Featured

In my attempts to master the ways of the interweb I have spent the last year and a half reading books and websites to gain a Jedi-esque knowledge of the web standards as described by the W3C

"W3C primarily pursues its mission through the creation of Web standards and guidelines. Since 1994, W3C has published more than 110 such standards, called W3C Recommendations. W3C also engages in education and outreach, develops software, and serves as an open forum for discussion about the Web. In order for the Web to reach its full potential, the most fundamental Web technologies must be compatible with one another and allow any hardware and software used to access the Web to work together. W3C refers to this goal as “Web interoperability.” By publishing open (non-proprietary) standards for Web languages and protocols, W3C seeks to avoid market fragmentation and thus Web fragmentation."

(In other words I am a HUGE Geek!)

So recently I have been able to successfully validate both my XHTML and my CSS (Cascading Style Sheets.) In doing so I have been able to get my website ShaneGuymon.com to be featured on these websites:







I'd like to thank these websites and online galleries for adding my website to large quantity of standards compliant websites out their on this world wide web we all enjoy. As a small token of my gratitude I have added a section on my sidebar which is titled Featured On which has links to the different sites that have featured or showcased my website.

Welcome To My Life

This is what I go through on almost a daily basis.

Save Benjis

I don't own an iphone, and I probably NEVER will. That doesn't mean I don't get excited about the product and what it is doing as far as the advancements it's making in both mobil devices and how we interact in general. So if you haven't already heard all the buzz with the release of the iphone 3G and the opening of the App Store. There have been quite a few websites already giving their top 20 or top 50 apps that they've found thus far.

I met up with some friends on Friday night for a "Guys Night Out" type thing at Rudy's Bar-B-Que. A couple of the guys who had an iphone had them out showing off their recently downloaded apps, and one of my friends in particular sparked up some discussions about the iphone apps since he himself made a pretty darn good one that isn't being talked about enough. So after taking his app for a test drive after dinner I was able to see the potential this app could have in changing the way a person or family would shop. His app is called Save Benjis It's a cleverly simple application (You can watch a demo video on his website and get more info their as well on how it works and all the benefits it delivers), but basically, "Save Benjis, is a free application for the iPhone™ (and iPod Touch™), that provides you with the best internet prices while you shop in the real world. Compare prices and read reviews on your iPhone for over 15 million different products from over one thousand stores. When you find a better price using Save Benjis you can purchase the item using your iPhone with as little as one touch." So to put it in even simpler terms this application will 1.) Save you money and 2.) Find the best deal either online or at another store nearby.

So if you have an iPhone or even an iPod Touch click your way over to the Save Benjis website or just search for it in the iPhone applications in the iTunes store and download it. The BEST part about this iPhone app, is it's FREE! Let's also not forget that it will help you Save Benjis!



Read other reviews on the Save Benjis Application
Life Hacker
iPhoneApplicationList.com
Crunch Base
AppSafari.com
Super Fish
Technorati

P.S: The food at Rudy's was GREAT as well.

4th of July 2008

Click on the photo above to check out our fun day at the park on the 4th of July!

JCS Branding Website

I recently designed a website for a friend & business partner of mine. His name is Jake Starr, he owns and operates JCS Branding along with his father. He approached Joel and I a few months ago about redesigning his website for him as a favor. He was nice enough to meet us in San Marcos and buy us lunch as he shared his rough sketches, ideas, and expectations for the redesign. We had to make a few changes to his original plan after evaluating his budget and primary goals as a business.

From that point on until Monday I spent my free nights and weekends at home working away on designing and coding his website. My friend Joel offered up a bit of help and designed some great links of featured areas of the website that run down the left side of the website.

JCS Branding is based in San Antonio, so we tried to translate both the name of the company, and where it is located into the design of the website, to help reinforce the services Jake offers his clients. Practice Cafe does quite a bit of business with Jake, he delivers great products and competitive prices along side top notch customer care and service. Jake is an honest down to earth guy and it shows in the manner in which he conducts his business. He's constantly helping us find the best products to exceed our expectations and goals for everything from pens, chap stick, coffee mugs, magnets, & more. He helps us know what materials, and merchandise will be best suited for our particular needs. So it was an honor to be able to work on designing a brand new website for him.

