Uh Oh

Devious
Originally uploaded by Polish Carpetlayer.

You've got to wonder what this little guy is thinking. It looks like he's got a plan. A devious plan. :D

Why Traceability? for HarvestMark

Here's the latest and greatest. An animation I did with Kamp Grizzly for HarvestMark. Work is CRAZY BUSY right now. But fun. We're making all sorts of things and it is satisfying to create stuff like this. This is the first animation/motion graphics piece I've ever done. I think it turned out really well.

You can now find HarvestMark traceable enabled produce in all Kroger stores. They own stores like Ralphs, Fred Meyers, Kroger, and so on. They did $78 billion worth of business in 2008. That's a lot of produce. Go to your local market and trace some food. This HarvestMark thing I've been working so hard on seems to be catching on. We've got a long way to go, but we're moving forward.

Enjoy the video. It was a blast to make.

David Solls Movie - Puppet

If anyone is wondering what David Soll is doing, he's making a movie. Here's the preview.

Puppet from David Soll on Vimeo.

Apparently Estacada High has an impressive list of graduates. Who knew?

40 MPH Wind Gusts? Sounds Like Fun.

We got back from the holiday rush and settled in to a couple weeks of work and school. Michelle has started her last year of classes. It’s amazing how hard that girl works. She definitely earns it. Standing next to her as she climbs this mountain I can attest to the fact that she is amazing. She’s almost finished and soon will be a Doctor of Physical Therapy. Yeah!

I went back to work and tried to comprehend every project I have set up for this year. It’s a mountain of work. Awesome things are coming. But in the meantime, if you haven’t seen my final project of 2009, The Gift of Growing Time Lapse Video and Website, take a look. It was, at times, a herculean task. But, along with a good group of partners, we did it. That was last year, and now I’m on to bigger and better things. Stay tuned.

It’s not all work and school. As you can see by the video above, sometimes there’s some play involved too. Even when it storms there are good times to be had. Here’s to a beautiful 2010. Let’s have some fun and help make the world a better place.

Gift of Growing Final Video

Today begins a new day

Happy New Year!

Just a quick blog to exclaim a few things.

First, today is the first day of my last year of school. Woo Hoo!!!!

Second, Caspian is amazing. He is creating some awesome things at YottaMark. You have to check this out: http://www.giftofgrowing.com/

Next, our friends and family are amazing. Carson is now 14 months old and the sweetest, cutest nephew I could ever ask for. Jackson is 6 months old and is a super over achiever, not mention ADORABLE! Genevieve is the sweetest little pea pod of a neice at 3 weeks (?)

Then I have to give a big shout out to all of our friends who continue to amaze me in their parenting skills: Jessica and Michael, Mindy and Eric, Yvonne and Scott, Ryan and Christen, Gabe and Sara, Mark and Sarah, Michael and Courtney and soon to be parents: Becky and Sean, Annie and Andrew.

Am I missing anyone?

Wow, I'm really looking forward to 2010. It's going to be a great year.

Look at That!

Look!
Originally uploaded by Polish Carpetlayer.

What the hell are we looking at? Could it be another year chugging towards the finishing line? Or a new niece and nephew circa 2009? Or a foggy SF night? Or a drunk mime? Or a room full of momma’s and poppa’s? Maybe.

Whatever it is, it makes us stare and marvel and think, “wow, this is really happening”. And that makes it interesting and challenging and so very sweet because, well, THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING. Michelle’s got one more year of classes left (keep staring). HarvestMark is really making your eats traceable (look on). I’m a Creative Director there, and it's the best job I've had (seeing is believing). Michelle and I are now Aunt and Uncle thrice over (looking away from the dirty diaper). My school loan and our car payment turned into a Mini S Cooper (don’t blink). And 2009 is about to leave the stage for 2010. Keep your eyes trained on it, because it’s gonna be a fun one.

Happy Holidays to all. It's been a great year and we can't wait to share the next one with all of you.

Michelle and Caspian

PS We might be staring because there’s a camera in front of us and we’re at a great party that demands we look on. See?

The Arrival

The Arrival
Originally uploaded by Polish Carpetlayer.

We had a company party. Danced. Ate great food. Wore fancy clothes (including a tie). And celebrated the amazing year that YottaMark has had. We wish you were there. It's been a great ride so far.

Working Away

This is what kept me up until 3:15 in the morning last night. This is just a sliver of the project. We are growing the words "Gift of Growing" with wheatgrass and creating a time lapse film out of it. There are three separate cameras with three separate views. Big thanks to Tim Wilson, Tim Nackashi, Kevin Sullivan, and Elliott Grant and his family.

Morning Clouds

We went for a run and I set up my still camera to run while we were gone. When I got back, I took the 260 pictures it took (1 every 15 seconds) and created this time lapse movie of the morning clouds. It's a minute long. Enjoy.

****As an aside, one of the pictures towards the end of the video caught Michelle and I walking back on the beach (yes, that's 1 of 260). See if you can see it. We're in the lower right hand of the video (I'm in white shirt and Michelle is in a blue top).

Stormy on Maui

Stormy on Maui
Originally uploaded by Polish Carpetlayer.

We got some rain yesterday on Maui. But we also got some rainbows and we found some waterfalls (as you can see in the video below) on The Road to Hana (we only did about 1/3rd of that road, it's long). Rain doesn't bother us, well me, especially when sun is just around the corner. That makes Michelle a happy girl.

Today we to a surf lesson...and got up. Oh yeah, It was sunny. Great! No worries, I wore sunscreen...and got some salt water in my mouth. That's surfing...at least for me.

(Michelle:) Surfing this morning was A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!!! I can't wait to hit some "real" waves! I think we'll rent some surf boards tomorrow to practice after para-sailing.

The wind blew the beaches into a full-on sandstorm this afternoon. I guess that was to remind us that the conditions of Paradise are up to Mother Nature. My complaints were quelled with the decision to partake of Happy Hour Mai Tais, Paradise Punch and poo-poos at the Bar-foot bar in the sand. Wee! That's what vacation is all about!

After we were good and buzzed we headed back to the condo to finish our books and grill some fresh Ono (moon fish). Mmmmm....