BeanRobot

Another Rough Draft Speech

2009-12-17T08:43:00.000-08:00

This was written for Dwayne Carey Hill on the occasion of his being chosen "Employee of the Month" at Rough Draft Studios, way back in the early 2000's:

At the risk of sounding truly excited, let me just say "WOW".

WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW.

Employee of the month, Phew. Let me just take this in...

I'm sorry. Did I forget to say hello to all of you? Well, hello my friends and co-workers. My heart is gladdened by your presence and my mighty drawing hand is indebted to you, for are we all not part of the same whole, striving towards the same goals?

I'll let you know a little secret. I like the fleshy part of a woman's ankle. And why do I say that? Because in choosing your employee of the month, you must look at the person as a whole, the sum of all parts.

And what are the sum of my parts? I'm more than just a cleanly-shaven and neatly dressed man with dashing good looks and a winning smile...I'm Dwayne, dammit. You see the nice teeth. You see the sparkling eyes. You see the firm ass. You see the masterful drawings.

But do you see my ankles? I don't think so. You know what I think? You FEEL my ankles. Not in the vulgar sense of touching, but in the spiritual sense of caressing. Call it what you will, but I stand here...

your Employee of the Month.

And I congratulate not myself, but all of you, for choosing wisely, and not with your minds, but with your hearts.

I love you all.

By Request, Birthday Speech I Wrote for Claudia Katz

2009-10-28T22:49:00.000-07:00

Wow. It's really great to see you all.

I came from a hardscrabble life in Queens, New York. And though I went to summer camp every year as most children did, I always felt as though my soul danced a different dance...a Dirty Dance! Perhaps that is why I became such a wonder.

Here I am on the cusp of my 10th year at Rough Draft. That's just six years shy of the girls that Gabe likes to date, but I digress.

I left the glamourous life of advertising, where I emboldened the likes of Nestle and General Mills, to seek my fortune in animation. It was a bold move. A risky move. But I could not deny the world what it wanted so badly - more Claudia Katz!

I have piloted this "thing of ours" called Rough Draft from canoe, to its steamboat adolescense, to the Battleship that it is today. Paul Meyers, a mentally-ill layout artist, described me in his secret manifesto as quote, "Tough but fair - no discernable sense of humor." Unquote. If you happen to see Paul, please tell him that I found my sense of humor - after I fired his sorry ass!!

Yes I'm tough here at the "shop". But through it all, I've had to fight back my natural urge to mother each and every one of you, so that I could be a strong leader. Oh, how I've wanted to hold each of you to my bosom, to gently stroke your hair and say, "Hush, let mama carry all of your burdens and fears...let mama be your shelter from the pain. When Chris Louden had his fake nervous breakdown, when Brad had hs weird hypochondriac ass sicknesses, when Bret started dating Kristina, I cried myself to sleep each and every night, cursing my powerful position.

You see, I must shut that other Claudia deep inside. Why? Because the fight for the good of animation is bigger than me.

When I yell at you, when I tell you that you're truly despicable, that you're worthless and weak, remember that it hurts me just as much as it hurts you.

When it comes down to it, wouldn't you all agree that I'm the best boss you ever had? And not just to be a kiss-ass, but hey Carson, I'm the greatest right?

Here are a few things that you might want to remember. I love the Mets! I love Saabs. I love Pizza, but L.A has crappy pizza! I love TV, but I click through channels faster than Gabe mows through a troth of tacos. I thank Yahweh for Tivo. I have a Vespa but am afraid to scuff the tires on the road. I, for one, adore Damon. He's my "baby". I just Don't know where he gets the strange idea that he's fat and ugly and oh-so hated. Oh yeah, I love softball, the sport of kings. Some would say that I'm too intense out there on the field of dreams. But I ask you, what is life without intensity? It is shit, friends.

And here are a few bits of negativity to sprinkle on the lovefest: I hate when people park in my spot. I hate the Salvation Army. I hate Giggles for extorting us each and every year for the use of their cesspool of a whorehouse. And If a guy named Sol calls for me, I'm not here. And I said it once and I'll say it again; Daisy costs too damn much! If I didn't have that golden-haired bitch, I could save a fortune by not havng to eat at Far Niente every damn day.

About my voice. Most would say that my voice is unique. I'll admit that it may be just a touch loud sometimes, but that's because it's very hard to ratchet down from all the discipling I do to Scott at home. And if you have a problem with my loud voice, please come to my office later, so that everyone can overhear it when you're being fired.

