start a letterpress workshop tomorrow!!! yay!

I've been attending a "Global Agency Brand Training" seminar/conference at Microsoft all week.

Learning all about Microsoft's 9 core brands and how to be a good stewart of them, and blah, blah, blah...

LOTS of PowerPoint presentations, and a surprising number of Apple Powerbooks amongst the crowd. Not surprising considering it's mostly agency people.

Eh, typical week I guess.

I've learned that it's ok to have a bad day once in awhile so you can appreciate the good ones a little more.

When teaching your daughter to ride a bike, when you run out of patience, you had damn well better find another resevoir or you'll fuck things up but GOOD.

I learned last week (more of an epiphany really) that I should not aim to find creative fulfillment in my day job, but rather in low-paying side projects that give me way more creative freedom.

And this week, I learned in a frustrating fashion, that brainstorm sessions with more than 6 people are entirely over-rated.

Plus, I learn tons of new things on this site all the time.

I learned how to use PHP and SQL to make an RSS feed for my website. I wanna squeal like the little kid at the end of the X-Files credits - "I made this!"

This stuck with me from a Sunday sermon "Choose acheivment over affirmation".

This is _beautiful_. Best words of the day!

I learned that I need to stop editing myself when I'm brainstorming and sketching and let the process take me to places a little more unfamiliar.

1) i can do two proposals while taking a third job to production and somehow seem fairly focused from the other end

2) Husband and i can actually design in tandem without any major freakouts, and that our work informs each others' pretty nicely

3) when my body says sleep, i must sleep

4) i really should never try to jump an 8" curb on my bike at full speed while nearly parallel to said curb

5) especially when i'm not certain i have enough cab fare to finish the trip once i've blown my tire

I learned that if you cross your eyes ever-so-slightly, everything gets blurry, but does not divide into two images in your brain. Furthermore, I learned that if you stare at a computer screen for too long, your eyes unintentially do this. Interesting.

The Chinese ideogram for "crisis" is represented by two characters:

My 12 year old daughter has fallen for a guitar playing photographer.

Homemade pesto is the best pesto.

Oh yeah, this one's a little embarrassing, but when Armin mentioned Elliott Earls the other day I thought "Who the hell is that guy anyway?" and then I realized that I have owned his Catfish DVD (Emigre) for over 2 years and never even put it in the machine. So I, um, watched the DVD for the first time and found out who the hell Elliott Earls is. Ahem.

I obeyed the weatherman, brought in my umbrella for the fourth day in a row, and have refrained from washing my car.

The sun has been out all day.

I am witnessing that 10% chance of no rain on 90% chance of rain type of day.

I've learned that no matter how hard I try, I still can't seem to understand how color profiles work.

Wedding planning isn't as easy as it seems.

Never make fun of your fiancee for being stressed out when she is still stressed out.

I may or may not actually be a graphic designer. (Thanks ARMIN.)

I've learned that you CAN train your eyes to be repeatedly poked without slamming the lids on the offending finger.

(I'm still not used to having the contacts in, though...)

> I may or may not actually be a graphic designer. (Thanks ARMIN.)

All in a week's work Greg. My pleasure.

I just recently — like 5 minutes ago — learnt that the B-52's guy eats at Jimmy John's just like the rest of us.

I've learned that I will never be satisfied. I will constantly strive for the best of everything and expect the same of those who around me.

Is that terrible or good?

I learnt, thanks to the England v France match, that even when you reach full time in the lead 1-0, you can still let in two goals in injury time and wave a good lead goodbye.

I learned how to say "hello" in american sign language. it's awesome!

I learned that human behaviors are not elaborately scripted plots to undermine my position in the world. Sometimes a conversation is just a conversation.

James -- love that one. I still need to learn it.

1) You can force Movable Type to have structured categories with a plugin, but you can only work with them in one direction. If you want to look in the other direction, you need another plugin, which amazingly doesn't interefere with the first, although the two in combination still won't do everything you need, requiring installation of another two plugins for working around their quirks. Oh, yeah, and all of this more or less triples the amount of work involved in categorizing anything.

2) When my mouth says, "Go to sleep," PK will stay up until five in the morning anyway.

i learned that in RI if you get a speeding ticket doing a 51 in a 35 and you have a clean driving record and are nice, the officer will drop it to doing 45 in a 35, because under 11 MPH over the limit they will dismiss the ticket based on a clean record so long as you show up for a court date.

yeah. fun day today.

But not a bad result this evening, Mr Baldwin. Hoo-ray!

-

I didn't learn anything about type this week thanks to disappearance of Typographica. Does anyone know what's going on?

Does anyone know what's going on?

Yep. Did I learn this this week or last? typographi.ca had their URL repossessed by CIRA, the Canadian body that governs .ca domains. I think they've been on a spree. Anyway, word is they're trying to sort it out and in the meantime typographi.com should, maybe, sometime soon be active?

