On a cold evening in late November 2007 many ideas stirred in my head of various subjects of my interest. At the helm of my Mac Pro I sat and typed whatever came to me. What followed was in some points what I believe to be excellent talking points on these topics and issues, and in other cases discourse that could be interpreted by some as complete non-sense. The intention is not to offend anyone, but merely to employ my basic rights as expressed within the constitution. Many use blogs to do this very act, but instead of writing an ongoing stream of random jargon for the sole sake of it simply “being there”, I wanted to create a snapshot of my opinion(s) on these matters from the second most important view-point in my life; mine (the first being the Lord’s of course). No doubt will there be labels of arrogance or vanity, and I assure you that those accusers may be correct in some instances. However, the ego is a vulnerable thing; if nurtured too much it becomes large and inflated, but too little nourishmentand one’s self can become diluted by what others perceive about him or her. If I allowed what others thought of me to decide who I am, then I would be a low down dirty rotten scoundrel…or burned at the stake. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Bureaucracy of Web Design
It is the contention of this artist that the key to engaging your user-base is to engulf them in a rich design experience. However, we cannot sacrifice functionality for creativity. In fact, the two can be married in harmony so that the creative will find creativity in function and the programmer can find functionality in design. At the end of the day the real purpose of every site is the trafficking of information to the masses; or at least it’s supposed to be. Whether it is a corporate site such as Best Buy who wants to pitch their sales and specials, or an artist wanting to convey his feelings on war through his art. Both are trying to achieve the same purpose; to reach an audience. But in the days of the three-second rule imagery is the best method for accomplishing this goal. Yes, text is used, but typeface is carefully selected. The colors are selected to spark a certain emotion. It may be to be angry about a political decision or to get you to buy a product; regardless graphics make the world go round.

Cross-Browser Chaos
One headache for many designers is the constriction of cross-browser compatibility. A great concept is worthless if it can’t work in every browser. CSS has done a fantastic job at slimming down the margin of error, but sometimes the brick wall is hit and it’s tough to find your way around. I read an article recently in the UK’s magazine ‘Web Designer’ that said the 20/80 rule is always in effect. As a designer/programmer you spend 20% of your time designing for good browsers and the other 80% making it work in IE6. To IE’s credit, IE7 seems to have turned the tide competing with top-shelf browsers like FireFox and Safari with tabbed browsing and standards closely matching theirs. But it’s still not perfect. It dumbfounds me as to why the developers at Microsoft would be involved in writing standards for the W3C and then toss them at the time of writing the browser. Sadly the majority of users are using IE6+.

The Ever-Evolving Resolution
Thankfully today’s user is using something faster than a dial-up connection and a resolution larger than 1024x768. I didn’t say everyone is; just enough that we designers have a little more room to breathe. For the longest time I was so restricted by optimizing for slower speeds and lower res monitors that I would fall into bouts of depression. Now almost every monitor being sold new is widescreen with a variety of resolutions. Web 2.0 dictates a clean interface and puts down the notion that you have to have useless graphics to be a good design. Basically, the way I understand it, if you have a graphic on the page there has to be a reason for it. I love this concept and have utilized it on multiple occasions, but I don’t always abide by it. The Art Institute taught the rules of design but that doesn’t mean that have to always be followed. Just as Morpheus so eloquently stated in the first [and only real] Matrix movie, “…no different than the rules of a computer; some can be bent others can be broken.” Well said, because there are times that just bending the rule isn’t enough, something’s got to give for a particular design to reach its fullest potential. I personally like bending and braking rules, but I also know you have to know when not to.

Who I Am
I was born and raised in Texas. From the moment I could hold a crayon I loved to draw, and cartooning was always my specialty. When I got a little older, maybe around my early teens my mother was working for corporate offices all over DFW. She'd bring home four inch thick notepads that I would spend hours drawing little tiny animations on. Usually it was a stick man of some kind running from a blob of some sort and it would lead to his inevitable ending of being eaten by the blob and it transforming into a creature or something.

I grew up in a small town just thirty miles south of Dallas. The Art Institute was my chosen path all the way back in 7th grade. I ventured from that direction to go to SAGU, and Christian university, but after a year I ended up going to The AID. My heart was set on 3D Animation and I graduated with this as my specialty but it never went anywhere. All I can assume is that's not where God wanted me. I think it worked out for the best because I really enjoy interface design and web animation.

