Butler 4

I got a new skateboard... It's been over five years since I owned one. My previous board was stolen when I moved to Indiana. I made this announcement in the same guise as a birth announcement. After all, this is a new addition to my family.
You might be thinking..."but wait Jeff that picture looks so cool... where did you get it?" Ha... I took a Photoshop class. I can double click, point and click, and right click my way to graphic excellence now. I took the class at FIT. It was eight hours a day for two Saturdays in a row. I only had one homework assignment.

Here it is below. I had to take these photos of various foods and turn them into some creature of my own imagination.

So I made flowers... but then realized that flowers do not qualify as a creature. Easy fixed! I just added some bees and the whole thing turned out lovely.
Yes I know it's not suppose to be that color. I don't know what happened... It's suppose to be the most lovely colors that you can imagine. Go and ahead and try... See? great right? Don't worry I'm still new at the Photoshop and I'm sure I'll get these things squared away.

SAC International Airport Art

Young Master Drew has learned the Force well.  Very impressive.

You know in Unbreakable when life doesn't feel right for Bruce Willis because he is not doing what he should be, but then he does it and everything becomes better? I felt like that tonight. I went skateboarding for the first time in 5 years. It felt really good. I'm also reading Rousseau (translated into English, but I read it with a french accent). That has made me feel good too. Side note: Mike fell down and hurt his hand. But he doesn't have any regrets. Turns out neither do I.

Sometimes for work I get to go shopping. Mostly to buy samples that Bonni wants to knock-off. On this day I was sent down to Well Built or whatever it is called to pick up some shirts. This is right by my old apartment on Crosby Street. It is clearly Banksy. It was huge. I walked past this same spot just a few days ago and it was gone. I can't imagine him being able to do such a huge work without permission... but I can't imagine why it would be taken down so soon.

If someone asked me if there was one thing that I could buy my dad... it would have to be this coffee table made from the engine of a world war two era Russian plane. (part of my dad's naval career was flying P-3 Orions hunting for Russian submarines.) Now you know where I got the last two years of Halloween costumes.

The New-York Historical Society is having a exhibit entitled "Grant & Lee In War and Peace". It sounded right up my alley so Collin and I went to check it out. I would highly recommend this exhibit. It had a lot of really interesting and unique pieces. For example it had some drawing done by General Lee. Did you know that General Lee was a really good sketcher? They also had landscape paintings by Grant. The museum taught me that back then West Point taught drawing not as a nice little elective but as a serious topic so they could draw maps of the battlefields. Collin at this point said, "Man I'm so behind". I thought of those little figures that he draws during church.

Museums are funny with taking pictures you never know if you can or if you can't. One thing is for sure... flashes are never cool in any museum. So don't even try. Other then that... just take pictures until one of the security guards stop you. That's what happened to me on this trip, but not before I got a pictures of these buddies.


What are these you might ask? Oh they're Lees dancing slippers. That's another thing that they were big into... cadet balls.

A very interesting pet store was opened in the west village so I went one Saturday to investigate.
Looks pretty normal until you get down to that last line.
This bunny appears to be getting ready for a special occasion. She got her pearls on and is grooming her nails with a nail file.
Newly born chickens starting the day out right with a nutritious meal.

And a nice pork product in the terrarium.

If you remember my Banksy post a few months ago. This is the same artist. Who put this pet shop together.

Yes!!! It's Halloween and that means it's time for the NYC Halloween Parade. Unlike church sponsored dances... It's okay to wear masks, cross dress, and have costumes with excessive gore. To be honest I saw some costumes that they should make rules about. (Do not worry I shall not be showing any of those costumes in this post).
I was an "Officer and Gentleman". Many people asked me how I can be both and I just told them it's a slight manner in how I carry myself and how I react in certain situations. But that, Yes, in the end I was most a surely an Officer and Gentleman. In the above picture I found Hunter S. Thompson another American Hero and He agreed to take a photo. You might be wondering why my costume looks so legit. That's because it is. My dad was in the Navy and this is his uniform. People really like this Uniform. Lots of people asked for photos with me. While crossing a intersection a NYCPD said to me, "welcome to the city Commander" Which was my Dad's rank... as shown by the fancy shoulder thingys.

