Happy Free Comic Book Day.
Happy Cinco de Mayo.
Happy National Cartoonist Day!
This is going to be my new Father's Day if my little ones, especially my little girl, keep going to the comic shops with me. I haven't so much as stepped foot in an LCS for years. Mrs. Austin told me about a brand new shop opening up in our area called Ninja Pirate Comics so I decided to take LMA with me and check it out.
First, the women were all dressed as pirate wenches and the guys were all in black. It'd been cooler if they were ninjas, but all black was ok. I also realized that I was the old man in the store. The other folks my age were all around a single table either sharing some stories or playing a weird corporate RPG I've never heard of involving PE Ratios and Back Plane Management and Entry Stripe Coding. Everyone else was closer to LMA's age than mine, with exception of the owners.
I haven't purchased a book in years and I can't pinpoint the exact reason I stopped. I got a little tired of reading basically the same stories over and over again and I ended up either following artists or writers I knew from conventions or online communities. But even that was hard to do after a while as their books were delayed or canceled and in the end I'd end up only buying a handful of trades a month. I think I remember one Wednesday I picked LMA up from school and instead of taking our normal detour to an LCS, I just drove home and didn't realize I'd forgot until later. I wasn't upset about it either.
So as I perused the selection of Ninja Pirate's books, I was hoping for some spark of consumerism, some trigger that would release the pent up love I had at one point for comic books. I have fond memories of the feel of comics, the smell, the heft in my hands, the traditional scanning of the new comic racks. I don't know if it was because I was worried about LMA getting Spiderman cupcake icing all over the new books, but I just didn't find what I was looking for. Which was odd because the kids running the shop were always asking people if they were finding what they were looking for. I felt like saying, "Yes, do you have the latest issue of what happened to my love for comics? I'm about 2 years behind and I don't know where I left off." I'm sure they'd have assumed it was an indie title so I didn't bother.
LMA got a bit bored and only really wanted mostly anime/manga related toys behind the counter; eg a Super Mario mushroom on a brick box. I don't think it did anything but take $10 from me. Maybe that was its whole purpose.
May 5th for me wasn't as happy as I wanted it. I wanted to go in and have that inner-geek rekindled. (I have an outer-geek already, he's in charge of video games and cartoon art and sci-fi novels.) But it felt more like a relationship you try to rekindle after years apart; the memories are better than what actually happened and what is happening now.
I'll read these free books and see what happens.
It can't be any worse than Spiderman 3.
You heard me. Spiderman 3 wasn't as good as it could have been. It wasn't horrible, but I honestly felt it wasn't as good as the other two.
Don't get me wrong, the movie had some really REALLY great scenes. It had great fights, great effects and some decent writing and acting. But there were really odd bits that seemed out of place, really ham-handed direction and a story that seemed forced. A friend of mine reiterated that this movie was trying to do in two hours what the comic book took over 100 issues to do.
It fell pray to something I like to call Villain Overload. Batman had a problem with it, X3 had a problem with it. I'm sure the new Batman's and Superman's will end up having a problem with it. See, superhero comics generally have tons of villains. Spiderman alone has something like 80-90 bad guys he's fought over the years; some are major and some are either one-shot or other people's arch enemies. When a movie franchise hits it big and they decide to make sequels, you can usually tell that they try to force more bang for the buck by introducing more villains. Hey, Batman can beat just one guy, next time we'll do two, then three, then we'll just empty Arkham and see what happens.
What happens is the plot becomes shallow. Instead of two archetypal characters duking it out physically and mentally which each other, you have 5 or 6 people fighting just for screen time. A blockbuster needs fights and kisses and good effects but if you have more back story to tell because you have 19 bad guys, you're sacrificing good movie storytelling time by doing it.
In this case we have to find out what happens to Harry Osborn and then watch the creation of a new villain (Sandman) and then the subplot that creates Venom (Eddie Brock.) All this time Peter is being a schmuck to MJ and working out more personal demons than James Bond.
I was left feeling a bit flat. I wasn't tingling all over like the first two had done, but I left feeling like there could have been more of something and less of others. Yes I was entertained, but the same way Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom or Return of the Jedi had done.
And by the way, if you have a youngling less than 10 years old, I don't know that I'd take them. The fights are no less evil than the Green Goblin or Doc Ock fights from 1 and 2, but Venom is evil incarnate. He is all black and fangs and shrieks and strikes with a vengeance you might see from a demon in Lord of the Rings. It might scare little kids. Little kids might also not get all the inner turmoil bits and the relationship strife Peter and MJ go through.
Yes, it's PG-13, but I wouldn't push it with little kids. Girls especially, but any little kid might get freaked at Venom's befanged maw.
Adults might want to do a matinées so as not to fell bad about dropping $8-10 on an average blockbuster.
Go get some comics today.
Carry on.
4.5.07
LMAisms
First off, my little girl will be 6 next week.
6!!!
I take solace in knowing that she gets upset if I don't put on my season one DVD of Transformers. She just walks around the house whining, "Optimus Prime! Optimus Prime!"
G-man is still at the age where he is both a lion and a princess.
So last night, Mrs. A is telling LMA a story. She had come down asking for something - a cup of water, handful of grapes, whatever - and Mrs. A told her to come sit with her on the couch. At first she asked LMA to tell her a story and she did. I didn't hear that part. What I did hear was Mrs. A telling LMA a story that paralleled the Gift of the Magi. Details were different, but the theme was the same; two people loved each other and did something for the other that rendered the other's gift useless. In Mrs. A' story the girl cut her hair to buy buttons for the boy's nice coat and the boy sold his coat to buy a nice brush for the girl.
Mrs. A finishes the story and LMA and I share an "oh my" look. She then says, "Oh man, I bet he doesn't like her anymore!"
We woke G-man up we were laughing so hard.
Carry on.
6!!!
I take solace in knowing that she gets upset if I don't put on my season one DVD of Transformers. She just walks around the house whining, "Optimus Prime! Optimus Prime!"
G-man is still at the age where he is both a lion and a princess.
So last night, Mrs. A is telling LMA a story. She had come down asking for something - a cup of water, handful of grapes, whatever - and Mrs. A told her to come sit with her on the couch. At first she asked LMA to tell her a story and she did. I didn't hear that part. What I did hear was Mrs. A telling LMA a story that paralleled the Gift of the Magi. Details were different, but the theme was the same; two people loved each other and did something for the other that rendered the other's gift useless. In Mrs. A' story the girl cut her hair to buy buttons for the boy's nice coat and the boy sold his coat to buy a nice brush for the girl.
Mrs. A finishes the story and LMA and I share an "oh my" look. She then says, "Oh man, I bet he doesn't like her anymore!"
We woke G-man up we were laughing so hard.
Carry on.
Happy Spiderman Day
Yes I'm wearing my Spiderman shirt. Yes I'm going to see the movie today.
Here's some Spiderman videos of note to help you get through till you go see the movie.
(I have to stop linking so many damn videos.)
Carry on.
Here's some Spiderman videos of note to help you get through till you go see the movie.
(I have to stop linking so many damn videos.)
Carry on.
3.5.07
This is Unsettling
So, if you're a cartoonist and possibly a shooting hobbyist, best not try for any government type jobs. And if you already work for the government, don't make gun jokes so near a mass shooting.
Link.
Link.
To top it all off, he was later visited by police detectives for making a comic about his experience, because it was a “borderline terroristic threat.” (Is “terroristic” even a word? Did they get that from the Colbert report?)
2.5.07
1.5.07
30.4.07
Accident
It was the end of a long evening for Mrs. Austin. She was on her way home from shooting a wedding, the kind of wedding where she worked hard into the dim, bleary hours of early morning. I would see medical tape on her feet the next day from where her shoes had forced them to blister.
It was after this long day and long night that she was witness to a car accident near our house. There were just a couple cars involved, but several people stopped to help. It was apparently bad. After one man was taken from his car by Mrs. A and some other samaritans, Mrs. A proceeded to start CPR on the nearly dead or already dead accident victim. She pumped his chest and blew air into his lungs for a good 20 mins until the call was placed and EMS arrived.
When they did arrive, there was no talk of what happened, no exchange of thanks for taking time to help possibly save someone's life, the EMS dismissed her with a "Thanks, we got it. Go." Mrs. A began to ask questions, wanting to know if the man was going to be ok, but the EMS workers were stalwart. "Just go."
She later tells me the EMS was so curt because in Texas there's a reverse Good Samaritan Law that says you can be held liable for any harm you cause an accident victim. I was incredulous about this to say the least, so I did some checking and found this. I think the understanding is that if you start to give aid, you have to continue to give aid until train help arrives or until the situation changes (ie your safety is somehow compromised.) In for a shilling and all that.
I don't mean to post that last bit to prove a discrepancy in her story, but I think if there's a misunderstanding about the law, people will of course not stop and help.
It reminds me of a story a college friend once told me of her experience at a bus stop in a northern suburb of Denver. We were fellow art students and had graduated high school together and took the same express bus from Broomfield to downtown. One day I don't see her at the stop and later that week I asked what had happened. Turns out an elderly lady was walking across the parking lot, slipped on the ice, hit her face and her broken glasses cut through her cheek. As we all know, faces bleed profusely and so there's this older lady unable to right herself like a turtle on its back and leaking life plasma onto the frozen pavement.
Not one person made a move to help.
The next part is sketchy in my mind and I mean no disrespect by my clouding of the events.
It turns out, she went to help the lady after a few agonizing moments? minutes? of nothing happening from the rest of the crowd. Her hesitancy was due to her either fear of contracting or passing a disease, the kind you can only get from open sores, wounds, bodily fluids. If I remember correctly, she had something (not nefarious but possibly merely unfortunate) that made her initially balk at the idea of rendering aid. In the end she overcame either her fear and was able to right the listing elder and get someone who apparently thought more of themselves to use a phone and call for help.
So, why did everyone at that bus stop hesitate? It was an old lady, bleeding from her face. How utterly sad that something so pathetic doesn't garner any sympathy let alone a rush of assistance from those nearby. In the end a jaded college artist was the one to offer a hand. Was it because people were afraid of gushing blood? Retribution if they slipped again and killed her? Were they too self important to bother? Were they in shock? Maybe they didn't notice...
...and old woman doing a pillbug impression on a growing crimson splatter field.
It's sad we have to have a law that says we as humanity don't hold you responsible for trying to help even if that help makes it worse. People don't want to hand out E's for Efforts, they want to hand out subpoenas and settlements. I'm sorry you were trying to save my life, Miss. But now I have these broken ribs. I hope you like your wages garnished for the next 15 years paying me back.
I understand there's responsibility in action and if you don't know CPR or if you think someone has a broken back, don't move them or touch them. But if a car is on fire or someone has fallen and is bleeding to death, I think any action you take would be considered helpful. What upsets me is the people who don't recognize this and will actually try to sue those whose intentions were at least right.
Jeez, I've gone and blabbered all over myself again. I need to put this soapbox on craigslist.
Carry on.
It was after this long day and long night that she was witness to a car accident near our house. There were just a couple cars involved, but several people stopped to help. It was apparently bad. After one man was taken from his car by Mrs. A and some other samaritans, Mrs. A proceeded to start CPR on the nearly dead or already dead accident victim. She pumped his chest and blew air into his lungs for a good 20 mins until the call was placed and EMS arrived.
When they did arrive, there was no talk of what happened, no exchange of thanks for taking time to help possibly save someone's life, the EMS dismissed her with a "Thanks, we got it. Go." Mrs. A began to ask questions, wanting to know if the man was going to be ok, but the EMS workers were stalwart. "Just go."
She later tells me the EMS was so curt because in Texas there's a reverse Good Samaritan Law that says you can be held liable for any harm you cause an accident victim. I was incredulous about this to say the least, so I did some checking and found this. I think the understanding is that if you start to give aid, you have to continue to give aid until train help arrives or until the situation changes (ie your safety is somehow compromised.) In for a shilling and all that.
I don't mean to post that last bit to prove a discrepancy in her story, but I think if there's a misunderstanding about the law, people will of course not stop and help.
It reminds me of a story a college friend once told me of her experience at a bus stop in a northern suburb of Denver. We were fellow art students and had graduated high school together and took the same express bus from Broomfield to downtown. One day I don't see her at the stop and later that week I asked what had happened. Turns out an elderly lady was walking across the parking lot, slipped on the ice, hit her face and her broken glasses cut through her cheek. As we all know, faces bleed profusely and so there's this older lady unable to right herself like a turtle on its back and leaking life plasma onto the frozen pavement.
Not one person made a move to help.
The next part is sketchy in my mind and I mean no disrespect by my clouding of the events.
It turns out, she went to help the lady after a few agonizing moments? minutes? of nothing happening from the rest of the crowd. Her hesitancy was due to her either fear of contracting or passing a disease, the kind you can only get from open sores, wounds, bodily fluids. If I remember correctly, she had something (not nefarious but possibly merely unfortunate) that made her initially balk at the idea of rendering aid. In the end she overcame either her fear and was able to right the listing elder and get someone who apparently thought more of themselves to use a phone and call for help.
So, why did everyone at that bus stop hesitate? It was an old lady, bleeding from her face. How utterly sad that something so pathetic doesn't garner any sympathy let alone a rush of assistance from those nearby. In the end a jaded college artist was the one to offer a hand. Was it because people were afraid of gushing blood? Retribution if they slipped again and killed her? Were they too self important to bother? Were they in shock? Maybe they didn't notice...
...and old woman doing a pillbug impression on a growing crimson splatter field.
It's sad we have to have a law that says we as humanity don't hold you responsible for trying to help even if that help makes it worse. People don't want to hand out E's for Efforts, they want to hand out subpoenas and settlements. I'm sorry you were trying to save my life, Miss. But now I have these broken ribs. I hope you like your wages garnished for the next 15 years paying me back.
I understand there's responsibility in action and if you don't know CPR or if you think someone has a broken back, don't move them or touch them. But if a car is on fire or someone has fallen and is bleeding to death, I think any action you take would be considered helpful. What upsets me is the people who don't recognize this and will actually try to sue those whose intentions were at least right.
Jeez, I've gone and blabbered all over myself again. I need to put this soapbox on craigslist.
Carry on.
28.4.07
Old Friend
This is an old friend of mine from before the age of reason. I can't exactly remember but I think it was 2nd or 3rd grade. In Jr. High and High School we ran with different crowds and then years later (just recently actually) I hunted him down like the net stalker I am.
He's got a beautiful family and a job doing web design which makes me slightly envious. Off all the people I've known over the years, he's the one with the biggest "net presence." Scratch that, only net presence.
Oh, and the first choice of song for the video was "That Boy Could Dance" but it was too short. He'll appreciate that.
Carry on.
He's got a beautiful family and a job doing web design which makes me slightly envious. Off all the people I've known over the years, he's the one with the biggest "net presence." Scratch that, only net presence.
Oh, and the first choice of song for the video was "That Boy Could Dance" but it was too short. He'll appreciate that.
Carry on.
Mrs. A-bot
First vid with the original photo in it. And yes she paid me for this one.
More of these to come as I just finished my big commission. Hey ma, Grandpa Joe'd be proud. Just got paid for my art. Go me!
Not to say I haven't been paid before, but this was some serious commission. You can see the work here.
Carry on.
