Routine.

Just about every night I will be laying on my wonderful maroon pleather couch, as Heather is lounging on our love seat across the room. We will be watching one of our shows (or Heather's lame reality shows.) Hannah is usually running around in circles singing, dancing to every commercial that has music (especially Old Navy, and Target commercials.) She will carry her blanket, milk, and toys back and forth between me and Heather and climb up to sit or lay with one of us as she takes very short breaks between her playing. Then 8:15 rolls around and Heather will usually ask, "Hannah are you ready to go to bed?" Where Hannah will stop what she is doing scan the room to first locate her blankey, then she will proceed to try and gather up EVERY toy that she sees in the room, usually saying, "sody, sody" or whining as she does so, because she doesn't think she is going to be able to get all the toys she wants in time. So her mommy helps her carry some because some she will hold with her teeth, to free up more arm space, then she takes off to her room, and runs straight to her crib. She will proceed to play a bit on her own in her bed until she falls asleep for the night.

Every night is a priceless treat to watch this take place.

In The Life of Hannah

Hannah has extended her vocabulary a bit, sometimes it takes us a few days to realize the translation of the words. None the less here is a list of a few words and phrases:

1.) "sorry" which is pronounced "soddy"
2.) "Where'd it go"
3.) "Wow"
4.) "Uh-oh"
5.) "nanny" (which for some reason is what she calls her "Blankey")
6.) "nemo" (she spins in circles or gallops in circles singing this word over and over, not sure why)
7.) "Jew" (which means "Juice" which refers to ANYTHING she drinks, wheather it be milk, soda, or actually juice.)
8.) "Dah" (this is how she say's "Dog" which we recently found out a bear is a dog also)
9.) "Cheese"
10.) "AHHHH-CHEEEEEEW!" (she loves to pretend to sneeze REALLY loud.)
11.) "Slide" (she LOVES to go down slides!)
12.) "Shane" (Hannah loves calling me by name.)
13.) "tooth" (whenever she sees a toothbrush, she loves to pretend to brush her teeth.)
14.) "tee-tee" (which is pee.)
15.) "poo-poo" or "doo-doo"
16.) "shoes"
17.) "Socks" (and she'll say, "shoes and socks.")
18.) "baby"
19.) "pooh" (for her stuffed pooh bear.)
20.) "Diego" (the cartoon)
21.) "Ball"
22.) "I see" (when she wants something you have.)
23.) "Here ya go."
24.) "Honey" (Heather refers to me as honey alot.)
25.) "No" (her favorite word.)
26.) "Blues Clues"
27.) "Mommy"
28.) "stop it." (this was one of the first phrases she started saying, but doesn't use it as much any more.)
29.) "roar" (She will roar or growl and then want you to chase her.)
30.) "bock-bock" (cause thats what a chicken says.)
31.) "Hey"
32.) "Hudo" (which is "Hello")
33.) "Nanuh" (which is by far her favorite fruit, she usually requests it as soon as she hits the floor in the morning, "Banana")
34.) "daddy" (yes she still accosionally will call me dad as well.)
35.) "Eyes" (usually as she is poking yours.)
36.) "nose" (as she attempts to tear her's off her face.)
37.) "Les Go!" (obviously "Let's Go!")
38.) "Psycho"
39.) "I know" (She just said that last night.)

There's more but I can't think of all of them. As I remember I will update this list.

Also Hannah has grown a new love for stickers, where she will stick them on everything and take them off until there is no more "stick" to the sticker. She loves to eat pizza, she loves to jump, and she is actually able to get both feet off the ground and land, even when she is standing on my chest as I lay on the couch, of course she lands on her butt in that case.

Hannah can locate:

Eyes
ears
feet
fingers
hands
arms
belly (she will lift her shirt up and run around the house.)
butt
mouth
nose
ear
head
hair

Stranger Than Fiction

A week ago I watched a movie that I had been anxiously awaiting it's release date onto DVD. I was mostly excited about the fact that the movie had one of the funniest people alive in the starring role. So I was VERY pleasantly surprised when I found out that the film was even more impressive with its cinematography, and motion graphics that were brilliantly displayed on the screen. The music of the soundtrack helped to paint the picture of the emotion and theme of the movie as well. Here is an example of all of these aspects.

As the movie went on I became more and more entertained by both the actors, and the story itself. I was trying to figure out how everything linked together. Near the end of the film I was so impressed I almost left immedietly to buy a copy. Instead I refrained (it was late at night.)

Later I spoke with a friend about the movie, and he asked me if I had watched some of the bonus material, and I said, "no I hadn't." He then went on to mention how they have a behind the scenes look at the company who did all the motion graphics for the film. So now I REALLY want to either rent it again, or buy it so I can watch that portion of the DVD.

