<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[DropSoul.com Creative Stuff]]></title><description><![CDATA[Articles]]></description><link>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/</link><copyright><![CDATA[Copyright DropSoul.com Creative Stuff]]></copyright><generator>sNews CMS</generator><item><title><![CDATA[Went to India]]></title><description><![CDATA[  I am closing the shop until I return from India. Check back around the end of July.  

  I'd write more, but I'm too busy!  ]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 18 Jun 2008 13:24:34 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/this-and-that/went-to-india/</link><guid>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/this-and-that/went-to-india/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Cool T-shirt Designs (and other stuff too)]]></title><description><![CDATA[      

  My t-shirt designs (and some posters too) at RedBubble.  

  Sorry, this page does not validate due to this funky embed thingy from RedBubble.  

  ]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 17 Jun 2008 21:50:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/t-shirt-news/cool-tshirt-designs/</link><guid>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/t-shirt-news/cool-tshirt-designs/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Latest Web Design Work]]></title><description><![CDATA[  As you can see by the other post, I'm going to India! Yeah! But first I wanted to add some links to some of my latest projects. Due to a severe lack of time, I'm not posting images, just the links. I am very pleased with this work, as it shows that I have the ability to adapt to the client's needs and not be a one-hit-wonder with respect to design. All are clean, but they all look, at least to me, like a different designer did each:  

  (You'll have to hit the back button, since each opens in this window.)  

  

    Visionary Centre for Women Gynecologist and Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation    
    Tych Walker Architects South Carolina    
    Maritime Legal Counsel Maritime Attorney    
    Laurie Blum Painter    
    GrayHawkYoga Scottsdale Arizona Yoga Studio    
    KoolMoves beta site    Note: The flash doesn't work since this is being provided by the client and they are not finished yet.  
    Bamboo Apartments Anna Maria Island Florida Rentals    
    SunFlower Private School (this was adapted from another designer's design)    
  

  Note: Many times the colors and sometimes the fonts are chosen by the client. All the designs above already had logos, so I didn't design any of them. I am particularly fond of the brown and aqua colors of VisionaryCentreforWomen.com, which were suggested by the client.  ]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:28:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/dropsoul-news/latest-web-design-work/</link><guid>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/dropsoul-news/latest-web-design-work/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Putting words on your web site (and other stuff)]]></title><description><![CDATA[  If you need help coming up with your copy, please consider hiring a writer. That&rsquo;s what they do. Your focus should be on your thing and they can interview you and write about your thing.  

  Before you begin work, release your fear. Fear seriously curtails creative thinking.
  

  The content for a web site is the same for any type of effective communication. It is to answer the following questions:  

  
  Why &mdash; what&rsquo;s in it for me (the customer is the "me")?  
  Who &mdash; who are you?  
  What &mdash; your services and the benefits of those services  
  Where &mdash; contact  
  When &mdash; if you give seminars or events  
  


    WHY is the most important.   Do your very best to answer the question of "What's in it for me?" from the perspective of your potential clients. Keep the answers short and to the point.  

  If the poop hits the propeller, why would I need your legal services? What sets you apart? What can you do for me? If you are a pet groomer, do you have more convenient hours? Do you also give doggy massages and Reiki treatments? I&rsquo;m serious. Don&rsquo;t laugh ;-)   

  The rest of a site is back to the main "Why" point. If you are writing about your experience in the "Who" text, then links to some of the points might be added to the "What" text.
  


  Can you sum up your business in one short paragraph? It&rsquo;s a great exercise.  

  If you were your own client, what questions would you ask? Answer those questions for a FAQ section on your site. Run them by your customers too. Ask your customers for help. Having an FAQ will save you a lot of time in the future, give you content for your other material, and use all kinds of key words that search engines nosh on.  
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:48:56 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/dropsoul-news/putting-words-on-your-web-site-and-other-stuff/</link><guid>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/dropsoul-news/putting-words-on-your-web-site-and-other-stuff/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[RedBubble.com Print on Demand T-shirts]]></title><description><![CDATA[  I've loaded most of my newer and older t-shirt designs on a my new favorite POD service called   RedBubble.com  . After trying CafePress, Zazzle, and Spreadshirt,   RedBubble.com   is my favorite. I've sold quite a few shirts in 15 days since I started loading up my files &mdash; especially the OM Cat!
  

  Why is RedBubble so cool?  

