Chemical Creative Lab

In Memoriam, John [ ]

2011-09-18T16:27:00.002-04:00

I'm sorry I was unable to attend today's ceremony to celebrate John
[ ], there are many great memories I have of him and I would like
to honor him with the following thoughts.

John [ ] was a unique person to me, I knew him as Jordan's
father, as a Catholic, and I thought of him as a friend. John was also
my Confirmation sponsor.

I think of my memories and history with John fondly. There are many
that I have thought about regularly over the years when I daydream of
the past, and I will cherish them even more in his remembrance. I wish

I could have an evening with him to hear about his memories of Jordan
and I growing up.

John had a fun way of teasing me as a teenager. I wasn't a unique
teenager who was at ease being teased, John simply did it in a way
that was welcoming and amusing. One thing John teased me about
regularly was my distaste for tomatoes. He probably took every
opportunity at a meal to think of another tomato joke. I would be at
Jordan's house for dinner and John might say, "glad you're here, we're
having stuffed cabbage with tomatoes," or if he was serving a
non-tomato dish at the table he might say, "I picked out all the
tomatoes for you." As I write this I'm realizing now why I ate so many
dinners with the [ ] family, John must have frequently had some

new tomato-material he wanted to try out. If you're listening John, I

eat pearl tomatoes now, the smaller one's don't bother me, so you can
only tease me about the "bigger ones" now.

Another time John got a lot of mileage out of teasing me was on a trip
that he and Jordan took me on to Hawaii. I have numerous memories
from that vacation, but in keeping with the theme of teasing, one of
the on-going jokes was that I was probably going to meet an island
princess named "sweet Lay Lawn-ee" (read phonetically) and my parents
would ask why he and Jordan didn't bring me back. As I write this, I'm
laughing as hard as I laughed then - 18 years later. We had an amazing
time on that trip.

John had fun teasing me, but what ties it all together and what I
remember so fondly is his laugh and his sense of humor. His laughter

was loud, infectious, and pure, it came NOT from his gut but from his

heart. When I spent time with John, Jordan, and Patty growing up,
laughter was part of every conversation.

Finding something funny to laugh over with John was easy and he made

laughter itself fun. I looked forward talking to him because I knew

laughter would come next. I found John to be classy guy, he didn't
flaunt it as a showcase on his sleeve, he shared it with you in fun
and friendship and finding a connection with you. I will miss him, and

think of him whenever I see tomatoes, and I hope to learn more about

him from Jordan in remembrance.

God bless you John.

The MTA Deck

2011-01-23T13:30:00.012-05:00

This is the newest edition to my self-made art collection, and second in a series of six skate decks that I am designing and hanging in my entry hall. Like a more traditional art piece I designed for my office, this piece is covered in New York Metropolitan Transit Authority ("MTA") and Metro-North Railroad train tickets. As child I remember my grandfather covering and lacquering apothecary bottles with discontinued stamps from Europe. This piece is inspired by his bottles. When you look closely each ticket has a slightly different MTA watermark from month-to-month across the background, and each ticket has a reflective metallic strip for conductor validation purposes.

I took great care arranging the tickets in a balanced but random pattern; it took about a month to complete the arrangement. As dramatic and over-thought as it sounds, I could only laminate, 3 tickets at a time, at most. Color-wise it wasn't always clear which ticket looked best next to another ticket, and at what angle relevant to nearby tickets and the overall composition of the deck. If I simply laminated tickets around the edges first then worked toward the middle, or vice versa, it would just give the appearance of linearly fanned tickets. With the approach I took, there is some three-dimension to arrangement (as much three-dimension as you can get on a flat surface). I also took great care to reserve the more colorful tickets so they could be placed more in the forefront. Keeping the arrangement random and balancing the color gives the eye an opportunity to walk around the deck and see something new in every space of the deck.

The majority of the arrangement is random, but there is some element of symmetry near the nose and tail. I wanted the design to have a symmetrical component as a nod to the shape of the deck itself; the nose can be the tail and the tail can be the nose.

The tickets reflect approximately $10,000 worth of commuting expenses from 54 train tickets collected over 5 years.

2010 Christmas Card

2010-12-24T19:27:00.008-05:00

Merry Christmas world! This is a last-second photo I took as the sun was setting on Christmas Eve; not my best "side" but the deed is done. I can't believe I'm officially a person who has purchased clothing for a pet, and it's not even a fancy sweater, it's a costume. Haha! I chalk it up as one more creative idea expressed in 2010, and a fresh reason to laugh at myself. About 6 other people got a good laugh who walked by witnessing Sonya and I wrestling.

