And Boy It Is Good To Be Back

A couple of months ago my computer started occasionally making a grinding noise.
I figured it was probably the fan on the power supply, but as it would go away after a shutdown and restart and go long stretches of time before it would come back, I resolved to not worry about it too much and that I would eventually get around to replacing it if/when it started recurring more frequently.
Monday night my screen flickered a couple of times and Windows informed me that my graphics driver had crashed and recovered. I knew there was a new driver available, so I decided that on Tuesday I would install it.
On Tuesday I came home and found that my computer was at the login screen, as it had installed some automatic updates and rebooted. I logged in, then went downstairs to watch some TV. Some time later I got back to the computer and was greeted with this:



Not good. So I logged in and found that my desktop looked even worse, and that there was a message saying that Windows had recovered from an unexpected shutdown. Straining my eyes to make out where things were through the crappy low color and low resolution and the assorted lines, I downloaded and installed the new graphics driver, then rebooted.
When the Dell start up screen appeared, looking just as terrible, and it was failing to display anything at all on my Cintiq, I realized that this wasn't a driver issue.
Looking online using one of my other computers, I confirmed that the graphics card had gotten fried, and that the most likely culprit was an overheating power supply.
*Sigh*
So I realized that if I had replaced the power supply back when the problem first made itself manifest, I would have only had to replace the power supply, whereas now I had to replace the power supply and the graphics card.
So I did some more Googling and finally determined, after reading a lot of conflicting theories, that any ATX power supply would work in my Dell. Some people said that Dell uses a proprietary power supply, others said they didn't. Finally I found some people for whom it wasn't just a theory, as they had the same system I do and had replaced their power supplies with non-Dell versions.
I didn't really do much research on graphics cards. I'm not a gamer, so I didn't need the latest and greatest. My primary concern was that the replacement, like the card it was replacing, had two DVI connections to support my two monitors.
Last week Scott and I had decided to actually go to a movie - The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassas - in lieu of Riff Trax night. As the only time/location that worked for us was a 7:10 showing, I asked him if he wanted to come up a bit early and help me replace the power supply and card before the movie.
He ended up getting here a bit too late for us to do that before the movie - especially since I still had to buy the parts - so we met Casey, who was also going to the movie, at the Best Buy in Sterling, where I bought the parts. We then ate dinner, went to the movie, then Scott and I came back to my house to do the replacement work.
(Note: Scott did pretty much all of the work.)
The power supply did fit, though not perfectly - it's a bit small, but that's preferable to being too big - but there was an issue with one of the connections to the motherboard. The old supply had a four-pin connector plugged into the motherboard, a four-pin connector that the new power supply lacked. However, Scott noted that the eight-pin connector looked as though it was designed to plug into that four-pin connection on the motherboard - four of the eight pins had the right size and shape, and the other four would just sit off to the side not connected to anything. We weren't sure if we should proceed. Was that an intentional, generic design, so that the cable could plug into motherboards that had an eight-pin or four-pin connection? We didn't know, but decided to be bold and plug it in and just hope that it wouldn't fry anything.
Putting in the card - an ATI Radeon HD 4850 - was something of a comedy of errors, as we were conviced that it wasn't seated properly, but the bulky fan and heat sink case around the card prevented us from pulling the card back out, as it wouldn't let us move the little lever locking the back of the card in place. After fiddling with it for a while, we decided it looked like maybe it really was solidly in place, and to take the machine back upstairs, plug it in, and hope for the best.

Below are some shots - one really blurry - of the Radeon card, with a quarter as a reference for scale. The thing is huge:





