Moving to North Carolina

So it's been a while since I've posted anything up here...sorry for that.

But now I post with a different mentality. Instead of ranting or raving about a certain topic, I'm simply going to announce that I'll be leaving Connecticut some time after Easter. ...I'll be leaving for an indefinite move down to North Carolina.

My email address will remain: me@rjrasmussen.com
My cell phone will be: 203.815.3643

I'll update those of you on my address when the time comes.

A Reply to Anonymous…

Anonymous said...

The oppisite of death is not life. It's birth. Life is its own with no oppisite. Love it and live it like there is no tomorrow. I am sorry for your lose and I am expierencing much of the same in my own family. Enjoy your new path with open eyes


Well, this comment caught enough of my attention to get me to respond.

I will say, first of all, that I have a very hard time taking people serious when they can’t spell correctly. This only really qualifies for people who label themselves as nameless.

Yet, however mysterious you may wish to remain,, I’ll just say that I appreciate your response and I am sorry to hear of your similar experiences within your own family.

Your seemingly inspirational quote about “live it like there’s no tomorrow” leads me to have a pretty good idea of who you are, but in any event…

Everyone read on!

Now, I did say in my post that death is, in a sense, a rebirth.
I then added, “…hence, with every death comes a new breath of life.”

Does a new breath of life qualify as birth? I tend to believe so…or perhaps my wording is simply different than that of others. But I do feel that death leads to more life…life starts with birth. So in a sense, we’re saying the same things.

Why does birth have to be taken as a literal, “when you’re born” kind of thing? Why can’t we say that birth is the beginning of anything new to us? If my previous sentence defines birth, then new breath’s of life can be found everywhere…all around us…all the time. Doesn’t that make life just a tad more beautiful, even when it includes death?

But I’ll take it one step further. If, as you say, life has no opposite, then what balances it out? To quote a line from the Matrix trilogy, “Everything that has a beginning has an end.”

To quote Benjamin Franklin, “Nothing in life is certain except death and taxes.”

Funny as it is, think about it. Death is a constant…everyone dies at some point. So if death is the end of life, what does that make life? Birth is the beginning…death is the end. You’re right, anonymous, there’s no debating that.

I do, however, believe that it goes deeper than that. Birth and death may be opposites, but so are life and death based on their fundamental definitions.

I strongly believe that death is a constructor of life…I gather my beliefs on this from every day experiences. Where I see death, I also see new life. In the case of my grandfather, I saw his death…but I also saw his grandchildren with THEIR children in their arms. That, to me, is a form of rebirth. Obviously this is only one example, but I do find it to be one of the strongest examples ANYWHERE of rebirth.

As I said, death constructs life, life fabricates other life, life ends with death…repeat.

Actually, we could pick up where you left off—delving beyond your remark that life has no opposite—to say that everything within our lives balances itself out. Could that be it? Could it be that life is one big…thing…but all of the raw materials of our lives balance themselves out?

Let’s get a conversation going on this before I post another topic.

Responses make this worth it.
Please feel free to share your opinions, thoughts, and experiences.

Life with every breath. Life with every death.

With every death comes a new breath of life. Sure, you could find me under normal circumstances walking around telling my friends and family that this is true…and yet what is it about a death in your own family that can make you question what it is that you preach? I’m not sure, but I do know that a huge part of me has hit this brick wall since the 22nd of October when I lost my grandfather.

With this death I can look around and see new life within our own family…and yet there’s something inside of me that jealously wants to hold on to my grandfather’s life. And so I struggle to think of ways to tell myself that it’s all ok and that death is merely a part of life. It’s true, I know it. Still, it’s much tougher to swallow when it’s one of your own family members.

And so, over the past few days I’ve spent my time trying to focus on my own life…trying to reevaluate where I am and where my grandfather saw me going. The question arose: Am I where I want to be in my life? Have I digressed from my original plan, and if so, why?

This loss certainly has refocused the thoughts about my life. I’ve decided that I’m not challenging myself nearly as much as I was when I was in college…I’ve allowed myself to slip a little. Whether or not the slip was intentional is irrelevant. It still happened, and coming from someone who has always put 110% into everything he does, I feel like I’ve neglected the challenges that used to seem so easy to me.

I stayed at Circle Lanes to help them floor their fall leagues…and now that they’re floored and running smoothly, I am beyond wanting to be there anymore.

So in a sense, this is a rebirth…hence, with every death comes a new breath of life.
I found the connection in this very intriguing…and while the death of the sweetest man you’ll ever meet weighs heavy on my heart—the fact that it was a huge injustice—I can accept that Robert Frederick Libby lived life the way he wanted to…and that’s what matters. His death, above all else, has helped me to refocus myself and to really concentrate on the days ahead…because death’s inevitable…but what we do with ourselves can open airways and spark other breaths of life.

Think about it. It’s all about interconnectivity.
Death constructs life, life fabricates other life, life ends with death…repeat.

