I definitely think there are some courtesies that Americans do not do and some that we do too much.

1. Waving when someone lets you in: The first one that I want to talk about is when driving and somebody lets you in.  The courteous thing to do is wave, which means, hey kind person thank you for letting me in when all these other jack asses did not. Why don’t people use this? I feel people think that you have to let them in and it is their right. That drives me nuts. When I let cars in and they don’t do this I give them the finger behind the steering wheel, so they cannot see that I am doing it. It gets my anger out without being shot in the face

2. Holding the door. This is a courtesy that we can do with out. I am all for someone holding the door for someone with groceries, hands full, kids, a pregnant person, some one stealing a T.V., all of those are ok. However, if I am an able bodied person who can move my arm forward and back I do not need the door held for me. Thanks but no thank you!! And here is the reason it annoys me so.

The door is usually not held when I am right behind them it is when I am to far away for me to stick my hand out and grab the door. So, what ends up happening is that you have to jog or walk quickly to grab the door that they are holding for you to be “nice.” AND AND they get annoyed if you don’t get to it soon enough, as if you are the jerk for not walking faster then you normally walk. There “HELP” because not helpful and in fact becomes work.

What I normally do if someone is holding the door for me, I walk at my normal pace and if they want to stick it out good for them, if they let the door close, perfect. Sometimes I shout, “thanks, but you can let it o” there is just no need

When I “hold the door” it is for someone who is right behind me. I mean I am not a jerk, I will not let it slam in their face, ok…..well maybe that has happened a couple of times.

I have let the door close because the person was far away and have them yell “thanks for holding the door” in that case I just continue to walk because you know that person could. A kick my ass and B. are probably looking for some confrontation

Ok so that went longer than I thought, so I will stop there. More to come later

~dzob

I want to comment on the state of graphic design. I am not talking about getting jobs I am talking about what I am seeing that graphic designers are doing. From Magazines, movie poster, flyers, etc. It seems that graphic design has been confused with layout artist or template followers. WHEN did this happen and WHY? The WHY I can tell you; Because it is easy. It is easy to follow a template and just layout in copy and text, but takes true skill to think of a concept. Any one can put words on color, but it is the designer that makes it come to life.

I have seen too much of the template designs and it is driving me crazy!!! COME ON DESIGNERS stand up for what is right and challenge us! I would bet money that if magazines where more DESIGNED and less LAYED OUT more people would buy them and keep them and share them.

So, that being said….Colleen, another contributor on this site, and I were talking and she suggested the idea of a REAL TO LIFE layout. So we take our normal 16” x 10” design and make it 16 feet x 10 feet and have to create elements NOT using the computer. SO if you wanted type you would have to draw it or recreate it or even print in out but then put it on your real life spread. If you wanted people in your spread you would have to have people lay in your spread.

The idea of this makes me feel alive and want to try this out. I was thinking of doing a test run and posting photos of what happens. Imagine the possibilities!!

~dzob

While I was running I was thinking about what super power I would have if I could have one and it has always been mind control. Because I thought that if I was in a fight with another super hero I would win hands down. They want to burn me with fire, I can control them and say, “no you don’t”

But as I was running I saw this guy; We has about 45 and had on Khaki shorts, t-shirt and sweat shirt overtop kind of sloppy looking, but not dirty. He had a dunkin donuts back and coffee in one hand and his cell phone on his belt, but here is the weird thing, he was trying to hitch a ride. So that got me thinking…..what is his situation. Did his car break down and he stopped for a doughnut and coffee or is that cup and bag really old and there are drugs inside.

My mind starting going some strange places and that is when I realized that my new super power would want to know other peoples situations. Who they are, why are they here, etc. It is killing me that I don’t know that guys story.

So my site was hacked:(

I think the site was hacked because of its awesomeness, but none the less hacked, so i have been off trying to figure out what to do. So in the end what i did was just replace the site with a backup version something i should have done from the beginning. What would happen is that every time i would try and comment it would bring me to another site.

So i contacted my host provider and told them the problem and they said there was no problem. They said to clear the cache and that fixed it on there end. So what they suggested to me was to clear MY cache of MY browser and that should fix the problem. What kind of advice is that. SO i am supposed to tell the people who visit the site (all 3 of you) to clear your browser cache every time you visit the site….that is redonkulous.

that is not help. Find out what hacked my site and suggest to fix it…..this is not what i was going to post about, but it annoyed me and had to be said. My original post is to come

~dzob

So i was on my way back from the ENT and he pulled tones of junk out of my nose:) aren’t you lucky you know that. Maybe i will have fewer snot rockets. anyway it was in towson and i thought i would stop by at trader Joe’s.

Let me stop for a moment for those who don’t know the hell of the parking lot of this trader joes. It is too small, too cramped, and not enough parking. People are animals for spots. We don’t go to it a lot just because of the parking lot.

So i was waiting behind a lot of parking disasters. One was waiting for a spot and this person had to back up and go forward 10 times ( i counted) meanwhile that cars where backing up to about 12 cars ( again i counted). this was already making me a little on edge. I cannot stand parking lots where people take too much time to pull out and are not considerate or do not know how to drive.

Anyway, so i finally make it around the corner and the car in front of me finds a space and is waiting for the car to pull out so he can pull in. Meanwhile while i am waiting this car honks its horn 3 times and gives me a look, well at least the old lady in the handicap spot with her reverse lights on does.

again let me stop you. Old people like that annoy me, they just create problems.

