Studio Rhoad Blog

In 2005 I worked for a company out of Atlanta which did an enormous amount of work in Microsoft Visio. I enjoyed it at first. Its ability to print large format graphs and charts and its ease of use made a good universal tool. But I ultimately grew to hate it. You know how it when you use and do the same thing over and over again. Plus compared to the software I was accustomed to using (ie Photoshop, Indesign, Illustrator, etc), Visio was nothing short of lame. However, now the company Im working for does most of their projects in PowerPoint!! Ugh! And yes, its terrible. When you think of PowerPoint you think of presentations on a projector, right? Wrong. I can count on one hand how many times they use PowerPoint for projector presentations. So, another words, PP is more of an elaborate Microsoft Word.

Reaching my wits end, I told them about Visio and its features. One month later, bam, here it is. One copy for me and the second copy for a co-worker. I knew what I was getting myself into by making this recommendation per my previous experience, but at this point (no pun intended) I’ll do anything to get away from PowerPoint.

So let the large format, anti PowerPoint, graph and chart building chaos begin!

The past two weeks have been VERY exciting for the Studio Rhoad team. Our work load has almost doubled and it doesn’t seem to be letting up any time soon which is certainly a good thing. However, Im not content with that So two weeks ago, in an effort to expand the Studio Rhoad brand further, Amanda and I purchased a drift/race car. You are probably thinking, “why the hell is a graphic design company getting into racing?” Well, we are both very involved in the automotive world and because of that, most of our work spawns from the automotive and racing connections we have. By purchasing and campaigning through racing we are able to combine our two passions; racing and thrash metal design. Ideally, we will do enough promoting by attending events around the southeast that the additional work/income will not only support our racing adventures, but supply extra income as well.

This coming Sunday (April 13th, 2008) will be attending the first event since the new purchase at the Myrtle Beach Speedway in Myrtle Beach, SC. I believe there is a competition at the day, but our main focus for the event to shake the car down and make any adjustments to improve it. So we invite you to watch us live. We will be broadcasting a live video feed from the event so be sure to check it out [HERE]. If all goes well, we’ll have the camera setup inside the car for some pretty exciting in-car action!

Wish us luck.

For those of you who have tried to comment on this blog, but was unable to, I apologize. Through some trial and error,  the problem has fixed and order has been restored to the universe. You may now comment until your hearts’ content.

We’ve been in our new place for several months now and since its starting to look like an actual office, I thought I would give you guys a quick tour.

Chris’ desk. The view sucks If we ever move to a bigger place, Im going to make sure our desks are closer to a window.

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I wish I knew about this video when I wrote my Twitter review. It really explains the use of Twitter in a way that anyone can understand and comprehend. Take a look at the video below. You can follow me on Twitter <here>.

Amanda broadcasting while driving home from her parents' house

After a fluke billing fiasco with Verizon, Amanda and I are now able to broadcast/lifecast from anywhere. What does this mean you ask? Before going mobile, Amanda and could/would only broadcast while at home or at a location with an accessible high speed internet connection. Thus, we weren’t able to broadcast while on the road traveling, which we do a lot of, or while Amanda was at her parents’ house in Virginia.

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Adobe Magazine, the company’s quarterly design and technology mag, is available for download. The new issue features Photoshop being used for concept art, architectural illustration, and scientific imaging.

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By now you have heard the news about Microsoft wanting to purchase Yahoo! and the negative reactions that came with it. Well that didn’t stop Yahoo! from pumping out their new project Yahoo! Live.

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Well here is yet another reason for me to love the blogging world. A fellow lifecaster and entrepreneur, Bob Buskirk recently returned from CES and brought home a bunch of goodies with him. Rather than keeping them all for himself, he has decided to launch a small giveaway where you (and I) can win some great stuff.
*More Info After The Jump*

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