Donde Esta Santa Claus?

Hey friends. Hope all of my readers are surviving the holiday craziness. Including the "snowmegeddon" that could be coming our way. Depends on where you live. It's finally starting to look Christmas-y around good ol' Wisconsin which has put me in a semi better mood. I've still got a few things souring me on a daily basis, but I try not to let it get in the way of the holiday spirit. that my darling wife carries through our humble household.

I don't want to harp on this in an intense and lengthy way, but I do need to address it. The shooting in CT was absolutely heart breaking. Especially that because these were kids. Small children. AND two faculty members that gave their life to save some kids. If ANYONE ever tells me that all teachers are lazy and money-hungry, really need to shut up. I couldn't imagine being one of the parents impatiently waiting the news at the fire house down the road from that school for their child to check in. My heart could barely take this tragedy when I first saw it on the news last Friday. I had to put Barney on for Mia  and get this off the news. The fact is, guns are absolutely horrible. I'm sorry gun supporters but it scares me how many shootings have happened over the last 4 years. I do not think arming teachers and faculty members with weapons is the answer. Perhaps sticking unemployed serviceman in schools may do the trick. Who knows. Another major problem is that this guy had a serious mental issue and it was never addressed. His Mom needed to get him the help he deserved and there was some sort of issue there. I hugged Mia so tight that night after work. I am incredibly lucky to have her in my life and I don't know what I'd do without her and Jill.

On a positive note, I completed Mandi's tattoo for her kids. She dug it, which made me happy. I ended up restarting and resizing it last weekend at some point and was pretty content with the complete project. All I need to do is finish a gift and I'm good for a short while. Still need to start a Lil Wayne picture for Mandi's daughter. Hopefully she's patient.

Chelsea FC won today. Didn't get to watch the game but just now watched the highlights. Great goals. Too bad they lost in the Club World Cup to a Brazilian team. BOO!

Leaving this weekend for the holiday and will be back come Christmas Eve. Hopefully the weather is somewhat decent and we don't have any issues. I'll never forget the time I drove home from a crappy night at work in the crappiest driving conditions. I arrived at our (then) apartment and Jill wanted to head down to Illinois a day earlier then we played.I told Jill "we really should go to Illinois tomorrow. The roads are absolutely horrible". She said "No way, nothings stopping me from driving down tonight!" and then she slipped on our stairs and messed her ankle up pretty good. Needless to say, we didn't make the drive. The next day we went down and the roads were wonderful. I took Mia out in the show the other day when it was lightly coming down. She wasn't super impressed. Maybe we'll try sledding this year. Who knows.

That's all for now. Have a good holiday weekend folks. Drive safe and thanks for reading.

Three Little Birds

Hey friends. Another quick update on things before calling it a night. Haven't been getting the best sleep lately. I think Saturday night I slept like 3 or so hours before my 6am-2pm shift. Because of the severe lack of sleep, I didn't even make the effort to go attempt to play indoor soccer that night. Ended up watching a movie with Jill & Mia. Speaking of indoor soccer, I'm pretty frustrated as of lately with the place. I read on their website that if you submit your info (if you're a sub like me with no team) to the people who run the leagues, they can forward it out to the teams in case someone could use a sub or another player for the future. Sounds cool. Drove out there today with Mia and the guy in the office flat out told me "no we don't do that for the adult teams, you just have to keep showing up". BS. As much as I love dragging myself and my family to watch me get turned down week after week because every team tells me "we're good, don't need any subs", it starts to wear you down. I'm sure Jill's getting frustrated that we drive out for NOTHING. Yes, this is the only way to go about do this, but it's pretty crappy. Every team that plays is formed prior to seasons starting. Totally sucks for ones like me who have zero contact with any of these adult teams. There's no community board, or section of the website for players in search of a team. I'm either A-going to try AGAIN in January to play or B-wait till spring time and try to get on a team and play the season. Either way, it's frustrating.