So i think I will go in front of them because they will take a lot of time to back up and i don’t like to wait, so i start to pull ahead and they honk the horn again and start to back up. I let them go because i did not want to die and i see a spot, a precious spot, open up and this old lady takes 3 minutes ( i counted) to back up.

Meanwhile my beautiful spot gets taken as well as other spots that i see because this old lady. i had to park so far away where there is no cart return and i feel guilty just leaving that cart there. So i curse you old lady and your extra wide tan Buick:)

~dzob

I recently posted a comment on facebook about how hollywood is the death of all good design and I thought I would post something here. I started this thought when i saw the avatar poster and it used papyrus! Really! Who was paid to do that poster. You have this nice artwork in the background and then you throw papyrus on it with a glow and a shadow and viola……hollywood poster!

It is not jsut the avatar poster it is a lot of posters that come out of Hollywood. I don’t understand. They are so over the top and mediocre it drives me crazy. There are so many movie posters that use Trajan as their typeface, it is plane laziness.

Take some originality and start to think what the type means and what the poster is supposed to say, not ” what “cool” effect i can put on it. As I was stewing about this I was watching some photoshop tutorials and i don’t get what is going on with design and photoshop. It is like any effect and cool trick is being used and it is seen as good design. it makes me sad:( and more ready to teach good typography and have people not create crap design.

~dzob

SO of course the snow did not stop me from running. I went running on Tuesday near my parents house and it was a great run. I love running in the cold, it is so much better than running when it is hot. however not all of the sidewalks were clear, so i had to run in the road for the most of it. SO here is my problem, why are not all the sidewalks clear!?!?!?! I mean it was three days after the storm, get outside and clear your walk. I had to do it, in fact i had to do it twice, but i did it becasue that is what you do. If it is too heavy or you cannot lift it than you pay someone to do it. Either way you need to clear your walk.

Yesterday i went running as well, and the same problem. Except these where sidewalks on major roads that should have been clear, like a 695 overpass and walk on the Harford Rd. I had to run in the road and have cars honk at me. What was I supposed to do about it. I am not walking in a foot of snow.

Ok that is all setting you up for what happened in the snow, with ice, sidewalks and you guessed it my good ol friend the barking dog. SO i was running on a sidewalk that was mostly clear and really focused because when the snow starts to melt it freezes over night giving you ice. SO i really have to watch the walk to make sure that i do not slip or to jump or run around it. As I said i was focused! and out of nowhere this dog starts barking as if i just kicked him and was attacking it’s owner and it scared me. So i turn, look, and stop all at the same time and….you guessed it…..I …….hit some ice. and completely fell on my running ass. As it happened i cursed the house, snow, ice, and sidewalk.

I am ok, but…….those damn dogs

~dzob

So last week i was running in the woods and it was raining and the trail i was running in was muddy and I slipped in the water 4 times and I loved every minute of it! That is the best running. My shoes where wet, my shoes where muddy, my hair was socked, and my legs where covered in mud, and I loved it!

But that is not the point of the story, I am just setting the scene.

So I was running and I was tired and I was wet and I look up and see there is someone else in the woods (which makes me nervous….because why are they there. I know why I am here, but they were not running) and i see more that it is a couple and they are walking there 1, 2, 3, 4…..5 DOGS!!!!! i run by them and the dogs bark, but they did do mutch after that. SO i run up this huge hill and turn around to come back on the same trail and i see two of the dogs running up after me!!!! Where are the owners?

the dogs run away, so i thought, ffffeeewwww. and as i am running past the couple and the insane amount of dogs and then……..i see one is braking away from the pack and chasing me….so i have to cross a little stream on this trail and my thought is that there is no way the dog will follow…………..I was wrong. I t came with me barking and basically at my heels….so i stop…look at the dog……..and i hear the owners say “come back here” “Come BACK here” “COME BACK HERE” and it did not do anything. It just looked at me and I was looking at him. For what seemed like 5 min. Eventually i started to run and the dog ran back to its owners…WTF Dog owners. Leash your dog or at least control your dogs. This comes form every scared runner, walker, and passer by. “I DON”T KNOW YOUR DOG IS FRIENDLY” So stop telling me that after it has already scared me and is 2 inches in front of me.

~dzob

So last week I went for a run at in the trails at catonsville. It was great; muddy and hard to find where i was going. I slipped a bunch of times got my shoes wet and muddy and it was amazing. those are the kind of runs I love. Any way this post is really not about the run, it is what happened after the run….

I went to the gym to shower and change. I always hate this because it is the same gym as students use and I don’t need to see a student in there. I really hate seeing people i know from work or school in a different setting than what i know them from. Isn’t weird when you see a teacher in the grocery store or at a restaurant. now think about it if you see them in the gym changing. So anyway i hate showering at the gym at school, but I have to so lets move on.

When i get into the gym I see some paper towels sitting next to my locker. (clue #1) than i hear the water running from the shower area. My first thought is who is using them and the second is oh crap! so i have to do, so i can get back to my office, so i go into the shower area and i see that it is an old man (clue #2). SO i ignore him and go about my business and when i am done showering i go back to my locker and see that the paper towels (clue #1) are being used by the old man. He is standing on them! I have been in a lot of locker rooms and have seen a lot of old man and THEY ALL STAND on a towel and or paper towel while they are getting dressed. what is that? I am going to have to start to ask questions, it fascinates me so much.

