Bob Loblaw's Law Blog

It's the Great Pumpkin Zach!

2009-11-03T11:52:00.004-06:00

So I wasn't able to join Heidi, Zach, Grandma and Grandpa since I was sick. I was pretty let down about that for sure. As you can see from the pictures I missed out on a really fun time. Next year no matter what!

Also have some pics of Zach as a Bear for Halloween. He did an awesome job trick or treating for the first time. He just went along with the other kids. He was super particular whenever he was given the choice to pick the candy. He'd mull over his options even though he had no idea what any of it tasted like since we've never given him candy. I think he's had some once at daycare but that's it. So once he'd pick his candy he'd put it in his bucket and then pull out either a full size tootsie pop or a shiny three musketeers bar. He always had to have something in that other hand for some reason, he wouldn't even start for the next house unless he had secured a piece of candy in that other hand. The funny thing is he was asking for candy all day long. He finally gets some and doesn't say a word about eating any of it.

Also, the one picture with the fire truck was a total downer. Zach loves cars, trucks etc... He has a couple of fire trucks (one that's taller than him, thank you Grandpa) and gets really excited when he sees big trucks or heavy equipment. Well his daycare provider worked it out so that the Fire Dept. would come out to her house to give a demo of their suits, fire safety and then check out the rig. It was raining, Zach was wired and we went about helping him all wrong. He was upset goes out to the rig gets to sit and is totally jazzed. Problem is, he'd like to stay all day. This was me tearing him away from the fire truck. Good times.

Projects including another Guitar Hero Axe

2009-11-02T09:43:00.003-06:00

So it's taken me months to do since I've had very little "free" time but I think it turned out pretty good. Some obvious mistakes but ones I can ultimately live with. For those of you who are unaware the one on the left is the new one I just made; a replica of Eddie Van Halen's "Frankenstein" guitar and the one on the right is Zakk Wylde's guitar "the grail".

Now I just need time to actually play the game...

The pumpkin was one of two that Heidi, Zach and Grandma and Grandpa picked up. Both were kept inside the house, one rotted (very unpleasant) this one was still good so we had Zach draw a bunch on the backside and then I carved out the frontside. Turned out okay for a super rush job. I think I had twenty minutes to do it start to finish.

Puerco Pibil (how to make your wife cry, yes, it's that good)

2009-10-23T15:48:00.004-05:00

Most who know me, know that I love a good action flick. Couple of years ago Robert Rodriguez made a sequel of sorts to "Desperado" called "Once Upon A Time In Mexico". In the movie starring Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Willem Dafoe, Mickey Rourke and Eva Mendes, Johnny Depp's character has an obsession with a slow roasted pork meal called "Puerco Pibil" and kills any chef who makes it really well. Looked good on screen, but most food does in the movies. What was cool is that when I bought the DVD there was a bonus feature of Robert making said dish. Now not only did it look good, but sounded good. I'm not an avid cook or anything but I've always had a couple signature meals I could make mostly from memory because as a single guy, I always thought it cool to prepare meals for dates (as long as it turned out well). By this time I'm married to my incredibly gorgeous wife and felt like, "hey, don't stop working at wooing her". So I decided to make this meal for us.

Fair warning, it takes a while to prepare and not all of the ingredients are easily accessible, but if you're a guy who doesn't normally cook it makes it all the more impressive. Also it can be pretty expensive the first time out if you don't have all of the equipment needed to prepare the meal already.

You will need a blender, a cooking pan approx. 13x9x2, and a coffee grinder dedicated for the sole purpose of grinding spices. You can use the old one you have and get a new one for the coffee but you'd better do an amazing job cleaning the old one before using for it's new purpose. Again part of what makes this cool, is that it's totally from scratch and fresh as can be. Chicks dig fresh.

Then you'll have to aquire:

5 lbs. of pork butt
5 T Annatto seeds
(any Mexican market should have these, some grocery stores do too, but not many)
2 tsp Cumin
8 Allspice
1/2 tsp Cloves
1 T Black Pepper
(all of your spices should be whole and not pre-ground)
1/2 C Orange Juice
1/2 C Vinegar
5 Lemons
8 Cloves of fresh Garlic
2 Habanero Peppers
2 T Salt
1 T Tequila (get a good tequila, no swill!)

First gather up your annatto, cumin, allspice, cloves, and black pepper. Grind all of these together into a fine dust with your new (or newly cleaned) coffee grinder. This is the base of your annatto paste.

Next, take the 5 lemons, halve them and squeeze over a colander into your blender, getting as much of the juice as possible. This also doubles as a great workout, so make sure you're wearing a headband, legwarmers and rocking out to Olivia Newton-John's "Get Physical". Throwing the lemon rinds in your garbage disposal one at a time is a good idea to help with any wayward smells that might be lurking in there.

Cut your habanero's into fine pieces making sure to remove the veins and seeds, unless of course, you hate yourself, family, friends and co-workers. You can also wear surgical gloves when handling peppers to guard against self-inflicted pain. I made the mistake of going to the bathroom after preparing the peppers (without gloves) and lets just say I was reminded of a certain Jerry Lee Lewis song for the rest of the evening.

Now add the annatto spices, orange juice, vinegar, tequila, habanero's and garlic (I usually add a couple of extra cloves) to the blender and let er rip!

Take your pork butt and cut it into 2 inch squares and dump them into a 1 gallon freezer bag. DO NOT CUT OFF FAT! The fat is crucial for taste and will fall off the meat after it's cooked. Pour annatto paste into bag and mix it up. You can let the meat marinate for an hour or so but I don't recommend much longer as the acid in the lemon can start to "cook" the meat.

Add contents of freezer bag into pan and cover tightly with tinfoil. Make sure your pan is deep enough otherwise the annatto paste will boil over into your oven. Cook at 325 degrees for 4 hours. If you want to get really exotic (and you can find them) line the pan with banana leaves and cover meat with leaves before covering in tin foil. Hope you don't mind the smell of annatto paste in every square inch of your home for the next day.

Remove foil and sprinkle salt over meat (you can add it earlier but it can dry the meat out a little).

Take a head of lettuce and peel whole sections off to use like a bowl, serve white or spanish rice with a side of diced tomato and a dollop of sour cream. Manny's tortilla chips go great with it also. Do a shot of tequila (if your of age) and enjoy!

PS first time I served this to Heidi it was so good she cried. True story.

Lake Carroll

2009-08-24T12:20:00.002-05:00

So Wiena and Barbie hooked us up with a weekend on the lake about a month ago and it was so sweeeet. Others were able to stay a bit longer which was cool. I had a great time just chilling with my family. It's so cool to see how my family loves up on Zach. Had a lot of fun playing with Zach/the nephews. Heidi, Zach and I went to the "beach" a couple of times and had some fun playing in the sand and getting all dirty. I got sand all up in my bits that took a healthy scrubbing to get rid of. Wally made awesome breakfast sandwich's every morning and grilled in the evening. Did a little Jet-skiing while others went out a lot. Zach touched his first fish and he thought it was cool! Mitchell hooked up the bonfire, so we did s'mores and finished the night off with some fireworks (we just watched and they were good ones too, not bottle rockets). Zach was loving the fireworks, yelling out "BOOOOOM!" everytime they went off. I loved it and hope we can do it again, it was awesome! Thanks to everyone who made it such a great weekend.

Baby G's 1st Birthday

2009-08-20T16:42:00.003-05:00

Been way busy but I had forgotten to post these pics with Heidi's side of the family celebrating G's first birthday. Was a great day and look at those pictures of Zach with Grandpa! He loves Grandma and Grandpa a lot but recently has developed a bit of a favor for 'pa, which is bogus since he still likes Heidi a lot more than me. Until now I could just blame it on the fact that he likes girls more...

7th Anniversary!!!

2009-07-14T12:56:00.003-05:00

So we have a lot going on in just a very short time in the Wisniewski house... Zach's birthday, our anniversary, Heidi's birthday and then mine all within a month of each other. This was our 7th anniversary! It's weird to think we've been married that long. I still feel like we're newlyweds. We are fortunate enough to be able to go back to where we were married every year on or around our actual anniversary date. Of course none of those days have been as hot as the day we were wed.

It's cool taking Zach here now that he's so mobile. He was digging it. As you can see by the photos I'm a blessed man...

Zach is 2!!!!!!!!!

2009-07-06T12:34:00.004-05:00

To celebrate we took him to a bar because we are excellent parents! Actually it's a kid friendly place down on campus as long as you're not there in the late hours and who in their right mind would have their 2 year old out that late anyway? So he got to sit at the bar, he was given his free birthday "milk" mug and after dinner he enjoyed a nice sundae. They also announced his birthday over the P.A. and gave him a birthday balloon! All in all, it was a really great time.

