iCardoBetter

The Basics:

I’m going to be using this blog as a platform for teaching myself how to use a bunch of awesome software that I have recently installed on my computer. The tools of the trade will likely continue to expand as time goes on, so I’ll try to keep track of what I’m using on a separate page on this blog.

At this point, you probably have a couple of Ys hanging around.

Why bother learning this stuff?

The answer is simple – why not? I have the software, and definitely have the time, so why not?

Why use a blog?

This answer is a little more complicated, and involves knowing myself and how I act (as I like to think I do). By making the fruits of my labour public, I open myself up to scrutiny. This has 2 effects: first, and most importantly, it gives me a reason to actually sit down and do something with the software, as well as an incentive to keep trying to learn new things each week. Secondly, it can hopefully (if anyone’s actually out there – hello?) provide me some much-needed feedback and ideas. This relates to two facts I’ve come to know about myself: that I am lazy if I don’t have clearly-defined deadlines, and that I have trouble coming up with the big-picture ideas that I need to start a project.

How Do You Plan to Do That?

This is the interesting part. A few years ago, a musician/geek of whom I am currently a big fan did this thing called “Thing a Week.” The idea was (in part) to force him on a deadline to write an original piece of music each week for a year, and he succeeded, producing a number of awesome – and often funny – songs, which he later released on 4 different albums.

Recognizing a kindred (lazy) spirit, I thought I’d borrow his idea – at least for my blog’s inaugural period. For as long as I can (and barring special circumstances, but I’ll try to keep these to a minimum), I will be updating this blog on at least a weekly basis. I will check in on it more regularly than that, but by midnight on Friday of each week (to underscore my geek-hibernatory practices), there will be new, somewhat-original content on this website.

By this time next year, it’s my hope that this blog’s archive will be full of (obviously-) photoshopped images, etch-a-sketch (emphasis on “sketch”) comics, song remixes (I hope someday!), somewhat-lol-worthy videos, and the occasional rant (yes, I consider some writing to be creative, too).