Digital Thursday

Okay, I know it is late, but i did not have much time to work on anything until just now. (SEE YESTERDAY'S POST)

Anyhoo... I am trying to get back in the swing of the whole digital art thing.

Here is a 90 minute painting.

and here is the reference.

To recap:
Damn it is late
Listening to Mandlebrot Set by Johnathan Coulton
Have a great weekend everyone

Sleep

Q is having some difficulties staying asleep at night. At first we thought it was because she was gassy. After administering some antigas medicine. That was not the issue. Then we thought that she might be in the midst of some teething discomfort due to the crooked smile and massive amounts of drooling. We gave her some Motrin. That was not the issue as well. Then we thought that maybe she was having a mild allergic reaction. We gave her some Benadryl. That was not the issue either.

It turns out that her body is trying to stand up in her sleep and that is waking her up. Great. How do you help a baby sleep through that?

To recap:
Q wants to stand on her own much more than she is
At least subconsciously
I WILL have some thing for Digital Thursday tomorrow
Listening to Little Man repeatedly yell "FLLLLY AWAAAAAY" while throwing a parachute toy
Kill me now

20 Questions Tuesday: 134 - Scheduling Conflicts

As I said yesterday I am re-applying myself to more of a routine. In that regard I have decided that today’s topic would be “Schedule,” because I need to get one.

Thanks this week go to a whole bunch of folk who sent on questions. Lsig, The-Person-Formally-Known-As-Lord-Pithy, Sparky, Capt McArmypants, John P, Dr Clean, Nadolny, and Riley. There were so many questions that I glommed some together where I felt it appropriate. On to the questions:

1. Is it better to have a schedule and get hopelessly behind, or not to have a schedule at all and be utterly aimless?
I think it is better to have some kind of framework. It helps to focus energy at least in a general direction. When you become a slave top the schedule is when things go bad really quickly.

2. Are the kids on strict schedules for eating and/or sleeping? So what do you make of that whole Babywise scheduling thing?
The kids are on a pretty routine schedule, but I would not say that it is a strict schedule by any means. Little Man was on a pretty strict schedule for a bit, but that did not seem to work well with 2 working parents (I guess that is not an issue right now, but I digress). As far as the whole Babywise thing, I think it helps young kids to have some kind of routine, but feeding on demand is still a necessity to teach kids not to “clean their plates” at a scheduled meal-time, but to respond to their own internal mechanisms.

3. Scheduling classes was such a big deal in college. Any success or horror stories about your schedule? What was your preferred college class schedule – more classes on fewer days so you had bigger chunks of free time or sprinkle classes over all 5 days?
I never understood what the dogmatic adherence to early morning classes was about. Most profs did not like them, and few students really wanted to be doing upper level math at 7:45 am. I tended to try and load up on 2 or three days and give myself some free-time on the remaining days.

4. Do you schedule "dates" with the lovely Wifey? Do you schedule date nights with Wifey?
I told Wifey about this questions and she said you should answer “Fuck Off!” I will defer to her.

5. Allowing for at least 8 hours in the office, what would your ideal work schedule be? If it was yours to choose and you still had to work approximately 8 hours/day, what would be your dream work schedule start and end time? Most "schedules" run on an 8am-5pm basis for work things. What would your ideal schedule layout be?
Hours 1 through 4: aimlessly looking at webcomics, getting caught up on news sites and blogs
Hours 4 through 5: lunch meeting
Hours 5 though 7: Griping with co-workers about clients and tasks from the meeting
Hours 7 through 7.5: doing work
Hours 7.5 through 8: Griping with co-workers about amount of work that needs to get done tomorrow
Hmmm… maybe there is a reason I was let go?
Workwise I was very good at a 9 to 5 schedule, with my strongest productivity in the mid-afternoon, but my ideal would be from 11 am to 7 pm.

6. If you had a magic calendar that would bring true any appointment you wrote in, what would be your first appointment? What has been your favorite calendar you’ve ever owned?
Lottery commission. 1997 is my favorite, so far.

7. Do you write appointments in ink or pencil? Assuming your answer is pencil, what color “lead”?
At best it is in pencil, if in pencil it is a mechanical pencil with HB lead.

8. Now that you don’t have to show up at an office, are you staying up later, sleeping in? Are you now a morning, night or mid-afternoon person now?
I am staying up a little later than when I was working now, but I am typically still getting up when Little Man makes me (at latest 8 am). Again, my best productivity is mid-afternoon, but my most creative time is between 10 pm and 2 am.

9. What is currently on your required TV viewing schedule?
Life, Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire, Secrets of the Dead, Monsterquest, and I will watch a TimeWarp or 2 when they are on.

