Posted 1:35 PM by Tim
Tomorrow is Good Friday. That means no work for me. It also means the whole death of Jesus thing. I've always found the name "Good Friday" to be a tad misleading, but I can understand where it's coming from.

Tomorrow is also the day that a good friend of mine returns to Canada after months of being out of the country. That's so cool too. He's been hanging out in other countries and seeing just how much things are the same everywhere. Of course, he's only in the area for a short period. Far too short in my opinion, but I know that he's got to get back home. We've got some unfermented plans for now, which include all manner of undetermined fun.

Also up this weekend is Wayne. He's gonna shoot over to the house for the weekend and just hang out there. That means that I at least get a little practice for the Regionals tourney in April. Not a lot of time to practice for such a "major" event. I've got goals for this event too. Last year I went and did alright, going 4-2 or 4-3, probably 4-3. This year I'm looking to go at least 5-2. I'm gonna shoot for the top 40 spots, with an eye for top 20. That means building and practice. Though I'm not sure how I'm going to afford any of this.

I'm going to keep you all out of my tax life until its confirmed, but let me say that it is not looking good for me. We'll know soon enough.

Posted 2:00 PM by Tim
So I'm drinking more water now. It's good. And it's taking some time to adjust. I'm definately more hydrated, but I'm also feeling the effects of caffeine withdrawl. A bit of a headache, some sleep deprivation, and so forth. Basically running a little low overall.

The job is beginning to grate. Its still early, and it's not grating too badly, but I can feel it starting. Much like my commute. The tedium is getting to me, and just starting to build up on itself. Of course, this tends to happen to me in jobs, I'm just not sure why. The tolerance level is definately growing thin.

Posted 11:31 AM by Tim
Its the start of another lovely day today. Too bad I'm so tired. Long weekend hours and longer evenings lead me to being really sleepy today. I'll manage though.

I've been doing just a little bit of thinking about my health lately. This happens in small bursts, usually culminating in some change or other to my eating habits and thought processes when it comes to health. I like the idea of doing workouts that make sense, and adding more activity into my daily life. If I'm forcing myself to exercise, then it's easy to get off track. If I'm just making a few changes to what I'd be doing anyway, then it's not so bad, and I tend not to slip so much.

For example, using the stairs instead of the escalators. The underground is rife with escalators, but I decided I would ignore then whenever possible and only go with the stairs. This has been very successful for me, and in 2 months, I can tell that my legs are a little stronger, and I've lost about 5 pounds. I know, that's not much, but it's staying off, and I don't feel like I'm working for it. There's other good things from that too. First, the stairs are often uncrowded, and quicker than the escalators, and second, taking the escalator is now a pleasurable experience, which I occasionally reward myself with.

Another thing I've done for myself is to try to limit the fried foods I eat. I'm trying to remember to opt for subs, or chicken over beef and so forth. I haven't got the healthiest eating habits, but they're getting better. I've noticed that hamburgers just aren't as tasty anymore too.

What I've been thinking about lately are water, snacks and exercise. The water thing comes from the fact that I'm currently drinking about 4 cans of soda a day. I've switched to diet, caffeine-free soda, but it's still not good for me. I'm looking at phasing in water again. I used to drink just water, but slipped back to drinking a lot of pop. Snacks are also an issue. Because of my day, I'm finding that I'm eating at about 5AM, 11AM, and 7PM. Those make for some long, and hungry gaps between meals. I've got a friend who eats about 5 or 6 times a day, but much smaller meals. That's one way to go, but I'm not sure. Lately, I've been relying on snacks to fill the gap, and they've been things like chocolate, etc. I'm looking at maybe fruit as an alternative.

The last item is exercise. Woo. Like I said above, I don't like the idea of forcing myself to exercise. Sports, especially ones I like, though, don't seem forced to me. If only I could find time for some. I've found before that I like to lift weights. I'm not sure why - it probably appeals to the "masculine" image ingrained by culture or something. All the same, I like it, and I've got a pair of 5 pound free weights at home. I've been looking to grab 'em and do a little light workout with them. I've gotta be careful to balance it though, since I have injured my shoulder before (bad posture and all that doesn't help).

