Mom just got out of Surgery.

She's doing well, the doctors say. Still planning on going home tonight!

Call her cell and Joe may answer if you have any more questions.

400th Post

Yay... 400....

anyway, I'm back from San Diego (old news) and I got a BUNCH of toys. JJ and I had a great time and my some of my pictures can be found on my Facebook page.

Just last week the Peso's returned from Granada España AND Everest and Holly just got into town. So gretchen and I have been spending a lot of time with the Hanson's and Peso's.

Four days ago we went Jesse and Dani's birthday party at Broadway pizza. Then out for donuts after.

Three days ago we all went out to Maynard's for dinner and then afterwords hung out at Tom and Janice's with Everest and Holly. Everest and I tried to beat all the high scores on the Wii Fit games.

Two days ago I went to the Peso Pad and hung out with them all day. Got to play with dunnys with Daniel and play frisbee golf with Dan and Daniel.

Yesterday Janice and Tom rented a pontoon from noon to 8pm and we all hung out, fished and swam off of the pontoon. We all had an amazing time. Such an amazing time that...

Today we are going to hang out with the peso's and Hanson's again at the Peso Pad and have a camping sleepover tonight.

lots going on this week... and It was my mom's birthday yesterday.... oh yeah, 5 days ago we went out to the melting pot for her birthday...

Crazy busy.

well, back to being busy.

Heading to San Diego Comic Con

Leaving today, will be back monday. Gunna be nuts :)

101°F and 80.84 miles

That's right... 101 degrees outside today around 2pm. Crazy HOT ride to Chaska with Justin Mueller and Tom Hanson. Just about killed myself.

Although we did have a nice swim in the lake to cool down. So that was a plus.

Transformers 3 and Zebra Mussel

Went to see Transformers: Dark of the Mood with Dan and my mom. Wasn't bad. I think I liked it more than the second one. Not sure, they're pretty much all the same thing.

I also made a little graphic for my cousin Janaya's Husband, Brandon. Yesterday Brandon called saying he needed a favor and that they just bought a pontoon. They were naming it "The Zebra Mussel" and wanted me to make a graphic to go on it. He also said he wanted it in an hour, but that wasn't going to happen. So last night I finished this and sent it off.

Pirates 4... again

I went to see Pirates 4 again. This time in Disney Digital 3D... instead of the one with the glasses that look like the lenses had gasoline poured on them.

It was better the second time, mostly because I was awake through all of it. But there were a few parts where even I went, "really?" Just things that break the laws of physics... which usually isn't cool in a SEMI-realistic movie.

But anyway, I'm glad I saw it again. Now I want to watch the first one again and see how much better it was.

Pirates, Hangovers, and Pandas... OH MY!

"Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides"

To tell you the truth, I was dozing in and out this whole time... It was a midnight release for me. I went with Paul, who is finally back from Hawaii for good.

Pirates 4 was good, but only as good as the second and third pirates movies... so not as good as the first. But, as usual, a must see for a fan of the series.

"Hangover Part II"

This movies was actually really funny. Sometimes sequels just drop the ball, especially for comedies, but they kept the main idea and characters from the first movie so this ended up pretty solid. A for sure, MUST SEE, for anyone who saw the first and wasn't appalled.

"Kung Fu Panda 2"

This one was the best of all the movies I've seen so far this year, or at least my favorite. I just got done seeing this with Gretchen, who also liked it, despite her reaction to the first film which she wasn't impressed with. Different time, different place I guess. But we both liked it.

Angelina Jolie's character "Tigress" had a much larger part in this film than she did in the last. The other Furious Five had much smaller parts, but at least they kept the same voice actors.

From what the paper says, this was the first Full Length Feature Animation Directed by a Female, Jennifer Yuh. She was a Story Artist on the first film and really showed what she can do with this one. Kudos to Jennifer on this film... Wow.

A must see for sure.

Squirrel

Incase you didn't see it on facebook...

My Green Thumb is back

The Garden is back in. And I actually influenced michael to start his own garden as well.

This year we planted beans, peas, jalapenos, super sweet 100 cherry tomatoes, onions (red and white) carrots, corn, cucumbers, watermelon, garlic, broccoli, green peppers (ishy), Lettuce, and Thai peppers.