10. When you plan appropriately, prepare in advance and try to keep to a schedule, you feel like you are betraying a younger, more carefree you, don't you? How do you measure time for your schedule…atomic clock, watch, sundial, height of the sun?
I am definitely betraying a younger carefree version of myself, but that self had less to accomplish in more time. I measure my time in an arbitrary time construct I call chronats.

11. What is your goal routine-wise? You want the wake up, proper breakfast, exercise, clean kitchen, take break, search internet for jobs or man bites dog articles, shower, shave, make list of chores for tomorrow..... or a must do this sometime tomorrow list?
More likely a must do this sometime before tomorrow list. See? I took what you gave me and twisted it slightly.

12. I find it easier to have a plan, than a schedule. Do you know what I mean?
I sure do.

13. Say you bought a Blackberry (mainly to check the train schedules and the interweb and the electronic mail) and then one day you actually did not have a pen and paper so you write yourself a reminder on the Blackberry calendar function and it works surprisingly well. It makes a beep and reminds you what you were supposed to do. So you file that away as "Well that worked well, but I am just not a Blackberry type of guy and then about 2 months later you realize you will be on vacation on a day when you have to give some one a call and you know you will forget because you know that you will be drunk/busy/asleep and that if you do not make this call you will forever have your name etched in the Big Eldritch Tome of the Terrible Persons, so you once again you use the calendar function. It goes off without a hitch, and you are like all man "that really is kinda handy!" So you use it more and more until it serves as about 30 % of your non-work related memory. In fact, if you include the fact that I don't know anyone's phone number anymore and I don't even know where the hell I live I …I mean…. you use the GPS function, it goes up to about 60% of once memorized personal use data. Anyway, would you be more concerned about the loss of your soul all cyber-hollow-man-esque
(see T.S. Elliot) or the loss of your functional memory? Also, how cool would it be if you could have one of these installed in your head with Tetris on it?
I would say the functional memory thing would be the thing I worry about most. Tetris would definitely be cool.

14. I have a schedule my office sets for me every day. Rarely does it work out as planned and these are professionals putting the thing together. My advice, just go with the flow my friend. Agree/disagree?
Agree.

15. What things will be included in you newly regimented regime? (art, gaming, The View)
Everyday I am devoting one hour to cleaning, one hour to sketching, one hour to computer art (so I can have something for Digital Thursday again), one hour to job searching, one hour to writing, and one hour to exercise of some kind. The rest of the day will be filled as the day occurs.

16. How long before you will begin to despise the new schedule? How long before you will abandon the new schedule?
Probably a week for both answers.

17. a)Does pronouncing it make the task seem more legitimate? b)How can Brits saying come out as pompous? c)You can say almost anything with a Brit aristocrat accent and sound pompous, why is that? d) I hate schedules. And even more the British pronunciation. Is this an indication of why I am not a success?
a) Yes
b) They are pompous, damnable empire
c) See above
d) Yes, yes it is.

18. You talked about needing a little more “discipline” in your life…what is the safety word? Why isn’t the safety word always “ouch”?
Not that kind of discipline. I haven’t been a bad boy, I do not need to be spanked. I always thought the safe word should be, “Stop, no seriously, Stop.”

19. Speaking of which, isn’t it horrible that people think the French surrender at the drop of a hat. It exasperates me. I can't stand it, I give up!
I know the French are from a proud nation, err, umm of France, that has a long and illustrious history of military might and conquest. Only the Germans skirting the Maginot Line by beating the ever living shit out of the Belgians created the climate where France had to surrender without much of a fight. Had Germany gone for a full frontal assault on France, WWII would have been a much different war. We should make fun of the French for being the unimaginative boobs that they are. A fence can't keep the neighbors dog out when it only protects the front yard.

20. Is Little Man doing any sports of post school activities yet? Those things seriously mess with the schedule
Not yet.

::FIVE BONUS QUESTIONS::
21. Do you prioritize the stuff you want to do, stuff you have to do, or do you reach a happy medium in your schedule?
I try for the happy medium… I try.

22. This is a boring topic, who thought it up?
I did, Jackass.

23. What is your favorite organizational tool?
The roulette wheel. If it lands on red nine I have to do a load of laundry. itis like a crappy drinking game, where instead of drinks I have to sort socks and stuff.

24. At what time in the morning will you wake up with your new schedule?
Same time Little Man gets me up every day. Most likely around 8 am (9 am on the weekends when I change his clock in the middle of the night).