In other news, I've got some progress on the comic ideas. I've got names for 2 of three main characters, a bit of plot is fermenting in my head, and I bought a new mechanical pencil. I've just got to get started on this whole "drawing" thing, and we'll be off and running. :)

I've been mulling the update rate that I think I can handle. There's a lot of options. 7 days a week, 5 days a week, 3 days, 2 days, 1 day, bi-weekly, and monthly seem to be the most common. The extremes of that scale seem out of reach for me. The high end are far too frequent given the amount of time I have, and the low end seem too lazy a schedule for me to keep interested. I'm leaning towards the 1 or 2 times a week schedule, with once a week being far into the lead at this point. I figure that will give me 6 days to think of script, sketch, draw, ink, scan and compile a comic, with 1 day to doodle or do something else. I have no idea how long it might take me to do even one page. We'll see when I get started, right? Right.

Posted 5:42 PM by Tim
A few more thoughts for today. Reunions. I've been looking forward to my 10 year reunion soon. It's next year, or should be. I'm hoping to get in on the planning. To finally do something for my school. That would be cool. I think.

About 2 years ago (less than 2 really, but it's not important), I took a trip east to see my friends. I called it The Great Eastern Tour 2000. I did manage to see nearly everyone - and also ostracized one very good friend who I miss having long strange talks with. Maybe I'll send them an email, but that's another story.

Anyhow, while I was there, hanging out and getting along well, I realized how long it would be before I got back. I told all of the people present that it would be about 2 years before I managed to get back there. Now, at the time, 2 years seemed both reasonable and long. Here, approaching 2 years later, it's still reasonable, but it doesn't feel that long. I am thinking about heading back home toward the middle part of this year. I'm banking on the idea that I'll be unemployed about the time of ORIGINS, and thus able to travel relatively freely. As long as I'm heading to Cleveland, why not take a detour out to the coast? Of course, this changes the plans for ORIGINS a lot, and it's probably impractical. But I'd love to do it.

I've got a small cadre of friends that I've known forever (well, nearly forever), and I'm missing them. Some of them I've always been fiercely protective of, and others have just always been able to understand me somehow. They know who they are, and I'm not in the habit of naming names without getting permission.

So, I am thinking about trips and reunions. Soon, I just have to plan and be patient.

Posted 4:17 PM by Tim
Hmm. This must be a sign of getting older. Whenever I don't get a phone call from someone I know went on a drive, I have an assumption that they've had a terrible accident and are just lying near death somewhere on the road. I know it's unlikely, of course, but it still manages to pop in there somehow.

Weekend of work is winding down. That's alliterative :) Anyhow, it's almost all over. Shorter than I expected, but it's going to mess me up come Thursday. I'm gonna feel like the work week is ready to be over. I hope I can stand it. Of course, next weekend is supposed to be pretty active too, but it may get pre-empted by work again. I won't know until later.

In other news, I've been doing some more thinking about the potential comic. I've had to keep from securing myself a place on the Keenspace server. I don't want to use up resources needlessly. And, I'd need a webpage that looks reasonable. That sort of thing. I am working on character motivations and plots and such in my head. I'll get to writing them down before too long.

Wayne picked up a pair of Manga instruction books for me, and I've been reviewing them to get the fundamentals into my head here. I just need lots of practice now.

Posted 10:59 AM by Tim
Glar. Weekend of work. Its both nice and not nice at the same time. Its nice that I get to pull down a bigger paycheck for this week, but its not nice since I'm totally missing out on games and family this weekend. I can see this starting to be a trend. I may have to change my mind about living away. :(

I'm crashed at Wayne's this weekend, but it won't be anything like the weekend planned. Originally, it was going to be a couple of movies, a few tournaments, and maybe a bit of work on the side. All that's changed. Now it's work, work, work. I doubt I'll be awake enough for a movie, and there's not much that suggest it slowing until Monday.

