My... I have been a busy boy.

I have two new blogs/sites I am now maintaining.

Red Fish Blue Design is a freelance venture I manage with my good friend Clinton George.

Out-of-Plumb.com is a monthly cartoon published for the surveying community. I'm the creator and illustrator behind this as well.

These sites of mine are gaining popularity, so I moved them into a blog format so I can more easily update, integrate, etc. Plus, it allows comments and creates more interactivity between me and my visitors. Check them out when you get the chance. It took a lot of work.

New song coming very soon, its been too long. I'm sorry. I'm still editing the video, and trying to make it so you can actually purchase this one if you like it. So hang in there. Its coming this week!

Easter came and went.

I had my family over to my house for a little Easter get together... three days before Easter. We all have crazy schedules, but it was nice to get everybody together. I made sandwiches (fifteen too many apparently) and bought cupcakes. We hid eggs and the kids played. Good times.


The show on Saturday night went very well. For any that came out, or couldn't but still wished me well, thank you very much. Whew, it was a long time to play though. I am lucky I could still talk, much less sing by the time it was over. I played about 40 songs or so, of course some of those were repeats. I will have some video for you later this week.

Blogging has been harder here lately. I have a feeling it has met its match with micro-blogging... ie twitter and facebook. What are we headed towards in terms of communication as a whole? Texting, twittering, communicating with each other instaneously in 140 characters or less. Is this a step in a good direction, or a bad one? I myself don't know yet. I see the pros and the cons.

I just signed on to do about 35 illustrations for a historical fiction novel. So, I will have to shift a lot of my creative focus from my music to my art. I picture my creativity as a giant light in a tower. It takes a lot of work to move from one part of the sky to the other. Usually once I move it, it has to stay at one spot for a while. The beam is not bright enough to illuminate all of the sky all at once. If I try moving it all over the place, from writing, to music, to design, to illustrating, it kind of hurts... literally.

My Engagement pictures

Step 1:
Find a picture on google images by searching: engagement pic.

Step 2:
Snap a picture of myself in order to place myself in the picture.

Step 3:
Do a little Photoshop magic: convert image to black and white so that it is easier to match skin tone, put my head in place of the other guy's, take out original logo and add in my friend Stephanie Simpson's logo. Viola!

Step 4:
Email my friend Stephanie and tell her about my diabolical plan; send the picture as an attachment. She does a blog post about it on her wedding and engagement photo blog.

Step 5:
Update my myspace and facebook so that appears that I have recently been engaged.

Step 6:
April Fools!

A Messy Room and a Missing Juice Cup

It has been way too long since I have blogged about my little angels. I know a lot of you find their stories absolutely adorable. Since you are not lucky enough to experience them on a daily basis like me, I should be a better friend to my blog readers and keep you up to date with their journeys.

I have two stories for you today. The first is a picture that illustrates though they are the cutest things in the world, they also can destroy like little midget godzillas. The picture below is what their room looked like after I ate breakfast, took a shower, and got ready. Keep in mind their room was perfectly clean the night before, and the amount of time they did this in was approximately 20 minutes.


Wow! Right? Is it like this with little boys?

My second story is very sweet. I need to tell you some back story about Ms. Ava before I tell you the next story. Ava is very simple to take care of, she is more like a cat than like a dog if you will. She doesn't require a lot of attention, she just likes doing her own thing, but the one thing she must always have is her juice cup. If she plays in her room then it will be in there with her, when she sleeps at night it stays on her nightstand. If she is in the car it is sitting in her lap. Think of it as her version of Lionus's blanket.

I think it was about 9:30 at night, Ava had been asleep for about an hour when she burst into my room balling her little eyes out. She had a dream that someone had stolen her juice cup. As sweet as this was, and as comforting as I had to be, it was one of those moments when I just couldn't help but laugh to myself. Most kid's nightmares consist of big dogs, monsters, dragons, etc, but for Ava the scariest thing anyone can do is take her juice cup.

