Saturday, July 31, 2010
Printers' Ball Poster (Poem: Serenade)
I was unable to attend yesterday's Printers' Ball, the annual free Chicago literary extravaganza summer event that the Poetry Foundation sponsors, but I did participate in a way: artist Jenny Beorkrem, the founder of Ork Inc., a poster design company, and I collaborated on one of the posters that was displayed at the event. As part of this project, I selected one of my oldest and most straightforward poems, "Serenade," which I thought would be design-worthy, and this is what Jenny came up with.
The first image is the mock-up of the poster. Jenny wrote that she wanted to play with abstraction (though not because of Seismosis, which she looked at, she told me, after completing her design), and, I imagine, to convey some of the poem's rhetorical, lyric and narrative movement. The refrain literally--as opposed to just figuratively--pops out:
And here is the final (my name was inadvertently left off the bottom, but the poem is copyrighted, so...):
If any readers attended the Printers' Ball, please do let me know how it turned out!
The first image is the mock-up of the poster. Jenny wrote that she wanted to play with abstraction (though not because of Seismosis, which she looked at, she told me, after completing her design), and, I imagine, to convey some of the poem's rhetorical, lyric and narrative movement. The refrain literally--as opposed to just figuratively--pops out:
And here is the final (my name was inadvertently left off the bottom, but the poem is copyrighted, so...):
If any readers attended the Printers' Ball, please do let me know how it turned out!
Friday, July 30, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Do It Once...
There are things that we do repetitively and they waste our time. Sometimes we can streamline something and save time. The goal is to manage your time and make your time more productive.
For instance, if you have multiple email accounts and you spend too much time going to the different email services to check your email you are wasting time. It's inefficient. Get a program that will show you all your email in one place or filter by individual accounts. Or can you forward incoming emails to one central email account? I do this. I have 3 email accounts and I have two forward incoming email to my main email account.
Another automation that I do with my email: I set up some folders and after I check the email, I go ahead and drag it to the correct folder or delete it. I have my email account set up to daily permanently delete any emails in the Delete folder that are over 2 days old. I never have to worry about cleaning out the "Delete" folder.
Are there other things you can automate? If you can think of ways to stop duplicating and start automating, you can save time.
Here are some suggestions:
* Don't write a check, spend money on postage and walk to the mailbox to pay your bills. Your bank will have a bill paying feature online. Or you can use Quicken and pay your bills within your Quicken software. Using Quicken allows you to enter the transaction one time and it will not only schedule your bank to pay the bill but enter it into your checking account. You can even schedule bills to come out every month and you don't have to do anything (except work to make the money to PAY those bills, LOL!)
* Record your TV shows on DVR so you avoid commercials and you are watching only the shows you are interested in and not channel surfing.
* Maximize your car time. Pray. Take your mp3 player with you so you can listen to praise & worship music, or listen to a book (including the Bible) on mp3 or CD. You can be learning as you drive.
* Maximize your waiting time. If you know you are going to be waiting somewhere like a doctor's office or for little Suzy's dance class to be over, you can make that time productive. Take a book, write a letter, pull out your Bible, update your schedule, etc.
* Always put things back where they belong. Don't waste time looking for your pocketbook or car keys because you always put them in the same spot when you come in. Don't waste time looking for the scissors or the duct tape because you always put it back where it belongs. Have a place for everything and keep everything in it's place. People spend, on average, 6 minutes looking for their keys in the morning. Don't waste that time!
I hope I've given you some ideas. Time management is the key to efficiency. Getting more done in the same 24 hours. It means making choices, being open to new ideas, planning ahead, automating repetitive tasks, discipline. If an Efficiency Expert came into your life, how would they advise you? Are there things you can cut out of your life? Are there better ways of doing things? Can you learn new behaviors? Can you tighten up your daily activities?
Think about it and see what you come up with!
By the way, there is one task that is repetitive and it's driving me crazy! When I go to the grocery store I have to pick up the item from the shelf and put it in my cart (1). Then I have to pick up the item and place it on the checkout counter (2). Then I have to put the items in the cart to go out to the car (3). I have to place the bags in the car (4). Then I have to unload the items and take them to the kitchen (5) and then I have to unpack and put them up (6). I'm handlng these items 6 times and I keep thinking there has to be a better way. If you have a suggestion, please comment!
For instance, if you have multiple email accounts and you spend too much time going to the different email services to check your email you are wasting time. It's inefficient. Get a program that will show you all your email in one place or filter by individual accounts. Or can you forward incoming emails to one central email account? I do this. I have 3 email accounts and I have two forward incoming email to my main email account.
Another automation that I do with my email: I set up some folders and after I check the email, I go ahead and drag it to the correct folder or delete it. I have my email account set up to daily permanently delete any emails in the Delete folder that are over 2 days old. I never have to worry about cleaning out the "Delete" folder.
Are there other things you can automate? If you can think of ways to stop duplicating and start automating, you can save time.
