An Exception to the Rules

Moto 360 Review

2014-09-13T06:50:00.001-07:00

Recently I purchased a Moto 360 watch off the Motorola website after months of hearing hype about it. Retail price for the watch with a leather band is $249.99. My initial impression of the watch was not so great, but after learning how to "properly" use it, I've come to kind of enjoy it. It pairs great with my Moto X.

The watch was released on September 5th and reached my doorsteps on September 10th. Out of the box, the watch looks beautiful with the classic round watch face and leather wristband. Everything looked really sleek. There's about 10 default watch faces that you can choose from, but I'm sure as time goes on developers will create more.

The Moto 360 charges wirelessly through a dock. I read a review where someone said the dock was chunky, but it honestly was not that bad. The dock and watch actually makes for a nice bedside clock at night. The watch does not take very long to get a full charge. Less than an hour and a half on the dock and it's good to go.

The first day I used the Moto 360, I was really disappointed with the battery life. I took the watch off of the dock at 7am and the battery had died by 4pm. Not even a full work day. I was seriously considering returning the watch. However, after some research I learned how to make the best of my battery life. The most important thing you need to know about prolonging your Moto 360's battery life is that you should not have it on ambient mode. What is ambient mode exactly? Basically the watch face is always on and just brightens/dims depending on lighting. This was what killed my battery life so quickly on day 1. On day 2, after turning off the ambient mode, my watch was able to last from 7am all the way to 11pm and still have 20% battery left. Huge difference.

While the Moto 360 has the ability to be voice activated, it's not that responsive. It doesn't hear me say "OK Google" about 50% of the time which is annoying because it makes me look like an idiot yelling at my watch. Sometimes my phone responds (from my back pocket) instead of my watch. You can activate voice commands by tapping the watch face, but I thought it'd be cooler to just talk be able to talk to my watch.

The Moto 360 responds to a lot of the same basic voice commands as my Moto X. You can ask it for the weather or how to get somewhere and the screen will display everything for you (even the turn by turn navigation). You can also ask the watch to show your steps (pedometer) or to check your pulse.

Like other Google Android devices, the watch can show you cards with relevant information. For instance, mine shows me each day how long it'll take for me to get to work. Once basketball starts again, it'll probably display score cards for me as well.

The watch is said to be waterproof although I have been to scared to test that aspect and in any case, I don't want to ruin the leather band. Motorola will have metal bands available, but they're $80 each and I'm not going to fork over anymore for this watch. The watch face itself is covered with Gorilla Glass.

A cool feature that I found this morning is the remote control camera. Now people can take selfies without having their arms show up. Basically you pull up the dedicated Google Camera app on your phone and then your watch will display a button for you to press when you're ready to take the picture. The button will set off a 3 second timer before it goes off. After the picture is taken, it'll display on the watch for you to look at.

Overall, the Moto 360 is good watch. The sleek design is fantastic and breaks the norm of rectangular smart watches. I'm excited for new apps for the watch. I just wished voice response was a lot better.

Team 7 Vlog - Episode 16 - Doritos Jacked Test Flavor #404 and Tyler Ward Comes to Dallas

2014-06-17T07:55:00.000-07:00

Team 7 Vlog - Episode 15 - Rugged Maniac

2014-03-03T21:25:00.000-08:00

Really, really late with this one. Rugged Maniac in Dallas happened in early November and I only JUST NOW decided to work on it. Oh well. Enjoy!

A Slow Rebranding of Myself

2014-02-12T13:10:00.001-08:00

Been sick the past couple of days so while I was stuck in bed at home, I decided to take this short period of free time to slowly start rebranding myself. As such, I created and ordered myself a business card (something that I've never done before), redesigned my resume, and I'm now in the process of redoing my website. It's taking me a lot longer than usual because I've decided to delve into the world of mobile website design. Before, my website appeared on mobile devices exactly as it does on a desktop only scaled down to fit the screen. That's not exactly the best thing to do so this morning I sat in bed watching tutorials on how to use fluid grid layouts in Adobe Dreamweaver and now I'm in the process of building a website that can be mobile enabled. Hopefully the end result is to my liking.

My redesigned resume, which can be seen here.

My website in Adobe Dreamweaver CS6.

My website in live mode (work in progress). You can see my current website here.

Elsa Has "Frozen" the World

2014-01-06T21:18:00.000-08:00

Definitely gotta applaud Disney's attempt to globalize. I love that they're taking their songs and having them performed by artists from countries all around the world in their own language. Here are the versions I found and they all sound beautiful. Enjoy!

Demi Lovato - Let It Go (English)

La Reine des Neiges - Libérée, Délivrée (French)

Martina Stoessel - Libre Soy (Spanish)

Dương Hoàng Yến - Let It Go (Vietnamese)

And my personal favorite...

