Thursday, August 12, 2010

Aaaaand it's over!

Today was my last day at LIVESTRONG! Sad sad sad...Only one project to speak of, finished up the postcard from yesterday. We went to lunch at a great Italian place and Diana gave me a small trinket to remember her by. All in all it was a great summer and I learned a lot! I will probably post a couple pictures of some things I worked on in the future...thanks for keeping up with the LIVESTRONG blog everyone!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

THIS MUST BE A RECORD!

Three blog posts in one day?!?! What is the world coming to?! Just an update on the design I worked on for the day:
Not much going on in the design department. I put together a slideshow for the UIC conference in China and started on a postcard that's going to be handed out at Mellow Johnny's advertising the Livestrong Challenge in Austin. That's it, basically all I did today. Tomorrow's my last day and I'm going out to lunch with Diana and some other people from the marketing team. Stay tuned!

Seriously?! It's not fair!

Last night I had an aggravating experience. I was going to meet some friends for drinks at a restaurant on the lake. I was running slightly late and eying the door as I approached my destination when I spotted them. A table placed conveniently right outside of the entrance, at which sat 3 adorable little boys adorned in their boyscouts of America uniforms, great.

I kept my eye on the door and avoided eye contact as I neared the entrance, I was almost there when I heard it: a little voice with a slight lisp, "Ma'am, would you like to buy some popcorn?" I turned to see a small boy of about 8, red hair, glasses (which didn't disguise his puppy-like wide eyes), and 2 missing teeth. I immediately felt like the worst person in the world. I knew I wasn't going to buy any popcorn. I'm only here 2 more days, I have $6 to my name, and I was in somewhat of a hurry. Nevertheless I rambled off a series of seemingly hopeful questions to the small boy. "Well how long will you be out here? Maybe on my way out? I'm not in town long but I guess if you ship it.."

As I walked away, a wave of guilt and shame came over me. I realized, however, I cannot let myself feel that way! It's cruel really, placing those cute kids out there to guilt you into purchasing an overpriced tin of mediocre popcorn. Making you feel like a monster for refusing the freckle-nosed, bright-eyed youngsters. No more! I will not stand for it!

Random thoughts during down time...

So here I am at work, haven't done much since there's been a meeting going on for everyone in the office (but the interns apparently) since I got here.

Anyways I thought I would share a few random thoughts. Before delving into my frustration with the boyscouts of America, I think I'll share some good news: I picked up my car this morning! However, I realized once I got to work there is a small scratch on the lift gate...and the glass sounds like it's rattling slightly, I'll have to see about that. For those of you who don't know, it all started when I got a flat tire last Friday. I was driving home on the highway, about 3 exits away, when I suddenly heard the haunting "thudthudthudthudthudthud" alerting me of the inevitable...that's right, flat tire. I managed to pull over to the shoulder right where an exit begins to fork from the highway (a seem-ably safe spot). While sitting and sweating and waiting for my trusty grandfather to come help save the day, a policeman arrived. We had the routine conversation, cop: "So what happened here?" me: "what does it look like? I have a flat tire and I pulled over ya dumdum!" Ok, so I didn't say that, but I thought it.

Anyways he went on to tell me how unsafe it was for me to be on the shoulder and that he thought it best to push me off the road. I was told to put my car in neutral and allow the policeman to gently guide me from behind with his cruisers front grill-cage-thing. He pushed me onto the access road and told me to pull into the first parking lot or entrance I saw. I did as I was instructed and made a right up a steep hill to a parking lot, and that's when it happened. He pushed me about halfway up the hill and then I suddenly felt myself rolling backwards. Somehow the policeman and broke contact with my bumper and I was rolling back, and likely going to hit his front end if I hadn't stepped on the brake. So I was sitting in my car on a hill, brakes on, when he forcefully hits me from behind. Apparently he was trying to give me a last little push to get me into the parking lot. To make this long story short, there was about $1500 of damage to my back end and 3 cruisers at the scene by the end of the ordeal. Oh, but don't worry, THE AUSTIN PD CLAIMED THEY WEREN'T LIABLE! That's right, I was being pushed off the road for "my own safety" and any damaged incurred is not their fault. Yeah right, that's the biggest crock of...well anyways, it's a messy situation.

So my claim is filed and I wait, about 6 months according to my insurance agent, to see if I get ANY of my deductible back from the perp. Now I'm not normally one to heckle law enforcement, but this is just silly. Not to mention the inconveniences I've been put through due to this whole debacle, including early wake ups on my days off and days without my vehicle. Whew, feels good to vent about my little situation...but now it's back to the grindstone!

