I am addicted to buying books.  There, I said it, out loud.  Well I typed it anyway.

The problem itself is not new, nor is it news to anyone who knows me.  What is new is my quest to determine what it is that compels me to buy books.

Here’s how the quest began:

The other day I was reading an article about Habitat for Humanity and a coffee shop/used book store they have in Charlotte. Really cool idea, sell used books and use the proceeds to benefit Habitat for Humanity.  You can learn more here.

I am a big fan of books and a big fan of people owning their own home so I thought I would check it out.  Immediately I was stuck with the thought that the last thing I need is more books.  Last time I counted I was up over 750 and my best guess is that I haven’t read 20% of them.  Maybe 10% in case my smokin’ hot wife (SHW) reads this post.  So I thought of the next best thing I could do: donate some books.

That’s when I discovered I have a problem.

As I looked at the stacks, trying to find five or ten I could donate, I became anxious.  Not specific anxious like you get when your phone rings and the caller id shows the name of a person you don’t want to talk to or when your car slips on icy patch of road.  Rather it was this weird general anxiety I imagine people get when they think the sky is falling.  An internal dialog ensued which I will not recount word for word because it’s embarrassing.  Suffice it to say as I listened to myself respond to myself I sounded a lot like the people on the A&E show Hoarders.

If you have not seen the show, it is about, well, hoarders, and the people who love and live with hoarders and the people who are trying to help them get better.  It’s tragic and depressing and at times hysterically funny in an admittedly schadenfreudey kind of way.  Watch one episode and one of the things that you’ll notice is that generally hoarders have reasons for holding on to every little thing and no matter how bizarre those reasons seem to everybody else, they are perfectly reasonable to the hoarder.  What really freaked me out was that the reasons I was giving myself for why I could not part with a copy of The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine (that I have not read and probably will never read) sounded a lot like the responses of a hoarder trying to justify why he needed to keep twenty-seven Ziploc bags of rubber bands instead of just twenty-four.

Problem.

So what it is with the books?  I read so much, so fast that little really sinks in.  Reading cuts into sleep I need in order to keep up with the kids.  The clutter is comforting to me but drives my SHW crazy.  Dusting is a nightmare.  The “furious ardor of my zeal” for solid wood, mismatched, antique book cases is embarrassing.   Not to mention the drain on family finances.

I mean don’t get me wrong, I never pay full price but when Borders sends me an exclusive reward offer for 33% off any one item, my palms start to sweat.  I have one sitting in my inbox now that expires tomorrow and I know I am going to use it.  I am fully aware that they know that 95% of the time they send me a coupon I end up using it, so they just keep sending them and I keep buying.

It’s got to stop.

If anybody as any thoughts with regards to this compulsion of mine, I would love to hear them.  I will continue the embarrassing internal dialog and if I discover anything blog worthy, I will endeavor to post.

In the meantime, my favorite historian, Paul Johnson, has a new book out Art: A New History that I am dying to have.  Good thing I’ve got a coupon.

The G1 is the first mobile phone to use the Google Android OS (operating system).  The good news is that Android is open source and developers are free to to write whatever kind of apps they want for it.  The bad news is that T-Mobile takes the OS and adds a bunch of junk to it and then releases updates for it in their own sweet time.  Very similar to what Dell does with Windows.  When you buy a computer from Dell, you get a Windows OS but it is a Dell modified version.  That way you get all those annoying programs on your desktop when you start it up for the first time.

Rooting is the process of replacing the version of Android on a phone with a different version .  There are all sorts of available versions from a number of different people with names like JesusFreke, The Dude’s Cupcake and Haykuro Builds.  Some are highly volatile and not good for everyday phone use.  Others are quite stable and provide an expanded group of features not available with the stock OS.

It’s a bit risky and if anything goes wrong you can’t go crying to T-mobile, you have to turn to the online community for help.  But I am now liberated from the control of T-Mobile, setting up my phone the way I want and there is something to be said for that.  It really isn’t any harder than upgrading the OS on a computer.  If you are so inclined, I suggest you give it a try.

Interestingly enough, my wife wouldn’t let me near her phone.  Chicken.

At the risk of mixing business and politics, I have a few thoughts to share regarding Mr. Foxx, but before I get to those I want to make a shameless plug for one of our products.

