Manwaring Family Weekend!

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The Ponchos Were My Favorite

So I had a birthday and got older. In honor of the annual celebration of the day of my birth, Meisha and I spent a lovely afternoon in Zion. I thought I'd share a few of those wonderful memories with you here. But first, we also took a (very) quick visit to Snow Canyon on Sunday. Those pics come first. Be patient. There aren't too many. Then you get to enjoy staring at the wholesome goodness that was our Zion birthday happy fun time afternoon.

Petrified Sand Dunes in Snow Canyon. You can walk all over them. Hehe.

Meisha smiling =)

After Meisha smiled, she decided she didn't want to anymore.

But I found an egg. This made everything better. It had 2 quarters (50 cents) in it. I kept the quarters. I actually found a few more eggs with some delicious chocolate candies in them. I left them so someone else could enjoy the chocolates. I decided not to be greedy and only enjoy the money.

As a result of my generosity, the Karma Gods bestowed upon me the finding of another great gift- a beautiful Barbie comb. I beautified my hair and left this for another happy stranger to find as well. Ah, I love me some good karma.

and now....

the moment you've been waiting for...

Zion.

We started off by walking down a trail. My mom gave us directions, but either they weren't any good, or we (I) can't take directions. Either way we found some neat things on the trail. I've decided to share some of those things in the pictures below. Read on.

I'm not sure if you would call the thing I have for trees a fetish or an obsession. By the dictionary defintion, I guess I would say obsession.

Meisha took a moment to look at the big rocks. I took a moment to take her picture.

Then I decided to test out the timer function on the camera. Looks like it worked.

I found a creepy little tree/bush off the side of the trail. I decided that the best thing to do with this creepy tree/bush was to crouch under it and look creepy. So I did.

We were both feeling quite poopy, and almost left. We decided instead to suck it up and go hike Emerald Pools. It's a good thing we did. Things got better from there.

It's hard to look gansta and kissy-faced all at the same time, but somehow we pulled it off.

This is us... looking super cool under a waterfall at Lower Emerald Pools.

This is what Meisha looks like when she takes a break.

This is what I look like when I take a break.

So I was in the process of taking a super awesome ominous dark and cloudy cliff action picture when a rain drop came along and screwed it all up.

I decided to show Meisha "My Spot" at the Middle Emerald Pools. We decided it was prime time for yet another photo opportunity.

This is the trail leading to The Grotto. We were going to do that hike too, but we decided that we'd save it for another trip. We got an annual pass and didn't want to burn up all the good hikes too quickly =)

This is us... standing in the rain.

This is me... standing on a tree. As happy as can be. Can't you see?

Meisha decided the best thing to do at this particular moment would be to show off her rainy hair-do. So she did. And I took a picture. Here it is. Do you like it? I do.

Then we hiked up to the Upper Emerald Pools. At these pools, water falls. It falls off of rocks. It lands on the ground. It gathers into a pool. The pool is green (or emerald). Now you know. Go there some day. See for yourself. Or don't. It's up to you.

In this picture we are standing atop a rather large cliff. Looking hardcore. Because we are. Hardcore. And then we hiked some more.

These people don't know it, but I snapped some super top secret cell phone pics of them. Because I loved their ponchos. There were lots of people who seemed to be very scared of the slight drizzle of rain coming down upon us. Maybe they thought it would get worse. Maybe they thought they just looked cool. Maybe there was a guy standing at the bottom of the trails with gold teeth and he would open up his trench coat to reveal a plethora of ponchos in all shapes, sizes and a variety of colors. Maybe this man made a lot of money from these unsuspecting tourists. Maybe he didn't. Maybe.

The ponchos were my favorite.
P.S. If this just wasn't enough fun for you, maybe you'll have fun looking at the --->ENTIRE ALBUM<--- from the day. (For those of you who need help, you have to click the words between the ---> and the <--- to go there. They're in red. You can't miss 'em. Try it. You'll have fun. It's better than Christmas.

Just one "Must Have"

It's not all that often that I come across a particular thing that I feel like I absolutely tremendously desire. The above item is one such thing. These have to be the coolest shoes I have ever seen. I am definitely going to find a way to get these. Seriously, how can you not want a pair?

Thank you! Thank you!