Last Week

And so it begins, the last week of my internship. I must say this summer has been the shortest summer of my life, where did the time go? Today was fun although I didn't have much to work on. I made some copy edits and a logo replacement to a card that Livestrong reps actually pass out at job fairs and college functions recruiting for their internships and for volunteers. This afternoon we had a presentation from Milkshake Media (no they don't make milkshakes, however we did have some provided at the presentation by which wich! mmmm). This company is a design/branding company who helped Livestrong come up with their name and brand. It was interesting to see how it developed from it's very beginning stages. Initially Livestrong was going to be called "This Point Forward" and it's color was going to be orange, sick! I think the brand they ended up creating was quite successful and it was interesting to hear how it came about. I would post more about it now but it is rather late and I am quite exhausted. I have to go pick up my car from the shop in the morning (don't even get me started on why it's there) so I will have to divulge more about Livestrong's birth some other time. Hopefully tomorrow I can go into more detail, but until then...goodnight blog!

Thursday, August 5, 2010

If you have 10 millipedes, do you have a centipede?

Today was a decent day. Started out this morning by working on a poster for the Austin Marathon/Half marathon. That took a majority of the morning, and it was lunch break before I knew it. I wasn't super hungry for lunch because we got FREE BREAKFAST TACOS AND FRUIT SALAD so I was still satisfied from that. When Diana got back from lunch I helped file a few things and then worked on a chart. The chart was something I actually did a week or so again, just had some changes in the orientation so that wasn't too difficult. That's the jist of the day, next week is the final one so stay tuned for some exciting stuff!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Roasty

It's a roasty day here in Austin, in the middle of a triple digit week. Today I finished up some signage for the Philadelphia LIVESTRONG challenge, after that we had a meeting with a paper vendor. They had some really neat papers, but the coolest was a static charged paper that you could peel off and stick to any surface (but there's no adhesive). It's called cling-z...only designers can get that excited about paper. Immediately following that meeting we had another meeting about a survivor medal that is being designed (intended for cancer survivors). The design is in its very beginning stages; still sketches and ideas, but it was neat to be involved in that part of the process. After lunch I worked some more on signage and the billboard that I was working on last week. The billboard has been somewhat of a challenge. The size of a billboard is just awkward and we have a lot of copy they want to fit on it. Diana decided to think more about the billboard for a while since it's not really working right now...but she had no other projects for me so I got to go a little early today! Diana told me to go eat some ice cream...so I did obviously.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Welpie Welp

Hey blog,
I'm a little exhausted and in need of rest for another work day tomorrow, but I'll fill you in on the day's design events. Today I was quite busy, my work load consisted of Livestrong Challenge signage, Bib changes, Livestrong day collateral and updates to an envelope. Keep in mind 2 of these project required about 5 separate pieces so they were quite time consuming. I went to a meeting at 10 concerning the new patient navigation center and the notepad/written summary we're going to give them to take home at the end of their visits. This is in the infant stages and the meeting consisted mostly of brainstorming. Oh I forgot to mention last week I worked on a billboard that's going to be right here in Austin, exciting! Anyways that about sums up the day, tomorrow I will finish up some signage and I have a meeting at 11 with one of the best printers in the country! Stay tuned!

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

well....

Not much to say today, I worked on the same things all day. I was doing bar charts today...sounds simple enough, however, they are quite time-consuming. You may think: punch in some numbers, add some labels=chart. YOU'RE WRONG! It went something like this: Punch in some numbers, change bar orientation, punch more numbers, rearrange numbers, add some labels, rearrange labels in alpha order, which leades to rearranging numbers, adding percentage labels, changing label font, changing font back, more numbers, changing boxes to pantone 116 c, changing point size, scaling chart, which leads to rearranging numbers and labels, deleting bars, deleting numbers, changing number range, adding notches, deleting notches, labeling axes...and then onto the next chart. I had 4. Anyways I wish I had something more exciting to tell you but that's all I did today. The good news is the day went by quickly with everything I had to do. Tomorrow I'm working on an ad! ooooooooo stay tuned!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Beginning of the End

So I'm starting the last 3 weeks of my internship...it's definitely flown by! Today I finished up a world map chart I was working on last week. Next I had to make some changes to a notepad and a bib for the Philly Livestrong challenge coming up. I'm currently working on an ad which I'll finish up tomorrow before starting on some charts that are going in a big report (fun fun!) That's pretty much the day, getting back into the swing of things now that the tour's over. Check back tomorrow to hear about how exciting graph/chart-making is!!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

I ate a sandwich for lunch

So today I began with the cancer chart I left off on yesterday, I ended up finishing it and Diana is pretty happy with it, yay! Oh also today I got a call from Diana and she was like "Hi, could you come to the copy room? I'd like you to see some of your work..." I thought I messed something up and she wanted me to come see my mistake, like when you make a dog come look at the urine it left on the carpet. ACTUALLY though it was a good thing! She just wanted me to see the giant timeline banner I made last week printed up. It's so weird to see it so large; it's 8 ft long on vinyl and has the grommets in it so it's ready to hang. They shipped it off to China today (Maybe Ping will see it while he's there!) I'm now working on another big project which I left off on today. I have label maps with certain countries and then highlight those countries, and on another I do the same thing but also add some comments with each country. These maps are going into a world report (or something like that). Anyways, we've had larger projects lately so not as many little things to write about, but neat nonetheless! Hopefully I can put a couple pictures on here soon. Until Tuesday!

