More Photoshop Practice :)

Some new work....

My handsom SRK w/ text from RNBDJ

A CD Cover for a fictional band

Something kinda uplifting

New Day, New Practice

New Photoshop Practice

I created this lovely smoke and fire tonight, using the smudge tool and liquify.






Later I had a request for a journalism student's mainpage website image.

And then more fun with maps and clouds and colors and stamps :)

So taxpayers paid for their bailout and now the banks are paying their execs bonuses that are in some cases equivalent to the sum that the Fed gave them....So using basic logic, taxpayers are essentially paying the bank execs bonuses. My question is, should there be legislation to put an extra tax on bank bonuses? Discuss....

Please go on to read this New York Time's Article

Creative Interpretation of Celina Jaitley

I have done an Urban Ink Photo Effect of a Bollywood Actress - Celina Jaitley. I used a modeling image and went from there!
Original

My interpretation

EnerNOC description synthesized

I've just done a lot of research on the company EnerNOC and decided to write in my own words what the company does - it's pretty complex and it seems I've finally gotten the gist of how a demand-response firm operates.

EnerNOC description synthesized

The Problem:

Our future is going to be increasingly relying on alternative energy, but currently, the electric grid isn’t balancing the activity and technological upgrade well. The major problem remains that the utilities’ continue to struggle in predicting demand. When the demand for energy spikes, the systems for demand-overload can fail and prices are known to soar. EnerNOC is providing solutions to the energy-demand problem and is helping to develop a more reactive and intelligent electric power grid.


The Solution:

EnerNOC develops and provides clean and intelligent energy solutions, focusing in demand-response and energy efficiency. The clients are energy users, suppliers and utilities. How it works: First EnerNOC will evaluate the client’s operations and facilities to determine how to maximize their energy efficiency. The client’s then agree to reduce their determined non-essential energy consumption during periods of peak energy demand or during a supply shortfall, in return for a payment from EnerNOC. EnerNOC will then manage the client’s usage from their NOC (network operations center), and as a full-service company, EnerNOC supplies the clients with a portfolio of energy management solutions.

MY WOOT BOC

I was lucky enough to get a WOOT BOC. It arrived yesterday. I photo-documented the process (although my apologies for poor photo quality - I was shaking with excitement and that thus reduced image-capture stability haha) :) For $8, I got a lot of goods. :)
Here I shall recount my XMAS BOC opening.

....open sesame

Item 1) Kodiak 3 Channel R/C Helicopter. No idea what the real woot value was and I can only find it listed online for $79, which seems unlikely. But cool, nonetheless.


2) Belkin Zipper Case for XM Xpress Value of $19.99

3) Woot Off! USB lights $5.00 (secretly have always wanted these)

4) Sanford PHD .5mm Black Mechanical Pencil Valued at $12.97 for 2 of them. I was thinking about why they say "PhD." - maybe so that you can lend it to some attractive co-worker or unsuspecting cutie in the bank and give yourself an opportunity to say, "Well, yes in fact I am a doctor..."

5) GFM 35mm Camera, no idea what the value is, probably not much, but my mom wants it, so if she's happy, it's worth a lot. #success

6) Next item was Lokkii BBQ Charcoal Briquettes. They are Flavorful and Green! Value = ? Snaps, now I need a grill.

7) I got some guitar strings :) Which is lame cuz I lost both my guitars, but I know some peeps who are a lil rough with theirs who could use them.

8) Mobi Universal GPS Visor Mount Valued at 19.99 Oh snaps, now I need a GPS (actually, I just picked out my Nuvi so I'm all set - although I wonder how safe a Sun Visor mount really is --- thoughts??)

9) I also got an unbranded USB powered Desktop Digital Picture Frame (tiny-sized)

10) And my best item was the LG HBS-250 Bluetooth Stereo Headset (red and blue) valued somewhere between $30 and $100 lol but it has value for me. :)

11) 9 Bags of Texas Air -- I can sleep well tonight.

