Journal Page 3

Here's page 3. For blogging this is probably a better way to orient the page, but not so much for journaling. You can click on the page for a bigger image."On the wedding day, Matt and I didn't really have much time to enjoy our wedding cake. This cake was actually pretty tasty: yellow/choc. marble, Irish cream filling and normal buttercream icing. So we brought it with us. The first two nights on the train we retreated to our roomette-sleeper and had wedding cake with leftover sparkling grape juice. The warm grape juice was every bit as romantic/elegant as champagne."

I had some fun drawing the underside of Matt's seat, though I should mention that I'm sure the real underside looks nothing like that. The cake came from Create a Cake in Lakewood, and it was really yummy (and pretty) so I'm glad we got to take some with us. The charm of the cake started to fade by the forth day, but I finished it up on my own because throwing it away seemed like bad luck. It didn't make me sick, so I guess buttercream doesn't go bad, either that or I just got lucky.

Honeymoon Journal

Well, Matt and I are back in town. The honeymoon was awesome, and I'm still feeling a little lazy from the trip, so rather than go over it all at once I'm going to post a page at a time from the journal I started keeping over the honeymoon. I'll talk about the trip in detail as I go.

I've been wanting to start a journal for a while, the cool visual kind like you see at Pen in Hand or Lost in Wonder, but haven't exactly managed to get motivated. With lots of down time, the honeymoon was a good time to start.

Here's the first page, which has nothing to do with the honeymoon, but I felt I needed a into page that matched the happy goofy feeling I had immediately after the wedding (ok, I still have some of the happy goofy feeling actually). My handwriting isn't as good as most of the sketch journals I follow online, so I'll be translating.I think I got better as I went along, but I guess we'll see. This page says:

"I'm Married
I'm actually far shorter than this. Matt is 6'4 and I'm 5'2 so the top hat really only added insult to injury. That's ok though, I had henna and a ribbon wrapped around my dress and a bouquet made of metal that even lit up, so it really didn't matter how short I am. I should carry around light up flowers all the time. Also, we got married in the zoo. Best wedding ever."

Technically the journal page says "boquette" not bouquet, but since I now have spell check, I'm going to correct myself as I go. I should have wedding photos up here at some point (assuming I can convince Matt to let me show his face online) and I'll be posting honeymoon photos along the way. Hopefully they won't be too boring. :)

Oh yeah, I decided not to change my last name because I'm rather attached to it, but I did want to take Matt's name somehow. So written up the side, the page also says:

MEAGAN BAYARD-NEELY CALL

Real Living on a Diet

If you're following my blog at this point, you probably know me in person, and you probably know I've been on a diet for a while. One of the curses in any diet attempt is the pitfall of eating out. Especially while traveling. It seems like even when you think you're being good, you gain weight while traveling.

Probably that's because you aren't being as good as you think. Things that seem healthy might be loaded with calories and things that really are healthy might surprise you. One tip I've heard from Weight Watchers and other diet sources is to ask for a box at the beginning of the meal. I pretty much always do that when I eat out now, unless I'm sharing with someone. BTW, if you're sharing two dishes, even if one is a salad, it doesn't count as a half portion anymore.

Cutting your meal in half from the get-go can certainly help, but even half a meal can be upwards from 1000 calories depending on what you order. Don't assume it's healthy just because you're eating less of it. Yeah, and salads are OFTEN more than 1000 calories just by themselves.

A tip I got from South Beach is to swallow a spoonful of Metamucil (mmm fiber) five minutes before meals so you'll feel full. Personally, I find that idea repulsive, but hey, whatever works.

Snacks are a big help. and I usually take granola bars and fruit leathers (kinda like fruit rollups that are actually made of fruit) to keep us going during the day. On South Beach fruit leathers are completely out and granola bars are limited to the South Beach granola bars (which are GROSS) so I usually stick with nuts. Yes, I do count them out. 30 of the little ones like pistachios and peanuts, 12-15 of bigger ones like walnuts and cashews. Surprisingly, that's usually enough to make me happy. Snacks should help keep you from feeling like you need to inhale your dinner.