Please click your way over to his website by clicking on either one of the images or here. Also if you ever need your name or logo placed on ANYTHING and when I say ANYTHING I literally mean ANYTHING don't hesitate on contacting Jake Starr.

I hope that the website has exceeded his expectations and will help reinforce the values of his business while also facilitating it and reinforcing his company brand and identity. I also hope that his current customers, as well as future customers will also enjoy his website.

Let me know what you think about the website by leaving me a comment.

Champions!

I'm so glad the Celtics didn't only beat the Lakers tonight but they just humiliated them the entire game. It was so nice to finally see Kevin Garnett win a championship.
Although my boy Ray "Jesus Shuttlesworth" Allen got robbed for the Finals MVP, I was still satisfied to finally see Paul Pierce also get some much deserved love. Paul Pierce definitely played well not only in the Finals, but the entire season and especially in the play-offs. But my man Ray Allen was just superb against the Lake show. I mean he had his fair share of Kobe duty that he did a dang fine job with, not only that but he also had to go right back at Kobe on the other end of the floor and still managed to average 20 points a game. Tonight he hit 7 3's with that silky smooth jumper of his. I mean watching Ray Allen shoot is almost a work of art in and of itself, hearing the wet sound the the ball makes as it is swishing through the bucket is just indescribable! He totally deserved to be holding up that smaller but still shiny trophy at the end of the game.

It's good to see the Celtics back at the top!

Bring Me My Moneys!

As soon as I stepped through the door I heard a loud squeal and I saw Hannah circling around the table on her little scooter and she yelled with glee, "Daddy did you bring me my moneys?"

and I just started cracking up as I leaned over to give her a hug.

Now let me back this thang up a bit so my infinite abyss of devoted readers can understand the real humor in this statement. You see, Friday when I got home from work Hannah had this little insert from a Barbie DVD she has that had additional toys to coincide with this Barbie DVD. Well Hannah found one of the toys in particular to be a must have addition to her infinite abyss of toys that are accumulating in her bedroom and in various places throughout our home. She carried this piece of paper staring at this particular picture of this toy (as if she was Smeagal and it was The Ring) and showing it to us over and over and telling us we needed to go to the store and get it. So I told her that we had to have money to do that. So her reply was for us to go buy some money. When I told her it didn't work like that, then she said that I still needed to go get some money. So I told her that I had to go to work to get money. She seemed to understand that, but then all she kept talking about is how she wanted to go to work with me to get the money for the toy right then and their. So I told her I didn't have to go back to work until Monday. So now jump back to when I got home from work, and the first thing she asks me when she sees me come through the door is, Do I have her money?

That right their is FUNNNY!

NBA Finals 2008

I can't help but entertain the thoughts of conspiracy theories in regards to the NBA's involvement in how this whole NBA Finals has worked out, did they have this planned the entire time, were refs urged to make BAD calls to help one team over the other? Or if it really is just "The Perfect Storm." It's hard to think it just happened with how HUGE the NBA is taking advantage of this on a marketing level. I mean before the game they had a whole tribute to the history of the match-up. All over ESPN and NBA.com and anywhere else you find throwback pictures of Tragic and Bird. They've even gone so far as to make a "Split Face" commercial with Bird and Tragic (Magic) Johnson.



There is only one HUGE problem with all of this madness. The NBA is trying to artificially create the drama and emotion that existed back in the 70's and 80's between the two teams. They are trying to awaken the rivalry from the dust. Only those same emotions don't exist anymore. Not between the players and NOT between the fans. All though my hatred for the LAkers has NEVER worn off since those shining years of the 80's growing up rooting for Larry "LEGEND." My LOVE for BOSTON didn't stick around either. Although I am rooting for the Celtics, and have been the entire season because as far as the franchise is concerned I want to see them return to what they once were, however they aren't the same team anymore. The main reason I want the Celtics to win is because I have been a fan of both Kevin Garnett & Ray Allen for quite some time. So I am excited for both of them to "hopefully" get a championship. They both deserve it, but Kevin Garnett more so.

