Jheri Curl Drip's Online Design Portfolio

👆My "Itty-bitty" Blog👇

As of January 6th, 2025:
Pacific Standard Time:
(This is My "Itty-bitty" Blog.)

This year, I am addressing bad-faith customers who colluded to remain non-paying during the U.S. pandemic.

In addition to that, and other smaller infractions against my personal and business interests, I am also tackling a decades-old typographical omission in an overseas record. This omission was manipulated by a former business partner in an attempt to deny me the ability to prove that I am the rightful individual referenced in a patent document. That document not only underscores my talent in my field but also highlights the former partner's incompetence in representing his country’s integrity when dealing with a foreign investor.

This betrayal had significant consequences. His actions caused his country to lose the confidence of serious U.S. investors that year, a loss that continues to affect the nation over three decades later. Betraying a benevolent investor is short-sighted, especially when that investor was offering intellectual capital—not with the intention of humiliation but to foster growth. The bad actor’s goal, however, was precisely to humiliate, undermining any potential for collaboration or goodwill.

This year's quote from me: “Reading and seeing are still better than believing, except in religion, where believing in a higher power is the beginning of everything.”

(I genuinely feel sorry for atheists, as most Americans do.)

Here is the link to the patent document I mentioned: US7792705. Search for "www.gamescape.co.nz" within the document to find the citation I discussed.

You’ll notice that the country’s records fail to include my name. This omission stems from a letter the former business partner wrote, falsely claiming that he imported me as labor for his business and that I absconded with his value because I refused to work for him without pay. Essentially, he claimed I was his work-visa recipient and accused me of defrauding the Crown (the Queen of England) out of 800 overseas dollars—money he used to pay his child support.

This individual is a deadbeat dad and seems to believe I’ve forgotten about him. I haven’t.

Here is the URL to the patent document: https://patents.google.com/patent/US7792705

Search for "www.gamescape.co.nz" and you will find this entry: "Gamescape," Added to the Wayback machine on Mar. 27, 1997, [online], [retrieved on Jan. 10, 2006] Retrieved from the Internet URL:http://web.archive.org/web/19970327013415/http://www.gamescape.co.nz/.

This means that my site, in that country, was cited and permanently added to Amazon.com Services, LLC's patent document and included in the first filing which was began on September 12, 1997. To be cited as unique by Amazon.com's attorneys for my very first web-business, in nothing short of incredible. It also shows what has held me back all of these years – envy.

I have encountered it everywhere I have worked and it has run me out of all of my most promising roles. All recruiters need to be aware of this before ever attempting to work with me becuase envious employers attempt to steal skills from those who have skills they covet for their team or for themselves or their family. It is not at all arrogant. It is a real issue for professionals in the tech space in the United States and it is time that a major newspaper in the United Sates picked up this topic so I can tell this story, from hindsight, which is 20/20, to tell how it degrades the brilliance of a business person and their ideas until they are forgotten or stolen from someone on a better team that is free of that sin. Yes, it is a sin to harbor envy for another person's ability and success. This is why it's a sin. - Written by Mike Widener
- Copyright Creative Commons: BY ND.

👆Work History👇

This long and scrolling page, called a "funnel," lists a few of my favorite designs created using Adobe Creative Suite (all apps) and Apple Final Cut Pro (all versions).

2016 - Present

Self-employed:
Working Independently.

From 2016, Mike worked for sub-contractors as well as clients with ongoing needs because they purchased websites that were more complex than their available time allowed them to manage. To ease their transition, Mike continued providing support and, in the process, gained valuable insight into the distinctions between corporate, small business, and large-budget web project stakeholders. His experience includes being a successful one-man web start-up, a self-employed businessman creating web solutions for other small businesses, and a sub-contractor working for major corporations like IBM and the Department of Defense, sometimes through triple-layered sub-contracts. This breadth of roles enabled Mike to understand the unique strengths and challenges of various organizational ecosystems, as well as the decision-making dynamics that either resolved or perpetuated problems within them.
2015 - 2016

Full Sail University:
Studying Remotely.

Mike initially struggled with pricing his services, inadvertently undercharging for the quality he provided. This led to attracting clients who undervalued his work, often expecting services for free. Through these challenges, Mike learned the importance of establishing clear legal agreements to ensure payment for services rendered. To further enhance his skills, he enrolled in Full Sail University, aiming to refine his craft even though his quality was already well-regarded. However, the difficulty in holding clients accountable eventually prompted Mike to leave school and focus on finding stable work opportunities instead.
2011 - 2015

Sub-contracted independently &
via recruiter-placement.

