Blend Lab

Since most of my time is spent designing and I leave the Flash mastery to those much better suited than I, I find myself spending very little time dealing with actionscript and keyframes - however this weekend a project slid across my plate that needed to be taken care of and I noticed with alarm that I was no longer able to hear sound either from my exported .swf files, nor within the Flash application itself.

After a bit of searching I found a workaround, and although I’m fairly certain this is old news, I thought a re-post of some handy information wouldn’t hurt anybody (especially since this issue doesn’t appear to have been resolved yet).

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For some, basking in the ethereal glow of a monitor hour after hour, day after day is a small taste of heaven. For me, it’s a different story.

Don’t get me wrong, the bond I share with our friend the interweb is strong. If unable to check email regularly, I have a nagging sense of being out of touch, or that I’ve forgotten something. Usually it only takes a few hours in the mountains or a glass of wine with some friends to shake this feeling, but I’d be lying if I said that my computer and the internet are simply tools for me, I’m the first to admit that I do rely on them.

That said, having just my computer, an assortment of blogs, and a handful of IM buddies to interact with on a daily basis forces me to the edge of reason every once in a while. As such, I thought I would take my first stab at a ‘Top Ten List.’ They seem to be all the rage these days and though I’m late to jump on the bandwagon, I thought I’d give ‘er a shot. So without further ado:

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Over the years I’ve worked with some great clients, some great companies and managed to develop some great work as a result. However, there are times as a freelance designer when you wonder where your next project is coming from. Finding myself in that situation, I thought it quite fortuitous when Mr. Moll launched the ‘Authentic Jobs‘ website.

Not being too sure how the process would unfold I took the blanket approach. I narrowed down the specific jobs I was interested in and sent emails to the companies – five in all. After a few quick conversations, a phone interview or two, and some reference calls I had landed 4 out of the 5 jobs. Though all of the projects I worked on were fun, one of the highlights was working on the StyleFeeder re-design.

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Blogging tools are wonderful things - many times free, customizable, and powerful, usually with vast pools of plug-ins to draw from for additional functionality. I think I can honestly admit that I’m in love.Over the past few months the Sporkfancier and I have been pimping various CMS applications. Extending functionality, pushing visual constraints, it’s been a fun ride, and we’re starting to get pretty darned good at it.

Hopefully the first of many, Cam has developed a pristine plug-in for Wordpress to make collapsable menus a snap. If you think it may be of use, I think you should head over and have a gander.

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Clients tend to be a diverse lot. Often times new clients assume the project will begin, a meeting or two will ensue and our team will retire to our nerdery to get down to work and deliver an outstanding project… end of story. Other than the ‘outstanding project’ part, what happens in reality is quite a different story.

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Dust, sweat, aching muscles and fat tires. It just doesn’t get any better.For the uninitiated, the “24 Hours of Adrenaline” is a 24 hour mountain bike relay set in Canmore, Alberta at the Canmore Nordic Centre. There, teams of 1, 4, or 5 riders wind their way through a fast, rolling, and mountainous course attempting to complete as many laps as they can.

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When it comes to online invoicing applications for small business, the competition is anything but stagnant. From Blinksale and Fresh Books to Side Job Track and more robust solutions like Billing Orchard, there is no shortage of selection. By no means have I rigorously tested or evaluated all of these solutions, but since I’ve been using Blinksale for a few months now, I thought I’d let you in on my first impressions.

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It sounded like an apt title…Though I”m no stranger to the web, I have to admit that this is my first foray into the booming world of blogging. I am not a writer, and make no claims to be either eloquent or clever… at least in type. Hopefully (for my benefit, and yours) as my blogging career progresses that shall change.

For my clients and business partners, I’m hoping to offer a little bit on insight into the industry of interactive design, and share some of my thoughts on the creative process and what exactly goes into each project. I’m sure I’ll manage to touch on a little bit of everything, but you get the idea. I’m sure I won”t be able to resist posting about some of my personal endeavors as well - hopefully I can manage to entertain at least one reader… I guess we”ll see

You”ll have to bear me as I work the kinks out of the rest of the site… getting WordPress up and running was the number one priority, though I’m hoping to get my portfolio up in short order so y’all can see what I”m all about.