Ladies

Let's make globalization work for us with freelancer.com where you post a project and freelance tech people from around the world bid for the job. I am in touch with a young Indian student, "Xuberance", who is interested in building my website. I have to say, he is pretty damn exuberant. He messaged me four times in one hour. I'll let you know how it works out.

And remember to read my copy of Rework floating around.

Treeco: REPRESENTation

Part of our product development involves researching how to best represent a tree. A few great examples are from the world of animation, particularly the illustrations of Eyvind Earle. As a little girl, I remember watching Sleeping Beauty and thinking the imagery was quirky and disarming for a Disney princess film; it wasn't anything like Snow White or Cinderella where the characters were soft and fleshy, the environments, wild and unruly. On the contrary, the sharpness and exaggerated graphic qualities of Sleepling Beauty, later described to me as modernist, were the most memorable from my childhood. Maybe simple, if not better, is more lasting.

Not that I'm bragging but...

I bought a url and made a mock up! It's still buggy but at least I'm getting a move on it. And I have a Twitter. Wuhoo! Ok, I hope I'm not the only one posting here. Come on ladies!

Remember those madeleines?

Since my project is documenting the many things in my garage, I was rooting around on what it is that triggers memory. I found this nice interview with happiness philosopher Alain de Bottom talking about his book on Proust, of the madeleine cookie fame.

Like anyone who comes from a house of pack rats, I believe each item (or whiff of a madeleine) unlocks a past experience. And that's what causes us to hoard. The logistical problem is you can't hoard everything everything. Every letter, novelty coffee mug, children's book, or pair of bellbottoms-- there's not enough physical and mental space! My consolation is to take a picture of each item. Then instead of actually having the item, I can look longingly at the photograph.

Han Solo is my project buddy. Who's yours?

Everyone needs that special someone to help them make it through their project. A spouse, friend, parent, pet, or even a Star Wars friend. As the curator of the Infinite Garage project where I am documenting and selling 30 years of stuff my parents left me, I came across my muse-- Han Solo. Given to me by my high school boyfriend ("Think of me when you look at him!"), he maybe just a cardboard cut out. But he outlasted that boyfriend (three years) and three pets.

Han Solo, you're my inspiration.

Day 1 - The fun started months ago, now we just need to finish...

The Projects:

Treeco Tree - an eco-friendly tree company
Symbol cymbal sign - an illustration portfolio
Simpatico - an artisanal bakery
Infinite Garage - a blog on house cleaning, as well as really cleaning up a house

The Prize:

Really nice business cards