Less Fever, More Cowbell

Good evening. Going to try to get through this quickly. It's been yet another busy week over here as February just about closes (leap day tomorrow). Solid week at school for Mia. I think she's getting things a bit quicker now, and catching on with no problems. She has a field trip this Wednesday to the Milwaukee Public Museum. Normally, I'd go but decided that if possible, Jill would chaperon this one. Sure enough, she can. Should be a fun time. Last Wednesday after school, Mia and Olivia went to Chuck E Cheese. They had a lot of fun, but that damn Chuck E scares her every time he comes out.

The Torrent has kept me real real busy (which is good) but everything is where it needs to be for the time being. The schedule is out, season ticket design was released and I'm already moving on to other projects. Its been nice to have a few days to breath and think about what I'm going to do next. Torrent TV is my latest that I came up with. First off, I've always enjoyed seeing the Chelsea Unseen videos on Youtube which takes fans behind the scenes of the club getting a glimpse of training, signings, pre/post game interviews and photoshoots. I want to do something similar. It gets fans more familiar with the Torrent players, staff and such. I have already designed a logo that will feature on the bottom or top of the screen in iMovie. Last night, I mastered some important techniques that will help polish these videos when I start filming. I'm pretty stoked about this. The song book for The Flood is coming along nicely. Apparently, I have to lead them, so this will be real interesting.

Friday night after work, we started watching Fuller House. Just as I predicted, the series will have lots of feels and caters mostly to the older audience. Mia loves the old episodes and enjoyed the first two of the new ones. Saturday morning, I watched Chelsea narrowly beat Southampton 2-1. Branna and Fabregas got the two goals, and we secured 3 needed points away. I believe they play Norwich on Tuesday. Later after the game, we went to the Betty Brinn Children's Museum. I've never been there before, but I have heard great things about it. Didn't disappoint. The place is totally fun and Mia had a blast doing all the different activities from TV camera operator to roof top gardening, it was a great family day.

Today, Mia wasn't feeling good (from what I understand when I got out of work) and has a fever. Hopefully she feels better in the morning, but most likely will have to stay home from school. That's all for now. Thanks for reading!

Mahalo Ono Kine!

Good evening everyone! Hope you all enjoyed the weekend. Early in the week, we noticed that Marie the cat was limping around in the morning. Turns out, she had an infection and a fever. Lucky the antibiotics helped the kitty to a quick recovery. She was feeling better the day she had went to the vet. Wednesday, Mia and I went on an exciting field trip with her class to the First State Theatre in Milwaukee to see Just a Little Critter. Mia was paired with her friend Kaylee as "bus buddy". She didn't get her recess BFF Irianna, (AKA-The Runner) because her mom attended. In fact the 4 parents that came each got kids to watch. Olivia's Dad got three crazy ones including his girl. Olivia wasn't that bad, but Alexa and Isabella were bouncing off the walls in the bus. It was cute, and they were fun. Kaylee and Mia were great on the bus ride there.

The play was fun and the kids had a lot of fun. Mia liked all the songs and fun acting. Before it started, Kaylee had to pee and Mia was FREAKING  out because she was so worried she'd miss the start of the play. It was both funny and nerve-wrecking. We had to go into the girls bathroom because I had NO clue where the guys one was. Whatever. I've always enjoyed going on field trips with Mia (this is my third since she started at  Smarty Pants in 3K) and it's just really enjoyable to see the kids in a more relaxed environment. On the ride home the kids were dead exhausted. Olivia passed out with Alexa sleeping on her. Mia was tired and Kaylee tried the same thing. She doesn't like to be annoyed when she's tired so it was a bit of a rough ride back to school. All in all, fun time.

Throughout the week, I've been working on different game announcement images for the Torrent, each one pushing my creativity to new heights. Friday morning, Mia and I had a boardgame-a-thon and played a few new ones she got for Valentines Day. While playing, it reminded me how old my 4 1/2 year old is getting. She gets concepts of games without me explaining anything to her, and can patiently wait her turn to spin or pop the bubble thing on Minion Trouble. Jill and I both agree that 4 has been our favorite age so far. She has her moments, but is sweet and kind a lot of the times.

Saturday, the ladies went to a craft fair while my Dad and I watched some of the FA Cup games. Reading beating West Brom was entertaining. Wish Everton would have lost to Bournemouth. Later for a late lunch, we went to this small Hawai'ian takeout and grocery store in Tosa'. Ono Kine Grindz. I tell you, it brought back some fond memories of our trip to Hawaii. Everything sold there was from the island including the tasty POG juice. We bought a few of those. MMM! I had gotten this cornish game hen in teryiaki sauce and a sticky rice that was super tasty. We'll have to go there again. It was cool to see my buddy Andy's photography all over their walls. Such an eye for beauty, but when you're in Hawaii, you see the beauty everywhere. Saturday night, we hung out, movie night per the usual.