Wed, July 21

SHOUT OUT TO BIG PAPA SCHNEIDS! HAPPY BIRTHDAYYY, YOU'RE WORLD FAMOUS BECAUSE YOU MADE IT ON MY BLOG!
So yesterday was solid. First I finished up a poster for the Austin marathon/half marathon. I made a minor edit to the DVD art I did yesterday and now that's off to print. Next I made a notepad in spanish "Apoyo con cancer: 888.888.888" In the afternoon I was assigned my current project which is going to take some time. It is basically a chart with cancer quotes from around the world for a report we're doing. I have to arrange the quotes on a timeline-esque bar with flags next to each depending on the country. I will blog more about that later, but right now it's time to get to work!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Back to the Grindstone

So today was my first day back after my lovely exotic getaway to Branson, Missouri. When I got to work I was told Diana was working from home today. She had sent me an email with 3 projects and told me she would be able to communicate through IM. The first project was creating a poster for the Austin Marathon/Half Marathon, but it was really just making some changes to an existing poster (changing the picture and copy). Next was placing some DVD art I created last week onto the photoshop template, easy enough. Lastly was labeling and filing some older projects. Diana had an appt at 1:30 so I got to duck out early today. Also, my friend and I went to lunch at the Pita Pit downtown, de-lish! Overall another successful day at Livestrong, we'll see what tomorrow has in store!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Branson Bound!

So as you may know I am heading to Branson for a FAMILY REUNION!! However, this will not deter me from blogging about my day. Today went by rather quickly at work due to the HUGE project I worked on, literally, it was 8 ft by 3 ft. The project took me all day due to the fact it was so large and I started it from scratch rather than editing an existing one. Basically the piece was a timeline with some main Livestrong events that have occurred over the past two years (and that are yet to occur over the several months). I was given a model to work off of and some graphics and copy and then began working away! Anyways that's what I did all day but I got it done except for a couple of photos we're waiting on.
I'm not working tomorrow since I'm halfway to Branson at this point...but allow me to tell you about the drive. I'm driving down to the thriving metropolis of Branson with Grandma and Gramps in the sassy Jaguar. Now, this is quite a lovely car...when you don't have to road trip in it. I was confined to a single seat in the back which I shared with my bag, laptop, and all the food. I think my grandparents may be under the impression that there is no food supply in Branson; They may possibly have bought out the entire chip supply at Costco and piled them in the back seat. As if the space issue wasn't bad enough, grandparents are also very cold-blooded people. Grandparents love to keep the house rather warm, and same goes with the car. I was in the back seat so I wasn't getting a constant stream of air to begin with, but if I had it would have been the 73 degree room temperature air that didn't do much good anyways. To avoid heat stroke I managed to sprawl my body out in the most awkward of positions so there was no skin touching skin (my knee pits were getting rather sweaty when I had my legs crossed). This required on leg propped up by the window, an arm spanning the back of the seats, the other leg resting on the middle console under the cooler, and my right are just kind of floating around palm up radiating heat.
For dinner we stopped at a Czech restaurant because it's "an experience." There was a lot of cabbage and sour kraut on the menu, but I kept it safe and got a burger. When we were finished I asked our waiter for the "czech"! Hahaha...not really, but seriously, how many 'czech' puns do you think they get there every day?
While riding in the heated back seat I had quite a few deep thoughts, which I'll leave you with:
Why are public bathrooms so awkward?
Why is a gentleman's club called a "gentleman's" club?
Why do old people keep their cars and houses so hot?

If you don't hear from me, I'll be back on here Tuesday!

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

7/13/2010

Currently at work, but it's a slooooow day. This morning/early afternoon I had 2 projects: a manifesto poster and dvd. The dvd project consisted of changing a dvd label from black to white and changing all the white copy and logos to black. I also had to switch the position of the livestrong logo and media co. logo. For the manifesto poster I added some copy and a yellow background at the top, added Lance's signature, livestrong logo, black bar and some disclaimer copy. Later I helped another woman in Diana's department scan, email and rename the pdfs of some applications we've recieved requesting different resources. Also, I went to a meeting this morning discussing the new policy platform and how it will be designed and accessed by viewers on the website. That's pretty much it...I got some wristbands to hand out to people at the family reunion at grandpa's request.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Blog-rific

Hey blog,

so let me recap yesterday's events for you: Got to work and had a project that required a minor size change for an ad. Next created a web banner footer of sponsor logos for a website, pretty simple. I also created a graphic of 2 livestrong logos which is going to be printed on a pen. In the afternoon I helped Diana cut and piece together an example of the signage going outside of the new patient navigation center which was tile printed on 8.5x11 paper. No meetings yesterday and Diana let me out an hour early so that was nice. One of our project managers, Anne Marie, is out of town so we haven't been getting as many requests lately. Next week I'm only working Tuesday and Wednesday, so hopefully I'll have more to discuss then. Until next time!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

chzech it out

Title is irrelevant to this post...