Jitzul

Hello again blog fans! I did an interview with Jitzul.com. Check it out: My Interview.

For anybody coming to my site from Jitzul for the first time, I apologize it is under construction at the moment. There is, however, a lot of content on my blog, myspace, and youtube channel for you to enjoy.

So I'm not unbreakable? Drat!

This is Chase inserting his foot in his mouth. "I never get sick, I have a great immune system, blah blah, blah." Now tell that to your ceiling as it is about the only thing you have looked at the past three days as you have laid in your bed, what could have well been your death bed.

Whew, in case you haven't figured it out, I haven't posted in a while... reason: I have been sick. I usually get bored listening to people tell me how they are sick, its not that I don't care about them or feel bad, its just kind of like small talk. So I will give you the more colorful explanation of my pain as I described to one of my friends. This is a thought that ran through my head in the midst of my sickness:

"This must be what it feels like to turn into a werewolf. To have your entire DNA and physical makeup transform altogether into something else. Something evil... and painful... and wretched."

Haha, I'm weird I know, but keep in mind I was a little delusional at this point, and to me this made a lot of sense.

"What did you have, a cold?"
"No, I almost turned into a werewolf."

Good thing was, I was able to come out of the sickness long enough to do my show and it went very good. Gave me back some confidence in my performing abilities, and restored my love for performing all together. You see for people that don't know being a good songwriter and being a good performer are as different as say um, being a good farmer and being a good chef. Sure there are things that are relatable, but a completely different set of skills are required. I am getting better at both, and doing both more make me grow as a musician, artist, and performer. It was very fun and I thank everyone that was able to come.

I am in the process of writing my 'Song of the Week' still. Even though I am busier than I one legged man in an ass-kicking contest from being out of work so long. But in light of all this, the song of the week is going to be funny, not serious. I need a break from that for a while. And what with the economy and the wars and the sickness going around, you guys do too.

Surveying on Mars

I could get in trouble for showing this a month before its publication, but Clint and I had fun with this and I wanted to share it. To clear up the survey jargon, canopy is any obstructions to the view of satellites, i.e. trees, tall buildings, etc.

For those of you who don't know, on the side of everything else that I do I draw a surveying cartoon for a surveying magazine. I don't expect you to find this humorous unless you are a surveyor, I just liked their little space suits.

A quick shout out to Daniel and Kevin at Hayes for helping me brainstorm.

Awe...

Ava vs. the Sun

In this corner: Ava Perryman
Age: 3 years old
Special skills:

• Surprisingly good at hide and seek (both hiding and seeking)
• Eats like a champion
• Good at getting under her sister's skin
• Counts to 16 (loses it at 17 every time)

Favorite insults:

• Poo Poo Head
• Dirty Diaper Baby

And in this corner: The Sun
Age: 4.57 billion years old
Special skills:

• Radiation
• Giving tans

Favorite Attacks:

• Solar flares
• Skin cancer

The scenario:
Heading east towards the babysitter's house at 8 in the AM. Ava's car seat is facing the sun. The sun is all up in her eyes.

Round one:
She tries to shield her eyes with the hood from her coat, but gets mad when all she has accomplished is messing up her hair. In reference to her messed up hair, she exclaims, "I want it to look pretty." She curses the sun for having a hand in this, and continues to be blinded.

Round two:
Hannah tries putting her hand in front of Ava's eyes, but she can't reach far enough. Seeing this Ava tries using her own hands. As she covers up she says, "Get out of my face, Sun."

Round three:
The battle is over. We arrive at our destination, parked facing north. After wining and complaining about the sun all the way to Ms. Destiny's, the sun has won but not until Ava gets the last word: "I hate the Sun."

