Helping Your Neighbor, It's The Right Thing To Do

Helping our neighbors is easier than ever, and the need is greater than ever. I've put together some links, for services here in my beloved San Francisco.

San Francisco Food Bank
There's no excuse for our society to leave any one in hunger. Donate to your local food bank. You'd be surprised how many kids don't get enough food, every day, in our communities.

San Francisco Firefighters Toy Program
The San Francisco Firefighter’s Toy Program is the city’s largest and the nation’s oldest program of its kind. In my family, we've got a tradition for the kids to pick out toys from our local toy store and walk them down to the fire station.

I'll add more, as I find the links. There's also a great program for providing Teddy Bears to police and fire departments, to comfort kids in crisis.

so...you say you want me to work for you?

Warning: another open letter to recruiters.

Dear recruiter,

Thank you for yet another generic email, asking me to send an updated copy of my resume to you. The skill set you list, is pretty special. Requiring all those coding skills, along with design skills, and a degree in Computer Science...well, good luck. I can think of a few people who fit the bill, but you should seriously consider a more personalized approach.

For instance, if you wanted to hire me, you should go look at my portfolio and other work I've done. Start your communications by telling me how much you like said work, and would I be available for consulting. And don't just stroke my ego. It's not about making me feel good. It's about showing me that our work would be a good fit. Do my skills and interests bring something to your project? Or are you just looking for anyone, anyone at all, who can churn out code?

To be honest, I have no interest in just churning out code. None at all. Want me to build an interactive chemistry simulation? Now that's a different story. And that's a pitch I'd pay attention to. But that's just me.

Update: I'm not perfect. Never will be. And apparently, I'm not a perfect copy-editor for my personal work. Somewhere along the way, an embarrassing typo got introduced to the header of my "lab". Because of the password fiasco, and other issues, with the hosting company my lab is hosted on, I can't get in there an fix it. Yes, it's driving me crazy right now.

GalaxyGoo Benefit event Postcards

GalaxyGoo Benefit event Postcards
Originally uploaded by galaxygoo1

There is something so satisfying about finally getting your hands on digital work turned tangible. I rarely design for print, and when I do it's usually a labor of love...like these promotional pieces for a GalaxyGoo benefit event.

I can make pretty decent proof prints in my own office, but nothing like what a real print shop can produce. There's that moment, when I"m cutting open the box and it feels like Christmas. I can't wait to see what's inside....even though I know what's in there, the excitement is still wonderful.

By the way, the background graphics of the poster are generated from an ActionScript project by Edwin Heijman. I ran it until I got a color blocking that I liked, and then sticthed together duplicates to fill the space.