Category: Personal

This weekend brought many memories and miles as we traveled by car to Seattle, WA for the wedding of our friend. The wedding itself was enjoyable and I had the privilege of doing the music during the ceremony. It was a great time with friends as we spent over 36 hours in a car and slept in a different bed each night. At one point we didn’t even fall asleep until around 5:30am after driving 14 hours. There’s nothing better than a good road trip that you can at times look back and laugh at. Sometimes we’re young and we’re crazy, but at the same time, that’s fun.

It’s fun to make memories even at the expense of a little sleep…. [yawn]..

Storm in the Skies, originally uploaded by shaycam.

If you haven’t been over to Marie Callender’s and purchased one of their 5.99 pies, you better hurry. The offer ends March 4th, and the sale is only semi-annual. The pie will actually cost you 6.99 because you pay for the tin. But if you bring the tin back you’ll get your buck back. I just finished enjoying my apple pie slice and mmmm it was delicious!

The sky today was neat. It’s sort of overcast, or mostly cloudy and I’m digging it. I wish it would start raining though. We need rain in southern California right now. It’s been a pretty dry winter and well, I just want it to rain. In my mind, having overcast skies without rain is like having a cheap pie sale and no one taking advantage of it. I know this has been a short post, but my “lunch break” is coming to an end. It’s funny to call it a “lunch break” when I work at home, but oh well. I guess it keeps me humble, I dunno?

The number 17 has always been my favorite number. The reason is really quite simple. As a young soccer player in the AYSO program, I played on many different teams. But because of my awkward height at such a young age, I always ended up with the largest jersey. And during those days the jerseys were numbered by their size. So if you were smallest kid on the team, you usually ended up with the number 1 or 2, but if you were tall you ended up with something in the teens. For me, that almost always was 17. After awhile my parents and me figured this out and I would end up asking for 17.

As it turns out, that has become my favorite number. And if you haven’t figured it out already, a lot of things come back to soccer for me.. I mean, think about, my favorite kind of dog is the dalmatian and they are black and white like the soccer ball. Nevermind that for now, but I came across an interesting article today about my favorite number. The blog Cognitive Daily reported today the most random number is the number 17. They took a poll and found out that out of 347, when asked to pick a number between 1 and 20, the number 17 was chosen almost 18% more than any other number.

Here’s the chart they showed on their site:

Isn’t that interesting? I don’t know.. I just love the number 17 because of soccer, but if you want to pick that number because of some freaky weird “random” statistic, it’s fine by me.

There was a time in my life where I really wanted to be a writer. The English language always intrigued me because it really didn’t make sense. But when someone writes something that makes sense in the English language it always stands out to me. Usually it’s some witty comparison that draws me in, or even rhyming two words that you wouldn’t normally see side by side. Nonetheless, my desire for writing never came to fruition.

It’s close to midnight and I knew it was time for a new blog. I’ve been working most of the day while my wife has been home sick, but I can’t go anymore. Just the thought of editing one more photo or uploading one more web page doesn’t really appeal to me right now. I’m kind of at a crossroads in my mind as to what do next because I’m not really sleepy and it’s flippin’ hot in this apartment. I’ve got enough work on my desk to keep me busy for many sleepless nights, but I really need a break. We were away for the weekend with our church’s youth ministry and that was a great time. It was nice to get away and enjoy the Creation. Normally the most exciting part of my day is when I take the elevator to the bottom floor and check the mail, so driving and hour or so to the mountains with patches of snow was like going to Disney World for me. I don’t feel I’ve been too creative of late, so getting out this weekend will hopefully supercharge my creative genes for my next few projects.

I really need to get some sleep even though I’m not tired. It’s one of those “mature” things to do. I hope the days are finding you all well.

I really need to get some sleep even though I’m not tired. It’s one of those “mature” things to do. I hope the days are finding you all well.

If you’ve never seen Conan O’Brien’s “Recliner of Rage” bit, then you may not understand the title to my blog today. Basically, Conan has a graphic designer that is “comfortable and furious” and simply talks for America about what he is “enraged” about. Normally it’s about the stupidest things on the planet, but it’s a good laugh nonetheless. Basically, that’s how I feel. In a recent conversation with my wife I realized that I am just kind of weird when it comes to certain things in this world. It’s usually things I can’t control or just don’t see changing anytime soon, but let expound (or some call it “venting”).