Zach is almost 2!!

2009-06-22T23:25:00.011-05:00

Seems crazy to me. So to celebrate how far he's come here is a bunch of recent photos of the most awesome kid ever! These pictures were taken a month or two ago when we were just starting the real yard work (which is never ending and I hate lawns... I want astro-turf). Here Zach can be seen with the toy, that if it ever gets lost we are all doomed, THE BUS! Now known as "old bus" since we bought him a couple of back-ups, tried them out and while they are known as "new bus" they are not nearly as desirable as "old bus". You've been warned!

Video-palooza! and THE CAR quadrilogy!

2009-05-14T12:10:00.006-05:00

Make sure you listen very closely for a special surprise!

Auntie Weina is going to have to take Zach golfing somewhere, oh I know at the place you just bought! ;)

Watch him shred, just like his namesake

What can I say? The boy loves cars, trucks, bus' pretty much anything on wheels he digs as evidenced by his first time behind the wheel at just 23 months!

Patricia Ann Jackson 1941-2009

2009-04-10T02:59:00.003-05:00

My amazing Mother lost her fight with cancer Wednesday at 2:29pm.

I will love and miss you mom, you were the best.

1-12-1941 to 4-8-2009

Here she is March of last year hanging out with Zach.

So where have I been you ask?

2009-02-02T23:41:00.008-06:00

All three of you.

Well, it's been a very long start to the year. I've been a bit secretive about some stuff going on with the family just because I'm not big on making the more serious things public. I've decided to share because it will help explain my lack of bloggin' and honestly might be a bit cathartic for me, so here goes.

Last year my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer in Feb. The months before and after were difficult and trying for my mom. She went through a battery of tests just to discover the cancer and then had chemo/radiation/surgery over the course of the next eight months or so. A year or so before that my mom had pneumonia, which resulted in a great deal of scarring in her right lung. Well, the cancer was in her left. So she had to have two-thirds of the left lung removed. As of November of last year we thought and believed that she was cancer free.

We (and the professionals who get paid to determine these things) were wrong. Mom's voice had become that of someone who bakes cookies in a hollowed out tree and she was having great difficulty breathing. She was due for a check up at the end of January but we all wanted her to get checked sooner. While all of this is going on my sister Lynda is diagnosed with breast cancer a couple weeks before Christmas.

Since then my sister has gone through her surgery and is dealing with the need for chemo/radiation since all 24 lymph-nodes that the doc removed were also cancerous. After having several tests done she's learned that she has arthritis and cysts but no more cancer. So goodish news there. She's doing very well with all of this and has a great attitude most of the time ;) Mom on the other hand discovered a tumor and the docs are sure the cancer has spread to her esophagus (the reason for the voice change). She started another round of chemo 3 weeks ago and had another treatment yesterday. Certainly God can intervene and remove the cancer, but we are preparing for the worst. Mom is currently in need of oxygen at night and has difficulty walking since we believe the tumor may be pressing on nerves.

In the last six weeks I've driven down to Chicago five of them. I'm burnt out emotionally, spiritually and physically. It's been great having all of my siblings and their families come to town, but we all wish it were under better circumstances.

For those who may not know I'm a momma's boy. Big time. My dad died when I was only weeks old. My mom remarried two years later but my step-father didn't really do the whole "dad" thing very well. I know he loves us, but always had other things going on. So it was up to my mom to provide all of the nurturing, guidance, providing, etc. That she did. I also have to give credit to my older siblings (of which there are eight, the oldest being 18 years my senior) for really stepping up and helping mom out with me. From the time I was a baby I was cared for by most of my other siblings in addition to my mom. Whenever he had the opportunity my oldest brother Steve really tried to fill that fatherly void. I think he did a pretty good job, as I still look back on the lessons he taught me. Whether they were verbal or example, many still stick in my mind as defining moments of me becoming a man. My sister's doted on me (and some still do... Teri and Lynda I'm looking at you), my brother Walter has helped me out with all of my cars giving up his time and money to help me out and my brother Larry while at times being the annoying immediate older sibling took time to hang out and play football or whatever with me. To this day my siblings look out for me and my family and I hope I can return the favor in some way.

That said nothing could ever compare to my affection I hold for my mom. She was great at building me up and encouraging me. She was always the proudest of my art and she was the one who would spank me when I got into trouble. She gave me boundaries but always gave me more slack than a lot of my friends had. As a result I never wanted to disappoint her. To this day I don't know that I've lied to my mom, you know, from after the age of seven. She taught me to love God, love others and how to be a servant. She led by example. She wasn't perfect, never claimed to be, but she provided what I needed to grow up to be a good man. I'm far from perfect, but I believe the good qualities I possess in my parenting or work ethic or whatever are direct manifestations of her example.

I'm a bit more emotional than the average guy. Not in the sense that I live in a constant fluctuating state of emotion, but in a very sissy way aware of them. I cry when I watch movies at the exact time that they want you to. I'm not ashamed of loving my mom or my family. I never was embarrassed to give my mom a kiss or hug at school. I always thought "my mom rules, why wouldn't I be proud of loving her or her loving me?" I consider myself fortunate to have grown up being loved in such a powerful way.

My family is a family of kissers. We greet each other with a kiss, it's just how we roll. This was a new thing for Heidi, and even Heidi's mom I think was probably taken back the first time I planted one on her. I know I did it out of sheer reflex, not even thinking "hey not all families kiss each other when they see one another". I just thought this is another member of my family now, I love my family and this is how we show our love.

So right now not knowing how much time we have with mom we're all trying to make the most of it. I would love for it to be years. It pains me to think that Zach could grow up not knowing what it was like to be loved by my mom. It just doesn't seem fair to me. I am having a great deal of difficulty coming to terms with this. Surrendering to God's will, whatever that might be... I'm not there. I want to be, but I feel very far away from that place.

For now, I'm going to do my best to appreciate the time I do have and cherish every second.

I just thought I'd include a bunch of photos from Christmas on...

Use the Force Luke!

2009-01-13T22:21:00.001-06:00

Not really a new blog...

2009-01-12T23:27:00.002-06:00

For some odd reason I can't upload to photobucket right now so I'm just going to post some pictures from blogger until I get it sorted.

Calling You

2008-12-13T23:53:00.002-06:00

The boy and I love you and eagerly await your arrival home.

Pizza and Z

2008-12-13T23:52:00.002-06:00

So Heidi is in Tampa Florida. She and her mom went there on Friday for her Great Uncles memorial service. I'll get to pick her up at Seven PM on Sunday. Z and Me cannot wait. But since we're guys we had to rock some pie.

I am a horrible father...

2008-12-08T23:49:00.000-06:00

Just watch.

Part One

Part Two

Z says Hi to Granny

2008-12-08T23:01:00.002-06:00

The boy loves his Granny.

Me & Z

2008-12-08T21:33:00.002-06:00

I know it's grammatically incorrect but hey, it's what I do. So the boy and I were hanging out and all of a sudden he decided he needed a little snuggle time with the old man. So Heidi broke out the camera and here we are...

Feet I

2008-11-23T00:17:00.001-06:00

Feet II

2008-11-23T00:15:00.001-06:00

Milking it...

2008-11-04T01:10:00.001-06:00

Hi

2008-11-04T01:09:00.001-06:00

Halloween n' stuff

2008-11-04T00:20:00.006-06:00

Last couple weeks have been busy but I think we're going to be able to settle a bit before the holidays arrive. Two weeks ago I was able to go see my family in Chicago. My mom is back in Tennessee and my brother Larry came into town for a couple weeks to make some contacts with skate shops in the midwest. Also I was the best man in my buddy Bryon Spaeth's wedding. Drove down to Indy with another good friend who was in my wedding, thanks for your mad navigation skills Dave. Anyway it was a great time road trippin' but man it was a slammed weekend. Drove down Friday mid-day did lots of pre-wedding stuff/rehearsal and having a beer with the groom that night talking through stuff. Also picked up another friend (also named Dave) from the airport at 1.30 in the am. Got to bed at 2.20 and had to wake up around 7.30. Bryon was married to Allison by 12.45 that day. All went well and the Dave's and I were back on the road by 5-ish.

Also had my bro come up to Madison and did some sales calls to the three skate shops here in town. It was really great hanging with Larry and seeing him do his thing. Someday I hope to be the midwest rep for Guy Skinny.

Now onto what you all come here for. Pictures of my son.

Appropriate image for Halloween I think...

Heidi wanted me to artsy fartsy, but it's really hard to do with a point and shoot camera. Actually it's not hard to do, it's near impossible, especially when I'm not gifted in that particular area.