  
  All sweat shop free (verified) American made clothing made with ring spun cotton.  
  Hight quality: I ordered a shirt with white text on chocolate brown and it looked silk screened. I couldn't pick off the image. Really fantastic.  
  Easy to use for both the browser and the artist, but they need to improve a few things (which they are doing in the next few weeks). I love the clean, easy to use design on their site. Having a white background showcases the work.  
  

  There's so much more, but I'm too sleepy to write about it now.  ]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 19 Mar 2008 22:39:50 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/t-shirt-news/redbubblecom-print-on-demand-tshirts/</link><guid>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/t-shirt-news/redbubblecom-print-on-demand-tshirts/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Union Made T-shirts now at Zazzle!]]></title><description><![CDATA[  Yipee! Zazzle now has three excellent sweat shop free clothing lines to choose from: Union Made, American Apparel, and Edun live. Edun live is Fair Trade and is Bono's (U2) ethical clothing line.  

  Check out my   Zazzle t-shirt   gallery (store) with all my funky, strange, though-provoking, silly, designs &mdash; even more than my portfolio on this site.  


]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 17 Mar 2008 13:40:47 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/t-shirt-news/union-made-tshirts-now-at-zazzle/</link><guid>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/t-shirt-news/union-made-tshirts-now-at-zazzle/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[CSS Cleaner for Pretty, Compressed,  CSS styles]]></title><description><![CDATA[  I don’t know about you, but when I make a style sheet, I’m pretty messy. In the past I’d have a lot of classes and divs. In the last year or so, I use hierarchy (div#header p ... or body.home div#header ...). This is much better and results in less divs and classes. This is a newer way for me (it’s good to read a book, rather than go at it alone), so it’s not seen in the style sheet for this site, for the most part.  

  I usually write the style on a long line and then I’ll go back and indent to make it look better and easier to read, but not if I’m in a rush. Now I can clean up my CSS automatically with   CSS Cleaner  , a free online tool. I paste in my sheet and get it spit back with clean, consistent formatting in a variety of ways. It will even compress it 30-40% and make it hard to read, if you want that. 
  
  I just started using it this week. I love it!  

]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 02 Mar 2008 11:49:34 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/css-and-xhtml-tips-and-tricks/css-cleaner-for-pretty-compressed-css-styles/</link><guid>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/css-and-xhtml-tips-and-tricks/css-cleaner-for-pretty-compressed-css-styles/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Green Carbon Neutral Web Hosting]]></title><description><![CDATA[  Earth friendly web hosting is provided by:  
		  


    ThinkHost &mdash; Wind and Solar Powered    Powered by 100% renewable energy &mdash; a solar and wind power mix. Their offices are run on wind and solar and they offset the rest with green tags which feeds the grid with renewable energy. It really rocks. They are also Coop America approved for people and planet. Their site has loads of cool information and they have a very robust, feature rich plan.   Learn More    


    Host Papa    Hostpapa provides earth friendly, carbon neutral hosting for 5.95-7.95 a month. 300 GB Disk Spacem Host 11 Domain Names on one account, 1 Free Domain Name for Life, 3000 GB Bandwidth, and much more.  


    DreamHost    DreamHost offers the mother load of features starting at $5.95 per month &bull; Over 150 GB of disk space and 1600 GB bandwidth (transfer), even on the level 1plan. The disk space also increases by 1 GB a week, so you can load as many photos, music and videos as you want. Unlike competitor hosting plans, you&rsquo;ll most likely never run out of space. And when your site gets super busy, you won&rsquo;t run out of bandwidth either &bull; 97 Money Back Guarantee &bull; Unlimited MySQL databases &bull; Free Domain Name for life! Please explore our site to learn more about this ultimate hosting plan, run by a employee owned cooperative.  



		  ]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 16 Feb 2008 11:16:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/web-hosting/green-carbon-neutral-web-hosting/</link><guid>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/web-hosting/green-carbon-neutral-web-hosting/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Site Down Due to Apache 2 Upgrade]]></title><description><![CDATA[  Man! I wish hosting companies would tell their customers that they are doing upgrades and that the site will be down. I also wish that they would do the upgrades in the middle of the night and not in the middle of the business day.   

  All my sites were down a couple hours yesterday, but my portfolio was 500 server errors and or blank for about 24 hours (I didn't know, because I have a lot on my plate right now).  

