abby's eARTh

When Starting a Business...

2010-10-03T13:09:00.000-07:00

You learn the following:

Go into business with someone awesome : I'll set the scene for you: It's 2005 (ish) and we (my self and Kathryn) were mere guppies in the sea of college students, but we found our nitche. Graphic Design. Many late nights and early morning of art classes later, we discovered that working together was nothing less than awesome. So thus Creative Tripod was born.

The connection between carpet cleaning and plumbing : My words of wisdom in this situation would be thus, be careful what you flush. When shampooing the carpet of our new office, kathryn and I filled the holding tank for dirty water, so I went to flush it, well, after disregarding a slight plop sound and the toilet slowly working away, guess what I discovered? A small (what seemed to be meaningless piece of plastic) went into the inner workings of the toilet. With the help of the boss (my dad) we took apart the toilet and grinned from ear to ear when we heard the final clunk of the piece hitting floor after shaking the toilet upside down.

Paint the walls before you move in : There's nothing better than starting a new. Get a paint bucket, a brush, a fun color and you'll know exactly what I mean. A blue wall framed by surrounding white walls makes for an office you love to sit in. Pick a color and go for it!

Make friends with the neighbors : Even if someone renting the office next door immaturely steals your Dwight Shrute bobble head, you can still find ways to make friendly. (Yep, I'm talking about you Connor Wilks.)

So to sum up just these few lessons (of many) be prepared for the unexpected with a start-up business, because it's gonna rock your socks!

Truly a Winter Wonderland

2008-12-24T13:57:00.001-08:00

Like many others, I'm a die-hard snow fan. I remember the days of crawling into bed, crossing my fingers, and wishing on a star for a snowy day. Well, I think after twenty years of hoping, I've hit the jackpot of all snow days, combined. I'm not one look a gift horse in the mouth, but I'm questioning weather or not it's possible to have too much snow.

I will always love snow, but it's CRAZY outside. Usually a Portland winter consists of an inch or two of snow, but mostly rain. Whenever snow is in the forecast, people get out their chains, the city salts the road, and they stand at the door ready for shovels

and plows. Well, this year, it was an unexpected storm that left everyone standing at their door with an open jaw instead of an open bucket of de-icing solvent.

We had a record beating 15 inches of snow. In 1968 we had 14. Wowza!

*Days have past since I finished this blog, so here's the snow update*

Snow. What snow? We had fifteen inches of snow? Ha, you could have fooled me. In a mater of a couple of days all of the winter wonderland lala sloshed away with the buckets of rain we have received. Even though it's gone, I am inclined to post some snow highlights. Skipper's very first snow!! He loved it. I'd throw a snowball for him to chase and he'd run after it, and then dig his nose into the snow to try and find it. He'd also catch the snowballs and eat it. Oh Skipper...what a character.

After a week with snow on the ground I started to wonder if we'd ever see the color of pavement again. I also began to wonder if I would ever drive my car, it was sorta tucked into a blanket of snow, including our Toyota Previa. I questioned if it was still out there. It had 15 inches on top of it...crazy.

And now, for my personal favorite: Those ambitious ones who think they can make it up our hill. I've lost count of how many people got stuck outside our house. We always poke our head out the window to watch the cars as there tires spin, and their car slides to a halt. Here's a bus that thought they could make it, got stuck, and began the process of trying to turn around. Surprisingly, they made it back down the hill, about an hour later.

And to top it off, here are a few random snow pictures. I enjoyed it, but now we're back to the rainy winter that we are used to, and the snow-filled two weeks that we had...a distant memory.

Worst Blogger Award

2008-12-02T23:28:00.000-08:00

If there were an award for the "Worst Blogger," I'm pretty sure I would be nominated. Not only do I forget about blogging, but when it comes down to the act of "blogging" I tend to just write about the fact that I don't do a very good job blogging. The last time I thought about updating my blog, I blinked and two months went by. I blinked again, and well...you get the idea.

Well, here goes an actual blog entry.

A lot has happened since I last thought about updating the blog.

I spent the summer working up in British Columbia, Canada. Having spent many a childhood summers up there, I decided why not one last hurrah! So I packed up my bags quickly after returning home from Graduation and drove up to Canada. After missing a summer two years ago, the first time in like 12 or so years, I wanted to spend one more amongst the trees, trails and people that I loved so much as a kid growing up. I had a dual role, camp counselor/videographer extraordinaire (alright, that last part was me). I spent the summer helping kids tie their shoes, and labeling tapes (twenty hours of tapes, I might add). I filmed, produced, and edited their promotional video, which I am very pleased to say, was very well received.

You can watch the video at the camp's website www.bowisle.ca

After a couple of months in Canada, the opportunity presented itself for me to take a trip to Maui. Yes, I jumped at the thought, scratch that, I leapt. My parents and I spent about a week there.

It was hard adjusting to the warm clear water and the sandy beaches, but somehow, someway, I did manage, and came home with some pretty entertaining sunburn/tan lines. *The photo to the right is in front of a huge HUGE banyan tree in Lahaina. It was sprouting trunks all around the square and linking it self back up...amazing!*

I bought a car. Awesome. Nissan Versa.

I was very fortunate to have such a wonderfully heartfelt thanksgiving loaded with family and friends. My Aunt and Uncle came up from California, which was awesome, bringing not only their lovely selves, but their two Boston Terriers. I dubbed the weekend the "3BT Bonanza" Our Boston Terrier, Skipper, was the third one making the house bursting to the edges with dog! *Check out my Aunt's Blog "plowing the mind" for some awesome photos)

And right now I am blogging. Woooo. Look at me go.

