Birthday Deals

I’m a bit of a deal hound and one of my favorite deal times of the year is my birthday. It seems just about any retailer or restaurant with an email club will send you free or heavily discounted coupons. I discovered most of these birthday deals while I was a poor college student but even now, my inbox is still flooded every November (my birthday is the 15th if you were wondering) with coupons. How can I say no to free? I thought I’d compile a list of some of the birthday deals I get every year so you too can be bombarded with freebies. A lot of these are national chains but I’ve thrown in a few Kalamazoo favorites too. Most are emailed to you but a few are just show up kind of deals. Follow the links to sign up.

I’m sure I’m missing some. What are your favorite birthday deals? Let me know in the comments.

Halloween Costumes

Growing up, my mother crafted some of the finest Halloween costumes I’ve ever seen. Even today I’m incredibly impressed every time I look at old pictures. She definitely spoiled me. I never had a store-bought costume. Whether it be an astronaut, police officer or iPod, my mom would lovingly build a stellar costume for me each year.

It was only natural that once I was on my own, I just couldn’t be satisfied with a store-bought costume. Over my college and post-college days I’ve fashioned my Halloween costume myself. I just can’t bring myself to buy a ready-made costume. Over the years I’ve managed to pull together some cool ones like Indiana Jones, a hobo, Steve Jobs and one of my all-time favorites, Quailman.

This year Abby and I decided it was time we do a couple costume. We’d toyed with the idea before but it never came together. This year we finally committed to it and are in the process of creating our own cave-people costumes. I’m very excited (and a little scared) to see how they turn out. I’ll be posting pictures of the final outcome when they are finished. Until then, enjoy these photos of my former costumes…

Christopher as Steve Jobs for Halloween 2011.

I had wanted to be Steve Jobs for many, many years. It should have been easy but finding a black turtle neck is harder than you’d think. I finally tracked one down and saved it for months waiting for Halloween. Funny enough, my first iPhone arrive a week before Halloween.

Christopher as Quailman and Abby as Daria for Halloween 2010.

In 2010, Abby and I both came up with 90s cartoon costumes. I was Quailman (aka Doug Funny’s alter ego) and she was Daria.

Christopher as a hobo and Abby as the Jolly Green Girl for Halloween 2009..

Abby is a Jolly Green Girl (play on the giant of course) and I’m a drunken hobo. I had a blast staying in character all night.

Christopher as Indiana Jones for Halloween 2006.

Indiana Jones, complete with whip. This was also a really fun one.

Christopher as an iPod for Halloween 2003.

This classic is from all the way back in high school. I had recently gotten my first iPod (a 3rd generation) and my mom helped me craft a really cool costume.

That’s all I have for now, someday I’ll have to scan all of my childhood costumes. They were really great. Thanks, Mom!

Home Brew

Months and months ago I snagged a Mr. Beer home brewing kit at a great price on one of those “daily deals” sites. I received the kit a while ago but for one reason or another (like a wedding) I never got around to giving it a shot. Luckily it was not forgotten and with a bit of extra time about a month ago, my wife and I decided it was time to home brew a batch of west coast pale ale.

Christopher mixing up home brew beer

After a bit of patience and lots of stirring our beer was ready to ferment. It was a “hurry up and wait” situation. It’d be 7–14 days (we opted for the 14 to be sure) before we’d get to tap the keg and fill some bottles.

Mr. Beer home brew keg

For the next two weeks this little keg sat in our living room, just taunting us. Who knew the hardest part of making your own beer was just waiting for it to be ready?

Filling bottles of home brew from Mr. Beer keg

Bottling day had finally arrived. I read through the instructions again and started filling up my bottles. Then it was time for, yup, you guessed it, wait some more!

Home brew bottles conditioning in a closet

These guys got to hang out in our dry, dark linen closet for another two weeks. So much waiting!

A glass of home brewed west coast pale ale next to a bottle

After an extra two-day stay in our refrigerator, we finally cracked open a beer. It felt quite rewarding to finally take a sip of something we created at home. It wasn’t half bad either. I’m happy with the way my first attempt turned out and I’m looking forward to trying it again soon.

Next time I’m hoping to give it my own special touch and change the recipes a bit. I might even upgrade to a more “professional” brew kit. It turned out to be a lot of fun and could easily become a new hobby.

Learning German

A few months back I posted a bucket list of 30 things to do before 30. After a little on-again-off-again Duolingo I finally got serious about number 11, “Actively pursue speaking German.” This week I started GER 1000: Basic German.

Wie Geht's German textbookIt feels weird to go back to class (I graduated in spring 2009) but at the same time kind of refreshing. I like learning. I’m a fairly decent self-teacher but certain things (guitar, another language) need more than I am able to provide by myself. I’m glad I’m finally getting serious about learning German. I’m sure I won’t be fluent after just one class but it should move me along faster than the sporadic time I was spending teaching myself online.

So why German? Well, for starters my dad’s mother was born and grew up there. In addition to the family connection I’ve always thought it sounded cool. My time in Switzerland further ignited my wish to learn it. I figured now that I’m working at a university it seemed like a perfectly possible thing to do, so I did.

Failed or Stalled Projects

At some point in your life you’re going to have a project that just doesn’t go anywhere. It’s as true in life (a bookshelf that’s half built) as it is in the design world (that sweet iPad app that ran out of budget). I’ve had my fair share of projects that fell into oblivion. Most of the time it just plain sucks. For reasons often outside of your control, a project you’ve put hours of work into will never see the light of day.

How do you cope with this? It can be extremely frustrating and somewhat confusing. What do you tell your friends and family (whom you’ve inevitably been talking up this project to for months)? Can it still go in your portfolio?