  You see, I use an older, modified version of Zen Photo, so I'm not in the mood (and don't have the time) to upgrade right now. The .htaccess file was working great for the last year, but due to the Apache upgrade, it has incompatible code. I found this out after waiting a long time on hold with the hosting company &mdash; unhelpful to fix it I might add. I'm no programmer &mdash; I know jack squat about .htaccess except for the basics. This particular .htaccess file has lots of Rewrite Rules like: "^([^/]+)/image/(thumb|[0-9]{1,4})/([^/]+)$" &mdash; nice huh?  

  This is the file that comes with the script, and since it's an open source script, I knew I'd be waiting a day or so for the answer to fix this (I'd have to wait even for a paid script). So I literally prayed and looked at the file, and then I had the intuition to remove the backslashes and the ? (question mark) signs (question mark signs that are not part of a path, or url) and then I reloaded it and it worked!   

  Whew!  ]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 10 Jan 2008 21:02:06 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/dropsoul-news/site-down-due-to-apache-2-upgrade/</link><guid>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/dropsoul-news/site-down-due-to-apache-2-upgrade/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Mysterious Orange Flashing Light on Dell Desktop Computer]]></title><description><![CDATA[  Happy Holidays!  


  I do all my design work on a Mac, but I test on a WinTel. Last week, on the 16th, my Dell just stopped working. No sound, no fan ... nothing. Nothing except a mysterious orange flashing light that emitted from the power button. I tried many things and couldn't resolve the problem. I was really bummed out, but I need another computer, I can't test anything without it. That PC has IE 5, 6, 7, and FireFox, Opera, Safari 3, and Netscape. Perfect for testing my web sites.  

  
So I went to   Discount PC and bought an HP  . It was supposed to be here on Friday, but it's still not here.
  

  Last night, my brother and his family came over to do the Christmas eve gift thing. Being a Mac person as well, I didn't tell him about the mysterious orange light. But it came up in the course of the evening. He went over to the Dell and held the power button down for a very, very long time. It's working great now!!! Since my brother has another music school he just opened up, he needs an additional PC, so he's going the buy the one I just bought too (when it gets here). That worked out well.  

  I hope this helps someone out there.  

    Update:  Once I turned it off, it happened again and wound't start again. The power supply is messed up. That's getting replaced and all should be well.  ]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 25 Dec 2007 09:11:24 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/this-and-that/mysterious-orange-flashing-light-on-dell-desktop-computer/</link><guid>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/this-and-that/mysterious-orange-flashing-light-on-dell-desktop-computer/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Neighbor&#039;s Dog Killed My Kitten]]></title><description><![CDATA[  Silvie was the most beautiful kitten (almost cat). She was just 4 months old and I must of kissed her 50 times a day. She was my daughter Mani's baby. Mani was very in love with Silvie and is so deeply sad now. Slivie was just luxury in cat form and so trusting and playful. She was also not afraid of anything, and that did her in. She went under the fence and the pit bull next door broke her neck. I will miss her forever.  

  Anyway, I just hired someone to build a gazebo of sorts with a 45 degree angle at the top, it's going to be a beautiful cat area of the yard so they can't escape again. I'm keeping the other cats in for the time being. 
  
  There's a Muslim/Sufi saying, "Trust God, but tie up your camel". Yep. That doesn't mean to tie up an animal. Unfortunately people look at the external words. It means: hold your kid's hand when they walk down steps. It means: wash your hands and take your vitamins. It means "do your part and let the universe or God do the rest". It means: build a large outside enclosure (complete with garden) to protect the cats from being killed, and protect the birds and little rabbits from getting killed by the cats.  

  I like pit bulls. Let me qualify that: When a child or a dog is raised by a balanced, calm person, they are quite nice beings to befriend. The pit bulls in Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan's family are gentle, friendly, and sweet. Even to other dogs. Karen Dawn, founder and awesome writer of DawnWatch.com and the best book on Animal Rights and Welfare "  Thanking the Monkey  ", has a soft spot for pit bulls, and all the other animals in the world for that matter. Her dog-daughter Paula is sublime. Please visit   http://www.BadRap.org   to learn more about pit bulls.  ]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 20 Dec 2007 11:45:13 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/dropsoul-news/the-neighbors-dog-killed-my-kitten/</link><guid>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/dropsoul-news/the-neighbors-dog-killed-my-kitten/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Client Testimonals]]></title><description><![CDATA[    I opened up the website &mdash; it is so beautiful, I cried!  I am serious &mdash; wow!!!  You put so much work into it ... it is phenomenal!!!!  I love what you did with the sailboat picture, and how the sand blends into the background of the page, and how the photo gallery works, and how the google map works and and and!!!  It&rsquo;s a lot to absorb, and I know I haven&rsquo;t found all the treasures you&rsquo;ve buried.     
 