I've learned to quote people in my everyday life. I go home, write things down and think about what they've said. Good or bad. I think it helps with design, life, etc.

Dad: Tell me what you want, and I'll tell you what you get

Sandra: The more you do, the more you want to do

Reid: Independent from the uniform standard

After doing some deep pre-inspection cleaning this morning, I learned never to eat at a breakfast-y restaurant whose logo reminds me of Keedy Sans. I also realized how creepy it is when old guys "hit on" teenaged coworkers. Good to see these things from an objective perspective, and try to remember it for the future.

Learned a few things this week...

1) Its easier to learn while you aren't taking classes at the university.

2) IPTC info in jpeg files and the Macintosh file system really don't like each other.

3) I really need to watch that Elliot Earls DVD from Emigre. thanks for the reminder Marian.

4) Posting on Speak-up is really rather fun. Armin, thank-you for the encouragement in Emigre 66.

FOREIGNERS:

GO CANUCK YOURSELF

SOMEWHERE ELSE!

.CA IS FOR CANADIANS

(I've learned exciting new copywriting skills as a result of 3 years exposure to British tabloid headlines.) Thanks for the info Marian. Hope they're back soon!

3) I really need to watch that Elliot Earls DVD from Emigre

Has it been sitting on your shelf for 2 years too? You mean ... I'm not the only one??

I learned a very useful Photoshop trick today:

If you link multiple text layers, hold down shift and change a text property, it applys to all the linked layers!

If this was an option before CS I've been wasting a lot of mouse clicks.

once again, i learned to say "no!" to a client. for some reason i have to relearn that one quite often.

I learned that I know more today than I did yesterday, and with luck, I'll know more tomorrow than I do now.

I am witnessing that 10% chance of no rain on 90% chance of rain type of day.

Isn't it ironic? Don'tcha think?

I learned a litle more about deadlines. I'm (still) learning that I can miss them and life goes on. Especially when they were unrealistic to begin with.

I might be learning that for a while.

Has it been sitting on your shelf for 2 years too? You mean ... I'm not the only one??

Shame on you for taking two years to watch that DVD!!

Funny that the topic of the Elliot Earls DVD popped up. I was sorting through a shelf of design odds and ends just a few weeks ago and I came across that DVD. When it was first mailed I didn't have a DVD player, so when I found it, I threw it in the 'ol Superdrive and took it for a spin.

Wanted to revise my brainstorm sessions comment (it was bothering me):

I've learned... just because you have more people in a brainstorm session, it does not always mean that you'll produce a better brainstorm session.

Quantity does not equal quality, in all it's many forms.

This week I learned that the Taco Truck that I've always driven by for years has really great food!

> When it was first mailed I didn't have a DVD player,

That's funny, I had the same issue. It took me a few months until I got an iMac and was able to just sort of see it… I guess the complication to watch it was part of Earls' master plan.

> GO CANUCK YOURSELF

SOMEWHERE ELSE!

.CA IS FOR CANADIANS

That's an excellent tagline for the CIRA.

This week I learned that there is a close link between the Bush and bin Laden families (I heard a report on CBC Radio and then looked up the full transcript here ). I already knew (years ago) that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and that there was no link whatsoever between al Qaeda and Iraq.

But this documented fraternization between the Axes of Good and Evil... my, my, this was very enlightening indeed! I wonder what I'll learn next...

trust yourself.

trust yourself.

trust yourself.

you will never be disappointed if you do so.

I learnt how to light a fire under the asses of a group of students who continually take shit from an unsupportive tutor.

I learned beaucoup this week:

In passé composé with the verb avoir: if you use a pronoun before the verb, you must agree gender and plurality (like when using �tre); after the verb, no need.

I learned that Americans say they are staying somewhere pour a period of time, when they really should be staying pendant a period.

I also learned that the French have a word for 'to elbow in a crowed situation': se bousculer

— Les gens se bousculent...

— J'ai bousculé...

And finally, I learned the 'floating floor' version of a walnut floor usually looks a lot better than when you use real walnut pieces. Real planks are a much more difficult floor to work with and finish.

I learned, after my six-year old daughter's first sleepover, that we missed her more than she missed us. And her two-year old brother missed her the most. Let's hope we can say the same thing when they are teenagers.

'to elbow in a crowed situation':

Ah, Mark, but do not the French have an even better word:

frottage

... essentially, 'to rub up against [in a crowded situation] in a sexual manner' ?

I learned ...that

1) college really hasn't prepared me for the 'real' art world.... (okay so I keep learning this over and over again...

2) dammage to the cartilidge between the ribs hurts like hell, and 'does not heal fast'.

