Art Sale

Dear Friends,

I am selling some stuff because I am going home. Please let me know if you are interested by calling me or texting me or emailing me at 808 3541816. Thank you!

1. Surf Board 7"4': This is a very good board.cv

In a blog, you can use this fancy "What you see is what you get" editor. or you can hand-code the HTML yourself. Most users prefer the WYSIWYG editor. but once you've taked IT240, you don't need to fear the HTML editor ever again!

Here's a picture of Bro.Draper's family in 2007:

Kevin Schlag Lecture

Kevin Schlag came to speak in our IT240 class about his career in Enterprise Information System Department. He supervises the school website and make sure it is up to date and well organized. It is very interesting to me that all the school website we see now is done with DreamWeaver program. Brother Schlag said, "Why do we have to spend a lot of time learning HTML, if we have wonderful and powerful tools out there to help create great websites?" I think he is right at some point. But I think you can never go wrong learning the basic and foundation of anything, including the language of HTML. I know for the fact that this knowlege will benefit me in the future. In fact, it has benefited me since I am the webmaster of @RTIMOS Website.

What amazed me the most is actually the history of BYU-Hawaii website. It was first created by college students years ago. Now, maintaining the website is a job. I like the fact that the school is planning a new layout for the school website based on the audience. I think that is very smart of them to do so. I remember when I first got to BYUH website, I was kinda lost a little bit at first, eventhough the website is divided into different groups of audience. I still think they could have done a better job, which they are doing right now.

In short, I really enjoy Kevin Schlag's lecture, however, I am not sure if Brother Draper would like what he had to say about learning the "old school" HTML language to create a web page ;)

Cary Countryman's Lecture

Today Dr.Countryman came to give us a lecture on how to create an effective website, because our beloved teacher Brother Draper decided to go on a vacation in the Mormon Land. Surprisingly, I missed him. Anyway, I learned a lot from Dr.Countryman! Especially, since I am a webmaster for @RTIMOS Productions.

Dr.Countryman gave many examples of both effective and ineffective websites. One of the things which I really like is that the Web site should be simple and avoid using too many complex multimedia features or technology tricks. I tend to do that, putting a lot of multimedia features on my web site, which look cool to me; but not in others' view. However, having "Magic" (as used by Dr.Countryman) on the web site will add a lot more to audience's experience. So, I went home and added the countdown clock on @RTIMOS web site, to remind people about the upcoming benefit concert in Honolulu.

I have noticed that my web site is quite slow. Dr.Countryman offered a possible solution indirectly through his lecture that using pictures under 40kb in size and GIF format can make the web site load faster; and to keep text simple and to a minimum. So, I have been adjusting my images on the website and try to make it look clean and simple, yet attractive.

Another important aspect to consider when making a web site is the targeted audience. Dr.Countryman suggested that the web site will be more effective if it's divided up by customer segments. For example, it would be wise for you to know how Japanese people read or navigate the website, because according to the way they read they do from right to left. I thought that was very interesting and true.

These are just a few examples of how to make an effective website from Dr. Countryman. I was very excited to listen to him. So, I guess having Brother... oh no... Dr. Draper away for a week isn't so bad after all. :)

@RTIMOS Part 1

I remember exactly a year ago in spring taking a class "Leadership Principles" from Dr.Hannonen. I signed up for the class because I gave up on my "Music" major. I wanted to take IDS Major instead so I can learn to do business while doing something that I love... pretty much anything involved with music. This class became the start of something I have dreamed of doing. One of the requirements for the class was to organize a personal project that had to do with Leadership Principles. Students had freedom to explore and do anything they wanted to do to show, share, or apply the things we learned in the class for their personal projects; Not knowing it was just a beginning of an exciting and rewarding journey.

I had a dream that I wanted to have my own "recital". I thought it was a good opportunity to do something that Ihad been wanting to do. I planned the recital to teach the principles of leadership through music. I named my recital "@RTIMOS- Leadership Through Music", just because I did not want my recital to sound chessy - Art Musical Recital. "No way", I told my self assigning the new name to it. I actually got this name from my friends in Thailand who called me "Artimos" because my name's Art. They were missionaries in Thailand. Why "@"? No real answer. I used it because I wanted to think outside the box. And I thought it would give people something to think about.