    Mom and I are so grateful!! &ldquo;Thank you&rdquo; seems so inadequate to cover this &mdash; but THANK YOU!!!    

  &mdash; Alice Sutton,   Bamboo Apartments on Anna Maria Island    

    


    I can honestly say I&rsquo;ve not worked with anyone more creative and talented in web design than Christina. She turned my crappy Cafepress site into a dandy-looking money maker, and the site she built for my appearance in Florida (and my 2007 Tour) is even cooler than my own Bizarro site. I can&rsquo;t thank her enough.    
  &mdash; Dan Piraro, Nationally Syndicated Cartoonist of   Bizarro    

    

    Creative&hellip; innovative&hellip; hardworking&hellip; dedicated&hellip; a thinker&hellip;ethical&hellip; reliable&hellip; all of these words come to mind when asked to describe Christina Arasmo of DropSoul. As a graphic designer, I was searching for a web designer with not only technical skill, but also a strong understanding of graphic design.    
    Christina&rsquo;s experience working in the graphic design industry coupled with her technical skill allows her to have a unique perspective.  She is able to produce a web presence that is fast, user friendly, and beautiful.    
    Christina&rsquo;s ability to listen to her clients and help them reach their target market is truly a gift.  I have a firm belief that Christina&rsquo;s talents will help my growing business send a positive, professional message to potential clients.  She was able to help provide a &ldquo;facelift&rdquo; to not only my businesses website but also to my Cafepress site.  I gave her very limited direction regarding my Cafepress site and I am still amazed that she not only captured my vision, but improved upon it.    
  
  Her upfront communication skills are very valuable.  She is honest about her time constraints and always provides a realistic timetable for project completion.  As a result, she often is able to finish a project ahead of schedule.    
  
  One would think that her service would come at price that a small, growing business could not afford.  However, I believe that her value system is such that she wants to help others succeed and thus charges rates that are very reasonable.    
  
  I would high recommend Christina Arasmo and DropSoul to any growing business. I feel that her skills and reliability are unparalleled.    
  &mdash; Heather Manning, President,   Heather Manning Design, Inc.     

    

    I have worked on projects with Christina for many years now. She is my Go-2 person for all things web related. As a graphic designer who has NOT gotten into designing websites, it&rsquo;s great for me to have someone I can call on to deliver a superb job for my clients. Christina is supremely honest, clearly creative, and a dream to work with. And...she&rsquo;s really really smart.     

  &mdash; Cheryl Pachell, InHere Design  

    

    Christina with DropSoul.com has created a website to perfectly suite the needs of our busy OB/GYN practice. Within a few weeks of &ldquo;going live&rdquo; we went to the top of the search engines. Her understanding of the way the system works has really improved our visibility on the internet. She knows how to take volumes of information and present it in a logical and pleasant way. Since launching in June 2007, we have had close to 8,000 visitors as of November, 2007 &mdash; which simply amazes me. Christina added Google analytics so that we can track where our visitors are coming from and how long they stay on our site, along with other useful information. I had a patient yesterday who said she found me on the internet and that she really liked the website.     

    We love our new website &mdash; it has exceeded our expectations.    

  &mdash; Dr. Jennifer Hayes,   Contemporary Women&rsquo;s Care    

]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 15 Nov 2007 08:57:05 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/testimonials/client-testimonals/</link><guid>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/testimonials/client-testimonals/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Site Updates]]></title><description><![CDATA[  I'm changing my blog around and the entire site too, so please stay tuned.  ]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 15 Nov 2007 08:09:21 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/dropsoul-news/site-updates/</link><guid>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/dropsoul-news/site-updates/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Easy Zero Cholesterol, Delicious, Vegan Brownies]]></title><description><![CDATA[  After trying at least five recipes for vegan brownies, all of which were tasty and equivalent to their conventional counterparts, I found this recipe and modified it. This particular recipe produces the BEST divine brownies. If you're a baker, you might find it odd as you prepare it, but have faith.  

