brought to you by the DB

recession designer anyone?

2009-03-11T10:21:00.000-07:00

D posted a little advertisement on Craigslist yesterday advertising VERY GOOD DEALS on logos, websites, stationary, biz cards, and anything else dealing with graphic design.

View the ad HERE and please tell your friends, family, or co-workers. Especially if they are trying to start their own business, because this is a killer deal for a very good designer.

a story about our scooters

2009-03-01T13:57:00.000-08:00

You can find this same entry on our personal blog - but we wanted to get it on the internet as many times as possible, so anyone can read our story about buying scooters from Michael Sharette.

I am going to now tell the (long) story of our Vespa Scooters, how they became ours, why they are at the shop, and all the details that made the situation both exhilarating and frustrating. The reason we are putting this in writing is so that no one in the future has to deal with what we had to deal with. And also because if anyone "googles" Michael Sharette's name, we want them to read our story before doing business with him.

Let's begin, shall we?

Matt and I have always had a love for all things vintage, but especially cars or scooters. Right after we got married, I sold my VW Golf and we shared 1 car for around 8 months. During that time, Matt ran into an old acquaintance from Spain, Michael Sharette, who happened to have a very sweet looking Vespa Scooter. Mike let Matt ride it, and then mentioned that he actually had it imported from Italy and he could probably get Matt one for a pretty good deal. This is when the wheel started turning... we could share the 1 car and buy 2 Vespa Scooters, and it just seemed like (albeit a bit irresponsible) a dream come true! We could have our cake and eat it too... share the car in the winter and each get to ride an adorable scooter in the spring, summer, and fall months. Who in the world wouldn't want that?

So the process started... we began exchanging phone calls, texts, and emails with Mike to get more details on the scooters; the exact price, the information on the restoration, the colors we could choose from, and anything else we could think of at the time. We weren't worried too much about the business side of the deal because Mike was a friend and we figured we could trust him to be honest in the transaction, and also because he told us we had the "Mike Sharette Guarantee" - meaning that if anything went wrong, he'd personally work it out for us. The business name he was using for this transaction was Italia Classic, and he'd gone through this same process before with his scooter, so there should be minimum problems along the way.

Would it have been easier and cheaper to get a new Yamaha, or Honda, or even used Vespa scooter right here in Utah? YES. A million times YES, but Mike was giving us a deal and they would be vintage, from Italy, and exactly what we'd been dreaming about for years and years. So to us, it seemed like the only way we'd be happy was to have what Mike was promising us... so we did it. Let me give you a time frame though... this all took place in the Summer of 2007. We officially sent him the money at the beginning of July, 2007.

I bet you are thinking... but it's 2009 and you're barely getting the engines fixed!? Yes. Hence this story being one of frustration.

All seemed well when we ordered the scooters, and Mike said they'd be here around the beginning of September. September came and went, no scooters. I found this link when I google'd Mike's name (you have to scroll down to the date of May 7, 2007 to read the correct entry), and I wish we would have read the entire website sooner. Matt and I started doubting the quality of the scooters, and where they were actually coming from. Italy would have been very nice indeed, but that website and how long the process was taking made us feel skeptical of what was going on, and how authentic our scooters would be.

In the middle of October (2007) the scooters arrived and he dropped them off at our condo... they were BEAUTIFUL. There is no denying that they looked super sweet, because they absolutely did. We unloaded them from the truck and just gawked at our new toys. We noticed a few things that were wrong (like square lights instead of round- and black tires instead of white walled) but those were little issues and we didn't care too much. They were here, and we were so excited. We started them up after a few tries on the kick start... and then rode for the first time on our new babies. Mike said he'd ship us the bill of sale, bill of landing, and any other documents we would need to prove ownership and register our new scooters. Everything seemed great, and when Mike left our condo we were all smiles.

THE VERY NEXT DAY one of the scooters didn't work. The 2nd day the other one stopped working. The scooters wouldn't start, we could not ride them, and they just weren't in the condition that was promised when we purchased them. Mike took them back to get them fixed, but that just turned into months of waiting without hardly any contact from Mike about what was going on. Finally, when we found out which shop he had taken them to, we contacted The Scooter Lounge ourselves and talked to Dave about the real situation (around Jan 2008.) He said the bikes were "Asian imports" {meaning the frames are real, but nothing else is vintage Vespa} and "the engines appeared to be handmade and not safe at all." CRAP. We had been bamboozled and now we had these nice looking scooters that would need whole new engines. Mike Sharette never answered our phone calls, he said he'd help pay for the new engines (which he has not,) and we have not heard back from him since we tried to ask him for some money back for this awful transaction. We've sent him letters, emails, texts, and phone calls - and still we have heard nothing back. He NEVER sent us any of the legal paperwork we needed to prove ownership of the scooters, or the bill of sale or importation paperwork either. We are very disappointed with the lack of integrity with this business transaction, and also about how long the process has been going on. We hope no one else will ever have to go through something like this. Ever.

SO... we stored the scooters, went to Ecuador, worked extra hours cleaning to try to save up some money, and they are now finally being fixed in 2009. We are installing brand new 150 CC Stella Engines, and they will run so smooth when all has been said and done. And they still look amazing, so that's great. We are in litigation with Mike, and will hopefully be refunded some of the money that has gone into this head-ache of a business deal. We are sad and frustrated about the situation, but thankfully in the end they will run fabulously because the brilliant people at The Scooter Lounge. And we now know a bit more about scooters, and will not be so stupid in the future about vintage purchases.

