Member since:
7/31/2002

What is your job outside of CP?
I'm still a little mixed with my previous self-employment and what I'm gravitating toward now. Primarly I sell my own clothing via physical retail in outlet locations I've worked with over the years. Obviously it didn't take much to go online with that same aim. I still work open contracts with a few companies for graphic design work - but having a wife and two young children make that difficult to dedicate too much time to these days.

What are your hobbies and passions?
When my lower back problems aren't beating me up I enjoy golf, weight lifting, running, playing a few computer games, photography (having lots of fun with panoramas right now!). I'm very lucky to work largely from home so spending time with my children tops my list of joys. Space art is also coming back into my life. I burned out on that a while back but it's good to enjoy the genre again after a break.

What is your "expert" area/what areas do you find yourself most helpful in?
"Back in the day" I worked a lot of marketing and high-ticket commission sales. Although my experience is largely offline - I think I bring a perspective around online sales that benefits from non-internet views.

Tell us about your shop?
I have several premium shops and manage a few for other artists. My favorite shop (maybe because it's still new) is www.TornadoRepublic.com (a Cafepress premium HTML store). I've finally been bitten by the bug of my new Midwest home. There's a lot about the Tornado Republic which is near and dear to my heart; partially the theme, partially the time in my life I developed it - but mostly because it's an outlet for the more unusual things that don't fit into other stores.

What's going on in the background while you work on your shop? Music, TV, dead silence?
I've got a birdfeeder about five feet out my office window and a view full of nothing but trees and blue sky. I'll admit I get distracted easily. However, sometimes I've got my favorite TV shows running in one of the monitors in a small window (The IT Crowd, American Chopper, Ice Road Truckers, Alton Brown, Doctor Who (Tom Baker, of course), or other odd selections the average person probably wouldn't understand). I also have a morning ritual that revolves around a few podcasts (I wish TWiT (This Week in Tech) was daily and not just weekly). Music: In the playlist is currently: House of Lords, Pretty Maids, Slade, The Gentry's, Little Richard, Iggy Pop, and some odd tune by The Art Bears.

While at your day job, are you guilty of being on the CafePress Community Forums?
"Day Job" for me is a combination of being on the Cafepress forums anyway or just doing what I do - so who's going to complain to the boss?

Do you prefer unicorns or Pegasus's?
It depends on the wine being served.

Do you have any hidden talents?
Although fairly out of practice by proper standards - I did go the route of classical piano training in my earlier days. I'm a big fan of JS Bach. He knew how to rock.

What inspires your designs?
Usually the things that make people roll their eyes and say "puhlease." Usually comical parts of everyday life - just the weird, odd, things are often enough to make me go for it. I like how much pop-culture brings out the funnier parts of life.

Random fact:
I used to be a city firefighter and EMT. I quit that figuring it was time for me to get into scoring music professionally (which I did). I told everyone that both those jobs, at any give point, were things I'd do for the rest of my life. Uh, yah, my track record for consistent, related occupations isn't what it might be.

So, how 'bout this whole tshirt gig, eh?