Hyorin - Let It Go (Korean)

2013 Review

2014-01-01T10:00:00.002-08:00

So I'm taking a cue from @hungrytien and writing my own recap of 2013. I would say a lot has changed, but then again it hasn't. Let's start.

Struggle to Start My Career
As some of you know, I graduated from UTD in December of 2012. Since then, I've been on a mad search for an actual career job thing. From January to May, I basically had nothing. I mean, I had a very short lived job as a poolside server at the Gaylord Texasn Hotel but that doesn't count because it's not design related. And I guess I also had a small freelance project for Hughie's designing their logo and starting up their social media marketing. Besides that, I didn't have much going on for me.
In May, I landed an unpaid internship at MetroMedia Technologies which was a company that specialized in outdoor advertising. I thought it was cool because it was my first ever internship and I got to work on projects independently and stuff. Eventually, I got tired of it because 1) I wasn't learning anything new and 2) most of the "projects" was just copy this and slap on the MetroMedia Techonologies logo. I was basically wasting my time. So I left MetroMedia Technologies in September and continued to work at Studio Movie Grill (which I had quit in November in 2012 but picked it back up again in May to make up for the fact that my internship at MetroMedia was unpaid).
Then something happened. In August, I had gained a Twitter follower named @BlackBookInk. Curious, I looked up this Twitter follower and found that they were an advertising agency located in Dallas. I ended up asking if there were any career opportunities available for graphic designers and in October, I landed an internship at this small design agency in Deep Ellum. Again, it's unpaid, but I feel like I'm learning a lot more here than I did at MetroMedia. It kinda helps that I actually know who our clients are and that someone knows how to help me when a design issue comes up. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that by the end of my time as an intern I will be accepted as an official member of the team. If I don't get accepted, then I don't know what I'd do. Some people are saying I've been too hard on myself for not having a paying job. I'm only 22. I still have time. But I graduated a semester early to try and get a head start on my career and not being able to land a job is like failure for me. Maybe I just set my standards for myself too high.

Family Life
I'm not gonna say that I've been the best big sister this year because I haven't. Ever since I've gotten more involved in work and youth group stuff, I've spent more time with my friends than my family. Some might not say that it's a bad thing, but when your siblings start resenting you every time you go out then something's wrong.

Health
So the previous years, I've always had a goal to gain weight. In all seriousness, what I should be worried about is maintaining a healthier eating habit. Some days I only have one meal, some days I have 3. It's taking a toll on my health. And on days off, I sleep like 12 hours a day. No bueno.
On top of bad eating habits, I haven't really developed a habit of exercising regularly. I mean, sure, on some Friday mornings I go play basketball with the guys but I'm not really that good at it. I need to work on some other form of exercise. Get in shape. Maybe this year Team 7 will be able to take on Tough Mudder.

I have no idea what I'm rambling about anymore. Haha. But yeah. Goals for this year!

Maintain a better eating habit (3 meals a day, no skipping meals)
Develop an exercise routine?
Spend more time with the siblings

Dallas Museum of Art

2013-10-17T22:02:00.003-07:00

Team 7 Vlog - Episode 14 - Mavstoberfest!

2013-10-16T15:07:00.004-07:00

Print Portfolio Done?

2013-10-14T00:03:00.000-07:00

Actually, I feel like it's still a work in progress (which it is). I gotta keep adding to it and making it better, but for now this is a temporary fix.

Dallas Museum of Art: Body Beautiful

2013-09-28T23:48:00.000-07:00

Went to the Dallas Museum of Art on Thursday with Tien to go see my favorite type of art: Greek/Roman art! The exhibit is open until October 6th, so if you haven't gone, then you should!

Current Project: A Hardcopy of My Portfolio

2013-09-23T18:24:00.002-07:00

So I've been trying to come up with a good design for a print portfolio. Up until this point, I've just been using an album-like portfolio to put print copies of my design in. Now I figured that designing an actual portfolio would be a better investment because it'll showcase my ability to design print materials and it's more personalized to fit my style. An album is just so lifeless. So without further ado, here is my work in progress. The only concern I have at this point is if it doesn't print out correctly, so fingers crossed that won't be too big of a problem.

Harwood District Festival

2013-09-14T23:31:00.002-07:00

Sprinkles Ice Cream

2013-09-11T11:34:00.000-07:00

Missing Piece

2013-09-04T00:37:00.002-07:00

It's been about 9 months since I've graduated and I'm still stuck in the same rut that I've always been. Not that working at Studio Movie Grill is bad (that's a terrible lie). It's just that I don't feel like I'm making any progress towards my career goal. I don't want to be stuck as a waitress forever, but that's what I have to do right now in order to have money in the bank.

