Category Archives: The World Wide Web

Revamp: Optimistic Goal — FAIL!

Well… for the last two days, I’ve attempted to record a video blog entry about my revamp status, but for some reason, the Inspiron 1525′s video webcam thing doesn’t seem to be working properly to be uploaded into YouTube. (Does anyone have any experiences with this?? I will research this tomorrow.) Anyway… here’s basically what I said:

I did NOT reach my optimistic milestone date of Jan 1 with the new revamp, to much of my own dismay!

However, I stayed in all of Xmas weekend to get a lot of it done. (Hah! I turned down a Vegas trip to be productive! (What a NERD!!!!)) I’ve reached a great point, which I’m pretty juiced about! I finished inking in (via Wacom) the sketch I doodled a few weeks back. I have to admit that I’m pretty impressed by the capabilities of the Wacom. Of course, I spent a lot of time doing some small details that most people won’t even see since I’ll probably shrink the image, but… for my own satisfaction, I went in and did all the nitty gritty details–which I LOVE to do!

My next goal would be to have the revamp done by end of January, but I won’t have computer access for most of the month, so that won’t be very plausible nor realistic. So… I’m gonna aim for end of February to get it out! I think with the progress I made in the last 2 weeks, February will be a productive month!

The main motivators for my revamp right now are:

  1. I’m sooooo bored of this design: it totally isn’t how I feel anymore, and I think my page needs more of a kick like it used to
  2. Getting my resume update: While everyone around me is working on updating their resumes in these bad times right now, my resume and everything about me is directly accessible via Googling my name. I need to make sure my persona is all PRESENTABLE the way I want, and I want my site to represent who I am right NOW.
  3. Creative Outlet: It’s been suuuchhh a long time since I’ve redesigned my site and its content!

Here’s something I had a lot of fun drawing, particularly the little details!

Thanks for sticking around, and thanks for your support! (Happy New Year!)

We’re the next Harvey Milk. Join us.

(From Equality Camp: http://equalitycamp.com/ )

The demonstrations against Prop 8 that have been organized using Facebook and wikis are promising signs of an opportunity to build a stronger, grassroots-powered movement for marriage equality. The “Please don’t divorce…” photo project is a fabulous grassroots action to help people build a personal connection to and empathy for people who are hurt by Prop 8.

One of the great weaknesses of the No on 8 campaign is that it did not take advantage of the opportunities for grassroots/netroots organizing. Also, the campaign made a big strategic error by hiding the faces of gay people, when we know that personal heart connection is what moves many people to change their minds about supporting gay rights.

The actions of the last six weeks are a great start — and there are many more opportunities to weave together a grassroots, netroots, people-powered movement. There are opportunities for people working on bottom-up initiatives to coordinate together. There are opportunities to take advantage of the power of Web 2.0 technology to empower grassroots organizers and younger activists who live online.

The Web has changed organizing; it will never work top-down again. The Web has shown us how to bring people together to make change. EqualityCamp is a pilot event to bring Web 2.0 geeks who know the lessons of the Web well together with activists for marriage equality and equal rights for gays.

EqualityCamp on January 3 in San Francisco, is a “BarCamp” style event that will bring together netroots, grassroots, and technologists to help coordinate efforts to repeal Prop 8 and support marriage equality. The people with the most power aren’t the people in a few organizations. We all have power. That means you, too. We’re organizing a way for you to exercise it easily. At EqualityCamp you set the agenda. We discover what we want and we teach each other what we need to know.

Themes and topics at EqualityCamp are expected to include:

  • connecting “netroots” and traditional organizing
  • using “Web 2.0″ tools to support a grassroots movement
  • bringing effective practices from the Obama campaign into the movement for marriage equality
  • digital video concepts to share stories and build support

Come to EqualityCamp and flesh out your ideas to use your networks, organizing and tech skills to support marriage equality and help repeal Prop 8. We are dedicated to making a people-powered marriage equality movement work from the bottom-up.

Join us!
January 3, 2008
Citizen Space
425 2nd Street, Suite 300
San Francisco, CA 94107
Google Map

For more information: http://equalitycamp.com/
Registration (you’ll need a ticket to attend): http://equalitycamp.eventbrite.com/

If you cannot make it to San Francisco for January 3rd, then visit EqualityCamp.com to learn how to make your own in your town. Please comment if you have any more questions.

Prop 8 – The Musical

I’m a little bit late on this one, I know, I know!

If you’re interested in joining me on my latest LGBT activism: I’ll be attending the first Equality Camp on January 3rd in SF: http://equalitycamp.com/

If you’re a techie and you’re dedicated to making change in the LGBTQ community, this event’s a mesh of Web 2.0 activists that will plan and discuss ways to incorporate and utilize our techie knowledge as another medium for the social movement.

New Toy!

Welp, I got myself a new toy again!

The deal was just too hard to resist on Cyber Monday! I ordered an Inspiron 1525 with Dual Core (2.0Ghz), 3GB DDR2, 250GB HD, a video card that I don’t understand (Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100), with Windows Vista Home Basic. I got it for about $475ish before tax and shipping. w00t.

So… here I am! Typing on it in bed! Winnaarrr!! Picture of the new laptop to be included soon!

It took a while for it to ship to be, but a Dell agent called me and left me voicemails every step of the process: letting me know when the order got delayed, that the order was done being processed, when it was shipped, and when the package arrived. (To be honest, I think they started building the computer when I contacted them a week after my order status didn’t change at all.) Either way, I waited patiently and am very much so satisfied with my new loot!

