3 words...

What. The. F@&%!!!

I am speechless... absolutely speechless.

Motivation...level... critical

The reason for my lack of posts lately has been my utter lack of motivation to do ANYTHING! I don't want to type, I don't want to do laundry, mow the yard, nothing! It's not that I don't WANT to, it just getting the momentum going to do it. I actually like mowing the yard, but its the weed whacking, and trimming, and all the extra stuff that puts me off about it. Even WoW can't hold my attention lately, unless I have something very specific in mind to do. ( Yeah, I am playing again, and forgot how much I love playing. Thankfully for me, my beautiful bride likes to play too.)

I could post about the wonderful get together my family went to this weekend to see my best friends from high school. But that post would be full of inside jokes, and lots of "I can't believe that was 20 years ago". It was a great time, and really nice to be able to reconnect with people who know all about me, and just laugh.

I could post about how this is one of the biggest movie summers of all time, and I haven't been to see any of the 3's (spiderman, pirates, shrek, oceans) Although, I have promised my beautiful bride I would take her to see 1408. Because we haven't seen a GOOD scary movie in a long time.

I could take the easy way out and post about some of the YouTube videos I have been watching lately. I frequent SomethingAwful quite regularly, and on their forums, someone created a thread for people to just post videos of other people doing AWESOME things. There are some incredible videos out there. Skateboarders, guitar players, video game players... everything! I stayed up until 2am on a couple of nights just watching these people and what they can do.

Since I don't feel like posting anything, I guess I won't.

The little things

I had a very good Father's Day, thanks for asking. My day began with big hugs and kisses from my beautiful bride, and my 4 year old. My 3-month old (ya, 3 month old! jeesh) tried to give me kisses, but more just drooled on my cheek, which still counts. We got up, and got ready for church. My beautiful bride tells me that she will drive today... but instead of driving to church, she surprises the girls and I by taking us to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Mmmmm.... ham and biscuits. Very yummy. My 4-year old hands me my father's day card. The card was very cute, and obviously picked out by her, as it was a purple "My Little Pony" card, with stickers for her inside. The stickers all said "I love Daddy", and "Daddy's little girl" on them, but as long as she was going to get them is what mattered to her. I think I could by a box of Avery Labels, and she would go nuts because "Stickers I can COLOR?!?". The girl loves her stickers. Anyway, the card was cute, and signed from all my girls, but that wasn't the real gift. The thing I enjoyed the most was the envelope the card came in. Plain and white with "D A D" written in little girl letters. I looked at that all day long, and just smiled. I really do love being a D A D.

More Nestle Love

I had a very interesting thing happen to me today. I was out taking pictures for work, and needed gas for my car, and gas for my belly. I stop at a gas station and fill up my gas tank and go inside. Remembering that I have one last free coupon for a Nestle crunch bar in my wallet ( Part one, Part two of how I got the coupons). Grab a soda, and cruise over to the candy aisle, find a Crunch bar and notice that they have some other contest going where you could win a share of 5 million dollars. Go to pay, wait for the guy to call his manager over, get my stuff and leave. Driving back to work, I down my delicious candy bar, and look in the specially marked wrapper... there, on the inside... "Congratulations... you have won a FREE Nestle Crunch Bar" (see details). I smile quietly to myself, again, and contemplate how the simple things in life make me happy.

Celebrity News

I don't like celebrity news. I don't care about it, don't need to know it, and try to avoid it. I don't really care who is dating who, who got drunk and flashed the cameras, or any of that. But I can't stop myself from posting this because it makes me giggle like Dakota Fanning.


(Oh, Nelson. How I love thee.)

MAME Plans

I have been wanting to build a MAME Cabinet for quite some time now. The biggest thing stopping me was the Size of some of the actual cabinets. I don't really want a huge monstrosity of a thing just sitting in the corner of the basement. I have been looking at plans after plans for them, and I think I may have found a nice compact design.

I like it for a few reasons. First, its not very big or intrusive. It could easily be disguised as an end table. Second, it wouldn't require mounting a huge TV or Monitor in the cabinet... the guy that build this one used a 17 monitor. You can get those anywhere, CHEAP!. Third, the realization that I don't need a control panel where 4 players can play at once. I will most likely be playing this by myself, and if friends come over, they will just have to share.

I will change the control panel a bit, I don't need the roller ball. There are only 2 games that I would want the roller ball for anyway, Centipede, and Missile Command. I was never really good enough at either of these games to justify dropping $160, just for the roller ball. I may invest some of that money saved into an extra 4 way stick. Just to get that authentic Pac-man stick feel.(The 8-way joystick gets hung on the diagonals, and screws with your game experience.) I will also increase the number of buttons to accommodate my Asteroids fix. Because playing Asteroids with a Joystick is Arcade Blasphemy.

Night at the Museum

Went to the museum with some friends this weekend... they didn't let us stay long. I don't know Y.

Here he comes...here comes Speed Racer!

