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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Well, it’s been a while since I last made an entry, so I figured I’d catch up a little.

Holly and I hosted our version of the Ugly Sweater Party here in the holler. Everyone seemed to have a good time. Here are some photos:

I also made a short video of our place in VA. Check it out —> click here.

Our new cat Smokey has taken a liking to my press room. He likes it so much that he’s spraying in certain spots in the room. We are not too thrilled about that, but think if we were to discourage him from going into the room, he might decide that he likes to take pisses on our bed or other furniture. The press room is probably the best room for us to “allow” him to mark because of the plastic and canvas we have on the floor. Plus we keep spraying Nature’s Miracle Stain & Odor Remover which works really well. He likes to run around and dive under the canvas drop cloth I have in the room (when he’s not pissing of course). Here is a photo of him playing in the press room:

We went up to PA to spend Christmas with my family. We drove up to my brother’s house Saturday 12/22 and had our family gift exchange there. Everyone seemed to get what they wanted and then some! Here are some photos:

I’m going to end this entry here. I’ll fill you in with rest in the next one. Until then…

Categories: Holidays, cats
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