| Compare and Contrast |
[Oct. 12th, 2008|09:55 am] |
On my last trip out to Albuquerque, I took along both Twilight by Stephani Meyer and Orcs by Stan Nicholls. Let me tell you, it says a lot about the writing when the story without any angelically gorgeous, sparkly beings and absolutely no sexual tension at all was the one I actually bothered to finish.
Orcs was FUN.
Think early Black Company/Glen Cook except with an angry horde of orcs. The author is still figuring this writing thing out. He's only really good at writing battle scenes. On the other hand, he played to his strengths and put in LOTS of battles and gore.
Ms. Meyer's story ... I want those three hours back please.
In other news, I may get a change of pace in my travel schedule. There's a good chance I'll get shipped off to sunny Florida come late November. Last time I was there, it was mid-August and we spent the entire week watching hurricanes play in the gulf. This trip should be better. |
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| Long day |
[Sep. 24th, 2008|04:07 pm] |
I got into work at 8:30 to find three calls waiting on my work answering machine from the barn. Tisa was colicing. By the time I got there, the vet had come and gone with a prognosis of gas colic (basically what babies get).
Apparently she had been going through the entire spectrum of colic symptoms, including buckling at the knees, rolling, kicking herself, shaking, fever, cold sweats, the whole nine yards.
I stayed up there from 9:30 until 3:00 waiting for it to pass. When I left, she had started passing manure again and was perking up, although she was still moving hunched up like she was in pain. The barn people promised to give me a call tonight to let me know hows she's doing.
First time in 9 years that's she's had a colic episode but the vet said that he has had to treat a slew of them since the weather changed. I hope we don't have to go through this again. I'm exhausted. |
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| why so quiet? |
[Sep. 23rd, 2008|08:51 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  bitter | ] |
You ask? Well, work has finally barred me from accessing livejournal from the company network. Seems social networking sites == trolling for dates and/or not so discrete sex and you can't have your employees getting any, not if you want them to be properly productive.
Not that I'm bitter.
Okay, I lied. I am bitter. |
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| Note to self |
[Aug. 18th, 2008|01:18 pm] |
Do not argue politics with your chiropractor while the man is working on you. He is a devote Republican and he will get distracted & overly enthusiastic.
Owwww... |
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| Grapes - Wip 2 |
[Aug. 12th, 2008|07:07 pm] |
Next couple images. Everything is sort of flat right now as I'm waiting for the layers of white and beige to dry enough to put reflection & color on them. I'm also utterly failing to take any photos without glare problems but that's okay. My studio lighting isn't set up for photographing things.
( more WIPs ) |
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| Oil theory test |
[Aug. 10th, 2008|12:42 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | art | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  accomplished | ] |
I've been reading up on the various methods of achieving depth and lighting with oils. One of the things I read involved doing the underpainting in the opposite spectrum of the finished painting ... if you want a warm finish, do the underpainting in cool colors and vice versa.
The current oil painting is, for all extents and purposes, a still life. Yeah, there are goblins in among the grapes but its a still life. The grapes are lovely green things that glow even in the photos I took (which reminds me, don't spend hours setting up a still life of fruit to photograph without warning the Boy about what you are doing. My grapes kept getting moved and eaten and I couldn't figure out what was going on).
Here's the current work in progress.
( images below ) |
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| Oil painting #2 |
[Aug. 5th, 2008|09:35 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | art | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | accomplished | ] |
Is done and varnished and on its way into a frame, never to be touched again*
( for you slow connection folks )
Most of this painting I am not longer happy with. I've been staring at it too long to like it much anymore. The cresting wave, however, is still squeal worthy. I may never have to paint another wave again thanks to that one.
* - barring when I send it out to conventions, which given the current economy, will be never.
Edited to show the color corrected version. You can see how greyed out my camera made it when you compare the corrected and the detail shots. |
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| Just when you think you've seen it all |
[Jul. 28th, 2008|10:11 am] |
I've had ferrets for a long time now, pretty much constantly since I was 13 in fact. In that time, I had thought I'd seen just about every foolish trick a ferret could come up with. I've had ferrets do everything from eating a sock (yes, an entire sock) to unscrewing the top off of caustic chemicals and dancing in them. Most ferret owners will agree that "ferret proof" is a relative term.