Moving on, I'll admit that I've had a few passing fancies. Xena the Warrior Priness. Buffy. Alias. Art's Deli. In & Out. Boxing classsses. Trevor the Trainer. Who Wants to be a Millionaire. X-Files. Vespa. Krispy Kreme. Bukkake. Star Fox the video game.

But that's all in the past.

As you all know, I've entered a new phase in my life. Yes, motherhood. Yes, my sweet little Laine. I won't bore you with the details, but let's just say that my nipples are very sore.

But I can't forget to mention the one who has given my life meaning, who has been there for me through thick and thin, a genius whom I could not live without; the other half of me...my dear sweet Daisy. Hey Scott, don't forget to feed her tonight.

And finally, let me say this one last thing from the bottom of my heart...

YOUR FIRED.

El Cholo

2009-04-07T21:28:00.000-07:00

Thank you to my sisters Doomps and Cindy and my niece Christina for coming all the way up from the San Diego region to take me out to dinner. They said I could pick any place I wanted - fancy or otherwise- so after some hard thought, I chose the Los Angeles landmark original El Cholo on Western.

I carried in a festive balloon which declared, "Happy Birthday from all of us!" and Doomps carried in her delicious upside-down pineapple cake, which had an interesting and frothy mess of frosting due to the fact that it was in a warm car. The staff at el Cholo was good enough to put it in the fridge for us, and sat us by a fireplace.

We scarfed up mountains of tortilla chips. The salsa seemed wimpy, so we asked for a spicier version. Cindy tried it and immediately seemed unimpressed. Doomps and I then tried it. And then the fire set in for all of us, except Christina, who was shying away from anything remotely hot due to stomach issues. My whole head was sweating and my eyes were stinging. Cindy and Doomps were using ice water and margaritas to douse the fire. We found out later that el Cholo makes the spicy stuff with habaneros... ay yi yi!

Anyhow, some great food was had, margaritas were flowing, and presents were opened. I got some cash, lotto tickets, a magic technology pen, and most importantly a nice time with my family... and since I'm not much of a big birthday party person, the small gathering was perfect! Thank you Doompas, Cindy and Christina!

genius of rob goodin

2008-12-26T11:27:00.000-08:00

Rockin' Rob Goodin drew this delightful little ditty on the back of a Christmas card... pure magick.

My Assistant Directors

2008-10-31T22:17:00.000-07:00

Someone said I was crappy because I hadn't posted anything in the last four eons.

Who reads this anyway?

Just to fill space, I'm gonna write about what's on my mind at the moment. I was just going through my contact manager (Apple's Adress Book) and I noticed that I hadn't capitalized my current Assistant Director's name. As I corrected said error, I began to think, "How many AD's have I had"?

I started my directing career (and yea, it doth continue to this very day) at American Dad, and so the following list naturally applies to what I like to call "America's Favorite Show"...

1. Edgar Larrazabal

A nice fella. We did two episodes together, "Roger Codger" and "Con Heir". Edgar always had a jolly disposition and a laissez-faire attitude.

2. Caleb Muerer

A heckuva a guy. Alas, we only did one episode, "Finances With Wolves". He went on to beautifully direct American Dad, but now spends his time as a character designer. Caleb is great at finding the comic essence of each scene, and I was always delighted by his boards and his attitude.

3. Tim Parsons

A swell man. We did a whole season together: "Camp Refoogee", "The Best Christmas Story Never", and "The Vacation Goo". Tim went on to direct American Dad. Tim's boards are simply beautiful to behold, and he never caused trouble like Caleb!

4. Aldin Baroza

A real jim-dandy. We did two fine shows together, "Tearjerker" and "Spring Break-Up". He walked on over to greener pastures. Aldin was a fast and furious board artist, and you couldn't ask for more.

5. Oreste Canestrelli

A helluva squingilli. We did "Live and Let Fry" and another one I can't remember the name of. He left me to work as a director on the new Fox show, "The Cleveland Show". Oreste brought a rock-solid foundation of perspective and a fighting spirit of cinematics to the table. It would kill him to adapt to American Dad's "flat" style, but he walked the razor's edge and managed to get many of his bold ideas through.

6. Valerie Fletcher

One supah gal of arrow-making descent. We have thus far only done one episode together, "In Country...Club". Val is not only a super-talented character designer, she is a tour-de-force storyboard artist. I HATE HER!!!