Here's one tip I came up with on my own: figure out what your ACTUAL caloric intake should be. The FDA, or whoever it is that makes recommendations, claims that average daily intake should be 2000 calories. This is total crap.

First of all, 2000 calories is probably a good average intake for a MAN from the 1960s. We're generally less active now so some guys might be around 2000 (and athletic guys will be above) but I'm betting most guys are a little bit below that. That, mind you, is to maintain weight. If you're actually trying to lose weight you should be eating less. And unfortunately it's not even CLOSE for women, we need far fewer calories in general to maintain weight. There are online calorie counters all over the place that can tell you about how many calories you need. It's good to get a ballpark of that before you start estimating how many calories you should spend for a meal.

The most helpful thing I've found for traveling on a diet is chain restaurants. I know it's completely counter intuitive, but bear with me. This also applies to eating out locally, though in that case you can usually afford to test your favorite places to see ones have you gaining weight and which do less damage. The trick is that many chain restaurants have their nutrition information online so even though the majority of their meals may be atrocious, you can pick over it ahead of time and fine those one or two items that are healthy. Deciding what you're going to eat ahead of time does take out some of the excitement, but it also cuts back on the temptation to get something REALLY bad, because hey, it's not like there's anything healthy on the menu, right?

Here are some menus I've found online: P.F. Chang's, Bob Evans, Ruby Tuesday, Denny's, Macaroni Grill, and Chilis. As far as I know Applebees, TGIFridays, and Outback don't provide nutritional information, so while they may have acceptable food on their menus, I'd just avoid them since you can't be sure. Olive Garden ONLY provides nutritional information on their "healthy" items, and that information is incomplete (it doesn't tell you calories or fat for low-carb items and doesn't tell you carbs for low fat items. SHADY) so I'd travel with care there, and make sure to limit your portion sizes. As for all the rest, many of them are in pdf format, which I'm pretty sure is a ploy to discourage people to get there, but never mind. It also means they're very easy to PRINT. And then tuck into your travel journal, so wherever you go, you have a few things you know you can eat. Be careful to notice that most meals sneakily don't include sides, so you have to add those in too. I usually aim for no more than 500 calories for my big meal, maybe 300 for a smaller meal. That is going to vary.

It's not perfect. When I'm traveling I don't even bother to worry about salt or carbs, I'm just looking at my net calorie intake. Planning ahead helps a lot though, it can keep you from throwing up your hands and giving up, and, if you actually follow your pre-picked meal, you might even lose a pound instead of gaining five.

Voom

Matt and I got caught in a snow storm or three on the way home from DC last Monday. Aside from the fact that bad weather is always scary when driving (and I was happy Matt was the one behind the wheel) the weather did catch my attention in an unexpected way.

Snow has a distinctive look to it when it's caught in headlights, or street lights. Rain has a similar pattern but snow looks so much more solid (because it is) and real. In a streetlight you might notice that while it doesn't seem to be snowing all that hard anywhere else, in the light it's terribly thick. Headlights are the same when a car is stopped, but the effect changes when a car is in motion. At low speeds the snow merely gets a horizontal, windswept look to it, but when you're on the highway, going fifty or sixty, the snow gives a heightened sense of motion. Perspective becomes simplified, like a comic book, with a vanishing point right in the center of your vision. You can't see much aside from the snow which moves so fast it's line fragments rather than dots, streaking past your car in a cone. In fact the visual is nearly identical to what we see in a sci-fi movie when a spaceship goes into hyperspace.

