10,000 Have Visited IconDoIt. How About You?

I am truly humbled to know that 10,000 people from around the globe have taken the time to visit IconDoIt in the 10 months that I’ve been blogging. I wanted to be able to reach out to people and to give back to a community that has been so generous to me, but I had no idea I would reach so many so quickly. Thank You, All! And I hope you will return again and again and that perhaps more of you will join in the various conversations here (simply click on the Comments link that’s at the bottom of each post to read the comments of others and to add your own. If it’s your first time commenting, I require that you fill in your real name and e-mail address which is solely used for verification that you are a real person and not a robot, spammer, or rogue cartoon character run amuck. I will never publish or sell that info.)

Ever wonder where all the visitors come from? I do. So I signed up for the free StatCounter service which not only tells me how many “hits” my blog gets, but also whether or not they are first time visitors, how much time they spent on my site, how many downloaded my various freebies, how many checked out my Creative Commons license, and what city, state and country they came from. It doesn’t tell me who the individuals are or their home address or other personal information but the info it does give me is just enough to help me to better focus my content on what my readers are interested in. Of course, your own comments and requests is always the surest way to nudge me in the right direction! As an example of the info I get from StatCounter, below is a screenshot I took of a chart showing the number of visitors by country in just the last 7 days.

“Visitors to IconDoIt by Country, May 8-16, 2010”

What I do when me brain’s on the fritz…

The tinnitus in my left ear has been roaring all week, so loud I feel like I’m trapped in the wind tunnel at NASA with a squadron of B-52’s just outside. It is exhausting and mind-boggling and so mostly I sleep but tonight I was restless and so thought I’d just play – let my mind alone to wander, my imagination take flight, and my mouse go where it willed without any restraint. I had no idea where my doodles would lead and now that I’m done, I’ve no idea what’s displayed on my screen. Is it just a bit of digital silliness? Or subconscious deep thought? I leave it to you to decide. All I know is that the jets have not landed and the ocean tide is rushing at my feet. And so I go back to sleep.

Free Icons of the Day

The following images are either full or reduced size previews. Simply right-click (or control-click) on the preview to save the image(s) of your choice to your desktop. (Unless otherwise noted, downloads are 512px X 512px in .png format). As always, usage of any of the images offered on this blog are free for your personal use while subject to the limitations of my Creative Commons Non-Commercial – Attribution – No Derivatives – Share Alike- 3.0 license. (See sidebar for details))

“In The Groove”

“Ever notice how some folks just can’t seem to help talking outta their arse?”

This post will give you the Willies!

This week was pretty heavy for me. Some research I’ve been doing for a friend has really put me to the test and I came face-to-face with the realization that I am probably never going to get rid of this “chemo brain” completely. While my friend has been gracious and seems quite pleased with the results of my efforts so far, he didn’t know me before I got sick and so has no way of knowing that the “old” me would’ve accomplished 5x as much and the depth and quality of my research and writing would have been far superior. I’ve heard some people say that being a perfectionist is a bad thing – but I’ve never understood that point of view, as long as I don’t expect others to be perfect (which I don’t). Of course, I’ve never been perfect but if I hadn’t expected it of myself, I would never have been able to learn and accomplish what I have in the past. I’m not neurotic about it. It’s that the efforts involved in trying to be perfect was just a challenge I really enjoyed and I really miss having the physical stamina and the mental ability to focus at the same level I used to.

sigh…

In any event, because of the strain of this week, I really needed to do something light and fun and playful. Since my brain was too shot to dredge up an original idea, I went searching for some kids coloring pages and found a delightful abundance of sites with just what I was looking for. The absolute best site I found (based on variety, originality, and just in general fun) was one coming out of France. You should check it out as it’s just a delight. http://www.coloriage-enfants.com/ – As to the character I selected, the website indicated his name is “Winni Windel”. I was unfamiliar with the character and so did a search and came up with literally hundreds of websites and blogs for Winni Windel coloring pages or animations but only one single website that is a likely candidate for originating this adorable “diaper baby”. The site is for Steffen Soulejman Janus, who is “an internationally interactive specialist. He was Co-Founder of foco design studios in Germany and Switzerland and acted as CEO, Senior Project Manager and Creative Director for the company. For the past ten years, he set new standards in nonlinear interface design, online communications, branding and sales….” And he’s got a hell of an impressive list of clients! As to Winni, under his projects page is posted an online design study for diaper character Winnie promotion” completed in 2001 that he created for Optipresent Media AG, Munich Germany. The finished project can be found at Windel Winni Reloaded. It’s in German so you may need to use a translation plug-in or just enjoy the pictures. According to this site (unlike the hundreds of others – but obviously more authoritative) the character is named “Windel Winni” and not the other way around.

Free Icons of the Day

The following images are either full or reduced size previews. Simply right-click (or control-click) on the preview to save the image(s) of your choice to your desktop. (Unless otherwise noted, downloads are 512px X 512px in .png format). Create Commons license applies (see sidebar for details)