Tuesday, August 30

Spherized Mango

Also known as Mango in a bubble :) I found a new button!

MangoRain 002.jpg

ramblemans.blogspot

Mango's Sphere Face

Yet another try. Is this better?

MangoSphere2.jpg

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This is Mango. This didn't turnout as well as I'd hoped, but still not too bad for a rookie :)

www.ramblemans.blogspot.com

Mango's Sphere Face

This is Mango. This didn't turnout as well as I'd hoped, but still not too bad for a rookie :)

www.ramblemans.blogspot.com

Monday, August 29

Complete: First three college courses

1) A/100%: Technical Professional Strategies 2) A/100%: Creative Problem Solving 3) A/93%: Introduction To Web Design. Not a bad start, if'n I do say to myself :-)

Sunday, August 28

Catnipped Cat

Is your cat just too hyper for his own good? Here's proof that Mango really calms down if you give him a catnip leaf. LOL

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Catnipped/relaxing

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Catnipped Cat

http://ramblemans.blogspot.com

Hi eye c you

ProfPicToddjpg.jpg

This is me

Thursday, August 25

Kodak (non) Customer Service Chat

Kodak Customer Service Chat

8/25/2011

Todd: I want to change the color of the text to something other than 'black & White'

[All of our specialists are assisting other customers. We apologize for the delay and appreciate your patience. Please continue to hold and your chat will be answered by the next available specialist.](12:56:36 PM)

[You are now chatting with Anurag S.]

Anurag S (12:56:43 PM): Welcome to Kodak, my name is Anurag . Please wait while I review your question.

Anurag S (12:57:10 PM): Please tell me the model number of your printer?

Todd (12:57:28 PM): Esp-3

Anurag S (12:57:42 PM): If I understand you correctly you want to print color of the text in other than black & white.

Todd (12:57:56 PM): Yes

Anurag S (12:58:01 PM): I will help you in this issue today.

Todd (12:58:13 PM): Thank you

Anurag S (12:58:29 PM): Please tell me the Kodak Service Number for your printer? You can find this number by opening the printer access door like you are going to change the ink cartridges. This number will be located on the left hand side.

Todd (12:58:52 PM): What does that matter?

Anurag S (12:59:25 PM): In order to help you i need to capture some detail for the record.

Todd (12:59:28 PM): Why, actually.

Todd (1:00:03 PM): Okay, hold on

Todd (1:01:24 PM): *******

Anurag S (1:01:52 PM): Please tell me month, year & place of purchase of the printer.

Todd (1:03:42 PM): I don't know what month it was. It was about a year ago and I don't have the receipt. We got it at the Lebanon, MO Wal*mart Supercenter.

Anurag S (1:03:55 PM): Thank you for all the information.

Todd (1:04:08 PM): You're welcome.

Anurag S (1:04:20 PM): Please tell me what document are you trying to print.

Anurag S (1:04:29 PM): Is it a word document or something else.

Todd (1:04:55 PM): Plain text on plain white printer paper.

Anurag S (1:05:20 PM): Ok

Anurag S (1:05:40 PM): Please open Microsoft word on your computer.

Todd (1:06:03 PM): opening...

Todd (1:06:49 PM): Ready

Anurag S (1:07:25 PM): Please open a new file in word document & type something on the page.

Todd (1:08:23 PM): done *

[in a new doc at the time I wrote: Want this text to be green by default]

Anurag S (1:09:14 PM): Now select the typed text with the mouse cursor & chosse the color of text other than black & white. (Hmm, I sense frustration)

Todd (1:09:46 PM): I Want this text to be green by default

Anurag S (1:10:49 PM): Please select the text color on the word file.

Anurag S (1:10:57 PM): And print.

Todd (1:11:38 PM): I know how to change Word default settings. I want go change just printer settings.

Anurag S (1:11:54 PM): Ok.

Anurag S (1:11:56 PM): Please give me a few minutes to research the answer. I will be with you shortly.

Todd (1:12:06 PM): Thank you.

Anurag S (1:17:25 PM): Thank you for staying online , i appreciate your patience.

Todd (1:17:42 PM): You're welcome

Anurag S (1:18:17 PM): Todd i have checked for this issue. you can set the default setting to print every time in color however you have to select which color your want to print in.

Todd (1:18:46 PM): That's what I want to do.

Anurag S (1:18:49 PM): Or you can set the default setting on the word document to type every time in Green color.

Anurag S (1:19:08 PM): Select The text color as green as default.

Anurag S (1:19:13 PM): In the word.

Todd (1:20:19 PM): I want everything I print that has text to have green text even if it's a scan-and-print job. Not everything I print is a 'Word' document.

Anurag S (1:20:41 PM): Ok

Anurag S (1:21:31 PM): Todd for that it may require some advance level of technical support & if you want you can speak with our voice support team at 1-800-421-6699 9 A.M. to midnight, Eastern Time, 7 days a week. your case no. is *******

Anurag S (1:21:48 PM): Voice support team will be able to help you with this.

Todd (1:22:03 PM): Ok, I'll do that. Thanks for your help.

