In Your Ample Free Time

My dad called a week or so to tell me that one of his favorite movies would be airing that evening. The 1946 movie, "The Best Years of Our Lives" tells of WWII veterans returning home and the way their lives have changed. I've wanted to see it for some time, and since this was a ready opportunity I set our DVR to record it.

The problem is that it's three hours long.

My television watching has been reduced to about two hours of scheduled time each week. Sure I watch more impromptu TV here and there (an episode of Wonder Pets with the kids, an episode of Futurama at 2:00 AM as I'm falling asleep, etc.) but the time I set aside for watching TV is pretty much just "Heroes" and "Lost", and even then we watch them from the DVR, so commercial time is cut out. I don't even really watch movies with Stef anymore, so to schedule a contiguous block of three hours is practically unthinkable nowadays.

I am considering going on a five night work schedule for my painting. Three nights of commission work for non-local people, one night of commission work for local people and one night for my own or eBay intended work. That leaves two nights a week that I could potentially watch a movie or something. I've told the DVR not to delete "The Best Years of Our Lives" and I really want to watch it. I think this five night schedule might be the best way.

The Big Box

Hey, remember the figures I said I was expecting? The ones that include 15 Harlequins? Well I only received 12 Harlequins... along with about 160 other models on foot and 18 vehicles in a huge box. Now this is a commission order.

I played Warmachine with Brian tonight. I got stomped twice in a row in a "mangled metal" scenario (only 'casters and 'jacks.) Whether Brian is just really good or I am just really bad remains to be seen. I fear the latter may be the case.

I've agreed to swap some Night Goblins of mine for an Orc Boar chariot for the girls' army. I just like to say it: "The Girls' Army."

EDIT: I actually did receive all 15 Harlequins, just packaged differently than I had expected. After a couple hours of cataloging last night, I count 25 vehicles/walkers (including 7 single rider jetbikes and 3 two-man jetbikes) and 150 infantry (about 125 of which are Eldar.) The last shipment of Eldar, 5 vehicles and about 65 infantry, took five months to complete.

Redefining "Automatic"

A coworker and I were discussing Internet Explorer 7 and he mentioned that it had been installed as a critical update from Microsoft on his machine, a method he was not entirely fond of. I seldom use IE at work so I decided to check my version to see if I had been updated on the sly. I had version 6. I was immediately curious because I have my computer set to automatically install updates every night. I verified that this setting was still set in control panel, and it was. Hmm. Ok. So I go to windowsupdate.microsoft.com to see what updates are available....

SEVENTY HIGH PRIORITY UPDATES

Sorry to yell like that. Seventy. Seven Zero. Despite the fact that Windows was set to install them nightly. Many of them were security updates as well. This is the computer security equivalent of walking into a room to find a person sleeping and a TV on, and when you turn off the TV the person says, "Hey! I was watching that." No you weren't. You were asleep. "Yeah, yeah..." Windows answers groggily, rubbing its eyes, "I was updating nightly."

Putting the "Back" in Backlog

I have a lot of work to do again. My own Space Marines and Menites are on the super-fast paint plan (along with prepping a unit of goblin wolf riders for the girls) before the next commission job gets here. I'm awaiting a few Cygnar figures, a bunch of Eldar (including 15 Harlequins!), some Sisters of Battle, some Dark Eldar and some Chaos.

At the same time, my friend and coworker Brian is pretty much divesting himself of all things Games Workshop. He's accumulated 5,000 points of Dark Elves and has offered to let me paint and sell them. That's hundreds more models to eBay if I want to take the time. Yikes.

Yes, folks, the backlog is back.

What's Gonna Work? Teamwork!

Okay, I admit it. My favorite show on TV right now is The Wonder Pets. I watch the adventures of Linny, Tuck and Ming Ming with my kids nearly every day, and I routinely walk around work singing the songs from the show. Yes, my coworkers are about to kill me. (And yes, "This is sewious.")

The show is created using "photo puppetry", sort of a frame by frame Photoshop-style compositing of photographs with some animation and CG effects. The episodes are all very musical, almost operetta in spoken to song ratio, and vary a great deal in musical styles presented. It has the predictable structure that young kids like so much combined with more complex concepts. I was able to explain foreshadowing to my 5-year old using the normal Wonder Pets episode structure.

More later? Maybe. Probably. Man I love that show.

Search Terms

I would like to welcome all viewers who arrive here searching for "Harry and David Multi Grain Tortilla Chips" or "Dance Recital Hairstyles." There are more of you than I would have suspected. I'm afraid you're going to be terribly disappointed.

I'm just some guy who write random stuff, mostly about his kids and his hobby.

The Big Winners!

Saturday was the big day at the local Games Workshop store. The staff at the new store had been handing out tickets for prize drawings since the day they opened, and Sarah, Lily and I had amassed quite a little stack of them. On Saturday at 2:00 PM local employee Marc reached into the box if tickets and pulled out one of ours! We had won an Orcs & Goblins army box! Contents of the box are pictured here (sorry for the small pic.) The people gathered offered much congratulations, and were a very positive bunch. I like that place more every day.

What we won:

• Orcs and Goblins army book
• 40 night goblins
• 20 orc warriors
• 1 orc boar chariot
• 10 black orcs
• 10 goblin wolf riders
• orc warboss on boar
• orc standard bearer
• orc shaman (limited release figure... only available in army box)
• goblin big boss

Retail price of the box: $215 !

The girls and I had talked it over before going there about both the chances of winning and what we would pick if they gave us the option to choose an army box. We had decided on Tomb Kings if they let us choose, but we are all terribly thrilled with the Orc army. (Plus, I should have remember that the army boxes are a fairly time sensitive things. They are only available for a few months at a time, then the next army's army box is released.) Considering that I already had a few units of goblins from a Battle for Skull Pass box that a coworker and I split, it makes for quite a sizable army.

Dissertations on the Inobvious

My girls have always been fond of explaining how things work. Sarah once gave one of our friends a twenty minute lecture on how tuna gets in the can. It therefore came as no surprise when my dad sent me this email today (Sarah and Lily spent the night there last night.)

At breakfast, Sarah and Lily and I were watching robins out
on the lawn, getting worms to eat.  I told Sarah that a
saying "the early bird catches the worm" actually applies
to humans who are rewarded for being the first to arrive at
a good opportunity.  Her response was that if she was a
mouse, she would rather be late to arrive at the cheese.
We then discussed why a trap causes this to be good sense,
and how bait connected to a trigger works.  Sarah then
described a manually-triggered mouse trap, and then ant
traps and also reasoned with me about using bait as poison
to be carried back to the ant nest.
Lily then drew how spiders can be killed by a poison fly
that when caught in the web is eaten, and the spider dies.
Her next trap design was for a flea.  After I left the
table, she continued on showing Diane how to trap a mantis
and then a scorpion.
Dad

One of our favorite "explanation" moments came when Sarah was about four. My dad noticed the squirrel feeder on our deck, and said "You have pet squirrels. My mom and dad used to eat squirrels." Sarah replied, "If you eat a pet squirrel, you will be filled with squirrel love."

Wow

A Games Workshop corporate store opened in my neighborhood. I decided to paint a figure for the single model category of a painting competition they were hosting, despite the fact that I had no entry prepared and less than a week to create one. I chose a Space Marine Captain in terminator armor that I could use with my Blood Ravens army, and ... drum roll please.... he won first place in his category! I've never won a painting contest before! Hooray for me! The "Best Overall" went to a squad of "Sisters of Battle" which were wonderfully painted in a turquoise scheme. They had amazing consistency and the faces were neat and varied and the prize was quite deserved. I need to get pictures of this fellow to enter into the Golden Toadstools this month... he's in the display case at the store so I don't know when I'll get a chance.

Eldar are, for all intents and purposes done. I have a single model to finish. Everything else is packaged and will be turned over to Angelos next time I see him.