1. Cell phones – I love being able to call people whenever, wherever I want. It’s not that I am upset about that in any way. What it really is-is the stupid contract/service agreement that I have to sign to get a cheaper phone. It’s ridiculous. 2 years!! For crying out loud, in 2 years I am going to have a chip implanted in my brain and I’ll be on my cell phone all day long. I think it’s crazy that at the speed of technology these cell phone companies are still getting me all signed up for the next 2 years. Well, get comfortable for those 2 years, because if you try to get out of the contract you’ll be paying up the wazoo! It makes me sick. Everyone has a cell phone now!! Doesn’t that mean that my prices should start going down?!? What happened to good ol’ competition to drive the prices down and help out the consumer? I’m sick of it. I hate it. It makes me mad. And furthermore. . . what century are we in that my phone calls can get dropped at any time?!! Let me say it again, “EVERYONE HAS A CELL PHONE!” Doesn’t this mean that we should be putting up cell towers everywhere so my calls don’t get dropped. I mean, I’m paying for those dropped calls as it is!! grr…
2. Digital music – Oh man, this is a good one. It’s all the rage right now. Digital music sales are up and everyone is downloading anything they can get their mouse on over at iTunes. Well, it’s not all for me. I’m not saying that I don’t download an occasional cheap record from iTunes, what I am saying is, 9 times out of 10, I’m buying the CD from my local music store, and I’ll tell you why. First, the CD cases are rockin’. I mean, some graphic designer and art director spent hours creating something for print inside those cases, so wouldn’t I want to see it in it’s original form, as the creator intended it? Secondly, buying the CD gives me a backup of the music so I can put it on my iPod and never worry about it crashing or losing my music forever. Finally, CD’s are fun for the whole family. Recently Beck came out with a “create your own artwork” CD that included stickers and blank pages so we could make our stuff. The kids downloading that music missed out big time. Oh, and another thing. Right now there are bunch of record stores going out of business because everyone is going digital, but I’m not scared. I still think there are people out there like myself that like to have that case in hand, to see it in all it’s glory. Hey, if you want, I’ll go with you on Tuesday’s and we’ll buy music together!
3. Target vs. Wal-Mart – I got one word for you: Target. It’s so much better! I recently read this blog that lists 10 reasons why Target is better than Wal-Mart. You should indulge yourself. You’ll start remembering your own experiences and probably start agreeing with him if you don’t already.
4. Soccer in America – To be honest, this one hits home for a bit. I’m a soccer player. I even quit baseball to play soccer. And all the time I hear about how soccer will never go anywhere in America. I’m not saying that I completely disagree with the fact that soccer hasn’t done much in America, but I don’t believe it won’t go anywhere. Whether America likes it or not, soccer is the world’s sport. We’ve got our football and baseball, but soccer is being playing around the world, and the last time I checked, we’re not the only country on the planet. As many of you have heard, David Beckham (a famous soccer player from England) recently signed a 5 year contract with the L.A. Galaxy. It was interesting that this was the largest contract in sports history, and it was a soccer player. Mr. Beckham isn’t doing too bad with his $250 million contract. Maybe he won’t attract all the attention to the sport that they hope, but man, it might help. Finally, I must add that in America, soccer is the number 1 most played youth sport. More kids play soccer than any other sport. My thought, start em’ young. When they grow up maybe they too can sign a $250 million dollar deal?

Like I said, I’m comfortable and furious. Don’t take this the wrong way, I won’t lose sleep over all this. I just figured I needed to tell everyone what I thought. Isn’t that the point of blogging to begin with? So many times today I just read people that have no opinions and that are always on the fence. . . that’s lame. Get some opinions and fight for them. Grab your soap box and stand on it… it just feels good sometimes.

seriously, this is great.

(red), originally uploaded by shaycam.

