By Ryan Gravador

Find a flower shop near you or check out Rosita’s Flowers in San Diego for a good selection of flowers, fresh! http://www.rositasflowers.com/

The SECOND largest Black Film Festival on the West Coast
STARTS TODAY
January 31st – February 3rd, 2013!!!

Featuring special guest Dr. Tukufu Zuberi, Host of the popular PBS series History Detectives and honoring Diahann Carroll for the 2013 SDBFF Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient!

Find out more here! www.SDBFF.com

Where were you when 9/11 happened?

I was just waking up and ready to leave my dorm room for art class at San Diego State University. My roommates had the TV on and we were all in disbelief. I remember calling my mom and telling her that I was still going to class. I remember how quiet the campus was and how long it took me to get to the studio, which of course was empty. I remember staying there and saying a prayer on the outer ledge.

How has this tragic event affected the way you live your life today?
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Would you like to update and CREATE your Facebook timeline cover photo quickly and easily? I found a cool website that allows you to pull images from your Facebook albums, your friends’ FB profile pics, and even from your Instagram photos!

Check out picscatter.com, they are free and there is an option to brand your own cover! KEEP IN MIND: read their terms of use. You are responsible for the images that you put up. Other than that, have fun!

Below are some examples from my own FB account that I will be using.

From my friends’ profile pics :)

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Here are a few images from an awesome vacation in Mazatlan, Mexico, with great friends and family! ENJOY!

You can find more pics via my InstaGram (@radgravy) and on Flickr! Or follow me on Twitter to see more! Read More…

From time to time, a decent, online, and FREE, resource is sought after to crop or re-size an image from your computer. You won’t need to trouble yourself with complicated graphics software…

Try out this website: Dr. Pic

Give it a try and let me know how it goes! If you have other online websites that you know of, feel free to share below, thanks!

We’ve all had the frustrating experience of trying to edit HTML code and it not showing EXACTLY the way we want it. Well here’s a great online resource without worrying about expensive HTML editing software. This is useful for:

• Email Campaigns
• Web Page Layout and Modifications
• Craigslist Ads
• Quick editing to see what the final result will be!

Real-Time HTML Editor

I hope this helps and saves you time! Enjoy! Feel free to share other resources that you’ve found. It would definitely save the headache.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and I would like to share what my top three reasons to be thankful for are. Thank you for allowing me to share this with you, and feel free to share what your top three are!

1. Family & Friends.
2. Laughing.
3. Having a Job.

For my wonderful and beautiful wife, she’s amazing and I’m grateful to have her in my life. My brothers and step-dad, my mom, whose the most bravest and strongest woman I’ve ever known, and of course my father, a Navy Veteran. Without my dad I wouldn’t have been able to go to college and work in the creative arena.

For my friends. You already know. heeheehee. I love you guys and gals. For what we deal with on a regular basis in this world, laughing is the best medicine. I’m grateful to have a job, applying my college degree, making businesses grow, and learning and enhancing my craft every single day.

I wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving!

I’ll never forget.

I’ll never forget my dorm room that morning and my roommates had the TV on. We were like, “what IS this?!” and right away I felt this deep sinking feeling in the bottom of my stomach. This was real.

As we realized the intensity and hearing the distress of the news casters we just stood there, motionless. The usual busyness of a dorm hallway, the rustle and bustle, the normal goings about of students frantically making it to class…all still, all quiet. There were to be no classes that day.

Everything that was normal, wasn’t anymore.

As we solemnly celebrate the lives and the heroes of the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11th, may we never forget the lives lost not just on that day, but in the wars that followed, of all those that sacrificed their lives.

Thank you to the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces, thank you to the city of New York, the fire and police departments, and thank you to the families of the loved ones lost, for being an example of being strong in our time of tragedy and crisis.

At SDSU, my graphic design illustration course challenged us to share our designs about 9/11. Below are a couple of my designs.
San Diego ZOONOOZ Magazine Cover		Editorial Design based on a story about hope and keeping it alive.

This study is awesome. While I’m working: on web and graphic designs, CSS and code, troubleshooting, or just catching up on reading and replying to emails (and I mean A LOT of emails!), I noticed that by taking breaks surfing the web is actually refreshing.

“When browsing the Internet, people ‘usually choose to visit only the sites that they like—it’s like going for a coffee or snack break. Breaks of such nature are pleasurable, rejuvenating the Web surfer…’ wrote Dr. Lim” – Read Original Post

Heck, it sure beats clanging bells and blaring music! (alright you, now get back to work!)