After graduating from American University, Mike applied his education and experience to develop Phantom Records' website into a rich, multimedia, database-driven site. After updating the site to the most modern it can be, his employer, Phantom Records, moved the site into maintenance mode. Without a site to apply his talents, Mike negotiated the option to take on contracts that would allow him to remain current and broaden his skill set. Between 2013 and now, Mike completed several contracts building sites for the TSA, the Glenmont United Methodist Church, and a start-up government contractor.

Now that Mike has demonstrated his ability to create modern, database-driven websites, he is broadening his skill set with bleeding-edge Web Design, JavaScript Web Development, and Data Visualization Programming for the NIH. Mike's longer-term plan is to master both the creative and technical aspects of creating electronic experiences. Additionally, he is under the direction of his mentor, learning the software development lifecycle to round out his skills with project management and business development. In a few years, his expertise will equip him to contribute to enterprise-level, web-based projects and step in at any stage to ensure the beauty of its design, the soundness of its programming, and the success of the project through professional project management. He will be a valuable asset on any web-based project.
2003 - 2011

American University &
My 1st Undergraduate Degree

Shortly after Mike was hired at a promising new start-up, the tragic events of 9/11 led investors to withdraw funding, forcing the company to shut down. With start-up funding drying up across Silicon Valley, Mike decided it was the perfect opportunity to return to school. Seeking a more fulfilling educational experience, he moved to the East Coast and enrolled at American University, where he designed a unique degree program combining Graphic Design, Multimedia, and Web Programming. This initiative led to Mike earning the only Bachelor of Science in Multimedia Design and Development in the University's history. While attending school part-time, he worked part-time to immediately apply his studies to real-world projects. On May 8, 2011, he graduated with a 3.49 GPA and was honored to walk with the University’s top-performing students.
1996 - 2000

Overseas Travel - Web Research

When traveling between school and work became too grueling, Mike's high school friend invited him to move to New Zealand for a change of pace. There, Mike created an online video game retailer that received 1.2 million hits in its first year. He and his partner made the front page of New Zealand's largest newspaper and were featured on television as an innovative, technology-based retailer. At the time, theirs was the only website featuring videos of gameplay to overcome buyer's reluctance and give customers a preview of gameplay before purchasing. A little-known fact about Mike is that Amazon.com cited Mike's website, www.gamescape.co.nz, in its Patent document US7792705. You can copy and paste this link to see that document and search for www.gamescape.co.nz to see Mike's citation: https://patents.google.com/patent/US7792705.

During the time Mike was in New Zealand, the dot-com bubble started growing. Unemployment in the U.S. hit an all-time low of 4.6%. Tech companies were searching high and low for creative talent to fuel innovative start-ups. When Mike's parent learned of this, they made Mike move back to the United States to seek more lucrative employment than they estimated he would find in New Zealand. Mike was engaged to get married and he was forced to break off his engagement and leave his girlfriend. It set a stage for a tumultuous relationship with his parents from then onward.

Mike moved back to the United States to leverage his experience in his New Zealand start-up and grow his experience in the larger, more competitive U.S. market. In Los Gatos, California, Mike learned the value of separating the front-end from the back-end so specialized talent can be more productive. Mike was promoted to Product Manager after creating a prototype to redesign his employer's software interface based on user feedback. Later, he was promoted to Director of User Interface Design. Mike's work helped sell their web application and their start-up for several hundred thousand dollars and won Mike an invitation to join the same executive team at their next start-up.
1995 - 1996

Animation Trade School & PC Tech Support Trade Work

After feeling disconnected from the workforce for too long, yet realizing he needed to remain current with evolving technologies, Mike decided to take a new approach: to work while going to school. He took a job at a computer store as a salesperson and technician so he could personally build the products he sold. He also attended animation school to continue his pursuit of digital design. He learned customer service and technical support and then moved on to network administration, obtaining his Novell Netware Certification and earning $60 an hour doing network "house calls." Mike's boss called his computers "bullet-proof." It may have had something to do with Mike's 27-step preparation plan used on every computer he built.
1994 - 1995

Skywalker Ranch (Intern), George Lucas Educational Foundation (Intern Data-entry Clerk) &
Finding My Direction

Mike left the University of San Francisco for a once-in-a-lifetime internship at Skywalker Ranch with his idol, George Lucas. Mike became an IT Assistant at the George Lucas Educational Foundation where he improved his computer support skills while studying the convergence of education and technology in the Foundation's specialized education technology library. He also used Mozilla during its first launch and was excited about his future. Researching the Foundation's library revealed a computer animation school in Sunnyvale, California. Immediately following his internship's end, Mike moved to Sunnyvale and enrolled.
1989 - 1994

