Ok so it has been a while...

I have moved on from ASFT as an employee and am now full time freelance. This was good timing for both ASFT and myself and the door is still open should new opportunities present themselves. The last year with ASFT has been very rewarding. I had the opportunity to attend several conferences and build the framework for a major corporate training initiative. I helped lay the groundwork for a full service multimedia department and learned a lot while serving on the Business Development Team.




I visited my friend Joe Andrade while attending the Flashforward Conference in Seattle WA. I had the great pleasure to meet one of my favorite multimedia designers Hillman Curtis. I bought his latest book and watched some of his well crafted films.


I was exposed to some of the most cutting edge training technology in the industry while attending the The Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) in Orlando FL. I had the privilege of attending a lecture by Three Star General Yakovic and talking briefly with him afterwords. As part of his presentation they went to a live video conference from IRAQ with a Blackhawk commander for the IRAQ forces to discuss the types of training that best supports the troupes in real time war situations.

While attending I met a new friend, Alex Broadbent, who is one of the leading 3D animators in the industry. His work inspired me and I have since engaged in some business opportunities with him.





At ASFT, I had the honor of working with so many very talented folks and many were like a second family to me since my move to the East Coast. I plan to continue my involvement providing training multimedia support for the DoD community. You will see more of my new initiative "The Creative Services Team" over the coming months as I build a new service network for interactive multimedia and rich internet application development.

Now that I have a little more time, I promis to post more often... :-)  ¶ 3:35 PM 9 comments

  Flash Forward 2005 in NY
I had the privilege of representing ASFT at the Flash Forward Film Festival 2005 conference. I got to meet Keven Lynch the Executive Vice President and Chief Architect for Macromedia and so many other flash gurus. I will be scheduling several information workshops to share the vast information collected from this three day event held in New York City, July 6-8.
FlashForward 2005


Meetings:
I had the opportunity to meet and start dialogs with Sr. Product Managers and Engineers to explore Macromedia technologies and how they can meet the demands of the contracting work we do for Government customers. If you have any technical question please send them to me and I will consolidate them in my correspondence.
I met with several product vendors and folks that can help us build our training programs. I met several companies that could provide logical teaming agreements as we embark on new projects. This can not only help us qualify for opportunities but it would grow our talent pool and enhance our in house capabilities through the process.
I met with the NY Macromedia Users Group about starting or getting involved with a RI Users group. As this develops I will keep you all in the loop.

News Highlights:
Here are some links... there is so much information it may make your head spin, it sure did get mine going...

Flash is evolving as a platform and growing in global acceptance for rich Internet application development.
Flash Platform

The greatest business opportunity for ASFT's flash skills will be in the area of mobile devices and the Flash Lite v2 player. Macromedia announced partnership deals with Nokia and Samsung which combined with advancements in the player and improved band width for cellular delivery systems will open the market wide open for new content delivery and application development for these platforms.
Macromedia Mobile Solutions
Justin Everett Church
Justin Built several great sample mobil apps in flash.


CN and Keven Lynch of Macromedia. Humm... I always thought he was 6'10" tall?


The Flash Player 8 "Maelstrom" and the new Flash authoring environment "8 Ball" will offer many improved performance features for video compression and improved drawing tools. Both are expected out late Summer or Early Fall.

The new Flash, Ajax and Javascript SDK will enable dynamic html content that provides two way communication directly with embedded flash apps and does not require page refreshing. Stop and think about this one and read up because this is BIG NEWS. Get more info in Mike Chambers Blog.

Mike Chambers

There is so much more... but these are good places to start.
More to come...

CN  ¶ 10:31 AM 6 comments

  Back from Brazil Wow what a trip! Sony, my son Angelo and I just got back from 3 weeks in Brazil. This was mostly vacation with the exception of running around dealing with a bunch of business stuff for Sony's properties and visiting family. This is my second trip and all my efforts to learn Portuguese paid off. I was able to communicate though I would hardly call it graceful or even conversation. :-) I realize now how much I have yet to learn about the language and Brazilian culture.


