After I mentioned the logo I’m creating for Caidy, Matthew Turland casually mentioned that Phergie could use a logo. Phergie is open source IRC bot written in PHP (My non-technical friends’ eyes have glazed over about now). The important part is that is open source and a PHPWomen.org sponsored project, so worthy of more than the limited effort I could put into a logo project. A logo request that combines wildly complex software development and diversity? How could I say no?

Since my day job is to create huge monstrous websites, it was good exercise to work on the subtle intricacies of a logo. To practice things I actually went to college for. Because my last logo for a client was several years ago, this project gave me an opportunity to judge my time and process in logo development. Yes, I do take this stuff serious (so serious, I won’t be showing the embarrassing thumbnails for this project because they sucked).

This project took a little over a month to complete. Mostly because of a vacation and the pressures of work. Actual hourly logged time is around 10 hours including research and sketches. The typography for the logo uses the Midiet typeface by Yamaoka Yasuhiro of www.yoworks.com. I had plans for a hand-drawn logo-type, but Midiet fit the project so well and had an open use copyright. The face sketch is digitally drawn with my recently acquired Intuous4 Bluetooth tablet. I approached this project with a low budget, so I started with black and white versions that would still be legible when reversed.

Matt’s notes were very clear about the aspects of the project and it’s statements of diversity. Colors were examined that would relate to the branding for PHP and/or for PHPWomen. A screen of a color close the PHPWomen colors won out in the end.

Caidy and I took off early Tuesday afternoon and after almost four hours (to go about 60 miles) we made it to the Quarter House in New Orleans to stay the night and see the Saints carry the Lombardi Trophy Mardi Gras style through the streets of New Orleans.

We stood with a friendly crowd at the intersection of Canal and Camp. It was cold, so we stayed warm with a not so nutritional combination of alcohol and funnel cakes. The parade was slow moving with a pretty long route, but it was fun.

Who Dat Gear

This past Martin Luther King Jr. holiday we went to Fleurty Girl in New Orleans to pick up some Who Dat gear. Caidy scored a Boutte Call shirt, Mom got a Who D@! shirt, and I got the #whodat hashtag shirt.

We’ll have some proper attire for the Saints this weekend although I appear a little bent (not quite heterosexual) for the photo.

After they moved to Louisiana they spent several months dealing with some of the crookedest real-estate people you can imagine. For some reason these people thought out of state newbies from Phoenix would be easy suckers. They tried to sell my parents over priced housing in crime ridden neighborhoods, flood prone housing, and my favorite; A fire damaged house where they laid shingles over huge burn holes in the roof. My folks had enough. They bought a mobile home, moved it into a trailer park in Tioga, Louisiana and started hunting for some land.

The land was the husk of a burnt out brick home at 5716 Gilley Williams Rd., Tioga, Louisiana. We spent many years moving the bricks of that house around the property.

On November 16, 2009 my parents left Tioga. They have a new home in West Virgina near my brother. I’m surprised they lived in Tioga so long. We wore that place out! They raised two boys and a neighborhood of vagabonds that we would bring home. That tin box was beat up by storms like Gustav. I still get pissed when weather people mention their disdain for the mobile home. A properly built and anchored mobile home is as good as anything else. I’ve seen brick homes collapse too. If you survive a major weather event, you should just be thankful.

There’s some photos we took when we helped them move; The cinderblocks where my dog, Boss, hid when he ran away as a puppy. The remnants of the ladder to tree house we built.The railroad tracks where I walked all the time (occasionally I snuck out to raise hell). Some artifacts like the Sierra Network mouse pad and my brother’s Sex Pistol album Caidy took. Of course the concrete we poured to build the carport that has our names in it.

P.S. For a bonus here’s the YouTube video of Richard McNair’s smooth escape that took place down the street).

Happy Veterans’ Day!

Caidy saved her up cash for quite a while and we slowly aquired the paint and supplies. We decided on a light blue because it was a calm color that would reflect some decent light. We chose white cabinets and trim for the sam reason. Total project took a little over two weeks since we both have jobs.

Old Loose Caboose T-Shirt Design Cleaned Up

So it’s been over 10 years since the Loose Caboose Coffee House shutdown and stopped making all that racket in West Monroe & Monroe, Louisiana. I thought it would be fitting to post the artwork for the t-shirt that I was working on that final year. Before the Loose Caboose was morphed and resold to become the University Pub, then  Atomic Coffee & Tea, then finally Cottonport Coffee. I hear the espresso machine is somewhere in Ouachita Parish.

My wife thinks it’s a pseudo-self-portrait. It might be a little. Inspiration for it actually came from a Billy Goat performance at the Caboose. If you drank coffee, went to show, or loitered at the Loose Caboose in the 90′s you might understand.

It’s not like you expect to see great rockin’ performances in northeast Louisiana, but there were quite a few. I would list some of them here, but I know I would miss mentioning a few and it really wouldn’t be fair. I’ll just post my favorites in the comments instead.

Between 1993(?) and 1998(?) the Loose Caboose served coffee and mayhem to the population of Monroe and West Monroe, Louisiana. The coffee shop was originally owned by Shannon Willis and Mahlon (Lonnie) Davis. With the awesome support from a cool caffeinated community of culture lovers, they ran a barely accepted all-ages venue. There was good music, art, and conversation. I still eat my dinner at a table painted by Stacey Thomas.

Old Loose Caboose T-Shirt Design Scans

I got involved in 1995 after graduation from college and because circumstances with my roomate almost left me homeless. I moved into the house on Riverbend with Lonnie and Shannon. I did some design, website, and other work for the Caboose in exchange for coffee, food, and (yep) music. I got my first webmaster gig by meeting Tom Johnson at that infernal coffee house.

I really don’t want to gush over it too much, but it definitely was one hell of a once in a lifetime experience.