Black Friday Randomness

On Tuesday before I left work I employed the "hovering" tactic on my boss before I left, which entails just kind of hanging out until she tells me what I want to hear.  In this case it was, "You might as well just take tomorrow off."
So far, with both this boss and my former boss, I believe the "hovering" approach has had a 100% success rate in either getting me what I want, whether it's permission to leave early or to not come in to work on the day before a holiday.
So, having Wednesday off, and knowing that, while it would still be bad - the zombie hordes already began descending on any and all retail outlets last weekend - going out into the world would be less bothersome on Wednesday than it would be on Saturday, I went out to do my grocery and comic shopping.
At the comic shop one of the customers asked about Black Friday deals, and the guy working there told him that the shop would be e-mailing special Friday offers to customers that evening.
When it came time for me to pay for my stack, he said, "We have your e-mail on file, right?"  I said, "Probably, but it doesn't matter - I don't go anywhere on Black Friday."
In the alternative, I considered saying, "E...mail?" and looking completely bewildered.

****

While I don't - and didn't - go anywhere on Black Friday, I did look at some of the online deals.  For the most part I wasn't impressed.
I did, however, very briefly toy with the notion of buying the Acer Iconia from the Microsoft Store, which was selling it at a steep - $400 off - discount.
I have to admit that I was tempted, not because I really need it, or even want it all that much, but simply because, well, as a concept, at least, it's pretty cool.
Mostly it reminds me of the late, lamented Courier concept that Microsoft so cruelly and unwisely killed before it even got out of the gate.  Seriously, Microsoft, I would have thrown money at you if you'd actually made the thing:




Anyway, I soon decided against buying it, despite the coolness, because, as mentioned, I don't have any particular need for it, it's far too bulky, its battery life is pathetic, and it doesn't have an active digitizer, which means that I wouldn't be able to use it like a portable Cintiq, which is the main thing I want in a tablet.
My current Tablet PC can, in theory, behave in that fashion, but in practice, setting aside the fact that the N-Trig digitizer seldom works at all, it never offered pressure-sensitivity (even it claims to do so).
At some point in the new year, I will most likely pick up a Samsung Series 7 Slate, which has a Wacom digitizer (same company that makes the Cintiq), and Samsung has stated that they intend to make it upgradeable to Windows 8.  In fact, it's been used as the reference machine for the Developer Preview of the next version of Windows.

****

I probably really ought to be working on my novel if I want to achieve my goal of actually finishing the thing - as opposed to simply achieving the 50,000 word challenge, which I've already done - before NaNoWriMo draws to a close, but...ehh.
I also ought to be finishing up the Heroic Portraits order that my boss placed (it's essentially done; I'm making some decisions about whether or not I want to make some additions before sending her the proof), or working on the standing, "no rush, just in time for one of the holidays" order I have from someone else.
And today I just got a challenging request from my friend Jamie which I should probably start on, but...again, ehh.

Y U No Draw?

Because it’s a thousand degrees outside.  Even with the A/C running it’s still pretty hot in my house, especially upstairs, and this is exacerbated by the fact that my Cintiq acts like a space heater.

If I try drawing, I may very well ignite.

