Still intact.
Posted by: kreativefocus on: November 11, 2008
This is my final entry for a while, as tomorrow im under the knife. I have asked whether the op can be photographed so i can show people what goes on with a kidney transplant. might seem a bit odd, but it might be useful to people who I going to have a transplant down the line.
Im not feeling to bad right now, but as soon as i wak through those hospital doors im sure it will hit me.
Thanks to all the people who have got me here and a special thanks to the Farnham Dialysis unit who are a great bunch of people.
Should we ignore our better knowledge?
Posted by: kreativefocus on: October 26, 2008
In my office im the only one with design experience and knowledge! But how come im always wrong when it comes to design? I dont go to the accountants and tell them they added that up wrong so i dont expect them to say similar things to me.
I find that most people dont have an idea of what is technically possible today, in my opinion anything is possible theres always a way to make it work, i love experimenting and putting something completely different which could possibly win design awards even though it might be just a business card.
Alot of the time i seem to have to dull down my ideas and back track to get to where the clients are comfortable with it. I always find myself saying to myself
‘Well, they are the people who pay our bills.’
I always remember reading somewhere
Our clients can do what they want with our
guidance, and as a result they can choose to ignore it, and demand we
go against our better judgement.
We like to call ourselves artists but actually we are just slaves or mercanaries, we get paid to do something the clients want. we all find ourselves bitting the bullet on some projects we finish them the best we can to suit the client and move on to the next project…
Your best is never seen…
Posted by: kreativefocus on: October 26, 2008
Just a small post, say you put 5 concepts together, i can guarantee that your client will pick the one you think is the weakest out of your 5. Clients seemed scared to dare what they can get away with in the market…
sometimes it comes down to them not actually knowing what is possible in to days world where people associate symbols with companies.
my point is you design 5 concepts 4 of them will never be seen by the public, only your client will ever set eyes on them. think what other concepts lynx had up there sleeves for their products when they finally settled with this one
purelywebstores.co.uk is live
Posted by: kreativefocus on: October 18, 2008
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Praesent accumsan erat sit amet dolor. Quisque porttitor tortor. Maecenas velit. Phasellus ultrices aliquet ante…. dont worry your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you im just getting you ready for when you look at this site!
I had a bit of fun making this site. Its the main purely brand which is bringing you Purely GPS, Purely Software, Purely Apple and more to come…
My brief being “you have free reign” so i put together something that is in fashion now. Everyone who saw it thought it looked great. I have been learning javascript so i thought put some js into this project which included fading out images and text. Also used CSS rollover to add a bit more interaction.
It was good to be able to do something in my style, designers arent always that lucky.
also another logo was needed so i made that as well, its based on the colors we are going to use for the coming websites, eg purely GPS is green and you see a green block in the logo, not quite sure what i will do when there are like 10 companies!
purelywebstores.co.uk – please note this is what a site looks like when the boss doesn’t give the designer content but wants a site done anyway!
Quite a nice 3 page site
a1gifts.co.uk is live
Posted by: kreativefocus on: October 18, 2008
After alot of work the very popular gifts site has a new look. A very strong brand of orange an blue (almost like play.com) has been reworked into a much cleaner and clearer look.
with a very specific brief and a few of my touches I have turned a table based site into a full css site, help from CSS play with the top menu (Thanks very much) I really wanted to change the orange and blue to orange and a dark grey but they wernt having any of it, very strict in the brief. Also notice the new logo design.
a1 gifts new and old
Ive got a date!
Posted by: kreativefocus on: October 16, 2008
You may think this is a traditional date go for a meal etc, no. Im talking about a date to be cut open…..!
Its quite scary when you meet the guy thats going to cut you open and it be legal!
I have a date for my kidney transplant. My dad is donating his kidney, Thanks dad. We were originally told that we might be able to get a date in december becasue of a cancelation, so i was expecting jan or feb to be the earliest. Errr nah.
12th of NOVEMBER!!!