Today at work was pretty solid. Got to work and made some edits to a poster, apparently a sponsor logo was missing. Following this I worked on a couple of different projects the rest of the day (including revisions). One of the projects was creating a web banner ad for the FRS website, so hopefully that will be up sometime in the near future! I'll post a link when it is. Also, I made some changes to a poster. The background photo of David the Triathlete had to be replaced with Carlos, the Bicyclist with the prosthetic leg, along with some minor copy edits and additions. Also, at 11, there was a meeting I sat in on with a freelancer who is working on some annual report. Her name is Belinda and she may be the littlest woman I've ever seen, she's presh. That pretty much wraps up the day at Livestrong, hope you are all watching the tour, go lance!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Relatively uneventful day

As Diana stated today, the design department during the Tour de France can be either famine or feast. Today was famine. I went to 2 meetings today and did 1 edit for a Livstrong Challenge in Austin poster. The first meeting was basically figuring out a timeline for a large booklet project that will be needed in May. The next consisted of going over some card ideas for Livestrong Christmas cards that Shutterfly.com is doing. This morning there were crepes available as they showed today's tour stage on the big projector screen and later there was Indian food from a presentation so those are good things. That's pretty much my day...oh but since you asked, yes, I did have a good 4th of July. Went out on the lake with the fam, watched some fireworks, and at lots of yummy food...solid. Here's a photo of the staff in our chalkbot shirts from Nike giving a shout out to Lance:

GO LANCE

Thursday, July 1, 2010

WHAT?!?!

Today has been simultaneously boring, exciting, great, kind of awful, and full of dramaaaa. Ok I make it sound much more intense than it actually has been. Got to work and came to turn on my computer first thing of course (There is absolutely nothing I do that doesn't involve a computer) and low and behold, my precious intern room Mac is dunzo, dead, kaput, stick a fork in it, it's done. I noticed it had been running slow lately, and Diana said the computer was inherited from someone else...so perhaps it has a past. Regardless, when I turned it on it released a series of obnoxious beeps and tones and continued to do so until turning it off...awesome. Luckily Willy, our IT guy, was quick to the scene and wisked away my technological monitor of being. For the majority of the morning I was without a computer...the good news is we had free sandwhiches, cookies, cake and pie to occupy me. Diana also subscribes to a variety of design magazines she let me mull over. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Willy decided my computer had a hard drive problem and swapped it with this awesome G5 dinosaur. Not really a problem, just annoying. I had to re-setup my email and scrounge around for some files I was saving on my old desktop for my summer portfolio (smart I know). Luckily this computer already had the CS4 programs and all the fonts I needed, but my most recent problem is that it doesn't seem to be connecting correctly with the printers...and i can't do anything about it because I haven't been approved as an administrator on this computer...aghhhh!
Anyways, because of this hot mess, I have only managed to make a measly spanish Livestrong graphic to put on a pen...."Apoyo con Cancer 866.927.7205." I can't print it so it doesn't do me much good...
Oh! Almost forgot the dramzzzz. Apparently, while hanging signage in the new patient navigation center yesterday, one of the workers managed to put a large puncture in one of the brand new never-before-used leather chairs in the reception area. Turns out it's going to cost $600 to replace...so we have to invoice the sign guy. It's too bad, he's a nice man and I think it was one of his helpers that actualy did the damage, but that's what happens I guess. The signage and wall quotes look really great though! Well, wish me luck on getting my work station back to normal, the old mac is really throwin' off my game!

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Short and Sweet

Disclaimer: this post is going to be short and sweet due to the fact I'm working on a midterm that's due by midnight.

Today was awesome. We got free breakfast tacos this morning. I then worked on making some changes to some signage and an ad for the Livestrong Challenge in Austin from yesterday. Before lunch Diana and I went over to the new Navigation Center to check up on the quote signage that's going up on the walls, it looks really good. Did you know they have to have each individual letter made and stick them up one at a time? Even the dot's on the i's and the periods...must be tedious. After lunch I made some edits to an event poster which needed the rsvp information revised. At 3 o'clock Nike came to do a presentation about their new apparel and their plans for the Livestrong Nike collection during the Tour de France. They also talked about the "chalkbot" which is a robot that paints along the Tour route in France; it paints actual messages people submit online about loved ones with cancer, who they're fighting for/supporting, etc. The best part of this meeting was that we got FREE t-shirts and FREE BEER! Also cheese and crackers and chips and salsa. Did I mention the beer was from Canada, US, England and France? We're so cultural. Next Wed. we're going to get free crepes and watch the tour...I'm going to get fat this summer.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Read Me

