OK it’s hard to turn on the TV or listen to the radio these past couple days and not have heard about Michael Jackson. As much as it has annoyed me a little how they’re making so much fuss about it now, when everyone’s been making MJ jokes for years, it’s certainly very interesting witnessing this kind of fervor.

When my wife sat down with me that afternoon we found out, she asked “Why are they making such a big deal about it?”  (She’s never really been a big fan of pop culture).  I admit I felt a little bit of defensiveness on behalf of these MJ fans out there who we saw crying on boob tube.

I told her, “Love him or hate him, he’s a HUGE part of music even despite all the crap that’s been surrounding him this past decade”  I think he deserves his time to be recognized…even if it comes after he’s gone.

So…since I posted a rememberance for Joey Ramone and James Brown when they past — Here’s to you Michael.  “Comon…till the pong pong, don’t stop till you get enough.  Cheehee Chamong”  (I could never figure out what he was saying in that song)

(Image via TheDieline.com)

Kingston had his first taste of something besides milk just the other day. It was a baby bottle of carrots (UGH I hate carrots, shhh don’t tell him). He loved it…he turned into a little bird with his mouth wide open every time we dropped the spoon into the bowl.

My wife said, “Hey this is the best meal of your entire life!”. It got me thinking, “That’s true!…Quick grab the camera!”

It’s a little bit awe inpiring how you can share the first-experiences of some little guy’s life. Here I am complaining about not being able to travel somewhere in the world over the past couple years, and yet this little guy is amazed every chance he gets carried outdoors.

It humbles me a little. STILL however, I gotta get off this rock for a trip sometime soon or I’ll explode from boredom.

Finally finished a job that took a while because of the printing issues. Well, the update is that 4over responded back to my complaint and offered me a fair resolution to the situation so I was able to reprint. I just broke even on the job which is by far better then losing money at least.

The job was a bit challenging. It’s hard to make cool design where the only thing you have to work with is a bunch of roofing photos. In the end I had to embellish it a bit with a lot of Hawaiiana design elements and some colors. The idea is that they’ll eventually populate this presentation folder with a series of different service product information. We did this first set with a comparison between roofing methods.

Don’t go all rushing in at once…I know you all really want to learn all you can about roofs.

In another 3 weeks my wife and I are going to celebrate our 2nd Anniversary?  What anniversary is that anyway…first year is “Paper” right?  Is the 2nd year like the “Cardboard” anniversary?  (looked it up…”Cotton” it says)

Anyway, I’m not even sure we’ll end up doing anything. How sad is that?  It doesn’t seem like my wife is that into celebrations (or it could be some false facade to see if I’ll plan something?).

I’ve been wanting to do something special but it’s hard to think of anything that doesn’t involve trying to find a baby-sitter for longer than a few hours. I had thought about flying to the neighbor islands for a couple days or even just booking a local hotel stay… BUT Kingston has yet to spend an entire night with his grandparents and I’m not sure they’re eager for the challenge.

I dunno… hopefully something good will turn up for us to do for our anni.

2 years sure burned by fast.  There were times we’ve wanted to kill each other…other times where it has been purely fantastic. I guess we have a normal marriage huh?

Kingston looks like I feel today.  I got a bunch of new photos over the weekend. Picked up a new 50mm lens over Craigslist last week so I had a fun time playing with that.

Kingston’s doing ok…with the exception once in a while I just can’t console him. Those are the days my mind just shuts down and I have to hand him to mom.

Hmm, this is not a bad idea, I should stick Kingston up on my office wall.

I’m not sure exactly what I’m reading on this site, but it looks to be a collection of creative advertisements. (via Kreativbetrunken)

I don’t know if I’m the only business owner, or graphic designer for that matter, to find it way easier to work in the evenings. Back when I was single, it was a lot easier to spend the morning sleeping in sometimes or working-out, and then my creative juices would kick in right around the time the sun started to set.  At nighttime it’s cooler and quieter.  It wasn’t uncommon to work up right past dinner and up to about 11pm.

What I’m quickly finding out now that I’m married with child is that it’s just about impossible to do that kind of schedule. If my muse doesn’t hit me during the day while my family is out, it’ll be out of the question to do any work between 3pm – 9pm once I have to start being chauffer to the wife and child.

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As a business owner, there are certain situations where I’ve had to make judgement calls about things in order to please customers. Although rare, I’m sure there were times where I’ve chosen not to please a customer too. The whole “customer is always right” philosophy works for sales, but doesn’t always apply when you work in a field where you’re hired for your technical expertise. (e.g. If a client tells me he thinks a flashing polka-dot logo will help him sell his new widget invention, I may hold an exorcism)

Now there have been a couple instances lately that have peeved me.  This time I’m on the receiving end as a customer. As a business person, I know where they’re coming from. But as a customer, I’m really peeved at how I was treated. I’d really like to know what people think about these situations.

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So Hawaii is certainly feeling some of the economy stuggles although from what I hear it’s still not as bad as it is in the Mainland.  Hotel occupany rates are hovering around 60% which hasn’t been seen in 30 years. Home sales aren’t plummeting as fast either but month after month we’re still seeing 5% – 10% slump in values and activity.

Construction is obviously down. I posted a few weeks back how one of the new condos was only halfway built? Well, nothing’s changed there.

Now the Governor has imposed a State-wide worker furlough to try recover some of the deficit we’ve built up lately. I have friends in State and City jobs…I hope they’ll do alright. Yet I can’t help but feel a little bit cynical about State and City jobs because I know the type of waste and inefficiency that occurs there.

Take this for example — every State worker is now supposed to take the equivalent of about 18% cut in pay as a result of taking 3 days off per month. You’d think, “oh, that really sucks but at least there’s a silver lining. They have 3 more days to spend with family PLUS they don’t lose their jobs“  Right?

Well, I heard it from a friend that some offices aren’t even going to take 3 days off. They’re making their workers come every day as usual but they can leave an hour earlier.  Whooodee-freakin’-do.  Yeah you want to see a demotivated state worker try to renew your business licenses on time?

You know what really burns my grill?  I heard on top of that they have to fill out a form in duplicate everyday, ASKING to leave the hour earlier. Is that full of shit or what?  So some geniouses in the State have decided that fixing the budget shortfall is accomplished by making workers spend 15minutes a day filling out forms printed out with my tax dollars.

Summamabillygoat.

I finished the logo above a few weeks back, I don’t think I mentioned it yet?  A friend of mine started this company to help individuals become financially independent — freedom from having to worry about being able to pay off your bills (i.e., mortgage, credit cards, tuition, etc.)

I think his education program is really exciting. I understand there are ways to use everyday corporate strategies in our own personal finances so that we can easily handle our daily expenses. You can pay off a standard 30-year mortgage in like 7 years. Only problem my wife and I have with doing this education is that the Chinese tight-wad side of us just can’t justify paying for the education just yet.

I digress. Anyway, the main characteristic of this logo design is the triangle. The triangle is one of the key symbols of the financial strategies that they teach. I confess I had a hard time working with the triangle form…my style is more organic and curvy. The stars and stripes suggest the obvious connotations…I just wanted some negative space to break up the hard lines.

I still think there’s JUST a little bit missing I can do here to make it better. I guess I always think I could do better after-the-fact. Maybe it’ll come to me one day…