The typography, icons, and simply the graphics in general were just awesome. This is the first movie that I can remember that has taken this aproach to help tell a story, and it greatly inhanced the movie, and helped illustrate what was going on in the characters head.

So anyone who hasn't seen the film, get to the nearest video rental store, or head to your nearest Target, Wal*Mart, or Best Buy and get that movie, you can thank me later.

For Your Consideration

I first rented this movie a few weeks ago when it first came out, but then Blockbuster tricked me with their mis-advertisement of the greatness that is the Online Movie Pass, where I thought that Blockbuster totally rid themselves of late fees, and all movies had a two week renting time span before they just would hit you up with the cost of the DVD, as if you bought it. So I took back my movies I recieved by mail online and rented "For Your Consideration." took it home and tried to watch it that night, but I laid down in my BIG comfy bed and it was a little too late because I fell asleep and then ended up having to take it back before I got charged late fees.

This weekend I went back and rented it again, and started watching it earlier to avoid the whole falling asleep thing. The movie is about a group of unknown acters making a small low budget movie, while in production some of the actors catch wind of rumors floating around on different websites of some of the acters being nominated for Oscars.

One of the best things about this movie was it had one scene in paticular that I can totally relate to, where their is a graphic designer showing the Producer of the movie a few examples of different concepts she came up with for the movies promotional materials, such as movie posters, and DVD covers. Everytime the Graphic Designer would try to explain the concept behind the design, they couldn't ever get it, and were just so far off and more intrested in what made them feel good, which one of the samples had a picture of a guy holding baloons, and they went off on how Balloons make them happy, and reminds them of a party, but didn't really have anything to say about how it corresponded with the actual movie it was for. You would probably have to be a Graphic Designer to actually be able to apreciate this scene of the movie. Kind of like the business card scene in the movie, "American Psycho."

Net Worthy

You may of noticed a few subtle changes to my blog (all two of you who look at it.) On the side bar with my advancements in html, and CSS knowledge in the past few days I have learned how to make a few customizations. I've always wanted to have this feature on my blog, but never knew how to do it. Now I know, the main addition is a section labeled "Net Worthy" which are basicly all the things I find on the web that some would call "Note Worthy" since we are on the "Net" I am labeling it "Net Worthy." I am going to try and do the best I can at keeping that updated every time I find something worthy of sharing. Should be fun!

**UPDATE** (1-18-08)
I recently added a flickr badge to my sidebar which shows the 3 most recent photos I uploaded to my flickr account also providing a link to view all of my recently uploaded photos.

Quote of the Week.

Well it's Funday (Friday) and I came across this quote which is well worth anyones time who may stumble across this lonely blog and stay the few minutes it takes to read...

"No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude, and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our character, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender, charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God...and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire and which will make us more like our Father and Mother in Heaven..." (Orson F. Whitney)

Bracketology

Bracketology
Originally uploaded by shaneguymon.

Well my friends as promised here are my picks, please click on the image for a complete set of photos, outlining all of my picks up until the end.

Make any comments you would like regarding my picks, I would love to see and hear about everyone elses predictions.

Pretty much every year my bracket always ends the same, and this year is no exception, so as always my pick for the winner of the whole shabang is North Carolina!

The Office

My Desk
Originally uploaded by shaneguymon.

We've been in a bit of a transition stage right now, but we are moving along, and I am really enjoying the work. I've been able to see four of my direct mailers printed, and their is an indescribable feeling of being able to see something you created on paper in mass quantities. Then to know that a couple thousand people will be receiving it in their mailboxes three times in a year, is also a very unique feeling. On top of all that you then take in the humble thought that 90 % of those people will most likely throw your creation in the garbage 20 seconds after viewing it is just mind blowing. Do you realize that my creations will literally be decorating the earth for the lifespan that paper has before it bio degrades or is recycled into someone else's trash.

Of course there is that very rare possibility that someone will like it so much that they will actually hang onto it, hang it on the fridge for a month, and actually give my hard work somewhat of a home and a life. At least I am able to grab a few out of the box, and keep them safely tucked away from the dust in my portfolio to have a lifetime of possibilities. They could win me a prize at a competition, impress another employer into giving me a job with even better pay, or they could one day be the reason for a promotion in this company.

I have a few websites that are in the works as well, that should be hitting the world wide inter-web in the VERY near future, as well as some potential logos in the works, those two things have much longer lifespan then the glorified garbage I create in the direct mailers and postcards.

MADNESS!

Let the madness begin, UNC won the ACC confrence tournament solidifying a number one seed in the NCAA tournament on Sunday which resulted in calling me excited a complete understatement. Since I don't have a working printer at home I had to wait until today to come into work and print out a few brackets for my guessing pleasure.

