Dairy Queen and and the Upsidedown Toaster

So we finished up another t-shirt order! This one was for Kelly Haight and her friends (check out her blog Whoa, dream big.). These shirts turned out really cool with some fancy font work we did, and as you can see in the pics, we had names put on the back of the shirts as well. We got a new emulsion kit that saved us time and money and allowed us to screen print the names on instead of doing iron-on's like we had planned. It gave us a much sturdier and precise screen as well. Check them out!

        So, I am also sitting next to my brother Evan right now, who commented on our toaster. He says, "It looks like its upside down, but its not..." Its true. This toaster is wider at the top than at the bottom, kind of the opposite of any other toaster we have ever had. We've moved into a new apartment and the toaster belongs to our roommate. I wonder if he knows that his toaster looks like it is upside down. Maybe he bought it that way on purpose. I don't know, but at least the rest of our apartment is right side up. I love our new apartment, or town house as I like to refer to it. Its in a small complex, and each unit has a basement, main floor, and upstairs bedrooms. It is SO COOL! It feels like an actual house and not some wannabe apartment dorm place (Liberty Square, I'm talking about you). So glad to be out of that place, and I am excited to meet the ward on Sunday. So far, everyone has been pretty nice. But I made the mistake of being too friendly... I was washing the outside of the townhouse and said hello to a guy walking by, introduced myself, to which he replied, "Oh, so you are new in the ward! I am the ward clerk and I would like to get you to fill out a info sheet and take your picture!" So much for laying low the first couple weeks to avoid hard core callings. Dang.

I wish I was James Bond

I know I just blogged yesterday, but I just had a sweet thought/ thoughts I wanted to share. So there I was, checking out my friend Cameron Smithson's blog (My Life as an Anagram, check it out, hilarious), and this song starts playing called "I Wish I Was James Bond" by Scouting for Girls, and I think to myself, "I have ALWAYS wished I was James Bond!" Strangely enough, this fantasy started on my mission. Every few weeks, I would have dreams about being a secret agent with an important mission to fill. Sometimes it involved running through jungles and hiding in bushes, other times it involved the getaway car being a Big Wheels Tricycle. But always exciting, and I was always the good guy. I come home from my mission, and I still have those dreams of being some secret agent on a secret mission, AND I LOVE THEM!! I wake up so pumped and wanting to sneak around and do sneaky things (don't worry, I don't). Then I watch 007 movies, and I see James Bond living my dream, driving fancy cars, sneaking around doing sneaky things, and just being awesome. Not forgetting that he also gets all the ladies.
        Anyone ever played the "assassin" game before? You are given a target of someone else playing the game, and you have to "assassinate" them with a squirt gun. This is about the closest I have been able to legally become my dream self. Playing it freshmen year, I would find out my target's name and get a picture of them. I would subsequently find out where they lived, where they work, and set up a stake-out in front of their apartment (isn't it creepy what you can find on the internet about people?). One of the funnest games I have ever played. So our ward started this game about a month ago, and I was pumped! Alas, I was betrayed the first day. While I was being a serviceable person and donating blood, a "friend" saw me and texted his roommate who subsequently came and assassinated me in the act of saving 3 lives. How rude. Atleast I was still able to get my fix of secret agentness from assisting in the assassination of others. So there you have it. My big secret is out. I wish I was James Bond.

P.S. We have some sweet shirts we are making this weekend for a friend to wear to tennis matches. I don't want to ruin the surprise of it all, so just check back in a few days and see the awesomeness of these shirts they designed.

