When I was in high school my friend got a job at UPS. He started early and by the time we graduated he was driving a super nice car with a boomin’ stereo. It was a Union job and as far as I know he might still be at it. I ran into him a few years later and he was still working there but he had been promoted so he was no longer slinging packages. He already owned a small house and I was working at a video store living out of my Chevy Blazer. He admitted that it really sucked for a few years but he stuck with it and it really paid off. I still think of him when I see stuff like this…     Well actually I really think of him being a little more like this guy…     But who knows, the way things are changing there may no longer be a need to train carriers to go into the field. It might end up more like a video game. Did you know that UPS officially runs a...

I got a text this morning that has me in a contemplative place. Thanks to this website and working on some of the projects featured here, I kind of reconnected with one of my cousins. We weren’t in constant contact or anything, just a few texts back and forth. He liked some of the Mario Bros stuff I had been working on and after not having talked or seen each other for almost 25 years he asked for a sticker. I sent a bunch of stickers and some other stuff I’d been working on and we texted a little more. I sent a few more things in the mail but they came back “Return to Sender.” He wasn’t returning my messages so I reached out to my Aunt. He had checked himself into an in-patient rehab center. I got the address and sent him one of the cactus buildables as well as some little stuff. I think I sent him a nerd pad too. A couple months later he messaged me...

Christmas cards have been sent and gifting is about done. I am already looking back at the year and evaluating how things went. About 6 years ago I was sitting around thinking about how I hadn’t done a single painting all year. I wasn’t drawing or doing anything in my spare time other than watching TV. I decided to start drawing again. I didn’t have a specific goal in mind. I just wanted to start drawing regularly in an attempt to do something. I started small. I gathered some old leftover paper with different colors and textures and made them into a small sketchbook. I mean small, like 4″ x 6″ small. That size wasn’t intimidating. Even a doodle could end up filling the entire page. I started some new podcasts and made a habit of ending each day drawing with my headphones on. Last year ended with the decision to shutdown my website and blog and just...