27.4.07
Week End Wrap
Something I've somehow failed to mention in the last few meaningless updates is that Mrs. A is going to be featured in an upcoming edition of Texas Monthly Magazine. She's not too sure on the details - whether or not it's an interview or profile or they just feature a photo of hers for a story - but it's still really wonderful news for our resident photobug. She's been working 28 jobs lately and I think her hard work is starting to get her noticed.
Nothing new to report on the kids. Their sleeping habits are ironic in that they have none. We've got them on a bit of a routine now which involves circus ponies, a tub of lemon Jell-O and a nightly visit from Bruce Campbell who does a hilarious if not creepy reading from The Lorax.
Little Miss Austin can't sleep unless she's in our bed. The sheets are apparently silkier and the bed is warmer. Honestly, I think she doesn't like the way her bed smells. We wash her sheets almost weekly but she's almost six and kids just tend to smell funny at that age. All that playing in the heat and all those glands starting to kick in and all those magnets in their skin holding on to the dirt. Mrs. A and I have slept in her bed before and it really does smell like her.
We put one of those kid proof door knobs on the inside of G-man's door so he can't get out and go write his Sharpie Manifesto on our flat panel monitor at 4 in the morning. Seems to work well, now all he does is sleep by the door and shout under the crack when he wakes up. And yes I've opened the door into his head...a couple times.
I'm mercifully close to finishing this commission I'm working on. I don't mean to be down on the project or the client. I've enjoyed drawing them. It's allowed me to be an Illustrator in the basest sense and it's been fun. I'm just looking forward to doing my own things again. I want to do more Robot Portraits and I want to really sit down and look at the possibility of planning out the option of maybe some day looking into what it would take to think about how I'd go about setting up and working on opening up some time to allow myself to consider possibly going back to working on my comic book.
Perhaps.
I don't know. I realize I've said some negative things about comic books and my abilities to start, work on, finish, promote and sell them. It's going to take some serious willpower to get back on that horse. It doesn't help that I haven't bought a comic book in almost two years. It's like being a mechanic but riding a bicycle everywhere. It's not that you don't know your craft and have a love for it, but it seems you have an external appreciation of it not being involved more.
Anycrap.
You can see the characters I'm working on here. Some of them were fun to do, some were nothing special, just drawings.
Small update on the 100 Artists Project. I may have found a local binder that will be able to handle odd paper types. However, out of the six Single Mailer pieces I've received, two are already the wrong size. I don't know how I could have made it more clear, but if you're reading this, it's 9x12 inches! Thank you.
I've received six pictures so far and this weekend I'll be plotting all the addresses in Google Maps (if anyone has a good way to automate route plotting, I'd love to hear it) and then sending off the Big Sketch book once I buy it and draw something in it.
I'm such a slacker.
Carry on.
Nothing new to report on the kids. Their sleeping habits are ironic in that they have none. We've got them on a bit of a routine now which involves circus ponies, a tub of lemon Jell-O and a nightly visit from Bruce Campbell who does a hilarious if not creepy reading from The Lorax.
Little Miss Austin can't sleep unless she's in our bed. The sheets are apparently silkier and the bed is warmer. Honestly, I think she doesn't like the way her bed smells. We wash her sheets almost weekly but she's almost six and kids just tend to smell funny at that age. All that playing in the heat and all those glands starting to kick in and all those magnets in their skin holding on to the dirt. Mrs. A and I have slept in her bed before and it really does smell like her.
We put one of those kid proof door knobs on the inside of G-man's door so he can't get out and go write his Sharpie Manifesto on our flat panel monitor at 4 in the morning. Seems to work well, now all he does is sleep by the door and shout under the crack when he wakes up. And yes I've opened the door into his head...a couple times.
I'm mercifully close to finishing this commission I'm working on. I don't mean to be down on the project or the client. I've enjoyed drawing them. It's allowed me to be an Illustrator in the basest sense and it's been fun. I'm just looking forward to doing my own things again. I want to do more Robot Portraits and I want to really sit down and look at the possibility of planning out the option of maybe some day looking into what it would take to think about how I'd go about setting up and working on opening up some time to allow myself to consider possibly going back to working on my comic book.
Perhaps.
I don't know. I realize I've said some negative things about comic books and my abilities to start, work on, finish, promote and sell them. It's going to take some serious willpower to get back on that horse. It doesn't help that I haven't bought a comic book in almost two years. It's like being a mechanic but riding a bicycle everywhere. It's not that you don't know your craft and have a love for it, but it seems you have an external appreciation of it not being involved more.
Anycrap.
You can see the characters I'm working on here. Some of them were fun to do, some were nothing special, just drawings.
Small update on the 100 Artists Project. I may have found a local binder that will be able to handle odd paper types. However, out of the six Single Mailer pieces I've received, two are already the wrong size. I don't know how I could have made it more clear, but if you're reading this, it's 9x12 inches! Thank you.
I've received six pictures so far and this weekend I'll be plotting all the addresses in Google Maps (if anyone has a good way to automate route plotting, I'd love to hear it) and then sending off the Big Sketch book once I buy it and draw something in it.
I'm such a slacker.
Carry on.
24.4.07
The Taste of It All
So I missed Heroes on TV last night but caught it online today. It's funny how nitpicky we are with our television viewing. I only watch certain shows and then I hate watching them because I feel they could be doing it better. I won't spoil it for any of you fans out there, don't worry. I'm a fan of the show in that I watch it regularly and I debate it with comic nerds. That's about where it stops. Heroes didn't grip me the way Lost did. It hasn't put up shop in my heart and soul the way Battlestar: Galactica has. It's a good show, but there's something about a super hero show on network TV that you just know will be about 80% drama, 10% action and 10% dumbing down to the average viewer.
An example would be this most recent episode. The LA cop who can read minds stops and asks the nuclear guy what an EMP is.
Really? An EMP? A 12 year old boy knows what an EMP is. Anyone who's seen any movie in the past 30 years involving James Bond, nuclear warheads, super heroes or asteroids knows what an EMP is. Why the writers have decided they need to make a completely functional character into a drooling baboon is beyond me. Do they honestly think we don't know what that is?
The writers on this show are not great, I'll have to freely admit. They've set up their own world and then not played by the rules. One minute a kid can tell his mom's different when she changes personality, the next he can't tell some shape shifter is pretending to be his mom. (Crap, spoiler, sorry.) The good guys are able to finally knock the bad guy out, he's laying on the floor unconscious and yet they don't use the gun THAT'S IN THE ROOM to finally rid the world of the evil. No, they take a cab ride up to the west side.
As with any show of this ensemble largess, you need to understand that we're not following an entire story, we're following bits and pieces that make up the story. That may seem obvious, but what happens is the plot then has to be drug along by omissions and dramatic edits instead of decent writing. A good writer would have remember the bit about Micah and her mom. A good writer wouldn't have made a cop (a cop, someone who presumably can read and understands weapons, may have been in the military at one point) ask "What the hell is an EMP?" A good writer wouldn't have painted themselves into a corner in the first place and need these dodges to get the show back on track. Either the story is strong and can sustain itself or it's not and it should be let go. Anyone with half a brain can smell a hack job a mile away. Have you ever seen anyone yell at their TV during a non-sports related broadcast? It's because they know what's going on and you've let them down first of all by writing so pedestrian that the flaws are spotted and second by not following through and being bold with your pen.
I don't pretend to be a screenwriter or author of any chops, but I know a weak story when I see/read it. Is it because I'm older now than before? Perhaps. Maybe some people just have a gift of insight and can sense bullshit better than others. Maybe some people can tell when they're being handled and manipulated. I want to be carried along with the story just like everyone else. I want to escape. I want to be entertained. What I don't want is to get that sudden snap realization that the writers are involved. I don't want to feel while I'm watching the show that someone is trying to tell me something. I want that feeling to come after. I get the same feeling watching crappy writing as I do when I see video that's purposely going in reverse so as to meet some lighting or movement requirement that apparently forward moving shots couldn't provide. Mrs. A can't see it and she thinks I'm crazy, but there are bits of film, TV, commercials, that have edits in them of backwards moving video and it drives me crazy. It's the same feeling as being in a movie theater, totally engrossed, and then having the sudden sense that you're in a movie theater. The suspension is totally lost.
If you're watching a show and your suspension is lost, the writing team hasn't done their job. All shows can't be winners, but when EACH shows leaves you saying things like, "Man, I want to like this show, but they can't seem to play by their own rules," then you haven't done your job as a writer.
Whew.
I had a realization today that the coffee I get from Starbucks is good but not because I like the flavor of coffee and hazlenut, but because I apparently I like hazlenut coffee flavored whip cream. After the whip cream has melted and I've lost the taste, I almost don't want the coffee. I think I'll start asking for that instead. Just a giant cup of whip cream with room for a dash of coffee.
Carry on.
An example would be this most recent episode. The LA cop who can read minds stops and asks the nuclear guy what an EMP is.
Really? An EMP? A 12 year old boy knows what an EMP is. Anyone who's seen any movie in the past 30 years involving James Bond, nuclear warheads, super heroes or asteroids knows what an EMP is. Why the writers have decided they need to make a completely functional character into a drooling baboon is beyond me. Do they honestly think we don't know what that is?
The writers on this show are not great, I'll have to freely admit. They've set up their own world and then not played by the rules. One minute a kid can tell his mom's different when she changes personality, the next he can't tell some shape shifter is pretending to be his mom. (Crap, spoiler, sorry.) The good guys are able to finally knock the bad guy out, he's laying on the floor unconscious and yet they don't use the gun THAT'S IN THE ROOM to finally rid the world of the evil. No, they take a cab ride up to the west side.
As with any show of this ensemble largess, you need to understand that we're not following an entire story, we're following bits and pieces that make up the story. That may seem obvious, but what happens is the plot then has to be drug along by omissions and dramatic edits instead of decent writing. A good writer would have remember the bit about Micah and her mom. A good writer wouldn't have made a cop (a cop, someone who presumably can read and understands weapons, may have been in the military at one point) ask "What the hell is an EMP?" A good writer wouldn't have painted themselves into a corner in the first place and need these dodges to get the show back on track. Either the story is strong and can sustain itself or it's not and it should be let go. Anyone with half a brain can smell a hack job a mile away. Have you ever seen anyone yell at their TV during a non-sports related broadcast? It's because they know what's going on and you've let them down first of all by writing so pedestrian that the flaws are spotted and second by not following through and being bold with your pen.
I don't pretend to be a screenwriter or author of any chops, but I know a weak story when I see/read it. Is it because I'm older now than before? Perhaps. Maybe some people just have a gift of insight and can sense bullshit better than others. Maybe some people can tell when they're being handled and manipulated. I want to be carried along with the story just like everyone else. I want to escape. I want to be entertained. What I don't want is to get that sudden snap realization that the writers are involved. I don't want to feel while I'm watching the show that someone is trying to tell me something. I want that feeling to come after. I get the same feeling watching crappy writing as I do when I see video that's purposely going in reverse so as to meet some lighting or movement requirement that apparently forward moving shots couldn't provide. Mrs. A can't see it and she thinks I'm crazy, but there are bits of film, TV, commercials, that have edits in them of backwards moving video and it drives me crazy. It's the same feeling as being in a movie theater, totally engrossed, and then having the sudden sense that you're in a movie theater. The suspension is totally lost.
If you're watching a show and your suspension is lost, the writing team hasn't done their job. All shows can't be winners, but when EACH shows leaves you saying things like, "Man, I want to like this show, but they can't seem to play by their own rules," then you haven't done your job as a writer.
Whew.
I had a realization today that the coffee I get from Starbucks is good but not because I like the flavor of coffee and hazlenut, but because I apparently I like hazlenut coffee flavored whip cream. After the whip cream has melted and I've lost the taste, I almost don't want the coffee. I think I'll start asking for that instead. Just a giant cup of whip cream with room for a dash of coffee.
Carry on.
22.4.07
El Diablo Robotico
Sadly this is the last commissioned Robot Portrait I received, so it'll probably be the last one for a while, couple days at least. I can't get the blogspot site linked anywhere and it's just either not novel enough or good enough to rate more than 5 orders. Big thanks to Len at Jawbone and ApeLad for linking it when it started. I have a commission I have to get done over the next week, but I guess look for more of these at some point next week.
I'll be going back and doing some Flickr contacts and taking videos of them, but they're just for fun. So if you'd like one, head over here and place an order.
Carry on.
21.4.07
100 Artists Update
The new site for the 100 Artists Project is complete and online. Well, as complete as it's going to get until more content comes in. I have a form I want to put in place for the sign-ups but that can wait for now.
I hope you're enjoying the robots. I'm almost done with the ones people have paid for so if you'd like one, get over there and sign up. I'll be going back to doing Flickr contacts for fun.
I hope you're enjoying the robots. I'm almost done with the ones people have paid for so if you'd like one, get over there and sign up. I'll be going back to doing Flickr contacts for fun.
20.4.07
18.4.07
17.4.07
Quick Update
Happy tax day. LMA thinks it's a day off of school and was wondering why it wasn't. When I tried to explain to her what Tax Day was, she got that sallow and distant look that always accompanies daddy's long winded explanations about boring shit.
So I quickly summed it up with, "It's not a day off of school."
Some news real quick from the home front. My 100 Artist Project has reached 100+ artists. I need to get a sketchbook purchased and drawn so I can send it out. I also need to finish the site. I know a couple of designers, but they're either busy, recovering from surgery or for some reason ignoring my tube messages. At any rate, I'm going to slog through getting it built so there's a nice home for the project.
I also received a handful of Robot Portrait requests that I will be fulfilling tonight. I may not be able to video them very well but they'll at least get done and sent out.
In a couple weeks I should be able to post up some drawings I'm doing for a commission for this company. It's a neat little project and I'm excited to be working with the guy.
Mrs. A is still insanely busy and I think she's close to cracking. I've tried picking up the house stuff more so she can concentrate on work, but I tell ya, we're burning it at both ends lately. Something's gotta give.
LMA was accepted to the Gifted and Talented program. I'm not sure if that goes for a full district or just that school. Seeing as we're considering putting her in a different school next year it's kind of a weird thing to receive. Still, good for her. She's still a 5 year old emotionally, and it shows more often then not, but we're very proud of her.
G-man chews on blankets and sleeves lately. I don't know. I've started giving him his old frozen chew ring because everything I bump into lately is wet.
That's about it.
Carry on.
So I quickly summed it up with, "It's not a day off of school."
Some news real quick from the home front. My 100 Artist Project has reached 100+ artists. I need to get a sketchbook purchased and drawn so I can send it out. I also need to finish the site. I know a couple of designers, but they're either busy, recovering from surgery or for some reason ignoring my tube messages. At any rate, I'm going to slog through getting it built so there's a nice home for the project.
I also received a handful of Robot Portrait requests that I will be fulfilling tonight. I may not be able to video them very well but they'll at least get done and sent out.
In a couple weeks I should be able to post up some drawings I'm doing for a commission for this company. It's a neat little project and I'm excited to be working with the guy.
Mrs. A is still insanely busy and I think she's close to cracking. I've tried picking up the house stuff more so she can concentrate on work, but I tell ya, we're burning it at both ends lately. Something's gotta give.
LMA was accepted to the Gifted and Talented program. I'm not sure if that goes for a full district or just that school. Seeing as we're considering putting her in a different school next year it's kind of a weird thing to receive. Still, good for her. She's still a 5 year old emotionally, and it shows more often then not, but we're very proud of her.