So Summarized: Potential Value = $212.01
Texas-generated air pouches $0.01
Sanford PHD mechanical pencil $1.00
Woot Off! USB lights $5.00
Belkin Zipper Case for XM Xpress $19.99
GFM 35mm Camera $10.00
LG HBS-250 Bluetooth Stereo Headset $60.00
Mobi Universal GPS Visor Mount $19.99
Lokkii BBQ Charcoal Briquettes $14.99
Kodiak 3 Channel R/C Helicopter $79.99
Guitar Strings 10 count $5.00

Pretty excellent result's from opening my Santa's Bag of Crap.

My Photoshop Learning Curve

I realized this week that an important skill that most marketing professionals have is mastery of Photoshop. So, using my CS(1) I started practicing. See below for the progress I made [in descending order with the first pics being my final progress)

Job Searching – Six Months Synthesized

What I've learned about Job Hunting
In the last 6 months I've learned a lot and today I am sharing it!

TOP LINKS
Best place to look for posted jobs: http://www.indeed.com
Best place to look for non-profit jobs: http://www.idealist.org
Best place to have your resume, be signed up, look for jobs and get AMAZING ADVICE EMAILS from: http://www.jobfox.com
Interested in marketing? TalentZoo - check it out.

Twitter: I'm connected to A LOT of people/companies/organizations/robots on twitter whose mission it is to post jobs, job tips, success stories, hints etc. Its great to read them and stay connected. Most job sites that you visit will post a link to their twitter profile somewhere on their page – you can search that way or search through twitter.com

LinkedIn: LinkedIn has proven to be one of the top networking sites that the World Wide Web has ever seen. The bigger your network, the better your chances of getting a personal connection to a company that you want to work for.
It’s pretty simple to use, but you can make it as advanced as you want.
1) Type the name of the company you are seeking into the “company” field.
2) LinkedIn will show you the connections that you have, or that your connections have, to someone in that company.
3) Ask for an introduction to pass your resume on.
According to research done by Guy Kawasaki:
• People with more than twenty connections are thirty-four times more likely to be approached with a job opportunity than people with less than five.
• All 500 of the Fortune 500 are represented in LinkedIn. In fact, 499 of them are represented by director-level and above employees.

THE RESUME: I have spent close to 50 [wo]man-hours developing and tweaking my resume since graduation. It's come a long way and I’ve learned that it will NEVER BE PERFECT or COMPLETE-- it is a life-long developing work.
*Get your resume reviewed by everyone that you know! *
I've found that busy, successful people generally LOVE to help you with your resume. This might be because it makes them feel better about themselves, appear successful, are truly generous, or because they REALLY want to see you succeed—either way, it’s a win-win for you. All you have to do is ask.

PLACEMENT AGENCIES: Do a search on placement agencies (also known as: employment agencies, temporary agencies or staffing firms etc.) in your area and you should be able to come up with a few that will be nationally recognized or just appear to be reputable. i.e. Kelly Services.
OR you could also look in your local phone book or ask friends and neighbors for referrals for smaller, local ones. That's what I did.

Bollywood Obsession - SRK is #1

I've become borderline obsessed with Hindi/ film. I've decided to comment on each film that I see.

Dostana - Very funny, romantic, sweet, popular music. Took a very LIBERAL approach to film and discussed some of the major disparities in conventional India life/tradition. The music made the movie.

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi - My favorite so far. Shahrukh Khan can play ANY role SO convincingly! This movie was so creative and the music was phenomenal.

Jab We Met Took me awhile to get into it, but once I did, I was hooked. Super acting and wonderful music.

Billu Barber - Shahrukh Khan plays an actor, how difficult for him! :p Great story with a good lesson, great acting, good music.

Welcome - very humorous, good dancing, lame plot. That's all.

Taare Zameen Par Meaning "Every Child is Special" - Aamir Khan produced and directed. So sad, so well made. Examined the problems with the Indian school systems and how they can be changed to make a huge difference in the lives of many children. Cried throughout the whole film.

Bride & Prejudice - Hollywood's attempt at Bollywood, terrible music/choreography.

Hollywood/Bollywood A pretty decent movie that connects the finer points of a bollywood film to an American chick-flick. The music was generally pretty bad, ok, terrible, but I enjoyed the larger lessons from the movie.