Mia napped for 3 hours today, which gave me time to work on a coworker's tattoo. 3 hours were pretty wasted in the end because I drew the scorpion too big and the numbers and zodiac signs that circle around it don't fit well SO while watching the 121212 Sandy Relief concert tonight after the familia went to sleep, I drew it AGAIN. Got the scorpion part done. The numbers and symbols shouldn't take too much effort. Phew. I'm getting behind.

Getting more and more amped for the holiday. Mostly because I know Mia's going to have SO much fun. She already mastered the fine craft of opening presents whether they're for  her or someone else. I love her so much and couldn't imagine my life without this kid. She can get irritating at times, but my heart lights up when she gives me those big big hugs. Being a Dad is an amazing experience. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. The other day, her and I had the most fun drumming on my kit. She's honestly getting quite good with the snare. She totally concentrates on what she's doing, which is awesome :)

Okay, gotta call it quits for now. Thanks for reading friends.

6 Months In a Leaky Boat

Hello friends. Getting late over here so I'll make this one quick and to the point. Over the weekend, Jill, my Mom and I went to my old High School for Breakfast with Santa. We arrived late and skipped the breakfast part. It was weird strolling through the school I haven't attended in nearly 10 years. Ran into an old 7th grade band director that still remembered me as well as some other alumni's and such. Mia enjoyed watching Santa from a good safe distance. Or as I call it "stranger danger distance". We didn't want to ruin her morning/afternoon by sticking her on his lap. My buddy Mandi and her kids met us there. They too had a fun time, especially with Mia. Later Jill and I hit up a holiday party. First party we've been to since Mia was born. It was a great time seeing old friends that we sadly don't get to socialize with anymore. Always fun catching up.

Later Sunday after work, I attempted to play some indoor soccer. Mia fell asleep on the way and when I walked in the arena, I once again was turned down by both teams. They didn't need subs that day. Goddammit. I just want to play. I understand the goofiness of the process that if you are a SINGLE player, you have to show up and hope to play. These teams are formed by paying players who all know each other. If there was any way for me to contact a "coach" or whomever runs any of the Men's Open Soccer teams, I would have done that a month ago. But, they keep telling me they can't give out any contact info so I just have to keep trying even when I get the frustrating "no thanks, we're good tonight". I'm debating about waiting till the new season starts to try to find a team. This weekend, there are TWO 9pm games, which means I would have the opportunity to try to persuade one of the 4 teams to let me play. If it ends up snowing a bunch, I'll probably skip it.

Working very hard on Mandi's tattoo design. It's more of a concept for her to take into a good tattoo place and show them the direction she'd like to go with the tattoo. Eyes are bugging out sketching this one out.

Mia and I had a great day off. Got my oil changed and we were able to catch the majority of the Chelsea FC game. It was wonderful to see my team FINALLY win, despite being knocked out of the Champions League. There's always the Europa League right? Lately, Mia's been grabbing both Jill and I by the necks and saying "momma, daddy and Mia" over and over, followed by family kisses. It's incredibly adorable. Especially when she says "I'm gonna kiss you Dadda!!" Love this kid and her Mom more then anything in the entire world. Alright, that's all for now. Sleep time for this tired father. Adios and thanks for reading :)

Rabbit Heart (Raise it up)

Hello friends. Another quick one. It's getting late, and I've gotta fold some laundry before heading off to bed. Mia had some gnarly molar teething and went to sleep a little while ago. Not fun. Anyways, here's a quick run down on how the Thanksgiving festivus went. After working a very busy day, I met up with my family for dinner. Before hand, my oldest brother, my nephew, my sister and my Dad kicked the ball around. It was a lot of fun, and good practice for ME for the next game I can get in. (HOPEFULLY THIS SUNDAY) Dinner was amazing, desserts were super tasty. Mia thought her cousin Alex was the coolest kid and would give him a hug every once in a while. The next day we headed off to Illinois for round two, Jill's familia. Once again, awesome dinner but this time, Mia slept straight through the meal. Right on the floor. Poor kid was tuckered out from running around during the day. It was quite weird not having her next to either Jill or myself eating. Mia got really into taking pictures with our Nikon. She'd say "picture Grandpa, cheeeeese Grandpa" and do that with everyone in the room, including Remi the dog. She just may be showing signs on what she wants to do after high school.

