Darth Hybrid

Well, I get 51 mpg now - and get to use the HOV lane. I got a 2007 Toyota Prius. Feels good to be environmentally responsible.

“Today will be a day long remembered. It has seen the death of Corolla, and will soon see the end of the Chevron.”

National 2007 Gold Addy Award

I was honored with a gold Addy at the national level! Jeremy Oviatt and I collaborated on this campaign which included posters and an online Flash invitation. As an agency we did really well:


Gina Bachauer newspaper campaign Gold ADDY® Award
Lehi Roller Mills Syrup Label Series Silver ADDY® Award
SonicScrubber Street Cleaner poster Silver ADDY® Award
Richter7 Rumble mixed media campaign Gold ADDY® Award
Gina Bachauer poster campaign Gold ADDY® Award
Hogle Zoo ''Kitty Litter'' Poster Silver ADDY® Award

To give a little perspective, there were only four other awards given to Utah agencies, and they were all silvers. Also, agencies in our district won a total of 16 awards (5 gold and 11 silvers). In addition (okay, now it sounds like we're just bragging), we beat out several nationally recognized agencies like Carmichael Lynch, DeVito/Verdi, Team One, Ogilvy & Mather, DDB, etc. And we also came dangerously close to giant creative powerhouses like BBDO, Arnold, Saatchi & Saatchi NY and Leo Burnett. So congratulations to all.

No Longer an Apple Disciple

Well, this may come to you all (the three or so people that read my blog) as a shock, but I sold all of my Macs and bought a PC. I have been a Mac follower 1983 when my dad bought an Apple Lisa. I got my first job using Mac SE-30s, and I have been a Mac faithful ever since - until recently. Here are my top ten reasons why I went to Windows:

1. I was needing a new computer recently and the new Mac I wanted was $2500. A PC notebook at Costco with the same specs was $950 - and included a free carrying case, an extra power supply, an extra cordless mouse and a two year warranty!

2. I realized that Steve Jobs is just a good salesman. I was under his spell. Things that he has claimed to be Mac firsts over the years were exaggerations.

3. PCs are faster. Flash is dog slow on Macs. The software that I use works better on PC.

4. I refuse to pay $130 for a Mac power supply and $50 for a Mighty Mouse that is beautiful but very hard to use.

5. All of the new features on OSX of late are just bells and whistles that I will never use (Time Machine, Widgets, etc.)

6. I AM TIRED OF BEING DIFFERENT! No matter how much Apple claims, Macs are NOT compatible with PCs. If you don't believe me, just try and format an external drive to work with both a Mac and a PC. Microsoft Office files, fonts, and a lot of other stuff open inaccurately on a Mac.

7. Vista is awesome! Everything works and it is much more user friendly that OSX. When you plug a monitor in for example, a nice screen comes up and visually shows you what you can do with that monitor - and it remembers the next time you connect it. No fiddling with the fuction key to get the monitor to work.

8. It links to my XBOX 360 - seamlessly - I immediately knew what to to and now I can see pictures and videos from my PC on my HDTV wirelessly.

9. I get to watch designers who are still under the Mac spell squirm and look down their noses at me like, "you poor apostate, how could you have forsaken Steve - you are no longer a real designer. Only real designers use Macs."

10. I can use all of the software and games that were not available for the Mac. The selection is enourmous.

My Claim to Fame

I made it into Time Magazine - sort of. My bald spot made it. My dad was lucky enough to turn his head when the picture was taken. Thanks, Mitt for this moment in the spotlight.

Adobe CS3

Just got CS3 in the mail and installed it in Vista and it is awesome. They have really improved the user interface of Flash, Photoshop, and Illustrator. They are all very alike now and easier to use.

Flash CS3 is worth the upgrade cost alone. The palettes can be turned into a osX style dock of icons that collapse on the edge of the screen when not being used. The tools pallette can now be shown in one column instead of two. These two things recover about 40% of the screen real estate on my laptop. There is now a lot more room on the screen for the stage and timeline and I open the spring loaded pallettes as I need them then they spring back into icon form when I am done. There are tons of other enhancements that make using Flash 8 here at work excruciating.

The only thing that concerns me is that ActionScript 3.0 is very geeky now an a lot less intuitive for regular people. I understand why they did it, but I am afrait that they have geeked it so much that it will turn off designers. I personally am freaking out that it is now too elaborate and tedious for my brain power to handle - and I am a really proficiant ActionScripter.

Overall, CS3 is a very cohesive-feeling package. Adobe did a great job on this one.