Mom loves the costume. The one wearing it, not so much.

Shouldn't I be a bull?

Moo.

The Boy and I

2008-10-24T00:15:00.004-05:00

So I'm pretty busy with some stuff, so I figured I'd just put up a photo parade of the boy and I. I love being a dad even though I'm not as natural a caregiver as Heidi, I like to think I bring some positive qualities to the table.

Zakk: Guitar Hero!

2008-10-10T20:43:00.001-05:00

GH pt.2

2008-10-10T20:42:00.001-05:00

GH pt.3

2008-10-10T20:40:00.001-05:00

Chair flavored kisses

2008-10-02T01:42:00.001-05:00

Laughter is good for the soul.

2008-10-02T01:18:00.001-05:00

Stretch

2008-10-02T01:17:00.001-05:00

Been a long, lonely lonely lonely time.

2008-09-15T20:14:00.006-05:00

Yeah, not a big fan of the Led but it fits here...

So things have been a little busy for us. Heidi is back to school, mentoring another teacher and getting used to a new math curriculum and being away from her "little z" all day. I've been working, selling my childhood on ebay, and taking care of z more since Heidi has had to spend a pretty good deal of time at work getting her class ready and getting the new teacher ready. Last weekend we went to Chicago for one day (pitch black and raining both ways) where it rained steadily all day. My sisters front yard was flooded and so were a lot of the roads. Thankfully the RX300 handles all that like a champ.

We were able to hang with Mom, Sharon, Mitch, Aaron, Luke, Teri, Lynda, Barb and my sister Deb who flew in from LA. We don't get to see her often so that was cool. Not only that but she is my birthday twin. We were born on the same exact day 16 years apart. I've always told her I'm the best sweet sixteen gift anyone can get. I'm the gift that keeps on giving. It was great hanging out and talking, staying up way too late (I crashed out at 3 and I'm pretty sure we kept mom up way too late as well).

Despite the crummy weather we had fun. It's crazy with my family we can have a blast just hanging out with one another. We rarely "do" anything besides eat and hang out but we always have a good time.

GS My brothers back from his big show and things went well, still looking forward to getting some of my own gear, even though I'm not "hardcore".

Here's a little video of z appreciating a cool drink of H20...

And here he shows off... oh and that last part is in reference to Lissa's birthday wishes

And some pics...

Hollaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!

Gimme that!

Mom never wants the PDF's to go away...

This thing would fit my giant head if Dad's head wasn't so big.

It was a long day...

The progression of the first day back to school/day care.

Okay, not that I want any gawking, but seriously my wife is hot or very pretty for those whom might find the previous description "offensive". I can only imagine the inappropriate things Michael Scott would say to her. (The Office starts back up on the 25th boo-yaaaa)

He really does love daycare...

honest.

Oh yeah, and I just learned that he's doing sign language at daycare but not for us. We need to work on that more at home. Little stinker.

Walk the Walk

2008-08-15T00:58:00.002-05:00

So very cool stuff has been happening lately...

Lynda and Barb treated myself and Heidi to a picnic/concert of the BoDeans last week at the Ravinia. We also went with Mitch and Sharon so a good time was had hanging out and listening to music. The conversation only veered into politics once and I finally shut my yap so we could just enjoy the evening. Thanks again everyone, it was fun.

My brother Larry has started a Skateboard clothing company called guy skinny. Check him out at guyskinny.com He's busting his hump to make a go of it and I think he's got what it takes to make it happen. Hopefully I'll be doing some art for them as well for their line of t-shirts.

Now something very coooooool.

This went on for ten minutes and I loved every minute of it as you can probably tell. Also that's They Might Be Giants: Here Come the 1,2,3's DVD on the TV.

Here we have a little something extra in the basket... and I don't mean the little boy...

I am Geek, hear me geek out over geeky stuff.

2008-08-06T00:33:00.004-05:00

Okay so I saw the Toadies on Thursday night and they Rocked My Face Off! What an intense show. Glad I was able to hit at least one concert this summer that I really wanted to see. Never had a chance to see them in their day, and now after 8 years they're back together and on tour. I went with Eric Schwebach and Jason Salas, a good time was had by all. New album drops on the 19th, looking very forward to it.

Movies I've peeped this summer...

Iron Man, near perfect comicbook action/adventure film

The Dark Knight, near perfect comicbook crime/drama film

Get Smart, funny movie, perhaps a little heavy on the "action" for a comedy but I'll forgive it since it was still fun.

Wall-E, I love almost anything from Pixar. And while this movie is toward the bottom of my favorite Pixar flicks it's still an amazingly good movie. The animation is as always a joy to behold but there were live-action inserts that were just horrid and had no place in the film.

Comicbooks I'm digging this summer are Garth Ennis' Punisher, Ex Machina, Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam, Secret Invasion, Invincible and Walking Dead.

Also Teri and Mom were kind enough to buy Guitar Hero Aerosmith for me for my birthday. It was a great gift since I've never owned any of the GH games and Aerosmith is one of my favorite bands. Despite them being a favorite band of mine Zakk Wylde is my favorite guitarist. In fact many of you know that I wanted to spell Zach's name ZAKK. Well Zakk has played a guitar with a black and pearl bullseye on it that he refers to as "The Grail". He doesn't tour with the original anymore but he has his own signature series modeled after it and has other ones with varying colors, black and silver, red and yellow, black and camo. All very cool but the original black and pearl is where it's at.

Here's Zakk shredding on the black and pearl.

Here's my GH controller customized by me. I know, I'm sooooooo cool. Just ask the kids, I'm hip, I'm down...

Back of the headstock

Top side of the neck has a saying I came up with meant to be a joke, but I love it cause I worked in the name of my favorite painter. If you can't read it for some reason it says "You can call me Norman, 'cause I Rockwell" c'mon admit it, that's pretty good.

Something witty and clever goes here to grab your attention.

2008-08-05T23:34:00.003-05:00

So got a little update here, got some pics of Zach with his new cousin Giada and some others of him on a "playdate" and other random cool stuff.

Things are pretty busy right now between stuff going on in the Men's Ministry in the Church, Heidi taking a class this week and this weekend going to see the BoDeans, but before we see them, I'll be doing some side work while Heidi chills in the Herrero pool. She earned it though, taking an entire class in one week is no small feat. But that's Heidi for you, amazing.

On to the photo parade, you lucky ducks...

Here he is with his cousin

Shhhhh.... there's no need for words my love.

I am man I eat good

Looks like he's trying to rip one but he's just inherited his Daddy's nonsensical ways of sleeping whilst throwing one's legs in whichever direction strikes our fancy

He loves to splash

Hello ladies, you can call me Super-handsome-man. Stare into my superduper deep blue eyes... that's right, my powers involve being adorable

You can now see Dr. Horrible all together

2008-07-30T16:46:00.007-05:00

This is an official spot to see Dr. Horrible in all it's glory. Joss Whedon approved!
Check it out kids! (although it's not really for kids, that's just an expression)

www.hulu.com/watch/28343/dr-horribles-sing-along-blog

Sorry my linky thingy no worky...

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

2008-07-18T15:34:00.001-05:00

If you like laughing and have a little time to kill check out drhorrible.com

Joss (Firefly/Serenity) Whedon directs and stars How I Met Your Mother's Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan (Firefly/Serenity/Desperate Housewives) Fillion and Felicia Day (whom I think was on Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but I never watched that show).

It's really funny and only on the web until Sunday Act one and two are now live and three goes live tomorrow and then it all goes bye bye unless you get it from Itunes for six bucks or wait for a DVD release. I'm waiting for the DVD myself.

Each act is approx. 15 minutes long and includes lots of funny stuff.

Check it out.

Zach's first birthday, a newborn, 6 Year Anniversary and more!

2008-07-04T12:23:00.008-05:00

Okay so the last month has been jam packed with goings on of the family variety.

Heidi's sister Jen had her first child Giada Morgan Grell. Yes for those in the comicbook know she's married to Travis, Mike Grell's nephew. She's a beautiful little girl with the most awesome chipmunk cheeks. I see much squeezing in the poor kids future. She was a hefty 9 pounds 12 ounces (same as me!) and 21 inches tall. We spent a day up in Green Bay a couple of weeks ago right after she was born and then Heidi went up herself the next week to help while I chilled at home with Z.

The rewiring of the house is pluggin' along, I've started to rework Z's fort in the backyard and our neighbor Kay was super cool and helped us totally redo the landscaping in front of the house. An amazing improvement. So lot's of house stuff going as always.