Today, Mia and I watched my lil bro play some pick up hockey. Of course she had a blast. We soon headed by Jill for a quick visit, then Grandma, THEN my Dad just in time to watch a very frustrating game between my Chelsea FC and Fulham. Way too many chances blown by the Blues. They've got to get their act together and win this Sunday against West Ham.  Now that the Stamkos picture is complete and in my Dad's possession (he surprisingly loved it) I continued work on Mandi's family-inspired tattoo. Did some good work yesterday and a little today on it. Once I get the scorpion done and the rest of the zodiac signs, I'm going to take my sweet time on the lettering and numbers to make sure everything looks real tight and smooth.

This weekend-Breakfast with Santa at my old high school and a Christmas party later. We're both stoked for the party because it's with a group of friends we haven't talked to or seen since Mia was born. Sad,  I know but a kid really consumes your life. We don't have a lot of time to spend with friends  unfortunately. We barely see each other, but hopefully things will change some day. Like I said, hopefully I'm playing Sunday night. Keep the fingers crossed. Thanks for reading :)

In Vein

Evening folks. Going to make this one as quick as possible. I gotta get up at 5:30am to take my faithful buddy Remi out for a walk before working the zombie shift at 7am.  Afterwards, it's Thanksgiving dinner with my family (super excited by the way), plus celebrating my parent's birthdays. Speaking of which,  successfully completed my Dad's Stamkos picture. My final thoughts on it, is that it's an acceptable attempt at a rather tricky picture. I'd post it here, but had issues with the Nikon D70 shooting a picture. This was my third hockey picture. The previous two were of my two brothers. Both turned out pretty good. So this one, I had some tough issues getting the sizing just right. It still feels a bit compacted on paper but I hope my Dad likes it. The detail is defiantly there and overall, it's passable.  Should be fun seeing everyone Thursday after work. May even get to kick the ball around with my bro's if the weather is decent.

In other news, my brand new Samsung Galaxy sII came in the mail the other day. Activated it with Mia  at US Cellular. Nice people working there. Mia was extra awesome and behaved quite well. Lately she's been letting her shy guard down some. Been saying "hi" more often to new people. Anyways, the phone is pretty great. Taking time to get used to a full-touch Android smart phone since I've used real basic stuff for 10 years. My first phone played "oh Canada" for it's ring tone and I thought THAT was real cool. Haven't put a lot of apps on it yet. Just in the experimental stages with the awesome device. The camera is real great too.

Heading to Illinois this weekend for the Thanksgiving holiday. Hopefully the following weekend I can hit up the indoor soccer place and play a game. Speaking of soccer, totally bummed Robbie, De Mateo was axed from Chelsea FC today and replaced with a douche from Liverpool. The team lost a fantastic manager and I surely hope this new temporary manager can get the team's act together and win some games!!

Okay that's all for now. Short and sweet. Off to bed. Have a great holiday everyone.

A Praise Chorus

Hey dudes. Been super busy with art, mainly trying to knock out this birthday gift for my pop. I doubt he'll enjoy it as much as I'd like but we'll see what happens. I've restarted this sucker so many times. It's not at the level I'd like it to be as far as what I know that I can do, but overall, it's good enough, I suppose. I've got a few things to discuss so let's get right into it. Worked the early shift last Sunday because I had planned on playing some indoor soccer at 9pm that night. I was nervous and excited because my parents, my sister and of course Jill and Mia were making it out to watch me play. So we drove out in the rain and I casually looked around for any guys playing in the 9pm game. There were 3 girls league games going on so I figured it wouldn't be too difficult. Saw a guy chilling on his phone and asked "hey you playing in the next game?" He responded with "Actually I'm looking to sub". Perfect, I said I was too so we both headed downstairs to see if any teams arrived yet. We found one bunch of guys and asked them if they needed any subs. The goalie responded with "no thanks. Wonderful. We turned around and saw a large team they'd be facing shortly. Looked like kids straight out of High School or something. We didn't feel like they would want us to play so we didn't bother asking them.

