A look back

Sunday, December 31, 2006

Two thousand six was full of spontaneous moments with great friends and coworkers. It also had some noteworthy, personal milestones that I thought I’d highlight before the clock strikes twelve.

January / February saw the launch of Authentic Films (http://www.authenticfilms.net). It was my first official jump into the world of Actionscript and thanks to Travis (http://www.podlob.com) the water wasn’t that cold.

March / April involved traveling to Austin, Texas where I attended my first SXSW conference (http://flickr.com/photos/sketch22/tags/sxswi/). It was great to meet more geeks like myself. I got my ears blown out by Alkaline Trio (http://flickr.com/photos/sketch22/136194688/in/dateposted/) for the second time and got a lot of use out of the Jazz bar below my loft.

May / June was spent reading (http://flickr.com/photos/sketch22/164032564/in/dateposted/) a lot (http://flickr.com/photos/sketch22/164032185/in/dateposted/).

July / August got me thinking which lead to my decision to leave advertising and enter the world of journalism. I saw some fireworks (http://flickr.com/photos/sketch22/182667304/in/dateposted/) and became very close with a great coffee house (http://flickr.com/photos/sketch22/201018003/in/dateposted/) in my new neighborhood. I also launched a new site for Take Two (http://www.t2.tv) and Firehouse (http://www.fhdallas.com).

September / October showed me how hard it is to be a teacher. For the first time I taught a course in web design at the Kansas City Art Institute. At the same time I enrolled in a letterpress class (http://flickr.com/photos/sketch22/archives/date-posted/2006/09/12/) at the arts center in my neighborhood where I did a lino carving (http://flickr.com/photos/jcroft/272761102/) for the first time since high school.

November / December allowed me to flex some info design muscle for the election coverage. Matt (http://postneo.com/) pulled off some amazing information gathering to make my silly (http://www2.ljworld.com/elections/2006/nov/07/races/secretary_state/) little graphics bloom.

What’s in store for 2007? Well, a lot. I can’t wait to share some of the things I’ve been working on. There is a redesign (http://www.ljworld.com) in the works and a lot of loose (http://www.podjogger.com) ends (http://jupiter.playgroundblues.com) that I’m determined to wrap up. I hope everyone who reads this blog is enjoying life as much as I am. Happy New Year!