G-man chews on blankets and sleeves lately. I don't know. I've started giving him his old frozen chew ring because everything I bump into lately is wet.
That's about it.
Carry on.
14.4.07
13.4.07
Testing YouTube Postings
Rowan Atkinson is a genius. This is obviously old, but new to me.
My site is giving me HORRIBLE fits. No idea what I'm going to do with it, and frankly I don't have time, so here it lives for the foreseeable future. Please check out all the links on the sidebar, they are projects I'm working on and could always use your support.
Cheers.
My site is giving me HORRIBLE fits. No idea what I'm going to do with it, and frankly I don't have time, so here it lives for the foreseeable future. Please check out all the links on the sidebar, they are projects I'm working on and could always use your support.
Cheers.
7.4.07
6.4.07
Another Move
You're hopefully reading this because my web server has finally decided I have too much free time.
So, this weekend I'll be figuring out how to back it all up and move it off to a hosting company where the power runs constantly and the software is already installed.
I can't believe I've waited this long to do it.
Carry on.
So, this weekend I'll be figuring out how to back it all up and move it off to a hosting company where the power runs constantly and the software is already installed.
I can't believe I've waited this long to do it.
Carry on.
16.1.06
Test For Blogger
If everything goes as it should, this shouldn't post. I've jacked with the settings so much I'd be surprised.
If you do see this, start moving over to the new site from now on. I'll be updating there.
It'll be ugly and it'll change a lot, but we'll get it the way we want soon enough.
If you do see this, start moving over to the new site from now on. I'll be updating there.
It'll be ugly and it'll change a lot, but we'll get it the way we want soon enough.
Mean Sleeper
You know how they say when you're drunk or asleep, you're without inhibitions and so you act and speak more truthfully then when you're alert? I really hope they're wrong because I'm an asshole when I sleep.
"Define: asshole," you say.
Alrightie sir. As an example, last night, Mrs. A and I went to bed on bad terms. I was an insensitive caveman while fully conscious and the day ended poorly. Mrs. A's family came over on Saturday and spent the weekend with us and we had a great time. We all got hammered on Saturday night and Mrs. A was feeling really bad the next day. But it was more than just hungover, it was something more etherial.
Anyway, add that to me being a jerk and we ended the day not talking.
So apparently, she woke up screaming and crying from a bad dream at some point. Being Mr. Caring and Attentive, I told her I'd get more sleep if she went to the couch.
Yeah, that's right.
Only thing is, I don't remember it. It's a pattern. Lil Miss Austin wakes up and screams at the top of the stairs, I grumble that she's got no room to be crying like that. Yogi wakes up and I blame Mrs. Austin for not giving him the right PJs or bottle or something. She'll wake me up if I'm snoring really bad because she's worried about me not breathing right and I give her a load of crap for it being 4:30 in the morning.
Now, I used to pride myself on going from REM to Alertness in nothing flat. I've always thought myself a light sleeper and still feel I take a long time to get to sleep and am easily disturbed by sounds or motion. So to hear that not only do I not wake up when my kids cry, but that I'm a selfish prick when I do really gets under my skin.
Why? Well why not? Would anyone feel good after finding out you're a mean ass bastard when you sleeptalk; especially to your loved ones? I love my wife and kids, I hate the idea that any part of me is mean to them, especially parts I can't control. That makes it somehow worse.
At first it was kind of funny, I'd swear like an old sailor or WWII vet, spouting some nearly discernable gibberish, then roll over in a huff and continue sleeping. It was charming because I was sleeping. Now it's just a pain in the ass and I don't know that there is anything I can do about it. I'm really a nice guy when I'm awake, most of the time.
If you've ever been blamed for something you didn't do, but enough blame is heaped upon you that you start going back over your actions to see if in fact you did do something wrong, all the while still knowing that you're innocent yet having that sureness start to crumble, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It's completely out of your control, and yet in the end, you still did something wrong. It's like dreaming about have sex with someone that's not your spouse; there's nothing you can do about it, but people do get bent outta shape when they hear it.
So thanks to my stupid brain, we started the day bad too.
"Define: asshole," you say.
Alrightie sir. As an example, last night, Mrs. A and I went to bed on bad terms. I was an insensitive caveman while fully conscious and the day ended poorly. Mrs. A's family came over on Saturday and spent the weekend with us and we had a great time. We all got hammered on Saturday night and Mrs. A was feeling really bad the next day. But it was more than just hungover, it was something more etherial.
Anyway, add that to me being a jerk and we ended the day not talking.
So apparently, she woke up screaming and crying from a bad dream at some point. Being Mr. Caring and Attentive, I told her I'd get more sleep if she went to the couch.
Yeah, that's right.
Only thing is, I don't remember it. It's a pattern. Lil Miss Austin wakes up and screams at the top of the stairs, I grumble that she's got no room to be crying like that. Yogi wakes up and I blame Mrs. Austin for not giving him the right PJs or bottle or something. She'll wake me up if I'm snoring really bad because she's worried about me not breathing right and I give her a load of crap for it being 4:30 in the morning.
Now, I used to pride myself on going from REM to Alertness in nothing flat. I've always thought myself a light sleeper and still feel I take a long time to get to sleep and am easily disturbed by sounds or motion. So to hear that not only do I not wake up when my kids cry, but that I'm a selfish prick when I do really gets under my skin.
Why? Well why not? Would anyone feel good after finding out you're a mean ass bastard when you sleeptalk; especially to your loved ones? I love my wife and kids, I hate the idea that any part of me is mean to them, especially parts I can't control. That makes it somehow worse.
At first it was kind of funny, I'd swear like an old sailor or WWII vet, spouting some nearly discernable gibberish, then roll over in a huff and continue sleeping. It was charming because I was sleeping. Now it's just a pain in the ass and I don't know that there is anything I can do about it. I'm really a nice guy when I'm awake, most of the time.
If you've ever been blamed for something you didn't do, but enough blame is heaped upon you that you start going back over your actions to see if in fact you did do something wrong, all the while still knowing that you're innocent yet having that sureness start to crumble, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It's completely out of your control, and yet in the end, you still did something wrong. It's like dreaming about have sex with someone that's not your spouse; there's nothing you can do about it, but people do get bent outta shape when they hear it.
So thanks to my stupid brain, we started the day bad too.
12.1.06
Big Move Part I
In the first of many installments, this is the first announcement that http://lifeinaustin.blogspot.com will be moving to http://www.life-in-austin.com. The domain and forwarding service have been ordered and the server has been configured to start running the site.
Next step will be to get the server applications running correctly, followed by the Blogger to Wordpress migration, then the template and archive design and adjustment, and finally the unparking of the domain to forward to the server.
I've got a three day weekend coming up so hopefully I can get this done by next week. Wish me luck.
Next step will be to get the server applications running correctly, followed by the Blogger to Wordpress migration, then the template and archive design and adjustment, and finally the unparking of the domain to forward to the server.
I've got a three day weekend coming up so hopefully I can get this done by next week. Wish me luck.
10.1.06
It's actually a job.
I want to set the record straight.
Mrs. Austin runs her own business. Her business is wedding photography. That means on weekends (just about all of them) she is shooting for 5-12 hours a day. The time she's not shooting she's editing photos, answering emails and phone calls, conducting meetings, packaging and shipping albums and doing account maintenance. She works very hard at it.
On top of it, she also does the lion's share of the household duties like bills and cleaning and wrangling.
She does not sit home all day watching TV and chatting on her laptop.
She has no more time to watch sick kids than I do during the day.
Her business is the same as my office job with the exception of the dress code.
When the kids stay home, she loses money and reputation because it's another day she can't do work.
Her being at our house doesn't mean she's at home.
There, that's done. I don't know who out there keeps putting this thought into her head that people don't think she's actually working, but I really wish you would stop. It's making her crazy and me have to hear about the crazy every day. Since she can't explain it to you, she explains it to me like clockwork. So the next person who says, "Well, but she's home all day..." gets a punch in the throat.
Mrs. Austin runs her own business. Her business is wedding photography. That means on weekends (just about all of them) she is shooting for 5-12 hours a day. The time she's not shooting she's editing photos, answering emails and phone calls, conducting meetings, packaging and shipping albums and doing account maintenance. She works very hard at it.
On top of it, she also does the lion's share of the household duties like bills and cleaning and wrangling.
She does not sit home all day watching TV and chatting on her laptop.
She has no more time to watch sick kids than I do during the day.
Her business is the same as my office job with the exception of the dress code.
When the kids stay home, she loses money and reputation because it's another day she can't do work.
Her being at our house doesn't mean she's at home.
There, that's done. I don't know who out there keeps putting this thought into her head that people don't think she's actually working, but I really wish you would stop. It's making her crazy and me have to hear about the crazy every day. Since she can't explain it to you, she explains it to me like clockwork. So the next person who says, "Well, but she's home all day..." gets a punch in the throat.
Rollman Photo Dot Com
Just spent the evening updating the Rollman Photography website.
Behold the informative and insightful bio page!
Marvel at the smooth navigation!
Recoil in sheer awe at the questions which are frequently asked!
In all seriousness, I'm still going through my self teaching program so this is a hodge podge of old HTML, some new XHTML required tags, some CSS2 and some good ol' fashion spit and polish. Mrs. A likes it, so that's all that matters. Plus, clients see this page, so I have to consider this the production level offering and have my little comic page be the sandbox.
Still nothing on the Wordpress thing yet. I've got some tips I got from their forum about the server apps, but finding the time...
Both kids are sick. Gregory's probably got an earache and Rowan has a nice, throaty cough. Luckily, Mrs. A was able to get insurance through the NASE so the kids are covered.
Mrs. A's Expo went pretty well. She did get some bookings and got a lot of phone calls and emails following the event (hence the web update) so we're looking to make a few more house payments.
Yay resourceful mammals!
Behold the informative and insightful bio page!
Marvel at the smooth navigation!
Recoil in sheer awe at the questions which are frequently asked!
In all seriousness, I'm still going through my self teaching program so this is a hodge podge of old HTML, some new XHTML required tags, some CSS2 and some good ol' fashion spit and polish. Mrs. A likes it, so that's all that matters. Plus, clients see this page, so I have to consider this the production level offering and have my little comic page be the sandbox.
Still nothing on the Wordpress thing yet. I've got some tips I got from their forum about the server apps, but finding the time...
Both kids are sick. Gregory's probably got an earache and Rowan has a nice, throaty cough. Luckily, Mrs. A was able to get insurance through the NASE so the kids are covered.
Mrs. A's Expo went pretty well. She did get some bookings and got a lot of phone calls and emails following the event (hence the web update) so we're looking to make a few more house payments.
Yay resourceful mammals!
7.1.06
Are you kidding me?
So we just found out that this wonderful product brought to you by the kind people at Johnson & Johnson, the same folks that have delivered tearless baths for generation, contains an ingredient that may cause serious breathing problems if your family has a history of asthma or allergies.
Now, it's printed on the back, so we have no one to blame for this oversite but ourselves.
But I mean, what the fuck? It's tearless, but it can aggrivate your allergies or asthma? What kind of a trade off is that? You know how many people in the U.S. have both of those?
Anyway, if you're a parent and you read this and you have a child with asthma, be alerted. If you also happen to know where we can find a good asthma safe baby wash please either email me or use the comment field.
Thank you.
LMAisms
Before I forget, I have to write down more wisdom of a 4 year 7 month old.
Mrs. A, "Where did you come from?"
LMA, "Your belly!"
Mrs. A, "And where did you come from before that?"
LMA, "The hospital!"
Mrs. A, "No, BEFORE that..."
LMA, "Um...could you give me a hint?"
and
While working with Yogi on where his nose is, Mrs. A didn't want LMA to feel left out so she turned and ask, "Where is your cerebellum?"
LMA making an educated guess, points at her crotch.
Fun times man.
Mrs. A, "Where did you come from?"
LMA, "Your belly!"
Mrs. A, "And where did you come from before that?"
LMA, "The hospital!"
Mrs. A, "No, BEFORE that..."
LMA, "Um...could you give me a hint?"
and
While working with Yogi on where his nose is, Mrs. A didn't want LMA to feel left out so she turned and ask, "Where is your cerebellum?"
LMA making an educated guess, points at her crotch.
Fun times man.
4.1.06
3.1.06
Top Lists
First of I hope very many wastes of time. This goes out to all my online comic buddies who don't read this site.
Top First Posts on Comic Book Creator Message Boards
Trust me, if you don't read comic book message boards, all this was freakin hysterical.
Top First Posts on Comic Book Creator Message Boards
- Hi all, I need a logo for my (non-comic book related group) and I thought I'd ask here. I can't pay, but you'll be making a great portfolio piece.
- Come see my new online comic that's poorly drawn and the humor has to be explained.
- Greetings. I haven't been drawing in a while but I thought I'd get back into it. Here's some new art, please don't critique as I have a "style" and all talk of anatomy and composition will only be met with childish retorts.
- Please visit my eBay site so I can help my collection addiction by selling topless drawings of Elektra and Supergirl.
- Could I get you guys to look at my gallery site and let me know what you think of it? It's on a free web service, so ignore all the banner ads. Also, I'm no good at html or css or any language so the page is a bit simple and hard to get around. Oh, and I won't respond to this post once I submit it. Thanks!
- Hey Fellow (insert board name here)-ers/ites/ians! Want a great opportunity?? Such and Such Studios has just opened its doors and is now accepting submissions from all skill levels and any kind of story. All we ask is that you send us a full script, at least 20 pages of artwork, and possibly some splash or cover pages before we'll even talk to you. Don't worry that you may see this in print very shortly without your knowledge, credit or payment, that's part of the magic. So don't wait, send us your best stuff now so we can use it before our ISP figures out we're scamming people!
- I'm a writer and I've had artists back out on my project...(don't even need to add more to that one.)
- Hi, I'm new, what's the best book to get to learn how to draw? Can I download it? Will it make me better before the Dragon Con?
- What's the best place to host images for free with unlimited storage and bandwidth usage that allows remote linking? Shortly followed by...
- How do I display images here?
- And finally the all important, How do I get an avatar/change my title/put a picture in my signature, question.
Trust me, if you don't read comic book message boards, all this was freakin hysterical.
31.12.05
WordPress
I'm still working on WordPress installation.
The WP install itself probably isn't bad. See, I haven't got there yet. I'm still jacking with PHP and MySQL. One of the pitfalls of having your own webserver is that you can't just assume your host has all the latest server scripts and just start uploading all these new groovy modules to your site. You have to configure it yourself, which means a lot of ini hacks and dll moves and path associations and, basically shit I don't care about.
But, at least I'm learning something. I've always said I want to learn some web scripting languages and this is pretty much the way to go unless you plan on taking it as a course in college.
So, I'm to the point where it's all installed, but I can't get IIS to see the right extensions, but then I do and then PHP doesn't support MySQL. Ironic that I'm writing about the setup of this new blog here. I need to find someone who, out of sheer kindness, remotes into my web server and just makes it work.
Not so much. I'd have been done by now if it was, or maybe if I was smarter.
Anyway, that's what's going on. I think I'm gonna take a break and start inking some stuff. I have a three day weekend, might as well try to take advantage of it. I have to try and get this all done by March. Don't see that happening, but we'll see.
