Let's start with a current picture of the construction. It's evolved into one big-ass sculpted mass of lumber!! We figured if you're gonna' be an eyesore in the neighborhood, ya' might as well do with style!!
Compare the photo above with the pic to the right taken in late June, and you'll see what has transpired. Not only has the second floor been completed (with roof!!), but so has the third floor deck...complete with stairs and crow's nest.
Here's a trio of pics that show you what's going on outside. The one on the left is the west side of the house. The large opening to the left is for the garage door. The center shot shows you the complete length of the east side of the house. It all begins with the second floor windows for the dining room and kitchen, and ends at the far right corner with the master bathroom. This is anything but a flat surface and provides our neighbors Willy and Donna with a rather interesting view. The final shot is a detail from the east side. This curved area houses the spiral staircase inside.
Here's an interior shot of the second floor landing for the stairs. The light source you see from the roof is where the skylight will be. Note all the curves and "non-straight/flat" surfaces. This is definitely not a traditional build and is testing the skills of the framers. Though they've stepped up to the plate and are doing an incredible job, the framing has taken considerably more time than originally projected. More time equals more money. See, I'm not as dumb as I look!!
The vision of the architect and the details she has brought to the build are second to none. There's times when we think the plans got switched and they're building us the new Snow White castle that should be at Disneyland. They should be putting the windows in any day now. We can't wait to see that!!
To keep our interior spiral staircase company, we now have this grand curved stairway that leads to...
...our third floor deck. The circular element is where the skylight will be recessed into. We originally wanted to put some kind of "fire circle" that people could sit around up here. For some reason, the city doesn't allow flames of any kind, sourcing from the top of a building. Go figure!!Now that you've been updated with the construction, let us share with you some of the other elements of our lives...
Remember reading about the problems with IndyMac Bank on Friday July 11th?
"The federal government took control of Pasadena-based IndyMac Bank on Friday in what regulators called the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history.
Citing a massive run on deposits, regulators shut its main branch three hours early, leaving customers stunned and upset. One woman leaned on the locked doors, pleading with an employee inside: "Please, please, I want to take out a portion." All she could do was read a two-page notice taped to the door."
...guess which lending institution we have our construction loan with? You guessed it...IndyMac!! To say than Gina was besides herself is an understatement. Thanks to her calm and level-headed reaction, I got a first hand look how investors must of felt when the stock market crashed in 1929. If we had a tall building close by, who knows how my day might have ended. We suddenly had no access whatsoever to the money we had secured for our construction. Thankfully on Monday the Feds stepped in and took over the operations of the bank...everything appeared to be normal. If they had experienced the uncertainty of the weekend that we just endured, they'd realize that we had been forever traumatized. What a wonderful time to decide to build a house!!
This now takes us the 2008 Comic-Con International in San Diego. Though the show opened to the public on the evening of Wednesday July 23rd, the prep-work for this show is overwhelming and begins months before the show starts. Aside from being the biggest show of the year (150,000 people) and setting-up a larger exhibit/selling area than we do at any other show, we also have a second selling space where we sell the official event shirt for the convention. Between these two space, we sell lots of shirts which also requires additional staff to man the booths. As always, we draft Graphitti Designs employees (old and new) as well as family members. Aside from my three kids being there working (Kevin, Chris and Sarah), we also had family (no not that "family"), from Gina's side. Her sister Nancy flew in from Mass and worked with us as did our daughter Francesca and her fiancee Anthony.
The show was a success and everyone survived...more or less!! As we've done so for the past twenty-plus years, Graphitti Designs throws a wrap-up party on Sunday night after the show. This "Dead Dog" party has become legendary over the years and has become the place for friends, family and business associates to relax and unwind. The following is a small sampling of the people at the party. It's a great group of people...many that I've known and worked with in some capacity for 25 years or more!!
Here's the obligatory family shot. Going from left to right, we have: Chris and his fiancee Meloney, Gina (rubbing Buddha's belly for luck), Bob, Sarah, Kevin and his girlfriend Kristy. Not in the picture are Nancy, Ces and Ant who had to leave early and missed the party this year...and Ricky (Sarah's boyfriend), who was standing on the very right and was cropped out of the shot by the photographer. Sorry Ricky!!