I had a birthday gift show up in the mail yesterday. Meisha said it wasn't supposed to get here so soon, but she was so excited, she couldn't wait and keep the secret, so she had me open it. Inside was this book from my dear friends. I'm so ridiculously excited to read this and oogle the amazing pictures of Alex Grey for hours on end. So THANK YOU THANK YOU Dallin and Nadya! It means a lot to me.

Zion Trip with Dallin and Seth

We had a really amazing trip. Had some good hikes, good talks, good relaxation, good contemplation, and got to wear some really killer hats. I had a lot of problems with the focus on my camera, so sorry about a lot of them being fuzzy. Maybe it adds to the effect of the picture, yes? There's a lot of pics here, so if you find the slideshow taking too long, you can GO HERE for the full gallery. Enjoy.

Balloons and Self-Preservation

I see "lots" of balloons and "lots" of cars, but no people?

This sale is Rockin'!!

I know I just posted something talking about how I don't like to talk about the car business and here I am, doing it again. I was out taking pictures for my other blog and realized a (maybe) sad thing. I'm witnessing the death of the car business. The business is lying on it's back, grasping for air and puking blood that looks like red and white ballons and a cheesy "Rockin" banner. Sales like these really feel like that final desperate act of self-preservation. I'm hoping that the death of the car business is a good thing. I hope it means evolution. I think there are a lot of "factors" that play into the car business being an "evil" or "dishonest" business. I like to call those factors "people". There are a lot of ruthless people in this world and a lot of them sell or work for car companies. I hope that their death brings about their evolution. I really do. Not because I'm going to stay in the car business and want it to be a pleasurable experience, but because I think humanity as a whole needs to evolve or die. I hope this recession is the beginning of the death of humanity and society as we know it. I'm tired of things the way they are. I want to evolve. I want to be reborn out of my own smoldering ashes (and I'm starting to feel pretty damn ashy). I don't know if I can fucking take it any more. I don't know if I can sit back and listen to another fucking speech beginning with "In these tough times....." Fuck that. Just be what and who you want to be and do what you want to do. Stop looking for an excuse. Stop waiting for that "one thing" to push you the extra step to begin being yourself and just push yourself. Obviously I'm talking to myself here as much as anyone. Thanks for reading.

Have a beautiful day.

Just trying to understand people.

People are interesting. And the way people go about trying to accomplish certain tasks is even more interesting. Sometimes I hate talking about the car business, but it's an unavoidable part of my life for now and I found this situation strange:

A small Japanese woman with a cane walks into our dealership last week. The funny thing is that this woman is the type that everyone knows that from the minute she walks in, she's here to play hardball. It emanates from her. She spends time with her salesman (not me) and seems to find some kind of thrill in making him run to and from different cars, pull them up, open them up only to say "I don't like that one." They find a car that "kind of" works and sit down to figure out the payments. This woman proceeds to tell the salesman "You have 2 minutes and then I'm out of here." The salesman scrambles to try and get the figures in time, but she sticks by her word and at the exact 2 minute mark, stands up and starts hobbling out of the dealership. The manager runs out and begs her to stay. She says "Ok, fine. 2 more minutes. BUT THAT'S IT." They scramble to put together the price. They run out as she's standing up again, show her the price and she says "Ok, thank you." and leaves without buying the car.

Here's where it gets interesting:

This woman uses a fake name and "secretly" shops me on the internet to see if she can really get the best price. She proceeds to email back and forth with me for several days and several times a day to milk every bit of information possible from me. Once the week of emailing is through, she calls me for for a few more brief questions, but blocks her number so I can't call back. The crazy part is that this woman just went through this entire process to save less than $200 from the price she was originally given in the dealership. The even crazier part is that this woman bought the car from another dealership to save $200 more (We were selling the car at $200 over cost. I told her that and told her I thought it was fair. The other dealership sold the car at cost and didn't make anything).

The psychology of people when negotiating intrigues me. Just when I think I'm starting to understand a little, I realize I may never understand. Party because everyone is different and partly because when people want a good deal they can truly act insane.

I would like everyone to know that life doesn't have to be that hard. You don't have to spend a week of your time and everyone else's time to save a few hundred dollars. If you want a good deal on something Google it. You really can find just about anything you want there. And if you find yourself paying $400 too much for a $25,000 car, it's ok. Life will not end. You won't miss the money and probably won't know you even spent it. Don't stress. Be happy. That's it.

Logo Redesign

After some great design advice from Nadya, I've done some redesigning. Here are the new logos.

A little help, please.