25. Do you have any job interviews scheduled at this time?
Not a one, and I have applied at approximately 20 places.


To recap:
I still need to sketch tonight
I still need to do some digital work tonight
There is always laundry to do
Not enough time in the day
Ironic thing overheard recently: I had to fire my Zen Master
There are so many different levels of irony in that one
I count at least 6
Listening to Queens of the Stone Age doing No One Knows

Re-invigoration

The job hunt process has drug on like too small an anchor through delta sludge. While I do not feel completely stationary, there is not much movement to speak of as well. Every once and a while there feels like there is movement, but it is illusory and minimal if present. This is a bad economy to be looking for a job. It is an especially bad economy when you are looking for a career change.

These have been trying times for me and my waning motivation. I am not sure what it is that I would like to do, and that makes it difficult to come up with a plan of attack. It is difficult to accomplish a non-existent goal. Not that I haven’t done that before.

The point is, I started a practice of posting 4 days a week a while ago and I let that slip due to my lack of regimen. That is about to change. Get ready, people of the Internets, I have eaten my fiber and am now ready to be posting much more regularly.

To recap:
Ironic thing I have recently heard: You see, they do it much better because they do it scientistically
Wifey had some work in San Jose recently
Little Man, Q, and I went to meet her there
Q and Little Man were both ill on the flights back home
So for the 3 folks in row 26, I am sorry for your vomiting today
Not really, you were a bunch of ungracious asshats
Now you are a bunch of ungracious vomitous asshats
Listening to Q babble
She is just this side of saying “Mama”
Guess who is over the moon about that
20QTues is tomorrow

20 Questions Tuesday: 133 - Riley Interviewing Me (the revenge)

Sure it has been a while since I posted, but this unemployment thing is really getting in the way of having a schedule. That is something I will be attempting to take care of when I get back home from Sunny San Jose, California. There needs to be a bit of the regimen to my life, if I am ever going to get anything done.

Anyhoo… This week’s installment of 20 Questions Tuesday is the second part in the home and away series of interviews with Riley from All Rileyed Up. The first installment saw me giving her the 3rd degree with my blistering questions concerning Highlnder: The Series.

This time around Riley has given me the “old what for,” and turned the tables. It seems the hunter has become the hunted.

On to the questions!
1. Why did you start blogging?
I started as a way to get back into something that took creativity. My job at the time had just beaten me down again for wanting to attempt something that was innovative. I needed to re-awaken the creative side of me and create an outlet for that creativity

2. Did it work?
I think that it did work pretty well. It was not the creative outlet that I think I was looking for, but it did springboard me into a few online communities that have allowed me to stretch and grow creatively. So blogging has been my gateway drug to creativity.

3. What kinds of online communities? Writing ones? Graphic art ones? Something else?
Primarily artistic communities. The main one was "The Drawing Board" which brought me into a move appropriate for me artistic community at "Ten Ton Studios." The issue with The Drawing Board was that it could not handle sarcasm terribly well and Ten Ton seems to be made from it.

4. Ah, sarcasm. Also known as the lowest form of wit. Would you agree or disagree?
pfft! Sarcasm is one of the highest forms of wit, if done correctly. The problem is all the talentless hacks out there using sarcasm like a formulaic shotgun. I blame this on the whole "not" phenomenon.

5. Who do you think is to blame for starting the "not" phenomenon? Wayne's World?
More specifically Mike Meyers

6. So do you dislike Mike Myers in general or just hold the "not" thing against him?
I don't think I had anything specifically against Mike Meyers until he recently started making the same movie over and over and over and over and over... If he were able to create some new humor instead of dragging out the same set of jokes and pratfalls I think I would hold considerably less against him.

7. Did you see Love Guru?
I think I saw "enough" from the previews.

8. I imagine you made the right choice by avoiding it. I watched about the first 20 minutes before throwing in the towel. My husband thought it was funny though. But enough about Mike Myers. Are there any other SNL cast members/alum who you harbor ill will towards for impacting American pop culture in a negative way? (Personally, I'm not fond of those MacGruber commercials. And though it's not a cool thing to say right now, I've had enough of Tina Fey too.)
I have never quite understood the mass appeal of Adam Sandler

9. Personally, I'm part of the mass appeal. Adam Sandler is funny (or at any rate, used to be). He also appears to be a generally nice guy. I think if I was famous like him, I would totally put my circle of friends in all my movies. If you were going to make a movie, which of your friends and/or celebrities would be in it?
I do not want to suggest that Adam Sandler doesn't do some funny stuff, but the overwhelming adulation for him is a bit confusing. Hmmmm... If I were in a movie who would accompany me... it would have to be an epic movie with an ensemble cast of thousands
Friends: Wifey, Capt McArmypants, Dr B Dawg, Lord Pithy,
Celebs: Andy Richter, Most of the Muppets, Jack Black, Jim Gaffigan, Bruce Campbell, Nancy Travis, Lucy Liu (Little Man has a cute little crush on her because she was Viper in Kung Fu Panda), and throw in a swimsuit model.

