Sink or Swim

I’ve always struggled with Drupal which makes me turn down projects that has to do with it. It’s more of a lack of experience than skills, I believe. I know that one or two designers out there are like me so let me share this great find to help people get started with one of the most popular CMS tools.

First, these two great sites use Drupal so that should say a lot.

By the end of this guide, you will:
Learn the benefits and disadvantages of using Drupal
Install Drupal
Understand the Drupal back-end
Learn about Drupal modules
Explore the Administer page
Create and publish content
Create custom content types with the Content Construction Kit
Create Views
Create Page view displays
Create Block view displays
Learn about Drupal themes

Pros of Using Drupal

Open source: Yes, Drupal is open source. This means you get all the benefits of using an open platform.

Highly customizable: The main power of Drupal lies in its flexible nature. You can mould it into any type of content-centered/user-generated site: from a social media site that allows users to submit and vote on content, a forum, a job board, to an image gallery or a service for deploying portfolio sites for designers — Drupal can get it done (with a little bit of work on your behalf, of course).

Cons of Using Drupal

Big learning curve: Yes, it’s a fact that Drupal is a bit harder to grok than other content management systems out there. I will not suggest you use Drupal if you want a website done in a week the first time you use it. It may take you some months to really understand Drupal, and as much as a month to be able to deploy a fully custom site the first time around. However, I should also note that you can deploy a basic site in less than a day’s worth of work (and that’s what we will be doing in this guide).

Complex for non-developers: Since developers’ needs are prioritized with Drupal, for those that aren’t very familiar with computing technologies, Drupal might take a while to get used to. This means that professionals that only dabble in web development might not find it easy to develop (or even administer) Drupal sites.

Complex user interface: Drupal’s admin interface is a bit difficult to understand; it’s not as user-friendly as it should be. (That’s going to change soon, though.)

Read the full article here.

More work means more money. Which is why I shouldn’t be complaining now that my workload is up to HERE. Yet my husband’s words kept coming back to me now that I lack of sleep and rest for the past two weeks. Extra money won’t do me any good if I’ll just spend it paying hospital bills. I know I’m close to getting sick now, what with taking care of the baby and working at the same time. So I’m making a compromise to myself and promised that I will just finish all the urgent stuff this week. There’s the design for the personalized soccer balls for my client, a new author blog that should be live by Thursday next week and the kids’ camp brochure that needs to be printed before Saturday. Those three are the most important tasks right now while the others can totally wait.

… can definitely make or break your career. No matter how amazing you are as a designer, if you can’t even attend a single conference call, upload your excellent work or update a client’s blog or page using CMS, then you’re no good for the company. I just wish my boss won’t see it that way and understand that it all has to do with the recent storm.

To make matters worse, I just got back from my maternity leave last Monday. It’s been four days and now and I’m nowhere near to finishing my deliverable. I hope tomorrow will be different. My boss and coworkers understand but for how long?

I better start designing promotional products if I want to join tonight’s dinner with friends. This has been in the back burner for so long I wasn’t even sure if I can get to it before I give birth. On another note, I just finished wrapping up a huge project so I can now breathe easily and continue with the waiting game. The promo products are my last project so I’m feeling confident that I’m not going to leave any client or project hanging once I start my maternity leave. It’s a good thing that we have two other designers in the team now. I always feel like the company will fold without me (although it probably won’t) but with people I can pass work with, I’m sure we’ll all be fine!

Bid on web design projects. I just have so many backlogs I can’t afford to take a break during weekends. It’s a good thing I know but I want to double my monthly quota so I’m really torn. I don’t want to miss any good projects out there.

Research / compile articles about pulse oximeters. Again,I simply have no time to do this for my brother-in-law so he’ll just have to do this himself.

Hit the treadmill. I’m so huge now that I’m on my last trimester so this is something that I must do. Yet my body and mind will not cooperate, not when work is calling.

Talk to our real estate agent. Not in the mood to discuss properties and payables at this time of the day.

Stay in front of the computer for 8 hours. I really wish I could start my vacation early. The reason I’m blogging now is just to distract myself and hopefully get some inspiration so I can start designing.

It’s really a happy month for me personally. We just celebrated my father’s 56th birthday and my mother-in-law’s 61st birthday and it was good to see the family together again. We rarely have the time to go out of town or have dinner except for occasions such as these. The kids were all as excited as the adults to celebrate which made me realize that we need to spend more time with our relatives. Now that the 2nd baby’s arrival is just a couple of weeks from now, we’ll have to do what we can to get out of the house and enjoy our freedom!

Aside from that, things at work are equally great. Design projects are arriving left and right that I find myself eating for only 15 minutes and not taking afternoon naps anymore. It’s still not as busy as before wherein I have to pass off some of the projects to other designers. I guess I’m very efficient and fast now because I know I won’t have as much time when I give birth. I was also like this on my firstborn. I remember finishing three web sites a week and on my final week, even managed to record 5 tutorial videos for a client. I gave birth that night without any backlogs at work. Amazing huh? I hope it will be like that as well this time. The money is a great bonus too. I’m not sure if I can work immediately so I’m saving up as much as I can just in case I need to take off more than a few weeks longer.

