This is the part where I am supposed to say all kinds of laudatory things about myself. I’m such a talented guy, so easy and fun to work with, humble and I even look good in a suit in case you need me to go to meetings representing your company.
At least some of this stuff is true. I don’t look particularly comfortable in a suit and tie, but I’m quick on my feet and I stay focused on the mission objective in clutch situations.
I’m easy and fun to work with as long as you’re the boss or I am. If you are in a lateral position to me and impede my progress, or attempt to dilute the client’s vision, I understand I am considerably less fun to work with.
Talented? Nah. Talent, you’re born with. Skills you have to work at, and I’ve had to work at everything I’ve tried, even the stuff I enjoy. If it’s too easy, I get bored and lose interest. Or place impediments in my own way to keep me from losing interest.
When this site launched in 1999, it wasn’t anything much more than me squatting on a domain name. Later on, when we moved away from Southern California—pre-blog, Facebook and Twitter—this site was a pretty good way to keep far-flung friends and relations up to speed on what was happening in our new lives.
Then after our son, Luke, was born in 2005, this site was back-burnered while I threw everything I had into parenting. Everything was put on hold that first year; so many hundreds of miles away from the friends-and-family infrastructure that made all our friends’ child-rearing experiences seem so effortless by comparison.
Now he’s five years old, and more than ready to make his own way in the world, so I am putting myself back on the market, and am using this website as Ground Zero for re-employmentification efforts.
One heap of praise I forgot to mention—then disparage—above is my multifunctionality.
• I got your websites. All the old websites I have from pre-parenthood are long gone, and because Google is so much smarter than I am, I can’t hide them on back pages anymore. Just like website tech, I am starting over on my client base too. I did this website in a 3-day weekend using WordPress, which is a miracle worker! I did a couple of others already, too. If you want something on your website, I and my crack I.T. team will figure out a way to get it on there.
• I got your writing. I had a local-music review column in a neighborhood SoCal paper for six years back in the ’90s, I’ve had various op/ed and entertainment criticisms published, and of course the Web offers all kinds of different ways for one to express oneself using the English language. I’ve also written extensively on parenting and done a considerable amount of editing and rewriting, too. If you like your ideas but are not satisfied with how you express them, I can help.
• I got your photography. Especially if it involves people in their own environments. I did a lot of studio photography during the ’90s, but most of what has stood the test of time (and good taste) are the live events and environmental portraits I’ve shot. Whether your band has a big gig coming up or you’re planning on getting married, if you’re having an event and want a fly-on-the-wall perspective of it preserved for posterity, I am the guy to sneak in and get those shots for you.
• And just for nostalgia’s sake, I’ve even got your print design covered; I still have my light table from my short-lived business in the late-’80s in case actual paste-up is required! In the unlikely event you require materials prepared for print reproduction, I am totally the guy. I’ve done everything in the print business but set hot lead. Newspapers, brochures, ads, CD covers, wedding invitations, catalogs, magazines… if it used to be done in Quark XPress, I am your man. (I’m also cool with InDesign, in addition to the rest of Adobe’s fine suite of design products.)
I’m based in Idaho, but the Internet makes my physical location almost irrelevant with the kind of work I usually do. I learned everything I know in Southern California during stints as production manager for a printing company in Lakewood in the ’80s, as well as with a small chain of successful weeklies in Long Beach for a dozen years bracketing the ’90s. I still do work for several companies based in the Golden State.
So that’s what you need to know about me. If you think your needs and my skills might be a good match, please use the box below to contact me.
If you don’t want to talk to me about a job, you’re still welcome to hang around and browse. There’s a lot of swell content on this site and I learned plenty of excellent new web tricks to present it in the coolest ways possible. The longest part of re-launching this site was selecting and preparing the content, some of which is rather old and most of which I am still fairly (or unfairly) proud of.
Thanks for stopping by.
—Pete Brooks, 2/21/11
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© 2011 petebrooks.com
