the fee calculator is up!

Hey all,

I’m pretty excited because one of the big projects I was working on at my co-op at RushCard/Unifund is now live!! It is a fee calculator that I designed and coded to determine which RushCard and plan would be right for you, based on a series of questions about your financial habits and card usage.  This project posed a huge challenge to me because I haven’t done anything like a quiz or calculator in Flash or ActionScript 3 before, and there was a large amount of math (eek math!) to work with determining the totals for the monthly costs.

Check it out and let me (or RushCard!) know what you think of it!

var moseley

moseley =

‘<div id=”int3a”><img src=”images/i/interactive_moseley_1.jpg”></div>’+

‘<div id=”int3b”><img src=”images/i/interactive_moseley_2.jpg”></div>’+

‘<div id=”int3c”><img src=”images/i/interactive_moseley_3.jpg”></div>’

function interactive3(){

document.getElementById(‘projImages’).innerHTML = moseley

document.getElementById(‘int3a’).style.display = ‘block’;

document.getElementById(‘int3b’).style.display = ‘none’;

document.getElementById(‘int3c’).style.display = ‘none’;

}

function int3a(){

document.getElementById(‘int3a’).style.display = ‘block’;

document.getElementById(‘int3b’).style.display = ‘none’;

document.getElementById(‘int3c’).style.display = ‘none’;

}

function int3b(){

document.getElementById(‘int3a’).style.display = ‘none’;

document.getElementById(‘int3b’).style.display = ‘block’;

document.getElementById(‘int3c’).style.display = ‘none’;

}

function int3c(){

document.getElementById(‘int3a’).style.display = ‘none’;

document.getElementById(‘int3b’).style.display = ‘none’;

document.getElementById(‘int3c’).style.display = ‘block’;

}

http://mariacfox.com/feecalc.html

back to school, back to school, it’s the cool thing to do

So school has been in session for two weeks now.  I love school.  While this quarter has a rather challenging schedule (3 days of 6 hours in a row afternoon/evening classes…) I think I am going to like it.

Here is my course rundown:

Digital Design III — we are creating a piece about the importance of design education.  It is an open-ended group project and we can decide whether to do interactive or motion (I think our group is doing a mixture, which will be fun).  We are going to make it humorous and somewhat like a parody of design students at DAAP.

Motion Design II — we started off with a matte painting project, and now we are doing green screen.  I’m pretty excited since I’ve never done anything like this before, so hopefully it’ll be a good quarter for learning and experimenting with motion.  Later on in the quarter we will be doing title sequences and some 3D integration.  Yay!

Design Ideation III — a cool project on How Stuff Works (like a watch, etc.) which can be interactive and motion and include a timeline of some sort.  It’ll be a good exercise in information visualization and architecture!

Digital Design Seminar — talking about design research, methods, and other design-related stuff.  We had a lecture about the importance of research in history and visualizing information of a historical nature this past week (mmm….history…..).

Culture of Books & Reading — this class is AWESOME.  We are reading several books (the first of which, Riddley Walker, is a bit difficult because it isn’t written in grammatically correct English….but a very interesting read!!) and have been shown some really interesting ancient artifacts such as Egyptian papyrus, a large cuneiform tablet, and several Korans (which we had to wear cotton gloves to touch since we are not Muslim)!  I am loving it.

World Prehistory — a class about the anthropological and archaeological origins of our world.  We’re discussing some archaeological methods (which I know now since I took archaeology last quarter!) and we are beginning with human origins (Lucy and other prehistoric human ancestors) and continuing with ancient civilizations such as the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and Mycenaeans. It is also going to be an awesome class.

So hopefully this will be a good quarter!! I just updated my portfolio to the new version, which I’m super excited about and have been working on this whole summer (on and off…gotta take a break to read!!).  We are starting to look for co-op jobs for winter quarter already as well!  A little bit overwhelming since the quarter just started but it’s good to get a head start.

Since I usually like to do my little book updates, here is my most recent: I am currently reading The Gone-Away World by

The Gone-Away World

Nick Harkaway. It took me a while to get into it, since I started it on vacation and have been reading it for a few weeks now, but it has gotten really good!! It is a sort of post-apocalyptic science fiction novel about picking up the pieces and trying to make a life after a nuclear holocaust.  The descriptions and situations are quirky and funny at times, biting at others.  Here is a quote from the novel, my favorite so far (sorry if it gives anything away….):

“We were deluged together in the raw, unbalanced Stuff of the universe. Inevitable consequence:

My own little reification.

I was made flesh, and in the process taken from him. I was never supposed to be real. How terrifying to confide your every doubt to an imaginary companion, to bequeath to him every alternative, and then one day turn and see him standing before you. Gonzo must be feeling so hollow inside, with me spun out and separated from him. It must be quiet and empty in there.

And that, of course, is how I survived being shot. Freshly minted, new, I wasn’t real enough to die.”