I Love This State

It would have been nice if Christmas had been this white.

Some people complain about South Eastern Michigan's weather. They claim that it's too volatile and that the skies are gray almost all year. They complain about the fact that the temperature bounces around freezing all winter, which causes the roads to fall apart.

Personally, I like gray skies. I feel at my best when I don't have to squint. I like my light to be ambient.

Another mini... and false encouragement

I painted a Khador "manhunter" mini, and was pretty pleased at the end result. He is currently posted on CMON and getting savaged in the voting.

Stef and the kids were over at our friends' house for the night, and it was just me and the dogs. As I was pulling a handful of Harry & David multi grain tortilla chips from the bag, both dogs sat on the floor looking expectantly at me.

"I don't know what you're looking at, 'cause I'm not giving you anything," I said to them. At that exact moment I pulled a chip out of my handful of chips to eat, and two others accidentally came flying out of the handful to land exactly at the feet of each of the dogs. They each gobbled their chip, then followed me around until my chips were gone.

In Case You Were Wondering...

Never put an ice cube in a pan with hot oil in it "just to see what happens."

The mess is truly epic.

Water > Earth ... Varnish > Ink

The Odwalla truck fell through the earth today. It was backing up to the loading dock of the building in which I work, and its left rear tire fell through the pavement, revealing an extensive sink hole that goes under the building. Do you know whose office is right next to the loading dock? Yup. Good guess. Depending on the type of repair necessary, I'm guess I may have a move in my future. The current "story" is that there was a water main break, but honestly I think there would be more actual water evident if that was true.

Now, on to painting. Hey, guess what. Ink has no binder in it. I was reminded of this when I tried to use some brush on varnish over a freehand done in ink. I ended up with tinted varnish and no freehand. Anything worth doing once is worth doing twice, I suppose.

Dead Trucks and Improptu Haircuts

The truck's dead again. Yeah, it's sooner than I thought it would be too. I was headed home from Angelos' place last night when there was a loud pop and then a scraping noise. I knew immediately what had happened... a tie rod end had broken. The tie rod is what controls the direction of your front tires, so having one broken means that the associated tire is free to go where it pleases instead of obeying the tyranny of the steering mechanism. I had stopped for gas, so I was barely moving when it happened. I had it towed (once again) to Maynard's for repair.... $400 plus tax. Ouch.

I haven't had a haircut in a while. Wait, I guess I should say that I hadn't had a haircut in a while. This morning, as I was getting dressed, Stef beckoned me over to her desk. When I got there, she grabbed the hair on the side of my head and hacked it off with scissors. Then she turned me around and did the other side. I was a little stunned. Spring is here, so I suppose it's time to cut the hair and shave off the beard. Sigh.

Dance! Dance, I say!

My girls had a dance recital on Saturday. Technology invites you to see.

Sarah's Hip Hop Recital:


Lily's Ballet Recital:

Final Eldar Push

This weekend is the final push to get all Eldar done. Honestly, I don't think I'm going to get the Saim-Hann Autrarch done, but I will mail that to him separately.

It's been an awfully long job, and I've gone back and forth spending serious time on it. I'm glad it's finally getting shipped. Actually, the owner may have some more models he needs painted before Games Day, so I likely haven't seen the last of Eldar.

There's a huge Khador job coming down the pipe to paint in a record short amount of time. Angelos and I will be splitting it up to get it done. Expect WIP photos here. Oh, yes. Expect them.

M. Night Whatshisface

Stef and I watched "Lady in the Water" last night.

Wait, let me go back a little. Does anyone remember the teaser trailer for Lady in the Water? The one that doesn't really show much except the main character and some splashing, but ends with the question "How many of you are there?" I found that teaser very evocative, and I was greatly looking forward to this film.

Wait... let me go back a little more. Remember how great "The Sixth Sense" was, and how excited we all were to see the next movie by this mysterious new film maker with the odd name? We got Unbreakable.

Okay, back to the movie in question. After a teaser trailer that made me so eager to see this film, Lady in the Water was just.... awkward. It had way too much exposition, and while it had interesting characters I just don't feel like he did much with them. It would have made a much better novel, where the author has plenty of time to build minor characters until their moment of usefulness. When all you have is ninety minutes in which to work, that building process equates to about 15 seconds of screen time.

I can't say I'm terribly surprised though. M. Night S. has been hit and miss for movies. The Sixth Sense was amazing for pace and revelation. Unbreakable was moody, but seemed more like an undeveloped project than a follow up to such a huge success. Without Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson it would have been ignored. Signs was jumpy and creepy, but way too heavy handed and weakly ended. I don't have a lot of complaints about The Village; I rather enjoyed it, and felt like it lived up to its promise. Lady in the Water has an interesting monster, and I liked the main character Cleveland Heap, but other than that it just more or less failed to make me give a crap one way or the other about what happened. Advice for the millionaire filmmaker: make smaller stories. I can't really get excited about thing that will change the consciousness of all humanity. I want a story where interesting characters experience things and have them resolved in their own context. I'd take small and interesting to epic and vague any time. It shouldn't take an alien invasion to make a disillusioned preacher realize that events in his life have meaning. A girl from another world being pursued by a monster doesn't need to change the course of human history... just make us care about saving her.

Define "Cheap"

EMU has been trying to cut costs. One of the expenses chosen was departmental budgets for little niceties that employees have enjoyed, like coffee or a water cooler. We also used to have a cake once a month to celebrate the employees' birthdays for that month, but no longer. We now contribute $5/month to a coffee fund, and twelve volunteers were forced to bake a cake. Actually, the $5 is far more than we've actually been spending on coffee, so I suppose we'll have a little nest egg built up for when the coffee maker dies. It's one of those three-warmer models that has a direct water feed, and I'd hate to go back to a single pot that you have to pour water in the top of the thing to make coffee.

It's the cake thing that I find puzzling. Not EMU's cessation of providing cake, but my coworkers' lack of willingness to volunteer to bake one. Out of 40 or so employees in our little area, only five signed up for cake baking duty. We even have a departmental cake pan that requires two $1.50 cake mixes, plus frosting. I volunteered for March, and the whole operation took about an hour, from opening boxes to baking to frosting. In an attempt to inspire my coworkers, I wrote SIGN UP FOR APRIL in huge letters made of colored sugar crystals across the cake. No one has yet been inspired to do so.

He Probably Wasn't That Tall

Second 300 post. Deal with it.

Apparently the Iranians are upset because a movie based on a comic book based loosely on events of 2500 years ago portrays them poorly. Oh, sorry, I forgot to add that the bulk of the movie is actually one character retelling of these events, so add another layer of abstraction and exaggeration. Oh, no. What an insult.

Then again, if the Iranians made a movie wherein a nine foot tall androgynous George Washington attacked the middle east offering pleasures of the fleshly variety to those who would turn on their noble brothers, I think some people here might get a little upset.

I Learned a New Word

Saturday, my friend Mark and I went to see 300. It is based on the Battle of Thermopylae the same way many movies are based on the cover illustration of the novel with which they share a name. It was pure style, bloody and unabashedly direct. It mirrored everything I remember about Frank Miller's comics.

After the movie I decided to read a few things about 300, just to get some viewpoints. One columnist called it "as bloody as Apocalypto and twice as stupid," which made me laugh despite having never seen Apocalypto. The moment of education came when I read this word: warnography. It fits 300 perfectly. 300 relishes in every spear piercing torso, every severed limb, every drop of CG blood floating across the screen in this slow motion death dance with such a carnal sensuality that "explicit" doesn't convey the amplitude. This is the erotica of violence. Still, it was somehow cartoony, especially with the slow motion / real time cuts interspersing the fight scenes. It reminded me of Miller's "Hard Boiled" in that regard, which was so over the top violent that I couldn't always tell if the violence was satiric.

