:mattLandia:

Hey Dad - Just wanted to tell you how much I love you, how much I admire you and how lucky I feel to count you as my father. Not every son gets to be a 'spy kid', a world traveler by the time they are 12, taught how to shoot M-16's by Air Force as a scouting activity, taught how to detect / evade surveillance on foot, or had dinner together in small town in Ecuador. You have filled me with wonderful memories.

You added another this weekend. Thanks so much for the memorable time this weekend! Going to the game together, watching our team come from behind, screaming till we can't talk, and high-fivin' all afternoon long is a father-son moment I've been waiting on for a long time. I just didn't realize it until it happened.

You are one in a billion. I hope this year brings you the success, happiness, and joy you seek so diligently every day!

Love,

Matt

Posted by mattLandia at 08:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My good friend Eric runs Raygun, a creative media house in Atlanta. He takes great pride is featuring his friends in some of the ads they product for TCM, Spike, HBO, etc. This time around, I got the nod. So here I am, in all my gun fightin' glory!!

The best may be the promo VO:

"Van Damme is Back.
A Cop Left For Dead.
Vengeance on His Mind.
A Needle in His Arm."

Posted by mattLandia at 03:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

This video give me chills. The worst kind, when considering implications. The good kind if you, like me, aren't totally entertained watching someone shell around UNIX. If you don't understand the last statement, don't even bother watching this. Geek love. In effect.

Posted by mattLandia at 10:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This video clip gives me chills. The good kind. The BEST kind. I've been a fan of U2 forever it seems like, and my admiration and respect for Bono as an artist grows with each passing year. This is a great window into the enthusiasm of a songwriter, right after finishing a song. I can't tell you how many times I've made Dan, or Jason, Or Kent, or Karen, or Sarah, or any other one of my friends sit down and give a listen to a new song I've just finished, singing over it in pieces, explaining or calling out imagery in the lyrics that I'm proud of. To see Bono doing the same... I dunno, somehow makes me feel like I'm not such a nerd sometimes.

If this clip doesn't work, go to iLike here and watch it.

Posted by mattLandia at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

He's a timid dog. Today he summoned some courage and looked out the window.

Posted by mattLandia at 06:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you want to see a larger photo, click here.

I saw this place 15 days ago. I owned it as of 3 days ago. I finished moving in yesterday. I am officially BACK IN THE CITY. And I'm exhausted.

Since selling my place 3 months, I've been crashing with a good friend at his house. About 6 weeks ago, I found a loft in foreclosure and tried really hard to work out a deal to purchase it. Countrywide just couldn't move fast enough for me, so the deal fell through. I was pretty crushed. I really liked the foreclosure unit, but I needed to move - and quickly.

I thought I would take one last look around before giving up on finding something in my budget and going the rental route. Determined to find something in Castleberry, I decided to walk the Loft Tour. Since there are so many amazing lofts in this neighborhood, the Loft Tour basically lets anyone walk around on a guided tour, visiting some freaking amazing spots. Of course, any realtor with a listing was going to have an open house as well, I figured this was a great way to cover a lot of ground quickly.

I saw lots of great, spectacular, beautiful, totally renovated spots -- but all were more than I wanted to spend. I was pretty dejected after a few hours of walking, and decided to head home. But at the last building, on the last street, I had to walk before reaching my car, I spotted a flyer... Serendipitously, the doors to both the building, and the actual unit were open so I walked in to take a look. Within 48 hours I'd made an offer.

What you can't appreciate in the photo above:

• There is still quite a bit of fixing-up to be done.


• I'm right next to the train tracks so I'm learning to live with the pretty consistent rumblings of passing trains.


• I have a TON OF CRAP. I mean, I thought I had actually done a pretty good job of condensing my stuff, but my stuff just seemed to keep expanding and filling up the place.


• The HOA fee includes T1. Yeah. T1. Comcast can suck it.

It's gonna take me a few months to get this place situated, decorated, lit, cleaned, painted, etc. Once I finish it up, I'll post more photos then....

Posted by mattLandia at 11:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)