For you IE users, I talk about all the "stuff on the right side" a lot and you're probably thinking, "What stuff?" Well, for some reason the del.ico.us code snippet and Blogger don't like each other so it pushes everything below the last entry on the page. If you feel like scrolling, have at it, just an FYI. I do add new links almost every day, some informational, some not so much.
Carry on.
The WP install itself probably isn't bad. See, I haven't got there yet. I'm still jacking with PHP and MySQL. One of the pitfalls of having your own webserver is that you can't just assume your host has all the latest server scripts and just start uploading all these new groovy modules to your site. You have to configure it yourself, which means a lot of ini hacks and dll moves and path associations and, basically shit I don't care about.
But, at least I'm learning something. I've always said I want to learn some web scripting languages and this is pretty much the way to go unless you plan on taking it as a course in college.
So, I'm to the point where it's all installed, but I can't get IIS to see the right extensions, but then I do and then PHP doesn't support MySQL. Ironic that I'm writing about the setup of this new blog here. I need to find someone who, out of sheer kindness, remotes into my web server and just makes it work.
More simply, WordPress is what you use when you want to work with your blogging software, not fight it.
Not so much. I'd have been done by now if it was, or maybe if I was smarter.
Anyway, that's what's going on. I think I'm gonna take a break and start inking some stuff. I have a three day weekend, might as well try to take advantage of it. I have to try and get this all done by March. Don't see that happening, but we'll see.
For you IE users, I talk about all the "stuff on the right side" a lot and you're probably thinking, "What stuff?" Well, for some reason the del.ico.us code snippet and Blogger don't like each other so it pushes everything below the last entry on the page. If you feel like scrolling, have at it, just an FYI. I do add new links almost every day, some informational, some not so much.
Carry on.
29.12.05
Misc.
So I think this is pretty damn funny. That's probably just me.
Just so everyone knows, I may be moving this blog off blogger and to something else. Word Press is a likely candidate, but I want to decide whether or not I want to keep this name or my Polaris Comics name. I think a plan might be to have a polariscomics.com/lifeinaustin/ page, in light of registering ANOTHER site and create ANOTHER virtual page on my server, but that's not a bad idea either.
I was talking with a friend of mine and I told him I want to keep it all, but have it all work together. I feel like those IBM commercials in which the heads of some bloated company are giving their overtaxed IT group something impossible to do.
So hey, general public, use that comment thingie and let me know what you think. I really am very ambivalent about this, but I know I want to change it, make it work better.
I also want to resurrect AutoNeurotica somehow. Surely there's more material there, right? I had huge plans for that little blog. I wanted to get people from all over to contribute their stories about bad drivers and have some kind of database that would show where they were from, the kind of car they drove, etc.
Turns out I needed some skills to pull that off. So instead I wrote about people cutting me off.
That said, I found it ironic that heading to the kids' doctor's office last night, I was stopped by a train, during rush hour, carrying materials to a site where they were building a new road.
Is it just me or does getting stopped by a train seem archaic? Aren't we at the point technologically where we shouldn't have to deal with this anymore? Isn't there a critical mass we've long sense passed when that's just not an option? It's 2006, I think all roads should go either above or below railroads. There shouldn't be any reason to stop anymore.
Oh, and Pediatric Center of Round Rock, open until 5:30 means there's someone at a desk in the office until 5:30, not 5:10. Especially only 90 minutes after I'd called and said, "I need to come pick up my kids' paperwork, how late are you open?"
Just so everyone knows, I may be moving this blog off blogger and to something else. Word Press is a likely candidate, but I want to decide whether or not I want to keep this name or my Polaris Comics name. I think a plan might be to have a polariscomics.com/lifeinaustin/ page, in light of registering ANOTHER site and create ANOTHER virtual page on my server, but that's not a bad idea either.
I was talking with a friend of mine and I told him I want to keep it all, but have it all work together. I feel like those IBM commercials in which the heads of some bloated company are giving their overtaxed IT group something impossible to do.
So hey, general public, use that comment thingie and let me know what you think. I really am very ambivalent about this, but I know I want to change it, make it work better.
I also want to resurrect AutoNeurotica somehow. Surely there's more material there, right? I had huge plans for that little blog. I wanted to get people from all over to contribute their stories about bad drivers and have some kind of database that would show where they were from, the kind of car they drove, etc.
Turns out I needed some skills to pull that off. So instead I wrote about people cutting me off.
That said, I found it ironic that heading to the kids' doctor's office last night, I was stopped by a train, during rush hour, carrying materials to a site where they were building a new road.
Is it just me or does getting stopped by a train seem archaic? Aren't we at the point technologically where we shouldn't have to deal with this anymore? Isn't there a critical mass we've long sense passed when that's just not an option? It's 2006, I think all roads should go either above or below railroads. There shouldn't be any reason to stop anymore.
Oh, and Pediatric Center of Round Rock, open until 5:30 means there's someone at a desk in the office until 5:30, not 5:10. Especially only 90 minutes after I'd called and said, "I need to come pick up my kids' paperwork, how late are you open?"
28.12.05
New Look
So I got tired of the old look and not really being able to put my own graphics up, so I got a new template. I hope it works ok.
If you have problems seeing anything or want to give any feedback, the comments section should work, but it's Blogger comments, not Haloscan. Couldn't figure that bit out yet.
If you want to be added to the list of "musts" or "fine folk," shoot me an email and either include an 88x31 button and the link or just a link.
I hope you enjoy the new space. Happy 2006.
If you have problems seeing anything or want to give any feedback, the comments section should work, but it's Blogger comments, not Haloscan. Couldn't figure that bit out yet.
If you want to be added to the list of "musts" or "fine folk," shoot me an email and either include an 88x31 button and the link or just a link.
I hope you enjoy the new space. Happy 2006.
27.12.05
Bits
Read this over on /. Pretty cool.
Yes, I added ads. I'm sorry. It's more an experiment than anything. My site meter says I'm getting a fair amount of hits so I thought I'd give it a shot. I'm pretty sure by this time next year it would cost Google more to mail a check than the actual amount they're giving me.
Hopefully they become more targeted and not just tons of ads for blogs. Right now you probably can't see them, I'm troubleshooting that.
The del.ico.us links aren't working well on the sidebar if you're viewing this in IE. They're ok in Firefox, haven't checked Opera yet. But the Flickr badges don't align right in Firefox, but they're ok in IE. (I get tired of this sometimes, ya know?)
Thanks to all who sents cards and gifts. We apreciate all you've given us and the kids and it was good hearing from you. Let's do this again in about 350 days.
Two more things, if you notice my little Flickr badge is mostly artwork now. I'm going to try to use it as a social repository. Mrs. A's Flickr will still me photographs primarily.
Also, I've added a wish list on the links section. I think this is a good idea for everyone to have for birthdays and holidays that require gifts. Right now it's just stuff I want but I'm going to start making lists for things for the kids as well. Supplies they might need, clothes, toys, software, etc. The likelihood of it ever being used by anyone but me is next to nothing, but you never know.
Have a happy new year everyone. And to all my Jewish friend, Gut Yontiff.
Yes, I added ads. I'm sorry. It's more an experiment than anything. My site meter says I'm getting a fair amount of hits so I thought I'd give it a shot. I'm pretty sure by this time next year it would cost Google more to mail a check than the actual amount they're giving me.
Hopefully they become more targeted and not just tons of ads for blogs. Right now you probably can't see them, I'm troubleshooting that.
The del.ico.us links aren't working well on the sidebar if you're viewing this in IE. They're ok in Firefox, haven't checked Opera yet. But the Flickr badges don't align right in Firefox, but they're ok in IE. (I get tired of this sometimes, ya know?)
Thanks to all who sents cards and gifts. We apreciate all you've given us and the kids and it was good hearing from you. Let's do this again in about 350 days.
Two more things, if you notice my little Flickr badge is mostly artwork now. I'm going to try to use it as a social repository. Mrs. A's Flickr will still me photographs primarily.
Also, I've added a wish list on the links section. I think this is a good idea for everyone to have for birthdays and holidays that require gifts. Right now it's just stuff I want but I'm going to start making lists for things for the kids as well. Supplies they might need, clothes, toys, software, etc. The likelihood of it ever being used by anyone but me is next to nothing, but you never know.
Have a happy new year everyone. And to all my Jewish friend, Gut Yontiff.
24.12.05
Year end.
First attempt at posting art here. I have a Live Journal account that I was primarily using to upload artwork, but I haven't really used it to its full potential and I don't think but maybe 3 people were looking at it, so you're going to see more artwork here.
Eventually I want to merge this and my comic site, as mentioned before, but I haven't figured out how yet.
This piece is for the Art Swap over at Penciljack. It's my first serious piece in a while, serious meaning not cartoony or sketchy but something on a nice 11x17 piece of Eon board, blue lined and inked. I think the composition turned out well, but I'm really rusty on inking and it's kind of sloppy there. Mrs. A will say I'm my own worst critic which is fine, I like it that way. The day I'm happy with my work is the day I'm done being an artist.
The family made the trek to the Austin Trail of Lights down at Zilker Park last night. It was the first time in the six years we've been in Austin that we visited the event. We've seen the Moontower or Zilker Tree before, and that was fun. Just a few minutes of standing under the tree and spinning around while drinking cocoa and eating kettle corn and signing impromptu carols. The TOL, however, is another matter entirely.
Luckily it's not a day long festival in which people park and stay for hours. You park, you walk through and you leave. Sure 20,000 people may have been there at any one time, but it was all mobile. So we sat in line on Mopac to park and as we closed in on the cops they turned off their sign and feed people back onto the freeway saying to go downtown and take the shuttle.
Yeah, go ahead. Picture me being all bent out of shape and frustrated. Get it out of your system.
Fortunately Mrs. A kept a cooler head and we parked by the footbridge that runs under Mopac, so it's just a mile or so hike to the front gate. We had the kids in the wagon so it didn't seem too bad. Until we got there.
Yogi was really enjoying the lights, as you'd expect. They were bright and shiny and colorful; all the things a little brain needs. Lil Miss Austin on the other hand couldn't have cared less. The initial walk up was full of excitement and anticipation, and then about five minutes after the big opening tunnel, she started losing interest and spent the rest of the time faking sleep in the wagon or wrestling with Yogi.
Toward the end Mrs. A and I were just speed walking to get out of the place with two seriously antsy kids. Fun.
Which brings up today's final thought; child behavior.
LMA is a constant work in progress. Until she's 18 we're going to be learning how to deal with her behavior and emotions and her boundaries. We're not doctors, we're not analysts, we're just parents who are both working to pay the bills. We don't see the kids a lot because they're in daycare/school and it really hurts me to only see them for about two hours a day and most of that time spent disciplining them.
So, we're constantly adapting. LMA so far is getting the brunt of our experiments as we move from physical punishment to reward system to ignore system back to physical, but we're doing our best. She is a little person who just needs to move constantly, doesn't know how or is physically incapable of shutting down until she's passed out asleep. She constantly says, "No," which is typical. She cries as soon as you tell her "No" or that she can't have/do something. Lately she gets so bent out of shape she screams and runs to her room and slams the door. (I expect I can look forward to this behavior until I'm dead.)
But it's really wearing us down. There's no middle ground with her. She's either mindless out of control or melting down to the point where she can't comprehend what we're telling her, even if she's not in trouble.
So we're going to try new things and those things won't work so we'll try different things. Mrs. A has decided she just wants to let LMA do her own thing. She thinks maybe we've got too many rules or are too strict. I'm going to try the reward/ignore thing for a while, see what that does. Expects say that's the best way, but I tell you what, if you see a kid pitching a fit in a store and the parent is ignoring the kid, what's your thought? Mine too.
For your information, we did celebrate Solstice on the 23rd since I had to work on the 22nd. For those that read this, thank you very much for the gifts. We all love them.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
22.12.05
Happy Solstice!
Every year I will publish this so get used to it.
Mrs. A and I got into this talk yesterday at lunch. The War on Christmas phrase has invaded our waking lives and has truly given us pause during a time when we should be loving each other and being open minded and accepting and joyous. Especially in America where we have much for which to be happy, proud and thankful.
But no, we have to have a War. Now more than ever I'd like to recap what I've spun in years past; Christians, you're doing it all wrong.
First, if you want to put the meaning of Christmas back into Christmas I think that's the tops. I think more people should stop diluting their feelings and beliefs and trying to remain PC just to appease the lowest common denomination. But at the heart of the celebration of Christmas is the birth of your Lord and Savior. So go to mass, wish Jesus happy birthday, have a nice dinner with friends maybe afterward and be done with it.
No where in the Bible do the words "Christmas Tree," "Christmas Presents," "Santa Claus," or even "Winter Wonderland" come into play. Your desire to make a Pagan/Anglo/Norse tradition your own by is not your fault originally, but to get testy with people for saying "Happy Holidays" goes against the very nature of the event. You want to be correct? It's a Yule Tree and Santa Claus is a very old Elf (you know, those heathen, wood dwelling folk of old?). There were no evergreen trees in Jerusalem. No one put lights or wreaths on their huts.
You want to be put the meaning back into Christmas? Stop making it a commercial holiday and start celebrating what it is.
Second, yours isn't the only holiday going right now. Every religion has something going on at the end of the year. The longest night, the rebirth of the light, the company of friends during a dark time. Christians preach acceptance, tolerance, brotherly love, but apparently only when you say "Merry Christmas." To do otherwise will send you to hell.
Hey, what about all the Hindus and Muslims and Jews and Pagans and Buddhists? Some have end of year traditions, but what would you say if someone at a store or restaurant said, "Happy Chanukah?" This is what "Happy Holidays" means. It means, "I don't know you, I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable, so I'll just shotgun blast this catch all phrase that should encompass everything and be done with it." And a normal person hearing that should just say, "You too," and the transaction be finalized.
The point is, this is a time when we should be looking out for each other, making it a little easier to get through the hectic days and long cold nights. If you start sniping at people because they didn't specifically wish you a "Merry Christmas" then you've done far worse in missing the point of the holiday than all your non-Christian friends.
Besides, the whole thing was stolen from the Pagans anyway.
Happy Solstice.
20.12.05
Bogus plea.
Whether real or not, this little tidbit has been making the rounds on a good number of message boards. It hit Penciljack today.
Enjoy.
Enjoy.
Slowly but surely.
Excuse the size of the file. See, now I'm in rotation, I have to get busy and produce more. (For those that don't know what I'm talking about, that's my comic book as "Indy Book of the Day" on comicbookdb.com.)
Open letter to Old Navy,
Dear store buyers,
Not all of us guys are 6'2" and weigh 170 lbs. Please carry some fat midget clothes until we can lose some weight.
Thank you.
Open letter to Old Navy,
Dear store buyers,
Not all of us guys are 6'2" and weigh 170 lbs. Please carry some fat midget clothes until we can lose some weight.
Thank you.
19.12.05
Sanctuary!
Mrs. A and I were at Barton Creek Mall yesterday with the kiddos getting pictures taken and on the way in we drove by Abuelo's Mexican Food Embassy (yes that's its real name.) I've never heard of a place called a Food Embassy. I've heard Emporium and Palace, but never Embassy. So Mrs. A caps the day's humor quotient by saying, "That's where food goes when it's in trouble. It runs up to the door shouting, 'Hecho en México!'" I haven't laughed that hard in a while.
I'm gonna make a shirt for it and submit it to Threadless.
I'm gonna make a shirt for it and submit it to Threadless.
