Say Goodbye Good

Greetings everyone. So before I really get into this post, I need to get something out first since it's been on my mind for a while now. It's soccer-related so most may not care. Anyways, For a while now, one of my favourite players, Juan
Mata hasn't been getting his playing time in for Chelsea. His last game, was a short 20-30 minutes on Jan 1st, which is pathetic. The current manager has been enjoying his midfield section using Hazard, Willian and Oscar, leaving Mata out every game. Juan Mata, voted The Player of The Year 2 years in a row, wins the Champions League with the group in 2012 and has a World Cup win with Spain under his belt. There was talks about him leaving since he started sitting on the bench, but I never paid too much attention to it. Why on Earth would they get rid of this talent? Well, then this week, more rumors were circling that he'd leave the club for our rival Manchester United. Once again, I'm thinking "This is crazy, he's not leaving us for a rival that's doing terrible" well, it's not confirmed officially yet, but it's looking pretty clear that he's going to complete the move for a major pay increase and playing time. Clearly, Chelsea has lost interest in Mata, the manager didn't want to play him so he knew it would be a matter of time before he'd wanna leave. It's tough. It's like "do I stay with this club that I love so much and not play, or go elsewhere and play every game, and get some more money?" PLUS the World Cup is coming this year, so how does a man on the defending champion's team prepare for that? I spent most of my day off yesterday with my mind in another place, honestly. I am quite fortunate to have seen him play against Inter last Summer in person. He's a great player and it'll be hard to see him in another color. When I stood in Stefans Soccer Store and was trying to decide "do I get Oscar, Hazard or Mata on my new white away jersey.." I went with Oscar because I was afraid I'd "jinx" Mata to leave. I DO however have him on my 2014 Spain one, and will wear it with pride, but like I said, it'll be hard to see him in red now. If he would have just went on LOAN for any team, I'd be okay, because he'd be coming back blue, but this is gonna sting for a while. This would be like if Aaron Rodgers left the Packers for the Bears (for all you American Football fans) or of Crosby left for the Capitals. I'm not mad at Mata, just Chelsea for letting a talent go. From Chelsea's perspective, they want the money BIG TIME. They need a new striker, and they know this money will go to one.

Okay, enough ranting about this. Last weekend, we went to my nephew Easton's birthday party. Tons of people there, but Mia mostly was a great girl. Played well with E and his little friend Josie. Looking forward to tomorrow's playgroup. Mia's been really enjoying the time with her friends, and every parent loves to see their kid happy with other kids. Wednesday, I tried something. For a short while, Mia's been doing her best David Luiz (from Chelsea) impression. He tends to stick his tongue out in pictures. He's a totally care-free, talented fun fella and everyone loves him. I told Mia "wouldn't it be funny if we took a picture of YOU in your Chelsea kit and sent him a picture??" She totally agreed. I knew from past experiences that she's not a fan of wearing the jersey. It's a different material then she's used to. Well, she WORE it and I was able to get some pictures of her with a photoshopped Stamford Bridge behind her with the caption reading "Chelsea's latest signing for 10m, Midfielder Mia Justman" Plus I did one of her sticking her tongue out and photoshopped David Luiz's face next to her's.

This weekend, not sure what we're doing yet. Jill's got dinner plans, but her friend Leanne may come up (pending on weather) Sunday I work 7-3.

Last but not least, here is the picture I drew of Mia. Took a LONG time, but I'm mostly content with it. Have a great rest of the week and thanks for reading.

Navigating the Windward Passage

Greetings. Been an interesting few days. Over the weekend, we ended up going to Stone Fire Pizza again. Mia bowled for the FIRST time. yes, they have bowling for little kids. Only one bumper was up, so gutter balls frequent, but she still had some fun. The place was super packed, which reminds us not to go there on a Saturday evening. The lines for food were insane and the game room was littered with people. Overall, great evening :) Not excited to post this, but Sunday, my lovely wife Jill hurt her back again. Luckily, she's on he slow recovery, and as of today, feeling a little better. Even after an 11 hour shift. But man, that Sunday when I left work early to get home and take care of her. She couldn't move, walk or do anything. I could easily ramble about how unfair it was that she hurt her back again after suffering with a bulging disc most of 2012, but that would take me quite a few hours. Plus, no one wants to read a long ass rambling. Anyway, so this week, she's recovering and I hope she can get better soon. It isn't easy trying to take it easy on the back and chase Mia around. She's a sweetheart, but can be a challenge at times.

