More folks worth a mention...

Oh man, as I settle into my very late 20's, ("the twilight of my 20's", etc.) the old thinker starts to slip...

For the record, let me express my love for Kurt and Vanessa of downtown Milwaukee.

They should have been on the list. But let me clarify for all the sensitive types... the list is a loose hierarchy... so don't fret.

Once again, let's have a warm round of spacebar clicks for Kurt and Vanessa of downtown Milwaukee, makers of art involving paint and pillow... damn straight.

DRAPLINDUSTRIES DESIGN CO. 2002 YEAR END "DAMN STRAIGHT" LIST:

Mom, Dad, the little sisters, Melissa, Big S the Passat, CINCO folks (with an extra helping of Dean, Goo, Waka-waka-moto, Kirk, Ben, Jered and Chris... thanks.), Rose, Bridges, Chief, Campbell, Harry abroad, Floyd+H, the Fender, Gravis Capozzi-n-Calderin, Nixon Heit-n-Dinenna, DJ Skull, all my aunts and uncles, Scott Sullivan, Arlie, Rod, Cooley brothers, Copper Pressers, Jared, SNOWBOARDER magazine, NEMO brothers, Kris, Ange, Ma/Pa Okins, Ole' Ole Que Burro, PJ, Ryno, Dave+Joanna, Lance V, Chaka, Dabica, Muzzey, Sherowski, Scheuffle, Zirgebel, Adam in NYC, Robin, Fred, Sypniewski, Mark+Tevis, Matt + PamPam, Yamada, Egge, Portofield, Cam, Damien, Godfrey, G.Schley, James Sullivan, Gretch, Squirty Ohio, Minh/Moon, Jamie D, Dimmel and the CSA empire, Misekow, Emily W., JUNO, Fas, Natalie, Megg, Noah+Naomi, Zimmerman, Kassholes, Cavan, Nick S., Metcalf, Chad Smith, Santiago, the Aleshires, Michael Moore, the big black couch, Grandmother memories, Portland rain, AT&T Broadband, the bicentennial logo, the termites around the pad, the space heater in the wall and the dualing pixels-of-fury monitor situation.

--------------------------------------------

....and may "whoever's up above" please look over little Hannah and little Ruby and little Eva.

Home For The Holidaze

Flying back to Michigan in three hours. Real good. Real tired. Real excited. More info once the plane lands.

Eva Arlene Aleshire

The world got that much better on Friday.

We're pleased to announce, to the questionable roster of readers of this gazette, the warm-welcomed arrival of Eva Arlene Aleshire. Bry and Tracey Aleshire are the proud parents. They call Traverse City home and are surrounded by good family and friends. Their house is warm and Sam the dog is on guard for any mischief.

Just in time for Christmas. Based on motherly hearsay, the word is, little Eva came four weeks early.

Best wishes to the Aleshire family.

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For the record: This is the second Draplindustries Design Co. Officially Sanctioned Birthin'. Update on the first: Eric and Megan's beautiful, vocal, little Hannah is developing just fine.

Duality!

I finally popped for a Radeon video card. A rep from the local Mac store was in the shop today and we got to chattin' about this and that. He wrote down a couple numbers, made a call and I was on my way. Through the rain, I raced across Portland proper to the computer pusher. Good money was laid down. Back into the pouring rain, I raced back home. I mined my old monitor from storage, dusted him off and hooked 'em up. I'll never go back. So good. Real estate... tons of it. Amazing machines, these computers.

- - - -

The week was real busy and mean. Dean runs a tight ship at Cinco and kept me in line for well over 50 hours. Words can't describe the dilligence, organization and maniacal micro-managing that he puts into our daily activities. He's the sinew between us and the client. We're proud, and lucky, to have him on our side of the tracks at CINCO.

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Five more days to go... projects to wrap up, ads to ship, freelances to lance, Melissas to swoon, card to be printed, stamps to be licked, meals to be consumed, etc. All good stuff. I love the hectic and frenzied pace. I never forget these little periods... so cognizant of everything in my web. It was a good week. We got a ton done, on the CINCO battlefield, and back at the ranch.

Lookin' forward to mom, dad, Melissa, home, Leah, friends, snow...

