We listen to a lot of music down here in The Basement. All kinds of stuff. It's not uncommon to hear anything from Frank Sinatra to Cake to Johnny Cash to The Beastie Boys blasting from any of the studios down here. What I've found to be the key is to make sure that you get to the studio before the flameworkers show up. This keeps us from having to listen to live shows of The Grateful Dead at incredible volumes or worse yet, NPR. (talk radio stomps out creativity. Even Science Friday, which I like- just not when I'm making stuff).

Waiting. So much of this is hurry up and wait.

That's not to say that we're not busy. There's been a not so subtle shift in the work that the Studio has been going after. A change in focus from pursuing residential work to public work. This isn't to say that we've abandoned making things for the home- just that there was a realization that public work is just so much...fun.

"Because I hated selling cars."

That's the answer I give when people ask me how I came to do this for a living. It's true. I was not a happy car salesman. I wasn't bad at it- I just felt like I was wasting so much time when I should be doing something I actually enjoyed. 50-60 hour weeks on a commission based salary selling Volvos to Long Islanders (I had to make up for selling KIA's to East Tenneseans) just didn't cut it.

So, I was whiny. Frequently whiny. To the point where my wife (Chandra) couldn't take it anymore.

"What do you want to do with your life?!"

I wonder if she regrets asking me that sometimes.