Blast from the Past: Octavio

   This afternoon I had the pleasure of introducing a few members of my stellar team to a group of visiting educators from art schools around the country, and wowing them with our great product. One of the educators was familiar, though I hadn't seen him in ELEVEN YEARS... Octavio, with whom I interned at Hallmark 14 years ago. It was awesome: he looked exactly how I remembered him & when we talked it was as if no time had passed at all. That's when you KNOW you've got a best friend!

   After work I met him in the lobby & we headed over to Blue Gallery to check out Rich Bowman's one-man show, which was amazing. Rich was so gracious, well-spoken & down to earth, despite his great talent. It's a pleasure to know folks like him. I also bumped into Eric & Daren, who adopted one of our MSIR shibas, Ken. I had performed the home evaluation for them back in May, and was delighted to hear that they & Ken are doing well. Such cool guys. I couldn't be happier for the 3 of them... the best part of volunteering for a rescue group is helping to make a happy ending.

 

   After the show, Octavio said he was in the mood for Mexican food so I took him to Teocali. (Photo from The Pitch). It was delicious and it was so great to catch up with Octavio & hear all about his job as an instructor at Ringling School of Art & Design, and his family, his boat, and his extreme fear of spiders. I haven't laughed that hard in a while. Thanks, buddy! :)

   We stopped at my house for a bit so Octavio could shake hands with the incredible robot cabinet he made for me as a gift all those years ago, say hi to the cats & meet the shibas. As I predicted, Taylor was putty in his hands right off the bat. To the point where I almost had to send Taylor home to Florida with him. But hopefully Octavio & Suzanne & Maya will just come back to KC for a visit soon.

blast from the distant past...

Octavio has done it again...uploaded a 13-year-old cartoon that I drew when we were interns together.

Here's what he said about it: "Found this sketch on my desk shortly after Hallmark Cards initiated the "Advantage Workflow" in order to 'raise the highbar.' (expletive deleted)"

You know what they say: "violence is golden"!

blast from the distant past...

My good buddy Octavio Perez thoughtfully resurrected some of my old artwork for the world to see on Facebook. Did these 13 years ago when we interned for Hallmark Cards. (Those were the days!) Descriptions follow...Greeting card artwork approval committee meetings at Hallmark used to consist of a couple of line designers and the artist. The morning I did this sketch, there were a bunch of Japanese men with cameras standing around the perimeter of the room as the designers reviewed Octavio's work. Nobody offered an explanation and he didn't ask. He said he felt like a trained bear at the zoo surrounded by a bunch of stereotypical Japanese tourists with 35mm cameras dangling around their necks. Not sure how he maintained his composure. But of course I couldn't let that moment pass without mocking him!

I thought there was something funny about a big, manly guy painting the sweetest, most adorable little bunnies and duckies and chicks for a living. Right as usual!