From the "what's happening" Department ::

After playing around for the better part of a day and a half I finally have a working version of a CSS/XHTML picture gallery. Seeing as my full time job is a graphic designer for a sign company I thought I would showcase a few sign designs and layouts. CSS can get downright confusing if you want to know the truth.

Check out the Sign Design Gallery and let me know if you experience any problems with it. Your feedback is appreciated.

Anyhow..., that's what I've been up to.

From the "far side" Department ::

I'm back! There's been a few updates to the site most notably new additions to the job search pages for those thinking of landing a job in Western Canada. I'm putting together a posting giving a step by step procedure for getting one of those jobs. The jobs are plentiful but the housing isn't so I hope to give you an advantage. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs going unfilled so a little creativity is required if you hope to move west and take advantage of the boom. Keep watching this site for the information you'll need.

Other pages that have been updated on the site are the directory of resources for web authors and the directory of resources for graphic designers. I've got some changes in mind there. The plan is to reclassify some of the links and give them their own page. By the time I'm done there will be a lot more pages added to the resources link.

Anyhow..., that's what's happening.

From the "Happy Birthday" Department ::

Apple Computer Turns 30 Today

I finally bought a Mac the other day. Actually it was on the fifth anniversary of the launch of their highly regarded Mac OS X - pure coincidence really. After jumping in head first and being wet for a little over a week I've given a lot of thought as to why it doesn't have a lot more market share.

After all..., OS X relies heavily on FreeBSD, perhaps the single most significant unsung hero of the whole technology revolution - it's well thought out, reasonably secure (even more so if you go for OpenBSD), easy to understand (a ton more logical in it's layout and design than Windows, and I'm an MCSE), and the Mac OS X flavor is much easier to look at (I'm also a graphic designer). Speaking of which, the "X" graphic you see above is the "X" from a font that I'm working on - I'm calling it "Flat Broke Mountain" - while I toil away at font design here in the middle of "Oil Patch Central", those around me are pulling in obscene wages for mindless "Oil Patch Jobs". That's telling you, in a round about way, it isn't going to be a "free font".

OK..., let's get back on track here. The reason I think it hasn't caught on the way it should have is that it relies, for the most part, on proprietary hardware. If you could imagine a scenario where Mac OS X ran on exactly the same commodity hardware as Windows? Put a reasonable price on each operating system - say a hundred bucks or so - and I would suspect that Mac OS X would garner a much larger slice of the consumer operating system market than it currently does. For right now it might be a "dual boot" situation but with the advances in CPU design it could be nothing more than a "hot key" switch in a very short period of time. We're almost there right now and with the ongoing delays of Microsoft's Vista it just may be the dawn of a new era where the Mac moves beyond "niche" market.

One of these, for the moment, fictitious machines would really appeal to somebody like me and I'm assuming a lot of others. In the graphic design industry the Mac has been "thee" machine for quite some time except in the "sign making" sector of the graphic design industry where it's been the PC that has ruled. As near as I can tell, the reason for this discrepancy has been the fact that PC's where the first to have the capability to drive vinyl cutting plotters and CNC 3D routers while the Macs where tweaked to provide optimal output to paper in it's many forms.

As much as I like my new Mac Mini I still require a PC for CorelDraw X3 and the ability to send those files to my Summa vinyl cutter. I'm trying to make the total switch but Adobe Illustrator just doesn't compare to CorelDraw in ease of use or feature set - a limp apology to all you Adobe zealots out there but it's a bitter reality - Illustrator is highly overrated.

Forget all the nonesense about Macs only being good for doing graphics or that there is limited software available or any of the reasons you might come up with for not considering a Mac. I've been involved in the IT/Technology/Computer industry for the better part of fifteen years and I only wish I would have taken up a Mac many years ago. I'm pretty certain it would have had a positive impact on the love/hate relationship I've had with technology over the years.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it could be a 'McNugget' - and you just know those are good for you.