I’ve never been to San Francisco before. Well, that was true until this weekend. My wife and I had the opportunity to see some friends up in the bay area that are starting a church. Those friends were kind of enough to take us down to “the city” (as they call it). San Francisco is an interesting place. Someone used the word majestic to describe it this weekend and I might agree. It just has a chill vibe. It’s got it all: big city style, water, big bridges, random parks, old buildings, sweet architecture, and even the random crazy person. We enjoyed our time just driving around the streets and seeing the sights. You can’t see all of SF in one day, it’s too big. But the part I did see, I loved. And that stinkin’ Golden Gate bridge is amazing.

We had the blessing of coming on a clear day, which made for a great day to the bridges and the skyline. If you’ve never been, I strongly recommend taking a drive there or flying in if you have the means. I took some pictures there, but apparently I was having a really bad day with photography. Needless to say my pictures weren’t so good. I’ll try to go through some and post a few later. Anyways, here’s one for the road…

Lacey was a good dog, originally uploaded by shaycam.

The end of the year marked something a bit sad for me and my family. You see, my dog died. She was a dog of my youth. There have been 2 dalmatian dogs in my life since I was a baby. The first one was Sparky and he lived until I was about 10. Then next came Lacey (pictured left), and she was from about age 10 to 22. Dalmatians are not long living dogs, but their lives are full. Lacey’s life was full of running, jumping, and attacking other dogs if they got near my family. She wasn’t a mean dog, in fact she was a the nicest dog I know, but she was very protective of us. I was able to see her before she died. When Bethany and I visited my parents over Christmas we got to see Lacey. My mom told us to say goodbye to her because it would probably be the last time we see her…. and it was. I’m a little sad as you can tell, but it’s OK. That’s a part of life. Dog’s die. They feel like a part of the family for a while, but they die like people do. I don’t mean to sound cold, I am just stating the facts. But that wouldn’t change the fact that Lacey was a good dog.

Though Lacey’s death marked the end of 2006 for me, it doesn’t mean the year was all that bad. In fact the year was great. I got married at the end of 2005, I graduated from college in 2006, I saw Coldplay live, I saw Dave Matthews live, and I even touched the ground of 5 different states. I traveled much this year (especially at the end). Oh, and let’s not forget that my one year wedding anniversary was in 2006. Good times, lovin’ it.

It really was an enjoyable year… here’s to looking forward to another great year.

I have started this blog about five times before typing this. Everything I want to say sounds boring to me, and everything I don’t want to say is coming to mind at a rapid rate. The truth is I’m probably tired.

The holidays have been quite enjoyable. Starting all the way back at Thanksgiving and moving through Christmas, my wife and I have had a fun filled time. Now I’m probably just a little tired from everything we have done. In fact, the picture to the left is me sitting on the sidewalk at LAX waiting for a bus to pick us up at about 1:15AM. Trust me, the only time LAX looks this relaxing is if it’s one in the morning or we have had a terrorist attack.

I think things are finally settling down for me though. I’m back at my computer, I’m reading emails, blogs, news, job descriptions, etc. and I’m ready to start another year. For some reason 2007 just doesn’t excite me. I think I have a problem with the way it looks: 2007. The 7 just kinda sticks out there. I don’t know, who cares, it’s not that big of a deal and I really don’t think there’s anything I can do to stop it’s arrival. Oh well, onward!

Someone asked me for some poetry and here’s what I came up with.

“The Homeless Man”

There’s a homeless man who plays guitar
I hear his songs when I fill up my car

He makes his home in a little green tent
It’s over the wall, outside my apartment

Sometimes I wonder if it’s just me
But is anyone jealous that he is rent free?

People feel bad and give him their cash
He has no need to dig in the trash

He talks all the time, though he doesn’t talk much
Yelling at cars or at his own lunch

He’s got new wagon to carry his stuff
No really, it’s true, I’m not making it up

Long brown hair and a beard to match
Maybe there was a day when he was a great catch

Smoking is something he does with ease
But being kind to others just won’t please

He’s got a Bible that he reads real loud
But what it means I don’t think he’s found

What has happened to this poor soul
That he lost his home and he’s out in the cold?

Maybe things will change and just get better
But until then we’ll pray for good weather.