magicbeans. nothing if not awkward.

Eddie was working from home, but called with notes about the bank broadcast graphic. 'Don't take any of this personally,' he said. 'First, there's too many overlapping flagscapes. The bank would never go for that. Second, I don't know what this snaking white line is supposed to be..'

'It's the Charles River.' I had used an aerial photo of Boston for background texture.

'Well it's too abstract. Get rid of it. And I hate the sponge-paint texture in the sky.'

'Okay.'

'And the buildings still need to be softer. The high-contrast black and white is too much. I know it's supposed to be blue, but it's still to contrasty. They need to be more transparent. Using white as a colour is okay.'

I sent him an iteration mid-day. He asked, 'I don't know what that building in the middle is..'

'It's the Boston city hall.' That's what happens when an architect chooses the buildings to appear in your graphic.

'Well, could you switch the position of the city hall and Faneuil Hall, since Faneuil hall is so recognizable?'

'Actually..'

'It's not that easy?'

'It's not as easy as it should be. Because of the size of the file and the lack of power in my computer I've had to flatten things a little more than would be ideal.'

'Okay. Don't worry about it.'

I sent him another version at the end of the day. 'I really like it,' he said. 'It's a different approach, but I like it a lot. Just soften it up a little bit, and send it out for approval.'

---

And tonight I had to rush home from work to be around 'sometime between 6 and 9' when the cable guy was supposed to show up and fix my internet connection. But it was dark by that point and the only flashlight that the guy showed up with was a little keychain flashlight and he couldn't figure out which of the cables out on the roof was that one that was supposed to be coming into my apartment or where it was coming from.

He did tell me that I could get basic cable on my line, even though I'm only paying for internet service, if I hooked a TV up to it. (I don't have a TV.) And he pushed to get a new appointment scheduled for Friday morning, when I'll be off from work. Still, your working nights and that's the only flashlight you bring with you?