Much has occurred since the date of my last post, so allow me to update you on the life and times of Sarah and her adventures in Austin. When we last left off I was finishing up the work week on a wednesday due to my boss's absence at work on Thursday. I'll skip the boring parts (such as the papers I wrote and Math exam I took) and go straight to the juicy stuff. Thursday night a friend from work and myself went out for some late night mexican at Guerro's, and I can vouch for their queso, delish. Afterwards we went downtown and met some real life Austinites, talk about exciting! Friday I did some more boring stuff, but that evening I went to a Round Rock express minor league baseball game! (see photos below). After the game was a nice fireworks show. They absolutely crushed the Albuquerque Isotopes by the way...
Saturday I babysat early, about 8:30, and got done around 11. I then made my way to the lake house to watch the sad sad US/Ghana game, but cheered up via a few jet ski rides on the lake after. Sunday night I went to see Toy Story 3, but wait, there's more...IN THE IMAX AAANNNDDD IN 3-D! It's pretty great, I would recommend it to all. Yesterday Livestrong had a benefit at a restaurant on the river which I went to with a few other interns, it was nice...we got free drinks and delicious food (personally I was a fan of the bacon wrapped jalapenos) and enjoyed the lakeside view. Immediately following the happy hour benefit, a friend and I from work went to a concert. The band is a lesser-known one, which made it so much better since I got an autographed t-shirt AND photo with them! We then went out to a couple bars with the merch guy...although we were under the impression the band was coming out with him, so a slight disappointment, not gonna lie. Whew, now that that book is written it brings us to today.
Waking up today was rough considering my 4 am bedtime this morning, but it did not deter me from a productive day! First thing when I arrived at Livestrong was a meeting. Basically the marketing team is just beginning the infant stages of brainstorming for next year's Livestrong Challenge campaign. It's pretty neat to see everyone bouncing ideas off each other and coming up with something that alllll the design with be focused around next year. After this I work on some livestrong challenge ads, using photoshop to add and adjust the featured people in each ad. I forgot to bring lunch today but I munched on some delicious grapes and trail mix from the kitchen. This afternoon I worked on some signage for a Livestrong challenge and from 3:30-5 Livestrong screened a documentary called 'Ride the Divide' about a grueling bike race that goes from Canada to Mexico; less than 40 people have ever even finished it! The director was there so we got to do a q&a and everything so it was pretty neat. Getting off work late however meant I had to endure the traffic home, it took an hour to get back...and it's been raining alllll day. My fingers hurt from typing but that was a much needed update, come back tomorrow for a fresh new post! And check out da pics!

Round Rock Express
Fireworks after the game

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

USA

Started off the morning extra great today (aside from the extra early wakeup and hellish commute) because THE US BEAT ALGERIA and is advancing in the world cup! And I got to watch it all unfold on the big projector at Livestrong's personal Worldcup party, breakfast tacos included. After all of that excitement it was meeting time. First was a meeting about some new products we'll be designing for the Livestrong store, and I think we're going to have some great new merch! Next was a meeting concerning a new logo we'll be designing for individuals and groups to use more liberally while raising money/doing events in the name of Livestrong since Nike doesn't allow indviduals to use the official logo. After the meetings I finished up an event guide for participants of the San Jose Livestrong Challenge and then made some edits to a card. Currently I'm working on an ad for the Livestrong Challenge in Philly doing some photoshop work...never a dull moment here at Livestrong! Gotta go, somebody brought in cake...

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Another Day Another Dollar...well...another day

Hello blog!
It's been quite sometime since I didn't work last week, but I was able to get a lot of homework done early which made for weekend playtime! On Thursday I saw "Get Him to the Greek" with a friend from work, it was quite humorous. Saturday I had to babysit at 7 am! It was ok though because I got $45 for 2 hours. Later that day I went to Barton Springs with a friend from work and laid out and swam...the water is quite chilly though, it's a brisk 68 degrees all year round, but it felt rather nice after laying out in the 97 degree heat for a while. Sunday we had Father's Day lunch at my grandparents with the whole fam and watched the soccer game, and that night myself and my aunt, cousins and brother went to go see Date Night (I'm quite the movie-goer recently) which was pretty funny, and only cost $1.75 because it was at some discount theatre since it's been out a while. Anyways now it's back to the grindstone, I'm back at work and thus far I've made a few business cards, made some changes on LIVESTRONG Challenge registration forms and changed the parking information on the back of the bibs for the LIVESTRONG Challenge in San Jose. This past weekend was the LIVESTRONG Challenge in Seattle and I think it went pretty well. Here is a family that participated in the race this past weekend and little Owain's story:

Check out Owain's story!

Friday, June 18, 2010

LDsjkfa;lskdfjs

What a crazy weekend for sports! The Lakers/Celtics game was awesome last night, the soccer game today was good aside from the fact we got robbed of a win due to the refs call (which is still undetermined as to what it was for) and the US open. Speaking of sports/activity, I was running last night and saw a coyote! Kind of scary...I saw a deer the other day too, apparently there is a nature preserve nearby. This post is basically a procrastination tool so I don't have to begin my trig hw which I'm 3 days behind on, so I should probably go start that. Anyways just some thoughts...

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Missing work?

