Hooray! I've finally have time to post an update on this tired old blog. I've been getting lost in the multitude of identities in the blogiphere. Although I keep searching with every ounce of my spirit, I'm not getting anywhere in my search for a good company to devote my talents to.

I have added a few more projects to my Behance portfolio and they were well received by my peers. However my experience with my job hunt has been anything but inspiring. I have given my skills and time to several non profit endeavors and all I've discovered is that they can't pay their bills. Non profit organizations don't pay people, they expect donations of time and talent for FREE. If I continue to give my services away, no one will think I'm worth paying, so I must stop giving my time away.

In fact, this most recent company has me reconsidering every ad I see on Craigslist with a much more scrutinizing eye. Ontrix Solutions is a local SEO website optimizing marketing firm in my part of the San Fernando Valley. They ran an ad for a contractor, marketing associate, part-time. When I responded, I felt hopeful that I possessed the talent and experience to make a decent wage. Instead, I was asked to work without pay for 10 days while training.

Because the software used at their company was proprietary, I thought there may be a need for me to learn something new to accomplish the tasks on their job description. But, it wasn't a NEW system I sat down at, it was an old DELL running 2007 vintage WINDOWS crap. The CS5 Photoshop used was also vintage and my tasks didn't include any "training". So I tolerated the lousy old equipment and went through 15 FREE hours working for this company, only to discover that they just let go their graphic designer and needed me to do her work. So they dropped a wage earning graphic design worker and replaced her with a seasoned pro who is volunteering services for FREE. Hmmmmn.

My comment is OMG, this guy is brilliant.....and I fell for it.

Okay, he fooled me into donating 15 hours of my time for promises of something on another day. Perhaps weeks down the road and months away from a living wage. Sounds like an old trick from the Popeye cartoons. Yup. I guess I'll just put my time to better use and work my new online store. Keep searching for the job with a living wage. Wish me luck!

Okay, now I'm going to add another layer of portfolio magic onto the matrix. StyleApple wants me to add this badge to my blog and get featured for 30 days.

Let's give this a try and see how it works.

Behance portfolio in progress

OMG!, Can't believe I need to create ANOTHER online portfolio. I haven't finished the last one. Just as I thought I was getting the hang of WordPress, I'm faced with another content management system, but this time it's owned by ADOBE.

 BEHANCE 

Behance is the social network that ADOBE Inc., the creative software giant, has recently acquired for their creative community. It will add to the already exclusive group of users for production of everything from websites to feature films. Behance is just another way that ADOBE users can interact and share their creative output.

Manta is really upgrading the services they offer, I'm putting this here to see if I can get any viewers. Let me know what you think.
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Why not have both?

Yes, Dreamweaver is complicated, but when I load a page on my host server, it generally reacts as I would expect. The WordPress site kept giving me unexpected results. I think it was my host server that just wasn't ideal for WordPress templates and file structure that it requires. I've moved one of my domains to another host and I'll put my WP portfolio on a host that's better suited for WP. I'll go back to building my services site in DW. This way I'll have BOTH! I can work my services site in DW and have my portfolio on the WP host.

Is WordPress the answer?

trying to work within the constraints of WordPress is making me crazy. I probably should have stayed with Dreamweaver after my GoLive site was misbehaving. Now, I'm going through templates to see which ones have the most versatility and options. They are all kind of klugish. But now I realize my host isn't set up to save the pages and posts correctly. AAAARG!

Working on my new online portfolio

Decided to use Polaroid pictures on a light box as my metaphor for the presentation of my accomplishments in graphic design. The Agfa lupe and wax pencil are old friends of mine too.

Perhaps I'll even add an Xacto blade for the edginess I need.  But as I work in the HTML of the latest version of CS, I'm always looking to see how they decided to IMPROVE the programs by making them MORE complicated. Nothing is easy. Check out my site as I add pages from my colorful past. I'll travel down memory lane through my decades of projects and employers.

<http://www.cat-west.com>