Memorial Day Weekend

Wow, what a great weekend. After a stressful first couple days at the new job it felt so good to have three days of fun and relaxation. Saturday we had a BBQ (sorry if you weren't invited - let me know if you need to be added to the invite list) and had perfect weather. Jason Posey was in town from Kauai, so he made a special guest appearance.

I prepared some flank steaks that were off the hook.

Sunday, we cleaned up then went for a bike ride down to Golden Gardens and the Ballard Locks, then went out to sushi at Ototo. Great Dragon Rolls there!!!

Here's the beach thru my riding goggles...

The little duck ponds...

Then Monday morning we slept in, made french toast and bacon, watched a couple South Park episodes and a movie (Fur - it was good), then we went to Kim and Darius' house for another BBQ overlooking the Sound.

Ahhh... only 4 more days until the weekend again...

Bike Safety

It is now bike season. I'm going to start commuting via bike and STP is less than two months away, so time to gear up again. The other night I was riding home from a pub and had to call Kathleen to come get me. Not because I was drunk, but because I had no lights.

Yesterday I picked up a beautiful 1200 candle power Cats Eye head lamp and these super cool tiny lights that velcro on to the helmet. It comes in a 2 pack with one for the front and back. You can set them to flash or hold constant. I put them on both me and Kath's helmets. We are SO visible now. I can't wait to ride in the dark now!

Coming Out of Retirement

I've got 2 boxes in the garage labelled "Matt's Future Job", inside are things like a plastic skull, a pin art box, and a picture of Kathleen. Well it's time to dust them off and throw them in my trunk, cuz I'm going back to work!

I just signed the papers this afternoon and will officially start on Thursday as the Senior Interactive Designer for the West Coast office of a global marketing agency called Metia. The office is actually in Kirkland, which will be a 14 mile ride/drive. Their other offices are in London, Singapore, and New York.

I'm excited to get the job, but I have to admit that I'm a bit sad to be leaving behind my life of leisure that I've lived for the past 10 and a half months. Here are some of my fondes memories of the past almost year:

• The Cascade Loop bike trip with Ben.
• My (and Adam's) first triathlon.
• My (and John's) first marathon.
• Laying in the hammock with Goldie, the neighbor cat.
• Sand Point camping trip.
• Built a new computer.
• The first snow of Winter and I don't have to call in late for work.
• Finishing my online portfolio, even tho it was directly responsible for the demise of my life of leisure.

Ahh yes, I had a good run.

Medieval Help Desk

I have played the role of Help Desk to many a friend and family member. It really is amazing how some things that are plainly evident to one person, can be a complete mystery to another.

All Aboard the Over Population Train

Evidently, this is a commuter train in China, or somewhere. Let this be a lesson to all you breeders out there that are having more than 2 kids. This could be our rail system... if we ever get one.

Harpoon Lagoon 2

Got another high score on Harpoon Lagoon. #4 Boo-ya!

mattwilsonmd.com

As many of you will recall, my usual answer for the past few months to the question "What have you been up to?" was "Working on my web site (and running)." Well after 194 hours of logged time at the computer, my web site is ready for public viewing. It's not done. I plan on changing and removing some things, but for the most part, I'd say it's done enough.

http://mattwilsonmd.com/



My goal now is to find a full time position at an agency or design house, but in the mean time I am accepting freelance projects, so if you know anyone that needs some print design, a web site, a video, or whatever, just let me know.

26.2 in Vancouver

Okay, I thought it would be hard, but not that hard!



On Sunday I ran my first marathon. It took 4 hrs 24 minutes. This was slower than I had anticipated, but I am very happy with it. I'm mostly happy because I had a cold the 2 weeks leading up to the race and just about coughed up a lung the night before, but when race day came, my body called a cease fire and my lungs felt 100% all during the race. And the weather was perfect, too!



There was a big group of us that went up to Vancouver together for the race. John (first time marathoner), Ben (first time half marathoner), Shireesha (did the half), Peregrin (did the half), and the support crew Kathleen, Robin, Kim and Darius. John (who has a great blog entry for this event) and I were able to run the first part of the race together which was really cool to have a friend to hang with. Ben was supposed to to the full, but got a flu bug on the flight up from AZ and had a big ol' clearance sale in the first class bathroom on the plane, so he recovered for a few days and switched to the half.

We had the most amazing support crew. They all wore these huge bright blue afro wigs and made signs and had megaphones to yell thru. And they hoofed it all over the course to meet and cheer for us at different points of the race. It's funny - even tho they were all there cheering, I can only recall seeing Kathleen and her big sign that read "RUN MATTY RUN". It was a big help having them there.

Overall, the race was really fun. I was impressed with how many people were spectating and cheering for people they didn't know. I had my name on the front of my jersey, which was a big help. It always made me smile when people would shout "Go Matt!". I felt pretty good for most of the race... all up until about mile 20, then I started running out of steam. My knees were sore, so I'd slow down and then realize my legs were really tight, so I'd walk, but that made me realize how much my hips hurt, so I'd start running, but that hurt my foot and made my calves tight, so I'd slow down, but that would hurt my... It was really a good exercise in pain managment.

I did it though. I made it across the finish line. There were some rough moments on the Cascade Loop trip, but I think this run was the probably the hardest thing I've ever done. Will I do it again? I'm sure I will - I really want to break 4 hours, but first I gotta start training for STP.



The full collection of pix can be seen here.

Stu-Stu-Studio

Here's my make shift photo studio.



This has been my world for the past two days straight. I've been photographing my work for my physical portfolio. Here's a couple samples...

Making Shirts

Went over to Joe's last night and made some shirts for out little marathon team. Joe is the screen printing master. He had a some gear that he built himself and ending up saving us a couple hundred bucks in printing costs. The shirts turned out great!