My Work Ethic and Technical Qualifications

This blog post is meant to serve as a way to show what exactly I bring to the table in regards to the upcoming group project lecture for this course. I know that we were grouped based on specific metrics that would make us all integral to the creation of the project. I hope that I can fulfill the more technical aspects of the project, as that would be the part that would come easiest to me.

My Portfolio

I’ve done quite a few different graphic and web design projects throughout the past five or so years. My clients have ranged from my aunt’s soap making business, to the Anthony Independent School District.

Cactus Mary’s Soap and Crafts Website

www.cactusmary.com

This was one of my first real projects. I’m grateful that it was for a family member because there wasn’t as much pressure, making the whole process run smoother. Also, I was allowed more creative freedom, which really allowed me to make a website that I was pleased with.

In conjunction with the website, I created a companion Facebook page. This allows my aunt to interact with her soap users and get useful feedback for her soaps.

Anthony Child Nutrition Digital Signage

This is more of a graphic design project that is still ongoing. It involves funneling the Child Nutrition lunch menu into easy-to-read digital displays for the students so they know what exactly is being served that day.

This is a large step forward for the department. I remember going to lunch some days and having to walk back and forth between the lunch lines trying to figure out what there was to eat.

Anthony Independent School District Website

www.anthonyisd.net

After working for the Anthony ISD Child Nutrition Department I transferred to the IT department, where I have taken over designing and updating the district website. This site serves over 500 students, staff, and parents from within Anthony, Texas.

This is a great project for me because it continues where I left off when I was creating the Cactus Mary site. I have a lot of creative freedom, and I am able to collaborate with my coworkers on which features should be developed and implemented in the site.

My Work Ethic

For each project I had a checklist of steps I needed to take before it reached completion. These steps are:

1. Talk to client to establish their expectations and goals for the project
2. After this determine what the best graphic design programs (Adobe Photoshop / Illustrator, etc.) and web design mediums (Adobe Muse, Weebly, Wix, Shopify) would best suit the project
3. Next, develop logical deadlines that divide the project into sections
4. Lastly, complete each deadline in a timely manner, completing the entire project on time

Over the years I have been refining this process in order to save time and work more efficiently. I intend on using this process when it comes to contributing to the creation of the lecture project.

Final Words

In conclusion, I’m really excited for this lecture project to come to fruition. I hope that my group partners know that they can count on me putting a full 100 percent of effort in order to make this happen. I know that it’s going to turn out great, and I know that my partners are going to a great job contributing to its development as well.

Why I I’m Grateful for Myspace

Halo 3 was our game of choice back then

It was March 15th 2010. I was sixteen and the definition of a teenage introverted gamer. That is, my days were often filled with hours of gaming with just a little bit of school and maybe some homework thrown in. While gaming I would almost always be in chat parties with my friends from school. We would game and talk for hours, often until late into the night leaving us tired during school the next day.  

It was during one of these gaming sessions that I heard some news that changed my life forever.

I had known most of these guys for 5+ years, first meeting them around early middle school. One however, I had known the longest, ever since I had moved to Anthony halfway through the second grade.

His name was Austin and he was the closest thing I had to a brother that wasn’t actually blood related to me. We became friends the first day I started at school, as he was the person assigned to help me get adjusted to the school and classes, etc.

Throughout the years, we were almost like yin and yang. He was the boisterous comic constantly making jokes while I was the calm and nerdy person that would laugh at the jokes. 

Going to a school dance in middle school.

He had an undetected acute heart condition that got worse with excessive stress, like exercise. Had it been detected he would have known not to join any school sports. Unfortunately, without this knowledge he joined the school baseball team, and seemed to do great for a quite a while. However, during one practice he had trouble breathing.

Taking a break on the bench in order to catch his breath, he collapsed. Ambulances were called, but he passed on the way to the hospital. One of my gaming buddies was there, and the first thing that he did after everything happened was get on the gaming chat to let the rest of us know.