Been thinking about Spring lately, on my early run/walks with Remi. Can't wait to go on bike rides, hit up the park as a family (or with my friend Nicole and her kiddo) play soccer, family walks with Remi...etc It looks like we've got some snow in the forecast for the next day or so. Exciting right? Nah, I'm over Winter. Good riddance.

While Tommy and Mia napped on the couch today, I did some drawing before work. Haven't done anything real serious lately. Sorta wanted to try something different. My friend Jaci does some real cool and adorable art work and it inspired me to do a little sketch of Mia playing soccer. It's nothing super exciting, and I'll probably do another one much cleaner and post it when I can. Normally, I'm off today but ended up working 6 hours to make up for the time lost Sunday when I left early to take care of Jill. So my day off will be Saturday, which still feels far away. Haha.
That's all for now, thanks for reading. Sorry for another week without a fun picture. Nothing on my sad laptop :(

This is Halloween!

Holy jack o' lanterns Batman! Do I have a lot to discuss tonight, so let's get right to it! Sunday morning, I went out and played a soccer/futbol game for the very first time in 16 years. Really! I took Remi out early in the morning for a warm up run. Got to Brookfield Indoor about a half hour before game time. Found a team to play with and we hit the pitch. I was nervously excited because I was watching some of the earlier games when I arrived and let me tell you, these guys played HARD CORE! They were super quick and fast, and could really boot the ball. As excited as i was to play, I felt sorta intimidated. Outdoor soccer is totally different then indoor. You sort of switch positions as times, but I ended up playing striker. next time, defense. It was defiantly a learning experience and look forward to playing the night games. What was great, was that Jill told me that Mia kept pointing and saying "daddy! How awesome. Legs were pretty sore after the 9-12 loss, but it was totally worth it.

Later in the day, we went trick or treating. Mia almost napped through it. Because it was pretty windy and cold, we only went out for an hour, which honestly was long enough. She did pretty well. It was cute watching her drag her little pumpkin full of candy around. She wouldn't wear the hat to her purple crayon outfit. Oh well. My mom and Tommy joined us. 

Tonight, we got he into her awesome pirate costume and hit up Waukesha. She plundered the streets in search of M&M's and Kit-Kats. Once again, didn't stay out long. My sister and Mom came along. We all had a great time, plus Mia looked awesome. 

Mia and I hit the voting polls and I casted my absentee ballot early. Just like Jill and I did before the last election before we hit NYC. It was cute how Mia asked me when I was filling out the envelop "Daddy, what are you colouring?" And after I finished at the poll, she said "yayyy Daddyyyy!" Love this kid so much. 

Making great progress on the Stamkos picture. Could be done in a week or two. Still, have lots of other art to do. 

Let The Stars Play

Evening friends & readers. It's been a pretty good Wednesday off, as usual. Spent some time with my pops. Mia was actually pretty happy around him. Sometimes my dad comes off a little strong around her and she gets slightly frightened. Even got a nice picture of them. Later, she shared some sea food salad with my Mom on her work break. She didn't nap on the ride home, but that's alright. When Jill came home tonight, she got super excited! "OH BOY OH BOY!" I couldn't stop laughing.

Tonight on the drive to the store, she did something that blew us away. She started rattling off the ABC's. The letters sounded well-enunciated and she finished it off with "Now I know my ABC's, no more monkeys jumping on the bed". We couldn't stop laughing. When I pulled out my iPod touch to try to video record it, she stopped after about 10 letters. Ah rats! Oh well. Hahaha. Jill & I were discussing tonight how amazing she truly is. She can be a pain at times, but man this kid is the center of all things beautiful. Her smile, her eyes, her laugh, it's pretty amazing.

Making slow process on my MLS Milwaukee team logo/jersey kit. Did some sketching at work the other day and I think I've got a pretty cool concept on where I want to go before I take it to Adobe Illustrator. Was asked my a girl to do a Lil Wayne portrait. One of our third shifter's daughter loves him and asked very nicely for me to do it. Defiantly not my cup of tea. To be honest, I can't stand his auto-tuned voice but that's alright, I'll nail this. No time table for it which is always nice. I've got to work on the third shifter's tattoo as well. She asked first, so her daughter's portrait will wait. So my art plate is getting more and more full, but that's the life of an artist.