Hera Pheri This is a HYSTERICAL film that is essentially a comedy of errors. It looked like it was made in the 80's although I heard it was recently made, but it seems pretty timeless because it talks about age old issues like poverty and it encapsulates the current global unemployment pandemic.

Veer-Zaara This is the best SRK film that I've seen, it's plot is the most beautiful tale of love and courage with Preity Zinta and Rani Mukerji

Chak De! India Another amazing Shahrukh Khan film. In this he must make up for his incredible, unjust mistake of losing the Hindustani-Pakistani Men's World Cup Field Hockey Match - by coaching the Women's Team 7 years later and changing the widespread opinion that women cannot play hockey and are inferior to men. Touching and inspiring film. I give a 5/10 for the music as there was really only 1 great song.

Salaam Namaste Another Yash Chopra film with Preity Zinta and Saif Ali Khan who have a crazy mix up of love and marriage and pregnancy. This was the first film that took a decently realistic view of modern Indian life.

Jaan-E-Mann Starring Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan and Preity Zinta. Eh....not very exciting. But I love Preity. <3

Hum-Tum Another Yash Chopra film, so so great. Starring Saif Ali Khan and Rani Mukerji - it's witty, romantic and pretty decent music. Animated scenes, but mostly a beautiful story of people who keep re-meeting and fall in love. At least 3times I wanted to jump out of my seat with emotion so I give it a good rating.

Om Shanti Om featuring Shahrukh Khan and Deepika Padukone. This told a story which continued into another that would make a non believer be convinced by reincarnation. I was impressed with the plot, the acting, the music the dancing the whole thing really.

Chalte Chalte With Shahrukh Khan and Rani Mukerji in a story within a story. So romantic in a very non traditional, modernist way. <3 it. 

Bachna Ae Haseeno Ranbir Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, and Minissha Lamba. Such Fantastic music! Sweet.

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai This was the most beautiful story with a young SRK and Kojol and Rani...they are fresh and cute and the romance was painful and I criiiiiiied but what a classic!

Chance Pe Dance Shahid Kapoor, Genelia D' Souza, Mohnish Behl. All that we need to know about the life of the Bollywood struggler. Great, although the music was lacking. 

Rocket Singh

Pyaar Impossible

Read more at: http://movies.ndtv.com/movie_review.aspx?id=471&albumname=Chance%20Pe%20Dance&cp

Read more at: http://movies.ndtv.com/movie_review.aspx?id=471&albumname=Chance%20Pe%20Dance&cp

A Full Deck of [Credit] Cards....Trends of The Great Recession

This economy has made credit institutions wiser to the benefits card users relied on in the past and have exchanged them for 'cash-back' gimmicks or 'point systems' that will offer you a $10 flashlight as a reward for paying $100's in transaction fees and finance charges. Woohoo.

I did some of my own research, scouring newspapers, terms & agreements, fee schedules and even blogs to find out what the trends are and what the best options are for normal card users who want to transfer high interest balances and get a hassle free low interest deal. I'll tell you this, there aren't that many to chose from anymore.

Trend 1: You can no longer find 12 month 0% APR promotional offers for new purchases and balance transfers. I've found only 1 during my search. See Below. You are going to find 6 month promotions and an occasional 9 month promotion if your credit is stellar.

Trend 2: Say goodbye to $0.00 Balance transfer fees, these are always between 3% - 5% with a minimum of $10. Here's an example - You want to transfer $2,000 to a new card and you have a 3% transfer fee, that's $60! $4,000 is $120+.

Trend 3: You MUST READ TERMS & CONDITIONS because it seems every single company has some serious differences in what they are offering and the perks they offer can end abruptly. If you pay your monthly payment one day late, on the second month, you can easily lose your intro APR and be assigned the DEFAULT RATE of 29.9% - This is NOT A GOOD PLAN, EVER.

An Exception To The Rules!
AMERICAN EXPRESS CLEAR CARD -
0% APR for 6-12 months depending on credit and 12% - 17% after one year.
Late Fee: $0
Overlimit Fee: $0
Cash Advance Fee: $0
Balance Transfer Fee: $0
****HOWEVER******
There is a 3.99% Interest rate on all balance transfers.

