I haven't mentioned it enough -- and probably should have -- that, when I'm not traipsing around as a writer, I work as a web designer / developer for ICG Link, Inc., a top notch web design and web hosting company out of Brentwood, TN.

In that role, I design new websites, redesign websites that have aged or are ready for the next level. One of my favorite tasks is creating logos. In fact logos and cd covers are probably the two biggest reasons folks in my age bracket got interested in design in the first place. Logo design is something I don't get to do as often as I would like, so when the chance comes along every now and again, I dive in with a passion.

Hear1st, either a sister or a child company of HearingPlanet.com, requested a logo redesign last week and here's the finished piece. They are a site that offers inexpensive medium-to-high-end hearing aids through their enormous network of audiologists across the company. The logo had to communicate "inexpensive" but not "cheap," "high-end" but not "out of range" as well as communicate the industry the company is in: hearing, sound, health.

For those who don't know about typography, some words are better suited to stylization than others. It just so happens, the word "hear" is one of those words that, regardless how it is written -- all caps, initial caps, lower case, vertical (never a good idea) or whatever -- it always looks weak. Trust me on this. "h" is horrible to work with. I could go on and on.

Bottom line I had fun coming up with this. The graded blue (high-end) counters the orange (affordable) and the curved lines, in a lower position relative to the type, read as sound waves without stealing attention from the company name. I was very happy with the outcome and the client signed off on it. A good half day's work.

Participants in the NYC Midnight 2009 Creative Writing Championships learned the results of the first round of action last night at a minute before midnight. This contest is run in a curious, fun fashion. Participants earn point in the first two round based on their stories' standings relative to others in their 15-writer group. First in a round earnes 25 points; second earns 22 and so on. Only those with the highest pont totals earn the right to write a third-round story. Only the highest-ranked of that round move on the the fourth and final round.

I woke up after midnight, remembering the results would be in. I found my name and saw a 4 next to it. I jumped around in ecstacy. 4th place out of 15 writers. Not bad for a story that didn't fare terrribly well in my local critique group. I logged on to Twitter and was about to tweet when I decided I'd be wise to double-check. I'm Irish and am easily swept up by emotions. I've done foolish things before in this state of mind.

I confirmed I had made an error. I realized the "4" denoted the group I was in, not my ranking. I clicked the correct link on the page for the group results, my heart low by now. I had placed 2nd. More jumping ensued, so much so that I forgot to Tweet or post on Facebook. I went to bed with a big smile.

Good news is so energizing. I was already pumped about tomorrow's prompt and write-in, now I'll be lucky to find a hook in the ground to keep me in my chair!

Bless this day and all that come after for I have, as of yesterday, made the switch from PC to Mac after about a decade of darkness and frustration.

When I first began my design career, O'More College of Design in Frankin, Tennessee back in '92, when I pulled my chair in front of a computer to create my first digital layouts, a Mac sat in front of me. Even 18 years ago -- a gray hair just leapt to its death, btw -- graphic design was a Mac industry. Every artistic industry was and there was good reason for it. I bought a Mac for my own use during college and used it well into my early graphic design career afterwards.

Then Satan descended to earth on New Year's day of 1999. A fellow at a party asked me this fateful question: "Do you design websites?"

Two thoughts entered my mind at that moment:

In my last year of college, only three years before, I asked an instructor, "So what's a web page?" That's a bad sign, right?

I'm terrible at freelancing. This sounds like a perfect time to say yes.

I said yes. Four months later, he knew the truth had been no, but you're in too deep to let me go now. In that uncomfortable time, I learned just enough about web design to get myself into a entry level job as a web maintenance flunky.

At this nightmarish first web-specific job, I learned that the industry I had fallen onto the wrong side of the fence: PCville. In a day, my Mac became a tool of limited use. Soon it would be replaced as my need for work-from-home machine became necessary.

It has been so until yesterday when, after learning that not only was my company switching to Macs but that my boss would be graciously footing the not-insubstantial bill for the switchover software, I bought a display model 17" MacBook Pro. 

I've only begun to learn all of its capabilities and I may not be able to hook it to my triple monitor set-up I have now, but I can tell already that the learning curve will be short.

I'll be using the Mac in Round 2 of NYC Midnight contest so it's a trial by fire tonight at a 10:59!