Here's Christine and Mike Mignola (creator of HELLBOY), confronting the papperazzi. Having just completed their press junket for the HELLBOY II flick, they're old pros at this. Actually we shared a cab from our hotel to the bar with them. Everyone thought it was funny when the flashes suddenly went off. It's all fun and games until cars begin chasing princess' and someone gets hurt!!
From the upper left corner going clockwise we have: Robyn Moore, Gina and Tom Gaadt. We went to the wine country (see Feb. 29, 2008 entry), with her and her husband Terry. Because this was also a memorial/birthday party for Dave Stevens who died earlier in the year, as host, I opened the floor to remembrances and racy stories about Dave. If you look closely, you can see the fear in my eyes...I hate public speaking!! Next we have me flanked by two of me mates. Eddie Campbell (a misplaced Scotsman who now lives in Australia, who co-created and illustrated Alan Moore's FROM HELL), is on the left with Dave Gibbon's on the right. Dave illustrated WATCHMEN back in 1986. We produced a hardcover edition of the book over two decades ago. Keep your eyes peeled for the WATCHMEN movie coming out in March 2009. Aside from talking funny, the Brits are damn fine drinking buddies. These are two of the greatest guys and talented artists around!! Under that pic we have me with Thomas Jane. Thomas was the PUNISHER and was last seen in Stephen King's THE MIST. Moving to the left, we have the birthday cake. One might ask what's up with a birthday cake for a dead guy? It would have been Dave's 53rd birthday on Tuesday July 29th. Dave would never let us throw him a birthday bash while he was alive...so we waited. The bulldog design on the cake (and on the shirts), was done by Dave back in 1984 and was also used by his family on his tombstone. The last picture shows me in a heated discussion with Frank Miller. Frank, who created SIN CITY and 300, is currently directing THE SPIRIT (scheduled for release Dec. 25th). I'm sure I'm reminding him that Gina walked out of his acclaimed SIN CITY flick. If you see dancing penguins in his next movie, you'll know that he listened to Gina's suggestions that I offered to him!! 
Our first day of decompressing and recharging the batteries after San Diego came to an abrupt halt on Tuesday July 29th. At 11:42 am, our world was rocked by a 5.4 magnitude earthquake!! I was at my desk and after a few seconds, I realized what was going on and Thought that it was just another earthquake. The quake proceeded in the normal fashion until the very end. There was a hard crash that sent the earth moving in two opposing directions...at bthe same time!! Gina hid for cover under her desk (that's what they teach you in school), while others in the office went outside. There was minor chaos for a moment. We could hear fire alarms and the sound of rushing water. We discovered that the interior fire sprinklers for the building to the right and to the left of us, had ruptured...spraying water inside their buildings. Once we made sure everyone was OK and helped others in any way we could, we gave our offices a closer inspection. Though we suffered no major damage, remnants of the quake were evident everywhere.
Though I'd would enjoy attributing this to "earthquake damage", I can't. This is the way my office always looks!! The pictures askew on the wall are the only elements of the room that mother nature worked on...everything else is 100% me!!
From left to right, the first picture shows more framed pictures cocked in all directions. Maybe someone can get us one of those laser levels for Christmas? The next one show you some fairly innocent filing cabinets that were opened by the force of the quake. The third picture shows you a vertical crack that we now have in our drywall. The crack runs 20 feet from the ground floor all the way to the ceiling of the room above. Though our wine racks and bottles gave way to the forces of nature, nothing was broken. I'm convinced that the greek god Bacchus must have been watching over us!! Note that this photo was not staged and no professional wine bottles were used in this photoshoot!!Last, but certainly not least, we are winding down preparation for the wedding of Francesca to Anthony. With the wedding just a little more than one week away, I'm beginning to feel that the earthquake was an easier to force to recon with. Gina and I attended a couples bridal shower the Saturday prior to leaving For San Diego and we have the family (yes, that family), will be flying in from the East Coast beginning next week. They'll be rehersal dinners and non-stop family events leading up to and continuing beyond the "I do" moment. Unless Ant gets "cold feet" oe Ces has a "runaway bride" moment, congrats in advance to the soon-to-be-wed couple!!
Plans are to have pictures of the wedding to share with you in the days ahead. That and pictures with house (with windows), are more than enough hype needed for you to return to our blog. Safe travels to everyone flying out to California. See you soon and bring your hardhats...the aftershocks are coming!!
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