Football and other Sports.

While Lyndsey and I enjoy Turkey in Georgia, my brother, his wife, and my parents are enjoying the raucous Cowboys/Bears game in Dallas. I've only been to one NFL game in my life and that was back when the Houston Oilers were still in existence. LIVE baseball was always more prevalent simply because the tickets were cheaper. Lately I have become more interested in the game of football for reasons similar to any other guy. Watching the old alma mater, the enticing integration of chips/queso and beer, and since we only get a couple channels off the antenna, football on Sundays is all there is to watch. With the Baseball season over, Hockey on strike, and the NBA going down the tubes, the only sport left is football...unless you were offended by the Desperate Housewives/Monday Night Football debacle last week. In that case, I'm sure you can enjoy some professional poker tournaments on ESPN2.

Thanksgiving Day.

So it's been 3 weeks since my last post and I know all of you are cringing for more daily news from life. Today is Thanksgiving. Lyndsey and I are here at her sister's in Atlanta and her family has come up to celebrate with us. There's a big turkey about to be cooked, an even bigger Pumpkin pie waiting to be eaten, and a "Seinfeld" story to watch this evening. Which reminds me, a couple of great multimedia items were released this past Tuesday. "Seinfeld" seasons 1, 2, and 3 can be bought on DVD with some great special features (really great deal at Best Buy); plus the new U2 album, "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" is out in 3 different formats for fans of all levels. And for the digital music lover in all of us, iTunes is offering "The Complete U2". A collection of almost 400 songs, including live, b-sides, and some hard to find tracks for about $150...pretty cool if you don't have any of there albums. Now, on this Thanksgiving day, I have a lot to be thankful for. For my wife, my family, our apartment, my school, friends, and a day off from class projects. I hope this doesn't put me too far behind because I only have one more week of classes left!

Thursday Seminars.

Thursday seminars give all us a students a look into new artists, photographers, and companies big and small. They come in talk about what they do, changes and innovations in the design world today and what we can do (as young designers) to help make things better. Before I started attending, I visited a seminar hosted by HATCH SHOW PRINT. Hatch is a printing company that primarily does posters for concerts or other activities in traditional letterpress format. Since the quarter began, we've had guests from Chronicle Books, Coca Cola, photographer Rodney Smith, and today Marc English from Austin, TX. I've really been blown away by work from each company and have been taking notes for future interests. If anyone has an interest in book printing, posters, magazine photography, or general publication design, check out these groups.

2a.m. Rummaging.

55 degrees F outside, flannel pajamas, prismacolor markers and a 14x17 non-bleed marker pad can only mean one thing: creativity; at least I hope so. Phase II of a design project involving trademark designs, the Apache civilization, and notans. A notan is a trademark style when 2 or more objects can be seen within one image, whether it be reversed, inversed, upside down, rightside up, or inside itself; see this trademark. Just one of many new design terms I've learned in my first quarter, and one of the most challenging to execute. And since I chose an ELK to represent my tribe (before I knew what we were to do), this makes things even more difficult; however, I know that nothing comes better than a burst of creative thinking at 2a.m. If this makes absoluety no sense to you, I apologize, part of it may be a right-brain/left-brain struggle to distinguish sketching from writing. Oh and this is only one of my five classes. Designers Unite!

School has Begun.

So we're into the first week of October, and for all of you following my adventures this year, you know what that means....School has begun. Two days ago was orientation, registration, and even a night class. We are a large group starting this Fall Quarter, a whopping 40 or so. An interesting group from all backgrounds and places, primarily the east coast with a few from the midwest, one person from Utah, and one from Thailand. Classes meet once a week in 4-hour blocks for 9 weeks, then Studio Week is to prepare final compositions of all projects, and critique week closes the quarter with presentations to a professional panel of instructors. After a two week break we do it all again with new classes and projects. Professors are really great, a couple are graduates from the school, everyone works in the Design field in their own time as well from freelancers to corporate or personal businesses. Studio atmosphere is reminiscent of Architecture at A&M, which I love. Open spaces, small groups, intelligent lectures, concepting, discussions, critiques, learning. Subject matter is unique and innovative. Assignments this week range from mind-blowing developments (large quantity and research, i.e. it's been a while) to capable challenges. Nothing I can't handle, everything I'm excited to do. Can't wait to get my talent back.