To make things a little bit worse, I decided to sever my time at the internship I was at. Interning at the company I was at seemed like a waste of time because 1) I wasn't making any money, and 2) the projects were so simple that my skills seemed wasted. What do I mean by simple projects? I mean doing projects like making brochures using a company-made template, making videos using other company's content and then slapping on a logo at the end, and imitating other company's materials and slapping the company logo on that. Not only is there no challenge in that, but it's also immoral. On top of that, I was working independently and not really learning anything new from anyone.

It's just frustrating to think that I might not be good enough to do any better than I am now. I'm looking at my portfolio at this point and wondering what I'm doing wrong. Am I missing something that employers are looking for or am I just not able to compete with everyone else in this industry? I'm thinking its the latter. Maybe I'm not as good as I think I am. And this is where my self-esteem falls further because graphic design is the only thing I know, and if I'm not good enough to do that then I'm good for nothing. That's depressing.

Team 7 Vlog - Episode 13 - Sleepover!

2013-07-10T17:43:00.001-07:00

Late editing and posting. This happened weeks and weeks ago...

Mark Cuban's Crowdsourcing for a New Jersey Design

2013-05-15T12:49:00.001-07:00

Recently, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban posted on his blog a sort of challenge to help redesign the team's jersey. What's the reward? We're not even sure yet. All that Cuban guarantees in his blog post is bragging rights and he "may even throw in some tickets." Who will own the design? The Mavs as soon as you post it on the website.

Many critics are questioning the morality of such an act. You do all that work and you're not even guaranteed a reward and you lose your rights to your work. But this is actually a very smart move on Cuban's part. Why spend so much money to hire a designer to make your jersey when you can have someone do it for free? Sometimes even the public's work can be better than a designer's. No wonder why Cuban is so rich.

For those who aren't really business savvy, there's a term for what Cuban is doing. It's called crowdsourcing. He's using the cheap human capital that he has to try and get new ideas/concepts for his company. It's not an uncommon thing for businesses to do. Doritos has done it before by holding contests to help create their Super Bowl ads and look at how that's worked for them. The crowd responded with some really creative, low-budget commercials.

As to whether or not I will choose to participate in Mark Cuban's little game, I'm not sure yet. For those who are interested, the deadline to submit a jersey design is May 31st. You can read more here:

http://blogmaverick.com/2013/05/13/help-the-mavs-design-our-next-uniform/

Integrity and Company Values (More Like Me Venting a Month of Frustration)

2013-05-10T20:21:00.000-07:00

So the past month I've been working hard at my poolside waitress job while trying to look for a full-time job. Something I've learned: it's hard to find a company that has integrity or upholds the company values that they claim they have.

I feel like a lot of the companies that I've been interviewing with the past month somewhat lack integrity. They falsely advertise the types of job positions they are looking to fill. I look for a marketing job and I end up at interviews for sales jobs. I understand that marketing itself is a kind of sales position, but this is the very questionable stuff. Like, I had 3 interviews for places where they are selling "$475 worth" of Texas Rangers tickets for $40. Clearly a sales position even though all of them touted a "marketing assistant" position.

Then there's the job that I'm at right now. The company claims to put their employees first, but so far I'm having trouble believing it. I asked for an early shift tomorrow so that I can get out in time to attend a mass for the one year anniversary for grandma's passing. They scheduled me for 2pm which roughly translates as I won't be done until 8. I also asked for Wednesday and Thursday off, but I was still scheduled for both days but I have Monday and Friday off. I texted my shift manager about it and then the pool manager personally called me to tell me that I was wrong for that. I admit that the way I went about it was wrong, but it would not have been a problem if they had even remembered that I had asked off. On top of that, they only sent out the schedule 2 hours ago and this is the schedule that starts tomorrow. They always send out new schedules at the last minute. If they sent out the schedule at least half a week in advance, there would be more time to sort out these problems. So in the attempt to make it so that I have those requested days off, they revised the schedule so that I would only be working for one day this week. It was supposed to be Tuesday, but lo and behold, they scheduled me to work on Thursday. Now I'm in a frantic scramble to try and switch with my coworkers instead of going through the management team again. It's not like this is the first time they scheduled me on a day that I requested off.

Don't even get me started about my paycheck. Over the past 4 weeks, I found that I'm missing over $200 total. Employees first, indeed. I just can't seem to catch a break with these waitressing jobs.

Anyways, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a job opportunity that Azim referred me to. I'm not to optimistic about my chances, though, since I managed to bomb my phone interview yesterday. I just really want to dig myself out of this ditch.

