Hmm, I guess I haven’t post anything in a while. It’s enough to make you think I’m Dave Campbell or something…until you actually read what I have posted and find that it’s neither as interesting nor as entertaining as what can be found at Dave’s infrequently-updated blog.
In any case, don’t be alarmed: my lack of updates is not an indication that I’ve actually gotten a life.
However, I have gotten the next best thing: money.
Even though I just had my taxes done on Monday, my VA refund was already in my checking account by Friday morning.
In my checking account, burning a hole, preventing me from just leaving it there...
I’ve been meaning to buy a new office chair for a while now. There’s nothing wrong with my old one per se – though it does have a rip in it – but I’ve had it since sometime in 2001, and it’s not nearly so comfortable as it once was.
Also, since it is still usable, if replaced it could serve as a spare, giving Scott someplace to sit whenever I’m showing him something up in the office.
So after hitting the comic shop this morning I made my way over to Staples and found a suitable new chair with good lumbar support and a high enough back that I can actually lean back and rest my head on it.
However, the chair didn’t have a price tag on it, and while I was wandering around hoping to be noticed by an employee – one of the pitfalls of having devoted a significant portion of my life to the art of not being noticed is that, unsurprisingly, it’s sometimes difficult to get noticed – I found myself looking at the desks.
It’s been my intention to buy a different desk since the day that I bought the desk I had. My old desk was perfectly serviceable, but it was bought in haste back when I moved into my house as I needed a desk right now and it was the best one I could find.
I spotted an L-shaped desk that I rather liked, one that seemed ideally-suited to a dual monitor setup. I noticed that there was also a matching printer stand suitable for my large-format printer, as well as a matching bookcase.
So by the time I finally did get noticed I had resolved to buy the chair, the desk, and the printer stand and bookshelf.
After loading them up in the car – which proved less of a challenge than I’d expected – I found that I had no room for groceries, so I headed home and unloaded the car, discovering that the scrawny kid working at Staples was stronger than I am, as I struggled with lifting and carrying the desk much more than he did.
Accomplishing that, I went back out to do my grocery shopping, came home and ate lunch, and then set to work on dismantling the ungodly mess of cables and wires and moved the old desk into one of the other bedrooms.
As an aside, I have to say that I was amazed and delighted to discover that those “Moving Men” things – those little disks you put under heavy objects in order to slide said objects around with ease – work exactly as advertised. I bought the things when I moved into the house, but this was the first time I ever used them. Honestly, the fact that I was able to easily slide my heavy, metal desk into the other room with scarcely any effort was the highlight of my day. Sad, I know.
After some vacuuming and dusting it was time once again to do battle with my ancient nemesis: ready-to-assemble furniture.
The battle went about as well as can be expected, and lasted for hours. I have to say, though, that I’m surprised that it took as long as it did for me to start bleeding, and at least this time – unlike the time I assembled my old desk – I didn’t suffer any blows to the head.
After setting up the desk I set to work on the printer stand, then hooked everything back up, taking thed opportunity to make my usual half-assed attempt at trying to impose some kind of order on the mass of cables and wires. It’s at least a little better than it was, and the new arrangement means that the speaker wires aren’t all tangled up with the other wires and cables, so I’ve finally gotten rid of the incessant static that used to issue forth from my left speaker due to the interfence from the other wires. So that’s a plus.
After that I put the chair together. The bookshelf is going to have to wait for another day.
As for the old desk, eventually I’m going to set up Munin, my old computer, on it in the bedroom that I’m using as something of a library. Assuming I can figure out and resolve the weird power issues that Munin is having, at any rate.
That’s going to have to wait until I get my bonus or my Federal refund – whichever comes first – though, as I don’t have a spare monitor since I’m unwilling to give up the dual monitors on Hugin.
However, once I do get the additional funds I’ll be able to spare the monitor I’m using as my secondary on Hugin, as I’m going to finally bite the bullet and buy a Wacom Cintiq.
