Weird

I lived in Gaithersburg Maryland for almost 8 years of my life and I never knew right down the street in Rockville, MD was the grave of F.Scott Fitzgerald. Why does this have to do with anything you might ask? Well, I pride myself on seeing a lot of the local culture and sites in the places I live. And to find out that I lived miles from the grave site of one of the greatest American authors of all time and never visited was a little disheartening. I guess that I have gotten a lot more adventuresome with my wife and kids...so much so that I eventually want to go out and see the spiral jetty in the middle of freakin' nowhere.

Toy Story vs. The Dark Knight

Because this made me laugh, and I needed a good laugh at the moment.

Death in The Dark Knight

So now that ‘The Dark Knight” did a bazillion dollars on it’s opening weekend, you know there are some movie execs in Hollywood figuring out how they can kill off one of their lead actors in an upcoming tentpole. I know it’s horrible to say, but honestly I think a big part of TDK’s success is the death of Heath Ledger. Brilliant as his acting stint may be and as awesome as Nolan is at directing, I bet a numerous host went to see Ledgers final performance, rather than just cause it was a Bat pic. Believe me, those execs look at trends, cause and effect, and somewhere out there, one of them is eyeing the WB’s haul and hoping for someone to die. I wish it were not so, but those sketchy morals and emphasis on Box office are some of the reasons I chose to eschew the lure of Hollywood. I still miss Cali though!

Dance Off!!

Modern street face-off's have nothing on these guys. Lets see some "SO you think you can dance" dudes pull off the accordion dance!! I freakin' love Russia!!

Sick

I have been sick since last Saturday and it is not fun. Luckily, there is not the stomach, throw-uppy kind. It's the sore throat, headache, fever, aches and pains kind. Me and my son both got it while we were camping. A little freaky considering we were eaten alive by misquitoes and they carry a little virus called West Nile. We went and got some blood work done so we will find out results in a couple of days, but I'm betting it's not anything serious. All I need for it to do is go away. Life carries on as usual though so I went back to work before I was fully recovered. I had to do some more project scoping but it allowed for me to take some more pics. Hope you enjoy!

My birthday has come and gone and I am officially old. I remember being a kid and thinking that if I ever got to 30, I would officially be old. The one cool part about being this age is that I still feel that there is so much ahead of me and I’m not tied down or set in my ways. It feels good to still be able to change and morph, despite my age. I had everyone sing happy birthday to me at work and they gave me a cool soda pop bottle with M&M’s and salt water taffy. The real treat was at home where I got to go bowling, have a party and got “sprinkles” cupcakes. Not the real ones from LA, but ones my wife made from a recipe she found and all I can say is…THEY WERE PERFECT. I told her she should open up a bakery they were so good. I also got the Indiana Jones Trilogy from my son and he loves watching them as much as I do. I was definitely not as brave as he is at that age since he seems to take melting heads and hearts being ripped out a lot better than I did.

How High?

A lot of people ask me about where I work. I work in a skyscraper...in fact, it's the tallest one in Salt Lake City. For some reason, I think there is a myth around that the higher you work in the building, the more important you are. Well, that is not the case. Security occupies the top three floors, administration the bottom three. HR is on the first, and a myriad of other departments make up the other 23. I'm on the 23rd floor, without a window. It honestly means nothing other than I get a great view every time I go into my boss's office. He even has a telescope that we use to see what's going on around the valley. cool! Here are some pics I took of my building affectionately abbreviated to the COB.

Museums

My family came to eat lunch with me at work today and it was a lot of fun. They went to the History and art museum that is here first and loved it. I am so glad that I work in a place with so many pieces of art and so much history. It's invigorating. I am actually working on doing some signs for some artwork that is around the campus here. I had a camera with me to take reference pics and got a little carried away. I have been really interested in the architectural themes of the buildings near where I work and took some shots. What do you think?

You know you're loved when...

you come back to your cubicle looking like this! The pic of the family and the rotten babana were my favorite.

Signs

A part of my new job is making signs. I recently toured a new building that needs signs made for it. During the tour, we figure out where the signs should go, how many, how big etc. I had a camera to take reference pictures so I can design the signs later at my office. Needless to say I got a little bored taking pictures of 6 stories of walls and doors. Once on the roof, I aimed the camera at things that interested me a little more and got some OK pics that just have some cool composition. What do you think?

Work From Home

I've actually been able to work from home this whole week thanks to my new baby boy and very understanding supervisors. It was a pain in the what to actually get everything set-up though but it is done. I have actually done a few things here even though it is much slower than if I was working on projects at the office. Check out what I created the other day here! I really do enjoy being at home with my family, but I also prefer the face to face interaction which I get with going in. Things tend to get done a lot faster. It's also comforting to know that no matter how smart computers get...they may be able to take over accounting, mathmatics, science, databases etc...they will never be able to design or create art. Its comforting to know that I am in a profession that is distinctly human. I think I've been watching the Sarah Connor Chronicles too much. I also got a call from Sat Lake saying I was still being considered for a Job I first interviewed for back in December. Talk about a long hiring process.

Changes afoot

Well, how bout that, I actually decided to write after an extended leave of absence. I am now working as a contracted Graphic Designer for the same movie studio that have been working at for over 3 1/2 years. I really enjoy what I am currently doing, and even got to do some design work for the new iTunes rentals program that was just rolled out. See if you can spot the movies I worked on. Besides that there are websites, logos, Facebook pages, animations, ads and all sorts of things I get to design every day...so there are no complaints, other than I am way more familiar with Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill than I would like to be. I am still looking for full time work however and there are a few things on the horizon, but for now I couldn't have asked for a better position. My wife is expecting our third child at any time right now, so with three boys, I decided to start another blog that focuses more on the family side than the industry side. Check it out if you wish! And let me know if you're still reading this...