divingtank.com

After the show, back to Brittany’s flat for birthday rites and revelry. Mingling with 19-year-olds, eating cake, laughing it up with Charlie and Dave (who turned 25 on the same night) and the spontaneous playing of Frank Sinatra.

All in all, not a bad return to my bittersweet alma mater. I forsee more days spent in that strange and unforgiving city, but in the company of friends. Smiling and dancing – not a bad way to spent twentyhood.

And to all the dancers in the show, excellent job, congrats and well done!

A return to Philadelphia to bask in that golden aura that is being an alumni. Or something.

A late arrival to Drexel, and then to Mad Mex to visit with James and those girls from my past-life as a dancer. Amid the margarita-induced laughter, a few black & white photos were taken. And suddenly, I was back. Bizarre.

Just out in South Orange, once again ranting about the government and how awesome Letterman is and how terrible Bush is.

Coffee from The Goat at 10pm – not smart. But it helps for working late into the night, that’s certain.

Specifically, because I had my father’s camera, which is pretty foreign to me. I have forgotten how many steps are involved in focusing a lense, having spent years pointing and shooting with my elphs (elves?).

A night out in NYC, luckily, sans cover charges, courtest of Bonetti. We drove into the city after failing to find a parking spot in Hoboken. Worked out in the end. Never realised how short the Lincoln Tunnel actually is, having spent years winding my way through the Holland.

In conclusion, never, and I mean NEVER go to Porky’s on 21st St just East of 6th. Rubbish and overpriced. Instead, try the Cutting Room on 24th just West of 5th.

…is better than dinner alone. Is that a saying or did I just make that up?

Out with Bonetti and cohorts in the Village, eating Italian food, gossiping about whatever, trying to avoid talking about work (and failing) and just being exhausted because its Friday. Ah, youth.

I’ve been meaning to do so for a while, but I finally have taken the first step to migrate my blog off perezfox.com. Here’s a breakdown of what has been done, and what’s to come.

perezfox.com will remain my professional site. It will feature my portfolio more centrally and will soon have a dedicated section for my CV. I plan to keep a blog on that site, but change it to more of a ‘professional’ blog, with design- and advertising-related entries as opposed to personal photos and rants.

divingtank.com will become my personal site with no professional content. It will feature my photos and entries from the past, and of course the future. I also plan to re-design the new divingtank.com to reflect the separation.

So what happened to the old divingtank.com? Well, Diving Tank Studios, LLC, is all but disbanded. Technically, we still exist, but after some paperwork, that won’t be the case. Jay and I have decided that we are not in the right situation to be in business for ourselves. That’s all. We’re still up for side projects, of course.

When? Look for the functional changes to be completed in the next 3-4 days. A long weekend will help me sort things out and make the necessary changes to both sites. Look for new content to my portfolio (perezfox.com) in about 7-10 days and look for a re-design of divingtank.com by the end of January. It’s gonna be busy.

Also look out for my podcast – a show which I will be creating with Joaquin.

There have been many controversial issues of bloggers being fired for things they may or may not have written on their blogs. And it would seem that I have been doused with this 21st century acid.

I didn’t lose my job, but something similar happened. I am not going into details here, because, unlike some people, I am a reasonable person and don’t bear grudges and judge people whom I have never met.*

But I have to say that his event has opened my eyes somewhat, and in an effort to make this site more professional (that is, 100% professional and 0% personal), I will be moving my blog and photo archive to another site. This site will be updated to reflect the changes. Look for that in the next week or so.

But to those of you who have recently been reading my site and making false assumptions about my social habits, the President has a message for you. (see below). For the record: I, like the President, do not drink alcohol or use drugs. Unlike the President, I have never used drugs or drank alcohol.

* I do, however, bear grudges and judge people who I have met. Everyone has the chance to piss me off in person.

Ok, this I found slightly comical. Seems everyone is trying to cash in on the iPod phenomenon. It’s good to know that I can get those three free songs just for joining the National Guard and risk going to Iraq to die. Otherwise, it might have cost me $3.

Today I spent more than a few seconds on those spam sites that offer a free Mac Mini if you subscribe to a magazine or something. When did the internet become a playground for advertising? This is arguably worse than the whole concept of spam because now obnoxious advertising is invading legitimate sites. Shame people, shame. (bandwith costs money, I know)

And Google is right in the middle of it all. They made a name for themselves by producing the be-all and end-all of search engines and followed it up with an excellent map system. But these days, it seems they are just the largest peddler of cheesy ads since MTV.

Online applications? Ad-based software? It would seem Web 2.0 is not the Titanic it claims to be. Or rather, maybe it is. Time will tell, of course, but I have the feeling that Ads are an eternal part of whatever future is coming our way.

Photos from the last two weeks of spending my nights with Pete and Charlie. Locales include Cryan’s (why?), O’Reilly’s (again, why?), Swing Dancing, Hoboken, and the Goat.

The BBC have an Interesting Article about how EU Boss Jose Manuel Barroso is the Most Powerful Man in Britain. I wonder what a poll of the same sort in the US would find?

I have to say, I am surprised to see Google made this list! Should I be impressed by this or perhaps a bit scared? I’ve been following Google for some time now, and when living in Britain, I didn’t feel their wrath the way, it would seem, many others are.

I think the real scary item on this list is No. 4 – The British People. In theory, having the people run a country is a good thing, but in practice, the people are the least qualified and most fanatical. Britons don’t possess the insane devotion to sad causes like the yanks (religion, freedom, etc.) but they make up for it with apathy. Lots of apathy and nostalgia about the Empire. And that’s why it’s awesome. (hard to explain). We all remember Churchill’s famous quote about democracy.

Thankfully absent from this list: Microsoft, Simon Cowell, FIFA/FA, George W. Bush, the tabloids, The BBC, Ibiza nightclub owners, towtruck operators/ticket wardens.

Regretably absent from this list: The Queen, Paul McCartney, Channel 4, the European Space Agency, James Dyson, Jacques Chirac.

Check out John C. Dvorak’s Blog for more tech-related news confusion.