So last Sunday evening Kristina was admitted to the ante natal ward at a local hospital here in San Jose. She's only 31 weeks along in her pregnancy but because of the Placent Previa condition she is already starting to have labor contractions and is bleeding irregularly. Not enough yet to justify delivering the baby early, but it is enough to make her very uncomfortable or in pain most of the time.

They've tried a variety of medications to stop contractions but because of Kris' existing heart condition and the Previa they can't do much other then wait. Basically they are prepped for an emergency, otherwise it's a hurry up and wait scenario.

Today they had her off all the other meds which caused her to have a hypotension reaction and her blood pressure dropped at one point to 65 over 36. They stabilized her but she did have one other attack at 6 am this morning. As a result they now have her on magnesium being fed through an IV. Nasty stuff! It makes her feel really warm, nauseous, and dizzy. I was in her room where it was 52°, I was freezing cold which is rare for me, and she was still complaining about being warm.

Thankfully baby is still showing strong signs with a good heartbeat and lots of movement. At one point I felt upset that Kris was going through all this, I wanted to say sorry, that maybe this was too much to ask of anyone to endure and suffer through. If you'd seen her ups and downs this week you'd for sure know my position. Right as I was going to say something to her, Kris hugs me in her bed and says, "it's not that bad, and as long as she's safe it's worth it..."

If that's not a mother, I don't what one is.

So good vibes and positivity from all over the globe is being sent to Kris and the baby in hospital.

If we can make it 5 more weeks we'll reach the doctors goal of 36 weeks. Fingers crossed and hope for patience.

In truth I don't know of many people read my LJ anymore. I've become engulfed in the Facebook madness purely out of it's convenience and simplicity. It's everything Myspace started out as, and it has not yet become retarded and juvenile. Although I'm sick to death of invites for causes and games that I'll never play, and me joining a cause on Facebook is such a fake way to join a cause..."oh yeah, well your IP makes a difference man". No it doesn't.

In other news our little girl should be here in approximately 6 weeks. Tomorrow morning is our final scan with the ultrasound. I can't wait, it's so great when I get to see her! I'm also a bit terrified, I mean last time we got within the 4 week mark and then it all went terribly wrong. But that was the past, and I don't want to be the source of misery or prophecy so I'm just believing in the best possible outcome. Although they'll be delivering via C-Section so it's all going to be scheduled and done early this time. So in that, we should be covered.

Good news was my brother was hired for a new job, yes at another car dealership. He's now the finance/sales manager at a Cadillac dealer. Pretty cool job, and now his life is getting back on track, albeit slower then I think he would like, he can now throw himself into something and work to succeed for his daughter and himself.

For me work is good, although I'm trying to get back into the routine after a pretty whacky month. Between working on site at the event in the city and working remotely from Austin one of the days, it's nice to be back on site with my team.

I've also helped coordinate some subjects for a photography workshop with Zack Arias. That happened on campus at Google on Friday. It was a lot of fun and I think the photographers really enjoyed me bringing in a bunch of local musicians to take photos of. I can't wait till Zack sends us his images, I'm sure they are going to be amazing.

I'm also playing drums for a different band called "the tricycle wipeout". It's a lot of fun, very green, but I'm enjoying it. The songwriter has some great messages and stories to tell, and I like the forms of melody he composes in. Our first show is July 15th, so if I can I'll be posting video after that.

Well it's late, I'm tired, I think it's time for beddie boes...g'night world.

I don't know why I like this shot so much but I do. I took it in SF during the Moscone week. Weird i guess, but I really am fascinated by CCTV.

Took a quick moment out to sneak in some photos at the convention center iPhone App display late at night after everyone had left. 20,000 "chiclet" apps silhouetting Gritphilm.

Gritphilm captured a shot of me outside while we take a moment, a break in our 16 hour days, to head outside and look up to remember the sun and breathe in that fine San Francisco air.



MMmm, Strawberry lemonade at Mel's Diner.



The banner in the main concourse at "dub dub".



They hand cleaned the store front for Apple in SF. Crazy!!!



They had iPhone "chiclets" all over the building.



Hey I have this one!!!



Our cashew snack that Grit brought in...



