Happy Birthday to me.

This week feels like it's been kind of nuts.

Our crazy deadline has been creeping closer and we've all been busting a move to get everything accomplished... but there's one part I forgot about. Luckily, it's more of a formatting/administrative thing and we have Mary on board to help wrap this sucka up (although this is only phase one, 1/2 the designs we need to do in total).

I haven't had a lot of time to do much else, which is always a bummer. I've been working out for a few minutes when I get a chance, but it's really driving me nuts. I just want to go to the gym. For like 3 hours. Once this is over I think I'll be at the gym everyday for a couple weeks.

I've gotten in a couple games here and there, mainly I just log in to do a quest in WoW or a race in NFS: Hot Pursuit or play a match in Bad Company 2. Usually it's WoW since I can do that in bed, and often I get as far as logging in, leaving the Inn, then deciding there's no quest close enough to be worth it and just turning around and logging off.

But the work we're churning out isn't 1/2 bad, especially considering we really don't even have time to stop and think. And we're being compensated for the deadline and pressure, so it's all good in the end.

Oh yeah, my birthday was yesterday. It really wasn't very special, but I wasn't expecting it to be. We had a check-in for the project in the morning/early afternoon, so we had to print out a ton of crap to prepare fro that. I bought Lindsay a color laser printer/copier that set up pretty hassle free and worked like a charm. Nice.

The meeting went well, and we're on track. We had about 1/2 of the designs to show, which might seem odd considering we're like 8/12 days into the process here, but when you factor in that the first 4 or 5 of those days were spent in Wisconsin or on planes, it's not so bad.

After the meeting, Mary came by and we worked for as long as we could. We didn't bring the dogs to the studio thanks to the meeting, so we had to go let them out. Lindsay went to the hardware store to pick some stuff up, and I stayed home and cooked some dinner and played 1/2 of a race in Hot Pursuit.

When Lindsay came back we ate and watched an episode of Firefly before getting back to work until bed...

Happy birthday! No presents (because I opened them already), no cake, no nothing. Although an unusually large amount of people commented on my facebook thing. Which is only odd considering last year I think 2 did...

Today felt pretty good, though. We went to a meeting with a new client in the morning. It was in Minnetonka, which might as well be another freakin' state it feels so far away. We got some new projects (to start once we wrap our current crisis). On the way home I missed an exit and we ended up so close to home, we decided to pick up the dogs and take them to the studio. We also grabbed some Hot Dogs from Chris and Rob's.

Mary came in and we just cranked on art all day. I ran out to walk the dogs and get some pizza at Pizza Luce, so I called Chris S to hold the dogs while I paid, since he lives next door. He and Isara walked me home and came up for a bit, but we were pretty boring. No one really looked up from their computers, but I told them to expect that.

Now it's 10:30 and we're thinking about heading home. I think we've got a couple more things to finish tonight, before tomorrow when we make the final push...

Yeah.

Real Christmas

Real Christmas finally came and went. It seemed like Christmas was over, since by the 21st or 22nd, we had already had 4 or 5 celebrations.

On Christmas eve, we worked all day, but walked over to Chris S and Isara's for some holiday cheer afterward. We had some shrimp tacos, and it was pretty awesome. I'd have loved to stay longer, but we had some stuff to wrap up so we headed out after some chit chat.



The next day, Lindsay and I got up and started getting ready for Adam to come over. I did a little work-out, and then we exchanged presents. I got some nice stuff, a great scarf, a cool hat, some sweet art, a bad ass watch and more! I got Lindsay a big-ass color laser printer/copier for the Paper Bicycle studio...













We made chorizo and eggs with tortillas, salsa, fruit, yogurt... maybe some other stuff too. It was way too much, but also way too good and none of us could stop eating until we were over-stuffed.



We opened presents for the cats and dogs, and for each other as well. Adam got us a couple amazing TMNT blankets that have the magical effect of instantly making you sleepy.
























We watched the episode of I Hate My Kitchen! we were on, because Adam hadn't seen it at all, and we'd only seen a tiny, artifacted digital version. It's still embarrassing, I don't know if I ever need to see it again now.

The rest of Christmas we spent watching Firefly and playing games. And doing a little bit of work, I guess.