18.12.05
Improving your experience, improving my skills.
You might start seeing some changes around here. I've started some tutorials on web development to both reinforce my foundation for what little html and css knowledge I had and expand by picking up xml, java, php and anything else I can think of. It's not going to be overnight, and since it's nothing I'll be using at my day job, it won't be very soon at all. But this is my playground where I'll be experimenting with what I learn.
My art site will probably also see some changes. Ideally I'd like to combine the two into one place since I do nearly all the writing here and I haven't updated my art site in so long because it's clunky. But, I don't want to lose this blog, nor do I want to lose my domain name and have to register another, so some though will have to be given to how to best go about this change. Life In Austin seems like a good enough name, Polaris Comics was sort of a last minute thing, and honestly the name is up for renewal anyway. I'd hate to pay for another year and then not use it. Oh well, we'll see. This all of course takes away from all the drawing I should be doing.
That's another thing, I sat down to draw a picture of Batman for the Art Swap over at Penciljack and I realized I have no motivation to draw Batman. So I thought I'd sketch some of my own characters. Nothing there either. Then I tried just random sketching for practice; nada. I had zero motivation to draw anything. I've been offered a nice artistic donation from a friend if I go back and redo the interior pages of Project: Gemini, which is something I want to do anyway, then push out #1 and #2 at the same time. #1's artwork wasn't all that great. I rushed it to get it done and yes I'm glad I got it done, but it was a sketchbook. I want to ink it to have it at least look finished. I'm no great inker, but I can at least make it look more polished.
Yet, I can't find motivation for that either.
What I can, apparently find motivation for is dorking around with my two sites and watching TV. I gotta stop that. I have to get back into the creative mind set. So, we'll see which one comes up first; web design or comic book.
By the way, you need to see the Santa pictures Mrs. A put up on Flickr. For those that don't know, we try to get a pic with Santa every year, not just the kids, the whole family. I don't know if she's got the other years up or not. Notice how it looks like I'm crashing the party in this one. Good shot, mall people.
If you're using something other than IE, you'll notice the "Of Interest" category now on the right. That's the links I've been hitting that I think are worthy of wider exposure, check them out. If you're using IE, I'm still learning the code and why it pushes it all the way to the bottom. Sorry about that.
Our tree is up and the house is lit. As soon as I got the tree decorate, with the help of the children, LMA asks, "Can we open our presents now?" There were no presents under the tree, but I wasn't smart enough to tell her that.
Carry on.
My art site will probably also see some changes. Ideally I'd like to combine the two into one place since I do nearly all the writing here and I haven't updated my art site in so long because it's clunky. But, I don't want to lose this blog, nor do I want to lose my domain name and have to register another, so some though will have to be given to how to best go about this change. Life In Austin seems like a good enough name, Polaris Comics was sort of a last minute thing, and honestly the name is up for renewal anyway. I'd hate to pay for another year and then not use it. Oh well, we'll see. This all of course takes away from all the drawing I should be doing.
That's another thing, I sat down to draw a picture of Batman for the Art Swap over at Penciljack and I realized I have no motivation to draw Batman. So I thought I'd sketch some of my own characters. Nothing there either. Then I tried just random sketching for practice; nada. I had zero motivation to draw anything. I've been offered a nice artistic donation from a friend if I go back and redo the interior pages of Project: Gemini, which is something I want to do anyway, then push out #1 and #2 at the same time. #1's artwork wasn't all that great. I rushed it to get it done and yes I'm glad I got it done, but it was a sketchbook. I want to ink it to have it at least look finished. I'm no great inker, but I can at least make it look more polished.
Yet, I can't find motivation for that either.
What I can, apparently find motivation for is dorking around with my two sites and watching TV. I gotta stop that. I have to get back into the creative mind set. So, we'll see which one comes up first; web design or comic book.
By the way, you need to see the Santa pictures Mrs. A put up on Flickr. For those that don't know, we try to get a pic with Santa every year, not just the kids, the whole family. I don't know if she's got the other years up or not. Notice how it looks like I'm crashing the party in this one. Good shot, mall people.
If you're using something other than IE, you'll notice the "Of Interest" category now on the right. That's the links I've been hitting that I think are worthy of wider exposure, check them out. If you're using IE, I'm still learning the code and why it pushes it all the way to the bottom. Sorry about that.
Our tree is up and the house is lit. As soon as I got the tree decorate, with the help of the children, LMA asks, "Can we open our presents now?" There were no presents under the tree, but I wasn't smart enough to tell her that.
Carry on.
14.12.05
King Kong
(Possible spoilers below, but I mean it's King Kong. He dies at the end. Still read at your own risk.)
I'm going to admit something. It's something that's hard to admit to the average person let alone an internet elite group who would be running across this page right now.
I've never seen the original King Kong all the way through.
Over the years since cable became a household product, I've seen bits and pieces of it here and there which coalesced into a vague idea of what the story was about. I knew before this year, for instance, that Kong was a big gorilla. I knew that somehow some people got onto an island while filming an early century action movie and stumbled onto a primitive tribe of people who kidnapped the leading lady and "donated" her to the Kong Needs A Girl Fund. I knew that Kong fought a T-Rex. I knew that somehow the movie crew captured Kong, took him back to New York where he went crazy, climbed a building and eventually died. I know he loved the leading lady and she began to find some closeness to the beast.
Turns out that's all I needed to know to watch this movie. I felt bad not knowing how close this 2005 Peter Jackson incarnation was to the original film. I felt bad not knowing all the trivia and factoids related to Kong Mania. I didn't know there were sequels or remakes. I thought this was magic because there was 1933 then today. Turns out there were several remakes and sequels and TV deals and cartoons.
I didn't know about the last minute composer changes. I didn't know about the Lost Spider Scene. I didn't know much about the original story behind the movie crew and director and their whole reason to go to skull island.
It'd be like knowing Star Wars exists, and that Darth Vader is a bad guy, but not knowing why he's chasing Luke and why Luke's friends are shooting at stuff from their spaceships or how Yoda lifts things just by wishing it.
So that was a good thing for me going into the movie. I wasn't married to a vision or memory of an old movie. I wasn't expecting any particular piece to be in place. What I was expecting was a lot of good acting and a lot of giant fights. And I got that.
It was phenominal. My only beef was with Jack Black. I hate saying it, because normally I love watching him, but this time around he was a distraction. He wasn't the main character, but his screen presence was one of someone trying to suppress that Main Character image and trying to fit in. At times his timing and humor were right on, and others he blew some very heavily weighted lines.
The rest of the ensemble was wonderful. I was rarely pulled out of the moment by what they did or said. I was also never thinking "what cool effects those are."
And that's the highest praise I can give the movie. The effects didn't run the movie. What ran the movie was what should run the movie, the direction, the action, the emotion. I was holding my breath a lot and even at a midnight showing, I never looked at my watch and thought "Isn't this thing over yet?" Also, Peter Jackson really likes killing off Andy Serkis.
I want to see it again, although as rapt as I was, I don't believe I missed much.
I'm going to admit something. It's something that's hard to admit to the average person let alone an internet elite group who would be running across this page right now.
I've never seen the original King Kong all the way through.
Over the years since cable became a household product, I've seen bits and pieces of it here and there which coalesced into a vague idea of what the story was about. I knew before this year, for instance, that Kong was a big gorilla. I knew that somehow some people got onto an island while filming an early century action movie and stumbled onto a primitive tribe of people who kidnapped the leading lady and "donated" her to the Kong Needs A Girl Fund. I knew that Kong fought a T-Rex. I knew that somehow the movie crew captured Kong, took him back to New York where he went crazy, climbed a building and eventually died. I know he loved the leading lady and she began to find some closeness to the beast.
Turns out that's all I needed to know to watch this movie. I felt bad not knowing how close this 2005 Peter Jackson incarnation was to the original film. I felt bad not knowing all the trivia and factoids related to Kong Mania. I didn't know there were sequels or remakes. I thought this was magic because there was 1933 then today. Turns out there were several remakes and sequels and TV deals and cartoons.
I didn't know about the last minute composer changes. I didn't know about the Lost Spider Scene. I didn't know much about the original story behind the movie crew and director and their whole reason to go to skull island.
It'd be like knowing Star Wars exists, and that Darth Vader is a bad guy, but not knowing why he's chasing Luke and why Luke's friends are shooting at stuff from their spaceships or how Yoda lifts things just by wishing it.
So that was a good thing for me going into the movie. I wasn't married to a vision or memory of an old movie. I wasn't expecting any particular piece to be in place. What I was expecting was a lot of good acting and a lot of giant fights. And I got that.
It was phenominal. My only beef was with Jack Black. I hate saying it, because normally I love watching him, but this time around he was a distraction. He wasn't the main character, but his screen presence was one of someone trying to suppress that Main Character image and trying to fit in. At times his timing and humor were right on, and others he blew some very heavily weighted lines.
The rest of the ensemble was wonderful. I was rarely pulled out of the moment by what they did or said. I was also never thinking "what cool effects those are."
And that's the highest praise I can give the movie. The effects didn't run the movie. What ran the movie was what should run the movie, the direction, the action, the emotion. I was holding my breath a lot and even at a midnight showing, I never looked at my watch and thought "Isn't this thing over yet?" Also, Peter Jackson really likes killing off Andy Serkis.
I want to see it again, although as rapt as I was, I don't believe I missed much.
13.12.05
The Office vs. Office Space
First, a link. I don't have cool links like Scott so you have to just wait till I find a good one. I have a del.icio list, but I don't know how to incorporate it yet and frankly, I hit the same 10 links each day anyway. The likelihood of me finding really cool things day after day is just nil.
That said, check Pandora. For those who use Launchcast (or I guess now Yahoo! Launch or whatever) it's just another flash based streaming music site, but it's based on the Music Genome Project which tries to break down music into genes (types of vocals, beats, what instruments are used, etc) and Pandora uses that data to select what type of music you might like to hear.
So I signed up, we'll see how good it is. I foresee many, many wasted hours on this.
So I've been at my new job a week. Yesterday I got my first real list of tasks to complete by year end. So far so good. So I'm taking a break when I realize that by nature, people compare things to what they know. Ok, I do. I don't know what other people do.
So here's a list of things I noticed from my last job as compared to my new job. It's strictly data, I'm trying not to be biased about it. The act of noticing these things is bias enough, so I won't add comentary.
Old job catered lunch every day if you were on the lunch plan. For $2 a day you didn't have to go anywhere to get lunch and it was pretty decent selection. New job is downtown and closer to more restaurants, but no catering, unless you consider my plastic bag full of food and drink catering.
Old job was "staffed" with mostly young guys, very few women or anyone older than 55. New job is a more diverse group of people.
Old job had good toilet paper, but the paper towel dispenser never worked properly. New job has thin toilet paper, but a nicer sink.
Old job was way down on Loop 360 and there's only one way to get there from my house or the kids' school. New job is downtown and there are more choices on the commute.
Old job I had two 20" flat panels. New job I have one.
Old job I shared an office with two other people. New job, I have my own cubicle.
Old job had a window with a view of the parking garage. New job has a 7th story window view of the Wells Fargo building.
Old job I knew about 30% of the people there. New job I don't know anyone at all.
Old job I was paid for my select skills on the software and longevity. New job I'm paid on my marketable skills.
Old job I had a TV which got a few channels off the office satellite, mostly cable news. New job doesn't.
Old job had the same sense of security you'd get from walking down a dark alley in Detroit around Halloween. New job's sense of security is more a warm blanket on a sunny day.
Old job I was in charge of remote maintenance on 25+ machines. New job I'm in charge of some old tapes (so far.)
Old job I could wear jeans, tee shirts, sandles, shorts, baseball hats. New job I have to wear nice pants, dress shirts and nice shoes.
Old job the hours were flexible, as long as you got your work done. New job has a timesheet, but it's always the same hours.
Old job had inexpensive insurance. New job does not.
Old job had a standup cooler full of sports drinks, juices and sodas. New job has a coffee maker and a soda machine.
Old job had two ping-pong tables, foosball table, a PC with a joystick and some old arcade games, and a Quake install on the network for afternoon games. New job has a couple guys who've played video games before.
Old job, people came to me when they needed something creative or graphic. New job, they don't know about that yet.
Old job, there were maybe two places to have a happy hour. New job is near Sixth Street.
Old job I had 8 bosses over 6 years. There were two name changes. The company was bought and then sold. New job I'm guessing nothing will change before I die.
Old job I had 5 weeks of vacation per year, plus the honor system of sick time. New job I won't get any vacation until June 2006 and sick leave is accrued.
Both jobs are across the street from a Starbucks.
If anyone reading this is good with basic, run o' da mill HTML and IIS hosting, I have a problem with my comic site. If you just type "polariscomics" and hit enter (Firefox and Opera will add the www.__.com) it takes you to www.polariscomics.com/ArtPort/ which doesn't exist on my server. I know I had my ftp site open for a while and some...friendly people used my server to host some movie files, but I've closed it down since then. Now it's acting wonky.
Comments enabled.
That said, check Pandora. For those who use Launchcast (or I guess now Yahoo! Launch or whatever) it's just another flash based streaming music site, but it's based on the Music Genome Project which tries to break down music into genes (types of vocals, beats, what instruments are used, etc) and Pandora uses that data to select what type of music you might like to hear.
So I signed up, we'll see how good it is. I foresee many, many wasted hours on this.
So I've been at my new job a week. Yesterday I got my first real list of tasks to complete by year end. So far so good. So I'm taking a break when I realize that by nature, people compare things to what they know. Ok, I do. I don't know what other people do.
So here's a list of things I noticed from my last job as compared to my new job. It's strictly data, I'm trying not to be biased about it. The act of noticing these things is bias enough, so I won't add comentary.
Old job catered lunch every day if you were on the lunch plan. For $2 a day you didn't have to go anywhere to get lunch and it was pretty decent selection. New job is downtown and closer to more restaurants, but no catering, unless you consider my plastic bag full of food and drink catering.
Old job was "staffed" with mostly young guys, very few women or anyone older than 55. New job is a more diverse group of people.
Old job had good toilet paper, but the paper towel dispenser never worked properly. New job has thin toilet paper, but a nicer sink.
Old job was way down on Loop 360 and there's only one way to get there from my house or the kids' school. New job is downtown and there are more choices on the commute.
Old job I had two 20" flat panels. New job I have one.
Old job I shared an office with two other people. New job, I have my own cubicle.
Old job had a window with a view of the parking garage. New job has a 7th story window view of the Wells Fargo building.
Old job I knew about 30% of the people there. New job I don't know anyone at all.
Old job I was paid for my select skills on the software and longevity. New job I'm paid on my marketable skills.
Old job I had a TV which got a few channels off the office satellite, mostly cable news. New job doesn't.
Old job had the same sense of security you'd get from walking down a dark alley in Detroit around Halloween. New job's sense of security is more a warm blanket on a sunny day.
Old job I was in charge of remote maintenance on 25+ machines. New job I'm in charge of some old tapes (so far.)
Old job I could wear jeans, tee shirts, sandles, shorts, baseball hats. New job I have to wear nice pants, dress shirts and nice shoes.
Old job the hours were flexible, as long as you got your work done. New job has a timesheet, but it's always the same hours.
Old job had inexpensive insurance. New job does not.
Old job had a standup cooler full of sports drinks, juices and sodas. New job has a coffee maker and a soda machine.
