Real glad it's over. It's Friday night and we're gonna kick the town's ass.

GOCCO / OKINS ACTION / FINGERS TO THE BONE

Not too much to report our section of Hawthorne Ave.

Lots of the same. Gocco printing, making catalogs at CINCO, running with the Oh-Kye gals, prepping the factory floor for the Midwest Adventure, etc.

Beautiful days, these days are. When I wake up it’s about 58 degrees. When I come home it’s about 73 degrees. Real nice. October is a Portlander’s dream. Dry and cool. Excited to see it show up.

More excited to spend a good portion of my October in that Midwest. Thirty is a big one, so at least I’ll be in a comfortable place to transition into my new decade.

30. Motherfucker. How about that shit?

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OKINS RELATED NEWS:

Melissa started school yesterday. Lots of jitters and deep breaths. She’s gonna do just fine. Very excited for her and this new chapter in her life. She’s 26, intelligent, forward-thinking, compassionate and hot-to-trot…all good qualities for a gal climbing back into the ring of academia. We wish her the best of luck in her new adventure.

Girl, those days of swillin’ booze and howlin’ at the moon are over. Time to buckle shit down and study.

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Ange’s roots are growing out. Strawberry blondin’.

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Kris was out here for a week and managed to drive the DDC Factory Floor completely crazy two or more times. We love here, but need to take a deep breath from time to time to maintain our “cool.”

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And in one last Okins-reltated bit, we’re pleased to share some good news: Ma Okins, or, “Mary,” to all of us here at the Draplindustries Design Co., sent me an amazing, fantastical gift. Turns out she was at a Willie Nelson concert, and in between flashing and dancin’ she managed to snag a hat he was wearing onstage and threw out to the crowd. The man is a dynamo, shakin’ hands, wavin’–alternating hats and bandanas–all through the show. Anyway, she sent it out here, and it is our second item in our Willie Nelson Museum. The first item is a concert-only souvenir “guitar.” Rickety and misshapen, it has the most beautiful screenprint on it–as well as a comrehensive “hits” list–of the man himself, a true American Treasure. Thanks to Ma Okins for the amazing gift.

Ol’ Willie should is right up there with Old Faithful and The Grand Canyon. A National Treasure.

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Lots of Gocco action is being laid down. Nightly, actually, as we try to “wrap shit up” before our mission home. This one is gonna be a winner. No shit.

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Just about sold out of T-Shirts. We have some random XL’s left, so if you are interested, drop us a line. Many, many thanks to the long list of fucks who purchased one. Much appreciated. Lots of satisfied people. Thanks again. The next run will be even better.

LOT OF R's TODAY...

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!

HO-OOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

WORKING TOGETHER

And then there are those days, where we all work together as a team and meet the project’s objectives. We all come together to solve the problems.

These are my favorite days at Cinco.

Everyone has a piece of the pie. From the bigwigs down to the smallwigs, we all put our two cents in, pushing towards the final comp. I like the interaction, and the collective power of “multiple hands in working together.”

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Hobo Kris is in town and thank God, she isn’t a Hobo anymore. Bike Messenger Kris is in town. The Okins girls are completed for the time being. Very lethal. Estrogen-laced dance parties are taking place nightly. Veggie meals keep the tanks fueled. They walk to the streets to the beats of Motley Crüe, kicking ass and taking names. Hard bitches. Really.

Bikerat Kris plans on moving out here, completing the Okins triple threat.

Collectively, they go for my throat. We do our best to fend them off.

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Real excited for the Midwest adventure. Three long weeks away. Big plans are in the works. Kurt signed on for a night in Milwaukee, followed by a day in Chicago. I gonna outfit him in a new Carhartt jacket (y’know, cuz winter is coming) and he’s gonna squeeze me into some Prada somethings.

Ryno, get the KIA oiled up, we're going up to White Bear Lake to look for future wives.

I spoke to my mom today. Real excited to see everyone back there. The woman makes a mean batch of spaghetti sauce, which I plan on gorging during my days in Traverse City.

