It makes a huge difference in a person’s work-life when they switch from having little to do to having too much to do! It’s much the same for a person’s social-life when the nights and weekends start filling up with friends and fun.

A couple of weeks ago I went out for a beer with a friend from Ottawa who’s on course at CFB Kingston. I also did lunch with my old friend Matt. I’ve also joined the gym on campus and signed up for guitar lessons with a man called “The Rockmeister”. No, seriously. I saw him perform at a country club and grabbed his card. I had my first lesson a couple of weeks ago and now I have loads to practice before my next lesson on Sunday. He’s awesome! I was worried I wouldn’t be able to play in front of a stranger or with someone else at all. He made it easy and fun! All in all, I’m feeling more at home in K-Town.

andrewsutton.ca is coming along slowly. It doesn’t look like I want it to look yet but I have had zero time. I’ve done the banners, all but Ryan/Smith. I don’t think I’ll be including work samples in the banner for Ryan/Smith. I’ll just put in the logo and the dates I worked from and to since the company is still operational and it’s logo is a registered trademark. I’ve also been very aware since I designed it that the Queen’s logo in the Bookstore banner I designed is in extreme violation of it’s corporate manual’s rules and regulations. It’s rotated, cropped, faded. Wow. Ok. I’ll change it soon. I promise.

Speaking of the Bookstore, early after my last update I started to recreate some of our best-selling t-shirt designs. I’ve posted some of the videos on the blog. This was easy and fun and didn’t take up much time. I also redesigned the best-seller “My kids and my money…” t-shirt. We’ve finally discussed some harsh realities of the t-shirt printer and have come to the realization that not all designs, particularly the large logos on dark colours, are cost effective for our exceptionally low-priced secret sales. Dustin has been working to create a cost-effective arsenal of t-shirts in a variety of patterns. Honestly, our worst fear is that they look at the selection and ask, “Where are the red shirts?”. Red is surprisingly difficult to produce clean, crisp whites on. The other thing about these sales that can be humbling is the quantity of t-shirts we sell. The bookstore has moved 500-600 shirts in an hour during one of these sales. That’s awesome! Then you realize that you’re the one who has to print these t-shirts for sale. Ouch. How many was that again?! Luckily, it was established early that I was not to be doing the grunt work. Happy dance! I’m file support, which is redrawing, designing, redesigning, etc. Awesome!

Since then we’ve started to work on a flash based system where students will be able to design their own t-shirts right on the bookstore website. It’s going to be incredible! I can’t wait to start pushing contests!

I also sent out my first print job, a bookmark, to print a while back. So simple, right? When I got the first proof back from DigiGraphics, a cheap, local print shop, it was cropped off-centre. I complained to my CSR. I could deal with that as long as the finished product comes out straight. However, we needed to make some text edits so I provided new files. When they came back the second time they were not cropped straight and we were missing a transparent portion of the design. I was annoyed at the apparent lack of quality control. I moved our printing to a trusted friend in Ottawa, iBrand Printing.

Another job I needed to do was confusing so I called a meeting to discuss a simple, small sign. I mediated a very fairly heated discussion about what the sign should say. The parties involved were going back and forth before I realized that they were both talking about separate circumstances. One wanted a sign that would call the student to action when their book is not there. It would have to stress that if they did nothing, the book would not come. The other sign needed to emphasize that the book was coming and that we’re doing everything we can and they should sign up online to know when it arrives. They were very different messages so I created two signs and sent them to print.

It was mentioned in passing that we needed a handout to give to parents on move-in day. I pulled from archives the handout done in previous years. It was an absolutely terrible 1-colour brochure. So I set out to make the Bookstore a brochure they could be proud of. That’s when I realized that the bookstore is not the most attractive building. Oh well, I did what I could and pumped out a brochure that pushes all of our products as far as textbooks go; buy new, buy used, rent, or eBook. I will upload an image of that to my portfolio soon.

I am now in a mad rush to get videos formatted and on screens throughout the bookstore before move-in day. I have zero time. I’m having a blast! A very stressful blast!