Old job had two ping-pong tables, foosball table, a PC with a joystick and some old arcade games, and a Quake install on the network for afternoon games. New job has a couple guys who've played video games before.
Old job, people came to me when they needed something creative or graphic. New job, they don't know about that yet.
Old job, there were maybe two places to have a happy hour. New job is near Sixth Street.
Old job I had 8 bosses over 6 years. There were two name changes. The company was bought and then sold. New job I'm guessing nothing will change before I die.
Old job I had 5 weeks of vacation per year, plus the honor system of sick time. New job I won't get any vacation until June 2006 and sick leave is accrued.
Both jobs are across the street from a Starbucks.
If anyone reading this is good with basic, run o' da mill HTML and IIS hosting, I have a problem with my comic site. If you just type "polariscomics" and hit enter (Firefox and Opera will add the www.__.com) it takes you to www.polariscomics.com/ArtPort/ which doesn't exist on my server. I know I had my ftp site open for a while and some...friendly people used my server to host some movie files, but I've closed it down since then. Now it's acting wonky.
Comments enabled.
7.12.05
New Job
I started my new job yesterday.
I don't want to talk too much about it and get myself fired like any other number of individuals, so I'll lay down some imperical facts that can be viewed objectively with no room for interpretation and then we'll just call it a day.
My new position is with Texas Medical Association. TMA is the largest state medical association in the country. It provides networking tools, software, conference room and support, documentation and resource database access to medical professionals across the state. It's 150 years old. You can read more about it here.
As far as what I do, technically my title is Network Administrator. I don't have too much networking experience, so I believe the title is a misnomer. My duties at the start seem to be backing up the file server onto high density tape. I've only been here a day and that's pretty much the only solid thing I've been able to gleen from the tours and meet and greets. I'm sure as days go by I will settle into my role. From what I can tell in talking to my new boss, I'll be doing some documentation about the processes and procedures involved in troubleshooting and managing projects. I'm sure I'll also be involved in sundowning some old servers, setting up new servers, etc. I'm hoping to get some network training, even if it is "as needed."
There are some things about the job that are not as good as I'd hoped. The health insurance is quite pricey and I'll probably end up opting for paying for my own. I won't give numbers, but it's about 4x what I was paying (or having deducted) from Zone. Add that to an already 1/3 paycut.
But the people so far are cordial. They've all worked for TMA for a very long time. The facilities are modern if not cutting edge. Stability doesn't seem to be a problem.
And that's all I'm gonna say, I've said too much.
Lil Miss Austin continues to be, and forgive my bluntness, a pain in the ass. I tried thinking of a different way to spin it, but I just can't. She's just at this age (you know the one, between 3 and 24) where she's testing her boundaries and pushing our buttons and trying to get her way at all costs. Even with the very real threat of corporal punishment, she will continue to push and push and push her agenda until the whole opperation has crumpled into a raw screaming mass of exposed nerves and empty beer bottles.
Mrs. A and I are really lucky to have each other during times like this. I can not imagine being a single parent with a little kid like this. I know this is normal and I'm getting plenty of feedback and advice on how to deal with her; the majority of which is "just ignore her."
You know how hard it is to ignore a screaming four year old?
So Yogi's been a handful too, but not because of any psychological envelopes he's been pushing. The poor dude just can't get a break medically. It's earaches or breathing problems or diaper rash that hurts me just to look at it. He's got a few words and proto-sentences down pretty well. "All done." "More please." He can sign for a few things like milk, cheese, water. He says please and bird and shoe. He's such a cute kid and lately such a good crier.
Mrs. A has stayed home with the kids a lot lately due to either illness or school holidays and she can attest to how much the word "mommy" has been used as punctuation, salutation, exclamation and dissertation. Yogi can use it as a verb, adjective and noun all at once. He even calls me "mommy," which doesn't get him too many favors.
We love our kids. They are just kids. I have to remember that. Before I know what happened, they will be teenagers and there'll be a whole 'nother set of problems to deal with that will make these days seem memorable and magic by comparison.
With the job and the kids and the holidays I've really let slide a lot of things and I'm sad about that. I haven't the slightest idea what's going on the world politically, I haven't been active on my comic book message board (a place I once called my second home) and I haven't been trying to expand my own horizons with learned reading or self-tutoring. I've completely dropped trying to learn Mandarin. There's a project on Penciljack I haven't taken part of in months. I haven't started my comic's second issue. It seems like all I've been doing is spending the day not at home doing vague representations of working, then coming home and either being exhausted for no damn reason or trying to help Mrs. A keep the house in order and the children from catching fire before passing out around midnight.
I honeslty have no idea what I'm doing with my time the last couple months, but it hasn't been what I've wanted to do. However, I can't account for what I've done in that time either. I've lettered two comics, that's it. It seems like I should have more done. With the way Mrs. A and I argue sometimes, I'm not apparently doing my share during the evenings, but I've also had nearly three weeks off in the past month. Haven't seen any movies, haven't gone out to dinner. It hasn't been all bad, I haven done some comic related stuff, spent a lot of time with Mrs. A and we did get to go to San Angelo to see her grandma. It hasn't been a total waste or a waste of any kind. It just seems like I had so much time and I was not productive in the things that mattered to me, to my family, etc.
I think I'm hitting the time crunch days. I'm pretty sure soon I will wondering why my kids are driving and when they'll becoming home from college to visit and how old my grandkids are now. We measured LMA yesterday and she's 3'6". She can see over the countertops now.
Hmm.
I don't want to talk too much about it and get myself fired like any other number of individuals, so I'll lay down some imperical facts that can be viewed objectively with no room for interpretation and then we'll just call it a day.
My new position is with Texas Medical Association. TMA is the largest state medical association in the country. It provides networking tools, software, conference room and support, documentation and resource database access to medical professionals across the state. It's 150 years old. You can read more about it here.
As far as what I do, technically my title is Network Administrator. I don't have too much networking experience, so I believe the title is a misnomer. My duties at the start seem to be backing up the file server onto high density tape. I've only been here a day and that's pretty much the only solid thing I've been able to gleen from the tours and meet and greets. I'm sure as days go by I will settle into my role. From what I can tell in talking to my new boss, I'll be doing some documentation about the processes and procedures involved in troubleshooting and managing projects. I'm sure I'll also be involved in sundowning some old servers, setting up new servers, etc. I'm hoping to get some network training, even if it is "as needed."
There are some things about the job that are not as good as I'd hoped. The health insurance is quite pricey and I'll probably end up opting for paying for my own. I won't give numbers, but it's about 4x what I was paying (or having deducted) from Zone. Add that to an already 1/3 paycut.
But the people so far are cordial. They've all worked for TMA for a very long time. The facilities are modern if not cutting edge. Stability doesn't seem to be a problem.
And that's all I'm gonna say, I've said too much.
Lil Miss Austin continues to be, and forgive my bluntness, a pain in the ass. I tried thinking of a different way to spin it, but I just can't. She's just at this age (you know the one, between 3 and 24) where she's testing her boundaries and pushing our buttons and trying to get her way at all costs. Even with the very real threat of corporal punishment, she will continue to push and push and push her agenda until the whole opperation has crumpled into a raw screaming mass of exposed nerves and empty beer bottles.
Mrs. A and I are really lucky to have each other during times like this. I can not imagine being a single parent with a little kid like this. I know this is normal and I'm getting plenty of feedback and advice on how to deal with her; the majority of which is "just ignore her."
You know how hard it is to ignore a screaming four year old?
So Yogi's been a handful too, but not because of any psychological envelopes he's been pushing. The poor dude just can't get a break medically. It's earaches or breathing problems or diaper rash that hurts me just to look at it. He's got a few words and proto-sentences down pretty well. "All done." "More please." He can sign for a few things like milk, cheese, water. He says please and bird and shoe. He's such a cute kid and lately such a good crier.
Mrs. A has stayed home with the kids a lot lately due to either illness or school holidays and she can attest to how much the word "mommy" has been used as punctuation, salutation, exclamation and dissertation. Yogi can use it as a verb, adjective and noun all at once. He even calls me "mommy," which doesn't get him too many favors.
We love our kids. They are just kids. I have to remember that. Before I know what happened, they will be teenagers and there'll be a whole 'nother set of problems to deal with that will make these days seem memorable and magic by comparison.
With the job and the kids and the holidays I've really let slide a lot of things and I'm sad about that. I haven't the slightest idea what's going on the world politically, I haven't been active on my comic book message board (a place I once called my second home) and I haven't been trying to expand my own horizons with learned reading or self-tutoring. I've completely dropped trying to learn Mandarin. There's a project on Penciljack I haven't taken part of in months. I haven't started my comic's second issue. It seems like all I've been doing is spending the day not at home doing vague representations of working, then coming home and either being exhausted for no damn reason or trying to help Mrs. A keep the house in order and the children from catching fire before passing out around midnight.
I honeslty have no idea what I'm doing with my time the last couple months, but it hasn't been what I've wanted to do. However, I can't account for what I've done in that time either. I've lettered two comics, that's it. It seems like I should have more done. With the way Mrs. A and I argue sometimes, I'm not apparently doing my share during the evenings, but I've also had nearly three weeks off in the past month. Haven't seen any movies, haven't gone out to dinner. It hasn't been all bad, I haven done some comic related stuff, spent a lot of time with Mrs. A and we did get to go to San Angelo to see her grandma. It hasn't been a total waste or a waste of any kind. It just seems like I had so much time and I was not productive in the things that mattered to me, to my family, etc.
I think I'm hitting the time crunch days. I'm pretty sure soon I will wondering why my kids are driving and when they'll becoming home from college to visit and how old my grandkids are now. We measured LMA yesterday and she's 3'6". She can see over the countertops now.
Hmm.
1.12.05
Changing of the Guard
Yesterday was my last day working at Zone Trading. I'd been working with this same group of people with this same software for six and a half years. We've gone through name changes, buyouts, buy backs, supervisors, reorgs. Lot of changes. But that's over and done with and it's kind of funny. I don't think when they made the decision to close up our group they actually realized how much knowledge they were losing and toward the end I could tell. But you know what? I don't care. I'd have rather got a 3 month severance then hang around there knowing my last day is coming up.
So it's on to the new job. I'll be working at Texas Medical Association doing some IT work. I don't want to talk about it too much as I haven't started, don't know the people or the job and I want to start on the right foot. I already feel bad about holding on to the lingering hope that another graphic design job was going to call back. Which they never did.
Yesterday was also technically the last day of my health insurance. Monday I left work a little early claiming I wasn't feeling well. Not caring much at that point it really didn't bother me to do so. But that night and into the next day I got feverish and my throat started hurting and swelling up. Shortening up the story, I have Strep. It's fun. I also may have Sleep Apnea that was brought to light by having a sore, inflamed throat. I can't check on it now, I'll have to wait until I have insurance again.
Mrs. A's last minute medical day was a bit more stressful. For about 5 hours she thought she had cervical cancer. An early and extended physical revealed a thing in a place that shouldn't be there, a Nabothian Cyst to be exact. The first Doctor said the word "lesion" and knowing her family history it was a logical step to "cervical cancer." So in the same day she was able to be referred to and seen by a specialist who said it was the Nabothian Cyst (which I still think sounds vaguely sci-fi) and there's nothing to be worried about and no treatment that is needed. She needs to be vigilant for other reasons, but not this.
So for about 4-5 hours we thought she had cancer. Not a fun day.
She does however have some blood work coming back that may show she's got diabetes. Again, it's in her family and she even had short term gestational diabetes with Yogi. With her thyroid levels constantly being adjusted by different meds, this was a concern. We haven't got the blood work back yet, but the doctor was fairly certain.
First off, I'm glad she doesn't have cervical cancer. I'm upset that she may have diabetes. But diabetes you can live with. Even with the new cervical cancer drugs out now that claim the certain strain can be cured, it's still cancer. It's kind of an ever looming aspect of her physical make up; one day she will have it. It's almost a given, its just a matter of when.
But diabetes is a different story. Diet change and some medicine and home testing for blood sugar levels. I think that's it. She's already started running on her own and she eats well (if not regularly) so even though it's a big thing, it's a manageable thing and I'm sure we'll deal with it as best we can.
So I'm on antibiotics with a failing voice and she's pushing forward with wedding photography tasks. I have to do a tattoo for Mr. Darn Tootin, a x-mas card and an art swap in the next couple days. Plus I've been commissioned to finish out the lettering on two more issues of Bronx Angel. It's good to get work, I just hope I can get it done.
Kids are driving me crazy, I can feel my patience with them slipping away. I snap at the littlest thing. Especially Lil Miss Austin. She constantly says "no" and is constantly ignoring what she's told. I know she's only four and I have to remember that. But sometimes I think she should know better and that's when it gets to me. Yogi's just been under the weather and has been impossible to get to sleep. We got a note today saying he feel asleep on the playground. How said is that?
That's the news.
So it's on to the new job. I'll be working at Texas Medical Association doing some IT work. I don't want to talk about it too much as I haven't started, don't know the people or the job and I want to start on the right foot. I already feel bad about holding on to the lingering hope that another graphic design job was going to call back. Which they never did.
Yesterday was also technically the last day of my health insurance. Monday I left work a little early claiming I wasn't feeling well. Not caring much at that point it really didn't bother me to do so. But that night and into the next day I got feverish and my throat started hurting and swelling up. Shortening up the story, I have Strep. It's fun. I also may have Sleep Apnea that was brought to light by having a sore, inflamed throat. I can't check on it now, I'll have to wait until I have insurance again.
Mrs. A's last minute medical day was a bit more stressful. For about 5 hours she thought she had cervical cancer. An early and extended physical revealed a thing in a place that shouldn't be there, a Nabothian Cyst to be exact. The first Doctor said the word "lesion" and knowing her family history it was a logical step to "cervical cancer." So in the same day she was able to be referred to and seen by a specialist who said it was the Nabothian Cyst (which I still think sounds vaguely sci-fi) and there's nothing to be worried about and no treatment that is needed. She needs to be vigilant for other reasons, but not this.
So for about 4-5 hours we thought she had cancer. Not a fun day.
She does however have some blood work coming back that may show she's got diabetes. Again, it's in her family and she even had short term gestational diabetes with Yogi. With her thyroid levels constantly being adjusted by different meds, this was a concern. We haven't got the blood work back yet, but the doctor was fairly certain.
First off, I'm glad she doesn't have cervical cancer. I'm upset that she may have diabetes. But diabetes you can live with. Even with the new cervical cancer drugs out now that claim the certain strain can be cured, it's still cancer. It's kind of an ever looming aspect of her physical make up; one day she will have it. It's almost a given, its just a matter of when.
But diabetes is a different story. Diet change and some medicine and home testing for blood sugar levels. I think that's it. She's already started running on her own and she eats well (if not regularly) so even though it's a big thing, it's a manageable thing and I'm sure we'll deal with it as best we can.
So I'm on antibiotics with a failing voice and she's pushing forward with wedding photography tasks. I have to do a tattoo for Mr. Darn Tootin, a x-mas card and an art swap in the next couple days. Plus I've been commissioned to finish out the lettering on two more issues of Bronx Angel. It's good to get work, I just hope I can get it done.
