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I arrived back from the city on Friday afternoon with a big, brown box.

After carefully removing the seals, I encountered another big box.

A peek inside.

Low and behold, a wrapped iMac.

Introducing my Apple iMac, featuring a 24″ display. The back is as elegant as the front.

First boot, it works!

After relocating my desktop computer and cleaning the work desk, my iMac sits nicely.

Specifications:

• 24″ LCD Display (1920×1200)
• Intel Core 2 Duo 2.16GHz
• 2GB DDR2 667
• nVidia 7300GT
• 250GB SATA 7200RPM HDD
• Built-in bluetooth, wireless and webcam

I purchased the iMac with the intention of becoming my workstation. I place an emphasis on work. The display is amazing, it’s insanely huge and the colours are vibrant. I haven’t had any difficulty adjusting from my dual 17″ LCD displays, an issue that I was concerned about.

Ultimately, I’m more than pleased with my purchase. If you’re interested in additional pictures, you can take a look here.

The other night I had the pleasure of attending an exhibition held by a client at their premises. As apart of the exhibition, they were seeking to display a slideshow of their products. I agreed to supply and configure a display on the condition that Bottlebrush was permitted to advertise at regular intervals. After an agreement had been reached I arranged for a brand new high definition 40″ LCD television. The entire slideshow was configured on my iBook.

Over 200 people attended the exhibition! There was food and wine going around, lots of speeches and general socialising. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and it was a great experience. However, it would be unfair to take all the credit for myself. My father’s company, BJ’s Sound & Lighting kindly provided Bottlebrush with the display free of charge. Furthermore, this could not have been achieved with out the help of Dennis, an employee of BJ’s.

Following up from my previous entry, I stumbled upon an organisation named “PrintSmart Graphics” who specialise in print design, modular display systems and printer cartridges. As it turns out, Daniel, a mate from high school is the in-house graphic designer for PrintSmart Graphics. I developed the business card in Adobe Illustrator CS2 (It’s not FOSS, please don’t hate me) and took the data file + TTF fonts to his workplace. There, we made some minor adjustments and produced a PDF proof which we tested. When I was satisfied with the end result, the the design was sent off for print. Daniel contacted me today, and informed me that the cards were ready to be collected. I was very excited.

I’m very pleased with the final result. What do you think?

It’s official. I’ve registered “Bottlebrush Web & IT Solutions” as my business name with the Queensland Office of Fair Trading. In addition, I’ve purchased the domain name “bottlebrush.net.au” which was approved earlier this afternoon and now contains a temporary web site. Tomorrow I’m going to see if I can get business cards printed, and what options are available to me.

I’ve reached a point in my life where I’m not exactly sure where I want to take it. It’s like driving along a street, and reaching a T-Intersection. You can’t continue along, you need to make a choice and either go one direction or the other. To date, I have completed about 50% of my Commerce degree at uni. After barely completing last semester, I’ve decided to put my degree on hold for six months, and explore alternate options.

For the past five or six years, I’ve been experimenting and learning web site and graphic design. I’m familiar with XHTML/CSS and Adobe Photoshop. I’ve always thought it may be possible to derive a sustainable income from providing web solutions to small and local businesses. However, I’ve never taken the idea seriously enough to make anything of it… until recently. My family and friends are well aware of my capabilities and have often encouraged me to embark on this route.

Last Tuesday, an employee from my father’s company informed me that somebody he knew was in need a website for their new organisation. Contemplating the idea, I felt that it may be time to take this option seriously. I contacted the organisation, and managed to arrange for a face-to-face consultation. I figured this would be the most appropriate method for deriving information. After all, I’m providing them a solution that is customized for their organisation. This is very important.

After speaking with the organisation and hanging up the phone, I immediately realised I had nothing “Professional” to wear. Typically, I’m a jeans and t-shirt person, and on special occasions I’ll wear a collared shirt with a nicer pair of jeans. I’ve never had the justification to wear leather shoes, or a nice pair of trousers. Now with this potential new client, I did have the justification. I slapped on some clothes, and visited the local shopping centre.

I already owned a nice collared shirt, which I took to the professional dry-cleaners to have it steam-pressed. I can iron, but long sleeved collared shirts are very difficult to get perfect. Next, I got a long-needed hair trim before finally searching for a nice pair of trousers and shoes. After spending about an hour looking around, I finally came across a nice pair of black, pin-stripped trousers that were around $60. Furthermore, I had to get them altered, as they were a tad too long. This was an additional $16. In total, my new trousers cost $76. Lastly, I required a nice pair of leather shoes. After visiting several shoe stores, I discovered a pair that I was happy with. They were black, glossy and I picked them up for $65 from $130.

The end result.

In addition, one of my mates recently returned from overseas, and picked me up a very nice looking Amarini watch. It’s probably not genuine, but it looks great Cheers Riz.