First, I’d like to apologize to the blogosphere for my absence the past 9+ months. Second, I’d like to apologize to my billions of fans. I’m sure you all were lost without my semi-monthly ramblings. One of the main reasons I have been absent from the ink tub has been because I’ve discovered the social networking site, Facebook. To me, it’s like a constant blog of daily, if not hourly happenings. I think with the addition Facebook in my life, after this one, my blog posts will be a bit more brief than in the past. I’ll try my best to sum up the past 9 months of my life without boring you to death.

Me: I’ve been keeping busy at work and home, both in a good way. I feel full on both, but I don’t feel overwhelmed or overstressed, which is a very good thing. I got promoted to Graphic Design Manager at work. I oversee the 2 full-time graphic designers, the student graphic designer, and a work study student. Being a manager is humbling and challenging, but I’ve learned a lot so far and continue to learn new things daily.

Holly: She’s exhausted and is getting sick pretty often because she’s so wiped out. Benji doesn’t allow her to sleep very well since he is still sleeping in our bed. I hope that we can get Benji on a more rigid schedule so Holly can get some more sleep and be able to take control of her life.

Benji: He’s doing great. 23 lbs., running around, learning new things daily. He loves stars, bubbles, owws (cats), and giving kisses to “Mama” and “Dada”. He has recently shown an interest in “drawing”. We got him some bath crayons and a magnadoodle, which he seems to love. Right now, he has some more teeth (has 16 now) coming in, and is fussy because of it. He’s been going to daycare now since March or April (I think) and seems to really like it. On the other hand, we don’t like how he’s constantly getting sick. He’s had at least 7 ear infections since he started at daycare. We will be contacting the ears, noes, and throat doctor this week to see when we can get an appointment to see what they say about ear tubes. We’re hoping they will help and fix his permasickness.

House: We moved in to our new place in April and got settled soon after. It’s really nice having something to call your own. We have yet to get everything in place and 100% set up yet, but we are getting there. If you need our new address, send me an email (brian@shedpress.com).

Cars: I’m still rocking my 03 A4 avant and Holly is still driving her 07 Rabbit. They’ve been treating us pretty good the past few months. I had to replace the clutch and flywheel on the avant over the summer. I also picked up 6 mk1 (first generation) vws; 5 being Rabbits and one being a Caddy (rabbit pickup truck). I had intentions of fixing up the caddy, but it proved to be too rusty for it’s own good, so I recently have started to turn it into a trailer. I picked up another caddy over the summer in Atlanta. It’s a 1983 VW Caddy with a 2L bottom end, 1.8 GTI head, a single counter flow carb setup, 5-speed manual trans, and maroon in color. I hope to get it started soon so I can start on pulling the engine and trans so I can rework some things in the engine bay and in the interior. There was some interesting (read: stupid) things that previous owners had done to it that question their abilities, or lack there of. Anyways, it should be a fun little truck once it’s together and running.

Cat: Well, our dear little Selena has made her way back to our house. Holly’s mom had kept her for about a year since she needed to be given medication 3 times per day and we weren’t able to do that since we we work. She seems to be doing well now, although does not appreciate Mr. Benji chasing after her, pulling her tail, and laying on her. I’m pretty sure that’s how she will die. Death by Benji. Seriously though, he really loves her. He’ll wake up and the first thing out of his mouth is “Owwww?”, because he wants to know where she is.

Shedpress: I vended at two shows this past season (Volksfest and H2Oi) and went to one day of Waterfest as a spectator. It was weird not vending at WF this year, but I still hadn’t come up with new designs yet and didn’t have the time to design and print all new shirts. I did manage to get some time after Waterfest to come up with nine new designs, which I have yet to put up on my website (wow, I suck). The new designs sold pretty well, so I was pretty pleased about that. I’m currently working re-designing the website. It will be a brand new look which should make ordering (for the customers) and updating (for me) easier. I’ll also be designing some new shirts to replace some of the older designs that will be retired. I’m just sick of looking at them, so they must go away. Over the summer, I filled out the proper forms and got shedpress incorporated and got a business bank account as well. Look for some (hopefully big) changes for shedpress in 2010.

Misc.: Holly’s mom is moving closer to us. She recently sold her current house and bought a house in Floyd, VA, which is much closer than her current location. It will be nice to have her close by in case we need a hand with Benji. I’m sure Holly’s boss will also appreciate it too since she stayed home from work with Benji when he was sick.