CITIbank Platinum Select Mastercard
0% APR for 6-9 months, depending on credit, then 12% - 20% after one year.
Balance transfer fee: 3% of each balance transfer; $5 minimum.
Cash advance fee: 3% of each cash advance; $5 minimum.
Late fee:
• $15 on balances up to $100
• $29 on balances of $100 up to $250
• $39 on balances of $250 and over
Over-the-credit-line fee: $39

From what I've learned over the years:
If it sounds too good to be true, it is.
The shiny-er and fancier the actual card is, the more you should speculate.




More information to come later.

Music Education

Yesterday I sat with a brilliant man at a picnic.
We discussed music teaching methods and some of the most enormous questions.

Do music educators teach using methods that will reach everyone, but that is limited in its ability to offer a higher level of understanding for those who could learn and thus leave everyone at a level of mediocrity?

OR

Do educators teach using a method that some students will most certainly be unable to excel with, while it offers more capable students an opportunity for massive understanding and musical growth, leaving a large disparity of knowledge between students on the educational spectrum?

I was able to discuss this with the gentlemen music director because I am reasonably informed on the subject, having spent my childhood following my mom to Orff classes, master classes, conductors seminars, choral lectures, music educators seminars, master of Ed graduate courses, etc etc.

He was shocked at the end of the discussion and said:

"And YOU got your DEGREE in Business Management??!"
I nodded at this, unable to say much.
He said then: "Well, as long as you have music in your life, it's ok that you chose the path to a bigger paycheck".

All I could do was think of the hard working music educators that receive the smallest of paychecks, many of whom are underpaid, undervalued, underutilized and live day to day, constantly trying to be the best educator they can.

Alas, I give the utmost respect to these individuals who make it their life work to inspire creativity, musical intelligence and most importantly to inspire greatness in all those that they teach.

Subconscious Preparations (or Imaginations)

I realized today that certain behaviors of mine are looking more and more like practice or preparation for something big.

I begin my day with a coffee outside, shower quickly and while I prepare for my day, I blast bollywood tunes and dance for appx 20 minutes as my morning stretch.
If I travel by way of public transportation, or by car, I cannot begin my commute without an updated playlist with all the new bollywood film music, I can't seem to be without it.
I've been updating my kitchen with coriander, cumin, chillies, etc and my freezer seems to never run out of kulfi.
I never spent too much thought on the topic of God, or love, but it seems to consume me in the free moments of my day. I feel that God has a plan for me and I am waiting for love in a way that I never imagined.
Each night I sit down a watch a Hindi film, just so I can feel myself connected again to the culture that I love so much and wish to be a part of.

I fantasize that I could move to India, work for a micro-credit lending organization, meet my Indian husband and start a family... (it seems too storybook to me though).

And yet... I don't know if I can do this. It seems like much too big of a mountain to climb.
I speculate that if I left Boston behind, I would miss my friends and family, but that my heart would heal faster and I could finally find some peace, but I don't particularly count on it, nor take it into too much consideration when thinking about journey.

Alas, I continue to dance and sing and have my own little India in my head.

Been cat sitting for the last few days and will continue to do so for 2 full weeks. It's great, the cat is lovable and low-maintenance.
Tonight Caroline and I went to Worcester to see Jennie, our long time, high-school friend, for a few hours. It was really nice to catch up with her and see her new place, a gorgeous old mansion-turned college student housing. The studio has cathedral ceilings and virtually ceiling to floor windows. We got KFC and sat and watched the news. It was a relaxing way to spend the evening.
Now I'm back, on my mac in the smallest bedroom in the house, because I'm refusing to sleep in the master bedroom.
Tomorrow we get up early and hit the library for some serious job search etc.

I start my training to work in my uncle's dentist office as a receptionist/admin assistant. It will be a decent temp money-making job.
Exhausted but felt like starting to use this thing.

Full Time Job in Looking for a Full Time Job

Searching for jobs is a nine-to-five,
Applying for jobs baby-boomers couldn't survive.
This job market is an obstacle course,
My light at the end, joining the work force.


The last two weeks I have been working 9-5 applying for jobs.
I've been searching indeed, hotjobs, Monster, etc.
Even though it's stressful, I'm somehow feeling really confident and positive about getting a job!