I have never, though, seen a ferret drag a 2lb bag of brown sugar into its hidey hole, chew through the plastic and eat enough of it to make himself sick for two days straight. I didn't even think that a 4lb rat could drag half of his weight that far but apparently I under estimated the dedication of a ferret on a sugar buzz.
I'd feel sorry for Folly except I spent the entire weekend doing cage laundry (poor boy was sick enough to be making messes from both ends) and I had to scrub the floor twice to get all the spilled sugar off of it. He had it scattered across two rooms and completely coating the dinning room closet.
Note to self, all sweets get locked in tupperware from this point forward. How he even got to that level on the butcher block shelving is still a mystery. |
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| Stuck in my head |
[Jul. 22nd, 2008|09:41 pm] |
I am completely smitten with this band now ...
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| Little art |
[Jul. 13th, 2008|02:42 pm] |
Finished up a quick painting I started while in Seattle.
Red Masque
Started out as an excuse to paint lace. |
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| Adventures in practicing |
[Jul. 1st, 2008|01:40 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | bike | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | accomplished | ] |
Also known as "wait, how many times did I cross Route 3?"
Last night I took the bike out for my first solo spin. The plan was to get over to the big parking lot and practice some of the safety course skills such as emergency stopping and swerving on my bike to get the feel of it. This involved riding on the public road, including the nasty little hill at the end of my road. Since I don't have the "starting on a hill" skill yet (which you must buy with mucho experience points, apparently), I was pretty nervous about even getting to the parking lot, let alone playing there by myself. The Boy offered to drive me over but, dammit, I've finished the course, I should be able to travel 300 yards of public road to get to a wide open space where I would be doing basic skill work.
I made it over there just fine ... by not really stopping on the hill and instead just timing it so I could slow down and then gun it at the intersection. I then found a hill pretty close to it in the parking lot and proceeded to stall my bike a good dozen times.
After doing this and a bunch of swerving, stopping and pulling out of a tight intersection while staying in my lane type practice, I then decided to take the big loop around the tech center and go home the other way. Only problem is that I forgot the big loop is right turn only when it hits Concord Road. I also picked the wrong fork on the loop road and ended up crossing Rt. 3 into god knows where. At one point I realized that I couldn't even call for help since I didn't have any clue where I was.
Eventually after crossing Rt. 3 a number of times, I found a road I vaguely recognized and managed to find my way home just as the sun was setting. My little trip to the parking lot ended up being a 40 minute skills practice and a half an hour of "where am I?" road riding. At least all the road stuff was fine, minus the stop light that just would not acknowledge me. I had to wait for a car to come up to the pressure plate before it would let us go. |
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| Because New England weather IS out to get you |
[Jun. 30th, 2008|02:44 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | bike | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  tired | ] |
I spent all of Saturday & Sunday doing the Motorcycle Safety Course. It was fun and I highly recommend it for anyone wanting to learn how to drive a bike. The only prerequisite is that you have to be able to ride a bicycle. Everything else they teach you as you go along.
Saturday was really nice. Cloudy and somewhat cool, all of the storms passed us by and the day was completely uneventful outside of the random bike falling over and a lot of stalling. Sunday was extremely hazy, hot and humid. I all but died in my leather jacket and I wasn't smart enough to have brought along a long sleeve shirt (the minimum clothing requirements were long pants, helmet, over the ankle boots, basic leather gloves and a long sleeve shirt). Despite the heat the conditions were good for learning, though. I now have a V shaped sunburn from my collarbone to chest where my jacket left off and the shadow from my helmet began.
