I don’t know how many times I’ve faced this problem in the past, where people who think they are designers try to offer opinions about design. Or there are just too many people offering opinions and there’s no clear direction. These go hand in hand with this article, How to Ruin a Web Design - The Design Curve. I know someone at my previous company who should read this (she should read this too). Shoot, most of my previous companies. Makes me really appreciate my current, non-micromanaging boss.

Another Threadless design approved. Please log in and vote for me! Don’t forget, time is limited…

Get it on Zazzle

MotoGP was in the U.S. this past weekend, in our back yard - well, actually in Salinas, which is about 1.5 hours away from our house. But it could be considered our back yard depending on your perspective. We rode our bikes down all three days, and I WAS BEAT!!!

Aside from the long hard ride, it was also extremely hot. About 100 degrees in San Mateo and somewhere around the 90’s in Salinas. From about San Jose to Gilroy the temperature was unbelievably hot, and around Gilroy the breeze didn’t have a single trace of cool air in it - was more like a very hot hair dryer blowing on us. I swear it was about 300 degrees there on Saturday.

The motorcycle racing, qualifying and practicing was pretty cool to watch. It was very neat to see and hear the Moto GP bikes close up. They really are quite loud, and they sound great. The leaders whip by so fast too, it’s really hard to catch them on film.

I took about 600 pictures over weekend, and only 40 of them were worth posting. Those numbers do not include the pictures of people - I took those just to demonstrate to you how hot it was there. Even in the shade we were sweating pretty badly. And on top of that, it was really dusty. People were walking around and the dust was constantly flying through the air. Both Saturday and Sunday when I got home I took a cold shower and collapsed on the couch.

We watched the race on T.V. Sunday night, and it was so different. At the race that hour flew by. And it didn’t seem like they passed us 32 times. I was busy taking pictures though, so maybe that’s part of the reason.

We set up by the corkscrew, a famous and very difficult part of the track. I’m told that when the riders cross over it they can’t see where they’ll end up. That’s why Nicky Hayden does so well - because he knows the track like the back of his hand.

It was a gruelling ride at times, especially through hell, but the rest of it was pretty fun.

Here’s the entire MotoGP photo set.

Joe is now a proud member of the dogster community - check out his profile. This site is so silly, I just had to do it.

Taken July 13, three weeks later - still no sign of turning red. (see june 19)

We went to Six Flags Marine World over the weekend and there was a roller coaster unassembled in the parking lot. I took the opportunity to take some pictures of it’s mechanical insides. I also noticed that some parts were so heavy they pierced the asphalt.

About the park… I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio about an hour and half away from the greatest amusement park in the United States - Cedar Point. Why is it so great? For starters, it has 14 roller coasters of which several hold world records. So when I go to any other park it’s just not going to hold up to what I am used to.

Last year we went to Great America, which was a complete let down. And that’s when one of my ex-coworkers told me to try Six Flags. It’s no Cedar Point, but it did have 3 good coasters that are worth riding. Two of them we went on several times because the line was so short. I guess that will have do to

Just launched the redesign for my web site. It’s been about a year and half since the last design had been put in place, so I felt that it was time for a face lift.

I’m completely in love with this new look, which just sort of fell into place after five “so-so” designs in photoshop. What was the best part about updating the look? It only took about an hour to cut it up and integrate with my existing CSS files.

Ah CSS, what a wonderful thing to be acquainted with (thanks to Steve of course).

Just added a new piece of artwork to my portfolio - a sort of abstract watercolor of a betta fish. I really like the color palette of this one, and it was a lot of fun to do.

Not your typical horror movie.

I saw this one when the film festival was in town, and it is an EXCELLENT movie. I think I screamed out load for the very first time ever in a movie theater.

The director did a fantastic job of catching you off guard and managed to create some creepy characters that are the culmination of everything deemed scary in the past 20 years.

Even if you don’t like horror films you will be thoroughly entertained by this one. It’s a must see.

IMDB: The Descent

I recently submitted several new designs to Threadless, here is one that’s been approved - it kicks ass, so I highly recommend you login and give me a good vote