tahiti update #3

We did a little hotel transfer this morning, and the new hotel is so stinky sweet... the bungalow is over the water and is about 1000sqft (and it has two plasma screens in the bungalow). It is very cool and once we et back to cheap and fast internet I'll post a little video tour of the place.
It has been a little crazy windy with a large swell here the last few days and we have been going to bed not sure if we are going to be swept away by a large wave in the middle of the night.
The new hotel is more protected in the lagoon, so it is a little calmer and we will only be partially swept away should a tsunami come.

I have uploaded a few more pics that you can view by clicking here.

tahiti update #2

well, we are now in Bora Bora and it seems the world wide web isn't too popular here. i am on the internet (64kbps) at $22 per hour. thus, this will be quick.
we caught up withKyle and Courtney Rutenbar wihtin 5 minutes of arriving at Bora Bora. Our hotel is awesome, with a bungalow over the water.
We went out feeding sting-rays yesterday, which was strange but very awesome, and very entertaining cos Courtney was so scared of them. Jana did good, but they were a little too slimy for her! We then went to feed the sharks, outside the main lagoon in the ocean, and it was unbelievably awesome, there weere about half a dozen black tip reef sharks, between 3-5 feet long. It was so good, we might go again.

OK, this blog update cost me about $7 so it will end now.

tahiti update #1

Well, we’ve been in Tahiti two nights now and we are absolutely loving it. It is filled with fun times, great memories and strange European men wearing Speedos.
Instead of writing whimsical tales that go on for days (ala Tour De Turkey) I decided to list our some more memorable parts... Feel free to email us and maybe we can elaborate. Except the hotel network is down, so we can’t get email unless we walk 15 minutes down the road.
The memories list:
-Getting off the plane and getting lei’d by a fruity French Polynesian man
-Taking a 7-minute flight from Tahiti to Moorea on a 12 seater plane in the cover of darkness (the longest 7mins of my life)
-The bell-boy at the hotel taking us to our room wearing nothing but a mini-sarong
-Jana ordering a $9 banana milshake
-Driving around the island in a green-cream Renault called a “Twingo”
-The beach fashions of Europe on full display at the Tahitian beaches
-Staying in our own little bungalow on the beach

We have some pics at http://homepage.mac.com/sartidesign

the day noise-cancelling failed me

Before heading off on this trip I went and bough some noise-canceling headphones from Best Buy, thinking they would cure the aeroplane noise and the noise of others around me. Everything was going great, until the English-speaking French woman behind me started talking. Unfortunately, she started talking as soon as we got on the plane and hadn’t stopped talking when we arrived in Papeete. That s 8 hours of talking. Every other noise was cancelled, but the makers of Sony headphones had not accounted for her annoying pitch when constructing these things. Topics ranged from crochet, to the crappy American school system.
To top things off, everyone had their shutters down for the flight, to keep it nice and dark, as it was light the whole way there. She opened and closed her shutter (the only person in the cabin to do this) a number of times, and each time she did it, I thought the rapture was going to happen. I thought Jesus had come back three separate times on our flight!

from the iPhoto archives - week 3 (early edition)

I affecionately call this "the two-headed McGill", but the image doesn't show much affection.
I always knew Matt had a little Middle-East in him, and it just popped out while we were in the great land of Turkey.

she found out

Well, the secret is over with Bella... like a prudent CSI Detective, she uncovered the evidence and found out that Mum is having another baby. We'll let you know how progress goes as the date gets closer. I don't know who is in for the bigger shock, Bella, or her parents.

bella: medieval or mid 90s?

Yesterday two things happened to Bella.
1) She was wearing a denim hat that reminded of me of a young TLC (RIP Lefteye).
2) At the OC Fair, she was eating a turkey leg the side of her head

I couldn't figure out was she was more of... medieval times, hunkering down on that turkey, or mid-nineties, like an extra in a Color Me Badd music video.

You decide.

are travel fins like the short bus?

As I was getting ready for my vacation I thougt I would head to Sports Chalet, hoping to pick up a mask & snorkel... they were all a rip off, so I thought I would pick up a set that included some fins. It said "travel" and I am a sucker and bought them.
I was not fully aware that travel was a metaphor for half-fins. But here I am now with travel fins.
But now I am scared. When I am snorlelling with others, will they look at me and my fins kind of like how people look at the short bus? I am not sure of the answer, but I will try and find out.

we're goin' to Bonnie Doon...

Big news in Australian real-estate this week... the house at Bonnie Doon, from the movie "The Castle", was bought, and will be turned into a "hotel". View article Here
I am already dreaming about the serenity... and the bug-zapper.

