All Growsd Up

Waterfront Park Kids, a photo by erickpineda527 on Flickr.

This past year has gone by so fast for me. A lot has changed. With my extra time I've (and some new lenses and filters) rediscovered my passion for photography. Charleston is an incredibly photogenic city. Earlier in my design career and as a student here I had already shot the obvious subject matter of blatantly touristy subject matter in a typical manner. This go around I've invested a considerable amount of time into exploring what most visitors here have missed.

Local farms, vineyards and distilleries; plenty of night shots after parks have closed, local neighborhoods and out of the way historic sites that seem to be mostly overlooked. There's interest in everything if...you...just...look...a little...closer.

And to boot it's been a great excuse to bring the kids to see something other than SpongeBob and Dora on the TV all day. TV in our house is kept to a minimum - it's usually reserved for nighttime right before bed. We call the short excursions "safaris" to add a little excitement for the two knuckleheads. They seem to enjoy the exploring, too. Even in Florida El and I would take road trips to little known attractions, gardens and other scenic spots (which reminds me that there is alot of other photography hidden away on my drive from Morikami Gardens and the Gulf Coast).

Speaking of change and kids...they've grown so much this past year. I recently posted a short video clip of collected photos Isa and Nico took on their "toy" Lego camera. It was cool to see what would capture a child's interest enough to photograph it. It also was a shocker to see how they had changed in the two short years here in Charleston. My children are my pride and joy and I'm stuck between happy and sad to see them progress the way they have. I love seeing them at this age and excited to see everyday how much they've developed, but at the same time sad that they're leaving a stage in their lives. Corny, I know.

A few words to describe Nicholas and Isabella:

Very affectionate and sweet to each other.
Unbelievably funny.
Naughty, but not in a bad way.
Shockingly intelligent for their ages, but maybe I'm biased.
Fun to be around with.

I'm pretty stoked about this coming year. I've got a project I'm working on. The notion was originally inspired by an old colleague and friend of mine in Orlando (Thanks Sweet T!), but it took a different turn from what she originally suggested for me to try. Nonetheless, it was an idea I was too embarrassed to even consider doing. But now in it's initial phase with a good lead I'm determined to complete it.

So here I am.

Cmon Spring get here already...

Cmon Spring get here already..., a photo by erickpineda527 on Flickr.

We've been having some pretty dreary weather this past week and sitting in front of the computer and seeing it has been challenging. But literally a ray of hope came through the other day. What started out as another grey day ended up being sunny and warm. Woot!

I've been looking at my brown lawn and waiting patiently for spring to come around so I can immerse myself in landscaping again. I love it outdoors. I even preemptively seeded and fertilized over the winter break.

Lush, green grass all trimmed up and fresh. Flower beds cleaned of dead leaves. Trees starting to fill in. To me it's very intoxicating, Kinda like when I get a haircut or detail my car. Satisfying on so many levels. Hell I even got a nice postcard from property management end of last summer letting me know I've been doing good work! Validating indeed.

My biggest project this spring has to be building a new pergola piped with electrical and gas line. I've been doing some research and planning on best methods to construct this. It doesn't seem all that hard if you plan it properly (and have an extra set of hands). My buddy Carl wanted to do one, too. Being the ultra cool guy I am I offered to help him out. That way we can fix whatever we screw up on his and make sure we don't repeat it for mine!!!

Lowes are you ready? C'mon Spring! Get here already!

St. Augustine Lighthouse

St. Augustine Lighthouse, a photo by erickpineda527 on Flickr.

Cable TV vs. Internet TV

Recently Eleanor and I decided to downgrade our cable tv from Comcast - the fees and charges were ridiculous. With a landline, internet and a premium digital package we were paying almost $130 a month. RIDICULOUS. It would be justified if the system ran flawlessly, but it certainly was not. In our new, developing neighborhood the internet and cable services would just crap out at any given moment. 

With a lot of my design work relying on the high speed internet this just frustrated the hell out of me. Some days my service would be out for half the day. I would also have to constantly reset my router to get it back up and running. If I called Comcast I would on occasion get prerecorded messages of services being temporarily down.

The landline was specifically added to accommodate a dedicated line to my job, but those calls were far and few between with the Florida and Arkansas offices. Mostly it was from solicitors (I briefly forgot why we even cancelled a landline in Florida in the first place). That line is long gone.

I'm not a huge watcher of daily shows or sitcoms. In fact, I can still watch episodes of Seinfeld when the mood hits and there's a chance I haven't even seen the episode before! I don't know any TV schedules of any particular show, nor am I aware of any new programming out there. Most of my viewing was centered around Travel Channel or Food Network. Sometimes the local news would be on. No Dancing With the Stars, no Survivor XVII, no Burn Notice, nada (although I did get hooked on The Walking Dead on AMC last season).

Eventually we downgraded to regular cable and now basic cable - all 15 channels we are "allowed" to watch. Almost half are dedicated to public access, shopping or spanish. I am not paying for that crap. So more than likely we are killing cable tv altogether. I do like watching the local  news, but shouldn't that be free anyways? 