My heart is pounding as I type this... I had heard that they are making a live action Speed Racer Movie, and I was hoping that who ever was doing it would NOT screw it up. It turns out the guys making it are the same guys that did the Matrix Trilogy, the Wachowski brothers.

More than anything I hoped that they wouldn't bastardize the car by making it more "modern". Well they did modernize it a bit....
To quote Sam Elliot: "Sweet Mercy!". That is the most awesome use of metal I have ever seen.

Hi, Gene!

My sugar filled world has finally taken its toll on my beautiful bride. After almost 10 years together, she found out this weekend she has a cavity. Her first one, EVER! She is very upset about this, and was almost in tears about the fact when she told her mom about it. Her Mom was not too happy about the whole thing. God forbid, she ever gets a long look in my mouth. I have more porcelain and metal in my mouth than a Chinese History Museum.

Speaking of Zen

I received news today that the Logo from Hell, has officially been chosen. I know many of you have expressed your concern over my well being, and I really appreciated all the kind words, and monetary gifts of consolation you have sent. For those that did not send a gift of any kind... may God have mercy on your souls.

Without further ado, I present the (hopefully) final version of the Logo from Hell:
Wow.... Clean and Simple... whodathunkit. I think I am going to celebrate with a Free Nestle Crunch Bar". (I got my coupons in the mail yesterday!)

Planet Earth

This weekend, I had a chance to watch an AMAZING show on the Discovery Channel. It is called Planet Earth .

Quite possibly the most amazing show I have seen in a long time. The quality and unbelievable footage that they capture and discuss is truly awe inspiring. As I was watching this show, I couldn't believe what they were showing me was part of THIS world. It really gave me a new view and perspective about this rock we live on. And unbelievable facts.... like Krill, a shrimp like creature 1-2 cm in length, make up the largest population of creature by weight on the planet. An estimated 200,000,000 TONS of them.

If you have the Discovery Channel, I HIGHLY recommend catching this show... or head over to NetFlix and put it in your queue. You will not be disappointed.

It got me thinking about everything that happens on this planet, and I remembered something I saw a few years ago, that I enjoyed. and I will share it with you now.

In 1989 both Voyager spacecraft had passed Neptune and Pluto. Carl Sagan wanted one last picture of Earth from "a hundred thousand times" as far away than the famous shots of Earth taken by astronauts from the moon during the Apollo series.

"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there - on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. --Carl Sagan.

And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, (as Jon Stewart would say) "is your moment of Zen."

Art and Math

I love Art, and I also love Math. It is a very odd combo. So, it goes with out saying that I am a very technical artist, and not such a creative, free form type artist.

I remember one of the painting classes I had in college, the "professor" came over to see my work, and immediately asked if I was a graphic designer. He could tell by the way I was painting, that I was a "graphic designer" and not an "graphic artist". That has always stuck with me, that and the image of him doing interpretive dance to the music he would play while we were painting still lifes.

Some of my favorite artist are Mondrian, and Calder. The clean lines, the colors, and delicate balance of the work. If you have ever tried to build a mobile on a larger scale than construction paper, string and paper clips, you know the unbelievable amount of work it takes to build a basic mobile, let alone something that appears to defy the laws of balance and gravity.

I like my technical art... so years ago when I stumbled upon David C. Roy, my jaw fell to the floor. I have examined and studied these pieces and cannot, for the life of me, figure out the "drive" mechanism. I have the book he suggests looking at, and examined some of the pieces in person (after walking 6 blocks out of my way when I was in Chicago, just to see a gallery that had some of his work). And I still can't quite wrap my mind around the "escapement" part of the pieces. Let alone the clutch and drive systems that have to be used on the "show" parts of the works.

So, Mr. Roy, if you ever read this, please share your secrets with me, and know that I am doing everything I can to get enough money to buy one of your masterpieces.

Really?!?

Welcome to the next level of wasting money! Should have used some of the money to fix the rear axle... as it is obviously broken.
I can only hope that the car floats, and that is how he "paddles" the car across water.

WERD!

Commercials

Having worked in the video production field for about 10 years, I can honestly say " I like commercials." Well... wait... let's rephrase that "I like GOOD commercials." Lately the people that do the Geiko (caveman), and the Target ads are really putting out some quality work. I also like the new emerging trend of actually telling us what quirky, cool song you are using. The current favorite in our house happens to be a Burger King spot for "Chicken Fries"

My beautiful bride, and I must have watched it 5 times the first time we saw it... it currently is DVR'd and we watch it every other day or so. Think about that... a commercial so good, people actually keep it and watch it at will... granted, I have yet to go buy any Chicken Fries, but I know about them.

I really love "local" commercials. Commercials that were obviously made for about $100 bucks. These were my favorite clients when I worked at the TV station. With a budget of $100 or so, usually meant I didnt do much graphic work for them (other than a logo or something), but I was always impressed with what Dave, Brett, Charlie, and the Jeffs could come up with. People would put their kids in the commercial, their dogs, some legends tell of mistresses, and such. They always had a great "catch phrase" as well. I remember a pawn shop called "#1 Pawn". Their phrase was " We make everyone else look like #2." AWESOME! The guy that owned the place was a piece of work as well. He would always be holding huge fans of $100 bills, and have guns hanging off of him in the commercials. He would invite people down to see what kind of deal his daughters could make for you. And his daughters could beat down most of the guys that came in the joint. Think Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling. Think the Bartender from Shrek 2. So much fun.