Being New England, however, the weather couldn't stay that way. Everything was fine until we were lined up to take the final skills examine. Then the skies opened and lightning cracked all around us and the wind started whipping the trees sideways. It went from a distance rumble of thunder to full out downpour in about 7 minutes. We all got drenched before we made it to the available shelter, a semi-trailer that they used to haul the bikes in. So we were all soaked and huddling while New England tried to convince us that the end of days was at hand. After about 20 minutes, the water works shut off and we had blue sky again ... just long enough for everyone to get out to their bikes and started up. Then the skies opened up again. Rinse, repeat. After about an hour of this, it finally stopped down pouring on all of us long enough for the group to get through the skills evaluation. It was still raining but at least it wasn't a lightning show any longer.
So yeah, we got to learn everything in perfect dry conditions and then test on wet pavement, puddles and active rain. Thanks, New England.
At least I'm fully licensed now. Or at least I will be once my sticker shows up. Now to go play on my bike and figure out how much of it transfers. |
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| Old Friends |
[Jun. 23rd, 2008|11:06 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  cheerful | ] |
Finally, last night we drove down to Providence to have dinner with ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) kasra_c, freeptop and their young son who were in town for the MLP convention. It was a wonderfully low stress evening of catching up over dinner and cheesecake. We talked game consoles, jobs and the current location of old school friends. They seem to be happy with their life in the 'burgh. Today they'll be up here in the city playing tourist. I hope the weather behaves.
I also learned that a mirror and a hand puppet is all that is needed to make everything alright in the world ... at least if you are a bored baby. |
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| F'ing Rats |
[Jun. 23rd, 2008|10:12 am] |
The Boy said I wouldn't last a week and he was right. You see, I wasn't permitted to get more ferrets until after our trip out to Seattle. On Saturday, we drove up to New Hampshire and picked up a pair of 6 month old male ferrets. I found them on craigs list for $50 for the both of them and their cage. I ended up declining on the cage. It was a glorified hamster cage complete with big plastic tunnels and tiny doors. You can't scoop a little box in one of those things, which is probably why the woman had covered their entire cage bottom in clay cat litter.
We're their third owners. Owner #2, the one we got them off of, originally told me on the phone that she thought she was allergic to them. When we got there, though, we found out that she had a new Jack Russell puppy who, in her words, kept trying to kill the ferrets while playing with them. Some people really need to be forced to take a basic personality test on their desired pet before the get them. Let see, a Jack Russell and a small rodent like creature ... not exactly a match made in heaven, you know?
So the new boys are a hyperactive albino and a really dark cinnamon. We named them Fidget and Folly, respectively. Both seem fairly well socialized and are up to date on their shots. Folly has a thing for trying to bite the end of your nose but we're working on it. They are both ankle biters when socks are involved. However, they've been good about their litter box and have only had one accident when out of their cage so far. As the Boy said, I'd rather deal with a play biter than one that can't learn the proper place to poop. They are nice big boys, weighing in at about 4 lbs each, already twice the weight of my girls at their prime.
They have settled in fairly well and are starting to interact with the Boy and I more. Originally they just wanted to play with one another. Folly is a bit more stand offish. I'm pretty sure he's gotten into trouble for biting before, since he pounces at you but if he makes contact, even with just his feet or body, he immediately turns and runs to hide. Fidget is learning the blanket game and thinks its the best thing ever.
They have pretty much ignored the cats and the cats seem to get along with them for varying definitions of "get along with". Jago keeps trying to rub up against them and purr. She seems a little horrified watching them fight but other than that, she's fine. Banichi, though, keeps laying down in front of them with his belly exposed and then tearing into them when they try to sniff it. He is less than thrilled with the new additions, I think. Both cats are being exceptionally needy when the ferrets aren't out.
So yeah, new rats. They're up to date on everything but I'll probably run them up to Wignall for a basic check up anyways. |
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| Vacation |
[Jun. 23rd, 2008|09:52 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | chipper | ] |
First off, the vacation in Seattle rocked. We had so much fun visiting georgejas and dgr . We hiked and ate good food and played sand volleyball and ate more good food and played card games and walked in Japanese gardens and ate still more good food and saw fish FLYING through the air and walked up and down hills and steps and listened to the rocks. It was a blast.
