August 2011

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Hurricane Irene

August 28, 2011 by Mayde | Leave a comment

It’s 2 a.m. and Hurricane Irene is in full force, moving up the East Coast.

That red marker on the above map is where we’re located. So far, we still have electricity and aren’t experiencing anything other than a bad rain storm. Sure, it’s windy and downpouring, but this isn’t any different than the other rain storms we’ve had in the last couple of weeks. Not yet, anyway. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how bad it’ll actually get.

This has been a crazy week here in the Northeast. First, there was the earthquake on Tuesday, and now this. We’re hanging in there, just trying to stay safe and dry. I’ll be sure to keep you updated as things progress in our neck of the woods.

Updates:

2:14 am – Lights started flickering.

6:28 am – Power went out.

11:00 am – The worst seems to be over. Still no power, but no major damage in the area, either, except some flooding. Fortunately, our house is mostly unaffected and everyone here is safe.

The river near our house was overflowing its banks.

Flooding around our local Post Office.

New little rivers that formed post-Irene.

I had a video embedded here and, for some reason, it stopped working. Click here to view a video I took of our neighborhood after the storm.

3:00 am, Monday – Power was restored at our house, but many others nearby are still without electricity. My thoughts and prayers go out to these people, and all those who have been negatively affected by “Mean Irene”.

Are you being affected by Hurricane Irene? How are you dealing with it? Did you feel the earthquake on Tuesday? Let me know by leaving a comment.

An Open Letter to HGTV

August 20, 2011 by Mayde | Leave a comment

Dear HGTV,

I love your show Design Star. What I do not love is this:

Why must you feature each week’s losing contestant on the show’s homepage? The only reason I ever visit your website is to watch Design Star, and each time I log on to watch a new episode, my excitement is immediately diminished upon seeing the homepage, where spoilers abound.

Please rethink your website design, and stop showing me who loses before I even get a chance to see the show.

Your fan,
Mayde

Visionary Tattoo Arts Festival

August 18, 2011 by Mayde | Leave a comment

With everything that’s been happening lately, I’m getting a little behind in my blog posting, so please just bear with me while I try to catch up!

Just over two weeks ago, Dan and I drove down to Asbury Park, NJ to attend the 2nd Annual Visionary Tattoo Arts Festival. We’ve been to several tattoo conventions before, but this was our first time working at one, so we were a bit excited and nervous, and weren’t really sure what to expect.

The convention floor

The convention started on Friday, July 29th. We got there late in the day, but used the time to set up our booth, get acquainted with our neighbors, have a look around, and check into our hotel room. Dan was even able to get a tattoo done in the short time between set up and closing.

Our booth at the convention

Saturday was a bit less rushed, but much more exciting. As soon as we got to the convention hall, Dan set to work on his appointment for the day, and I helped run the booth, greeting people as they stopped by, showing off Dan’s portfolio, and trying to book some appointments for him. When I wasn’t needed at the booth, I walked around and took in some of the entertainment. They had skate demonstrations, parkour performances, and burlesque shows, but my favorite act was the Show Devils. Similar to the old fashioned sideshow acts, the Show Devils hammered nails into their heads, lit cigarettes with sparks, and cut apples with chainsaws – while blindfolded! Their act alone was worth the price of admission to the convention.

The Enigma

After the entertainment acts, the tattoo contests began. Dan entered a few tattoos in the various categories (and won for Best Small/Medium Color!), but what we were really excited about was the Best Tattoo of the Day competition. This particular contest compares all of the tattoos done in a single day at the convention. It’s held at the end of each day at every tattoo convention, and is one of the most sought-after awards among tattoo artists. By winning a Best Tattoo of the Day competition, a tattoo artist gains a new level of respect among his peers.

Eddie entering Dan's tattoo in the Best Tattoo of the Day contest

So naturally, after working for 8 hours straight on our friend Eddie’s chest piece, Dan submitted it to the Best Tattoo of the Day contest. It was up against 22 other amazing pieces, so we waited with bated breath while the judges deliberated. After several long, drawn-out minutes, they finally announced Dan as the winner!

Eddie and Dan with their Best Tattoo of the Day trophies

I was so excited for him, and so proud that he had won two awards at his first (working) tattoo convention!

We stayed up late celebrating on Saturday, so of course we slept in Sunday morning and missed our check-out time. Fortunately, the lady at the front desk was incredibly nice and didn’t charge us for the extra hour we spent in our room. (Thank you, Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel!)

Sunday was much more laid back, as everyone was just hanging around and the other tattoo artists were slowly packing up and leaving throughout the day. We stayed just long enough for Dan to do one more tattoo, and then we packed up our stuff and got ready to make the long drive back up to New York. Of course, we were stuck in traffic most of the evening along with the thousands of other people leaving the Jersey shore, and we didn’t make it back home until after 11:00 at night, but it was all worth it. Dan now has two trophies to put on his shelf, and a new title to add to his resume – award winner!

Bonus shot of the beach. You're welcome.

Have you ever been to a tattoo convention? If so, which one(s)? If not, would you attend one? Ever been to the Jersey shore? Tell me all about it in the comments.

Operation Get Out of Brooklyn

August 3, 2011 by Mayde | Leave a comment

Operation Get Out of Brooklyn: Complete

Operation Move Into New House: Well… we’re working on it.

Unlike most young couples who move into a new, empty house after their first year of marriage, we’re moving into a home already occupied by two other people. This requires us to be flexible, and to fit ourselves in among all of the pre-existing stuff. In order to make room for our stuff, we have to move things out before we can move things in. This means that, after a full week in our new home, most of our stuff is still sitting in boxes in whatever space we can find around the house.

We have made some progress, though. We cleared out the master bedroom, moved our bed in, hung up our clothes, set up my home office, gave the master bathroom a good cleaning, and washed about 40 loads of laundry. (You have no idea how nice it is to have our own washer and dryer again, after using public laundromats for 6 years!)

Of course, there’s still a lot of work to be done. Our to-do list for the house is five pages long and I have a mental list going that’s probably even longer. But unfortunately, a lot of our DIY projects will have to wait at least a few more weeks. We’re still in the process of buying the house, Dan’s still figuring out his job situation, we only have two cars between three people, and most of our limited funds are tied up in escrow. Until we close, there’s not much we can do, but in a way, that’s a good thing.

It gives us time to kick back and relax, and hopefully enjoy this upcoming weekend.