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.

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.

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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.

Misc.

So I think this is pretty damn funny. That's probably just me.

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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.

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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.

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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?"

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.

Bits

Read this over on /. Pretty cool.

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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?)

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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.

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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.

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Have a happy new year everyone. And to all my Jewish friend, Gut Yontiff.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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.

Merry Christmas, Happy Solstice

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.

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.)

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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.

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.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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.

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.

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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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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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.

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.