Cub scouts

I originally had this tacked on to the end of my previous post, but I thought I'd save it, because Ronan deserves his own post. This was about 6 weeks ago now.

Post picture here.

Ronan and I went to his Cub Scout activity tonight. This is a dreaded event. Ronan's group is huge, and there are some REALLY rambunctious kids. The event tonight was a tour of the Jaffrey Historic Society. So picture nine 7-8 year old boys walking through a building filled with old, breakable stuff, art, and rooms of Women's fashions from the 19th century, all lead by a very sweet, very old man with a quiet voice. I must say, the parents were a wreck. STOP. QUIET. BE POLITE. DON'T TOUCH. HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO ASK YOU? HEY. QUIET. ONE MORE TIME AND...! Ugh. I told Ronan before he went in that he needed to have the courage to stand alone. That even if his friends were goofing off, he needed to be polite and quiet and keep his hands to himself. I have to say, he was as good as gold. I was so proud. Not one time did anyone have to speak to him and ask him to stop. Or be quiet. It was unbelievable. Not only that, but he was so proud to have me there. I must say that I am eating that up. I am so happy that my kids don't act like their parents are the plague. We are trying to have conversations with them about some of the things typical teenagers do, in an effort to help them understand that they are silly and unnecessary. (An idea we stole from our friends the Johnson's) We'll let you know how it works. Needless to say, I was as proud of Ronan tonight as I have ever been and we had a special night. Thanks, Ronan.

Post another picture here.

Slow in the fast lane.

Hay, man. One of my favorite roadtrip views.

Once again, a long span between entries. Maybe I'm not cut out for this blogging stuff. This entry won't be much. Fortunately hardly anyone reads this, so I'm not bound by any expectations. (Whew!)

Lately I have been dreaming of the West. The east coast is really something. Trees everywhere, water in surplus, half a dozen states within a half day drive. American history sites. Church history sites. Boston. NYC. The list goes on. Nevertheless, I keep daydreaming of driving in Twin in Dad's truck, at dusk with the windows down, warm wind blowing. (maybe stopping at Sonic) I think of driving through the outskirts of Boise/Meridian/Nampa breathing in the exquisite smell of the mint fields. Driving from Rexburg to Driggs watching mile after mile of dry farms speed by in a continuous blanket of undulating gold. Sitting on Mom's back porch as the sun goes down conversing with family and friends I miss so much that sometimes I ache. Walking down Highlander in the middle of the night going from Mom's house to our old house after a day of work. I guess the siren is calling me home. There is a full moon out tonight. I mean the kind that makes a cast shadow on everything and allows a person to walk through the woods in the middle of the night without stumbling. I think that is what started my melancholy mood. That and we had the first day of 70 degree temperatures today. Driving. Windows down. Seems to be a recurring theme. Many of my memories involve driving. Road trips with the parents. Mom telling Dad in Mountain Home that she thought she left the iron on. Turning around to make sure. Iron was off. Big blue van. Station wagon. Ford Fiesta trips to Idaho Falls with 4 kids to do dental work. Back and forth to Weiser. Back and forth to Utah. Back and forth to Rexburg. Anniversary trips to Jackson Hole.

Driving with windows down.
Warm wind blowing.
What a great feeling.

Warm.
Windy.
Happy.


Hmmm. Rambling now.

By the way, the background texture in the new header is one of the ampersand patterns.

Over and out.

"It'll tickle your innards"

Some of you may remember that in my "I'm it" post, I mentioned Diet Dew as one of my bad habits. Well, I started on the real stuff back in high school. Then, in 2003, when I lost 40 lbs, I switched to diet to facilitate that effort. It worked. However, when I started eating Hostess Fruit Pies, Little Debbie Fudge Rounds, Fritos, and California Burritos from Beto's in Salt Lake, the Diet Dew just couldn't compensate. But I digress. I have always battled with drinking Mtn. Dew in front of the kids. I tell them that they shouldn't drink it because the caffeine is not good for little kids. Which is true, but if we are going to be honest, it's not good for me either. So, for some reason Lacey picked up on the word caffeine from when she was little, and as a result, when she asks me for a drink of my soda, she asks for a drink of my "caffeine". DOH! Nothing like driving home the error of your ways. Reminds me of one of my favorite movie quotes. "It appears my hypocrisy knows no bounds." Anyone know where that one comes from? There I go, tying in one of my other bad habits. Haha. The other night my sweetheart organized the kids for a Daddy family night. I'm sure it's because I was being a total curmudgeon when I got home and she wanted the kids to think good things about me, even though I didn't deserve it! Everyone wrote some fun memories they had with dad and put them in a jar and I got to pick them out and read them out loud. I tell you, the kids love it when you let them know how much you appreciate their thoughts or actions. At the end of the FHE, Laur made a little quiz about daddy's favorite things, and one of the questions was, "What is daddy's favorite soda?" As soon as it was out of Lauralee's mouth, Lacey raised her hand and shouted out,"CAFFEINE!"

