pyrosarco

Five days shy of a month ago, I posted some goals.  To keep on track, I am going to make myself accountable to you.  Here are the goals (reposted)–I put a two month time limit on them–and what I have accomplished.

1. Make a portfolio of art that will get me accepeted into another college.

I submitted my portfolio to RIT on the 6th, it went into evaluation on the 9th.  I talked to an advisor today, she said I will know in a week or two.

2. Read three more books about investing/business.  Read as many books as I want for pleasure.

I have completed one book on business by Robert Kiyosaki and am now reading a book by Ken McElroy on investing in Real Estate.  For pleasure, I have read Lirael, the book after Sabriel in a trilogy by Garth Nix.  I started Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood last evening.
3. Put another 30 hours into drawing to improve my skills.

Between the homework and out of class projects, I think I have racked up 30 hours.  I lose incentive when I don’t have to do it for a grade.
4. Do another 10 photoshop tutorials.

I am suffering in this category, I have only done one tutorial.
5. Read more about / do more web layout.

I was investigating MooTools for my new site design, I however, don’t know enough about javascript. I should learn more and am trying to convince myself that I feel like it.
6. Design a new layout for my site.

I really wish I could get MooTools to work, then I would have a lot of incentive. I have been messing around with ColourLovers.com to get possible color schemes.
7. Get a job???  If it is possible — but honestly I am learning so much with out one right now.

I don’t have a job yet, I am mowing my friends lawn and working for an old lady part time.
8. Do more work on my car in order to learn more.

Besides checking tire pressures and making sure my tires are tight, I have not yet done any work on my car.  I do think more oil will be necessary soon, but that isn’t really hard.
9. Take a trip to Philadelphia and Baltimore.  Not on the same weekend like last week.

I took a trip to Baltimore on Sunday with my friends Josh and Kenny.  We saw the Orioles play the Pirates, although we left early and spent little time in Baltimore outside the stadium.  I wish I could have wandered around more.  I am not even sure who won the game?  Anyone know?
10. Cook dinner for my parents once a week to help out.

Sadly lacking on this one, does picking up takeout count?
11. Run errand with my grandmothers.

I am completing this one a bit one sided, but I still have time.  I did wash my one grandmothers car and take the other out for some errands and lunch.

In my studies this summer, I have been trying to stay motivated.  I would just like to say thanks to Adam Hake for the motivation he gives me to learn.  I know I haven’t talked to him in person for almost a year, but when we were in school together he was always studying something on his own–because he was curious.  So thanks for the inspiration to learn, I aspire to your study habbits and inquisitive nature.

For years now I have been mooching off of the online world.  Just taking, taking, taking and never thinking of giving back.  Well now, I have made a step in the right direction.  I finally purchased some webspace and intend to begin learning like I should.

I have always blamed the fact that I have used post to hosts as my inability to or desire not to, try and create something good, or to learn more about the web, applications, and the design process.   In case you don’t know, post to hosts are sites like http://core-fusion.net that offer webspace to people who meet a monthly post requirement on their forums.  While it is good for people who just want to play around, develope small things, and teach their kids, it has been my experience that they are unstable and slow to respond to your problems.  Core-fusion was one of the better ones that I have used and would recommend it if you just want some free space.  Post to hosts like Roxr.com are now gone, probably due to legality issues.  I think Roxr was run by the same people who manage Rapidshare.

A few weeks ago, I had already promised myself that I was going to do this as soon as possible.  After a meeting with Alex Hillman and Bart Mroz, two of the three founding partners of Round3Media, I was even more excited and compelled to do so. They mentioned that I should be blogging like crazy, which I already realized, but I was having trouble adjusting to the fact that I would have to use some known CMS rather than something I whipped together myself.  I did, and still do recognize the fact that I am, at this moment in time, not capable of writing something flexible, manageable, automated, and secure enough that I wouldn’t have to use a CMS like WordPress.

With that in mind, and already having used WordPress before, I set out with that option.  So here I am.

What I want to do:

First and foremost, I want to learn.  Learn everything that I can.  I guess this leans on the side of take, take, take, again, but at this point it is necessary.

Secondly, I want to share.  Share things I find, what I am doing, where I am going, who I have met, what has been discussed, all so that the world can progress and grow around me and through others.

Finally, I want to give back.  I want to be able to mentor and/or be able to help people with furthering their learning and developing of ideas.  However, there are no promises in this category for the time being.

What I am most interested in learning about:

Graphic Design - color theory, typography, Photoshop, etc.
Web Design - Why pages are laid out a certain way, why the code works the way it does (I have experience in HTML and some CSS), best practice
Web Development - Writing applications for the web (this is probably furthest out on my timeline)
Photography - self explanatory

If you have resources, please share them with me through commenting.  That way others will be just as able to benefit from them.