  1 cup unsweetened applesauce  (use organic applesauce if you can &nbsp; apples are at the top of spray list  
1/2 cup sugar (turbinado is preferred)  
1 teaspoon vanilla  
1/3 cup cocoa powder  
3/4 cup  whole wheat   pastry flour    
2 teaspoons baking powder  
1/2 teaspoon salt  
1/2 teaspoon baking soda  
1/2 cup semisweet vegan chocolate chips  
  (Ghirardelli brand is the only true [and vegan] semi-sweet morsels found in most conventional grocery stores.)    
1/3 cup coarsely chopped walnuts  

  These brownies are lactose-free and cholesterol free. Walnuts are a great source of essential fatty acids.  

  1. Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease and flour a 9 x 9 baking pan. ( I use Spectrum brand, rather than Crisco, trans fat free grease.)  

  2. Mix the sugar, the vanilla, and the applesauce in one bowl. In a second bowl, whisk the cocoa, flour, salt, baking power, and baking soda together.  

  3. Using a spatula, form a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the applesauce mixture by gently folding it in until it's mixed &mdash; don't over mix. Then gently fold in chocolate chips and walnuts.  

  4. Spread the mixture in the greased and lightly floured pan and bake 20-25 min (if in a 9 x 9 pan) or 25-30 min in an 8 x 8 pan. It's near or at completion when you smell it the strongest. Look at it, does the center appear firm. Insert a toothpick, it should come out clean (or with a little of the melted semi sweet on it). Cool it completely before slicing (I put them in the fridge for 10 min on a glass shelf, uncovered). They must cool completely before cutting.  ]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 06 Oct 2007 09:18:59 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/freelance-designer/easy-zero-cholesterol-delicious-vegan-brownies/</link><guid>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/freelance-designer/easy-zero-cholesterol-delicious-vegan-brownies/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Signs of Intelligent Life]]></title><description><![CDATA[    Calvin and Hobbes (Bill Watterson)    
  The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us.    

      
  
See more at the coolest site ever (seriously):   BizarroArtist.org    ]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 04 Oct 2007 21:11:40 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/this-and-that/signs-of-intelligent-life/</link><guid>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/this-and-that/signs-of-intelligent-life/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Don&#039;t Tase Me, Bro! The Injustice and the T-shirt]]></title><description><![CDATA[  See it for yourself. Then get the the   "Don't Tase Me, Bro!" t-shirt.  


  
  
  
        
	  	  
			  
			  

				    

		  Andrew Meyer getting tasered by the police at a John Kerry speech. Injustice! Brutality!  
			    
  
  

          
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 19 Sep 2007 11:41:38 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/this-and-that/dont-tase-me-bro-the-injustice-and-the-tshirt/</link><guid>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/this-and-that/dont-tase-me-bro-the-injustice-and-the-tshirt/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Bealzabub has a devil set aside for me ... for meee]]></title><description><![CDATA[  This is   Edgar Cruz playing Bohemian Rhapsody   on guitar, all parts. It is sublime. Queen is my favorite rock band and Freddie Mercury my favorite singer/songwriter in the rock category (well, if you must know). Silly me.  


  
  
  
        
	  	  
			  
			  

				    

		  Edgar Cruz - Bohemian Rhapsody (classical guitar)  
			    
  
  

    Guitar lessons online. Classical guitar.    
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 13 Sep 2007 17:53:02 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/this-and-that/bealzabub-has-a-devil-set-aside-for-me-for-meee-/</link><guid>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/this-and-that/bealzabub-has-a-devil-set-aside-for-me-for-meee-/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Bizarro Cartoon: But He Like Killed]]></title><description><![CDATA[  This is one of my favorite Bizarro Cartoons, out of many!  

      

  See many more Bizarro Cartoons at the site that yours truly designed:   www.BizarroArtist.org    ]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 04 Sep 2007 19:23:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/this-and-that/bizarro-cartoon-but-he-like-killed/</link><guid>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/this-and-that/bizarro-cartoon-but-he-like-killed/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Brilliant Gandhi Quotes]]></title><description><![CDATA[  Here are a few of my favorite quotes by Mahatma Gandhi:  

    One needs to be slow to form convictions, but once formed they must be defended against the heaviest odds.    

    Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.    

    The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.    

    Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.    

    When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have 
always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it &mdash; always.
    

    You must be the change you want to see in the world.    

    You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.    

    What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?
  