If you neglect challenges in your own life…what are you really doing?
Are you only hurting yourself? With the above theory in mind, could you be hurting others, too?

Do you suppose, as I do, that the best thing we can do in our short time on this earth is to always put our best foot forward, giving the maximum percentage to EVERYTHING we do?

Life with every breath. Life with every death.
Think about it.

Robert Frederick Libby; March 1933 - October 2006


In case you were wondering, I chose this picture because it was the most resistent. See, we had made picture boards for the day of the informal wake that we held...tons of pictures that really showed off the life of this amazing man. This picture, however, did not want to stay on the picture board. It seemed determined to make its presence known.

Now, I am not a believer in anything supernatural...no religious beliefs...nothing.
But when you, as I said, jealously want to hold onto someone, you manufacture ways to think they're around.
I found it very interesting, considering at our get together after the 'wake,' I was seated directly across from this picture.

Maybe I won't get them, but I do anticipate a lot of comments about this post.

Starting Fresh...

With graduation long since past and with the bowling center becoming less and less fun to work for, I'm starting fresh. Yep, both this blog and the days to come in my life will be fresh and will provide some vigor to where there was none before.

I don't know what I'll write about...I don't know what I'll say.
Hell, I don't even know if I'm writing to an audience of zero...
But I do hope that you will travel with me.

Maybe we can learn together.
Maybe we can answer questions together.

And this has become one of the focuses of this blog.
I hope you will check in from time to time and, perhaps, read and leave me a comment.

So what, exactly, am I saying? I'm saying that life is a commodity. I'm saying that we should be helping each other through it...whether through a simple blog or through our everyday lives.

...in my own life, life being a commodity means that I should be utilizing the so called vigor I have been told to posess.

Take the ride with me.
Let's see where we end up.

Graduation Pictures

Me and my beautiful girlfriend Erin....too bad she blinked.


Who's this guy???


From left to right...
My Aunt Carol, my Uncle Joe, my Grandmother, ME!, my Mother, my girlfriend Erin, and my Father.

Is this the future of web design?

Check out the NEW official Dave Matthews Band website

Go ahead...tell me what you think.
Now, I have been an advocate and die hard fan of the DMB for a long time now and I have to say, this site is terrible. What on earth was Bama Rags thinking when they decided to let this site go live?

There are more glitches than I care to mention, and the site itself seems to lack an overall sense of good design.

But I look at the site and its components and think that it has plenty of potential. Faster internet connections and an updated Flash player could, potentially, make this site pretty damn good.

However, is this the future of web design? I mean, really, is this what we should expect to see from 'the big boys' of design?

Then you've got BurnDown media creating a website for The Spill Canvas which is way too dark for any actual content to be read.

I'm just confused. Both sites have great potential...but somehow they lack something totally different, yet equally important in their designs.

I'm just wondering if this is about as hip as it gets, and if it is...why on earth are these companies releasing their designs with so many design and technical flaws in them?

School has officially been over for me since last Friday...and I have to say...I have absolutely no idea what to do with myself.

There's no papers to write...
Nothing to contemplate...
No notes to take or reading to do...
No projects to worry about...
No finals to study for...
Nothing.

It's this overwhelming sense of freedom that has led me to do very little the past couple of days...except design and spend my time with a wonderful girl by the name of Erin.

But really...it's so hard to grasp the concept that it's ok to get on with the rest of my life now. No more putting school before my friends or before bowling. Now it's about finding a job...a job that I know I'll enjoy for years to come...and finding someone that will make me happy (I think I'm there already).

Does anyone agree with this? I mean, isn't it this huge rush of relief? And at the same time, isn't there a sweeping feeling of fear? It's an amazing set of feelings...the likes of which I have never experienced TOGETHER before.

Grades are beginning to roll in...
I suspect a 4.0 semester, but I'm not guaranteeing anything.

heh...something about presenting...

So let’s present these puppies already!!!

Baron suggests things that we should go through to test our websites…
They include:
-Test against our site maps
-Test on different computers
-Testing on different platforms
-Testing at Random places (I’m pretty sure this classifies as different computers, but you know that Cynthia…she’s just being thorough)
-Test with a dummy audience…like your friends.
-Test each media. Do it. The last thing you want is someone looking at a flash animation that doesn’t work.

I’ve run through all this stuff already, including the test of every page for proof that they work. Personally, I think windows machines suck…especially internet explorer. Excuse my bluntness, will ya?

Packaging

Make it pretty. Yeah, you heard me.
Give it uniformity. Yeah, I said it.
Aim for legibility. Oh stop it, you know you want to.

Other than that, Baron makes a suggestion that I have seen in a few people’s blogs already….she suggests that we send out a postcard with one piece of work on it. Sounds strange, but I suppose it could work.

And on a final note, what you should do when you present:
Face your audience, speak up, make eye contact, show interest and enthusiasm, and BE PROUD OF YOUR WORK.
your portfolio

Otherwise, what are you really applying for?
‘nuff said.