Tuesday's Photo Fun: G.I. Jesus

I give you "Nativity de la Army Men"


Clint and I made this with exacto knives, a glue gun, and three bags of plastic army men. We did this for a Christmas ornament contest at a holiday get together with friends. Just look at the attention to detail. Mary, for instance, her hair and bountiful womanliness do not come standard, we had to work a little extra for that.

Tuesday's Photo Fun

"Well - as you all know - there is a reason we have brought you all together..."

Tuesday's Photo Fun: Ava Art

I've always noticed that Ava had a unique way with things. Hannah has always been a much better drawer, granted Hannah's older, but still there is a difference in their style if you will. Ava's knack has always been assembling things - balls and cups, pots and pans, food - into patterns. Here are some of her latest works. The quotes below the pictures are her actual descriptions of what she was making.

"Mommy with a purse and a donut."

"A Pop-tart heart."

Tuesday's Photo Fun

I'm not sure what Ava wished for before she blew out her candles, but I assure you whatever it was you know I'd give it to her if I could.

She was so gracious at her little party. All on her on, without me baiting her, she said, "Thanks everyone for coming to my party." in her sweetest 'Ava' voice. Hannah helped decorate and also gave presents to Ava to open. She didn't mind helping her play with them afterwords either.

Animals and Sex

This is such a funny story one of my friends from work told me. Her son (age 5) will be in a Christmas play at their church. They were having dinner the other night and she was asking him if he had remembered his lines. He very confidently says, "Yeah." When she asks him to say them he says, "Animals and sex."

Her and her husband's jaw dropped as they looked at each other for confirmation on what they just heard. The play is done to the music of "The Twelve Days of Christmas," their son's day: Day Three. Now count backwards from 12 and point to a little boy on the third day who very sweetly says, "Animals and Sex." See the dilemma, and the humor?

After she composed herself, and wiped the smile from her face, she asks again, "Now what are your lines?" This time he says, "Animals, insects, and people."

He had left off the 'and people' part before. Let's hope he doesn't forget that part at the play!

Tuesday's Photo Fun

I'm so proud of Ava. She is usually a bit frightened by this sort of thing, but she got right up there and sat on Santa's lap across from Hannah. I think Hannah helped, I don't think she would have done it alone. Ava was actually upset when we left, she wanted to see Santa more. She kept saying, "I want Santa bring me presents." Meanwhile, Hannah's mind kept reeling over this, "Why isn't Santa at the North Pole?"

As Debbie noted in her comment, it is Ava's birthday today. She is three. She was so sweet when I told her it was her birthday. I said, "Ava, it's your birthday today." She said, "Oh, happy birthday to me, Hannah" to her sister and her sister said, "Happy Birthday, Ava."

Nephew Nate

Last Friday, December the 5th, at approx. 2:20 PM my sister gave birth to her 3rd child: Nathan Connor. He was 8 lbs. 5 ounces, about 19 inches long, and a cutie pie. He was a very calm baby, and didn't cry at all after they had ran tests on him, he just looked around.

My dad, joking with me about wanting another child after seeing me glued to the nursery room window, said that I need to have a boy to continue the family name. I said, "No, I will just teach Ava that who ever she marries has to take on her last name." I pick Ava, because she is stubborn enough to actually stick to it. I can already hear her, "My Husband has to take my name, right Dad?" She says 'right' after everything she says. It is cute as all-get-out, but really wears you out after a while, "Yes, Sweetie. That's right."

Tuesday's Photo Fun

Well, I could have came up with something cute for the girls to say, but we are not supposed to talk with food in our mouth. Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone.

Tuesday's Photo Fun

There is a theme to today's photo fun: 'Apprehension.' Enjoy!

"Ok, lets just double check this one more time; seat belt buckled? Check."

"So, let me get this strait. You want me to walk
with these crazy things on my feet... where?"

Tuesday's Photo Fun

Ava: "Princesses do their lips like this, Hannah."

Belated Spooks

Here are my little girls on Halloween! I'm the only one that can look at the camera. Thanks Debbie!