The Best Laid Plans

When I decided to take two days off and make this a four-day weekend, my primary intention was to not do anything.
That's hardly unusual for me, I know, but you stick with what works.
Still, I had intended to spend a fair amount of the time doing some drawing. In fact, my plan for doing “nothing” was actually to do “nothing but drawing.”
That didn't happen on Friday, of course, as I spent much of the day out doing things, and then most of the evening watching TV, so Saturday was my target day for getting started on doing nothing but drawing.
Of course, it was easier to just do nothing, so I found myself putting off the drawing, eventually settling down to start watching The Venture Bros. Season 3 and putting off the whole drawing thing, figuring I had plenty of time.
On the DVD releases of previous seasons of The Venture Bros., the broadcast censorship - bleeped out swear words, pixelated or black-barred nudity - were carried over.
However, when I watched the first episode and heard the Monarch say “fucking” instead of “bleeping,” I realized that such was not the case this time around. I wondered if it was Blu-ray thing, so I sent Scott a text asking if the DVD version was also uncensored. He responded back that he thought so, and wondered how bad it was. I responded back with some examples of language and nudity, and somewhere along the line in the text conversation he said that Stacy wanted to invite me over for haystacks dinner. I said that I didn’t know what that was, and he responded with the details - the incorrect details - and I decided to think about it.
On the one hand, I’d have to shower, get dressed, and drive to Manassas. On the other, I wouldn’t have to bother feeding myself, and leaving the house gave me a good excuse to not do any of the drawing that I’d supposedly intended to do.
While I was deliberating, Stacy called to telephonically twist my arm, and I decided to make the trek.
After dinner we headed downstairs to see if there was anything worth watching on Pay-Per View, and discovered that there had been a Dead Like Me movie released this year, so we watched that.
The movie served as something of a coda - or possibly the first of more direct-to-DVD sequels to come - to the late, lamented series that was taken from us far too soon.
Overall it was entertaining, but it was kind of weird. Mandy Patinkin did not reprise his role as Rube, nor did Laura Harris reprise her role as Daisy. While they were wise enough to not have another actor replace Patinkin, they did bring in someone else to replace Harris, which, along with the lack of a Stewart Copeland soundtrack, added to the overall weirdness.
Still, it was good to see some old friends once again.
After that the dog dander was starting to get to me, so I headed home, and actually did start doing some drawing, and I spent most of today doing the same.
I haven’t really managed to draw anything I’d be willing to post, as I’ve mostly been doing some experimenting to get used to the Cintiq. While it’s a more natural interface than the tablet, it’s taking me a while to unlearn the habits I picked up using the tablet, and getting used to actually watching what my hand is doing - and getting used to my hand sometimes obscuring my view of what I’m drawing.
Still, I’ll keep at it, and eventually I’ll probably crank out something worth posting.

If Life Is But A Dream, Why Am I So Tired?

Today has been about as exciting as a typical Sunday.
I got up, sat around for a while, talked to my mom, ate lunch, and then took a nap.
During the nap I kept dreaming that I had woken up, only to realize that I was still asleep.
Eventually I really did wake up – Or did I? Oooh, trippy! – and got started on the laundry, sat around for a while longer, then started writing this.
I don’t actually have to go anywhere today, as I took care of all of that yesterday, and as Fox is airing a 24 movie tonight, I don’t have to take the time to watch TV, which is why I decided to let myself take a nap, as not watching TV gives me a little extra time that I don’t normally have on Sundays.
Admittedly, there are all kinds of other things I could have done with my time, but napping seemed easier, even if it was less productive.
But honestly, what am I likely to do that’s actually “productive” anyway?
(As an aside, Word wants me to change the “that’s” in the above sentence to “that am.” Where does Word get its grammar suggestions, Bizarro World? “Jon, you no am write that sentence wrong!”)
I suppose I could be drawing or something, but…meh. There are – Or should that be there am, Word? – a lot of pictures I would like to draw, but I just don’t feel up to it.
I started on a picture last Sunday, and after putting a lot of effort into it and working on it for a couple of hours, realized that I still had a very long way to go before I would be even close to finishing, which kind of pissed me off, so I haven’t actually returned to it.
So, yeah.
In any case, I should probably get back to tending to the laundry.

Draw Your Own Conclusions

At Kathleen’s party, Scott made an observation: I haven’t posted a new drawing here in a long time.
It’s true; I haven’t.
Why? Well, I just haven’t been doing that much drawing lately.
Why not?
None of your damn business, that’s why!
*Cough*
Sorry about that.
What I meant to say was, “I don’t really know. It’s just one of those things. Sometimes I feel like drawing. Sometimes not so much.”
I also haven’t seen anything in a while that made me think, “Hmm, I should draw that,” and going back and looking at some of my unfinished pictures I can see why I’ve left them unfinished.
But somewhere along the line I suppose I should draw something, so for those of you (namely Scott) who are eager to see something new, all I can say is be patient; I’ll get around to it eventually.
Not much of note happened yesterday or today, so I don’t really have much to write about.
Maybe I’ll be more ambitious tomorrow.