Don't EVER Measure Your Waist

Tracy and I spent the day running some super important errands. Let's see, we bought an area rug at Kohl's along with a fragrance diffuser for the guest bathroom. We also picked up a frame for a Claude Monet Water Lilies 1906 print at JoAnn Fabrics for the guest bedroom. And, we brought in another piece of art to be framed. JoAnn was having a big 50 percent off framing sale so Tracy couldn't resist.

Tracy also picked up some scrapbooking items. I think my sister-in-law Miranda's hobby might be rubbing off on Tracy. While we were in the scrapbook isle, a lady commented, "You should be so lucky that he came with you (referring to me), I can't get my husband to come in this store." It was at this moment that I knew it was time to wrap up our trip to JoAnn Fabrics!

Then we were off to search for just the right comforter for the guest bedroom. We hit up JcPenney, Macy's, Sears, Kohls and Target (no Bed Bath & Beyond ... we didn't have time). We decided on the one from Kohls so we'll have to return later this week and pick it up. While we were at Kohls I found some affordable jeans and tried them on. This was a bad idea. We are eating healthier and I'm drinking less, but my waist isn't getting any smaller. When I got home I measured my gut with a metal tape measure at its biggest point and the girth register 38.5 inches. If that's not enough to motivate me to get a Beach Body and ditch the Ugly Body, I don't know what is. My workout program starts Sunday morning!

During our comforter search, Tracy was looking for a specific throw pillow color for our couch without any success. So, naturally being the competitive person I am, I told her we will have a sew off. She sews one pillow, I sew the other. It can't be too hard to sew up a pillow and it's the most cost effective route. Of course, we'll need to buy extra fabric because I know my pillow seams will probably suck and Tracy will have to end up making both pillows. OK, so this isn't the most manly thing to do, but my brother did sew up a shower curtain so I guess that means it's OK for me to make a pillow.

Nothing else too crazy going on today. We are just enjoying the nice 75-degree weather and taking it easy. On Sunday we'll head down to Derek and Chad's to watch the Super Bowl. Tracy is pulling for Arizona so I guess I'll cheer for the Steelers to be different - it's that competitive thing we have going on (see above). Oh, and our season Blokus series is tied 2-2. Maybe we'll need a tiebreaker tonight!

Adobe Flash CS4 Is Neat

After my sushi lunch, I installed Adobe Flash CS4 on my Macbook Pro work laptop. It's amazing working with the software and putting graphics in to motion. However, it's another Adobe Suite program that I need to dig in to and see how fast I can master my skills. I have a stronger sense of the other Adobe programs, but Flash is kind of my unknown.

I'd say I made the transition over to InDesign from QuarkXPress fairly easily. Quark was the layout page maker program of choice from my days back at good old Worthlesstown Daily Globe.

I'm pretty confident with Photoshop CS3 and I've thoroughly enjoyed reading Katrin Eismann's "Photoshop Restoration and Retouching: Third Edition" as it walks me through many tricks and shortcuts I didn't know were possible in Photoshop. The book has been a great asset so far and I think it will actually help me improve my Flash skills as some of the layer concepts transfer over.

It's amazing how much there is to learn when creating design assets. Next week I'll upload the posters I created that I'm pretty proud of. It's always fun seeing your work hanging on people's office walls. I can't post it now until the sales programs are announced to our dealers. You never know who's reading I guess!

Oishi = Tastes Good

Today I had my first round of sushi since moving to SoCal. My co-worker and I headed over to Oishi Japanese Restaurant, which is by far the highest rated sushi restaurant in Temecula. I enjoyed tuna and salmon rolls along with shrimp tempura rolls. The sushi was really good, but the rolls were a little thin and there was a little communication breakdown with the head sushi chef.

I wanted to cancel my shrimp tempura order for a roll that included jalapeno but instead got the tempura and the jalapeno / tuna roll never showed up. Regardless, it was still a good lunch and the sushi was made from very fresh fish. In Japanese Oishi means delicious, and I'd say it lived up to the billing.

Congrats Tracy!!

To say I was surprised probably isn't the right word. When I came home from work tonight Tracy couldn't hide her excitement. I walked in the door, she jumped up and gave me a hug. I figured it wasn't to announce she was pregnant ... hahaha ... not so sure we are even close to ready for that type of surprise.

After three weeks in SoCal, she landed the gig at BowTie in one of the worst job markets in our lifetime. I wasn't surprised, more impressed. Tracy has all of the skills and the personality that market themselves in this tight job environment, and she proved all her hard work at Ehlert / Affinity over the last six years paid off. I have a very talented girlfriend who I love very much. We'll celebrate her new gig with a glass of Robert Renzoni Sangiovese vino tonight. Believe it or not, she agreed to start her Production Coordinator position at BowTie this Wednesday. She wasn't really out of work, it was more like a needed three-week vacation to get settled here in California.


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The drive to Irvine will definitely suck, but she'll get to see kitties .... meow ... and puppies ... woof ... in the office and maybe even a real live chicken ... eat more chicken. For an animal lover, that really doesn't suck. The paycheck and health insurance will be nice too I guess.

Big Ten Network Out West

I think I'm more excited than Tracy, but having Big Ten Network is a huge plus when we're so far from home. This morning I'm watching the Gophers cling to a 31-30 halftime lead against the Hoosiers after Indiana hit a shot from half court.

We get our cable and Internet through Verizon, and we're pretty happy about the service so far. It seems we get almost every major cable network, including Versus so I can get my hockey fix. What's great about sports here is the hoops game will be over by 11 and I'll still have a full day to get some stuff done around the apartment.

Today the slate includes organizing the garage and finishing up some design work for a second poster I'm working on for KTM. I'll post both once I finish up tomorrow. Deadlines and all, I guess that means not much has changed from the publishing world. The neat thing about this project is I've saved the company $20,000 and two weeks waiting for changes to be made to the poster through our agency. That, my friends, is what we call job security and keeping yourself valuable to a company in the toughest of times. I think I've saved the company well over $150,000 this year using my design skills.

And that is exactly why I'm working on setting up Vebe Visual as a freelance side job. There's a lot of money in design and I actually think I'm pretty good at it. You can be the judge tomorrow, but with no professional training and all self-taught, I'd say I'm pretty good at it based on past experiences with art directors at the magazines. For now, check out my photoshop skills correcting a pretty poor studio shot and making it poster worthy. The toughest part was photoshoping in realistic shadows. Once again, more or less self taught.

Notice the hot spots on the front fender and bodywork were eliminated from the original and it's now on a truly white background like it should be.