2010 has been one huge reset year for me, becoming a single cat-father is just the tip of the iceberg. Welcoming 2011 with wide open arms!!

The California Republic Deck

2010-11-13T22:56:00.010-05:00

For me, this is taking my creativity to a new level. This is a skateboard I recently designed and hung in my entry hall. I was surfing the web for skateboards with designs that complimented my artistic interests because instead of just hanging yet another framed picture, I wanted to hang a deck since the deck itself is a unique object to hang, and a deck reminds me of skating in my youth. While there were a lot of deck designs on the web that I liked, there was nothing meaningful to me about them. Since most of the art I prefer is my own it became clear: design your own deck.

At the time I was looking I was missing my home state of California and thus this deck design was born. I took a minimalist approach in color and design because 1) I didn't want to do anything too complicated with my first deck design attempt, and 2) I wanted the focus of the piece to be obvious, appreciating California.

As simplistic as it looks, sanding the laminate off the board, and priming the board, painting it evenly, avoiding dust and getting a straight edge around the sides of the board was a multi-step process, but an EXTREMELY rewarding one. I plan to do more, so check back.

A Sliver of Gehry

2010-10-29T11:15:00.003-04:00

Medium: Alumnium on Pine
Size: 20" X 20"

This is an item from my personal collection. I used a 20" X 20" piece of pine and cut sheets of aluminum to fashion this piece. It is inspired by the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles California designed by architect Frank Gehry.

Domestic Poetry: Grocery Shopping

2010-08-31T22:00:00.002-04:00

GROCERY SHOPPING

Healthy is my hobby.
Yet cooking is my burden.
Healthy shopping is a ritual.
Practiced every week.
But week after week is monotony.
What is this "eating" that we do?
Out there. Everyone else. Common.
My ego cries,
"I feel so average." You are average.
Drive. Pay. Drive. Carry. Store.
See you next weekend.
Bored.

Domestic Poetry: The Litter Box

2010-08-31T21:57:00.001-04:00

THE LITTER BOX

Sweet baby animal,
Your box is clean.
Sniff.
Scratch, scratch, scratch.
In. Out. In.
Dig, dig, scratch.
Out again. In again.
Relief.
Monday, Tuesday.
Whose going to clean this thing?
Wednesday, Thursday.
It is I.
Thursday, Sunday, Thursday, Sunday.
Won't someone else take a turn?
No.

Domestic Poetry: Dishes

2010-01-03T14:30:00.005-05:00

DISHES

Every day, dishes.
In poorer countries, a luxury.
Simple bowls for rice, barely, a fork or spoon.
In America, common, disposable, waste.
So many shapes, collections, and occasions.
Stacked, towering, teetering.
A barrio at the sink. Forgotten.
I'm reaching for another.
The pile grows.
Soaked over-night.
Stacking toward critical mass.
Time, volume, lack of space erupt into chore.
Where does my time go?
Down the drain with the soap and water,
In the trash with the food.
Time is not shared.
This time, all the time, it's my time.
Lost.

2009 Christmas Card

2009-12-20T18:55:00.018-05:00

Within the first few years after I graduated college I always idealized mailing out my own Christmas greeting photo, the kind reserved more traditionally for families, not single people. A Christmas card coming from a new graduate living on his own, working his first job, seemed like a unique indirect way to embellish my independence - look at me leading my own life, by the way, I even have my own Christmas photo! Additionally, and more personally, designing my own photo greeting was interesting for the opportunity to be creative.

I didn't fancy sending a Christmas photo of me, I wanted to reinvent the concept. I idealized designing something profound, maybe something that sends a message, and has artistic merit, or perhaps makes a statement, one express, the other implied, or something that would identify me without me being in it, perhaps it would look more like an advertisement then a "photo."

For soooo many Christmas seasons I had these thoughts, followed-up by NO action. I either lacked confidence with my photo ideas, was lazy, or just too cheap to do it, thinking I needed to order from a photo lab and spend $20 on stamps. I began thinking this year would be no different, but this past Friday everything changed. I finally accepted the option that I should JUST SEND SOMETHING DIGITALLY.

