Finally a new exhibit

At the Virginia Aquarium! No offense to the sea turtles, but I was getting bored.

I wish..

I could wear these boots everyday.
That's all.

On unsolicited advice...

I found this interesting life advice in my internet meanderings this morning. I thought it was very relevant to the past few weeks (at least for me).

"Everyone is taking their own journey through life, and that's liberating -- but it can also be isolating, because no one else can truly understand what you are experiencing. Take this fact to heart when those 'in the know' offer you unsolicited advice today. They have your best interest at heart, but in the end their thoughts are based on their own goals -- not yours. Stick to what you feel. This is no time to start navigating by someone else's maps -- you could get lost."

The only sane thing to do....

after running a half marathon, is obviously to sign up for another. :)

So this past Sunday, I woke up at 4AM, rode down to VB, parked and waited in line to run 13 miles with 30,000 some other crazies. I run all the time so I was confident about conditioning. I was not quite so confident about my knees which have been known to swell and crap out in recent years. "Helloooooo Leslie welcome to 30's!" they chant. (They also conveniently forecast rain, by aching painfully and dully before the rain starts.)

The good: As I said before, I run all the time; usually with only the company of my trusty Ipod. Running with an army of other people (all ages, shapes, and sizes) is extremely motivational. Having twice that many cheering for you while you run makes you feel sorta like a rock star (a sweaty, dirty, fannypack wearing type of rockstar). Having rastafari spray you with a waterhose while singing "Jammin" and "Could You be Loved" is really cool, and having random neighborhood ladies hand you beer while running is ever coolER.

The bad: You need to STAY hydrated and as a human; what goes in, must come out. Portable toilets are gross. Using them in general is traumatic, but trying to use them in a race AND trying to hurry - well use your imagination.

The ugly: My knees on Sunday were the winsome knees of a 23 year old. My feet, however; are blistered, swollen, and sore. I've been crawling up and down my steps on all-fours, "Gollum" style the past three days to commute back and forth between my room and my kitchen.

Will I do it again? Yeah..I think so.

People Look at You Weird When You Have a Black Eye

I had an "accident" last Saturday night that left me with a black eye. I can't help but notice that people act a little weird when I go into their store, dry cleaners, or Starbucks. I feel like a second class citizen or something. It's like they don't want to look me in the eye, like they are afraid I will flip out on them.

The worst part is having an explanation, but never being asked for it. I can only assume the things people are conjuring up in their minds...bar fight? Domestic abuse?

Oh well. Maybe I should just stay in my house!

Adventures in squirrel catching

We have a fireplace in our living room that we don't use. We bought one of those electronic insert things with the fake logs and fake fire to warm the place in the winter because there is a draft when the weather is cold. The insert doesn't block the whole fireplace, so we have a piece of wood on the right side that blocks most of the remaining gap. If it sounds ghetto, well, it is.

Yesterday I was sitting on the couch feeding Kai and I heard a "swoosh" sound and then a thunk in my fireplace. Shortie and the cats went over to investigate. I thought it was a bird because we found a dead one in there once.

All the sudden I heard something scrambling about and making some kind of primal growl/screech. And then through the small gap between the wood and the insert, a paw came out swiping!

It was a freaking squirrel!! Shortie would not stay away and the poor squirrel was getting really pissed off. Fairfax County sent out an officer and we spent 10 minutes trying to get it into a trap, but the squirrel wasn't having it.

We ended up taking out the fireplace insert and bam! The squirrel came flying out and headed toward the dining room. Shortie took off after it like a dog half his age. The squirrel ran a few laps around the dining room while the cop yelled at me to open the front door.

The squirrel made a final lap and headed toward the door. He jumped up onto the landing and Shortie jumped, trying to catch it in mid-air. He was thisclose, but luckily he missed.

The squirrel headed out the front door, followed by the nice lady officer.

Shortie spent the night peering into the fireplace and looking around the living room for the squirrel. He wanted to eat it!

Squirrels are so cute. But it is a little freaky to have one running around your house.

The Infrequent Visitors Guide to the Greater Metropolitan D.C. area.

Many of VA's rest areas are now closed so you'll need to find quality gas station restrooms, like this one on the outside in Fredericksburg.

If visiting our nation's capital on the weekend, it's not only important to Google optimal restaurant locations but their HOURS as well. FYI: Everything closes at 5..on Saturday!

Some buildings in D.C. have 99 problems but central air isn't 1.


If you take too many pictures of yourself, the girl sitting to the right (behind me) will kill you.
Look at her murderous eyes.



And finally, Sunshine is a FANTASTIC tour guide and terrific hostess - but a terrible ticket scalper. (You don't give them away for FREE!) LOL

Goodbye Robert

"Design is, literally, purposeful planning. Graphic Design, then, is the form those plans will take."

Shei gave me "The Cheese Monkeys" for Christmas the first year after we graduated college. It's been one of my favorite books, not just because it reminded me of my experience as a graphic arts student but mainly because it reminded me of my favorite acerbic professor Robert.

He passed away suddenly yesterday. To say he was an influence on me and my class would be an understatement. After having several different types of free-spirited hippy art teachers (nothing wrong with those!), his no nonsense, realities of graphic design approach was frustrating at times; but has been endlessly helpful in swimming the viscous rivers of G.D. jobs that me and several of my classmates ('02) have faced since leaving the Visual Arts Building.

I wanted to share some things I imparted from him - these aren't direct quotes, but it's how I hear them when I'm working.



Robertisms (as I apply them to life day-to-day activities)

• Creativity is OVER-RATED. Take something someone else did and BUILD FROM IT.
• What is THE message?
• Find the "Rules".
• Never use more than two fonts.
• If you use treefrog font, I will fail you. It makes my eyes bleed.
• Avoid using filters. They do not make an already bad design better.
• Don't use screen fonts for print work.
• This is an "A" work. This is a "C". What is the difference here?
• "RIP" (sound made by our last-minute projects peeled off the board)
• No music lyrics or CD covers. You will most likely fund your existence typesetting or making ads.
• Why are you married to this project? Finish it and move ON.

These are just a sampling of the things he left with me, with US.
Us - meaning my classmates, which I'm happy to call colleagues AND friends - 10 years strong.

I'll close with another quote from Professor Sorbeck in the Cheese Monkeys --

"A bazillion years ago, some poor son of a bitch Cro-Magnon scratched a drawing of a buffalo onto the wall of his cave. He didn't do it because his muse had called to him, or to explore the texture of bauxite, or to start the neoprimitive-expressionist movement. He did it because he killed a goddamn buffalo and he wanted someone else to know about it, after he was gone. He had a specific, definable purpose for making a piece of visual information. The first one."

THANK YOU ROBERT - for leaving us a with definable purpose. A first one.

With eternal gratitude - Leslie P. - Class of 2002.

Harborfest 2009

One of my favorite events in Norfolk every year is Harborfest. If for no other reason than I get to eat weird things and roam around Town Point park. This year it was on the 4th vs. it's normal June summer kickoff. Good because the fireworks were great, bad if you were trapped in a local parking garage for 2 hours post holiday festivus.

The city is noisy? Wha?? That is unbelievable!

Why is it that every time I'm watching House Hunters on HGTV (or similar shows) where the people are looking for condos in the city, they always say "Well, its kind of loud." "Well, I'm not sure about all the traffic noise.." WTF? Move to the damn suburbs then. I'm sick of these people.

Rant over.