So here are the basic rules to the NYC Halloween Parade. Any one can show up and walk in the Parade. You just have to stand in a line smashed for over an hour moving at a glacier pace. They bottle neck you with barricades and then all of the sudden you're out in the open and walking down the street.
And you get to see the most lovely amazing costumes. People get all decked out for this thing.
The parade walks from Canal Street to somewhere in the 20's. Once you are in you have to walk all the way out. There are a ton of people along the route on the side walk cheering and taking pictures. People are hanging out their apartment windows watching. It's a huge party.
There was a few bands.
Lots of couple costumes.
Next to Hunter this was my favorite costume of speedy.
Abe! I wonder how he felt about Obama lifting material from him for his acceptance speech?
Then there was the NYC Jedi. These dudes are serious and armed!
Jared is a tall guy... but not that tall compared to the Wookie. Even with the rabbit ears he cannot compete.

So that's it. This was my first time in the NYC parade and I want to do it again next year. I've already have come up with an idea for a costume. An Anorexic Incredible Hulk. I think it could really call attention to eating disorders.

I hope the best for you in your Presidency. Just don't turn us into Sweden. Although if you can bring more beautiful people here I would be down with that.

Well... it was a Friday night and what shall we do?Let's play ticket to ride again. So after my monumental game earlier in the week there was some discussion if 181 with 3 players is as impressive as 160 with 5 players. It's place in the record book is secure there is no question of that. The question was if there should be an "*" or not.

To be honest there is something to the debate. So to clear it up I played a five person game and ran the saddle technique again and scored huge.
In fact... I got 181 again! In the same week. What are the chances of that?
The chances are just like me... slim.

Here I am counting up what might be the most amazing ticket game in my life.
My track stretched through California skirted Mexico and up the through the south stretching all the way to Canada... but is it enough.
8 of 9 cards completed... but is it enough?

It is worthy of the hire. New record on my board 181. Which lays to waste the old record of 160.

Things are pretty rough here in NYC. I've had to take on some extra jobs to make rent. Here is some of my "work" on the side.

No the truth be known... I was just walking down the street and I looked up and saw myself. It was so crazy. For a bit I thought that someone had stole a picture of me and photoshop'd me into that space. But no, it's just someone that looks a lot like me.

Every week I get emails or people at church asking me if it's me. If some dude asks, I say no. However if a cute girl asks I say "sure is".

Eric and Ashely are here on holiday here and I swung them buy to check it out. They were quite surprised.

So if you are in Manhattan any time soon and want to see me swing by the corner of 42nd st and 5th and look up and I'm right there looking down at you.

At the top of the hill, over looking Oslo is their Olympic ski jump facility. You can see it all the way down in the city.
The drive up to the ski jump reminded me a lot of driving up to Sundance.
When we got to the jump I noticed some people were walking up the jump it self to the very top. I thought, "there is no way that those people should be walking up that jump." We were there in the evening and the museum was closed so I figured that there wouldn't be anyone around to yell at them. It looks like those pesky kids would get away with it this time.
I was looking down at the landing wondering if they had any sharks in there when I tuned to take a picture of the jump. I thought that I saw someone standing on the railing. Then that person jumped.
I was a bit confused as to what was going on... but then their shoot opened and they floated down to the ground. Turns out that it was just some Norwegians out for an evening of base jumping. It looked amazingly fun and I was jealous.

I've been popping up all over the place in Mid-Town. While walking to work I found out that I was the inspiration to the garment district's new ad campaign. I think it's a great resemblance. If you think this one is funny... stay tuned.

My new goal is to own a cannon.