So on a trial run I subscribed to Netflix. Not the full blown DVD package, but the instant queue for $8/month. I've always been a movie guy and the one saving grave to the digital Comcast package was the ability to watch boxing matches and newer movies on Pay-Per-View. But at $4 a view and $60 for a fight on top of the $130/month bill forget it! Keep yer damn digital package. Netflix for a short time offered a substantial library of movies, but like DVD rentals at a store, eventually you exhaust what you're interested in and the selection of "newer" movies disappears. What to do?

Instead I started trying foreign and indie films. WHOA. A whole world had opened up. The past three months have been a revelation in what American movies have been missing - telling a good story. So far I've actually been into Korean, Chinese and (surprise surprise) Eastern Indian films like Kingdom War 1 & 2, Chocolate and the Warlords. The production can be great and for the most part they rely on a good storyline, whereas American films rely on the absolute best CGI and production tricks to sell a film. I'm not turning my back on the big blockbuster - I do enjoy those. Just lately as I surf Apple for movie trailers I don't see much that's all that appealing. I hate the Twilight and Potter series. Action flicks aren't what they used to be (the Expendables, Fast & the Furious - pleh!) and the funny thing about comedies now are they just aren't all that funny (Hangover 2 - really?).

A recent purchase has been a Roku player to take advantage of my high-speed internet. Now I can get Netflix downstairs. I use the laptop so El and I can watch in bed and I have a Nintendo Wii to watch it in our Master Sitting Room. The only downfall is losing connection on a fairly regular basis - no faut of my wireless router, but of Comast constantly losing its signal. Once I research a less expensive carrier I'm switching. Comcast you blow. You can add more channels to the preloaded Roku, but honestly the ripoffs of Food Network and Travel channel are just plain terrible. What do you expect for free?

For anything I'm missing I can just log onto Hulu or the hosting cable network's own site to watch the latest episodes, but honestly I haven't been jonesing for anything in particular. One unexpected result has been me actually getting out of the house on a regular basis to explore Charleston and its surrounding areas more - that's a plus. No vegging out in front of a monitor unnecessarily. That's what I call a win-win situation.

The Man's "Little Black Dress"

Of course, I'm not literally talking about "a little black dress", but rather the equivalent of it. I had to do some wardrobe updating today. It all started with Eleanor looking for something new to wear to Rya and Todd's upcoming wedding. I pushed her into getting a new "little black dress" and then followed it up by getting her some new black CK pumps (another classic must have for a woman). This, of course, led to picking up accessories and such. This led to her asking me, "what are you going to wear?"

Good question. Since the wedding is in the evening the smart play is to wear a dark suit and I just so happened to have a nice dark pinstripe Kenneth Cole Reaction suit I've been looking for an excuse to wear. This made me think about what to wear with it. Over the years I've gone through the standard style cues of trends of the time. This included the black on black/no tie option, the monochromatic shirt/tie combo (think maroon short/maroon tie, and so on), the suit jacket with jeans/I don't give a damn look, the texture on texture shirt/tie options and so forth. After giving it considerable thought I decided to not try and make a fashion statement and stick with a tried and true option - the white shirt.

Years ago, as a younger me, I would normally shun this option as being too vanilla. I'm a designer damn it and I need to show my more risky, creative side! No more. The last couple of years I've embraced that less is more with all that I do. I did purchase a nice Brooks Brothers version with french cuffs a few years ago during my cufflinks phase. It's a nice classic, cotton piece. Well made. Keeps its shape with no wrinkling. Spread collar. Simple and effective.

Eleanor made me go through all the options of the past that seemed to do well, but I kept going back to the white Brooks Brothers dealio. I paired it with a silver Calvin Klein tie to go with the dark pinstripe suite. Clean and modern. Out of curiosity I put said shirt with a couple of other suits/coats and ties for other upcoming occasions. Again nice results. So I'm sold.

A little older, but wiser I've embraced the man's version of the "little black dress" wholeheartedly. All those fashion experiments over the years and I have come back to the basics. Nothing beats the feel of a crisp, white shirt.

Alot has happened in the past 2 years...

Alot has happened in the past 2 years..., a photo by erickpineda527 on Flickr.

Tonight I decided to water the garden and lawn by hand vs. using the sprinklers. It had been a long day and I guess I needed the quiet night air. Weird how a cool breeze after a long, hot day at dusk can put you somewhere else. It had got me thinking about the past two years and where I had been.

I missed alot of what I did on a regular basis as a way of journaling what had been going on with me and my family. TWO YEARS. I know I:

1. Missed putting entries into my blogger
2. Working with my hands (as evident by the sudden compulsion to immerse myself back into home projects)
3. Understand that I work hard (too hard sometimes?) and forget to take a breather
4. Glad to be back in Charleston closer the people that matter most to me
5. Am enjoying my weekends much more now that I... (see #3)
6. Am contemplating where my career will lead me to next (am I a designer or am i entrepreneurial restauanteur?)
7. That in some ways I still miss Florida (the Gulf beaches, the diversity of GOOD "hole-in-the-wall" eating joints)
8. How much has changed in my career so quickly

...amongst other things. SO what's the next logical thing to write about? How about where I left off after I resigned after 10 years at the Golf Channel.