3) whenever I go to the library to sketch, kids will crowd around me (no matter where in the library I go) and demand I draw pictures for them.... and I will not deny them their pictures (usually).

4) this place is really informative and interesting! Write more! My brain craves it!!!

I've learned 1)that I am my own worst enemy when it comes to critiquing myself, 2)Ancient Rome is pretty fascinating when it comes to some of the buildings its people have constructed, and 3)the meaning behind the lyrics to American Pie by Bob Dylan.

>Ah, Mark, but do not the French have an even better word: frottage

from the verb frotter: to rub

I know this word from Max Ernst's work. Either he or art historians use(d) 'frottage' as a material description.

and Kristy:

Don McLean wrote 'American Pie' (with a great album cover by George Whiteman).

I learned (again) that working for family members is not necessarily a good idea. Especially if they're my father.

Death is part of a cycle beyond my control.

about the Elliot Earls DVD. Its only been on my shelf for about 6 months, but I'm guessing it will be another 18 before I get to watching it.

And this from CSCA last night. "If its taught in the classroom, it's probably not worth knowing." Put into context, it was referring to everyone needing to be able to innovate and/or realize that you have to keep learning outside of school.

I learned how to say good night in arabic, which actually roughly translates to "rise to a million goodnesses".

what a beautiful language. super cool.

Wow, Kevin -- care to teach that one to the rest of us (phoenetically)?

I learned that self-research--in everything!!!--is essential. Don't take everything at face value and get as many opinions as you can. No matter how smiling and trusting a person is, ALWAYS do your homework.

(P.S. I just bought a condo, haha)

Marian,

tosbaho ala alf kheir

(you rise) (on) (thousand) (goodness)

very, very rough translation, don't hold me accountable.

I leared that in a small studio environment (where we can't afford a proof reader), its imperitive to check your own work very closely so as to not let 5000 business cards and 5000 letterheads get printed with the wrong phone number on them. Ouch.

I [finally] learned that hanging punctuation can be

done in InDesign in a manner that isn't completely manual.

Yay — we love Optical Margin Adjustment.

Also a couple fancy new keyboard shortcuts for

all yer typographical needs.

I learned that allowing horizontal character widths of no more than +/- 2% (I use InDesign) gives one greater typographic control when adjusting hyphens and justification and the scaling is not noticeable to the human eye! I always thought character scaling was verboten, but apparently it was Hermann Zapf’s idea.

I'm really grooving on The Complete Manual of Typography by James Felici.

And I have to thank Matt for the shift/eyedropper/illustrator/ raster image tip. That has always driven me crazy!

I learned that most consumer digital cameras have unadjustable shutter lag (the time between when you press the shutter button to when it actually takes the photo). It kinda sucks.

i learned that the eastern conference is not really the step child of the western conference, and that basketball really is a team sport.

Take a time out each day.

I learned about this site. And thats one huge mouthfull of lessons to devour. A good one too.

I learned wood furniture refinishing, the extensiveness of the pictorial archives in just a local library, how to use an old sewing machine, the basics of corporate web content management, the basic biographies of the Marx Brothers, and some of the layout of North Philadelphia, geographically.

Finishing University is not the earth-shattering event tutors may have led you to believe, it only means that you are now officially unemployed.

Still kinda cool not having to get up in the morning...

I just learned that the southern Swedes call themselves Scanians -Swedish speaking Danes. And that the word for 6 is the same for sex -.-.-.-.-.-

I learned:

1. That important information should not be communicated via email, because no one reads emails fully in a corporate environment.

2. More people should read Tufte.

3. Adobe CS is a memory HOG.

4. Lane Smith has more books out than I thought! Must buy more books.

5. Top Pot Doughnuts are WAY better that Krispy Kreme!

6. Letting car dealers add HTML to their websites with no help is a bad thing.

7. Leaving your laptop in the trunk of your car isn't safe, especially on Western Ave.

8. Backing up your laptop contents more than once a quarter is a wise thing to do.

9. Having printouts for meetings is much more productive than projecting things on a screen. People still like paper.

10. Being able to clearly document your work and process and procedures is time consuming, but necessary. So, make time.

A fellow Seattlelite eh?

Top Pot is too cake-y. More like a scone than a donut. But their store is cool though.

>Leaving your laptop in the trunk of your car isn't safe, especially on Western Ave.

I knew someone who had a laptop stolen 1. out of the trunk of their car, 2. a car that was in a private, underground garage, and 3. it was broken out of a locked, security hard case made to secure laptops.

...

on a side note, where the hell is everyone today? There's been like 4 postings all day...

I learned to keep my head up. I've fallen and now the only way to get out of this miserable state of mind is to get back up. Also, Keep reminding myself of where i would like to be after i graduate from school. :)

I've learned that I need a design community like this to keep my head on straight. Thanks Armin...

My pleasure!