:: e r i k :: g i l c h r i s t ::

Air America - The Launch

OK, here we go. The "Liberal Media" gets a little payback against AM radio and MOST TV/Cable News 'organizations'

Air America Radio
Central Air Media

This looks good. Bush Bashing on air! More to follow. Read on . . .

OK, here's where you can find them. I called the NYC number and they said check the main website above for internet radio.

Man, this will be fun!

Rush Limbaugh is a big fat IDIOT!

:)

Dynamic DNS -- Shall I move my sandboxes?

And by sandboxes I mean the domains I play with and have TOTAL control over. Not my professionally served domains like this one you are reading or Metagrafix.

My sandboxes. I love them, I love my professional webhost. I just need my play areas.

Anyhow, if anybody wants to talk Dynamic DNS, read on . . .

Here's what I sent to DynDns.org and to my current dynIP provider No-IP.com:

*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*
-----------------------------
Dear DynDns.org

I am thinking of moving 2 domains to this. One will move from no-ip.com and is in the middle of being tweaked. Tell me why I should move to your service?

The other is just registered, parked and waiting. Tell me why I should not go with no-ip.com as well.

I have a third, but we can talk of them later.

Sell me. just know that I am looking to solve this problem on one of them and go even further:
http://www.reilly2001.info/whim/archives/movable_type/mt_error_fixed_how_awful_no_comments_2003-08-12.html

Please get back to me.

e
-----------------------------
-----------------------------

Dear NO-IP.com

I have *****************.com , now *************.com that gives me some issues now and am wondering what to do with *************.com

Sell me on why I should stick with no-ip.com as opposed to other DYN services like dyndns.org/com ?

I need to solve my issue above in the email to them and if I have to run my \"own\" DNS I will.

I guess what I am asking is what do you have over DynDNS?

Overall I have been very satisfied with service and support that you have provided. Just keep in mind that I am now shopping around.

Thanks for time -- I do appreciate it. Let\'s all shoot straight. I don\'t want to make a move but I will to try to solve the problem above regarding comments.

Thanks,
ErikGil

*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*
-----------------------------

NOTE: the above was a web browser return from my current DNS provider website [1] -- that would explain all the \' stuff ... I did add 'hrefs' to the asterisks :)

Oh, and don't worry if I didn't put in the domains I was talking about. Both providers have them. [2]

[1] noip.com does have a windows based mentality but the support via email is timely.
[2] neither DYN dns provider can provide direct support like a phone number

Dam Laws

This is an actual letter sent to a man named Ryan DeVries by the
Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, State of Michigan. Wait
till you read this guy's response-but read the State's letter before you
get to the response letter.

SUBJECT: DEQ File No.97-59-0023; T11N; R10W, Sec. 20; Montcalm County
Dear Mr. DeVries: It has come to the attention of the Department of
Environmental Quality that there has been recent unauthorized activity
on the above referenced parcel of property. You have been certified as
the legal landowner and/or contractor who did the following unauthorized
activity:

Construction and maintenance of two wood debris dams across the outlet
stream of Spring Pond. A permit must be issued prior to the start of
this type of activity. A review of the Department's files shows that no
permits have been issued. Therefore, the Department has determined that
this activity is in violation of Part 301, Inland Lakes and Streams, of
the Natural Resource and Environmental Protection Act, Act 451 of the
Public Acts of 1994, being sections 324.30101 to 324.30113 of the
Michigan Compiled Laws, annotated. The Department has been informed that
one or both of the dams partially failed during a recent rain event,
causing debris and flooding at downstream locations. We find that dams
of this nature are inherently hazardous and cannot be permitted. The
Department therefore orders you to cease and desist all activities at
this location, and to restore the stream to a free-flow condition by
removing all wood and brush forming the dams from the stream channel.
All restoration work shall be completed no later than January 31, 2003.
Please notify this office when the restoration has been completed so
that a follow-up site inspection may be scheduled by our staff. Failure
to comply with this request or any further unauthorized activity on the
site may result in this case being referred for elevated enforcement
action. We anticipate and would appreciate your full cooperation in this
matter. Please feel free to contact me at this office if you have any
questions. Sincerely, David L. Price District Representative Land and
Water Management Division
-----------------------------------------
This is the actual response sent back:
Dear Mr. Price,
Re: DEQ File No. 97-59-0023; T11N; R10W, Sec. 20; Montcalm County. Your
certified letter dated 10/17/02 has been handed to me to respond to. I
am the legal landowner but not the Contractor at 2088 Dagget, Pierson,
Michigan. A couple of beavers are in the (State unauthorized) process of
constructing and maintaining two wood "debris" dams across the outlet
stream of my Spring Pond. While I did not pay for, authorize, nor
supervise their dam project, I think they would be highly offended that
you call their skillful use of natures building materials "debris." I
would like to challenge your department to attempt to emulate their dam
project any time and/or any place you choose. I believe I can safely
state there is no way you could ever match their dam skills, their dam
resourcefulness, their dam ingenuity, their dam persistence, their dam
determination and/or their dam work ethic. As to your request, I do not
think the beavers are aware that they must first fill out a dam permit
prior to the start of this type of dam activity. My first dam question
to you is: (1) Are you trying to discriminate against my Spring Pond
Beavers or (2) do you require all beavers throughout this State to
conform to said dam request? If you are not discriminating against these
particular beavers, through the Freedom of Information Act, I request
completed copies of all those other applicable beaver dam permits that
have been issued. Perhaps we will see if there really is a dam violation
of Part 301, Inland Lakes and Streams, of the Natural Resource and
Environmental Protection Act, Act 451 of the Public Acts of 1994, being
sections 324.30101 to 324.30113 of the Michigan Compiled Laws,
annotated. I have several concerns. My first concern is -- aren't the
beavers entitled to legal representation? The Spring Pond Beavers are
financially destitute and are unable to pay for said representation-so
the State will have to provide them with a dam lawyer. The Department's
dam concern that either one or both of the dams failed during a recent
rain event causing flooding is proof that this is a natural occurrence,
which the Department is required to protect. In other words, we should
leave the Spring Pond Beavers alone rather than harassing them and
calling their dam names. If you want the stream "restored" to a dam
free-flow condition please contact the beavers -- but if you are going
to arrest them, they obviously did not pay any attention to your dam
letter they being unable to read English. In my humble opinion, the
Spring Pond Beavers have a right to build their unauthorized dams as
long as the sky is blue, the grass is green and water flows downstream.
They have more dam rights than I do to live and enjoy Spring Pond. If
the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection lives
up to its name, it should protect the natural resources (Beavers) and
the environment (Beavers' Dams). So, as far as the beavers and I are
concerned, this dam case can be referred for more elevated enforcement
action right now. Why wait until 1/31/2003? The Spring Pond Beavers may
be under the dam ice then and there will be no way for you or your dam
staff to contact/harass them then. In conclusion, I would like to bring
to your attention to a real environmental quality (health) problem in
the area. It is the bears! Bears are actually defecating in our woods. I
definitely believe you should be persecuting the defecating bears and
leave the beavers alone. If you are going to investigate the beaver dam,
watch your step! (The bears are not careful where they dump!) Being
unable to comply with your dam request, and being unable to contact you
on your dam answering machine, I am sending this response to your dam
office. Ryan DeVries

And still you don't believe it?
Go here when you think you have an urban myth or some silly email

Now stop questioning this site. Leave a comment :)

Metagrafix - perhaps a March '04 re-design . . .

Just a thought in progress . . .

Better One Intern Than a Whole Country

Erik is seeking a new Job.

Well, my 2 year stint for a major health related company is up. I am now officially on the market.

MetagraFix is my professional industry site and that is as good a place as any to start hocking my wares. There you can see my resume as well as my portfolio.

I have much more to show but due to contractual obligations and non-disclosure agreements, it would not be ethical or even legal to let the entire web catch a glimpse. Please contact me.

Read on for the resume . . .

March 2002 - Present MedcoHealth HQ(care of Galaxy Systems) Franklin Lakes, NJ
Graphic Designer
* Conceive, build, test and deliver User Interface for Industry leading, Award-Winning Extranet.
* Maintain Demonstration materials for Marketing to reflect future Production environment features.
* Rolled out OS X workstations for designers and instituted improved IP based workflow.
* URL: https://client.medcohealth.com/ , http://www.medcohealth.com/
November 2001 Sandvik Inc., US Headquarters Fair Lawn, NJ

Webmaster
* Responsible for applying company's business objectives and user/customer requirements.
* Involved and maintained development of Intranet, Internet and Extranet presence.
* URL: http://www.sandvik.com
July 2001-November 2001 Verizon Wireless (care of API Systems) Bedminster, NJ
2nd Level Desktop Support
* Created / edited user accounts with Enterprise Administrator / User Manager.
* Supported customers with 2nd level desktop support on all Windows environments. Provided day to day operations and monitoring / troubleshooting of the Network.
* Installed windows NT 4.0 image on new / old Dell, Compaq, HP and clone workstations for Regional HQ along with hardware upgrades.
* Responsible for hardware repairs, replacements, and upgrade as directed.