Let me ask; what is the first thing that you would put on clothing wise when you are in a locker room? My answer would be underwear. That is not what old men do. First is they air dry, so that’s great. The second is a shirt, no bottoms, what? and the third is socks and then come the underpants……why…why….why. I don’t know why they do it that way but i have seen to much. I don’t want to see your junk…cover it up!

This guy put on his flip flops, so yes he has flip flops but he stands on paper towels, and goes to the hand dryer to blow dry his hair…….with nothing on, but his flip flops….so hw was flip flopping if you know what i mean…..damn!

It is so weird…anyway just had to share

I hope you enjoyed:)

~dzob

and p.s i have many more if you ever want to hear more…..maybe i should not have shared that:)

I am trying to replace some bi fold doors in my room and they are so hard to install. You have to make sure the top is in a while you are holding the top you have to some how keep that pressure and make sure that the bottom is in. WHO the F designed these things. They are the bane of my existence (and yes I know what that means).

ANd lets say by some stroke of home depot gods you get the door in and secure, it could get loose and you are back to being frustrated. AHHHHHHHHH.

If the bi fold door was a person i would beat him up. Ok maybe not beat him up, i am really not a fighter, but i would find someone to beat him up, ok i don’t know nay friends that are fighters, i would……would……would….um………right about him in a blog.

SOOOOOOOOO I hate wordpress. i hate it! its so stupid and not user friendly. they need a suggestion box!! hmph. their stupid upload thing isnt working..AND I AM NOT MENTALLY RETARDED! but how am i supposed to write on a blog about design and not post pictures. what the fuck is the secret here..because it’s making me mad.

suggestions? GIVE ME THEM NOW! i wrote a post but cant publish it without my pictures david zobel, i, of course, blame you! (duh!)

Look at colleen’s post below. It is a perfect example of why magazine design needs to change, why it needs to be better, and why we as designers need to change it.

I hate that colleen came to the conclusion that all magazine’s use template, because it can be deflating to realize that. I understand using grids, but template driven design is NO GOOD. EVER EVER EVER. It even goes further than magazines. Other design is going the template route as well…wait what. It is true. Look at target’s new brand up and up. It is completly sterile, lacks personalitiy, and is totally based off of a temple.

Lets stop this and start designing. This goes out to all the designers out there. We need to stop relying on templates and gimics in photoshop (drop shadow, inner glow, bevel, metallic, shine, etc) AND START DESIGNING.

I am not saying that it all needs to be in my style, but there needs to be some style.

ok, so its been a while.. a long! long! lo–yeah actually i guess it’s been never since my last post.

here’s the thing: i currently intern for Harper’s Bazaar and i love it dearly, i really do!  i also know that designing for a magazine isnt really designing at all–or rather I know it now.  there’s a good reason why each page and every issue looks almost EXACTLY like the one before…they use templates..go figure. and maybe that was common sense for you and maybe im just the naive graphic designer that wanted it to be so much more than it actually was! who knows. i just wish theyd throw out those stupid temps and actually start to design!!! it kills me.

and OMG. ok so!!!!!! did you know that graphic design (in the magazine world) ranks dead last on the hierarchy scale of importance!! Yeah, that’s right..we don’t really matter.  Check it out! We know how to use the programs, like legitimately know how they work but the editors (be that E-in-C [provided she ever left her office] fashion, beauty, and yes, even COPY editors) tell us how to “fix” the layout. it blows. meh, it’s just so stupid it makes me so angry. the entire thing..it makes no sense!! and i can’t be the only one to see it.  
you can go and continue to read your Harper’s, subscribe to your teen vogues, and cut up your Elle magazines but for real design we must turn to cool, little, some independent, magazines such as:

lulamag 
i-d (a little more main stream)

actually..fuck it! just go to Barns and Noble and look at any UK//European non-American magazine for inspiration on how to make layouts interesting and how to stay away! from the everyday mass american publication style.

ps. i’d post pictures.. if i knew how! lol not so wordpress savy but atleast i finally logged in.

I think a lot about perception. The way we see people form a far and what stories you make up about them. When I am out any where I LOVE to people watch, in fact I like to try and figure out what the people are doing, what their relationship is, and why they are out. It is so fascinating.

So i often wonder the little glimpse that we see can really distort our perception. We are only seeing part of the picture. For example if you see a parent being mean to their child (pulling them, or yelling at them), you may think what an awful parent. BUT what you did not see is the 6 hours prier where the kid has worn the parent down and this was the last straw that we saw. And I think single people or even married people that don’t have kids perceive this differently than people with kids. Single people may say, “and that is why I am not having kids” where other parents may say, “I know that feeling” or “what a bad parent”

SO this all leads up to two scenarios that I have seen that I want to share.

1. a couple of nights ago I saw, while picking up my take out order at a pizza place, a man about 30ish sitting at the table eating pizza out of the box and crying. And he wasn’t even trying to hid the fact that he was crying.So my question is why was he crying, what didn’t we see and was his intention to eat at the restaurant?
   Think about it and reply
2. The second scenario is when I was running the other day I saw an older man in his 50’s walking on the sidewalk in gym shorts, a fleece, brown dress shoes, and black socks. So my questions are:
   A. Did he look in the mirror?
   B. IS that his normal exercise gear?
   C. Does he own exercise clothes?
   D. What makes you change into gym shorts but not change the shoes?