Books, Movies, Music.

For a guy who loves 2 out of the 3 listed above, working at a place like Borders sounds like a great gig. Discounts, being surrounded by great product, helping others enrich their lives with the sounds and stories of great artists...and you’re right, it is. Unlike my last entertainment retail experience, the people here are great, management is respectful, and the store is calm and clean. It’s located on the sidewalk of the heavy trafficked Peachtree St., which means we get a lot of pedestrian action and sidewalk shoppers that come in, read an entire book in one sitting and leave. The other popular thing amongst streetside customers is to grab a handful of CD’s, stand by a listening station, and rock out for 4 hours. This is something I yearn to do; of course, I’d love to keep my job as well. The challenge is not to return my paycheck to Borders in exchange for product. With my new adventure in life and as a husband and provider, priorities have changed. However, I have developed a newfound interest in reading and I can still enjoy music one song at a time with iTunes.

New Favorite Fruit.

Upon talking to some nice old ladies at a Dillard’s department store, we heard of this award-winning, legendary place called Harry’s Farmers Market in Alpharetta, GA. I’ve been to a few markets, fruits and vegetables are cool, but Lyndsey absolutely loves them so we had to go. And it is here that I was introduced to the PLOUT. A sort of glorified plum, sweet, and refreshing like an ice cold glass of your favorite beverage on a 90 degree day. I had never heard of them before, not sure if I just overlooked them in the grocery store, or if they are even sold in Brownsville, let alone anywhere I’ve lived in Texas. Regardless, they’re great and I will look for them with every trip to Kroger or Publix. Keep them in the fridge until you’re ready to indulge, and like most fruits, it tastes better sliced rather than in-hand direct bites. And like the plum, it does come with a pit, so watch out.

Lack of Updates.

Ok, I know everyone has been at the edge of their seat, checking back, refreshing the page, probably getting in trouble at work, missing family dinners, worried about what has happened since my last post. Not to fear, a lack of updates in this case is not such a bad thing. I started a new job as a multimedia seller at a Borders Bookstore and have been adjusting to a new schedule while taking care of other things in life. Of course experiencing two more hurricanes since last we talked can affect a lot of things as well. With Ivan we lost power for about 8 hours and enjoyed a nice evening at my sister-in-laws’ place. Jeanne didn’t cause any power outages on our block but did cause some leaking through our back door. The direction of the rain was aimed right through the door and imperfect caulking along the baseboard brought in some water. Thankfully, nothing was damaged, and a couple of towels helped us defeat Jeanne 3-1.

Hurricane Frances affects Atlanta.

Thankfully we returned from our Labor Day weekend road trip before Frances had come to the Atlanta area. Unfortunately, we woke up at 5:30am, warm and to the beeps of a smoke alarm's dead battery. Frances has arrived. As of right now, both power and phone lines are down and I update this blog from my sister-in-law's place. Half the city is down, schools were canceled, tress have fallen, and the lakes are high. Even my first day at work has also been postponed due to the unfriendliness of Frances. Nothing compared to all that has occurred in Florida, and for that I thank my lucky stars and untuck my shirt.

Apple Store: Chicago.

So I've been out all weekend long and have not updated this blog anywhere. My friends are I are walking down Michigan Ave. in Chicago, Illinois, and here we are at the Apple Store where I can update this thing. It's been great. Camping in Kentucky, partying in Detroit, a wedding in Merrillville, Indiana and now pizza in Chicago before our trip back to Atlanta. We'll see if we catch any rain from Hurricane Frances on the way back Monday. Wish you were here.

Getting Used to Atlanta.

