I’ve got some ideas brewing in the pot. I’m looking forward to moving forward.

Last night was my last day with Denton Bible Church Student Ministries. It was very difficult to make the decision to leave, but once it was made, I realized that it was the best decision.

After almost 2 years of working part time for Denton Bible Church I learned a great deal, but now I want to focus more on Seminary and my own web design business.

Working part time at the church for 29 hours a week unfortunately did not pay the bills and with school and 2 other jobs it meant that I had to work around 60-70 hours a week in order to successfully run my businesses and do well at student ministries. I realized that something had to give. I think ministry should be challenging, but it should not always leave you feeling burnt out and overworked. As Christians and ministers we should be serving joyfully from the overflow that God provides – I was no longer doing that.

What I will miss most is the students and seeing their bright smiles and watching and as they mature and learn to love Jesus. I am thankful to DBC for allowing me to serve in such a large capacity and I learned so much about what it means to work for a church.

So What’s Next…

I plan to start working more on my creative goals. I’d love to get more invested in an art-based ministry in Denton, TX. Maybe I’ll start my own, maybe I’ll join one that already exists, but either way I definitely see my life moving more toward art and design and how that impacts faith, culture and religion.

I also have written two books. One is fiction, the second is autobiographical. I’d like to work on them, fine tune them and then try to get them published.

I run a DJ business that has been booming. I’d like to figure out a way to make myself Denton’s Best Event DJ with a bunch of cool props and lights.

Lastly, I’d like to learn more in the realm of video editing with After Effects and brush up on my InDesign and Illustrator skills to accompany what I already do with Photoshop and Dreamweaver.

It is a simple site really with an integrated shopping cart but it has stumped me in terms of design. The client wants a mixture of rugged and organic and that has been a hard blend for me to do. When I think organic I think greens and orange and rolling hills and when I thing rugged or rustic then I think more barns and grunge textures. Either way I’ve come up with something right now that I like, but I still want to make more of the site. If you have any suggestions or some sites that you like that feature organic beef, then I’d love to hear your feedback.

Call me partial, but I have to say I think I have one of the coolest houses on the block, if not in all of Plano for it’s price range. Listed at 165,000 my home is a great first-time buyer property and the furniture, minus the green chair and the artwork, can be included with the property. I’m down-sizing dramatically and simplifying my life and I hope that this house sells quickly so I can get moved back to Denton. Am I a bit apprehensive? Yes. I’ve gotten used to having my own place with a garage and lots of space, but the trade-off is that you have more to take care of and the costs are really astronomical.

When you buy a house they don’t tell you that your mortgage can go up even if your rate is fixed due to increases in taxes and home owners insurance. My mortgage went from $1167 a month to $1451 after living there for 1.5 years. I asked why and they said, “Your taxes went up by 1000 dollars a year” and my response was that they increase the money they were taking from me by $3000.

Anyway, long story short, having a house is awesome, but as a single guy I don’t think the investment is worth it. I would have done better if I had just saved all the money I invested in this property… but on the upside, I got to live in a really great house in a really great location.

It’s simplified, less clutter.

It is now chock full of useful information and a free digital download of Romans Vol. II session 1 by Tommy Nelson.

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What is it about online dating services that makes me feel like I am bargain basement shopping? It’s like I have this selection of women served up before me that are last year’s models or returned items that someone else didn’t want. I know what you are thinking: Harsh Much! But it’s true.

I’ve been trying Match.com for a month now and it seems that everyone they are matching me with is divorced. When did people start getting divorced in their twenties?

I’m probably being too judgmental or even unrealistic cause I know there are some amazing divorced women out there, but I sort of want to be my wife’s first husband. When someone has already been married then I feel like “Hey, you already had your turn, let some the rest of us have a shot!”

Match.com gives me 5 new matches a day and most of the time I can look at their profile and tell if we would actually be a good match. I have talked to a couple of girls through email and I can’t help but be bored.

One girl said, “It’s torture for me to get to know someone through email.” And I wanted to respond back, “If that is the case, then you should give me a good reason to want to meet you in person. Be interesting. Be funny. Be witty. Charming. SOMETHING!” Snore.