Brocks, Paper, Scissors

I love being a business partner. You get to do such cool things. Like yesterday, Blair and I got started on an order someone placed the night before for t-shirts for "The Brocks", a local band who just happens to live next door to us. They wanted twenty shirts, and said they would send us the graphic for it.  When we woke up yesterday morning, we saw this-

Yeah, it looks SWEET! But we had no idea how we were going to make it. Instead of calling them up and saying, "Sorry Brocks, this is too hard, find someone else", we started researching how to do it. After watching a couple youtube videos, reading a few blogs, and getting some major help from Andrea Busath with adobe photoshop (THANKS ANDREA! check out her awesome photography business - Capturing Joy Photos),
 at 11:45 pm we were able to deliverer a box to The Brocks next door with 30 of these-

So Business continues to grow! And don't worry everyone; yes, I am giving myself plenty of time to study for my finals next week. I spent a good 6 hours studying yesterday, about all that I can handle in one day, so it was a very productive day yesterday. Anyway, all of you should go to The Brocks concert tonight at Sammy's in downtown Provo. Starts at 8, its free, and you can buy one of these sweet t-shirts to support The Brocks and support future t-shirt orders from us! Here is a video of their music, then you can decide if you want to come. GO BROCKS!!! Oh, don't stop being a huge fan of The Brocks, but last month Yellowcard came out with a new cd, and it is awesome. Just sayin'.

We're in Business!

We did it!! Dinan Apparel is now in business. This weekend, Blair and I successful printed 56 custom t-shirts for our first two customers. The first order was 12 shirts for my sister Claire and her cupcake business, "Cupcakes by Claire" (check out www.cupcakesbyclaireonline.webs.com, its sweet!!). Here are the pictures from that job-

They will have names put on the back of about half of them, but you can see what the shirt is.

The other order was for 44 shirts for students to wear the last day of class of a professor who is retiring this year. Dr. Christiansen, or "Dr. C.", has taught engineering at BYU for several decades. In fact, some of the current BYU professors had Dr. C as a teacher when they were students. Most of the students bought shirts and there is one for Dr. C as a gift as well.

32 refers to BYU's #32 Jimmer Fredette and a #32 shirt that Dr. C wore to class on game days this semester. And "BRAVE LIKE BIRDIE" refers to a story that Dr. C has told the last few years about a sparrow he saw down in Newport Beach that had a crippled leg, but was fatter than all the other sparrows because he was brave and would get closer to the children feeding the birds than another of the other sparrows. He would then tell us stories of students who had overcome great obstacles because they were brave, and we will overcome great obstacles and succeed if we are brave like Birdie. I'm excited to see 44 students wearing our shirts on Wednesday! So, its official. WE ARE IN BUSINESS! Feel free to place orders for custom t-shirts. We currently offer monochrome graphics (any color, but only one color), any color shirt we can get. Just shoot us an email at dinanapparel@yahoo.com and we will give you a quote ($10 on average). Let the fun begin!

Genesis

This morning has been great. Yesterday I had a 12-page research paper and a working engine that I build due, making my mornings early and hectic the last few days. But not today. I slept in till 8, took a long shower, and had some delicious Cinnamon Life cereal, and have now decided- it is time to start THE BLOG. I figure in this first post, I should lay out what I will write about in the future and set the tone and build the suspense. This blog will cover many topics ranging from business to engineering projects, from thoughts on life to the actual happenings of life. So, here we go.

This 12-page paper is a semester long research project I have been working on. I wanted to do something with my car, so I measured the sound levels and frequency spectrum from my car exhaust. The paper was not very spectacular, but I am happy with it.

Now, the engine. The engine is a "pip-squeak" engine, designed to run on compressed air. A group of four of us designed the engine, created the drawings and manufacturing process sheets (step by step of how to make the parts), and then built it. It runs beautifully, and it sounds like an ATV. Here is a slow motion video I took of it-

Now, to get everyone fully up to date with my life, I need to talk about a recent business venture of mine. My roommate, Blair Harris, and started a screen printing business last week- Dinan Apparel (pronounced 'deenin'). Since starting, we have received two orders of t-shirts, one for 12 shirts, and another for 40 shirts. We have bought a printer that will burn the stencils into our emulsion screens, and we have bought the ink and today we will finish ordering the t shirts for these orders. Friday all of our supplies should be in and we will be able to start production. Updates of these shirts will follow.

Well, that is all I have time for today. My wonderful morning of relaxation is now over and it is time to head to class.