"Chiclet" windows...



As Gritphilm puts it... "low-ri-der"

Just a few more days and we're out of here.

What a crazy year it's been. Just a year ago I was working here as a contractor with my now regular cohorts wondering where life was leading. Depressed about losing my sister and my daughter and unsure of my future career opportunities, it was a bit of a trying time.

This year I'm working with all my friends from Duarte, and my wife is even working the event this year as a new contractor for our company. She's glowing pregnant and we're both excited about what things will come in the next few months. The prepping of the room, getting the clothes organized, talking about names, and so much more.

I feel very lucky to know that life has come around to the other side of the cloud and I honestly feel much less stressed then I did before.

Pivotal.

I realize that I'm posting less and less.

I seem to be caught in that flux of working more and more, and using Facebook as a medium to keep in touch with everyone. I will hopefully get back on track with my LJ here pretty soon but for now I'm working on site for a major client for the next two weeks. First week is event prep and second week is event support.

Presentation Design, a niche that's always in demand.

I did just get back from another short trip to Austin, Texas...loved it again!

So tonight I was asked to do a quick photoshoot for Analog Tattoo's new t-shirt designs. Shot from 10:30pm - 11:30pm including setup. Came outside to find my car boxed in by city street workers doing road work around my car. Eventually got out of there after midnight.

Came home, downloaded the shots, and decided to knock it out while I had some idea of the specs in my head. Here is the final product, just uploaded to my flickr.



Enjoy! there is a biggun...under the cut
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Well I heard from the leader on the Tattoo book project that the drive has been officially "shipped" to Hong Kong for printing. (quiet cheers go off in my head)

During all this San Jose, California was prepping for it's first annual music festival titled "LEFT COAST LIVE". We played last night at 11pm at the South First Billiards, SOFA District "B" stage. I'm glad we chose the B stage because it was near the bar where people could hang out. It was much more intimate, the sound was more "real" and it just felt genuine to me. We played to a lot of people we didn't know, and got to see a lot of friendly faces that haven't been close in 1-3 years. That made me smile. The stress of dealing with this event really caused me to question why was I even in a band. That's the first time I've ever really done that, at least with any real conviction. After playing the event, I remembered why I love it so much. When my band mates are positive, it makes the world of difference. It reminds me that I like to be surrounded by people who are filled with optimism and seek out opportunity rather then just whine, play the victim, and sit back and absorb all the negative crap the world has readily available to fling at us like monkeys with poo.

Good friends, good vibes, good sounds, and a good kind of pain today recovering from that.

It was especially nice seeing something like this unfold in San Jose. It was spoken about in the context of "this will be San Jose's version of SXSW in Austin." We're a long, long, way from that but it really did get a healthy start. There were some real f@#k ups in the sense of logistics, organization, preparation, communication, impression, perception and efficacy. However, the things they did right, they did very right, and so in that...I hope to play it again. More importantly I hope I can engage more in being a part of some solutions because as I mentioned earlier, I hate when all that people do are point out the problems.

To reward myself for all that we, as in my family, have been through lately. Long hours, chaotic dealings, and just overall exhaustion, I decided to go with my wife to the outlet malls, spend some time together and buy myself a new hate, two new pairs of Vans shoes, and two new shirts.

The rest as they say, is history.

Here are some pics from the event...courtesy of the ever journalistic talents made fresh by Gritphilm
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gritphilm/sets/72157618194060193/

I love these few...





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Well after many late nights, and all the toil and trouble, my part in the digital imaging production of "Bloodwork" the book featuring sleeves by some of the best from the World Tattoo Collective is now over.

After painting and compositing roughly 490 images together, averaging 2.4gb for each photoshop document, I am done. Now we start ordering proofs from the print house back in good old Hong Kong and then make adjustments from there. But, the painting, the hours of cutting and layering, is done.

I had some major help from Adrian Lee and Gritphilm, as well as some one off supporters here and there, in cutting out many of the pictures and couldn't have met deadlines without their support.

So what crazy thing am I going to take on next? Nothing, I need to revisit some old projects and get those back on track. The photos of Alexx Calise need to be finished, a gallery exhibit I'd been talking to some people about for photos, and my solo music project.

