My Mom bought my Dad this guitar for their first year anniversary, or so the story goes. It’s the guitar I can remember my dad playing when I was growing up, sitting with him on saturday mornings while he recorded songs into two white  ceramic Sony mics straight into a tapedeck.

Somewhere along the line the guitar became mine. I was 13 or so and got a decent amount of cash (well, for a 13 year old) and “bought” the guitar off my dad. This is the guitar I learned countless Nirvana songs on by watching Kurt Cobain’s hands on the MTV unplugged performace. It’s the guitar that roamed the halls of high school, serenading pretty girls and jamming with friends from the Jazz Band.

This guitar is as much a part of me as anything I can think of. It’s been around for as long as I can remember, and helped to define a main part of my skillset and in some ways personality. It’s a gorgeous instrument. It has the best action of any acoustic or electric I’ve played in my life and a chuggy tone that completely compliments my playing style.

Somewhere in college the guitar fell by accident and started developing a crack in the heel of the headstock. I’ve always favoured heavier gauge strings, which in turn means higher tension on the guitar overall. Over the course of 5 years the neck bowed more and more until it started fretting out, making it harder to play. In respect for the instrument, the strings were slackened I stopped playing it. It became an heirloom of my past, no longer functional, but a pretty hunk of wood on the wall.

When Meli and I married we decided to use the guitar as the sign-in book for the reception. The guitar was placed on a table surrounded by river rocks, candles, and a ton of silver sharpies. The guitar had come full circle, once a present from my mom to my dad, it was now a historical document for my new family with my wife. Its face pockmarked with years of use and memories, and just a layer above all the signatures of loved ones and family rest, sealing the guitars journey thus far.

I’ll probably have a luthier look at the guitar and have it fixed at some point. My goal is to play it at some far off wedding anniversary, pass it on to a son or daughter, etc etc.

Halloween is my favorite holiday. How can a boy not love dressing up like a super hero, running around taking photos of all his friends, and getting a few sugar rushes. Most companies have big Christmas parties; ours has a big ass Halloween party. Mostly because we’re awesome like that.

Also, on a side note: congratulations are in order to my good friends Melanie + Scott (pictured above) who recently got engaged and are all sorts of awesome.

Speed Links (some of these are late but, eh)

• Add me on Simler
• Awesome underwater photography
• Google Chrome on a Mac
• Inside the Hand Made Font Studio
• Street Photographer from the 50’s – 70’s
• Inspiration in Red
• DJ Hero Opening Animation (awesome, in HD)

The ’stache is an integral part of the kickball uniform. Just sayin’!

Anyways!!

I’m probably not that hard to shop for, but I definitely am one of those kids that tends to have most anything he could ever want. Being a graphic designer / art director / kid that doodles, a nice printer that could print at larger formats was something that had always alluded me, that is until this weekend. My wife and parents pooled funds together to get me a Canon Pixma Pro 9000, a printer I had been lusting after for quite some time.

I actually ended up re-arranging our spare-room / office in order to fit the new printer, which is a pretty sizable piece of equipment. You can see it there on the far right, next to the scanner that also found its home on. So, four hours after starting my project, I finally started to setup the printer. I had a spare airport express that I hadn’t been using that is now the print server, so I can print wirelessly in the house.

To the right of the printer, in the tower, I have all my paper. To the left, all my design magazines and books, some guitar stuff, my keystation. I actually do most of my design in the living room laying down by my sofa (old habit form HS, it’s how i’ve always done my projects and homework), so the office only gets used as an archive room. I’m hoping that re-organizing let’s me use it more as a workstation.

So what’s the big deal right? It’s a damned printer? Well this printer can print up to 13″ x 19″, handles thicker card stocks, and uses 8 inks for faithful color replication. I haven’t started messing any real settings, color management profiles, or specialized settings for specific paper stocks, and I’m already impressed with the results.

Below are some shots of my first couple of test prints. I’m very excited about what this printer will be able to do. The prints look gorgeous. I actually have a cache of heavy stock from French Paper and some brown craft paper stock that I’m going to be using for a couple of up coming projects.

I printed two photos, one of my wife & one of my birthday ’stache photos, as seen above. In addition I printed some mock thank you cards to test a clean vector design as well as photos looked like. I’m very impressed with this machine so far.

Anyone need a poster designed? Etsy store coming soon…

Once upon a something there was a kid I knew. He used to dress up when he was all alone, pretend he was a rockstar. Epic rockstar concerts that happened only in his head ensued. He crafted his stage prescence; his rockstar moves; his kicks and karate chops. He had props, mic stands. He drove the neighbors crazy; had the cops called on him a few times. The same old story you’ve heard so many times before.

He’s was kind of a tall lanky kid; awkward. But he came came out of the womb rockin to AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, and old school Van Halen. I dedicate this mixtape to that strange wonder that was.

BTW, if you ever play Rock Band with me when I’ve had a beer or two that kid comes back full force.

Check out the Birthday 09 Mixtape

Self-Portrait of me the day before my 28th Birthday above.