Audio Samples

I buy cassette tapes whenever I see them at estates sales. Some are instructional; others are religious. The best are homemade ones that contain hidden treasures. I also buy the shitty $1.99 DVDs and sample from those as well. Check these out - use them in your project - enjoy them. Make it so! (The list of files will continue to grow.)

I Got Flamed at SoCalMtB.com and all I Got Was this Lousy T-Shirt

My brother, Dan, invited me on an overnight camping trip with people from SoCalMtB.com. These are the two logos I developed to highlight the event, and the group had t-shirts printed. We ended up using the top logo. Fairly simple design, but at least I got the mountains correct this time. I especially like the use of negative space in this logo. I really had never done anything like that before. Incidentally, this post's title was printed on the reverse of the shirt.

Great fun that weekend as we went on short rides and messed around the campfire with a great potluck dinner. On day two, we all went on a 14 mile downhill ride. Here's a pretty good look at the single track.

We shuttled back to the top, and later devoured an awesome fried chicken dinner in nearby Julian with their famous apple pie for dessert.

Dan and I have since hiked that trail twice. Once for an overnight back back last year.

Where are they Now?

I believe it has been long enough that I can post these guys. They must be 19 years old by now. The middle photo is a tad cheesy with the outlining and all; but doesn't he have amazing eyes?

Taking Ya Back to the Old School

Cuz I'm an old fool, who's so cool.

Well, maybe. I designed this logo for the City of Azusa Centennial when I was still a brand new teacher. The Associate Superintendent, Nancy Moore, had me working on this thing. I got in a little over my head and was having trouble coming up with a workable logo. She sketched something out on a napkin to get me going, and I came up with this. Far as I remember, everyone loved it. Banners throughout the city sported the logo. (Never got one.) But they did give me a cool little enamel pin. No one ever gave me grief for depicting the San Gabriel Mountains as the Rockies. (Actually, Jim Legg was the clown to point this out; We had a good laugh)

It Happened in Class (Last Year)

This kid is awesome! He's an ass-out genius! If "Peter" hears something once, he will remember it - and he'll be able to repeat it verbatim a year later!!

Every week, we take a spelling pretest on Monday and the final test on Friday. When this happens, I'll say something like, "Number one: Bike shop - Peter was fired from his job at the bike shop. Bike shop. Number two: Smoking - We saw Greg, and he was smoking! Smoking. So, I go through our 20 words in this manner and we're all done.

Last year, we took a spelling pretest on a Friday for some odd reason. I didn't assign any spelling packet work that following week. (I can't remember why.) Then it comes time to give the final test on Friday. What I do remember is Peter having to go to the bathroom when I was on number 4. When He comes back, we are on number eleven, and I say, "Peter, don't worry about the ones you missed, I'll give them to you at the end."

When I walk over to Peter to read the words he's missed, I see his paper is complete.

"Peter are you allowed to talk during a test?"
"No, and I wasn't talking."
"Then how did you get the words you missed?
"I remembered them"
"From last Friday?!?!?"
"Yep!"
"Reeaaaallllllly?!?!?"
(taking his paper)
"Then what's number 5?"
"Tarantula"
"Well, what's number 16?"
"Tiki"
"And number 9?"
"Trampoline"
"Huh . . . very well, then . . . carry on."

Lil' Shelf

I constructed this shelf the other day to hold my collection of 35 mm film canisters. Most, if not all, of them are Kodak, and they are made of tin. I've been buying these things for years at estate sales, but hadn't figured out what to do with them until now. I'm really interested in continuing to create works of assemblage. I've categorized my findings, so it is just a matter of choosing which pieces belong together and in which manner they might be altered, if any.

I took a lousy photo of the detail because it was raining today, and I couldn't shoot this in the outdoor light. But the front part of the shelf has knife marks cut in random directions. The wood stain darkened the marks in an interesting way. I'll be thinking how I might continue to use this technique.