I think Scoop Jackson put it best from his Page 2 article he wrote for ESPN.com:

"The '80s takes it. Because of the one factor that existed then but doesn't now: race. The black versus white element of the rivalry in the '80s was just as important as anything geographical or basketball-related. That's what made a sports event transcend athletics and enter into America's social structure. Race -- built on the Bird/Magic non-basketball dynamic -- was the core reason we all were galvanized and fascinated. And though many would consider this a hindrance to what the rivalry was about, in truth it essentially made the rivalry beautiful. It made each race respect the other, forty-eight minutes at a time."

To add to that, I wouldn't say it was ALL race, but more so it was BIRD and Magic, I mean they were rivals in college battling each other for the College title, and then they both entered the NBA as rivals again competing for Rookie of the year. So although they are friends now, during their years on the court they HATED one another. If you were a Larry Bird fan you weren't a fan of Magic (you might of respected his game, but you HATED him.) Likewise if you were a fan of Magic Johnson then you HATED Larry Bird. Those emotions and sentiments between fans and players don't exist anymore.

So David Stern, please give it up man, just let the finals be what they are, a GREAT match-up between two GREAT teams, and not a rebirth of what ONCE was.

Hannah's Song

We are sitting on the couch watching the 2008 MTV Movie Awards and I notice Hannah is singing a song. This isn't abnormal or strange in any way because Hannah spends most of her day pransing around and singing songs she hears from cartoons or sometimes she makes them up. Well this song I looked down at her as she was sitting cuddling up beside me on the couch and she asked me if I wanted to sing it with her. So I asked her what the words were and she taught me the song. So if you'd like to hear it, her it goes...

Let's goooooo!
Rocket soup with the Big Jet
Sail away, sail away, saaaaaaail awaaaaaaaaaaay!

**UPDATE**

Grape

So the other day Hannah asked for a red popsicle and I wasn't able to find a red one in the freezer but she was happy to take an orange one instead. I decided I wanted a grape one. So we are both chillin on the couch eating our popsicles, when she decides that the grape one I am eating looks better so she takes it and holds it close to her chest as if she had just won a trophy and exclaims,

"This is my favorite for my tummy and my blue eyes!"

Three!

Hannah turned 3 on Sunday, and we had the birthday party on Saturday, Thank You! to all of you who showed up, Hannah had a REALLY good time, and she is still enjoying ALL of her presents especially her Rocket and Little Einstein's (thanks Lyndsee & Gabe!) I don't have much time right now, but I just wanted to share the photos we took during the party. Also I just wanted to tell everyone thanks for showing up, eating our food and cake, helping us spoil Hannah with all the presents, the turn out was much better than I was expecting, and there were WAY more presents than I thought there would be. In fact now I am thinking of throwing myself a party this October...

Ok anyways check out the photos here.

Guilt Trip Advertising

The WNBA has began a new advertising campaign that is being shown during the NBA Play-offs. What they do is they take one of their "Stars" from the league and have them say common stereotypes about the WNBA as if they were those same people saying those terrible things about girls basketball. At the end a voice over says, "They wouldn't say that... Would you?"

So essentially they are trying to guilt trip all the NBA fans into also watching a WNBA game. I'm not sure that is the right approach. I think if you want to PROVE the stereotypes wrong, their is a better way to go about it, that wouldn't come off as being a "guilt trip."

This is all hypothetical because most of the stereotypes are true. This isn't to say that the WNBA isn't competitive, and or entertaining. It's just that it is basically like going to a guys Varsity High School game. I mean I try watching a WNBA game and I see girls getting rebounds without even jumping? I don't need to see people dunk to be entertained, so it isn't about NOT being able to dunk (yes I know there are girls that can dunk, whoopidy doo dah!) I don't need to see behind the back passes. I'm perfectly happy watching a 7 footer knock down threes, or a guy like Tim Duncan, who is the definition of fundamental, knock down a 15 footer off the backboard. In the NBA you got clutch guys like Kobe Bryant who can manage to knock down BIG shots in the 4th quarter regardless of who is guarding him or how many guys are guarding him. The NBA is truly, "Where Amazing Happens."

