March 21, 2005

About

Hi, I’m Andrea

This is the personal site of Andrea Schwandt-Arbogast. I live in Eureka, California, and I am the Web Manager for Humboldt State University. I have been working professionally as a web designer since 1999. Prior to that I was pursuing a career in Biology. I have a Master’s in avian behavioral ecology from Wake Forest University in North Carolina, the result of 14 months of research in the Galápagos Islands. My life didn’t end up following the original plan, and somewhere along the way I fell into web design. And I knew I was at home. I am a strong proponent of web standards, and I love CSS. I am an academic at heart, and am working on bringing web standards to the University. On this site I will be exploring the similarities and differences between non-profit and for-profit web design.

Contact Me

You can if you’d like to get in touch.

About the Site Name

I named the site Interllectual these reasons:

  1. it exemplifies my cutting wit
  2. it gives a nod to my job, which is managing the internet (OK really the web, but webllectual wasn’t as funny) for an intellectual institution
  3. it makes fun of all the academic wonks and self-proclaimed intellectuals I work with everyday (I include myself in this group, but I’m smarter that all them other guys…)
  4. it embraces my biggest pet-peeve, which is spelling things wrong on purpose, especially for marketing (qwick, lite, nite, etc…)

About the Features

The Pet-Peeve Gallery, is a tribute to my biggest pet-peeve, the very American notion that spelling the name wrong will somehow inspire confidence in your product. The No Time Meter, tracks how many times I’ve heard someone at work tell me they “don’t have time� to do something. It is some kind of academic pissing contest to inflate your busy-ness factor. If you’re too busy to perform basic bodily functions you win. The ASAP Meter, tracks how often I get requests with unrealistic deadlines. It is a way for me to channel my frustration into humor.

About the Animals

This site design is a nod to my biological roots and a way to keep that past as part of my present. The featured animals are all ones I hope to someday see in their natural habitat. Zoos don’t count. Some of them are very common critters I just haven’t happened to spot yet, and some will take a major excursion and a lot of luck to ever see. Anything it’s not possible to see (sasquatch, ivory-billed woodpeckers, dodos) also don’t make the list. The color schemes come from photos of the animals and are accurate. The images come from old scientific illustrations and are highly stylized. They are pulled up randomly on reload. If the randomness drives you nuts, over on the Animals page you can choose your favorite animal and stick with it.
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