Next up was Z's birthday. I cannot believe it's been a year. Pretty much the entire reason I started this blog was to keep everyone in the loop on how he's doing. He's walking around like crazy (with assistance of course) and with Heidi staying at home with him for the summer becoming a bit of a Momma's boy. He's in for a rude awakening come September. Anywho, he's got eight teeth showing now and more on the way, eating lots of different foods and all the other stuff regular toddlers do. Now onto the birthday celebration! Heidi's Mom and Dad came by for the festivities and boy was Zach a happy dude. He got cake and ice cream for the first time. He kept eating all the while looking at us like he's worried that he's going to get into trouble.

Then we head down that night to Chicago for the Comicon and to see my Mom who's back in town. I hit the Con Friday with Cody and Saturday with Cody and Aaron. Fun was had. Sunday was Zach's first time in the pool. While the pictures don't really tell the story he was loving it and did a lot of splashing, which he now does in the bathtub.

So Monday was Heidi and I's 6th Anniversary! It was a great day, especially since I got off work early as a surprise. But both of us totally spaced our tradition of going to the Allen Gardens (see July of last year) where we got married (this kid is a major distraction from Heidi and I trying to live our lives). So we went the next day and it was gorgeous out. We walked around with Zach and a nice gal took our picture while her friend tried to get Zach to look at the camera. It was a nice night. I also got to hang with my man Eric who is in town from Florida so that was cool too.

We're heading back down to Chi-town this weekend for a little bit as well.

Later.

Joe, Zach, and Addy

Someone's got a crush.

BIG UPDATE COMING SOON!

2008-07-04T11:16:00.003-05:00

Here's a little teaser...

Maxin' n Relaxin'

2008-06-11T21:45:00.001-05:00

The Great Outdoors

2008-06-03T22:58:00.005-05:00

Well our dear boy loves the outdoors. Whenever he's outside he's generally excited or contented. Either way I'm glad it's nice out and we can spend some time outdoors. I took the boy for a walk last night which is always cool because he just digs it so much.

Here's the boy enjoying the backyard.

No he's not pooping...

In the background you can see the playhouse that I'll be remodeling over the course of the summer. By next summer he'll be able to play in it a little more.

A few misc. shots...

A friend remembered...

The living room that almost killed me

2008-06-03T22:57:00.001-05:00

Memorial Day

2008-05-26T11:04:00.002-05:00

This is always a bit of a rough one for me personally. For whatever reason growing up I've always had a great deal of respect for our men and women who serve in our Armed Forces. I don't know if it was from the movies I watched or the history books I read but there was always a sense of these people were special in a way nobody else could be. Volunteering to put yourself in harms way for the betterment of people you'll never know. Sure many do it feeling as if they are serving their families but knowing many serve just because they feel it's the right thing to do. Obviously not all who serve have the purest of motivations but I don't believe that to be a large percentage.

I had a very good friend who felt this duty to his Family and his Country. Part of why I was initially drawn to him as a friend was because of his service. He was a Marine. Marines have a reputation for being the baddest of the bad and the toughest of the tough. Marines only respected other Marines with the rare exception of a Seal or a Ranger. He was a really nice guy. He loved children (especially his own boy) and was a fiercely loyal friend to me. He didn't let many into his world but once you were in, it was like being in the Mafia. The guy would do anything for me and he did so not only for me but for the others he was close to.

He got the call to Iraq in 2004. He left for training in June and was in Iraq by September if I'm recalling correctly. I received a few letters from him, always sure to try and get me to laugh. In November the Incredibles came out. We went to see it with his son opening night. Several days later he was out on patrol and his Humvee was hit by an IED. He was thrown from the vehicle as was another Marine, the other three died instantly.

What followed the next year was a very painful time in many people's lives. He had a severe brain injury, he looked (for the most part) fine. But he wasn't. He died in August of 2005. I've cried a lot over loosing my friend. When I watch a war movie, or see a story on the news about our fighting men and women it's with a different perspective or lens that I see it through. It's from a perspective of personal loss. But I don't avoid those movies or stories. I still seek them out. It helps me to remember what I've lost both as a friend and as an American. It reminds me of how blessed I am to have people who are out there putting themselves in harm's way for me and they don't even know who I am or if I'm worth the risk. Prayerfully I live my life in a worthy manner of their sacrifice. Prayerfully we all do.

I love you buddy, I always will.

Brian

Video FUN!!!!

2008-05-21T21:55:00.004-05:00

Look for the thumbs up midway through this clip...

Get a haircut HIPPIE!

2008-05-21T20:11:00.003-05:00

Yeah, some say you're supposed to wait a year but seriously this kids hair was outta control. Heidi took him for his first haircut yesterday. He did amazingly well. The hair cutter lady said he's best kid she's ever dealt with. I guess he was chilly chill the whole time just checking everything out. Clippers didn't phase him either. This kid is a ROCK!

So anyway now he looks even studlier than ever and will have an even more difficult time organizing his social calender with the ladies.

Hellooooo ladies!!!

Long time, no blog...

2008-05-13T19:58:00.004-05:00

Yes, my dear viewers it has been a long long time. There has been a lot of good and some challenging things come our way.

Crazy stuff, like Zach having to get a CAT scan (a three hour process to get a five minute picture) which revealed he's perfectly fine, just chalk up his off the charts cranium to his Daddy and all those brains he's carrying.

Painting the addition which took me a full week, then our dryer died at a very in-opportune time. I was able to fix it with almost 200 dollars in parts later (replaced the casters that the drum rolls on and the motor itself, which had essentially seized). The dryer was relatively easy to figure out. I'm up a creek though if the washer decides to go the way of the dinosaur.

Heidi is excited for school to be over. She gets to spend all summer with Little Z, save the couple of days she'll be taking a class that she's wanted to take for a while now.

We've been spending a lot of weekends in Chicago. Most of you know why. All things considered it's going very well on that front. Hoping to get the whole family together for the summer again if possible. I love getting time with my family. While a lot of families would have to occupy themselves with activities and whatnot to keep things interesting all we have to do is be in the same room with some food and we're good to go for a week. It's honestly one of my favorite things in the world to do. Just hang and talk with my blood.

Hopefully we'll get some more regular updates in the future. The last two months have just been crazy.

List of crazy things...

Cost of gas

Zach is almost eleven months, and now claps, waves, and numerous other things that make us think he totally understands us

I can finally wear shorts most days (thank you Lord)

Barenaked Ladies new kid's album SNACKTIME rocks

Toadies have a new album dropping in August (after another ridiculous seven year wait, but it'll be worth it)

How little sleep I've gotten in the last month, seriously I should be dead

Barenaked Ladies!

2008-03-19T22:45:00.004-05:00

No, not those... the BAND from Canada. In the great tradition that They Might Be Giants started with NO!, Here Come the ABC's, and their latest release Here Come the 123's, Barenaked Ladies are releasing their own kid's album called SNACKTIME. They are also having a contest for promo art. The winner gets a signed CD and some other cool stuff. Rest assured I will not be that person, but it was a fun exercise even though the execution left much to be desired. Not only that but I've seen Oliver Wade's brilliant take and Kelly Light's as well (you can find her blog on the links to the right). And who knows how many other creative minds have done their thing...

And for those missing some Zach updates I'll get to it, I still haven't uploaded the video yet. Also he's been sick and needing his nebulizer treatments, which he's actually gotten used to and doesn't cry and freak out like he used to. Thank the Lord for BIG favors.

Later y'all.

Little Art Update

2008-03-06T23:59:00.003-06:00

Here's the inked version of the drawing I posted back in December. I'm not a good inker at all but when you don't have anyone else to do it this is what you get. Again this is for a book called the Long Count that a friend of mine letters. Hopefully this will show up as a pinup in a future issue as long as we can get someone to properly color it.

The FLU and being camera shy

2008-03-06T00:36:00.003-06:00

So Zach has two teeth now and I believe is working on a third, but from the top side this time. Heidi had the flu last week. That stunk for her and for Zach since she couldn't hug him and love him. She was making me kiss him for her. It was sweet but sad too. There were a couple times she walked by and he just started crying because she wouldn't pick him up. It is a mighty bond they have.

Here's some video of Zach talking it up. The beginning one is me hiding the camera until he's looking away from me to sneak it in. He's way camera shy. He'll be doing something I think is really cool or funny, I grab the camera to film it and he clams up. Weird.

ZACH ATTACK!

2008-02-21T00:32:00.002-06:00

Hey everyone,

An uber-talented artist I've known for a while did up this awesome "cartoon" Zach as an exercise. I've got a link to his blog to the right side of your screen. May I introduce to you all the amazing MIKE TISSERAND! Keep in mind he's in-between places right now and drew this on his lap! ON HIS LAP (I'm having a bit of an inferiority complex right now, but I'll get over it... promise)! Check his blog for other very cool stuff.