I never allowed myself to consider digital options because going digital means using email as my distribution, a nontraditional distribution method for such a greeting. The mounting anger and frustration of unfulfilled creative thoughts finally encouraged momentum. After seven self-taught hours of tripping my way through Adobe Photoshop, I quickly learned that the Christmas greeting photo I always wanted to do, can be designed EVEN BETTER digitally. I know, duh!!

So here it is, my first one; captured, conceived and designed by me. Sent to friends and family by email and shared here on the web.

The Nutcracker pictured is about 15 feet tall; a regular seasonal display in front of the UBS Building on 6th Avenue in New York City. I took the photo last year. I cropped it into a 16:9 format, washed it in red for a Christmas theme, ducked the "Merry Christmas" off the margin to keep it out of the way of the Nutcracker, and added the message, "Peace!," which performs the dual role, part urban salutation, part Christian message "Peace on Earth," since Christmas is about the miracle of the the birth of Christ.

PEACE!

Hello, Kitty

2009-04-04T09:15:00.015-04:00

TITLE: Hello, Kitty
MEDIUM: Acrylic (and pumice stone) on cotton canvas
SIZE: 24" X 48" X 1.5"

This painting was done for the comedian Anne Neczypor as a gift for her girlfriend, a hardcore Hello Kitty devotee and apparel designer for Playboy. In keeping with my artistic focus on logos and trademarks, the composition of this work was inspired by the M.A.C./Hello Kitty co-branded line of cosmetics. The color selection invokes a modern, urban, and feminine flair. Hello, Kitty is accented by several off-center shapes inspired by Hello Kitty's signature bow with a friendly footnote, "Hello," in the upper right corner. The title of the piece is a playful take on the ubiquitous character's name, inspired by the way she seems to be peeking at us from the corner as if to say, "hello."

Click the title to view a Picassa photobook of the making of this painting.

Click to view The Femme Next Door who was gifted this painting.

Pecan Pie in the Name of Science

2009-03-29T10:40:00.006-04:00

Space | Design | Details -- While searching for some tools and techniques for cutting large pieces of sheet aluminum (I'm preparing for a large scale metal and wood art project), I came across the website Instructables which features how-to-projects from A-to-Z and beyond.

Click here or on the title of this post to see how a trio designed a custom 3' X 3' pie tin in the shape of a Koch snowflake, and why it was necessary to calculate a special crust-to-filling ratio to bake the pie. Take a moment to appreciate how difficult and unnecessary most of us (hell, all of us!) would think it is to custom build a roughly 6 square foot pie tin, then take a moment to appreciate that they knew the size of the tin would affect how the pie filling would bake, and then take yet another moment to appreciate that they had to build their own makeshift brick oven (or stove?) to cook the pie.

This trio wins a Cal Chemical "A+" for application of science, ingenuity, perseverance, and artistry with pie filling.

The Hour of Earth Hour Upon Us

2009-03-28T19:53:00.004-04:00

Space | Design | Details -- Earth Hour is about an hour away for me. This is the first year I've heard of it and frankly, like so many others, I'm psyched. I think it's an exciting proposition that all across the world, Earthlings will participate in a rolling consecutive hour of time where we choose to forgo the electricity instead of rationalizing, "I can afford it," or "I'm using low wattage bulbs and that's good enough." Cheers fellow Earth Hour participants who have already joined the effort. Maybe the frequency of an hour like this will one day be quarterly, monthly, or even weekly.

Ralph Lauren Apparel Will Bomb at 2008 Olympics

2008-08-08T11:49:00.005-04:00

CNBC reported today that Ralph Lauren may be able to improve it profits this quarter given its prime position as the exclusive clothier for the US Olympic Team for the 2008 Beijing opening ceremony. While Ralph's opening ceremony clothing design is sharp and sophisticated with a proper dose of patriotism via red, white and blue colors, the designs are anything but stylish for an American audience of critical mass. Darren Rovell the CNBC anchor for the story wore the Ralph Lauren designs during his broadcast. He looked like this was wearing his typical on-air monkey suit.

CNBC's angle on the story was to ask the question, will the Ralph Lauren Olympic apparel get the same response that Roots received for its 2002 Winter Olympics beret? I predict the answer is a big NO. The Roots beret was unique in 2002 because it was clever, spontaneous, and non-traditional. It was in essence unexpected and for that reason it caught America's attention because a beret is not a typical American fashion accessory. The sold-out status of the Roots beret was sparked by general American patriotism that typically swells during the Olympics coupled with the unique social and fashion status that a beret represents. Consumers rushed to buy one with the purchase rationale of: 1) "I want to support Team U.S.A." and 2) "I don't have any berets in my wardrobe."