We head back upstairs pretty bummed out. So we sat behind where the teams were taking the pitch to warm up. This guy next to us "who I SWEAR looked & sounded exactly like Washing Capital's Alex Ovechkin, yelled out "HEY where's the rest of your team?" to the goalie. He responded with "you wanna play, man?" Me and the dude I met were like "this guy had to see us there, what in the HELL man??" So we hoped they would lose for that BS. And sure enough, 10 seconds into the game the guys were scored on immediately. Me and my anxious family left after the kids scored 3 goals. I couldn't have been more bummed out. I just picked up some new soccer cleats (or boots) fore a pretty good price. Didn't even get to use them. Mia was looking forward to watching some soccer as well as my Dad. The other sub ended up sticking around to play at 10pm with other teams. I just wanted to head out, there was no way Mia would last till 11pm. I really hope I get to play December 2nd when Pork plays the team that rejected me and the other sub.

In other news, today I ordered a new phone. the Galaxy sii went on sale this week for super cheap for US Cellulars Thanksgiving sale. Yes, it's outdated compared to the siii but that phone is WAY too much for me. So the new phone will be here in a few days.


The picture above I took while colouring with Mia. The lighting in our kitchen was perfect and she was being super cute. A lot of photographers know that most successful photos is skill AND luck. With kids, it's a LOT of luck if you can pull off a really amazing shot. Her smile lights up my heart in ways only a fellow parent could really understand. That's all for now, it's getting late. Adios!

Plastic Cup Politics

Greetings people. Well, it was a long long campaign but it's FINALLY over with. Some are thrilled with the outcome of President Obama getting re-elected, others are very upset. The House went to the Republicans, the Senate went to the Democrats, which means not a lot will get accomplished. Every election, the people want both to work together so lets see what happens. Didn't work so well last term. No one can compromise on anything. Guess we'll have to see what unfolds.
Back to the rock.

Rainy today on my Wednesday off. Not cool, but we made the most of it. After a nap, we drove around, stopped by Jill for a quick "hi", and had lunch over by my Dad. Mia was in such a good mood with him. It was great. We shared a bowl of pasta. She gobbled it up like a hungry little monster. Later, hit up over at Grandma's for a quick visit. Always a fun time. Got some banana's and we soon headed home. All the playing, running around and jumping around tuckered her out and she was soon asleep. Love it when she's passed out on the drive. It's quite relaxing, and when I glance every once in a while to see her adorable face, a smile grows on my face :)

Last Sunday on my drive home, I couldn't decide if I wanted to play some indoor soccer at 9pm. When I walked in the door, I found Mia sleeping on Jill's lap. She was hungry so I ended up making her dinner and we had some apple pie. I decided that family time (when Mia woke up) would be a better option. And, ladies and gents, it totally was. This Sunday, I plan to play and hopefully will get on a team. Totally stoked and hopefully will play better. If the weather was better, I could work on my ball control with my brother. Rats.

As I was printing out some reference art for a tattoo design for my buddy and co-worker Mandi, I couldn't help but think how incredibly lucky Jill & I are to have such an amazingly smart, beautiful, loving and always funny kid. She's just amazing in every way. She counts, knows her ABC's, sings songs, plays instruments, loves soccer and hockey, gives great great hugs etc etc. Her earlier months up to a year were some of the hardest times we've experienced but if you can ride out the waves, you can make it to the next steps. I'm not excited for when she's a teenager dealing with heart aches and pain, but as a parent the best thing Jill and I can do is be there for her no matter what. Okay, that's all for now. Thanks for reading