We now interrupt our regularly scheduled program...

2008-02-14T00:06:00.002-06:00

Zach blows some kisses at the end, it's just that his hand is in his mouth so it's hard to tell...

Video fun!

2008-02-10T15:27:00.001-06:00

Weather outside is Frightful

2008-02-06T22:13:00.000-06:00

Well before we get to that I have to show you my boy in all of his standing glory. Of course at seven months he has to do it leaned up against a chair back, but hey he kept himself there. Besides he's cute so no matter what he's doing it's worth showing you pictures.

And some video for fun!

On to the weather. We had some freaky weather happening across our fruited plains these last couple of days. Mom's area was hit with some nasty tornadoes that killed a bunch of people in the south. I talked to her today for any that might be worried and she's just fine. She said the sky turned black and was pretty freaky but her and Tristan just cuddled up while she prayed and assured T-dog all would be well. He fell asleep at six in her arms and was out for the night. To any fool who may have doubted there's just more proof that my Mom RULES!

Alllrightythen, onto what's up here in the Land of Cheese and Beer. We got walloped with a huge snowstorm. Biggest this area has seen in my almost eleven years here. We received a bounty of snow from our Lord averaging around eleven inches in the Madison area. I have photos and video to prove the madness. It took me around an hour to clear the drive WITH my Toro. But the job is done and I should be able to get my car out of the driveway tomorrow. Heidi and Zach stayed home for a snow day together so I took the Lexus to work. Which is good because my car would not have made it.

That's all folks!

"I'm too sexy for tummy time"

2008-01-25T22:39:00.000-06:00

Yep our fair boy Zach is seven months old. He sits up on his own like a perfect gentleman, has gotten his first tooth to break through with another following shortly and still freaks like we're dropping him off at the orphanage when we put him on his tummy.

It's been a rough January. Between Zach being sick, Heidi and I getting sick (don't eat at Chipotle people), doctors visits, missed work, trying to make up work, clearing the drive of snow every other freakin' day, getting Zach's pictures taken, then sending them to my Mom with what little "free" time I have, getting a message from said Mom scolding me for not sending a note with the pictures (my Mom loves notes) and work being unpleasant, I've about had it.

Not really, I'm an eternal optimist (even with our government) but it does tend to wear on a fella. I'll be leaving tomorrow to have my saint of a brother fix my cars' many woes (brought on by our insane winter and all that, that implies). Trying to get back in time for some time with Heidi and Little Z, hoping there won't be more snow on the driveway needing to be cleared. Although thank the Lord for big favors... that little Toro I've got rocks the Casbah.

Other highlights:

Packers lost, and seriously, on the NEWS, they have therapists telling Packer fans how to deal with their DEPRESSION! Can you imagine that kind of nonsense on the Chicago news after the Bears lost the SuperBowl? You lose a leg, or a relative, or a car? Okay be depressed. Your sports team loses a game? Get over it and yourself.

Went to see I Am Legend on a rare treat of having a night with the wife. BIG MISTAKE. I think it's a great movie but not one for a date night, especially when they are in short supply. Guys, make sure when trying to encourage your wife that you don't take her to a movie that makes her want to jump off a bridge. On a side note it was at the IMAX and we saw the five minute Dark Knight teaser which got me super pumped for that movie and then BAM Ledger is dead. Probably won't take Heidi to see that one.

Our church may be getting a new, more acomdating facility to meet in (YEAH) but we still have to meet at night (not so yeah).

Thass all for now!

To all 3 of you who check my blog, my apologies...

2008-01-08T21:52:00.001-06:00

Hello folks. It's been a while I know but I have a good reason, several actually... most of them involve laziness so I won't bother you with the details.

Rather last minute like Heidi and I decided to join some of my family in Arizona for Christmas. The travel down to Midway was scary to say the least. We saw around twenty cars/trucks in the ditch. Heavy blowing winds and very icy roads made getting to Chicago an adventure in and of itself. Mercifully once we got into Illinois the roads were much better and the winds not as severe.

Traveling with a six month old is not something I'd recommend. Yes it was worth it in the long run but if you thought flying was a pain already it only gets worse. On the way back from Arizona we had a run in with security and ended up having to wait more than 2 hours just to get on the plane since Midway was restricting landings due to wind and ice conditions. Zach was amazing on the flights, not a peep out of him even when the plane was swinging left to right and the wing tips were tilting up and down during our landing he was totally chill. After we landed the pilot gets on the P.A. and assuringly announces "Whew, we made it!". Not what I want to hear considering I'm going to fly again someday and may experience weather like that again!

Our time in Arizona was fun. We were able to hang with my brother Steve's family and my sister Debbie's fam as well. Everyone loved Zach and he was pretty good while we were there, save the last day when he started getting sick. Sunny days will throw you off when you're coming from two feet of snow to sixty five degree weather. It was excellent walking around in a t-shirt shorts and sandals, while everyone else is talking about how "cold" it is.

Christmas was fun watching all the kids tear into their stuff. It's been a long time since I've been able to experience that and it made me look forward to the time when Zach and his future younger sibling(s) will be able to do that. Besides all the cool stuff he gets will probably have to be put together first and I'm ace at that! Tom and Deb's kids got a wii. Bowling is a lot of fun. So much so that after the kids went to bed the adults would stay up to play. The bummer is that Deb and Steve both got pretty sick and had to miss out on some family time which stinks. Steve and Karen are excellent hosts and made us feel welcomed and loved. It was a great time to be with the family.

Peep some video I shot of Christmas morning...

After we got home we had a day or two to try and recoup, with Zach being sick that wasn't very easy. Heidi's family came for our Christmas celebration with them and that was cool. We had her parents and her sister and brother in-law stay the night. Got up the next morning and did the gift exchange. We are very fortunate to have such generous families. We were given much more than we should have and Zach made out pretty well to. We took Zach to the doctor late last week and he had to put him on Prednesone and we had to do 3 nebulizer treatments a day for a week. It is miserable administering this stuff to your kid. He's doing a little better now but is still having a hard time getting a good nights rest (and so are we).

Since the third it's been back to work for both of us as we try to figure out how to manage our time better. Heidi and I still have need for alone time, time together, time with friends, etc. Certainly neither one of us has ever been terribly selfish with our time with exception to our time with each other. But there's just such a steep learning curve with parenting you tend to unintentionally neglect each other's needs in favor of your new child's. Hopefully this is something we can look to friend's and family for advice and grow in this area of our marriage.

Saturday we had some pictures taken of Zach that I'll hopefully have some examples of here in the next week or so.

Monday Heidi took Zach in for his six month check up and we now have the okay to go ahead and torture our son with pureed vegetables. Here's a three part video series to see just how that went for the very first time...

I'll have more video and pictures to share later.

New drawering (updated with some tweaking)

2007-12-19T01:32:00.000-06:00

This is the main character from a book called The Long Count that a friend of mine Josh is lettering... it comes out today.

*UPDATE I talked with the writer of the series today and he said if the finished product looks as good he'll use it as a pinup in a future issue. Here's hoping I don't ruin it in the inking process.

Zach is a super star dancer!

2007-12-13T20:32:00.000-06:00

Try the link... it takes a minute but it's awesome!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1376998587

Santa poops his pants

2007-12-10T20:18:00.001-06:00

Bet you didn't know that!

Here's a few outtakes from out photo session that we did tonight...

Here's a wink for the ladies...

Disturbing Flexibility!!!

2007-12-08T00:06:00.001-06:00

Zach has discovered his feet and he has decided they are good, not only are they good but they're probably great to put in one's mouth... ...let's see if he can do it shall we?

Could you imagine being that flexible your entire life?

Shot of the Christmas tree in daylight, it's really cool at night. Although I've already informed Heidi that next year is the last for white lights. My child will not grow up in a household not knowing the pure joy of colored lights!

I love his expression in this one.

Turkey Genocide Day recap and more!

2007-12-03T08:10:00.000-06:00

Here's a few pics of us getting together Friday night after T-Day. This is just a very small portion of my family.

Zach crashed out on the couch.

Aaron, Tristan and myself rock some Guitar Hero III. Granted I haven't played in almost a year but I got smoked by Aaron on Bulls on Parade and Cult of Personality. Otherwise I'm pretty disappointed with the song selection on this one.

Say hello to my little friend.

Check out Scarface below. Heidi had just got done cutting/filing/peeling his nails walks out of the room for a few minutes comes back in and BAM huge scrape on his face. It's like he did it on purpose I tell ya!