I doubt that this is coincidental. It's easy to see how an early designer might have been driving through snow while trying to come up with a visual representation of something that's completely beyond our ability to create. This visual: stars moving behind the camera's viewpoint to become streaks of light, is now so a part of our consciousness that we take for granted that it's what traveling at close to the speed of light would look like. Of course we can't know what it would really look like but if you asked someone to describe what is currently impossible, many would readily give you a rendering of snow rushing past a car. Maybe there is no connection, but I think design often works this way, with seemingly unrelated images coming into well known ideas of the future.

Out

Off to DC. Been prepping this week, that's why no blogs. Back to normal (whatever that is) posting next week, I swear.

Car Sadness

My car broke. It's been acting funny for a little while but it finally decided this afternoon that it had had enough. I can't really blame it considering it was something like 16 degrees. I wouldn't run in that either.

Last night as I was driving home from North Olmsted the "check engine" light came on while I was on the highway. I've had a lot of electric troubles with the current car so mostly it just made me sigh, rather than freak out and panic like the first few times my "check engine" light has come on. The engine didn't seem to be doing anything weird, so I kept an eye on the light to make sure it didn't start flashing and continued home.

But my car's been making some really funky noises ever since the last snow storm. At first I thought it was just ice in the wheel-well since the noises seemed to come up mostly when I was turning. Then, as the snow thawed and the possibility of my having missed a chunk of ice somewhere melted, I remembered the last time I was having similar noises. This was again after a big snow storm, the rock shield below my car had been knocked partially loose (which may or may not have been because I parked at a 45 degree angle when the rest of the lot was full) and was grinding on something. I made a note to call Bill (my mechanic) to see if it could wait, but kept forgetting about it.

Only then the noises started occurring randomly, occasionally but not necessarily in connection with turning. Sometimes it started making weird whirring noises when I was accelerating. Sometimes when I was slowing down, and sometimes when I wasn't doing anything at all. Weirder still, my car started deciding to rev up the engine and knock around for no apparent reason when I first started the car and was idling while I put my seat belt.

So all in all my car has been extremely unhappy lately, and definitely due for a doctor's visit. I've just been hoping it could hold out till the next oil change because, seriously, the mechanic is 40 minutes away and I JUST got it serviced. Annoying.

It couldn't. My car STARTED just fine when I went to go to Youngstown this afternoon, unfortunately it immediately turned itself right back off. Several times. And just to add insult to injury I was flustered enough that I then locked my keys in the car which is just brilliant. On the other hand, this is the first time I've locked my keys in my car, so at least it was a time when the car was not running, and furthermore, wasn't going anywhere anyway. So bright side to everything, right?

Flights of Crappy

I hate flying.

I realize that's fairly common, but I'm not really afraid of flying, and I do it so frequently that I'm more than used to it. I've been flying on my own since I was thirteen, multiple times a year since I was sixteen, so I ought to be. Actually I lied, there is some fear involved in my dislike, but I recognize that it's irrational (most fears are). I know that the odds of being in a plane wreck are incredibly low, but then I think, by flying as often as I do I'm surely upping those odds at least a little. Then there's the fear that comes from looking out those tiny little windows and seeing the wing bounce all over the place. Sure sure, I know that for physics sake it's better that it do that, but I can't help but think it's about to break off at any moment. Or that one of those puny feeling plastic windows is just going to break. Or that the laws of physics are going to let us down (ha!) and decide to just drop us out of the sky. There are any number of perfectly natural, if irrational, reasons to be afraid of flying.

In spite of all that, the fear is pretty low on the radar. What really bugs me about flying is the extreme discomfort. In some ways flying with Matt is much nicer, because traveling with someone makes the trip easier. There is one key difference that makes it worse however: Matt is six foot four, and as such, gets automatic dibs on the aisle seat. Bastard.

When I was a kid I loved the window, but as I got older I preferred the aisle. It's not that I need the leg room, it's just that it allows me some freedom. Stuck in the middle, I inevitably need to use the bathroom pretty much incessantly, simply because my brain is perverse and wants me to suffer. Even if I do make Matt move so I can use the bathroom I pretty much need to use it again immediately as soon as I sit down because I'm STUCK AGAIN. And of course in the middle you're fighting two people for arm wrests instead of just one. At least because I know Matt I can lean on him, or feel less guilty about growling while fighting over the middle space (strangers look at you strangely and hit the call button if you so much as bare your teeth at them), but no matter what, the middle seat sucks.