Maybe I should cut back.

BTW-"It'll tickle your innards" was the Mtn. Dew slogan that was introduced in 1965 and printed on the bottles.

Mtn. Dew bottle cap image used without permission from the website of Laura and Benjamin Beamer.

Bless her very tightly!

That is a quote from Lacey. She asked us to write down during family home evening that she wanted Heavenly Father to bless London very tightly. Now if that's not adorable, I don't know what is. The other day, in response to a compliment from his mother, Ronan looked kind of sheepish and said, "Aw shucks" in a funny way and then looked around for a response. Topher has lately been cracking jokes as well. Real, legit, funny jokes. I give thanks every day for the kids we have been blessed with. I am constantly impressed with the caliber of little people they are and how much they grasp of the gospel at such a young age. I'm sure the family will remember the occasion, when we lived in Salt Lake, when the fellas were wrestling on our bed and Ronan was wearing a headband thingy-ma-gig on his head. In the middle of the fray, Topher stopped, paused, looked at Ronan and said, "You look like a Philistine!". Shortly before or after that, Mommy and Topher were tickling on the bed, when Mommy let Topher get the best of her momentarily. Topher stopped, rose straight up on his knees, held his hands above his head, and in a yell of victory yelled, "The Lord has delivered you into my hands!". Hahahahaha. Man it was funny. I still chuckle about that one.

I got released last Sunday from branch mission leader, which I have been for the last 2.5 years, and was called as the first councilor in the young men's presidency. I am super excited. We have some good strong boys, as well as a couple who are struggling with different things. Anyway, I am constantly blessed by the Lord and I am going to take Elder Eyring's advice to write more of those blessings down.

One man show

Well, at the end of January I had the opportunity for a one man show at our little gallery on campus. The work shown was a mix of new stuff, older unpublished work, and work from my grad show in summer 2005. Even with my limited experience, I have found that I have a love/hate relationship with showing my work. On one hand, it forces me to evaluate where I am at with my work; what is new, what kind of stuff I'm working on, where I want to be with my work, and what I need to accomplish to get the show put together. On the other hand, the amount of work required to do a show is staggering for all the above reasons, plus making new work, publicizing, planning the show in the gallery space, hanging the show and then doing the opening. Whew! Why would I do it? Besides the obvious boost to the ego, and the real evaluation of work, it does look good on the academic resume and my students really get a kick out of it.

Click on images to enlarge.



There were two pieces of new work in this show that I really loved. One is called "A study". Shown below. The impetus for the piece came from an assignment I give my Design 1 students. I traced many, many different letter 'A's, then cut them out, and finished by pasting them down to a piece of printmaking paper is the shape of a lowercase letter 'a' from the typeface Mrs. Eaves Roman. It got me away from the computer screen and working by hand again, which was a big deal for me.



The second is called, simply, "Dad". I took my father's name and words that I think about when I think of him, and I began layering them to create a portrait of him at the time he and my mother were married. Because I have such an affinity for words and letterforms, the portrait takes on more significance for me than just an image. The closer you look, you can see that even the areas that look like they are solid black are really layered type.

I had to put it in the show before I was quite finished, so if the images look a little unfinished, you know they are. I am working to finish it as we speak. When I do, I am going to make a framed copy for mom and the siblings if they want one.

The other images are of other parts of the show. If you have any questions, ask.

Big dog

Mom and Lauralee have made a good point. A big dog is what I have wanted for years. At least 10 years. Particularly the breed known as the Bullmastiff, or Gamekeeper's Night Dog.

Shilo, my ideal Bullmastiff

Now, most people at this point go, "WHOA! That's one of those huge dogs that looks like a small horse, right?" The answer is no. The Bullmastiff is a big dog, but decidedly not the biggest. No taller than a Labrador Retriever, the Bully is a heavily muscled, squared dog with a nice straight topline and smallish feet. Extremely agile and quick, the Bully was bred to protect english estates from poachers. The breed was bred to be quiet so except for the odd dog, barking is usually minimal. Another genetic trait is non-aggressive protection, which is why the breed is such a good family dog. Original color is Brindle, like Charlie here. I love this color.