I’ve maxed out my Picasa account, so I moved on to Flickr. From my research, it looks like Flickr is a bit more flexible than Picasa and allows hotlinking, which I use often in the online forums I frequent. Here are links to both to see what I’ve been up to:
Picasa
Flickr

Well, I think I’m going to get some sleep now. Like I said earlier in this post, I hope to check in more often with more brief posts. Night.

Categories: Baby, Cars, Misc., Screen Printing, cats, house
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I fell a little behind on my post from last month, so I’ll try to catch up without making this too long. Two bigger holidays have passed. Many great meals were had. Time was spent with lots of family and friends. All was good. Now, for some specifics…

Ben has been growing like a weed. He’s now about 17 lbs. and about 26″ long. He’s eating and sleeping well and has started to “talk.” He makes the funniest sounds sometimes. He has also discovered his feet just this past week and has started to grab objects in front of him. His eyes have yet to make the full transformation. There have been 2 big brown specks in his right eye for about 2 months now, but they are still mostly dark slate blue. Here are some of the latest photos:

I got a ticket to go to the Duke/VT football game (11/22) with some friends of mine. It was around 20˚ F outside, with some wind, so the pre-game festivities were a must. Jackson, Derek, and 2 other friends of Jackson’s started out at their parking spot. Jackson used his MacGyver-like skills to light a fire in their firepit (read: dump a box of matches on the fire logs) the rest of us enjoyed some food and drinks while watching Captain Outdoors work his fire magic. Derek and I ventured out to visit with our friends Mac, Michelle, and some of their friends. After that, we went to visit our other friends Katie and Brian. She’s been telling me about their “Big Beer Game” that they play every home game, and that I needed to play it. Well, I lost (2nd to last) and ended up with a big can of what appeared to be rotten cough syrup called Four Loko Fruit Punch.  The game was fun, we had great seats, I ate a turkey leg, and Tech won. It was a successful night.

Our friends Mac and Michelle stopped over the next day to see Ben. We hadn’t seem them since their wedding, which was 4 days before Ben was born. Here are a few photos of their visit:

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house for the second year in a row. Our friend, Bryan J. joined Mama G, Holly, and me. Holly and Mom prepared a wonderful spread.

About 2.5 weeks ago, our cat, Smokey, went missing. We would let him outside since he liked it out there. He had a habit of coming right away if you called for him, but not this time. I had a soft spot in my heart for him since I picked him out at the animal shelter. He would visit me when I would go to the bathroom and lie on my chest when my alarm would go off in the morning because he wanted me to get up to feed him. Holly saw some unfamiliar dogs outside the house around the same time he disappeared and one of our neighbors said she saw a coyote around lately, too. We’re not sure what happened to him, but I’m sure he’s up in kitty heaven weaving in and out of people’s legs. I miss you Smokey.

I found some time to clean up the Univega bike I picked up last month. It cleaned up pretty good for being a 20-year-old bike. I got some tubes and tires for it and will use it for cruising around when I need some more flexible gearing which I don’t have with the fixie. I ended up pulling the original front wheel from the Raleigh since the front wheel on the Univega had some bearing play. Here are some photos:

I also got the fixie bike back! It took a long time to get all of the right parts, but it’s finally done. I rode it right after I picked it up from the bike shop and I’m really pleased with it. I didn’t have the head badge at the time I took the first round of photos, but I snapped a photo of it on the bike. I also am waiting on some leather straps for the toe clips, then it will be 100% finished. I can’t wait for some nice days so I can ride it. Today was promising, but I ran out of daylight. It looks like there are some nice days early next week that I might be able to get out and ride. Here are some pics:

We had a few Christmas celebrations this year, and one more today (12/28) when Mama G. comes to visit. The first was at my Mom & Dad’s place with our family, Greg & his family, and Mom & Dad (12/20). We all had fun and was great hanging out with our family. Here’s a link to some of the photos from the day.

The next day (12/21) was our yearly “Yohn Christmas” which was traditionally at Nan Yohn’s house, but has moved to either my parent’s house or my Aunt Denise and Uncle Marlin’s house. This year, my parents hosted it and we had a full house…25 to be exact. We had a special visit from Santa Claus, lots of presents and got to catch up with some relatives we only see a few times a year. Here’s a link to some of the photos from the day.

We left my parents’ house around 4:30 on Sunday (12/21) and stopped in Maryland on our way back home. We stayed with our friends Greg and Krista, and stopped by Holly’s Granny’s house. We also met up with some other MD friends while we were in town. Here are some photos from the visit with Granny:

Then, on Christmas Day, Holly, Ben, and I opened up gifts from each other and Santa. We all got some very special gifts. While looking at a poster and print blog (OMGposters!) I stumbled on an artist named Jason Sho Green who ran into some bad luck and was selling some of his original art. I really liked his style, thought it would be cool to start a collection of original art for Ben, so I picked 2 pieces up from him (one for Ben and one for Holly). I surprised Holly with a piece I personally designed on Christmas Eve. Here’s a link to the piece and here’s a link to some of the photos from the day.