Dare I say it? I miss work this week...not so much the early wake-ups, but it's a lot more fun than paper writing, that's for sure. Actually I quite enjoy work so it's not shocking at all...but I did get to go in this morning for a team meeting; nothing too exciting, but interesting nonetheless. I somewhat loathe and despise summer classes...they take up so much time that I could be doing other FUN SUMMER THINGS! However, my art history and trig class will have none of that!

On a slightly different note, here is a funny video relating to the oil spill that is the talk of twitter these days by the way...

Humorous

Monday, June 14, 2010

Monday Monday Monday!

Switching things up a bit this week, went in to work on a Monday, whoa crazy! Diana is going to be out this week after today so she had me come in since I won't be able to the rest of the week. Finished a LIVESTRONG challenge ad today that will be featured in the August edition of Austin Monthly (check it out!) and worked on the quarter 2 business cards. This morning I went to a marketing meeting; they have them every Monday so I'm usually not in attendance. Pretty much consisted of going through current projects and checking the status of each, pretty standard. Oh we also got some more free food today! I might start keeping a tally of every time we receive free delightful meals. The count is at 3 thus far, but that's not including the random treats such as the gourmet suckers that were available today as well. Anyways, since I'm not working the rest of the week I will most likely be trying to get ahead on homework and get my name out for babysitting jobs, etc. I will try to blog a day or two with updates, but don't get too excited...Until next time!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Where has the week gone?!

Last day of work for the week, good day overall. Spent most of the morning finishing project labels, however, I got to go with Diana to meet a vendor who brought samples of window coverings for the new navigation center that is about to open. Some windows inside are going to be covered with graphics of cancer survivors and quotes that were printed on a plastic mesh material that lets light through but provides a bit more privacy for conference rooms and just adds to the space overall. On the outside they're going to have similar graphics adhered to the upper windows; I think it will all look really good when it's done. I spent the afternoon working on an ad that's going in Austin Monthly Magazine. It's an advertisement for the Livestrong Challenge in Austin coming up in October. The challenging part about this project is that it basically requires a horizontal ad to be adjusted to the vertical dimensions, 4 something by 9 something. This still needs a good bit of work but I got a decent amount done today. Diana is going out of town next week after Monday so I'm going in Monday, which might be my only day for the week, she's going to talk to the marketing team. Because I'm going in Monday, however, I'll get to go to a couple of the big meetings with all the marketing people and everything, so that should be interesting. Time to go work on some homework, booooo summer classes! Later gators

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Just another day at the office

Worked on lots of projects today, don't even remember all of them. A lot of them consisted of making minor changes to cards, brochures, etc. I finished the autograph card and used lots of pantone 116 c in the process...boy is that yellow! I ended up getting all the projects Diana planned for the week done today, apparently I'm pretty quick which is good I suppose. So I spent the last hour or so making labels for finished job folders, not the most exciting but it needs to be done I guess. Oh I almost forgot, this morning I also got the chance to sit in on a meeting with a freelancer. The woman was someone who Diana says she's been working with for years and she's helping to finish the annual report. She isn't doing much design, more production. Tomorrow I'm going to sit in on a vendor meeting...woohoo! Until tomorrow blog!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

So today at work there was a big announcement! The best part? We got free lunch from Maudie's AND free dessert, can't beat that. Now, you might be asking yourself what announcement could be so huge that would merit free lunch and news cameras AND the mayor's presence? Turns out that Livestrong recently signed a 3 year commitment with the city in which they will be the primary sponsor of the Austin Marathon/Half Marathon event, which is the 3rd or 4th largest of its kind I believe. Anywho, all that excitement aside, today was pretty solid. I started out by making some minor changes to a notepad I was working on last weekend. I also added a photo and description of a new available brochure to a card. In the afternoon I worked on making changes to a current brochure and began creating a large autograph card which will be provided to fans at this big golf tourney coming up in which Livestrong is involved in. Time flies by there...the 6 hour shifts seem even shorter than my 4 hour shifts last summer. Welp, I'm gong to go try to watch the season finale of Glee, but stay tuned for another update tomorrow!

Saturday, June 5, 2010

The weekend thus far...

So as most of you know, my internship is only Tues/Wed/Thurs, which makes for a long weekend. So I didn't have work yesterday, but I did go to Dallas to see 3oh!3, which was awesome! It was a tour of 4 bands so their set wasn't very long, but man can those guys put on a show. Played some the classics such as 'I'm Not Your Boyfriend Baby' and 'Colorado Sunrise' along with a few newbies. Now that I'm back in Austin, however, it's time to continue this long journey I like to call a job hunt; at this rate I'll be living in a box on 35. I have 5 applications to turn in today, sounds promising right? 2 of them are for a couple of local country clubs, and if you don't know this I am veteran when it comes to working at these joints, so I have high hopes. How is it that I can land an apparently competitive internship but can't manage to get a job waitressing at a low end chain restaurant? After that, however, I might be hanging out with a couple other interns from Livestrong which will be a fun time. On a more depressing note, online classes begin Monday. Modern art and Trig...hold me back. Oh and ps- I finally put my livestrong and apple stickers on the back of my car, now it just screams "me". Welpie welp, I'm off to attempt to get a paying job, wish me luck blog!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Day 2