One interesting aspect was the portrayal of Persian King Xerxes. Since King Ahasuerus from the book of Esther is commonly thought to be one and the same as King Xerxes, it certainly shakes up my mental picture of the events in Esther to insert Frank Miller's Xerxes. So where did my vague images of ancient Persia originate? What would the Persian court have really been like then? We have our "biblical times" generic look and feel for an awfully wide range of times and places. I feel a bit inspired to look into things a bit more when I study them.

But not right now. I have painting to do.

Ya Buncha Fairies...

Ths weekend the girls and I started painting the same figure, a Fairy Princess by Reaper. Sarah (8) is painting the red one and Lily (5) is painting the purple one.

The first step was a basecoat in multiple, thin layers. This was difficult for them, since they have a hard time understanding anything but one coat coverage. After a couple coats they seemed to get it, although I don't think it looked better enough in their eyes to have bothered. We then tried a highlight layer in a lighter color. In both of their minis you can see the darker/lighter, which I think is pretty cool. I might do one more level of highlights with them, just on the extreme portions. I think we'll do skin after that.

Funny side note. While painting, Sarah became concerned. "Dad, is it okay to say 'breasts' when I talk about painting her?" "Yes, dear, it's fine."

Me != Winner

Okay, the guy I was bidding on here went for $40, a fair bit above what I could afford. Instead I bought a commercial grade fire extinguisher from someone at work for $25. Not quite the same, but a bit more useful in keeping my family safe.

Cutest Headbang Ever

Did I mention this one previously? hmmm

Go here: http://www.noggin.com/shows/jacks.php
Watch "Steve Burns and Steven Drozzt: I Hog the Ground"

It's about 34 seconds in.

Irritating Flashback

Ages ago I had an Atari 800XL home computer. Viva la 6502. One of the programs I had played a song called "Passionately" while displaying the lyrics, karaoke style. It was pretty cool at the time, but our coolness threshold with computers was a lot lower then.

Problem: I can't get that song out of my head today. It's even worst because I can half-remember the lyrics. The song is basically about someone who has been abandoned, and is waiting for their lover to phone. Now you are gone, and time just seems to drag on. Without your love, I could not live for too long.

All the while, a set of bars on the screen show the notes being played, including bends and vibrato. You have to admit, you and I fit... Passionately.

Grrr. Not being able to find a real copy of the lyrics keeps this song preserved in half-memory. Number was dialed wrong. For you I still long passionately.


EDIT: Check this out!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiX8Ba2L4u0

Good From Far

I'm trying to get back into the habit of posting WIP shots here. Mark came over tonight, and while he started on Captain Rengrave I painted this fellow. I am really trying for extreme highlights, since this is a gaming piece. I want it to have maximum pop for minimum view time.

I really love Stef's new camera. Best. Snapshots. Ever.

The Opposite of Selling

No, I didn't paint this. For the first time ever, I am bidding on a painted mini on eBay. The painter, Shawn R.L., is a CMON regular whose work I have admired for some time, especially in the lighting simulation. Since I have never really seen a really well painted mini in person, I figured I would take a stab at buying this one with the meager funds in my paypal account.

Part of me wants to win. Part of me wants him to get $100 for it. It's a really nice looking mini.

Standing Water

So plans changed a little last night. Instead of finishing the Eldar infantry, I ended up helping my neighbor Don figure out why his basement was flooding. We figured out that it was because of the rain. Couple of geniuses.

It rained a lot here yesterday, and because the ground was still frozen from our cold snap last week the water just piled up on top of the ice. I oversimplified when I said that rain caused the flooding; it was really the 8 inches of standing water against Don's foundation, right where there was a crack. We ended up booking it out to Lowe's before they closed to buy 350 lbs. of sand to build up that low spot and hopefully send the water out in to the yard. It seemed to do the trick. In addition to the crack in the wall, his floor grate appeared to have backed up, which shouldn't really have been related to the rain. In any case, he got the clog out just before I arrived, so sanitizing the floor was the only issue there.


Isn't homeownership a hoot?

Behold My Top 5

Okay, nothing much in the way of updates. I found a way to display one's top 5 CoolMiniOrNot minis, so I included it on my blog here. It's on the right, a little ways down.

I still can't figure out why that Black Templar sergeant has the best score. Sadly enough it's probably more the subject matter than the paint job.

Side note: my spell checker doesn't like the word "Templar." It suggested, among other things, "Exemplariness" as a possible replacement. I cannot imagine a situation where using "exemplariness" would be the best word choice. Who knows? Maybe you, the reader, use it daily.

Wheels!

My truck is 12 years old and 30 miles shy of 100K. It still looks nice. It still seems to drive okay, especially for a 4-cylinder. It has been basic, reliable transportation for quite a while, and only the odd catalytic converter, muffler, blown gasket, etc., has kept it off the road.... until this past November. On the way home from work the battery light came on. I observed that the volt meter on my dash had dropped from its normal 15v or so to about 12v. Oops. I hypothesized that it was probably the alternator. We really didn't have the money to fix it with Christmas coming up, so it sat.

Last Sunday, my neighbor helped me out and took a look at the car. He surmised that the battery might be the issue, and took it to an auto parts store where they verified that the battery did indeed have a bad cell. I bought a new battery, and the volt meter was back up at 15v! Hooray!

Based on how much text is left in this entry, you can probably guess that new battery is not end of story.

Within a day of driving, the voltmeter dropped back to 12v and the battery light was on. I figured what the heck... I'm gonna drive it to work and see what happens. All week long the truck took me back and forth to work without issue. Even starting the truck was unchanged. My (faulty) logic was that if the battery was draining then starting should sound progressively more strained over the course of the week.

My coworker Buck invited me to go hear Scott Hahn speak. On Saturday morning I was driving out to meet Buck when things turned significantly south for the truck. The volt meter started a steady downward trend... 12v... 11v....10v.... uh, oh..... 9v. I start looking for an exit so I'm not stuck on the side of the road. Ah! Zeeb Rd. Good. As I approach, the engine RPM's to maintain speed increase, and I'm now fearful that the transmission is failing as well. I manage to nurse it into a parking lot off Zeeb Rd and give Stef a call. She comes out and charges the battery for me for a while so that I can try to nurse it home. I get as far as the freeway before it quite enthusiastically dies on me.

It was about 10am when I hit Zeeb Rd. It was about 3:00pm when the tow truck pulled up to my house. I missed the Scott Hahn thing (grumble) of which Buck gave rave reviews this morning. Sunday, neighbor Brian and I changed my alternator in the freezing rain. Well, it was more him doing the work and me squinting and handing him tools, but I learned a fair bit. We took the old alternator to the auto parts store to make sure it was bad, and it failed all the tests... whew. If it had passed we would have been quite puzzled.

But now, drum roll please, the truck is really fixed! I have my wheels again!

Warm and Fuzzy Details

I worked for hours on that one eye. I wanted it to be squinty rather than wide open like many others are done. If this fellow was going to wear bunny slippers, then he was going to look grumpy, not crazed.

The slippers eyes are sculpted as buttons. I highlighted the rim edges of the button to emphasize the depth, but I think the button holes got lost a little in there.

I think sometimes the scale of these things is lost on the non-miniature painter. They are small.

Warm and Fuzzy

So, I got around to painting the free Night Goblin that came with White Dwarf magazine months ago. One of my coworkers suggested bunny slippers over the regular cloth boots, and I just had to give it a shot.

I'm selling it on eBay as well. After all, what use have I for a single Night Goblin wearing bunny slippers? Hopefully someone with a real Orcs and Goblins army will pick him up. The sad part is that after being up on eBay for a good 12 hours at a paltry $0.01 starting bid, I haven't gotten a single bid.

Borrowed!

I've borrowed a digital camera, and taken a wip pic of one of the Wraithlords that I'm painting for the Eldar commission army.

So behold the first photo I have included in ages on this blog. Yes, I know the gems on the gun are unfinished.