Today, Mama G. stopped by for a belated Christmas dinner. The ladies sure outdid themselves with another great meal. Standing rib roast, potatoes, green beans, macaroni & cheese, rolls, and some cannoli cake for dessert. It was great to see her and spend an evening with her since we haven’t seen her in a while. She brought our other cat with her, so we are no longer kittyless. Here’s a link to some photos of the gift exchange.

We also got a very special gift from the guys at Fender. They sent a very touching letter along with a Custom Danny Gatton Signature Telecaster for Ben’s first Christmas. Here are a few photos of this beautiful guitar:

Lastly, I found some free time to do some design work. I contribute to an art/design/photo blog along with a few friends of mine. As you can see by the name of the blog, it really has fallen by the wayside. I try to make time to do some design projects for myself, and this is where I showcase that work: fallenbythewayside.

I think that’s all I have. I know that was much longer than I expected, but I had to catch up on quite a bit. I’m sure there won’t be too much to write about in the next few days, so have a very happy 2009. I wish you all the best. Take care and goodnight.

Categories: Baby, Cars, Holidays, beer, bike, cats
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It’s been about a month since I wrote last, so time to fill you all in to what’s been going on.

I’ll start things out with a Ben update. He’s grown a lot in the past month! Homeboy weighs 14.5lbs. He’s “coo-ing” now (which is hilarious) and his hair has fallen out and is now starting to come in quite nicely. He’s been feeding pretty regularly, and sleeping pretty good too most of the time. Ben’s mouth has also managed to find his thumb sucessfully one time. He seems like he enjoys sucking his thumb, which really calms him down. The blocked tear duct seems to have unclogged itself…it’s not longer goopy. His diaper rash has disappeared too! Here are some progress pictures:

We drove up to my parent’s place in PA the weekend of Oct. 18-19th. We drove up to Mama G’s Friday night in order to split our trip up a bit on the way up. Mom Y. had set up a “visiting session” for most of my relatives to visit and meet Ben for the first time.  He seemed to do really well eventhough there were tons of people around. My cousin Brad’s son, Simon, my niece Rachel, and nephew Nathan, really seemed to enjoy meeting him. Here are some photos from the day:

My friend, Derek, asked me to join his flag football team, so I said I would. We have had a few practices and a few games, but no victories yet. We have our first (and possibly last) playoff game this Wednesday (11/12). We did better last game, but we had too many mistakes. I caught 2 long passes last game for some positive yardage. It’s been fun so far, which is cool and all, but it would be nice to at least score once…we were shut out both games! Haha.

It was Holly’s 29th birthday on 10/24 and our 2nd wedding anniversary on 10/28. We went to Red Robin for Holly’s birthday, which was the first time the three of us went out to dinner. Ben was fine up until our food was brought out! Haha. I ate real quick and walked him around the restaurant a few times, which worked out perfectly since I tracked down our waitress and told her it was Holly’s birthday. Holly wasn’t so amused, but it was all in good fun. Holly started having mastitis pains on the Sunday after her birthday (10/26), so Mama G came into town to help her out around the house. She whipped up a really tasty dinner of stuffed cabbage, mashed potatoes, and cornbread. It was nice for both of us to be “off duty” when it came to cooking dinner.

I also had a little scare that same week. I was in the shower on Sunday (10/27), I saw a black speck on my knee. I looked closer and it was a deer tick that was in my knee. I dried off really quick and attempted to rip it’s mouth parts out of my skin. I pulled everything else off except it’s mouth parts. I called the family doctor the next day and was able to get an appointment the same day. The doctor numbed up the area around where the tick was, then dug the mouth parts out with a razor. He gave me a 1-time prescription that was supposed to take care of any infection that may occur.