Gunna be awesome.

TONIGHT gretchen and I just got back from seeing Bridesmaids.

It was really funny, and actually pretty good. I don't know if it's worth the 4/4 stars it got in the newspaper but it was a solid 3/4 for sure.

Other than that, I've just been working... a lot...

THOR (First iPad post)

Saw Thor yesterday and was surprised at how good it actually was. Rotten tomatoes gives it 79% and I completely agree. The story wasn't the strongest and I'm still not quite sure how the love interest even became a love interest but hey, it works. One of the better superhero movies i've seen.

One thing I thought was pretty lame was that he NEVER WORE HIS HELMET!!! One shot in the beginning and then BOOM, helmet is gone. Look at the poster above, no helmet. Do a google search, every image of the comic book Thor includes his helmet... Makes no sense. But other than that, good stuff.



- Posted from my iPad . _.

micro Animations

Just thought I'd add a link to my twiflip page... It's like twitter but flip book style animations.

http://www.twiflip.net/jaredjohnston

Got about 7 I've done so far...

Trying to do at least one a day.

Enjoy!

Beard-B-Gone

This is the thrilling tale of how my beard became a chin.

That's pretty much it... aside from the sideburns I still have in that last pictures.... I took those off too.

Adjustment Bureau

Best movie of the year... so far.

I just got back from seeing this with Gretchen and we both loved it. I would highly recommend it. I didn't quite know what to expect going into this movie, but coming out I was in awe of how well it was done. I kind of wish they would have explained things a little more, but hey, they left me wanting more and that's what anything good does.

check it out.

Fruit Ninja

If you have an iphone, ipod touch or ipad...

Buy it, Play it.

iPad

I know i'm behind on blogs... So I'll do my best to catch up starting now... and ending tomorrow or the next day...

But first things first, I gots an iPAD!!!

On day one, March 11th, Gretchen and I went to Ridgedale for the release of the iPad 2. We got there about 1:30pm and hung out in line till they closed the Apple store at 3 and reopened at 5 for the release.

I got two black 32 Gig Wifi iPad 2's. One for me and one for my aunt Kerri. They're awesome.

We both ended up getting the green smart covers too. I've already downloaded a ton of apps. but the best one has to be the game "Fruit Ninja"... so fun.

More to come tomorrow.

The last couple weeks... and Comic-Con

I know, it really sucks when all my posts are just, "this is what happened last week", but that's all I have time for these days.

(iFaceFat app)

So what happened in the last few weeks... well, we had another epic poker night at Chevis and Dan's house. It was awesome, but it was the first time I didn't win at least one game, but I still had an amazing time.

I had a fun Valentines day with Gretchen. We ate at a little place called Mozza Mia. Pretty good pizzas but not a HUGE selection. I'd go there again but I don't know that I would have pizza again next time.

We went to our first Roller Derby a few weeks ago. It was awesome. It was the MN all star game pretty much... at least that's what I was lead to believe. But it was really cool. Pretty Violent too, not quite as crazy as in the movies but still... Gretchen and I met JJ, Mary and Mary's friend there. Good times.

My friend JJ and I finally got around to getting our plane tickets and room reservations for this years San Diego Comic Con.

The other night I got to meet Jalayna, Janaya and Brandon's new daughter. She's awesome! And what's even more awesome is that Janaya asked me to be the Godfather of Jalayna. I'm pumped. So awesome. A bunch of my family met up at a Red Lobster to have dinner and introduce the baby. Braxton (Janaya's 3 year old) and I downloaded some dirt bike and snowmobile apps and played those the whole time.

Tonight Gretchen and I are going to go get sushi with my friend/co-worker Dan. Looking forward to it.

OH, I also saw Gnomeo and Juliet... was better than the last Shrek movie.... Gretchen and I also saw The Fighter. It was pretty amazing. Really well done. I'd recommend it.

I'll try to keep things more up to date...

The Trade Show in Vegas

I didn't get to go, but I did get to design the banners that went up.

Here's a few pics my boss took with his cell phone.

There were 10 Wrapping banners with different product names on them; One high rise banner with four logos on it.

My boss said that our booth was the talk of the show.

I also did the intro and outro animations for the 5 videos they had playing on different 32" HDTVs.

