Archive for December, 2011

If you have an iPhone or an Android I suggest getting the Red Laser app. It’s awesome. You can use it to scan QR codes as well as bar codes. Scanning bar codes is fun because you can price check items and see what other stores in your area carry the same product and how much their selling it for.

Those square black and white pixelated images you’ve been seeing popping up everywhere are called QR Codes. If you have a smart phone you should be able to scan the code and it will take you to a website. They’re pretty cool and you’re going to start them more and more. As an artist the first thing that came to my mind was getting a QR code for myself and printing some stickers made with a code on them with “FOLLOW ME” just below the code. When scanned the code would take you to my twitter page. I know, I know, it’s not that original of an idea, but usually the first idea that comes to mind never is. People are already doing similar things and printing QR codes as shirt graphics. I think it’s great though because scanning a random code is always a surprise.

Naturally, I wanted a more unique code, something custom, so I used this painting:

and came up with this code:

If you’re familiar with photoshop you should be able to figure out how to do this pretty easily. Unfortunately, this isn’t a tutorial on how to customize your QR code. It’s just a post to show you that it can be done and also to talk a little about QR codes.

My buddy, STENZSKULL, put my design to shame with his custom QR.

So, where to get your own QR code? That’s easy. You can get a QR for any URL using the google URL shortener, www.goo.gl.

After messing around with the google URL shortener I learned that the Red Laser app can generate QR codes too and it’s super simple. I’ll make a tutorial on how to do that in a future post. Anyway…

The thing with using www.goo.gl is that the code it generates will always be for that one particular URL. This is ok for the “FOLLOW ME” sticker idea, but for other applications you might want to change the URL the code takes somebody too. It would be pretty boring to have a QR code as a shirt graphic that only takes people to the site of the shirt company. It would be much more fun if the URL was changed from time to time so that people scanning it would be taken to different places every time they decide to scan it. For this you need a QR Code that allows you to redirect your URL. That way you can use the same code and switch up the URL destination from time to time.

To do this check out www.qrjumps.com. I haven’t looked too into the site myself and at the moment I don’t feel like googling any more today, so you can research it on your own by googling “redirect QR code URL“.

You can also get creative with what to do with the code. One thing I came across that I thought was brilliant was in the flower section at Home Depot. I noticed QR codes on the labels for plants and flowers. Being an iPhone nerd I figured I better scan it. The code took me to a page about that particular plant, gave me the scientific name for it and instructions on how to care for it, what to plant near it and all kinds of stuff. It was extremely informative.

Nerd out!

please excuse this post. i’m just trying to figure out the photo posting options when using the WP app on my phone.

I haven’t tried this app for a long time so i’m taking it for a test drive. The last post a few minutes ago was done using the “quick photo” feature, which is something I’ve never noticed before. I haven’t looked at it yet so I’m anxious to see how it posted. With my blog layout I can’t have anything bigger than 600 x 600px or it will go behind all the stuff on the right side of the screen.

I noticed using the quick photo feature I wasn’t given a choice on the size of the photo. Posting a photo using this part of the app I am given a choice, but only generic choices like small, medium, large, original and custom. What I need to know is how many pixels tall and wide. Here’s a little experiment. I’m going to post the same photo using the different size options going from smallest to biggest.

OK, after I uploaded I was able to see the actual size, but i figured I’d co tinue as planned. I have no idea what order these photos will show up in. Also with the custom option I chose 600×600 and it came out 600×800 so I’m guessing the app just uses the smaller of the two numbers and figures out the rest.

This whole post was done entirely on my phone. Let’s see how it turns out.

(Yes, “discovery girls” is in my bookmark bar because Little Miss Evy was trying to win tickets to Taylor Swift.)

I’ve been experimenting with Tumblr this past week. I don’t think I could ditch this blog for it, but there are certainly some things I like about it.

Do any of you use Tumblr for your blog? If so, what are your thoughts and opinions about it and did you totally ditch another platform to use Tumblr exclusively?

You can watch me tumble at jeffclaassen.tumblr.com

Yesterday I got this email from Coral. No subject and no words in the body of the email. Just this…

and it was the best email I got all day.

< rant >
Am I the only person that wants to hit iTunes in the face with a sledghammer?