In any case, I’ll post some pictures of the new stuff tomorrow, and I may even write up that post I mentioned on Wednesday.
In the meantime, I’m not looking forward to how I’m going to feel tomorrow morning, as I’m already pretty sore from all the bending, kneeling, and contorting that I went through today.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
In Brightest Day
In Brightest Day
At some point I'll have more to say about this - completely awesome - story about a young fan's encounter with Julius "Julie" Schwartz, including the recounting of some of my own (limited) personal contacts with comic book legends.
But for the time being, just check it out.
(Found via Neil Gaiman's blog via a tip from Scott)
At some point I'll have more to say about this - completely awesome - story about a young fan's encounter with Julius "Julie" Schwartz, including the recounting of some of my own (limited) personal contacts with comic book legends.
But for the time being, just check it out.
(Found via Neil Gaiman's blog via a tip from Scott)
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Jon's Bogus Journey
My drive home from work started out poorly, with some jackass whipping out of a parking lot and cutting across three lanes to cut me off. It was one of those times when I wish that I could just plow into stupid people to teach them that actions have consequences. After all, this sort of behavior is only reinforced when people slam on their brakes and avoid what would otherwise be an inevitable collision.
Of course, I didn’t plow into him, and the lesson he learned was that he can get away with being a jackass and that there’s no such thing as karma or natural justice.
However, for a little while it seemed like The Universe was actually trying to make it up to me, as I managed to avoid almost every stoplight between work and home.
Naturally I immediately became suspicious.
Somewhere in Ashburn shortly before I got to the last leg of my journey I figured out what was going on.
There was a big, slow-moving truck up the road ahead of me. As soon as I spotted the yellow behemoth I knew that I was going to get stuck behind it for the rest of the way home.
I did make an abortive attempt to get around it, but the line of slow-moving mini-vans and SUVs in the other lane refused to cooperate, all moving slower than the truck and forcing me back over and behind it.
So, yeah. Stuck behind this massive slow-moving tuck that kicked dirt and gravel in my face like some bully in a Charles Atlas comic book ad.
Despite the irritation making me want to just go home and be done with the world for the day I decided to follow through on my intention of heading to the Chiropractor’s office.
I’ve never been to his new location, so I didn’t know exactly where it’s located, but I had a general idea.
Getting there involved driving through the narrow, crowded streets of “historic” Leesburg, which can be a pain under the best of circumstances.
Today wasn’t the best of circumstances.
Last night was my night off with my contacts. My vision on the days after I haven’t worn my lenses is sufficient to allow me to get through most tasks in life without any corrective lenses. I’m legal to drive, for example, and I can read street signs and so forth, but beyond a certain range things get fuzzy, and I have difficulty reading addresses on buildings – assuming there are any – or business signs.
To add to the fun of driving along the narrow, crowded street squinting to read numbers or words that may or may not actually be there, I was driving directly into the sun.
I don’t think it will come as a surprise to anyone to learn that I ended up going home without actually finding the Chiropractor’s office.
Of course, I didn’t plow into him, and the lesson he learned was that he can get away with being a jackass and that there’s no such thing as karma or natural justice.
However, for a little while it seemed like The Universe was actually trying to make it up to me, as I managed to avoid almost every stoplight between work and home.
Naturally I immediately became suspicious.
Somewhere in Ashburn shortly before I got to the last leg of my journey I figured out what was going on.
There was a big, slow-moving truck up the road ahead of me. As soon as I spotted the yellow behemoth I knew that I was going to get stuck behind it for the rest of the way home.
I did make an abortive attempt to get around it, but the line of slow-moving mini-vans and SUVs in the other lane refused to cooperate, all moving slower than the truck and forcing me back over and behind it.
So, yeah. Stuck behind this massive slow-moving tuck that kicked dirt and gravel in my face like some bully in a Charles Atlas comic book ad.