VELMA is still giving me a bit of trouble in the battery department. Apparently, rather than a new fresh battery for my old one that totally didn't work, they gave me a slightly-less-old battery, and there's nothing I can do about it. Other than buy a new battery of course. Of course, just get a new one. Gah. Like that'll be easy and everything. Of course, I'm half motivated to just go and make the expense and claim it for business reasons. But I don't think the private budget will allow that. Ghar.

I'd like to mention that I discussed a bit of storyline possibilities for the comic with Wayne. Just a bit, of course, since things are so sketchy, but there's the seed of an idea there. More later.

Posted 9:56 AM by Tim
I got off the train yesterday into a little blizzard. I was walking along the parking lot when I saw a lady go down, well, heard anyway. Icy patch. Of course, I'm not affected by such things, but I took my strides a little more carefully. Of course, I slip, and go down face first. Fortunately, I've got quick responses and managed to catch myself with my hands and knee. The knee hurt, but the hands were merely cold. Surprisingly, I can't recall if my hands were in or out of my pockets at the time of the fall. This is important, because I've always worried that if I had my hands in my pockets when I fell I'd never be able to catch myself. I do know that my cellphone hopped out and skittered away a short distance (I keep it in my pocket), but that's not evidence enough for me.

So, I kinda limped my way on to the bus and had a nice look at my leg. No serious injuries, no bleeding, nothing but some swelling and pain. Last night it looked like bruising would happen. I don't like bruising, and apparently don't bruise easily. I've been bashed before and such, and don't recall bruising since I was little. I think that bruising has a lot to do with the mood of the person injured. I mean, some people bruise really easily, and others just don't. It probably has something to do with blood vessel integrity and healing factors or something in reality. Of course, I'm convinced that the body and mind are very linked, and respond well to each other.

Today, the knee hurts, and so does the calf muscle in that leg. Apparently, the quick kneeling action stressed it a little. I'm sure that it'll work its way out though.

This week has still been depressing, but it's been slowly getting better. I don't really feel any better overall, but I can tell that things are moving along. This is good. It means I'm moving out of the depression and going forward again. My wife suspects that this is part of my cycle. I get periods of depression during the low point. They usually last about 3 days, and then the mood shifts up. Maybe I'm a really slow manic/depressive? :) That's a fun idea.

This weekend promises to be interesting, if nothing else. I've made plans for a few different things. I want to see a few movies, I've got overtime work and tournaments I want to attend. The whole thing is pretty conflicted. I'm gonna hang out at Wayne's and see what happens.

Posted 10:06 AM by Tim
Been checking out blogs of a few people lately. I've noticed that they're using website search statistics to tell how people are linking to them. I've wanted to do that for a while. Apparently, I'm the top hit for "Hiroshi Fukotomi" on Google. Well, my review page is anyhow.

I'm thinking of redesigning the website. We'll see if I get to do it before too long.

I was pointed towards this article. Stealth suits eh? Woo. I've been known to banter the advantages of smaller army forces over larger forces. Basically, in my mind, the first army to deploy battle suits and/or mechas are going to have a big advantage. For the suits listed, I can imagine the benifits. Stronger, faster, more maneuveralbe than vehicles, but able to take a lot of punishment. Give them some new wave weapons and they're going to be very effective. Add in optics, breathing gear and so forth, and you'll have a troop of people able to survive hostile environments, work underwater, and wade into the thick of a firefight without needing to worry. A big change to the face of warfare.

As for mecha, that's another level beyond just suits. Here you're looking at the speed of jeeps, armor of tanks, and maneuverability of people - huge people, but people. Load on the armament and armor and you're good to go. The first army to air drop these things is going to have a huge advantage.

That's enough of robots and combat.

Posted 4:31 PM by Tim
Gah. Maladaptive buying habits. Bought a CD today. Prozzak. They're cool. Was a little disppointed at first with the new Gorillaz buy from Monday. But I know what to expect with this CD, and it's cool. Meeting all my expectations so far (track 3). I'll probably burn a copy for myself to use at work, and let Bren hang on to the original. Yeah, copyright. Yeah, infringement.

You think I'd resist the idea a little more, being a programmer and all that. Wait till it happens to me, eh? Well, I figure I'm just gonna expect it. Ok?