I have a tendency to quickly write out a long email that gives insights into who I am and what I am looking for without coming right out and saying it. I ask important questions up front like, “Were you ever a dude?” and “Are you a Wiccan?” It’s important to get these questions out of the way at the beginning instead of finding out on the third or fourth date and you’ve already french kissed on the front steps of her lair.

I promise that I am not hardened or set in my ways, but the last 4-6 relationships, the girls I took out from e-Harmony, Wilbur Smith novels and the 33 years I have lived on this Earth have wizened me and enhanced my bullcraptometer.  Online dating services allow people to put their best foot forward on an online profile but I think it also attracts people that fall into these categories:

• Desperate
• Shallow
• Married
• Divorced
• Perverts
• Crazies
• Hopeless Romantics
• Gold Diggers

I’m sure that makes me sound jaded, but I’m just drawing a conclusion based on my own personal experience and observation. But I also believe that in every field full of weeds you can find a beautiful wild flower… Somewhere in this great wide world there is a woman who will understand my heart and see me for who I am – flawed, but awesome.  She’s out there somewhere and I plan to find her.

http://www.songofsolomon.com/maydevo09.htm

I am quite proud of this even though it is just the beginning. I created all of those graphics, the header and footer even and this work is keeping me quite busy and I love it.

When I meet with clients you need to be sure and convey how much time it actually takes to do web design or anything technical. Even when you have been doing IT work for 10 years, a job done well is going to take some time.

2. Gather Requirements

I’ve been freelancing for years now and only recently have I started becoming truly profitable. Often times I would spend so many hours on a project that my rate of pay was below minimum wage. As a Business Analyst for Texas Instruments I learned that it is important to spend a little bit of time gathering exactly what the clients requirements are. You have to come in with a handful of probing questions and you don’t just ask the questions once, you ask them repeatedly in varying ways and then you repeat them back to your client. “So what you just said to me is that you want a blue website with florescent green font and a red logo?” 

3. Don’t Lower Your Standards

I had a client ask me to build them a website around an ugly logo. The logo as so bad that it was like asking me to take a turd and to bake a cake with it. I informed the client that they needed to update their logo and that it would be really hard for me to build something nice and visually pleasing around it. I actually attempted to make the site in three different layouts, but the font on their logo with the ugly background colors and clashing blue and green Times New Roman Font continued to  limit my creativity. I finally told the client that it wasn’t possible for me to work with this logo. I have to be able to do work that I am proud of in order to do an amazing job for my clients. 

4. Get the Money Up Front!

Whatever you do, do not start a project unless you get some money up front. Clients should be willing to pay 25 to 50 percent down and the rest of the money upon completion of the site. When you don’t get money up front then the client has the ability to draw out the project indefinitely. Instead, create a contract with simple terms stating the agreement, the expectations and when the site will be done. Hold up your end of the bargain and make sure they hold up theirs. 

5. The client is rarely right

I’ve found that most of my clients do not even have the faintest idea about design or IT work and how much time it takes to make simple graphics look good in multiple browsers. If it looks great in IE it might not look good in Firefox or Mozilla. Also, when it comes to design they often want to pair colors and images that clash or they want the logo bigger or something animated. Beautiful web design doesn’t have to be gimmicky and a good designer knows how to highlight your product without coming across as desperate. 

I don’t know everything yet and I’ve found some great sites to help me learn. One of them is smashingmagazine.com and the other is wakeuplater.com

Okay, I gotta get back to work!

Got questions about how to decorate your kids room? Are you tired of the same old car, sports, princess, barbies themes? Well, OhdeeOh.com is the place for you. With cool ideas, fresh color schemes and even design ideas on a budget you will love all the cool stuff on this site. I don’t even have kids but I think I want to use some of these ideas to decorate the spare bedrooms in my house. Let’s face it, we are all just big kids.

This site doesn’t just show you the cool rooms but also has a shopping guide so you can find the stuff you like. http://www.ohdeedoh.com/