ColinAke.com…until I write a book.

Happy Monday to you all out there.  Wanted to share a little bit about the weekend and talk about a new purchase I made.

The weekend was great - my cousin Lauren got married and I got to shoot the wedding - which is always tons of fun.  I shot with Tracey Long, a photographer friend of mine I’ve shot with for a year or so.  The wedding was at the Canton Theatre - a small, old timey theatre with almost no light to speak of.  So I was thankful we rented 24mm f/1.4s (for those of you unfamiliar with photograph speak, that low f number means it lets a lot of light in).  The wedding was simple and small, but I thought it was very nice.  I’ll have some pictures for y’all to look at Wednesday night or Thursday, most likely.

I made a purchase I think will get some good use in the months and years to come - a nice flash unit from AlienBees and a nice stand, boom arm, and softbox.  Should let me shoot some sweet portraits - which I’m sure I’ll post here soon.

The day has been good so far - finally to a point in the summer where I can turn from researching CRMs and their capabilities to beginning to become an expert with one of the systems.  Off to dig more into the world of open source.

What did you do with your weekend?

Take care,

Colin

I wasn’t planning on working this summer.  I was planning on taking classes this summer and fall and then graduating in December.  But that didn’t work out - turns out Georgia Tech doesn’t offer the management classes I need to take this summer.  So I’m working this summer, doing school in the fall and spring, then graduating in May.  It’ll work out.

I started looking for a job, and sent out resumes to some friends.  But with just a couple weeks left in the semester (and a trip to NYC, finals, and a trip to the UK) coming up, I had limited time to look around.  Fortunately, my friend Josh Davis, who works at the Georgia Tech Research Institute as a research scientist, passed on my resume with a recommendation.  I got the job and now I’m working there as a co-op for the summer.

My job is to help implement SugarCRM, an open source customer relationship management software system, to help improve the efficiency of business development across the organization.  I’m really enjoying it so far - it’s my first job where I have an end goal and have to find my way there.  Definitely a change from a task-oriented job.  There’s a lot more freedom to learn and think and come up with some good solutions.  I’m really enjoying the change.

Also my first job with my own office.  Ordered a poster for the wall and brought in my mini fridge.  Stocked it with water and Mountain Dew and we’re good to go.  More updates as we go throughout the summer.  I’m really looking forward to it.