Anurag S (1:22:13 PM): I appreciate your time & patience on this chat session, Is there any other support I may provide you with today?

Todd (1:22:58 PM): Nah, I'm good. Enjoy the rest of your day and don't let cranky people annoy you too much.

Anurag S (1:23:37 PM): Thank you for contacting Kodak. Appreciate your coopertion ,You have a nice day.


Sigh! I know it can be done. I just can't remember how I did it the last time. LOL

Todd

Vist Russia!

This was my last assignment for my Introduction to Web Design class using Photoshop CS4 Extended version. I got an "A". *shameless plug*

Russian flyer

It does indeed enlarge upon the clicking of it :)

http://ramblemans.blogspot.com

My online PDF Portfolio

If you ever want to see all my class PHOTOSHOP, completed assignments (and just personal picture playing), you can see them (in .pdf format) at http://www.visualcv.com/toddwmilligan

Wednesday, August 24

Dismantled Bathroom Faucet

Have you ever wondered what the inside of a bathroom faucet looks like? Awesome then I can show you. This is the one that broke and needs replacement. I decided this morning that I am going to have to take it out when we get said replacement, so why not do it today. After getting it separated from the sink I decided to see exactly what caused it to stop functioning and perhaps fix it. As it turns out I don't think I can fix it since I don't have any welding tools nor am I a welder. Would super glue work? Hmm...

faucetdismantled010.jpg

This is it, completely taken apart.

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faucetdismantled004.jpg

This is the part that I *was* attempting to get off of the faucet to clean. It is completely clogged with lime from the water. Looking at it I am surprised any water at all came out.
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faucetdismantled008.jpg
Another blurry view of the clogged screen.
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faucetdismantled007.jpg
This is what the part with the screen in it attached to inside the faucet. The silver part below the gold-colored part is what was supposed to unscrew. Instead it had been long enough that lime had fused them together.
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faucetdismantled-006.jpg
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The top of the pipe pointing up is what the thing in the picture above would need to be spot welded to, unless you think super glue would work. Do you?

(c) http://ramblemans.blogspot.com

Tuesday, August 23

Fetching cat

Normally he'll bring the ball of paper back several times in a row before he quits and I have to go get it to throw again. lol. Like most animals do when I have a camera, he didn't do it like he usually does.

Scheduled blog entry and homework picture

Are you wondering what the crap I mean by scheduled blog entry? See, after I started college in June I decided to keep my blog updated more consistently. I set the calendar program in Thunderbird to remind me to write in my blog every 2-3 days. Sometimes I do. Today is one of those days.

Today is my big brother's birthday. He lives in England. I sent him an email, and also wrote "Happy Birthday" on his Facebook wall. I probably won't get an acknowledgment, but that's alright, I didn't do it for me. So why mention it? A question I have no good answer for.

broken faucet

I shaved my face yesterday. While doing so I felt that the water stream coming out of the faucet when I was trying to rinse the razor blades off wasn't very direct, but I pushed through. After I finally got done (3-blade razor got clogged w/hair, 2-blade doesn't work very well cuz it's a cheap one). I decided to clean the little wire-mesh screen on the faucet. However, instead of twisting just that part loose, I twisted the entire end of the faucet loose. Out of curiosity I pulled that thing (see above) down so that it didn't wiggle at all. Unfortunately, the connection for it inside the spout is no longer attached to it. When I turned the water on for just a second I heard water hitting the floor of the cabinet under the sink. So now we need a different faucet, but that's going to have to wait until 2 Fridays from now after we get paid.

Yesterday I completed a lab assignment for my web class and turned it in online (uploaded it). Unfortunately, I submitted it as the week five, unit 9 exercise1 (should've been Unit 9 LAB1 ), which is a different assignment. Luckily, I have a teacher who understands that mistakes happen and asked if I would like her to reset the exercise so that I can turn in the correct one later. Of course I said yes. I honestly don't know why I did what I did. I swear I double checked to make sure I was turning in the correct assignment. Which I was, but I turned it in for the wrong homework category. Sigh. A couple of weeks ago I turned the wrong homework for the correct category and had to have that reset, hence why I double check everything, or think I do, before uploading my finished assignment. Anyway, below is the assignment I turned in correctly the second time (hopefully). LOL.

3D sphere created with Photoshop CS4

Okay, I have written a blog. Now I'm going to go outside and ride the riding mower around the front yard so it doesn't look like we have 2 driveways. LOL. The last time I mowed I left the grass UN-mowed on each side of the driveway so that when that grass there gets taller there would appear to be walls. When my wife came home yesterday, she said she almost drove down beside the driveway because she couldn't tell where the real one was. Today I shall fix that!

Driveway picture 1 clicking enlarges

Driveway picture 2 clicking enlarges

(c) http://www.ramblemans.blogspot.com

Thursday, August 18

Elvis Presley poster assignment

The assignment was to come up with a poster using the style, fonts and colors of a time period in the past of a popular music idol of that time. I chose the 1950's.

Elvis

8/16/2011 Todd M.