There is no way I am the only one. How is that Apple can make products so easy to use, or as they like to say, “intuitive”, that a seven year old can figure it out in a manner of minutes, but they can also make something like iTunes that makes absolutely no sense. I buy some songs on my phone and want to transfer them to my computer. I choose “transfer purchases” and it starts transferring some free app I have on my phone. Why the hell would I want to save a free app on my computer? Why don’t I see a list of “purchased items” where I can highlight which ones I’d like to transfer? Also, it was an app I deleted from my phone. There must be some hidden trash can on the phone where all deleted apps go. But they’re not really trashed because they all get transferred to your computer when you sync apps or transfer purchases. Why can’t I just drag the music files into a folder on my computer? Then I try to put a book on my iPad from my computer and I get a message that says something along the lines of, “Are you sure you want to do this? By doing this you will remove all books from your iPad.” Huh, what?! All books? Why? Why can’t I just transfer one thing to the iPad. It makes no sense that to put one thing on it has to delete everything else that’s in iBooks. That whole “Sync” thing they have going on is bullshit and is the cause of major headaches across the globe. When you plug in a devise it should show up in Finder just like a disc or a portable hard drive shows up there. Then you can just drag and drop stuff to your little hearts content. Would that be so hard?

Apple really gets you though because the Mac, iPhone, iPad and iPod are awesome. I love all of them. They are easy to use and fun and cool and all of that. It’s just iTunes is absolutely and ridiculously retarded. There’s just no freedom to do what you want with it. And don’t say, “just use iCloud” because that doesn’t really work as effortlessly as the video on Apple makes it appear.
< /rant >

Two more to add to the ongoing “Blockhead Series”.

I love the yellow/pink color combination, but I really don’t use it as much as I should.

“I Belong In Paris”
3″ x 4″ – mixed media on wood

$45, plus shipping.
Purchase on etsy at: http://www.etsy.com/listing/88237225/original-i-belong-in-paris

And fluorescent pink is always a winner.

“Let’s Be Sweeties”
4″ x 5.25″ – mixed media on wood

$60, plus shipping
Purchase on etsy at http://www.etsy.com/listing/88236933/original-lets-be-sweeties

Thanks for looking!
- Jeff

When I posted this last year I thought it would be one of those viral things that everybody emails to each other, but that just didn’t happen. I like to think that maybe it was too close to looking like the real “Toys For Tots” logo and people just didn’t see that it was actually a “Toys For Tarts” logo. I decided to post this again in hopes that people spread the word about tarts needing toys this holiday season.

Like I said last year, I could have gone with “Toys For Tards”, but that seemed too inappropriate. Tarts though, who cares about tarts? They should be used to the ridicule by now.

I’ve never subscribed to the “if it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down” bathroom philosophy that a certain sect of people live by. Yes, those people do exist. And yes, they are an odd lot. They’re not all hippies either, but like serial killers, they could be anyone.

The nice woman next door that randomly brings you tasty treats from time to time. Your accountant. The neighborly gentleman that picks up your trash cans when they blow over in the gutter. It could even be somebody living inside of your own house. Which is what I’m dealing with. Although, more specifically, I’m not dealing with a person that’s concerned about water conservation. This person isn’t letting their yellow mellow in an attempt to save any water.

For the past week I’ve been victim to seeing the toilet bowl full of yellowness. Not a fan. Like most civilized people I prefer a clean bowl. It didn’t take much detective work to figure out the culprit, but it’s much more entertaining as a parent to give the kids a chance. Plus, you never know what to expect when they have free reign to explain themselves.

“So, children, which one of you hasn’t been flushing the toilet.”
Evy spoke first. “Was there paper in it?” Such a smarty. Then she added, “because I ALWAYS flush the toilet.”
I said, “Well, I know it wasn’t me and I know it wasn’t mom and I’m pretty sure Elliott didn’t do it. So, who could it be?”

“It was me.” James reluctantly fessed up.
“Why haven’t you been flushing the toilet?”
“I don’t know.”
I thought about saying, “that’s a pisspoor excuse” but instead said, “Nobody wants to see that, James. It’s gross. Also, you’re going to need to come up with a better excuse than that.”
“I don’t know why I don’t flush.”
“What’s the real reason?”
After a long pause, he finally said, “I’m too lazy.”
I stuck my hand out and twisted my wrist slightly to demonstrate the motion of flushing and asked, “This takes about three seconds and it’s too much trouble for you?”
At which he responded by covering his face with his pillow.