Family Life
I got married in 2003 to my high school sweetheart. She's amazing and I'm still trying to figure out why she said yes! Mary got a full ride to the University of North Texas where she pursued a degree in Social Work. She achieved that goal and received a Bachelor's degree in three years. She did a brief summer stint at the Dallas DA's office where she got the bug to go back to school again. If only she could make money doing that. After several tiresome years of law school, Mary is now a licensed attorney working in our town of residence.

Then there's my boys. Yes they're furry and I love them just like that. Diesel (right) we rescued through the NorCal Boxer Rescue. When we got him he was completely emaciated. He looked terrible and extremely mal-nourished. However, after a year with us he became a little piggy. We've got him straightened out now at a healthy weight, but that doesn't stop this scoundrel from trying to get as much food as possible. He's eaten whole loaves of bread off the counter, cinnamon rolls out of the pan that were on the stove without even making a sound. Nevertheless, we love him all the same.

Axel (left) is a our baby boy. He's a full-blood Dogue de Bordeaux we had flown in from an amazing breeder in Denmark. Ever since I saw the movie 'Turner & Hooch' I wanted one. He brings so much joy to our home. Don't let his intimidating grimace fool you, this puppy is as sweet as they come. Not many dogs his size (currently 135lbs and still growing) can handle small children tugging on there ears. But Big Ax doesn't mind a bit. Even though he's a giant, he's still our baby dog.

Word of advice. Do not, I repeat, do not come into my house unannounced or without Axel's permission. He will make certain that you are quickly aware of just how stupid it was for you to just walk in our house. He's sweet, but he also really likes his home and family and will make dang sure no one, and I mean no one will come between us and him.

Kaa is our ball python. If you're wondering where the name came from, it's from 'The Jungle Book'. Not necessarily the Disney version though, because Kaa was always trying to eat Mowgli. However, in the book, Kaa is a mentor to Mowgli; helping him in tight spots and showing him the ropes. I like to think that that's who our Kaa is. He's just a little over a year old, and he's roughly two and a half feet long. When I was thirteen all the way up to sixteen I had a fascination with reptiles. I had garter snakes, ribbon snakes, chicken snakes, anoles, frogs, turtles, and an iguana. I guess I took a vacation from reptiles replacing that interestet with girls. Now I'm 27 and am getting to live like a kid again with a collection of action figures as well as a pet python.

Hardware
For too long I slaved away on a PC. Constantly battling the bluescreen of death as well as Trojans, this nightmare finally came to an end when I bought my Mac Pro.

Technical Specs:
Mac Pro
(2) Dual-Core Intel Xeon 2.66 GHz Processors
8 GB 667 MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM RAM
(4) 500 GB Internal SATA Hard Drive
(1) 250 GB External SATA Hard Drive
(1) 500 GB External SATA Hard Drive
(1) 750 GB Western Digital My Book™
(1) 1000 GB External SATA Hardrive at RAID 0 (2 500 GB Drives)
(1) 16x DVD -R, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW - Internal
(1) 16x DVD -R, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW - External w/Lightscribe
Harman/Kardon 2.1 Speaker Set
30" Widescreen Apple HD Display
24" Widescreen SAMSUNG SyncMaster 245ew Display

Also for testing purposes:
Systemax PC
Pentium IV 2.0 GHz 64-bit Processor
2 GB DDR RAM
(1) 4x DVD -R, -RW, +R, +RW - Internal
(1) 48x CD-R, -RW Internal
Dual 19" Flat Screen Monitors

Wacom Intuos3 9x12 Tablet
The Intuos3 professional pen tablet makes it easy to quickly and professionally edit photos and create digital artwork by turning on the full power of Adobe® Photoshop®, and over 100 other leading software applications.

I use it mostly in Photoshop for digital painting and enhancement. It is a powerful tool for anyone working in digital mediums.

Software
Only the best for me. Both at home and work I utilize the industry's standard applications in design for creating any composition. This list is basically all I need to do what I do.

Adobe CS3 Design Premium
- Photoshop
- Illustrator
- Dreamweaver
- Flash Professional
- After Effects