~dzob

Sorry for the lack of posts, my classes have been keeping busy. That is a good thing.

This happened last week and I need to share it:)

I was driving, of course this a story about driving, and all of a sudden 95 comes to stand still. Forget the fact that I was thinking about something in my head and almost hit the person in front of me, but it is never good when 95 is not moving. I was on my way to my 9 am class in catonsville.

So we start to move a little, but I am watching the clock tick away minutes and my preparation for my class also dwindle away. Now I left my house at 7:30 and it usually take about 30-45 minutes depending on traffic.

So we are still just crawling along……foot by foot. It took me 15minutes to get onto 95 from 695. It was ridiculous. SO I am going crazy. I don’t mind traffic if a know why there is traffic, but this seemed more than just traffic. the not knowing is what kills me.

So i am thinking do i exit and try the back roads? i did not have my gps, so the answer to that is NO!

SO we start moving a little more and  a little more and that is when………..i see it……….the cause of the traffic…………it was

One of those signs that say MAY be fog, but in this case it was saying that taffic on 95 is heavy use 895 and 695 as alternates!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH what! after that sign the traffic disappeared.

SO WAIT….the traffic was caused by a sign that says there was traffic???!?!?!. THE SIGN WAS SAYING THERE WOULD BE TRAFFIC……AND BECASUE OF THE “SIGN” THERE WAS TRAFFIC.

WTF everyone. Can’t you read the sigh while you are driving and not to stop or SLOW DOWN. I was so mad. A SIGN!!!!!!!! I took me 1:15 minutes to get to school because of a sign telling me about traffic.

~dzob

So, I get lost very easily. That is why I normally have my GPS on even though I know where I am going. Not only am I not good with directions and could get lost in a parking lot (True story) and get wrapped up in my own thoughts and usually forget that I need to make a turn or get off of the highway(another true story). That is why the GPS is good because it make noises and brings me out of my own thoughts and back to focusing on where I am going.

So here is why I am writing this. The other day I am going form towson town mall to CCBC (essex). I decide to take the highway and I decide to take 695e towards essex and get off on exit 35. SO I repeat this to myself about 5-10 times so i remember.

You may ask your self, why didn’t you use your gps? and that would be a fine question. The reason is it was in my bag and I did not feel like reaching back and getting it and plus I thought how hard could it be. 695 E exit 35.

I am on the highway…….and approaching the split of 695 and 95. 95 exit is on the right and to stay on 695 is on the left. I am deep deep in my own thoughts………….and I stay where I am which happens to be on the right…..and I exit to get onto 95 s. By this time I still do not notice that anything is wrong. Until I start to merge and I think to my self there is a lot of traffic and construction on 695……wait…………….I am…………….on……………95 south!!!!!!!! There are no exits soon once your are on 95. SO swear, swear some more and get out my GPS….

It guides me to where I want to be and I will always use the GPS no matter how close, far, or how many times I have been there.

~dzob

So I have not written in a while, but i have a lot to say! My family and I went to the beach a couple of weeks ago and I have some things that I noticed.

1. People love to not wear shirts! And I don’t mean on the beach, when they leave the beach. There were people at the gas station not wearing shirts and people getting food without their shirts on, it was ridiculous. What makes them think that because they are at the beach that it means “NO SHIRT FOR ME” On the actual beach does not matter, but it does matter when it is off of the beach.
2. I was amazed at all the people running, biking, walking, etc in the morning. I was one of them, but I found it interesting that so many where doing it as well. It is good and not a complaint, but I was surprised. Because it was so hot there were tons of people running shirtless! Now I run and get hot but ever once did i say “it is so hot at 6 am that I need to rip of my shirt” I know it gets hot when you run, but I don’t want to see your sweaty back fat!
3. I think people who run at noon are idiots, they wonder why they are so hot. UMMMM maybe because the sun is straight above you and it is the hottest time of the day, maybe. “Maybe I should take of my shirt to show you my amazing pectoral region” Which way is the gym:)
4. Why is it fun to dig big holes in the sand? I was right there with the rest of the idiots digging a big hole. “look i dug a big hole, now what?” I don’t know what it is, but it was fun!

I have more, but that will do for now. Comment on your observation while on vacation!

~dzob

When driving there are many types of cars and people in the cars not to trust and there are combination’s of all of these not to trust. Some of the combination that i will mention are not to trus tthe person because they may crash into you, cause an accident, drive away from the accident and jsut plain drive slow:)

So here they are in no particular order.