1999-2001 B2Bgalaxy.com Parsippany, NJ
Graphic Designer
* Designed and maintained International Corporate e-Commerce and Brochure-Ware sites.
* Strict adherence to clean HTML code across Browsers/Platforms for International usability.
* Worked closely with Java (JSP) Team, Marketing, Sales and Management to form sites that render quickly and concentrate on their market focus.
* Developed Flash interactive multimedia demonstrations of our on-line products.
* URLs: http://www.B2Bgalaxy.com , http://www.FOODgalaxy.com , http://www.VETgalaxy.com , http://www.PowerPurchasing.net

1995-Present Metagrafix.com ? ErikGilchrist.com Morris Plains, NJ
Graphic Designer/Internet Hosting (Independent)
* Internet/Intranet development and systems tech support catering to educational, network service, and general commercial clients.
* Valid HTML and CSS1, CSS2, PHP, MySQL, Apache, OS X server/Client rollout and support. Win/Linux.
* Full T-1 Unix/NT/MAC and ASP/PHP server hosting, site design, maintenance and training.
* Associated with Adsight.com and Tandem Graphics for overflow work and third party site maintenance.
* Most projects consist of file formats that are primarily print-based and need to be reformatted for the web. Some projects at Tandem are done onsite due to hardware constraints of output devices.
* URLs: http://www.adsight.com , http://www.tandemgraphics.net , http://www.MetaGraFix.com/portfolio

1997-1999 Thebault-DI Parsippany, NJ
Desktop Operator/Network Management
* Responsibilities include the compilation and import/export of data, taking customers final files and pre-flighting by introducing variable data text and image fields within the document, merging images and data to produce one of the most extensive personalized mass mailing in advertising projects at the time.
* Other duties include maintenance of the Macintosh network regarding file upkeep and uninterrupted workflow, workstation maintenance, hardware, software and network troubleshooting.
URLs: http://www.thebault.com
1997 Prestige Graphics Union, NJ
Press Operator
* Production Operations on Heidelberg 5 color GTOF- Stream-fed press with Alcolor dampening, CPC and CP-Tronic. Daily production of high quality, full/spot color general commercial printed matter.
* Worked closely with the Pre-Press and Imaging departments in order to quality control the color and imaging operations throughout the workflow.

1989-1996 Bell Press Belleville, NJ
Press Operator/Network and Software/Hardware Implementation
* Press and Pre-Press Implementation of high quality printed matter for a clientele of mostly design and advertising agency accounts Worked closely with the Pre-Press and Imaging departments in order to quality control the color and imaging operations throughout the workflow.
* Helped to implement employee safety program to meet OSHA and local safety standards.
* Other functions included putting into place an extensive computerized print estimation and scheduling programs that were previously non existent or done manually. Workflow and consistency of orders filled on time and at or under budget were previously dated. After implementation, order implementation increased by over twenty percent.

Education
1989 North Arlington HS North Arlington, NJ
* Graphic Arts Specialties
1989 Bergen County Technical Teterboro, NJ
* Graphics Arts and Design
1994 Rutgers College New Brunswick, NJ
* Graphics and Design major

Software/Hardware
Knowledge of MAC/PC skills as they pertain to the Graphics, Advertising and Internet/Intranet Development industries Including File, Web, Font and Digital Asset Management servers.
Adobe: Photoshop/Imageready, Illustrator, Acrobat Cross Platform Workflow via PDF, GoLive
Macromedia: DreamWeaver/Fireworks, Flash, Director, FreeHand, HomeSite
Microsoft: SourceSafe, FrontPage
FileMakerPro, Font Management tools.
Appletalk, TCP/IP, DHCP, Firewall Software as well as cabling and hardware routing. Hardware built to specification. MAC OS X Darwin (Client and Server), PHP, MySQL, and many other Servers

Letters of Recommendation and other References available upon request.

URL's of specific projects past and present can be requested via ErikGil@MetaGrafix.com

Please see http://www.MetaGraFix.com/portfolio/