The yearly event

This blogging thing is starting to turn into a yearly event!
The boy is a little over 13 months old now! Almost walking! He's the best thing to ever happen to me. I'm so happy he's come into my life.

I'm on to another project at work, and I can't talk about it at all for a while.

I think I'll leave it here for a bit. Got stuff to do.
Or something.

A year later...

What a difference a year makes.
Not long after my last post, I was let go by EALA when the Tiberium project was canceled.
That ended up working out very well for me. Soon after that I was picked up by Naughty Dog to join the VFX team on Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. That turned out to be the most challenging project I've ever worked on, and is turning out to be the most rewarding. I'm so happy to be on a team of this caliber, and really proud of what we were able to do.
First off we ended up with the overall "Best of E3" award from the Game's Critics Awards. Now that the game is finished, the reviews are starting to trickle out, and the reaction looks really good so far.

In the "even more exciting" news category, Stephanie and I are expecting our first child! He's due to arrive somewhere around November 1st. We just bought a crib today, and I'm working on getting his room ready right now. And boy are my arms tired.

Peace out yo.
Word to your mother.

Crap! Over a year since my last post.
I'm at work now so I'll keep it short for the moment.
Still at EA, still doing VFX on games. Still trying to learn as much as I can.
Steph just graduated from UCI (whooot!)
Camille had a baby (whooot!) Gorgeous, perfect little boy named Kourosh.

All I have time for right now.

So much happens...

Hey all, whoever you are!

So, I quit my job in Irvine late last year. Best decision I've made in a while.
I started working for a friend's company in Santa Monica. That fell through two months later!
But, damn, the commute was great.
It wasn't all bad, though. I soon after got a job for the largest video game publisher on earth.
That's been pretty cool so far. I'm starting to relax, and get into the groove of things a bit more.
Less fear is good. I'm only on for length of the project, but I hope to get hired on permanently after that. They have a nice gym on site, and that's been really good. I'm starting to lose a little weight, trying getting back into shape :)

I've got to post more often....

It's summer time, summer time, sum-sum-summer time.

Holy Crap.
It's been a while.
Since my last post:
Steph finished the first year (of 3) of her MBA. (Whoo!)
The LOTR thing went away.
Worked on an football game port. (not fun)
Studied Maya's dynamics. A lot.
Scraped the popcorn ceiling out of the hallway. Sanded and painted it too.
Painted Steph's office (the 2nd bedroom).
Made a tornado out of particle sprites (composited against a local baseball field).
Started a lot of personal projects but finished few.
Started updating my website.
Starting learning Houdini. (mmmmn, proceduralism rocks!)

I'm adding details to a Frankenstein head I started last year. Once the sculpting is done, then I start on the texture map. I'm going to finish this one. REALLY! Then that sucker's going on the demo reel.
I need to focus more. I have this tendency to spread out lot's of things in front of me, so there's soooo much to do that I get overwhelmed. And I keep piling things onto the to do list:
"Ooooh, I should learn Python!"
"I need to learn matrix math and linear algebra!!"( so I can figure out how to do this one little thing in Maya)
"Oooh, that Houdini DVD on building cities proceduraly looks awesome!"

Dude. Focus.
Do it.
I'm trying.

Moving along fairly well now...

Well, at least trying to keep the momentum up.
I've gotten into a good learning mode lately, diving into alot of MEL scripting, and watching alot of Maya tutorials. It's been good for my self esteem, all this learning stuff. I just want to keep going with it. I like feeling good, and learning seems to be a damn good way to keep the feeling :)
Mmmmmn, particles and fluids starting to make more sense....

Steph's started grad school (Whoot! Whoot!) Come on baby! Bring that MBA home! She's off to a good start, and it looks like she's already getting into the flow of it.

I'm still making spider webs.

Burning Man was really interesting, really cool to experience. Not sure I would be ready to go back next year, though. I'm starting to like my life alot more, and don't feel the need to escape it as much.
Still, BM was really positive for me. Got to hang out with my best friend (well, next to the one I'm married to) for a week, and I don't think either one of us felt like we wanted to kill the other one after it was all over. That was good.

Must start going back to the gym soon. No, really.

I'm going to Burrr...ning Man!
Whoot, whoot!
Decided to make a shade structure, got started cutting the PVC today. Probably going to change the design a bit before going any further. Needs some modular screw-in components added to make on-site assembly and disassembly easier. I'm alternately afraid of it either falling apart while we're using it, or not coming apart when we pack up to leave. It'd be nice to have the rebar tent stakes bent at the end into an L-shape too, to help with holding this thing down. Kind of waffling on the reflective mylar I was planning on ordering. Just an added cost, and I don't want to spend too much money.

Things on the list to get:

Beef Jerky (or any other kind of jerky)
Powdered Gatorade
Canned Tuna
Canned Veggies (Corn, Peas, Beans)
(Check store for sealed non-refrigerated plastic packages of veggies & meat)
Tortillas
WATER x21 2.5 gallon containers
Coffee Concentrate (from coffee bean and tea leaf)
Matcha Powder (or Matcha Cappuccino mix)

Plastic Bags (big black)
Portable Air Pump (with car adapter)
Bullfrog Waterproof sunscreen (highest SPF I can find)
Gaffer's Tape (or duct tape if too expensive)

to be continued...