We were fortunate to be able to work with Charlotte Business Professionals to provide a backdrop for the speech which, I believe, really added something to the production.  The display used was one of our Xpressions displays, used partially as a media backdrop and partially as a way to display sponsor advertising.  These displays set up in seconds, are very light weight because of the tension fabric, and are a great way to frame any sort of public event.

Our sponsor panel, was simple but cool and we received quite a few compliments on the display overall.  BTW, the display was designed in such a way as to be able to add sponsor logos in the future so if you are interested in being a sponsor please contact Jason for more information.  (My apologies for the quality of the photo, the lighting was terrible.)

On to my comments about Mr. Foxx.  Leaning Libertarian as I do, I generally am in favor of candidates who represent the potential for as little government intrusion into my life as possible. Traditionally, fewer Democrats, rather than more, fall into this category.   This was essentially my first introduction to Mr. Foxx and where he stands on issues that are important to me, I do not know.  I am, however, rather pleased with several things he had to say but most importantly I am impressed by how he said them.

I did not take notes and I do not have an audio recording of the speech so I cannot quote him directly.  I can say that one of the things that I found most refreshing was that he actually answered the questions that people asked him rather than deflecting them and tangentially addressing another subject.  I found him to be determined, sincere, informed, frank, honest and dare I say, real. Again, it was my first introduction to him and I do not know what his positions are on most issues, but he struck me as somebody I would be willing to listen to and could work with.  Given my political cynicism, that is a great start.

Of course my response could just be the effect of being in his physical presence.  If he did not have the capacity to convey trust, he wouldn’t be in the running.  At any rate, I was pleased to meet him and grateful for the opportunity to hear something about his life, where he has come from, and where he wants to take the city.  I look forward to learning more.

The Charlotte Business Professionals’ meeting for August will feature the Republican Mayoral Candidate and I look forward to attending and meeting him as well.  Hope to see you there.

First up was a new logo and a mission statement for an ATM machine.  These can be a little tricky as people tend to pull things off of ATM machines while they are waiting so we need to make sure we use really good adhesive.  Fortunately for us, whoever did the original graphics went with cheap adhesive and the old stuff came off pretty easy.  Here’s a shot of the old logo:

As you can see, somebody had busted off part of the “C” and part of the “U” and made off with both of the tittles.  Don’t you just love the word “tittle”?  It sounds so much more official than “dot.”  The letters were just too small to do dimensionally in an area where people can touch them so we did the replacement in direct applied vinyl.  This should last longer, although you lose the drop shadow, which is a nice touch.  Here’s a shot of the replacement logo:

About as clean and sexy as you can get for at ATM logo.

Next up we had to install a new mission statement.  Process is digital print on 1/2″ acrylic, second surface, mounted to the wall with stand offs.  The result is pretty sharp and cost effective when you compare it to doing the individual letters dimensionally.  The print is on the back side of the material which protects it from damage.

We used the same process to replace a logo behind the teller counter at a third branch.  This shot is a little tighter so you can see the process better.

The wall really needs to be painted a darker color to make it pop but unfortunately that was not in our scope of work.

All in all the projects were fairly simple and institutional, but a good example of what can be done on a limited budget.  Installs went off without a hitch except for the mission statement in Wytheville.  Wytheville is in Virgina, a little over two hours from Charlotte straight up I-77.  Upon arrival I realized that I had left some critical pieces  for the hanging of some poster frames in Charlotte and consequently would have to return the next day.   Not a problem other than gas and my time, but Memorial Day traffic was fierce on Friday and it ended up taking me five hours to get home.  I think I made as many poor route choices as one can possibly make in a two hour drive, however, US21 on the Virgina /North Carolina border is a beautiful stretch of road.

Note to self:  Packing lists are useful tools and not a just a crutch for the mentally weak.

Welcome to Bubbles Off Plumb the official blog of Hand Held Studio.  Officially, this is the vehicle we have chosen to highlight our products and services, display case studies of awesome projects for great clients and maybe even offer some inside tips and tricks on how we do what we do.  Unofficially, this is an opportunity for you to learn a little more about us as human beings trying to scratch out a living in the sprawling metropolis of Charlotte, NC.  

Starting out we have some simple goals for this blog:  keep it current and keep it cool.  Check back in often and let us know how we are doing.