It's nice when airlines take a little trouble to make flying more comfortable. There's not much they can do about the side to side room, so the middle person probably forever be screwed, but the last time I flew Continental on an international flight I saw an interesting solution to the upright problem. To fit as many people in as possible, seats are far too close together for comfort and that extra two inches you can get by putting your seat back doesn't really do much beyond pissing off the person behind you. On the continental flight however, the seats physically swung forward as you put your seat back, allowing your seatback to recline another several inches. It's AMAZING what a difference that made. Suddenly you can actually lean your head back, without fighting gravity. Brilliant. You don't really lose much leg room, unless you've got something stowed beneath the seat in front of you. These days I usually travel with my laptop stuffed down there and my backpack up above, which worked well since my laptop doesn't take much vertical space. I wish more airlines would do this, but I get the feeling that airlines just don't care.

I know airlines are losing money around the board, and can't give quite the luxuries that they used to, but there are so many things they could do that wouldn't cost them any money at all. Running on time would be a nice step. We flew USAir this trip and it was dreadful. The only reason we didn't miss any flights (we had three) on the way to Oregon is because ALL our flights were late. There was no weird weather outside to justify it, they were just late. On our final flight we had a plane waiting outside and the pilot waiting by the desk. I went to ask when our expected arrival would be (since we were already running about an hour late at that point, and I'd just arrived from my flight which landed two hours late) and the pilot looked a bit shifty. "Well," he admitted, "I'm not sure where my crew is, so that depends." Ridiculous.

And if they're going to be late, the least they could do is try to be helpful along the way. Remember when they used to list during landing, all the connecting flights of people on the plane? Why on earth did they stop doing that? It doesn't cost them a dime and it would up my opinion of their customer service. It also would have been helpful, on those constantly late flights, not to have to stop and find out what gate we needed to run to. On the one really late flight, where Matt and I ought to have had about ten minutes to get to our gate (that's the one with the missing crew though so we really had an hour) it would have been nice too if they might have announced that our plane was delayed so we could have waited and let those with tighter connections go. They might also have mentioned those who had already missed their flights (about a quarter of the plane) so those people also didn't have to clog up the aisles. Sheesh.

It's not fear that's hurting airlines, fear of flying, fear of terrorism, fear of crowds or any other kind of fear. It's lousy planning and thoughtlessness. Honestly, put in a little effort, and those of us who have to fly will at least dread it a little less.

Back from Oregon

After spending a week in Oregon, I'm ready to start a new year of blogging, thesis and whatever I decide is part of my ever-shifting ambitions. The next week or so will be blogs inspired by my time in Eugene, so there will be a handful of green design posts along with a good number of movie and book reviews.

Bathroom Oddities

Have you ever noticed that some bathrooms don't have the mirrors in front of the sinks? This is most common at service stations along the Ohio Turnpike but you sometimes see it in Airports as well. It's something I've noticed before, but never really thought about much until last Friday. Emerging from the restroom at the Mahoning Valley Service Plaza, I said to Matt, "I wonder why they separate out the restrooms like that?"

"What are you talking about," he asked me.

"You know, there aren't any mirrors in front of the sink," I said. He shook his head, looking bemused, so I continued, "They put them in front of the doorway instead."

"Really?" And then he had to go check because we thought he might just never have noticed, but it turns out this is a trend unique to Women's rooms. In the Men's bathroom, there were small mirrors lined up in front of the sinks as usual. This got me thinking of possible reasons for this weird design change.