Smoked, then Soaked

So Saturday was the first Warmachine/Hordes tournament around here. I ponied up the $5 to enter, then played for a good six hours at the local hobby shop. Of the four matches I played, I only won one of them.

In game 1, an assassination scenario, I managed to trap the enemy warlock between two sets of troops, but then failed to roll any significant damage. Sigh. In game 2, a land grab against my regular opponent Brian, neither of us gained any points for grabbing land and he won by kicking the crap out of everything I owned. In game 3, in which the object was to control three specific spots on the table for as many turns as possible, my opponent could not overcome my numerous infantry and I won. Game 4 was another assassination scenario, and I nearly, nearly won.

So more about game 4. Each game goes on for one hour, and then "last round" is called. If the player who went first is playing when last round is called, then the other players gets a turn and the game is over. If the player who went second is playing when last round is called, then the game is over at the end of his (I'd say "or her", but who are we kidding?) turn. If neither player has accomplished the scenario objective by the end of the game, then the player who scored the most victory points (by destroying enemy units) wins. As the end of the game was approaching, I was vastly ahead in victory points and in position to blast the two threats nearest my warcaster (the object of my opponent's assassination plans) and then kill his warcaster with my own troops near the other side of the board. My warcaster easily blasted one of the threats (a Skarlock Thrall for those Warmachine players) but I totally forgot to blast the other, and more serious, threat... a Pistol Wraith! I then proceeded to somehow not kill Skarre, his warcaster, thanks to some record breakingly bad rolls. On his turn, he stepped up and
popped my poor Grand Scrutator Severious, rolling very high damage and killing the old man. If I hadn't forgotten to blast that thing I would have won game 4, and put myself in the running for maybe third place in the tournament. Oops.

Okay, enough wargaming talk. That was the "smoked" part. On to the "soaked" part.

After coming home from small group last night and putting the kids to bed, I was in the kitchen and heard a faint trickling sound. Not faint like a small trickling, but faint like a pretty strong trickling at a distance. A little investigation indicated that the sound was emanating from the basement, and my first thought was that a pipe had burst. It wasn't a burst pipe. It was water pouring from the temperature/pressure relief valve on my water heater. I looked around for a bucket to catch the scalding stream, but apparently all of the buckets had made their winter migration south. I ended up dumping toys out of a plastic toy bin and using that, all the while standing in my socks in the pool of water that had formed on the floor. I figured adding cold water to the water heater would alleviate the over temperature, so I had Stef run the tub hot (which later resulted in a bath for her. Silver lining.) The pouring water reduced to a trickle, then stopped entirely, but not before the bottom drywall of our bathroom down there got pretty soaked. Whee. I ended up lowing the temperature on the water heater, which somehow was up at "B"...for what that's worth.

Aught Seven tain't no Ninety Four

It's cold here. Really cold.

Let's talk about how cold it is, shall we? I think we'd all agree that 32 degrees is rather cold, right? I mean, we can all agree that ice is cold, can't we? In addition, I'll assert that 70 degrees F is a pleasant spring day, and even rather warm for a summer night. 70-32 = 38. So the difference between a nice spring day and cold is a differential of about 38 degrees.

This morning it was -7 when I got up. -7 - 32 = 39 degrees. The difference between cold and the bitter cold of this morning was the same differential as between cold and a pleasant spring day. Yeah, it's cold.

As cold as it is, it doesn't compare to 1994. I was working midnights in EMU's operations department when the temperature was down in the -20 range for nearly a week. Just walking from the car to the office left me aching from the cold. It's not like To Build a Fire or something, where spit freezes in mid-air, but it was cold. Far colder than today. And today is cold.

Free At Last

I have a secret to divulge... I don't much like rap. That isn't to say that the style as a whole offends me or that I "don't consider it music", but the genre typically just fails to enthuse me in any way. Granted, my exposure to rap has been mostly through the speakers of cars in which I am not riding, or as played by my college suite mate. Most of what I have heard has been either unintelligible or quite profane. I have found most of the rap interludes in popular culture to be typically inoffensive, but rap as a pure genre has never held appeal for me.

I'd like to say that my dislike of rap was based solely on its own merits, but there's a tiny little voice that still wondered if I just didn't like it because of how black it was. Since much of the music I listen to is performed by black artists (albeit from prior decades) I would have thought not, but a hint of the question remained.

Well, this week I got my answer to that question. Ladies and gentlemen, make rap as white as you want and I will still not like it. I present for you Nerdcore. I can now unabashedly say that a bunch of nerdy white guys rapping about video games or computers is just as uninteresting to me as any gansta diatribe.

I feel oddly liberated by Nerdcore. I am now free to not like rap as much as I want, and never feel the need to, say, make token attempts to appreciate it for its cultural significance like some condescending amateur anthropologist all pepped on on NPR. It's just music and I'm not particularly fond of that type of music.

Birthday, plus Nervous Peer Pressure

Yesterday my dear Sarah turned eight years old. We had a small party at the house in the late evening with a couple friends from the neighborhood, and will be celebrating again this Saturday at my parent's house with the cousins. I was really struck yesterday with the fact that she's turning the corner from small child to young lady. Yes, she still likes to play with baby dolls (she's always been a nurturer) but I can start to see what teenage Sarah is going to be like.

I call Sarah and Lily "my lovelies."

While driving to get the fruit tart that Sarah wanted as her cake, I noticed that gas stations couldn't decide if they wanted the price raised or not. I observed a differential of 36 cents, with some stations right next door to each other having a six or seven cent difference. I'd say that it was related to location, but the gas station nearest me, normally quite cheap, was one of the highest priced. It almost seemed as if there had been a little "price change panic" as one gas station raised their price significantly, then others reacted to it. The high/low price yesterday was $1.899 and $2.259 for regular unleaded. (What's the point of saying unleaded at this point? It's like pointing out that your grocery store milk is homogenized.)

Light at the End of the Tunnel

I haven't been posting a lot of pictures of my painting lately (for partial explanation, see post "The Critical Missing Piece" below.) I've been working on a large commission work for the past six weeks or so. The order is two complete Eldar army boxes, and I'm just now getting to the point where the end is in sight. I have all the infantry (sans one lone commander figure) assembled, and some of them are primed and basecoated. Tonight I finished assembling the two Vyper jetbikes, and that leaves only the two Falcon grav tanks to assemble. Yes, there will be a fair bit of painting after that, but the end is finally in sight.

In other painting news, the fellow who commissioned the two Cygnar jacks was very happy with the work, and will probably be sending me more painting after I finish my current backlog. I painted up Skorne warlock Makeda and gave her to Angelos (to sell or keep as he sees fit) as a thank you for sending so much commission work my way.

Speaking of which... the current backlog:
Skorne starter box
Skorne Titan Cannoneer
Skorne Praetorian unit (6)
about 50 dwarfs

...and that's it! I may be able to paint a few figures of my own soon!

Raise Your Lighter

I played Guitar Hero 2 at my brother's house for hours yesterday. It is, without a doubt, the most fun I have had playing a video game in at least a year.

The game has deceptively simple mechanics. On a guitar shaped controller are five colored button, each taking up a single fret. Where one would normally strum the guitar is a bar that can be moved with a roughly strum-like motion. The game is played by matching a series of colored notes (colors) coming down the screen, ensuring that the correctly colored key is pressed and that the bar is hit at the correct time.

Dave has had the game since Christmas, and is quite good at it on medium difficulty. I tried several songs, but then had to try the ultimate guitar anthem: Freebird. I got booed off the stage. Twice. I took quite a liking to "Heart Shaped Box" by Nirvana and "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" by the Rolling Stones. At least the crowd let me finish those.

Stef's response to seeing me play: "I know what you're getting for your birthday."
(come on birthday!)