After I get my bracket completed I will be sure and update this and give everyone my picks for the final four and the WINNER!

I'm hoping to include pictures as well, just to make it that much of a more pleasant reading experience, I say all of this, but my lazy nature, may get the best of me, and before you know it their will be nothing but solid text.

I once had aspirations of having atleast one picture go along with EVERY post I make on this blog, and I have a flickr account which facilitates that for me, and yet it only lasted for ONE post thus far...

By the way "Dashboard" by MODEST MOUSE, is definetly the song of the month, and making a strong arguement for song of the year!

WORD.

Disapointment

the Office was a re-run again last night, and well quite frankly they can't do taht to me two weeks in a row. Thursdays are really a night that Heather and I look forward to. I mean I had to sacrifice and somehow make it through some lame episode of American Idol where they spend an hour just to tell us who is getting kicked off, that should be like a five minute show, yet somehow they turn it into an hour. It was especially hard when I knew the ACC tournament was on, and Duke was playing NC State.

Luckily NBC redeemed itself by having a brand new episode of Scrubs, which provided me with a sufficient amount of lauphter to feel my night. Of course then I went and jumped on the computer and spent an hour or more on the computer searching for music to feel my play list on VIRB.

I have to just throw this out there though. Jim on the Office reminds me of my boy Chris Burkman, so Chris I don't know how you got a show , but you made it, and your practicle jokes are hilariouse, especially liked the one where you put the stapler in the jello, and when you hid the cell phone in the cieling... AWESOME!

VIRB.COM

Although it basically serves the same purpose as myspace, it is so much not like it that the entire wave of people on the myspace bandwagon should hop off as quickly as possible and totally embrace this fresh new idea on how these things are done. On a code perspective the site is designed with web standards in mind. If you know css, and html you have so much freedom in the design aspect of custamizing your own personal site that it's insane.

You can sink your flickr photo albums to your virb profile, you can upload your own videos and share them with the world, you are able to have a 15 song playlist, and a personal player on your profile that feature three of the songs on your playlist to share with your friends. You still ahve the blogging aspect, you can still creat groups, find your friends, and all that hoop-la!

Go to virb.com now, find your favorite bands, listen to their songs, watch their videos, get a list of their upcoming shows, and just JOIN!

The Shimmy Shake with a twist....

No matter what moves I try to do I just can't seem to shake whatever viruses and bugs are out on the market these days. I seem to be getting them all. I usually try to stay ahead of the game and get the extra edge on the opponents.

In High school you could find me in the gym every day after school shooting 50 3 pointers on each side of the court which would equal to 100. Then I would play pick up games until around 5:30 - 6:00pm. (of course that also didn't REALLY work since I spent my senior year sitting the bench)

While in Brasil I never set my barefoot on Brazilian soil, I took my worm medicine every six months, and took a shower every morning.

Lately I have been washing my hands like Melvin Udall (bonus points for anyone who can tell me who he is.) and frequently rubbing hand sanitizer gel stuff on my hands as well, yet somehow this weekend I still ended up with a low grade fever, my stomach twisting and turning as if I had some small alien living inside me (perhaps I should call up Tom Cruise) and spending the majority of my time either laying in the fetal position on the couch or sitting on the toilet (I won't go into too much detail with that.)

This all started on Friday, and for some stupid reason I chose to lead my church team to a loss. So evidently I'm not Michael Jordan, but I definitely would of appreciated Scottie Pippen draggin me off the court after the game.

RANDOM BASKETBALL UPDATE:
Speaking of Scotty Pippen the latest news is saying that he may be returning to play for the Lake Show with Phil Jackson, I have always been a Pippen fan, even in his years at Houston, and definitely his under-rated years with Portland, and even when he decided to go back to Chicago to finish out his career. (Although I secretly wished Jordan would of gotten him to come and play along his side when he came back to the Wizards.)

RANDOM OTHER NEWS UPDATE:
In other news I was listening to my favorite morning show on the way to work, and because of their guest I tuned into the remaining portion of the show via the World Wide Web, because they had my main man Timbaland on, which he helped create a phenomenal album for Justin Timbalake, and now he is promoting his album which is going to drop on April 3rd, which includes a song he did with Fall Out Boy! How insane is that? They played the song on the air, and it is a good song. Although I HATE what he did with Nelle Furtado, just because it sounds exactly like Furge, (who I also HATE) who sounds like Gwen Stephanie (who I also dislike) So as you can see it's an inevitable chain reaction that can not be stopped. Of course I've never been a fan of Justin Timberlake either, until "Cry Me A River" came along, and now this album, and BAM I'm a fan and I got his album on my ipod shuffle, and I'm listening to it just about everyday as I work, and even as I type this post...

RANDOM MOVIE:
In entertainment news be sure to rent "For Your Consideration."