Welcome to JohnHoltgrew.com!

Just popping in again.

2010-01-18T09:31:00.000-06:00

I know I've been very bad about posting new information. Things have been incredibly busy but productive the last few months. PowerBand Graphics has taken more exciting steps forward offering new services and establishing new clients. I'm really looking forward to growing my business and making my mark in the small business community.

For those that don't know PowerBand Graphics is my graphic design company. It's established to provide creative branding solutions to small businesses in Nebraska. This ranges from identity and logo design to web design and email marketing. Other services include business card & letterhead creation and advertising design. I think there's a big opportunity to help the businesses in communities where I grew up. I know how intimidating good design and design companies can be to organizations just starting out and I want to change that.

I can use the marketing and advertising skills I've learned over almost 10 years to help those businesses brand themselves professionally and better stand out from their and better competitors. This in turn will hopefully help their communities. Anyways, I just wanted to give a quick update to anyone that reads this site. I'm contributing to a blog on PowerBand Graphics every couple of weeks to put a face to my company, give useful info and create a dialogue with my customers. Check it out, I look forward to hearing from you.

- John

Been too long....

2009-08-10T18:41:00.001-06:00

So I've come to the realization that I don't draw much anymore and it
shows. It's sad because I really enjoy drawing and painting and I
don't realize how much I miss it until I start doing it again. I was
playing around with sketching for a design idea I'm working on. It's
nothing too dramatic but if you want to see something new, here it
is... I need to start carrying a sketchbook again.

Some recent work.

2009-08-04T09:00:00.001-06:00

So I've been experimenting with Wordpress with the idea I'll be
redoing my site and PowerBand Graphics with it. For those sites I'm
planning on creating custom themes for myself, which is what is taking
so long to learn in my free time.

I've also been doing some very simple pro bono work for friends and
family to help me learn this platform. I just finished my first
installation for the Nebraska Garden Tractor Pullers Association at http://www.negtpa.com
it's a really simple site for a hobby that one of my good friends is
involved in. It's helped me test out he waters and see if coding
custom xhtml and cms themes is something I want to do. The next pro
bono work I'm doing will be for my Grandma's Methodist church, lol.
What can I say, I can't turn her down!

At any rate this is building an addition to my business model and
learning new skills to help my clients. Feel free to check the site
out and let me know if you have any suggestions. Thanks!

-John

My weekend

2009-07-11T19:20:00.000-06:00

"Well Hoss, what are we going to do with this helicopter turbine?"
"Let's put it in a tractor Jed" "What? What for?" "Well to pull a hunk
of metal four hundred feet of course!"

Back in the saddle!

2009-06-23T12:36:00.002-06:00

Hey everyone! So for anyone not in the know, I'm living in Lincoln now. It's closer to my employer and a good friend of mine has set me up with a reasonably priced apartment. Lincoln brings back a lot of memories as I lived here for a couple years back in my UNL days. Being here will allow me to save some money and get back to spending more time designing. I know I've been saying site remodeling has been coming for a while but this time I mean it!

I'm also doing more work on self promotion. If you haven't been following my business on twitter now is the time! It's @powerbandgrphx obviously my business website is www.PowerBandGraphics.com and PowerBand's facebook fan page is here. Also if you are in LinkedIn, you can check me out there too.

On another note, I am starting my training for a half marathon in Omaha tonight! This warm weather won't really be helping me any but I feel confident. I have a new goal of finishing under two hours... I'll be sure to post updates about that as well. Thanks for the encouragement, everyone!

Missing Minnesota

2009-05-24T11:18:00.000-06:00

Ahhh

The results are in...

2009-05-07T12:25:00.001-06:00

- John

Glutton for punishment...

2009-04-29T13:54:00.001-06:00

Hey everyone. If you've been following my blog or checking in on my
Twitter account then you know I've been training for the last three
months for the half marathon in Lincoln this Sunday. It starts at
7am(yikes) and hopefully won't take me more than two-two and a half
hours or so to finish. I finished my last training run yesterday which
was eight miles and... Interesting. So who knows what the day will
bring. I'm looking forward to it though. I've lost almost 30 pounds
over the course of training for it. I've gone from running 2 miles at
a time to not sneezing at a nine mile run. I've learned a lot and had
a good time so it will hopefully lead to me being more active and
possibly more half marathons.

Thanks to everyone who has encouraged me. If you are in the area,
check me out as I slowly run through the course. And for anyone
waiting on the new site design, be patient! I've been doing a lot of
research on the best format and designs to go with. I'm taking my time
and making a custom cms template. Most likely wordpress. It will be
worth it. Have a good one!

-John

What the Twit?

2009-03-09T09:53:00.003-06:00

As you can see on the right I've started using twitter (I refuse to use the verb TWEET as a verb in reference to twitter). Ideally I'll be using it so family and friends can get the little slice of John they crave when I haven't updated the blog here. However I'll also be attempting to use it to keep up to date in the design world and a little networking. It's an experiment that may end in embarrassment but it's worth a shot. This is also going to coincide with a major site redesign, both here and at PowerBandGraphics.com So yeah, check it out! I'll try to keep the updates G Rated or at the very least PG.

Oh yeah, my big brother Bob has his very first site up! Check it out! JetEngineBob.com

PowerBand updates.

2009-02-25T08:31:00.001-06:00

I've added some new design pieces to the web gallery of the finest
small business web design/illustration/graphic art service provider in
Northeast Nebraska.

