Major Father Son moment...

These are the training wheels my son threw away today because he no longer needed them. Today was the day that fate had smiled upon us and Reagan became truly free, here is the vid:

I can't help myself...

I found a new Ron Paul video on youtube and I couldn't resist. Here's to you Ronny and here's to an independent run!


PS- In a mock election my classroom held back in '92 I was the lone vote for Perot, so this type of thing is typical for me.

few things start off good, fewer are great, and nothing begins perfectly...

I had this conversation with myself as I finished a couple of projects at home and work the last couple days. The nature of what I do is to obsess over the tiniest minutia through scores of ads or copy and promos so that nothing interrupts the connection between the message and its audience. The idea being that if you noticed my work I have failed. If I have done a good job then my work and the work of my compatriots goes unnoticed. If we mess up then we get customer service complaints. All of this and a couple of really late nights stressing over individual frames of video (there are 24 frames in one second) led me to the larger idea:

My favorite part of the recent hit Juno was when the movies namesake declares her true feelings to the jilted lover/father Bleeker. In rapid fire razor sharp eloquence Juno describes all the things she loves about him (plays guitar, runs cross country, funny, has good breath) and how cool Bleeker is without really trying. To this he mutters nearly under his breath, "I actually try really hard."

Very few things start off good; probably fruit is one of the only products in the world that starts off pretty good and cannot really be made better. Other than that we have our work cut out for us. When we start a magazine ad it starts off like a rejected preschoolers tempra painting and ends up as a finished piece that only looks effortless and simple. Only after much collaboration, confrontation, and revision does a product leave our offices looking good. It was fought for, scrapped, rehashed, and finally approved and nobody outside our doors cares, nor should they. It is MY job to make things good. The only job the customer has is to know; to know whether they do or do not like our product, to know whether it works for them, and to know if they had a positive or negative experience. If I interrupt that process by allowing stale and sub par representations and messages about our company escape then regardless of the merit of my company's product I have failed.

The good news, however, is that as long as things don't start off too well and need to be made better I will have pretty tight job security.

PS- If you are wondering about the levels of great and perfect as indicated in the title, let me finish up with the good level first and then I will get back to you.

My latest creation...

Here is a promo we did for the next conference we are sponsoring:


Not bad for for only two days of work!

The Divine nature of an otherwise sinful experience...

The number two person on my list of people I would like to meet in the world is the quirky food scientist Alton Brown (number one is found on a way back post). I am a true devotee of his show and viciously chew through episodes on my tivo. However Mr. Brown's groundbreaking food show is not the subject of this post but rather the muse which lead to the inspiration.

The show was about espresso and I was hooked. From the first time I sipped a perfectly pulled shot at a nameless cafe in Vienna I knew something so complex, mysterious, and electrifying could only have it's origins firmly in the underworld. Anyone who talks about any coffee product for more than two minutes has to mention at minimum a latent caffeine addiction and addictions are wrong...right?

I began to ponder the process that espresso goes through to end up in a glass and I noticed something very familiar...my journey with God.

At the risk of sounding like a covert shill for Starbucks bear with me;
Here is the process:

-Beans are chosen ( a point of contention among my more arminian friends)
-Ground to a fine mist
-Next the grounds are compressed into a tight little form known as a puck
-Finally massive amounts of water pressure push what is considered usable through excruciatingly small holes until the dark elixir is ready for it's intended use.

I suppose this is the process that God uses to expose what is complex, mysterious, and electrifying in us.

The next shot is on me.

The Begining of Summer...

When you live in Fresno California there is a very short window of opportunity to live without either your heater and especially your air conditioner running the majority of the time (I think 112 was the record last summer). Today was the epitome of these rare exceptions. Sandals were brought out, old furniture was moved, and all my windows are open. For those who live in the central valley we accept that the season known as spring is nothing more than a vile temptress, but today I willingly fell victim to her song.

A game of tug-o-war I didn't know I was losing...

I have been traveling around the country so much lately I had no idea how much it was affecting my brain. It wasn't until I was sitting down tonight to put all of the matters of our house in order that I realized how long it had really been. I love traveling but sometimes you just need to be home. I had that feeling to where the events of my life were running me and not the other way around.

Since I am not one to usually make a new years resolutions maybe I will start a new trend of spring resolutions. It takes about that long to figure out what you really need to resolve anyway.

Here is my resolution for tonight:
Go to bed at decent hour and wake up without the aid of coffee.

(maybe we should just start with the early bed time)