I got a call from the powder coating guy the week of the 26th that my Raleigh bike frame was done and could be picked up at any time. I went the following Saturday (11/1) to pick it up. I ended up going with dark green. It turned out great. I swung by the bike shop on the way home to drop off the frame, wheel set, crank, and pedals. I was told that all the rest of the parts would be in and the bike would just about be ready. Once everything is on, he can measure what size stem I will need. I also need to figure out what saddle I would like. I heard back from the guy at the shop…he said the thread on the headset has an uncommon threading to it, so it he should have the proper parts by Thursday of this week (11/13). I’m really anxious to have it all come together. In other bike-related news, I picked up a bike trainer locally from craigslist on Halloween night. It was in ok condition, but for $50, it wasn’t bad at all. I took it apart, sanded the pieces down, and painted it dark gray. As usual, I’m too impatient and some of the paint scratched. I threw the Nashbar TT bike on there since it seems impossible to find a replacement front tire for that thing. I was down in our crawlspace and happened to find a 10-speed Univega road bike that belonged to our landlord. I asked him if I could ride it, and possibly buy it. He said sure, so I took it out, cleaned it up a little bit, pumped up the tires, and road it around the yard a bit. It’s a 1985 Univega Maxima Uno; 10-speed, lugged frame, and 27″ wheels, so there shouldn’t be a huge problem finding tires if I would need to.

I dropped the avant off to get the windows tinted last week (11/3). I was referred to a shop in Salem, VA, which is about a 20 minute drive away. It appears that they did a pretty good job. I just detailed both of the cars and took some pictures:

That’s all for right now. Until next time…

Categories: Baby, Cars, Misc., bike, cats
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I didn’t know exactly what it would be like, but I have to say, it’s a great feeling. The lack of sleep is the only thing I’m not liking too much. I know Holly is grumbling under her breath after reading the previous sentence. Haha. She’s doing really well other than not sleeping too well. She really does need to start sleep when Ben’s sleeeping. He has grown so much in a month’s time. His cheeks and legs have filled in pretty well (read: chubby). It appears he is able to focus his eyes now compared to the previous weeks. It also looks like his eyes seem to be turning from a dark blue to a tint of bluish-brown. We have been showing Ben off to our neighbors, family, friends, and strangers. Everyone seems to agree that he’s so cute…we think so too. Here are some photos from the past few weeks. Some are not very good quality shots, but I still like them:

I went to H2Ointernational (vw/audi car show) in Ocean City, MD a few weeks ago (9/27-9/28). I left the Friday before and came back the Monday after. I really didn’t want to leave Holly and Ben, but we always do well at this show, so it was a must that I go. A few friends of mine helped me at my tent and I ended up doing pretty darn well. As always, it was a blast hanging out with friends I see a few times per year.

I also went to a conference with a colleague of mine for work in Savannah, GA this past weekend/week (10/4-10/7). It was the UCDA’s (University and College Design Association) annual conference. It was my first conference and it was a really positive experience. It was comforting to hear from other designers in a very similar professional position as I am, and to hear what they go through at their schools. I found it interesting to hear how different the experiences are for designers who work at smaller schools compared to me, who works for Virginia Tech (probably 30,000+ students). I met a lot of really nice people and hope to stay in contact with them in the future. I also hope that I will be able to go to next year’s conference which is in Seattle, WA. I was very anxious to get home by the end of the conference. Holly’s mom came down and stayed with Holly and Ben while I was away. Here are 2 links to the photos I took through out my time in Savannah: Page 1 and Page 2.

Holly, myself, some friends, and co-workers just went to Mountain Lake’s Oktoberfest this past Friday (10/10). The food was fantastic, the beer was great (Spaten Oktoberfest), and a great time was had by all. My parents and Nan Y. came up to watch Ben while we went out. They, of course, didn’t mind at all!

I dropped my Raleigh frame and fork off at the powder coating shop. It should be done this week at some point. The guy at the shop called me last Tuesday and said he was waiting on the powder still. Apparently, the dark green that I specified was out at the first 2 vendors I picked. I will be sure to post photos of the frame when I get it back. I can’t wait to see it come together. On other bike related news, my Nashbar TT bike is still at the bike shop. The wrong size tire was ordered, some measurements were taken and the correct tire and tube will be ordered and shipped soon (I hope).

Holly, Ben, and I will be making a trip up to PA this coming weekend to show Ben off to the rest of the family (in the Central PA area) that hasn’t seen him yet. Everyone is anxious to meet him in person for the first time.

Well, I think that’s it for now. Night.

Categories: Baby, Cars, beer, bike, cats
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It’s official. I actually have written 2 entries in a months time!

We’ve been busy lately, but there seems to be a break in lots of traveling, which is really nice for once. But I know that in a few weeks, we’ll be back in the car cursing traveling again.