Grow Up

No commercial gets my hackles up like the Gerber "Grow Up" Plan. All the talk in the commercial is about protecting your baby's future, but all they are selling is a life insurance policy for your child. Do you know who my life insurance policy doesn't protect? Me, that's who.

Okay, pop quiz: Does the policy pay off if the child does or doesn't grow up?

If some universal rule had been discovered ("Murphy's Law"?) that made some event less likely the more you plan for it, then this policy would indeed be a way to increase the survivability of your child. As it is, it's pretty much just funeral insurance.

(In their defense, they have recently added a section to the commercial that explains that they are selling life insurance, but the focus of the commercial remains on protecting your child for the future.)

<$2 w00t!

Last night when I drove home from work gas was $1.999!!! This morning when I drove in, gas was $1.969! Wah hoo!

In the immediate wake of 9/11, some gas stations in Michigan jacked prices up in anticipation of a panic reaction. Some stations were as high as $5. In reaction, the Michigan Attorney General promised to prosecute gas stations that gouged consumers at that time. His definition of gouging was $2/gallon.

I'm oddly thrilled that we're down to what was considered a criminal price gouge only five years ago.

The Critical Missing Piece

I'm almost done with the Wraithlord for an Eldar commission army. Last night I wanted to take a quick picture for the photobucket "work in progress" album, but discovered that the memory card from my digital camera was missing. Last I remember, I had it plugged into the front of Stef's computer to upload some pictures I have taken.

Stef's computer sits on the floor.
...where Jay can reach it.

Uh, oh.

Breakfast Showdown

Reese's Puffs cereal by General Mills

• 13 servings per 14.25 oz box
• 120 calories per serving
• 3.5g fat per serving (1g saturated)
• 180mg sodium
  
• 22g carbs (1g fiber, 12g sugars)
• 2g protein
• 10-25% of vitamins A,C,D,B and a bunch of minerals
  
• $4.29 at Meijer yesterday
  

Kroger brand Christmas Butter Cookies

• 14 servings per 14 oz box
• 120 calories per serving
• 3g fat per serving (0.5g saturated)
• 125mg sodium
• 21g carbs (<1g fiber, 6g sugars)
  
• 2g protein
• no pretense of any nutritional value
  
• $1 before Christmas. I think they're 50% off now.

I suppose if I was using a breakfast cereal as my primary source of vitamins and minerals, the Reese's Puffs come out the winner. I should buy Cookie Crisp for the next showdown. It will be fun to see how it fares against actual cookies.

Where the... ?

I served cereal to my children for breakfast today. Jay ate from the Superman bowl and spoon that he got for Christmas, and he took considerably longer to finish than the girls. Sarah and Lily had already bussed their bowls and left the kitchen when Jay finished, and I was distracted by loading the dishwasher. When I realized Jay was no longer at the table, it occurred to me that he hadn't brought his bowl to me. I took a quite inventory of the dishwasher, just to make sure. No Superman bowl.

Next question: if I were a two year old, where would I put a Superman bowl and spoon once I was finished eating? Anyone with significant experience with two years olds will know that "in my bed" or "in the toilet" are far more likely answers than "in the sink." The hunt began. I repeatedly asked Jay to show me where they were, but he didn't seem to know any more than I did. This was less than comforting. I checked all his usual haunts, finding only an old sippy cup filled with cottage cheese. I asked the girls to help look, but all they did was follow me around, looking in each place that I looked.

The breakthrough came when I was looking under things in the kitchen and petitioned Jay once more to find the bowl. He only said, "Can't..... reach......" in a strained voice. I looked over to see him with his arm stretched down into the kitchen garbage can as far as it could go. Ah. Mystery solved. Apparently, "in the garbage" is a viable option as well.

Spamalot!

Stef's mom and step father were generous enough to give me, Stef, Bob and Cherie tickets to go see Monty Python's Spamalot for Christmas, along with babysitting all six of the children during that time. We did dinner at Yotsuba, the show, then dessert at The Majestic.

Yotsuba was, as always, wonderful. We did mostly sushi, and I got my personal favorite, takozushi! I also ordered Zaru Udon, a cold noodle dish. Mostly we got rolls, and they were all oishii desu. As a last minute impulse we ordered ice cream, which added $17 to the bill. More on that later. The four of us paid the $160 for dinner, then we left for the Fisher Theater and spamalot.

Spamalot, which none of us knew anything about other than the Monty Python connection and the obvious Holy Grail reference in the title, turned out to be a musical adaptation of the Holy Grail. There were some great numbers, and some fun surprises, and overall I really enjoyed it. Maybe it was the 16 year old Monty Python geek in me, I dunno. It stayed true to the Python spirit while being musical theater all at once. Were the ticket worth the $70 face value? Maybe. Probably. To me, anyway.

The Majestic is where things start to turn south a bit. Stef's mom had recommended this place (we had only the name and a general location to go by) for us to have dessert after the play. I didn't care all that much about eating at that point, but since Stef's mom thought it would be fun I figured I'd be game. The sorts of places that Stef's mom likes are typically Caribou Coffee-type places, so I was completely caught off guard by The Majestic. First off, the blast of smoke in my face as we walked in immediately warned me that I would have a very short amount of time in there before I would become medicine dependent. Second, the place was dark, and dark restaurants are always a little suspicious to me. The waiter sat us as far away from the bar as he could (30 feet of open space, give or take) and the air was a fair bit clearer over at our table. I looked over the special board, which listed lots of entrees in the $17-20 range, and the menu. Neither had any mention of dessert. I wondered if this was the place she had actually intended us to visit. When the waiter came over, he explained that they had a dessert cart that he could bring over if needed. We asked for a verbal list, made our choices, then drank tasty coffee and talked while waiting. Okay, talked might be a little exaggeration. We yelled. The music was so loud that I couldn't understand anything anyone else was saying. I could hear sounds coming out of their mouths, but whether it was English or gibberish was unknown. When dessert arrived it looked frilly, a stark contrast to the restaurant's loud, dark and smoky environment. My chocolate and blueberry torte occupied about 5% of the plate, the rest of which was filled with two small squirts of whipped cream and a lattice of drizzled chocolate and blueberry sauce. In the dim light I could barely tell the blueberry sauce from the chocolate sauce, and I sure couldn't tell you anything about the torte other the fact that it was dark in color and topped with whipped cream flowers. A while chocolate garnish graced the top of the slice, and looked exactly like a linoleum bathroom floor tile in miniature. I saw later that it matched the curved section of the slice, which had a candy backing. The torte was okay, not great. Stef's chocolate mousse was quite good. Bob seemed to enjoy his tiramisu. Cherie was enjoying her carrot cake until she got to the nut encrusted backing. The nuts just tasted off, and Bob hypothesized that they might be black walnuts. I tasted them, and they indeed had an unpleasant taste, and a texture like boiled peanuts. We asked the waiter to check on what they were, and he returned with the answer "roasted peanuts." "Roasted in what?" Bob rhetorically asked after the waiter had left. The only realistic scenario we could come up with was that the roasted peanuts had been around long enough to go stale (hence the texture) then the peanut oil in them had gone rancid. We left The Majestic (reeking of smoke) through the bowling alley back entrance to avoid the line of panhandlers that had accosted us on the way in. Oh, and remember the $17 ice cream earlier? We had thought that a bit pricey at Yotsuba. The bill (before tip) at The Majestic was $42.77. Ouch.

Total cost for the four of us for the evening: about $500. I think I just remembered why we don't go out and do things much.

Oddities

• Today at 8:00 AM we finally decided to wake up the girls. On Christmas morning?!?
• Mark and I had a rematch. I fielded one painted model and many primed ones. He fielded all painted models. The only casualties in the game were painted models. Yes, I won.
• AAA is apparently the new AA. Of all the toys that required batteries this morning, only one used AA's.
  
• It takes a two year old approximately 5 second to both chew up an Aqua Doodle marking tool and then scribble on the Aqua Doodle pad with a Sharpie. Yay.

