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I have been married to my wife, Misti, since March 11, 2006. We enjoy a fun life, especially now that we've begun to have children. While life has become much tighter and more restriced since the birth of our first child we still try to make time to do things we love.

Our first child, Calvin, was born in 2008. If you're a Facebook friend you can see photos and videos of him.

We have learned a lot about parenting and continue to learn a lot. We have one of the best resources available to us - DVDs of 'The Cosby Show.' If you've ever seen the Bill Cosby concert video called 'Himself' let me just say that we now relate with approximately 90% of that video."); }); $("#quote2").hover(function() { $("#aboutcol3").html("

I'm cursed. I am.

I can't go to the mall without noticing the color combinations and typography in all the signs.

I can't look at a website with an interesting graphic, effect, or animation without trying to figure out how it's done.

I can't sleep when great ideas hit me...they have to be let out right then.

But most of all, I can't possibly imagine any other career I'd rather have.

What is it I like most about graphic design? I enjoy the creativity and the opportunity to influence the general public. I enjoy the challenge that the empty sheet of paper or the blank computer screen offers me. But most of all I enjoy the moment in graphic design when you've added 2 and 2 and instead of getting 4 like everyone else, you get 739!

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There's a lot wrong with our world. There are more than a few people I've met who don't show off the best that we as human beings have to offer.

I have decided not to contribute to that. Instead it is my goal to make things better when the opportunity arises. Sometimes this means taking the road less traveled. Sometimes it means decisions that make peers and acquaintances shake their heads in bewilderment. This is where some of my odd randomness comes from.

I try to make the day more enjoyable for people that I interact with. I try to make everyone feel as though their life matters and they have importance. This is part of the philosophy of Be Nice Have Fun that I picked up for myself.

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In 2001 I began speaking to design students at various technology centers, community colleges, and universities. The itch to teach and help empower future generations began to be scratched at that time.

In 2003 I became an adjunct at Oklahoma City Community College teaching Flash, Web Design and Multimedia Design to classes containing anywhere from 10-20 students. I have since taught Photoshop and Design Technology at the University of Central Oklahoma and Web Design and Design History at Southern Nazarene University.

Teaching is a way to enable designers, both novice and experienced, to gain a better career for themselves. As someone who has had a strong graphic design career I think we owe it to those who came before us to continue to pass our knowledge and experience along.

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If it wasn't for Star Wars I wouldn't have my career. How so?

Some of my first artistic endeavors designed to make money were Star Wars comic strips and comic books. I couldn't get enough of Star Wars. I regularly drew Star Wars characters and ships from 1st grade through 6th grade. From there it was a gradual expansion into other artistic areas, but when I needed to get back in a comfort zone I would always come back to Star Wars.

I am too young to remember much of Star Wars in the 1970s, but I remember going to the theater with my parents to see it. A childhood of Star Wars comics, toys, and records always helped take me back to the galaxy far, far away and helped expand a young creative mind. Now that I have a young son of my own I pass along some of the fun that I was able to have when I was a child. Time will tell if he has the same interest I did.

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Calvin and Hobbes is one of the most creative bodies of work I have ever seen. Cartoonist Bill Watterson looks at items and situations that all of us deal with on a daily basis. But he shows us a viewpoint so absurd we are in tears from laughing so hard, or a thought so inquisitive that we're left pondering for the rest of the day.

His artwork is loose, and I am amazed when I reexamine it at what he was able to accomplish with so few lines.

I was one of the many aspiring cartoonists who sought to live up to his legacy, but fell woefully short. Calvin and Hobbes will continue to frustrate budding cartoonists who try to emulate its success. I believe it is the last great comic strip we will ever see. "); }); $("#quote7").hover(function() { $("#aboutcol3").html("

Charles Schulz is one of my heroes.

As a child I had many pocket-sized collections of Peanuts comic strips from the 1970s and 1980s. As an adult I have graduated up to hardbound not-so-pocket-sized collections, but the intrigue and awe for the comic strip still remains.

Charles Schulz drew the Peanuts for over 50 years. It wasn't until he was physically unable to do the job due to cancer treatments that he stopped.

What I admire most about Peanuts is their ability to capture what we are all thinking in a simplistic manner that forces us to chuckle. Who among us hasn't felt the sick feeling in the pit of our stomach like Charlie Brown, or the humiliation that Linus feels when evangelizing for The Great Pumpkin?

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I love cartoons. It's one of the areas of my life that didn't fade away as I grew up.

I had a steady diet of The Flintstones, Bugs Bunny, and Mickey Mouse and later Transformers and G.I.Joe. Disney put out the theatrical hits The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King, which all left me in awe of their quality.

In college I became interested in quirky cartoons like The Tick, Animaniacs, Eek the Cat, and Tiny Toon Adventures.

I drew static cartoons for years, the next logical step seemed to be to have them move! I dabbled in Flash cartoons, but not much past that. The itch still pops up to create my own cartoon from time to time. Stay tuned on that front, you never know what will happen or when.

(Oh, and if you ask nicely enough I will tell you how I got into a cartoon at the theater for a child's price when I was 25.)

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I have to admit, I was a baseball card fan before I was a baseball fan. I started collecting cards in early 1987. Sometime in 1988 I realized that the cards I collected were related to the baseball games that were on television. The players were the same, the teams were the same, and the stats revealed a deep and rich history of athletic achievement.

Today I no longer collect the cards but I follow the game of Major League Baseball closely. Most sports fans live for March Madness, but I live for the baseball playoffs of October.

The sport has broken my heart many times, and it has lifted me to the highest peaks almost an equal number of times. Today I am the guy who reads pages of baseball stats like a novel. I am the guy who still harbors a grudge against Francisco Cabrera and the 1992 Atlanta Braves for winning the NLCS and roots against them to this day. And I love it.

And I am unskilled at playing the game in any way.

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