Despite the irritation making me want to just go home and be done with the world for the day I decided to follow through on my intention of heading to the Chiropractor’s office.
I’ve never been to his new location, so I didn’t know exactly where it’s located, but I had a general idea.
Getting there involved driving through the narrow, crowded streets of “historic” Leesburg, which can be a pain under the best of circumstances.
Today wasn’t the best of circumstances.
Last night was my night off with my contacts. My vision on the days after I haven’t worn my lenses is sufficient to allow me to get through most tasks in life without any corrective lenses. I’m legal to drive, for example, and I can read street signs and so forth, but beyond a certain range things get fuzzy, and I have difficulty reading addresses on buildings – assuming there are any – or business signs.
To add to the fun of driving along the narrow, crowded street squinting to read numbers or words that may or may not actually be there, I was driving directly into the sun.
I don’t think it will come as a surprise to anyone to learn that I ended up going home without actually finding the Chiropractor’s office.
Monday, February 23, 2009
The Occasional Idea
I suppose that it's possible that Heroic Portraits might be successful if I actually put any work into it. I'm not sure I believe that, but I'll grant that it's possible.
In any case, while there isn't often much follow-through, I do have the occasional idea for expanding its appeal, such as creating "stock" Portraits and selling them for less than the cost of regular Portraits.
The idea is that there's a ready-made image that gets customized by simply drawing the customer's face into the Portrait. I know I've talked about this before, and even requested some suggestions for stock Portraits.
Anyway, the other day I came up with an idea for a stock Portrait that's outside of the standard fantasy/science fiction/comic book genres, and actually took the time to draw it.
And here it is:
It's a rather iconic image (apart from the random background I dropped in), and I imagine there would be a fair number of women who would like to have themselves dropped in such a way - and probably even more men who would like to see this done with the women in their lives.
I don't know if there's a male equivalent image. Anything similar, I think, would just be straying into genres and presenting men as specific characters.
Anyway, I've had some ideas for other stock Portraits along these lines, including, for the more daring, one of the similarly iconic Playboy shots of MM.
Oh, and in case it isn't as obvious as I think it is, the point of the question mark over the face is to give the idea that anyone could be drawn into it, not to say, "Hey, guess who this is!"
In any case, while there isn't often much follow-through, I do have the occasional idea for expanding its appeal, such as creating "stock" Portraits and selling them for less than the cost of regular Portraits.
The idea is that there's a ready-made image that gets customized by simply drawing the customer's face into the Portrait. I know I've talked about this before, and even requested some suggestions for stock Portraits.
Anyway, the other day I came up with an idea for a stock Portrait that's outside of the standard fantasy/science fiction/comic book genres, and actually took the time to draw it.
And here it is:
It's a rather iconic image (apart from the random background I dropped in), and I imagine there would be a fair number of women who would like to have themselves dropped in such a way - and probably even more men who would like to see this done with the women in their lives.
I don't know if there's a male equivalent image. Anything similar, I think, would just be straying into genres and presenting men as specific characters.
Anyway, I've had some ideas for other stock Portraits along these lines, including, for the more daring, one of the similarly iconic Playboy shots of MM.
Oh, and in case it isn't as obvious as I think it is, the point of the question mark over the face is to give the idea that anyone could be drawn into it, not to say, "Hey, guess who this is!"
75%
Taxes? Filed.
Hair? Cut.
Groceries? Shopped.
Chiropractor? Still needs to be cracked.
So out of the mere four things I intended to do with my day off I only accomplished three, but hey, 75% isn't too bad for me.
The reason I'm not at 100% is that when I finished getting my taxes done I forgot about going to my Chiropractor's office and headed off to get a haircut. Then I stopped to have lunch, as it was just a little before noon. When I sat down and ordered I remembered about the Chiropractor, and then remembered that the office hours are 9 to noon and 3 to 6.
D'oh.
