A Jakewood Milestone!

Holy hell! I was dinking around in my Google Analytics account today and just noticed something I was wondering about: How many unique visitors have I had to my blog? Conisdering I don't advertise it at all (aside from a few Facebook notifications), the only traffic I get should be from people I inform. Sure, there were a bunch of Google referrals -- albeit the mighty iPhone -- but when it was all said and done, yesterday marked my 1,000th unique visitor!

Mother of God.

While there are blogs who probably generate that much traffic on a weekly (if not daily) basis, I was astounded. That seems like a big number concerning how I semmingly blab about nothing important; in my life, however, everything seems important.

Finally, stay tuned. I am in the process of moving this entire project over to Wordpress. It will become part of my personal website, a massive project I am undertaking involving my graphic design portfolio, writing portfolio, my online photo gallery and of course, my blog. It will be a one-stop-shop pertaining to everything Jake Donahue-related, much like a Costco (except you don't need a membership card at ww.JakeDonahue.com

Anyway, it's a long process, and since I'm working on other sites as I learn HTML and website design, don't expect anything soon. But there will be a big announcement when the move takes place (maybe then I will start advertising. How else could I get people to check my portfolios?)

Lastly, to those who continue reading this often, let me offer a mighty THANK YOU! While this whole thing started as an outlet for me to force myself into writing as much as possible, seeing comments and hearing that people are reading Jakewood make me want to continue as long as possible.

So Thanks, stay tuned, and let's shoot for 2,000!

Jake Warhol

Andy Warhol aint got shit on me: If you call what he does “art,” then what you’re about to view is a masterpiece!

Wrigley Field

I was born and raised a Mariners fan, and Seattle will always be my hometown sports team. Safeco is my favorite field, no doubt, but loyalty none withstanding I have wanted to witness Wrigley since boyhood. The home of the Chicago Cubs is one of the greatest stadiums in American baseball, and, according to ESPN’s Jim Caple there are only “three places that are quintessentially American: Disneyland, the Yosemite Valley and Wrigley Field (preferably for a day game).”

I plan on visiting Fenway Park (home of the Red Sox) before I die, and it hurts a little knowing I will never view a game at the original Yankee Stadium, but Wrigley Field is tops. And even from the Upper Deck, our seats were awesome.

Six photos merged together from where we were sitting. It looks a lot further away in the photo because of the panoramic view, but these seats were great. And $40 for upper deck is pretty pricey, but well worth it!

See, not that far away.

Me, Eli and Nils.

Pure bliss! The Cubs destroyed the Mets 11-4.

Chi-town

It took us three hours to drive from Indy to Chicago, and another two getting from the suburbs to downtown. Our hotel was insanely nice, and our guide, David (a colleague of Nils’), was an excellent guide – he also arranged for the killer deal at our hotel.

I ate Armenian food for the first time, got some sweet shots of skyscrapers and fulfilled a childhood dream: visiting Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs. (Those photos soon)

Here are the best photos from my camera during our trip, but Eli also took some nice pictures (see his blog here).

Willis Tower (formerly Sears), right, with the sun peeking through.

Main Lobby of the Willis Tower. All the flags represent Olympic teams that would come if Chicago wins their bid for the 2016 summer games.

This reminded me of Coeur d’Alene’s “Moose on the Loose” program.

This time it was posed. This time…

Three-photo vertical panoramic shot of the Willis Tower. It cost $24 to go to the observation deck, but the line wrapped around the block and we were told the Hancock Building next to our hotel offered the city’s best views – especially the women’s restroom, which we were unable to attain entry – and they were right.

3 i’s in 3 days: Idaho, Indiana, Illinois

After leaving Portland last Monday, I drove straight to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, where I only had 3 days to see as many people as possible before leaving for Indianapolis. Sad to say, that didn’t work out very well, as I was poor when it came to mixing time with family and friends.
However, the culmination of those three days reared beautifully-smoked garlic- and beer-flavored results from my Grandpa’s smoker Wednesday night: four racks of perfectly smoked beef and pork ribs (See them hanging in Grandpa’s wholly customized Brinkman –-> ).
I loved them, my family loved them, but the true food critic of our family (Grandpa, himself) apparently loved them, also: “The best ribs I’ve ever had.”
Indeed, it was true last Wednesday night that perfection can often times be found on a plate.
We left for the airport Thursday morning at 4 a.m., my advisor from The Sentinel Nils Rosdahl along with the paper’s new managing editor, Eli Francovich. The reason for our journey was simple: The Sentinel had been named a finalist for the Society of Professional Journalists’ prestigious national award, The Mark of Excellence. We knew we weren’t winning first place, but the college still decided it would pay to send Nils, Eli and myself to pick up the award.

