I Made This: Deviant Quarterly Review

A few weeks ago I went live with a brand-new project: The Deviant Quarterly Review is a real-life infographic of the hottest social media stories of the quarter. It’s curated four times annually by the awesome folks over at Social Deviant, where my friend Pavan Bapu works. The graffiti artist, CZRPRZ, painted the mural in twenty-four hours. The timelapse video of the mural was shot by director/producer extraordinaire Yuriy Chernin. Initially I implemented the video as a full-screen background using BigVideoJS, which includes a Flash fallback for users on older browsers. After a couple of days of analyzing the site traffic, though, I switched to plain HTML5 video – we had very few visitors on older browsers requiring Flash, and this seemed like a more lightweight way to deliver video to almost everyone without running the risk of Flash malfunction and superslow load times [plus, the BigVideo plugin added about...

Full Disclosure: I’ve been working on this post for three years and I still don’t have a real conclusion.

I lost my mom to breast cancer, and as a result, I can't stand those damned pink ribbons.

Attention Management, Part 2: Daily and Weekly Routines [In Which Amanda Lee Turns Into Her Dad]

All work and no play makes Amanda Lee a dull girl [who writes crappy markup, eats too much garbage trying to stay awake, gets snippy with her friends, and eventually falls asleep while sitting at her desk].

Attention Management, Part 1: Quitting

A quick administrative note: I started a brand-spanking new job this month and I’m having a blast. I’ll be doing front-end mobile development and design with these lovely folks, who are seriously some of the most brilliant people I’ve ever interacted with. I’m still kind of shocked they brought me on, and I’m working my tail off to keep up. Lifehacker types love to talk about time management because it’s important, and I’m not going to argue about that. But I’m learning that I’ve got another limitation that’s possibly even greater – limited attention. I’m not talking about ADHD, which I quite possibly also have. [Fun fact: I was diagnosed with ADHD as a kid, but my mom didn't want me to be medicated for it. I still never have been, though I fantasize about how much more I could get done if I were.] What I mean is, I...
Full Disclosure: I guess you can call me a "serial entrepreneur" now.

Full Disclosure: I guess you can call me a “serial entrepreneur” now.

My Etsy shop, I Love Life I Love You, has sat unused for almost a year now. And I'm okay with that.

The Traditional Christmas Video E-Card [Made with Love by Chris Collins]

Chris made this video two years ago, and it’s still amazing. Merry holidays, y’all.

31 New Things: Grow out my Hair for the Whole Year [First Photo]

[I'm trying to do 31 new things in my 31st year.

I Made This: Tot Dogs website

One of my clients is a couple that owns several restaurants in the Cincinnati area who are opening a brand-new restaurant concept. We’re holding off on launching a full site until they’re certain when they’re opening, but for the time being, I made a quick placeholder site. I suggested the email signup form so that we can keep track of the people that want more information about Tot Dogs. After the full site launches, we’ll send an email announcement, and then that list will be our marketing list if we end up doing any email campaigns. [And it goes without saying, if you live in Cincinnati and you're into gourmet hot dogs, you should totally sign up for the list. It'll be neato.] The logo was done, so it was just a matter of finding a color scheme that worked well with it. I think it looks great. Don’t you?...
Latest entries

Faithful Friend: Bribery

Hachi is only amenable to being photographed if there’s food involved. In this case, it was a buffalo meat treat perched atop the camera. [Related: Did you know that I spend more on the meat my dog eats than on the meat I eat myself? I've never even tried buffalo.]

I Made This: Deeper Context Logo

In the past couple of months, I’ve been helping my good friend Jeremy with his startup. Here’s the logo design we worked on: This is the first logo design that I’ve done that wasn’t super-cutesy and hand-drawn first. The typeface is one of my favorites from the League of Movable Type, and the symbol on...

A quick update on my sensory deprivation experience

I got such great feedback from everyone about my sensory deprivation post, so I wanted to tell you guys that I did an Ask Me Anything session over on Reddit about it. If you’re inclined, go check it out and ask me about it!

Throwback Thursday: How to Clean Out Your Closet

[This post was initially posted in 2008. I still follow this to a tee - even more so now, since my closet it the size of a tissue box. Enjoy!] Last weekend was a long weekend—woohoo! Normally I would have spent a day at the beach with friends, or maybe taken a train somewhere fun,...

12:12 Tune of the Day: “Feel It All Around”, Washed Out

12:12 Tune of the Day: “Blanket”, Bachelorette

I don’t even know where I got this album. But it’s amazing. Equal parts party jam and ethereal chill-out.

31 New Things: Do An Entire Session of Sensory Deprivation [My first try]

[I'm trying to do 31 new things in my 31st year.

Things to Do on the 25th If You Don’t Celebrate Christmas [That Don't Involve Starting to Drink at 10 a.m.]

- Have your own spa day. Take off the nail polish that’s been chipping off since Thanksgiving and replace it with a nice DIY inverse French mani. Don’t worry if you mess it up – you’ve got all day, so you can let it dry properly while you’re watching your favorites on Netflix [or, if...

Faithful Friend: Dog Scouts

At summer camp, he skipped his courses in agility, herding, and circus dog tricks [much to his counselors' chagrin]. His priorities were clear, though: the only merit badges he cared about winning were Sleeping and Intentionally Avoiding Internet Fame.

Throwback Thursday: 7 Things to Do Before You Move to NYC

[I first posted this when I started this blog in 2009. It's been especially relevant in the last year since we relocated to Chicago. Enjoy!] For some people, moving to New York is a snap decision. There’s a kernel of truth to the stereotype of the wide-eyed kid from far away getting off the bus...

Pay What You Can in 2012: An Announcement From My Other Website

Hi. Guys. Over here. Listen up. Most of you know that I maintain a second website for my freelance work. In general, I try not to get all salesy with my work here, because that’s not really what this blog is for. HOWEVER. I want to kick off 2012 by reaching a wider audience of...

Style Song: I love hot toddies.

[image via thewanderous] Whenever I’m feeling sick And I cough, and my throat feels thick A toddy I drink, And quick as a blink It helps me feel good super-quick.