      From   Non-Violence in Peace and War  
  

    Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary.   (Satyagraha Leaflet No. 13, May 3, 1919)  

    I think it would be a good idea.   (when asked what he thought of Western civilization)  

  According to Gandhi, the 7 sins are :  

  
  wealth without works,.  
  pleasure without conscience,  
  knowledge without character,  
  commerce without morality,  
  science without humanity,  
  worship without sacrifice,  
  and politics without principle.  
  


    The earth provides enough to satisfy every man&rsquo;s needs, but not every man&rsquo;s greed.     

    What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another.    

    We cannot have ecological movement designed to prevent violence against nature, unless the principle of non-violence becomes central to the ethics of human culture.     ]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 01 Sep 2007 08:01:07 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/this-and-that/brilliant-gandhi-quotes/</link><guid>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/this-and-that/brilliant-gandhi-quotes/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Dioxin Exposure : What the EPA says]]></title><description><![CDATA[  I occasionally get emails forwarded to me by well meaning friends regarding dioxins and plastic water bottles or plastic wrap. I always email back this bit of information about where people get the most dioxins, and it&rsquo;s not from plastic.
  

  Dioxins have been characterized by EPA as likely to be human carcinogens and are anticipated to increase the risk of cancer at background levels of exposure.  

      Most of us receive almost all of our dioxin exposure from the food we eat: specifically from the animal fats associated with eating beef, pork, poultry, fish, milk, dairy products.    

  &mdash; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency    

  Visit these links to learn more:  
  
    EPA Website    
    The Cancer Project Website    
    Dioxin Risk Article at TreeHugger    
  ]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 31 Aug 2007 18:14:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/this-and-that/dioxin-exposure-what-the-epa-says/</link><guid>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/this-and-that/dioxin-exposure-what-the-epa-says/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Diet and Depression]]></title><description><![CDATA[  
Alternet, my favorite source for un-corporate monger news, has just published an article entitled     Can Diet Help Stop Depression and Violence?    . It&rsquo;s a good read, but I warn you before you start downing a bunch of fish, that commercial fishing is playing a huge part in destroying the environment and that many types of   fish contain high doses of mercury  . Mercury is a neurotoxin &mdash; so much for the health benefits, huh?
   

  
So where do the fish get their Omegas? From the plants they eat! And we too can get them from plant sources. Flax seeds and oil, walnuts, navy and soy beans, hemp seeds/oil, and other sources. Even Smart Balance peanut butter is a fantastic source of Omega 3, and other essential fatty acids. Plus, kids will not want to swallow a horse-sized pill of fish oil, or eat fish every day (tuna is especially loaded with Mercury), so mix some flax oil in their yogurt (can&rsquo;t even taste it), use it in salad dressing and dips too. When I bake, I typically use ground up flax seeds as the binder, instead of eggs. Sprinkle hemp or flax seeds on your cereal, add them to your salad, and the tops of casseroles for a crunchy goodness. Yum!
  

  So kids, getting your essential fatty acids from plant sources is much more sustainable, it&rsquo;s healthier for you, and it&rsquo;s really healthy for the fishies too.  ]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 31 Aug 2007 10:00:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/this-and-that/diet-and-depression/</link><guid>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/this-and-that/diet-and-depression/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Rudolf Nureyev on the Muppet Show]]></title><description><![CDATA[  Last night I saw very interesting bio of Rudolf Nureyev on PBS. So sensitive and talented! I found this video on YouTube and had a good laugh. Enjoy!  

  
  
  
        
	  	  
			  
			  

				    

		  Get flash to play this.   
			    
  
  
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 30 Aug 2007 14:41:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/this-and-that/rudolf-nureyev-on-the-muppet-show/</link><guid>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/this-and-that/rudolf-nureyev-on-the-muppet-show/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Brand New Web Site and Blog]]></title><description><![CDATA[  Welcome to my portfolio and blog. I feel like I&rsquo;m starting over again: it&rsquo;s been years since I&rsquo;ve designed a site for myself. I decided to retire my old site   ChristinaCreative.com   in favor of this domain name, which I prefer since it&rsquo;s the one associated with my t-shirt designs &mdash; which are getting popular. I do them for fun, but it&rsquo;s especially nice to make recurring income. I also have many more ideas. I&rsquo;ll try to schedule adding new designs once a month.  

  My skills as a css/xhtml coder for websites is getting up to speed just now. Therefore, most of the work in my portfolio uses web 1.0 techniques. But at least you can see that I don&rsquo;t bite at the design part.
  