Kids are driving me crazy, I can feel my patience with them slipping away. I snap at the littlest thing. Especially Lil Miss Austin. She constantly says "no" and is constantly ignoring what she's told. I know she's only four and I have to remember that. But sometimes I think she should know better and that's when it gets to me. Yogi's just been under the weather and has been impossible to get to sleep. We got a note today saying he feel asleep on the playground. How said is that?
That's the news.
28.11.05
Face Recognition
This is pretty cool. Of course a picture I put in returns Kiefer Sutherland, George Clooney and John Cusack so I know it's full of crap.
But it's fun anyway.
But it's fun anyway.
Behind the Scenes
Got a comment about how my writing is weak when it comes to affairs of the heart, that Mrs. A has me whipped or that I'm afraid of what she'll think when I write in here.
Truth be told, not all is roses with me and the Missus, but guess what, it's no one's business but our own. I'm not going to turn this place into a grudge blog full of reasons I don't like my wife or things she's done to piss me off. Why? Because it's been done, it's boring, and it's not what I want to do.
Yes I'm whipped. I don't know if you've seen pictures, but I'm damn lucky to have Mrs. A as my partner. I know where my bread is buttered, and it isn't buttered by me badmouthing the love of my life, even if she does something to drive me crazy. Some things just aren't meant for public consumption.
And if you're that hard up for spousal angst, go here or watch Wife Swap on ABC. I won't cater to AFV/Schadenfreude culture by pissing off the person I sleep with.
You don't like it? Get bent.
Truth be told, not all is roses with me and the Missus, but guess what, it's no one's business but our own. I'm not going to turn this place into a grudge blog full of reasons I don't like my wife or things she's done to piss me off. Why? Because it's been done, it's boring, and it's not what I want to do.
Yes I'm whipped. I don't know if you've seen pictures, but I'm damn lucky to have Mrs. A as my partner. I know where my bread is buttered, and it isn't buttered by me badmouthing the love of my life, even if she does something to drive me crazy. Some things just aren't meant for public consumption.
And if you're that hard up for spousal angst, go here or watch Wife Swap on ABC. I won't cater to AFV/Schadenfreude culture by pissing off the person I sleep with.
You don't like it? Get bent.
23.11.05
21.11.05
What to do
I realize it's been a couple weeks since I've written, but I have a reason.
I'm extraordinarily lazy.
Ok not really. I've actually been quite busy lately, even having taken two weeks of vacation in the last three weeks. Between the Marine Ball and a couple comic book/design gigs I've taken on, it's been crazy around our house. You'd like I could take a couple minutes to write a little entry about the Austinites. You'd be wrong.
What I really want to talk about is the job situation, but I can't. On my side, I haven't really settled everything yet. The only thing that's even remotely certain is that my last day at my current job will be November 30th. I've had some calls and been on some interviews and I'm happy to report that things are positive, but not knowing who's reading this, I don't want to talk about it and jeopardize anything.
On Mrs. Austin's side, she's having problems with Dell. It's draining and emotional, but again I don't want to give out specifics. Let's just say we don't like them anymore.
On December 2nd, I'll at least be talking about where I am and what my change of employment has brought. It may be a great move or just a good move. I'm at the point where I have to look out for my family and if there's a chance for making that better and easier, I'm gonna take it. I have to suck up this feeling of anxiety and fear of rejection and realize that we have a house and cars and daycare bills and food to pay for. This isn't just me in an apartment where I can go without nice juice and fancy bread for a week or two, or stop going out for a month while I make rent, this is bigger than me. It's now us.
So us is hopefully going to have a full house on thanksgiving. Starting Wednesday night, our house will be a hot spot for about 5 days. We have friends coming in Wednesday night and staying until Thursday night. They work retail, though, so they have to get back for the biggest shopping day of the year. I do not envy them at all. That's got to be rough. We have Friday off, then Saturday we have Mrs. A's Dad and friend coming into town for the evening, the Sunday night more friends to watch Lost and have dinner. At some point Mr. and Mrs. IG will be coming over as well, but we don't know when really.
During this time we still have to get photo and comic book work done.
The vacation time off has been nice. I've been given a chance to do some lettering for a Bronx Angel, written by a fellow Penciljack-ian. The regular letterist had another gig come up so the EIC asked me, seeing some of the stuff I'd done for the ASJ41 project. (I'm xadrian, btw.) So this is cool. It's not just a page or two, it's a full book, it will see print, and I'm getting paid for it. It's an Indy book, but so what. It's a great story and I hope it sees some store shelves. I never thought I'd be a letter jockey, but I've learned a lot that I can use for Project: Gemini or other books I may do.
Speaking of P:G, I added it to the Comic Book Database or comicbookdb.com. It's dorky to add your own book, but fuck it. It's been printed, people have purchased it, it's been in a store, it's a book. Yay me and my self promotion. This just means I REALLY have to get back to working on issue #2.
Completely off topic, I hit our local Walgreens the other day to get some Tylenol Sinus. We had a couple freezes over the past weeks and the weather has officially become non-summer. With the change of the seasons came a giant Canadian cold front which basically killed our sinuses and gave most of us raging headaches. But we knew it was coming, so I wanted to stock up on Excedrine and Tylenol Sinus (proven deterent to both weather front headaches and hangovers.)
Apparently, a while back, some measure was passed (and I still have to find out if it's a Federal thing or not) in which pharmacies are now locking down on psuedoephedrine because it's a key ingredient in making meth. So now, whether you have a home meth lab or not, all sinus/pain reliever with this drug is no longer available over the counter. This means they have these cards where the medicine usually rests. You take the cards to the pharmacy counter and they get it for you after you show an ID and sign a piece of paper.
I wouldn't mind it if the pharmacy wasn't already tasked beyond belief with regular prescriptions. Plus you have to deal with the AARP card holder who sits in line and huffs and puffs about the indecency of having to wait in line for cold medicine.
It took me 45 minutes to get Tylenol Sinus. First they were out of the extra strength, then they were out of the extra strength Walgreens brand. Finally I told them to just get me whatever they had that was similar.
I can't even really blame the drug addicts and illicit manufacturers for this probelm. It seems like governmental ineptitude. They can't find the labs fast enough to shut 'em down, so make it harder to buy at Walgreens.
Meanwhile, I think you can still get this stuff at gas stations.
Whatever.
I'm extraordinarily lazy.
Ok not really. I've actually been quite busy lately, even having taken two weeks of vacation in the last three weeks. Between the Marine Ball and a couple comic book/design gigs I've taken on, it's been crazy around our house. You'd like I could take a couple minutes to write a little entry about the Austinites. You'd be wrong.
What I really want to talk about is the job situation, but I can't. On my side, I haven't really settled everything yet. The only thing that's even remotely certain is that my last day at my current job will be November 30th. I've had some calls and been on some interviews and I'm happy to report that things are positive, but not knowing who's reading this, I don't want to talk about it and jeopardize anything.
On Mrs. Austin's side, she's having problems with Dell. It's draining and emotional, but again I don't want to give out specifics. Let's just say we don't like them anymore.
On December 2nd, I'll at least be talking about where I am and what my change of employment has brought. It may be a great move or just a good move. I'm at the point where I have to look out for my family and if there's a chance for making that better and easier, I'm gonna take it. I have to suck up this feeling of anxiety and fear of rejection and realize that we have a house and cars and daycare bills and food to pay for. This isn't just me in an apartment where I can go without nice juice and fancy bread for a week or two, or stop going out for a month while I make rent, this is bigger than me. It's now us.
So us is hopefully going to have a full house on thanksgiving. Starting Wednesday night, our house will be a hot spot for about 5 days. We have friends coming in Wednesday night and staying until Thursday night. They work retail, though, so they have to get back for the biggest shopping day of the year. I do not envy them at all. That's got to be rough. We have Friday off, then Saturday we have Mrs. A's Dad and friend coming into town for the evening, the Sunday night more friends to watch Lost and have dinner. At some point Mr. and Mrs. IG will be coming over as well, but we don't know when really.
During this time we still have to get photo and comic book work done.
The vacation time off has been nice. I've been given a chance to do some lettering for a Bronx Angel, written by a fellow Penciljack-ian. The regular letterist had another gig come up so the EIC asked me, seeing some of the stuff I'd done for the ASJ41 project. (I'm xadrian, btw.) So this is cool. It's not just a page or two, it's a full book, it will see print, and I'm getting paid for it. It's an Indy book, but so what. It's a great story and I hope it sees some store shelves. I never thought I'd be a letter jockey, but I've learned a lot that I can use for Project: Gemini or other books I may do.
Speaking of P:G, I added it to the Comic Book Database or comicbookdb.com. It's dorky to add your own book, but fuck it. It's been printed, people have purchased it, it's been in a store, it's a book. Yay me and my self promotion. This just means I REALLY have to get back to working on issue #2.
Completely off topic, I hit our local Walgreens the other day to get some Tylenol Sinus. We had a couple freezes over the past weeks and the weather has officially become non-summer. With the change of the seasons came a giant Canadian cold front which basically killed our sinuses and gave most of us raging headaches. But we knew it was coming, so I wanted to stock up on Excedrine and Tylenol Sinus (proven deterent to both weather front headaches and hangovers.)
Apparently, a while back, some measure was passed (and I still have to find out if it's a Federal thing or not) in which pharmacies are now locking down on psuedoephedrine because it's a key ingredient in making meth. So now, whether you have a home meth lab or not, all sinus/pain reliever with this drug is no longer available over the counter. This means they have these cards where the medicine usually rests. You take the cards to the pharmacy counter and they get it for you after you show an ID and sign a piece of paper.
I wouldn't mind it if the pharmacy wasn't already tasked beyond belief with regular prescriptions. Plus you have to deal with the AARP card holder who sits in line and huffs and puffs about the indecency of having to wait in line for cold medicine.
It took me 45 minutes to get Tylenol Sinus. First they were out of the extra strength, then they were out of the extra strength Walgreens brand. Finally I told them to just get me whatever they had that was similar.
I can't even really blame the drug addicts and illicit manufacturers for this probelm. It seems like governmental ineptitude. They can't find the labs fast enough to shut 'em down, so make it harder to buy at Walgreens.
Meanwhile, I think you can still get this stuff at gas stations.
Whatever.
8.11.05
Hoo rah
Saturday was the big event we've all been waiting for. It's been a month,
maybe 6 weeks, that we've known about this big contract. Mrs. A has
stressed her sanity, business finances and endurance to the maximum in
preperation for this day.
Was it a resounding success? Not really. But it wasn't a complete failure
either, let's get that out of the way right now. Many, many, MANY things
could have gone wrong that didn't. The few things that happened I feel were
handled with adoitness and efficiency. Mrs. A didn't even know things had
gone bad we handled them so well.
And everyone pulled together and did a great job helping out, so I'd like to
thank them. We were completely slammed, then completely idle, then slammed
again, and I feel each person pulled their weight and did a great job.
So what went wrong? Why the sombre tone? Well, we didn't pull down what we
were expecting. Mrs. A and I gauged the number of party goers and made a
guestimate on how many would purchase what packages and came up with what we
thought was a conservative number, (something like, if half the guests
bought only one picture.) Not only did we not hit that number, we didn't
even come close. We fell short on an order of magnitude. It was depressing
and shocking. It was almost insulting. It felt like we had wasted our
time.
I don't want to really belabor the point. Mrs. A is taking this the hardest
of all. This was supposed to be a big thing for her, for us. It was
supposed to help get us through to the end of the year and into next year.
The contract would lead to more contracts like it. There would be contacts
made, and possibly more wedding bookings for these young couples. We
thought the online store would be a great idea and it would pull down at
least as much as we took in with cash that night.
None of it happened. The only thing that happened is 7 people (some would
say 8) worked very hard and sacrified a large chunk of time for what
amounted to very little payoff. Mrs. A has worked just has hard by herself
at weddings for five times what we made that night. It was kind of a
dissappointment.
Now, she's not going to like that I wrote that, and I've tried to keep all
the names out of it for that reason. I'm actually kind of ticked at the
whole situation because I know she worked her ass off to make this happen
and it was received with such tepiditiy and aloofness that I'm almost upset
at them for being noncommittal snobs. I don't know what they expected, but
it wasn't us apparently.
We did learn a lot. The positive side of all this is that for next time we
know what needs to be added, removed, changed or rethought. We did make
some money and that was ok. We didn't get run out of the building. We had
a decent dinner. We got to dress up. We met some nice people. It wasn't a
complete loss. And as of now I'm done talking about it. I'm done talking
to her about it. If you care about her, you won't talk to her about it
either. It's over and we need to move on. It'll either get better or it'll
be forgotten.
Carry on.
maybe 6 weeks, that we've known about this big contract. Mrs. A has
stressed her sanity, business finances and endurance to the maximum in
preperation for this day.
Was it a resounding success? Not really. But it wasn't a complete failure
either, let's get that out of the way right now. Many, many, MANY things
could have gone wrong that didn't. The few things that happened I feel were
handled with adoitness and efficiency. Mrs. A didn't even know things had
gone bad we handled them so well.
And everyone pulled together and did a great job helping out, so I'd like to
thank them. We were completely slammed, then completely idle, then slammed
again, and I feel each person pulled their weight and did a great job.
So what went wrong? Why the sombre tone? Well, we didn't pull down what we
were expecting. Mrs. A and I gauged the number of party goers and made a
guestimate on how many would purchase what packages and came up with what we
thought was a conservative number, (something like, if half the guests
bought only one picture.) Not only did we not hit that number, we didn't
even come close. We fell short on an order of magnitude. It was depressing
and shocking. It was almost insulting. It felt like we had wasted our
time.
I don't want to really belabor the point. Mrs. A is taking this the hardest
of all. This was supposed to be a big thing for her, for us. It was
supposed to help get us through to the end of the year and into next year.
The contract would lead to more contracts like it. There would be contacts
made, and possibly more wedding bookings for these young couples. We
thought the online store would be a great idea and it would pull down at
least as much as we took in with cash that night.
None of it happened. The only thing that happened is 7 people (some would
say 8) worked very hard and sacrified a large chunk of time for what
amounted to very little payoff. Mrs. A has worked just has hard by herself
at weddings for five times what we made that night. It was kind of a
dissappointment.
Now, she's not going to like that I wrote that, and I've tried to keep all
the names out of it for that reason. I'm actually kind of ticked at the
whole situation because I know she worked her ass off to make this happen
and it was received with such tepiditiy and aloofness that I'm almost upset
at them for being noncommittal snobs. I don't know what they expected, but
it wasn't us apparently.
We did learn a lot. The positive side of all this is that for next time we
know what needs to be added, removed, changed or rethought. We did make
some money and that was ok. We didn't get run out of the building. We had
a decent dinner. We got to dress up. We met some nice people. It wasn't a
complete loss. And as of now I'm done talking about it. I'm done talking
to her about it. If you care about her, you won't talk to her about it
either. It's over and we need to move on. It'll either get better or it'll
be forgotten.
Carry on.
3.11.05
Flashbacks
For those needing a dose of the past, check out our Flickr pages (see links to the right.)
First off, I was a cute kid, sparkley eyes, dashing chin. But Mrs. A was such a level above cuteness that I'm warning you now, you may go into insolin shock just by looking.
Also, compare some of the youth pics to some of the Lil Miss Austin and Yogi pics. Apparently both our kids look like their mom and I look like the lead singer of Queensryche. (Mrs. A bought a hair straightener. Oh. My. God.)
Carry on.