Of course we ate a lot. The Brazilian traditions and hospitality often will have you eating 2 or 3 breakfasts. You better like beans and rice... ;-)

We spent a week on the Beaches of Navigantes which is a small town not too far from Florinopolis, the capital city of Santa Canterina in Southern Brazil. Our condo is very close to an amusement park "Beto Carrero" (They have a cool web site) similar to Six Flags with a flavor of "the Circus" so we spent a day doing the "tourist thing". We all had so much fun, especially Angelo. We then went inland to the mountain regions near Lages. We spent two weeks herding cows, horseback riding, cutting trails through the brush in the jungles and harvesting "Pinoen" (a nut that grows in tall trees as a melon like ball that you shake off the branches and break apart to harvest). Sony owns a large piece of land, a mountain, with the highest peak in the area that overlooks a beautiful waterfall, river valley and skyline which goes as far as the eye can see (great place to camp). It may sound weird but I bought a cow and a calf. Combined my son's calf (gift from Grandpa) and Sony's cows we now have a small herd and our own "brand" symbol. Do not worry... I/we have no intentions of running away to become farmers but as an investment it makes sense (don't laugh it realy does).

Over time you may start seeing more of the images from the trip in my poetry or music slide shows. If you have any interest of visiting Brazil and want help planning your trip we are renting our condo on the beach and have a lot of resources to help you learn and explore the Southern regions of Brazil.

I can hardly wait till next years trip...

CN
  ¶ 3:51 PM 0 comments

  Macromedia MX2004 Designer Certification Hey, I just passed my Macromedia MX2004 Designer Certification exam this morning. This program allows developers to set a bench mark for skill levels. I am also planning to test for a MX 2004 Developer Certification soon. For more information on the program visit the Macromedia web site: www.macromedia.com

:-) CN
  ¶ 10:48 AM 0 comments

  Review of Mystic Holiday Hi Chris -

Anjan loaned me your CD while he is out of town and I started listening to it on the way home and then Jimmy and I listened to some more of it later in the evening. We both love it! I knew you were a talented pianist from hearing you at the Awards Banquet several years ago, but this blew me away. Nothing can positively affect my mind and soul like music and your compositions brought me joy. A plaque that I saw in a magazine puts it best - "Music is God's way of allowing us to pray without words." I am not "religious", but I am very spiritual and your music touches that part of me. I'm going to buy a copy for my parents, who aren't musicians, but certainly appreciate it and contributed to my love for good music.

Let me know when you record another one!

Sheri
  ¶ 11:27 AM 0 comments

  I am diggin Flash MX 2004 News:

Flash MX Professional 2004 was recognized as Design Software of the year. It provides a fine opportunity to create fascinating and eye-catching web pages. Though there are lots of similar products, none of them has become a real competitor with Flash as the Macromedia team constantly works hard on improving and upgrading it.

Flash MX Pro 2004 is not the only product Macromedia released this year. It gained the title of the Best Web Design Software Vendor for their constant improvements and upgrades of Flash technology, which remains the best means of creating richer content. Besides, Macromedia's contributions to the Web Design industry is not limited to Flash, as the vendor is the only one who represents the widest range of products related to the industry: Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Macromedia FreeHand, Macromedia ColdFusion, Macromedia Web Publishing System, etc.

http://www.cheaphostingdirectory.com/article765.html
  ¶ 6:24 PM 0 comments

  Mystic Holiday Hey my new CD is out and I would like to encourage you to get a copy. The recording is world class and I am very proud of the compositions. This musical experience will transcend you into a world of inner thought and relax your mind and spirit. Great for romantic interludes, massage or meditation sessions and quiet Sunday mornings in an easy chair with a cup of tea.


Visit:
http://www.cnpcreative.com/cn
To order online.

CN  ¶ 3:55 PM 0 comments

  ASFT Innovation Awward This past year I received an "Innovation award" for my work on Interactive Technical Manuals and Distance Support Collaboration Tools for delivering training and technical support. The "DocBuilder" user interface was designed to shift the paradigm for developing Navy technical manuals from "Here is the text with some pictures" to "Here is an interactive graphic with text to support it". The "Distance Support Collaboration Tool Suite" (DSCTS) was designed to provide a suite of team collaboration, communication, knowledge repositories and productivity tools within a common framework. This framework was built to provide fleet technical support, distance training delivery, knowledge management and real-time work group communications. I lead and worked with a team of four talented developers of which our team collectively won two Innovation awards and one Teamwork award for our efforts.

  ¶ 6:58 AM 0 comments