  I&rsquo;m no writer though. My prose leaves much to be desired. Hopefully, with this blog thing, I&rsquo;ll get better with practice.  

  Thanks for visiting!  ]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 30 Aug 2007 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/this-and-that/brand-new-web-site-and-blog/</link><guid>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/this-and-that/brand-new-web-site-and-blog/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[About Me]]></title><description><![CDATA[  This page is about me. Yeah, me. I value my opinion above all others, and you should too (value your opinion, that is). Wink.  

  My name is Christina Arasmo. I&rsquo;m a freelance web, print, and logo designer located in the Tampa Bay area of Florida (Tampa, Largo, Clearwater, Seminole, St. Petersburg, and the surrounding areas).  

  My focus is designing and developing content managed (CMS), easy to update, search engine optimized, css/xhtml valid non-flash web sites. Why? Because they work.  

  Enough about me.  

]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 29 Aug 2007 15:07:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/freelance-design-services/about-me/</link><guid>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/freelance-design-services/about-me/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Freelance Design Services and Rates]]></title><description><![CDATA[  I provide the following services, but I can&rsquo;t claim to do all the work. Occasionally, I work with php and/or javascript programmers to accomplish any non-standard functionality. Nevertheless, the majority of the time, there&rsquo;s a pre-existing script (whether open source or commercial) that will suite most needs without additional expense and time. Since I prefer to focus on a skill set that will bring you traffic, flash sites are not part of my repetroir. Though, I will outsource small flash areas of the page or do them myself. My focus is on clean, professional design created with web standards in mind. Speaking of standards, why not dump your Internet Explorer and   get a better browser now?    

  
  Web Design and/or Development
  
			  Content Management Systems (news, portals, etc.)  
			  Blogs  
			  Calendars  
			  Online Stores (Ecommerce)  
			  Link Directories  
			  Photo/Artist Portfolios  
    

	  Logo Design  
	  Print Design
  
	  Brochures  
	  Fliers (Flyers)  
	  Postcards/Mailers  
	  Posters  
	  JCards  
	  Stuff  
    
  



  Freelance Design Rates  

  Please visit my   hire me page   to get an estimate.  ]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 29 Aug 2007 11:56:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/freelance-design-services/freelance-design-services-and-rates/</link><guid>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/freelance-design-services/freelance-design-services-and-rates/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Business and Green (Earth Friendly) Hosting]]></title><description><![CDATA[
  Some of my  clients have a variety of hosting plans they&rsquo;ve chosen prior to contacting me, so I have the opportunity to get in to the administration section of these  plans and see how they work. I like what I&rsquo;ve seen, so I&rsquo;ve added some information about some of the plans I&rsquo;ve run accross. I use   BlueHost   because I was with them before I went green aware, they are really reliable, and  because it takes a long, long, long time to move database driven sites to them &mdash; or anywhere else for that matter. I just don&rsquo;t have the time these days. (I have many other sites besides this one). Plus   BlueHost   has toll free support and I like them as people. They&rsquo;ve had growing pains, but snap back really fast. I also have hosting with   DreamHost  , I like their plans too and the folks there, but not for database sites (too slow). I hope they get better.   
        
       
	  Wind/Solar Hosting Mix  

          ThinkHost    
        Excerpt from their site: All our hosting plans are 100% wind/solar powered. Added to that, most of our team members &quot;telecommute&quot; - saving thousands of gallons of fuel annually that would have otherwise been consumed in commuting to a traditional work environment. We use very little in terms of paper and encourage the use of notebook computers by our team to conserve electricity.  We recently also implemented a tree planting initiative - we plant a tree for every new client! Learn more in our social responsibility statement and social change  section.   
        
          100 GB Disk Space  
          Host Unlimited Domain Names on one account  
          1,000 GB Bandwidth  
          28-day money-back guarante  
        
	  
	    Prices  
	    
	             6 month plan - $17.95 x 6 = $107.70   
                 1 year plan - $14.95 x 12 = $179.40    
                 2 year plan - $7.95 x 24 = $190.80 - LIMITED OFFER SAVE $240  
	    
	  	  
          Visit ThinkHost.    
        
      
    
  
         
        Green Friendly  
          HostPapa    
        HostPapa has a solid foundation to offer a hosting solution for small-to-medium sized businesses that is reliable, easy-to-use, and customer service-oriented, all for a low cost of $5.95 a month to $7.95 a month.  
        