It all revolves around time, Eastern Standard Time (EST); 1 hour ahead of the Central Standard time in Texas. This one hour changes everything. Where in Texas families eat dinner at 6 or 6:30, here it's 7:30pm. The news is on one hour later. Sitcoms, Letterman, Leno, even The Price is Right; they all begin one hour later, and it just messes me up. How will it affect my life span? Should we be living in the west coast? Is that why it is so populated? Anyway, this is about getting used to a new city. The other major observation is about traffic. I have no qualms with traffic. Not the size, space, or construction, it's going to be the same no matter what big city you live in; of course, everyone has their opinions. Best times to drive here or there, speed traps, short cuts, you just have to experience it in order to believe it. The biggest difference are the Turn Lanes, because there are none. If your eyes are not on the road ahead of you, 9 times out of 10 you will RAM into a car in front of you who was waiting for a clear spot to turn left. In a 2 or 4 lane two-way street in Atlanta, drivers will stop to turn left whenever they want! Top of a hill, end of a curve, whenever. And good luck finding a protected left arrow, those are few and far between as well. You have to jet across the road when the light first turns green if you want to make that left. Also, there are a lot more "No Turn on Red" signs than I have ever seen before. In Atlanta, patience is key. Thankfully, patience is one thing I have plenty of.

Friday the 13th.

August 13th lands on a Friday once every 7 years and with my name being Jason, it's obvious I would get a little freaked out. There's the fictional serial killer character of the above titled film, plus bad things seem to hover around '7 year' increments (like breaking a mirror), and the paranoid fact that I'm the only person who recognizes the coincidence between my birthdate, my name, and the horror film, really just drives me nuts. So this happened yesterday, and you can see that since I've posted today, all is well. I slept in, Lyndsey made breakfast, we did some shopping, and went out to eat with my sister-in-law at what is now my new favorite restaurant, the Rock Bottom Brewery. Of course, nothing bad has ever really happened on my Friday the 13th birthdays, so I will continue to be hopeful about future years. Turning a quarter of a century isn't really a bad thing, is it? So for those of you with strange and unique birthdays like April 1, February 29th, or the 13th day of any month, I wish you the same fortunes and happy days.

Tom and Will.

Two of the flicks on my Summer Movie Hit list were Anchorman: Legend of Ron Burgundy and Collateral, starring Will Ferrell and Tom Cruise, respectively. Lyndsey took me to see Will the night before our wedding. She also took me to see Tom this evening, while she went to see The Princess Diaries with her sister...we'll call it a 'date night.' Although two completely different movies, I'd have to say Collateral was easily the best. It's top notch in its genre of noir suspense thrillers that grab you by the throat and pull you through to the end. Michael Mann has directed a great film, with some great characters, unusually tender moments, and another well executed gunfight just like the downtown chase in his film Heat. Jamie Foxx plays a cab driver with a dream interrupted by Vincent's violent rampage. Both players run through the night with witty repartee and determined hearts. Foxx shines during a pivotal moment in a club after a story about Santa Claus and Pedro Negro...watch for it, brilliant. Anchorman, though really funny, will only work for those of you die hard Will Ferrell aficionados. It's 180 degree of non-sequitur humor will either drive you crazy or drive you out of the theater.

Anji and Lucy.

Since moving to Atlanta, Lyndsey and I have been living with her sister and her beautiful mini-dachsund. Naysayers have spoke their mind about the horrors and worries about living with in-laws, especially for newlyweds, but I must say that our experience has been nothing but fun. We stayed in the guest bedroom, had our own bathroom, and stayed pretty much to our own tasks and assignments while Anji went to work each day. We ate dinner together most of the nights, watched some movies in the evenings, and hung out on the weekends, becoming more familiar with the area. Our only special assignment was to take care of Lucy while Anji was out and during her on-call nights; thankfully, she's great. I love playing with dogs, so running around with a mini-dachsund made for some high quality enjoyment for all of us. Tomorrow our parents are coming to town with our furniture and personal items, so as we move into our new place I just want to say Thank You to Anji, for your accommodations, for your kindness, and for your dog. We will be happy to dog-sit anytime.

The Clean Artist.

I stopped by a local art supply store to inquire about a part-time job and was asked a unique question that no one has ever asked me before, "So, are you an Artist?"  I've done a lot of creative work, for myself, for others, for class assignments, but have never really thought of myself as an Artist; although, the very simplistic definition of the word is one who creates art.  As I have this conversation in my head, I quickly answer, "Yes", with a proud smile.  And the sales associate/artist behind the counter says, "Really?  You look too clean to be an artist..."  Now that's funny!  I've never read the book on appearances of an artist, but ok, I'll take it and reply with, "Well, that's what I am, a clean artist."  Not exactly sure if that will help or hurt my application.