I feel like I've been complaining a lot in these entries, but I am just beat down this time of year. There is always twice as much need as there are resources, both tangible and intangible. Jay is a holy terror right now, so any peaceful moments are typically ended with his horrifying shriek (the one he uses when he is slightly to moderately unhappy with just about anything.) We've been asking the girls to please try and avoid doing the things that make Jay explode, but I worry that we are rewarding his tantrums that way. I know he's only two, but the girls could be reasoned with much more effectively at this age than he can. I look forward to three.

Bear with me

1. My wife sent me to the store at 10:00 PM tonight for ice cream. While there, she called to request that I pick up Chorizo (Mexican sausage.) Ice cream and sausage at 10:00 PM? What is she, pregnant?

2. Rachel Ray better get off my cracker box or else. You can't swing a dead cat anymore without hitting her overly enthusiastic smile. I don't know who the heck she is (other than the author of the book being hawked on any and all Nabisco products) but she better crawl back under the rock she emerged from or face my incessant whining.

3. How many days can a person feel kinda yucky after having been sick for a month? Apparently many days. I just can't kick the sore throat / plugged up ears / wanna take a Tylenol feeling.

4. I still have a solid month of commission work to go, despite having already been paid for it. Christmas would have been a train wreck without the extra cash. I can work into the wee hours all through January with that knowledge.

5. Mark came over and played 500 points of Trollbloods vs. my Menoth. In the end, I stuck Feora's neck a little too far out and got handed her head for my troubles. I think it just proves that painted armies perform better. Mark's Trollbloods look better every day, and my Menoth remain primer white.

A Possible Culprit?

So now I'm on antibiotics and a cocktail of over the counter drugs, and I'm slowly returning to the land of the living. While I was crashed out Tuesday, Stef got a tip that someone we know was having similar health problems and the source turned out to be mold in their furnace humidifier. She went and checked it out, and ours was filled with gunk and mold, which she proceeded to scrub out, bless her heart. The humidifier in question had been off for a couple years because the filter wheel wasn't turning, and it was easier to run a portable humidifier upstairs. About two months ago a friend of ours did a furnace repair, and during that time the humidifier got turned back on. I am hoping that all our sickness woes are a result of the moldy humidifier, and I'll be the last one to suffer from this onslaught of illness.

Being sick cuts considerably into my painting time. This current bout especially has hampered painting, since my eyes are goopy. I will have to break some speed records to finish my painting goals before Christmas.

Again?!? Sick again?!??

I am fed up with getting sick. It seems like the five of us have passed some germ or other around for the past month, and I am frustrated with missing church yet again. This time it's me who is sick, having some horrid bug descend on me Saturday afternoon. By Sunday morning all I wanted to do was lay in bed. Stef got up with the kids, but I got up and sent her to bed when it became apparent that she was suffering from a migraine. I'm debating whether to wake her up during Jay's nap (for minimal responsibility to start) or when Jay wakes up (maximum time to recover.) She took an Imitrex, which leaves her insensible for hours. When I'm at work, the only recourse for a migraine is to wait until I get home, as she can't responsibly be the caretaker for the kids after taking Imitrex. The proverbial rock and hard place.

So, like I said, it's been some subset of us sick for nearly a month. If just some subset of the kids were sick, one of us could take the healthy ones and go to church while the other stayed home with the sick kids. When one adult is lying miserable in bed and the other is caring for sick kids, church becomes very difficult. Did I mention that I am not fond of missing church?

The dogs have been nothing but trouble this morning. One of them decided to relieve itself in the house before we got up, and they have done nothing but crash around the house and bark since. Right now they are outside, and the loudest sound in the house is them barking at each other, carrying through the closed windows. Once Jay's awake I'm sure he'll replace them for loudest sound. His "indoor voice" is impressively "outdoor."

Whiny? Yes. Grumpy? Oh, yes. I should probably leave off the whiny, grumpy posts, but not everything can be an episode of This American Life. I'll cope if you will.

Civic Duty

I had my first assigned jury duty this morning. I showed up at District Court 14B at 8:50 AM, anticipating sitting as a jury member in a trial for the first time. What I got was a 20 minute video, about 20 pages of "Saving Fish from Drowning" read and a donut, but no trials. Apparently, most cases about to go to criminal trial are settled in some way before actually going before a jury. Of the sixteen cases on the docket this morning, all of them chose that route rather than be paraded before my intimidating gaze. I was back at work by 11:30.

I was looking forward to taking part in our judicial process. Now I just wish I had taken another donut.

Indirect Feedback

You may recall (from ages gone by) the Circle Orboros warpack (ebay 330047778529) that I painted as my first work for Aether Drip studio. I looked back in Angelos' eBay feedback last night and was pleased to see that the buyer left the following feedback:

"Excellent miniatures; great paintjob; very well packed; prompt delivery. Great!"

Another happy customer!

Gravity, for the win (part 2)

Brian and I played a 750 pt Warmachine game tonight, the largest we have played yet. I stuck my neck out a little and got my warcaster assassinated as a result, so the game didn't go terribly long. On the way home, the real carnage occurred.

I was on the phone with Angelos, not really paying attention to the cookie sheet on which I keep my magnetized minis. As I turned right, the cookie sheet slid off my tackle box and landed about halfway between the front seats. What didn't break, bent. What was painted is now scratched. I am very discouraged. I suppose if I put a great deal of time in painting my own army beautifully I would be utterly heartbroken.

It's the Most Wonderful Time

Here in the Detroit area, a popular easy listening station plays 100% Christmas / holiday music from about 11/1 until New Year's Day. Yes, that is the recipe for insanity. I suppose people must listen to it, or WNIC (commonly heard in dentist office waiting rooms the other ten months of the year) wouldn't do it. I know we have it on a fair bit during this time, and we never listen to WNIC any other time.

After listening for a solid month, I find myself analyzing the songs.

• Apparently there is a kind of tree that one would categorize as "the sturdy kind that doesn't mind the snow." Does that imply that there are others around that do, in fact, mind the snow? Maybe the song was written for people in the tropics.
• Even today, pumpkin pie is the primary motivator to travel the Tennessee / Pennsylvania route.
• I am convinced that in "Merry Christmas, Darling" Karen Carpenter is singing to a dead person.
• I am irritated by pseudo-religious Christmas music like "Do You Hear What I Hear?" Totally secular doesn't bother me. Accurate religious is ever better. Oblique references are no longer allowed.
• If your Christmas song is more than 2% spoken word then it's not a song. Go bore the people at the poetry jam.
• Sappy is one thing. I can enjoy sappy. "White Christmas" is sappy. If your song includes blatant attempts at tear-jerking then hit the road, Droopy.
• Of them all, this season is so happy that it is hap-happy. Make a note of it.
• "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing" is great.

Resentfully Entertained

Did I mention that I had pretty much stopped watching TV? I still watched "Lost" with Stef, but with the frequency of new episodes I knew it wouldn't be a big time suck. Other than that, TV was pretty much just Futurama after going to bed.... well, the first half of Futurama anyway.

Now, thanks in part to both my lovely wife and the ability to watch on demand, I am watching no fewer than three TV shows. The aforementioned "Lost" is still there, albeit infrequently. "Heroes" is one I am actually watching and enjoying, and "House M.D." is one that I have been enjoying, although I can't really say why.

And now, some dubiously clever observations about each.

Lost: As was put so eloquently at Penny-Arcade.com, the story arc doesn't feel crafted so much as contrived now. I felt like I was experiencing something mysterious and epic before, but I think we are one season away from headhunters and radios made from coconuts. I'll keep watching for now, but Lost is on double secret probation (just between you and me.)

Heroes: Again, another example of the story arc formula. Despite my general boredom of superhuman powers, this show has kept my attention by actually having some future event that the characters are building toward. The pacing feels like some of the better (read: not superhero) comics that I have read. This one better tell me a story and then end or else. I will not be happy if it goes all Lost on me.