At least I had a cute waitress. Not that it really mattered, but it's always a nice surprise, given that I usually end up getting a waiter even when the waitress:waiter ratio is 10:1.
After I'd finished eating and she came to take away my plate and utensils, she asked, "Can I get you anything else?"
I never considered actually saying it, but the cheesy line "Just your phone number" popped into my head. I then wondered if there are guys in the world who can successfully use cheesy lines like that. I concluded that there must be, but that there's no chance that I'm one of them.
After that I went grocery shopping and...man, I forgot how nice it is to go grocery shopping in the early afternoon on a weekday.
I delightedly walked through the unobstructed aisles at a leisurely pace. It was awesome. Weekday shopping FTW.
I've considered the notion of heading out to the Chiropractor during the afternoon hours, but I'm already home and settled in, so I don't think that's going to happen. I'll probably swing by on my way home from work tomorrow.
Besides the fact that I'm settled in, it's cold out there. I mean, I'm accustomed to sub-zero temperatures, and we're well above zero here, but there is a vicious, cold, biting wind out there that I just don't feel like dealing with.
And, since I don't have to, I'm not going to.
As for my taxes, I'm getting a pretty substantial refund, though not as substantial as last year's.
Initically I couldn't figure out why that was. After all, while I did make more money last year than I did in the previous year I also paid out more in interest.
Or so I thought. Turns out I paid less. That didn't make sense to me when I actually thought about it. After all, in 2007 there were a few months in which I wasn't a homeowner and wasn't paying any interest, and my current mortgage is much bigger than the one on my condo.
Then I figured it out. On my house I only have one mortgage at a fixed rate. On my condo I had an 80/20 split, with the Home Equity Line of Credit being an adjustable rate. So I actually paid out a lot more in interest on the condo than I'm currently paying on the house.
I also had fewer before taxes deductions last year, as I put less into my Flex account, and it took a few months for them to straighten out my 401K, so I wasn't paying into that for the whole year.
Oh well. It's still a lot of money.
In any case, I need to turn this Monday into a Sunday, by which I mean I need to do the laundry.
Hair? Cut.
Groceries? Shopped.
Chiropractor? Still needs to be cracked.
So out of the mere four things I intended to do with my day off I only accomplished three, but hey, 75% isn't too bad for me.
The reason I'm not at 100% is that when I finished getting my taxes done I forgot about going to my Chiropractor's office and headed off to get a haircut. Then I stopped to have lunch, as it was just a little before noon. When I sat down and ordered I remembered about the Chiropractor, and then remembered that the office hours are 9 to noon and 3 to 6.
D'oh.
At least I had a cute waitress. Not that it really mattered, but it's always a nice surprise, given that I usually end up getting a waiter even when the waitress:waiter ratio is 10:1.
After I'd finished eating and she came to take away my plate and utensils, she asked, "Can I get you anything else?"
I never considered actually saying it, but the cheesy line "Just your phone number" popped into my head. I then wondered if there are guys in the world who can successfully use cheesy lines like that. I concluded that there must be, but that there's no chance that I'm one of them.
After that I went grocery shopping and...man, I forgot how nice it is to go grocery shopping in the early afternoon on a weekday.
I delightedly walked through the unobstructed aisles at a leisurely pace. It was awesome. Weekday shopping FTW.
I've considered the notion of heading out to the Chiropractor during the afternoon hours, but I'm already home and settled in, so I don't think that's going to happen. I'll probably swing by on my way home from work tomorrow.
Besides the fact that I'm settled in, it's cold out there. I mean, I'm accustomed to sub-zero temperatures, and we're well above zero here, but there is a vicious, cold, biting wind out there that I just don't feel like dealing with.
And, since I don't have to, I'm not going to.
As for my taxes, I'm getting a pretty substantial refund, though not as substantial as last year's.
Initically I couldn't figure out why that was. After all, while I did make more money last year than I did in the previous year I also paid out more in interest.