On 5/30/08, my brother and his family came down to visit us for the weekend. It turned out to be a pretty nice weekend all around. They were calling for thundershowers all weekend, but it only rained a little bit Sunday afternoon. We had some small things planned, but nothing major. They got here around 4:30 pm on Friday. Holly and I got off work early so we could get some things done before they arrived. We had planned on doing some fishing down at the pond, so we stopped at the Blacksburg Seed & Feed on the way out of town to get some worms. So, we hung out for a while after they got their things in the house. Greg and I went down to the pond with the kids. Nathan got bored with casting after about 3 times. We saw a bunch of salamanders and fish, but had no bites. I guess the fish are not that dumb around here. We all came back to the house to have some burgers and dogs, then went out to our favorite dessert shop, Gardner’s Frozen Treats. Then on Saturday, we all went out for breakfast at Famous Anthony’s, then on to Blacksburg to show off our offices. Nathan really liked my office since it had lots of different colored papers available to his little hands. We all went back to our house to get the kids down for a nap and some relaxation for the rest of us. Before it got too dark, Greg and I collected some wood for the campfire we had planned later on that night. Greg, Nathan, Holly and I made our way down to the fire pit beside the pond around dusk. It was pretty dark by the time we got down there. Turns out that a decent-sized brown-colored snake was hanging out next to the wood pile. Holly just about stepped on it! So, I grabbed the rake and pulled some of the wood closer to us so we could at least get a little fire started. We brought our walkie-talkies with us so Nathan could talk to Becky, who stayed up at the house since Rachel had already gone to bed. We didn’t stay down there too long since we didn’t have much luck with the fire and it was getting pretty dark as well (no flashlight either). Greg, Becky and the kids got packed up and left the house at around 8am on Sunday. They met up with a friend of theirs in Roanoke for breakfast. It was really nice to have visitors, and to show some other members of the family where we have been living and working for the past year (almost). Here are some pictures from the weekend:

As I was getting a piece of plywood to work on my car, I saw a giant wolf spider. I went inside to get my camera and snapped a few pictures:

This past Friday (6/6/08), we went to Holly’s cousin, Courtney’s high school graduation, which was held at the JMU Convocation Center. It was good seeing some of Holly’s family that we hadn’t seen in a while. We all went out to eat afterwards and got a chance to catch up. Holly and I stayed at Mama G’s house the rest of the weekend. We helped her with some odds and ends at the house. We helped her get one of her bedrooms stagged since she will be putting her house up on the market soon. I also cut her grass. It was crazy hot out, so it wasn’t very fun. But I did enjoy doing it for her since it’s such a chore for her to do. I was wiped out by the time I was done. On Sunday, we cleaned up the house a bit and had a really nice lunch. Holly ordered some food from Williams-Sonoma for her mom’s birthday (6/8/08). We had some tamalés and watermelon, followed by chocolate hazelnut cake and ice cream. It was delicious. We got home around 4:30, so we hung out, unpacked, and I made some time to wash the cars before it got too dark.

I’m going to be dropping the avant off at a local shop tomorrow (6/10/08) to get some brake work done on it. I had ordered new pads, stainless steel lines and new brake fluid to do the install slowly by myself. I started to work on it one day last week after work, but then I came to a realization that I would rather pay someone around $100 to do this for me. Seeing that I don’t have a proper cement pad or garage, it’s a chore to get the car up on jackstands or even to use a floor jack. So I got some quotes from around the area and got a recommendation from a guy at work who had several Audis who said that this certain garage did really good work for decent prices. So I called them up, got a really good quote, so I’ll be taking my car to them to see how it goes.

Work is still going great. We are gearing up for orientation, which will be here sooner than we think. I’m working on a pretty important piece right now, which I’m anxious to hear what the higher-ups think of it. So far, in the department, the supervisors really like it (design-wise). I’m really happy here and seem to fit in really well with everyone. We went out to lunch today to celebrate the June birthdays. I was one of those people (June 18th), so my lunch was paid for.

I got an early birthday present from Holly, too. It’s a really cool scale train model that I can decorate with different graffiti art and tags. I will add it to my collection of strange and fun toys in my office. Here is a photo of it:

I will be doing a fair amount of printing over the next couple weeks. I’ll be gearing up for Waterfest (an Audi/VW show) in Englishtown, NJ, which is the 3rd weekend of July this year. I know that will be here before I know it, so it would behoove me to start early since it seems that I’m always up late printing the week before the event. It’s never fun to be under the gun like that on top of a 8 hour drive. We will be staying with our friends, Cory and Stacey like we did last year. I’ll most like be taking off the Friday before and the Monday after to cover our travel time.

Well, I think that’s about it. I actually had some extra time to write an entry, which is really nice. Until next time…

Categories: Cars, Misc., Screen Printing
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Well, looks like my once a month entry is right on time.  I promise I will attempt to make more than one entry a month from this point on.