There ya have it.

-Albert

Beer

2008-09-30T17:17:00.000-07:00

I used to drink wine coolers in high school. Beer was a bitter affair. But now I love beer. Here are some I've tasted...

Aventinus

Brewed by G. Schneider & Sohn of Germany.

Named after the son of Hercules and Rhea.

Its dark color might make you think that it's gonna be an overpowering experience, but it is quite smooth and earthy. Really delicious. I added an orange to it.

style: Wheat-Dopplebock

alcohol content: 8.2%

look: cloudy and dark brown, almost purplish.

smell: nice.

taste: smooth and rich and wheaty and yummy. No alcoholly-burn.

overall: delicious.

EDD Breakthrough!

2008-02-21T13:41:00.001-08:00

I finally got through to the Unemployment Department on a voice call after about a solid 250 tries over the course of a two weeks. I've never had a problem getting through in the past, which means that there must be a hell of a lot of people on unemployment! See, I filled out my claim form incorrectly and twice so.

I must say that every time I talk to an EDD person, they are pleasant and quite helpful. Now why can't I fill out those dang claim forms correctly?

And so this is goodbye, suckas. I'm gonna be reeeeeeeeeeeeyich!

Albert J Calleros

Good one by Rodzilla

2008-02-15T16:52:00.000-08:00

Rodney Clouden makes a funny about Sandra back in 2000 or so.

One of My Favorite Pieces of Comedy of all Time

2008-02-15T16:42:00.000-08:00

I came across this comedic gem, conceived and written by my friend Dan Danko lo those many years ago. It still cracks me up every time I think about it, only because it's so dang true!

This One is For Jimbo

2008-01-20T18:06:00.000-08:00

One for the open piehole!

I am gonna draw 365 times this year... AT LEAST!

2008-01-13T19:28:00.000-08:00

I've decided to sketch more this year, so I have planned to do at least one drawing or sketch or other artistic representation per day. I won't post every day, but rather in batches...

See The Dang Page

Argentina Part 1

2007-08-22T21:37:00.000-07:00

I spent the night with a stranger in Washington DC.

My story starts at LAX. United Airlines flight 18 to Washington DC's Dulles Airport sat on the Los Angeles tarmac for 30 minutes before the captain announced that the plane would be delayed a full 50 minutes more due to "weather problems" in DC. The first 30 minutes were attributed to a "customs issue" at LAX.

The guy who sat next to me answered my "How ya doin?" with, "I'm gettin' there". I laughed because I hadn't heard that response before. His name, as it turned out, was Paul Kelly.

Paul Kelly put on his headphones, cranked some R&B tunes and fell asleep during the first 30 minutes of our delay. When he woke up an hour AFTER WE WERE SUPPOSED TO TAKE OFF, he was relieved to see that it was still light outside in Washington DC.

The problem was that we weren't in Washington DC. We were still at LAX!

Spain Sketchbook 007

2007-02-04T22:17:00.000-08:00

Yet another crappy drawing. I like the little alien guy though.

Spain Sketchbook 006

2007-01-28T21:55:00.000-08:00

Another sketchbook page with the newly discovered "I'm all about text-messaging" Sandra. The dude is made up.

BeanRobots Lose Manager in Post-Season Shake-up

2007-01-22T18:24:00.000-08:00

Feeley resigns
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

January 22, 2007, 12:27 PM EST

IRVING, Texas -- Jim Feeley retired from coaching Monday, leaving the Bean Robots after one season and ending a stellar career that featured one Championship appearance.

The announcement came 15 days after the Bean Robots' season ended with a heartbreaking championship loss to Frohawks. He'd been at his office nearly every day since, and there were other indications that the 33-year-old coach was returning for a second year in Sherman Oaks.

"I am retiring from coaching Bean Robots," Feeley said in a statement. "I want to thank Albert Calleros for his tremendous support over the last year. Also, the players, fans and others in the support group who have done so much to help. Cocktales and Dreams is a great league and the Robots are an integral part of it. I am hopeful that they are able to go forward from here."

The announcement came in a morning e-mail. There was no immediate statement from Calleros, the team owner, although maybe one will be issued later in the day. There were no immediate plans for a news conference.