…I love it.  When I finish this one, I’m going to read Joseph Campbell’s The Hero With a Thousand Faces, which I have read parts of, but never the entire thing.  I am pumped.  I love Joseph Campbell (I wrote my senior research paper in high school on the hero journey in Harry Potter….I know, I’m a nerd).

Well I think that’s all for now.  Yay school!

…it’s been a while.

So it’s been quite a while since I’ve updated.  It’s been quite a busy summer.  I’ve been on coop at UniRush in Cincinnati, so I’ve been pretty busy with my job, which I enjoy.  I’ve been getting a lot of different work, including web banners, website work, landing page design and execution, some print material such as posters, and even a project of my own that I will be starting soon (an interactive Flash piece)!

Besides work, I’ve been hanging out with friends (we like to watch True Blood–AWESOME show) and trying to relax.  That doesn’t always work out, since a few weeks ago I had to move out of the old apartment and into the new, which was a bit stressful.  Before that, of course, I had a bunch of weird/random stuff happen like recurring bouts of hives (why am I allergic to EVERYTHING?) and right after I moved in I got sick for a week with what I thought was bronchitis….and I lost my voice (which was rather odd and didn’t really connect to anything).

I’ve started to redesign my portfolio again and I think it’s going to be a LOT better than the old one (hopefully).  I have been doing a lot of reading, as well.  It calms my mind like nothing else and it seems to make me happy no matter what, so yay reading!! (on a sidenote: a project I did last quarter was a design for a  book blog that I would like to at some point actually do, but who knows when I’ll have enough time for that!)  Here is my reading list so far (forgive my girliness):

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (just started)

Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin

The Constants of Nature by John Barrow

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling (reread)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling (reread)

Vampires and Vampirism by Montague Summers

The Seduction of the Crimson Rose by Lauren Willig

Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer (reread…I couldn’t help it)

And that’s been my summer so far!  Only about a month left….I will be going on vacation to Ocean City, Maryland in a couple of weeks so I’m pumped for that.  Ready to get pummeled by some waves (I miss Virginia Beach!!).

amazon wishlist + school

So I’ve decided I’m going to post my Amazon wishlist every once in a while so you can see what I plan on reading/watching…yay books!!

http://www.amazon.com/wishlist/1ADH01R7RYWXQ

P.S.  School started a few weeks ago so I’ll be pretty busy with school work for a while so there may not be many posts.  Sorry!  But hopefully I’ll have some work I can put up every once in a while and keep you updated as to what I’m working on.  For instance, I have an archaeology exam Tuesday.  Yay!  The weather is so beautiful here I want to go outside and study but I know I wouldn’t get anything done if I went outside…

going home in pictures…without the pictures

So the whole “DC in pictures” post will be coming up some time.  DC was great of course (again…details in another post) and now I’m finally back home.  School starts again on Monday and I’ll be moving back to the apartment on Saturday but I took a break today.  Yay!  I got a haircut today (and no manda, it does not look exactly like yours).  I’m all itchy from stray hairs.  Stupid hair-seeking sweaters.

So I kind of wanted to write about something different this time.  Every time I’m in a car for a long period of time (which lately always happens to be through virginia, west virginia, and pennsylvania), I pass by old rusty barns and decaying houses.  And I get this ridiculous urge to take pictures of them.  And it made me realize that I have a secret ambition to go around the United States and take pictures of rusty stuff.  Mainly decrepit barns and rusty bridges.  It sounds beautiful.  I have kind of a different idea of beauty, where things that might seem disgusting or dirty seem beautiful to me.  Sophomore year I had to do a photography project where I had to find all of the letters of the alphabet in objects of a theme.  My theme was “urban decay,” aka rusty stuff (some of the photos from that project are on my flickr).  I found that I really liked that project.  I’m not sure if it was the texture, the colors, the idea that the things we created to be permanent were changing and decaying all around us, but something in those photos stuck with me.  And every time I drive past some sign of desolation, abaondonment, or ruin, I just want to grab a camera and shoot it like there’s no tomorrow.  So maybe some day when I have the time and the drive, I’ll go out and do that.  Because that would be awesome.

And that reminds me, I also have a secret desire to hike all along the woods that are next to the interstate.  Like Into the Wild style, except without the dying.  I don’t know but when I’m driving along an interstate that is bordered by trees, I just want to be out in the trees, walking along there and camping.  And if there is a river, I want to kayak along it.  Just because.  Maybe I’ll do that someday, too.

I never thought I had those things that you just have to do before you die, you know, like how people say they have to write a book before they die, or climb to the top of Mount Everest or something cliched like that.  But it seems I do have something I want to do.  Take pictures of rusty stuff and hike along an interstate.  What grand ambitions I have.

NEW PORTFOLIO!!!

http://mariacfox.com

So my new portfolio is finally up and live!!  Check it out (if you notice any kinks let me know….) and hope you enjoy

A similar blog design will hopefully soon be appearing!