Well T-Day and the whole weekend was up and down. We got to see Mom, Gail, Tristan and Darius which was a treat since they made the long haul up from Tennessee. Unfortunately Zach was still stuffy and was completely overwhelmed at any house where my family was present. He cried almost the entire time at my brother Walters and cried a lot at my sister Sharon's. The only place where he wasn't being audibly assaulted was my sister Lynda's where we stayed. Thankfully he did get good rest there despite having such a hard time breathing. I spent most of the day Friday working and plan to go back this next weekend for a lot more. But I'm sick right now. So we'll see how that shakes out.

We have our tree up and decorated. Heidi still has a little more decor to toss up around the homestead but otherwise we're fairly squared away. I don't hang lights outside yet. I think it's very hard to pull it off without looking tacky. I figure when Zach's a little older I'll probably start doing it.

We had some cruddy weather and got four or five inches of snow which turned into freezing rain. So my driveway is a snowed in ice rink. Granted this happens only about once a year but it's a major pain when it does. I was too sick to keep up with the shoveling and now our only saving grace is the ALL WHEEL DRIVE Lexus. Heidi can zip in and out of the drive with no worries. So with having so much driveway and only one little ol' me to shovel I got fed up. Heidi didn't want me having a heart attack either so I went and got myself a 6.5HP Toro snow thrower with a 21 inch clearing path *grunts* And we're supposed to get more snow tonight so at least that can be cleared without too much effort.

Green Christmas

2007-12-03T08:09:00.001-06:00

6 things you may not know about me.

2007-11-13T17:05:00.000-06:00

I got this idea from my buddy Matt's blog. The idea here is to drop some knowledge on the unsuspecting blog reader (and that reader is you Teri) that they may not know. Since mostly family checks this out I doubt much will be new but what the heck why not?

1). I have never caused an accident or been in an accident in a car someone else is driving. But I have recieved 3 speeding tickets in my 14 years of driving.

2). I played Magic: The Gathering when I was in High School with my friends Matt, Shane and Rich. I still play every once in a while with my very cool nephews Al, Aaron and Cody.

3).I have a congenitally small esophagus. Which means I have a narrowing in my throat, so if you could see it, it would look similar to an hourglass. As a result I cannot swallow pills without the aid of copious amounts of liquid refreshment to aid me in the process. Also, I have to chew my steak really well, like momma always said to.

4). I cry like a little girl. I really do. Movies and TV shows can really push the leaky eye button for me. It's pathetic I know. I used to have a job working on cars in a garage, I'm a big guy, I like cars and tools, and building things. But I'm sensitive like a baby's rash. War movies make me cry the most. The sacrafice just gets to me, and any movie where the father/son relationship is explored well. This does not include the annoying beyond all reason dad from Finding Nemo however. Scrubs has made me cry on more than one occasion. I know, I'm shamed.

5). I still like toys and would play with them if it were not so socially inappropriate. Besides a lot of toys are cooler than they were when I was a kid.

6). Ever since I was 13 I wanted to be married. I had to wait 12 long years but it was worth waiting every minute. I mean c'mon, you've see the pictures of her and look at Zach, that's a good lookin' kid. Besides she thinks my nonsense is funny and she loves me for it. What more do you want?

Halloween and Failure as a Father

2007-11-04T23:47:00.000-06:00

So Halloween has come and gone and thankfully nothing was done to our cars or home (we've had smashed jack o' lanterns before). Then again we didn't put any pumpkins out to be the target of teenage shenanigans this year. I think I may have dodged a bullet by recognizing a couple of teenagers with makeup to look like the Insane Clown Posse. When they came to the door I simply asked "What's up ICP?" and let them grab a handful of loot. I'd like to say that I in no way endorse or support ICP because I think they're a ridiculous band that makes bathing in elephant stool look like a reasonable alternative to having to listen to the audio pollution that is their "music".

That having been said my kid was on a tour de force of costumes that night. First he had to dress up as a Jack O Lantern which he seemed none to pleased with, then it was onto the Lion. The Lion didn't seem to annoy him like the pumpkin did. Besides we got to work on his roar as you can tell from the video. He also had a short stint as one of Britney Spears' kid's but Heidi won't let me post that picture.

Now onto my failings as a father... Zach has been really stuffed up lately and having a hard go of it. Trouble sleeping, being content, etc. Not only that but now he's teething which makes for lots and lots of smiles and abundant joy. Or not. So he can't sleep, fights it when he is sleepy, and cries a lot. Unless you're his Mommy. Mommy can spend a couple minutes with him and he'll peace out. Daddy can spend hours with him doing the same exact stuff Mommy does with the only result being more intense crying. Thankfully he sleeps through the night, it's my one saving grace. Heidi sometimes expresses frustration that she can't make him laugh as hard as I can. Let me tell you the greater gift is being able to make him laugh sometimes but being able to comfort him ALL the time. Heidi is amazing and my son already recognizes her superiority as a human being. She is nigh perfect and I understand his reasoning but it doesn't make it any easier during those times of seemingly unending crying. I'll make it through. Besides someday we'll be playing Star Wars Legos and his smile will make me forget he ever cried.

Threw in a couple of bonus pics of nigh perfect in action soothing the savage beast that is THE ZACHHAMMER!

Photorama and a crying family.

2007-10-29T09:11:00.001-05:00

Well, it was a drama filled weekend. Zach has a bit of a cold, stuffy can't sleep on his back for more than ten minutes and therefore not sleeping much and eating more. Poor kid. Also there was a finger nail cutting incident that ended in a lot of crying and not just from Zach. He's fine of course and already has forgotten about it for the rest of his life. Whereas the parent who slipped will likely remember forever.

So one batch of pics was taken by Heidi and I, the next with all of us a family was a good friend of ours Lisa (also a Scrubs and Office fan... I'm feeding her addiction by loaning her our DVD's).

Here's Lisa's pictures.

Blog I hath forsaken thee.

2007-10-25T00:39:00.001-05:00

I haven't done it intentionally, my hard drive crashed about a month ago and it was still under warranty so I had a friend recover what he could and sent it out for replacement. That took a while. But we're back up and running and I've got lots of cool new pictures to share but not the time at the moment so I will leave you with some recent footage of the boy.

He's cracking up at me making a fool of myself. One of the greatest joys as a Dad I have experienced is finding new ways to make my kid smile or laugh.

More updates soon, scouts honor...

Hammin' it up for the camera.

2007-09-12T22:39:00.001-05:00

Video of Zach and some other stuff

2007-09-12T00:03:00.000-05:00

Ahhh dear blog how I've missed you. Y'know it gets harder to do these things after the initial influx of ideas. Thank the Lord for my son's health and growth to keep you all entertained. I've got some awesome video of the boy going to town although he's asleep. It's about a minute and a half long so dial up users beware. It is however endlessly funny and worth the wait. I've also got a few random pictures to toss up here as well.

After a nice relaxing bath... ahhhhh the Wisniewski spa in full effect.

Love this hair, I'm determined to give Zach a mo-hawk at some point in his early youth!

Man, Rupert is fitting in with this family just fine and Zach doesn't seem to mind.

I just have to say a word about the upcoming TV season. Heidi and I are not big TV watchers, we don't have cable or dish or anything else. Just HDTV through a regular antenna so we get local channels and about five PBS channels (which is an indication that I'm getting old when I think it's awesome to have more than one PBS to choose from, although I avoid their "news" like the plague). Heidi and I do have a few must watch shows though. Among them is Scrubs (on it's 7th and last season) and The Office.

Now let me inform you all that Heidi and I together have exquisite taste in programming. We watched The Office from when it first came on the air and we even checked out the British Office before most knew it existed. In a way we feel like we were the pilgrims landing on the scant sitcom shore, we discovered it and it is now ours, and we don't care who was here before us. We rarely buy DVD's of TV shows but we make an exception for The Office and Scrubs. So we lent The Office DVD's to our friend Regina and at first she didn't care for them. We were astonished and rebuked her right away (seeing as we have the same sort of warped sense of humor). We strongly suggested she reconsider giving them back until she had a chance to view them in the right state of mind. Of course upon second viewing she was coerced into seeing the pure brilliance that is this show. Since then we have noticed the show rise in popularity and we have turned others onto it. So Heidi and I take all the credit for the shows' popularity seeing as everyone who's anyone comes to us for their pop-culture advice. We have in fact started the "Pop-culture Party Planning Committee" of which we are the only two members because I said so.

So we're slowly making our way through the newly released Season 3 in anticipation of Season 4's premiere in just two short weeks. Season 3 is even more brilliant, funny, and completely uncomfortable than the previous 2 and I highly recommend... nay, order you to check it out if you're not already.

You must be so happy to see the end...

"That's what she said!"

360 degree tour of my workspace.

