Mmm coffee and vitamin C water.

EAT MEAT!!!

I'll eat meat the day you suck cock.





...waitaminute, oh fuck.

You'll be doing gay things long before  I so, currymun ...
... uhm,
carpetmun...
uhm ....

Yeah, so, THERE!

Yea but it's hot if I do it.

Whoa ...
Tou-fucking-che'!

CT: I received a package from Sasha today.

Sweet. a Melon with a dick hole carved into it.
Did you attach a wig to it and  hump its face into oblivion yet?

Amongst the Texas Care Package items was a shirt that is about three sizes too small, but I'm going to wear it anyway. Pictures to follow.

But give me a melon with a slit, and I'll make it happen.

Amongst the Texas Care Package items was a shirt that is about three sizes too small, but I'm going to wear it anyway. Pictures to follow.

But give me a melon with a slit, and I'll make it happen.

Three sizes too small eh, sounds about right. Show that belly prom boy!

WTF Sasha, everybody need XXL doncha know

I can do L or XL ...
... I'd SWIM in an XL or above

Amongst the Texas Care Package items was a shirt that is about three sizes too small, but I'm going to wear it anyway. Pictures to follow.

But give me a melon with a slit, and I'll make it happen.

Three sizes too small eh, sounds about right. Show that belly prom boy!

WTF Sasha, everybody need XXL doncha know

Actually, I'm only 6'1 and 200lbs. I just have slightly broad shoulders. I've lost 65lbs since last year.

CT: Ugh.
i just moved into my condo in Dec. My upstairs neighbor is a loud asshole.

My boss is a horrible cunt and my coworker is probably going to be quitting soon. I hate working for my boss. She's completely unstable. I haven't tried to look for a new job. It seems almost pointless. I think I'm unhirable even though I have a lot of skills. Why do I think that? I'm not really sure. I'm probably totally hirable, but I'm scared as fuck of going on an interview since I have zero interview skills.

I'm learning how to make websites. I hope to get to the point where I can start my own business and do this freelance.

My relationship is great, but it's long distance. I don't really intend on moving, and I'm not sure if he intends on moving. He's still in college and has another semester or two left. We haven't talked about long term plans. But then again, we've only been an item for a couple months. We see each other 2 or 3 weekends out of the month and talk every day. He's great but I'm worried about the distance. There's a co. in NYC that he really wants to work for, so maybe he'll live here at some point.

I have so little time after work. I have like 2-3 hours to do whatever I want. I'm so exhausted after work that I don't want to do anything, including looking for jobs, or trying to go out and network, or anything. All I want to do is relax.

I feel really down right now. Maybe it's just the weather.

Is learning web-design worth pursuing? I'm taking a Dreamweaver class now, and my teacher says the average web-designer in NYC makes $90/ hr. He said despite the recession, he's been so busy he's had to turn down work.

Also, Carolyn moved further away (still in Jersey) so I only get to see her about twice a month now.

I actually feel your pain ...

Keep up your spirits, dude.
You're definitely hirable. I think most of us here have offered to hire you for a night or two at one point or another.

Seriously thought I'm actually quite surprised you sweat interviews.
I'd have guessed you owned them from the start.

Is learning web-design worth pursuing?

No ... and,

I think I'm unhirable even though I have a lot of skills. Why do I think that? I'm not really sure. I'm probably totally hirable, but I'm scared as fuck of going on an interview since I have zero interview skills.

Been the same way for forty years

Ct: I really want a (veggie) fry up breakfast right now.

Screw that... Ulster Fry.

Its the breakfast of champions!

why is learning web design not worth while?

Doormouse, I haven't been on an interview in 7 years.

I think $90/hr is a pretty big exaggeration for an average.  That might be the rate a firm charges when they write a contract, but you would never see anywhere near that amount of money.  As a point of reference, my actual hourly rate runs something like 30% of what is charged on contracts.

If you were freelance, you might come closer to that hourly rate.  However, that would mean that you have no benefits and would be doing all of the legwork on getting contracts, negotiating fees, etc. on your own.  Plus, you don't have a portfolio of work, so you wouldn't be able to charge anywhere near $90/hr for a while.

Here's the first result that came up in google for average salary: http://www.indeed.com/salary/q-Web-Designer-l-New-York,-NY.html

Even with all the variation on related job titles, no one is coming close to an average hourly rate of $90.

Brook - do it, learn it in your spare time for six months or something but do it for sure! Study it during down time at work if you can like I did, whatever. Designing a website will get you some money, building up a portfolio of long-term maintenance contracts will make you rich. I'm (slowly) teaching myself this and work keeps falling into my lap. I just got paid $1,500 to spend two days learning the PHP to connect to a simple DB and I have 3 jobs coming up for stuff I kind of know how to do, but will outsource to elance (or anyone on this site if we have qualified web devs here) if I don't have time to learn the code for whatever I eventually need to make. In your spare time take on cheap jobs, whatever and learn to script this stuff.