House M.D.: While the snappy sarcasm of the show attracted me at first, it's feeling terribly formulaic now. They've started adding some multi-episode story arcs in season 3, which has helped a little, but my interest will soon be eclipsed by my exasperation unless something changes.

I'm sure part of the irritation is that sheer volume of TV that I've digested recently, what with being sick and all. Stef and I have managed to go from zero to current on "House" in just a couple weeks. "Heroes" was a couple marathon sessions too (all after the kids go to bed.) Maybe I'm just burned out on TV for now... although I hear Battlestar is really good....

Another Army in a Month

I have signed on to paint an entire Eldar army in a month. After the Tau army, I have a better idea of my work potential.

Tonight however I feel like crud, seriously in the "I'm going to call in tomorrow" range, so I got zero assembling/painting done tonight. I can't have many nights like this if I'm going to get this done on time.

Recognition

Alright, one time is strange. Two times is disconcerting.

A few weeks ago I was hanging out at the loading dock with Josh while he had a smoke. A fellow I know walks up and joins the conversation, and I introduce him to Josh. They both stare at me oddly for a moment, and then Josh casually explains to me that not only does he already know the person, but that he isn't who I am introducing him as. It was a complete case of mistaken identity on my part. The sad part is that I remembered later that this guy has walked up and talked to us often at the loading dock.

Last night Brian and I drove to Saline for game night. About halfway through the gaming, a fellow arrives and joins the group. He is given a friendly greeting, so I assume the group knows him. I, on the other hand, do not recognize him and introduce myself.

Confused stare.
"Uh, Mike? It's me... Kyle."

It was Kyle.

Kyle, with whom I have gamed for months.

What is going on here?!?

Have Fun in Jail!

Back in college, when Stef and I were living in the same dormitory, a fellow used to come around named Alan. Alan was a tenacious visitor, insomuch as he never left once he got into the room. Add to the fact that he smelled bad and you can see why protracted visits were unwelcome. To give you an idea of the smell, one day he came over and sat in a chair that Stef had thrown her coat over. Alan sitting on the collar of her jacket for a half hour made the jacket unwearable, and it had to be dry cleaned to remove the smell. The group of us that hung out together created a secret knock as a way to not let Alan in.

Later, when Stef was manager of the movie theater, Alan took a job there. Having dropped out of college and now living in his car did not help the odor situation much. His poor coworkers were forced to work shifts with him confined to a small box office at times. A few years after we left the theater we ran into Alan again, this time as a salesman at Sears. He was very proud of the fact that he had been in New York city at the time of 9/11, but on further questioning he admitted that he had been in the city about two weeks prior to 9/11.

Well, last night we had another Alan sighting. I was cleaning up my paints when Stef called me from the bedroom, "Oh my Gosh, Mike! Come here and see this!" A come here and see this isn't always of earth shattering importance, but the added oh my gosh added some urgency. I rushed in, not sure what to expect. Stef looked up at the TV and pressed 'play' on the DVR (side note: I love modern DVR functionality), where she had paused the local news. There on the screen was Alan, now 34 years old, who had been arrested for soliciting a 14 year old on the internet. The news report mentioned that similarly condemning material had been found on his computer. Let me take this opportunity to wish Alan a fun time in prison. My advice to him is to use the opportunity to shower regularly.

Apparently 12 Years is PB&J

Yesterday was our 12th wedding anniversary. Stef and I are both suffering colds, she at the end of one and I at the beginning, so we're both feeling a bit listless. We went to church in the morning, dropped the girls off with my mom a couple hours later (to spend two nights) and then searched fruitlessly for a place to get Jay a haircut. We gave up after two or three closed places and went home. I did some laundry in preparation for my 8:00 PM departure for Grand Rapids and played with Jay a little (dinosaurs and race cars, in combinations of one, the other, or both.) At about 6:30 PM I figured Jay would be hungry so I made him and me a PB&J. We had leftover Chinese, but I figured that Stef could use it for lunch/dinner tomorrow. After making a sandwich for Jay, Stef realized that she was hungry (after having passed the first time around for one) so all three of us sat around eating PB&J.

I didn't expect to be quite so penniless at this point in my marriage. I expected to be going to nice restaraunts or weekend getaways by this point. We really couldn't afford to do anything special because I had to pay for my own meals on this week's trip (before per diem payment when I get back.) Despite my shattered expectations of being able to take my wife on romantic shindigs, I can't say I'm disappointed. I feel unabashedly thankful for Stef putting up with me for these years. She makes my life better, and I look forward to many more years of trying to do the same for her. Prime rib or PB&J, as long as it's with her.

She'll Have to Wait

Ashlynn is sitting on the shelf at home for the next four days while I'm off at training. I didn't want to bring her along and risk damaging her, since she's heading for eBay. Granted, I did actually bring paints and minis along, and plan to spend the next three nights painting something (although I am undecided as to what yet.)

Grace of my H-yawn-eart

Travel back with me now to a more innocent time... 1989 or so. I walked into a tiny CD shop in Brighton after hearing two songs by Kristen Vigard on the local public radio station, and I wanted to buy her album. The clerk there was able to order it for me after some searching through books. A week or so later I had the album, and have listened to it ever since. Note: using the word "album" makes me old.

Fast forward to 1996. I hear, again on public radio, that Kristen Vigard is doing the singing voice in the new movie Grace of my Heart. I am interested, but not enough so to seek out and see the film.

Fast forward again to about two months ago. I purchased Kristen Vigard's new (read: second) album, and it included the song "God Give Me Strength" from Grace of my Heart. I decide I'd like to see the movie now. Please also note that my use of quotes, italics and capitalization in titles is entirely arbitrary.

Saturday night, Stef and I sat down and watched the nearly two hours of Grace of my Heart, and it was tedious. It chronicles the life of a young heiress-who-would-be-singer/songwriter as she tackles (and succeeds in) various eras of music, while simultaneously marrying everyone with whom she collaborates. Her ambition is to be a singer, but it never really pans out until the end. Even the song for which I rented the movie is a commercial flop in the movie's plot. The problem is that the movie tries to be epic, and it really should have been a small story. Stef and I were bored silly by the end. Was it worth it? Meh. It was interesting to hear Kristen Vigard singing, but I wouldn't say it was worth the time investment.

Anime style?

My latest mini WIP is Warmachine Mercenary Warcaster Ashlynn D'Elyse. I don't play mercs in Warmachine, so this is probably an eBay item eventually.

After doing the face, it appears I now paint anime.

...and they're gone!

The Tau have shipped, and I have been paid... well, almost. I received about 20% less than originally mentioned, but with the promise that whatever the total minus shipping was I would get, so there still may be some money coming my way. It's a learning experience for both of us, so I'm willing to be flexible this time. Next time I'll get a hard number.


CoolMiniOrNot link: >>here<<

I was especially happy with how the Piranhas and Hammerhead turned out. Considering I had built/painted exactly ZERO vehicles before this commission I am fairly pleased with myself. The Hammerhead (top pic) has two choices for main cannon, and I contrived a way to change out the gun; nothing particularly complex, but a nice touch for the customer on a kit that normally forces you to glue one cannon or the other in place when you build it.

They Leave Tomorrow

Another bleary night painting Tau...

Except for one single figure holding binoculars, they are done. At long last.
All WIP photos here: http://www.coolminiornot.com/forums/viewthread.php?tid=16520

Mark suggested that next week we designate an "opposite night" wherein he would come over and (finally) paint that Skorne box for Angelos, and I would ignore all outstanding commission work and paint something of my own. I like that idea.

Three Weeks of Painting in One Post

I mentioned that "Tau continue" in my last post, but I don't think I've mentioned what Tau actually are. I am doing a commission army for a fellow in Italy of Warhammer 40k figures. The faction in question is Tau, an anime inspired army, who battle for "the greater good."




