Ahhh, it just never ends does it. I guess that's best, I don't do domestication very well.

Life is just a blur right now...between working on work, and then working on non-work work, thinking about when I'll get back to working on my own non-work work...mix all that with politics, payment plans, parenting thoughts and a major shortage of sleep...oh and shows, missing another tooth and uh...yeah I guess that about covers it.

I've never been good at saying No, nothing has motivated me enough to say No over the value of myself...when that little girl gets here, she'll be more then enough motivation.

Being a dad, can't wait.

6 more pieces in the tattoo book to finish and then maybe I'll be able to connect back into my real and digital lives...

I just keep coming up for air long enough to dive down again...

Squeezed in a photoshoot on Saturday with musician Alexx Calise

We experimented with some of her looks and the lights and got some old fashion simple studio shots...

Finally finished and uploaded all the Boba Fett free drum lessons produced by myself and Drummer extraordinaire Terry Carleton from Bones and Knives studio. What fun this thing was to be a part of...the whack ideas, the amazing drum riffs, just a blast! If you have a friend into drums, and even star wars, check these out...

Boba Fett's free drum lessons...

There are more then 20+ lessons up there...Tool, Van Halen, Motion City Soundtrack, rudiments, and more...

Ok, now back to this tattoo book!

Apparently people couldn't decide because the percentages were 51% boy and 49% girl...

however...

WE ARE HAVING A GIRL!

Yup, pretty exciting.

Now to go do Snoopy Dance!

A recent iPhone pic of Kristina to send to her friends showing how "pregnant" she is...

So tomorrow we get to find out the baby's gender during the anatomy scan. Fingers crossed that all is well, healthy and happy. I have to admit I get a little bit of anxiety before every one of these scan visits.

If you have a guess on what the sex will be, feel free to vote here! Results will be shared tomorrow...

Hey if you're right, that might mean it's time for you to buy a lotto ticket with your luck streak!

VOTE HERE on What We are Having!

Snuck out for a quick, last minute, late night photoshoot and got to take pics of some emergency services action in downtown San Jose. I was working on some light painting and managed to grab this from the police car....

good times

I love my wife, and this today reminded me of how much!

So Monday I call in sick to work. Nothing major, just general flu/sinus infection stuff. Felt groggy, thought I should rest. Check my work email around 7pm and find out that apparently there's a photoshoot scheduled for me at 10am the next day at work. Nothing major it seems, just shooting some character images using coworkers as models for a client piece. Simple enough right?

Well the studio was a mess, had some major clean up to do in there to be ready for the shoot. I didn't really know anything of the theme as I hadn't been a part of the project until this point. So had to pull some magic out of my pocket, and get it done best as we could. I have to admit I felt a little surprised considering who the pics would be for and that we would treat this so casually, but we got it done and it turned out pretty good.

The people I worked with were wonderful, pleasant, and upbeat. It made for a lot of fun moments, but I felt like I had failed because of how much time I took beyond my scheduled time on the calendar. I need to rectify this by explaining some photography practices to the accounts/managers team. Hmmm, any suggestions on the best way to explain time necessary to them? 1 hour shooting = X time of prep/post? I think this would really help in the educating of how to work with photographers...

Here are some snippets of the 450+ images I captured for the day. Potentially these images are going to be spread larger then anything I could have ever imagined my work being a part of and now I'm questioning how much better a job I could have done if I'd been involved sooner and allowed more time to prep and setup. Hindsight seems to be my catchphrase lately. Sorry for the width of it, it's feeding from another blog...

Nothing really to report.

Took a friend to get his first tattoo this weekend, that was very rewarding and cool.

Locked up at home feeling sick.

Had a good talk with my brother Sunday, it's always good to help someone realize it's supposed to hurt before it can get better. I'll be there for him through this, but only he can help himself.

I'm obsessed with basketball at the moment, it's just consuming my every thought. I want to play all the time, watch it all the time, and then watch whatever I recorded after that!

Tattoo project has fallen behind schedule, I can't do it alone, I need help and have a thin array of qualified people I can ask to get involved...hmmm

Photoshoot at work tomorrow even though I still feel sick...

Can we clone me yet?