The day the music died

Posted On 9:13 PM by nerdluck | 2 points of view

American Pie
Don Mclean
A long, long time ago...
I can still remember
How that music used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And, maybe, they’d be happy for a while.

We were cleaning out some old stuff a couple of days ago when I found this old guitar pick. It was THE first guitar pick I bought around 12 years ago during my garage band years. It was the one I learned the basics with. I had mixed feelings the moment I held it between my thumb and index fingers just like I would when I was playing. It's been years... I have not played the guitar in years. The last time I was in a band, I was singing... I was writing... I have given up on the ax long before I have given up on the music. Probably because like most of the things I do, I think I wasn't good enough to be taken seriously. Looking at this worn out guitar pick, It makes me wonder. Had I kept on believing... Had I kept on working on it... Had I not given up... Could things have gone a little differently?

Posted by Picasa Photo available for FREE download. Just click the Picasa logo

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So Far, Too Good...

Posted On 11:20 AM by nerdluck | 1 points of view

The past few weeks had really been a blast. I didn't know I would enjoy blogging as much as I do right now. I have a list of things to blog about and I am nowhere near half of it. Only time constraints and intermittent connection (courtesy of my disappointing Broadband provider) prohibits me from blogging everyday. A roadblock that I may still consider, a blessing of sorts since in the first place, it was never my intention to post an entry everyday. I just get easily inspired whenever I see a new comment posted or when feedburner scores another reader. I get excited by the simplest of things, by the way.

Adam Hay of Rookie Designer said in one episode that one of the common distractions designers had to battle out with these days is the internet... More accurately, the urge to spend extended time in the cloud. Something that most bloggers (i think) are guilty of. I think the tendency for procrastination is aggravated when one is intentionally lost in the world of his or her favorite blog authors... which may or may not be another person entirely if you catch my drift.

Ten years ago, when the internet was young, My girlfriend (my wife now) would ask me how I can spend hours on end in front of a computer doing nothing but read... Waitaminit.. I think that was what she told me last week...
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The Empty Crib

Posted On 9:12 AM by nerdluck | 0 points of view


I Cry Alone
By LMK
If I prayed for you, would you come?
Would you come to me and hold me
in your arms while I wept?
If I prayed would you be here?
Would you come to me, if I wished
for you with all my heart???

"The Empty Crib" is featured as main visual for the article "Baby I'm-a-want you" for the August 2007 issue of Baby Magazine. The article speaks about a situation where one spouse want to have another child but the other prefers not to. Catch the August issue as soon as it hits the stands.

A high resolution copy of this photograph is available for FREE download at stock.xchange. I can also send it to you if you ask real nice. It is also available in my picasa web album but I prefer you get it from stock.xchange. It boosts up my download count.
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Dafont.com

Posted On 4:35 PM by nerdluck | 1 points of view

I am usually a three-font designer. Most of what I do uses either a type from the Helvetica or Garamond font families or a cursive script type font and I am happy about these type faces that I consider them the everlasting ones. There are some instances, though, that I think there is something missing in my visual equation that my usual font ingredients somehow lacks (gasp). On these instances I seek assistance from dafont.com.

From fonts adapted from pop culture like bands, TV shows and movies to iconic dingbats, dafont.com's database of around 7500 fonts are available for download. More fonts are added every week. You can also test drive any particular font you fancy with its custom preview feature. And the best part, It's FREE. Don't get me wrong though, with almost 7500 choices, nothing is going to take the place of my everlasting ones.
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She cries but...

Posted On 7:51 PM by nerdluck | 5 points of view

She cries but...CRYING
CJ Heck
I cry when I am hurting
and sometimes when I'm sad.
I cry when I get punished
'cause I've done something bad...

Nobody bullies Dad... That is one lesson my little girl learned in an odd way. After quite a lengthy tantrum, I snapped a photo of my little girl and showed it to her. She was all smiles after that.

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Better luck next time

Posted On 9:25 AM by nerdluck | 2 points of view

In preparation for the synchronized Baranggay (Town) and Sangguniang Kabataan (Youth Council) Elections in October, COMELEC, opened a special registration from July 15-22. Why does that have anything to do with me? Well... I have just realized that I have a civic duty on this city that has been home to me for the past four years. The last election I participated in was the 1998 presidential election. We all know how that turned out and I lost interest in the electoral system.

