Thursday, April 20, 2006

So you want a web site...

Here are a few questions before starting!

GOALS
What do I want my site to do for me? Possible answers include:
– inform people of my services, products or art
– sell my services, products or art (in this case, do I have credit card capability?)
– gather information about visitors


INTERNET ACCESS
– Do I already have a domain name?
– Do I have hosting for my web site? How much space do I have allotted for it?
– Do I know my hosting username and password?


COPY
– Will I be giving all the text to the designer?
– Do I need a copywriter or editor for the text?
– Is there some copy (e.g. trademarks) that are essential?


LOGO
– Is the logo already made? Do you have it in a digital format for the designer?
– Do you want the designer to come up with a logo for your site?


DESIGN
– Do I prefer serifed (tailed) or san serif (no tails) fonts?
– Do I prefer cursive or script fonts or graphic, block-y fonts?
– Are there colors I need, like, dislike?
– What sites – any! – do I admire and why?
– Are there sites I dislike?
– Are there sites in the designer’s portfolio that
I like and why?
– Do I have a specific idea of how I want the site to look?
– If my site was candy, what would it be?

Thursday, April 13, 2006

New favorite Japanese word(s)

hotto suru: to feel relieved after a tense situation.

Haikus from a journey to Japan

Home to Tokyo
Friday, Saturday, Sunday
One day gone, happy.

Long flight, airplane food
Kindly Chinese man beside me
iPod brings sweet dreams

Tokyo sushi
Powdered tea, ikura rolls
Culture shock starts now.

Shika, fukumora
Cute little furry tchotchkes
Try not to buy them

"Konnichiwa" here
"domo arrigato" there
"sayonara" now

Sitting at Starbuck's
Girls laughing hard, ringing bells
Meeting Danielle.

Tailored Japanese
New styles, chic hair, well-fitted
Sadness, emptiness.

Old Japan meets new
Discipline and anomie
Hate, love, bewildered.

Tempura udon
Man-made pond raindrops splashing
Sadly, no turtles.

Pink and white plum buds
Weeping trees and winding paths
Salty plum tea -- ouch!

Ring bells for spirits
Clap twice, bow head, silent prayer
Buddhist ritual.

Toothbrush, "White&White"
Tofu cafe, sweet white wine
Moon bunny with rice.

Cafe Salon grub
Simple "preasurs" of life bowl
Pei has "low spirits."

Pet cemetery
Flowers, water, old tin cans
Raccoon on grey stone.

A Buddhist "bochi" (cemetery)
Pei burns incense to honor
Candles burn brightly.

Old cemetery
Mossy stones mean no one cares
Snow falls on Buddha.

Shopping for stockings
Pink green spots stripes leg warmers
Sock technology.

Sorasya Cafe
Dark wood, accordion music plays
Citrus drink "oyshii." (delicious)

Tuesday, March fourteenth
Obligation chocolate
So Tom buys white cake.

Museum food show
Tofu dishes menu book
Pickled "Kyo"(to) food.

Scary baby dolls
Air dryer: need help now
Kimono shows how.

Big miso ramen
Koroke and egg rolls too
My beely is full.

Clean train but dirty towns
Grey houses stretch to Osaka
Many floors camera store.

Tanuki udon
Gchi so "yummy" desh ta
Kompai! Bonsai! Yo!

Mt. Misen climbing path
The Land Of Rising Steps
My knees hurt so much.

Shoveling deer shit
a shrine on the water
chasing deer crackers.

Uncreative store
sanitary covers here
Ed gifts at Muji.

Beautiful Fuji
the quintessential Jaoan
haven't seen it yet.

Bento a go-go
cute old man in kimono
today's Shinkansen.

Tanuki k-tai (cell phone)
Hello Kitty Oracle
Big scrotum badger

Cute kuroneko (black cat)
Japanese UPS trucks
no t-shirts in sight.

Washitsu tanning
"Six Feet Under" in English
Stinky, three mat room.

"Forty" in the dark
Broken-down Kelly crying
No flashlights tonight.

Monkey Park in the snow
Doggy paddling in onsen
Oh baby monkeys!

Three onsens to try
"Oyshii" feast with fish and beer
Toru: sexy san.

Mehitsu mistake
D is buzzed; tempura soba
Sumo tanuki.