Thought of the day...

What?

Finished

Ikea Turmoil Self-Portrait 2007

Ikea Manuals and Acrylic on Canvas

Inspiration:
When I moved to Amsterdam my original intention was to find a furnished apartment. I happened to find the most amazing place but it was unfurnished. I needed furniture fast. I was standing for my first week and hard wood floors are uncomfortable. So, there's always IKEA. Cheap, Easy, and they deliver. The only drawback: Assembly Required. So after 8 hours in the warehouse and 3 giant carts full of mass produced plastic DIY furniture I got my delivery arranged. Once it was delivered I had myself a little 48 hour IKEA furniture building marathon. I think I built well over 30 pieces with nothing but a trusty little Allen Wrench...and a 99 cent screwdriver. I was sore and blistered for a week but I did have a place to sit down.

Because it's tuesday...

W+K Love Postcard

These pictures were taken from the windows in our office. There is a hotel right across the canal and these were some of the views.

Frolicking about in the U.K.

Blake Frolicking...








Patrick Frolicking...

Swelling with Gay Pride

Just another excuse for guys to dress up like Prom Queens and women to dress like John Goodman and have a parade about it. Who's that girl in the pink shirt? She sure is proud.

Homecoming

It was great to be home for 2 weeks even though I had to work pretty much the whole time. All I know is I really took the Socal weather for granted. Luckily I brought the sunshine back to Amsterdam with me. It's been beautiful since I got back. Here's some pics from the trip:

Amsterdam 4th of July Extravaganza!!!

Wieden+Kennedy went as far as to decorate the mailboxes of the American Employees with toothpick flags in honor of that holiday we don't get to celebrate here.

Acceptance

I am no longer going to report or complain about the weather here in Amsterdam. I have concluded that there are worse things. Such as cat shit that misses the litterbox, the smell of hot garbage and the war in Iraq. Those things are all a lot worse than rain.

Obsessive much?

I fell a little behind in my Nike+ goal to run 20 times (atleast 6 miles per run) in 30 days. I now have 10 days to run 11 times which means atleast one of the days I will have to run 12 miles. I am announcing this so that I actually do it. This was a secret until I told you all but now that you all know there is incentive. I will not fail!....(That may be the two double espressos talking which I consumed in the last hour and a half)

I got a love letter about my boat from the Government!

Translation:

"Dear Blake, We really like your boat. It is a lovely boat with interior nice and lovely. If we could pay you €200 to keep your boat here that would be ideal and far. Keep staying under here this bridge and we will give flower for each day. We will move this for you boat at the expanse of our government if so you should please. Have a wonderful day.

Love Always,

R. Duyvis
Boat inspector that loves Blakes Boat

I love Dutch News!

This is entirely unacceptable.

It's been constantly raining, thundering, lightning and even hailing a bit these past 2 weeks. It's June 27th. Where am I? Unfortunately 29 years of Southern California weather has turned me into a bit of a brat. The other day there was a break in the clouds and I was desperate to jog. Of course it started pouring once I was 3 miles into it. I made a valiant effort to run close to tall things so the lightning would choose them over me. Well I hope you are all enjoying summer in So Cal. Atleast I have a boat, which I'm sure doubles as a bird bath at this point. Other than the crappy weather and the people I miss, life couldn't be better.

Boo!

Setting Sail

The Captain has finally found her boat. Pictures to come soon.

Nike+ Spots are on air.

Here is the work Patrick and I have been doing on Nike.


http://www.thinkglobalactstupid.com/2007/06/more_nike.html

Atlanta with Ram and Friends.

Spent past 72 hours holed up in a hotel room making layouts, watching powerpoint presentations, eating cashews out of the mini-bar, charging room service and consuming all america's gas station convenience store has to offer in this short visit. Don't ask how I found time to make this a priority.

WaterDog!

Harley has adjusted quite well to life in Amsterdam. Today she (almost "we"...because I couldn't get her to come out) went swimming. She swam laps for a good 25 minutes straight. I sat on shore trying to bribe her with cheese and she could care less. She loves to swim.

Home Sweet Home

It's finally coming together. I even bought plants. I might even water them.

Our MLB spot Finally Aired

Found it on youtube.

I ran 10 miles today with my Nike+

That's the farthest I have ever ran. I'm still sort of walking. To bad I have no furniture, otherwise I'd rest.

Ram Conference 2007

Ram goes to Loughborough U.K. to a Ram Conference at the Ramada Inn. Even a businessram needs to know when to say when.

Yellow Apples

Where did they go? I haven't seen one in like 10 years.

I was thinking...

Procrastination Doodle #2

"Teddy Bear Having A Cat Stroke -while ghost riding a "what just happened" car"- If a teddy bear were capable of having a stroke it would look like a cat because cats are generally expressionless.

*created while trying to think of a music video for an italian long-jumper who plays the drums.

Proctastination Doodle #1

"Striped Monkeys Live Longer"- Self-explanitory. It is common human knowlege that a monkey with stripes is more immune to infectuous diseases.

* Created while on a conference call with a music company.

Joey Googe has a myspace page!

A few things about Joey...

1. He wears pants.
2. Way into Disneyland and anything Disney.
3. Likes the Atlanda Falcons
4. He would "do" Barbara Streisand.

If you have any interest on expanding upon your Joey Googe trivia then you can now learn more about him on myspace.

http://www.myspace.com/joeygooge

Mr. Balls and his new litterbox.

Mr. Balls discovers dutch cat litter and learns a valuable lesson in the meantime.

A Video Pat and I made

While sitting outside the beer garden with our farm friends.

Little Bunny Foo Foo

I saw a bunny on a front lawn while I was jogging this evening. It looked like a pet store bunny just sitting on a pretty front lawn of someones house. I wish I'd had a camera but I didn't so I have created a photoshop rendition of it. Just imagine the two annoying girls aren't sitting there. It was an empty lawn...and the bunny was way cuter than the bunny I found on the internet. Oh well. We kinda had a concept for Nike+ w/ a bunch of bunnies in it. Thats part of why this struck me as a strange occurence...the other was that the bunny was seriously too cute to be out of it's little pet store cage. If Anne is reading this then she knows I just scored 1 point for that sighting. I think I may be winning.

Funny yet sad

It is so easy to despise L.A. when I live in Amsterdam.

New

New at this whole blogging thing but I figure I will have some pretty great stories to tell about my whole Amsterdam relocation so I figured why not? Gives me an excuse not to have to pick up the phone...the phone menu is all in Dutch so I am not so good at using it anyway. Here are some pics of the new place I move into with Harley and Mr. Balls on May 5th.