Sunday I got up and watched Chelsea destroy Man City in the FA Cup on Youtube in Arabic. You could say "yeah they played the youth team because Man City wanted to rest some of the senior players for their UCL match this week" but who cares? If we win the cup, who's going to look at the game and say "well they only won 5-1 because they played the U-21 group". No. The team played creatively the 2nd half and smashed goal after goal. Hazard's free kick was solid, and Traore was able to get yet, another FA Cup goal. Everton is next and they'll be a bit more difficult. I worked my usual 2-10 that night.

This week, nothing major planned. Just graphic design work on some projects, for the Torrent and that's about it. Thanks for reading!

Mia the Sweetheart

Good evening all. It was yet, another busy week full of coughs, Valentines Day parties and other notable events so here we go. Early in the week, we had to call Mia out of school (which was mentioned in the last blog) but thankfully she was well enough to go Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (which was the Valentines day party. In the end, that's what motivated her the most, was going to her school's party. She missed it last year and didn't want to this year. Those coughing fits in the middle of the night are so very rough on her, but she thankfully is getting better. Runny nose still, but getting better.

She had a lot of fun at her party and got lots of Valentines. Friday, I met the coach of the Torrent at Z2 Marketing in Pewaukee for a photoshoot of myself :) Mia tagged along and was really good. While getting photographed, I thought to myself how amazing it's been working with this new team. If this ever opens some doors, it'd be incredibly amazing. For now, I'll keep doing what I enjoy for the Torrent. I did a simple, yet dynamic home game image and hopefully this week will get the schedule complete. Every one's getting anxious for a schedule so tickets can go on sale. Mia was a bit shy, but sorta stoked she met the coach/owner. She said to her Grandma "guess who I met? THE COACH of the the Milwaukee TORRENT!"

Saturday was designated for two things: Cleaning and watching the game, so I combined both. Jill working on the breakfast nook and myself on the den so I could watch Chelsea beat the tar out of Newcastle. It was good to see Chelsea of old getting creative and getting a much-needed win. The table is shifting all over the place so hopefully we can gain some ground and get back to where we belong. We made pizzas for dinner and watched Lilo and Stitch.

Sunday, we bummed around a bit, not accomplishing much. Mia gave me this beautiful photo she took at the studio with Jill. I swear this kid's beauty is breathtaking at times. She poses and photographs so well, it sometimes leaves me speechless. Jill woke up this morning not feeling the best, so hopefully she can shake it.

This week, lots to do. Get the Torrent schedule done, make some game-day poster designs, Mia and I have a field trip on Wednesday with her class to Milwaukee. Should be loads of fun. Nothing planned for the weekend but I HEARD we're gonna get great warmer weather! I took apart my Torrent Tom for the games and the next step is sanding it before primer/paint. I won't paint it till spring time (need ventilation and prefer to do it outside)

That's all for now. Thanks for reading!

ICE to Meet You Again Mickey

Good morning everyone. Busy week, per the usual and I'm dead tired so lets get through this. Every day this week at school, Mia's had homework in some shape or form. Good thing she enjoys it. Our car drives (her and I) used to consist of her and I singing along to her favourite songs. Now, she likes to be quizzed on math problems and "what does -Insert word here- start with?". It's a different atmosphere, but enjoyable nonetheless. She nails just about every one of them as well, which is pretty impressive. This week, the Torrent announced the league they'll be in, which means that the schedule will be out very soon. Looking forward to putting together some great images for the matches.

After school Wednesday we watched the Chelsea FC vs Watford game with my Dad. Sadly, a 0-0 draw again, which sucked since we should have gotten SOMETHING out of that game.  Friday, Mia got to attend her friend Kaylee's birthday party at the Big Back Yard. We've been there countless times, but this should be a bit more fun since the majority of her class was attending. I was working but Jill took her. Mia had a great time and I think it was fun for Jill to get to see Mia in a more relaxed setting with friends. She never gets to talk to the parents since I'm 100% of the time taking and picking her up from school. Saturday, Jill worked at the Woman Up! convention for her studio. She was up hella early to get ready into her pin-up attire. From what she told me, they were pretty busy and people wanted to have their pictures taken with Jill. Aw. Mia and I got to hang out for the day. We went to Chuck E Cheese at one point during the day. BUSY on weekends (which didn't surprise me). We had a boat load of tokens from our last visit (with Mia's pal) so we had some fun. Mia really liked the downhill skiing game and was pretty good at it. SkeeBall isn't her thing. Sort of a difficult  concept to throw the ball low. My favorite arcade games have always been racing ones, so Mia and I raced an Aston Martin as well. Later, we went home and awaited Jill to come home so we could go to Disney On Ice.