I’ve been working on getting my portfolio together for some time now, and finally made the time to do so. I’m really pleased with how it turned out. I have applied for two graphic design jobs at Virginia Tech. I got a call late last week about coming in for an interview for one of those jobs. The interview was set for Wed. April 9th. I got my stuff together and practiced my delivery a few times the previous night. I met with 3 people from Student Services at VT. They all were very nice and asked a bunch of questions to test my competency. Things were going well throughout the interview. They all said they liked my portfolio and website, so it all seemed very promising. I got a call today (4/10/08) from the woman who was in charge of hiring. She asked me if I wanted to work with them and I gladly accepted. I need to work out the small details, but as of right now, I plan on starting in two weeks.

I have been doing production work for my previous employer since we moved to southwest VA last September. The work is in no way creative and I’ve come to really not like doing the same sort of work over and over again for them. So I decided it’s time to move on and work towards a more positive working environment. It was and has been a good thing to get the paycheck, but it has been very frustrating not to be able to spread my creative wings on a semi-regular basis. I want to keep growing as a designer and in that sort of environment, it was stunting my creativeness. I have been trying to get my nose into creative magazines and books as much as I can lately just to get out of the non-creative rut that I’ve been in. One book in particular seems to have jump-start my creativity. It’s called “Caffeine for the Creative Mind: 250 Exercises to wake up your brain.” They challenge you to do one exercise per day. I’d like to try to do that if I can just to keep my mind sharp. I’ve been trying to sketch in my sketchbook on a regular basis as well. I hadn’t been sketching much for a time and really missed it. So, I’m going to push myself to sketch more often.

I also picked up a new digital camera. My previous camera had an issue with it’s imaging unit. We had sent it back to Canon when it was still under it’s factory warranty, but the warranty had expired before it started acting up for the second time. So, I was camera-less for a few weeks and it really started to bug me since I enjoy taking photos. So I did some research and set my sights on a Canon Rebel XTI. I already had 2 lenses from my SLR that I could use with the DSRL. I didn’t feel comfortable getting something like that off of ebay, so happened to look on the local craigslist. I found exactly what I was looking for. A year old Canon Rebel XTI body. I didn’t need to pay the extra money for a lens, so all I needed was the camera body. This one came with 2 batteries too. So I met up with the guy, took a look at the camera and really liked it. Once we heard back from the tax guy, we made the decision that we could afford it. So I called the guy up again, met up with him and picked up the camera. I haven’t had lots of free time to play around with it, but I hope to in the near future.

I had a few of the local VW guys over for a bbq this past Sunday (4/6/08). I had only met one of the guys in the area before, so I figured it would be nice to have some of the other guys over to meet them. We had  6 vws and 1 audi at the house (my avant and Holly’s rabbit included). It turned out to be a little chilly outside, but it wasn’t too bad. I’m hoping to make the bbq a regular thing and add some of our other friends into the mix. I’m looking forward to the spring and summer.

Our next OBGYN appointment is in about a week and a half (4/21/08). We should find out the sex of the baby at that one! We are quite excited. I still have a big long list of names to go through. I might not make it before the appointment, but I’ll try.

I’ll be gearing up for the show season in the next couple weeks. The first show of the season is Volksfest in Campbelltown, PA on 4/26/08. Any free time will be dedicated to printing. It always comes down to the last few weeks…ugh!

I’m going to bed. Night.

Categories: Baby, Cars, Misc.
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It appears that an entire month has passed since I have written an entry. Wow, I really suck at this, huh? I’ll try to make this as painless and quick as possible since a fair amount of things have happened since my last entry.

Well, I sold my beloved GTI and upgraded to an Audi. I sold the GTI to a kid in PA. I had lots of offers and interest in the car, so it only took a month to sell it. Once it was sold, I could seriously start looking for my ideal wagon. There were a few choices, but I narrowed it down to the B6 chassis Audi A4 Avant (wagon). There didn’t seem to be too many used A4 Avants out there that met my needs. I had a salesman at the Roanoke Audi dealership looking for me. He ended up finding one, but it was available through an online auction, costed way too much and was in California. So that was definitely out. I had been searching on autotrader.com and cars.com to see if there were any out there with the combo I was looking for. A 2003 Ming Blue Pearl Effect A4 Avant 30v manual with tan leather popped up in Kentucky, so I called them to make sure it was still available. I made some calls to the bank and got pre-approved. So I set up a trip to Louisville, Kentucky starting early in the morning 2/8/08. A friend of mine, Derek, expressed his interest in coming along since he had been to Louisville not-too-long ago and wanted to show me around since I had never been there. I’m really glad he came along since it would have been a very boring drive alone. We drove a rental there and dropped it off at the airport when we got to Louisville. We got there, took the avant for a spin, signed some papers and were on our way. We went back to the hotel, grabbed a bite to eat at a local brewery, then downtown to a few bars. The drive back didn’t seem bad at all either. It was a fun trip and I’m loving the new car. I just got it inspected and the VA tags put on it, so it’s ready to roll! Here are some photos of it:

The following weekend (2/16/08), Holly and I went to a local park, Pandapas Pond. It was a great weekend weather-wise, so it was really nice to get out and enjoy our surroundings. Here are some photos I took while we were at the park:

Our cat, Smokey has staked his claim as the head of the household (over our other cat, Selena). It seems like he wants to play, but I also see him instigating a fight with poor Selena. She has lost a lot of weight lately and seems more frail than ever. I’m sure the weight loss has to deal with the stress of Smokey picking on her. Here are some pics of the kitties:

I got a chance to play in a game of pick-up roller hockey on 2/28. I found out about a student-run roller hockey league and got added to their email list. One of the guys that organizes the league sent out an email asking if anyone was interested in a pick-up game before the students left for spring break. It’s been over 3 years since I last played, but I felt like I did really well for not playing for a long while. It turns out that the school has torn the rink up and are going to replace it with more parking. The guys who run the league are trying to get local businesses to donate some money for a new rink in a new location. They hope to have enough money donated to get what they need by the Fall. I hope to join back up with the leauge when it starts back up again.

We went to visit Mama G’s on the weekend of 3/1-3/2. We wanted to finish taking the wallpaper off in her kitchen and paint her kitchen and dining room area. So, we made that our main priority for the weekend. We finished up mid-afternoon on Sunday and headed back home soon after we cleaned up. It looks a 100% better than it did and really brightens up the place. It’s amazing what a few coats of paint will do for a dark room. Mama took us to a Ham and Oyster Dinner at the local Ruritan Hall and we got to see what the locals had to offer. The food was really good and we left very full. I never thought that I would be an oyster type of guy, but they were quite good.

I’ve been working on my portfolio website for some time now. I finally got it up and running. I bought a new domain to put it under brianyohndesign.com I’m pleased on how it turned out and have had lots of compliments on it. I plan on getting to Kinkos this week (maybe tomorrow) to get my portfolio pieces printed.

On 3/6/08, we went to Roanoke Memorial Hospital to get some testing done on Holly and the baby. We were having testing done to see what the likelihood of the baby having downs syndrome. We had another sonogram taken and got to see Captain Peanut moving around for the first time. It was quite exciting! The doctor said from the sonogram, the baby appears not to have downs. They drew some blood and will do some more testing on it to give us a more accurate percentage. As of right now, things are looking good. Here are the latest sonogram scans:

We will be going up to PA this coming weekend (3/14-3/16) to visit with my parents and my brother’s family. We haven’t seem them in a while, so it will be good to see them.

I’m sure I missed some things, but I’m going to wrap it up. Night.

Categories: Baby, Cars, Misc.
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Well, I’m just now getting to write another entry. Although it seems as if I haven’t done too much in the last few weeks, it also seems like I haven’t had a moment to rest. I’m going to try to keep this short though.

I’ll start this out with some big news. Holly and I are expecting our first child. I found out January 5th. We had our first appointment with the OB-GYN last week (1/25/08) and everything went well. They thought we were farther along than we were so we have to go back tomorrow (1/31/08) to get another ultrasound. They checked the heart rate and it was 102 bpm at 6 weeks, 1 day which they said was normal for that amount of time. Here are the first pictures of our little “peanut.”

I hope to have some more photos from the second sonogram. Apparently it will be two times larger than it was last week.

Our cat, Smokey has taken a liking to a foam pickle. Holly got a whole bag of foam fruits and vegetables at a conference. We also found out he is mostly of the Korat breed.

Korats are a shorthair with a small to medium build and a low percentage of body fat; their bodies are often described as semi-cobby, and are surprisingly heavy for their size. They are an active cat and form strong bonds with people.

Here are some photos of good ol’ “lead belly” with his pickle.

We got about 5″ of snow on 1/17/08. It was pretty nice to finally get some snow, but it’s melting now and I’m ready for spring. Here are some photos:

We (Holly, Krista, Greg and I) also went to D.C. for the day on Saturday 1/26/08. We went to the National Gallery of Art for most of the day. Here is a link to some of the photos I took: Click here.

My work out routine  has been on a hiatus since my shin injury. Now that it’s getting better and it’s warming up a bit I am able to get out and walk, run or bike around to get some much needed exercise.