For Ralph Lauren's Olympics designs, the response is going to be lackluster (and as a die hard head-to-toe Ralph Lauren devotee since 1991 I say this with sadness). Americans are already familiar with blue blazers, two-button collar cotton and silk shirts, rep ties, rep scarves, and white canvas shoes. Those who are Ralph Lauren devotees already have such items in their wardrobe minus the Olympics theme, and those who aren't Ralph Lauren devotees probably already have similar clothes in similar colors made with similar material. Ralph's Olympics designs and materials are just NOT unique enough to inspire the mass American Olympic audience to make a $20 - $80 - $695 Olympic themed clothing purchase. Further to this point, given that many Americans are trimming their financial sails, Ralph's price points will inhibit the preppy clothier from seeing merchandise fly off the shelves the way the Roots beret performed. If there is an omen lurking that Ralph's hope of having a purchase frenzy on his hands will be foiled, it’s the Ralph Lauren Olympics boy’s size beret available at Polo.com.

Knowing Ralph Lauren clothing as well as I do, I expected a lot more. Ralph and Co. should have used this opportunity to bring more awareness to its athletic brand RLX. Many of Ralph's RLX designs are unique, not to mention, highly functional performance related clothing. Since the Olympics are for athletes - fit, tone, muscular athletes - the opening ceremonies would have been an excellent place for Ralph to boost awareness of RLX, not to mention having 596 free American "athlete-models" exhibit the clothing.

Ralph, I hope you have the opportunity to correct your mistakes in Winter 2010.

Walking with Donald

2008-07-31T22:24:00.004-04:00

New York, New York -- I left work at 6:58pm and had 27 minutes to walk about 25 blocks to catch the 7:25pm train. I took a right out of Central Park and started walking down 5th Avenue. One block past Trump Tower I hit a mass of people and started to maneuver toward the street to get around. A plump, snow white Rolls Royce Phantom pulled up curbside and a fat-cat in an expensive suit darts in front of me grabbing something from the driver and returning to the center of the sidewalk. Within seconds my brain computed, “glad I didn’t step into the street,” then, “what’s this fat-cat stressing about?” As I looked back to the sidewalk, I find myself walking with Donald Trump, blond comb-over and everything. For a few seconds I was walking with his entourage. Like the hull of an oil tanker, Donald led the group to their destination carrying about 20 extra pounds since the last The Apprentice. His entourage of 4 people flanked him like a wake, all dressed as well as Donald (doubtfully wearing Trump Signature Collection clothing) walking toward the Fives Restaurant in the Peninsula Hotel. I’ve seen Donald around town before with a single assistant, and I’ve thought, “cool, but now big whoop,” but I have to say the man was straight gangster max this evening. Dressed like a tycoon, walking like a cowboy, Rolls Royce Phantom stalking, entourage following, he made everything else on 5th Avenue - the people, the stores, the buildings - look tiny; and trust me, I’m not one to give the man props (except for my admiration of his blind self-confidence). Donald, for one moment tonight, the rest of us sucked.

Howard Dean Chill'n

2008-05-31T19:35:00.006-04:00

Washington, D.C. enroute to New York, NY -- I'm sitting on an Amtrak Acela from Washington D.C. to New York, and as I'm getting on, who is taking their sweet time choosing a seat and putting his luggage in the overhead, Howard friggin Dean!! I'm thinking, is this for real?? Where is the entourage, where is the security? He does have a mild mannered aide with him, but no security? There is a first class car on the train, at least that would offer him some "security," but no, he's chill'n with me. He's sitting directly behind me, oscillating between sleeping and reading the paper. My disbelief of this so chill surreal scene has me trying to convince myself it's not him, but he just made two phone calls saying, "hi, it's Howard" and the other, "hi, it's Howard Dean." He's wearing a navy blue suit with an oh'so necessary and politically correct flag pin on the lapel, but he has a cheesy American Flag tie that looks like a D.C. chachki store sale item. Now I'm all for patriotism - I have plenty of apparel with the American Flag on it - but his tie is no Ralph Lauren. But hey, during this special moment that's his only flaw. Our trip is almost over, and despite the several people who have walked by us on the way to the bathroom or dining car, no one has spotted him or said hi. This is shocking to me as well. I'm not even a fan and I noticed him the moment we stepped on to the car together.