Today was a great day at work simply because somebody brought a giant box of free chapstick into the office. Awesome. Besides my super moisturized lips, I also began to work on some projects in the graphic design department today. One of the projects was making simple revisions on some Livestrong Challenge registration forms. The second project I worked on was creating a form/notepad for workers to use at the Livestrong Challenge in Seattle which included a spot to fill out one's bib number, shirt size etc. Diana was very clear and helpful and everything seemed to go smoothly. I worked for 6 hours today but it felt much much shorter. The only low point of today was when I was eating a cheeze-it at lunch which violently scratched/raped my throat, that was awful. I am yet to bring in some flair to add to my personal little bulletin board (which currently has a picture of me and the Truman logo, which nobody as any idea as to what that is). Also, my hands turned blue today because I wore these new jeans that I haven't washed yet and was sitting on my hands and it dyed them slightly blue...I look like I have terrible blood circulation; I'm scared to see what my legs look like.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

First Day at Livestrong!

What an amazing day!
Today was intern orientation at Livestrong, and it was great! The building is amazing. It is an old warehouse that was gutted and completely recycled to make the new headquarters. Everything from the wood to the concrete is original to the building, but recycled and revamped. There is tons of natural light that comes in through the razor blade style skylights. One of my favorite things, however, is Lance's personal art collection that is displayed throughout the building. There are paintings, sculptures and posters (some of which are by the artist Shepard Fairey, who designed Obama's Hope poster). And just when you think there couldn't be anything else, there is! There is a gym where they teach classes (free yoga on mon. and wed.). Also, there is a great kitchen with all real dishes so we can be environmentally friendly, which is stressed here.

As far as the interns go, everyone seems really cool. There are 27 interns total from ALL over; one girl is even from Australia. With interns from across the country, imagine my surprise when the first person I meet is a girl from St. Joe, Missouri. One of the interns is in charge of putting together intern social events over the summer, the first being put put next Friday which should be fun. Anyways, each intern works in a different department including Team Livestrong, Navigation, Legal and Government, Info. Tech and many more. When talking with one of the Employees, she was very impressed I was the Graphic Design intern and said it was very competitive position, so yay!

After a tour and meet and greet we were given pizza and got to eat with all of the Livestrong employees. Everyone is really friendly and interested in what the interns are doing. Each intern is given a mentor that they work under, mine being Diana Berno. Diana seems really cool and I think she really knows what she's doing; she says I'll get to start working on projects as soon as tomorrow! Each intern gets their own space in the intern room with their own computer along with our own Livestrong email and phone extension. Below is a picture of the employees/interns eating lunch today:



After lunch we went over the handbook and received our emails and whatnot along with learning some of the computer program basics. I'm really excited for what is yet to come and I'll be posting here daily to keep everyone updated (that means you Rusty!) So until then, Peace out Blog!!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Tomorrow tomorrow...

Hello Blog,

It's been quite some time. It's been very busy around Austin with my cousin's wedding and whatnot, but that's all over now and the real fun is about to begin! That's right, Internship starts tomorrow! Tomorrow is just an orientation day so mostly training and learning how everything works there; I'm excited nonetheless. I'm yet to find an outfit that says biker-friendly, cancer research-supporter, artsy and professional...on my list of to-do's. Anyways I will be posting about my first day tomorrow, but I should be getting some shuteye considering I'm waking up at 6:45 to get ready and deal with morning traffic! Check back tomorrow for more detes, later gator!

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Update

Hey there,

It's been a while...sorry but haven't had much excitement going on lately. Update on my life: Arrived in Austin today, woohoo! Cousin's wedding is still a week away and LAF internship a week and a half, but getting close! My fully loaded up car made the long trek, and fared the journey much better than a certain mercury Sable would have. Anywho, it's late and I just wanted to leave an update; a more detailed post is yet to come.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Rocks in Jellies


Today, while babysitting 3 year-old Kate, I was taken back to a time long ago. Little Kate was sporting a sassy pair of hot pink Jellies today, much akin to a pair I once had oh-so long ago. The problem: Rocks in Jellies. We were playing on a playground filled with those colorful yet spiteful tiny rocks, which always manage to find their way into one's jelly shoes. Several times during the brief romp in the play area, Kate had to stop, remove a shoe, and proceed to dump 2-3 rocks out. I feel ya Kate. Jellies were always a popular and stylish form of footwear, but never ceased to fail miserably when it came to playground time. A sneaky rock always managed to work its way between the criss-crossed rubbery lacing and continue to weasel its way to the single most sensitive part of the bottom of my foot where it would firmly wedge itself between said foot and the bottom of my jelly shoe/sandal (not sure on the terminology there). No wonder the jelly fad didn't last...

Kate also told me today that her dad "toots a lot"

Saturday, May 8, 2010

I can't come up with anything creative to put here...

HELLO BLOG!