So that means I have 4 weeks left on dialysis and work and then i will be into hospital on the monday, then cut open on wednesday! then if all well out by sunday.
I am looking forward to it but also worried, not about me but my dad, the risk hes going through to give me my life back, if anything happens to him i dont no how i will cope, esp if he ends up on dialysis for some reason! People can explain what dialysis is to you but you will never know what it is unless you have done it yourself.
Well hopefully that wont happen and we will both be fit and healthy after it all. this also means i wont have to be in hospital for dialysis on christmas day!! whoop!
Purely GPS is live!
Posted by: kreativefocus on: October 15, 2008
At my Place of work Blue Solutions ltd. we have launched a side company called purelywebstores. We have just rolled out our first site called purelygps.co.uk.
Since i had started at the company i had mainly been the graphic designer so print adverts, emails etc, but now I have a chance to learn new things by using the web. I picked up CSS about 6months ago now and been using it alot. I have progress quite well and keep making resources for myself on my memory stick and always take it with me. but this was the 1st real project other then www.kreativefocus.co.uk to work on and customize the ASPDOtNETSTOREFRONT template. I made it look pretty, Phil added the content! 200+ products and Mr T (ali) made it fuction properly. 3 guys + a few months = purely GPS
Now the site is live!!! hopefully we will sell loads and fingers crossed a bonus will come my way.
take a look at the site.
<a href=”http://www.purelygps.co.uk”>Visit Purely GPS</a>
My dialysis routine
Posted by: kreativefocus on: October 15, 2008
I should really be cherishing my time I have, but when your on dialysis all you want to do if get off the machine. But i have found a few ways to kill the time, sensibly and practically.
Once hooked to my 5foot friend i start with…
- little sleep – this took a while to master with all the goings on of the ward by having my ipod plugged in and my chair back this usually kills 45-60mins. 2.30 left
- Listen to an album while playing games on my ipod 1.45 left
- Open my CSS or javascript book and try and understand it. 45 left
- then bust out the laptop, so i can practice some of my new skills DONE
then drive home eat food go to bed, then up nice n early for work!
dialysis for 4 months.
Posted by: kreativefocus on: October 15, 2008
If you dont know, this is what a dialysis machine looks like- quite a serious bit of kit!
Last 4 months have been very hard, was put on dialysis at the begining of june an still on it. Im still on tablets and will be for the rest of my life. I have to tubes in my chest. http://statcrux.co.uk/renal/imstaff/line.jpg I have tried to keep my life as normal as possible. Im still working I still take part in practices for hockey (and sad to say im still alot fitter then most of them).
The worst thing about it all is people think you fine, as they dont see what your going through, waking up and seeing tubes sticking out your chest and the whole fact that the only reason your alive is thanks to a machine! It sucks to think if i miss a week of dialysis i die. People expect me to be in pain, which im not, but i have other side effects like tiredness due to my anemia, dehydrated due to 500ml of fluid intake per day etc,
There only a handful of people that seem to understand that, few people from work- they think im fine, and make jokes saying kidney boy, take a lemsip etc etc. Does make you think why bother, I could sit at home and claim benefits like the rest of the people on dialysis, and screw alot of people over. but i dont want to, i want to live my life the normal way possible.
GBHIS 08/09
Posted by: kreativefocus on: September 28, 2008
With alot of training for the Arrows snr team and a few new faces to add also with the position 
changes, the new 08/09 season has started. One of the most noticable changes has to be having our previous Netminder moving into a Position of Line 1 D! Im glad to see that hes still playing and didnt quit altogether would have been a major loss to the team, also welcoming Janne who will make a huge difference in our offence. But to go with the good there a few down sides, we lost 2 of our major dmen, one being gary 
and the other being me to this shitty condition i have.
After having a 3-0 lead in our first game we lost 5-3! not good.what can you say?! can only get better right. Today we got in our stride and managed to get a few good goals and the final score was 5-5. So next surely must be a win!