C'est la vie Howard Dean, you were sitting behind the artist Cal Chemical during your entire trip, and you never even noticed, but I noticed you. My only regret is not taking a picture of you when you were sleeping for proof of this story.

3.5 Inch Floppy Diskette

2008-04-05T19:33:00.006-04:00

There was time in modern computing, when you needed to transport files between two computer or save your work to a portable format, that you reached for a 3.5 inch floppy diskette. The 3.5 inch floppy diskette was a convenient standard in the 1980s and 1990s given its small size and the durability of a plastic external shell. It eventually became obsolete, giving way technology that provided exponentially more storage capacity then the meager 3 megabytes it could hold. Like its larger 8 and 5 inch predecessors, this type of floppy diskette recorded all the one's and zero's of our digital data onto a thin piece of film. Its quite remarkable that film - flimsy, flexible, scratchable film - was a surface considered to be a stable base for what held our sensitive personal and business information.

As an homage to this once valuable technology, I immortalized a piece of film from a blank diskette in a frame which sits in my living room. I find hanging onto something like this rather poetic. As a precision shaped 360, it has a modern shape that fits organically among the other modern elements in my home, yet it carries some sadness, because as a blank piece of film, it never had a chance to realize the purpose for which it was designed. It rests representative within the pristine protection of wood and glass, spared from a landfill, providing me and my house guests a memory of the 1980's and 1990's age of computing.

Eulogy: Goodbye Grandpa Joe

2008-03-10T21:30:00.005-04:00

Burbank, California -- This weekend I was in Burbank, California with my family mourning the loss of my mom’s father, my Grandfather Joe, a.k.a, G.P.. It was an overwhelming, and yet wonderful weekend. I never anticipated I would cry as much as I did. We expected his death given his deteriorating condition over the past 5 years, but I did not expect that my memories of his life would flash so vividly before my eyes; it could be described as a phenomenon of his life passing one realm the another. I will miss G.P. dearly. G.P.’s children and grandchildren share so many of his own personal and creative interests that we eventually remind each other of him by just being ourselves. Terrible perhaps to give myself a compliment at a time like this, but I think I do well writing words of In Memoriam. I enjoy collecting my thoughts around these occassions and finding a way to express them with words. To honor G.P. in his passing I delivered the following eulogy at his funeral:

At St. Joseph’s church – in Bronxville, New York – just outside NYC – I once heard a very practical – and inspiring homily – about “talent.” The priest discussed how important everyone’s talents are to the development of the world, but he noted a science journal on human behavior that found “people in general do not invest themselves in their talent.” The point was that God makes the world possible by granting each of us our own portfolio of talents, instead of making us all equal. The priest concluded his homily by challenging the parishioners to evaluate their lives and find a way to invest 100% of themselves in their talents.

While reflecting on Grandpa Joe’s life I am appreciating how he undeniably invested 100% of himself into his talents. There’s hardly a person in this room – dare we say the Burbank community – who has not benefited from his mastery of dentistry. At times it was crude – like when he extracted my loose tooth in a crowded restaurant with an unexpected swift YANK! But the other times his dentistry was pure elegance – the way he could match the color of a porcelain crown to a patients original tooth – doing it in his own lab – with his own two eyes – and a cup of coffee – so early on a Saturday morning.

All the same, Grandpa’s artistry with dentistry translated to artistry on canvas – film – and jewelry. If you don’t have one of his many paintings – you surely have been the subject of his photographs. Grandpa was single handily the [omitted] family historian. If you looked at every photo he has ever taken, you would see the details of Joe, [omitted] over the past fifty-eight years. His talent with photography was especially gifted with candid photos. Some of his best work is of us blow drying our hair – or waiting in the driveway to go to dinner. If he had enough time on earth, he surely would have had a digital camera and a website to further invest in his talent.

There are many characteristics of Grandpa that made him so unique – like his quiet confidence, and his thirst for knowledge – but a final quality to celebrate is his talent for what the Irish call: Shenanigans. The mischievous and humorous side in Grandpa never tired and never aged. My favorite shenanigan is when he glued quarters to the sidewalk outside of his office to watch passersby bend down to pick one up to no avail.

From his foundation of religion, ethics, and love for his family, Grandpa Joe’s talents and the fruits of those talents stood out as his trademarks. Trademarks of a man who we will never forget.