            1500 GB Disk Space  
            Host Unlimited Domain Names on one account  
            1 Free Domain Name for Life  
          15,000 GB Bandwidth  
          Personal Website Tools  
          FREE Setup! Save $29.95!  
          FREE Soholaunch site builder software  
          30-day money-back guarantee  
        
          Great quality, green hosting services.      Visit HostPapa.    
        
      
    
  
  
  
	      
	
    
  Awesome Support  
	    BlueHost    
				  BlueHost&rsquo;s Web Hosting plans include all the features you&rsquo;ll ever need at the best possible price! Plus they have fantastic support, either by phone, chat, or email.    

						  
						  
						  Host Unlimited Domains on 1 Account    
						  24/7 Superb / Responsive Sales / Support  
						  2 500 POP/Imap Email Accounts  
						  SSH (Secure Shell)  
						  
				    You already have a domain name or web site?  
				  They&rsquo;ll help you setup your domain. Being a cPanel host, they make your life easy!   Check it out!    
				    

    


  
  

  
	
	       
	


  
  Green Hosting  
	    DreamHost    
	
				  Top Ten Reasons for   DreamHost  :   

  
    No risk:     DreamHost   has the industry&rsquo;s longest and most complete guarantee: a 97 days refund. If you sign up for a plan and you think it stinks, you can get your full purchase price (less the 9.95 domain registration, if you used that option). You&rsquo;ll even get the set up fee refunded if you signed up for the month-to-month plan. So you loose nothing. In fact, if you use the ECOFRIENDLY10 coupon code, you don&rsquo;t even loose the domain registration price as you get $10.00 off with that coupon.   

    Carbon Neutral:     DreamHost   has offset their carbon power usage with green certificates to fund alternative, earth friendly power.    

    Employee Owned Cooperative:   This is a progressive company and greatly helps them offer one of the best customer support teams in the Internet world. When people are treated like people and not peons, it trickles down to the customer base. (That&rsquo;s NOT to be confused with trickle down economics, which means that we get pissed on! ;-))   

    Massive amount of  space and bandwidth:   Even on the lowest price plan,   DreamHost   provides over 150 GB of disk space and 1600 GB bandwidth. Your disk space  increases by 10 GB a month and your bandwidth increases by 1GB a month. It&rsquo;s fantastic! This means can upload as many photos, music, and videos as you want without worrying about running out of space or getting over charges like the other hosting providers charge.   

    Unlimited Domains on One Account:   You can host as many domain names as you want with Dreamhost. So if you have mulitple businesses or would like some sites for your family or friends, you can have them under one account and only pay the one hosting fee per month. This is unreal!   

    Unlimited MySQL databases:   Host unlimited blogs and CMS powered websites with 1 click easy installation of popular free software like Joomla, Gallery, Calendar, Wordpress or ZenCart.  

    Easy Installations:   One click installation of the most popular, least buggy, open source powerful programs like ZenCart, Wordpress, Joomla, Gallery, and more!   
    One Free (as in Free Beer) Domain Name:   Every new account at   DreamHost   gets a free domain name for life. As long as you remain their customer, they will pay for that domain name ($9.95/year value) for you.   

    Top 15 Hosting Company:     DreamHost   serves more than 500,000 domains. They are one of top 15 hosts on the Internet.  

    Transparency:   They are open about any server issues that are occurring and you can check out their status page anytime. ALL hosts have issues, but most deny them (they tell you that it&rsquo;s your problem). 
  
  
  
  

    










  ]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 19 Aug 2007 15:26:28 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/web-hosting/business-and-green-earth-friendly-hosting/</link><guid>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/web-hosting/business-and-green-earth-friendly-hosting/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Hire Me]]></title><description><![CDATA[  Thanks for your interest. I am blushing! Please fill out the form below and I will get back to you very soon, or you can call me at 727-230-3025.  

  I am closing the shop until I return from India. Check back around the end of July.  


    


]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 19 Aug 2007 15:06:09 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/freelance-design-services/hire-me/</link><guid>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/freelance-design-services/hire-me/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Contact Me]]></title><description><![CDATA[
  I am closing the shop until I return from India. Check back around the end of July.  

]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 19 Aug 2007 15:06:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/freelance-design-services/contact-me/</link><guid>http://www.dropsoul.com/ds/freelance-design-services/contact-me/</guid></item></channel></rss>