Christian Ross

Humbled

I’m not exactly sure where to start. I’ve been sitting on this for 10 days now and the words haven’t fully developed. I’m hoping the new (free) live Coldplay album will help them start to flow.

I fully realize I run the risk of this coming off cheesy, but there are certain instances in life that won’t ever take much effort to recall. Of course the majors – wedding day, birth of children, death of loved ones, etc – will always be easily remembered, but I’m thinking in slightly less life-changing terms.

As much as I loved my truck I just parted ways with on Saturday, I can’t tell you what the license plate number was on it. Contrast that with the first vehicle I ever purchased, a red 1988.5 (yep, a half-year) Suzuki Samurai, that donned the Colorado state issued id of UEN1928.

Or there was my first attempt at plumbing, which was attempted at my shared residence/place of employment in college. And both were only spared due to the grace of God and the lucky fact that Lubbock Power & Light Services were open on a Sunday and equipped with a water main wrench. (I’ll detail this at a later date)

Fortunately for me, May 8th afforded another memory embedding. (more…)

Gr?°fica Fidalga

I grew up in the printing industry. I saw that it could be done to make a living but it wasn’t putting anyone on the fast track to prosperity. I am sure I even mentioned a time or two that I had a plan of getting out of it sooner rather than later.

Hand-bindery work is where I spent most of my formative years but after a short hiatus in college from printing, I found myself back inside a shop the last couple of years at university. Though I moved up to the use of actual machines for most of my bindery work, it was still bindery work.

There isn’t much I miss about being in a print shop. My list would probably be on one hand if I narrowed it down but lately I have had an affinity towards – and a fond remembrance of – the letterpress.

My favorite machine (as I remember it now) to run was called the Heidelberg Windmill.

Heidelberg Windmill (more…)