The next few weeks were a blur. I remember going to his wake, and being one of his pallbearers at his funeral. Part of the grieving process had me desperately trying to salvage any remnants of him, whether it was video memories or his handwriting to get a tattoo in remembrance. It was then that I remembered that he had a Myspace profile.

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Austin never had a Facebook account (this was around the time when Facebook was barely gaining traction). Instead it was a Myspace profile, and like most people our age he customized it extensively. He had a custom background, images (Seinfeld everywhere), even a custom music playlist.

He also had a “Top 8”, where you would rank your top closest friends which would then be displayed on your public profile. It consoled me during that time knowing that I was his top friend.

People often write Myspace off as some failure of a social network that was never as good as the greats like Facebook or Twitter, and I will always disagree with them. Of course near the end of its lifespan it didn’t innovate enough in order continue to thrive, but during its prime it was a very important part of a majority of people’s social life. It allowed you to truly create a profile that was your own, that had your personality.

Social networks nowadays don’t really do that. You have to follow the same white and blue template that everyone else has while only being able to change small things like cover or profile photos.

Even with its many incarnations since then, I’m grateful that they haven’t deleted inactive profiles. Almost 6 years later I still find myself logging on to my old profile and reminiscing about how life was like back then.

All of the late night gaming and talking sessions, and just remembering what it was like to be a kid without much worries and just having fun. I will always remember the best friend I had throughout most of my time at school. With MySpace’s help, that process gets a little bit easier.

Myspace has drastically changed nowadays to compete with Facebook, but I'm glad they kept the Top 8!

 

How to Make it Through When Life Gets Difficult

Desperate Beginnings

High school was a very difficult time in my life. I was always bullied or threatened by the people that I considered my friends. I was skinny and viewed as an easy target. And I wouldn’t retaliate when anything happened to me because I was skinny and honestly never even thought that I could do anything to protect myself.

Senior year alone I was physically assaulted twice, with one assault ending with the aggressor getting a felony. This pretty much shattered any confidence I had left. I was taken out of a majority of my classes and spent most of my time in the Library in order to do my work. I was basically segregated from the rest of my class.

Throughout all of this, I never considered suicide or self harm. A close family member had self harmed and I saw how it affected the rest of the family; I knew I didn’t want to put my family through that. What I did do, however, was isolate myself from everyone. I grew extremely introverted as a coping mechanism. I would spend time by myself at school and during lunch. When I would get home from school I would just go straight to my room and spend the rest of my day there. My appetite dropped along with more confidence, so I wouldn’t eat and making myself even skinnier.

A Fresh Start

This cycle thankfully only lasted until a little after graduation. Not having to see those people again allowed me to fully think over the whole situation and plan what I wanted to do in the future. It was during this planning that I knew I wanted to make some life choices. I didn’t want to ever be put in the situations I had to go through during my time in school. I wanted to be BIG.

Obviously in hindsight this wasn’t the healthiest mindset to be in, but I was desperate. So I slowly started a workout routine. And another one. And another one. I did this until I managed to find the right one for me. I started eating better during this, slowly regaining the weight that I had lost and increasing strength at the same time.

I’ve been working out for the 2+ years since then, slowly making progress year after year. Since then, my confidence has skyrocketed, and I’ve made many friends during the 2 years that I’ve been at DACC. I’ve also been eating healthier and making smarter life decisions.

A comparison of when I started to now

What to Take From my Story

If I could go back in time I would tell myself that everything was gonna be alright. The biggest thing that I want you to take from my story is that no matter how bad something gets in your life, you will make it through and you will overcome. You can’t admit defeat, you must cope and you must persevere.

Do anything you need to do in order to make it through and keep going, even though I would advise it be something that is legal. Find people to talk to about what you’ve been through. Never try to make it through something without some sort of support network. In the end you will be a stronger person, and that’s what matters.