2007-08-30T22:44:00.000-05:00

What you're about to see is more than likely INCREDIBLY boring to you and you might even be AMAZED by how little you could care, but here it is...

We had to turn our computer room into Zach's room several months ago so the comp had to go into my workspace which meant total overhaul and organization was needed to make that happen.

The sweet computer desk was generously given to us by Tony and Brenda.

My comicbook boxes used to be stacked two high six rows wide. That needed to be rectified so I got these "drawers" from BCW and just put them in there. And they slide out real nice, I can't recommend them enough if you have the same passion (IE addiction) to comicbooks like I do.

This is what it used to look like!!!!

This wall is red because I intend to someday hang up all of my original art here with some nice black frames, which Heidi and I thought would be cool.

I spend a lot of time at this table. The cool thing is at least I'm home when working my "second job". Not only that but Heidi has been an amazing help to me while illustrating the kids magazine. I've gone to her for advice in page layout, story ideas, color choices, and more. She has such good instincts, I'm continually reminded how blessed I am to have her when I just don't know where to go with something. She has her MASTER'S as a READING SPECIALIST and she's been teaching 2nd grade for seven years. Who else could I possibly trust more with this stuff?

Just so I can try to remain consistent from page to page I sometimes hang up the artwork of finished pages while I'm progressing through the story.

So yeah, I'm gonna do a whole blog on Star Wars Legos someday... stay tuned.

That's it, I hope you liked it.

Laid Back Wit Ma Mind On Ma Money And My Money On My Mind

2007-08-28T22:21:00.000-05:00

Yup, that's Snoop D O Double Geezy fo Sheezy on tha reel yo.

Sorry, I knew a kid who was white as white can be in High School yet knew every word to that song. So today was another one of those terrible days where you have no choice but to inflict pain upon your offspring. Sure every parent has to do it but today was Zach's 2 month check up and he had to get his vaccination shots. Two in one leg and one in another. Heidi went alone since I was working but obviously he didn't like it and although over all he handled it like a champ, he's still been a bit fussy and Heidi was mentally done. Seeing your child in pain no matter how necessary it is, is one of the worst possible things a parent can feel.

We'll have to take him back again for the same shots in a few months so that's something neither one of us are looking forward too.

On a brighter and bigger note our boy is now an astonishing 12.5 pounds!!! When we brought him home he was 6 pounds 13 ounces! Can you imagine doubling your body weight in two months? Yeesh. All of this reminds me though of how amazing God is. His design of a child's development and his incredible sacrifice of his Son. Both things put in greater perspective and gratitude now being a Father myself.

This is him just hours ago laaaiiiid back... with Rupert Brownie Wisniewski watching over him natch.

On to music.

I'm a weirdo when it comes to musical tastes and most who know me know the almost inexplicable range of music that I'm into. Here's what I'm peeping now... some will have an explanation for those quick to judge...

They Might Be Giants: The Else w/bonus disc Cast Your Pod Into The Wind

These guys are awesome. Shane and Rich got me into them back when I was in High School and I've been an addict ever since. They've got 2 kids' albums out already and one on the way (already have some good music to play for Zach). These guys simply cannot be "explained" they just have to be listened to and then listened to again. With every album I purchase from these guys I'm usually not too impressed upon first listening, but after many rotations my appreciation grows and soon after it's another classic in my mind. Weird but true. I've seen these guys probably 5 or 6 times and every show is unique and excellent.

Linkin Park: Minutes To Midnight

I have to admit to having gotten really sick of these guys after their first album. Then they did a remix album, a live album, a remix with Jay Z album... etc. But Eric Schwebach told me to give this one a shot and it won me over. There's some real musical/lyrical growth on this album I did not expect. The only real irritation on this album is the "o-so-typical let's Bash Bush song" Yea we get it, you don't like him... move on already.

Hanson: The Walk

Now this one people are going to think I'm nuts... but trust me. These guys (yea I know the lead singer looks like a girl with stubble) have grown since their MMM Bop days (which is an album I don't own). They've moved away from their major label, started their own and have been writing and recording the music they WANT to make. Previous guest writers and musicians have included the big dude from Blues Traveler playing harmonica, Ed Robertson of Barenaked Ladies, Johnny Lang, etc. I highly recommend their albums Underneath and This Time Around.

Barenaked Ladies: Barenaked Ladies Are Me/Men

This is essentially a double album that was recorded and released over the last couple years. Heidi really got me into this band and the depth of their songwriting despite the "radio hits" they've put out on their last major label albums. Again this is a band that has finally broken away from a major label and is doing things their way. In fact earlier this year Heidi and I went on the first ever Barenaked Ladies cruise. We left out of Ft. Lauderdale went to Turks/Caicos Islands and spent four days on a boat with BNL, Guster, Jason Plumb, Harlan Williams and some other cool peeps as well. I recommend every BNL album.

Harry Connick Jr. Anything the guy does I generally love, highlights include: Star Turtle, To See You, Blue Light Red Light and She.

Black Label Society: I like most everything by BLS... Stronger Than Death, Sonic Brew, Mafia etc. Just outright heavy metal with some ripping solos. For more Zakk Wylde with a more southern rock flair go with Pride And Glory or for a mellow soulful journey check out Book of Shadows

Carloline's Spine/Jimmy Newquist: Anything by these guys owns! Straight up rock and roll with CS or laid back jams with Newquist, either way you CANNOT go wrong. Some of my favorite music right there.

Burden Brothers: Mercy or Buried In Your Black Heart

This is where the former lead singer for the Toadies went along with the former drummer for The Reverend Horton Heat (both bands which are awesome). This is just good ol' down n' dirty rock n' roll. Sure some lyrical stylings are not meant for little ears but I don't play this with the volume low. Great cruisin' music... windows down, wind whippin' good stuff.

What's he so happy about?

2007-08-22T22:48:00.000-05:00

Well for starters he pooped all over himself and while daddy was cleaning him up and putting on his diaper he starts spitting up so daddy goes to take care of that and while that's happening he kicks his diaper off and starts peeing everywhere. Yea, he's smiling because he just PUNK'D daddy.

My boy Eric chillin' with ZAKK (Eric's the only one allowed to spell it like that according to Heidi).

Zach and his Popa like to sleep.

I like this one.

He doesn't laugh or smile much for me. He's pretty much a Mamma's boy at this point.

Something I haven't done in a long time!

2007-08-21T02:26:00.000-05:00

I actually drew a couple of things just for fun. I've made it no secret that I wanted to spell my son's name ZAKK after Ozzy Ozzbournes' guitarist Zakk Wylde. The man is a master of his craft. He sings, he plays guitar, bass, and piano. He can do a very touching song about loss or a rippin' song about never giving up. Either way I think he's cool and thought my son wouldn't take issue with the inspiration behind the spelling of his name. Heidi and I have decided to hang original artwork up in Zach's room based on two of our favorite comicbooks Herobear and the Kid and Owly. So as a warm up for my own addition to our sons room I worked up an Owly Ozzbourne piece with Wormy on vocals.

Next up, the boy who has given me all of my practice getting ready for Zach sent me an AWESOME Star Wars illustration. His name is Dylan and one of our bonding things to do is duel with our lightsabers (he has Obi-Wan's and I have Mace Windu's, because purple lightsabers RULE) and play with Star Wars Lego's. Well I was inspired by Dylan's art, knowing he drew it out of the sheer love and joy of doing it. I needed to do that, but in my own way. So I whipped up a stormtrooper in an artsy fartsy kind of way.

So big shout out to Zach, Dylan, Andy Runton and Mike Kunkel for the inspiration.

Soon I'll be posting more pics of Zach I promise.

I am a Comicbook Geek

2007-08-16T20:24:00.000-05:00

Well this last weekend was Wizard World Chicago (which is a multimedia event centered around comicbooks). I'm at the point now where I take three of my nephews with me so they can check it out too, meet some creators, buy some stuff and goof off. I've been going to this convention since I was in middle school. My brothers Walter and Steve used to take me to shows before I could drive and once I was driving I'd go with my buddies Rich and Shane. Years later with my buddy Jason and now with the nephews. I only missed one year and that's when I was coming home from my honeymoon.

