I N T H E N I G H T K I T C H E N 3.8.2001
Not my week I lost my cellphone last night. I went to the store to get cat litter (didn't I mention that the stereo thieves took the cat litter from my trunk?) and it was somewhat late and I was feeling groggy. I had put my cellphone in the basket and apparently left it there. I went back about thirty minutes later and it was gone. No one turned it in. So, I had T. call and turn off the service. Bastards. It's just not been my week. 3.6.2001
Car Trouble It all started with the damn keys. I had this morning two keychains. One with the Honda key and house key and the other with all the keys to the MG. I was heading out the door to go pick up my paper from Kinko's and I couldn't find the Honda key -- that is, the keychain with the house key on it. I went from room to room and through pockets and my gym bag from last night and around and around again getting more and more frustrated. I didn't want to leave the house unlocked. I called T. and asked if he knew where the were and of course he didn't. So, I said, fuck it -- I'll just take the MG and deal with these keys later and hope no one tries to waltz into my house while I'm gone. I head down the steps and pass the Honda. Something made me go peek in the window and I see that the stereo is gone. Some goddamn assholes stole the face (conveniently located for thieves in the glove box) and managed to jimmy out the stereo and then they popped the trunk and took the 6-changer. They also, oddly enough, took the cat litter that was in there. I was fuming. I still am fuming but I was really kicking up dust out there. So, called insurance, called the cops. Mister blonde nice policeman came over and took my statement and info. Fumed some more. Finally, this afternoon, I'm ready to head out again to get my paper. Hop in the MG which has been running perfectly after it's massively expensive two weeks at the spa (You can see the foreshadowing, can't you?) and toodle up to Northwest. I pick up my paper at Kinko's (I went way overboard -- I have a ton of paper for my biz cards now) and jump back in the car. Turning the iginition sets off a whir of sounds as all the fans are twirling away and the car turns and turns and turns but won't start. Oh, man. It all ends well, though. I went off, got a soda, picked up a Willamette Week and sat on a bench for a good twenty minutes in the hope that all the car needed was some cooling off. It worked! I got home and I'll check on it later to see what I can see. Damn cars. Damn thieves. Damn... damn. Oh, by the way, I found the Honda keys under the damn gym bag. I slay me. 3.5.2001
Maximum ROI There is so much to do. I'm heading down to Austin this weekend. T. will be staying here. I'm rooming with a bunch of people for the first three nights. People I've never met. Internet people. Granted, this group (the admin group for evolt.org) had been together for about three years. I've only met one of its newest members who lives here in Portland. It should be really interesting. After the weekend I'll be staying with my older brother for two nights. That should also be interesting. I just hope that he and I can hang in the evening. He's working and going to school right now. I can't wait to pick his brain about his studies. He's studying to be an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician). That type of thing just boggles me. I could never stomach the trauma. Anyway, I have a lot to do: fix my camera so I can download pics from it; see if I can get cell service in Austin; figure out how much each day is going to cost me; make sure I have transportation issues figured out; look over my clothes and figure out what the heck I need to pack; finish making my business cards (lordy! more on that later); make a list of all the things I need to pack; do some work for my Texass client. Oh, I also need to clean up the den because it's a sty. + + + So... business cards. I have these standard, Kinko's-run, business cards with my little logo that I created. They look okay. However, they have my old phone number and this snotty little tagline that I don't enjoy so much anymore. The tagline is, "The world doesn't need another website." Which, at the time meant to me that people weren't really thinking too hard about design and usability and making something that lasts they were just thinking "We need a site -- any site." However, now that I have a little more experience and I've been out there, I'm seeing things a little differently. One way to read that tagline just smacks of market-ese lingo. Like, "The world doesn't need another website -- it needs an e-commerce solution combining strategy, portability and a loyal customer base to give you maximum ROI." BARF! That's so *not* what I mean but I think it could be inferred. At least, in my head it is inferred and that makes me nauseous. The other way to read it would be, of course, quite literally. And, as I'm solidifying plans to go back to school this fall and study graphic design and, specifically, print design and as the market continues to plummet well.... I'm starting to think the world really doesn't need another website. It certainly doesn't need me to give it one. If I do, in fact, turn myself into a print designer with good skills, maybe I'll resurrect that snotty, little tagline. Anyway, so I priced some business cards that were more cool looking than what I have. However, everything was too expensive. I just didn't want to go the Kinko's route again. So, what I did is I refreshed my logo a bit and then put together my new info in Illustrator. Printed that stuff out and went down to a stamp-making company and had the logo and the info made into two separate stamps. Then, I went to a paper company way out by the airport and got some sexy samples of nice French paper. I'm going to get them cut today and then hand stamp maybe fifty cards. I'll do them so they look like the printing was sort of off-set, the logo going off the card, or I'll smudge them a bit. I may, if I have time, go down to a rubber-stamp place and see if they have anything funky -- monkeys, Chinese characters, weird little creatures or symbols -- and put stuff on the back. It may end up looking stupid. It may confuse people. People may think it's lame but whatever. I'm also going to bring a bunch of my old cards and hand those out as needed. Would you like one? Send me your snail mail addy and I'll send you a business card. 
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