Still feeling depressed today. It looks like this is depression week. I've read a number of psy texts in my time, and I've gone over all the disorders. Disorders intrigue me. What I always found interesting was that one of the symptoms of depression was happiness. Not regular everyday happiness, but extremes of happy and sad. That's really strange, if you ask me. But that's the way these things tend to work. Anyhow, I'm still depressed. The death of my nan just sort of adding to the whole thing really. I think I could have moved past it already if it wasn't for the depression that started on Monday - which was before I knew about nan.

I think that the commute is still getting to me. That and feelings of being underused at work. Total motivation loss. Once that's gone, there's really very little left. The only interesting bit to look forward lately has been my book. And I quite nearly finished that at breakfast this morning. I have 5 pages left, so I didn't bother to pack it. Or lunch, either.

This is of course, also part of a bad habit that's been forming around my commute. I'm not ironing, not making lunch, and falling asleep way to regularily on the ride to the bus. It's all making itself a habit. And it's not good for dad-in-law. He's burning out faster than I am with this. I think I'm gonna have to go all rogue and drive myself soon. He's just wiped in the mornings, and I know he'd rather have the extra sleep.

Gwah. As it is, I'm thinking about extending my day a little longer. Basically, getting up earlier. For those of you who haven't been exposed to me in the early morning (that's most people, even of those I know) - I'm very zombie like in the mornings. I move slowly and jerkily, tend to seek out specific things (though not brains), and am generally not good for conversation. I'm not sure about everyone else, but it takes me about an hour to get going, unless I've had a lot of sleep, or am waking up at my "normal" time. I'm an evening person by nature, and given the option, I'd sleep until 10. I'd be up until 12 too. But that's not possible with this "9-5" job that I have.

I kinda figured it'd only be a little while before the grind started back in, and it was. While the hope of looking for a crash pad existed, I wasn't as bothered by the commute. I had book, and a thought that I wouldn't have to commute that much anymore. The realization that that's not the case has hit me again (slowly though), and so, the oppressive weight of the commute has returned. At least I get to read, right?

Posted 9:22 AM by Tim
Hoping for a happier day today. Work is a little slow, but that's likely to change soon.

This weekend, is busy. Magic tourney. Big prizes and all that. Then in April there's Regionals. I haven't played Type 2 in forever, so I'm not sure what I should be playing. Then there's another Bingemans in June, ORIGINS in July, and things like Nationals, etc. I should be playing more, but against who? There's a small pool of people who play in the area, but few of them have enough Type 2 stuff to give me a real go of it, and then there's the hard issues of trying to get stuff together for Extended and Type 1. Gwah.

I've got a deck for this weekend, but none for the Regionals (and only 3 weeks to really put one together, much less playtest it). I suppose it's a little strange that it's been a year since the last Regionals already. I'm no closer to pro now than I was then. If anyone's got a chance it's Wayne's friend. He's got a solid 1750+ rating in Type 2 already (compared to my 1620ish rating). I suppose I could be better if I just played more often.

Posted 11:35 AM by Tim
My nan is dead. That's all for now.

Posted 11:00 AM by Tim
My nanny is dying. There's not a lot of time for her left now. I'm told that she was found on the floor of her bathroom the other day. My aunt found her there. She was taken to the hospital, and is now in a coma. Apparently she's losing lung function. I imagine a respirator could help, but the question of whether that's worth it or not has got to be asked. She's 83. It's got me a little concerned that I'm not more concerned about it all. I suppose that's my way of dealing with it.

My dad seems to be taking it in the same way. Not trying to fight for her to live, just trying to be happy for her life. Odd in a way, but right in another. What I find particularily strange is that I'm a big advocate of sorts for technology, medical and otherwise, and yet, I'm willing to passively let people die without the aid of machines. I originally wrote "hassle" then thought "struggle", and then dropped the idea all along. I suppose I do view it as a "hassle" of sorts. I'm not going to get into it now though.

