the blog

I tried an experiment

jamacdonald — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 02:26:21 +0000

So I tried an experiment and kept all of my information that I posted on the Internet contained in Twitter, I now know that twitter is a great catch all for everything, but a more slimmed down and concise spot is needed for keeping all of my ideas together.
So I’m back to the blog and it’s found it’s new home on my awesome flavors.me page. Still working out the best way to show all of this, every step closer is better.
Check out flavors.me/directory for some awesome inspiration.
-Later

Chicago Visit Pt. 3

jamacdonald — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 04:10:13 +0000

An amazing wedding. So beautiful. I could not be happier for my sister. Congratulations to them both. Good luck and I wish them the best in their future.

Chicago Visit Pt. 2

jamacdonald — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 04:19:50 +0000

The weather was beautiful today in Chicago! I talked about Burnham early today in my blog post, and by coincidence Chicago will be celebrating 100 years of it’s central plan soon, http://bit.ly/4G4lqs

Part of the awesome exhibit that is going on in Millennium Park is the these pavilions that were created near the park. I took this a neat photo from inside the pavilion.

I’m in Chicago Pt.1

jamacdonald — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:58:06 +0000

So I’m in Chicago for my Sisters wedding. It’s so awesome being able to see all of my family at such a happy occasion. I love the City of Chicago.

Last night I had tapas for the first time, I am a big fan.
The reason I love Chicago is partly because of it’s awesome urban planning. It’s basically the birth place of modern urban planning, during the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition oversaw the construction of the “White City.” A small scale avenue of buildings built mostly from papier-mache and included things like grand boulevards, classical building facades, and lush gardens. During the expo many saw the benefits of a centrally planned city and a decade later Daniel Burnham started work on “The Plan of Chicago” using the principles from the “White City” and the City Beautiful movement that was taking shape during the beginning of the 1900′s. A great example for reference of what planners of this movement were aiming for is the The Mall, in Washington D.C. All in all I love Chicago, it’s public transit, and it’s architecture.
Just a little history to start your weekend, enjoy.

Waiting for my flight

jamacdonald — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:13:21 +0000

Just another test of using flickr to post photos to twitter and wordpress. Also I already miss richmond. Sometimes travel isn’t so fun, the trip is, but the travel part not so much. Why does my stomach always hurt on trips. But Chicago is amazing, and I’m excited to see my family soon.

P.S. the new flic.kr support for twitter is pretty awesome.
On my way to Chicago in a little more than an hour yeppie for me.

Still working on the site

jamacdonald — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 01:57:02 +0000

Just wanted to let everyone know I’m still working on the website. Sorry for the silence. Expect big posts in the coming weeks and big visual improvments.

Design for Good

jamacdonald — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:17:32 +0000

Recently I’ve been paying attention to design that does good for the world. I worked recently on a competition submission for the Good 50×70 competition. Also I’ve talked recently about how at VCU we have a team of people working at the da Vinci Center on a $500 operating table, dubbed “operation simple.” So I’ve been really intrested in all of this designing for Good. Recently i’ve stumbled across the blog Changed by Design which tracks all of these industrial design projects that work to promote a better world. So here are some examples showcasing this philosphy.

I Need More Time In A Day

jamacdonald — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:24:08 +0000

If you know me then you know I have trouble with time managment. One of the ways I try to counter act my issue is by finding short cuts in my everyday life. One that I’ve had for a long time is the Japanese t-shirt folding trick.

But today I stumbled on this video on Gizmodo about the 5 minute Japanese morning routine. Now most of the tips weren’t very useful to me but I did love the Japanese Tie technique. It’s too cool. Learned how to do it quickly and now I’m using it. Check it out at about 6:23 into the clip.

So True, I can’t wait till June+July

jamacdonald — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:16:23 +0000

APRIL – NEW MATH by Craig Damrauer.

Spring & good intentions by Jessica Hagy.

Ultimate Offsite Storage

jamacdonald — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 14:03:30 +0000

I saw this photo is a presentation by Sun Microsystems about their modular storage systems. I really like the idea of this portable shipping containers that can carry a whole bunch of data. This photo is awesome, offsite storage taken to the max.