Saw that it was national news that the new iPhone 5 specs were being announced today. It's pretty crazy that everyone all over the world was tuned in to see what the magical elves at Apple had in store for the masses. It's mostly because the iPhone is the major competition against Droids and that Samsung Galaxy iii thing.  I love Apple, and the programs and products I've been fortunate to use, but my life won't change if the new screen isn't as big as other smart phones, or whatever complains people will have right off the bat. It's funny. When I started the graphic design program at W.C.T.C, I had to learn how to use an Apple desktop. Man, was it different then the PC's I learned everything on. I dare you to find someone with a Macbook Pro that even knows what a zip disk is! I dare you! That's how we used to have to save files on! These big zip disks. Not small practical flash drives. When I transferred to Carroll College, zip disks there too for the art majors. It'd be nice if Jill and I can upgrade from our basic phones to an iPhone but it doesn't have to be the newest toy. A 4 or 4S would suffice. We'll see come March 2013'.

Enough ranting for now. Later people.

Night Of The Living Living

Hello friends. Wisconsin made national news when a scumbag neo Nazi took out 6 Sikh people and injured others including a police officer at a mass last Sunday. Great way to put Wisconsin on the map, you pathetic racist jackass. These victims were at a mass and are peaceful. But when you are a far-right Nazi, anyone who's not white, are the enemy. Of course there are idiots claiming that someone should have been armed to have taken him out. Really? at a mass? Is this what we're going to go to now? Everyone should be armed because a world where the entire population is armed to the teeth with weapons is a "safe" one? That's bull. A paranoid gun nut, is a frightening gun nut, and that pretty much what makes up the whole macho "its-our-second-amendment-to-own-a-gun population. It's never going to change. There will always be a large group of people who don't feel safe without their weapon and will defend this weapon against "the man" till they can't shoot no more, despite stating that they are patriots. Ahhh this country...

Anyways, over the weekend, Jill and I went out on a date. Yes, an actual date. With dinner! And drinks! I honestly can't remember the last time we went out, just the two of us. We hit up Mitchell's Fish Market. The food and drinks were absolutely amazing. Fresh fish+ unique cocktails=awesome time :) It was a rare delightful evening and I look forward to doing it again some time. It was quite strange not carrying Mia in my left arm, but she was in good hands with a Grandma.  Speaking of Mia, she's getting ridiculously smart. Knows and remembers a lot of different things, names,animals etc. Walks really well. Stumbles every once in a while, but that happens. She makes me so proud every day. One thing that's getting quite annoying, is how EVERYONE asks me "so when is the next kid?" Come on, why in the world would we want a 2nd kid so quickly? I've heard the same old story "have all the kids when you're young and get it out of the way". I guess we don't look at having kids to "get it out of the way" while we're young. Psff. If we have another one, we'll have one when we do, end of story.

Our super-nice neighbors with 4 kids sold their house across the street and are moving out at the end of August. We're pretty bummed because they are the nicest neighbors we have, and Mia loves their kids. Hopefully the next family that moves in has some kids, but I'm not holding my breath.

Found out today Ted Leo is playing in November at Turner Hall. Man, that'd be rad if we could go, especially since he's opening for an artist so we could easily get home at a good time to put Mia to bed. :)

That's all for now. Adios and beunas noches.

Night Watch

It's Wednesday night: Always look forward to this day off. Just finished a Guinness, folded some laundry and I've got my dog portrait to the right of me. The portrait is slowly but surely coming along nicely. It's a tough one. Not easy drawing anything for someone when they give you a picture that's 3x5. But, I'm making it work.

Today, we learned that Mia can climb the STAIRS. No, really, she was sitting ground level and started ascending the stair case. We had our hands behind her but she didn't pay attention to that. She slowly ascended up the stairs. Time to get the gates up! The other day, she did something that totally made my day, if not MONTH. I pulled out my bass guitar like I do once or twice a week with her. Was playing a few songs (The Hives-Hate To Say I Told You So) and Alkaline Trio's cover of "The Metro" when Mia grabbed my knees and looked me straight in the eyes and started singing and dancing. She was TOTALLY rocking out and I could barely contain my laughter. This little kid of mine is such a bundle of fun. She says "hi" to just about everyone and gives out way more hugs and even kisses Jill and I. At my little brother's place tonight, she buried her little face in their cat's fur and tried to kiss him. It was quite adorable. She loved the furry-ness. They baby sat her tonight and had a lot of fun, of course. Got to watch the first period of the Pens/Stars game. Was nice chilling with my bro as Jill and his wifey chatted up.