Well I've got a business name and a website. I need some feedback. Let me know what you think about the logos and taglines below. Any design tips or feedback would be much appreciated. And it's OK to be as critical as you want. I just want honest feedback.

If you're curious, my website is www.desigmotion.com. Check it out if you'd like. It's pretty much just a temporary contact page for now. I'll get the real site up as soon as I get caught up on the other sites I'm doing.

Logo #1
Tagline #1

Logo #2

Tagline #2

Thanks.

About Bunnies

When Nadya asked me to draw a picture of an evil bunny, it got me thinking. I knew one day I would have to dig deep within myself and overcome my morbid sexual fear of them. With that in mind I accepted the challenge. I sat in dark rooms, dark corners, and dark closets just waiting. Suddenly, there he was. That little bastard showed his face just long enough for me to get a good look..... and back into the shadows of the night. And here he is. I feel a little more comfortable around bunnies now, but still can't help but cover my privates -just in case.

Blindness

Meisha and I just watch this movie last night. It really got me thinking a lot. I've never seen an epidemic movie done quite this way. It explores a lot of the types of theories and ideas found in Lord of the Flies. I found myself enjoying the hell out of it, yet hating it and being disgusted all at the same time. It made me think about order, and how we as a human race need it. It made me really start to wonder about "true" human nature and what that meant. It made me wonder what I would be like and who I would be like in the movie had I been thrown into such a situation. Would I be a leader? Would I be a follower? Would I be an asshole? Would I have died.... or killed myself? I love movies that lead to more questions and inspire independent thought.

This is one of them.

A boring rainy day at work combined with a lack of willingness to move due to a sore back caused this picture to come into creation. It's me(if you couldn't tell). I feel funny drawing myself. You'd think I should know the look of my face better than anyone seeing as how I see it in the mirror everyday, but it's quite weird trying to think about how I look while drawing. By the way, Sleeping with Ghosts makes a good soundtrack to a good drawing session.

That's probably it for today.

My New Life

• Zip jacket up.
• Backpack on.
• Headphones in.
• Crank Things Falling Apart and grin.
• Glove one, glove two and feel the leather wrap around the handle bars.
• Feet to pedals and I'm off.
• I instantly feel the rain hit my checks and begin to run down.
• As The Great Collapse gets going, I pedal harder and realize I'm passing all the cars.
• Enter parking lot.
• Weaving through pillars coming within inches.
• Peppers of red and green, onion, cheese, ranch and drinks.
• Jamming as I walk through the aisles, flashing strange people with my even stranger smile.
  
• Food to backpack.
  
• Glove one, glove two.
• Enter the pillar slalom. Even faster this time.
• Skidding around the corner and down the road.
• Thighs burn.
• Pushing harder through the rain.
• Pushing harder through the pain.
  
• And home.
• This is my new life.
• And I love it.

Santo Jorge de la Gordo

So I took on what I thought was a "little" Photoshop tutorial. After hours upon hours of learning and hundreds upon hundreds (literally) of layers. Here he is! In all his sweaty glory. Introducing.....

Santo Jorge de la Gordo!

For a bigger version, go to my deviantART page.

Ole!

Me? A Web Designer?

So I just officially finished a web page for my first real paying customer. I guess that makes me a web designer, maybe? I've got a few more customers already lined up, so hopefully there will be many more to come. I've got to think of a company name so I can make my own page for a portfolio as well. So far I'm stuck on Onetool Design. I'm not sure if I like it, I'm not sure if I don't . Your suggestions are very welcome. So yeah, click on the link below and check the site out. Don't blame me if you don't like the pictures, I just went with what the customer wanted. Have fun. Thanks for looking. C-ya.

www.master-arbor.com

I'm a doodler

I doodle constantly. All day. It helps me stay focused. Weird, I guess, that drawing keeps me focused on what someone is saying as opposed to actually looking at the person or whatever it is that other people do to focus. Either way, I usually just chuck the doodles, never to be seen by a soul other than myself. Seems kind of pointless. Kind of. I guess it helps me listen and therefore serves a purpose. I had a particular amount of fun drawing this one in sales training earlier today. I happened to look at it just barely and said to myself:

"Hey! I have a blog. Why don't I just throw this little doodle of mine on my blog? "

After that, I said to myself: "You're right. Put it on there. You need something to do to occupy your mind for a minute anyways."

So now I have a doodle on my blog. There it is. Have a good day. Be happy. I'm sure as hell trying. May my Maxima R.I.P.