So, why don't I have one? Good question. Ask Lauralee. No not really, although we made have had one by now, our timing has never really been right. But Ronan and the kids have been begging for a dog, maybe my time is approaching. The other color I love is what they call red-fawn. The black mask is standard to the breed.

Shilo and Mooksa, father and son

I would like to thank Betty Ruffini, Tammy Rhodes and Dot Martell for always putting up my questions and visits, even when I couldn't afford to buy a dog.

I'm it

10 years ago: That was 1998. I worked that year in my first agency. Blain/Olsen White/Gurr. I got my second design piece published in a book which I have on my shelf. Topher turned 1 in September. Like Laur said, we were living in the Governor's mansion in Salt Lake, which is still kind of a trip to think about. My primary mode of transportation was a 1966 Volkswagen Notchback. (so very cool). I got 1 of 2 Christmas bonus checks I have ever received. BOWG was still in a pretty dangerous part of town. I used to eat out almost every day. I met my good friend and colleague, Ryan Anderson, who is one of the only people I keep up with in the Salt Lake design scene. I believe that was the year that we sat with Pres. and Sis Hinkley in the bleachers at the 24th of July parade. (correct me if I'm wrong Lauralee). It was also the year we moved back into the beloved Green St. Apartment. Good memories there. Even the sad memories are good.

Things on my To-Do list today-
Make it to work. Meeting with the Dean of Undergraduate students. Figure out what to do in my Book Design class. Book Design class. (2 hours). Lunch. Graphic Design 2 class. (2 hours). Work on illustration in Adobe Illustrator. Work on website in Dreamweaver. Administrative stuff for work. Make folding paper boxes. Home for dinner. Pack meeting in Jaffrey. Kids to bed. Back to work. Write Emily Simons letter of recommendation. Do email interview for Kyle Correia. Write description for IC101 freshman seminar class. Bed if time.

If I were to become a billionaire today:
I'm sure I would have to be resuscitated. If I make it, I would begin investing immediately. After paying off everyone's student loans and house payments, I would buy a couple of cars. First, a perfectly restored 1963 Lincoln Continental convertible. I would then require some old-fashioned American muscle. Maybe a 1971 Chevelle or a 1970 Olds 442. Because Lauralee made a billion too, I would not have to build myself a hidden design studio behind the bookcase above the 5 car garage, so I would build her a music studio with a big, custom painted grand piano. Then I would make a music studio for the kids and fill it with every instrument I can find so they can experiment to their hearts content. I would buy a house in Jackson Hole so that the families could get together on vacation. I would set up a fund so that anyone in the family could draw on it if they were in a bind. Perpetual Education Fund, Cancer research, man so much good stuff a person could do with that much money. I would set up my own studio and do pro-bono design work for non-profits. I would build a Fifties-style diner attached to the house and stock it with food for my kids to hang out in after school and on the weekends. I don't know. Seems like I am just being selfish.

Bad Habits

1. I'm addicted to movies and I'm not nearly as discriminating as I should be.
2. I drink soda. Lots of it. Mostly Diet Dew. Sometimes a NOS energy drink. (really bad for me)
3. I have a penchant for being alone. Sometimes my family suffers for it.
4. I am hopelessly addicted to letterforms.

Places I've Lived

1. New Mexico-Santa Fe
2. Idaho-Weiser, Boise, Rexburg
3. Oregon-Ontario
4. Utah-Salt Lake City
5. Argentina-Eduardo Castex, Caleta Olivia, General Roca, Cutral Co, Pigue, Necochea
6. New Hampshire-Jaffrey, Rindge

Jobs I've Had

1. Movie concessionista
2. Projectionist (several times)
3. Lumber Mill Worker
4. Banquet Server for Marriott hotels
5. Laundry Guy
6. Baggage Guy for Delta Airlines
7. Graphic Designer-for University of Utah, Blain/Olsen/White/Gurr, FJC&N, freelance
8. Art Director-Creative Source International/Aspen Marketing
9. Etc.

Things People Don't Know About Me

1. I LOVE sushi. Particularly a good spicy tuna roll
2. I make handmade books. Some have turned out pretty cool.
3. If I could, I would wear a variation of the same thing everyday. Levi's Silvertab Baggy jeans and Shortsleeve Dickies workshirts. (untucked)
4. I am dying to learn (or re-learn) an instrument
5. I envy my sibling's successes
6. I chipped my front tooth when I was 16 jumping on the trampoline with a 16# lead shotput and I have had a filling there ever since. (I was with Andy Bell at the time, but he didn't jump).