Improvements

Lately Brian and I find ourselves second-guessing our decision to buy a home - mainly because everything we like sells for over asking price in a matter of hours after going on the market. Since a lot of our motivation to move came from the presumption we could get a good deal on a house right now, discovering that we cannot has cooled our jets. So, we'll probably wait for the fall to see if the market here in Iowa City (apparently the only place in the world that hasn't gotten the "we're in a recession" memo) will cool off.

Knowing we're not on the brink of leaving this house behind anymore has spurred us into some home-improvement projects. We have plans to construct a hanging wine-glass rack for the kitchen, we added a new shelf in the pantry,

(the new shelf is the one holding the nuts)

and biggest of all, we came to a realization. If you've ever asked yourself the question, "What is the only thing uglier than an old piece of press-board furniture?" you know the answer is "four mismatched pieces of old press-board furniture."

Our bedroom, while cozy, is sort of ugly. We don't want to go to the trouble or expense of buying new furnishings, so we decided to try to do what we could employing the lovely art of the veneer.

So, this is what our bedroom looks like now:

(note the three different chest-of-drawer styles)

This is the fourth (previously silver) mismatched piece - a book-case not in the photo above. This is how it looks after two coats of primer, the second applied just this morning:

We will keep you updated as the project continues.

When the Day Starts Right

I should have known it would be no run-of-the-mill day when Brian and I started out with a breakfast of tasty brie toasted on the first successful loaf of whole-wheat home-made-bread I've ever achieved.


But honestly, I wasn't prepared for the level to which the excitement continued. First, I took some more important (boring and bookish) steps towards making the BWS a real business, then I went to the gallery, where I promptly took a framing order (normally Nick's role, not mine). Up to this point, I'd have put the day on the busy side of normal. But then things really went nuts. Our Realtor called and told us she may have found "the one." (It turns out it was not the one, but still, talk about an adrenaline rush). Then, a customer came in to the gallery and I sold her not one but two pieces of fine art. After that, I got a call from a new client who wants a website. By the time happy hour rolled around, I was so keyed up I could hardly sit still.

I guess I should eat an exotic breakfast more often.

More Dorkey Web Stuff

As mentioned in my previous post, I've been going through some changes with my website business - and not just re-naming it. Another big thing is I upgraded to Adobe CS4 Web Professional. This was a large expense, but one I feel pretty good about. Already I have noticed a number of changes in Dreamweaver and Photoshop - some of which give me great delight and some of which drive me nuts. Hopefully those in the latter category will morph into the first before too long.

Beyond that, I have made one of the more liberating decisions of my (albeit brief) professional career. I have decided that I, personally, will no longer support Internet Explorer 6. I spent several hours today adding a notice to my own websites (all three of them) that is invisible to all visitors except those using IE6 or older. The notice explains that IE6 is archaic and offers a few helpful upgrade options with links. I found the gumption to do this when I discovered there are whole campaigns of web-developers moving en force to create a IE6-free world.

But, of course, I am anti-IE6 only in moderation. My sites still work in IE6. They just look strange. And I will offer my clients the option of being IE6 compatible when they hire me.

Ironically, in learning how to inform my IE6 users that they should upgrade I discovered what I'd say is the only cool thing about that old browser. It will show what is inside a tag < !---[if lte IE 6]------ >, and no other browser will. So, when people with IE6 go to one of my websites, they see this:


Any other browser sees this:

This is a nice, clean, javascriptless way to deal with the notice. Thus I will say for IE6, at the very least, it makes itself easy to phase out.

An Ode to CSS

Whenever I am working on building websites, two thoughts seem to occupy my mind more than any others. These thoughts are as follows:

* I hate IE (internet expolorer)
* I love CSS (cascading style sheets)

I have been building websites for many years now, and while I have discovered that both my hatred for IE and my love for CSS increase steadily the more I learn about website construction, if both these emotions were weighed on a scale that could measure the magnitude of the emotion felt, CSS would win.

The reason for this is simple. One of the reasons I love CSS is (usually) not even IE can screw it up.

So, it is with a heart full to bursting of love for CSS that I announce the launch of my new website, which sports my first ever CSS-only roll-over menu. That's right, folks, the image swaps are accomplished using only CSS. No javascript. This makes me happy because it opens oh-so-many doors.

And as my new website indicates, I am finally, officially, embarking into the world of professional graphic design. I am registering my business as an LLC, under the name Brown Wing Studio. This means Vitzy's, for the time being, will be no more. But hopefully now my clients will be able to remember my business name and email address.