After plugging in and turning on the power supply - the new power supply has its own on/off switch - the light on the motherboard turned on (as it should), and nothing exploded, so I turned on the computer itself, which booted up normally.
Yay!
I'd only plugged in one of my monitors for the initial trial. The image was free of all of the artifacts that were present with the old card, so that was also good. The resolution was terrible, but that was fine and was what we expected, as Windows was using a generic VGA driver. As soon as Windows loaded, it said that it had to restart in order to apply the changes made (Windows had installed an ATI driver; again, to be expected).
It shut down normally, and then started back up...but there was nothing displaying on the monitor.
Dammit.
Eventually I shut it down, restarted it again, and the same thing happened; the computer started up normally, but wasn't displaying anything.
After a lot of fiddling around we found that the monitors weren't getting a proper connection, as the plug was catching on the side of the case at the opening for the ports. Scott managed to get them securely connected, and both monitors began to display. I adjusted the resolution and display settings, and, voila! Back in business.
In frustration while working on the computer, Scott said, "Computers suck! Why do we even like them?"
I wasn't able to provide an answer.
Later, I let out a frustrated sigh/groan, and Scott asked, "What was that for? The computer, or life in general?"
I said, "Life in general, I guess, but then again, that computer pretty much is my life."
This morning on my drive in to work, I was listening to Liz Phair, and the song Fine Again came on. As I was listening to it, I realized, with considerable amusement, that the song pretty much provides the answer to the question that Scott posed.
And so, I will close this post with a video of Liz performing a song about me and my computer. (Note: While Liz sounds fine, the audio for this video isn't great, and the audience is pretty obnoxious, but it's the only one I could find.)

Pleading The Fifth (Of May)

Happy Pico de Gallo Cinco de Mayo from Threshold and Liz Phair!

Lack Of Posts

I haven't been posting much of late, as I've been messing around with getting the whole computer situation straightened out. After getting everything up and running, I was left to figure out a plan for organizing data across my 3+ terabytes worth of drives, and spending hours and hours transferring said data around.
I thought that, having finally finished that, I'd be free to, you know, actually do stuff on my computers (like blogging, for example), but then I realized that I still have a bunch of apps and utilities to get installed...
So, in the meantime, and for no particular reason, here's Liz Phair:
...
...
...or not. Every worthwhile video - and in particular the one I was going to post - has embedding disabled.
Thanks for sucking, Internet.
Well, here's a - *sigh* - link to the video I wanted to post (A link? What is this, the time of Charlemagne?): Everything To Me
Two things of note about the video:

1. I happen to think that Liz looks especially good in it. Must be getting plenty of H.W.C.
2. In the HD version of this video Liz provides a lot of random upskirt shots.

oh, and...
3. I've probably made the same comments about this video in some post in the past.
4. Yes, I know that's actually three things of note about the video, but I decided on calling it two, and I'm sticking with it.
5. Shut up. Even with four things, and now five things, I'm still sticking with two.

I See London, I See France...

I hadn't done a picture of Liz Phair in a while, so...

Then The Russian Army Dundudunda....

When I got home today I had a mild headache, so after watching last night's episode of The Venture Bros. on the DVR I decided to take a nap.
The nap got rid of my mild headache. Unfortunately, it did so by transforming it into a major headache, the kind of oppressive headache that makes your neck hurt and makes you feel sick to your stomach.
So, given that watching the letters swimming around on the screen is intensifying the pounding of my head, I think I'll draw this entry to a close.
Oh, and the title of this post has nothing to do with the recent conflict between Russia and Georgia. It's a line from the song Headache by Liz Phair. It seemed appropriate.
(One of the things I like about the song is the lazy, listless way in which she sings it, as though she's singing it while she has a headache. The nicest touch is in the line quoted, when she actually mumbles.)

Travelogue Tidbits

There were a couple of things I meant to mention but forgot in my lengthy post about my trip home, so, lacking anything more interesting to write about, I’m mentioning them now.
I was flying into Chicago at night when my iPod shuffled to the Liz Phair song Stratford-On-Guy, which starts out with the line “I was flying into Chicago at night.”
The coincidence amused me much more than it probably should have.
Male flight attendants, I learned, appear to be frustrated stand up comics who like to take advantage of the fact that they have captive audiences when making in-flight announcements. The problem is that they’re not funny. I understand that it must be monotonous to have to say the same things over and over again, but that’s no reason to take it out on us. We’re already suffering, and don’t need to have your “funny” voices or endless bread-related puns added to our misery.
In Indianapolis, on my way to Michigan, I saw a woman in a skintight black dress, a white jacket, and sexy black and white patent leather pumps that gave off the impression of some kind of retro 1950s pin-up. It was a really good look on her…twenty years and forty pounds ago.
The sight of it inspired me to create this cruel and probably misogynistic image:



Yes, yes, I know; I’m no prize pig myself, but on the other hand I don’t go around dressing as though I think I am, do I? In fact, if anything I dress to accentuate the fact that I know that I’m not.
I was going to just use an image of some random MILF-wannabe, but with Sex & The City being the number one movie in the country, this seemed more appropriate.
(And for the record, Kristin Davis? Still smoking hot, and way hotter than any of the others were even in their prime.)
After I bought a sandwich from Subway, the only source of food in the concourse I was on, I was looking for a place to sit and eat in the overcrowded seating area and noted that the woman in the tight black dress – who, unlike the ladies of S&TC, did not have the benefit of make-up artists and soft focus – was looking up at me rather expectantly from her table. I said, “Do you mind if I sit here?”
To some guy sitting at a different table.

Victory On TWO Fronts Or Secretly I'm Timid

By the time I went to bed last night I had completed all of the components of the Heroic Portrait request and figured out how I was going to put them all together, meaning that all I had to do today was actually put them together and perform a few touch-ups.
As this wouldn’t require the same sort of extensive use of my eyes that drawing all of the pieces had, I decided that after a week off of them I would give my Gentle Molding lenses another shot.
The lack of searing agony and vampire/mogwai/gremlin-like aversion to bright light meant that my eyes have finally sufficiently recovered that I can get back to wearing the lenses with regularity and be done with my glasses once more.
So that meant that I had achieved success on two fronts – finishing the picture and being able to wear my lenses again.
It’s weird; I’m not used to achieving success on even one front.
Calling the Heroic Portrait a success may be a little premature, though, as I’ve yet to hear back from the customer as to whether or not it’s suitable. Still, for good or ill, I did actually complete the picture, so in that regard it is a success.
(I’ll post the picture once I get an e-mail saying “It’s great!” or “You suck!” If it’s the latter response, I’ll post it so that you can judge my level of suckitude for yourselves, and if it’s the former, to show it off.)
I woke up early on Thursday morning, so, lacking anything better to do, I left work early, and, as a result, left work a little earlier than usual.
That night I decided to check my work e-mail and saw that I had an e-mail from my boss that had come in just as I was shutting everything down.
It was an invitation to a meeting on Friday. With his boss.
Given that there was no indication of what the meeting was about, I, quite naturally, got a little anxious. I mean, a meeting with my boss’ boss with no defined agenda is a little troubling.
Still, I clicked on the “Accept” button to add it to my calendar and to send a response back saying that I’ll be there.
A few minutes later I got an e-mail from my boss saying, “FYI – this is a cover meeting,” and telling me not to tell any of the other people invited to the meeting (I hadn’t noticed that everyone else on his team was also invited. If I had, the anxiety level wouldn’t have been so high in the first place.)
It turns out that there really was no meeting with the boss’ boss; it was a ruse to get us all together so that my boss could bring in this cheesecake he sometimes makes that the other people on the team are always complaining that he never brings in to share.
So that was a relief.
Friday was actually the first morning all week on which I didn’t wake up before my alarm went off, so when I heard music as I was lying there sleeping I was wondering why. It took a couple of minutes for me to figure out that the reason I was hearing Chopsticks was that it was time to get up.
And yes, I was awoken by Chopsticks, that piano lesson standard, playing on my iPod.
Sort of.
It’s actually a song by Liz Phair, in which she sings in a low monotone to the tune of a slowed-down version of Chopsticks, with a smattering of guitar feedback.
It goes like this:

I met him at a party and he told me how to drive him home
He said he liked to do it backwards I said that’s just fine with me
That way we can fuck and watch TV
It was 4 AM and the light was gray like it always is in paperbacks
He asked if I liked playing Jacks
I told him that I was good to sixes but all hell broke loose after that
I told him that I knew Julia Roberts when I was twelve at summer camp
We didn’t say anything after that
I dropped him off and I drove on home ‘cause secretly I’m timid