My mom wanted me to know that if she's in a hospital, she never wants to be left alone. Even if she's totally unresponsive. I can understand that. As for me, I'm not sure what to do about the last days. I always assume I'm gonna die really suddenly, or in my sleep or something. Should I ever be in a situation that looks hopeless, I'm not sure whether I'd want the family to burden themselves with me or not. Probably closer to not though.

Posted 1:35 PM by Tim
Ok. I've partially moved the blog to Blog*Spot. There's no sense in posting the address, but I'll do it anyway.

I'm now thinking that the site may just remain where it is, and then I'll only need to have the blog moved. Of course, real updates are going to be more difficult, but I knew that already.

I just picked up the G Sides album from Gorillaz. I didn't realize they had a second (first?) disk. I have the self titled CD already, but this looks like a second CD. Some interesting remixes so far, though I'm only on track 4. Looking forward to track 6 - Clint Eastwood. That was the first song that I heard from Gorillaz, and I liked them right away.

I'm a little depressed today, and it's affecting my work. I just don't feel like contributing to whatever it is I'm supposed to be doing right now. The new CD was an attempt to get me out of that feeling. It's almost working.

Blah. The bank is giving me a hard time too. I just want my tax letter, is that so much to ask?

Posted 9:19 AM by Tim
VELMA is a little less than she was before. The current battery seems to be lasting me only about an hour, and even less than than with the CD spinning. I can handle that though, but I'm not liking it.

Ok. I've been thinking about the relocation. I figure I'll probably up and move to Blog*Spot (can't be bothered with links today). I'm not sure how long the move will take, but I will have to get started soon if I'm going to be moved before too long.

That book has me reading still. Since VELMA is only good for short distances, I've been busily following the storyline. Of course, my wife is well into the fourth book of the series, so I know that things are going to be fine, no matter how dangerous it seems. Too bad for me, eh? The whole sex instruction thing has died off in the story too, but I know it'll pick up again soon.

This weekend looks to be busy. Listowel is on, and I've at least got a deck ready for it. I expect the games to be long and drawn, but that's alright. I'm ready for them. In other card news, I've started the groundwork for a really strange deck. It's using Sherazade, which is cool.

I do have one point to mention today. This weekend, my Brother-in-law and his girlfriend were assaulted. They're both ok, just a little bruised (Well, he had a dislocated shoulder, but that's not too terrible an injury - just painful). Now, this did happen late at night, but it was downtown, in a reasonably lit area. I find that a little disturbing. It actually leads me to think that maybe most of the "city violence" is really happening in smaller towns. I mean, it'd be harder to catch people unaware in a city, they're expecting it.

Well, that's all I'm gonna get into that for now.

Posted 1:42 PM by Tim
Hmm. I've been having a bit of trouble with getting a blog out lately. I guess that's what happens when I divert the creative energies, eh?

I've been reading Clan of the Cave Bear and just started it's sequel, The Valley of Horses. The first is a strong book, but maybe a little confusing in places. The second book seems to be a little different in the writing style, a little more mature maybe. All the same, it looks like I'm going to have to confine the reading to the house, as the book is reading a lot like a love instruction manual. :)

Anyway, news today. I'm nearly ready to proceed with trying my hand at the webcomic. It means a lot of interesting times ahead as I try to come up with a script, characters, and manage to draw the whole thing. I've been reading a lot of anime-ish stuff lately, like Eversummer Eve, and MegaTokyo. Both of these comics are done in a much more unrestricted fashion, with a heavy manga feel to them. Not only are the comics large (at least a full 600 pixels high), but they use a variety of images on each page. The layouts are very interesting to me. I'm looking at incorporating ideas similar to theirs, if I go with the layouts.

In particular, Eversummer Eve lead me to a very nice manga tutorial, which reminded me about a series of books on drawing anime. Not surprisingly, the site is the web front for those books. They're expensive (about $30 or something), but I think I might invest a few bucks into one of them. If I manage to get by that store this weekend. Gwah.

I'm still struggling for a storyline, and for characters. And I'm still very worried about my drawing abilities. I did get a bit of practice time in on the bus though, so that helps. Between drawing, VELMA, and reading, my commute is starting to look more and more inviting (at least in the sense that it's a block of creative time).

