Level Orange

One of the funniest moments in television history: Ed Ames’ hatchet throw on “The Tonight Show” (April 29, 1965). Johnny Carson at first humbly struggles to keep his composure, then proceeds to lose it.

After taking some time away due to a busy work schedule, I’ve come back around to the next step in our project. With the concept now established, the room cleared of junk and the inspiration in place, we added something new to the mix: a bassinet.

Pink, fluffy, your basic fru-fru. With lights and music and…a vibrator? Yeah, it vibrates. Loudly. That’ll need some adjusting…

It’s cute, though, especially with the Hello Kitty pillow we bought. This of course, won’t stay in this room. We just keep it here to keep Robbie from using it as some sort of raisin/Cheerio/sippy-cup storage unit.

Gather the elements

Looking over the calendar, I noticed that at least half of the artwork was seasonal in some way or another. Not much generic stuff to work with, but I found enough get me going. I had originally planned to just sketch the art ON THE WALL, and go back with paint and finalize it. As it turns out, that would’ve been the worst approach ever.

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With his second birthday coming up in one month, I’m amazed every day at how fast our son Robbie is growing up. It seems like he’s learning a new word every day now. He understands what we’re saying when we talk to him better. He’s certainly developing his own personality and turning out to be quite the ham.

Apparently, a lot of parents have trouble with their children forming straight teeth, whether it’s because of pacifiers, thumbs or bottles, but not our boy. Since so many other parents have remarked at how nice and straight his teeth are, I asked him one day to show them to me. You know, for the record. As you can see, there’s not a stray tooth in sight.

Now, if we could only get his face unstuck…

After reading Mike Davidson’s breakdown of Apple’s Macworld 2005 announcements, I started wondering about that “iHome” hoax that appeared last week. Even after I saw the fake photos, the excitement wore off in a matter of minutes. While the “media center” concept is all abuzz these days, with TiVo, Microsoft, and others already in the fray, does that really matter for Apple? At last week’s CES, it seemed like everyone had some sort of “digital lifestyle” device.

“Does Apple really want to jump into this arena?” I thought. Of course they do. Apple is the company that coined the phrase “digital lifestyle” just a few years ago. But aside from the product and UI design, I wondered what Apple could bring to the table that would really set them apart, really make people want this thing.

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Scariest. Headline. Ever.

Of all the products and announcements to come from last week’s CES, the most embarrassing and unintentionally hilarious was Bill Gate’s keynote address. With so much to be worked out concerning “media center” products and the DRM that will accompany them, it was truly fascinating to see every demo fall flat on its face.

The thing that gets me is how suddenly Bill Gates is once again being hailed as a “visionary” by the media. Even Conan O’Brien managed to whore himself out to take part in what I’m sure was a tediously staged and rehearsed keynote, all to celebrate his wonderfulness. In this interview with CNET, Gates manages to take swipes at just about everything under the sun, including the obligatory remarks about Apple, Sony (with which I surprising agree), Google, Mozilla and anyone who might have issues with copyrights and/or P2P. That’s a lot of talk for someone who only presented the public with ONE product.

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With a new baby girl on the way, one of our first projects is to dress up her room before she arrives. The deadline is about four months away. That should be enough time, but I have no idea how much work this might take. It’s unlike anything I’ve done before, so it’s going to be an adventure to be sure.

The concept

First, we pick a theme. Or rather, Carol picks a theme, since I have no idea what a girl might like. She comes up with Hello Kitty, and since that’s always cute and girly, it sounds like a fine idea to me. And a big bonus is that since I have some access to genuine Hello Kitty art at work, following the style should be a snap.

Good. Let’s go.

But where to begin?

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Ideas are a dime a dozen, good ideas are hard to come by and great ideas are as rare and as brilliant as Halley’s comet. While we all have to ability to form ideas, not all ideas see the light of day. Why is that? Motivation? Circumstances? Timing? Execution? I say all of the above.

More than likely, if you’ve got a great idea, people will see it and either use it or add to it.How is it that no one ever figured out gravity until Sir Isaac Newton? Certainly people thought about it throughout the ages, but even Newton himself sat on his idea for nearly fifteen years. It wasn’t that he wanted to withhold a monumental scientific discovery, but rather he just put it off for another day. I’m sure if he had known at the time what mankind could learn from his theories, he would have pursued it at great length. Or would he?

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As I looked out my back window and watched the fireworks in the sky above on New Year’s Eve, I was reminded of how much I enjoyed 2004. In regards to myself and my family, I made some great progress last year. Our son had his first birthday, we bought a brand new house, bought a new car, finally finished paying for another one and now we’re expecting a baby girl. Two-thousand and four was a great year for me and mine, hands down.

But there’s more to be done.

Find balance

The key is to constantly monitor and correct yourself in the smallest of ways, but with a steady goal in mind and with respect to others who are trying to do the same.Finding a balance between your work, your family and your goals is pretty much a matter of deciding how much to give and take from each. The way I see it, it’s like driving a car, it takes only the slightest effort and a constant sensitivity to make it work smoothly.

First of all, no one else can drive for you–it’s your life. There are decisions to be made and risks that have to be taken that are entirely up to you. The first step to anything is assessing the consequences because how good of a judge you are makes all the difference in regards to what sort of condition you end up in. Make the wrong turn and you could get lost, move too fast and you could get hurt.

Second of all, you have to follow a responsible path, or other people could also be affected or even hurt. That sounds dramatic, and it is, because whether it’s your family, your co-workers or yourself, someone stands to be disappointed. This is where you infringe on others and in most cases, cross some sort of boundary in a really bad way.

I know, I know…so far this is all basic, but I had to cover it.

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