There is no denying that their is a HUGE difference between the NBA (Which is full of a bunch of 6'6 - 7'0 tall athletic FREAKS) and the WNBA (which is full of a bunch of 5'0 - 6'5 tomboys), and it isn't just about dunks and behind the back passes. I'm not trying to say that girls can't play basketball, because they can. Just not at the same level or ability that a male can. Their bodies just aren't made for it. A guy can't have a baby, does that make him less of a human being? Their are other things besides child baring that women are good at. All I am really trying to say is you can't compare girls to guys in any way. Not in sports, not in any way....

I don't want to take this into a Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus discussion, but it's true.

The real point is, guilt tripping people into doing something is NEVER the way to go about getting things done. If they want fans, then they have to earn fans. The NBA didn't start out as globally or nationally successful as it is now. So go back and research how the NBA gained a fan base, and how they went about getting people into stadiums to watch the athletes play. I can bet you that they didn't try "guilt tripping" anyone into it.

First Day of My Life

For Moms Day I made a mix CD for Heather with a custom designed CD case. So anyways one of the songs I selected was a Bright Eyes song called "First Day of My Life" and it turns out this song has like the perfect words to describe a relationship it says:

"So if you want to be with me
With these things there’s no telling
We just have to wait and see
But I’d rather be working for a paycheck
Than waiting to win the lottery"

I suppose because a relationship is work, it's compromise, and it's sacrifices. I swear their are far too many people in the world that seem to have the "Waiting to win the lottery" mindset, and it's funny, so when it's worded the way he says it, it's so perfect and simple, "I'd rather be working for a paycheck." I've always been confused with people who seem to date for a year or more, it seems to me you should be engaged and if you aren't ready for that, then you probably NEVER will. So it's past time to move on to the next person, and keep waiting for that "lottery" of a person to drop into your life. (of course this is speaking about people who are out of highschool already...)

Anyways the whole song is good, and beautiful, just those lines REALLY stood out to me this week.

Go Away

So they finally are allowing you to upload videos on Flickr, actually they've been doing it for a month now. I finally got around to uploading some yesterday. Here is one of my favorites that we took this past week. This video will allow you to see a different side of Hannah. Visit my Flickr account to view other great videos and be on the lookout for MANY more to follow!

Happy Mom's Day to all of you lucky women out there that have had the privilege of enduring through 2 minutes of bliss (if you're lucky), 9 months of losing your body and emotions, and another couple hours of pain and anguish.

New Photos

I just recently uploaded new photos to my flickr account. Please feel free to click your way over their by clicking on the photo above to see all the new fun and exciting things we have been up to the last couple weeks.

I Wish

"The flower said
I wish i was a tree
The tree said
I wish i could be
A different kind of tree
The cat wished that it was a bee
The turtle wished that it could fly
Really high into the sky
Over rooftops and then dive
Deep into the sea"

"And in the sea there is a fish
A fish that has a secret wish
A wish to be a big cactus
With a pink flower on it
And in the sea there is a fish
A fish that has a secret wish
A wish to be a big cactus
With a pink flower on it"

"And the flower
Would be its offering
Of love to the desert
And the desert
So dry and lonely
That the creatures all
Appreciate the effort"

"And the rattlesnake said
I wish i had hands so
I could hug you like a man
And then the cactus said
Don't you understand
My skin is covered
With sharp spikes
That'll stab you
Like a thousand knives
A hug would be nice
But hug my flower
With your eyes" (--Antsy Pants, Tree Hugger)

I think this song is great, because I think everyone can relate to it. I'm sure that everyone at one time or another, maybe even still today has wished they had someone else's life. Like this song shows it's really just one endless cycle where ironically even the persons life that you view as "the perfect life" also wishes he had someone else's life. It's sad that so many of us waste so much time in our lives wishing for something different then what we are already blessed with. When really we should all just be grateful for the life we are currently blessed with.

