We recently went to the annual Uncorked & Unplugged event to benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale. Our company Beast Printing was one of the many sponsors. We had a really good time.

There were several restaurants giving away tastes of their food as well as wine distributors serving tastes of wine. They also had several live bands playing. After it was over they had an after party for the sponsors. They served free drinks and the band Wonder Boogie played. They normally play at the Harrah’s Carnaval Court in Vegas. That’s our favorite hangout when we are in Vegas so we’ve seen them several times. They are a really fun band to see and if you ever have the chance I highly recommend it.

I suppose it’s about time for an update. Obviously I haven’t decided what direction to go with this website. My last post was nearly 5 months ago, when I left my job at ICM to work for myself full time. Back then I thought I would be doing a lot more work with websites and database design. It hasn’t worked out that way. I’ve been primarily doing screen printing. That has been a bit slow lately though so I’ve been working on some other websites. RiffRaffCreations.com is a website I set up to sell shirts of our own design. One particular line sold fairly well so we have separated those into their own website, MolonLabeShop.com. That site is where much of my effort has gone lately. We are advertising it on google, giving away some gift certificates on GlockTalk.com and going to local gun shows to promote it. I just need to quadruple the sales from that site now.

We’ve also started another line of shirts called Royal Court Apparel. These are far different from the Riff Raff Creations shirts so it gets it’s own brand, website, everything. They are higher quality, fashion shirts. We recently did our first batch. The website isn’t set up yet, but you can see the first design there. We still have a long way to go though. When we finally start selling them we will be donating a portion of the revenue to a breast cancer fund.

I’m no longer practicing Iaido. Well, I’m not part of a dojo any longer anyway. Due to dojo politics I’m out for the next year. I intend to go back next October.

I guess that’s about it. Not much new, just work work work. It’s nice that I’m doing it for myself now though.

Last Friday I ended my employment with ICM. I first got the job because I thought it would be a good opportunity to gain some computer literacy, then I would move on. I originally intended to stay for 1 year max. 12 years later I’m finally out. And I’m a wee bit better than computer literate.

So now I am full time self employed and loving it. Maybe now I can actually get some work done in a timely manner. Before it was very difficult to come home after a 10 hour day at my day job and spend another 4 – 6 hours printing t-shirts or working on a website. I just couldn’t get motivated. Now I work all day and most of the evening and it doesn’t really feel like work. Well, it doesn’t when things are going well at least. Jessica seems to think I work for her now. Let’s not tell her truth OK?

So now I need to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. Or at least what to do with this website. When I started this blog I purposefully set it up so ricklord.com redirects to ricklord.com/personal just in case I wanted to do something else with the website. So I’m thinking about setting it up to be more focused toward offering my database application services. I will leave this blog up where it is for friends and family, and continue with the infrequent updates, but it won’t be linked from the main page of the site.

Wish me luck. I’m going to need it.

Just got the new Nickelback album Dark Horse. So far it’s not bad in spite of what some critics who are more concerned with showing off their writing style than the music say.

Nickelback are a gnarled, vulgar band reveling in their ignorance of the very notion of taste, lacking either the smarts or savvy to wallow in bad taste so they just get ugly, knocking out knuckle-dragging riffs that seem rarefied in comparison to their thick, boneheaded words.

Give me a friggin’ break, who the hell cares? It’s good entertainment. A lot of it is too “Pop” for my taste but there’s some good, old fashioned Rock on there like “Something in Your Mouth”. Good stuff.

I love Arizona. Here I sit, in late March in Carefree AZ. And I am feeling pretty darn carefree. I’m sittingo outside with friends, assorted cheeses and good wine. Oh, and there’s a Native American jazz band playing live. Does it get any better than this?

Happy Square Root Day y’all!

Am I the only one who sees the similarity between Mathew McConaughey and Don Johnson? I think they are scarily alike.

Guess who just got a new Cadillac? That’s right, me! Ok it’s not new, but it’s new to me. I traded my motorcycle for it. Or as my wife puts it, I traded my Mojo for it.

Saturday we got to meet one of our favorite wine makers, Tobin (Toby) James. He was in town doing tastings at several Whole Foods stores. It was really great to finally meet him. He is a cool, down to earth guy. We chatted for a good 20 minutes. I think we convinced him to do a tasting at our favorite hang out, Cave Creek Wines next time he’s in town.
A little background: Last year we visited the Tobin James winery in Paso Robles California following the recommendation of some friends. We loved it. We joined the club, the James Gang. It is the only club we are a member of. This year we went to their summer BBQ event, which just rocked. We are waiting for our biannual shipment of wine from them now. We should have it any day now and we can’t wait!