For me the worst part is feeling like you wasted your time. You can spend months on something and have nothing to show for it. In your next job interview you’ll explain what you’ve been working on for the past few months and when they ask to see it you’ll have that lame answer “well it didn’t get made.”

Hours iPhone mockupsA recent example for me was called Hours. It was an iPhone app I had designed screens for. The project was going to serve up business hours on top of the foursquare database. We were nearing launch when foursquare announced they were adding hours into their main database. The months of time and effort we had invested was all for naught. Foursquare had beaten us to the punch. Our spirits were broken and even though our standalone app could still be useful to non-foursquare users, it was never finished.

The reality is it happens. Much more often than anyone would like to admit. I think the best thing to do is try to move on. I hate that advice; it sound so simple but it’s very difficult. In the case of a designer, you are left with un-built screen designs or the artwork of un-printed posters. You’ve done the work, you’ve taken the time to think through the project but it was never put into production. Moving on for a designer could simply be taking the skills and experience you’ve gained and applying them to your next project.

I think it’s still appropriate to put in your portfolio. I have a couple of app projects that stalled out for one reason or another (like Hours) but I plan to put them into my portfolio. The screens were thought out and designed. The mockups were completed. My side of the project was finished, even if the other side wasn’t. Why shouldn’t I have at least something to show for it? Sure it might not be as valuable as a full-fledged running app but until I have those completed projects I want and need something in my portfolio demonstrating my interest and abilities in the app arena. Sometimes just having a few mock ups can be enough to demonstrate your skill and thought processes. In the end that’s what a portfolio is all about anyway, right?

My First Disc Golf Tournament

A few days ago I happened to stumble upon a disc golf tournament happening this past Saturday. It was a fundraiser for Gryphon Place and took place at one of my favorite courses, Oshtemo Township Park. The Gryphon Place Toss Across sounded like it would be a chill and low key kind of tournament, which would make it the perfect first experience for someone like me. My brother and I decided we’d sign up and give it a shot. We didn’t expect to be great competitors or anything but it was for a good cause and we picked up a disc and some other random swag for doing it plus we were probably going to play a round that day anyway. I was also curious how I’d do under the pressure of a tournament, even if it was an easier and unsanctioned one.

Turns out I handled the pressure just fine. Although I thought I had totally screwed up in my last 6 holes or so, I ended up with my best round ever at Oshtemo (a +11). I figured that’d put me in the top five, which I would be quite happy with. Then it was time for the official results to be put up and much to my surprise, I had clinched first place in my division. I was standing there in disbelief when I realized my little brother pulled off a third place finish with his best round at Oshtemo too. We were sitting pretty on the leaderboard. The first two places received trophies and I was rather happy and shocked to get mine. It was a great experience and a lot of fun. I can’t wait to play another tournament.

After the trophies were handed out they raffled off some prizes. My little brother won a really nice four-person tent, a big disc bag with shoulder straps and a Mophie battery backup iPhone case. I may have come in first place but my brother definitely won that day.

Honeymoonin’

Well I’m back. It was so great to take a break from “real life” and spend some quality time with my new wife among some of Michigan’s most beautiful landscapes. We spent our time near the Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore in Empire. We took lots of little trips around the area doing various fun things like kayaking and even a little disc golf (yes, my wife rocks). There were lots of great wineries and food to be had. Here’s a quick glance at some of the highlights. It’s a little hard to get back to the everyday grind of things after such a wonderful trip but such is life.

 

funny picture of Christopher and Abby at the beach

sunset at Empire Beach

the happy couple posing next to lake michigan

Cherry Pie at The Cherry Hut

shadow of Abby and Christopher overlooking Lake Michigan

teeing off at the disc golf course

 

It’s finally here…

After what seems like an eternity of preparation, tomorrow is the day I finally say “I do” to the girl of my dreams. I just put the final touches on our wedding programs and my groomsmen gifts. The only left to do is get through the rehearsal, try to get some sleep tonight and suit up for the big day tomorrow. I’ll be taking the next week or so off from the blog to spend some quality time with my new wife checking out the sites near Traverse City. I did a pretty cool project for my groomsmen and I plan to post about it soon but until then, enjoy a glimpse of our programs.

Disc Golf (My New Favorite Thing)

disc golf discs on a picnic table

This week I started playing disc golf. It’s amazing. I’ve fallen completely in love with it. It’s laid back and gets you out in nature with your friends. It doesn’t take forever to play like real golf and it’s certainly much cheaper. I always thought it sounded cool but for some reason I never managed to play until this week. I played three times in the first four days of my disc golf career. I can’t get enough of it.

Of course one of the first things I did was find an app and some websites to help learn the game and keep track of my stats. I’ve found Disc Golf Course Review to be absolutely indispensable. They’ve got a huge database of courses with loads of info on each and many with reviews. You can really get an idea of what to expect and where to find courses near you.

You can’t talk about disc golf without mentioning the Professional Disc Golf Association. They have a lot of great resources on their website too. You don’t have to be an official member to get access to them all either, which is very nice of them for us n00bs.

My Disc Golf Profile at Discasaurus - Mobile Disc Golf Scoring Application for iPhoneMy favorite find has to be Discasaurus. After searching around the web and reading reviews in the App Store, Discasaurus seemed like one of the best iPhone apps to keep score of your games. It has nice graphics and an easy to use interface, it syncs back to their website and best of all, it’s free. I think it’s a really cool app and community. I like being able to look back at my scores and this makes it easy while giving me a great way to actually record those scores on the course.

If you haven’t tried disc golf yet, you should. It’s not hard to get started and even if you aren’t an expert, it can be a lot of fun just to be outside for a while. If you’re a seasoned veteran I’m sure you have your own favorite resources. What are they? Did I miss your favorite? Tell me about it in the comments.

Christopher Jones throwing a disc at a disc golf tee in the woods