This is the three of us picking up our award at the conference in Indy. Eli and I were the only people in attendance not wearing a collar.

We spent just one night in the capital of Indiana. However, I did get to have a drink with fellow Poynter Alum Ashley Porter, who was at the convention to pick up her very own Mark of Excellence for Sports Video.
We left Friday afternoon; I mean, we tried to leave. But there was a major problem: Nils lost the keys to the rental car. An hour later, the bellboy saved us by checking his luggage room once more, and produced the keys from the floor where he stored our bags earlier. Alas, while we believed all to be well, we conversely spent the next hour covering two miles searching for the parking garage we parked in (at one point early on, we walked within a half-block of it).
Needless to say, we were exhausted as we left Indianapolis for Chicago, a trip that Nils thought would make a better two nights than Indianapolis.
Oh, how right he was!

I’m baaaaaaack!

After more than one month of grueling cell phone hell, I finally received my new Blackberry Storm. Thanks to Holly, my adoring fiancée who is today also the proud new recipient of her own BB Storm, as well as the fine people over at Asurion (my cell phone insurance provider), I’m back in action, baby!

It was a rough six weeks, believe you me. After getting used to sending e-mail at any second, check live-to-the-second ESPN updates, YouTube on the go, not to mention Twitter and Facebook access in my hand, I was indeed a Blackberry drone.

(My old phone, after a bachelor party volleyball game at a biker bar) ------>

What’s worse: I had just learned to blog from my phone – then it broke! Coincidence? I only hope so. Besides, you know that feeling when you lose your wallet or keys and you feel so naked?

That was me. Everyday.

…And Boom Goes the Dynamite!

In case you couldn’t tell, that’s me. Same glowing blonde locks, nice blue shirt and a huge wooden stick. If I were to be forever immortalized in print with just one picture, I imagine it to resemble something similar to this.

Again, if you couldn’t tell (and I feel sorry but conversely look down upon you if you can’t) that is my Nintendo Wii character: “Jakey.”

“Jakey” is a stud.

He routinely hits 4-under on Wii golf mini games, averages over 200 at bowling while time and again knocking 9 of 10 homers out at HR derby. Well, that was until today.

Being the unemployed loser I have been up until this week, I’ve been obsessed with bowling a perfect Wii game. You said it, 300. But day after day I fail miserably: Starting off with a split or beginning with a turkey only to knock down 9 on the ensuing roll. Needless to say, what began as a simple “I’m sure I can do it” has morphed into a gargantuan “I hope I can do it” that has literally transformed into an “I give up (for now).”

Well, now that I’m designing a book and learning web design simultaneously, I’ve moved Wii to the backburner. Oh, sure, I do my Wii fitness each day to track my Wii age (today I got all the way down to 26. Is that good? I’m still not sure…). But overall, I’ve been using Adobe CS4 more than Wii Sports.

But then I remembered Home Run Derby. I’ve always wanted to go 10-for-10, and it seems like I’ve been close before. Perhaps this is where I can attain my unemployed glory! I fired it up this afternoon with unrelenting fervor anticipating perfection … only to be sorely mistaken.

Our cat suddenly cowered in the corned as I routinely screamed, “Back back back back back back back back!” like Chris Berman’s infamous (yet mostly annoying) HR Derby chant:She shuddered under the sofa when I followed up the chant with a string of expletives reminiscent of the Jerry Springer Show. But when I continuously fouled off the ninth pitch after hitting 8 dingers in a row (that happened 3 games in a row!) she was nowhere to be seen.

So I gave up. I was tired and angry and mad at the world. I buried myself in Photoshop once more.

Two hours later, I was unloading the dishwasher when it suddenly occurred to me that I should bring my camera into the living room for good luck. So, I did just that. I fired up the Wii once more only to foul off the first pitch.

The Wii-mote almost went through the sliding glass door in a fit of unyielding rage that surely would have distressed our cat once more.

Alas, I calmed down. I decided one last try …Boom Shakka Lakka!! Ten pitches? Ten Home Runs!