Sorry, but I don't have a clue how to format multiple photos in this interface.

The Inevitable

Last night our cat Mabel died. For about a year she had been developing tumors, the largest of which was on the right side of her face. Add to that the fact that she was 16 years old and really fat and you'll see why her death was no real surprise. It lessens the blow, but it's still sad. It was pretty clear by 10:30 PM that she was headed downhill, and we chose to wake the girls to say their goodbyes to her. We were going to take her to a 24-hour vet just to prevent her from suffering for hours upon hours, but she died before we could leave. I have heard about people or animals passing "peacefully" but have never experienced it. It always seems painful and wretched at the moment. I'm glad I was out of the room when my friend Monty died; if he had died in the same manner as the animals I have been with it would have been a haunting memory indeed.

Mark was over painting with me when Stef found Mabel. He hasn't been over in ages to paint, and was able to watch the kids while Stef and I took Mabel to the vet. (I really couldn't bury her in our backyard.) It's comforting to know that God watches out for us in little ways like that... neither Stef nor had to make the solo journey to drop Mabel off, and we got to commiserate and remember her during the trip.

In other news, Tau continue. Not much progress last night obviously.

Old Friend, New Success

This post has no other purpose than to congratulate the one and only Tim Eldred on his accomplishment. His book "Grease Monkey" has been nominated by the American Library Association in the category of Best Book for Young Adults!

Apparently the nomination won't be on their site until October 1, but here's the link:
http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/bestbooksya/bestbooksyoung.htm

When I think of people living out their dreams, I know two guys named Tim who have done it. (The other one is artist Tim Albee, in case you wonder, care, or have arrived here by searching on Tim Albee's name... Hi, Tim!) You, Tim Eldred, are an inspiration.

Done and Started

The standard bearer is done and shipped to the owner. The thing that torques me is now that it's gone I can see flaws in the picture that I really want to fix. The globby things near the top of the standard, for example. I have a quote in to the customer for a squad, so if I get that job I'll ask him to return the standard bearer to me for repairs.

I'm now working on another mini for Aether Drip, a Hordes mini. This fellow is a "Titan Cannoneer" from the Skorne faction. The normal mini has the cannon pointing down, so this is a bit of a conversion. Titans look big and dumb to me, so having his tongue sneaking out while aiming appeals to me.

I feel like I have something deep and meaningful that I should be posting here tonight, but I really can't think of it.... oh, well.

Aether Drip

I am now semi-officially a member of Aether Drip Painting Studio. My first piece, the aforementioned Circle of Orboros box, is now listed in Plainswalker's Magic Bag eBay store. I already have some Skorne (a Titan Cannoneer, a unit of Praetorians and Archdomina Makeda) that Angelos gave me to paint up in addition to all my other work. I'm going to be busy, but hopefully it will be a nice income supplement.

The "Legion of the Damned" standard bearer commission is coming along well. Obviously the hardest part will be the freehand on the standard. I like the way the black armor is coming along. Doing black that doesn't just suck the light out of the room is challenging.

Forecast for Today: Rain

Last night the EMU faculty union decided to give up the strike and go back to the bargaining table with the administraiton. I would defer to http://weather.com for some insight on why. My prediction is that we will have a few days of faculty in classrooms, but if nothing is resolved by the time the rain clears up they'll be back on the picket line. At least until it gets cold.

I used to think the faculty contract expired just as the school year starts so that the faculty could have extra bargaining power. Now, I just think it expires then so that it won't ruin faculty summer vacations to strike.

Many of the striking faculty were carrying signs reading "I'd rather teach." Yeah, for $80k with summers off, I'd rather teach, too.

Heartwarming

Each night my wife sings "Good Night, My Someone" to my 2-year old son while he rests his head on her shoulder. He sings back, mostly in sounds rather than words.

It is absolutely the sweetest thing.

---

The Circle of Orboros box has a 7.1 on CMON, tying for the best mini I've done. I'm pleased.

Fire and Forget

So apparently a new game store is opening around here called "Planeswalker's Magic Bag." Mark talked to the owner, and he gave Mark two Hordes starter boxes for me and him to paint up for sale. I put the finishing touches on mine tonight. >>CMON link<<

I've got to hand it to the guy, trusting someone he's never met with $80 worth of merchandise won him a few points with me. Apparently the deal is that he sells the painted figures somehow, and gives the painter the sale price minus the retail price of the minis. For him it's no different than selling an unopened box, so I'm not really sure what the benefit is for him other than to have painted minis to display. I'm not even sure he has a site for the new store yet! Well, he trusted me with merchandise, so I'll trust him to pay me for whatever the painted minis sell for. If all goes well, I'll hand him minis and later he'll hand me cash.

Next up for painting: Space Marine Standard Bearer commission job. After that, in no particular order, a Usagi Yojimbo "Gen" mini, lots more dwarfs, a Skorne starter box, and finally my own Menoth minis if I get some time. And I really should get around to painting the minis that the very generous Naukhel sent me for Mini Exchange 8.

The faculty are still on strike here. Their proposed compensation changes are outrageous, in my not-so-humble opinion. So now they walk a picket line in front of the classroom buildings, but classes go on anyway (not all faculty are represented by the local apparently.)

Miscellany 2

Yesterday was a beautiful, cool, relaxing summer day. If 3pm on a clear, low-70's Labor Day isn't the perfect time for a nap, I don't know what is.

The faculty here at EMU is on strike, and classes start tomorrow. Considering all the problems we've had recently I am irritated at both sides, since a strike can only hurt enrollment. Enrollment is what we need to build to flourish here. (shakes head) Our local negotiates after the faculty, so they shape our contract a great deal. Anything they concede we are forced to concede, for all intents and purposes. Anything they get affects how much is available for us to get.

Sunday was Sarah's last day in children's church. From now on, she's in regular church with us, unless Stef and I are in nursery (which is probably 3 Sundays in 5.) I'm a little pensive of her ability to sit somewhat still for 40 minutes, but hoping for the best.

I don't typically take celebrity deaths with any level of personal involvement, but Steve Irwin makes me feel a bit of loss. He was just some likeable guy who loved his job, and happened to ride the zeitgeist for 8 seconds and win the rodeo while doing it. Somehow he made being a TV-average looking (much better than non-TV average looking) alligator wrestler seem like an everyday guy. Go figure. And anyone who says "he died doing what he loved" has never been killed doing what they loved... I'm sure it sucks.

Saturday, Stef called me over to the front porch to see what she thought was a hummingbird. "If that's a hummingbird, it's the smallest bird that I've ever seen," she said. It was flying exactly like a hummingbird, hovering as it went from flower to flower. Upon close inspection, it appeared to be more like a little lobster with hummingbird wings. Stef caught it in a little bug net, and we put it in a jar for observation. It was indeed some sort of moth, with membranous wings like a fly or a cicada. After releasing it from the jar, it alighted on Stef's hand, and Stef and Sarah both petted it for a minute before it flew off to feed again. A quick google on the words "hummingbird" and "moth" yielded the animal's name: Hummingbird Moth. Go figure. How cool. The picture attached is the spit and image of what we saw; just imagine the wings as a blur.

Back in Stride

I have been having trouble painting lately. For more than a week now it has been work to pick up a brush, so much so that I've set my painting supplies a couple times this week and then just did nothing.

Last night changed that.

I started by doing some touch up work on the Argus models (the two headed wolves) that came with the Cirlce of Orboros box that had been so much work for me lately. I then started highlighting the WarpWolf (the larger wolf model) and things just started... I dunno... flowing. It was dark in the house, and silent except for an occassional sigh or cough from my wretched dogs, and I sat under the unnaturally bright Ott light and just painted. I went to bed actually a little excited to wake up and see what the models look like in more natural light. I'll probably have all four models completed sometime tonight, and then move on to the next commission piece, a Space Marine Stardard Bearer.