Early Christmas is over.

We're back in Minneapolis.

We woke up and had a slow start. Lindsay and I did some laundry and worked at the dining room table in the morning while Victoria and Lindsay's parents did... whatever. I don't know what.

I finished up my ButtonFace piece for the re-instated super awesome art challenge. I also trouble-shot a printer/computer problem. And packed. Eventually we headed out to the airport.

At the airport, things went pretty smoothly at first. We made it through the security checkpoint with time to spare. At least, Lindsay and I did.

Victoria get held up. For a while we didn't know what was happening, they weren't talking to her or anything, her bag just wasn't coming through the xray. I noticed more and more TSA officials start to crowd around, and soon there was a group of 10 or so.

I had a pretty good idea what the problem was: a salt rock. You see, I'd been given a lamp made from a rock of salt. When the lamp heats the rock, it's supposed to ionize the air, or something. It is about the size of a football and weighs about 10 pounds.

We didn't have room for it on our bags, so we were decided if we should ship it, ditch it, or figure out a way to carry it when Victoria volunteered her bags. So she got to carry the salt rock.

Eventually, they pulled her aside and asked what was in the bag. She thought it was her Yerba Mate Tea Gourd which looked suspicious, so she blurted that out right away. The TSA dude was from Argentina and knew exactly what it was, but wanted to know what the OTHER suspicious object was... the salt rock.

She told the guards that she didn't really know, that her brother in law (me) had asked her to carry it... So I stepped in to explain. By this point they were wiping down the box that the rock was in, as well as in the inside of Victoria's bag. I guess for explosive residue or anthrax or something.

I tried my best to explain, but they seemed unimpressed. I tried to point to the text on the box, but they snapped at me for trying to touch it.

Then they made me go back to the waiting area. They proceeded to slowly cut the box open, pausing every now and then to repeatedly ask Victoria "so you're telling me nothing bad is in this box, right?"

Once they got it open, they weren't sure what to make of it. Eventually they took photographs for evidence, and then let her go, salt rock in hand.

We were still had plenty of time to catch our plane, the whole ordeal took no longer than 20 minutes or so. And when we got to our gate, we were informed our flight was delayed anyway...

Finally we got home and Mary picked us up from the airport. She took us to our house, then we had to take Victoria home. It had snowed the day before we got back, but Chris C had shoveled and moved our cars. Super nice.

It was pretty late, but Battlefield Bad Company 2 had released the Vietnam expansion early that day, so I quickly downloaded it and played 1/2 of a game before going to bed. We have a big week or two ahead of us...

Dad's Early Christmas

I left my mom's place at about noon and went to my parents old house (and my sister's current, temporary house) to look through old crap. There were a few items I'd left there over the years, most of which I trashed. There were year books, tons of sketchbooks, action figures, comic books, skis, swords, guns and knives. I kept the skis and yearbooks.

From there we went to my dad's new house. We all made some food and had lunch before opening round two of presnts (once again, most of the presents were for the babies).

We were only there for 5 or 6 hours, but it was fun.























At about 6:30, Lindsay's dad showed up to take us back to Mequon. On the way home it was mainly business talk. When we got back, we had some stew and then did ANOTHER present-exchange. Lindsay's parents gave us a cast-iron tea set that weighed about 100 pounds.



















Once that was over, we cleaned up a bit and went to bed. This time we left the cats in the basement.

Mom's Early Christmas

Yeah, like I said, keeping cats in the room was a bad idea. I started the day pretty tired. I promised my family I'd be in Stoughton by 12, thinking maybe we'd be there by 1 at the latest. But that didn't happen. Lindsay's family moves at glacial speeds. Victoria and her mom had some plans that kept changing every 5 minutes, even though Lindsay, her dad and myself were in our coats with our bags in the car the entire time.

We rolled up to my mom's place at about 4 pm. Oops. But I told everyone the status of our departure, so everyone held off on the party. When everyone did arrive, babies pretty much dominated the night.

We all helped make Tacos for dinner, and we opened presents from each other. It was a good night.







































I was so full by the end of the night, I regretted the second helping I'd had. I was so tired from my lack of sleep that I was practiclaly passing out by the time the last people cleared out. Then I crashed.