Women's bathrooms have been a problem for designers, at least conscientious designers, for ages. I remember my annoyance when I went to a football game with my father, I must have been about ten years old. Although the crowd was probably eighty percent male, it was the Woman's room that had a line out the door. But this has to do with the fact that women physically take longer to use the bathroom, it's solved easily by adding extra stalls, though the number of toilets may never catch up to the speed that lines form in Women's bathrooms. A problem I hadn't considered is the second congestion that often occurs in Women's bathrooms. That's right, in front of the sink.

I'd like to think that people are considerate enough to not screw with their hair when people are waiting behind them to wash their hands. Alas, if I did, I'd be showing regrettable naivety. Women often linger, using the excess water from their recently scrubbed hands to squish, flatten, and fluff their hair. I've seen women who don't bother to wash their hands bend over the sinks to play with their hair or re-touch makeup. And of course, some women go into the restroom for the sole purpose of looking into the mirror. No mirror equals less congestion, people washing their hands can get to the sinks more easily, and will leave more quickly.
This is bound to be less of a problem in the Men's room. Aside from the fact that men are less likely to primp, I have serious doubts as to how many of them actually bother to wash their hands.

Moving the mirror near the doors is actually an intelligent solution, though I have to think it causes a fire hazard. Not a major one mind you, for I'd like to think even the most engrossed primpers would move away at the sound of the alarm, but by having the mirror near the entrance, congestion near the door is almost guaranteed during high volume use of the service station. I think this concern is minimal however, for by moving the mirrors away from the water, primping is less desirable. In addition, by placing it in the pathway of the door, people are more likely to feel foolish and in the way, and are therefore more likely to pass by quickly. The open space does not invite people to stay and look in the mirror.

Curiously, I've not seen this design as frequently in newer travel stations. This service plaza was one of those older, probably mid eighties buildings that all look kind of the same: you know, one "restaurant" such as McDonalds or Hardeys, a giftshop, restrooms and some vending machines, but not much else. Maybe a map and some video games. Everything seems to be brown even if it's painted a different color. The newer service stations tend to be larger and brighter, lots of blue colors and shiny metal fixtures. These bathrooms do not have separated mirrors, instead they have an enormous bank of sinks with smaller mirrors like in this Men's room. The actual toilets tend to be garrisoned off into labyrinth like segments that can be opened and closed as needed. I've never really noticed a problem with congestion in either type of bathroom, though I haven't necessarily traveled much during high volume weekends. I certainly prefer having more sink space to having missing mirrors, but I wonder what made them decide to change?

How to have a Successful Road Trip

Just got back from Hershey, PA- about a six hour drive. Here are a few things Matt and I have discovered to make a pleasant trip:

1. Save the caffeine for when you really need it. Otherwise, stick to water. Caffeine is a diuretic, it dehydrates you and makes you have to pee more frequently. Water will certainly make you have to pee, but not more than usual if you don't drink it by the bucket. It will also help keep you feeling refreshed and, obviously, hydrated, keeping headaches and general icky feelings to a min. Particularly helpful when stuck in a car.

2. Pack lots of healthy snacks. Our favorites are cherry tomatoes. Of course for tomato haters this one is out, but they are good for killing a sweet tooth and a salty craving at the same time, and also help with hydration. They're clean; self contained in bite sized packages with no disposable bits. Other things we've taken to bringing are nuts, dried fruit and granola bars. I was hoping to take some pre-popped popcorn this weekend but couldn't find any at Giant Eagle and was too lazy to pop my own.

3. Not to sound like a mom, but make sure your AAA membership is up to date. Mine had lapsed and I forgot about it until Thursday night (fortunately MY mom doesn't read this blog). I renewed it Thursday, but it takes 24 hours to take effect. Obviously nothing bad happened, but with winter coming it's a good idea to KNOW nothing will. The one time I did get stranded in the middle of nowhere I got a decent discount on the hotel room I had to rent and another the next day when I took my car into the shop.

4. Shuffle your music. It helps when there are two or more people on a trip so that some new stuff will be in the mix. Alternate between people to keep things fresh.

