8/28/2002:

Well, it's been a while since I last updated the diary, but it has been rather busy around here...

Since we moved to San Francisco in 2000, Katia and I have had a baby, bought a house, changed jobs, and are now getting ready to have another baby!

Our first child, Nicolas is incredible. He is now 21 months old and just starting to talk. He and his buddy Jackson have fun playing everyday with our nanny Veronica. If you want to see a picture of them, click here.

Katia continues with her career as Account Supervisor at Foote Cone Belding. She manages the Blue Shield account for them. At this writing she is four months along with the 2nd pregnancy. It has been a little rougher than the first, with some morning sickness and general fatigue, but she's a trooper. So far so good. We go in for the ultrasound next month. Although she says that she does not want to know the sex of the baby, I feel pretty strongly that this one's a girl (gut feeling). If so, that would be great since we only plan to have two kids.

As many of you know, I have had quite the career shift this year. I had been Creative Director at Yates Advertising, but in January that job went poof, along with about half the ad jobs in the bay area. Seeing that the market was going to be a bit slow for a while, I decided to try a different direction. Since graduating RISD in '84, I have been wanting to devote more time to painting, but hadn't been able to due to time/space limitations. Now I had the opportunity to get back to something that I loved and missed. So for the past several months, I've been working on a series of paintings which I hope to sell, eventually making that my fulltime occupation.

The style of the paintings is photo realistic acrylic on canvas. Scenes of life around San Francisco, but not the usual touristy stuff. More "real", urban grit. This is what makes San Francisco beautiful to me, all the vivid colors, textures, diversity and character. To see some samples, click here.

Realizing that finding a market for my work could take some time, I am now getting back into the advertising market. I think that things are starting to pick up again after a very slow summer. Let's hope so, otherwise it may not be possible to survive in San Francisco indefinitely. That would be a shame, since we love it here.

That's about it for now. I will try to update the site more soon.

1/31/2000:

Change is good...

At least I hope it is. This has been an exciting year, full of many great changes. As I write this, I am preparing to celebrate my one year anniversary to my lovely wife, Katia. As many of you know, we were married on August 23, 1998 in Chicago, Illinois. After the nuptials, we went to Italy for our honeymoon. The trip was spectacular. They say that anyone who throws a coin into the Trevi Fountain is destined to one day return to Rome. I believe them. After returning, Katia and I settled into married life very nicely. It seems hard to believe that a whole year has flown by already.

In May we took a trip to San Francisco to vacation, but also to explore the posibility of moving there. I had wanted to live there since my first visit in 1981. After 12 years in the cold Chicago winters, I figured this was a good time to make the move. Towards that end, we will be taking another trip to San Fran next week (August 20-29) to job and apartment hunt. I know, I know. It's very expensive out there. They have earthquakes. It's foggy. Well, too bad. It's still the most beautiful city in America, and the only one were I can imagine living the rest of my life without being bored.

In July I had arthroscopic surgery on my knee to remove some loose cartilage. It was quite an amazing experience. The entire proceedure took less than an hour, and my recovery was entirely painless. Even the day after surgery, I had virtually no pain. One month later I am walking with no limp, almost back to completely normal. Anyone contemplating arthro should go for it! You'll be glad you did.

Also in the news: Mom & Dad just bought a new house in Atlanta and will be moving in December. That will put them close to Julie, Roland and the her kids. Stacey and Shaun continue flying around the country, partying with the swell racing crowd. Katia's parents and brother Theo are in Jordan visiting relatives for a few weeks. Theo is on break from NYU medical school, where he is learning how to spell his name (among other things). Sister Aliki is holding down the fort in Singapore while everyone's away. Party on, Aliki!

That's about all from Lake Wobegone...
Stay tuned for breaking news.