And in other news, I’ve been working on my website and portfolio. I’m hoping to get that stuff wrapped up and find some sort of creative job in the general area.

That is it for now. Until next time…

Categories: Baby, Cars, Misc., cats
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I’m working on selling my beloved GTI. I’ve had the car for over 5 years now and I’m ready for a change. I really need to have something with more space for hauling my shirt vending gear to car shows. I posted earlier about being on a wagon search and I have narrowed it down to the Passat wagon. The Passat ticks all of the boxes (price, mileage, safety, reliability, it’s a vw). I took some photos of the GTI and posted them on several different online forums to see if I could get any interest there. I received the correct textured rub strips from TMTuning a few weeks ago so they are on the car now. I also bought a spare set of mirrors , sanded them down and painted them low gloss black. I am very pleased on how they turned out. I finally got the winter tires mounted to my Montreal I wheels and put them on the car as well. Here are some of the pics:

After I cleaned up the car and took pictures of it, I decided I would powerwash the side of the house and clean out the gutters. I used a wooden 8′ ladder that my landlord has hanging on the side of the storage building to get to the gutters. I used the powerwasher to blast the leaves and dirt out of the gutters. I was doing well until I got to the awning over the front door. I was on the ladder and leaning with one foot on the hand rail of the porch. Since the railing was wet, I slipped and fell off of the ladder. On the way down, I skimmed my left shin and left forearm on the railing and landed on my side. Just as the ladder fell (luckily I had moved both of the cars before I started this project), Holly poked her head out of the door to see what was going on. I was back on my feet hunched over trying to catch my breath. I got really dizzy and was really freaked out. I could have very easily smacked my head on the front porch and done some serious damage. I then decided that I was done working for the day, cleaned up and went inside.

We made a 2-hour drive to Mama G’s place on 12/28 on our way to visit with our friends, Greg and Krista at Greg’s parents condo in Wintergreen, VA the next day. It took us a little over an hour from Mama’s house to get there. We exchanged Christmas gifts, walked around the resort and checked out the shops. Greg and I had intentions of “hitting the slopes” as they say, but discovered that the only trails that were open were beginner areas. We both are nearly pro status so it would have been a waste of our talent, time and money. Haha. Here is a panoramic photo I took from the condo:

Holly and I drove back to Mama G’s house after the day at Wintergreen and stayed the night there. The next day (12/30) we went to Holly’s Aunt Carolyn’s house for Holly’s side of the family’s Christmas celebration. It was a nice relaxing day and it was great to see some family we haven’t seen in a while. We drove back to our house later that night. New Year’s was one of the more laid back ones I’ve probably ever had. We made dinner, went to a movie (Walk Hard – it was pretty funny) and came back to watch the ball drop on TV. We made some new year’s resolutions including our lack of traveling on weekends which I really hope we stick to. We need some free time on the weekends to recharge.

I started a contest on a Central PA VW enthusiast forum (cepavw.org) for the best placement of my “IHEARTSHEDPRESS” sticker. I had about 50 more stickers left so I figured this would be a fun way to get some laughs and get some free publicity. Shedpress merch will be awarded to the top 3. The contest will go until 1/31. It should be interesting! Haha.

Holly and I went over to our friends Brian and Ashley E’s house to watch the Orange Bowl game -Virginia Tech vs. Kansas – Thursday night (1/3 ). As we were leaving I tripped over an old wash pail that had been converted into a planter in their front yard. I hit my left shin on the rim of the pail. It hurt but I didn’t think anything of it until the next morning. I got up, got a shower and as I was getting dressed I realized I had a hematoma on my shin (a collection of blood, generally the result of hemorrhage, or, more specifically, internal bleeding). It looks pretty nasty and it still hurts, but if I elevate it and ice it, it really seems to help and hurt less. Here are some photos:

So I got a call from my boss Thursday (1/3) morning. He expressed his desire to change my employee status from full-time salary to freelancer. At first I thought this was his way of slowly firing me and I freaked out. Holly and I got really worried about not being able to get by if I were to be let go and be on only her income. But I spoke with my boss the next day and he explained that there would be a fair amount of work for me to do for a while, but there might be a lack of work at some point. So it made sense for him to do this business-wise. I told him that I would be looking locally for a full time job since I would need a steady full paycheck. He understood completely and we are going to go from there. So I’ll be working on my “get a job” website and my printed portfolio as well.

Well, that’s all for now. I think I’m caught up now. I hope to make weekly ink tub entries in 2008. Til then, Happy New Year. I’m out.

Categories: Cars, Misc.
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