I'm Okay Here, But It's Not Where I Want to Be

2013-04-16T13:19:00.000-07:00

So this past week I've been sick with a cold/cough. Last Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I was pretty miserable, but I'm okay now. Still a little cough here and there. Nothing unmanageable. I also started my job as a server at the Gaylord Texan. During the weekdays I'm working the outdoor pool and Saturdays I work at the mini waterpark on property called Paradise Springs. So far, it's been okay. It hasn't been super duper crowded so my hours aren't ridiculous unlike at Studio Movie Grill. Apparently that changes as soon as Memorial Day hits.

Right now, I'm content with where I am. I mean, being a server isn't exactly what I had in mind when I graduated early. But then again, it's better than sitting around the house doing nothing like I have the past 3 months. I just wished I had a real job right now. Not a job based on wage, but based on salary. I want a bit of stability in my life. Many people wonder why I'm in such a hurry to grow up. I mean, I graduated early cuz I wanted a head start in life. Maybe it's just me, but I've already got my whole future planned and a road map on how to get there. I like sticking to Plan A. There is no real Plan B. So far, I've been following nothing but Plan B, C, D, E. I can apply for full-time jobs all I want, but I never get a call back. I'm getting restless waiting for my life to begin. I want to be able to save up some real money for my future. I want to be ready to pay for a wedding and a house and a honeymoon in Rome. Sounds ridiculous since I'm only 22, but I'm ready to have a family. I see little babies and all I can think of is when I'm going to have a chance to raise a kid. I mean, I adore kids. Weird, right? At 22, I should be living it up and partying like the rest of my coworkers.

Oh. That's another thing. I didn't think it was that rare for 22-year-olds to have graduated from a 4-year college. Apparently, my coworkers are really surprised that I already graduated college. When I said I graduated in December, they thought I meant high school. No one believes I'm 22. I barely pass as an 18-year-old. But anyways, I talked to a few of my coworkers. Only 1 has graduated from college and she's also about to graduate with her Master's. Everyone else stopped going to school. One guy is just busy living life and the other's are just working. I shouldn't feel sad that they didn't go on to higher education, but I sort of do. I dunno. I'm weird. I shouldn't worry cuz it's their life and their choice whether or not to continue their education.

Anyways, working at the Gaylord Texan apparently opens up a lot of opportunities especially since the company is now partnered with Marriott. I could stay as a server and work my way up to graphic designer. But, looking at the graphic design work in the hotel now, they have a specific image to uphold. Everything is very conservative. Then again, the Gaylord Texan's audience is mostly business people. I can't have my creative wings tied down like that. That being the case, I'm going to have to fly the Gaylord Texan nest one day. I hope that day comes soon.

I feel like I'm rambling. I'll stop.

New Portfolio!

2013-04-04T11:16:00.001-07:00

So I finally decided to make a very important investment and purchased a legit domain. No more of the co.nr mess. I paid like $38 for a whole year of web hosting and got the domain for free at GoDaddy.com. Not too bad. Now you can Google my name and actually find my website on the first page (along with my Twitter and Facebook). It's alyssanguyen.com. Just so you know.

The whole redesigning of my portfolio took 3 days. This is what my old portfolio looked like:

Now it looks like this:

In case you're curious, my new design was inspired by the Nike Lebron X shoes in the "Canary" color. Looks like this:

Yeah. I know some people don't like those shoes, but if I had money then I wouldn't mind getting those. They would be considerably heavier than my current shoes, the Adidas Crazy Shadows, though.

For those who don't know, I make my websites purely from HTML. It's what I'm most familiar with. So while it looks like what you see about now, for days it looked like this to me:

So much fun. I think my next investment now is to make myself some business cards. Or at least that's what my social media marketing professor is suggesting. Fingers crossed that my investments pay off and I can get a full time job. For now, I guess I'll just be a server at the Gaylord Texan Hotel. Oh yeah. I guess I forgot to mention that. I have a part-time job now! It's a seasonal job at the Gaylord Texan's Paradise Springs. It's basically like a Hawaiian Falls except for high class people. Let's hope this job gets me some good tips, unlike at freaking Studio Movie Grill.

Team 7 Vlog - Episode 12 - Orlando 2013: Home, First Time Eating a Warhead

2013-03-26T17:00:00.000-07:00

Team 7 Vlog - Episode 11 - Orlando 2013: Jackson, Mississippi

2013-03-25T17:00:00.000-07:00

Team 7 Vlog - Episode 10 - Orlando 2013: EPCOT, Universal Studios CityWalk

2013-03-24T16:32:00.000-07:00

Team 7 Vlog - Episode 9 - Orlando 2013: Disney's Magic Kingdom

2013-03-22T15:33:00.000-07:00

Team 7 Vlog - Episode 8 - Orlando 2013: Disney's Hollywood Studios

2013-03-21T20:36:00.000-07:00

Team 7 Vlog - Episode 7 - Orlando 2013: Downtown Disney, Disney's Boardwalk

2013-03-20T18:58:00.000-07:00