I began the poster idea searching for font styles in 1957 because that's when someone I know was born. Choosing a font style that year-specific was proving to be next to impossible. Just the font style of the '50s was the next idea. Then I did a search for 50's posters. One of Elvis's posters popped up. I noticed that there was a lot of orange, red, and black & white in the posters of the decade. I remembered my mother was a huge Elvis Presley fan. She died a few years back so I went with Elvis as my favored star of those times. I liked him too though. Now I had the idea of who would be my poster's star and began looking for copyright-free pictures. Downloaded several and worked two of them into my poster.

I needed to be able to see what kinds of fonts they used, so I looked for posters with lots of type/copy. They used quite a bit of big, round, plump, and chiseled letters in various posters that I found. I found that they were fond of 'Helvetica' and 'Verdana' fonts, but they didn't seem right to me. Searched for 50's font styles again and found a site with similar looking fonts to the posters. Photoshop didn't have the first one and I didn't like Verdana. I picked the Showcard Gothic font (fontspace.com).

I had one color photo and one black & white photo. After playing around for a while I had chose black with white letters for the type above the black & white picture. I had planned on using orange and red letters below the colorized picture. While trying to get all the background and foreground colors to sync, I tried to change the background behind a picture; I accidently solarized it. I liked what it did and so did my wife, so I played with that and ended up with what I turned in.

References

fontspace.com. (n.d.). Free fonts tagged retro, 1950s. Retrieved August 16, 2011, from fontspace: http://tinyurl.com/1950sfonts

Google. (n.d.). Google. Retrieved August 16, 2011, from Google: http://google.com

Saturday, August 13

Life and School

Hello, how are you? Yes, I am finally writing a blog and will send it online for others besides me to read. I've been pretty consistent in making Vlogs. I don't know if I will ever post them online though. And that is because it's just my nature to start making them so that they are politically correct. Although, that's not really the meaning I was trying to explain. It would be like writing when I know people online are going to read it. After a while I tend to write for other people instead of myself. Therefore I tend not to get too deep because people would find out how freaky I really am. IE how so very different (not in a good way lol) I am than the so called average person. I really don't know why that should even be an issue, but it is. We have been telling our kids the whole time they've been growing up do not worry about what other people think, to just be themselves. Then I hypocritically try to write and say things that won't upset people (anymore), especially people who really know me in real life. What is real life? You know? people I've talked to in person are definitely real to me. People I've met online though are real as far as I know. No, they are, at least the people I have met online before meeting them in person, which aren't many, but they do exist, or they did at one point. lol.

click too enlarge? I turned in the last homework assignment of the week for the Web Design class (ad design for a fictional company). Guess what grade I received. Yep, an 'A' (100%). Only 3 more weeks of this class. I have to look through my notes to remind myself what classes come next. Speaking (typing?) of homework, I have one more part of the Problem Solving classwork to turn in this week. Of course I still need to write it, but that's beside the point. lol. Nah, it'll probably only be a page or two, which won't take too long to write... hopefully. Only 2 weeks remaining in the Problem Solving class. It has been 9 of 11 weeks for that one, whereas the Web Design class is only a 6 week class on Photoshop. I'm wondering if the next classes will be about other Adobe software (InDesign, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, etc, in the Adobe Master Collection CS4). If they are, then I am wondering if each of them will be 6 week classes or longer. I'm guessing, definitely guessing that will be the case, but please do not use the first part of this sentence as fact. lol. I'm still trying to figure-out, with Photoshop, if I really need to flatten/merge my image layers to reduce the final file size, or if just starting the picture layout in 72 dpi reduces it in the beginning. I experimented last evening a little with one of my prior projects, but the one I played with was started before I found out about the 72 dpi thing. Shrug :)

This morning has been fairly productive. I've taken a shower, drank a cup of coffee, cleaned the litter box for the kitties, and whacked the weeds down in front of the house . I've also video blogged (Vlogged) and obviously Blogged. What does the B in Blog stand for again? Anyway, I'm going to finish writing this, add a picture and upload this puppy. Later taters!

(C) www.ramblemans.blogspot.com

Monday, August 8

Self-designed desktop background

After I designed the "home page" for my web design class, I decided to make one just for me and my desktop image. The first one is in .jpg format, the second in .gif. The .gif keeps more of the original detail, but it makes for a much bigger file-size.

.jpg,jpeg format
Desktop image in jpg

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.gif format:
.gif format

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www.ramblemans.blogspot.com

Saturday, August 6

'A' for effort and per the teacher too

I got a 100% grade on this one :) I even created the 'logo' on the bottom-right corner :)

KiteTails homework

Clicking enlarges -FYI :)

http://ramblemans.blogspot.com

Homework Assignments-Web Design Class for Week 2

I only got a grade of 94% on this 'montage' because I needed to show more motion, which the 'blur' option in Photoshop would've helped with. That's okay, 94% isn't bad.

Basketball montage - Web Design homework

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Here's another one I did for the "montage" project, but I got side-tracked thinking about my "home page" assignment (will show here after it's graded), thus forgetting what it was supposed to be. lol. This was just me playing :-)

Not a 'montage'. A montage wannabe

www.ramblemans.blogspot.com