1. Any person in an oldsmobile! I have found that no matter who is driving if you see an oldsmobile (especially a cutlass classic) switch to the other lane and drive past them as soon as possible. They are usually in the left lane going slow.
2. Any person with their hand out of the window when the temperature is above 85. They cannot possible think it is that nice outside. It probably means they are crazy or the AC is broken in the car and they cannot fix it because they don’t care or they don’t have the money. Either way that does not bode well for driving behind or next to them. (THIS is worse if they are driving in a pick up truck, van, or oldsmobile!)
3. Any person with their hand on the passenger seat. You know with their right hand around the back of the passenger seat. This means they are relaxed and could care less about what everyone else is doing. This usually means that they drive very slow and are not aware of it. Again this is made worse in a pick up truck and any old car, or sports car.
4. Any SUV or VAN with a kids TV show on the installed TV’s. Not all the time, but I have found that these people do not drive that fast and are somewhat distracted. I am also distracted trying to figure out what they are watching. Pass them because they are usually going slow
5. Any car that has a bumper sticker that says something about Jesus saving them or about him being the co-pilot. A couple reasons why I put this person in here is; 1 they don’t seem to drive fast 2. They know that if they crash they go to a higher place because jesus saves, so that means that they are not going to be to worried. 3. If jesus is driving he probably is not worried that i am late tailgating behind them:)

I have many more, but these are some of the worst offenders!

~dzob

I have been trying to get this story to the site for weeks now. Anyway here it goes. So, I am a master BBQ’er or at least I think I am. I wish I could cook everything on the grill…love the smokiness, the texture and the flavor. I have been watching to much food network:)

I was BBQing some chicken on the grill and I like to baste the chicken twice. Once when I first put it out and the other once I flip the chicken. So I am trying to get dinner ready and I put the chicken out on the grill and give it a good bath in BBQ sauce and put the top back on and let it cook for seven minutes..

Seven minutes are up………and I flip the chicken…….everything is good…….i reach for the BBQ sauce…….and I go to pour it…..and think…….it has been seven minutes and the sauce is probably settled and could use a good shake…..

**Now I have to stop to let you know how I shake and what method I use. I use a side arm shake. I start off with the bottle horizontal and shake across my body to the left and shake to the right and go back to the left. Holding the bottle horizontal…A good side shake method.**

So back to what is going on in the story. I go to shake the sauce…………and……..all of a sudden I feel something on my face and then…….on my shirt……and then on my leg……and then on my hand………..and then in my hair. I felt like I was shot. I was holding this now empty BBQ sauce bottle.

I looked at the bottle as if to say “what did you do?” and then I muttered the all to familiar phrase……”you have got to be kidding me”….and guess what it was not kidding. Then I said a couple of choice words and had to go inside to clean and get all the BBQ off of me. My favorite is Jesus F-ing Christ. Or I may have said you Mother F-er.

Meanwhile none of it got on the chicken……Just another day and life in my shoes, my BBQ sauce shoes.

~dzob

I was going to write a funny story today, but something else came up that compelled me to write an angry story. I went out to my car this morning to get something and noticed that my drivers side door was slightly open. So, very concerned I looked in the car and at first saw nothing broken or missing.

I looked in my glove compartment and saw that my detachable radio was still there, but….my GPS was missing….missing…..i should say stolen. This really makes me upset. More than just having something stolen from your car, but the logic or lack of logic.

One should always live by the rule; if it is not your DON’T take it!!! I would never think to take anything from anyone. Not only because I don’t want to be arrested, but because I would not want anything stolen from me. Why don’t other people have that same tendency? It makes me think what is wrong with this person; where they not held enough as a baby, where they beaten, do they have a father, what are there role models, etc etc.

I don’t know what can be done, but it seems like these type of people can get away with it and don’t care. What do they care about if they don’t care about other people. They certainly don’t care about them selves because if they did they would be scared as well.

Damn.

~dzob

Ok so this is another running story, maybe not as funny as the snot rocket story, but what will? I get so many comments in person about that story it makes me laugh. So anyway. I was running the other day, like I like to do. It was about 3:00 and I had underestimated how hot it was.

I started off running and no problem with the heat or the sun. AND THEN………it happened…….As i was running probably at mile 3 out of no where comes this DOG!! Now I stop here to tell you a side note. I cannot stand dogs, while I am running. They bark, run , or leap while I am running it is so annoying. The owners always say, “he is friendly” or “he is a nice dog”…ummm if we was a nice dog he would not park at me and make me wet my pants, ok?. OK! Right, so back to this DOG, all caps. All of a sudden this DOG come running, full speed, towards me and mind you this is not any dog it is a pit bull or Rottweiler! So it is coming towards me with what looks like no leash.

I am scared out of my mind. I actually say out loud, what are you doing?, as if the dog will answer me….”To eat your face, of course” But not to fear there is a fence, so the worse it could do is scare me and I move on with my life……too easy. All of a sudden the fence ends and here I am face to face with this DOG. He is running I am running and he is inches from me and I see it…..it is a glorious leash and it yanks him back, but he comes running again.

Now here is what is in my imagination; the DOG breaks the lease and I start to run faster and he runs faster and now I am in chase with a DOG who wants to eat me. Luckily that did not happen, but that lease was to long. Come on dog owner think of the people that are walking and running by.

So after that scare I still had 2 more miles to run. Now my heart is beating fast and it is hot and I might have a heart attack. I run another half mile and my feet are on fire, sweat is in my eyes, I AM HOT, not to mention I am now running up a big hill, so what do it do…….I actually yell….F*UCK. Literally out loud! I was so hot I don’t know what came over me, but I said it again and this time louder. After I said it two times I had to laugh because i was thinking what the other people that where in there yard were thinking.