University of San Francisco (1994) Oakland Hills Fire (1991) Community College (1990) & Started DBA Phantom Records (1989)

After deciding he would like to become better at Graphic Design, Mike left the workforce to focus full-time on education. He enrolled in Community College in Oakland, California, majoring in Desktop Publishing. Mike transferred to the University of San Francisco to continue his education. He was elected Freshman Class President in his first year and won as a write-in after memorizing the names of 200 freshmen he had just met. He is the only one who has ever done that in the school's history.
1988 - 1989

Image Graphics Co. (My First Design Job)

Mike got his first job in Graphic Design at a small design studio in Oakland, California. Back then, computers were slower and relatively more expensive. Mike learned to design on a small black and white screen using Super Paint on a Mac SE/30 and ran the mail merge for the studio's marketing campaign using Microsoft Word. The company was attempting a Work from Home model and if only A.I. had been available then, we could have done it, successfully. Work from Home offices are less likely to suffer a pandemic and less likely to spread infectious disease between workers.
1984-1988

The College Preparatory School

Not everyone attends a high school renowned for honor, integrity, and creativity. Mike attended CPS in Oakland, California, where he acclimated to intellectual rigor, problem-solving, critical thinking, and teamwork through sports. The University of California recognizes CPS as an honors institution because all classes are taught at the honors level. Mike graduated with a 3.5 GPA, which, when adjusted for honors-level coursework, translates to a 4.5 GPA under the grading system used by post-secondary institutions and universities.
See My
Favorite
Designs
👇

👆My Favorite Passions👇

Six things I do for fun:

1. Reading Software How-Tos,
2. Updating Old Graphics,
3. Playing PickelBall™,
4. Linking Social Media Accounts for Fun,
5. Eating Healthily,
6. Looking Like My Old Photographs.

The video below is another passion;
but it's password-protected because
it's Rated-16+. (I linked the definition here or here.)

Flash Animation

Step Stand Disarm

This text left here for die-hard animation fans. (Otherwise, it's too much information.) Mike created an interactive "mini game" animation to represent the "Peace Process" in an interesting way. He bought a dance pad with a USB cable connection. The dance pad is three feet by three feet wide. He then designed a "cover" for the pad. His "cover" was also three feet by three, designed in Adobe Photoshop and created at full print quality: 300DPI. That is an extremely large file and it was very time consuming to work with but Mike believes in quality and flexibility so he did it anyway. He had the "cover" printed at FedEx Office on to vinyl paper. The then "stuck" the "cover" on top of the dance pad so that his "pictures" precisely covered the dance pad's contact points. In other words, a dancer stepping on his "pictures" would activate the "hotspots" beneath the "cover" and send a signal into the "mini game" he created. The "mini game" was made in Adobe Flash, and he used a small Mac OS X utlitity to interpret the dance pad's "buttons" to send keyboard keystrokes depending on which one was "stepped on" or "pressed." The keystrokes were then mapped, within Flash, to activate certain animation sequences. During his design process, it was told to Mike that moving within Flash from one "Scene" to another the way Mike wanted was impossible. Mike searched Google for three days and found the same claim. So what did he do? He guessed. Based on the "syntax" of ActionScript, Mike created an original code sequence and it worked.
ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS ANIMATION

Kinetic Type

"Kinetic Type" is a type of animation with moving text. Movies that have opening sequences with elaborate movements, such as the Spiderman movies, where the camera moves around the web hopping from one text phrase to another, are using "Kinetic Type" or "moving text." Mike used Adobe After Effects to create this animation. But with this one, he also used his DJ-skill to "time" the animation to the audio in the attached sound file. An author read their famous passage from "Lenore," and Mike animated the entire portion. This is only a portion, as the project was split between Mike and others. This is Mike's portion: Kinetic Type Animation.
ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS WEB BANNERS & ADS

AARP Amimations

After creating hollywood quality animations for this project, Mike received feedback that he only had to make very simply, slow-moving animations because the senior customers viewing the animations were likely only interested in that, instead of something too fancy. Mike created these to accomodate the Client's request. These are very easy to make and fun to make in various colors or to make various alternatives such as ones that play normally and ones that play on holidays with different, festive animations. See one of them here. NOTE: The animation is very slow! You have to wait for it!
Where
I Learned
This
👇