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Fall Reading List from DRAPazon.com:

01. Making It Big In The Movies by Richard Kiel
02. Chip Kidd by Veronique Vienne
03. Quimby the Mouse by Chris Ware
04. Bowled Over: A Roll Down Memory Lane by Gideon Bosker
05. Acme Novelty Datebook by Chris Ware
06. American Signs: Form and Meaning on Route 66 by Lisa Mahar
07. Grain Elevators by Lisa Mahar

The folks at absenter.org gave us a little play with their latest installment. Now see, here’s a testimonial that just adds weight to the frankness of the DDC Shirt Program’s screenprinted truth: When you make a purchase from our online store, everyone wins.

You, the consumer, are treated to a durable, stylish, red-blooded garment.

Proceeds feed mouths of hard-working, hip-styled, hungry harlots. Proceeds fund future DDC “special projects.” Proceeds end up in the pockets of good people, trying to cloth even better people. Really.

Feel good about it. Naz does.

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So does Goo. I mean, c’mon, get a load of this guy. Not only is he our boss, he’s a satisfied customer too.

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Jesus H. Christ, these guys can’t go wrong. I’m really inspired by their deal. They do it pretty “basement-ish” from the confines of their St. Paul domicile. Honest, smart, hand-done and we have a feeling, today’s indie youth “get off on them.” Screenprinted glory. Do yerself a favor and buy a poster. Support them.

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Purchased a ticket for my Fall 2003 Midwest Adventure. Much excitement is felt. Big plans. I’m flying into Minneapolis on October the 9th. I fly out of Minneapolis on October the 20th. Now, in between those comings and goings, I plan on completing a hearty checklist including,

Gotta stay focused. Each day is critical up to that big departure. Lots of projects to complete, both CINCO and funlance, as well as preparing Melissa for our “being apart for over a week.” She seems to welcome my leaving, for some odd reason.

A QUIET DAY

Moments of silence for those who were lost and their families.

ASR'ed

Back from San Diego. Thank God. No more Southern California for me. Basically: Can’t stand the fucking place. Palm trees, bronzed boobjobs, hype, style wars, clogged freeways and lots of unrelenting heat and beauty and sunshine.

I came home to cloudy skies and rain. Fuck yeah. It poured straight down and hard. I found myself thanking the heavens above. Rain soaked my clothes. It came in through the windows and my desk was floating…

Before I get too carried away, let me comment on my weekend:

The highlights of the show were:

01. Being there to see our Nixon booth projects come to life. Some good struff going on. Some not-so-good ones too. “Tradeshow booth design” is a fickle arena. You need big budgets to pull off things properly. All in all, a good job was carried out. It’s always nice to see the Nixon watches people. Chad Hilton tops the list, with his carefree life-giving flow of niceness. A good kid, a brother.

02. Seeing a whole slew of fucks, including, and in no particular order (cuz they all kiss my ass equally): Rose, Bridges, Chief, Michay-lear-rye-aye, Tevis, Jared, Sue, the Kasshole family allstars, San Francisco Lee (of Capozzi fame), Zimmerman, Pinski, assorted Grenerds, Nixon peoples, Coulter, Jessica from NYC, Piney, Muzzey, Embry, Marty, Mikey, Zergeballs…

For whatever reason, completely out of our hands, it was real hot out. Muggy. San Diego’s nights have always been good to me. Mellow days, cool nights. Not this time. Sweating pigs, all of us.

Glad to be back. No more California.

HEADING DOWN TO SAN DIEGO

We’re on our way down to San Diego later this afternoon.

CINCO “FRIENDLY SKIES” TRAVELERS:

01. Goo – CINCO big cheese, weekend surf scrub, Volvo driver.
02. Dean – CINCO account managing, real “loose”, Audi licker.
03. Aaron – CINCO production artist, heat avoider, Volksfuckin’ Passater.

Big plans. Meeting with the folks from Nixon watches, walking the show, carousing with asshole colleagues on the mean streets of SD, etc. Same old shit, different September. This’ll be my fourth San Diego ASR tradeshow in a row. Hmmm.

Real excited to get this one behind us. Lots of projects leading up to this weekend. Things should get a little closer to “normal” once we get back.

Melissa is "watching" Big S while I'm on the road. Please, my love, be more than careful while cruising around town. For the love of God...Jesus, Mary and Joseph, be careful.

We’ll be back on Sunday afternoon.

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Economy woes? Not on the DDC factory floor! Business is good. Buy a shirt. Going fast. Hoards of satisfied customers, willing to testify–under oath–about the quality, comfort and "now" style inherent in the latest round of DDC shirts. You know you want one.