Anyway, here are some stationery-type things I added today:

If you’re feeling kind, I sure would appreciate it if you’d like my photography and design biz over on Facebook. Lord knows you can’t be legitimate these days without a bunch of digital thumbs up in your corner.

So my pal Ed and I sat down and had a little chat about the social web and what a sticky wicket it is, and we recorded that conversation for posterity and for a time capsule element I will one day beam into my children’s head pods’ humor modules. My one regret is that I was having such a mouth-stuffing love affair with my honey-slathered bagel that I didn’t make some of the points I should have. Good food gives me temporary amnesia, so what? But honestly, if you read this post, you get the gist of where I’m going with my thoughts anyway.

The point is that the social web has such amazing potential for connections that never before could have existed. But I am scared about where we are headed because companies looking to get in on a good thing are hell bent on fucking it all up. The image I keep getting in my head is of an over-eager chihuahua frantically humping a human leg. You are the leg, these companies seeking to infiltrate and control are the chihuahua. They want your attention, they want you to like them, they want your thumbs ups, they want you to opt into the game, but on the flipside, they want you to play by their rules and conduct yourself 24 hours a day as if you are a roaming ambassador for them. What you do is what the company is. Your living out loud on the web means you are subject to constant scrutiny and potential regulation by your employer. Doesn’t that scare you? It surely scares me, and I have a fairly boring life and a fairly lenient employer.

Anyway, listen to the conversation if that’s your bag, and then check back. I was Ed’s guinea pig, so I’m super excited to see where he takes his project once he starts sitting down with the really interesting people he knows.

I finally figured out what to use it for.

Phone photodump!

You know, if you are into that sort of thing.

Those knuckleheads at Flyer put me on the awesome 20 Under 30 list this year! I am very flattered to be included with such an awesome group of locals. I’m also incredibly ashamed of my lack of superhero trampoline jumping skills. Look at the air some of these kids got! Zach cheated and wore his space booster shoes, I’m almost positive. And can you believe that a full 10 percent of this list graduated in 2000 from my alma mater, Hardin County High School? Yay Amanda!

Special thanks to typewriting knucklehead Richard Alley and shutterbugging knucklehead Justin Fox Burks !

[Project 365]

It snowed the day after Christmas. I found some virgin snow at the parents’ house. The rest is self-explanatory.

The amazing thing here is how there’s not a single dog paw print anywhere near this piece o’ work. THAT is talent, my friends. Whose? Not sure.

My apologies to those of you who have seen this on the Tweet-o-sphere and the Facebooktubes already, but I’m trying to reach eyeballs. Lots and lots of eyeballs.

The thing is this: I am selling holiday cards made from my photos in the Etsy shop. One features this bird print and the other features this snowy branch print (both of which are also for sale in several sizes). Fun fact about these cards: If you don’t like the greeting I’ve supplied, you can write your own. Funner fact: You can use cuss words if you want to. I DON’T GIVE A SHIT, I’M CRAZY!

So put that little bug in your brain. Customizable holiday cards that are highly unique and not available at your local Target, where everyone else will be buying their cards. These babies are perfect for those of you into simplicity, elegance, high contrast, and a lack of melodramatic sentiments written in sweeping, embossed gold letters above painful-looking Nativity scenes. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, person who will inevitably send me a Christmas card like that.

See the snowy branch card here and the bird on a wire card here.

Here are the details for those of you who did not click those links (slackers): 10 cards, printed on high-quality, bright white glossy Costco cardstock. Comes with a set of 10 bright white self-adhesive envelopes. $16 + $4 shipping (unless ordered in conjunction with something else). You tell me what you want printed on it (within allotted space). I have them printed, I inspect them, then I send them on to you. All of this can happen in a week’s time or potentially faster than that if you need them real quicklike (expedited shipping rates will apply).

And if you’re looking for unique stocking stuffer-type things, you might be interested in these magnets I made. If you don’t buy them, they are going on my fridge. But I’d like you to buy them. I made them just for you.

Oh, and one more thing. If you ever see a picture on this blog or on my Flickr account that you’d like to buy a print of, leave a comment or shoot me an e-mail at theogeo at gmail dot com. I’m very much open to putting things in the shop by request.

Want to stay up to date on what’s going on with my Etsy shop? Follow me on Twitter or *like* my Facebook page.

Read the story and take a look at his writings here. Here’s how the spread looked in the paper:

In other design news, I found out late last week that I won a Scripps third-quarter design award for the work I did on the Ernest Withers special section. Awesome! That brings me to three Scripps quarterly awards. It’s nice to know that the company is paying attention to how the paper looks, and giving our team some kudos!

So please mosey on over to the shop and have a look. You tried and true Etsy buyers and sellers may have tips for me. I’m all ears. And forehead. But ears too.

So anyway. Go here and vote! Be sure to fill out the majority of the ballot — write-ins are welcome — for it to count. I’m also nominated for best local Twitterer, so if you want to vote for me for that too, I will hug you twice and both times so hard, and then probably tweet about it.

Thank you. And may the best self-absorbed internet citizen win!

* Hotness and wetness may not be available in your region.

** Not really.