5. If you know the rout, plan stops ahead of time. Figure out where the decent places to stop are so you don't get stuck at a McDonalds. We actually didn't do this, but we got lucky on the way up and found a very decent Mexican place around Pittsburgh. We stopped there on the way back too.

That's all for now. Back to normal bloging tomorrow.

Zoo-A-Riffic

While I was in Washington, the one thing I wanted to do above all else was visit the National Zoo. I went to three sessions the first day, four plus a critique the second. The day before the convention I did have some downtime, but by the time we got checked into the hotel and settled there wasn't much time to kill before we needed to register. I made it to the grocery store to stock up on granola bars and fruit, then crashed in bed to watch part of the crappier Willy Wonka. It rained all through the first three days, particularly on the third day (second convention day) which worried me, because if the trend continued even I, Oregon Duck blooded as I may be, wouldn't have wanted to brave constant downpour. Fortunately the last day of the convention was beautiful, I chucked my convention schedule aside (nothing interested me anyway) and set off for the zoo. It was a 30 minute walk from the hotel and, to my surprise, I was sweating by the time I got there. The sun was out, I wrapped my hoodie around my waist, walking comfortably in just a T-shirt. I was there from 12:45 or so to 4 pm.

Andrea, one of the girls from the Cauldron, was with me, and at her request our first stop was to see the Panda's. They didn't seem all that happy, but it was the first time either of us had ever seen one in person (at great distance, granted). Andrea wanted to go in the enclosure and cuddle with it. We both know better, but I have to admit, laying over the rock as he was, the Panda did really look just like a big floppy stuffed animal.

My first impression of the zoo was that it was kinda dinky. Sure, there were Pandas, but otherwise the size alone made it kind of disappointing. Finally, thinking we'd seen nearly everything, we took the last path available, guessing it would lead us to maybe another small exhibit, maybe just a different vantage point.

After crossing the bridge we realized how greatly we'd underestimated. This zoo is HUGE. Of course, as the National Zoo it had really better be, but it's amazing how hidden it is, how impossible it is to understand the scale from within. I'm still enamored with the Cleveland Zoo, don't get me wrong, but the Smithsonian Zoo really kicks its ass.

Cleveland does a pretty amazing zoo, the animals seem well cared for, there are tons of yearlong activities to get kids interested, a membership is cheap and pays for itself quickly. There are also a pretty good variety of animals and a pretty vast space. The zoo in DC though is just so much bigger, obviously better funded, and for crying out loud it's free. There is a subtle difference in the environments designed for the animals: I think those in Cleveland are just as carefully crafted, but in DC they're bigger which really does make a difference to the captives. The animals also just seem happier and healthier (except for the Panda which looked pretty depressed). I don't think that's necessarily because we aren't taking care of our animals, I think these animals are just younger. Our lions, especially the male, look pretty ancient by comparison. This may also be due simply because of the problem mentioned before; we just have less space to give each animal.

Something really cool the zoo in DC is working on right now is a project for the elephants. It sounds as if they're planning on building enclosed paths all through the zoo for the elephants to wander. That way they get a larger territory without turning the whole place into an elephant zoo. I think that's an incredible idea and I can't wait to hear how it turns out. In fact I'll probably be back in DC next year and I'm hoping they'll be well underway by then. Obviously I'll have to go back when it's finished, and see how the elephants are enjoying their paths.