So anyways, I watched Juno this past weekend and LOVED it, the script was unique and honest in my opinion. What made the movie even better was how perfect the soundtrack fit each and every scene helping tell the story. I enjoyed it so much that I have been listening to the soundtrack both in my car and at work every day this week.

I've heard a few people say the movie was a bit crude, and I've heard others tell me flaws in the messages it is seeming to spread concerning teenage pregnacy, I don't really agree with either critique, to me the characters where honest and believable rolls. The character of Michael Cera especially was one that I, as a shy awkward person can relate to. The movie evenly distrubtes doses of drama sprinkled with humor. It truly shows how to turn lemons into lemonade!

Join Us For A Splash!

Tuesday night I decided to stay up till 2:00 am designing a small website to help get the word out that their is this cute little girl living in our house that is turning 3 next month. So for the past month or so she is endlessly talking about her birthday party and how all of her friends are gonna come over, and they are gonna go swimming, and they are gonna eat cake! Last night when I got home from work she asked me if I wanted to come play birthday party with her in her room. So sure enough I squeezed myself into this small little princess tent we have set up in her room, and we pretended to eat cake and play, until my legs began to cramp and I got too claustrophobic and I had to break out.

Anyways so I actually designed a little invite, and the original plan (like always) was to actually mail those bad boys out to friends and family. However we are terrible at this, infact it's quite embarrassing and Heather may kill me for saying this but we didn't send out one single thank you card from our wedding. Also in the past I have designed a Christmas card every year since we have had Hannah, and also I believe I have made a birthday invite every year as well. It should be no surprise to any friends reading who didn't recieve them because we never actually mailed them, instead we hand a few out and everyone else just receives an email or a phone call. So to change things up a bit, and the fact that we really want to know how many people are planning on showing up, so we REALLY need people to RSVP us, I designed this website with 40 something photos all taken through out this last year.

So click on the photo above or here, and check out the mini site, and if you are interested in celebrating another year of life while swimming and eating a little cake, then go ahead and RSVP via the contact form on the website.

Practice Cafe 2008

If you recall in April 2007 I wrote a post mentioning how I had helped redesign the Practice Cafe website. Soon after that site was launched we quickly began to realize that the site had many limitations and flaws. The way the site was designed, was not conducive to a lot of growth and there wasn't much flexibility. At the time I was still learning how to design webpages and I did the best I could with the knowledge I had. One of the main flaws of the old site was that it was not very accessible as a website should be. not only that but we realized their was a lot of things we as a company wanted our website to do and say that it wasn't doing, and it was too hard to get it to do those things without redesigning it all together.

So back in July 2007 we decided to start refreshing our site. The last time we tried to do it way too quickly and therefore the site had far too many mistakes. so this time we decided we were going to take it slower and really think it through. After discussing the specific goals we needed the site to achieve I came up with a rough design for the site, shown above (click on the image to view a larger version).

However after further discussion we realized that I wasn't looking at this opportunity as giving myself a blank canvas. This design was only a slight modification of the old site, and I think I was trying to hold on to too many elements of the old flawed site. Another flaw to this design was that we wanted to have the entire waitress still standing to the side on every page of the website, since she has become one of the ways many people recognize our company. So I decided to start fresh, and I came up with a second idea for the website, shown above (click on the image to view a larger version).

Still this new idea didn't seem to really accomplish everything we had in mind. So we began to start to make several tweeks. One major problem was that we wanted the waitress to be one of the first things you saw on every page without having to scroll. We also needed her to be standing on the red checkered floor. So we finally came to a solid design which met all of our goals, at least on a graphics level.

So then we had a team meeting during lunch where we came up with a strong sitemap for the site. In the meeting we discussed in detail the goals we had for our site as far as content was concerned. We came to the conclusion that we wanted our website to be more educational, and informative. We wanted the site to be extremely user friendly, and accessible. Another goal was for our site to be better optimized for search engines.