Well, that was probably the most demanding project I have ever taken on. When I passed the 50,000 word mark I could have stopped, but the whole idea about writing a novel in 30 days is to complete a novel. You know, beginning, middle and end. I would have felt like I cheated if I stopped right when I hit 50k.

I am exhausted, but I feel great. Writing is something I’ve always enjoyed doing. I’d say by the time I was nineteen I started telling myself “I’ll write a book someday.” There were a few attempts too, but I never made it past more than a few chapters. That is what made participating in Nanowrimo so great. The deadline. Without one you really have no incentive. And with a very limited time, thirty days, you are forced to focus. Even if you don’t like the particular part of your book you’re working on you just don’t have time to delete and think of a new idea. You just get those words down and see what happens. Sometimes it turns out better than you expected. Sometimes not, but that’s ok. The idea is that you have the rough draft of a novel by the end of the month. In most cases, it’s safe to say, very rough. If I wasn’t forced to focus I’d still be hovering around the 20,000 word mark.

As you can see from the chart above, I was slightly behind almost the whole month. I did have a system though. To get 1,667 words a day I would sometimes end the day in the 800-1000 range. In the morning I’d catch up. Then, late at night when the rest of my family went to bed I’d get down another 800 words. And catch up again the next morning. I knew this would be a tough project, but I really should have tried it years ago when I first heard about it. In other words, when I lived alone. It’s hard enough reading a book uninterrupted when you have an 11 year old, a 9 nine year old and a 5 month old, but writing one is a whole different story. In fact, “uninterrupted reading” shouldn’t even be in my vocabulary at this point. That term has no business being in my vocabulary because all it does is offer hope for something that doesn’t exist. And that’s just the kids. Nevermind the fact that I have my lovely lady to spend time with and a business to run. I finished though, so it’s totally possible.

A lot of us have demanding lives. I’m not saying mine is more demanding by any means. One thing I learned during this adventure is that no matter how demanding our life might be we still manage to waste a lot of time. We just don’t realize we’re wasting it. To pull off a 50,000 word novel in thirty days I cut out a lot of stuff I normally waste my time with. I stopped looking at twitter and facebook. I posted a few things, but not nearly as much as I normally do. I also, sad to say because I really like it, stopped posting photos on instagram and cut back on my regular blogging. Now that I haven’t been doing those things I’ve actually sort of lost interest in them. Except the blogging. I did miss that. I’ll probably get back into instagram because it is a creative outlet, but I’ll keep my distance with the twitter and facebook. I knew there were better ways to spend my time, but now with a 50k word book under my belt I have the proof.

Now that the book is done what am I going to do with it? Well, it needs some serious cleaning up. There were times where I was in such a hurry I would just write “ADJECTIVE” instead of taking the time to think of something clever. There is also a lot of things I need to do some research on. At one point the main character is in Paris, so I need to find the name of a fancy hotel for him to stay at and what street it’s on and what things are close by. With limited time to write there is no way I’d even be halfway done right now if I researched every little detail. You know, you can’t just write “Then Jeff went to a coffee shop to get cocoa.” You have to do something a little more specific. Something like, “Then Jeff took a leisurely walk down (STREET NAME) where he found (NAME OF COFFEE SHOP), a favorite among locals for their Mexican hot cocoa and yadda yadda yadda.” You get the idea. So, I have a lot to add to the novel and probably a lot to take out as well.

All in all, as demanding as it was I had a lot of fun and I am super happy that I did it. When I decided to go for it I kept telling myself, “I can do this” and when it came time to submit my word count and see the little “winner” banner show up under my profile picture I couldn’t help but tell myself “I can’t believe I did it” over and over again. Even if nothing ever comes of the book I wrote I’ll always know that I wrote one. I think I speak for every Nanowrimo winner when I say that what we did feels a bit like Hans Meyer climbing Mt. Kilamanjaro. We wrote a 50,000 word novel and no matter what happens, nobody can ever take that away from us.

Now that it’s all said and done I’d like to make a BIG public thank you to my wonderful lady, Coral. She took on extra house and kid duties so I could write and also sacrificed lots of time we would normally spend together so I could accomplish this crazy goal. Thanks, honey!