Drawar

@Right On: Lighting is a major factor in my design too. Mainly, I set up my environment to corespond to my work, i.e. when I worked on this poject I listened to pop/rock music like the Plain White Tees in a well-lit room with white walls; but when I designed the set for a small Circus production I listened to... well, this. When I'm writing an essay, it's all about the dim lighting and a song with a beat that's easy to feel, like Don't Stop the Music, by Rihanna.

I agree with Ollie, the footer does look funny.

O ther than that, I like it. Looks clean (design-wise, I don't really code so I couldn't comment on that)... But I'm a print designer, so take all advice with a grain or two of salt.

I have a stamp with my info on it for uses like Lelia's...

I also stamped it all over some pre-perforated cards at random angles and places. It lookes okay. Cheap, I know, I've been meaning to get around to actually doing some real ones, but haven't yet.

I have problems with the drop shadowing as well, but other than that it looks pretty sweet.

Blue! I really, really love blue!

Awesome... Thanks.

Bittbox (bittbox.com isn't Web Design specific, but has become an invaluable resource for me in design in general (I'm a Print/Graphic Designer, but I dabble in Web Design).

Open Source Web Design (oswd.org) is great, I use it to learn by reverse-engineering the designs.

Good Luck!

A LIttle Off-Topic: Where might I find this Pure CSS portfolio techinque you speak of?

@RightOn: I was thinkin' the same thing...

In print design, it can be really awesome; In web design... not so much.

Awesome. You basically rock.

@amentele: Sorry, I didn't mean to sound like I thought your were belittling anything, I just couldn't think of a better way to word it. I really did take your comment seriously.... And I'd love to see a sample contract. stephenpcolon at gmail dot com.

Thanks for your help, I'm really loving the support of the 9rules community. No community I've ever been in has been this helpful and positive about anything.

About the ugly business card: Very, very often. I've honestly skipped over ads and Google search results when looking for a service because I felt that they were cheap and put absolutely no money into design. Microsoft Word, Front Page, and Publisher just don't cut it in my book.

I'm not much of a photographer, but it'd probably be underwater at The Great Barrier Reef (sp?)

@amentele: If you define batting as "starting out with design as a siide-job to test the waters out" then I just might be batting at it. But I will most definitely keep your advice in mind as I grow. I think I'm gonna go for sole proprietorship or even just calling myself a contractor for now. I don't know. I have a relative who recently opened her own design studio and I'll talk to her before I make any final desicions as well.

@all: Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll be sure to take it into account when doing business. I'm pretty sure that I'll either be going into business as a sole proprietor or contractor first, then becoming an LLC later. Sole proprietorships and contractors have less legal fees, but also less legal protection, so it seems practical to me to start out as one of the former while I gain more title and then move on to the latter. My locale allows me to gain all of $400 in title through the business before paperwork gets involved, so I'll look for a client with a small job or two so that I can take advantage of that. At that point I'll decide what to do as far as choosing between sole proprietorship, contractor or LLC to start as. No matter which way I go my county requires a ficticious name statement be filed because I want to use a name other than my personal name in everything business related. While I'm looking for the small client, I'll be researching my options. Thanks again everyone.

Hmmm... SideJobTrack looks invaluable - Seriously, I've been thinking about setting up something in Excel/Access to handle that, and this very well be a timesaver. Plus it's free! Pricewise, you just can't beat free!...

I'll look into an LLC.

@Mike: Like what?.. I've been looking but keep coming up dry...

@kitt: By "...you can just open your own business right now..." you mean no business permit paperwork at all? That's my dream but I'd been told that that was a no-go if I wanted to be legal. I checked out CalGold and (for the most part) it was really useful in finding paperwork that needed to be filed and other information. Thanks!... And I'm totally sticking to your last sentence for forever.

@aidanhenry: Right now I'd rather have something cost less money and more time than less time and more money. I'm majorly on a budget, and I'm trying to spend my Title as wisely and penny-pinching(ly?) as possible, but thanks for suggesting that and I'll consider it as I look at the mass of paperwork (that might be) ahead of me.

Hmm.... I love Inkscape and think that it's extremely powerful/useful/has an easy to use interface, but I can't say the same for GIMP. It really lacks in the interface department which has kept me clinging tightly to my copy of Photoshop for now.

Hmm... I like fadtastic's Happy Waterdrop....

I think I'll use either that or one of the Andy Warhol prints from allposters.com

Thanks a lot to all who replied....

Hmmm... RightOn's suggestion sounds good, but I'm currently laking (sp?) any draw-dropping photos, the kind that I'd want for my wall - It's kinda hard to get good photos when your only camera is a 640x480 cameraphone. I realy don't like being a starving student...

Any other suggestions?

Thanks again....