Ok, so this will be short and sweet. On Monday of this week I started tattoo #2. And I must say that the artist did an incredible job taking my element requests and sculpting them into something more than I could have come up with on my own. The first sitting was 3 hours long. This was just for the outline and some guide shading for later. I have about 7 more hours to go for color and touch up.

Here is what it looked like during the session (the purple is the stencil, the black is ink, and the other colors are markers for shading)

And here is pic 2 days after the session:


If it looks like it switched arms it didn't. I had to take the above pic in a mirror. The tattoo is on my right arm. I go back in a few weeks for the second sitting. More updates to come! :)

Ok..so even though it hit 60+ degrees today my head is still up in the mountains were I was a few weeks ago. While we were in Vail we got a few feet of new powder. Why is this important? This is why:

There were times where the spray of the snow would cover my head! IT.WAS.GREAT!! Sometimes if you slowed down enough you could sink up to your armpits. Again...AWESOME. It's a good thing I wear yellow since most of the week was spent skiing in heavy snow and some fog. I was sort of a roving ski light :) These pics were taken during a period of perfect conditions. It was one of those trips that made me want to quit my job, move to the mountains and find a way to take the ski season off every year...as soon as I win the lottery that will be my plan ;)

This week should be interesting. I am heading to California for the week for business. The whole contrat is being re-written so our roles are kind of up in the air. As such people are worried that we (my company) will be scaling back certain tasks and they are getting grumpy. I feel bad for the group we help but the truth is for the last 4 months we have gone WAY above and beyond the call of duty. My attitude is that if they need more people they should hire their own...not rope us into it. Staff augmentation is not what we do anymore. Ok..work rant over :)

Well, time to play with the pup and eat.

Guess who is back? ME! Well, I was never really gone..just on a different site. I got tired of all the other stuff associated with that space.

Anywho...I hope the holiday season finds everyone in good spirits. It's cold and snowy here in the mile high city and I am loving it!! I still can't get over how light and fluffy the snow is out here compared to the east coast. T-minus 11 days till my yearly ski trip to Vail. I have been training for the last few months so that this year my legs won't feel like they are on fire half way down the hill. Plus I am a bit more streamlined now ;)

Even with my love of the cold white stuff I am anxiously waiting for spring now. Santa sent me a one piece leather racing suit to add to my motorcycle gear closet :) The distorted pic of the suit is to your left. I won't get it till Feb as it was pre-ordered but I will have it in time for the first track day of the year!! Random tid bit - I have to break it in before I get on my bike so for at least a week in Feb I will be wearing it around my apt as I work. Odd image, no?







And for those of you who know my family the big news is that 'little' Andy is now engaged. If you will let you eyes wander to the left again you will see a pic of the happy couple plus me. And no, we haven't shrunk..the person who took the picture is 6'8" so every shot he took has this odd downward angle to it. Why am I in the pic you ask? Because I went to the corporate party sans date and Debbie felt sorry for me. Is that sad? Don't care...the party had an open bar :)

Well, I am off to enjoy life outside my apartment. Being oncall stinks in the IT world. You can never be more than 10 mins from a computer with high speed internet. So now that I am no longer oncall I am going to get as far away from this laptop as I can.

Hope everyone's holiday season has been blissfully stress free and I say bring on the new year!!

Well, I've moved to My Space. I love being the last to join fads :)



Check me out!

A break in the silence!

This will be quick but I feel the need to show off my new toy! I traded in my sane for the real world SV650S sportbike for a too fast for anywhere GSXR-600. I love it love it love it!!!


Now the blur going by you will be twice as fast and loud :) It's funny, when I was 18 I never thought about getting one of these....now 10 years later it seems that my inner 18 year old finally showed up. I am either a late bloomer or an early regresser....hmmmm which is better?

I am back from my "wonderful" week of training out in CA. I got two major things from this week: 1) An experience with the most cynical bastard in the world and 2) A cold. The cold was and is the more enjoyable of the two by the way. I thought I could have a bleak outlook on life sometimes but I've never seen anyone take it to the most illogical extreme. Oh well. I was told that he is just like that. No real reason. And HE IS MARRIED WITH KIDS!!! He has passed this gene on for the next generation to enjoy.

Anywho, as of right now the next 8 works days are a big ol question mark. No firm plans (again) so it looks like I may get to see my dog for a few days before heading of to CO for Thanksgiving. I hope I get out of traveling for a few days. Need to get better before break.

Lets see, what else has happened lately. Oh, I am officially invited to my company's holiday party. And it looks like I am allowed to bring a date. Who knows, maybe I'll actually bring someone for once. Everyone else has fun doing it ;)

When I started writing this I had every intention of making this entry entertaining and funny. So to you the reader I apologize. I shall try harder next time.

Life...it isn't just a cereal

So, after a week of emotional ups and downs and talks with friends I've basically settled down. Big ups to Ang. It's always good to hear a familiar voice who genuinely wants the best for you.

Anyway, I went the movies twice this week. I saw D00m and Saw 2. D00m was a waste of money. However, Saw 2 delivered and then some. A good suspense, gore filled, violent action flick. I highly recommend it if you like those types of movies. If you don't like sadistic acts I would stay away from this one though. Mr. Jigsaw is one twisted dude.

I'm being sent to Manassas VA next week for more training starting on Monday. But, because I've such a good sport about the whole scheduling thing they are giving me the entire day of Friday off! Yay for me!!!! So I will be able to attend the wedding after all. It'll be good to see everyone again. It's been a while. Gotta get caught up before I jump states :)

Due to the fact that I have been working from home I am without any funny office stories. Unless you count watching your dog chase his tail for 20 minutes as funny...which I do but not many others see the humor in it.

Ok, it's 11 ish and it's time to head off to bed. Promised a friend I would help haul wood tomorrow morning around 8:00 AM or so. Night.