"I am in good health and feel lucky to have been able to coach in Cocktales & Dreams for a period of time," Feeley said. "I leave the team and the league with nothing but good feelings and gratitude to all the players, coaches and other people that have assisted me in that regard. "

Feeley won three consecutive Championships as the Happy Kissing Bunny coach with the Fitzmongers FF League. He came to the Bean Robots last season energized by the challenge of restoring glory to "Mexico’s Team." He went 10-4 and definitely left the Bean Robots better than he found them, but his tenure ultimately may be remembered for the lack appreciation from owner, Albert Calleros.

His team went 1-1 in the postseason. The Robots appeared headed to a breakthrough chamionship win this month, but Pro Bowl reciever Andre Johnson only produced 4 points in the final.

Feeley's legacy with the Robots can be framed this way: Maybe Sherman Oaks isn’t big enough for an owner who’s ego is so large and pockets so shallow, and a championship caliber coach who rightfully deserves all the credit for the team’s success.

--Fantasy Football Commissioner
http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/f1

Fugitive from the Law!

2006-12-29T10:08:00.000-08:00

After a fun time of riding dirt bikes and quads in the sand dunes of Glamis, California, I got an early-morning ticket from a sheriff for rolling through a stop sign. Turned out my license had expired as well, so the guy was being a dick and said that I couldn't even drive my car to park it, so he would have to tow it. Then he went back to his SUV sheriff car and made me wait another 10 minutes while I cursed myself and the futility of it all, and besides, who makes these dang laws that won't even let you drive 50 yards to park your car? F'in ridiculous!!

He came back and said, "Okay I'm going to let you park your car at the Motel 8. but don't drive it anywhere else. If you do, we will take your car. So call someone to come and pick up you and your car" (meaning that two people would have to come). My options were to call my fmaily that was still sleeping at Glamis and ruin their trip by making them leave Glamis early OR calling someone (two people) from LA to travel about 200 miles to come get me and the car. The cop left me and I thought to myself, "There is truly only one option". I called my sister's boyfriend Trey for moral support and any extra angles on the subject. He said to wait 4 minutes then book. I'm not saying I drove away, but I am saying me and my car were gone about 30 seconds after I got off the phone with Trey.

Spain Sketchbook 005

2006-12-13T08:39:00.000-08:00

This was the first drawing I did in the sketchbook, and I did it in Atlanta, Georgia at some airport restaurant while waiting for my connecting flight. There's nothing to speak of in terms of inspiration, other than the tight haircut, which was loosely based on a waitress.

My problem with this drawing? The short torso.

Spain Sketchbook 004

2006-12-10T13:15:00.000-08:00

Yet another page. The girl was a quick sketch of someone I saw. The dude came from the ether.

Public Transportation...Wow!

2006-12-03T08:20:00.000-08:00

Bob Bowen organized some folks to have drinks at The Cat & Fiddle of Hollywood. "Hey great, I'll take public transporation to get there", I thought. The ORANGE LINE connects to the RED LINE which has a stop at Hollywood and Highland, a mere 15 minute walk from the bar.

The ORANGE LINE is a special street route built for the exclusive use of silver and orange "articulated" buses, long caterpillar-like vehicles connected together with what looks like a foil dryer duct. I don't keep tabs on the LA public transportation scene, but I knew the Orange Line was coming long before most people, probably because practically WENT THROUGH MY BACK YARD.

The RED LINE is our superb subway system, which takes you in a straight line to about two useful places. Many people fear premature burial in the RED LINE during an earthquake. People are always surprised to hear that there's a subway system in LA, especially the people who live here.

Anyway, the point of all this is to say that CRAZY PEOPLE RIDE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION. Why oh why can't you get on one of these things and not experience the sheer sweaty hell of broken humans? I get on, take a seat near the driver and soon notice the musculed sweaty, intense guy in the headband standing near the driver. He's listening to headphones and he's making these jerky dance moves, punctuated by grunts and half-words, presumably in sync with the rock music which is almost distinct from 5 feet away.

He starts pacing the aisle back and forth in front of me, laughing to himself, stopping to do his rough dance, stepping down into the exit stairwell, and then taking his position at the front of the bus again. I wonder which pass will bring with it a fist to my face or possibly strangulation. He again descends to the exit stairwell, just to my left. He does his most energetic dance thus far, then giggles to himself and says, "All the cars have hairs". Acid is what he's on, I think. More dancing, and then in a commanding clear tone he twice demands, "Come in London!". I guess it's conceivable that he had a special cell-phone connection to England, but the more logical scenario is that he was receiving special "transmissions" from London that ony he could hear. My fear turned into amusement, but I still didn't dare make eye contact with him.