March is here. Can't believe she's almost ONE. The time REALLY does fly. Looking at old pictures and videos of Mia, it's just so surreal how fast the time goes. She's practically walking on her own, then she'll be in school, then voting, THEN college...GOOD GRIEF. Thankfully, she's this little girl right now, who loves to explore, play with her dog and love being with her mom and dad. That's all I need right now :)

100 Resolutions-a reflection of 2011

Last blog post for 2011. Tonight, I'm reflecting on this whirlwind of a year. 2011 was quite interesting. The word, Interesting doesn't really do the year justice. Amazing? Frustrating? enlightening? I could go all night. Here's a look back of the year.

In January, After an amazing show at Linneman's and a heated argument later in the week, Clean Hands went on indefinite hiatus. Our bassist Jason flipped and quit the group. Nick and I treated the stab wounds and put things on hold. With my daughter on the way we figured it was best not to try pick up another bassist and keep the ball rolling. It was a very frustrating time for myself because our group was doing quite well, released an EP in December and were starting to figure out our next move. Since then, Nick's kept busy playing keys in the folk/indie band Conrad Plymouth and they're releasing a full record.

At the end of March, my wife and I became parents and our little angle Mia was born. Parenthood has flipped our lives upside down and we devote 100 percent of our lives raising and loving her. Sappy I know, sorry. I'm missing them both right now since I've been by myself for the last four days. April, I got to see one of my favourite guitar players of all time, Ted Leo, perform PLUS meet him before hand. Hands down one of my favourite shows I've ever been to. My older bro, his wife and I watched him and Maritime guitarist Davey Von Bohlen perform in Madison. What a beautiful night to have a beer and watch a genius at work.

In the Summer, I got to visit Chicago's Shedd Aquarium twice with my wife's family. My first time there, it was a beautiful warm day in one of my favourite cities. I loved taking in all the wonderful animals and such. The 2nd time I'll never forget. My bro in law who interned there hooked my wife and I with tickets for a penguin encounter. Penguins are my favourite animals so it was a great and surreal experience for the both of us. Throughout the rest of the year, I've been figuring out the whole "Dad" thing. Mainly trying to keep her happy and alive. She's a wonderful girl, but face it, a baby is a lot of work and every day is a new adventure.

Favourite Albums of 2011 (In no particular order)

Maritime-Human Hearts

Amazing album from one of Milwaukee's finest groups. The songs and catchy and hooks are fantastic.

Decibully-Decibully

This final record from another Milwaukee group is bittersweet. The band has always been an inspiration for myself, art & music wise but these guys go out in style with this album. It's an art piece in it's own

Less Than Jake-Greetings From Less Than Jake EP

A delightful EP from Florida's greatest punk/ska band. Short but sweet. These guys still and always will have it folks.

Alkaline Trio-Damnesia

Despite this simply being a collection of past songs performed semi-acoustic, it's pretty rad none-the-less. The new songs are both great and fun. It's also nice hearing some of the classic stuff I grew up listening to.

Dan Andriano In The Emergency Room-Hurricane Season

Alkaline Trio bassist Danny performs some amazing songs here well worth listening to. He's always had a knack for writing some of the most heart-filled songs, but with Dan, I'd expect nothing less then fantastic.

Smoking Popes-This Is Only A Test

Not the best thing they've put out, but defiantly a great record. Josh Caterer and Co. decided to write a record from the point of view of a high school kid going through the ups and downs of being a teenager. Some stuff is 'eh' but there's a few rad songs here.

Favourite Songs of 2011

Maritime- Annihilation Eyes & It's Casual

Dan Andriano-It's Gonna Rain All Day

Florence & The Machine-Shake It Out

Smoking Popes-How Dangerous

Less Than Jake-Can't Yell Any Louder

Joy Formidable-A Heavy Abacus (hey, it's catchy)

Alkaline Trio-I Remember a Rooftop

So last year I typed out a list of goals to accomplish. It's a work in progress. I nailed a small amount of them, but keep getting projects that are stacking up. Hopefully by the end of 2012, I'll nail out some more goals. With that, I say thanks for keeping up with my adventures and highs and lows over the years. I've enjoyed using the blog as an outlet to reflect on the day and update anyone interested.

"I've got 100 resolutions, but I've got no solutions.
I've got one song I write 100 times.
And only a dozen or so rhymes." The Lawrence Arms