20 Underhill Street: Things I Want to Forget

2007-08-31T21:10:00.005-04:00

In August of 2007, I officially became a homeowner, turning a page in my life that will hopefully forever leave behind 10 years of being a renter. This is a list of the things I WANT TO FORGET about the last address where I rented for nearly 5 years, and 10 months:

I WANT TO FORGET:

The grimy carpet and resulting dirty feet.
Carpet itself, and the way it made the house dusty and was a point of collection for everything unwanted.
The bowed and cracked plaster walls and ceilings.
The driveway of dirt + rocks + weeds.
The thresholds and baseboards that lost all their detail from years of caked-on paint.
The way the lights would dim when we used the vacuum.
The lack of kitchen sink counter space due to the layout of the major kitchen appliances (stove, refrigerator, sink).
The spewing and sputtering steam radiator system.
The dirty leaf-filled mold-smelling basement – where our laundry machines were located.
The painted porch and stairs that would never stay painted - duh – because walking on the paint wears it off!
The view of the neighbor’s house that had a field of weeds surrounding a perpetually rebuilt but unfinished 3 car garage. ABC’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition built 25 homes in the time it took to erect something that was perpetually unfinished.
The closet dimmer switch (that looked like a normal electrical switch) which was too sensitive to actually offer any dimmable light.
Having to walk outside [to the basement] to do laundry.
The lame locking mechanism on the back door.
The back door itself which looked to be built out of scrap wood - we were so lucky we were never robbed.
The uneven funhouse floors - there was a 2 inch drop between the kitchen and the office, the bedroom sloped toward the living room and the living room sloped toward the kitchen!!
The heavy front door that needed to be lifted for the lock to slide into the door jam.
The itsy-bitsy bathroom sink and tiny storage space underneath it. It was so low I had to bend over to wash my hands.
The water damaged toilet seat cover.
The lack of having a garbage disposal.
The deep green kitchen countertops.
The missing pull-knobs on the kitchen drawers – they would never stay on because the screws weren’t long enough to keep them attached.
The tree in the driveway that spawned annual berries which molecularly bonded to the paint on my car.
The bird crap filled with berries from the tree in the driveway which also molecularly bonded to the paint on my car.
The sap from the tree in the driveway that dripped on the windows of my car in the Summer.
The parking lot and supporting wall the city built behind the house - replacing the shade trees (that didn’t produce berries or sap) where feral cats lived and played.
The loose electrical outlet in the bathroom.
The leaky kitchen faucet.
The kitchen sink’s spray hose that never worked.
Our mixed mail: sorting our mail and the neighbor's mail 6 days a week.
The fact that the bathroom light couldn't be turned on without turning on the ventilation suction fan.
The fire department across the street that tested their saws at 8:00am on Saturday mornings.
Walking past the restaurant on the way to the train at the end of our street with the trash pile full of oil and spoiled food.
The capped gas pipes that stuck out of the hallways, bedroom and living room walls. On one hand, that’s something I should miss, they were formerly gas lines used as a means of lighting the house, which means the house was built before electricity (can you imagine the numbers of lives that lived there?), but that would only be something I would miss if they were functional and the house was a charming cabin or cottage. For all purposes these were just pipes sticking out of the walls.
Waking-up in the middle of the night to the beep – beep – beep - beeping fire alarm after a power failure.

20 Underhill Street: Things I Will Miss

2007-08-31T20:00:00.005-04:00

In August of 2007, I officially became a homeowner, turning a page in my life that will hopefully forever leave behind nearly 10 years of being a renter. This is a list of the THINGS I WILL MISS of the last address where I rented:

THINGS I WILL MISS:

A fantastic landlord.
All the windows and all the natural light.
The windows themselves which were new, clean and functioned well.
Cheap $1 to wash, $1 to dry laundry.
The well-made radiator covers.
The cable and phone connections in both rooms.
The fact that our parking spot was visible from the house, and by the police station.
The town fire department was located directly across the street. With police to the left and fire across the street, I lived on the safest corner in America.
The shade from the tree in driveway in the Fall.
The 4 minute walk or 2 minute jog to the train.
The Starbucks in the train station.
The geese at the river pond in the nearby park.
The pull-up bar in the nearby park.
Living within a 10 minute walk to American Bistro.
The track lighting in the kitchen.
Making a friend in our neighbor Sandy.
Washing my car in the driveway (however the driveway was so narrow it was kind of irritating sometimes too).
Stable rent for nearly 3 years ($1,400).
The front porch where we had several candle-light dinners with Chinese food, salmon burgers, and salads.