We also got to see mh75, her Josh and their adorable daughter. Megan and kiddlet took us to the flight museum, which was pretty impressive. It helps that Boeing is the next door neighbor. We also did the underground tour one rainy afternoon and learned how Seattle was built with layers of stupidity and taxes raised from the whores, er, sorry, seamstresses. Most cities that make you go "what WERE they thinking?!?!" can be explained in such a way that it in sort of made sense at the time. Seattle ... not so much. Still, the current city is pretty cool .
While our hosts were at work, though, the Boy and I played an immense amount of RockBand. Now the Boy wants to go spend $400 on a console and his own copy of the game. I, on the other hand, want to spend $400 and get a used drum kit and start a band in our garage. The Boy is not convinced. |
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| on a jet plane |
[Jun. 6th, 2008|11:07 am] |
Leaving for Seattle this afternoon. There will be volleyball and hiking and spades and a hot tub and Chris and George. Much fun will be had.
I also got back on my bike yesterday and faced down the tight turn again. I found I was very tense when turning in the direction I fell last time. I'll have to work on it when I get back.
See you all in a week. |
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| There's a reason that I bought a used TOY instead of a new TOY |
[Jun. 4th, 2008|11:30 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | bike | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | excited | ] |
And that is so I wouldn't cry when I scratched it up. Well, I didn't cry but my lip trembled a bit.
Last night, the Boy and I took said toy over to the local tech center's parking lot* to play around. We had some ups and downs.
Up side, I got up to third gear in the parking lot and did multiple turns, including a bunch of tight ones in a narrow lane at the end of the lot. Two of those tight turns were in 2nd gear and pretty smooth. I also worked on 3 point turns, starting on a slight hill and downshifting to a stop and just swerving back and forth across a straight line and not hitting parked cars.
On the down side, I messed up one of those really tight turns, almost went up over the curb, tried to hip check my bike back into the road** and ended up laying the bike down. Luckily, I was going 0.25 mph at the time and the bike just sort of settled on the left passenger peg and the handle bar. I ended up scratching one of the blinker casings and flooding the engine but otherwise it came out of it fine. I also ended up breaking a nail when I hopped off.
My bike didn’t want to start up again, so the Boy called Simon for advice. The conversation went something like:
Boy - "Hi Simon. Do you think it is likely that when you lay a bike down to 90 degrees that the engine will get flooded?"
Simon - "Is this question of a practical nature?"
Boy - " You could say that ..."
Apparently you just need to let it sit a few minutes and NOT use the choke when you try to restart it. Ten minutes later, it started right up and I did another lap in first and second gear. It was dark by then, so I didn’t get to try that tight turn again. Hopefully I’ll get another chance on Thursday.
Oh, and I also stalled it twice in a row but that was while I was still getting used to the clutch. I need to have the clutch adjusted since it doesn’t catch until it is just short of completely out … which is right at the end of my finger extension where my grip is the weakest. I’ll be a lot happier if it catches in the middle of the lever’s range instead of at the end.
Lessons Learned:
1) You don’t hip check a bike that outweighs you almost 4 to 1,
2) You don’t try to brake with the front wheel turned (which I knew but I panicked when the hip check failed)
3) Despite its size, I can pick this bike up off of the ground.
4) You always wear gloves because it sucks to have a mosquito biting your throttle hand while you are driving.
I so want to go play again but its raining and we have DnD tonight. I lose.
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* - DUDE, Raytheon has an office park within walking distance of my house. How did I miss that?
** - This doesn’t work on a cruiser like it does a dirt bike, oh no it does not! |
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| TOY! |
[Jun. 1st, 2008|12:15 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | bike | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | happy | ] |
| [ | music |
| | vroom | ] |
Since I don't have enough ways to risk life & limb, I went and bought myself a new toy.
( zoooom ) |
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| Finished and in the Mail |
[May. 30th, 2008|12:26 pm] |
That big commission is finally out the door.
( final painting )
You can also see the complete WIP from sketch to finish here |
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