Step One Complete.

I am back everyone, glad to see you all again; this time writing from Atlanta, Georgia.  The wedding was beautiful, the reception was a blast, and the honeymoon was an excellent vacation!  Everything everyone says about weddings and receptions for the bride and groom are correct.  It has been officially verified.  Your own wedding/reception is always your favorite.  It does go by in the blink of an eye.  And the photographs are the most important feature of the ceremony.  Thankfully, I can remember every single moment I took part in.  The honeymoon in Curacao was all I thought it would be.  The ocean was beautiful, underwater life was brilliant, the dutch architecture was breathtaking, the restaurants were tasty, and the happy hour was very nice.  Service at most of the restaurants was slow, that is, in comparison to our American standard of "get them in and get them out."  Finally, we've arrived in Georgia with our cars, and have signed a lease on a new apartment which we'll move into in a couple weeks.  Next is the all important job search.  Lyndsey has already had a great start and I just have lots of ideas in mind.  Tomorrow, I'll introduce myself to many local businesses.  Wish us luck.

Wedding Day.

Luckily the hotel has high-speed internet access, so here I am once more, writing on the big day. It's been a great past few days with nothing but success all around. All my buddies from out of town have made it safely and on time, rehearsal went great, and our BBQ dinner was outstanding. Except for an interesting little song number my mother arranged at the dinner, all was as expected. I can't wait to see everyone at the ceremony and reception tonight. It will be quite a party filled with the sounds of mariachi's during dinner. What more could a guy ask for?

Beautiful friend, The End.

This will probably be my last post for the next few weeks as I get caught up in all things Life, so catch up with the archives if you haven't done so already. To everyone at work who is visiting for the first time, the layout is pretty simple and easy to follow. At the end of each post is a link to leave comments about each entry. Blogger (which is powered by Google) is still refining this section so you either have to be a member or post anonymously, but you could include your name with your comment if you were so inclined.

It's been a great run here and I will miss you guys, I'll miss the luminous tower, the bridge out my window, and Double Dave's. Take care of yourselves, respect each other, and appreciate the world around you because it's such an awesome place. And for everyone who's been asking, we'll be visiting the Dutch Island of Curacao for our honeymoon. It's located here. 3 Weeks till we Go to Georgia!

The Insidious Internet

The information superhighway can be an evil thing and I'll tell you why. Tomorrow I'm turning in my cable modem and will be unattached from internet access at home for quite a while, and my first thought was, honestly, "What am I going to do?" What if I need information from my email, or check a phone number, or find directions; how will I update this blog? Are we so dependent on internet access that we begin to lose track of our own lives when it's not available? How did the world function before this was created? I poke fun at Lyndsey for always relying on the web every time she has an idea or a question about something, and now I've fallen into her mode. Sometimes having web access can hinder personal growth instead of building it. I've cut valuable exercise, painting, and reflecting time in order to surf the web. But tonight I'm packing up my CPU and peripherals to join the other boxes prepared for the big move and I will not let the insidious internet take up any more of my precious time and worries. However, I will try to find someplace where I can update this blog....I can't leave you in the dark too long.

Last Minute Updates.

Well, packing up my apartment has been going very well, just have a few things left that I'll be using during the week. The weekend flew by so fast that I didn't get a chance to see Fahrenheit 9/11, plus I missed The Terminal last week and will probably miss Spiderman 2 this week. My whole summer movie series will take a serious hit throughout the month of July, but that's ok. With my last week of work, the wedding and honeymoon around the corner, I've still got some last minute planning and organizing to do to make sure I'm all up to speed. I even started a couple paintings but just can't seem to finish them. Does that ever happen to you? My brain wants my body to move at the speed of thought which means I get sidetracked; but it only happens when there is a lot to do. No matter, this week, it's go time! I'm going to get back in the procrastination-filled, creatively-energized, late-night momentum just like working in Studio back in college. See you at the finish line.