A shot of the new Great Western Bank website (http://greatwesternbank.com)

The new Great Western Bank (http://www.greatwesternbank.com) does not want to be called a “redesign”, so we’ve dubbed it a “refresh”. The jargon in web development can get pretty complicated, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for more. We called this a refresh, because our strategy was about more than just updating the look; we knew that a website like Great Western Bank’s deserved comprehensive polish and care.

We utilized valuable analytics, client feedback, and an assortment of other metrics to help us work with the bank to direct their web presence into the future. While the refresh certainly boasts a refreshingly lighter look and feel, the functionality behind the scenes has gotten a tune-up as well. You can search for bank locations using the improved Location Finder, explore how GWB is working hard at Making Life Great, securely access your online banking straight from the homepage, and much more.

Now, that’s a website that makes you say, “Ahhhh…”

A shot of the new Acts of Nature website (http://actsofnature.com)

Acts of Nature (http://www.actsofnature.com) is not just another website for L&S; it’s more like a brother. Acts of Nature (or Acts, as we call it) is Paul Schiller’s fine art and photography website. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s one of our Agency’s founders.

This redesign and restructure of the Acts website has been a long time in coming; some design files date back to 2005! But don’t call the website old; it uses some of the newest features in ColdFusion, Flash, and JavaScript, all of which combine to produce a breath-taking web portal featuring some amazing photography.

Take a look around. Peruse the Photo Gallery. Read up on The Artist and The Installations, or recommend the website to a friend. As always, feel free to contact Acts of Nature with questions or comments.

Good work, team!

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President: Barak Obama (306)

Vice President: Joseph Biden

General Election (South Dakota)

United States Senator: Tim Johnson (62.55%)

United States Representative: Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (67.84%)

Public Utilities Commissioner: Gary Hanson (65.89%)

District 04

State Senator: Jim Peterson (100%)

State Representatives: Val Rausch (39.65%) ; Steve Street (36.98%)

District 09

State Senator: Tom Dempster (52.01%)

State Representatives: Deb Peters (30.25%) ; Richard A. Engels (29.04%)

This web application will automatically update itself when new election results are in. The site allows you to view election results for Statewide Elections, Ballot Questions, and Legislative Results to name a few. It’s the perfect web companion.

A bowl of popcorn, a warm blanket, a loved one, and election results. Who could ask for more?

MilesRausch.com endorses Val Rausch!

The Joy of Tech comic… laughter is the best tech support.

I found this funny, and wanted to share it, because I… totally did everything in the panels one, two, and four.

It was, with this in mind, that I began a spreadsheet.  One by one, I searched out the shows we felt we must keep up with: Lost, The Office (the last episode of which had me in tears, I laughed so hard), Grey’s Anatomy, Jon & Kate + 8, Scrubs (if it has another season), and Project Runway (for Holli).  The goal was find legal, online ways to view all of our shows.  This mission was made exponentially easier by the networks themselves.  Both NBC and ABC offer full video versions of some of their popular shows online.  This means that, as long as what you watch is popular, you can find your shows for free.

Unfortunately, there were two casualties to this process: Project Runway and J&K+8.  For Project Runway we’ve managed to find another, temporary solution (and the show’s almost over anyway), but jayenkayplusay seems to have no decent online presence.  We’ve decided that we can purchase VHS tapes for Carol to use to tape the show for us.  However, with us being short a VCR, this means we will only be able to watch the show when we’re there.  If anyone has any other ideas regarding this dilemma, please leave a comment.

EDIT: After doing some research for this post, I discovered that TLC has added JK8 to their video library, boasting entire episodes of the latest season until the end of December.

After doing the research and adding up the potential cost of this new method, we sat back in awe.  The results were astounding.  We discovered that we could save around $37.90 a month by getting our television online.  iTV was our winner.

It’s been two weeks since we made our choice, and so far it’s going well.  Also, we’ve been doing it a lot more.  And by “doing it” I mean reading, of course.  Holli has turned into a voracious reader, even though her work hours are getting closer and closer to full-time.  I split my time between reading, Half-Life 2, and programming/research.  It’s much quieter, and I feel better reading than I do watching TV.  With all this new reading time, I have a goal to read and remove enough books from my “library” to allow us to get rid of a bookshelf.  There’s one shelf in particular that could use a chucking.

If you’ve been considering getting rid of TV, be ready to fill that time with something.  Do some research to see if your “must have” shows have an online equivalent.  Our goal wasn’t to get our TV for free, but to get it online somehow.  Even if you have to pay $1.99 or $2.99 per episode, that cost will still be much lower than paying for a full cable subscription.

Have any of you done this?  Do you have any tips for would-be switchers?