Or so I thought. Turns out I paid less. That didn't make sense to me when I actually thought about it. After all, in 2007 there were a few months in which I wasn't a homeowner and wasn't paying any interest, and my current mortgage is much bigger than the one on my condo.
Then I figured it out. On my house I only have one mortgage at a fixed rate. On my condo I had an 80/20 split, with the Home Equity Line of Credit being an adjustable rate. So I actually paid out a lot more in interest on the condo than I'm currently paying on the house.
I also had fewer before taxes deductions last year, as I put less into my Flex account, and it took a few months for them to straighten out my 401K, so I wasn't paying into that for the whole year.
Oh well. It's still a lot of money.
In any case, I need to turn this Monday into a Sunday, by which I mean I need to do the laundry.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Yes, Because I ALWAYS Keep My Teeth In The Refrigerator*
Even though I have tomorrow off specifically for the purpose of going out into the world while there will be fewer people congesting the streets and store aisles, for some reason, after talking to my mother this morning, I decided to venture out.
I credit masochism as the primary reason for making this decision.
In any case, while I was out and about I figured I’d head to Circuit City to check out their going out of business sale.
That carcass has been pretty well picked clean, but there were still quite a few scavengers slurping up its marrow.
The ads – and the signs people were holding up on the roadside – said that there were savings of up to 60%, but I didn’t see anything like those numbers. Most things were at about 30% off (though I suppose it’s possible that they’d already been marked down by 30% before being further reduced).
As I said, there really wasn’t much left, and what was left was still too damned expensive even after the markdowns.
I did see some good deals on digital photo frames, and considered picking one or two up, but then I thought, “Meh.”
If I were more into photography I would have been interested in the markdowns on the few remaining DSLR cameras, as there were some bargains to be found there. But I barely take any pictures with the camera I do have, so I couldn’t justify dropping $400+ on a camera that I’d be unlikely to use, even if it was a hell of a bargain.
After leaving there I swung by Wal-Mart and was dismayed by the filled to overflowing parking lot, until I saw that huge sections of the lot are actually closed off for some sort of construction project. Still, while the store wasn’t as packed as it at first appeared it would be, there were far too many people there, and I quickly picked up the few things I’d gone there to get.
I came thisclose to saying to someone, “Really? You really need to stand right there with your cart turned sideways while you just idly stare off into space? Really?”
The lady who decided that blocking off the cleaning supplies aisle while arguing with her husband on her cell phone narrowly avoided a similar stinging remark, if for no other reason than that the orange track suit she was wearing made her look like a pumpkin.
I neglected to mention in any of my earlier posts that Wednesday saw the return of Riff Trax Night, though Scott and I didn’t actually watch a Riff Trax movie.
Instead we watched Marvel’s latest animated offering Hulk Vs., which had two separate features, Hulk vs. Wolverine, and Hulk vs. Thor.
Overall it was a damn sight better than most of Marvel’s other animated offerings, which, while generally okay, are considerably weaker than DC’s (despite DC’s maddening – and perplexing – insistence on not producing the animated feature based on The Judas Contract), and even held up pretty well in comparison to their Distinguished Competition.
Hulk vs. Wolverine, in particular, was damned entertaining. Much moreso than Hulk vs. Thor, though that’s not really a slight on that feature, which was also pretty entertaining, it’s just that Hulk vs. Wolverine was especially good.
After that we watched an old episode of MST3K featuring the Edward D. Wood, Jr. classic Bride of theAtom Monster. I’d wanted us to watch that one for a while because it is especially entertaining, but also because it gave me the opportunity to show off some of my knowledge of Ed Wood trivia (“That chick was Ed’s girlfriend at the time and she was supposed to have had the lead female role.”).
It will be Riff Trax all the way next time, though, and I’ll take this opportunity towarn inform Scott that he’s in for a real treat.
Also, does anyone know if Pizza Hut – or “The Hut,” as they seem to be calling themselves of late – has changed their pizza sizes? Because I have difficulty believing that what we were presented with was actually a Large.
