Well goddamn, I guess it's been about a month since I've checked in. A lot going on these last few weeks, though it's mostly been long days and lonely nights whippin' the Scooterworks catalog's ass into shape. Not only am I "layout guy," I'm also creative director, photo-taking-and-manipulating colonel, clipping-paths-around-a-couple-thousand-images-carpal-tunnel dude, lead scanner-operator, inventory-wrangling chief and incompetent parts editor, constant nagger, print buyer, and all-too-often...copy-writing-and-editing guy. Too many tasks, I wish someone would just hand me some goddamn CDs with all the images and copy ready to go and let me stick to laying it all out. Too much authorship and task-mastering when I should be doing other things. Such is the small business with one-man design team scenario...be warned. To compensate I've been skating in the office a lot. (Warning: 4.5 mb download of very questionable worth).
In other, "real-life" news, the scooter is running a little better and I've been riding it a lot, exploring new parts of Chicago and taking photos when my well-being isn't compromised by stopping. May be adding a second scooter to the fleet soon (you know, because misery loves company) stay tuned for details of that. Here's a cute photo that Vanessa graciously posed for, on account of us having a marked scarcity of "hot girl photos" in the catalog, as opposed to, say, "grey-haired men posing with P-series Vespas." Look for a similar, but sexier, seat-straddling shot in the catalog. Mmm...
Vanessa and I went to Michigan at the beginning of the month for my cousin Andrea's wedding; it was a lovely family reunion for my mom's side of the family as many of us hadn't seen each other in about 13 years. When my grandparents moved west to Dakota Territory, they took all the family fun with them, and many of my younger cousins have had to grow up with a painful deficiency of drunken brawling, tire-slashing, and other antics that I was spoiled with as a child. It was wonderful to see everyone and I'm so happy for Andrea, a beautiful bride.
Our trip to India is postponed until the August or September, which sucks, but gives us more time to finish big projects that we're both working on. It'll be great and we're both looking very forward to it.
This last week saw me playing Ambassador, handing out keys to the city to the likes of Draplin and Vanessa's sister Emily, among other dignitaries. It was fucking wonderful to spend some quality time with Drap; I rented a "car," so Naz & I met him at the airport and drove around the city Thursday night, getting lost underground in the Search for Lower Wacker. Friday I took a half day off work and squeezed-in a visit to Chicago's magnificent South Side, including industrial utopia gone amiss Pullman, and ultimately ending up the only place you can end up when there's gas in the tank and a few hours to spare in Chicagoland...Gary, Indiana. Wow. I knew it was bad, but I'd only driven through on 12 or 90 and never really stopped to properly explore the place. Words can't describe the feeling. Husks of buildings downtown, windows and walls knocked-out and falling into the sidewalks, residential areas with every second house burned, boarded-up or otherwise dilapidated, just a pervasive sense of loneliness and deals-gone-bad throughout. We also toured quite a bit of the nearby industrial wasteland, including trips down some questionable little "roads" that went on for a mile or two only to deadend into a bob-wire fence under a massive iron overpass.
Good times had by all. This is a motherfucker of an update, but I'll leave you with the thought that this site almost slipped through the cracks yesterday. I kept checking and it just wasn't there, so I called my web hosts and they told me that the goddamn domain name had expired (they'd apparently sent warnings to an outdated e-mail address). I was afraid some cocksucker would claim-jump me and try to sell it back, but fortunately there were no takers and she's back where she belongs. Ha! You missed your chance to own "pjchmiel.com." Good night.
Posted by pj at March 30, 2004 11:29 PMFucker - that office skating shite is tight. The pressure flip was high and that last double kickflip to stand was nice. Good stuff - let's take it to the streets when it gets warmer.
Posted by: Naz at March 30, 2004 11:49 PMFor the record Naz, that was a "hard flip," not a pressure flip. I just learned to do those. I've rediscovered skating (again) but I'm too old and crippled for the streets, the carpet is more my speed these days.
Posted by: Radley "Ramp Locals" Chmiel at March 31, 2004 12:13 AMYou're right - I knew it was something else but I couldn't think of the name then thought that there was no other name and confused myself to all kinds of shite so I went with pressure flip.
No carpet!
Posted by: Naz "Burly skates or die" Hamid at March 31, 2004 10:13 AMI'm a fan practitioner of workplace skating...but what's with the cheating? No desk grabbing allowed!
Posted by: f5 at March 31, 2004 12:59 PMThanks for coming up to see us Andy. It was good to finally meet after hearing so much. I hope I didn't disappoint or offend - gotta be more careful these days as you well know. Regardless, I hope your trip back was good and that the family is safe for easter. Say hi to jesus for me. cheers, v.
Posted by: v at April 11, 2004 03:21 PMV and P-
I had a fun time as well. Good food and good friends.
And it takes a lot more to "offend" me. Forget "careful" and just be yourself I say. You live unrepressed.
Peace and Harmony,
Posted by: Andy at April 12, 2004 08:58 PM