What would you think if out of no where this runner comes by yelling the F word? Any way that is my typical day of running story. Hope you enjoyed:)

So, I was on my way to catonsville and it is 10:55 and I needed to be in my office at 11:00. By my calculation I was about 5 minutes away from at school, so I had no room for error. I know I could have been five minutes late, but I do not like to be.

I am comming up on the sign for my exit and it says 1 mile to go, but i was behind some jerk going 40 miles per hour ON 95, WTH!!! Side note** Sometimes when I am driving I get lost in my own thoughts and miss exits and I usually have my GPS on just so it reminds me. SOmetimes a drive past my exit to go home….another time I will tel that story:)

So I go to pass this person and all of a suddon three trucks box me in and I can not move out of this lane and now I see my exit comming up and so i try to break and go behind the truck and the same jerk that I was passing takes my spot. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!! Well I said much worse than that, but….

As this jerk, lets call him roger, took my spot I looked at him and mean really looked at him. He was old in a Oldsmobile Cutlas classic, tan, wearing a wicker hat….so I named him roger. There are a few rules that I follow when I am behind a car and one of them is never trust any one that drives an Oldsmobile!

SO I missed my exit, and that got me so mad,  and I had to drive to the next one and turn around it made me 20min late to school.

~dzob

Here is an article that I wrote. Below are some spreads that i designed to go along with this article. If you are taking my type class you will see some of these again. Some are better than other. Let me know what you think:)

good typography is becoming extinct and bad typography is the disease. how many times have you seen bad typography win over good typography and do nothing about it? this has to stop! corporation and average joe are taking over the design and creative industry and we have to stop it from spreading. corporations do not want to try anything that is interesting or creative. why? FEAR! they are all afraid that they will fade away and nobody will remember them. they are afraid to make the average person confused. because of this they never will push the idea of design. to them it is making their boring ideas “pretty” or “have some pizazz” or making it “sexy”… and if i hear one more person tell the designer to “make it pop” i will go insane!

The reason that logos are so annoyingly big are not because the designer wants them that way it is because the client (who doesn’t know any better) says “can you make it bigger.” and every designer or creative director rolls their eyes and says sure! in the heads of most designers they are saying, sure, you without the formal training or the knowledge that if i make your logo bigger than all the type has to change and be re kerned so that it all fits together. the person who knows the best about the subject is being turned into a technician.

Designer start to become immune to this disease and start making the logo bigger to start with and than the type becomes bigger and soon they are part of the problem and not part of the solution. we need to re-train the designers and owners of design firms to stand up to this disease if we ever want to cure it.

There are so many reasons why people and designers are perpetuating this disease and adobe is the main cause. Yes that is right i said adobe! they added drop shadows, inner glow, outer glow, bevel/emboss, and all the other pointless over done and over worked cheesy gimmicks. If they were never there we would not have this disease running ramped through our society.

I went to see cirque du soleil, or circus of the sun, over the weeked and it was amazing!!!!!! For those of you who don’t know what cirque du soleil is it is circus like nothing else you have ever seen. There is comedy, contortion, tight rope, wheel of death (my favorite), etc. It will amaze you and make you feel like you don’t have any special talent:)

IF you have never gone than i suggest going!

But the main thing that i want to talk about is the parking!!!! We get there 15-20 min before it starts and there is just a cluster “F” of cars. All waiting for parking. SO five ten minutes role by and we have not moved very far. So we turn around and start to try a different area for parking, well te parking attendent says we cannot go that way and points us in a direction and said more parking and I quote “a left, a left and a right”.

So what do i do….a left a left and a right……well that got me back on MLK and make a huge loop see two accidents and 10 min later I AM BACK AT THE SAME SPOT!!!!!!! So we had to park at camden yards staduium and walk to lot “O” of M&T Bank stadium. We get there 10-15 min late……They should have had signs or something. The lack of signage made me psychotic!

~dzob

I was at the grocery store, Safeway, and was pushing my cart to my car when I saw the thing the drives me the most PSYCHOTIC………. The grocery carts where all out in the middle of the parking lot and thrown in the cart corral! How hard is it to out your cart inside of the cart that is in front of you?????? Am I really that much better at pushing a cart than the rest of America, I guess so?

This is why it drives me so crazy; It is lack of respect for the perosn who has to actually take the carts into the store, lack of respect for the next person who has to put thier cart in and laziness. It is also inefficient.

So what did I do when I saw that carts this way……..I am gald you asked…..I went crazy and starting…..to……..well ok nothing to major. I rearranged the carts so they all fit together, it was as if i was a Safeway employee. This one lady saw what I was doing and looked me in the face and put her cart in the wrong way!!!! She did not say anything, did not help me, or wait. She added to the problem. WTF GROCERY STORE SHOPPERS!!!!!!

WTF

~dzob

Today i was buying new running shoes. New Balence in black, they look cool, anyway…and I went up to the counter to pay, because that is what you do at the counter. I swipe my debit/credit card and it asks for debit or credit and i push credit (because M&T will charge me if I use debit) *****Pause***

Lets talk a little about the debit credit machines at the stores, I wish they would some how standardize them. each one is different and each one has you do something different for credit and “yes” and “no”. Some you hit the green yes, so you select from a menu….WHICH IS IT!!!!! it drives me crazy.  *****end pause***

Than after I hit credit it says debit or cancel….in my head I am saying to my self “self. I don’t want debit, but i also don’t want to cancel the transaction and have to swipe it again because the 40 people behind me would not like that”. So I end up having to ask the clerk “Do I want to cancel?”…THEY need to rename it from “cancel” to “skip”.