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Got something to say tough guy? Leave a comment then.

Holidaze Homestretch

The days are dropping like flies. I fly out next Thursday for a Michigan Holidaze mission. Real excited to see the parents. Always am. I’m flying the friendly skies with my friends at United Airlines. I heard a joke, albeit sick and tasteless and unsettling, the other night on the Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn.

Kilborn: “United Airlines is officially in chapter eleven.”
Fuckers in crowd: “Laughter.”
Kilborn: “Yeah, nothing like chapter eleven to keep the mechanics happy.”
Fuckers in crowd: “More laughter.”

Ha-fuckin’-ha.

Not so funny to me. I have a fear of flying, that seems to grow and escalate each time I fly. I don’t know what it is? Each flight gets a little weirder. I flew for the first time at 19 years old, so excited and exhilarated by the experience. Melissa isn’t down with it one bit. I remember the deathgrip she had clenched on my arm as the plane too off, and as the airpliner leveled out. Landing was yet another constriction.

Flying out of Austin a couple weeks back was a scary takeoff. Just as we were taking off, climbing like a bat out of hell, the plane did a quick jolt dipping right. I about shit. My hands were clamped... fuckin' clamped to those protruding armrests. Phew.

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Things are busy and mean at CINCO. All the principles are either vacationing or on location. Much rowdiness and bouts of language ensue with their departure. A skeleton crew is in the trenches, fighting the good fight. Capozzi and I are neck and neck, peppering our projects with friendly fire. Real good.

Ryan Simonson is manipulating the world wide web.

Get a (down)load of this character at his newly-crafted “Greatest Web Site in the World.” Be sure to do some clicking around.

Ryan (“Ryno” to his inner circle and softball club) and I go wayyy back. I met him in a harshly lit studio corner at big-time art school. At well over $100 bucks a credit hour, he swaggered up (carrying a thick stack of WuTang discs) and proceeded to offer a warm greeting along the lines of, “Uh, like, uh, are you sponsored by Carhartt or something?”

I grabbed him by his bony throat and pinned him to the spray mount station.

His little army of animators and performance artists came to his aide and had to pull me off of him.

Our next interaction involved signing a lease on an apartment, queasy from the heat, for the 1999-2000 winter. And what a good winter it was. That brisk fall we enjoyed roadtrips to the Minnesota north, hearty meals at the Ideal Diner, one Twins game with Kenny Rogers singing the national anthem and a “meeting of the roommates” in Oregon over the holidaze season.

Finer moments from that trip can be found in this little fissure.

Ryan and I will square off in downtown Chicago on New Year's Eve.

Street Legal

I’ve been on the lam for a couple days now; an outlaw, with no regard for societal automotive rule or regulation. My California plates finally expired on the 1st.

I picked up my Oregon plates and registration papers up from the VW dealership this afternoon. Finally. I’ve been up here for eight months, running out my time on my California plates. I paid good money for those plates, and damned if I wasn’t gonna get my money’s worth. Once their end was in site, I started the process to transfer everything over to Oregon. And what a process it has been. Tons of paperwork and waiting in lines and this-n-that. I’ve got one more piece of the puzzle to complete: An Oregon driver’s license. I’ve been studying that little book here and there, and just have to get myself into the DMV to settle it once and for all.

I won’t miss those California plates one damn bit. I can't even begin to tell you the assortment of looks I’ve gotten around town. Scowls, expressive fingers, frowns, rolled eyes, laughs… folks up here don’t like Cali plates. And hell, rightfully so. The act of installing my new Oregon plates had a subtle, yet distinct, ceremonial importance: They were my last concrete link to California. Outside of a renegade group of SoCal friends, of whom I hold close to my cold, barren heart, that’s it. No more California. No more.

- - - -

Man, I've gotta get one of these for the factory floor.

Workin' Towards The Weekend

Make yer mark.

As you’ll notice below, by clicking the “Comments” link after the “Posted by” line at the end of this entry, you can leave some words. Give it a shot. Oh yeah, be a man and leave yer name and keep the threats to a minimum.

Cam built the “leave a comment” feature in, so let’s put it to some use. Lookin' forward to hearin' from ya.

