Today I reached out to a local web and interactive design firm here in Austin, to set up a meeting to discuss internships and what needs they may have. Rather than just having any students apply, I wanted to be able to only have students that fit the criteria they really want. I called the Internship Coordinator to setup something. The call was horrible. The woman was so rude. She kept saying to read what’s on the site and have them apply. When I tried to explain that knowing more about the types of skills students should have would help me in sending them there, she just kept saying ‘have them apply”. I asked to perhaps talk to the head of the department to set up a meeting she told me “she is a very busy women and doesn’t have time to talk to you”. It was really frustrating and so rude! The call started and ended badly, and since I knew I was doing this for my job (and possibly at the expense of my students) I tried very hard not to lose it and ended it gratefully. But gah! What a poopy-head. Believe me, “poopy-head” isn’t what I’m really thinking. Oh and even though I stated I was from the Art Institute of Austin she said I was from UT!

Part of me really wanted to send an angry email to the main company address. I am still pondering it. Anyone who calls that number would be treated so poorly and rudely. The problem I see is that if I complain, they may not hire Art Institute students since she appears to be the internship gatekeeper. I am annoyed because perhaps because our call went so badly, she might nix anyone who applies with Ai on their resume. Or who knows, maybe she thinks it’s just UT! So I am torn between just calling her a crappy person in my head and leaving it at that or emailing the company. Either way, even though there are many other design firms in Austin, I don’t want to burn any bridges at a large one like this. What would you do?

It has bite.

While I was sick for about a week, I was so proud that I weened myself off of caffeine. My goal was to get off caffeine and then ween off the dark soda, then ween off light soda (Sprite or 7-up) for good. I noticed that I had to have a can of Diet Coke every day. I tried to limit myself to 1 can, but at times, at restaurants I would enjoy more than a glass. I just feel like I need to take better care of myself and this is something easy that I can do and have done before. Years ago, all I drank was water, I did it for several years, then I went to grad school and my all nighters were too hard to stay awake…so I returned to Diet Coke.

I was proud because I was now off caffeine, not craving a diet coke. I was drinking Sprite if I wanted something sweet. But then at a restaurant I thought, “oh yeah, I can have root beer!”. So I ordered myself up one and drank. I didn’t check to see if it was A&W or Barq’s. Anyway, since then I have had about 5 root beers…and at work, they only have Barq’s. Well, at my friend Mandy’s house today, she informed me that yes Barq’s has bite (caffeine). I remember arguing with a friend in the past that yes it did, but he swore it did not, and I believed him. Ugh, so yes, looking it up, while it does not have as much caffeine as Coca Cola, it still has some. Now to add to the story, I have had trouble sleeping, hm, perhaps due to the late root beer!

Am I really caffeine free if I didn’t know I was having caffeine? Ugh, so now I have to see if I need to ween myself off this too. It’s frustrating since I felt so proud and I feel I have to start again. Darn you Barq’s Old Tyme Root Beer!!

The Summer quarter at the Art Institute is starting on Monday. What classes am I teaching?

• Portfolio I – working 1 on 1 with a student on her porfolio. She is about to get her AAS in Web Design & Interactive Media and we need her to be ready for the world!
• Intro to Scripting – xHTML, CSS and JavaScript
  • For some reason my last class got to JS but didnt’ go as for as I’d like to go. I need to manage my teaching better. I need to be better at JS and by teaching it, I really get a much better grasp on it.
  • I feel much better about this class, this will be my 3rd time teaching it and I each quarter I keep finding more interesting projects to try and incorporate.
• Intermediate Scripting – Dreamweaver
  • Last quarter I brought in an actual client, and students created a website for her. The each designed a mock site, and the client chose the ones she liked best.  The client was “The Suzy Guides”, the author creates walking travel books. It guides your through several big cities around the world. What’s awesome is that she gets to do these walks as her job! The audience for these books are people who have already seen the big monuments and are looking for something more in-depth about the city. Right now she has Beijing and Paris, but is adding NYC and London. Anyway, this is the site the client chose. Right now it is on my webspace from school. Once I have the store open I can move it over to her host. While I would have done things differently, the client loves it and so that makes me really happy. She is also hiring the designer to continue to work on the site, which I also love. I do think they did a pretty good job for just learning Dreamwewaver. Don’t worry, you don’t have to point mistake (like the thumbnails and large image, I know).
• Digital Imaging – Photoshop
  • I really love this class. I love Photoshop, it’s so fun to use (at least to me). And I hope my passion for it is spread to the students. Last quarter we had a great class. Students were great and we brought in a local band to be the client. Students created posters for the band and really created some awesome projects. I saw some work students from other classes did (with no client) and I must admit, my class surpassed them! (Okay, so I may be biased!)
  • Right now I have 3 big projects that they must complete throughout the 11 weeks (we move in quarters).
    1. The first is to create an original movie poster. So they have to think of a movie concept and then create the poster to sell it. Students seem to enjoy this one (especially when it’s their movie idea).
    2. The second project is to create a book cover for their favorite book. This one doesn’t go so well. Apparently most students don’t like to read. For the students who love to read I get excited grins and excellent work, but everyone else is kinda blah about it. I really want to think of some other project. Any ideas?
    3. The final project is bringing in a client – a local band usually. The client will decide on what they want, perhaps a poster for a specific gig or a generic poster for use at any show. Students seem to really dig this and the two bands I’ve used so far have gotten them really excited. I really like this one too.
  • Things I don’t really want to do for a project are like CD covers, or DVD covers. Other classes do this and while I don’t think students mind, I do want to make them think of other things. I wouldn’t do magazine layouts or packaging since that should really be done in Illustrator. Someone suggested doing treasure maps. That’s an interesting idea, but not really popping in my mind. If you have any suggestions, let me know!
• Usability Testing(?)
  • I didn’t really want to teach this class, but due to interviewees not showing up, I think I may have to. I took a whole class on Usability Testing in grad school and that is what I plan to teach. I read a lot of Jakob Nielson and his usability testing and findings. There were others, but he really sticks out in my brain to look to, so I purchased an updated version of one of the books I have. I remember hating Usability Testing. The thing is, it’s one of the higher paying jobs in web, people don’t want to spend time doing it, and when their site isn’t up to par, they have to hire someone to go back and figure out what is wrong – that’s where the big bucks comes in. I disliked it but now I kind of enjoy it. It just saves so much wasted time when problems are found before a site is coded. It’s really the smart thing to do. Anyway, I was hoping to find someone who actually did more than my beginning usability testing for my sites and for my past employers, but that doesn’t look like it will happen. Even this guy from Dell says he can’t do it…and I think he kind of part of his job! But come on, class starts on Tuesday and there is no syllabus for it, yeah I am not eager to try and throw the first day together either. We’ll see if I teach it or not (although I am planning to prepare, just in case).

So those are the course I will be teaching, my plate will be full. I must admit, I have some great co-workers who I have just really enjoy being around. Okay, not all are great, but the ones who are, are supa great

"Herzog" - Saul Bellow

Currently, the Faculty Book Club is ready “Herzog” by Saul Bellow. Sadly, I am way behind. I am only about 1/3 of the way through. What’s funny is that I talked to two of my coworkers…and they haven’t finished it either. Our meeting is on Sunday! Oh well, it is an interesting book, I guess. I think I haven’t read to the more action part. Right now he is sort of a loser. It is an easy read though, just if you have time to site and read it.