I've been considering getting a little knothole of an appartment in the city here, to lessen the demands of the commute. I'm trying to balance all the pros and cons of such a decision though, to see if the expense is really warranted. First and foremost is the loss of companionship. Right now, even though I don't get to see them very much, I do see the family every day. If I live away all week, that's a lot of time I don't get to see them. Not to mention that the last time I lived away I really didn't do anything. I barely left the house other than to go shopping or work. I'm gonna try not to be such a housebody if I do end up with a place.

I've considered the merits of living with Wayne again, though paying rent this time. I don't think it'll work. Wayne and I managed a full month without wanting to kill each other, so I know we could get along, but the real issue comes from my reliance on him for transportation. Again, I'm not going to have a car, so I'll need him to get me from place to place, or some other arrangement. Of course, this overlooks the fact that living away is supposed to help me stay and do more overtime at work. I'm really not sure we could work something like that out easily.

Let's move on, well, backwards. Back to the comic thing. The storyline thing has me worried mostly because of my concerns over the artwork. What if I can't make a character look the same in each panel? What if I can't get any sort of emotion across? To address the issue a little, I figured that I'd probably post a few random scribbles and such before getting into any sort of real comic. Considering the speed at which I draw things I like (think geologic...), I have no idea when anything might be ready in the least. I will at least say that I'm going to shoot for at least one drawing by say... next week. Just before the site goes nova anyway :)

On the site move, I still haven't found a home yet, not that I've been looking either, but I do know the move is coming. So's a site redesign if I ever get ahold of the files hidden on ROSA.

Posted 4:52 PM by Tim
Gwar.

So, half the month is over and there doesn't seem to be any sort of retraction coming from Geocities about their new "FTP for pay" policy. Not that I mind the idea of someone recovering costs, I just don't have the cash to pay for it right now. So... I'm looking to move the site. Yep, pickup and move entirely. I'll probably leave this one behind as a mirror of sorts, until it grows moss and dies.

The move process itself, however, leaves me with the option of making a few site changes. Lots of little things that can be changed you know. Site colours, fonts, etc. Hey, I may even find a place that allows scripting and build a few servlets or somesuch thing.

There's developments in the works. VELMA, the new laptop has been offering a most useful service in the development of the project, and that's good news. I have been taking it easy with the development this week, as my wife showed me a book she really liked. I'm ravenously reading it, of course, leaving very little time for much else on the long ride home.

Posted 12:26 PM by Tim
Today marks an interesting anniversary. It's been 6 months since September 11. It's also my sister's birthday, and the birthday of my nephew. So, there's a busy bit of stuff there. I've gone over the September 11 thing in my blog before. As I said, I probably was less moved by it than most. Not that I wasn't scared, or worried or such, but there were a few things really keeping me from being stark terrified about the event.

The first is that I didn't personally know anyone who might have been hurt in the disaster. Second, I'd never been to NY, and had never seen the towers, so in a sense, they were largely mythical. Third, and this is where most people would disagree, the whole thing wasn't that terrible, really. I mean, yeah, a lot of people lost their lives, and the buildings did come down, but that sort of thing happens all the time in other parts of the world. The tragedy was the lost innocence, not the event itself.

The USA has been pretty free of wars. Sure there's the skirmish wars between gangs, police and criminals, churchs and so forth, but nothing big and organized. Not much since the Civil War, really. Yeah, they've fought all over the globe, but that's not the same as having the fighting outside your door. Just look at Isarel and Palestine right now. Jets zooming overhead blowing the hell out of buildings. Try to picture that in your neighbourhood. You're headed out to get the paper, and ka-boom! Warplanes are dropping bombs on the mall downtown. Now try to imagine that kind of thing happening all the time. Every day - ka-boom - there goes the mall again. After a while you'd kind of get used to it.

September 11 was just a reminder that nobody is really safe from other people as long as other people exist. And that's where the tragedy really is.

Posted 4:54 PM by Tim
So, another work day is nearly done. I must say that the tiniest glimmer of a workable comic has come into my head today. The drawing bit is another matter. I've been thinking that the best plan is simply to start by just drawing and seeing where that goes.