We had a really good time. It was weird being in the Bradley Center for something that wasn't an Admirals game. In fact, I have never seen the inside of the arena that didn't have boards up. Our balcony-style seats that Jill got were perfect. We could see everything including the amazing flying that went on during the story of Tangled. They told quick little stories of some Disney classics such as Snow White, Cinderella and Tangled. In the beginning they had some of the characters from Princess and the Frog dancing around. Mia had a lot of fun and picked up a souvenir cup.

Sunday, I watched the Chelsea vs Man U game. I had a feeling we'd get a draw. They should have started Hazard on the side in the first half, but went with Oscar instead. Costa's late-equalizing goal was perfect and I hope that Zouma (who went down real awkwardly) feels better soon.

This week, Mia's got a Valentines Day party. Hopefully she'll fell better soon (she's got a rough little cough) and I'm supposed to go to a photo/video shoot for the Torrent. She's not going to school today since she barely slept last night. She needs a good day to rest. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Hello February Goodbye January

Good evening. It's been a busy end of January and I'm quite ready to move on to the next month. Closer to hopefully spring. I was quite busy this week working on some big announcement images for the Milwaukee Torrent. I can't say much yet, but the league info should be out real soon. They've got another community game that was announced, this time against Cardinal Stritch. I think it'll be great for the community to see a professional level of soccer and hopefully it'll be a good turn out.

Mia's been blowing my mind with what she's learning in school. Her math skills are sharp and she's been able to sound out words in front of her almost easily. She seems to be enjoying school more and more, just not the "3-Kers" that harass the girls at recess. I dunno if they still do, but she'll pull out a random story here and there about how they push girls. Oh boys.

I sort of decided to abandon my Jose Mourinho portrait. It wasn't coming out how I hoped and I know I can do better. Jaw lines are tough and I gotta get better at them.  Saturday night, we went out to the movies after Jill worked. Kung Fu Panda 3. I've never seen any of the previous ones, but it was good. Jack Black shines in animated roles as well as Seth Rogan. Mia liked it as well. I think we'll have to watch the previous ones at some point.

Today was soccer day. But first, I had to get Remi out for a walk. While walking the pup where I normally do, I got hit by an SUV. well, less hit, more smacked. Remi and I were walking across the road that this car was had stopped and was planning on turning right. The older woman was focused on the traffic from one side, and didn't notice us walking in front of the car. If I didn't smack the hood of the SUV, they would have drove right into me. The car was right into my side before I let them know they hit me. They didn't role down the window or anything. They turned and went out. On top of that, Remi's leash broke AGAIN so I had to replace that today. Thankfully it was an easy exchange and we said "goodbye" to retractable leashes. Anyways so after that ordeal, I watched Chelsea win 5-1 in the FA cup game on Youtube. First half, Oscar netted his first hat-trick. I missed Hazard's PK and Traore's goal because I had left to go to the pet store during HT. Good to see Chelsea win a game they really shouldn't have had a problem winning. Hazard FINALLY got a goal this season as well.

All was great and wonderful in Chelsea FC, until I read that they were not going to offer John Terry a new deal. All day at work, I was pretty bummed that the player who's given his heart and soul to this club for 20 years would not get offered a new deal. Then, I just looked at Twitter again. Within 5 minutes, I read that they may offer him something...still. I know that players older than 30 don't get more then 1 year extentsions on contracts, but this guy bleeds blue. He IS Chelsea and I hope they can get a deal for him. He doesn't below in the MLS or any other organization except the Premier League. I hope Chelsea can pull their head out of their ass and get this worked out. We signed A former Red Bulls defender Miazga and Corinthians forward Pato. Transfer Window just about complete so we'll see if anything big happens. Ramires left for China, which doesn't surprise me since Mikel has been heavily favored since the returning of GH to the Blues. Luckily, Mikel hasn't been too bad, but Ramires clearly didn't want to hang out on the bench any longer.

This week, more work for the Torrent and Flood, hopefully will do my best to avoid the snow storm we're supposed to get but I gotta work Tuesday and get Mia to school Wednesday. Hopefully it's not too bad. Mia's got a birthday party this Friday evening for her friend Kaylee. Should be fun. that's all for now. Thanks for reading.

GOLAZO!