For Americans, this would be like someone buying Napoleon Dynamite's house, and being able to stay there the night... all inclusive (yes, it would include Kip's sweet PC and 56K modem hookup on the phone line)

a new desire of mine

I wish this new desire was something like "digigng deeper into the Old Testament", but unfortunately it is as shallow as watching VH1's "Pop Culture World Series". I love it, and I think I am pretty good at answering the questions, right up their with my Jeopardy! skills.
I must admit I felt a little ashamed. I was able to answer a really obscure question about Julia Roberts that a contestant couldn't.
Ashamed. Kind of like Adam & Eve hiding from God in the garden... wait... maybe that Old Testament desire is hiding somewhere out there!

from the iPhoto archives - week 2

I am going to try and post two this week, as I will be away from my regular computer next week...
This week's photo comes from 2002, a younger, even more energetic and politically charged Jared Moine at an Angels game.
With the Angels struggling under .500 this year, would you re-elect John Lackey?!

a big day for floaties

Bella took a big aquatic step today at the pool... she wore floaties for the first time. This meant:
1) You don't fear she is going to drown every second you are in the pool
2) She drank 1 gallon (3.78 litres) of pool water bobbing up and down
3) Because of the water consumption she had a burp Matt McGill would be proud of
4) She doesn't have to hold on your back hair for Dear Life as you cart her around the pool on your back
5) It still doesn't stop her from peeing on her sandles after she gets out of the water

Now if I can only get her to get back to her Dad's Kelmscott roots and get her to swim while wearing black stone-wash denim jeans...

for fans of the office

I am a big fan of The Office (usa version), and have actually bought the DVD's of the British version to watch on vacation next week (review to follow shortly thereafter).
If you need a fix, at NBC.com they have some "webisodes" you can watch. They are only a couple of minutes long, but still include plenty of awkward silence, weird social interaction, and more awkwardness. Brilliant.

BTW, does anyone think Drew Petersen reminds them of Ryan the Temp?

from the iPhoto archives - week 1

Everybod loves a good continuing "bit"... here is my latest. Every Friday I am going to try and show an image from the iPhoto archives. It may be funny, or it may just be capturing one of the countless hairstyles that my wife has been through!
This week's photo comes from 2002, it's Matt Hall (pre-lasek) hitting golf-balls over the cove from our HouseBoat in Lake Havasu. Fortunately no-one captured a picture of me up there in my Speedo working on my wedge-shot (double entendre).

for all will ferrell fans

I found this tasty bit of information on ESPN.com
If you watch the ESPY Awards (this Sunday at 9pm), Will Ferrell interrupts Lance Armstrong's acceptance speech for Male Athlete of the Year and sings the 1970s song "Times of Your Life" with lyrics rewritten for Armstrong. This will be TiVo'd at my house.

"Sure he can rap, but can he croon?"
circa 2002 - Robert Goulet - Coconut Bangers Ball (It's A Rap)

new job started today

Started a new job for client out in Illinois today... it is a set of six banners for a youth ministry and I was pretty psyched how the first design came out. Hopefully the other five come out as sweet, we'll see! Apart from that, the day did not reveal any great revelations about life, except "always love".

eight days in tahiti

Jana and I are lucky enough to be heading to Tahiti next Sunday!
While in the French Polynesia I want to do a blog-a-day about our time there... not about the crystal clear waters and overwater bungalows, but more about the side of Tahiti you don't find in the travel magazines (kind of like how Derek Zoolander revealed the side of male-modeling you don't find on the E Channel.)
Hopefully there will be cultural faux paus and ignorant tourists aplenty!

some of my best work

While I get to work on some really fun next-level (at least I think) stuff as a designer, sometimes different challenges come my way.
Cue the, as I affectionately call it, "smiley pirate" design. Simple yet sophisticated, iconic, yet personal to the core.
I hope the kids at Summer Spectacular at Saddleback Church like it!
Aaaaarrrrgggghhhhhh (smile!)

a tale of two cultures

Last night Jana, Bella and I ventured to a wedding reception for our friends Francisco & Monica, in the LBC (Long Beach). Francisco is Mexican, and Monica is Cambodian. It may be the first time a Mexican and a Cambodian have ever tied the knot.
I didn't understand most of the speeches, as they were in Khmer and Spanish, but I did enjoy watching Franciso's family staring down the entree of jellyfish and other seafood delicacies wondering what happened to chips and salsa!
We left a little early as we had Bella and found a Coco's nearby. Being at Coco's late at night almost made me want to go back and eat jellyfish.

5 reasons i haven't blogged in the last week

First let me apologize. I am conceited enough to believe that people are truly disappointed when they have pointed their browser this direction, and alas, no new everyday events from Leigh... here are 5 reasons why I didn't blog.

5) I have been in Palm Springs twice in the last week. While they did have internet access and I did pay for it, I feared my computer may have melted blogging in such warm conditions

4) In the last week I have played golf 4 times, thus highly reducing blog-capability time. Best round 81. Best nine 38.

3) I put my hand in my toiletries bag in Palm Springs, only to have a chuck of my left-mouse finger severed by my razor (which I seldom use). I am typing without using my right index finger, thus no blog.

2) In between golf outings I was at the Purpose Driven Worship Conference, selling my wares and teaching a workshop. During one workshop a guy in the 2nd row slept through a majority, thus shattering my confidence and creative ability.

1) Nothing too culturally irrelevant or outstanding has happened in my life, thus no need to blog. Hopefully wacky instances will happen more frequently in the near future.