So there I was, somewhat excited about officially being a citizen of Makati City by being a registered voter. I went to the COMELEC office in Makati but what I saw made my heart sink (refer to photo.) What you are seeing in the photo is not even half of the number of the people there since the COMELEC office IS ON THE SECOND FLOOR and there is more on the other side of the building. One particular middle aged guy was telling us that some of the people was already there as early as 5AM, apparently, the COMELEC is only going to accommodate 200 of the lot. Cutting the long story short... I got up and went off to blog about it. It could have been a lot easier (and faster) if they set the registration at each baranggay. Then they wouldn't need the whole week. Citizenship will have to wait 'till after the October election when regular registration resumes. My fault, really. I should have registered last year.
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August 2007 goes to press

Posted On 8:15 AM by nerdluck | 0 points of view

It's time to celebrate as another issue of Baby Magazine goes to press as of this writing.

What's in this issue? It's all about wanting that little bundle of joy against all the odds in the August issue. Read about APAS and a couple's struggle (emotionally and financially) to finally have their "Million Peso Babies." On the other hand, what if you are physically able and but your problem is actually an uncooperative spouse? Read about the underlying causes of the "fear" of having too many children in "Baby, I'm a-want you." Learn how and why some babies are born premature in "An early birthday" and how the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is equipped to help babies survive premature birth in "Handle with Care." How do you care for your premature baby at home? "Preemie Proper" will help you through.

There is lots more to find in every issue of Baby Magazine for new parents because we all know "Babies don't come with a manual"
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Rookie Designer

Posted On 10:43 AM by nerdluck | 0 points of view

Unless you we're living under a rock for the past year, you would know that podcasting had become a phenomenon of sorts. It sort of became the new blog... and in a lot of ways that is accurate.

For the benefit of those who have no idea what a podcast is, Wikipedia defines a podcast as:

A podcast is a digital media file, or a series of such files, that is distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and personal computers. A podcast is a specific type of webcast which, like 'radio', can mean either the content itself or the method by which it is syndicated; the latter is also termed podcasting. The host or author of a podcast is often called a podcaster.

I have about 30 podcast subscriptions. And I make it a point that I listen to the latest episode as soon as it is available. Most of my podcast subscriptions are design related. For the main reason that I believe that there is yet a lot of things I need to know about the career I chose for myself. Adam Hay, the author of Rookie Designer, has done a good job of bringing the most important issues that concerns us rookies into the clear. I have been listening to RD for over a year now and have learned a lot about the business of designing and the common mistakes that we, rookies, often commit. Although there are some software tips on the podcast, this is not a venue for learning a particular software. There are other podcasts for that in future posts. In the meantime, take my advice and subscribe to Rookie Designer now.

I use iTunes to manage my podcast subscriptions. I believe it to be the best aggregator available. Download iTunes from the apple website. Available for both Macs and PCs.
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While I was waiting...

Posted On 11:33 AM by nerdluck | 0 points of view

I was a bit too early (about an hour) for last Fridays seminar and I had some time to kill. I'm not a big fan of walking around malls so I opted to stay on the greener, less populated side of the Greenbelt. The first thing I saw when I got there was this pond with about a hundred kois and started shooting. A few minutes later... other guys began snapping as well. Before I knew it, it was already time for the seminar. I came in 5 minutes late.

A high resolution copy of this photograph is available for FREE download at stock.xchange. I can also send it to you if you ask real nice. It is also available in my picasa web album but I prefer you get it from stock.xchange. It boosts up my download count.
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Death and Children

Posted On 8:49 PM by nerdluck | 6 points of view

Is the title too morbid? Well... we all have to cope with the loss of a loved one... even children. In the August '07 issue of Baby Magazine, find out how you can help your little ones accept the loss and learn how you can guide them in dealing with their loneliness.

The illustration above is featured as main visual for the article, "Goodbye for good?" for the August 07 issue of Baby Magazine. For a free editable vector copy of this piece, all you have to do is ask.
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