Iris Kao Design

My lovely client, Julia May from ClickEats, asked me what to do about the spam comments on her blog, I told her to activate the Akismet (a default plug-in).

Other than activating it from your WordPress Plugins menu, you will need to get an API key. The API Key is free for a personal blog but if your site earns more than $500/mo, then you will need to subscribe for a commercial API key starting at $5/mo.

It took me a few years of staring at the plugin list before I activated Akismet. Now, I wished I activated it sooner.

Today at the Social Networking for Business Conference (#snfb) I finally have my question answered!

For the longest time, I couldn’t figure out who would ever want to follow me on Twitter. And if no one follows me, why would I want to tweet? (Everyone laughed at me but this was still a good question.)

Jason Preston from Parnussus Group gave me a good answer.

He suggested for me to use it like personal bookmarks, not only I can remember those pages, I can share it with people who are on the same frequency.

Now, I will have to try, so stay tuned for my twitter id.

Peter Chee of the thinkspace invited me to a Art + Decor + Wine event, where Drew Stone exhibited his art in thinkspace’s LEED certified shared space office.

Drew (AGS Custom Interiors) uses items that would have been in the landfill as his canvas and medium and he is always mindful of the environmental effects of his work.

Being someone who only work in 2-dimensional space, I knew it’s hard to pick the right piece for the right place and to fit a client’s taste. And Drew did a great job finding the right places to display his art where people can take a little break from work as they walk in the hallways.

He even gave me great ideas to break away from my usual geometric tendency. Next time when I don’t feel like designing or writing, I am going to try them out!

It takes special people to be pro bloggers, just listen to the pro bloggers at the BigFoot Blogging Conference. (Karen Anderson, Tracy Record, Monica Guzman, Andru Edwards, and Chris Pirillo)

Everyone of the speakers does something different, and everyone loves blogging. Well, I love blogging too, especially when my words can bring people together. But what I can’t do is to give up my time away from the computer.

They write on the blogs, they read tons of blogs, they love staying electronically connected, they have something to write everyday, they have special topic to talk about.

Is their dedication to blogging something I want to emulate? I don’t know. The outdoor here is always so inviting, may it be sunny or raining. But one never knows, when an inspiration hit me on the head, I might finally catch the blogging bug.

My old Mac gave me the blues from the day I got it. I finally had to replace it, only to find out all the trouble was caused by a set of memory sticks. When I mentioned I wanted to donate my old Mac to Art with Heart, my friend Mark Hennon of MacFixers (425-825-9244) volunteered to do a thorough check up before I bring it to Art with Heart.

Today, I delivered my old Mac. Thanks to Mark for giving it an once over, to Art with Heart for giving my old Mac a good home, and thanks to this beautiful end of my Mac blues.

Today, I took a bus to a store to see if I hold an “instant winner” number for an iPod. I was feeling lucky because I got to the bus stop as the bus pulled up. The bus driver was very nice and let me off at a stop he was supposed to pass by.

When I got off, I noticed a parking spot lined with a tarp. And on this tarp, various colors of paint cans set on top of a bench and 3 painted canvases. As a curious person, I had to ask.

It is the National Park(ing) Day! Parking spots are public land and they are taking a few spots to make it into mini-parks. The mini-park I visited was “built” by a new gallery owner and two urban planners, all three lovely ladies.

One asked if I liked to paint, I said YES, of course. This marked my first painting experience. I hope the picture they took will surface somewhere since my work will eventually be covered up by other park visitors.

I sure did enjoy adding the polka dots to the head scarf of the mindless Star War Storm Trooper and the highlight I added to his brown mustache. I also wrote down “parking lot park” in Chinese and I apologize for forgetting half of the last word… I suppose I will call that art! Ha, ha.

I didn’t get the iPod but I won something better. So thank you, road side lady park rangers at the mini-park on Roosevelt Ave and 47th. Happy National Park(ing) Day!

This morning I spent 20 minutes getting all my tools out on the table so I could get a sample package ready for a client. Then I realized how long it has been since I had worked on a complex print project.

Boy, how I miss laying out something to print on paper then cut them into shapes, how amusing to see everything came together just as I had imagined. Oh, how I am grateful for a chance to experiment with paper again.

I can’t wait to hand it to my client tomorrow and see if she would go through it like I expect her customers would. One never knows!

Ah, my exciting world of design!

A few month back a client called me about renewing her domain name. The domain name listed on the mail notice was never used by her, so I asked for the name of the company. Sure enough, it was not her domain name registrar.

This weekend, I got a notice in my mail about 2 domain names I own. Again, it’s from a company I have never heard of. The letter looks official and the content was written carefully so it is misleading and threatening to domain name newbies but still sounded passible in court.

The funniest thing is that this company was offering me the renewal price that is 10 times my current rate. Are you kidding me?!

If you are not sure who your registrar is, go to http://whois.domaintools.com/ and type in your domain name, most of the time you will remember your registrar by reading the info. If not, you will see that the company that sent you the notice is not listed either, that means you can ignore it.

If you are going to get a new domain name, I would go with either Lunarpages or GoDaddy.

So, make a note of your domain names, registrars, and the renewal dates. Don’t let the bad guys take your money!