….apparently i’m not 5 inches too short

So I’m watching the season premier of America’s Next Top Model (of course) and I just saw an ad for Cycle 13……….where the eligibility requirements are that you are 5′7″ OR UNDER!!!!!!  So I could totally try out for ANTM next cycle.  And guess when auditions are…..this Saturday 12-3…..in Norfolk!!!  I really want to do it but that would be completely ridiculous and I would have to do all of the application stuff really soon.  But I could totally submit my motion piece from last quarter as my audition tape….hahahaha.  I’m so pumped.  I really want to do it.  I could totally be a model.

And just for reference….my motion piece from last quarter was a self portrait titled “5 Inches Too Short” and it was about me wanting to be a model but getting rejected for being too short….a humorous piece of course (I don’t actually want to be a model….except kind of….).  

OMG.

anthropology + design = awesome

http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/25/technology/tech_anthropologists.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2009022511

So my friend Rich sent this article to me.  It’s about how anthropologists help companies understand users and their interactions with technology.  Tech companies are hiring anthropologists to research and work with designers….so how awesome would it be to hire and anthropologist and designer all in one???  Handy, isn’t it!  And people called me crazy for loving anthropology so much.  

Every day it seems the two become more applicable and related to each other.  Therefore, I keep chugging with my love and obsessive interest of anthropology.  Though my knowledge of forensic and physical anthropology may not come in handy as much in the future…..but who knows!  

I feel happy now.

on podcasts

So I’ve recently become obsessed with podcasts because I can listen to them at work and actually get work done!  Here are all of the podcasts I currently subscribe to:

1. American Anthropological Association

2. Archaeology Channel Audio News

3. Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History

4. NPR: Books

5. NPR: Environment

6. President Obama’s Weekly Radio Address

7. Reasonable Doubts Podcast  (interesting…)

8. Stuff You Missed in History Class (OMGFREAKINGAMAZING…like all of my favorite things from history…)

9. Stuff You Should Know (also awesome)

10. TED Talks

11. **The Word Nerds (my new fav—–they mentioned Joseph Campbell in one of the episodes and I almost died.  I want to be an english major ever more now—all of my nerdy friends would love this)

12. Yoga podcasts (I subscribe to 3….)

 

So yeah I pretty much love podcasts.  I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to listen to them much when school starts up again.  I need to savor it while it lasts.

vday with mer mer

So Meredith came to visit me for Valentine’s Day weekend (she had to leave already….sad).  It was fantastic.  We took a lot of walks on the beach because she has never seen the east coast.  It was actually fairly cold outside which sucked but at least it didn’t rain like it said it was going to.

 We were outside pretty much all of Saturday.  We went to breakfast in the morning then took a walk up to 31st street and grabbed coffee at Starbucks and sat in the rocking chairs outside of Catch 31.  We did some great people-watching there as well.  

After that we walked back to the apartment and decided to go to the mall.  We wanted to see Coraline in 3D but it was sold out…for the 2:20 showing….it was ridiculous.  So we just walked around the mall for a little while, where we saw my coworker/friend Sean and his girlfriend.  

We ate lunch in the food court (sushi yay!) and walked around for a bit then came back home.  We took another walk after that down to first street and back.  We were going to go out somewhere nice for dinner but every restaurant within a 10 mile radius was entirely booked so we ended up just going to the Beach Bully (it’s about a block away from where I live so that was nice) for dinner for some barbecue.  It was delicious.  

After dinner we decided to dress up for no reason and have a fashion show.  It was hot.  We listened to The Lonely Island and Tenacious D and danced.  It was fantastic.  Then we watched Lars and the Real Girl, which I fell asleep for most of but luckily had already seen.  I highly recommend that movie.

Saving the best for last.  So on our walk to Starbucks yesterday we discovered a bunch of fish bones along the shore. I was really excited because I took forensic anthropology last year and have a rudimentary knowledge of osteology, but not fish osteology so I was trying to figure out what all  of the bones we found were.  We kept finding vertebrae and then we found a massive skull.  

We kept screaming out of excitement every time we found another bone and it was hilarious.  Mer was walking down a little further to look for more bones when she started screaming my name to come over.  I saw something huge as I was running there and what do you know but a freaking dinosaur fish was there.  It was masssive and much more fresh than the other one.  It still had a bunch of flesh attached to it and the vertebra were all connected still by muscle tissue.  It was RIDICULOUS.  We were just screaming and laughing and pointing at it.  I touched it.  I thought it was going to eat me.  Its mouth was wide open and it had no eyes but its eye sockets were wide open.  It was pretty much the scariest/coolest thing I’ve ever seen and we decided that it was a dinosaur.  

Overall, quite a wonderful Valentine’s Day (I’m quite glad MerMer came so I didn’t have to spend vday by myself watching romantic comedies and Pride and Prejudice like usual…lol).  And yay, no work on Monday!!!!!  I’m so tired and my legs are about to fall off so I’m pretty sure I’m not moving for the next 2 days.  Woot.