I will write Ron Paul in if I have to. End the Fed.

He just makes sense, to me at least, and for the first time ever, my wife took interest in politics this year. I voted for Ron Paul in 2008, and would have voted for him in 1988 the first time he ran if I could have. In this post I will use Barrack Obama and Mitt Romney synonymously - as I quite honestly see them in the same boat: Ball-Players. They both play political games, whether it’s for a few extra votes, or a few million in endorsements. Meanwhile, we have Ron Paul, who suspended active campaigning two days ago because it would take multi-millions of dollars to keep doing such; he won’t spend money he doesn’t have. Is his campaign over? Nope. He’s already won. Whether or not Ron Paul becomes President is beyond my point, there is a new breed of political activists finally emerging, in the thousands. People are beginning to understand what made this country great in the first place: personal freedom. Freedom of choice, religion, you name it: Ron Paul supports it. It is not the place of the government to say hey: you CAN’T put that in your body. Hey: you NEED to have health insurance no matter what, at least this crappy one we won’t use ourselves. It’s also not the place of our government to be letting corporations and lobbyists make laws and decisions that we the people have never even weighed in on. It’s not the place of The United States government to make abortions, gay marriage, or even cocaine illegal. We are humans, these are our rights given to us in the Constitution. If a state majority  wants to make something illegal or legal, voted on by the people: more power to them, but this nonsense about our government limiting internet access and blocking sites is just plain ridiculous. Our troops overseas to “restore order” is ridiculous. Government bailouts are ridiculous. Inflating the economy when we have nothing to back it up is ridiculous. Having to pay the government to get married is ridiculous.

The Ball-Players have garnished money for their campaigns through corporatism (JP Morgan, Bank of America, Etc) and why not, corporations run America right now. Not to be confused with Capitalism and free-market, which runs without interference OR reliance on government. Ron Paul has received more donations from active military members than the other two combined. He has next to no corporate support - yet he is still running, turning heads, and making an impact on tomorrow. He is a voice that many of us have been waiting for, and it’s going to keep echoing. Obama pledges this and that. Mitt pledges this and that. In the end, America still looks the same in 4 years… a few laws have changed, but overall, America becomes more and more reliant on other countries, and another few trillion dollars in debt. Ron Paul stands for the change that many were/are lead to believe that Obama stands for; give me a break. He said he supports gay marriage, good job, you said that in Southern California at George Clooney’s house and walked away with a few million dollars. Ron Paul thinks Marriage should be in a Church between man and a woman, and that is his personal belief, but politically he believes that MARRIAGE IS A PERSONAL ISSUE AND THEREFORE SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE GOVERNMENT - Which is true “separation of Church and State” if you will.  If YOU think that marriage is between a man and man or woman and woman, that is your prerogative, under Ron Paul, it would be legal no matter how you define it - that my friends is the point. Personal Liberty, not big government. 

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Give Hockey a shot. My wife did, and now she loves it. It’s fast, it’s gritty, and it takes a lot more skill and athleticism than ANY OTHER SPORT. There is an 80+ game regular season which is played on less than an inch of steel, on ice, against 5 other people who want nothing more than to knock your block off as you use a stick to try and get a very small heavy-weighted circle past a cat-reflexed man into a net only arms length wide. And as a goaltender, there is nothing harder than trying to read the eyes, body language, and puck position of a shooter, while he zips this heavy object toward you at more than 70 miles per hour and there are 2 players skating in front of you talking smack and blocking your view.

NHL Playoff Hockey is exciting. I won’t explain the rules, they aren’t hard to figure out; and NBC is showing every playoff game on their networks this season. Go to a real NHL game - it’s insane and it’s a lot of beer, fighting, and good fun.

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Art Is Resistance

The not-so Official Halo Reach Pen Holder! Only $2.79 at your local Target.

To be fair, I praised Microsoft and Nokia for their recent Advertising trends… but they still have a hidden-gem hit on their hands that only about 10 people including my wife and I use.

In September 2006, Microsoft released the Zune MP3 player - a direct competitor to Apple’s iPod. If memory serves me correctly, here is a timeline.

2001 = Original iPod.

2004 = Color iPod.

2006 = Zune Player.