At the end of that meeting we set a goal to launch the new site in April 2008. So 47 pages later I am happy to now say that the new site has been launched and is happily in it's natural habitat on the world wide interweb here. Please feel free to follow the link and visit the site, and please tell me what you think of the site?

I have to say that this website was very much a collaborative effort, so although most of the design and coding was done by myself, it was only after a lot of brainstorming and other discussions with Joel. Also Angie took on the job of writing and preparing almost all of the copy for the website, and I have to say she did a very beautiful job. She really turned the site into a very educational and informative site. Shara also helped write and prepare the case studies, and all of the partner pages of the website and did an equally fabulous job. Then as a team we all took turns reading, re-reading, and searching the site to catch as many mistakes as we could find and fixing them all the way up until the last moment when I was given the "OK" to set the refreshed site FREE on Thursday April 17, 2008.

Solid Gold

I received a Veer's Solid Gold catalog at work a week or so ago. I usually get these things and quickly flip through them and enjoy all the nice stock photos, "cool stuff for creatives," and in the back they always have a selection of fonts I usually just check the fonts out and wish I could have some of them. I never actually read anything written in them, however this time I actually read some of the paragraphs they had written as fake articles to show off some of the fonts, after breaking out in laughter I began a closer investigation through out the entire catalog and I found a few good ones.

AN UUNLIKELY REUNION
"Guitar legend Dickie Avery announced at a press conference that he and estranged bandmate Philip McCoy will reunite for a concert in Central Park. The duo, whose hits included "Wishing on Stars," "The Love Triangle," and "That Old Hat of Mine, " split in 1978, citing artistic differences. When pressed about the odd timing of the reunion, Avery defended his decision, "Just because Phil has been dead for 10 years doesn't mean we can't reconcile our differences. He never added much anyway."

RAPPER INJURES SELF IN BRAWL
"Central City (March 20, 2008) - Obscure hip hop artist Owen Daniels, known to a small group of fans as The 10th Wonder, was treated for minor injuries following an altercation with himself outside a downtown nightclub Saturday morning. Though there were not paparazzi on hand to capture the incident, Daniels contacted local media with a statement, "Nobody disrespects me and gets away with it. I've always been my own harshest critic. so then it was on."

A POSITIVE SPIN
Local vintage vinyl shop thriving

"They're celebrating at Spindustrial Revolution, the independantly owned record shop. Despite a poor location and low foot traffic, owner Shaun Watts maintains that his business is a success. "Technically we do record sales every month."

Quite the Imagination

So Saturday morning I am laying on the couch with Hannah laying beside me. I'm watching TV and Hannah is munching away on a strawberry pop-tart when all of a sudden I start to here Hannah having a conversation with her pop-tart that went something like this.

Hannah: "Mmmmm, Armf! Armf! Armf!" (that is chomping sounds by the way.)
Pop-tart (In a higher pitched voice): "No! Don't eat me!" as her little hand shakes the pop tart from side to side.
Hannah: "Mmmmm, Armf! Armf! Armf!"

Hannah has been doing really good with her potty training. You might even be able to say that she is already trained. A funny thing we noticed this weekend is whenever I'm around she yells for me to come into the bathroom and sit on the edge of the tub beside her and she talks to me the whole time she is peeing or pooping. However if Heather is around and tries to walk in on her in the bathroom she yells at her saying, "NOOOO! Go check your e-mial!"

It's the funniest thing in the world, she did it again in the middle of the night last night before she went to sleep, and she yelled from her room that she had to go pee, so Heather went to get her out of bed and stuck her head into the bathroom and that is what Hannah yelled to her, and everytime Heather would peek back in the door to check up on her she would repeat the same command.

Hannah has done so well that although we put a pull up on her when she takes a nap and goes down for the night she continuously wakes up dry as can be.

So let's get some Hi-Fives all around for Hannah! (A virtual Hi-Five can be given by way of a comment if you so chose.)