Speaking of food, while I grabbed lunch at the McDonald’s in Wal-Mart, my stomach did that whole “Now that you’re trying to actually feed me I’m not hungry…but I will be as soon as you get rid of the food I don’t want right now” thing, so I suppose I should start looking into my dinner options.
*I said this earlier today when I was getting ready to take a shower. I was intending to grab my partial plates to put them cleaning while I was taking a shower, but for some reason I went to the refrigerator to grab them, rather than the downstairs bathroom where I’d set them on the sink...which is where I really do keep them when not wearing or cleaning them.
I credit masochism as the primary reason for making this decision.
In any case, while I was out and about I figured I’d head to Circuit City to check out their going out of business sale.
That carcass has been pretty well picked clean, but there were still quite a few scavengers slurping up its marrow.
The ads – and the signs people were holding up on the roadside – said that there were savings of up to 60%, but I didn’t see anything like those numbers. Most things were at about 30% off (though I suppose it’s possible that they’d already been marked down by 30% before being further reduced).
As I said, there really wasn’t much left, and what was left was still too damned expensive even after the markdowns.
I did see some good deals on digital photo frames, and considered picking one or two up, but then I thought, “Meh.”
If I were more into photography I would have been interested in the markdowns on the few remaining DSLR cameras, as there were some bargains to be found there. But I barely take any pictures with the camera I do have, so I couldn’t justify dropping $400+ on a camera that I’d be unlikely to use, even if it was a hell of a bargain.
After leaving there I swung by Wal-Mart and was dismayed by the filled to overflowing parking lot, until I saw that huge sections of the lot are actually closed off for some sort of construction project. Still, while the store wasn’t as packed as it at first appeared it would be, there were far too many people there, and I quickly picked up the few things I’d gone there to get.
I came thisclose to saying to someone, “Really? You really need to stand right there with your cart turned sideways while you just idly stare off into space? Really?”
The lady who decided that blocking off the cleaning supplies aisle while arguing with her husband on her cell phone narrowly avoided a similar stinging remark, if for no other reason than that the orange track suit she was wearing made her look like a pumpkin.
I neglected to mention in any of my earlier posts that Wednesday saw the return of Riff Trax Night, though Scott and I didn’t actually watch a Riff Trax movie.
Instead we watched Marvel’s latest animated offering Hulk Vs., which had two separate features, Hulk vs. Wolverine, and Hulk vs. Thor.
Overall it was a damn sight better than most of Marvel’s other animated offerings, which, while generally okay, are considerably weaker than DC’s (despite DC’s maddening – and perplexing – insistence on not producing the animated feature based on The Judas Contract), and even held up pretty well in comparison to their Distinguished Competition.
Hulk vs. Wolverine, in particular, was damned entertaining. Much moreso than Hulk vs. Thor, though that’s not really a slight on that feature, which was also pretty entertaining, it’s just that Hulk vs. Wolverine was especially good.
After that we watched an old episode of MST3K featuring the Edward D. Wood, Jr. classic Bride of the
It will be Riff Trax all the way next time, though, and I’ll take this opportunity to
Also, does anyone know if Pizza Hut – or “The Hut,” as they seem to be calling themselves of late – has changed their pizza sizes? Because I have difficulty believing that what we were presented with was actually a Large.
Speaking of food, while I grabbed lunch at the McDonald’s in Wal-Mart, my stomach did that whole “Now that you’re trying to actually feed me I’m not hungry…but I will be as soon as you get rid of the food I don’t want right now” thing, so I suppose I should start looking into my dinner options.
*I said this earlier today when I was getting ready to take a shower. I was intending to grab my partial plates to put them cleaning while I was taking a shower, but for some reason I went to the refrigerator to grab them, rather than the downstairs bathroom where I’d set them on the sink...which is where I really do keep them when not wearing or cleaning them.
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