Now the comicbook industry is getting more accepted these days because of all the movies they're making from comicbooks. Sure there's Spiderman, Batman Begins, Superman, X-Men and the like, but there's also movies like History of Violence, Road to Perdition, 300, Sin City, V for Vendetta being made also. Hollywood has clearly run out of ideas and is now mining the comicbook market for all it's worth. To many who are fans and creators of comicbooks this has brought validation to our medium to see the material accepted by a wide audience. To me it never needed validation. To the ignorant comicbooks are kids stuff and spandex. And yes, the majority of them are superhero fare (of which there are many excellent titles now Daredevil, Captian America, Invincible). Some are certainly for kids and are very well done and even venture into kid's books as well like Herobear and the Kid, Owly, The Shy Creatures, The Land of Sokmunster. But there's a lot more to it... there's the horror of The Walking Dead, the fantasy of Bone, the political trappings of Ex Machina, the trials of a war torn family in Fax From Sarajevo, or war torn zoo's in Pride of Bahgdad, the difficulties of growing up and facing relationships in Blankets, and even Biblical stories of Testament. It is a medium to be proud of and enjoy just as much as movies, novels, fine art (except for that Jackson Pollock 'I sneezed on the canvas and it represents the duality of man' pretentious rubbish). For some reason there are people ashamed of the medium of comicbooks. It is not a lesser medium by any means and if current trends are any indication it seems that all the good ideas are coming from comicbooks these days. Not that this is news to us who've read Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns or Maus.

I love this medium, even moreso I love the art! I'm an artist, I illustrate a kid's magazine that features children's book type stories and I still dabble in the comicbook illustration as well. One of my favorite things is getting original art. It's expensive and nerve wracking and I therefore do not own much. And half of what I do own was either done for free or given to me by the artists.

Some of what I own and think rocks!

This was given to me by Joe Quesada who is now Marvel's Editor in Chief. (I'll post more from him later) This was a sheet of thumbnail drawings he did that eventually turned into a cover for this book and was also used on a shirt and poster.

Several sketches from Mike Kunkel done for me at conventions 2 of Herobear and the Kid and one of Sokmunster.

Mike is a super cool guy who has done work for some cartoons like Juniper Lee and My Gym Partner's A Monkey. He's starting work on a Shazam series for DC. It'll be the only DC proper book I'm buying. He's that good.

I have some pictures of Zach I need to upload and I'll have some more art stuff later.

Oh and here's the cover for the first kid's mag I did. Second one should be out in a week or so. I reworked this cover image for the next printing BTW... I'm almost ashamed to post it but here it is.

Too much to do too little time.

2007-08-04T17:04:00.000-05:00

Me and the Boy Z'n

My gigantic family

My sister Lynda and the Boy

One of my awesome nephews Cody looking like the stud he is.

So we've been back since Sunday night but life has been a blur since. I needed to get crazy busy on the next issue of the kid's magazine. I spent a bit of time on it going on a 16 hour coloring marathon. Also penciled, inked and colored the cover. Got that done, had a procedure on my feet that is a bit disgusting so I'll save the details. Let's just leave it at toenails being permanently augmented. I spent the first half of the day with the Boy in order that Super-Wife could get a wee bit of rest and clean the homestead and take a shower without the worry of the Boy. I went to AMS showed him off to a few peeps there and then chilled at Jason's for a bit. We rocked some Ghost Recon whilst the Boy slumbered. So far Zach has watched Band of Brothers, some Battlestar Galactica, Saving Private Ryan, Scrubs, The Office and Black Hawk Down with me. Don't worry I keep the volume down.

My Niece doing her best Lindsey Lohan blocks the Paparazzi shot.

The girls had a shower, while the boys went and played skee-ball and video games.

You do not want to hear this bear Growl!

Family Trip

2007-07-25T00:34:00.000-05:00

This is my boy! A whole MONTH OLD!

He's starting to grab at stuff these days.

I think he may grow up to be a Black Panther. Regularly whenever trying to wake up he'll raise his arm in the air and make a fist. Sometimes just the right, sometimes just the left and on a few rare occasions BOTH at the same time!

Well, he's a month old and we're going on our first family trip. Not too far just down to Chicago for a "family reunion" of sorts. A lot of family is in town from Cali, Arizona, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Wisconsin all converging in the suburbs of the coolest city on the face yo!

I'm really excited for my side of the family to finally come face to face with the greatest addition to our bloodline since 7-21-77 (what? Zach told me to say it, blame him). It'll be great getting together talking (yelling over one another) at my sister's kitchen table. Feelings will be hurt, apologies will be made, a lot of food will be obliterated, great times for everyone. My family is very generous so we can always look forward to great meals, hospitality and the occasional flatulence (hey I get to blame it on the kid, notice a pattern of blame here?). Seriously though for being as freakin' huge as my family is we're quite functional... we all love each other very much and do whatever we can to help each other out. I'm very blessed to have them all.

I just got done putting in a ipod hook up in our new vehicle (Thanks Lynn). I was also able to take care of a rattle on the dashboard by the display. If you know the interior of a Lexus RX300 it has a display for the climate and radio (in later models navigation as well) at the top of the dash. Well I'm a stereo guy and a bit of an audio snob so any noise that doesn't belong is big no no in my vehicles and I wasn't going to listen to it all the way to Chi-town and back. Whilst taking apart the dash and center console for the ipod thingy I also took apart the screen (fuzzy velcro around the edge of the screen but far back enough so it's not visible always does the trick) laid some velcro down and voila no more annoying noise. Now we can listen to the ipoddy goodness with nary a unwelcome sound. Not only that but Heidi can use her pod to make the boy simma-don-na with some Baby Einstein, Barenaked Ladies or They Might Be Giants. Lots of choices to sooth the savage beast.

Also on another GEEK note as I've been feeding People's Sexiest Man Alive 2031 I've been watching some DVD's Jason Blair lent to me of Battlestar Galactica. I've just started disc 4 of season one. I've gotta say it's not too shabby. Not the masterpiece that is Firefly, but it's keeping me entertained despite it's cheesier moments. If you like Sci-Fi give it a try (heh). But only after you've checked out the superior Firefly first.

Later peeps,

Big Poppa

The Simpsons

2007-07-20T23:07:00.001-05:00

I'm not a huge fan of the show I've only seen maybe a dozen episodes but I thought this was cool.They need to have a body type between the wide shoulder and the belly. I went with the wide shoulder aspect of my build and they don't have an option for a baby so I made Zach as young looking as possible.

The Joy and Horror of Technology

2007-07-19T23:22:00.000-05:00

So knowing my son was just around the bend back in October of last year I made a big purchase. A Sony HD touchscreen 30 gig digital video camera that also acts as a decent point and click still camera at 4 megapixels. Great little purchase to record all of the awesomeness that would be Zach. Below you can see the fruits of my purchase. All the pictures below are from it and so is the video in the post before that.

Last Sunday was a great day for the Schwebach Family as the last of their four children was baptized. In all of my love for their family I decided to record it. I had also done so with Eric's public reading of his paper he wrote for Mark so why not this too? Well last night as I'm trying to calm my backed up son I mistakenly deleted said video before getting the chance to transfer it to my computer. The O SO SIMPLE touchscreen feature had ruined me! I thought I was deleting one folder and in turn deleted everything that was on the camera video wise. Sad to say all I have is 3 pictures for my efforts.

A photo tour of the last 3 weeks

2007-07-18T21:50:00.000-05:00

Video of ZACH!!!

2007-07-18T17:16:00.001-05:00

Photobucket Album

2007-07-18T17:00:00.000-05:00

Well, I've finally joined the ranks of millions of bloggers everywhere by typing a bunch of stuff that will go largely unread. That's right True-believer! You can read my rants and reviews. But mainly I wanted to do this as a way for family to check out the development of our family now that we have a kiddo.

We welcomed Zachary Ronald Wisniewski into the family June 26th 2007 at 3:57 in the am. He was born a whopping 7.5 (considering his daddy was 9.10 I'd say mommy lucked out) and a staggering 20.5 inches long.

3 weeks into it and we have no regrets, he's been sleeping through the nights for the most part already (except when we wake him to feed) and even though he does get gassy instead of crying like a lot of babies he justs grunts like a man! How could I not be proud?

For those who may not know I'm illustrating kid's book-type stories for a magazine that's distributed in southern Wisconsin. I illustrate and helped to create a series of characters under the title Dinky Donko Club

I've also taken a job as an engraver/designer as of last fall. Yep I'm out of the 12volt game. I do a little on the side just to stay frosty but I'm glad I'm not doing it day to day anymore.

I'll be back to update lots of Zach pictures later in the week.

Brian.

The Frustration of Constipation

2007-07-18T16:17:00.001-05:00

Oh yea, Heidi got very little sleep last night as the little man had not had a BM for almost a day and was therefore grunting in his sleep. He slept a lot yesterday during the day and we think it's cause he was backed up.

I went to the DMV to renew my liscense and on my way back Heidi requested I bring her some lunch. When I went inside to drop off her chow she told me Zach is alert and wide-eyed and no longer grunting. Reason being he had a big push earlier. Good for him!

Some days you feel like crap, other days you just need to.