2,2,2,2,then 5. I'm starting from an initial test of only two, and I didn't think I'd even be able to do 13 today already.
So as you can see by my lack of posts, grad school has seriously dampened my free time. Well that and changing jobs twice! October of last year I left my web designer job at Principle Data Systems where they had to let me go prior to having to sell off the company (was never without a job as I landed the next the very day I left). Then I was an information architect at imc2 where while it was a pretty place to work, it was also a bang it out get it done zomg it was due yesterday and you just got it today sort of place, needless to say - they sucked out my soul. This is especially true when you consider the traveling I had to do for them, the fact that I am a mother to a precocious 5 year old, and a full time grad school student. Working 60 hour weeks was KILLING me, so I found a way out after only 6 months (shortest job ever). I am now a usability and interface engineer at a small software firm. This all occured in the span of about 6 months and right in the middle of both semesters!
I also traveled to Mexico/Central America for my honeymoon in October, to North Carolina multiple times in December and January (for a client of imc2), got to go to SXSW interactive in March (which was cool as hell), and then to Memphis at the end of March where I podcasted the Society for Applied Anthropology conference.
Currently I am contemplating going to Canada next weekend, will be attending a Portus 2008 in July (I am their assistant web graphics person), and will be going to the Virgin Islands in October.
Yes, I am still alive - I'll try to stop by here more often. :)
hi, i've been slacking with online stuff (work is crazed and killing me), but...
went to Madrid and Seville in March--pics here
And these are just wonderful--love them!-- Jorge Bispo's pics--
VESTIDO DE NOIVA
It's a cover. It's prom the post-Dion Belmonts era, after their legendary leader left for a solo career. Bass vocalist Carlo Mastrangelo had taken the helm He penned this song, a nifty number in the Italian-American 'Greaser Soul' doo-wop style that the Belmonts epitomized. Mastrangelo's deep voice was often the Belmonts' secret weapon (check out his work on 'I Wonder Why') but without Dion's swaggering presence, the record feels more like a nice rough sketch than anything else.
Joan jett fills in that rough sketch perfectly. Her version of 'I Need Someone,' is near perfect example of a rock and roll single. It definetely contains the Belmonts' influence in the Blackhearts 'duh duh-duh duh-duh' background chant on the chorus, but there's also the Stonesy grit of the rhythm section, the Ramones-style guitars, the high, breathy Beach Boys harmony on the verses, the punk-rock growl of Joan's lead vocal, some organ that comes right out of Del Shannon's playbook and spoken word bridge where Joanie seems to be channeling James Brown. If you know what to listen for, this tune is a little history lesson/pastiche of what's good in rock and roll, and even if you don't it's a great record on it's own terms for the sweet sound and the full-bore passion with which all those ingredients are mixed. Joan Jett will probably never again scale the commercial heights she did with 'I Love Rock & Roll,' but I'm sure as hell glad she's still out their doing her thing. Here's to the ultimate rocker chick.
Lunar Eclipse as seen from Bariloche, Argentina, originally uploaded by matildaben.
We really had no idea that there was going to be a lunar eclipse (partially visible from Seattle, but fully visible in South America) when we planned our trip. We were in Bariloche that night, a place with a very clear sky, and to top it off, the moon was visible from the balcony of our hotel room.
sorry i haven't updated this in so long
but i just got back from Rome! it was wonderful--i was there for a week...
i'm slowly uploading all the pics to my flickr account here (it'll take a while) : >
there are also pics there from my Tokyo and Cologne trips
Grad School has started today. That stack of paper is just the first two weeks of reading for a single class