And we will ride with all the glory that should have been ours almost 2 years ago.

on our way to Ecuador

2009-02-18T21:19:00.000-08:00

D drew this on a doggy bag on our 1st Anni last year while on our...4th or 5th... airplane of the day. It was sort of a nightmare 24 hours of travel, so the drawing turned out rather accurate.

baby jungle invite

2009-01-18T15:24:00.000-08:00

D worked hard to design this darling invite for my BFF's baby shower. Done in photoshop ... and Ash is due next week with her baby boy!

new personal blog banner

2009-01-11T18:28:00.001-08:00

Isn't it amazing!? I think it's fabulous... especially the random panda.

sketches

2009-01-08T10:10:00.001-08:00

D did not perform as he should in bringing you some of his images, but it's okay, he's busy at work and being a good husband. Here are some first draft sketches (because occasionally... D uses good 'ol paper and pencil to draw. and i love it.)

About time.

2008-12-22T19:22:00.000-08:00

Heya suckas! D here!

I felt it was friggin' time to post on my own blog... Also, the DB was tired of me never doing anything. So here we go. I give my deepest regrets to all the tens of ninjabotites who crave for a taste of some artistic splendor that is the graphic of the week. (image to come) My new job at Clover Design has kept me busy, but hasn't killed the virtual beast of artistic freedom that lies within my designer's belly. Here are some much overdue images if the week. [coming soon in the next post.] Hope y'all enjoy... And if you don't.... You can have a ninja SLAP!!!!!

- The D

exciting news...

2008-12-12T11:42:00.000-08:00

D was hired by a new company! To keep it all private, we won't share the name... but it's VERY exciting and we are so thankful for this opportunity. He may not have as much free time to work on fun stuff, but it's giving him an opportunity to excel at website design and programming, as well as strengthening his Graphic Design skills.

so yes, we are busier than ever, but super stoked about this job.

piggy piggy

2008-12-05T08:51:00.000-08:00

D painted this hilarious piggy bank the other day with some friends at Color Me Mine. {mine was plain turquoise with rosy pink cheeks} He puts his art to use even in the simplest projects. Plus... the robot is just adorable (and manly.)

*a few other pics will be available shortly at our personal blog [link on the side bar}

image of the [week] #2

2008-12-04T09:56:00.000-08:00

This image combines elements of D's life. He wears his All-stars almost every day. He owns a white guitar named Excalibur. He is learning animation and will one day make an animation film. He was mickey mouse for Halloween. And those freaky monsters are meant to represent "greed" in this material world we live in.

[made in photoshop]

iphone + mac = happiness

2008-12-03T12:16:00.000-08:00

We are a MAC family. Of course we would be, as D is a Designer, and we all know that no other computer company compares to the Mac's designing prowess. While backpacking through Peru this summer, all D could talk about was the new iphone 3G, and how he would give anything [like missing Machu Picchu] if he could go home and stand in line for the new phone. So... of course when we returned his wish was granted (because I couldn't stand one more minute of him talking about it.) He currently has 6 pages of applications on his phone (compared to my measly 2) and sometimes I question how much he loves me compared to the iphone.

I am not over-exaggerating at all about this either. D would be apart of this Flikr group if he ever got into tattoos.
He wants me to make these pies for Thanksgiving.
He checks www.tuaw.com [the unofficial apple website] at least 6 times a day, and over 50 times if Steve Jobs is doing any sort of announcement.

This image is from tuaw - an iPhone made out of 10,000 applications available for the phone. Incredible. More and more are being added each day too... so yeah, Apple pretty much rocks. And D is pretty much obsessed.

distracted

2008-11-23T21:20:00.001-08:00

D has found a new hobby, and it's been taking him away from his designing. For 3 days straight. He's finished a lot of pot holders, and is half way through a scarf. Simply Amazing.

Back with more illustration and photo-shop work later this Thanksgiving week.. as well as a new image of the "week" (granted... it's more like image of the month because I keep forgetting. maybe I'll change the name.)

the beatles

2008-11-17T19:30:00.000-08:00

An altered version to a favorite cover. We love The Beatles. One day, we'll have our record collection and a wall dedicated to these fabulous musicians.

[made in illustrator]

photo mag inspiration

2008-11-11T17:23:00.000-08:00

Some of the most recent things inspiring D are these magazines. He has been frequently learning new things from this one -

and this one -

One of the only ways to really appreciate your own art is to look and appreciate other people's art. There are so many aspects to photo-shop and millions of ideas out in cyber space, it's hard to pick one out of the many artists featured in each magazine. These two mags are totally worth the trip to B&N every month for the amount of information in each one.

Image of the Week #1

2008-11-03T10:39:00.000-08:00

D has been dabbling in Photoshop over the past few months, and it's time we start sharing some of his work. This image was inspired by the idea of a Tree of Life, connotating the family tree, the magic of this world, and the simple beauty we find in nature. Plus... D likes to consider himself as "going brown" because he can't quite bring himself to go completely green, but he tries to when he can. So we are going brown (which is better than not trying at all.)

*also a note about the website... D is working on it right now as I type this, because if you've visited www.ninjabotgraphics.com it says "under construction" because he is still working on his new lay-out. So make sure to check back in a week or so, it should be all re-formatted and settled by then.

fresh start

2008-11-01T18:37:00.000-07:00

This blog has been taken over by the DB. We will be exploring the world of The D, Ninjabot Graphics, and anything else that inspires, excites, or just plain gives us the warm fuzzies inside as we tackle design elements, animations, and anything else that is artful, colorful, and wonderful. Thank you for stopping by.