That is an interface that is not intuitive and could use a designer to think of how to solve that problem…or maybe I am the only one having problems with this?

~dzob

Many of you may not know, but I am a runner. Always have been since HS. I ran Cross Country and than took a break in collage and than got back into it to loose weight (lost 80 lbs). NOW I have been running religiously 4-5 times a week and running about 4-5 miles a time. Anyway that is not the story, but jsut the background

I went running today (temperature 30 degrees), and it shocked me that most people do not have thier sidwalk’s cleared off from the snow. I almost fell on my face 40 times (ok, that was a slight over exageration….but I found that this story is not as exciting without a little drama!…but it was very hard to run)

While I was running and falling and almost dying(there is the dram again) I noticed that people like to look at runners, or honk their horns as they are driving past, or yell things at me…..is it just me or do all runners get this? Maybe they are thinking…how could someone run in this weather, or I should be runner, or what the hell, or…….(enter in your own here)

If you are one of the people doing this….than stop!

As I was thinking about this I almost got hit by a car with NO turn signal…..don’t get me started!

I have a bad case of the bad design disease. It can be contagious, so you might want to stay away. Let me explain: Recently I have been preparing for one of my classes and I have started collecting designs that I see around town or where ever I am. I started out collecting brochures to critique in my class, than it was taking pictures of posters, than it was magazines, now I cannot stop.It started out taking one brochure, now I walk away with a stack of badly designed material.

It is affecting my life!! I cannot go anywhere without seeing bad design and having an urge to take it, taking a picture of it, or steal it. I need help. Every website, brochure, ads in magazines, magazines, they are all out to make me crazy with their bad design.

They are out to get me….oh great now it is making me paranoid. Does anyone have a cure or the same disease? HELP!!! BUT…MAYBE I don’t want help….if I get cured, how will I know when something is a bad design.

So i know this is not new or anything, but it is amazing what is on facebook and what people say on facebook. It seems like everyone has a page and is sharing information. One thing that I love is to snoop on what other people are doing, talking about, and taking pictures of! I do have some problems/questions:

1. Why are people i don’t really know asking to be my friend. I did not know you in HS or College, why do i want to be your friend now? I mean really!
2. Why do so many people send me quizzes they took? Maybe i don’t want to spend the 30 minutes to take an IQ test to tell me i am not that smart. (P.S. I did take the quiz….damn you FB)
3. Why join a group….do you talk to all those people or is it something just fun to do?
4. If you are going to write me a note, why can’t you email?
5. Why do people put their address, phone number, and baby pics…..(maybe i am to nervous, but I have watched the child predator shows…..did i just write that? But seriously)
6. If you don’t have a page are you a loser.
7. Sometimes i don’t know what to write on the status part……do you really want to know what i am doing?

Anyway…..cheers to FB!

P.S. My wife never understood it, but now she is addicted!

This year was the first year I had to put together toys for my son, and any who has done this know what i am about to say! If you have never done it before, thank your parents right NOW, it is hard work.

First of all I feel the instructions and parts that they give you are all part of a big joke on people. Why else would the instruction be so dumb and the parts not intuative. I was putting together a workbench for my son and it took me 2 1/2 hours. it took me 1 1/2 houres to get through step 2! My wife finally needed to help me because I needed three hands, or as it turns out four hands and two heads.

I also feel it is a test for any parents Patience. Thank goodness for my wife, i would have thrown parts if it was not for her.

and lastly i need a word with the work bench, so stop reading and let me have some words. WTF how hard could you be…it is a work bench for little kids, you bolts and other weird parts can kiss off! Maybe if you where not so worried about how you look you could have told me when I put the part in wrong and there was no other way to put it in, or that one of your parts was manufactured wrong. Instead you let me belive that I was doing a great job and would finish soon…..thanks a lot:(

I am done. I feel better with that off of my mind.

~dzob

Last night we were at a Hanuka party and we brought doughnuts. That is what we had for the dessert and let me tell you how much I love the doughnut. I am a little of a doughnut conissaur. 2 years ago for my birthday I had a doughnut cake, yea tha’s right. The best dougnut used to be montgomery doughnuts, in montgomery county, the suburbs of D.C., really gaithersburg, but nobody know that area. It’s where i grew up.Thier doughnuts where risen doughnuts, not cake, and more doughey.That is the best doughnuts i have had, but sadley for this doughnuts lover they are not around anymore, so i have replaced them with doughnuts from Mars grocery stores.

The have this doughnut called the bismark and it is a doughnut that is almost like a cinimon roll with chocalate icing and the icing is not like frosting, it’s lighter…..it is so good. It is a little bight of heaven every single bite. They have great glazed (or honey dipped), chocolate, everyhting is good, so good.

Doughnuts that are over rated are krispy kreme and dunkin doughnuts. They both fall flat in my opinion. Dunkin doughnuts are so bad, i mean a doughnuts is still good, it fried bread, you cannot go wrong with that. KK are ok, but they are like having air, they are so light that they disapear in your mouth, not worth it.

My bet is a good mars doughnut.

~dzob

I was just at the library, you know getting some books, and while I was checking out my books at the front counter and smelled something horrific!!! I looked around and it was this old guy. He come right up besides me at the counter and stood there!!!!

