What is Your Sundog Story?
Founded Sundog Media Nov 1996 – In 1997 my parents came to Alaska to visit us and we decided to rent a motor home for a week with two goals in mind: to explore the beauty of Alaska together and to come up with a new name for our then fledgling design company. I think I still have the sheet of paper with all the different crazy ideas we came up with, but near the end of the trip I woke up one morning with the word “Sundog” on my heart and added “Media” to give some clarity to what we were about. If you are wondering what a Sundog is, please click here.
As a designer and a Christian there are some similarities between a sundog, which is a reflection of the sun, and my desire to design and create being a reflection of the Ultimate Creator. It was not until about 7 years later when I was pulling our boat behind us down the highway that I noticed in the rearview mirror that “Sundog” backwards is “God N Us” – now you have to admit that is pretty darn cool. 🙂
What is Your Alaska Story?
As a young man in Moscow, Idaho where my family hails – right after building our dream house on the hills looking over the mountains- I became restless. At 26 years old I was way too young to be settled down with the white picket fence, dogs and mortgage and I was hungry for change, both spiritually and geographically – I needed an adventure. Our house sold in just three days, Cathy quit her stable state job and with trailer behind our truck we took off to see the world, starting with Alaska. We have been here ever since. If you have time for the full story of our Alaska trip, please read North to Alaska.
What Do You Do For Fun?
As a family we love to boat. In fact by the time our oldest son turned 12 he’d spent well over a year of his life boating. As often as the skies are clear and the seas less than 2 feet, we try to be boating in our favorite place in the whole world – Prince William Sound. Our boat has changed from small inflatables, a 22′ C-dory, a 1974 36′ Grand Banks weighing in at 30,000 pounds and now a 25′ C-dory Tom Cat. No matter the size of the vessel, with 3-5 boys and sometimes a friend or 2 aboard any boat can feel much too small. No matter…. Boating is our way of enjoying the state we love so much and we spend as much of the summer as we can at anchor in our favorite bays enjoying the magnificent beauty as well as the abundance of fish and game. Our most epic family trip to date was taking our 36′ Grand Banks (The Sundog, of course) from Seattle area where we purchased her all the way up the inside passage and across the gulf to Whittier. To really understand what we do for fun, here are a couple of great links http://sundogadventures.com and http://www.flickr.com/photos/sundogadventures/sets/.
How Did You Get Into This Gig?
Ever since I was a child, I have known that I would be an artist. When other kids in class were taking notes I was drawing a picture of the teacher or something that caught my eye outside the window. It was a natural progression to get a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Idaho with an emphasis in Computer Graphic Design. Amazingly, what I do for a living now (web design) was just being invented as I was graduating from college, and I have been able to apply my love for design to this medium since the early 90′s. I truly have a passion for design and new web user interface design is my specialty. Sundog Media LLC is simply the vehicle that allows me to be involved in design with a great group of people developing ideas for customers within Alaska and across the nation.
Where Do You Get Your Inspiration?
As a father of 5 boys, the last 3 who are triplets, much of my inspiration come from my family and our adventures together across Alaska. My faith in Jesus Christ, my wife and the rich friendships I have been blessed with also inspire me. As far as my inspiration in my career, I love to read. In fact I read so much my wife often begs me to please turn off the light so that she can sleep. My reading ranges from business books to adventure books and I constantly study the works of other designers and follow the current design trends. I work with an amazing team with a wide variety of skills and I am honestly inspired by what we are able to accomplish as a team.
Colossians 3:23 – “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.”