On the next stop, he exited the bus and hopefully the rest of my life. Who are the crazy bus dancers out there? I've asked this once and I'll ask again..."How do crazy people know to ride the bus?!". How do they know to pay, to wait at the right place, to not jump in front of it as it approaches? How?

As for the subway RED LINE portion of the night, there were no crazy people, just loud Mexican American girls cussing at eachother in a friendly manner and two Mexican guys with a PSP playing a really loud videogame. I was surprised to hear Grandmster Flash's "Scorpio" coming from the game. A pleasant surprise.

Oh yeah, the best line from those Mexican girls..."Would you give me like the biggest cigarette in the world for Christmas?". Her friend says, "Yeah, I would". Now that is heartwarming. The subway ride was very quick, and as I stepped out onto the Hollywood and Highland exit and saw all the bad teenage kids clogging up the revamped street corner, I thought, "Hollywood still sucks ass".

Spain Sketchbook 003

2006-12-01T08:08:00.000-08:00

Great...another guy with a beard. Perhaps my own beard which I sported at the time and yes, even now, crept into my drawing.

Nothing to do with Spain, this guy trickled out from the very hand that drew it. What was I thinking at the time? Hmmm. I think I wanted to draw something with a clear attitude. He's supposed to be a black guy. And what is his attitude? I don't know. He looks a little pissed off, a little villainous and perhaps even offended by your presence.

My major gripe with this sketch? I didn't put some convincing swooping wrinkles on his out-turned left leg. His left...not the picture's left.

Spain Sketchbook 002

2006-11-28T08:52:00.000-08:00

I can't remember what prompted this picture. Maybe it started with a brief glimpse of a woman on the train from Sitges (a beach town) to some other town that I can't remember the name of which turned out to be a crappy excursion. When we look at this drawing, we must think, "What will I eat for dinner tonight?". And another thing, I'm sort of turned off by these types of expressions where people look all self-satisfied. Come on, it's so ridiculous. Can't she have a little pain her life? What the hell does she have to be so "at peace" about?!

Spain Sketchbook 001

2006-11-21T09:06:00.000-08:00

I did some doodling in Spain. I'm not saying the stuff is great, but at least I was drawing. Here's page one. As I remember it, I was inspired by a dude walking and tugging on his pants. Hey look! Whaddya know...the guy in the picture is doing the same thing. Wow. Wow!

You know what I hate about this drawing? The head. It's not in the right spot...the "neck" is off-center. It just doesn't fit right. Plus, the beard is probably an attempt to salvage what was turning out to be a crappy face anyway. He looks like a dang hippy. Oh, why? Why why why why why? And what's going on with his mouth? Is his tongue coming out the side? I don't know. I just don't know.

Flash Drawing 002

2006-11-14T22:38:00.000-08:00

Dammit, I just wrote a post and uploaded it and nothing happened, so here I am again. I hate repeating myself. The short story is that I hate seeing hack furniture in background design (I work in animation) and I love it when background designers actually go the extra mile to use nice furniture in their designs. With that in mind, I felt like drawing a chair...

Wait...I just found the original post. In the interest of redundancy, here it is:
I am really disgusted by that typical couch you see in animation...you know the one with the two arms that sort of bend out to the sides. Jeeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzz! Haven't we seen enough of that freakin' couch? I'm an animation director at the moment, and it's always exciting when a background designer actually puts in cool-looking furniture. This heavy issue was on my mind, so I drew a chair. It doesn't look very functional, but who cares?

Flash Drawing 001

2006-11-13T23:51:00.000-08:00

This is the first in a series of drawings done in Flash, which is quite nicely suited to my often scratchy mode of work.

Why Life Sucks

2006-11-12T02:05:00.000-08:00

Since Friday morning, I have been feeling a small stinging sense of crapiness.

Bob Bowen, Ira Sherak, John Aoshima and I spent about 12 hours today working on a "video scavenger hunt" project, and for what result? Total, humiliating garbage. Unwatchable. The most satisfying part was working up the nerve to show the video to the crowd at Titmouse Studio, then laughing and crying hysterically from the overwhelming shame of it all. John and Ira had already left, so it was up to Bob and myself to bear the load. And we did, dammit, like the men of old. We were not proud of our failure, but Bob does own the only copy available on Earth, and he will hopefully destroy it tomorrow night.