Rubbing It In Department:
In the Comments on a recent post, Scott mentioned that he misses Fables.
Just to be an ass, I’m going to rub it in and say that the issue I bought last week, which saw the conclusion of the storyline entitled “The Good Prince,” was awesome. Sure, it goes without saying – it’s Fables, after all – but this issue in particular was at even higher levels of awesomeness than usual. Like, way higher.
Sorry Scott, but it had to be mentioned, and you probably read the review on Chris’s Invincible Super-Blog anyway, which, among other things, says:

Let’s be real here for a second, folks: this is probably the single best comic book on the market today, and with “The Good Prince,” Willingham, Buckingham, and Leialoha have not only given us the happiest ending that the series has seen so far, but what might just be the best story of the run. Admittedly, it’s tough to beat Homelands (my reigning favorite), but starting with the shift in last year’s Christmas issue–and 1001 Nights of Snowfall before it–they’ve given us an incredible character arc that wraps up every bit as beautifully as it looks. It’s phenomenal stuff.

(Emphasis mine)
For a while now I’ve been posting little bits about Why I Love Fables, and there’s a reason that I do it: it deserves the attention.
If you read comics and aren’t reading Fables, shame on you. If you don’t read comics, you should start just so you can read Fables.
It really is that good.

That’s going to do it for this entry. I’ll be back later with a Keyword Kraziness post. (I promise!)
Oh, and for anyone interested, the episode of The Simpsons featuring, among other comic book personalities, Alan Moore, will be re-airing tonight on Fox.

Who Are You Calling A Dummy?

Here's the result of a tutorial I did yesterday.
The focus of the tutorial was on designing a "dummy" of a product for a presentation, and the product in question was a Lyra MP3 player. I added my own touch by having it playing a Liz Phair song and displaying the album art (which in this case is my drawing of the original album art) rather than just showing the generic image and text that the tutorial author provided for use.



I think it turned out pretty well. The tutorial was fairly complex, and the written instructions were somewhat lacking (I find that they usually are with most tutorials, as many of them seem to be written by non-native English speakers, and the rest are written by people who are better designers than they are writers), so I had to draw on my own experience to kind of fill in some of the gaps, which is good in a way, I guess.

Just Because I Think Liz Looks REALLY Good In This Video

(And I'm afraid that the answer to her question is no, though I think that has rather more to do with her than with me.)

Random Nonsense

Because I have to wait for the guy from what I laughingly refer to as my cable company to get here, I haven't been able to do much today.
(All I would have been doing is going to the comic book shop and maybe like Super-Target or something, but that's not the point)
So, despite the fact that I don't really have anything to post about, I am trying to avoid working on a picture I started yesterday that I thought would be cool but is turning out to be more of a pain in the ass than I'm willing to deal with, I thought I'd post some of the random stupid crap I've done in recent weeks.
First up is the result of a tutorial that I did at work on Saturday and which I used as an opportunity to do something stupid to make Brian laugh:



Next is a silhouette of Liz Phair that I drew a while ago.



And finally, this thing that I did earlier today:



And there you have it, your recommended daily allowance of random stupid crap.

Why Do I Always Have To Be So Negative?

I've added a new picture to my PicasaWeb album, and am now trying out the embedding feature here:

From Artwork

Looks like it worked.
The picture itself is a "negative space" exercise using a picture of Liz Phair as the reference.
Given that the source image was a high chontrast black and white picture with very little gray, I probably could have achieved very much the same effect by simply adjusting the Levels and Brightness and Contrast of the photo rather than drawing my own copy, but where's the fun in that?
Hmm, come to think of it, where's the fun in drawing my own copy?
Oh well.

A Phair Effort

Last week I started working on a picture of Jessica Simpson, but set it aside because I decided it was going to be much more of a pain in the ass than I was prepared to deal with.
So instead I started working on a picture that I've been meaning to do for quite some time, a picture that turned out to be 17,000 times more of a pain in the ass than the Jessica picture would have been, which is why I didn't get it finished until today.
And here it is, my "cover" of the cover of Liz Phair's self-titled 2003 album.
I hope that the fact that it was a lot of work shows, because damn, this was a lot of work. The hair alone was a nightmare, to say nothing of the guitar...
Anyway, you know the drill.