As for the Slot Machine animations, that stuff is all put on hold. As of now, I'm doing mostly graphic design with talk of animations in the future.

I'm Boring...

It's come to my attention, by an unnamed source, that my blog is officially BORING! I apologize for this. It's been a rough couple weeks including a couple 12+ hour days. But that's all behind me now that I have the week off.

My boss is in Las Vegas for the World of Concrete Trade Show. Where a lot of the work that Dan (co-worker) and I have worked on is hanging at the "Citadel" booth. I'll post pics when I get them. But as for this week, I've been spending it just relaxing and playing video games.

I took a couple trips to Dan's place in Minneapolis for some R&R with some Gaming thrown in. He lives really close to Zac and Ashley. Also very close to JJ.

Tomorrow is a new Dunny release so I'm planning on heading to Minneapolis tomorrow for hopefully another game day, followed by a dunny release and then a party at the CC Club for Ashley since it's her birthday.

It's also DANIEL ANTONIO PESO's Birthday today.

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY DANIEL!!!!!

Chevis, Please show that to him... :)

ALSO, I called the little guy today, via his mother's phone, and one thing that I think he asked me was, "What do you have new at your house?"

Well these are about it... aside from a PS3 and some blu-rays...

There's a beer can to the right for a size comparison.

This is the newest recruit. He's a Heave Bramble.

In other news, Gretchen's parents were out of town and she doesn't like staying home alone so she spend the night here a couple nights, and one of those nights my dad said that he got up in the morning and heard some crazy cat noises. He said it sounded like a couple cats fighting or something. The next day I went out to check out the crime scene and this is what I found...

A bunch of clumped hair, no idea what it's from, cat or bunny.

And a big gnarly paw/scratch mark. Neighbors thing it's a bobcat or something. Idk, but that thing is as big as my hand.

After going to check out the crime scene I stopped by Michaels place to see his baby.

Conked right out. What a good baby.

I've also been working on a logo and seeing some movies. I'll post the logo once I finish it.

Gulliver's Travels

Ehh... It was funny.... for the most part. But lots of it SCREAMED little kid movie, although it had plenty of adult jokes in it.

Jack Black was good... kinda felt forced though. I like Jack Black, but I'm going to go with a pass... You don't need to see this movie... at all... You could rent it if you are like me and love watching movies of all kinds. I'm glad I saw it, and might want to see it again... but not any time soon.

2/5 stars from me...

Vikings Game

WE WENT TO THE VIKINGS GAME! Gretchen was going to go, but didn't. Tom was going to come, but couldn't (snow). But we still made it out... and just for the game, I made this little number...

With Gretchen's supervision of course, but I did all of the sewing myself. Turned out nice.

The trip to the game started off with the voyage to Chevis and Dan's neighborhood. I ended up just meeting them at Dan's school. We probably took off from there about 3:15 or 3:30 and we didn't get to the park and ride until after 6pm... I think... It was crazy. Traffic was SO SLOW!

But we made it. And we sat outside in the cold to cheer on the vikings... and dan, his sister and her boyfriend cheered the bears.... :/

This was our posse. from left to right, not including me... there's Dan, Brian (Ana's Boyfriend), Ana (Dan's sister), and Chevis.

This was the first time I had met Brian... REALLY cool guy. He's a pilot and we asked him a ton of questions about flying and protocol and why we can't use cell phones on planes... it was great.

Here is the controversial football team couple. Dan, Ana and Brian all cheered the bears while Chevis and I rooted for the Vikings. There were even rowdy, drunk vikings fans that were giving Dan crap about the bears... but he's the best sport about it and he wasn't afraid to give it back as soon as the scores tipped in his favor... and then fell off the board in his favor... maybe next year... :(

Anyway, it was amazing. BEST Vikings game I've ever been to... Only Vikings game I've ever been to... But still great, even though we lost. I couldn't have had a better group of people to go to my first game with. If only Gretchen would have been there, then it would have been complete. But regardless, it was still amazing.

When the Vikings got a touchdown, people threw snow in the air... so awesome

A guy ran onto the field and then was escorted off by the POlice.

and Chevis was getting her groove on... it was good.

I think this may be a yearly thing from now on... Vikings vs Bears home games... we'll be there!