There are web concepts for a wine brokerage client i worked with. I
also created the identity for them. Go check it out!

www.PowerBandGraphics.com/gallery

-John

Newest project.

2009-02-19T08:41:00.001-06:00

So I had a pic up of my new project but realized it possibly wasn't
the most flattering. At any rate, yes I have braces now. So if you see
me don't punch me in the face like you normally do. It'll hurt more...

-John

My new goal....

2009-01-07T21:40:00.004-06:00

So my siblings, being the competitive cusses that they are, decided we needed to do a competition to see who could actually follow through with working out and losing some holiday weight. We haven't decided what is at stake but I've set myself up a training regimen on Nike+. Below is the goal of how many times I'd like to run in the next 12 weeks... I ran today and it didn't count it, I SWEAR. Don't mock me too much and if you see me slacking give me a shout!

Happy 2009!

2009-01-05T17:25:00.001-06:00

So long 2008. You were an okay year but now it's on to bigger and
better! Some things of note are I ran my first 5k last week. There
were only 3 of us running but it was fun nonetheless. I beleive it is
the first mini-marathon ever run on the country roads outside of
Winside! ALSO! PowerBand Graphics is now a fully functioning LLC! Look
for some new changes there and updates as well. Anyways I hope
everyone had a good 2008. Here's hoping that we all have an even
better year ahead of us...

-John

Here's what's sad...

2008-12-11T22:45:00.001-06:00

So I've been an unopologetic apple fanboy for a while. I bought an
apple tv a year (or so?) ago and I'm finally running into some
problems. Apple TV Pixel and freezing issues? WTF? The wierdest part?
I reverted back to the 1.0 software and it seems much more stable and
no weird freezing issues. So I guess that proves it's a software issue
right? Any thoughts?

-John

Check it out!

2008-12-04T17:30:00.001-06:00

Speedway Motors new site when live a couple weeks ago. Look like a
fine redesign... They must have some talented designers. If you happen
to visit check out the apparel section there are some sweet new shirts
and a jacket worth buying...

Did I spell apparel right?

-John

Vote. Seriously.

2008-10-31T11:40:00.002-06:00

To the two people who read this (you know who you are). You may not need to be told to vote but may know someone who needs a bit of a kick to get to the booth. I honestly don't care WHO you vote for but it's important that you do... BUT in case you need a push in one direction.

Want to see something cool?

2008-10-27T20:22:00.000-06:00

Genuine John Holtgrew designed apparel... Available exclusively at Speedway Motors

Speaking of SpeedwayMotors.com. Be sure to keep checking back. There will be some major changes driven by yours truly...

Hope everyone is good!

HELP! I'm being run down!

2008-10-27T20:17:00.001-06:00

God I'm funny! If you didn't know (I didn't) downtown Omaha has some pretty nice art and things to see. The riverfront is pretty impressive the sculptures they have are incredibly dynamic. It's worth exploring and nice to see I've only scratched the surface... Check it out if you have the chance...

Just watch out for the stage coaches!

Shhh don't tell anyone...

2008-09-29T21:03:00.002-06:00

My nephew is Spider-Man! It came as a shock to the rest of us too. The
other adorable girl is my oldest neice, Katie! We visited them in
Oklahoma City for Kelly's 3rd birthday. Good times were had by all.

First time at a husker game!

2008-09-14T00:32:00.001-06:00

You know? I lived in Lincoln for over two years as a student and I
never got the chance to make it to a husker game. Well it's a pretty
good time if you have the right company!

Recommended!

Back in Nebraska!

2008-08-27T14:53:00.001-06:00

I'm back.

It was inevitable that after conquering Minnesota I come back to the Husker state finish the job I started in high school...

For those not in the know, I've decided to uproot from Minnesota and make Omaha my new base of operations. My design business PowerBand Graphics is building steam and I'm currently Graphic Designer at Speedway Motors in Lincoln. Anyone who knows me knows that designing ads and graphics for a company that provides Racing and Street Rod parts is a pretty good fit. Other plans include catching a football game or two and getting a certain purple hot rod ready to scare people...

New projects I've worked on over the year are also available to view in PowerBand Graphic's Gallery. I will be keeping this space updated more regularly with information about me and my work, so check back!

2 states down. 48 to go!

...Watch out Iowa...

-John

SuperCross!

2008-05-21T11:05:00.001-06:00

So this is a little old but this is some pyrotechnics in the
MetroDome...

PowerBand Graphics is Live....

2007-08-26T20:09:00.000-06:00

Hey all... The website for my new endeavour is live and running and pretty impressive in my opinion... Check it out at www.powerbandgraphics.com. Let me know your thoughts and criticisms, comments and concerns. Thanks!

On the horizon.

2007-08-23T21:44:00.000-06:00

I wanted to mention that new things are on the horizon for yours truly. I'm working to gather more professional clients for myself and to that end I've created PowerBandGraphics.com to be the professional extension of my work. Not much is there right now but I plan to have things rolling in a week or two. Don't worry I do have some new peices to post here and will make sure to notify you to let you know where to look! Thanks and drop me a line if you are curious as to what it is about...

Summertime.

2007-05-13T17:58:00.000-06:00

The sky is blue, the grass is green and here I am tapping away at my computer... And here you are at your computer, go out and get some air! Anyways, I've started assisting website creation for Inventiv Designs, a startup based out of Hugo MN. Check it out and let me know what you think!