Hopefully I will find other things to update with, but this was my inaugural "welcome back to blog life" entry.

Peace out cub scout!

Congraduation.

2008-06-13T00:22:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I admit, I've been slacking on this whole "update your blog so everyone can find out what's going on in your life" thing. And now it's slightly a cop out post because I am here to give a little blog brag.

Okay, here it comes (pretend like it's in a crazy, somewhat high-pitched, squeal, cushioned by jumping up and down).....I GRADUATED FROM COLLEGE!!

Alright Peppy Patty, let's come back down to where people can actually understand you. I just had to get it out, I did it. I graduated from Principia College with a BA, with a major of Graphic Design. I'm not gonna lie when I say that it felt good to be recognized for the four years, long hours, many papers, and all nighters that I went through to walk a cross the stage and get my diploma.

Anywho...again, sorry for the ridiculously long gap in between posts, but I was working towards getting my college degree, so it took up some time. Ha.

Radio Voice

2008-05-01T21:48:00.001-07:00

I may not have the radio voice like some people naturally get, but tonight I gave it a try.

A friend of mine who works at the college hosts a radio show and asked that I, along with two other art majors, came on as guests to talk about our artwork. At first my heart thumped a couple of beats harder as I introduced myself, but soon I realized I was a pro at being natural. It was like any other conversation one might have with a family friend when they ask you about your plans after college (which I am still working on), what I've been up to with my art (still diligently working on) or even past jobs (like Step Up 2: The Streets).

There really isn't much purpose to this post other than to brag that I was on the Principia Internet Radio.

Woot woot.

A taste of the Pilot

2008-04-25T17:16:00.000-07:00

Since I'm on a kick with this whole "blogging" thing, I decided "why not post something I've already written!" *Plus it makes my blog look full*

As Editor-in-Chief of the Principia Pilot, my college's newspaper, I decided to slip in an editor's column. This past issue, was my first attempt which went over well. Who knows, there might be another idea of mine floating around begging to be put in column form. For now, I thought I'd give you a taste of what was on my mind (heck, I might have written it Pilot or no Pilot.) Enjoy.

Alphabet Soup

As the third week of spring quarter comes to an end, I couldn’t help but notice the number of activities in full swing. From sports to theatrics, pub shifts to the Public Affairs Conference, it is safe to say that we as a campus thrive on being “busy beavers.”

I wanted to take this opportunity simply to say I am in awe of this pro-active campus. As busy as schoolwork keeps us, somehow there is always room to squeeze in a committee or two. My final quarter as a senior has got me taking trips down memory lane. While venturing down that road, I have realized that on top of schoolwork, my quarterly schedule has always consisted of extracurricular activities.

It was sometime last year that I noticed my life here at Principia College revolved around the letter P. Let me enlighten you: President of Sylvester, Piasa Pub worker, Pilot staff member, and last but not least, I served on the board for the Public Affairs Conference, as Co-Director of Publications. These landmarks of my college career have led me to appreciate the activities that Principia has to offer.

Just last week Principia hosted the 59th annual Public Affairs Conference. An entirely student-run conference with over 150 delegates proved that students are deeply engaged in campus activities. I had a conversation with Dr. Randall Hansen, a PAC speaker and a Professor of Political Science at Toronto University, who commented on the professionalism of this student-run conference. Dr. Hansen also admitted it was the best student conference he’d been a part of, and didn’t realize the student involvment until arriving at the college. Compliments like these ring true for many other student-run organizations on campus.

Due to the small community atmosphere on campus, the plethora of activities also brings in majors of all sorts. As a graphic design major, for example, I decided to branch out of my department and participate in something completely different. The campus extracurricular activities cater to majors of all sorts. When I assumed the position of Editor-in-Chief of the Pilot newspaper, it proved that not only Mass Communication majors are behind campus news. This idea goes for participating in PAC as well. Working on the publications committee with two other graphic design majors was an opportunity for me to expand my major into new territories.

I am sure that college classes will always have a special place in our hearts, but it’s the outside-of-class activities in which we prove we are more than just our major. I deeply value these activities, and encourage all students to branch out and try something they have never thought of. Maybe someone else will find his or her “5 ps” as I have, or maybe even sift through the activities alphabet.

Okay Go

2008-04-24T22:15:00.000-07:00

When you read the heading, the first thing you might think of is: treadmill+ grown men dancing. Well, its sort of hard to avoid these days seeing as the simple "homemade-esque" music video swept the nation. The term "okay go" has new meaning thanks to four men in front of a tin foiled wall, and four treadmills. What can you say besides brilliant? Nothing really.

Well, getting past the catchy music video intro, I simply named my post that because I'm new at this, and decided to give it a whirl. *"This" being the whole blogging thing!* So, okay, here I go.

The reason I have decided to bookmark this website and become a blogger is all thanks to a speaker who came to my graphics III class just yesterday. This guy, traveling all around the world, doing jobs that inspired him made me realize, it's the small steps that we have to take in order to go where we want to. He told us, "if you don't keep a blog, then go and get one, they're great to have not only for yourself, but for others to see who you are... especially in the job world."

Well, okay then. Cameron, you sold me on it. Job well done. Now, the true test is seeing if I can keep it up to date!