If you notice any fluctuations in the space/time continuum, it’s just me updating my site again (a standard routine upheld every other year or so).

On a side note, it was my first time at the Blanton, so I strolled around and checked out some of the other areas. The stairs alone are pretty awesome. The Modern & Contemporary Prints & Drawings area wasn’t quite what I’d hoped to be, but the European Prints & Drawings were a nice surprise (I love me some Alfonse Mucha).

The shop across the atrium was expensive, as expected, and the coffee shop just looked expensive. However, all in all it was a great experience. It’s in a very nice and well manicured  little area. I wholly recommend a visit if you get the chance. Thursday’s are free too!

And then, a miraculous day happened: I found Speak Up. I think it was in a HOW issue that covered various design blogs (“blog” being the online phenomenon at that time, before everyone and their grandmother had one) and for whatever reason, Speak Up stood out for me. It probably was due to the fact that the premise of the site was for designers to be able to talk with other designers. It was different, though, from your standard message board/forum. It was much more engaging. There was dialogue. There was heated dialogue with rhythm and passion and back-and-forth banter. And it was wonderful.

I never encountered this before. The other designers I worked with and knew were always on a different page than me. I could never engage in a decent conversation about differentiating opinions (or build a camaraderie with agreeing opinions). But now I felt rejuvenated. Energized. I had a pep in my step! And my professional life was good again.

And this lasted for about 2  years until our first daughter joined our family. And life got busy and I found my online habits changing. I was spending less time online, and spending less time reading fewer posts on Speak Up. I even found a new job that kept me busier than ever. I was looking for shorter and faster (more succinct, if you will) online experiences. Quipsologies came out from the same house of Under Consideration, which met most of those needs. Then I moved on to RSS feeds as design blogs blossomed. There was almost too much to manage.

I also found that I needed to speak up less. I don’t know what it was that changed, but I didn’t have to thump my chest as often as I used to. I guess I got it out of my system, and found my own voice without a need to prove something.

So I’ve always been fond of Speak Up. It was a growth period for me, a positive one. I learned many things there. But finally, all good things must come to an end. And last week Armin announced that Speak Up was going to lock down. All the posts and comments would still be available, however nothing new would go up. No new posts, no new comments.

So this is my sappy, sordid goodbye for Speak Up. A chapter in my professional journey will be reserved for you.

Okay, so I finally made the jump and moved everything around and got the new version up on (insert southern drawl) this here domain (end southern drawl). Whew. Still tweaking and cleaning, and as frustrating as some things are, it’s pretty damn fun to learn new things.

I’ve been giving it some serious thought, about whether or not to make my blog as the “store front,” or the traditional (read as: old school) landing/splash page, and decided that Cameron and Jason do a fantastic job their way, so who am I to argue? Blog up front it is.

If you’re curious about what this site used to look like, check out v2. ]]> http://www.michaelholdren.com/2009/03/29/version-3/feed/ 0 http://www.michaelholdren.com/2009/02/24/photographic-work/ http://www.michaelholdren.com/2009/02/24/photographic-work/#comments Wed, 25 Feb 2009 04:40:00 +0000 Michael http://www.michaelholdren.com/blahg/v3/?p=95 I’m testing out how my photos will look in this new theme. Enjoy.

Found Ampersand

Try this: you’re searching for a song that you want to listen to, but you can’t remember what playlist you have it in. So you search your library and find i. Easy? Sure.

But now you want to know what playlist you have it placed in. Ooooohh… you can’t. There’s no column to view what playlist(s) this song is in.

What the hell? Why not? And why is cover flow view limited only to showing covers of albums and not playlists? (Yes I realize that the name alone would indicate this limitation but if I’m looking at my playlists in list view and switch to cover flow, I should be able to continue looking at my playlists in cover flow view.) And don’t get me started with how slow the iTunes Music Store is. Grrr…

Who knows. Lately, Apple is consistently not living up to their promise of a better experience. Granted it’s better than anything else out there, but they’re not as good as they say they are. I’ve been using a Mac for ten years now and since OS X has been released, the user experience has taken a decline.