My one piece of advice is to learn in a text editor like note-pad or whatever for your first few java-script, HTML, CSS, PHP adventures. Then when you do graduate to designing inside a development platform you'll 10x better. My wife learned through dreamweaver and I have to do all her PHP for her now. If you know the fundamentals of those four languages (I'm still working on JS) then you can a) handle most jobs on your own, at least for small clients and b) can spec and outsource contracts to other developers which can be even more lucrative. What's better, making $90 per hour to code or making $10,000 to spec a solution and spend time testing it.

I'd stay away from DW, it uses tables for layouts... proper CSS is much better. Maybe if someone has made a website in DW prior it would be useful for editing that but you won't learn much.

No jokes, I'm probably going to take in about $15,000 in website work this year, spend 1-2 hours on it a day and the occasional weekend and since I can claim a lot of my daily living costs as business expenses it's largely tax free and comes on top of my regular income. There is no downside to you getting stuck into this.

My tip: Don't confuse Web Designer for Web Developer.

And more often than not, A good Designer will earn more... but work less.

You only need the Basics in Web Developer skills to amass a kickass talent showsite...  if you want to do design.

(Bascis includes knowing and feeling comfy with talking about anything html,css,php at w3schools.com... and I mean talking, not doing... Knowing how to do Flash is a bonus, a big Bonus.)

whats the diff. between developer and designer?

so far i've learned XHTML. learning Dreamweaver in a class, and going to teach myself CSS.

Nick, I see what you mean, I guess. I do think that knowing the foundations for making a website is very important but don't programs like DW have their place/ use too? What is wrong with using tables? if someone wants a cheap and easy website, i think DW is probably ok.

i'm also taking a class called "putting up a business ready website".

i'll learn php and flash after i get CSS down. actually i know nothing about these at all at this point. haven't haerd of php really...

more than anything i just want to work for myself. even if it means doing a bunch of different kinds of jobs that will bring in enough money for me to pay the bills. tired of working for other people.

One is about how it looks, the other is is about how it works.

DW is THE best tool for a designer (its super efficient). As a designer you dont have to connect things to the database and whatnot.  You just use img's that look like it connects... a mock-up.

Really good Developers are almost rare... the amount of dirty php code online is huge.  Most of a Designers knowledge of Development should come organically from the desire to achieve a particular graphical effect though the browser... and sometimes that will require user interaction with a database or object... which is where knowing the principles of  php, sql and java come in.

My angle is different, If you make a db and build the tools to interract with it the client is on the hook to pay you maintenance to be available to fix anything. I have a programming background so it's an easy step for me, but I still had to learn XHTML, css and php.

DW is quick looks good, if you don't have to add any back-end stuff then it will do, but like I said you'll want to understand the code on it's own. If you've got a spare $40 try CSS The Missing Manual, it's a great place to start.

I want to learn flash next, I have made a couple of banners but haven't dug into it much

Funny you mention The Missing Manual, I have the "How to Build a Website" book. It touches on CSS in the book. Once I get through it I'll check out the CSS one (if I can't learn what I need online)...

I know nothing about programming. I'll try to learn as much as a can on my own in my spare time which isn't a lot. I'll probably take some more classes too.

The best way to learn is to make a proper site for someone and do it in a text editor. Once you do some HTML (content) then css (format and layout) will make sense, after which the purpose behind php, js (interaction) and all that other stuff will become clear.

Yeah I'm going to make a website for my dad's charter company for my first site (he runs a deep sea fishing boat).

Thanks for the encouragement. Seriously, it made me feel like I'm working towards something worthwhile that could be a way of independently supporting myself financially in the future (and not have to work for THE MAN anymore).

In that case, pick yourself up a copy of The Four Hour Workweek asap...

Ct: I really want a (veggie) fry up breakfast right now.

Screw that... Ulster Fry.
Its the breakfast of champions!

it's the breakfast of fat British workers but goddamn I want it anyway. Just sans bacon and sausage.

Doormouse, I haven't been on an interview in 7 years.

And apparently it's because you sweat them, yeah? How surprising that is to me.

I know nothing about programming. I'll try to learn as much as a can on my own in my spare time which isn't a lot. I'll probably take some more classes too.

Yeah programming is actually very neat and logical. It's simple and can be fun.
However, programming well is another matter. That takes time and effort. It can still be fun in a way - I've rarely felt the same sense of proud accomplishment with papers I've written. I feel satisfied with papers I've written, and sometimes (rarely) I'll re-read one, but old programs I've written I actually enjoy re-running and re-testing. I definitely intend to get back into programming as soon as I'm out of school.

Yeah programming is actually very neat and logical. It's simple and can be fun.

You enjoy all sorts of puzzles, don't you?