That is all.

Jeff Levy Hooked Me Up

2006-11-04T13:32:00.000-08:00

It is unlikely among my <1 readers that any of you have heard of Jeff Levy. He is a radio talk show host who hosted a computer-centric based program on KFI for years. It was stylishly called "On Computers”, and even though I'm an Apple fan and Jeff pretty much addressed Windows machines, I still somehow found the show interesting. He had a knack for inserting a slightly blue-cheesy vaudeville sense of humor.

Anyhow, I was walking the dog sisters Chuy and Scout and decided to stop at the donut shop around the corner to get a little somethin' somethin' when this older man approached and asked what kind of dogs they were. I don't really know what they are...Retriever/Lab/Australian Shephard? Anyway, he told me about his adventures in adopting rescue dogs, culminating with a $7500 Doberman. And it has a passport from italy, he exclaimed. He said that he could mentally communicate with dogs and showed me his "dog training techniques". I was curious at first, until his first command was something like, "Okay, don't roll over". He then proceeded through about two more jokey commands, then we made way to the donut shop doors. He told me that anybody who liked dogs was "alright in his book" then insisted on purchasing my cappucino and croissant.

I thought he was an eccentric rich guy (he had a newer white Jaguar), and when he gave me my stuff he noticed my iPod. He told me that he had a website, "www.jefflevy.com" and then I instantly knew who this phlegmy-voiced comedic angel was. I gave him some props and told him that it was a pleasure and he assured me that we would see eachother again. So there you have it. My brush with radio aristocracy. Perhaps I will see Jeff Levy again. And when I do, I'll tell him you said hello.

http://www.jefflevy.com/default.aspx

My Sister Broke her Back

2006-11-03T11:59:00.000-08:00

My sister is my dentist.

And I was on my way to have her veneer my dead-nerved and discolored left front tooth. Only about 30 seconds from home, I was checking a cell phone message from her office, saying to give Sandi (my sister) a call on her cell. She answered and in a woozy voice said, "I broke my back." I said "Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?!". How often do you hear of someone you know breaking their back? It sounds crazy.

She was riding a dunebuggy and hit a hard bump, and on landing felt that something had gotten out of whack. I instantly thought of paralysis, but she can luckily move everything and was even painfull walking around and working for two days! Thinking it was a simple thing, she went to a chiropractor, who told her that she had a misaligned disc or something like that AND THEN PROCEEDED TO ADJUST HER BACK!! When she went to the doctor the next day (I think) and got a cat-scan, the doctor told her that she had a broken back and that the chiropractor was of course an idiot to do anything to her, and that she could have been paralyzed by the "adjustment"! The doctor put her in a back brace and sent her off with some pain medicine.

The cat-scan or xray (I forget which) revealed that, as Sandi said, "It looks like someone took a hammer and cracked one of my vertebrae". I guess that there's all kinds of fragmentation going on. She was waiting to get an appointment with her real doctor, who is an orthopedic specialist, and when I last talked to her, he was finally on the phone calling her.

Anyway, the discomfort finally got too much for her to work another day, so my long-awaited tooth veneering is on hold.

The Slowly Evolving Bathroom

2006-11-01T18:09:00.000-08:00

I humbly admit that I have not been very diligent about finishing the redecoration of the "vanity area" of the guest bathroom. Yeah, we've been in this house at least two years. Why can't I remember how long? There you have an example of my inexact memory. Anyway, now that my hiatus from work is coming to an end, I wanted to be able to go back to work knowing that the cabinets were in and the wallwork around them finished and perhaps even primed for painting.

I built the simple cabinets out of birch wood. They're basicly open boxes with slots for glass shelves, which I have already had cut to size. You'd think it'd be easy to make a simple box, but it took a long time to get those cabinets right. In the process, I bought a nail gun for my Sears Craftsman compressor, which I scored from my brother Jerry after he bought a better one.

Back to the bathroom. I should be commended for gutting out the old double-sink cabinets, ripping out the old boring floor tile, installing the little blue wall tiles (my first tiling job ever), installing a new sink (which involved my first copper pipe work ever), and installing the little hexagonal floor tiles, which were a real pain around the curved profile of the bathtub. And don't even ask about the bathtub/toilet area...that whole thing needs to be redone too. Although I did put in floor tile there too.