1. I resigned TGC after 10 years of dedicated work to pursue and grow as a designer
2. Got hired on as art director for Caldwell Group during which time I immersed myself into rebranding and conceptualizing a whole new face for Golden Living.
3. 4 short months later after GL cut the budget from Caldwell I was hired on directly as their art director in which again I immersed myself into helping develop and grow a fledglling internal marketing department.
4. A year later because of personal reasons I decided to move my family back to Charleston, but not before informing my boss that I was thinking of resigning.
5. My boss then asked me to stay on board and work remotely from Charleston (to which I am currently doing)
6. I move to Charleston and sell my home in Orlando all in the very short span of two months later
7. I am back to my roots and quite happy.

There you go. So now about my family...
My wife, Eleanor, was offered two position before we moved to SC and chose to work with her old alma mater Medical University of South Carolina. We now have occasional weekends and nights together (we hadn't actually had any QT for the past 4-5 years after we had kids). My children, Isabella and Nicholas, are cute little knuckleheads whom I adore immensely. I consider myself quite lucky in this regard. They're fantastic kids. I still have my old pal, Bailey, with me. He's been a good dog despite that we don't quite give him the attention we lavished upon him in Florida prior to us having children. Poor guy.

Lately, I've been doing some research in two areas of interest regarding my career. Do I continue on in the field of design (starting over here in SC)? Do I go back to agency life? Do I go freelance? Do I start my own studio? I've got the equipment. I've got the experience, knowledge and skill. I've got the desire to do so.

OR

do I continue exploring my other love - cooking? Anyone who has followed this blog knows my past history and dreams of reactivating my passion in the hospitality field. I have a plan in mind. I've got a solid concept and partners in the wait. It's currently in the planning/development stage. Can;t say what is yet lest I jinx myself.

Ahhh choices, choices, choices. The next question is will I continue down this path of blogging??? I used to enjoy (maybe I still do), but my time to devote to something like this is already limited. I use(d) Facebook, but it's become something of a passing novelty now. I even "cleaned house" a few months ago of "friends" and left only the ones I actually still read or communicate with on a somewhat frequent basis. Social media has its place, but I find it tempting to pull the cord on my FB. There's something liberating about minimizing my personal memos out in cyber land and only including those who know where to find me (here, for example).

Facebook has become MySpace. I don't "collect" friends. I no longer need to validate my existence by having 350+ "friends". Who the hell actually KNOWS that many people? I can count my closest friends on my toes and fingers - not including family and relatives, of course. So overrated.

Alright maybe I will get back in the habit of posting my photos and memoirs here instead of blabbing it out on FB all the time. I kinda miss the nightly ritual of getting on here and just writing whatever...

Okay...I am officially a fan.

It started out as research for a website design on Google, which led me to this site, which led me to just read a sampling of his blog, which led me to become a fan of his blog. You rock, Dave Mance.

A sample entry for your reading delight...


Creative cleansing


Is it just me or is anyone else finding it increasingly difficult to get work through?

Presumably this is a result of the recession and clients being more cautious with their budget. Whatever it is, I’m finding I have to do increasingly demeaning and sordid things to sell stuff in.

It’s got so bad now that Mrs RMWLC always knows when I’m presenting work because I’ll leave the house in tight shorts and a low-cut top.

Which is fine except I’m beginning to wonder how much further I can go. Even as I type this I’m sat at my desk in nothing but a negligee and it’s well draughty I can tell you.

But those I present to are constantly baying for more, licking their lips then dropping pens on the floor and demanding I slowly pick them up going “oooh ahhh”.

So what’s the answer?

The more I think about it, the more I believe that this is a time when our industry needs a new breed of creative. One that is less focussed on the work and more focussed on pointing at it seductively and pouting.

You can see things are already going that way. Junior creatives today are at least 10% better looking than their counterparts from a couple of years ago. And students now are generally expected to include a few glamour shots in their books. Otherwise, how does the CD know what you’re capable of?

But is there an ugly side to the beautiful creative department?

Of course we're told there’s still a place for the old-fashioned ugly, talented creative in the modern agency. What they don't mention is that that place is generally dark and windowless.

Here at Partners, we use the bike storage facility. Briefs are simply slipped under the door and scamps are passed back a few hours later. Then, the more aesthetically-pleasing creatives can present the work and our creative Quasimodos can do their job without scaring clients or small children.

But I can't help worrying there's a price to all this. Once I lose my youthful good looks and my firm thighs have begun to sag, will I also be cast into the darkness? Anyone?
Posted by real men write long copy at 12:45 PM 1 comments Links to this post