Eulogy: Goodbye Grandma Connie

2007-05-30T15:00:00.006-04:00

ON LOCATION: Washington, D.C. -- In California today, my father is mourning the loss of his mom, my grandmother Connie. I would be there with them, but I am in Washington D.C. for a business trip (working for the Scripps National Spelling Bee). My thoughts are with my father and paternal relatives this week. In honor of the passing of my Grandma Connie, I wrote a eulogy for her funeral to be read by my sister during the Rosary ceremony. My Grandma Connie had a way of loving her family, children, grand children, and friends the way Jesus loved people. If you're thinking that sounds corny, or sounds like an extreme exaggeration, or simply laced with too much religious symbolism, all I can say is you didn't know this woman:

I deeply regret that I cannot be here with all of you to share this moment in our lives, and to celebrate grandma's life and her passage to heaven. Though I wasn't with Grandma these past two weeks in person, I felt a connection with her through prayer because I know she was a strong Catholic and she believed in prayer too. With my prayers I have walked down my own memory lane with her, sampling her cookies, pizza and pasta, watching her christen my first car with a handful of change, visiting her at Pickwick, and remembering that I couldn't remember a single word of Italian she tried to teach me. And which one of us grandchildren could forget her generosity at birthdays, holidays, first communion and confirmations – I'm still thankful.

When I think of Grandma as a person, and not specifically as my grandma, the most significant characteristic I will keep with me is the realization that she fulfilled the model of the way Jesus' wants us to "love." As Catholics we hear many stories and examples of how Jesus loved; loved his parents, loved his disciples, his adversaries, and even common beggars. We are taught that "love" is quite simply the only virtue we need to master to live a full and complete life in the eyes of God. Through my eyes, Grandma loved like Jesus.

Though Grandma has passed on, and sympathy cards will say "sorry for your loss," Grandma's family and fellow Catholics who new her well have actually gained something, we have one more person to pray to for help with our own efforts to love like Jesus loved. God Bless you Grandma Connie.

ABC Television Trademark

2006-02-13T22:33:00.008-05:00

TITLE: ABC

MEDIUM: Acrylic (and pumice stone) on cotton canvas
SIZE: Pieces is composed of 3 canvas, 18" X 18" each.

This is an abstract expression of the letters A, B, and C, inspired by the logo of the ABC Television Network. Letters are so common and so well recognized that I wanted to represent the individuals letters in a way that would disguise the identity of the letters, yet reveal enough of their shape to make them recognizable when placed within context of one another. True to the ABC Television trademark the letters are white, offset by a black paint mixed with pumice stone with veins of earth tones running through as if the letters were discovered in rock. When looking at this piece my intention is for one to feel the shapes are familiar, yet to also be challenged - at least for a few seconds - to identify their relationship.

Click the title to view a Picassa photobook of this painting.

10 Circles

2005-12-23T21:45:00.010-05:00

TITLE: 10 Circles

MEDIUM: Acrylic (and pumice stone) on cotton canvas.
SIZE: 24" X 48"
Copyright 2005 Cal Chemical

This is an abstract expression of the silhouette of Mickey Mouse. As a fan of The Mouse I wanted to do a painting of him, but didn't want to bother with the pain of realism or to represent the "popular" image of the character. Instead, I choose to pay homage to the simple elegant silhouette of his profile, three round circles, two cirlces for his ears and a larger circle for his face. Simple, modern, familiar shapes. Adding to the abstract quality I formed the image into several lines, instead of using one single outline. Creating the image with several lines gives the piece fluidity, as if one was doodling or quickly scribing several continuous lines of circles. If you count the lines in the piece, and imagine them completed off the canvas, there are 13 circles, hence the title of the piece.

Letter E

2005-10-01T06:21:00.001-04:00

Medium: Acrylic on cotton canvas
Size: 12" X 12"

This was a gift for a friend by the name of Ellise. I am often inspired by letters and numbers, and how to represent them. I was inspired by a child's letter block with how to paint this particular "e." The font style is called Braggadocio. I enhanced the letter and border with acrylic thickening gel so they would stand apart three dimensionally from the two-tone "plywood" background.