Congratulations, Clayton!

Sunday afternoon, former Loons ace Clayton Kershaw made his Major League debut, starting for the Los Angeles Dodgers. I shot and designed the poster above last year while he was still in Midland. He has been referred to as a "once-in-a-generation talent" and we all knew that he was not long for the minor leagues, but nobody was quite exactly when he would make the jump.
Showing no sign of nerves, Clayton scattered five hits over six innings, giving up two runs, both earned. He would have won the game, but the bullpen couldn't protect the 3-2 lead he spotted them.
I got to work with Clayton a couple of times last year and he was a genuinely nice kid. I am really happy for him and look forward to watching his career develop. Congratulations, Clayton.

Another reason I love working with the Loons.

I had the opportunity yesterday to meet baseball Hall of Famer Tommy Lasorda. He was running around Dow Diamond, spending time with the players and doing some promotional work for the team, when he took a few minutes to do a TV interview with the Voice of the Loons, Brad Golder. Just before the interview, Brad introduced me to Tommy and I got to say hello and shake hands with a true living legend.

During the interview, which was semi-private since it was taking place before the full press conference, I was one of three or four people who got to stand there and listen to Tommy Lasorda tell stories about his 59 years (!!!) with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The best part of the whole interview was hearing him tell the story of Kirk Gibson's big home run in the 1988 World Series. As a lifelong Tiger fan, I've always loved Gibby and even though he had moved on to LA by then I was rooting for him. I've heard bits and pieces of the story before, but to hear it firsthand from Lasorda himself--standing six feet away from me--was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

I truly enjoy working with all of my clients and I try to learn from each of them and take something away, but the opportunity to work with the Loons has given me something I never expected to get from my career--a chance to relive my childhood dreams of rubbing elbows with baseball's elite. Thank you, Great Lakes Loons.

Have a safe holiday weekend, everybody.

When Good Things Happen to Great People

This is not a photo to demonstrate my mastery of the camera. It's just a shot I caught in bad lighting and didn't have my flash ready. I didn't want to miss the photo, though, so I took the shot, bad lighting and all. On the left is my good friend, Jim Biewer, former game day director for the Saginaw Spirit; on the right, making his league-leading, third appearance in the blog is hockey hall-of-famer, Gordie Howe.

This post is not about Mr. Hockey, though, it's about Jim. Working with the Spirit, I've had the opportunity to work with a number of really talented, bright, hard-working people. It really is a testament to the organization that they are able to keep their offices filled with quality people.

Of all of the people I worked with, Jim was the guy I worked with the longest and, as a result, became pretty good friends with. We hung out, drank beers and played ping pong here in the studio. If my memory serves, I never lost a game to Jim. He may recall it differently, but this is my blog and in this blog I am a superawesome ping pong player.*

As of today, though, Jim is no longer with the Saginaw Spirit. Another friend once predicted that one day we'll all be working for Jim and the first step in that direction comes today. As of today, Jim Biewer is a marketing coordinator for my beloved Detroit Red Wings. I'm pretty sure that the boys were just sandbagging the past couple of games so that they could make Jim's first day even more memorable by clinching the Western Conference slot in the Stanley Cup Finals.

I am really going to miss Jim and our ping-pong-and-beer meetings, but I couldn't be happier for him if I tried. He's a really fantastic person and works harder than almost anyone else I know. Congratulations, Jimmy. You worked your ass off and got what you deserve--it really couldn't happen to a better guy.


* Okay, I lied. Jim beat me almost every single time we played. In my defense, he was a client and I was just letting him win.**

** Lying again.

Rainy days do not, in fact, get me down.

It's been just over a week since the Mid-Michigan Regional Business Expo (it's too bad they can't come up with a longer name, isn't it?). I was going to write some sort of wrap-up about the Expo, but I didn't. The truth is that there really wasn't much to write about.

989 Design had a booth at the Expo, but I have pretty low expectations when attending events like that. I guess 'low expectations' isn't the best way to put it. I have realistic expectations. I don't expect to walk out of there with a bunch of new clients or anything like that. People aren't just walking around with logo design needs, you know? One benefit of attending a show like the Expo is that I do get to talk with a lot of people and help raise awareness of 989 Design. I suppose the biggest benefit is that a number of my clients have booths at the Expo and seeing 989 Design there helps keep me top-of-mind (or closer to it, anyway).

I'm glad I was at the Expo and I will probably do it again next year. If I had one criticism of the event, it's that I think people from the Chambers of Commerce should make a better effort to get around to say hello. I did talk to a couple of people at different times, but as I was at my booth I saw folks from both the Midland and Bay Chambers walk right by my booth. The only Chamber person to stop by the booth was Mike Seward,President of the Bay Area Chamber. I thought it was a nice move to just swing by to say hello and thanks for being part of the Expo. Well done, Mike.

Other than the Expo, there is not a lot to report. Okay, that's not entirely true. I actually have some very big news to report, but we're still a week away from the announcement. So be sure to stay tuned for that.

I suppose I should turn my attention back to work for a little while. As I said, check back for a big announcement in the next week or so. Have a great day.