I was struck by several other thoughts on comicing yesterday. Let me relate them to you now. The first was about the relative weights of art and dialogue, but that's lengthy, so I'll come back to it. The next was about not doing a comic, but doing something related to comics - like a web-zine. I was thinking about sending out an email to several comic artists that I read, and asking if they wouldn't mind answering a few questions for me. I'd take those answers and post them to a website, which would have monthly (or bi-monthly) distribution. Of course, I'm back to the problem of garnering content. What do I, a total newbie when it comes to comics, have to say about them? Probably not a lot.

Ok, back to the thoughts about art and dialogue. The way I see it is like this. A comic needs both art and dialogue (there are some exceptions though). Look at it like this, a comic without dialogue is technically "silent", and really comes down to "sequential art". I'd still class it as a comic though, since you can do such things quite effectively. On the other side, a comic without art is just a story or script. I wouldn't call that a comic (though you can see this done from time to time in things like Fans!).

If a comic has really great art, it can get away with dialogue that isn't very good at all. The expression, and body language can convey most of the meaning (even all of the meaning, as with silent comics). But, if the art for a comic is lacking, then the dialogue needs to be better and better all the time to carry the meaning.

Personally, I feel that my art is severly lacking, so if I were to do a comic, my writing and dialogue would need to be even better than above average. Pacing, word choice, timing and such would all have to be very high. I'm not sure if I'm able to provide that.

Posted 2:22 PM by Tim
I've been doing pretty well with these daily posts. I'm happy about that.

I've been doing more thinking about what I could do for a weekly comic. Not much has surfaced as a real "storyline" that I think I could do with my draw skills. My skills are really raw, and well, bad. I've been trying to figure out just what to start with, and most of my ideas involve an angry little boy and his family. I don't quite know where that's from... If I do go with posting something, expect it to show up here, and move along to wherever it ends up. I may not even make it past the first week. We'll see if something hits though.

Ok. And now for information you didn't care to know. The commute is slowly grinding away at me. I mean, an hour long commute is pretty harsh - especially if you don't know anyone and don't talk to anyone, like me. But 2 to 2.5 hours each way is really starting to grind. Not that it didn't grind initially, but it's been grinding for a month-ish now, and that's really starting to add up. The fact is that the amount of useful day is pretty small. Like, almost non-existant small. The morning is lost (except for the laptop now), and so is the evening. Yesterday I got off the bus at 7:00, got home at 7:30 dead tired, forced myself to eat (as I knew I was hungry - ravenously so), and then went straight to bed. I eventually managed to sleep. I have trouble not thinking before I go to bed, and that keeps my brain a little too active. Also, my daughter spent at least 15 minutes yelling "Motheeer!", "Motheeer!" to try to get the attention of her mom. I finally told her to be quiet so I could sleep. Gah.

So, I've been wondering to myself. When am I going to get the rest of this website up and running? Well, I'm not sure. I figure that I can load the site onto VELMA - the laptop, and work on it in addition to my other mobile projects. I've been able to devote at least 6 hours this week to projects alone, which does a lot to move them along.

Since I'm in a babbling mood, I'll let it out that the current application project I'm working on - codename "Dingo" has started off fine. I'm still early into analysis and specs, but I've been thinking about Dingo for quite a while now. I originally planned to have a beta-release for July 4, but that looks unlikely. I may have an ultra-early Alpha version available by then, unless I can rope Wayne into helping with the code project. But for that to work he's gonna need a system. We're looking for one for him....

Alright, enough with the horn. :)

Origins is just a short 4 months off, and I'm no closer to having the cash to go to it. Well, that's not entirely true, I've got about $2 more than I had last week in the "jar of change for Origins" that I've got started at home. I'll need to merge this with the "jar of American change for Origins" that I've got at Wayne's house. Maybe I'll put up a meter of how much I've got saved...