First off, I was a cute kid, sparkley eyes, dashing chin. But Mrs. A was such a level above cuteness that I'm warning you now, you may go into insolin shock just by looking.
Also, compare some of the youth pics to some of the Lil Miss Austin and Yogi pics. Apparently both our kids look like their mom and I look like the lead singer of Queensryche. (Mrs. A bought a hair straightener. Oh. My. God.)
Carry on.
1.11.05
The crazies are running the nut house!
I love Halloween. I think I actually like it more than Christmas and Thanksgiving and the 4th of July.
The problem is that I'm getting older, so the things I like about the day aren't the same things I liked as a kid. Now I like the smell of cinnamon, the taste of hard apple cider, the sound of football games and marching bands, the crispness of the air, the darkness of the evenings. I like the feeling our house gets when we have prime time television shows on and the furnace kicks off and it's dark outside. I like seeing leaves on the ground and overcast days.
As a kid, I liked candy and The Great Pumpkin and dressing up. I still like the idea of dressing up, but each year I make a pact to start early on the costumes and each year I forget that I made that pact. Not since college (and the much referenced Mystic costume) have a made any real attempt at dressing up.
This year, with the long hair, there were several options. Mrs. A thought I should go as the cowardly lion. I'd get an orange suit and grow my beard out. There was also talk of stuffing a dirty tee-shirt, growing out the chops and go as Hurly from Lost. I was quite in favor of renting a nice Lord of the Rings outfit and going as Eomer, though that would have required a really obscure costume and possibly a level of Eastern European sex appeal you can't find at Party Pig.
So this year I went as the long haired father of two. Mrs. A manned the orange and black bedecked homestead, armed with a bowl full of brightly packaged sugar, whilst the offspring and I set out to conquer our block. LMA was Wonder Woman with a pink jacket and Yogi was a mini Frankenstein. He stayed in the stroller the whole time, perfectly content in being chauffeured everywhere in the warmth of felt. She, by contrast, turned each open door into a chance to chat with the neighbors. The first few houses she actually sang the full song, "Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat. If you don't, I don't care, I'll pull down your underwear." It made for a good first house, but I had to put the kibosh on it real quick.
So we made a lap of the street and headed home after LMA decided the two goodie-bags (one for her, one for her brother) were too heavy. Plus it was getting chilly. It had rained hours earlier and a cold front had moved in, so the evening was perfect for an early romp around the block.
Arriving safely back home, we dumped the candy into a big bowl, fed the children, sent them to bed, then Mrs. A and I divvied up the loot and watched a movie. We were visited by a large amount of trick-or-treaters, mostly little kids in really adorable costumes.
Then there were the punk asses.
Now I know I'm going to lose a few of you, and most of you don't care about kids anyway, but I have a problem with older kids and trick or treating.
Why?
They don't wear costumes.
They're not polite.
They take handfuls of candy.
They don't even say trick or treat.
Mrs. A didn't want to talk about it because I was ruining the day for her, and she was right. I was being a bit grumpasaurus about it, but come on. I had one guy at the door, maybe 12 or 13, just stand there for about 15 seconds without saying anything. Finally I said, "Whataya got?" He kind of looks confused like he woke up on my porch wearing a costume (a cape, oOOooOoOOo) and had no idea what day it was. After a second he snaps-to and says, "Oh, right. Happy Halloween?"
Yeah, yeah. Take your handful of candy and be off with ye, scallywag.
Am I wrong on this? I don't think it's the kids fault, I think it's the parents. They just say, "Yeah, go out and get some candy." Well don't they? Prove me wrong. The little kids, the toddlers and babies in strollers and 6 year olds I don't have problems with. They are adorable and sweet and polite and more often then not, a little scared. Because it's dark and spooky and they're outside at night with weird noises and they are excited and want to do this right.
The older kids have lost the magic.
So do me a favor, next year, if you see your kid heading out the door with a crappy $1 mask on the back of his head, tee-shirt and shorts and an old pillow case, keep him home and go buy a few bags of candy for him. Or plan on having a little party for his friends. I don't want to come off sounding like a curmudgeon, but there's got to be some civility, even at that age.
The problem is that I'm getting older, so the things I like about the day aren't the same things I liked as a kid. Now I like the smell of cinnamon, the taste of hard apple cider, the sound of football games and marching bands, the crispness of the air, the darkness of the evenings. I like the feeling our house gets when we have prime time television shows on and the furnace kicks off and it's dark outside. I like seeing leaves on the ground and overcast days.
As a kid, I liked candy and The Great Pumpkin and dressing up. I still like the idea of dressing up, but each year I make a pact to start early on the costumes and each year I forget that I made that pact. Not since college (and the much referenced Mystic costume) have a made any real attempt at dressing up.
This year, with the long hair, there were several options. Mrs. A thought I should go as the cowardly lion. I'd get an orange suit and grow my beard out. There was also talk of stuffing a dirty tee-shirt, growing out the chops and go as Hurly from Lost. I was quite in favor of renting a nice Lord of the Rings outfit and going as Eomer, though that would have required a really obscure costume and possibly a level of Eastern European sex appeal you can't find at Party Pig.
So this year I went as the long haired father of two. Mrs. A manned the orange and black bedecked homestead, armed with a bowl full of brightly packaged sugar, whilst the offspring and I set out to conquer our block. LMA was Wonder Woman with a pink jacket and Yogi was a mini Frankenstein. He stayed in the stroller the whole time, perfectly content in being chauffeured everywhere in the warmth of felt. She, by contrast, turned each open door into a chance to chat with the neighbors. The first few houses she actually sang the full song, "Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat. If you don't, I don't care, I'll pull down your underwear." It made for a good first house, but I had to put the kibosh on it real quick.
So we made a lap of the street and headed home after LMA decided the two goodie-bags (one for her, one for her brother) were too heavy. Plus it was getting chilly. It had rained hours earlier and a cold front had moved in, so the evening was perfect for an early romp around the block.
Arriving safely back home, we dumped the candy into a big bowl, fed the children, sent them to bed, then Mrs. A and I divvied up the loot and watched a movie. We were visited by a large amount of trick-or-treaters, mostly little kids in really adorable costumes.
Then there were the punk asses.
Now I know I'm going to lose a few of you, and most of you don't care about kids anyway, but I have a problem with older kids and trick or treating.
Why?
They don't wear costumes.
They're not polite.
They take handfuls of candy.
They don't even say trick or treat.
Mrs. A didn't want to talk about it because I was ruining the day for her, and she was right. I was being a bit grumpasaurus about it, but come on. I had one guy at the door, maybe 12 or 13, just stand there for about 15 seconds without saying anything. Finally I said, "Whataya got?" He kind of looks confused like he woke up on my porch wearing a costume (a cape, oOOooOoOOo) and had no idea what day it was. After a second he snaps-to and says, "Oh, right. Happy Halloween?"
Yeah, yeah. Take your handful of candy and be off with ye, scallywag.
Am I wrong on this? I don't think it's the kids fault, I think it's the parents. They just say, "Yeah, go out and get some candy." Well don't they? Prove me wrong. The little kids, the toddlers and babies in strollers and 6 year olds I don't have problems with. They are adorable and sweet and polite and more often then not, a little scared. Because it's dark and spooky and they're outside at night with weird noises and they are excited and want to do this right.
The older kids have lost the magic.
So do me a favor, next year, if you see your kid heading out the door with a crappy $1 mask on the back of his head, tee-shirt and shorts and an old pillow case, keep him home and go buy a few bags of candy for him. Or plan on having a little party for his friends. I don't want to come off sounding like a curmudgeon, but there's got to be some civility, even at that age.
27.10.05
An Apology
On the heels of calling the world a large group of assholes who can't open a door properly, I pull the ol' mouth-to-foot insertion and committ one custom made faux-pas.
I'm not going to go into details. All the parties read this and all the parties know who you are, what happened, and when.
Rob, I'm sorry. It was off the cuff, I didn't mean anything by it, but just the same, I apologize sincerely. You know I would never purposefully say something like that or target it that way. I hope you don't think me a giant monster shithead.
I hope we're cool.
I'm not going to go into details. All the parties read this and all the parties know who you are, what happened, and when.
Rob, I'm sorry. It was off the cuff, I didn't mean anything by it, but just the same, I apologize sincerely. You know I would never purposefully say something like that or target it that way. I hope you don't think me a giant monster shithead.
I hope we're cool.
24.10.05
Open Letter to Anticourteous Civilians
Dear AC,
I hope you are all doing well. I saw you today in the hall, and even though I made eye contact and you didn't, I still wish you well. I'm not the kind of person who will blanket a group with ill will. I genuinely hope all you guys have had a good weekend and maybe have some plans next week for some neat events, fine dining or exciting outdoor excursion.
In the meantime, and I hate to bring this up, but you guys all live in the same world as the rest of us. You know that world, the ones with doors, turn signals, elevators, cross walks, parking lots, intersections, lines for food and movie theaters. In your world, you have a president or prime minister or king or queen. We have that too. In your world you have sunshine and antelopes and salsa, what a coincidence! Our worlds share the same internet, the same oceanic currents, the same coastal erosion, the same William Hung. Our parallels run deep, almost as if we exist in the same exact point in time on the same exact point in space.
But that's not true, and we both know that. See, in your world, when someone opens a door for you, you open the door next to it and wait for the first person to go in, even after they opened the door for you. I know, it's weird, I can't understand it either. Why would someone do that for you? Boggles the mind, I tells ya.
In your world, people expect you to get on the elevator first, before they get out, it's just the social norm. They want to be jostled around, blocked and possibly prevented from leaving the car. They just do, they want that, they anticipate it. It's also highly desirable that you posses or purchase or rent the most pungent body odor you can find. I'm serious, that can only help.
In your world, people have the audacity to jump in front of your car while you're trying to speed past the crosswalks in the parking lot. Don't they know that the parking lots are designed for high speed and low attention driving? They are taking their lives in their hands by even thinking of reaching their cars from the doors of the shop.
In your world, an intersection is the perfect place to show how much you really care by over waving to your automobile counterpart. See, in your world, such interaction requires that one person wave, then another person wave or else the transaction isn't complete. I know you've heard elsewhere that that single wave/sign of courteousness is not only taboo, but highly insulting, how dare they. In fact, a third wave is highly desirable.
In your world the highway is a laneless meadow, free from the lawful constraints and physical limitations seen in the other world. You feel free to zip around cars, drive on the boundaries of the roads without so much as a nod to your fellow drivers, because they are aware of your every intent and are watching your every movement. To do otherwise is criminal. To do otherwise compromises the very fabric of your world, a fabric of self, a fabric of centrism.
In your world, people need guidance and they don't know where to get it. Everyone but you and your small isolated group of several millions, feel the need to help people find the light by following the doctrine of your favorite deity. After all, you are in the minority. Your world is a desolate wasteland of hedonism and debauchery with absolutely no one with your voice in power. Your beliefs and feelings are so misunderstood and so relegated to the corners and basements of the world, that you feel it necessary to shout the word of your savior to the heathens among you. In your world, no one but you has a compass, no one has guidance, no one has a belief structure or a mind of their own. They can't make decisions and need an ancient structure and tome to help them decide what's right. You are just doing a service and we should all appreciate your persistence.
I can't sympathize with you, but I can empathize. It's confusing when you cross over to our world, you know, the one with kindness and understanding and openness. It must be terribly difficult to cope with all these standards and all this conflicting stimulus. I just can't imagine the autistic mind set that goes on when someone opens a door for you or allows you to cross at an intersection or asks you to be quiet in a theater. That must shake you to the core of your being. It must make you really question your role in society. Is this really the place for you? Is it really worth the effort? If there was only some way to learn about this strange world and try to work within it instead of against it.
Well, it's a good thing you have that religion thing to help you get along with your fellow humans. You know the one, the one that preaches forgiveness and acceptance. That should help you out a great deal.
Keep it up.
Sincerely,
A Human Being from Planet Earth
I hope you are all doing well. I saw you today in the hall, and even though I made eye contact and you didn't, I still wish you well. I'm not the kind of person who will blanket a group with ill will. I genuinely hope all you guys have had a good weekend and maybe have some plans next week for some neat events, fine dining or exciting outdoor excursion.
In the meantime, and I hate to bring this up, but you guys all live in the same world as the rest of us. You know that world, the ones with doors, turn signals, elevators, cross walks, parking lots, intersections, lines for food and movie theaters. In your world, you have a president or prime minister or king or queen. We have that too. In your world you have sunshine and antelopes and salsa, what a coincidence! Our worlds share the same internet, the same oceanic currents, the same coastal erosion, the same William Hung. Our parallels run deep, almost as if we exist in the same exact point in time on the same exact point in space.
But that's not true, and we both know that. See, in your world, when someone opens a door for you, you open the door next to it and wait for the first person to go in, even after they opened the door for you. I know, it's weird, I can't understand it either. Why would someone do that for you? Boggles the mind, I tells ya.
In your world, people expect you to get on the elevator first, before they get out, it's just the social norm. They want to be jostled around, blocked and possibly prevented from leaving the car. They just do, they want that, they anticipate it. It's also highly desirable that you posses or purchase or rent the most pungent body odor you can find. I'm serious, that can only help.
In your world, people have the audacity to jump in front of your car while you're trying to speed past the crosswalks in the parking lot. Don't they know that the parking lots are designed for high speed and low attention driving? They are taking their lives in their hands by even thinking of reaching their cars from the doors of the shop.
In your world, an intersection is the perfect place to show how much you really care by over waving to your automobile counterpart. See, in your world, such interaction requires that one person wave, then another person wave or else the transaction isn't complete. I know you've heard elsewhere that that single wave/sign of courteousness is not only taboo, but highly insulting, how dare they. In fact, a third wave is highly desirable.
In your world the highway is a laneless meadow, free from the lawful constraints and physical limitations seen in the other world. You feel free to zip around cars, drive on the boundaries of the roads without so much as a nod to your fellow drivers, because they are aware of your every intent and are watching your every movement. To do otherwise is criminal. To do otherwise compromises the very fabric of your world, a fabric of self, a fabric of centrism.
In your world, people need guidance and they don't know where to get it. Everyone but you and your small isolated group of several millions, feel the need to help people find the light by following the doctrine of your favorite deity. After all, you are in the minority. Your world is a desolate wasteland of hedonism and debauchery with absolutely no one with your voice in power. Your beliefs and feelings are so misunderstood and so relegated to the corners and basements of the world, that you feel it necessary to shout the word of your savior to the heathens among you. In your world, no one but you has a compass, no one has guidance, no one has a belief structure or a mind of their own. They can't make decisions and need an ancient structure and tome to help them decide what's right. You are just doing a service and we should all appreciate your persistence.
I can't sympathize with you, but I can empathize. It's confusing when you cross over to our world, you know, the one with kindness and understanding and openness. It must be terribly difficult to cope with all these standards and all this conflicting stimulus. I just can't imagine the autistic mind set that goes on when someone opens a door for you or allows you to cross at an intersection or asks you to be quiet in a theater. That must shake you to the core of your being. It must make you really question your role in society. Is this really the place for you? Is it really worth the effort? If there was only some way to learn about this strange world and try to work within it instead of against it.
Well, it's a good thing you have that religion thing to help you get along with your fellow humans. You know the one, the one that preaches forgiveness and acceptance. That should help you out a great deal.
Keep it up.
Sincerely,
A Human Being from Planet Earth
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