Watching TV last night I see a commercial for "Nutrisystems" diet program. In this spot, they actually say the line "If you can eat, you can lose weight." My brain had a stroke right then and there. What kind of retarded ass thinking is that??? You know, I am pretty sure if you CAN'T eat you will lose weight as well. That's like saying "If you can Breathe, you can quit smoking." I realize they are saying "Everyone can do it", but it just sounded dumb.

New Music

I really need to find some new music. I am VERY tired of the radio stations here. My iTunes library desperately need some new blood. Even my Favorite Mix CDs aren't doing it for me any more.

I checked out Pandora.com the other day and and there were some promising leads coming from that. Pandora is a music "finder". You tell it what you like and it plays songs it thinks you would enjoy. You can tell it you don't like a selection and it will adjust its criteria for picking songs. Not too bad, but a bit more hassle than its worth.

I need some new stuff. I want to find a new They Might Be Giants. Back in my early 20's I could listen to TMBG non stop 24/7/365. Mix in some Violent Femmes, and a splash of thrash punk, maybe some Skateboarding anthems, a smattering of witty writing, and fun lyrics and I was a happy guy. Now, I am having problems finding the music I want to listen to. I found some Modest Mouse stuff from Pandora, and I really enjoy it.

So, if anyone reading this has some music that fits this area, let me know. I will try them out and maybe get out of this musical rut I am in.

Whee....
More Logo from Hell stuff today!

Perspective views

Putting things into perspective can really change the way I think about stuff. I currently weigh 292 pounds. I would like to weigh under 250. That is 42 pounds... OK.. fine... that's just a number. Now to put that number in perspective... my 4-year old weighs 42 pounds. The fact that I will lose the equivalent of a small child from my body, blows my mind. I was thinking about this the other night when I had to carry her from her car seat to her bed, as she was passed out from losing the sugar buzz Grandma gave her. Carry her... through the garage, up 2 flights of stairs, and down the hall, and then gently lay her down with out waking her up. Something in my head said... "Hey! You feel this! This is how much candy, soda, and rice krispy treats you are packing away." So, I guess I am going to try and give up my beloved snacks, and get outside a little more, and see if I can lose my toddler of a belly.

Return of the Logo from Hell

IT'S BA-A-A-ACK!

Yesterday I was "officially" (Duane had tipped me off a week ago, but I blanked that out of my memory) informed that the "Logo from Hell" (part 1 of the ordeal) has to be redone. Apparently, everyone on the committee for this project had signed off on it, except for one of the co-presidents. And since he didn't care for the logo, I have to redo it. There are a number of rants I could go off on here.

Rant 1 : The "All or Nothing" approach to approval. One person (granted, it was the co-pres of the company) doesn't like the logo, and everyone else's opinion gets thrown out the window. Why is there a committee then?

Rant 2 : Why is one of the PRESIDENTS of a LARGE company making this decision. Why are there 7 layers of management then??? I hate to think that EVERY decision has to go through the EXECUTIVE committee. Those poor people must not get anything else done.

Rant 3 : I finished that project in January. JANUARY! Its almost MAY! It has been floating around for 3 months in limbo???

Rant 4 : Logo design is a tricky beast to start with. But a general rule is: Simple = Better. This logo has no less than 6 elements. Company Logo, PSP, The Main Thing, 3 other text elements, and then something to tie them all together. The feedback I got was to make the tire look like is was spinning out, or torque-ing. Great idea... add more elements.

Rant 5 : The complete lack of direction. " I don't know what I want, but I know I don't like that...just give me 5 or 6 more ideas."

(deep breath) Ok... better now.... I hope my coupons for free candy get here soon... I need a fix.

Stay tuned to see what a designer pushed to the brink of insanity can appease the masses (or co-pres) with.

$11 of Awesome!

God I love this show!

Too Much TV

Last night my beautiful wife and I killed Jack Bauer. We made the decision to stop watching 24, frankly because we were bored with it. After they found the suitcase nukes, I had closure. I could care less about Audrey. But the plot isn't what killed Agent Bauer for us. Its the fact that other shows have stepped their game up SOOOO much, that 24 is just dull now. Between Heroes coming back, and Lost pushing back into the AWESOME level, plus we started watching Drive with our FireFly Captain Nathan Fillion. Its a fun show, some puzzles for me to solve and a few sweet cars to drool over. Nice fun show. Add to that mix The Office, Earl, 30 Rock, Idol, Mythbusters, House, Shark, CSI, and Top Model. TV is really good lately! Now if you excuse me I have to go upgrade my DVR, and wipe off about 60 hours of space for next weeks shows.