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I broke down and settled an iPod.

I couldn’t take it anymore. Too amazing. A chap like myself, with such a fervent love of all things musical, needs a storage tool of this caliber. I got the 10gb model, the mid-range beast. 10 gigabytes is a lot of space. Now I’ve got all my favorite albums, as well the “factory floor heavy rotators” at the spin of a highly-articulated touch-sensitive dial. I'm in awe of such technology. What the hell was I thinking waiting all this time? Who knows. Anyway, what a acquisition. Real good.

Out with the old… Suddenly, I have an arsenal of seemingly obsolete devices. Tape players, portable CD players, hell, even the most amazing little mini-disc unit. Well, hopefully they will make their ways back into my life. We’ll see. Maybe I should have a garage sale??

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Melissa Update: “South Dakota is cold.”

Melissa called this morning to inform me she woke up to a "three degrees below zero morning." Yay. I don’t know how she is gonna fare this winter, with her limited tolerance for cold weather. Man, the girl has a hard time with Old Man Winter… a hard time.

I miss that brisk Midwest. Minneapolis was so cold in the winter. "Hurt yer lungs" cold. Someday I wanna get back to it all.

Bundle up, beautiful… and be careful on those roads

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The Dirtbombs are from Detroit, Michigan.

Detroit has bit of a checkered past, or, “checkered present” with it’s semi-recent musical exports. Oh yeah, get yer hands up in the air for talented folks like Kid Rock, Uncle Cracker, Insane Clown Posse and well, uh, Eminem. What a lineup. Aw man, what a shame. I’ll spare the banter.

I’m more interested with outfits like His Name is Alive and those cute, color-coordinated White Stripes, and, my new favorite, the Dirtbombs. Motherfucker. Whoa, turn it up. “Ultraglide in Black” has been on heavy, heavy rotation.

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I’d just like to take this opportunity to say: “Matt Capozzi is one hell of a guy.” Top notch. Good people. Rides a peculiar mini-motorcycle. Has the most amazing Lee to run with. He’s on the frontline of Gravis Footwear, in real deep, handling the development of up-n-coming advertising projects. We interact a lot during the workday, and I gotta say, it’s a good deal. Thanks.

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Tomorrow is Friday. Good. I love the weekend.

- - - -

Why Knott?

Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

The Thanksgiving weekend has been real good. Got a lot of stuff completed. Another shipment of pages is ready for Sean’s book, ads are on deck for CINCO, house cleaned up, lots of guitar strummed and a bunch of movies watched on the cable, etc. Good times.

Stayed up late and slept in late.

Still full from Bode and Susan's sidesplittin' feast.

Melissa has called each day. It’s good good good to have her back on the ringer. I missed her real bad the last couple months. It’s good have someone to share the day’s mundane events with.

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Arlie Carstens, Dave Lee and Roger Seliner stopped by from some chatter. It’s always good to see Arlie. A renaissance man… knee deep in music, writing, travel and lore, he introduced to yet another pair of interesting individuals: Dave Lee and Roger Seliner. Dave heads up Supernatural snowboards, Roger is a tattoo artist. Interesting folks. We had a good chat and some laughs around the pad.

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Came across a link featuring an old friend from my Bend days. I met Chris Fairbanks in Bend in 1996. He was a Montana transplant, down to hit jumps and peddle his illustration services. I built him his first promo kit. A man of many laughs and quick-witted jabs, it turns out he’s down south in Austin, in the comedy circuit. Interesting. The last time we spoke was during my time at the mag. I hired him to illustrate a John Erben story. Anyway, maybe we’ll see him on Letterman or something someday yuckin’ it up.

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Pretzel rods are factory floor requirements. You gotta watch the intake though, as the salt has a tendency to wear down the soft tissue inside your lips. Gotta be careful.

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Had a good chat with PJ. Things are coming along nicely for him in Chicago. We’ll cross paths this New Year’s eve in the windy city. Dudes (and chicks) are amassing for a gathering of the minds.

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Don’t fuck around. Spend some time at joint.

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Back to work tomorrow. Real excited to roll the sleeves up for the week’s projects. Certain projects are coming into their own. The heads are excited with the new directions. Good energy all around.