Early conference calls at work are now taking its toll on me. I should be happy that they prefer to hold it in my mornings instead of my night when it’s actually morning on my boss’ side of the world. The problem now is that my mind is still too blurry to understand any of the preliminary emails before the meeting that I almost always space out. This morning in fact, I wasn’t sure I’m going to wake up if only not for the ringing of the doorbell downstairs. While I was at it, I got my only cup of coffee allowed for the day and headed upstairs to get ready. Anyway, I need to manage my time if I want to stay with my new work. My plan for the next few days will be:

1. Wake up at 8AM, do some stretching and check emails
2. 15 minutes before the conference call, I should have all my reports ready.
3. 9AM-11AM (not always) conference call.
4. Start working as soon as conference call is done.
5. Lunch at 12:30PM
6. Work at 1PM until 6:30PM
7. Spend time with the family and should have the lights off by 10PM.

This way, I can get decent sleep (IF my daughter will sleep before me) and have the strength to wake up early the next day. To be fair, this schedule will most likely work if only I’m not almost 8 months pregnant and being kicked inside my tummy every 30 minutes.

The hot weather is killing me. Literally. Not only that, my laptop is suffering and that was even after we bought a new and supposed to be powerful cooler. I can’t turn on our air-conditioning unit for hours anymore because of the price increase on electric bills. I’m thinking of having a ceiling fan installed just as a back up for our electric fan and aircon. OR, I could just go ahead and work in the downstairs office where it’s much cooler. The thing is, now that I’m pregnant, going up from time to time to use the bathroom will be too tasking for me. So I’ll consider this as my last resort. I’ll need to ask my husband how long it will take to have a fan installed. If we have time, perhaps we can have one up over the weekend. I’m really hoping this will solve the heat problem because I don’t think I can work in this condition anymore.

Designing for an industrial equipment has never been my strength. I may have a few decent ones but never for showcase. So when I made a bid today for a re-design on the same industry, I was surprised that my bid was chosen. To think that I gave them my not-so-affordable rate. Which is why I’m feeling pretty happy and maybe a little bit smug this morning. I guess they saw my portfolio and the way I code so they’re willing to give me a try.

Anyway, just checked my incoming logs for this month and I was shocked to see that I’ve doubled my sideline earnings in the past three weeks. I worked as hard as the last few months in finding clients and doing quality work so I wonder what’s new this time. Maybe the little one’s luck is rubbing on me once again.

I read about this cosmetology school in Illinois and instantly remembered my friend from Chicago. She got tired from working in the IT department and wanted to pursue a career in beauty. Lots of her relatives and other well-meaning friends told her the money isn’t good because of te lack of opportunity so normally, she’s been disheartened ever since. After reading through Regency Beauty Institute today though, I couldn’t wait to share it with her. With their powerful training system, expert faculty and upscale facilities, the students can be as creative as they want and later on fulfill their dreams. Even more better are their SalonPartners network that helps new graduates find their dream job. They have partners all around the beauty industry who are always willing to hire new faces and talents. Not only will they teach you everything that you need, but they can also serve as your stepping stone towards the career of your dreams.

Happy to announce that I just snagged a very nice-paying gig for a website re-design. I guess all my lucky charms from last Chinese New Year are working! My goals, money-wise are almost within reach so I’m very satisfied.

Wish I could say the same for my husband, though. He’s now close to trying a weight loss product that we saw on TV after his failed attempt at dieting and exercise. I told him to give the treadmill one more shot and if he’s still too tired to run, then he can try anything as long as he has spent a lot of time researching about it.

Now if I could just force myself to be creative and get started with a few mockups.

I heard my neighbor discussing about septic tank cleaner with her friend via phone and all I can think about is how suburban and domesticated I’ve become. Mind you, I still have a helper to cook and clean the house but gone are the days when conversations range from music, art, foreign films and travel. Lately, it has been renovating, lot hunting, recipes, baby-proofing and finding the right preschool. I am not complaining however. Life just gets better each day and I’m glad that I’m earning enough money without leaving the house. Thank God for those who made telecommuting a trend.

I love extra cash as much as the next guy. But if there’s one thing that I’d rather not do, it’s optimizing before and after photos for cosmetic web sites. The blackhead treatment photos are not so bad but if they are not zoomed in. But dental cosmetics are on a whole new different level. I’m not overreacting but there’s this one project when I did nothing but re-size the images and I didn’t have much appetite afterwards. What more if I have to edit them as well, which would require me to zoom in until the reddish gums, broken teeth are too big for me to think of anything at all. The after photos are fine and I love how the dentists really make a difference with their smiles. I’m thinking looking at the close up photos would be fine as long as I can get a new smile as a payment.

Just got off the phone with a client. I need to design about ten photo cards and then find a printing company that can print up to 1000pcs for each design and have it delivered in two days. Not so bad if only the two-day schedule didn’t include the conceptualization. I know I’m awesome but I’m not a miracle worker. Good thing he said try because I am 100% positive that what he wants is impossible. The shipping time alone would take 2 business days based on the printing companies I’ve worked with so far.

Finding jobs in the midst of economic crisis is not as hard as you think. You just need to evaluate your skills and expected salary to see if you can lower it and still live comfortably. After all, having a job with a salary less than what you’re used to is way better than not having any income at all. Still, most companies will still meet your needs if your skills are unusual. Let’s say you are part of the 10% of professionals who can program a certain language, then your odds are high that you’ll get a job immediately. Whereas if you’re sharing the spot with thousands of employees who can do the same thing yet willing to accept salary lower than yours, then it’s time to re-assess your career plans.