Here are some suggestions:
* Don't write a check, spend money on postage and walk to the mailbox to pay your bills. Your bank will have a bill paying feature online. Or you can use Quicken and pay your bills within your Quicken software. Using Quicken allows you to enter the transaction one time and it will not only schedule your bank to pay the bill but enter it into your checking account. You can even schedule bills to come out every month and you don't have to do anything (except work to make the money to PAY those bills, LOL!)
* Record your TV shows on DVR so you avoid commercials and you are watching only the shows you are interested in and not channel surfing.
* Maximize your car time. Pray. Take your mp3 player with you so you can listen to praise & worship music, or listen to a book (including the Bible) on mp3 or CD. You can be learning as you drive.
* Maximize your waiting time. If you know you are going to be waiting somewhere like a doctor's office or for little Suzy's dance class to be over, you can make that time productive. Take a book, write a letter, pull out your Bible, update your schedule, etc.
* Always put things back where they belong. Don't waste time looking for your pocketbook or car keys because you always put them in the same spot when you come in. Don't waste time looking for the scissors or the duct tape because you always put it back where it belongs. Have a place for everything and keep everything in it's place. People spend, on average, 6 minutes looking for their keys in the morning. Don't waste that time!
I hope I've given you some ideas. Time management is the key to efficiency. Getting more done in the same 24 hours. It means making choices, being open to new ideas, planning ahead, automating repetitive tasks, discipline. If an Efficiency Expert came into your life, how would they advise you? Are there things you can cut out of your life? Are there better ways of doing things? Can you learn new behaviors? Can you tighten up your daily activities?
Think about it and see what you come up with!
By the way, there is one task that is repetitive and it's driving me crazy! When I go to the grocery store I have to pick up the item from the shelf and put it in my cart (1). Then I have to pick up the item and place it on the checkout counter (2). Then I have to put the items in the cart to go out to the car (3). I have to place the bags in the car (4). Then I have to unload the items and take them to the kitchen (5) and then I have to unpack and put them up (6). I'm handlng these items 6 times and I keep thinking there has to be a better way. If you have a suggestion, please comment!
David and Preston
My cousin, David, with his son, Preston, at the beach. The photo files are too small for good quality. But I love these photos and I wanted to try a different technique. So these beach photos are in a sort of collage using Adobe Photobrushes. I like the result.
Slow News Day In Iran
There are plenty of slow news days in the US, especially during the summer. That's when we tend to hear more about things like Lindsay Lohan's nether regions than we do during other times of the year, simply because there isn't a lot going on. (Fortunately, we're spared from that this time around, as Lindsay is still holed up in the Lynwood pokey and should be for a few more days now.) But it must be a really slow news day in Iran. How else would you explain their wacky leader, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (pronounced "I'm a dinner jacket") speaking out about Paul the Octopus. Wait. The what now?Paul. The Octopus. That is correct. If you're unfamiliar with Paul, allow me to familiarize you. Paul is
an octopus. It's right there in his name. According to the folks across the pond at The Telegraph Paul "...became an international star after predicting the outcome of all seven German World Cup matches accurately." The way I understand how that worked was someone would put a little octopus treat into two different containers, each one labeled with the flag of the country that was playing in the match. Whichever treat Paul selected was assumed to be his pick for the winner of the match. Paul not only selected the winner once, he selected the winner seven times. (Granted, I don't think that Paul knew what in the world he was doing other than getting himself a little snack, but that's what happened.) I'm a Dinner Jacket felt the need to mention Paul on more than one occasion when he gave a speech this past weekend in Tehran. Some of his anti-Paul points were:
He "...accused the octopus of spreading "western propaganda and superstition." It is unclear how an octopus does that. I am also unfamiliar with any sort of western propaganda involving octopuses. Octopi? Octopussies? You know what I mean.
He "...claims that the octopus is a symbol of decadence and decay among "his enemies". If "his enemies" include the German soccer team, then he may have a point. Granted, there is no evidence indicating that this is what the deal is. I get that. You get that. Dinner jacket does not get that.
He says that Paul "...is a symbol of all that is wrong with the western world." I don't know if it's a symbol of all that's wrong. Have you paid attention to the western world lately? There's an awful lot of things that are wrong. I highly doubt that they can all be symbolized by one octopus. Please. Even symbols have limits.
And finally, this nutjob said, "Those who believe in this type of thing cannot be the leaders of the global nations that aspire, like Iran, to human perfection, basing themselves in the love of all sacred values." Hey, valuing an octopus that can predict the outcome of sports events where betting and subsequent winning can be involved sounds just like the sort of thing that I'd like to base myself in. Who said that just because we like a tricky octopus that we aspire to lead a nation? Why can't we just want to watch some soccer and eat some hot wings? OK, fine. I don't really want to watch soccer, but I do enjoy the hot wings. Can't we just do that? And have the octopus get his treat? Seems reasonable to me. Then again, I'm not some crazy dictator of one of the sand lands, so what do I know? Probably not much, but I'd like to think that I'd be able to talk about something other than the alleged evils of an octopus which may or may not be able to predict the outcome of soccer matches.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
