It Was All A Dream

A lot of things have happened since my last post. First after a two week long sale, we successfully moved RPS out of the old space and into our new one. The shop was closed for a week, but we managed to get it open and now things are finally feeling like we're getting into a normal flow.



The entire process, from initial architectural drawings to our opening was about three long months. The buildout timeline was insane, but somehow things managed to fall into place in the end. I can't believe how stressed and anxious I got during this period, but I think it will be all worth it in the long run. There's still a few things that we need to do to make the space really feel complete, but I'm happy with the way things turned out and am looking forward to the next few years of creating our own brand and retail space for ourselves, and not some big company that I have no relationship or desire to help other than to pay my bills.



Even more importantly, Tara and I had the honor of being in the wedding party for my sister and Trevor's wedding this past weekend. I don't think I've ever been so happy for my sister and family as I was that day. The wedding was perfect.




Hopefully I'll start posting with more frequency now that a little bit of normalcy has crept back into my life.

Why?

Yesterday I took the opportunity to use the Why? show as my first real test of my new lens. Overall I'm pretty happy with it, and anticipate using it as my work horse lens because of the type of environments I like documenting.

Going to an all ages show is not good thing if you don't like to be reminded of how old you're getting.

An Institution Closes

Yick Fung Co., a Seattle Chinatown institution, will close its doors this week. Tara's great Uncle has been running the place since the late 1930's and has now decided to let the store's legacy live on at the Wing Luke Asian Museum, where the store will literally be transplanted as a permanent exhibit.

Read about here.

Gourmet Burgers & Shoe Displays

Tara and I had dinner with Dana and Joe at his condo last night. We made the most amazing burgers ever, all from scratch. The only thing we didn't do was bake the buns and grind the meat. Good food and friends is always a great way to unwind from a hectic week.













Adrien and I also stopped by the shop yesterday to drop off the new product I shot. The night before we did some rearranging of the space and display shelving, and I think it turned out pretty well. But I'm looking forward to moving out of there and into a new space.

The Kid

Friday night Tara and I went to see Griffey's first appearance in Seattle since becoming a Cincinnati Red nine years ago. It was a bittersweet moment for all 47,000 of us to think of what could have become of the Mariners if he and that other guy would of stayed in Seattle as Mariners. I'm glad I had the opportunity with everyone else at the game to show our love and thank Griffey for what he did for baseball in Seattle.

In semi-related news, the HADW Swingers had our first loss of the season on Thursday to the other undefeated team in our league. It came down to a collision at home plate in the bottom of the seventh inning with 2 outs. The runner (who will not be identified here for further ridicule) was tagged out by a the catcher who caught a ball that literally rolled from the 3rd baseman after a relay through from the left fielder. We lost 5-6. It still hurts.

New Job!

This week is Tara's last week at HA. She's moving on and taking a design position with Graffiti Associates in Fremont. No more proposals and powerpoint presentation design for her! I'm really happy for her. Somebody finally gave her a chance to demonstrate her talent, and I know she'll exceed their expectations.

Letterpressed

Last night we finished printing all 400 of the invitations for Lindsay and Josh's wedding. We figured out how to adjust the ink rollers so that the floor of the plate wouldn't get covered in ink, and we we're a little more deliberate in our lockup of the plates, which made the transition easy between different plates.

RSVP Card Letterpress

Saturday night Tara started printing invitations for Lindsay and Josh's wedding using the letterpress at the HA office. We have free access to a Vandercook #4 letterpress, which is used for prints up to 14¾" × 20," and features power ink distribution, type high bed, and a traveling sheet delivery tray.

She designed four plates for the invitation, and that night we printed 400 RSVP cards from one of the plates. We still have to print from three other plates—1200 more cranks—starting tonight!

I posted more pictures of our first experience without a letterpress instructor in a flickr group, and they were kind enough to let me know that we did a lot of things incorrectly. Nevertheless we had fun, and we're learning as we go.