Good evening everyone. Busy week (and weekend) over here, and I'm dead exhausted, but for some reason, feel like writing before hitting the showers/bed. Cold temps this week, which sucked, but after school on Wednesday, I took Mia over to the temporary ice rink at Malone Park and we skated. We had the whole place to ourselves, so it was nice to skate, just the two of us. She would get frustrated because the surface isn't all that smooth and was difficult at times to skate solo. It's not as easy to get going as the Petit but we still had fun. She's really into "ice dancing" and we'd have to dance together. It was cute. Later that night, I played a very rare session of pick up indoor soccer at Brookfield Indoor. Rusty at times, but I had a lot of fun. Only snagged one assist and no goals, but it was a good time. The guys were pretty cool. I gotta work on ball control a bit. My finishing was rough at times. I would get in a weird angle with a player against me, and I'd lose my bearings. It was crappy at times. I got a few good shots, but not enough for me to be happy with. I hope to play again some time.

Friday, I got Mia registered for Kindergarten for the 2016/2017 school year. YES, you actually have to have them registered already. It's insane, really. We could never get the school district site to work, so we walked across the street, sat down and did it on their stupid laptop. Took a while, and thankfully Mia was very patient but she's registered. She has an "assessment test" scheduled for March so we'll find out where she is for the class. It'll be a totally new environment for the diva, new friends, teachers and schedule. She'll have to get used to going to bed even earlier then she is now, and a full days worth of school and fun. She's excited, but sorta sad she won't have her best friends in class anymore. Luckily, we keep in contact outside of school so she'll have opportunities to be with them.

Saturday, I had a Flood meeting later in the afternoon. We discussed merch, the league and schedule that should be released soon, the songbook and other things at the Nomad, the jersey sponsor for the Torrent. I picked up the Flood scarf after we did a photo-op with the Fonz to help promote the supporters group. I'm really happy with how my design for the supporters scarf turned out. The detail looks real cool and I'm quite proud of my work. When the schedule comes out, I"ll be able to get some solid work on it. Should be soon. Myself and the intern are also taking on a project to get a kids club put together so that will be fun.

Later Saturday evening, we went tubing with Mia's BFF Olivia, her bro Gavin and Dad at The Rock Sports Complex. TOTALLY fun for a couple hours. The kids totally could have gone longer. Jill watched and will probably do it next time. I would go down with Mia, then her BFF, THEN her Bro..it was fun. They have this "magic carpet" that takes you back up the hill. The kids had a blast.

Today, I watched Chelsea defeat those no-good rivals Arsenal 1-0. Costa got a great goal in, thus digging into the rivals more, which was perfect. The 2nd half,  the Blues shoulda done a bit better since the team was down to 10 guys after the red card early in the 1st half, but a win is a win.
Mia and Jill went to my nephew's birthday. From what I was told, they had fun and Mia was social with every single one of the guests. This week, I've got some serious Torrent stuff to do, and most likely cleaning. That's all for now. Thanks for reading!

Day Trip

Good morning everyone. Hope you are able to stay warm on this SUPER cold day. We had a busy week, but it was pretty fun. I've been coming up with some fun and cool concepts for some Match Day posters for the Torrent games. I think it'll be great to get the word out. Last night I thought it'd e good that if someone was at the game, they kept the  FB page updated during the game. I'm going to be busy as it is pounding the drums and chanting with the supporters group. I may go to some of the games early to get some training photos snapped for everything and anything graphic design related. I started working on the pre-season schedule. So far it looks solid and I look forward to the league update and schedule release to get everything finalized. My brother got his Torrent kit in the mail recently and it looks really good. He said it's very light and fits like a glove. We have a supporters group meeting this weekend at the Nomad so we'll have a lot of different things to discuss. I hope to get some match day posters printed as mock ups to share my vision.

Wednesday, Mia and I watched the Chelsea game at our house. It was a draw, but a close one. Would have been nice to get the win, but what can you do? They tied this weekend against Everton (missed the game) but it went right down to the wire. Speaking of which, the weekend. We left Saturday morning for Indy and stayed at a super nice hotel in Merrillville. The place was very cool. Own kitchen was great, but Mia really liked the TV in the bedroom. She was reunited with long-lost pal Caleb. Jill's friends met us there for a weekend of fun, laughs and food. We had a great time. The kids got along well and even got to swim in the indoor pool. Mia's favorite part was probably the pie-in-your-face game. You know, the game where they put creme on the hand, you crank it and get pie flung at you when you least suspect it. I won, but the kids loved watching others get pied.  Sunday, we said our goodbyes and drove home. Great weekend with her friends who have always been very nice to me.

It was a cold morning today. Too cold to take Remi out, but we made it to the park and he didn't even mind a bit. BRRRR..Mia shivered her way to school on this frigid MLK day. She'll be learning once again about him and his dream. This week, meeting Saturday, Jill and Mia will be going to nephew Easton's birthday party Sunday. That's about it for now. Thanks for reading!!