I was excited, nervous, and thrilled to have my own recital. I invited my friends to join me. I had already had a few songs composed for my music theory class, and was very excited to perform them. I also took vocal lessons from Professor Belnap, and it was a perfect opportunity to showcase things that I learned from him. This recital was goingt o be amazing. I was wrong.

I started applying leadership principles as I prepared for @RTIMOS recital. I booked auditorium, but my project was not recognized by the school of business, and they would not sponsor my event. I learned a lot from this experience. I remember receiving so many emails that I felt overwhelmed. I was shocked when I realize the cost to use the facility for my recital could go up as high as $300. I did not feel hopeless. I was very stressed. But it was a good opportunity to become a leader to myself. Just as I was ready to load money for my recital, I received an email from the director of Auditorium, Steve Crowell, sent to everyone involved in the communications that he would absorb all cost as a gift to me. I couldn't even cry. I felt humbled and grateful for his kindness. I would have my own recital in a couple of days now.

The recital was changed to "Concert" because of the use of lights, multimedia, music, and dance. I invited friends to come. The @RTIMOS - Leadership Through Music was what I had been waiting to do. I was there, and it would not be possible without my friends who helped me tremendously. I come to learn that I couldn't do this alone. I learned to understand the power of music. My friends came to support me. There were probably a little over 40 people came, but that was a lot to me. I went home with an incredible feelings in my heart and soul. I wanted to do again! So, in the fall, I signed up for the "International Organizational Behavior" from Dr.Hannonnen again.

Renew!

I just decided that I would start writing my blog again. It has been forever since I last updated my blog. I think my last blog was written just right before I came to school! Wow, over a year. That is a long time. Life has been very interesting, challenging, and amazing! It's hard to write everything down, so I am going to upload some new pictures and some videos for the start!

My Fan Kathery wrote on her friend's facebook wall

I met Kathery on Monday night with her friends and got such warm welcome and some screaming. What happened was on the Saturday night before, I was in the BYUH Idol 2008. And I performed "One Jump Ahead" from Aladdin, and much to my surprised, there were so many people who loved the performance. That really humbles me a lot. Kathery is one my good fans. And I am proud to get to know her and her friends in person.

Me in BYUH Idol 2008

This is a YouTube video posted by one of my fans as well. There were so many great singers participated this year!

Recording Christmas Music

Click on the picture to enlarge

Here are some of the pictures of me and friends recording Music at the

EA (Electronic Arts) Studio

Ben, Me and Jaden

The room we used to record

These are pictures of the Danville area where I stayed

Right in front of the house

Art Returns

So here I am, back to the beautiful city of San Francisco. I arrived S.F. on Monday 11th. of December. Then I stayed with a family in Danville for a few days. Oh boys, I got a wicked jet lag for at least four days. I thought I wouldn't be able to make it this far. It's so bad. It was really cool. Because I got to go to the Egyptian musuem in San Jose. Too bad I didn't take a lot of pictures because my memory card was errow.

After staying in Danville, I moved to Redwood City which was the area where I served my mission for about nine months all together (or more). And it sure was good to be able to see people I worked with a year and a half ago. I enjoyed it a lot. I was able to visit a couple of families there and I went to church and met some more. I did have a great time. The weather was so nice. Before I came to the States I was allergic to my own sweat. I know , that's so aweful... after I found out I would be able to come back to SF area for sure I was like ... YESSSSSS!!! It's a little cold but what do you expect right? It's the winter time.

And on Sunday, My friends and I were able to record Christmas music at the EA Studeo (or studio?) It's so cool! It took us a little over good 5 hours to finish the recording. Time flew though! I didn't even realize that it took us that long in that recording room. Thanks Dave Swenson for an amazing talent. He is my all-time favorite sound guy. So that was good.

And now I am at my good friend's house, Keith, right in San Francisco. Just got here today. It's so nice. I missed San Francisco way bad and now I am back. Keith took me to this nice Italian resturant which I don't remember the name anymore but the food was so good.

So, that's the update of my life guys. It's not that interesting but I enjoy it a lot.