2008 = iPod Touch.

So we have this relatively ugly looking iPod competitor from corporate “Evil Empire” Microsoft releasing in-between the first Apple “Underdog” Color iPod and the first iPod Touch.

Released a FULL TWO YEARS BEFORE iPod Touch, the original Zune sported:

-Unlimited Music listening through a monthly “Zune Pass”

-Radio FM Built In

-WiFi

-Music Sharing (Send a song through WiFi to another Zune player)

-Movie Playback

-A Social Network of listeners (What’s up “Ping”)

What the heck??? a built in radio? Music sharing? WiFi? If only my iPod had this…

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If/When we migrate the family to the silicon valley of rain, here is my train of thought:

1. Microsoft. Google. Amazon.
2. Fresh Air
3. No Income Tax
4. I can afford a yard there
5. California does not fit in the previous 4 items I just listed
6. Microsoft.
7. I can walk to Canada instead of Mexico
8. My wife tells me Twilight was filmed in Washington (and IMDB confirms)*

*Washington may or may not actually have a vampire and werewolf population.

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UK Windows Phone Launch - “4D Lightshow”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX2Gd-kqV5s

(Kudos to Nokia, Microsoft, and especially Deadmau5 for actually making a phone look good. )

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The Dog Shack: wrap design, website, logo, etc. (created by Jamon Siefert | Circa 2011)

filmed in North Park San Diego | circa 2009 by Jamon Siefert

Xbox Live Gamertag: mr Deutsche

The Day The Whole World Went Away… (Circa 2011 by Jamon Siefert | In memory of Ernest Siefert Sr. | Acrylic on Canvas)

For employers or inquisitive friendlies, here is what I am good at (you can also find me on Linkedin):

Design:

• Photoshop
• Illustrator
• InDesign

Development:

• Can build for Mobile Optimized and Desktop Platforms
• Dreamweaver/MS Visual Studio
• Strong knowledge of HTML and CSS
• Moderate knowledge of Javascript
• Proficient in WordPress/Drupal/Ektron and other common CMS systems

Other:

• Final Cut and After Effects 
• Microsoft Office Suite (Powerpoint, Word, Excel)
• Apple iWork (Pages, Numbers, Keynote)
• Cross-Platform (Mac OS/PC Windows) proficient

Jamon (‘jaymin’) is my name, art and design is my game.

I am a graduate of The Art Institute of California - San Diego, and have a Bachelors Degree with honors in Advertising. I have worked diligently in two full-service ad agencies including Boom Marketing & Communications in Chicago, and my current job as Junior Designer/Developer with Aviatech Integrated Marketing Solutions stationed in San Diego. Beside my “in-house” experience, years of one-on-one study with professionals in the field at The Art Institute of Illinois, California, Azusa Pacific and The College of DuPage as well as a strong personal drive have helped me to sharpen and broaden my skill set.

I started learning the digital frontier at a young age, having access to computers and what existed of “the internet” (anyone remember Prodigy?) back as an adolescent fueled my desire to be on the cutting edge throughout the course of growing up. By high school I knew my calling was somewhere in the mix of technology and art; I was fortunate enough to take classes at West Chicago (and at nearby community colleges) focusing on digital photo composition, print production, cinematography/video editing, motion graphics, and programming.

With high school out of the way in Chicago, and a strong foundation to work with, I studied Cinema and Broadcast arts for 18 months at Azusa Pacific University in Los Angeles. Afterward, I moved down to San Diego, and started an advertising degree at The Art Institute with a focus on design and the psychology behind marketing. Concurrently, I was working for Apple, Inc - which not only provided an outlet of technological knowledge, but also introduced me to my wife, the love of my life who supports and encourages me and my work non-stop.

After graduating, I was quickly scooped up as a general contractor with Aviatech, where I began to hone my development skills (while keeping my design intact). After a years time, I am now quite comfortable with HTML(5), CSS(3), .NET, Javascript, Wordpress, Drupal, Ektron, and SEO. 

To put it simply: I am a jack of all trades. I know print and digital design like the back of my hand. I can develop and make multi-page websites functional, and get them to the top of Google searches with relative ease.

The road ahead of me is a long one, and I am both eager and excited to see where my career goes next!