10. I'm going to overlook the fact that I have not been inlcuded (don't give me that "but I said cast of thousands" argument) in favor of this question: Um, why Nancy Travis?
ummm... ah... Next question please

11. Wow. Now I'm fully intrigued. You should have just lied and said something like "I really loved Three Men and a Little Lady." Speaking of which, what did you ever make of that rumor that there was a ghost in Three Men and a Baby?
Sadly, my crush on Ms Travis started with, oddly enough, "So I married an Ax Murderer," which is the funniest Mike Meyers movie because it is all new material in that one. As for the ghost in Three Men and a Baby? I have seen the stills and the frame by frame stuff and honestly I find that it is inconclusive. I have not heard what anyone thinks of that since HD and digital came to the forefront. I would love to see what shows up with better scrutiny now.

12. Best line in "So I Married an Axe Murderer?"

Now, that was offside now, wasnnit? He'll be cryin' himself to sleep tonight on his huge pilla.

13. Excellent choice. On to other questions, did you celebrate Easter?
We had a nice meal with family and the kids each got a basket, but that was about it.

14. What would you say is the best use for leftover hard-boiled eggs?
Cobb Salad?

15. I just finished my second egg salad sandwich of the day and may have filled my egg quota for the day. So perhaps cobb salad tomorrow. Do you know why they call it Cobb salad?
I am only guessing here, but I suppose the first person to create the salad had the last name of Cobb. It seems that Wikipedia agrees with this guess.

16. What a boring origin. I was hoping for something wild and exciting, perhaps involving a train wreck or underground elves, dare I hope both? That sounds like the kind of question I would send you for your 20 questions. Speaking of which, I don't think I've ever asked you -- how did you come up with the idea of a 20 Questions Tuesday?
It started with not being able to come up with topics for posts, so I would scour the internets looking for questionnaires and such. Most of the early ones ended up being 20 questions long. Much like the game 20 Questions. I started doing it more often and then I started asking people I knew for 5 random questions a piece. Then I came up with topics for the questions because the people complained loudly about how hard it was to come up with 5 random questions. Then I made it a regular feature and thus 20 Questions Tuesday was born. So it shall be written, so it shall be done.

17. Are there any particular 20 Question Tuesday posts you are especially fond/proud of?
Hmmm... I honestly do not have a great gauge on what works with the 20QTues and what doesn't. I have really been enjoying the interviews. Those are fun. Either me interviewing or being interviewed. The ones about the family are fine ones as well, but if I were pressed to think of a particular one of the 132 20QTues's that I have done, am not sure I could come up with anything concrete.

18. Wow, that was a very roundabout way of saying no. I guess that's how it feels when people ask me to pick a favorite something or other. Have you ever considered interviewing a yeti hunter, and if so, what would you ask such a person?
I have tried to stay away from any actual cryptozoologists, mainly because I do not want to seem belittle the work that is being done by the actual scientist cryptozoologists and I do not want to interact with the crackpot bat-shit crazy cryptozoologists, what would I ask? So have you bagged a yeti... you know what I mean, *wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge*

19. Imho, I think that would be an excellent question to ask an actual scientist. Scientists have senses of humor too, you know (not to mention an appreciation for Monty Python references). On to your other enemy, The Hippo -- I was at the library today and saw they had put out stacks of poem-in-your-pocket cards (likely to celebrate National Poetry Month). One of the poems was "The Hippo," and went like this:

"A Head or Tail -- which does he lack?
I think his Forward's coming back!
He lives on Carrots, Leeks and Hay;
He starts to yawn -- it takes All Day --

Some time I think I'll live that way."

--Theodore Roethke, "I am! Said the Lamb"

Any thoughts on this?
It burns

20. We are at question 20. For all my interviews, the last question is the same: anything else you'd like to say? (if you don't like that question, the alternate option is this: who is Wifey's Nancy Travis and how do you feel you measure in comparison?)
I think the burning fire of all consuming hate that I have towards the hippo is a good note to end on.


To recap:
Schedule will equal good
The 10 lbs I lost after losing my job have found their way back
And not in a good way
I am in San Jose until Friday
So if you are in San Jose, drop me a line via the email thingy
Maybe we could sit at a café or something and my un-employed self could watch you spend money on something as discretionary as a latte
Typing this while the kids are sleeping
Therefore I am not listening to anything
It may only be 11pm on Monday evening in San Jose, but it is Tuesday in Columbus!