Coming up this month: Tournaments. There is one major tournament that I want to get to. I've got most of a deck already, I'm just looking to tweak it and refine it more. This puts me on the hunt for some cards, but I'm hoping to not need too many. I'm not sure who's going to test the deck with me either. Most of the tournament worthy decks that I've had lately are very "play on your own" styled. Mainly, that means that I do a lot on my turn, and wait for my opponent to say "done" on his. Wayne hates those.

I'm sure there's more - but I don't have time now.

Posted 9:53 AM by Tim
Did you ever want more money? That's a silly question isn't it? For most people, that's like asking, did you ever breathe? Of course we want more money. I've been thinking about what I'd do with a big pile of money for forever - probably like most people.

The current item of purchasing interest is a car. The previous item was a laptop, which I now have. Yep, my tastes just keep getting more and more expensive. The car of interest (general interest anyhow) is a Honda Inspire. A nice 2 seater hybrid. I really like the idea of hybrids. They're small, light, and very very very very fuel efficient. The Honda info on the Inspire quotes something like 1200+ Km per tank. That's pretty good, considering the average for gas-only cars is only 300 Km. Our current vehicle gets about 450 Km, on about $20 - $25 of gas. That's really not that bad for most cars.

The main thought on the Inspire is that it would make a great commuter car. Gas for the thing would be just over $6 a tank, and the mileage is still enough to get me from home to downtown and back again - twice. Our current car would require a tank of gas (roughly) each day to get there. That's about $120+ a week, just to drive back and forth, compared to about $24 for the Inspire. Parking really isn't a factor, since I'd have to pay it either way.

Of course, there's always the idea that the hybrid isn't as sporty or fast as gas cars, and that it might have trouble keeping up on the highway. I don't think that's the case with the Inspire though.

On the other side of the mind is the Toyota Prius. A 4 door, 4-seater hybrid. This would work good as our main car, and be a good investment in the long run, the slightly higher cost being offset by the lower cost of gas. The main concerns that I'd have would be long-term ownership, and the problems of trading in the car, or getting the batteries serviced, or replaced.

Personally, I'd love to own a fuel cell car, but those aren't out on the mass market. I'm thinking that a Propane/Electric hybrid wouldn't be that bad of a vehicle either. Propane is easy enough to get in most areas, and it tends to be cheaper and cleaner than gas too. I can't imagine the mileage such a vehicle might get, but it's probably prodigious.

If anyone has an extra $22,000 + taxes lying about, I'd be glad to use it on a new car :)

Posted 8:14 PM by Tim
In some ways, I think of myself as having been born a century too late. I believe I've missed the renaissance. Well, ok, more than a century, but somewhere around there. In other ways, I think that I'm in just the right spot. I've come at a time of a new renaissance - of sorts. There's a lot going on, and a lot that one can do.

I've got a lot of hobbies. A lot. And I tend to try to find a way to balance out all of my hobbies with the time that I have available. For example, I like to sew, and crochet. They're relaxing. I also like to program, which is also relaxing (most of the time anyhow). I have a lot of games that I like to play too. Magic, D&D, Vampire, storytelling games. Then there's the sports. I'm big into combat sports, like Karate and fencing, but I have little time for either. I'm working on drawing and writing in there too. That's quite a bit of stuff going on. Not to mention the job, family and so forth.

If I had a lot of time, I'd get into some of the really interesting stuff that I like, like painting and armormaking. Recently I've been very interested in the production of swords, and also of combat pursuit games - like paintball. That's a lot of hobbies that I'd like to get into. I simply don't have the time.

Posted 9:55 AM by Tim
Geocities is changing. And not for the better. They've informed me, kindly, that they're going to stop supporting free FTP. That means that the blog will not work (it runs off FTP, you know). Now, I can pay for FTP, or I can go with the standard system, or I can leave my internet home of 7 years and move on to a new place. I'm not sure what to do. I don't think I'm going to be able to pay for the service, at least not right now, and I don't want to move... of course, if I knew someone willing to host me, I'd probably pick up and go right away.

Gwah.

I've been doing some more thinking on the business idea that's been brewing for a while. I've got some ideas here and there, but I need more information. Most of the information that I have so far is pretty favourable, but it's also really biased. I've got to get some independant information out there.