I guess he was waiting in line, but the line is at least 10 feet away from where i was standing. So, I looked at him, with the look of WTF, and he looked at me with the look of, yeah???? Really, Really, Really? you are looking at me weird? Is what i wanted to say to him, but instead I gave him the finger………in my head.

What the hell is wrong with people. Give me some space and please shower!!!

Anyone who is reading this, maybe only two people, please post any pet peeves that they have. I will start.

1. People holding the door for me. I know that sounds strange, but it means that i have to jog so they don’t have to hold the door open to long. I will get there when i get there. I can open a door. thank you
2. When people don’t wave when I let them in while driving, It is just common courtesy.
3. Driving SLOW!!!!
4. Small talk.  I just don’t have the time to invest in talking to you about the weather, sports, and other mundane topics that don’t effect me in any way shape or form. AND do you really want to talk about the weather….really!?!

Those are just a few, there are plenty more!

~dzobel

I was in Cold Stone the other day, An ice cream place, and I was noticing that they do not say what the topping are anywhere in the store. Unless you have been there before you would not know what to do. If i wanted fresh strawberries on my ice cream i would not know they have them. I thought this was an extreme oversite on thier part. They have signs all over the place, but nothing saying what thier toppings or ice creams are untill you get up to the counter.

This makes me very nervous because I am what you call a nervous orderer. I flip flop back and forth and i need ample time to decide… THis did not make it any easier. I don’t like being put on the spot to order, To much pressure. I get gun shy and order items that maybe i don’t want.

My friends will all tease me about this, but I strongly dislike the High Five. Anytime it is used outside of sports is unnecessary. I mean I have seen people High Five over getting good seats in movie’s, getting a table in a restaurant, when the agree with someones idea, to using it as a greeting. What have we come to as a society where I have to slap someones hand if a agree with them. Do I really need to “hit” your hand??? Adults should never give another adult a “high” five, it looks strange and awkward, not to mention ridiculous.In sports people give each other high fives and that’s fine, but leave it on the field. Football players slap the other persons butt when they do a good job, but I cannot do “THAT” to a co worker, so why is the high five ok?

What is also funny, to me, are two things: 1. When someone is giving the high five they always say “high five” and 2. If someone does not give a high five the person is actually offended that I did not want to slap their hand. My wife tells me “what’s the big problem, just slap their hand”, can not do it because it would perpetuate the idea of High fives, then the person will always give high fives. Instead I make it more uncomfortable and stare at their hand until they put it down.

The one exception is kids, I mean I am not completely heartless, maybe a little, but not completely. I give my son a high five all the time because it is cute, but that is because he is 2 not 20!

~dzobel

I was recently in a poster contest and designed a piece that was pretty challenging to read and was more artistic. I received comments that it was to hard to read and I should think about reworking it to make more “understandable”. These comments and other like it inspired me to write this post.

As designers we need to stop being so conservative and “safe” if we as the designer never pushes the ideas of creative thought, readability, legibility, concept, photography and different thinking than design will never evolve and will stay where it is. This is the reason that drop shadows and inner glows, strokes, and all other cheesy effects are considered “cool”.

Don’t get me wrong I do like really clean and minimalist design, but there is a difference between clean minimal and stagnant and stale design. These people who do not want to move design forward and are the same people that would have objected to technology moving forward. We need to keep thinking of ways to make design better and more involved.

If you design a poster, lets say, and 80% of the people cannot read it and they tell someone that they don’t like and can’t read it and it is awful, it is a successful design. It is a success because people are talking about it, they are interacting with it, and it is bringing out emotion. That is what design should be doing. Yes I know design is about selling a product in the end, but it should still be powerful.

~david

I was driving in Baltimore the other day and I realized than unless you live in the city there are certain roads and customs that one does not know.  For example, I was going down president street toward the harbor and all of a sudden the lane I was in turned into side street parking. There was no sign that told me that, thank goodness I saw the cars, but I made the lady in the Lexus mad because I cut her off. There should be more signage around the city telling people who are not familiar with the city what to do. That not only goes for sign on the road but parking as well.

I have recieved two parking tickets because the parking sign where not clear. Maybe I should fight the tickets and tell the judges that because of the inefficient sign and the poor placement and the bad design I was not able to park correctly.

I got to thinking about local street customs. For example are there certain streets where people have certain rules that non local’s would know. For example there is this street by me where there are two lanes and both go straight, but it crosses a major road, so the right lane is kept clear for people turning on that road. Anybody who does not pay attention to this rule usually has many mad drivers behind them.

Does that happen anywhere else?

I have been seeing a lot of new trends in graphic design that I don’t know if I like. A lot of these trends, I think, are because of this new web 2.0 look and feel of websites. for a while print was making it’s way into graphic design, but now web is making it’s way into graphic design.

There are a lot of space age looking design with Victorian-ish (if that is a word) swirls. It is almost like this look is a template for new graphic design. I really feel like with this look and other trends that are coming out today it is diminishing design and creativity. Anybody now with photoshop and access to online tutorials are graphic designers. Trends are fine, but i am getting tired of seeing them. The one recently that I was was the typeface that has a slanted a, MTV is using it, bands are using it, contemporary designers are using it. It is not original anymore.  What’s next?