Note:: These headlines rotated, updated & barbecued throughout the day. Enjoy!

Hasta La L8r Señor Apple d00d - you're bad to the core!

New Look to Terremoto's Career Links

I've been busy trying to update the pages on this site that get hit the most by way of search engine referrals. What you'll find is a new look to the Employment Opportunities page which is now divided into alphabetical groupings of potential employers. I plan on doubling the links pointing to the 'job page' of corporate web sites so it was necessary to divide it up before it got too unwieldy.

It's also my intention to update the "Headline News" on much more rigid schedule. Within a short while you should see that happen but before it does I need to update the Canadian Diamonds page and for sure the Graphics page.

Keep checking back. There are a bunch of improvements in the works although a lot of them will happen on the back end where the changes aren't as noticeable to the visitor. I'm counting on the changes to be mutually beneficial to all. Feel free to offer suggestions as every suggestion will be considered.

Hasta La L8r Señor Job Hunter

Merry Christmas to All

A Very Merry Christmas to One and All
from the Jefe here at Terremoto

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it could be a 'Reindeer Nugget'.

Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año Nuevo

Just want to let everyone know that I'm going to be busy for the next couple of weeks. There may be the odd day when the 'Hand Picked Headline News' doesn't get updated. It just means I'm in the middle of a big move and I haven't had a chance to get on the keyboard. It certainly doesn't mean this site is unmanned and another ghost page of the net.

I've invested way to much time and trouble into this to let that happen. As a matter of fact, as soon as I get moved I plan on ramping this whole effort up to a full fledged e-commerce site with t-shirts, hats, and custom printed thongs. The thongs are going to be customized with glow-in-the-dark ink and I'm seriously considering calling them "Thongs in the Night". I think the name has a nice ring to it, don't you?

Anyhow..., these are some ideas I've been tossing around to make this site pay. It's now time to move this thing from hobby to moneymaker. This is not going to be a half-hearted attempt but more like do or die type thing. Due to lack of resources it's going to be total guerrilla marketing and total guerrilla financing. Wish me luck cause I'm going to need it!

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it could be a 'glow-in-the-dark nugget', they can be scary if you're not expecting them.

Hasta La L8r Señor Valued Customer

Sorry there's no headlines this weekend. I'm running a garage sale and hunting down broken links. Yup..., I can still multi-task after all these years. I hope to have that done by Sunday midnight - the broken links found and fixed - the garage sale is perpetual.

Anyhow..., I need to attend to my garage sale customers.

Check back regularly, no telling what little nugget of gnarled knowledge or whimsical wisdom you're going to unearth here but it could be a 'prized garage sale nugget'.

Hasta La L8r Señor Garage Sale Aficianado

Whew..., now that was a bit of a strain on the brain getting everything converted over to the new system. I still have the pictures to do for the various categories and that should be done in the next day or so. And now that the pressure is no longer in the red zone I'll work at tidying up a few things.

Overall I would have to say I'm pleased with the results. I'm sure that once I get a better grip on PHP and MySQL things will really take off. If I get enough 'click throughs' on my Google Ads I may even be able to afford a book on the subject. If any body has one they would like to recommend go ahead and recommend it.

Anyhow..., it's getting late and I have a ton of things to get done yet. They just don't make enough hours in the day!

Hasta La L8r Señor Visitor

Folks,

I'm right in the middle of setting up this site on the BSD/Apache/MySQL/PHP platform and there is, of course, going to be the odd catastrophic 'glitch'. You will be rewarded with a richer experience in the final analysis so please do come back.

On a side note - this site is funded solely on Google Ads and donations - in other words, "I ain't gett'n rich!". That is unless, you click through the ads and see what the advertisers have to offer or feel kind enough to PayPal a generous donation. I don't care what you do, just do something.

Anyhow..., I guess that's it until I get this site tweaked to my satisfaction. Oh yeah... I have a pretty good line as to when the Manitoba Sasquatch video will be available so keep checking back.

Hasta La L8r Señor Visitor