Jacob Haas is…

so lazy

January 28th, 2011 § 0

Holy crap, it’s been way, way too long since I’ve posted anything. I suppose that, sadly, I have Facebook to thank for that. After all, I used to use this blog as a soapbox to spout everything from fleeting trivial thoughts to deep pontifications. But the invisible pressure of updating my Facebook status, as lame as it sounds, actually does take up a pretty good portion of whatever stupid little thing I might have wanted to post on this blog.

It’s not from any need to make myself heard, and I certainly don’t owe anything to my handful of readers that might continue to frequent this site. (Sorry for the lack of updates, all three of you.) I suppose I’ve just been keeping myself busy at work and using the rest of the time between awake and asleep taking care of all of the other silly little things that demand my time. Chores, studying design sites, trying to figure out how to become the best me that I possibly can.

I even learned to sew little stuffed animal critters.

Lil' Kitteh
Lil’ Miss Kitteh. She’s loving life.

And there’s a lot more that I plan on doing with my free time as well. I’ve been propositioned to illustrate a children’s book by a family member. I want to write something substantial again. I want to get back into drawing and cartooning, which has been severely lacking ever since I got a job that doesn’t afford me hours of sitting around doing nothing. All more important than reporting on the things that aren’t happen in my life.

But hell… maybe this is a step in the right direction. I don’t want to get rusty. Crafting marketing messages for insurance companies is one thing, but this is a different sort of creating. Free as a bird type creative. I’ll try to write more.

Stuffed

December 5th, 2010 § 0

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone. I was fortunate enough to have not one but TWO glorious, turkey-filled days of gluttonous feasting. A true testament to the spirit of American excess, it’s the one Holiday that actually makes sense to me. I had a great time hanging out with my family, both here and in Ohio.

Connor nom nom turkey nom nom nom…

It never ceases to amaze me what a big deal this Holiday season has become. I don’t know if it’s because I’m embracing adulthood and the responsibilities therein, but it feels like every year it gets a little bit worse. The stress involved, the pressure to conform to “well this is what you’re suppose to do” that is forced down our throats by the media and popular culture.

Mer-bear and Jamie, sweetly cupcaking.

But maybe the challenge of coming up with creative ways of celebrating the Holidays is part of the supposed fun of it. I, for one, like to avoid conforming to what’s expected of me, if at all possible. Not to the point of upsetting anyone, of course. The same thing, year after year? Seriously? Tradition calls for it, but I forcibly decry it.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, Christmas is right around the corner, and if you know anything about me, it’s the fact that I adamantly despise what the retail sector and card companies call The Holidays. More on that later…

On cooking and adulthood…

December 5th, 2010 § 0

Think back. Way back. Back when you were a kid and your mom or dad used to make you dinner, magically prepared for you in that odd void of time between when you got home from school and when you had to come inside from playing and eat.

I never really gave it much thought, but day after day, week after week, that food was sitting there on my plate, waiting for me to greedily inhale it in an effort to get through the meal as quickly as possible and back to whatever it was I had been doing. I never once thought to myself that I’d have to actually fix food for myself at some point. The closest I ever got in proximity to actually cooking when I was a child was probably getting a drink from the refrigerator while my mom was preparing dinner. Inevitably, I would be chased out of the kitchen, my mom glowering down at me with that look that meant I should probably make myself scarce for the next 30 minutes.

As I walked away, she would turn her attention back toward the steaming mystery in the oven or skillet, dense clouds of steam rising into the loud exhaust fan above the stove top. Pans clanging, spoons scraping, an occasional curse slipping out due to a small burn or spatter… it was all just so normal that I had never really given it much thought. (Or appreciation, either, for that matter… thanks Mom, love you!)

But ever since moving out to attend college, that evening meal that had somehow found itself on the dining room table at the same time every night was suddenly missing and I was left to fend for myself. Fortunately, at that time (being the Fall of 1998) there were vast quantities of easy-to-cook dinners available at the supermarket. I eventually did learn to cook to a degree, faced with the necessity to do so, but I was never forced to spend hours working on a single meal.

Nowadays, you can fly down to the market and pick up a frozen bag specially manufactured for the microwave, pop it in for 5-6 minutes, and before you know it you’ve got a steaming meal that’s all ready to eat, perfectly sized for two people to enjoy. Cooking has become somewhat of a luxury… well, I wouldn’t call it that, but the very act of gathering fresh ingredients and carefully preparing a meal is more of a special occasion type of thing. I can’t imagine having to do that every day, now…

25 pounds lighter

October 20th, 2010 § 0

Over the past few months our family decided to have a little Biggest Loser style weight loss competition. No incentives, really, other than to feel better about yourself and lose a little extra flab.

Well, long story made short, I ended up dropping from 215lbs. to a much more comfortable 190lbs. It’s funny to think that this is still a weight that is just under overweight for someone my frame and height, but my clothes fit a lot better and I actually feel lighter.

animooted bathroom

June 7th, 2010 § 0

Strangeties Just spent some time in the bathroom shooting a few shots since our florescent light is nearing the end of its life and just flickers creepily. It’s enough so you can see where you’re going and what you’re doing, but it’s also only lit half of the time, flicking on and off dozens of times per second. It’s not quite like having a dim light on, it’s a bit worse. Definitely not a place for epileptics.

So I thought I’d take advantage of the unique lighting and shoot some weird photography in there. And make creepy GIFs. Here’s another one.

flicker

It’s got a home movie sort of feel to it, flickering bathroom light. Like the first thing you’d see after waking up from a night that went horribly wrong. The degradation of the image from the limited colors and dithering that GIFs provide just add to the creepy lo-fi feel. Or maybe it just makes them look shitty.

DODOcase

June 7th, 2010 § 1

dodocase

I just received my DODOcase, shipped straight to my house from sunny San Francisco, CA. This handmade iPad case oozes quality and absolutely hugs the device. Plus, when it’s closed, the case closely resembles a giant Moleskine notebook, even down to the elastic strap that holds the front flap shut. It’s sort of like camouflage, one would be able to carry this case around without arousing suspicion to the fact that they’ve got a $500+ device under their arms.

The most impressive part is that each and every one of these cases is individually cut and handmade with the utmost care… it actually took around 5 weeks after ordering mine to receive it, but was well worth the wait.

Thanks, bp…

May 26th, 2010 § 0

That's the best... I’m sure by now everyone’s heard of the massive oil spill in the Gulf, a constant spew of slick crude on a slow exodus toward the marshes and beaches I remember from my childhood.

Every year for the first half of my life, we would visit my grandparents and cousins in Pensacola, Florida. I remember well the white-as-sugar beaches, sand so fine it actually squeaks when you walk on it. It’s hard to imagine that thousands of gallons of oil are heading towards the coast right this very moment, and up to this point there has been no success in controlling the flow of oil into the ocean.

What if it gets caught up in the Gulf Stream? What if we start getting typhoons and hurricanes and it starts spreading all over the place? People died. All of this because of a few simply safety precautions that weren’t followed, all preventable. I hate the fact that I rely on Big Oil every single day… heating oil, gasoline, hundreds of plastic items… it’s shameful. I hope this doesn’t get much worse.