I'm sorry I've been neglecting you...it's Truman's fault. Things have been quite busy today. Ceremonies and parties galore with graduation with today along with packing up for the long trek home tomorrow. Let's discuss my mixed feelings about heading home.

First of all, I'm obviously excited for summer, what kind of weirdo wouldn't be? Especially with my internship and sunny Austin awaiting (it was 45 degrees today...in May. That's not ok.) However, I will be gone allllll summer. This means: No impromtu Kirksville trips, no Greek Reunion, no summer concerts in STL, no laying out at Taylor's pool. I would say overall though that I'm happy I'll be spending the summer in Austin doing what I love, graphic designing! lsdkjfa;sldjfs. Speaking of graphic design, I have a link for you today. The following site has brought me many-a-laugh:

Graphic Deisngers: You'll appreciate this

That's all for now. Sorry nothing exciting has been happening with me lately. I'm going to go pack up my life into some Rubbermade Tubs. Peace.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Happy Reading Day!

Once a semester at Truman State University, students are rewarded for all their hard work with the day we all know as Reading Day. Today is that day. Happy Reading Day everyone! Now, as one might infer from its name, Reading Day was created as a class/finals-free study day in the middle of finals week so that students might catch a break and brush up on some extra studying. This is rare. It is currently 1:46 and I'm yet to crack open a book, or even think about it to be quite honest. I have two tests left that I can take at my convenience, and motivation is currently quite hard to come by. Perhaps it has to do with the great news that I recently received an internship at the Lance Armstrong Foundation for the summer in the graphic design department! With summer only 2 days away and this exciting opportunity on the horizon, my concentration levels are at an all time low.

On a completely unrelated note, here is a picture of me and my new precious car:



Ok, I'm now going to pry myself from my computer so I can do something productive with my day. Wish me luck!

Monday, May 3, 2010

It's finally here!

IT'S HERE IT'S HERE! That's right, my highly anticipated and long-awaited website! Actually the majority of people reading this probably accessed it from my website...or had no idea I was making one at all. Anyways, there are still some things I need to work out, but it is online! What a relief...here's a link so you can check it out!

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT MY AWESOME SITE!

I've also finished a video I made in motion graphics; It's stop motion. Believe it or not, the most difficult part was making the paper crane, sheesh those things are confusing!

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT MY AWESOME VIDEO

The Inventor of CSS is a Rude Person

Welp, here I am at 1:16 am the Monday of finals week working on my CSS website. Typical. The most frustrating thing about CSS is that if you try to make one baby, minuscule, minute change in your website, the entire site becomes a hot mess. I'm so close, yet so far. I just ate a pop tart which hopefully will rejuvenate myself along with my love for viscom and inspire me sit here and stare and the screen even longer. Anyways I should probably be web designing rather than blogging, so I'll leave you with this video I made in motion graphics:

Truman Squirrel Video

...sometimes I wish I could just be a carefree Truman squirrel

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Boomity Bang Bang Pow

Where is the weekend going?! It's already 2:40 on Saturday...I have so much to do. Stately Victor did not win the Kentucky Derby, unfortunately. I'm so out of it now so I'm no quite sure what to put next, so I'll just post a link...cool.

I love this dog

Friday, April 30, 2010

Yesterday was so cool

You won't believe what happened yesterday...I found a dollar in the library! I was walking down the spiral staircase just thinking about my life when there it was, shining in the light, staring right at me waiting to be snatched up. But wait, there's more! When I was out last night I found another dollar! If this keeps up I'll never work a day in my life!

Anyways, it's raining today. I was supposed to give a campus tour to a group of kids from a school but they peaced out early because it's so yucky here I guess, oh well, more nap time for me! I'm currently trying to get my website up and running, I'll post a link to it whenever that happens.

also here's a new fav website: www.perpetualkid.com

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

3OH!3

So I'm extra amped about 3OH!3's new album coming out and even MORE amped about their concert June 3rd in Dallas! I absolutely must go...and they're having a sneak preview of their new song on Monday. Enough about them though. Check out this cool vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d79ArrL8VRg&feature=fvw

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Best day of my life...

Today I found a dollar. Also I still don't have a debit card.

Monday, April 12, 2010

And so it begins...

I am officially changing the theme of this blog, it will no longer be "viscom II" (I'm not even in that class anymore) but rather stories from my life and everyday activities, ya know, the usual.

For my first post I would like to let everyone in on my latest frustration: I have no money. Even if I did, however, I wouldn't have any access to it. Why you ask? It just so happens there was a security breach at my bank causing quite a few checking accounts debit/credit cards to be canceled, guess who was included? That's a rhetorical question, of course I was. I didn't find this out, however, until I was embarrassingly shut down by a taco bell employee while trying to pay for a $2 burrito. So I ordered a new card almost a week ago (which still hasn't arrived)and have been living on macaroni and cheese, oatmeal, jello and popcorn. I guess it's a good way to get used to the life of a "starving artist" which I am inevitably entering into. That's all for now I suppose, hopefully I keep up with this new blog! Until next time...

-Sarah

...I'm hungry