Plans for the laptop:
– Main goal is to use it for doing webwork while I’m not stationed at home. I’ll admit that I’m behind on the revamp project (because I spend most of my weekends at Brent’s), but hopefully I can successfully install Photoshop CS and the necessary software onto this Vista machine with no problems.
– Second goal is…. hmm… it was all mostly for the first goal, really. This was actually kind of a spontaneous purchase! :O Ooohhppp! While others are tweeting away on their iPhones, I’ll be tweeting on my comparatively huge laptop! Hah! Succckkkerrsss!!


Nice generic Dell photo of the laptop

I got the “Midnight Blue” one (oooooohhhhhh!!!!) I heard that black = a lot of finger prints; red was too flashy for me; pink was a ‘no way’; wasn’t feeling the Mustard Yellow (it’s actually called like Sunshine Yellow or something); and I’m not much of a fan for Dookie Green (totally it’s official name. I promise.) So… I got the blue. Seemed pretty standard to me! If I had a choice, I woulda gotten a white one though. I don’t think they make it in white because it would have looked too similar to a Mac though…

Any naming suggestions?? Some ideas so far:
– Allen – (the name of the IT guy at work) so I can yell out stuff like “Ahhhh!! Allleeennnnnn!! Why aren’t you working???” more often.
– The Reincarnation of Bertha


Morning-in-bed photo with built-in webcam! Surprisingly good quality pics!
I’m not hawt and secsie like the real webcammy blogger girls. (Paanniisss!)

Yay for technology! <3 I really hope my old versions of AIM works on this Vista thing.....

Update 12/25/08: Photos as promised!


Laptop, Wacom, Tissues–Ready to get work done on Xmas day!

Craisin.com Revamp – Status Update!

For the last couple of months, I’ve been slowly working on the domain revamp (per previous post).

So far, I’ve done the following:

  • Step 1: Found new hosting — DONE
  • Step 2: Backed up everything from the old server — DONE
  • Step 3: Transferred the blog from the old server to the new — DONE
  • Step 5: LEARN how to create my own WordPress theme — DONE
    I followed this useful and easy-to-understand tutorial. Yep–did Step 5 before Step 4! Take that, The Man!

On-going tasks I’ve been working on:

  • Step 4: RESEARCH — IN PROGRESS
    I have a million articles bookmarked right now in terms of effective blogging, and best practices for blogging. Disliking the CONFORMITY and seemingly FORMULAIC guidelines mentioned a lot of these articles, I’m picking and choosing the things I think are most suitable for myself. Take that, The Man again! *upper-cut!*

    In terms of CREATIVE research, I’ve seen a bunch of coooolll designs, and I’m grabbing a lot of great ideas from really original designs: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/10/23/50-beautiful-blog-designs/

  • Step 6: FIGURE OUT WHAT TO DO ABOUT PHOTOS — NEEDS MORE RESEARCH
    Picasa 3′s stepped out of beta mode and has gone official. But there’s still a lot of things I wish it had: non-member commenting, a way to customize the root gallery display format, noting which photos have been commented on. I guess I want it to be like Gallery =D (Why don’t I just use Gallery? Hmm.. I want a seamless integration of the photo gallery into my webpage, and to be honest, I’m intimidated of the customization needed to make it work for Gallery. Also, I like that photos on Picasa are stored externally. Picasa’s also got a great desktop/photo viewer software application, and it was kind of tedious for me to convert pics from Picasa to Gallery. Got photo gallery suggestions? Let me know! :D (As an FYI, I’ve decided I don’t like Flickr for my own use… it’s not my style.)
  • Step 7: IMPLEMENTATION! — IN PROGRESS
    With the things I’ve researched in conjunction with the ideas I’ve had, I’ve been putting all of these together slowly but surely.

I’m really EXCITED about the progress I’ve made in the last few days, actually! Being a grouch and grumpy during Thanksgiving Day (obligatory holidays were not my cup of tea yesterday), I spent most of my time at my computer researching and tweeking around with possible layout ideas.

So far, I’ve doodled some sketches yesterday night, some that I’m rather pleased with. I’ve figured out the core color that I plan to use. And I have the basic structure and placement of my content figured out.

Craisin.com 2008 Revamp Spoilers!

  • I will be using my own hand-drawings for a portion of my new design
    I did really well with my design back in 2005 (screenshot) because it was original and it visually stood out a lot. I figured the best way to do something no one else can do is to… just… draw something from my head, and have it integrated into the design.

    I’m taking some time to figure out where I can put in more little hand drawings for accents and to bring out small details, if I have enough time. I may ask to borrow Brent’s WACOM to finish off my drawings! :OOOO

  • Effort to make the blog more interactive
    I plan to get more creative with the commenting portion of the blog. I’m currently researching ways to get more people involved, since I haven’t put in much effort in doing this in the past.
  • Portfolio: A portion of the site will be used to display my latest artwork — I’ve realized this is important for me to keep up online, especially since I’ve been taking art classes lately.
  • Aiming to have new design done by 2008 year’s end
    Optimistically aiming to have new design up LIVE by Dec 31st! :O This might be the bare skeleton of what I envision for the full-content of the site, but I would release other features over time. Minimally: have at least the blog, photo page, and an About page up with the new design.

Preview of possible sketch to use for revamp design? :O

Have an idea for my redesign/content revamp? Ooohhhh Let me know! =D