Possibly my favorite exhibit wasn't even an animal. The zoo had a building called the "think tank," there were some assorted monkeys behind glass, but mostly the building was one of those learning exhibits, you know: the kind that have all these tiny wooden doors you pull aside to see the answers to trivia questions on the front? Well running all around the room there was tall glass shelving full of resin made, to scale, brains. I want this in my future library. Seriously, they had, maybe not every animal you can think of, but a good handful, to compare to the size of a human brain. I tried to get a picture but it didn't really turn out. The biggest brain was not surprisingly the blue whale, but it wasn't as large as I expected, only maybe three times, maybe four the size of a human brain. In fact if you averaged the size of the blue whale brain and a human brain you'd get the elephant brain, which, when you consider the relative sizes of a person, to an elephant, to a blue whale, is pretty interesting. Canines and Felines on the other hand had fairly small brains, again smaller than I would have expected. About the size of a fist (we're talking lions and tigers and wolves, not Fido and Socks). This was less surprising when I got a good look at a cat skull and was reminded how much of a cat head is probably 70 percent MOUTH and these creatures have much thicker skulls than we do. At any rate it was a fascinating exhibit and as I said, I will someday replicate it in my personal library.

There are a ton of things to see in DC, next time I'm there I want to see the Aerospace museum, natural history museum, art museum... but I think I'll have to make revisiting the zoo a priority. Andrea and I wandered, much more quickly than a family with children would, for over three hours and were unable to see all of it. We kept thinking we were near the end of our circle, then we'd see a sign to an area we hadn't even seen a hint of before. There were even sections we could see, but couldn't figure out how to get to, suggesting that we missed even more than we thought. The zoo was more than worth the wait, I'd like to go back soon. Next time I'll wear hiking boots.

Conventioning

I just returned from Washington DC where I spent three days at a student media conference. This is the third year I've been to this conference, (different location every time) and while I'm never really excited to go, I always end up getting valuable insights in spite of myself. This year I was particularly reluctant. For once it was being held in a city I actually wanted to visit (haven't been to DC since I was 12) but I was a bit burned out on the conference itself, and hated leaving home, going away from my fiance. I realize that's a bit pathetic, but there it is.

Since I was pissy about being there, and had attended the majority of sessions in various incarnations over the last two years, I concentrated entirely on topics that interested me personally, instead of those that related to the Vindicator. I'm glad; first I attended a couple sessions on writing for magazines that I think were really helpful (we'll see whether anything comes of it long term). I also went to several web sessions that sort of inspired me. In particular, there were two sessions on blogging that made me sit up and listen.

I should mention at this point that over the last few years I've been putting together a weird collection of skills for a job that I didn't think existed, but I guessed would exist sometime in the next couple of years. From the University of Notre Dame I have a BFA in studio art, which isn't really useful at all, but it does mean I spent four years training an artistic eye and I did manage to scrape a class in multimedia: web design. Once I came to Cleveland I landed a student position as a web assistant which was really more of an education than the class. At about the time I started my MFA program I switched jobs, starting work for the Vindicator. So basically when I graduate I'll have an artistic eye, limited web skills, creative writing, and editing skills. I'll also have a year of work experience as a web... person, and three years experience editing. Even if it is all student work. I've been keeping an eye out, waiting for jobs like... web content editor or something to show up.

Of course it didn't occur to me that that's almost exactly what a blogger is. Or that people are actually starting to pay bloggers and that I expect this will become more standard in the future. The trouble is I don't bother to update my blog all that often. And I KNOW there's no one reading this. However, I expect if the one changes, the other may follow, so here's my promise: from now on, with the exception of emergencies or other unforeseeable obstacles, I will update this blog at least once a day. Sometime this winter I'm going to get rid of (most of) this template and replace it with my own web design, hopefully increasing my technical skills in the process. In about a week I'm hoping that Matt (fiance) and I can get some extra shelves for my art desk built. Once I've got the table cleared off and have space, I'll start posting a sketch/drawing a day as well. So if you are reading, come back! I'll start being interesting any day now.
As far as a theme, I have in my head what this blog is going to do, but it's a little hard to describe. This is going to be an idea blog. I'm loosely calling it "living in space" because it will be about living, in small spaces, in relationships, or in my head. I'll post many of the weird ass ideas I get that have no practical application in reality. Come back here tomorrow and you may read about things such as dragon mating, hunting elephants with range rovers and building cat furniture.