As luck would have it, last September I married a Project Manager. My wife Christene has a ton of project management experience in both the private and public sector. She is incredibly detail-oriented and has experience overseeing technical staff. I’m happy to announce that she has become employee #2 of Layer 8.

Although this means she will essentially be my boss in all areas of life, I am very excited to have her on the team! She will undoubtedly bring a lot of value to our operations and, most importantly, our clients.

I like to help organizations that help people. Regardless of your line of work, I think it’s vital to give of your resources. Money is good to give, but giving of your time and talents is much more intimate, challenging, and often times more rewarding.

I make it a point to have at least one donated project going at any given time. At the time I write this, I just wrapped one up and have two more on the burner. I’m doing some logo design and web work for a private school and I’m building a website for a new foundation that raises awareness about cervical cancer. The project that I recently finished was for Christ the King Anglican Church in West Michigan (screenshot below).

I’m not writing this in a look-at-me-I’m-so-wonderful-and-thoughtful kind of way. I’m writing this to tell you that you’re missing out if you’re not giving your time. Plumber, fry cook, or a geek like me, I would really encourage you to donate your time in some way. Do it. You won’t regret it.

I’m also writing this to make sure you’re aware that we do this sort of thing. Are you part of an organization that helps people? Do you have needs that exceed your bank balance? You might consider getting in contact with us. Because we’re a small company we have to be very selective about where we give our time. Unfortunately, we can’t provide our services at no cost to everyone who requests help. But we would still love to hear from you!

The Cause

PMD awareness. What are Perinatal Mood Disorders, you ask? Good question.

Women [and men] of every culture, age, income level and race can develop perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. Symptoms can appear any time during pregnancy and the first 12 months after childbirth. There are effective and well-researched treatment options to help you recover. Although the term “postpartum depression” is most often used, there are actually several forms of illness that women may experience…

What I didn’t realize was that Postpartum Depression is only one of many types of Perinatal Mood Disorders. Anxiety, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Psychosis may all be experienced during and after pregnancy.

The Lake

Have you ever seen Lake Michigan? Upon seeing it for her first time last year, my wife was convinced that it was an ocean. It’s not a “Hey, let’s paddle the canoe to the other side of the lake” type of lake. It is a major body of water, with 1,659 miles of shoreline and 22,278 square miles of surface area.

At times, or perhaps often times, it’s cold, rough, and dangerous. There have been hundreds of shipwrecks – like the 338′ car ferry SS Milwaukee that sank in October of 1929 with 52 men on board. That’s a rather big boat, yes?

The Swim

Naturally, Jeff and Sara decided to swim across that lake. Again, I must invoke a seriously in parentheses. (Seriously.)

In August of 2012 (around the 15th – 17th, depending on weather conditions), we’ll be crossing Lake Michigan at its midpoint. Straight across, this is a 50 mile swim… an ultra-marathon swim. With current and wind and the ever-changing, unpredictable weather on the lake, the likelihood is we’ll swim between 55 and 60 miles when we step on the beach in Ludington, Michigan.

The Call to Action

I would encourage you to visit Through the Blue and learn more about their important cause, their upcoming swim, and how you can get involved. While you’re at it, take a moment and appreciate the dynamite job he did on the website. (You were wondering when I would mention something Web-related weren’t you?) Terrific work all around.

I am eager to see them both walk onto the shore in Ludington after completing their historic and inspirational journey.

Christene obliged. The dip was so magnificent that I thought it was worthy of a blog post all its own. I had hoped for a photo showing the distinct layers, but they all blended together to form a heavenly goo. I will try to get my shot next year.

Happy New Year, everyone!

As much as I would have loved to fire up my team to bang out a from-scratch website of epic proportions, we’re all too busy doing that very thing for clients. And client work obviously comes first. I also considered building the site (once again) from the ground up – but I’d bypass my design obsessing process. Know thyself.

As a small business owner, I have limited resources. So, this time around, I did it on the cheap. How? I bought a WordPress theme, did some customization, and added my content. The result? I spent days instead of weeks putting the site together.

This is not something I would ever do with a client site (unless the client requested it). All of our designs are fresh, from-scratch, and unique. But for a guy wanting to roll out a site in short order: it was awesome.